May 21, 2009

		$11.99 CD On Sale $19.99 LP   GRIZZLY BEAR MEMORIAL DAY LISTENING PARTY For all of you who are staying in New York City this Memorial Day weekend, not to mention anyone who might be visiting the Big Apple, we hope that you can spend a little bit of the holiday with us. This Monday, Other Music is throwing a listening party at the shop for one of the most anticipated records of the summer, Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest, which comes out the following day on Warp. We'll be playing the new album on our shop stereo from 4 to 6PM, and also serving up Free Pizza and giving away lots of posters and pins. Best of all, we'll have the CD and LP available for sale that day, both formats in limited edition packaging for the first pressing. We hope to see you on Monday! TONIGHT: NANCY SMITH ART EXHIBITION OPENING And...please join us at Other Music tonight (Thursday, May 21) from 7 to 9 P.M. for a reception to celebrate the opening of Low-Fi Par-Tay, a new art exhibition of watercolors and paper banners by Nancy Smith.

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Savath & Savalas The Field Jonathan Kane Ata Ebtekar & the Iranian Orchestra Au Revoir Simone Iron and Wine Thee Oh Sees Wolf Eyes Wisp Omar-S (Fabric Mix) Esther Phillips The Rockets Nurse With Wound & Jim O'Rourke Hisham Mayet (DVD) Passion Pit The Horrors Ganglians   Cold Cave Losoul Luke Hess Prins Thomas John Vanderslice ALSO AVAILABLE Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (4 reissues) Jarvis Cocker Jason Lytle Ear Pwr ON VINYL Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou BACK IN STOCK Don Van Vliet Book

		May Sun 17 Mon 18 Tues 19 Wed 20 Thurs 21 Fri 22 Sat 23   WIN TICKETS TO OSCILLATIONS AT STUDIO B Other Music is giving away two pairs of tickets to tonight's Oscillations party at Studio B. The line-up for this one is pretty killer, with CIRCLESQUARE making their only NYC appearance, as well as MICHNA (Ghostly), the NYC debut of ZOMBIE ZOMBIE (Versatile Records, France) and APACHE BEAT, plus COUSIN COLE and POCKETKNIFE of Flagrant Fowl will be DJing all night long. We're picking the two winners at 4PM this afternoon, so you'll need to enter right now by emailing tickets@othermusic.com. Please leave a daytime phone number where we can reach you. TONIGHT, THURSDAY, MAY 21 STUDIO B: 259 Banker Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn $10 advance at Other Music, Ticketweb or by RSVPing to: events@self-titledmag.com, $14 at the door - 2 for 1 well drinks and domestic beers from 8pm-9pm! Doors @ 8pm / 19 +

		May Sun 17 Mon 18 Tues 19 Wed 20 Thurs 21 Fri 22 Sat 23   TICKET GIVE AWAY TO BLACK METEORIC STAR & ASSUME VIVID ASTRO FOCUS AT MOMA Join PopRally for the North American premiere of a special performance by Black Meteoric Star (Gavin Russom) and assume vivid astro focus. These artists will transform MoMA's cavernous Marron Atrium into a new audio-visual landscape, bringing you along on an ecstatic journey through the night. Gavin Russom created Black Meteoric Star in 2006, channeling his love of dance music and culture into minimal, psychedelic arrangements influenced by early techno and house music. International multimedia collective assume vivid astro focus (avaf) will produce a vibrant visual setting for this music, engaging participants in a celebration of dance, sound, and light. Other Music has two pairs of tickets up for grabs. To enter, email contest@othermusic.com. We'll notify the two winners this Friday. SATURDAY, MAY 23 (8:30-11:00 P.M.) MoMA: 11 West 53 Street NYC Tickets: $8 in advance / $10 at the door

		May Sun 24 Mon 25 Tues 26 Wed 27 Thurs 28 Fri 29 Sat 30   WIN TICKETS TO UPCOMING SUNDAY BEST PARTIES This Sunday...It's the opening day of Sunday Best at BKLYN Yard! Tacos, sangria, little kids running around, trees, water, and good, good music. Residents Doug Singer, Justin Carter, and Eamon Harkin will be playing alongside soulful house maestro Quentin Harris. Then next Sunday, the UK-based illustrator, music producer, DJ and jack of all trades, Mr. Scruff will be joining the crew and playing an extra long set. Other Music has two pairs of tickets to each party. To enter, send an email to giveaway@othermusic.com, and please list which Sunday you would like to attend in the subject line. SUNDAY, MAY 24: QUENTIN HARRIS SUNDAY, MAY 31: MR. SCRUFF BKLYN Yard (outdoors by the Gowanus Canal): 400 Carroll St between Bond and Nevins, Brooklyn Alternate rain venue at the Bell House, around the corner Cover $10 // $8 before 4PM with RSVP OR $8 in advance at: residentadvisor.net/sundaybest

