October 1, 2009

		BIKE MS NEW YORK CITY 2009 For the seventh year in a row, Other Music's own Josh Madell has led a team of cyclists in the Multiple Sclerosis Society of New York's annual fundraising bike ride, helping fight MS and raising money for much-needed research and support services. Other Music's newsletter readers have been very generous in the past, and we want to thank you all, and encourage you to go to our Team Page to make a simple and secure credit card donation to Josh and Team Other Music. The ride is this weekend, and we need your support!

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Carlos Nino Anti-Pop Consortium The Yolks Yoko Ono Plastic Band Quantic (Mochilla Mix) A Orillas Del Magdalena (Various) Phoreyez (Mochilla Mix) Om Lawrence Fool's Gold L.A. Nuggets (4CD Box Set) R. Stevie Moore The Avett Brothers Rameses III The Lost & Found Endle St. Cloud RSD King Cannibal Why?   Psych Funk 101 (Various) Thee Oh Sees The Beets ALSO AVAILABLE Hyberdub 5.1 & 5.2 EPs (Limited 12"s) Melvins Gary Higgins Definitive Jux Presents IV Simian Mobile Disco La Roux BACK IN PRINT Cymbals Eat Guitars AVAILABLE ON VINYL The Feelies Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/othermusic

		OCT Sun 27 Mon 28 Tues 29 Wed 30 Thurs 01 Fri 02 Sat 03   WIN TICKETS TO WORDLESS MUSIC FEATURING: MICACHU & THE SHAPES Micachu & the Shapes will be bringing their bizarre arsenal of custom made and modified instruments to the (Le) Poisson Rouge stage, playing at this Saturday's installment of the Wordless Music Series. The UK art-rockers will be joined by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), who will be opening the night performing works by Micachu's own Mica Levi. We've got two pairs of tickets to giveaway to the night. Email enter@othermusic.com to enter, and we'll notify the two winners on Friday, October 2nd. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 (LE) POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleeker Street NYC

		OCT Sun 04 Mon 05 Tues 06 Wed 07 Thurs 08 Fri 09 Sat 10   THIS SUNDAY: SPECIAL SCREENING OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME In celebration of the October 6th release of the new Mountain Goats album, The Life of the World to Come, 4AD, Housing Works and Other Music will be presenting a free screening of Rian Johnson's film of the same name at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, this Sunday, October 4th. In this film, John Darnielle (the Mountain Goats) performs The Life of the World to Come on piano and guitar. Shot in the same building where, as an eight-year-old piano student and new transplant to Claremont he performed Bach minuets for the state examiner, the movie takes the songs from the album and restores them to their raw original states: skin, blood, and bone. This special screening will be followed by a discussion/Q&A portion with director Rian Johnson and John Darnielle, and a cocktail hour. Click on the flyer image to the left for more info. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 HOUSING WORKS: 126 Crosby Street NYC Doors at 5:45PM / Free Admission / Limited Capacity

		OCT Sun 04 Mon 05 Tues 06 Wed 07 Thurs 08 Fri 09 Sat 10   WIN TICKETS TO THE TWIGHLIGHT SAD Epic Scottish rockers the Twilight Sad have a great new album out, Forget the Night Ahead, and will be performing in New York City next Tuesday, October 6th, at the Bowery Ballroom. It's a fantastic bill with BrakesBrakesBrakes and fellow Glaswegians We Were Promised Jetpacks opening the night and we've got a pair of tickets up for grabs! To enter, email: giveaway@othermusic.com. We'll notify the winner tomorrow (Friday, October 2). TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6 BOWERY BALLROOM: 6 Delancey Street NYC

		OCT Sun 04 Mon 05 Tues 06 Wed 07 Thurs 08 Fri 09 Sat 10   MARS VOLTA TICKET GIVE AWAY Modern prog-rock behemoths the Mars Volta will be playing at the Roseland Ballroom next Thursday, October 8th, in support of their new album Octahedron, and Other Music has two pairs of tickets to give away. Send an email to contest@othermusic.com to enter, and we'll notify the two winners tomorrow (Friday, October 2.) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8 ROSELAND BALLROOM: 239 West 52nd Street NYC

		OCT Sun 18 Mon 19 Tues 20 Wed 21 Thurs 22 Fri 23 Sat 24   UPCOMING EL PERRO DEL MAR IN-STORE Sweden's El Perror Del Mar will be playing a free in-store at Other Music on Tuesday evening, October 20th, celebrating the release of her great new album, Love Is Not Pop, which comes out that same day on Control Group/TCG. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 @ 8PM OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC Free Admission / Limited Capacity

		$10.99 CD   CARLOS NINO Suite for Ma Dukes (Mochilla) "Find a Way" "Nag Champa" This is a special record. Carlos Nino, an LA-based DJ and producer who also records as Ammoncontact, got together with arranger Miguel Atwood Ferguson to create this gorgeous EP of classical/chamber reinterpretations of four of J Dilla's most beautiful productions. Nino and Ferguson first worked together on an album by Dwight Trible and the Life Force Trio, which also featured Dilla on a track called "Antiquity." That song is reinterpreted here, along with "Find a Way" from A Tribe Called Quest's The Love Movement, "Fall N Love" from Slum Village's Fantastic Vol 2, and "Nag Champa" from Common's classic Like Water for Chocolate album. The beats are stripped away here for a sound that floats like a leaf on a sunny breeze; the orchestra's flourishes retain the rhythmic push and pull while accentuating the skill and craft with which Dilla arranged these tunes. While it's true that the originals all relied upon samples, the way in which they were stitched together and blended like watercolors really comes through here in stunning clarity. This EP radiates with soul, sensuality, and above all else, true love. All proceeds from this release will go straight to Dilla's family, and Dilla's Mom, Ma Dukes herself, gives this full approval. This is deep, and it's one of the best records released this year. It's also too damn short, but you know what they say -- good things come in small packages. I seriously can't give this a higher recommendation. [IQ]

