This week, Other Music is offering yet another mixed bag of mainly CDs, including rare Michael Gira-related titles, industrial/avant garde classics in the form of Sutcliffe Jugend and Maurizio Bianchi, a couple of self-released Jospehine Foster discs, four massive jazz box sets, and more. Click here to place your bids.

FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Ricardo Villalobos
Incredible Bongo Band
Les Rallizes Denudes
International Sad Hits 1 (Various)
Kim Doo Soo
Asi Mina
Geir Jenssen
Sam Moore
Terry Riley
John Tejada
Lindstrom
Tralala
Dead Moon
Baird/Espvall/Kraus
Alan Sorrenti
Mihaly Vig
Svarte Greiner
Adrian Klumpes
Turid
Jarana's Four Aces (Various)
Donnacha Costello

Wire
ESG
Kahimi Karie
CD86 (Various)
Motohiro Nakashima
Horkeskart
Huntsville
Hans Appelqvist

ALSO AVAILABLE
Divine Comedy
Entrance
Brazilian Beats Brooklyn (Various)
The Evens
Nick Garrie
4 Women No Cry 2 (Various)
ESL Remixed (Various)
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (CD single)

COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

RICARDO VILLALOBOS
Fizheuer Zieheuer
(Playhouse)

"Fizbeast"

It seems like every few months we're falling over ourselves about German producer Ricardo Villalobos, but that's easy to do when the man drops new sounds that frequently. This calendar year alone has seen him release the epic Achso double 12", a collection of older sides on Frisbee Tracks, a mix CD, reworkings of some old tracks, an unfathomably deep Rhythm & Sound remix, and now, in addition to an upcoming Perlon single, comes this massive slab to celebrate his return to the Playhouse label. And while it seems to get stated every time, he's really outdone himself here. For one thing, it's a 37 minute single and much like the cover art suggests, the track itself is so sharp it could sever heads. Built around an odd bit of Balkan horns that would be daunting and discordant to most producers out there (not to mention DJs), Villalobos offers up so many permutations and new juxtapositions on this fanfare theme, whipping up new patterns on the fly, each one knottier and more dubbed out than the preceding one, so that it seems the horns are lost for good. But then that telltale pom-pom returns, synched perfectly to the new beat. And it just happens over and over again, so that we almost laughed at both the effortless mastery and the sheer audaciousness of the man. What can you possibly mix this with? And what will Villalobos come with next? How can he set the bar any higher? [AB]

MICHAEL VINER'S INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND
Bongo Rock
(Mr. Bongo)

"Apache"

"Let There Be Drums"

It's the record that everyone feels a connection in arcane and mysterious, yet universal ways. The drum -- vibration, communication -- speaks loud and clear, its message understood yet untranslatable. If it speaks to you, you move. Which is why, in 1980 at the age of 3, I could be found dancing around my room to "Bongo Rock" on my Fisher-Price turntable (which I had on a K-Tel compilation album called Dynamic Sound), just as people 15-20 years my senior were doing in the Bronx, in the nascent years of hip-hop. All I knew is that it sounded remotely like a groovy version of the theme to "Dallas," and I wore that record down 'til the needle skidded across the surface. Why, then, didn't I pick up an OG copy for $11 back when I was a teenager, knowing full well what it was and that I'd never see one again for less than triple-digit sums? Mysteries, all, yet I keep coming back to this group and their albums, as have so many others -- if for no other reason that within is the codex for all of hip-hop, particularly within "Apache;" freestyle, drum 'n' bass, breakdancing, graffiti culture: the alpha and omega of the break incarnate. And maybe because these are just plain fun records to listen to!

