The Other Music Update

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	May 16, 2013


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES David Lang Vår Coyote Clean Up Vampire Weekend Small Black Mikal Cronin Rich Ristagno Eglo Records Vol. 1 (Various Artists) Harafin So (Various Artists)		ALSO AVAILABLE Ariel Pink Skogen Brinner Angel Olsen Yeti Magazine #13 Ugly Things Magazine #35 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Customer of the Month Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/othermusic

		WIN A LIMITED EDITION HANNI EL KHATIB LP Hanni El Khatib's brand new album, Head in the Dirt, is on store shelves and has been hailed as his breakthrough, and the San Francisco-based garage rocker seems to be well on his way to joining greats like Jack White and the Black Keys (whose Dan Auerbach produced the record) as a modern blues-rock figurehead. Other Music is giving away a very limited edition LP of Head in the Dirt to two lucky winners; this custom handmade version is pressed on tri-color red, white and blue vinyl with die-cut sleeves and only 100 were manufactured worldwide. Email contest@othermusic.com for your chance to win one of the copies!!

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		TICKET GIVEAWAY TO FRIDAY'S SOLD OUT !!! SHOW Funky purveyors of dance-punk, !!! are back with Thr!!!er, their best album of their career, and will be celebrating with a live performance at the Bowery Ballroom this Friday, May 17th, with Sinkane opening the night. As you can probably guess, the show is sold out but Other Music has a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky person. To enter for your chance to win, email tickets@othermusic.com. FRIDAY, MAY 17 BOWERY BALLROOM: 6 Delancey St. NYC

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		WIN TICKETS TO THE BUNKER FEAT: MAGIC MOUNTAIN HIGH (MOVE D AND JUJU & JORDASH) Other Music is giving away two pairs of tickets to this Friday's edition of the Bunker at Output, featuring a live set of deep psychedelic house from Magic Mountain High, a/k/a the collaborative project between Move D and Juju & Jordash! Fred P of Black Jazz Consortium and the owner of Soul People Music and Bunker resident Derek Plaslaiko will be DJing throughout the night and into the dawn, making this another one not to be missed! To enter for your chance to win a pair of tickets, email giveaway@othermusic.com. FRIDAY, MAY 17 OUTPUT: 74 Wythe Ave. Williamsburg, BKLN

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		MAJICAL CLOUDZ IN-STORE PERFORMANCE Montreal duo Majical Cloudz are stopping by Other Music for an in-store performance on Monday, May 20th, to celebrate the release of their debut full-length, Impersonator, which comes out the following day on Matador Records. Devon Welsh and Matthew Otto are crafting some truly evocative music, so come join us and catch an intimate set from them and grab an early copy of their fantastic album, which we'll have available for sale that night. MONDAY, MAY 20 - 8:00PM OTHER MUSIC: 15 E. 4th St. NYC View Event Page on Facebook


	$15.99 CD		DAVID LANG Death Speaks (Cantaloupe) "You Will Return" "I Am Walking" Inspired, perhaps, by the chilly passage of time, David Lang has created a sharply arresting and beautiful masterwork in Death Speaks. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts as a companion piece for a performance of Lang's Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio The Little Match Girl Passion, the New York City-based composer crafted a stark and deeply personal meditation on death by deconstructing words that Franz Schubert wrote throughout his career for the dead to speak to the living, then gave them to Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) to sing, and set them to an icy, minimal, and powerfully emotional score performed by Nico Muhly on piano, Bryce Dessner (of the National) on guitar and Owen Pallett on violin and backup vocals. Worden's portrayal of Death is both chilling stoic and warmly compassionate, expressing love and connection as it moves towards the inevitability of its mission. "I love you, I love your face, I love your form... please don't make me make you follow me," she intones with an unflinching intensity and overflowing passion on "No. 3. Mist Is Rising," and between Worden's undeniable pathos and the aching restraint of the players, it is nearly impossible not to be drawn into the darkness of this composition. It's one of the most affecting performances that any of these immensely talented people have ever been involved in, and a deeply artistic statement on life, death, love and loneliness. Fans of diverse classical, pop and experimental artists ranging from Scott Walker to Mark Hollis to Philip Glass to our own Anna von Hausswolff will be blown away by this music; I was. [JM]