		$13.99 CD $19.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3   ANTI-POP CONSORTIUM Fluorescent Black (Big Dada) "Fluorescent Black" "C Thru U" It's been some time since we last heard from Antipop Consortium -- in fact many of us thought we'd never see the group resurface after their much publicized 2002 split. With a triptych of genre-bending albums under their belt (including the career-high Tragic Epilogue), they seemed to draw a line under their output as they fractured into various solo or collaborative projects. Sure the Beans albums were good, and Airborn Audio (the collaborative moniker of members High Priest and M. Sayyid) had its moments, but nothing quite hit the spot like an on-form Antipop. Since 2002 the rap game has changed, most obviously by allowing Antipop's initially groundbreaking fusion of electronics and hip-hop to permeate the mainstream, but thankfully that doesn't make the band any less relevant. Their off-kilter, unpredictable flow and always surprising production still places them just outside of any scene you might care to lump them in with, and Fluorescent Black has more than enough clout to keep the backpackers happy for another few months at least. In a typically confounding move, the album springs to life in a jagged spray of electric guitars and drums before dissolving into the sort of tightly-clipped syncopated beat we all hold so dear (thanks Timbaland). It's a blistering opening which perfectly sets the pace for a record that refuses to coast through the Dabrye-influenced electroid flip-flop of "Reflections," the space-bounce of "C Thru U" and the '70s giallo shakes of "Shine." Even the Big Dada-curated collaboration "NY to Tokyo" is a success, with Roots Manuva turning in his best verse in ages over a perfectly formed squelchy low-end throb. My only real criticism is a usual hip-hop album bugbear; it's ever so slightly too long. At seventeen (count 'em) tracks there's more than enough here to get drowned in, but then after a seven year absence they've got a good excuse for going a little OTT. Who ever said you shouldn't have too much of a good thing? [JT] Free Song Download of "Capricorn One," off of Anti-Pop Consortium's new album, is available on Other Music Digital through Friday.

		$14.99 LP   THE YOLKS The Yolks (Bachelor) After releasing a couple of infectious, blink-and-you-missed-'em singles last year, the Yolks finally drop their debut full-length. Not to worry if you missed the 7"s (there's only so many hours in the day), as the band reprise a couple of the best songs from those releases here. For the uninitiated, the Yolks are the midwestern arm of the current punk 'n soul revival that's been building up steam for the last couple of years. The most immediate modern reference points are probably the neo-garage-bop of Hunx and His Punx or Nobunny (one of the best songs on his Love Visions LP was a Yolks cover). However, the Yolks bypass the nasal delivery and cool nerd passes for a more refreshing, varied, and dare-I-say, REAL approach to the time-honored themes of girls, boredom, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This is a band clearly familiar with the rock 'n roll rulebook, and they cast their net deep into the well of influence, giving nods to everything from the proto-garage-punk of the Standells, to Ventures-style surf-rock, to the three-chord blast-furnace of the Misfits. More importantly, they have a secret weapon in singer Spencer Johnson's classic croon, which falls somewhere between Misfits-era Danzig, Buddy Holly, and the Strokes' Julian Casablancas. In fact, the moments that don't approach Misfit's levels of revved-up three-chord perfection remind me of the first time hearing the Strokes Modern Age EP, admiring the craftsmanship in taking chords and melodies seemingly old as time itself and making them vital and new again. This band could do big things, if they cared. For now, cop this limited LP (I'm staring at the window right now, and it's closing), and hope they grace a living room near you sometime soon. [JTr]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND Between My Head and the Sky (Chimera Music) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Receipt of Yoko Ono's great Between My Head and the Sky caused me to ponder once again whether she wasn't really Kanye's mama. Well, his ancestress anyway. Certainly, in this season of MJ's passing, Ono ought to be finally be crowned Queen of Pop -- laurels long overdue since her turn-of-the-sixties association with Fluxus. And obviously Kanye's in dire need of some home training, per his ongoing exploits. Besides, if he can pay for Murakami, he ought to spend on the Japanese avant-garde icon likely most responsible for synthesizing the postwar changes that have inspired both young men. Often in her earlier work, Ono seemed as arrogant and self-absorbed as Kanye is now accused of being, yet she has never been acknowledged for possessing the chops to back her ass in the way Bruh Auto-Tune is nowadays for his production. Surely, he can appreciate the cunning in dropping a new disc for a potentially hostile public at the same time as the Fabs' Rock Band and myriad reissues saturate the marketplace? Yes, Ono is the Motherlode, sounding on this mighty funky disc as if she always anticipated the wilder shores of hip-hop -- and of course in the sacred feminine sphere, her power in providing maternal succor has long been one of the key charges levied upon her by Beatlemaniacs. The 76-year-old Matrix innovated long ago when it really counted; these recordings merely see her delving as fearlessly into the Tekno-Bush, accelerating when audiences probably expect her to chew her cud. Beginning with the trademark otherworldly wails that trigger "Waiting for the D Train" -- prime new subway listening for this Uptown Gal -- Ono rejoins the Afro-Alien Valhalla currently dominated by her 1970s peers Grace Jones, re-excavated Betty Davis, and Labelle (like this trio, she deployed her voice to rival the primacy of cock rock guitar) plus heiresses such as Janelle Monaé (but not Lady GaGa; sorry, y'all can't have that one). And this iteration of the Plastic Ono Band, anchored by her son/producer/picker Sean Ono Lennon and his erstwhile paramour Yuka Honda, Keigo "Cornelius" Oyamada, Erik Friedlander and Daniel Carter (amongst others) on spaceship controls, is almost consistently on point -- even on the less compelling Abyssinian jazz of "Hashire, Hashire." Yet when Ono unleashes the howls next on the epic title track, dontcha just see Funky President Clinton and Garry in his diaper groovin' in the wings? I am a witch and I like to get down and trip off on Atlantean songs like Ono's mesmerizing "Feel the Sand;" I have never been afraid of her, nor the notion of chicks with Big Ideas. This is one of the finest works of art from the martyr to Lennon Sr.'s Muse, my favorite since Rising. Bow down! [KCH]