The story of Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band is a long and convoluted one, basically stemming from some music execs hitting paydirt and being allowed to run amok in MGM Records' studios, creating potent chase music for B-movie soundtracks. Everyone from Jim Gordon to Michael Omartian, from John Lennon to Ringo Starr, from Hal Blaine to King Errisson, are said to have had hands in the sessions behind the group's two albums, 1972's Bongo Rock and 1974's The Return of the Incredible Bongo Band. You'll recognize breaks all over both albums, resequenced to a slightly more favorable track order, and including two remixes unavailable on the out-of-print Strut edition -- one of the Breakers tackling "Last Bongo in Belgium" (familiar to fans of Paul's Boutique, no doubt), and one high-energy redux of "Apache" by none other than Grandmaster Flash himself. The songs are simple and catchy, almost in a library music sort of way, and the beats completely unstoppable. If you don't own this already, it will make your day/week/year. [DM]

LES RALLIZES DENUDES
Live 1972
(Over Level)

Track One

Track Two

Time to worship the shrine of Mizutani again. Strangely enough, it seems the more Rallizes Denudes material that becomes available, the more of a mythical creature he becomes, but we do know he was major influence on Keiji Haino, Acid Mothers Temple, and probably every other Japanese underground artist at the time. There's not much valuable information on Live 1972 either. In fact, that's all we get: Live and from 1972. However, the sounds contained within do enough talking, as Mizutani sets the controls for the heart of the moon. It's top tier psychedelia shot straight into space, transcendental, repetitive, and bluesy, like an imaginary three-headed beast raised on Hawkwind and Velvet Undergound. Ridiculously mindblowing. As often is the case with Rallizes recordings, the sound quality is a bit rough and this time it's what appears to be a handheld cassette recording, but it only adds mythical holy grail nature of this band. And in headphones it actually sounds like you're at the show. Repeated listenings as prescribed. [AK]

VARIOUS ARTISTS
International Sad Hits Vol. 1
(20|20|20 / Ba Da Bing)

"Just As Long" Fikret Kizilok

"Storms in the Dead of Night" Kazuki Tomokawa

Damon and Naomi's first album as a duo was entitled More Sad Hits; now, years later, the couple curates that concept through the voices of others. International Sad Hits Vol. 1 collects four hand-picked tracks each from four artists: Japan's Mikami Kan and Tomokawa Kazuki, Korea's Kim Doo Soo, and Turkey's Fikret Kizilok, all performing solo in an altogether modern folk context. Mikami is the auteur among the group; his works (covered in other Other Music updates, or just ask around the store) bear little resemblance to any musical peers. Though familiar, his style is unfailingly singular and mournful. Kazuki tends to perform in a style that sounds as if he's trying to shake out of his own skin -- think Simon Finn on Pass the Distance, but sustaining the histrionics to a doleful, intimate panic, rather than the panic attack of "Jerusalem." Kim Doo Soo follows more familiar folk patterns, but his honest, wavering voice and isolated playing style recall artists acquainted with the struggle, from Buffy Sainte-Marie to Neil Young. Kizilok is the real discovery here, adhering to a markedly Anatolian folk style but downplaying a lot of the distressed elements you'd expect, his milky voice vaguely recalling Nick Drake, and his songs definitely recalling the bracing chill of Five Leaves Left. With extensive liner notes and English translations of the lyrical content, this collection stands as an excellent introduction to these foreign sounds of woeful despair. [DM]

KIM DOO SOO
3rd A Bohemian
(Hyundai)

Track 4

KIM DOO SOO
4th Free Spirit
(Riverman)