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   SAVATH & SAVALAS La LLama (Stones Throw) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store For me, Scott Herren's side projects were always a little more interesting than his main gig under the Prefuse 73 moniker, and Savath & Savalas has been a consistently intriguing project since its inception in 2000. Over the years the sound has evolved from the tangled jump-cut folk instrumentals of the Warp/Hefty debut Folk Songs for Trees and Honey to embrace real live songs, most notably shifting on the incredible Apropa't. This record introduced singer Eva Puyuelo Muns to the mix and on La Llama, the group expands once again to make room for Roberto Carlos Lange who lends an extra layer of vocal harmony for Herren to manipulate. La Llama seems to me to be a coming of age for Savath & Savalas in many ways; released on the very fitting Stones Throw label, it manages finally to distill the Spanish and Brazilian influences without losing sight of Herren's virtuoso electronic production. Where at times Apropa't suffered from being more than a little "coffee table," La Llama is so well composed that it would be hard to reach the same conclusion. Herren claims that his influence this time around comes from a small scene of folk music in Recife, Brazil in the 70s, but whether you're familiar with the scene or not, there are plenty of contemporary hooks to grab on to. The familiar stutter of Herren's Delarosa & Asora or Prefuse 73 work is still here above all else, from the chunky, sample-heavy intro down to the delicate vocal treatments, and this is what pulls the record out as something altogether more interesting than simple Tropicalia-worship. He might not want to be making strictly electronic music any more, but Herren's knowledge makes him an invaluable producer when working in other musical disciplines and as such, La Llama is a singular work. This latest should appeal to the crate diggers as well as the Warp fans; blissful beat-play and heavenly harmonies -- let's hope we get a summer deserving of it. [JT]

		$14.99 CD   THE FIELD Yesterday and Today (Anti- / Kompakt) "I Have the Moon, You Have the Internet" "Yesterday and Today" The much anticipated new album from the Field finds Alex Willner modifying a little bit of the formula that made 2007's From Here We Go Sublime one of those rare crossover techno records, capturing the top spot on the year-end lists of many listeners who don't normally consider themselves techno fans, as well as those of the heads. That album saw the Swedish producer turning song snippets of Lionel Richie, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac (to name a few) into warm melodic washes of pulsing, shoegaze bliss; no wonder so many were entranced by the Field's subliminal pop allure. Sure enough, on Yesterday and Today a sample of the Cocteau Twins "Lorelei" gets the same wave of Wilner's magic wand resulting in "The More That I Do," a gorgeous, yearning piece of ambient pop befitting of his Kompakt association. (Granted, bigger fish Anti- Records has their logo stamped on the back of this album as well.) This time out, though, there's even a straight-up cover of the Korgis' "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime," vocal melody and all; but Wilner notches the tempo of the syrupy Euro-pop ballad way down for a breathlessly lush and gauzy six-and-a-half minutes, sounding like an impossible pairing of 10cc and Gas. Two songs later, the title track finds the Field dabbling in kosmische musik for a few moments until current Battles (and ex-Helmet) drummer John Stanier joins the fray and then the song twists and turns through a stretch of trance-kissed techno before pairing down into a funky, linear work-out, Stanier carrying the song home with a muscular, driving beat playing against the hypnotic bass groove. "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" aside, the pop charms of Yesterday and Today aren't as instantly as revealing as they were on the Field's debut, and half of the six tracks go over the 10-minute mark. But with the addition of a little bit of live instrumentation (Wilner's touring band also joins him on some of the songs), the record is much more organic and the whole thing ultimately just seems to have more staying power than its predecessor; it just takes a few listens to get there. Whether this will result in the same cross-appeal as his last album remains to be seen, but Yesterday and Today is sure to convert more than a few who might have been holding out to see if Wilner was a one-trick pony. Recommended! [GH]

		$15.99 CD $21.99 LP w/MP3   JONATHAN KANE Jet Ear Party (Radium) "Gripped" "Roller Coaster" It's quite possible that Jonathan Kane makes THE perfect road music...if the road is 300 miles of endless swamp with nary a soul in sight. This is road music for ripping through the Everglades in a fanboat, hitting terra firma, and finding that instead of the land of palm trees and flamingos, you've got to drive through Death Valley in a GTO with no AC. This is when you pop some Jonathan Kane into the cassette deck, pass the dutchie, and just let it riiiiiide, brutha. I know, I'm probably not the only one thinking that "getting into a groove" would be something you'd ever expect (or want!) to utter in the same sentence as "founding member of Swans," but that's exactly what Jonathan Kane has been up to these last years. Having done time in groups with minimal monsters La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham, Kane has gone back to his first love: the blues. Then again, this isn't exactly your dad's Saturday night hootenanny version of the blues. I mean, yeah, it JAMS, but not in the sense of endless solos. No, Kane finds a slinky groove and gets in DEEP, riding it out with a motorik sense of propulsion not unlike Neu! or Harmonia...if they could swing! It's a precarious pairing on paper -- modern minimalism and the blues -- but it comes off so naturally, one wonders why it took this long to be executed. After all, the blues is perhaps THE original minimalism. John Lee Hooker and Mississippi Fred McDowell often wrote pieces consisting of nothing more than one long, droning chord and a driving, hypnotic riff. Kane is simply expanding the notion of what can be done with an old dog, churning out a furious, souped-up primal stomp that simultaneously beefs up and strips down the blues. Every piece takes at least six minutes to get up to full steam, but most feel like they could go on forever without wearing out their welcome. Many men have worn out the soles of their snakeskin boots in search of the endless boogie, but Kane has run it down and created a monster. [JTr]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   ATA EBTEKAR &THE IRANIAN ORCHESTRA FOR NEW MUSIC PERFORMING WORKS OF ALIREZA MASHAYEKHI Ornamentalism (Sub Rosa) "Ornamental" "Little Tales 2" Ata Ebtekar gives a contemporary interpretation of the pioneering electro-acoustic compositions of Iran's Alireza Masheyekhi, and the results are beautifully abrasive, as harsh, electronic noise is juxtaposed against Persian classical music. This is an awesome follow up to last year's Persian Electronic Music, and a testament to the ingenuity that Masheyekhi brought to 20th century composition, molding new sounds from traditional structures and modern implementation. For a sonic guidepost you could compare this album to an imaginary Middle Eastern meeting between Iannis Xenakis and Jim O'Rourke, and in reinterpreting these modern classical compositions, Ebtekar offers a refined edge, but remains perfectly aligned with the old compositions. The Persian instrumentation mixed with Western electronic synthesizers is mesmerizing, and gives a depth to the recording that is highly engaging. I sincerely recommend this to fans of avant-garde composition, electronic or traditional; this will definitely be a high point in our "Out" section for 2009. [BCa]