	$13.99 CD $15.99 LP		VAR No One Dances Quite Like My Brother (Sacred Bones) "Begin to Remember" "Into Distance" Iceage frontman Elias Bender Ronnenfelt takes an altogether different sonic approach with the debut album by his other band, Vår; where the former specialize in wiry, brutal, no-frills punk rock, this record sees him embracing an altogether more dark and seductive attack that is more sensual but no less gripping. He and cohort Loke Rahbek, best known for running Copenhagen's Posh Isolation label, embrace elements and textures of icy synth, thumping machine beats, and martial rhythms that reference the sounds of neo-folk artists like Death in June, the EBM/industrial throb of DAF and Skinny Puppy, and even the bad trip post-punk psychedelia of Fourth Drawer Down-era Associates and the Cure circa Faith. It's all tied together by chilling vocals that teeter on an emotional edge, commanding the room with the same nervous energy and hesitant authority that Ian Curtis mastered on Unknown Pleasures. The album succeeds in not only its absolute command of these sonic ingredients, but in the great tunes they've created using them; they surpass pastiche and craft some gripping songs that do have hooks, as cold and icy as they may be. If you're a fan of the more blackened corners of the post-punk songbook, not to mention the minimal wave or folk of many of the aforementioned artists, this is one of the best contemporary updates on that sound you're likely to hear; it goes beyond the fetishization of its influences in much the same way that Iceage's debut album did, but with a completely different approach and attack. It's testament to Ronnenfelt's talent that he's pulled off such a move twice, and it makes for a gripping, obtusely accessible and passionate listening experience that I can't recommend more highly. [IQ]


	$17.99 CD $18.99 LP		COYOTE CLEAN UP 2 Hot 2 Wait (100% Silk) "Zebra Go Seek" "The Least You Could Feel" I first heard Coyote Clean Up on the excellent We Love Detroit compilation from Jimmy Edgar and Derrick May; whoa, that track had me digging for more vinyl from this guy! It turns out he's some white dude who had only put out a bunch of cassettes previously, but apparently he had an LP in the works for fledgling indie-dance label 100% Silk, and what can I say? I'm mega-grateful. There seems to be an unwritten rule that house producers who start out in hip-hop (as CCU apparently did) must make the headiest/stoniest house tracks known to man -- right? I mean, why is this consistent between far-flung producers like Pepe Bradock, DJ Koze and now Coyote Clean Up? Is it just that they're so bored with hip-hop production that they have some kind of reactionary burst of psychedelic creativity when they start making house? Whatever the reason is, this stuff is just sparkly, glistening and blissed-out as all hell, like an Ariel Pink-trained Boards of Canada on a dose of Aphex Twin brand "Windowlicker" doing super sunny California deep house/disco. All this, with just the right amount of "pop" in there to keep the tracks moving and shifting. These cuts are all under seven minutes and pack more musical turns than most extended club tracks. Great stuff. [SM]


	$13.99 CD $17.99 LP+MP3		VAMPIRE WEEKEND Modern Vampires of the City (XL Recordings) "Obvious Bicycle" "Unbelievers" Not to get all "Losing My Edge" on you, but I've been a fan of this band since they were actual college kids playing shitty Manhattan clubs and parties for 20 of their friends, and having watched their ascent from then until now, I think it's fair to say that Vampire Weekend have crossed the line of "annoying pop pretense" more than once on their meteoric rise. Any artist with a strong point of view (and that group includes, amongst many others, every truly Great Band ever) is bound to push a few buttons now and then, and if "preppie cool" is your particular jumping off point -- well, do we even need to discuss how the politics of privilege make for some pretty lame fucking sing-alongs? Yet Vampire Weekend have always been far more complicated than their yearbook photos might suggest, and with Modern Vampires of the City, they have created a thoughtful, thought-provoking, sad and beautiful album that is clearly their best, and shows a group on the verge of something more than summer on the Cape -- it's a band on the verge of life. Musically, these four great players have finally and fully made something new from their batch of influences, incorporating everything from Afro-pop to Paul Simon, from '60s pop to indie DIY attitude, from ska to hip-hop to top-40 R&B into their taut pop songs, yet sounding only like Vampire Weekend. Recording for the first time with an outside producer, Ariel Rechtshaid (who has produced hits for Usher, Charli XCX, Major Lazer and Plain White Ts, as well as more indie stuff like Cass McCombs), this is a studio creation in the best sense of the word, with Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij letting their freak flags fly on late nights in Batmanglij's DUMBO loft studio, presumably looking at the city skyline over the top of the rumbling Manhattan Bridge, layering harpsichord, piano, organ and guitar alongside stuttering programmed rhythms and soulful tom-tom, warped keyboard tones, and pitch-shifted vocal treatments. And lyrically, it's Koenig at his most human and direct, struggling for connections and meaning as he tiptoes towards "adulthood," and whatever that means. The rich boy references are still proudly in our faces, with chats with the gardener or the DJ, and spotlights on our beloved Manhattan being the spiritual center of this record, along with other milquetoast moneyed spots like Santa Barbara and Tarrytown. But these are not really rich boy problems that Koenig sings of, and he also obliquely or overtly name-drops a pretty deep and diverse set of influences -- a few of the musical ones include Ras Michael, Souls of Mischief, Modest Mouse, RUN-D.M.C. and the Stones. I'm one of the oldest fans this band has, been with them from way back, and I've also been pretty skeptical of them at times, yet I can say without hesitation that this is a great, maybe a classic album, from one of the more important NYC groups around. [JM]


