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Other Music Digital Affiliate Program We are very excited to be launching our new Affiliate Program. You can earn money by sending your web traffic to Other Music Digital for downloads. Click here for more details. This Week's Free Song Downloads When Dylan LeBlanc performed earlier this year on the acoustic stage at the Other Music/Dig For Fire SXSW Lawn Party, all we really knew about him was that Geoff Travis had signed the 20-year-old Louisiana native to Rough Trade -- that was enough for us to book him. LeBlanc was probably the biggest, best surprise of the weekend, a mesmerizing singer/songwriter whose forthcoming album, Paupers Field, hits stores on August 24 and features guest vocals from Emmylou Harris. Available this week as a free download, "If Time Was for Wasting" is one of the many highlights on a terrific debut that will surely mark the arrival of a great new artist. Dylan LeBlanc In-Store Performance Free song download of "Vague," from Donna Regina's new full-length, The Decline of Female Happiness, out Friday, July 23 on Karaoke Kalk. The Cologne-based husband-wife duo of Regina and Gunther Janssen have been crafting warm, shuffling electronic pop for over two decades now, and like their more recent albums, the new record sees the band utilizing more acoustic instruments and embracing subtle elements of dusty Americana and '70s AOR into their gorgeously bittersweet songs. This Week's Featured Downloads A couple of weeks back we reviewed Light in the Attic's incredible CD reissue of Gabor Szabo's Jazz Raga, the famed Hungarian guitar player's extraordinary exploration of sitar-jazz, which he recorded for Impulse in 1966. Fast forward two years and we find him on the short-lived independent Skye label, a cooperative started by musician/composers Szabo, Cal Tjader, and Gary McFarland to release their own work. Dreams was Szabo's first release for the label, and to my ears is his finest record, being both ambitious and accessible in equal measure. Tinged by night, with a palpably subdued and exotic vibe, Szabor is most noticeably accompanied by the extraordinary drum and percussion work of masters Jim Keltner and Hal Blaine. Serpentine guitar patterns and lovely melodies wind their way through modal excursions that breathe and expand in space, making every single song here instantly memorable. -Michael Klausman
The arrival of this early-'90s indie rock compilation couldn't have been better timed, what with bands like Pavement and Unrest proving to be some of the hottest tickets of this summer's concert season. But I doubt that Mark Griffey, the curator of this collection, had a calculated interest in capitalizing on any sort of music revival; for the past half-dozen years, he has been honoring all-but-forgotten bands from the indie era, and preserving their memory with a series of Nuggets-styled compilations. His first comp arrived well before this recent history had achieved any sort of mass nostalgia, and the third volume of his Tiny Idols series is the first one he's made available as mp3s -- I imagine this is the first time that many of these groups will be heard in iPod earbuds. Most of the releases come from now-defunct micro-labels (Slumberland, Carrot Top and SpinArt being obvious exceptions) and a glance at the track listing brings back memories of skimming through music reviews in the back of an old issue of Magnet -- and with 22 songs, it's as musically diverse too. The propulsive, acoustic jangle of Small Factory's "What to Want" leads into the skewered art-pop of "Sugar Juice" from Gainesville, FL's Vacation Bible School (a spin-off of Meringue), and soon after comes Archer Prewitt's pre-Sea and Cake Coctails with "2000" from their Peel album. The chiming dream pop of Poole's "Loon" may be reminiscent to some of Lilys' "Any Place I've Lived," not surprising as both groups shared Harry Evans, and we also find another Lilys connection with Fudge, who counted Kurt Heasley as a member for a short time. There are a few other offshoot groups here as well: Providence, RI's HoneyBunch, whose Jeffey Underhill would co-found Velvet Crush, and Bellingham, WA's Crayon, a group that eventually begat twee indie poppers Tullycraft. Most notable for many, however, will be the inclusion of an early track from Aleka's Attic, a group led by River Phoenix with his sister Rain (as well Joshua McKay, who would go on to form Macha) -- a rare exception to the usually embarrassing musical pursuits of movie stars, the lilting communal pop of this song is one of the few available artifacts of the band, with most of their recorded work still held up in a major label's vaults. Tiny Idols comes with great liners featuring informative notes about each band, available as a PDF file -- just email info@othermusic.com after your album purchase. -Gerald Hammill
Man, what can you say about this classic record beyond the fact that it's simply one of the finest pop albums ever created? I've no doubt listened to this LP hundreds upon hundreds of times, and it's startling how the immediacy of these perfectly crafted gems never flags. It's weird, though, how popular interest in this album seems to wax and wane, but honestly, there's no time like the summer to invest (or reinvest) in the glorious infection of this pop masterpiece. Admittedly, they never quite reached the heights of these recordings on subsequent releases, but with perfectly realized songs like "Girls Don't Like It," "Teenage Kicks," "Here Comes the Summer," and "Get Over You," how could they have? -Michael Klausman In Parts & Labor and even Rhys Chatham's guitar army, Sarah Lipstate has managed to poke her double-necked guitar above a sea of noise with a sprawling sonic landscape of delightful drone; working with unusual tunings and a dense array of pedals, Listate's guitar is one of the most distinct, and distinctly interesting in Brooklyn and beyond. Lately Lipstate's main musical focus has been her solo project as Noveller, and her second full-length shows a quieter, more dynamic side to this young artist. From the onset, Desert Fires is inviting to curious ears; a flickering of notes chase each other along the rumbling low end drone, drawing the listener into the "Toothnest" only to die out and be reborn in a soup of warm