		$10.99 CD $9.99 MP3   AU REVOIR SIMONE Still Night, Still Light (Our Secret Records) "Anywhere You Looked" "Shadows" I know this is only their third proper album but Still Night, Still Light is Au Revoir Simone's best record since Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation, their excellent debut. Here they are at the top of their game crafting ultra-sweet yet sharp-minded, well-played synth pop -- what I often describe to customers as something in the vein of Stereolab's best work meeting Magnetic Fields, with a drop of Broadcast. Au Revoir Simone. However, take these tried and true elements and slap on a sincere sense of American charm replete with THREE vocalists (either taking turns or in the round) playing THREE keyboards (synths and electric piano), as well as live bass and vintage rhythm machine beats, handclaps, tambourines, etc. Songs like "All or Nothing" are classic ARS with observant and musing lyrics set over a catchy, nimble beat and floating synthesizer melody. "Knight of Wands" adds a surging tinge of classical music intensity to the track's ecstatic pop sounds that are suddenly broken by a 1-2 handclap. I'm also happy to report that this time the lyrics are a bit more mature -- sometimes even moody and angsty -- while still possessing the introspective, optimistic vibe that works so well for them. That combined with stronger songs and just that much more intensity in the right places makes this their finest moment yet. [SM]

		$13.99 CDx2 $21.99 LPx3   IRON AND WINE Around the Well (Sub Pop) "Waiting for a Superman" "Love Vigilantes" The unlikely career launch of American folksinger Samuel Beam is pretty well known at this point -- born and raised in South Carolina, he was working as a film professor in Florida when the sparse bedroom recordings he had been making on a borrowed four-track were intercepted by the co-owner of Sub Pop Records. Beam ended up sending the label the result of seven years' worth of deeply autobiographical storytelling, and they hand-picked twelve songs for The Creek Drank the Cradle, Iron and Wine's immensely successful debut release. Around the Well reveals an entire disc's worth of lost gems from these early raw, intimate home sessions, as well as a second disc of studio-recorded b-sides, rarities, and soundtrack highlights dating up to Iron and Wine's most recent full-length, The Shepherd's Dog. The biggest treat of the set will probably be giving the hazy unearthed demos a first listen (if you haven't previously pilfered the web for this stuff, that is), but devoted followers of the band will also delight in the re-releases; great songs like "Hickory" and "Swans and the Swimming," two of Beam's most enchanting, were initially put out on the ultra-limited four-track bonus companion to Our Endless Numbered Days, and this will be the first chance for many fans to own most of these tracks. To boot, Beam throws in covers of "Waitin' for a Superman" by the Flaming Lips, a radio session of "Love Vigilantes" by New Order, and a shockingly tender rendition of Stereolab's feel-good '90s keyboard jam "Peng! 33." The real surprise, however, is how easy it is to cozy up to the authentic Southern narratives of Beam's original, unedited demos all over again, as we did with his emotional debut; Around the Well places us under the very same spell that held us captive seven years ago. Owning this collection is a hands-down must! [KS]

		$19.99 LP w/ CD $9.99 MP3   THEE OH SEES Zork's Tape Bruise (Kill Shaman) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Oh Sees fever is spreading faster than swine flu these days, and for very good reason. After fleshing out the band and releasing two stellar full-lengths (The Master's Bedroom... and Help) as well as a string of great, limited singles, a lot of folks are sitting up to take notice. So where does that leave Zork's Tape Bruise, a record of mainman John Dwyer's 4-track demos for Oh Sees songs? Well, if you've just boarded the bus recently you shouldn't expect the same catchy garage pop but there is still a lot of fun to be had. Alternating between skeletal versions of their "hits" ("Destroyed Fortress," "Ruby Go Home" and "Enemy Destruct"), and more blown out, open-ended noise jams that go back to some of Dwyer's earlier projects (Pink & Brown, the Coachwhips, Hospitals, etc.), ZTB is a treasure trove for those who just can't get enough. In the past fans used to have to wait for years for a record like this to be released, but in this information overload age it's here now; but if this is your bag don't delay as it most likely will not be around long. As a bonus, you also get a CD of singles and unreleased tracks (including a cover of Iran's "Buddy" and Trio's "Komas"), and considering that most of the singles were available for about a minute, this extra disc may be as desirable as the LP itself. [DMa]