		Quantic $12.99 CD A Orillas Del Magdalena $13.99 LP   QUANTIC Caja Y Guacharacha (Mochilla) VARIOUS ARTISTS A Orillas Del Magdalena (Domino Sound) Oh, DAMN. Let me start out by giving huge props to Mochilla, who in the span of about two weeks and six releases have become one of our new favorite labels here at the shop. Their ongoing Feito Em Casa series of mix CDs by many top-ranking (and some still-slept-on) DJs and producers continues to astound not only me, but many of my coworkers and clientele here at OM. They were responsible for that great Madlib Dirty Brazilian Crates Vol 1 mix from last year, not to mention new goodies from Phoreyez and Miguel Atwood Ferguson and Carlos Nino's Suite For Ma Dukes, both featured in this week's update. Keep an eye on this label, they're on the rise! Now, back to business. What we have here is hands down one of the best, most surprising international/world groove releases we've stocked all year -- a bumpin', bangin' mix by Quantic of nothing but vintage cumbia jams from Panama and Colombia. Cumbia is traditionally a folk music associated with courtship dancing and political resistance (specifically against Spain during the struggle for Colombian independence), so you know off the bat that you're dealing with some seriously heavy tunes. There's nothing like the rhythm of resistance, both politically and sexually, to start a party, and Quantic really brings his A-game for 45 solid minutes on this mix. Pumping brass sections, swirling, almost psychedelic-sounding accordion lines, and passionate vocals all ride atop rock-solid bouncing beats, filled with rootsy grit and complex polyrhythmic intensity. This is raw, dirty, and real folks; it doesn't get any better than this. (One more thing, in all seriousness -- if ANYONE knows the name of the track that comes in at the 31-minute mark, PLEASE let Daniel and me know! It's a dragon slayer of a tune.) Now, for all of you who are digging this scene and want in on the action, we also have a EXCELLENT LP compilation from the folks at Domino Sound which features twelve equally bangin' vintage cumbia jams from the late 50s to mid 70s, all licensed from the Discos Fuentes label. This set is totally worth the price of admission for "Macondo Banda Y Coros" by Campesinos De Repelon, Los Guachracos' "Baila Rosita," and "A Orillas Del Magdalena" by Nafer Duran Y Su Conjunto alone, but every track's a winner. These tunes ride heavy grooves of cowbells, drumline-style patterns and scraping thickets of ratchets and guiros. If you have been down with the international releases by Mississippi Records, this comp slots in quite nicely next to those, and as I said, if you're on a heavy cumbia kick and need another hit, look no further than either of these two releases. Hot!! [IQ]

		$12.99 CD   PHOREYEZ Found in Translation (Mochilla) Track 2 Track 4 Arguably the best new record company out of L.A., or anywhere stateside for that matter, Mochilla strikes again. Past editions of the label's excellent mix CD series have been curated by a who's who of underground selectors, including Madlib, Quantic and Count Bass D, to name a few, and now comes this excellent mix from one of the City of Angels' best kept secrets, Phoreyz. Split into four different sections over 53-minutes, he kicks off with some hard-hitting break-beat soul, but Phoreyz soon heads south, with the original Bollywood track that was used for Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'," and then onto some tough Augustus Pablo and beyond. From there things get even more funky with a reggae version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" that goes into "I Bet You" by Funkadelic, and then J-Dilla (whoa...all this and weren't not even 15 minutes into the mix!). A sign of a great DJ is one who can seamlessly move through genres, and Phoreyz does this effortlessly. Soul, funk, reggae, African, Latin, psych, and hip-hop, it's all here with top-notch selections and a fevered energy that keeps things moving, every track played out for just the right amount of time so the listener can still vibe-out on each individual song. Mochilla's mix series demonstrates that the young and relatively unknown can rock a party with the best of them, but the label goes deeper than that too, consistently offering an audible, danceable connection between various diverse world musics. And it's all done with a heavy nod to the old school, cut-up way of DJing, where skills are just as important as taste. While I can highly recommend every installation of the series, Phoreyz's mix is an excellent starting point. If you're a fan of labels like Stones Throw, B-Music/Finders Keepers, Numero, Dusty Groove or Soul Jazz, or simply looking for a musical good time, this is exactly what you need. [DG]

		$13.99 CD $17.99 LP   OM God Is Good (Drag City) "Meditation Is the Practice of Death" "Cremation Ghat I" Opening with the spiritual wails of Robert "Lichens" Lowe's tamboura, there can surely be no doubting the sincerity of OM on this, their fifth full-length. Sure, they might have lost a founding member in ex-Sleep man Chris Haikus, but the band lives on and God Is Good might be their most spiritual missive to date. The group's patented stoner-rock drawl has been toned down here to some extent, and what previously may have sounded like a swim through Sunn amplified treacle is now replaced with restraint and reverence. Grails drummer and general man about town Emil Amos provides the rhythm for this revised OM lineup and does a great job of keeping things slow and propulsive. He blasts through the second half of 20-minute opener "Thebes" with an enviable conviction, giving a sterling backbone to the track, allowing Al Cicneros' guitar and vocals to erupt without interruption. The stoner metal that Cicneros and Co. put their mark on all those years ago is still audible, but now is relegated to the second division, allowing the newer more "elevated" influences to drift up into the fore. At times God Is Good feels almost meditational, and although it manages to rock pretty hard in places, it never loses that transcendental core which gives the album its power and sustenance. Whether God is actually good or not is totally down to your own personal opinion, but God Is Good is definitely very good indeed. [JT]

		$15.99 CD   LAWRENCE Until Then, Goodbye (Mule) "Jill" "In Your Eyes" After releasing the stellar Sten LP on Dial, when he could've coasted along by releasing another "standard" Lawrence album, Peter Kersten has pulled off the unexpected: reinventing himself, at a truly surprising point in his career. Three separate styles -- ambient/downtempo(?!), minimal classical(!) and minimal house -- are all explored in that typical intimate and beautiful Lawrence style, but all are pushed ever-so-slightly forward with a level of personality that goes beyond mere craft. The ambient/downtempo realm can be pretty stale these days, but with "Grey Light" and "A New Day," Kersten uses warm piano chords and/or vibes infused with (actually) emotive atmosphere to walk the acid jazz tightrope without error. Think of Move D as a reference point for these tracks' rare ability to have subtle jazz elements without sounding geriatric. The other beautiful surprise is Lawrence's exploration of minimal classical. Tracks like "Father Umbrillo" have a full-on Moondog-meets-Terry Riley vibe and "Todenhausen Blues" invokes Moondog even further with chimes, glockenspiels and melodica injected through a fresh post-rock framework. "Sleep and Suffer" is one of the best E2-E4 tributes I've heard in ages while "In Your Eyes" is a house track that paints a vast icy tundra that brings the drama WITHOUT falling into the faceless minimal trance zone. And "Jill" really shows Kersten's intimate bliss dovetailing perfectly with the gentle looping house of Omar S. With all this genre hopping you'd expect to have a bumpy ride, but Until Then... shifts through its three styles like a triptych. It's an extremely smooth and pleasant ride; the conditions are dry, hot and sunny with Force 3 winds making it perfect sailing from start to finish! An excellent job from Lawrence and a last-minute contender for top 10 electronic albums of the year. [SM]