distortion of the succeeding track. This is the sound of calm after a night of raging bonfires, as the sun is just starting to rise over the horizon, the desert still cool and the distance but a blur of the evening that was and the day that shall be. There are moments where the sounds of this album slow time to a crawl and the listener lingers alongside each delayed note, lost in the density of the sound and the emotions that echo throughout the space created. Even at its most ferocious, the overdriven guitar growls are playful and restrained, pulsing breaths that accent the swirl of sounds as they wash over one like the first tide of the day. At just under 35 minutes, this is an experience that fades out as quickly as it snuck in, leaving the listener ever wanting more. -Sean Lovelace We were very saddened upon learning of the passing of reggae/dancehall pioneer Sugar Minott (born Lincoln Barrington Minott), who died over the weekend at the age of 54. The Jamaican-born singer left behind a great discography of work, Wicked Ago Feel It being one of his classics, recorded at the Wackie's Studio in the Bronx with the notable production team of Lloyd "Bullwackies" Barnes, Douglas Levy and Junior Delahaye applying the shine. By 1984, when Wicked Ago Feel It was originally released, Minott was already a significant name in Jamaican music having released a pair of LPs that many consider to be the first contemporary dancehall records, running the respected Black Roots label, and recording a string of hits that helped push Studio One back in the forefront. For a good percentage of his early-'80s work, Minott crossed over into the lovers rock territory, and here this style is most prevalent. True to Wackie's signature raw sound (and accompanied by the main members of Itopia along with piano maestro Jackie Mittoo), the bass is deep with an occasional synth providing playful counter-melodies, and a light touch of echo and crisp drums laying a heady but soulful foundation. The backing voices offer sensuous harmonies as Minott sings love songs laced with positive messages of Rastafarian hope and equality and some political undertones. The title track feels like an old spiritual put through a wonderful wash of dub, while "Good Thing Going," a Michael Jackson cover which had previously landed Minott a UK hit, is re-worked again in Wackie's-style. This record also includes the full-vocal versions of Minott's songs featured on the dub album African Roots Act 3. All in all, a great introduction to a legendary voice who will be sorely missed. -Gerald Hammill
It blows our collective minds to think how blessed we are in this age of reissues to continually have treasures come back to light. The case of mysterious reggae producer Keith Hudson is a prime example. We simply cannot get enough of this man and his vision of Jamaican music. Informed by American rock and its diabolical underbelly, Hudson continually showed a dark sound in stark contrast to the sunny-ness one usually associates with the genre. Not surprisingly, such a malefic insight didn't always play well to the populace, and his work had greatly fallen by the wayside. The start of the renaissance began with his Pick A Dub on Blood & Fire, which is a stone-cold classic dub set. And now we have two other dub workouts available as downloads from the man known as "The Dark Prince of Reggae." Pressure Sounds originally released Brand over a decade ago, but it quickly slipped out of print due to some licensing squabbles. That cleared, they do us yet another solid and also reissue another dub showcase from 1979, Nuh Skin Up. Both of these albums are in the same vein as Pick A Dub, austere workouts focused on guitar, bass, and drums, with nary a wacky (or stoned) sound effect in sight. Instead, these are tough cuts, slyly revealing the interplay between all components. Needless to say, these are crucial collections, furthering our portrait of the man, while also keeping his mystery wholly intact. -Adrian Burkholder
Pressure Sounds unearths another gem from Lee Perry's Black Ark era. Native were Wayne and Brian Jobson, two British brothers who had migrated to Jamaica and settled in St. Ann's Parish, the same area where Burning Spear was born. The Jobsons caught the ear of Perry, who began work on their album in the late 70s and, in true Upsetter style, torched his studio before the sessions had been completed. But with encouragement from some high profile friends (Vivian Goldman, John Lydon, Joe Higgs, Errol Thompson, Chris Blackwell, among others), the Jobson Brothers continued on with their record and it would finally find release on the Arista label. This great, mysterious slice of reggae finds the former Brits digging deep into their new homeland, and is on par with Perry's work with the Congos, though it has a different feel than the producer's bubbly, rubber band-style productions. Rockstone is deep, moody and dark, and dripping with Perry eccentricities; musically speaking, it has a lot in common with Keith Hudson. Native's vocal delivery and lyrics are grounded in the observer style, a knowledgeable outsider's stance, watching the masses and commenting on the trials and tribulations at hand (check the songs "In a Strange Land," "In the Land of Make Believe," and "Meet Mr. Nobody"). A few versions are included here as well to stretch out the musical journey. Recommended not only for the Lee Perry faithful, but for all lovers of deep reggae music. -Daniel Givens
Somewhat obscure bossa nova release from the early 60s by singer Ana Lucia, comprised of twelve perfectly moving and haunting songs. Nicola Conte included one of these tunes, the stunning "Balanco do Mar," on that great Brazilian mix he put together a couple of years ago, and the rest of this record is more of the same. Lucia is a really strong singer, with a voice infused with a lovely, hushed pathos. Oscar Castro Neves provides the quite clever and tasteful string arrangements, keeping the melodrama to a bare minimum, while the core of the music is provided by the always stellar and inventive Zimbo Trio. This album just exudes loveliness throughout, and most definitely deserves to better known. Take a moment to sample the opening track and I assure you you'll be hooked. -Michael Klausman |
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