		$15.99 CD   WOLF EYES Always Wrong (Hospital) "Broken Order" "We All Hate You" Though widely regarded as the standard bearers for American noise, Wolf Eyes' ten-year run has seen the Michigan trio consistently transcend their gristly roots to incorporate all manner of experimental sounds while still remaining loyal to one gnarly, overarching (and slightly grimy) aesthetic. Be it in collaborations with folks ranging from Anthony Braxton to Sickness or the nigh-on-monthly tape and CD-R additions to their massive discography, these three noise-niks have cut a quite wide swath through the global underground that few can match. Always Wrong, the band's umpteenth release, is billed as their official follow up to 2006's subtly terrifying Sub Pop record Human Animal, although the group has hardly been dormant in the three years since. Still, these seven tracks capture the band at their finest, blending gargled glass vocals with pounding percussion and thoroughly mangled junkshop electronics on tracks like "Cellar" and "Broken Order" that slice like frigid blizzard winds. Elsewhere, Wolf Eyes dabble in some seriously tortured ambience on tracks like "Pretending Alive" and "Droll/Cut the Dog," replacing their familiar rhythmic, industrial scrape with more claustrophobic set pieces. Another worthy addition to their sprawling output, Always Wrong presents a few new wrinkles (and some clutch jams) that will enthrall Wolf Eyes fans both old and new. [MC]

		$15.99 CD   WISP Shimmering Hour (Rephlex) "Katabatic" "Teddy Oggie" What happened to braindance eh? Or is that IDM? Or simple old electronica... we never really knew what to call it but it happened all the same, and thanks to cheap (or free) technology and computer software, there was a lot of it. And then there wasn't. In the last few years the releases have gone from ten a day to ten a month and then a year, and even then the quality wasn't what it once was, with fans such as myself shedding a gentle tear for the days when people used "real gear" and had "emotions." Trust Rephlex then to release a record that sounds just as good as jump-cut electronica ever was -- think the softer side of Aphex Twin, a less anal Ovuca or a more technical Kettel and you'll be on the right track. Before popping the disc in I was expecting something along the lines of Astrobotnia (or that's what I was led to believe) but the hell for leather beatplay you'd expect is nowhere to be found -- in fact the key element to New Yorker Wisp's arsenal is melody. These might be melodies lifted from the Richard D. James Album ("Seaway Trail") and I Care Because You Do ("Flat Rock"), but why fix what ain't broke? I reckon the key to the success of Shimmering Hour is probably its warmth; I can almost imagine this being recorded on real gear (in all honesty it probably wasn't but bear with me). The synths sound rich and fuzzy and the beats sound chunky and badly sampled (that's a good thing). There's none of the evidence of that second-wave fidelity obsession that killed the genre, no craggy high end and worrying obsession with long, resonating breakdowns, and this all makes for a surprisingly enjoyable listening experience. Finally, we've got an electronica album that doesn't dwell on its own pretentiousness. Who knows, maybe this braindance thing will catch on again once more. Then again... [JT]

		$16.99 CD   OMAR-S - DETROIT Fabric 45 (Fabric) "Simple Than Sorry" "1 Out of 853 Beats" This Omar-S mix for Fabric needs a little back-story. The Detroit producer has been leading a quiet revolution by releasing hordes of killer 12"s and albums on his FXHE and Oasis imprints for a while now. All these releases are hard to get (though most are still in print) and rarely spun in any mainstream clubs, but I've heard many of my favorite contemporary German producers singing his praise time and again -- Omar-S's influence is obvious in the work of some of my current favorites like Efdemin and recent Sten. Upon first listen, I immediately pegged him as the deep Detroit techno version of Theo Parrish in the way his production has an absolutely home-cooked, heartfelt, handmade vibe with an unmistakable, ever-present soul element, no matter how stripped down and minimal it may get. This is also the first CD I've ever seen credited to the man, so combined with his credentials, you can feel confident that you're in for a real treat. As far as the mix goes, how many producers can pull a "Villalobos" (putting out a mix CD completely made up of one's own productions), and (ahem) do it one better by making it not only consistently good, but also much more varied? Very few, but our modern day underground hero Omar-S has done just that. From the stomping/floating minimal house of "Crusin Contant" to a vocal version of the classic, gorgeously climbing "U," to the video game made funky "Stryder's World" to the beautifully floating "Psychotic Synthesis," there's not one clunker in the bunch. Another mix to add to my personal top 10 as well as a shoe-in for one of the essential/must-hear CDs of the year. [SM]