		$10.99 CD   FOOL'S GOLD Fool's Gold (IAmSound) "Ha Dvash" "Momentary Shelter" I suppose it's crass, or at least a bit shallow, to put it this way, but in the universe of American African music groups (as opposed to African American groups, like, say, Bad Brains, or African "American-rock" bands, like, say, BLK JKS), Los Angels' Fool's Gold falls into a sweet spot between Antibalas and Vampire Weekend. Like the former, they are crafting music in a heritage that is not their own, hugely in debt to African music of the 70s, but Fool's Gold draws from a broad palette, including soukous, East African, Ethiopian jazz, and newer artists like Tinariwen and the whole Toureg blues sound as well. And like the latter, Fool's Gold have a deeply ingrained love of pop music, including "multi-cultural" groups like Talking Heads, and they craft joyful sunshine pop from the ingredients of international soul music. Fool's Gold seem to have begun as somewhat of a lark, an exuberant way for some talented musicians (and record collectors) to explore the sounds of music they love. Led by Luke Top, and Lewis Pesacov of L.A.'s indie-anthem kings Foreign Born, joined by a rotating cast including the rest of Foreign Born, and sometime members of other decidedly modern, western groups like We Are Scientists and the Fall, Fool's Gold claim to have started as a loose party band, and their sound seems to affirm that. The songs sprawl and swell, easing in hallucinogenic guitar swirls and haunting harmonics with such laidback joy, it's near impossible not to groove along, and they also take advantage of their member's long musical pedigree, with lush arrangements and complex rhythms that sound effortless. Add to this Top's beguiling singing, at least half in his native Hebrew (Top was born in Israel, and there is the subtle influence of Israeli harmonies and sounds throughout), and you get a powerful, invigorating sound that is deeper than expected, and remarkably satisfying. [JM]

		$59.99 CDx4   VARIOUS ARTISTS Where the Action Is: LA Nuggets Box Set (Rhino) "People in Me" Music Machine "Saturday's Son" Sons of Adam Rhino's 2007 San Francisco area overview Love Is the Song I Sing is the most complete document of that scene as you're likely to ever see. Now they've moved on to their own hometown with this excellent L.A. set, neatly divided into four pretty self-explanatory categories: "On the Strip," "Beyond the City," "The Studio Scene" and "New Directions." Each disc gives great, thorough views of the scene they represent, with a perfect balance of familiar and obscure (or at least obscure to most), still keeping each disc eminently listenable. This is also the first Nuggets-related box where I haven't already owned fifty percent of the material, which is always a plus. It should also be noted that I LOVE the packaging of this. The book format perfectly suits the regional series, packed with overviews of each artist, great photos, a cool timeline of L.A. music and an overview of all the important clubs. Plus, you get the added bonus of reading a book. As in: "Oh, excuse me what were you saying? I was really engrossed in this book I was reading." I've got to say, Rhino's regional Nuggets series has succeeded well beyond any hopes I had and my only question now is: Where to next? [DMa]

		$16.99 CD   R. STEVIE MOORE Me Too (Cherry Red) "First Hand" "All Well and Good" He's a gifted musical savant and the son of a legendary Nashville studio musician. He recorded a hit song with Jim Reeves when he was only seven and he issued his first home-recorded, self-released album in 1976. He is considered to be the godfather of DIY pop with luminaries such as XTC, Ariel Pink, Robert Pollard and Yo La Tengo citing him as one of their chief musical influences. So why has R. Stevie Moore wallowed in obscurity for so long, barely even registering as a blip on the indie-rock radar? It could possibly be that he is simply too prolific. Moore is said to have released some 400 albums in his lifetime, so needless to say his discography is pretty daunting. Thankfully, Cherry Red has taken on the task of filtering through some of his work in the hopes of exposing the masses to Moore's homegrown splintered pop music. This is the second R. Stevie Moore "best of" compilation that Cherry Red has released, and this edition is curated by Dave Gregory, the former guitarist of XTC. Like the aforementioned artists, Moore takes great joy in effin' around with pop conventions and he mixes-n-matches disparate styles of music at will. This whole album is a wonderful collection of cool ideas, even great ones, but Moore's natural ADD tendencies mixed with that urge to mess with the form can sometimes leave songs sounding half-finished and jokey, which can be frustrating. "All Well and Good" could be an amazing, heartfelt, acoustic breakup ballad if it weren't for the throwaway honky-tonk verses. "Outpatient" starts off as a brilliant Neil Young-styled snapshot ode to a hospital stay, and then it devolves into a bizarre prank call skit to a fictitious record company executive. It's a shame, because when it all comes together -- like on the fuzzy, power-pop album opener "Play," the new wave-tinged "First Hand" and the quirky CSNY tribute "The Whereabouts" -- Moore's pop songwriting genius can't be denied. On the whole, his music is never boring and he's a true American original who deserves to be respected for his uncompromising vision. Even if you are a passing fan of any of the aforementioned artists, you definitely need to familiarize yourself with R. Stevie Moore, and this is a great place to start. [DH]

		$12.99 CD   THE AVETT BROTHERS I and Love and You (American) "I and Love and You" "Slight Figure of Speech" Alas, the title of the new Avett's drop does not signify a left-field shift into roots.rock.reggae for the boys from Concord, North Cackalack. This disc, as with their previous outings and powerful live performances, is sending critics scurrying to coin such cringe-worthy handles to describe their music as "grungegrass." Meanwhile, Avetts Scott and Seth and their honorary sibling, bassist Bob Crawford, are fundamentally no different from the myriad artists of the late modern/postmodern New South I have sought to champion: they ken the game is to balance the regional strengths that spawned American roots music with stylistic notions from beyond the Afrolachian trail. This young, still-ascendant Piedmont trio has emerged from youthful post-punk and acoustic experimentation to figure out how to make the "grown up" album that connects far wider than their cult -- so this one effectively sums up all lessons learned between Mignonette and Emotionalism. It's a major label move meant to retain esoteric meanings, judging by the cover art of careworn woman-of-a-certain-age and Yorick's skull. From the tinkling opening notes of the title track followed by the swooning sweep of "January Wedding" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise," it's clear we're no longer on a Merlefest stage hopping with the raw, anarchic energy that put the Avetts on the map and subsequently yielded them sold-out Irving Plaza shows. Producer Rick Rubin does not employ the crash helmet he brings to play with Jay-Z but dons instead the Phrygian cap he once summoned to work with veterans Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond (of course the trick is whether I and I acts as breakthrough akin to Blood Sugar Sex Magik). Although the fuller ragged harmonies and staccato rhythms resurface on "And It Spread," I and I Love You is meant to be the Avetts' most beautifully burnished song craft album writ-large, and early spins suggest they may just succeed in attaining that Mountaintop. [KCH]

