The Other Music Update

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	April 26, 2007


			It’s been quite a week for Other Music and our new mp3 download shop. In fact, the outpouring of love you showed us when we announced on Monday that the site had finally launched nearly shut us down! But we’re surely not about to start complaining about too much business. We’ve spent a few long nights troubleshooting and we’re happy to report that the site is running faster and smoother, we’re adding hundreds of new titles and scores of new labels weekly and we’re already working on some cool tweaks to make the site work even better. We are also very appreciative for all of the feedback and suggestions that you've sent in. Please continue sending your comments to feedback@othermusic.com. Most importantly, we want to say THANK YOU for the support and enthusiasm. We hope you’ve been enjoying all the great music that you’ve downloaded from our digital store! And if you haven’t taken a look around yet or had your browsing stymied by the bottleneck on our launch day, click on over! We’ve got some cool new titles up on the home-page, like the out-of-print OM favorite Night Piece by Shugo Tokumaru, recent Kompakt hits by the Field and Gui Boratto, Anthology Recordings digital reissue of Roger Rodier's 1972 psych-folk rarity, and new VICE titles like the excellent new Charlotte Gainsbourg album reviewed below and the latest Ed Banger compilation.


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Bill Callahan A Sunny Day in Glasgow Sarolta Zalatnay Joanna Newsom William Basinski Avey Tare & Kria Brekken Aa OOIOO Arctic Monkeys Spank Rock Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake (Available as mp3) Terry Riley (Available as mp3) Dntel Deerhunter Seefeel Asbestosdeath The Rosebuds (Available as mp3)		Patti Smith Senking Alva Noto DOMESTIC PRESSING Charlotte Gainsbourg (Available as mp3) ALSO AVAILABLE The Veils Robert Pollard Andrea Parker Bebel Gilberto

APR/MAY

Sun 29

Mon 30

Tues 1

Wed 2

Thurs 3

Fri 4

Sat 5

WIN TICKETS TO 30 CENTURY MAN!
Director Stephen Kijak returns to Tribeca Film Festival with a truly distinguished ode to musician Scott Walker. This astonishing look at the reclusive artist features exclusive footage of Walker recording his latest critically acclaimed album, The Drift, as well as interviews with the man himself, famous fans and collaborators such as David Bowie, Radiohead, Brian Eno and Jarvis Cocker. Other Music has five pairs of tickets to give away to this screening next Wednesday night! To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com and leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The five winners will be notified on Monday afternoon, April 30.

SCOTT WALKER DOCUMENTARY: 30 CENTURY MAN
Screening as part of Tribeca Film Fest
Wednesday May 2nd @ 9:30PM

BMCC TribecaPAC
(formerly Tribeca Performing Arts Center)
199 Chambers Street NYC


	$13.99 CD $13.99 LP		BILL CALLAHAN Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City) "A Man Needs a Woman or a Man to Be a Man" "Sycamore" After twelve albums and nearly two decades worth of work, singer-songwriter Bill Callahan has seen fit to drop his long-running Smog moniker and release his first album under his given name. It's fitting, too, for though Smog records have always been consistently enjoyable, 2005's A River Ain't Too Much to Love showed signs of an artist sick of being stuck in the same morose, sardonic corner. Nicely continuing the evolutionary trend started with that record, Woke on a Whaleheart heralds the arrival of a newly transformed Callahan, one more obviously indebted to classic country and occasional gospel moves and with a lighter, almost carefree touch. Produced with a little help (and some arrangements) from the esteemed Neil Michael Hagerty, Woke on a Whaleheart is easily Callahan's most jubilant and accomplished recording to date. Though that unmistakable, near-baritone drawl is still very much intact, Callahan sounds rejuvenated, leading his band through a series of tracks that replace leaden weight with a laid back groove that's every bit as surprising as it is approachable. The reverbed guitars of "Sycamore" chime in tune with Callahan's laconic voice, affecting a lazy shuffle that will undoubtedly come in handy for some back porch summering. And while a bit darker, the great "Diamond Dancer" stomps along an insistent rhythm and tense set of strings that never once feel overbearing. Better still is the earnest country pull of "The Wheel," which pairs Callahan's subtly quaint imagery with an effortless instrumental stride and plaintive backing vocals that sound miles away from anything he's ever tried before. And even though much of Woke on a Whaleheart is lovingly ornate and detailed, there's a warmth and intimacy that's often been lacking in a lot of Callahan's work, making this his most personal and engaging release yet. [MC]