		$14.99 CD   ESTHER PHILLIPS Alone Again, Naturally (Reel Music) "Alone Again (Naturally)" "I Don't Want to Do Wrong" Esther Phillips was a famously diverse singer who released singles on Modern, Savoy, and Federal Records in the fifties, and then came to widespread popularity in the sixties recording for Kenny Loggins and Lenox Records, and hit the R&B top 10 in 1965 with her string-laden cover of the Beatles' "And I Love Him" (with the gender changed, of course) for Atlantic, and continued to have chart success through the late 70s. Possessing a bluesy voice like no other, she stands in the rarified company of artists like Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone, and might have become just as popular had her personal struggles with drugs and alcohol not taken such a toll on her public life. Alone Again, Naturally is one of the crowning LPs of Phillips' later years, originally released on Kudu Records n 1972, melding her gospel upbringing with the R&B of her earlier work and the funk sounds of the time. Featuring great versions of the title track and "Use Me," as well as some excellent deep cuts including "You & Me Together" and "Let Me in Your Life," Phillips delivers a full range of anguished emotions behind the beat of these soulful ballads. Although this album was released just a couple of years before her chart-topping disco remake of Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes," Alone Again, Naturally tends towards a slower, Atlantic Records sound familiar to her hits "And I Love Him" and "When a Woman Loves a Man." Sadly, the singer would die of kidney and liver failure in 1984, but this great reissue stands as one of the highlights in a career, and a life, that tragically ended too soon. [BCa]

		$16.99 CD $16.99 LP   THE ROCKETS The Rockets (Rev-Ola) "Try My Patience" "It's a Mistake" Originally released on the White Whale label in 1968, this sole album from the Rockets has existed as a Neil Young footnote for years, as guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina were scooped up to be members of Crazy Horse, leaving the other half of the Rockets in the lurch (or without their lurch, depending on your opinion of the legendary rhythm section). The liner notes here are imbued with melancholy and regret, not only aimed at the tragic death of Whitten but also with what-could-have-been-isms that at times reach almost Pete Best-ian proportions. It's not too hard to see why, though, as they had an embarrassment of riches when it came to songwriting, as every member but one contributes great tracks, and the playing is excellent throughout. Instrumentally, it's Bobby Notkoff's violin that takes a lot of the record to another level, giving everything a sinister, drone that sets it apart from their contemporaries. In the end, the record is very much of the time, but the songs are still solid and a few of them are outright classics -- how have we not been hearing "Mr. Chips" on the radio for the last forty years? And "Pills Blues" and "Stretch Your Skin," not to mention the comedown of "The Eraser," man what a way to finish off the record in untouchable fashion. The album really is stellar and its brightest moments can pretty much stand toe to toe with the best music of the time. [DMa]

		$14.99 CD   NURSE WITH WOUND & JIM O'ROURKE Angry Electric Finger 1- Tape Monkey Mooch (Beta-Lactam Ring) "Mt085_01" "Mt085_02" Originally released in 2004 on limited vinyl, Tape Monkey Mooch was recorded over a period of two years then totally reworked by the God-like Jim O'Rourke. It's hard to argue with that kind of pedigree, Stephen Stapleton in one corner and O'Rourke in the other, and the material pretty much speaks for itself. The post-apocalyptic drones that made Stapleton's work so crucial have been sculpted and re-sculpted beyond recognition, and the attention to detail that O'Rourke is so notorious for is not lost in the mix. Over forty minutes we hear the later-period Nurse With Wound ensemble (including David Tibet on guitar and Tim Belbe on saxophone) re-formed into some kind of droning post-ambient sound collage. Belbe's saxophone is woven over bubbling drones, field recordings and the occasional screech of synthesizer or choir. At all times we are very much in Stapleton's world, but seeing it through the polished glass of Jim O'Rourke -- and it's a privileged place to see it. The record is relaxing, unsettling and mercilessly experimental, but it never dips too far into any camp, keeping a coherence that Stapleton isn't usually known for. O'Rourke does a fine job of reigning in his sometimes unrepentant experimentalism and it seems perfect that Tape Monkey Mooch has finally got the re-issue it's been waiting for. Nurse With Wound followers should grab this without delay, but I have a feeling some Jim O'Rourke devotees might want to have a look in also -- you won't be disappointed. [JT]

		$21.99 DVD   HISHAM MAYET Palace of the Winds (Sublime Frequencies) While most Sublime Frequencies articles focus solely on the input of Sun City Girl Alan Bishop, it's videographer Mayet who really holds down the hut. So often, his DVDs provide the stunning visuals that really give these far-flung regions focus, taking in the music as well as the places where such music sprouts. Here, he spends a great deal of time with Moroccan guitarist Doueh (documented on SF's Group Doueh set awhile back) as he plays on floors, couches, and at female-only dance clubs. Uncanny b-rolls of harsh desert and dried lizard carcasses at market provide further color to the concert proceedings. [AB]