		$15.99 CD $19.99 LP $9.99 MP3   RAMESES III I Could Not Love You More (Type) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store With releases on Important, Digitalis, and now Type Records, we've heard some great music over the past several years from Rameses III, but this may be my favorite album yet from the London trio. The dream-inducing I Could Not Love You More seamlessly combines acoustic shoegaze and organic ambience into fully composed songs, all the while engaging the listener with their breathtaking soundscapes. Neatly sidestepping the yawn-inducing trappings of generic ambient music, Rameses III offers Eno-esque depths of sonic narratives, exploring a tacit ebullience in a shimmering, enveloping haze. Using guitar, piano and Mellotron, the beguiling atmosphere throughout is unique, effortlessly blurring together the seemingly disparate influences of American primitive guitarists and eighties British sound sculptors like Cocteau Twins. Similar to Mountains, Rameses III are breaking new ground for the post-rock set, delineating the introspective composition of such enchanting music. I Could Not Love You More is an engrossing listen from start to finish, easily maintaining harmony while the trio simultaneously build sound through tension and release. A must have for fans of the aforementioned Mountains, Stars of the Lid, Helios, Eno, and even Terry Riley. [BCa]

		$17.99 CD   THE LOST & FOUND Everybody's Here w/ Bonus Tracks (Snapper / Charly) "Forever Lasting Plastic Words" "I Realize" The impact that the 13th Floor Elevators had on the Texas rock scene in the late '60s was as large as the state itself, and much like the Golden Dawn's Power Plant album the Lost & Found record can really only be evaluated within the context of the Elevators. The story goes that the Lost & Found (then going by the name the Misfits) were profoundly affected by one of the Elevators' early Houston gigs, and it was through their friendship with Roky and the gang that they came into the International Artists fold. By the time they were ready to record for IA they had changed the name of the group to the Lost & Found (possibly because of a drug bust that the band were involved in, but who knows). Pretty much all of their moves are copped from the Elevators. Heavy Dylan vibes as well as mutated blues riffs and Peter Black's vocals get so Roky-ified in a few points that it can be a little too close for comfort, but for the most part if you can accept the whole premise, there is a lot of slash-and-burn psych-action awaiting you. The album opener, "Forever Lasting Plastic Words," is a great mind warp and the record doesn't really let up as even the blues numbers have a slow burn intensity. And their cover of the Elevators' "Don't Fall Down" is just enough of a curve ball to keep the smiles coming. The three bonus tracks (one of which, "25 MPH" appeared on the IA Epitaph for a Legend compilation) are all worthwhile but "When Will You Come Through" is outstanding, certainly making a case for the band being ready to emerge from the Elevators' shadow and leaving you wishing that they made a second record. And while I would never recommend that you dive right in if you haven't already been swimming in the deep end of the Elevators' pool, I would say that if you've already digested at least the three main Elevators albums then there is more than enough here to warrant your time and attention. [DMa] On a related note and as a public service announcement to our readers, we highly recommend that any Elevators obsessive check out the mail-order only (not from us) 10-CD set Sign of the 3 Eyed Men. It rules, in every way. -Ed.

		$17.99 CD   ENDLE ST. CLOUD Thank You All Very Much w/ Bonus Tracks (Snapper) "Tell Me One More Time" "Laughter" After the break up of the Lost & Found, guitarist Peter Black hooked up with Mr. St. Cloud and some other Texas freaks to form a new band. Originally billed as Endle St. Cloud in the Rain, "Tell Me One More Time (What's Happening To Our World)" -- their debut 7" for International Artists (both sides of the single included here) -- is a top 100 heavy-psych classic with overdriven fuzz guitar, a busy, pounding beat and great, gruff vocals that establishes the group as something close to a Texas version of the Edgar Broughton Band. When it came time for their full LP, they shortened their name a bit. I wonder why as they don't seem all that concerned with making things easy. On that tip every song has a little intro that has St. Cloud tinkling away on the piano and spouting nonsense that must have seemed pretty heavy to the terminally stoned. As it stands now the record is weighted down a bit by those intros, but modern technology has provided us with an out, as all of the tracks are fully indexed so you can program them out or make a playlist that skips the fluff. Then it's all good times as they really do have a pretty killer heavy psych album hidden between all of that. [DMa]

		$13.99 CD   RSD Good Energy (Punch Drunk) "Forward Youth" "Speeka Box" Rob Smith is best known -- or should I say best remembered -- as one-half of Smith & Mighty; during the nineties the Bristol production duo were an integral part of the music scene that birthed Massive Attack, Portishead, and the like. Since then he has all but fallen off the radar, releasing only the occasional 12" single, but his new project, RSD, marks a solid return -- and reintroduction -- to his soulful, organic, reggae-influenced brand of production. Good Energy is exactly that, a collection of 13 feel-good songs that bridge dubstep with drum-n-bass. Unlike the current string of dubstep producers on the scene, Smith offers a positive, almost uplifting angle and stride to these driving, streamlined tracks, in contrast to the dark, cavernous, stark style that has become synonymous with the genre -- imagine the melodic, pastoral top layer of drum-n-bass floating above a rolling stream of solid and weighty rhythms. Smith & Mighty always embraced the Rasta philosophy and here with titles like "Love of Jah Light" and "Forward Youth," you get a sense that Smith's beliefs haven't wavered. RSD's closest contemporary would have to be Skream, as both producers' music displays the heavy influence of dub but presented with much more stride and earthiness. This is the perfect marriage of past and present, and doesn't sound dated at all; instead Smith's matured ear and skills have enabled him to present a refreshing take on the homegrown scene he helped cultivate. Feeling instantly soothing and soulful yet tough and solid, Good Energy is great from start to finish. A steppa's delight for sure! [DG]