Track 13

I was really excited to see the International Sad Hits compilation that Damon and Naomi curated come into the store a couple of weeks ago, and which we just reviewed above. Other Music has previously carried and loved three of the four artists featured on it -- Mikami Kan, Tomokawa Kazuki, and Fikret Kizilok -- but the fourth, Korea's Kim Doo Soo, I was totally unfamiliar with. As great as all of the other songs on the comp are, I was surprised to find that I liked Kim Doo Soo's contributions the best. Naturally, I felt we had to try to get copies of his full-length works in here as soon as possible. I was luckily able to track down a few copies each of his third and fourth albums (his first two seem to be out of print) direct from South Korea, and I'm incredibly happy to report that they more than lived up to the promise shown by his contributions on Damon and Naomi's compilation. The only information I could find about him was what was included on the International Sad Hits comp, namely that he started performing in the seventies despite the objections of his father, and that he went through a long period of inactivity before beginning to perform again with all of his powers intact. His song "Bohemian" was reputed to have caused one person to commit suicide and another person not to. Having spent a lot of time with both of these CDs the last several days I can say that his music does seem to be that affecting. These two albums should be pretty palatable to western ears. I hear a lot of Tim Buckley, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, his guitar playing and arrangements are gloriously spacious, and his voice seems to have acres and acres of dimension; you can sing along to his melodies without knowing the words. Both records are really low key, and if you're a fan of downer- folk you'll find much to love here. One of the best finds of the year, thanks Damon and Naomi!!! [MK]

ASI MINA
Have All! But Where?
(Mik.Musik.)

"Kiss Me Quick"

"You'll Fall"

The first thing to notice about Asi Mina's outstanding, confounding new album Have All! But Where? is that it comes in its own personalized plastic bag. It's a beguilingly wonderful idea merging the worlds of yuppy-embraced indie rock commerce, with hyper-personal thrift-shop individuality, all the while serving as a sly foreshadowing of the…ahem…grab-bag of dizzying musicality within. In other words, it's all very K Records of her. And as a matter of fact, Have All! is brimming with many of the best ideas that K Records stalwarts like Little Wings and Mirah and the Microphones have all been toying around with to varying degrees of success for the past few years now -- namely, the awesomeness of nylon string guitars, communal sing-a-longs, kitchen-ware percussion, completely ridiculous lyricism, and a general adherence to all things which appear naïve and childlike on their surface, but yet hold a transfixing age-old wisdom lurking below.

Asi Mina comes to us courtesy of her brother/producer of Have All!, Wojtek Kucharczyk's, experimental Polish label, Mik.Musik. Not only does Kucharczyck have a flair for marketing, but he also knows how to take one's modest surroundings and get great f'ing art out of it. Mina's record is unmistakably her own; she tutors children in guitar playing, no surprise her students show up to return the favor in scene-stealing group shout-out-loud-a-longs, guitar, and even glass-playing too -- I wasn't kidding about the "kitchen-ware percussion." And thankfully so. However, in an age when just about everybody wants to sound lo-fi and homemade, there are a very, very select few who ever capture the zeitgeist as wonderfully as Mina has here. At her most playful, she reminds me of acoustic-electric duo Psapp, and yet at her essence Mina's voice and warm guitar playing seems most like something of a quirky Polish Diane Cluck. However, unlike Cluck -- Mina never limits herself to just guitar -- she can switch gears from a cappella table-top pounding beat-box diva, to fronting hazy spoon-versus-glass-clang(!)-drone call-and-response Buddha chants, pensive clarinet-blessed piano ballads, IDM-ish Euro-chick anthems, and sure, freak-folk too. It takes a certain skill to be this peripatetic creatively, to be so damn far-reaching, all the while being completely unafraid of making a mess, throwing a thousand ideas at the black-board and seeing what sticks; but on Have All!, it all proverbially sticks.

Scatterbrained? Sure. However, in the comprehensive liner notes that come with Have All!, Mina states that she wanted to make a record that captured "disquiet, chaos, and the search" -- she succeeded. Warts and all, Have All! is not only one of the most idiosyncratic albums of the year, it just might be one of the best as well. [HG]

GEIR JENSSEN
Cho Oyu 8201m -Field Recordings from Tibet
(Ash International)

"Zhangmu"

"Jobo Rabzang"