	$12.99 CD		A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Notenuf) "C'mon" "Things Only I Can See" One of the best albums that's landed on my desk in quite a while, we finally have enough quantity of A Sunny Day in Glasgow's debut full-length to feature the album here in these pages. This twin sister and brother trio hails from Philadelphia, though, as their name suggests, one could imagine the band making music in some damp, European city. It's also easy enough to throw a My Bloody Valentine reference their way, (check the warbled wash of guitars and feedback during "5:15 Train" for proof), but rather than simply following the Loveless playbook as so many groups do, A Sunny Day in Glasgow are about as close as anyone has come to re-imagining the term shoegaze since the descriptor first appeared. "Wake Up Pretty" starts the album off with a backward loop of chiming guitars and distant operatic voices, and makes way for the gentle inclusion of minimal electronics and the pillowy dub propulsion of "No. 6 Von Karman Street." The sisters' floating melodies swirl around the shimmering loops and conjure images of the Cocteau Twins recording for Kompakt. I'd certainly be happy if the album stayed on that singular track but from there, A Sunny Day in Glasgow continually shift directions, experimenting with both sounds and songs. "Our Change into Rain Is No Change at All (Talkin' 'bout Us)" packs in so many dizzying twists in its four-and-a-half minutes, moving from angelic washes of voices and lush dream pop to jaunty, psychedelic carnival music. The buzzing guitars and ambient pulses of "Ghost in the Graveyard" brings to mind how Richard D. James might have reworked a Jesus and Mary Chain track back in 1985, when his sampler still had training wheels. My personal favorite, however, is the creepy "Lists, Plans," which finds the band at their weirdest, updating the absurdist pop of a group like ...And the Native Hipsters through a lysergic mix of jittery guitars and synths, the ghostly operatic voices making the track strangely paranoid and catchy at the same time. But as beguiling as the band's music can get, it's never too "difficult" for anyone that's willing to let go of their imagination and just let the trio take over for a bit. And sure enough, with their last track A Sunny Day in Glasgow rewards the listener with the immediate jangle-flanged gratification of "The Best Summer Ever." [GH]


	$14.99 CD		SAROLTA ZALATNAY Sarolta Zalatnay (B MUSIC) "Hadd Mondjam El" "Sracok of Sracok" I first discovered Ms. Zalatnay's music while digging through a non-descript crate in a used bookstore in Chinatown ten years ago. Drawn to the psychedelic portrait of the beautiful Sarolta on the cover, I paid $3 for my mysterious find not knowing what to expect. When I put this record on I was met with drum breaks so hard and crisp they sounded like they belonged on a Meters record, and female vocals that sounded like a white Tina Turner singing in Esperanto with Black Sabbath as the backup band! I had never heard anything that sounded like this and I made it my priority to play this record for every DJ and record collector colleague I had. Since then I've explored Krautrock, Turkish psych, Jess Franco soundtracks, and every other music nerd sub-category, but I've always had a special place in my heart for Zalatnay and pined for a legitimate reissue of this Hungarian beauty's stellar '70s output...and ten years later, here it is! Anybody who has picked up recent reissues of Selda, Julie Driscoll, and Shocking Blue should make room in their collection for this fiery vocalist's insane psych-funk. Thanks B-Music!! [DH]