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   KING CANNIBAL Let the Night Roar (Ninja Tune) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Those of us of a certain age (and probably from a certain country) have very particular memories about jungle music. One minute it was a mish mash of influences throwing rave stabs over dub loops, then almost without warning things got jazzy. Probably as a reaction to this, a certain cell started to take things darker, and as jungle traded places with drum and bass, the drums got deeper and the bass got razor sharp. Suddenly I was out every weekend searching for new Renegade Hardware or Virus 12"s, desperate for the grimmest samples and the most cutting bass. Drum and bass had become the new heavy metal, and for a short time it worked. Fast forward ten years and where drum and bass withered and died, dubstep grew in its wake and King Cannibal is the genre's latest exponent primed to take things darker and harder than we may have heard before. It's hardly a surprise then that this album's first proper track (and the first single) is a nostalgic look back to the Renegade Hardware days of yore with its reverberating hoover bass, steppin' riddim and "I wanna slice your face" sample. Like Zomby's Where Were You In '92, this is nostalgia with a twist and nicely sets the tone for an onslaught of ragga-infused dubstep with a merciless dark edge. Comparisons to fellow Ninja Tuner the Bug are almost inevitable, but where Kevin Martin's industrial ragga seemed primed for Carnival excess, Dylan Richards takes a markedly more aggro direction. These tracks, filled with sounds seemingly gleaned from torture porn movies, are as dark as "dance" music really tends to get, and while dubstep has shown the world that boys really do like to sway in dimly lit rooms to doomy tunes, King Cannibal is as bleak as his moniker suggests. Like Cloaks and Vex'd before him, his fan base could be made up of jaded doom metallers just as easily as the usual steppers, but then there's a techno swing his peers are missing. Just flip over to the shuffling "So... Embrace the Minimum" for Richards' take on the 2562 sound -- a dubby house-tempo piece that gets my choice as the album highlight. Elsewhere we're treated to the Milanese-esque "Dirt" and "Colder Still" and the hard-as-nails "A Shining Force," and you'll wonder why you ever doubted the power and violence of music. It might not be too original and might hark back to a part of the '90s some would prefer to forget, but Dylan Richards can rock the darker end of the spectrum like few others in the genre. And just in time for Halloween too... [JT]

		$15.99 CD   PEANUT BUTTER WOLF 45 Live: A Classic Rap Mix (Five Day Weekend) "Old School" Busy Bee "Jimbrowski" Jungle Brothers Revered producer, deejay, record collector and Stones Throw CEO Chris Manak (a/k/a Peanut Butter Wolf) is a man who has a serious love-jones for this thing called hip-hop. It's where he found his identity as a pre-teen growing up in San Jose, CA., spending his afternoons in the early-'80s with his transistor radio tuned to the faint transmissions of legendary L.A. hip-hop station KDAY. Wolf is world-renowned for his musically diverse, technically perfect DJ sets that seem to know no musical boundaries, and also for his extensive collection of original hip-hop 45s. On this set he strings together a seamless mix, highlighting his favorite tunes from that collection which had such a monumental influence on his life. And it comes complete with track-by-track insights from Mr. Manak in the liner notes. Like Stones Throw's eccentric roster -- J Dilla, Gary Wilson, Dam Funk, Madvillian and Madlib, a deeply diverse group who nonetheless share a grimy, dirty yet distinctly funky sound -- the same could be said for the tracks here that Wolf selected. Whether it be the mid-tempo, sparse, angel-dusted disco rap of the Peter Brown-produced Tricky Tee, Spoonie G and Universal Two tunes, or the sharp machinegun, proto-industrial Marley Marl-produced tracks by Dimples D and MC Shan, it all swings and sounds about as sweet as radish-flavored soda pop. The so-called "golden era" of hip-hop ('79-'89) is the main focus here, and for good reason. That was the time when the sounds, the beats and the attitude of the inner city sounded revolutionary. It was the sound of a parallel universe that most people didn't know existed, but for many young, suburban misfits, including one bored, music-obsessed teen from San Jose, it came to define their identity. And it's all sliced-n-diced to perfection here; I think I need to burn this disc to a 90-minute Maxell tape and blast it on an RX-7000 ghetto blaster and scare some suits on the train. Just for old school's sake. [DH]

		$12.99 CD $9.99 MP3   WHY? Eskimo Snow (Anticon) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store I managed to see Why? in concert for the first time just after his debut Oaklandazulasylum appeared in 2003, and was surprised to see a full band in attendance, swelling his lo-fi hip-hop/indie jams into expanded "songs". It worked, and since then Why? has morphed from the solo excursion of Yoni Wolf into a full band, full time. Their sound has shifted with it, moving into unapologetic indie rock territory, with Eskimo Snow being their most traditional "rock" record to date. It was recorded at the same time as last year's Alopecia, but where that album still managed to keep some semblance of the older Why? sound, Eskimo Snow is made up of straight-up songs, and to my mind is all the better for it. Where Alopecia seemed to bridge a gap between the sounds, Eskimo Snow is all the way there, and while some fans will no doubt miss the old Wolf, it's nice to see him writing straight-up indie like "Against Me" backed with the band he primed in live shows all those years ago. Thankfully there's still a peculiar, hazy, other-worldly sound to Why?, but it's not from choppy electronic trickery; it's simply from Wolf's typically abstract delivery and peculiarly inviting tones. Wolf sounds unlike anyone else, and his songwriting has improved markedly over the last near-decade, reaching a point where it takes a good few listens to really get what he's on about. Who knows, maybe this will be the album that finally scores him the fan base he deserves -- this is pop music how it really should be. [JT]

		$16.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Psych Funk 101 - A Global Psychedelic Funk Curriculum (World Psychedelia) "Su Derenin" Husnu Ozkartal Orkestrasi "Aanadk Baharia Ya Rayess" Wadih Essafi The proliferation of comps like this is one of the great things about the modern era, since even back in the day, residents of the countries featured here (Turkey, Lebanon, Nigeria, Greece, Ethiopia, Italy, Iran, Egypt, South Korea) were mostly oblivious to these records and most of the artists who made them, let alone somebody in the US in the '70s looking for something "funky" to buy for their next party. There is a lot of amazing music on this album, although to my ears it also serves as a demonstration of how terms like "psych" and "funk" have come to mean whatever crate diggers, record dealers and compilation makers want them to mean. Quite a few intriguing tracks here don't seem to have much to do with either, although the "academic" motif running throughout the rather excellent liner notes strives to put them all in those contexts. So buy this because it really opens a window on "underground" Global Village culture of the '70s, and don't necessarily expect an equivalent of early Funkadelic on Westbound sung in an array of foreign languages. And buy it because it is great music. [GC]