		$10.99 CD $15.99 LP w/MP3 $9.99 MP3   PASSION PIT Manners (Frenchkiss) "Little Secrets" "Moth's Wings" What began as the one-man project of Michael Angelakos, who recorded Chunk of Change as a Valentine's Day gift to his girlfriend and subsequently set the blogs a-buzzing, soon evolved into a full band and a record deal with Frenchkiss quickly followed. Fast forward a year, with the bona fide hit, "Sleepyhead," behind them, Angelakos seemed to have no choice but to up the ante for the debut full-length, Manners. Working with producer Chris Zane (Les Savy Fav, Walkmen), the band has created an album that is filled with big synths and sing-a-longs which can best be described as caffeinated electro-pop. Standout tracks like the anthemic "Moths Wings" (available though Friday as a free download on Other Music Digital) sounds like Hot Chip covering Arcade Fire, while "Little Secrets" might be one of the best uses of a children's choir since the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back." Fusing massive drumbeats with Angelakos' innate knack for sugarcoated pop hooks, Manners is an album wide in appeal; one that can be enjoyed equally by fans of electro-pop, indie rock and probably even hip-hop. Maybe most surprisingly, rather than propping up an album of fluff with a few solid singles, as has been the norm for electro-pop bands since the dawn of the genre, Passion Pit have crafted and album that is filler-free, and it will no doubt be stuck in the stereo for a long while. [BL]

		$13.99 CD   THE HORRORS Primary Colours (Matador) "Mirror's Image" "Primary Colours" The big news floating around the blogs and message boards when Primary Colours surfaced a few months ago was that with the right producer, s**t really can be polished into shining gold. You see up until recently, British B-movie obsessed troupe the Horrors were a bit of a joke to most people. Tabloid fodder from the word go, they were better known for their challenging dress sense and similarity to Noel Fielding's character in The Mighty Boosh than their musical prowess, yet in my mind there was always a little more to them than met the eye. Try as they might to convince me that it's style over substance, the terrifying "Sheena Is a Parasite" (replete with video directed by alt-darling Chris Cunningham) was better than it should have been, and I was sure there was something beneath the stench of hairspray and cloud of cheap cocaine. Primary Colours sees the band paired off with Portishead-man Geoff Barrow, and as soon as the epic first single, "Sea within a Sea," popped up on YouTube, it was obvious that we had a match made in Heaven. The spiky, trendy punk of the band's earlier recordings was all but gone and what remained was Faris Rotter's cold, dead vocals, a pounding beat and those synths...oh those synths. The rest of the album isn't quite as powerful as that stand-out track (which aptly concludes Primary Colours) but the band have clearly turned a corner in their career, and with Barrow's help they've thrown something of a curveball to the listeners and the press alike. The key reference here would be Factory Records, and from the beginning of the album there's a sense that the lads have more than a passing interest in Joy Division. But this isn't treated as a means to make cheery/dreary pop tunes for suicidal teens; rather, the band (and their producer) pick up on the dirt, dust and grime of those recordings and channel it into their songs. This, along with a love of Jesus and Mary Chain, the Cure and Barrow's beloved Silver Apples, makes for a surprisingly elevated pop listening experience. It's not the best album ever made, but the fact that it came from the indie pop set is just astounding. By the time the oscillating synthesizers beckon the closing of the album, there should be no doubt that the Horrors are punching well above their weight. It should be nice to see something other than Fleet Foxes being covered in the mainstream media now, shouldn't it? [JT]

		$14.99 LP   GANGLIANS Ganglians (Woodsist) Hot on the heals of great new records by Eat Skull and the Fresh & Onlys comes Sacramento's Ganglians to throw their hat into the skewed pop ring. And as far as the new crew of low-fi pop, weird punks, beardos or whatchamacallits goes, these guys do a bit of all of that and they do it well. This eight-song EP is packed front to back with lo-fi bangers that already feel like your favorite pair of jeans, holes and all. Their distorto-pop is quite addictive as I've already played this a ton but the song "The Void" gets a special shout-out as one of the best tunes I've heard all year. Simple and haunting, it is a perfect song. [DMa]