	$13.99 CD $14.99 LP		SMALL BLACK Limits of Desire (Jagjauwar) "Free at Dawn" "Canoe" With their sophomore full-length, Small Black eschew the smeared-lens production of earlier efforts which found the Brooklyn band frequently cited in the same breath as chillwave acts like Washed Out and Toro Y Moi, instead delivering a smooth electronic pop album. It's not a surprising move, given the trajectory between the rough-hewn attic recording of their self-titled EP from 2009 which was filled with cheap Casio keyboard sounds and tape hiss, to the more polished sound of their debut album, New Chain, a year later -- we'll count the hip-hop mixtape download from 2011 as a fun anomaly. Yet with Limits of Desire, the group has buffed out any of the remaining jagged edges of their yearning prismatic pop, and it's as if the rainbow colors are now being refracted through a flawlessly cut diamond. During tracks like the first single "Free at Dawn" and "Only a Shadow," hints of New Order, It's My Life- era Talk Talk and even late-'80s (post Clan of) Xymox shimmer in the dreamy melancholy while being enshrouded in a more modern, hypnotizing sheen. The beats, often played by a live drummer, are gently propulsive as layers of synths glide and swirl around the soulful lull of group founder Josh Kolenik's hushed melodies. In the hands of a remixer, tunes like "No Stranger," Breathless" and the aforementioned "Only a Shadow" could be easily retrofitted for club play, but Limits of Desire ultimately looks inward, and the bliss that Small Black conjures here is best suited for closing your eyes and dancing in your daydreams. [GH]


	$13.99 CD		MIKAL CRONIN MCII (Merge) "Weight" "I'm Done Running from You" Though he may be best known for his recent collaborations with the prolific Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin has been busy honing his own wonderful brand of '60s-inspired garage pop for years. Drawing on influences ranging from Phil Spector to Elephant 6 to the Shins, Cronin's Merge debut is his most cohesive, confident and infectious record to date. The lyrics perfectly capture the uneasiness -- and the ambivalence -- of growing up and struggling to make important life decisions. On "Weight," the album's terrific opener, he sighs, "I've been starting over for a long time," before he opts to delay the starting over for yet another day. During "Shout It Out," Cronin can't seem to decide if he even wants what he thinks he wants, asking, "Do I shout it out? /Do I let it go? /Do I even know what I'm waiting for?" Then on "Peace of Mind," he sums it up simply: "I want to say/I'm on my way/But I can't find that peace of mind." Musically his arrangements are bold, self-assured and really fun. There are moments of shimmering pop perfection here but he can do a quiet, reflective ballad just as well; on "Piano Mantra," instead of relying on fuzz, he experiments with piano and strings and allows his voice to really shine through. MCII could easily be the soundtrack of your summer, and I have a feeling Cronin will be around well past beach season. [KB]