		$9.99 CD $11.99 LP   THEE OH SEES Dog Poison (Captured Tracks) "Fake Song" "The Sun Goes All Around" Oh sorry, did you look away for a second and miss a couple Oh Sees releases? Me too, and frankly I've lost count of how many records they've put out this year, and when you take into account that some of them have the full band line-up and some are just John Dwyer playing all of the instruments himself, it seems like we need someone to step in and sort it out for us. I nominate that blogging-grapher guy at the New York Times. Anyway, while that all gets sorted out we can kick back and actually enjoy this new Oh Sees record, as it's a short blast of catchy songs that seems to try to relocate the early Who to modern day San Francisco. Dog Poison does appear to be just Mr. Dwyer but all of the tracks are fleshed out, full-band style (even the flute that turned heads on Help is making another appearance or two here), with the fidelity meter somewhere between the lo-fi screech of Zork's Tape Bruise and the relatively clean, aforementioned Help. This might not be for everyone, but if you were thinking you've been over-saturated with Oh Sees material, hold that thought, as I think you'll find more than enough room for this record after just one listen. [DMa]

		$9.99 CD $13.99 LP $9.99 MP3   THE BEETS Spit in the Face of People Who Don't Want to Be Cool (Captured Tracks) "My Bones, My Flesh & Me" "Go Away" Man, things are worse than I thought. You know it's gotten really bad when bands are being priced out of Brooklyn, left with no option but for retreat into the wilds of Queens in order to find affordable rent. Wait, I'm hearing that the Beets may actually be FROM Queens. As in, their parents lived there, so they did too -- maybe still under the same roof in some cases. While I can't confirm whether these Beets have left the hive yet, it seems to matter less and less the more I listen to this new LP. The lo-fi, echo-drenched aesthetic has become something of a go-to lately, and parallels can be drawn to current local jangle-darlings Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, and Cause Co-motion. However, the Beets are cutting an even cruder path through the brush, using similar tools, but winding up a mile or two down the road from where the rest of the party ended up, triumphantly emerging with tattered, beer-soaked map in hand. That is to say, there's a certain naive, unrefined charm here that buys them a lot of time and credit. While we're certainly not lacking for bands playing a slopped-out garage-folk hand these days, there's a refreshing sense of purity and, more importantly, real joy and FUN here, that effectively insulates it from any attempts at hating. If this kind of thing had even the slightest whiff of irony or calculation the spell would be broken, and you'd be beside yourself with anger and disgust. Instead, the Beets carry it off in the same way the Television Personalities or the Pastels turned a shambling racket into something lovable and endearing, creating one of the more inspired messes I've heard in a great while. Make a joyful noise. [JTr]

		Hyperdub 5.1 $11.99 12-inch Hyperdub 5.2 $11.99 12-inch   VARIOUS ARTISTS Hyperdub 5.1 EP (Hyperdub) VARIOUS ARTISTS Hyperdub 5.2 EP (Hyperdub) Sometimes reviews take care of themselves; for these ultra-limited fifth anniversary 12"s, Hyperdub pulled out all the stops, and you ought to pull out your wallet, or you are guaranteed to miss them, and regret it. 5.1 EP A: Kode9 feat. The Spaceape - "Time Patrol" AA1: Black Chow - "Purple Smoke" AA2: Flying Lotus - "Disco Balls" 5.2 EP A: Joker & Ginz - "Stash" AA1: Zomby - "Tarantula" AA2: Samiyam - "Roller Skates"

		$15.99 CD   MELVINS Chicken Switch (Ipecac) Melvins -- the remixes? Not exactly a beat-driven re-imagining (thank God, or Buzz, or whomever), Melvins asked some of their favorite board-operators to take a pass at the back catalog, and the results are as brain-tickling and perplexing as you might imagine. Includes: Eye Yamatsuka, Christoph Heeman, v/vm. Matmos, Lee Ranaldo, Merzbow, Speedranch, Panacea, Sunroof, John Duncan and more.

		$13.99 CD $15.99 LP   GARY HIGGINS Seconds (Drag City) "Mr. Blew" "Demons" Gary Higgins' 1973 stoner-folk opus Red Hash was pretty much ignored in its own time, but eventually that minor masterpiece came to be revered by the sort of folks who revere stoner-folk, and Drag City kindly gave the sought-after LP a proper reissue. This raised profile has enabled Higgins to cobble together a follow-up from tracks written throughout the last 35 years, and no surprise, the hazy innocence of his debut has been misplaced, never to be heard from again. The folk-rock of Seconds is something else, more world-weary, and inevitably, not quite as charming.

		$11.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Definitive Jux Presents IV (Definitive Jux) "Look Alive" Despot A mix of new stuff you are dying for, new stuff you've already been leaked, and a few recent hits from the Def Jux stable, including great tracks from the Weathermen, El-P, Mr. Lif, Rob Sonic, Camu Tao (RIP), Cage, Y@k Ballz and the rest of the crew.

		$13.99 CD   SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Temporary Pleasure (Wichita) Another raver from these indie kids turned dancefloor kingpins, who craft hands-in-the-air party music for folks who generally prefer to watch a video (foreign film, natch) at home with some Thai takeout. More influences than you can shake a stick at, from every corner of the world, and guest vocals from a wide swath, including Yeasayer's Chris Keating, Beth Ditto, Gruff Rhys, Jamie Lidell and Telepathe.

		$11.99 CD   LA ROUX La Roux (Interscope) "In for the Kill" The Brit electro-pop sensation's Mercury Prize-nominated debut finally makes it to U.S, shores at a nice(er) domestic price. This is pop music one thousand percent, of the early-'80s electro variety, thin, squelchy, and pretty much fun if you roll like that. Don't buy it for innovation, but if you like to dance in the mirror or prance at the gym, this may be what you need.