		$15.99 CD   COLD CAVE Cremations (Hospital) "Always Someone" "Chrissie Sally" Since giving up his status as a perennial hardcore insider, singer Wes Eisold has spent the past few years building an arsenal of synths and drum machines while moving away from the raw, throaty aggression that marked some of his earliest projects. As Cold Cave, Eisold's songwriting has blossomed as he's embraced a variety of permutations of synth pop and electronic music, ranging from the subtle hints of EBM that dotted his great Dais single from 2008, to the more overt nods at folks like Q Lazzarus on his latest tour 12" for the What's Your Rupture? label. But before Eisold began to perfect his sound over his last couple of releases, he spent a couple of years woodshedding, mapping out the boundaries of his new mode across a couple of vinyl and cassette-only releases. Cremations, his first disc for the Hospital Productions label, collects the majority of these, offering an interesting picture of an artist finding his voice in transition. Noiser and far more abrasive than anything Eisold has done recently, the collection opens up with the tracks from his recent Hospital 7", giving folks who missed out on the vinyl a chance to hear "Sex Ads" and "Always Someone" in all their distorted, blown-out (and yet still slyly melodic and rhythmic) glory. From there, the collection explores the tour-only Electronic Dreams cassette, a prickly set that peaks with the hypnotic, sunken crush of "Poison Berries" and the grim, propulsive "Gates." Also including his debut Coma Potion LP, Cremations highlights just how quickly Cold Cave has evolved from rather simple beginnings, unearthing a bunch of great songs as well in the process. [MC]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   LOSOUL Care (Playhouse) "The Crush" "Deuce" Losoul's Care is easily Peter Kremier's best album since some of his early 12" EPs for Playhouse, and as those who are in the know are aware, that's actually saying something! What many don't realize is that Losoul deserves much credit for defining the German minimal house sound, right along with Isolee, Maus and Stolle and Roman Flugel. And unlike a lot of German dudes who make 'funky' sound a bit, well...stiff, Kremier comes across as effortless. Right away, the album opener "Slightly" delivers the patented Losoul swing that's reminiscent of his classic jam, "Open Door," only more fun and updated. But it's tracks like "The Crush" and "Gridlock" that just make ya wanna get down and do that two-fisted gorilla dance; this album is just full of that swinging-n-stomping, bobbing-n-weaving thing that Losoul does so well. "Lords of Sanity" adds a deep, mutated Phuture/Freaks vocal snippet that I'd like to think is saying "voodoo in prison," but it's probably more likely "you do impress me." While Kremier can sometimes mar his albums with distracting or near useless quirk, on Care he just lets s**t get good and FREAKY without taking away from the tracks. I'm loving it more with each listen. Recommended!!! [SM]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   LUKE HESS Light in the Dark (Echochord) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Any techno producer out of Detroit must be only too aware of the legacy they have to live up to. The home of Drexciya, Carl Craig and Robert Hood (among many, many others), the Motor City has spawned a legion of producers and dedicated followers, two of whom were the Germans Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, better known as Basic Channel. Their dubwise sound went on to pioneer a whole new set of budding producers, and since the mid-90s that sound has gone from strength to strength, culminating in a recent resurgence of all things Chain Reaction. Detroit's own Luke Hess is one of the prime exponents of this new-wave of dub techno, and Light in the Dark is his grand statement as he blends the stripped down minimalism of his UR predecessors with a Berlin-school love of all things clipped and echoed. Although the Basic Channel comparison is likely to be thrown around, a more fitting link could be made to Monolake through Hess' love of elastic basslines and bouncing percussion. He guides us through the downtempo techno of opener "Meaning Matters," the reductionist house of "Transform," and into the stripped-down warehouse vibes of "The Truth Is" without so much as skipping a beat. There are no drastic shifts in the vibe, and Hess' debut album is an intense and enjoyable listen, with far more restraint and coherence than many of his contemporaries have managed. And in almost an hour of music there's not so much as an echo of Paul St. Hilaire... small mercies, eh? [JT]

		$15.99 CD   PRINS THOMAS Live at Robert Johnson Vol. 2 (Live at Robert Johnson) "Arpadys" "Shadows" For the second installment of this Berlin club's series of mix CDs, we get Norway's Prins Thomas. Now, Prins is on a bit of a tear in early '09, dropping a stellar solo 12" (featuring a genius "cover" of Ricardo Villalobos), releasing a 12" and full-length album with pal Lindstrøm, and doing a heap of remixes along the way. For this quick-moving set, he surveys a lot of recent spacy disco stuff, alighting on the Idjut Boys, Rub-N-Tug, Low Motion Disco, Villalobos, and Lindstrøm himself, throwing in dashes of old classics like Martin Circus along the way to outer space. [AB]

		$12.99 CD $14.99 LP w/MP3 $9.99 MP3   JOHN VANDERSLICE Romanian Names (Dead Oceans) "Tremble and Tear" "Romanian Names" John Vanderslice makes a lateral move after years on Barsuk, and releases his excellent new Romanian Names on Dead Oceans. Maybe he's trying to shake things up a bit, as anybody who cares will tell you that the San Francisco popsmith is ripe for a breakthrough album. If the fans are right, this could actually be the one, as Vanderlice has made what might be his most concise, straight-up enjoyable album yet. The sound is vintage analogue pop, with bubbling, keyboard-driven arrangements spruced up with the occasional bubbling digital interlude, and Vanderslice's always-interesting lyrics are more focused and hook-driven than on some of his older, more complicated missives. Dunno if this will make him rich and famous, but it's a success on most every level regardless. [JM]

		From Her to Eternity $15.99 CD The Firstborn Is Dead $15.99 CD Kicking Against the Pricks $15.99 CD Your Funeral...My Trial $15.99 CD   NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS From Her to Eternity (Mute) NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS The First Born Is Dead (Mute) NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS Kicking Against the Pricks (Mute) NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS Your Funeral...My Trial (Mute) For longtime fans or even the casually interested, these long-overdue reissues of Nick Cave's first four post-Birthday Party albums are a joy to behold, if a pretty f**king ominous, twisted joy. I'm not sure there is too much to say about these in just a few lines, as you, our loyal readers, have almost certainly more than a passing knowledge of the Bad Seeds oeuvre. Mute has presented these classic albums beautifully, restoring the running order that was inexplicably upended on the original US CD releases, flawlessly re-mastering, and including all relevant b-sides as well as the pretty cool fan film Do You Love Me Like I Love You?, spread across the four bonus discs (yeah, you need to buy all four CDs if you want to see the whole thing). If we had to pick favorites, we might recommend 1986's Your Funeral...My Trial; of the first four albums presented here, it may be the most fully realized, but really, why pick just one? Nick Cave is not meant to be listened to alone.