	$19.99 LP		RICH RISTAGNO What Would It Be Like to Be Rich (Drag City) Whoa, some serious leftfield lo-fi guitar shred and strut here straight out of a Detroit basement circa 1980, and now piped directly to your living room via this sweet new reissue on Drag City. Man, 2013 is seriously going down as the year where we see more uncovered bedroom/home studio geniuses than ever before! You can certainly place the vibe here on a continuum with other great records we've featured lately, from Dwight Sykes last week to the Trash Company back in February; like those artists, Rich Ristagno toiled in near utter obscurity, originally self-releasing the contents herein in an edition of 200 copies via a twelve-inch LP, sans any cover art. Ristagno speak/sings with an immeasurable amount of swagger, while awesomely tinny sounding drums stride implacably behind some slightly askew Fender Rhodes and an ever-present searing lead guitar, which strangely channels the further reaches of Funkadelic's oeuvre. A crazy, immediate-sounding album, pieced together from the annihilated shards of late-'70s/early-'80s new wave, pop-rock, soul and funk. [MK]


	$21.99 CDx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Eglo Records Vol. 1 (Eglo) "Radiality" - Floating Points "Scientific Brainpriest" - Mizz Beats Since 2008, Eglo Records have created a nice niche for their brand of electronica, as well as continuing an almost forgotten legacy. The Eglo sound can best be described as a mix of jazz, R&B, house and acid, with left-of-center cleverness and rich cosmopolitan flare, and like previous UK labels before them such as Gilles Peterson's Brownswood, Dego's 2000Black or IG Culture's Main Squeeze, Eglo walks a line between the dance floor and the bedroom with a varied collection of styles, moods, and tempos. The two discs here are sequenced in chronological order, with several exclusive bonus tracks bringing us up to date on the London-based imprint's journey thus far -- until now, Eglo has only released vinyl, so this serves a dual purpose as their first label collection and their first CD. At the core of Eglo is a trio of like-minded yet varied talents: Funkieven, Fatima, and co-founder Floating Points. These three make up the majority of the songs, tracks, and rhythms selected, offering individual as well as collaborative pieces. Funkieven, who has worked with Kyle Hall among others, feels like the acid house '90s b-boy of the label, with his selections showcasing his love of boogie in all forms. Fatima is a Swedish-born, East-London bred vocalist who has worked with Dam Funk and Sa-Ra, and brings to mind a mix of Little Dragon, Erykah Badu, and Jessie Ware. Floating Points is definitely the most established and often brings to mind Four Tet as much as Theo Parrish. Eglo is also co-founded by Rinse FM DJ Alexander Nut, whose 2009 installment in the Rinse mix series is still a favorite. Across the board each member of the Eglo family adds nice flavors to the overall aesthetic, with DJs, producers, and vocalist working fluidly together. Aside from core members there are also tracks from Mizz Beatz (dubstep/broken beats), Shuanise (soul), GB (deep house), and Arp 101 (bass/electro) included. Over two hours of music bring the wealth of new school styling to the non-record buying public, and while not all the vinyl has been completely essential listening, they chose the best tracks from their catalogue to outline the label's vibe here, and it's pure quality from start to finish. [DG]


	$14.99 CD $17.99 LP		VARIOUS ARTISTS Harafin So: Bollywood Inspired Film Music from Hausa Nigeria (Sahel Sounds) "Girma Girma" - Fati Niger "Ololufemi" - Mai Dawayya I was a bit surprised to learn that Nigeria boasts the world's largest film industry, producing more movies each year than the US, behind only the massive Indian film industry for sheer quantity. Nollywood may seem like a make believe idea to most Westerners, but it is a huge driver of culture across Africa and a big job creator in the region, and as in Bollywood, music is often central to the biggest and best productions. A good soundtrack, abundant with storytelling tunes, is a key ingredient in a Nollywood flick, and in the heart of Kano, dozens of studios work with top actors, directors and musicians, swiftly creating thousands of songs to be featured in this constant stream of movie releases. Harafin So is the first ever international release of film songs from Northern Nigeria, featuring Nollywood movie superstars such as Fati Niger, Abubakar Sani, and Sani Danja -- artists who are millionaire celebrities and household names in African homes. Probably the most common aspect throughout this compilation is the heavy use of Auto-Tune, and here the robotized vocals are backed by Casio keyboards and tinny drum machines, resulting in modern pop that pulls from traditional folk and classical melodies and forms. Thank the good folks at Sahel Sounds for lovingly selecting the cream of the crop of this cultural phenomenon from halfway around the globe. [ACo]


	$19.99 CDx2		ARIEL PINK Thrash and Burn (Human Ear Music) "Shoes" "Foul Play" Recorded by Ariel Rosenberg in the late '90s, released as a limited cassette box by Human Ear Music in 2006 (with an equally limited cassette reissue last Christmas), Ariel Pink's musique concréte sound experiments are finally given a proper wide release. It's not a clear must-have for fans of his recent pop stuff, or Stockhausen enthusiasts either, but as with pretty much everything this guy does, it has more than its share of allure.