I've often thought that mountain climbers must be amongst the most masochistic and selfish assholes on earth. Did you read that Into Thin Air book that was made into an IMAX movie about a disastrous Mt. Everest ascent in which a number of climbers died due to greed, glory hounding, and the inherent stupidity of attempting to stand on the highest spot in the entire world? What was wrong with those people and why did their families let them go in the first place? That cautionary tale hasn't seemed to stop anybody though, folks keep shelling out money year after year to climb the thing and they keep dying just the same. I guess that if it's that important to you though, then go on ahead. Now I don't know for sure if he's a masochist or an a**hole, but Geir Jenssen is a mountain climber, and in 2001 he completed an ascension of Cho Oyu in Tibet; at 8,201 meters tall, it's the world's sixth largest peak. Armed with a mini-disc recorder instead of an IMAX camera, he managed to create a highly intimate, personal, and listenable aural portrait of his trip. As much as I love, say, Chris Watson or Steven Feld, I often find these field recording albums to be more interesting in theory than in practice, but I was really surprised at how musical this CD ended up being and that it truly bore repeated listening. Perhaps it shouldn't be that surprising actually, as Jenssen is better known as the mastermind behind Norway's Biosphere, a popular and much lauded ambient act who have always been quite engaging. The twelve tracks are subtitled with descriptors that should give you some sense of what to expect; Crossing a Landslide Area, A Yak Caravan Is Coming, Birds Feeding on Biscuits, Himalayan Nightfall, etc. You also get some lovely impressions of what life as a Sherpa must be like day in and day out. Included is a ten page pamphlet with photographs from his trip, as well as entries from his travel diary that are occasionally rather harrowing, and which further confirm my mountain climber = insane masochist hunch. [MK]

SAM MOORE
Moooohieee
(Em)

"Annie Laurie"

"Laughing Rag"

There's something about the beautiful crackling antiquity of a 78 that instantly takes you back to a wonderfully simpler time when audio entertainment was the only kind around. At a 78 records listening party that I attended last Sunday, it was a real treat to be able to experience the differences in resonances, surface noise and cadence in blues, gospel, jug band, and Hawaiian music, among other styles, from the '20s, '30s and '40s. And on Moooohieee, the folks at Em Records attempted to digitally capture this sound -- pops, fuzz and all -- from the original shellacs of Sam Pasco Moore's musical saw and Hawaiian guitar soli. In the 1920s, Moore specialized mostly in ragtime numbers, using unusual instruments like the hand saw and a rubber balloon. The high, haunting quiver of the saw can be heard on most of these songs, as well as an eight-stringed steel guitar, the octo-chorda (heard in the uptempo vaudevillian "Laughing Rag"), piano and banjo. Vocals make an appearance on the classic "Old Black Joe," with the saw providing floating siren-like accompaniment. Unfortunately, there are no balloon skronks (and no known recordings either), but the saw shines enough to put the twinkle in any collector's eye. Tip of the hat to Em Records -- these magical, austere numbers should not be relegated to a ghost world. [LG]

TERRY RILEY
Poppy Nogood All Night Flight
(Elision Fields)

"Poppy Nogood"

Can it already be ten years back that the Cortical Foundation started its Terry Riley Archival series with this mind-melter? Sure, we knew the sleek minimal masterworks like In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air (and someone had dubbed us the bewildering Reed Streams) but this live recording of one of Riley's legendary all-night 'flights' in Buffalo was simply beyond words, and heck, beyond worlds as well. It seems so easy in retrospect to layer organ and soprano sax with tape delay to such a mesmeric effect, but the results are just profound in both their simplicity and potency. And it seemed like these crucial works of Riley would always be around; and yet slowly this disappeared into the ether with the label's unfortunate demise. So are we glad to have these back in print once more for a whole new generation of young minds to experience. Let's hope that Olson III and the others in the series aren't far behind, as Riley is a touchstone for everyone from Black Dice to Carl Craig to DFA to Pan Sonic to whoever else dabbles in such electrified hypnotism. [AB]

JOHN TEJADA
Cleaning Sound Is a Filthy Business
(Palette)

"What Happened to Manners?"