		$13.99 CD   JARVIS COCKER Further Complications (Rough Trade) "Further Complications" "I Never Said I Was Deep" Cocker's decision to record his second post-Pulp solo album in Chicago with Steve Albini took us by surprise; the two don't really seem like an obvious fit -- the wry British orch-pop genius and the venomous Midwestern king (jester?) of feedback and crunch. We were wrong again, as Albini helped craft one of the best records of Cocker's career. Indeed it IS full of noisy guitars and pounding drums, which turn out to be a perfect mood for this new batch of scalpel-sharp lyrical attacks, and it lightens up and stretches out at times too, with a few downtrodden piano grooves to placate the ruthlessly laidback fans who just can't bear to pump a fist with Jarvis. Sorry we ever doubted him!

		$15.99 CD $16.99 LP w/MP3   JASON LYTLE Yours Truly, The Commuter (Anti-) Grandaddy were a somewhat polarizing band, perhaps remarkably so, considering their fairly low-key pastoral fuzz-pop sound. Their fans loved them, and frontman Jason Lytle, with a passion and depth that could be alarming, and their foes...well, they didn't. The reception for Lytle's solo debut should fall pretty much along the same lines, as it sounds an awful lot like another Grandaddy album, but Lyttle wrote, recorded and performed the whole thing all by his lonesome, at his new Montana digs, and it's a quiet, emotional return to form.

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   EAR PWR Super Animal Brothers III (Carpark) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store For some reason when we first Googled these guys to get some skinny, a bunch of links popped up for video game sites, plus one for some sort of extreme fighting videos. But in some weird way it sort of helped us understand the band, as Baltimore/ex-North Carolina duo Ear Pwr have crafted a truly insane album that seems to blend Italo-disco, top 40 pop, mainstream house, Baltimore club grooves and sugar-coated video game psychosis into an adrenaline-fueled freak-out that is truly like no other. We here-by bequeath Ear Pwr this week's "Goofy Award" -- see the brilliantly named, uncharacteristically droney track 11.

		$25.99 LPx2 $22.99 CD   ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU Vodoun Effect (Analog Africa) "Mi Homlan Dadale" "Assibavi" Analog Africa comes through yet again with this superlative compilation of jams from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, an oft-overlooked band from Benin who recorded some incredible sides for small, obscure African labels in the early 1970s, the best of which are collected here for the first time for Western ears. The sound is taut and electric, with organ- and sax-led grooves arising from the skittering beats and heavy, swinging basslines -- funk in the truest sense of the word, the kind of stuff most crate diggers spend lifetimes of dust sorting through to find. Electric guitars ring out, buzzing and humming with chicken-scratch lines as the vocals are sung with a solid, more assured tone than many of the usual suspects tend to muster. I'm consistently amazed at how much care goes into the making of these collections for Analog Africa, and this is no exception -- included is a massive 44-page booklet with a history of the group and of the label owner's story in getting these tracks out to Western ears. Chock full of photos, sleeve repros, and assorted other memorabilia, its attention to detail is a sad rarity that should also be commended. The music, though, does a fine job in speaking to the listener, though, if you aren't moved in some way by the sounds of this collection, something doesn't equate. This is a MUST for Afrobeat fans, funk fans, and pretty much anyone that digs anything from our Groove or International sections. [IQ]

		$11.99 BK   DON VAN VLIET Paintings and Poem Catalog (Werner/Kern) We've received a short stack of this wonderful book of paintings by none other than Don Van Vliet, a/k/a Captain Beefheart, 48 pages of oil paintings by the American Primitive master, all featuring collusions of violent color, swirling, distorted brushstrokes, and familiar forms twisted and mutated into something slightly unrecognizable and unsettling -- in other words, very much like the man's music. The works date from 1984 until 1997, and also included is a forward by Polly Jean Harvey, along with a handful of short poems both handwritten and typeset by Van Vliet. All in all, this is quite a nice little diary of work by one of America's most intriguing modern artists working in multiple medias, and Beefheart fans would be wise to dig this. Grab one before they're gone! [IQ]

		PHONE ORDERS Phone orders are accepted at (212) 477-8150 (ext. #2, mailorder) Mon-Fri, Noon - 7pm EST EMAIL For general inquiries or other information please email sales@othermusic.com. Do not reply to this message. REMOVE This is an automated list. If you would like to be removed for any reason, please visit: digital.othermusic.com/subscribe.php   THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS [AB] Adrian Burkeholder [BCa] Brian Cassidy [MC] Michael Crumsho [GH] Gerald Hammill [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [BL] Brian Levine [JM] Josh Madell [DMa] Dave Martin [SM] Scott Mou [KS] Karen Soskin [JTr] Jonathan Treneff [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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