	$15.99 CD $28.99 LP		SKOGEN BRINNER 1st (Subliminal Sounds) "Pundarvarning" "Svarta Skuggor" Gnarly and psychotic hard rock crossed with punk-metal from this young Swedish quartet -- dark and scary fun!


	$13.99 CD $16.99 LP		ANGEL OLSEN Halfway Home (Jagjaguwar/Bathetic) "Acrobat" "The Waiting" Jagjaguwar reissues the lovely 2012 debut from this talented Will Oldam associate. Quiet and beautiful, if you have not yet heard this one, now is the time.


	$14.95 MG+7"		YETI MAGAZINE Issue No. 13 (Yeti) We love their hot, new, full-color glossy 8" square format, and the real 7" inside with unreleased tracks from Karen Dalton, the Great Unwashed, Moon Duo and Feelies offshoot Trypes. Plus a collection of 1980s Christchurch NZ music posters, Mike McGonigal's Codeine oral history, and a whole lot more.


	$9.95 MG		UGLY THINGS MAGAZINE Issue No. 35 (Ugly Things) Special 30th Anniversary Issue featuring the Seeds, the Nazz, Radiators from Space, T Wagner, Cyril Jordan, New York Dolls, tons of reissue reviews and more!

CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH:
JOSH MONTAZERI

How long have you shopped at Other Music?
3 years

Favorite bands/genres:
My all-time favorite band would have to be Brand New, with Bloc Party coming in at a close second. I've been a fan of hip-hop for years (Mobb Deep's The Infamous is my favorite rap album) and more recently I've been getting into electronic producers like Flying Lotus and Shlohmo.

Favorite record cover artwork:
I'm going to have to go with the cover for Collections 01 by Teebs. It impresses the hell out of me that he painted the whole thing himself, and his other artwork is great, too.

Favorite sections at Other Music:
I'm a big fan of the electronic section...I can't walk into the store without flipping through it. The rock section also has a great selection and it's always stocked with all the new releases.

Top 3 albums/bands you were turned onto at Other Music:
Before Until the Quiet Comes I never really gave Flying Lotus a fair listen. I passed by the electronic section one day and saw the little card review that one of the employees wrote. It was so good I decided I had to buy it and check it out. The rest is history and now I credit that album with really getting me into a bunch of different electronic producers. On another occasion I was looking through the generous "free" box that's occasionally by the door and came across The Big Sleep's Nature Experiments record. I wasn't familiar with their music but I liked the name so I took it and for the next couple weeks I couldn't get the song "Ghosts in Bodies" out of my head. Also, my friend Jill showed me "You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb" by Ex Cops and mentioned that they were signed to Other Music Recording Co. so I stopped in the store and bought the 7". It was pretty cool being able to get a copy after just listening to them.

Your go-to people in the shop:
Daniel and the guy with long hair. I feel bad that I don't know his name since I've talked to him on plenty of occasions but we've never formally introduced ourselves...guess I'll do that next time I see him, haha. (Just go up to him and say, "Hi, Scott." - Ed.)

Why record stores over online shopping?
Record stores give an experience that you just can't get from an online shop. It's great being able to saunter in and physically look through what's new (and old) and there are always interesting people to talk to and get opinions from -- both customers and employees. The flyers are super-informative about relevant events happening in the area and I've even purchased concert tickets directly from the store. Overall it's just a more intimate way to "consume" music.

I'm DJing the biggest, awesome-est music fest of the century. I have to be sure to drop "_________" in my DJ set:
Tough question, but festivals for me are all about good vibes so the first thing that comes to mind is "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest.

If applicable, fave in-store event attended at Other Music and/or OM event.
Not exactly an in-store event, but in the fall Other Music was selling tickets to the "I'll Be Your Mirror" ATP Festival at Pier 36. I saw a flyer in the store about a week or so before the event, and had I not I don't think I would've known about it at all. It had a pretty unique feel compared to other festivals I've been to and I got to see Frank Ocean and Philip Glass perform one after the other which was pretty mind blowing.


	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: Click here to unsubscribe		THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS [KB] Kari Boston [ACo] Anastasia Cohen [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [JM] Josh Madell [SM] Scott Mou THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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