"Folding Room"

John Tejada is always exploring some theme in his albums -- Detroit, pop house, jackin' digital house, etc. This one is straight up minimal house but thanks to his crafty production skills, Tejada is able to create tracks with more information packed in than what one generally sees these days. As the ultra geeked-out, almost Jake Mandell-ian title implies, this is minimal house full of honed/customized sounds that seem aimed at modern techno heads who are open to a bit of post-rave IDM intensity -- house for the Aphex Twin generation. Each track shows Tejada grabbing a groove and consistently packing just one more sound onto it while keeping it minimal and moving. Just as jacking as the Playhouse releases with Arian Leviste but with even less of a classic house/laid back structure and more of his slowly intensifying live-set qualities. [SM]

LINDSTROM
It's a Feedelity Affair
(Smalltown Supersound/Feedelity)

"Cane It For the Original Whities"

"Limitations"

Finally, those hard-to-find Lindstrom 12"s are collected in one easy-to-find compact disc. Contained within is an entire raging party encased in five inches of plastic; several of the tracks here have enough personality to actually derail his or her set with something from this…it's that catchy. Taking cues from bass culture, high-gloss early '80s disco, Loft-borne experimentation, and a lush, freakified, maximal sense of arrangement, these tracks ascend the walls with insane, rampant glee. Imagine Moroder collaborating with Zapp and inviting along a singing saw player, or Heaven 17 going to Jamaica to sequence on gold-plated computers. Actually comes across as less cheesed out and more sincere than the Lindstrom & Prins Thomas record, and forces even the snob's hand at resistance to shaking it on the dance floor. Boisterous and up front, Lindstrom might have beaten out Daft Punk as the electro du jour for today's enlightened club-goer. Highly recommended! [DM]

TRALALA
Is That the Tralala
(Audika)

"Yellow Taxi"

"Mystery"

I know that Other Music's Josh and Nicole are far too modest to recommend their own record to you, but I'm more than happy to do so. As expected, there isn't any drastic evolution in Tralala's infectious, punky, '60s girl-pop influenced sound, however, their sophomore album finds the seven-piece turning the energy up a couple of notches. Kicking off the album with their call to arms, the group wastes no time in belting out the chorus of "We're Coming Out" before even hitting the first verse. The song is followed by the two-and-a-half minute "Yellow Taxi," one of the group's catchiest tracks yet, the four gals sneaking subtle harmonies in and out of their signature unison singing, and ending each refrain with the silly-fun shout-out of "beep-beep." But beneath the power chords and peppy female vocals is some serious attention to detail: from simple lyrics that surprisingly paint some fairly complex stories -- "Tallmansville, W. Va." is a narrative about the miner tragedy from early this year -- to some unexpected changes in the music that one wouldn't normally expect to hear in three-chord pop songs. I swear, "Are You Going to Dance (With Me)?" reminds me of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" transformed into a rave-up. Tralala also offer two covers this go round. At the halfway point of the album, the band turns Giorgio Moroder's glammy, pre-disco "Underdog" into a girl-group stomper, complete with the original's bee-buzz violins, and then a few songs later they tame the Wipers' "Mystery" into a harmony-driven power popper. If heaven exists, I'm sure that Joey Ramone's got Tralala blasting in his headphones right now. [GH]

DEAD MOON
Dead Moon Night/Thirteen Off My Hook
(Music Maniac)

"Dead Moon Night"

"Walking on My Grave"

Reissue of early Dead Moon recordings issued on this German label. Twenty-seven tracks crammed in here at negligible fidelity, but that's how you gotta take Dead Moon: in all of their glorious, crumbling, real-life majesty. Many feel they're one of the best active rock bands in the world, and when you boil down what they do, it's hard to argue with that claim: reductive blues-based punk rock, brought across with the swagger of '64 Stones and the energy of the MC5, with over four decades of experience to back it all up. These two albums cover some of the same territory that the recent Sub Pop double-disc Echoes of the Past does, but for those of you looking to complete, this is an essential purchase, particularly as the original Dead Moon LPs linger on the verge of unavailability. If you don't love this band, then you don't love rock 'n' roll, plain and simple. [DM]