		$13.99 CD   CYMBALS EAT GUITARS Why There Are Mountains (Sister's Den) "And the Hazy Sea" "Living North" In case you forgot to leave the house or check your inbox in the last five years, here's a quick briefing: the nineties are back. "But wait," you say, "didn't those just happen?!?" Well, yeah...kinda. But, hey, don't shoot the messenger! I mean, just last week I read that people are pegging their pants again. Pegging their pants! What's a guy gotta do to stay ahead of the curve these days, tuck in his sweater?! At least I've still got my old Air Jordans in the closet (still a hot sneaker), so that's one less trip to the thrift store, I suppose. Cymbals Eat Guitars may be the musical equivalent of this street fashion continuum. True, the aughts have been no stranger to the nineties thus far in terms of musical reference points/recycling. Already we've seen the resuscitation of bedroom lo-fi (see the Beets review, further down) and drum 'n bass (see dubstep) as viable genres, so it only makes sense that emo would follow. Wait! Where are you going?! No, NOT the piped-in atrocities you hear shopping at Foodtown (insert Wholefoods here if you live in Manhattan) cranked out by Fall-Out Boy's whiny teenage zombie spawn. No, I'm thinking of a very specific strain of strained singer, falling out of J. Mascis' hair and tumbling on down the line through the vocal shrapnel and sickly guitar squall of Archers of Loaf, right on up to Jersey's own reigning kings of chaos, Titus Andronicus. To break it down further, this one sips a lot like a Midwestern vintage, circa '97. I'm sensing some strong Cap 'n Jazz overtones in both the urgent, cracked-vocal delivery and the noodly, Peter Buck in a dogfight with himself, interplay of the guitars. The brooding, dynamic drama of early Cursive seems like an obvious reference point as well, as the band utilize the crescendo to frequent, and great effect. But above all, I think what I'm picking up on is the same urgency and youthful sense of discovery these bands were able to so successfully convey -- the excitement of listening to a group tap into the collective conscious of the moment (fear, hope, uncertainty) and channel it into something productive and new. [JTr]

		$17.99 LP 180 Gram Vinyl $13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   THE FEELIES Crazy Rhythms (Bar/None) "Forces at Work" "Fa Ce-La" Finally!! After many years of unavailability, the classic debut album by influential rockers the Feelies is reissued to coincide with the group's recent reformation and resurgence in popularity. I'm not going to get too deep into the history lesson here -- you can look that up elsewhere if you don't already know -- but let's say this: Crazy Rhythms was, and in many ways still is, an album whose influence is on the magnitude of classics like Metal Box, Unknown Pleasures, Damaged, Hatful of Hollow, Zen Arcade, and Power, Corruption & Lies. All of these records in their own ways greatly influenced and changed the landscape of rock and pop music in the 1980s, sewing the seeds for what became the "college" rock/radio-oriented underground scene in America. The Feelies' debut is a taut electric wire, seething with a nervous energy and friction perhaps not so evident on wax since Richard Hell's Blank Generation album -- a connection which was made even more explicit when director Susan Seidelman used many of Crazy Rhythms's songs and had the band score her 1982 film Smithereens, which starred Richard Hell! The songs on Crazy Rhythms are prime examples of the itchy, twitchy anxiety felt by most residents of the Tri-State area (or was that all of America?) at the turn of that decade, personified in titles like "The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness." The guitar interplay between Bill Million and Glenn Mercer, dry as a bone and just as tough, updates Marquee Moon's pyrotechnics for the no-frills post-punk mentality, and the bass and drum interplay between Keith De Nunzio and Anton Fier is the glue that holds the record together and moves its kinetic frenzy forward. It's not funky at all, but damn, it MOVES. For a debut album, the dynamism on display, not to mention the overall quality of the songs, is astonishing; the band's lineup would change shortly thereafter, and the unique magic conjured on this record would evolve six years later into the droning, jangly hex of The Good Earth. Crazy Rhythms is an essential cornerstone in the history of independent rock, and is pretty much what one would consider prerequisite listening. Essential. [IQ] Rather than load the reissue with bonus tracks, to maintain the integrity of the original vision, the CD and LP versions comes with download card for bonus tracks which include the single version of "Fa cé-La" originally released on Rough Trade; Carla Bley demo versions of "The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness" and "Moscow Nights;" plus a live version of "Crazy Rhythms" and a live cover of Modern Lovers' "I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms," both recorded earlier this year at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club.

		$17.99 LP 180 Gram Vinyl $13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   THE FEELIES The Good Earth (Bar/None) "On the Roof" "The Good Earth" When the Feelies returned six years after Crazy Rhythms with The Good Earth, things were very different. Gone were the thorny electric tangles of the debut, instead replaced by a streamlined acoustic sound, still retaining that rhythmic pulse, but beating at an entirely more relaxed pace. The album was produced by Feelies leaders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million along with noted disciple Peter Buck, better known as the guitarist of REM, by then one of America's biggest and most highly regarded underground/college rock bands, and on the verge of their first top-ten hit. The original frenetic rhythm section was gone, replaced by Stanley Demeski on drums (who'd later joined another noted American band, Luna), with bass duties by Brenda Sauter and additional percussion by Dave Weckerman. The difference between the two versions of the group, and the albums they created, is really quite astonishing, but the acoustic jangle and more subdued vocals seem to make perfect sense -- it would be hard to believe that the band was STILL, after all that time, as tense, wound-up, and frazzled as they had been at their outset. The newfound maturity seemed to suit them perfectly, and their stylistic move from the dirty, claustrophobic confines of city life to the more spacious dangers of the suburbs and country infused the songs with a different kind of tension. While I wouldn't say that The Good Earth is as game-changing an album as Crazy Rhythms, it's a fantastic record, and is one-hundred percent worth your attention -- after all, this is the lineup of the band that continues to perform in present times, and that says quite a lot. There is a powerful magic to the quiet reflection that follows extremely intense experiences, and that's exactly what this album delivers. It is, in a word, stunning. [IQ] Like the Crazy Rhythms reissue, the CD and LP come with a download card which will get you three bonus tracks: A cover of the Beatles' "She Said, She Said" and Neil Young's "Sedan Delivery" (both originally appeared on the No One Knows vinyl EP) and "Slipping (Into Something)," recorded earlier this year at DC's 9:30 Club.

		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 [BCa] Brian Cassidy [GC] Greg Caz [DG] Daniel Givens [DH] Duane Harriott [KCH] Kandia Crazy Horse [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [JM] Josh Madell [DMa] Dave Martin [SM] Scott Mou [JTr] Jonathan Treneff [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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