	$10.99 CD-EP $10.99 12"-EP		JOANNA NEWSOM And the Ys Street Band EP (Drag City) "Colleen" A title like Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band EP skirts the fine line dividing wit and inanity. Luckily for us, the apt Appalachian supported by her acoustic Ys touring band artfully forces the listener to focus on the work instead -- a 24-minute three-song affair, recorded live in the studio. The opening track, "Colleen," continues the ambitious feel of Ys on a less elaborate level with turbulent cadences and occasional dissonant melodies winding and warbling along with Newsom herself. The vocals here are more polished, smoothed through time and experience, and the lyrics, in typical Newsom fashion, showcase her songwriting abilities. A fresh spin on Milk-Eyed Mender's "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie," the second song piggybacks on that skillfully, almost subdued feel as Newsom's pitch changes are unexpectedly more controlled whilst she's accompanied by male vocals. To finish, the effort culminates on a re-worked version of Ys's "Cosmia," doubled in length as well as epic proportions. If there ever was a time to equate Joanna Newsom with the word epic, it's here as "Cosmia" opens and progresses with banjo, clarinets, harp, and a Theremin, among other strings, capturing the varying moods and orchestrations. And while there is no getting around the almost contradictory folk feel of the effort, a by-product of the acoustic instrumentation, the EP is more an intimate miniature of Newsom's collective work thus far than anything else. [PG]


	$14.99 CD		WILLIAM BASINSKI Shortwavemusic (2062) "Cobalt Pools" "On a Frontier of Wires" While composer William Basinski has operated in and around New York City's avant garde and experimental music scenes for close to three decades, it's only been in the past few years that the man has really gotten his due. Beginning with the release of the seminal Disintegration Loops series in 2002, Basinski has brought forth a steady stream of pieces, pulling both from his deep archives and his recent creations, crafting a dense discography that balances unique intellectual curiosities with keenly plotted and emotionally resonating ambience. Born of the same fertile period that also yielded the original tapes upon which the Loops were created (or disintegrated, if you will) -- as well as works like The River and Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive -- Shortwavemusic dates back to 1982 and saw an initial release on Noton in 1997. Now reissued with a bonus track through Basinski's own 2062 label, Shortwavemusic is at last available again, filling a crucial gap in his body of work. Built out of tape loops and captured shortwave radio transmissions, Shortwavemusic's five pieces are wracked with haunted tones and ghostly gossamer, faint melodies flickering in the distance as pulsing throbs well up from deep within. More richly textured than the spare Variations, and hardly dependent on the physical decay of The Disintegration Loops, pieces like "Evening Scars" and "Fringe Area" layer gauzy drones against brittle, undulating waves of static, playing like some ancient soundtrack to a series of long-lost memories. Basinski easily builds tension through the disc, allowing it to break now and again on the climactic "On a Frontier of Wires," as his sounds crack and distort as if under pressure from an unseen hand. Ultimately, what's truly amazing about this release (and much of William Basinski's late 1970s and early 1980s work) is how temporally transcendent it all is, with lost notes and sounds echoing as if created yesterday, shifting and passing through blurred seconds and minutes. As a work from one of the few composers who can get name checked alongside minimal and ambient pioneers while still showing a younger generation of soundsmiths how it's truly done, Shortwavemusic is truly essential. [MC]


	$13.99 CD		AVEY TARE & KRIA BREKKEN Pullhair Rubeye (Paw Tracks) "Who Welsses in my Hoff" "Sis Around the Sandmill" The recently married frontpersons of Animal Collective and Mum have provocatively decided to release their first collaborative album backwards. Whether they stumbled across the idea accidentally or deliberately planned to be enigmatic, they've struck a nerve with fans and detractors alike. While even some admirers might accuse the duo of elitism, Pullhair Rubeye's decontextualizing of deceptively traditional pop song structures is at the very least interesting. While Avey and Kria's voices are mysterious but somehow familar, the other instruments sound almost completely abstract. One fellow OM Update scribe commented that parts sound similar to Oval, which is an astute comparison. But if you rip MP3s and flip the tracks around with any free audio editor, you'll be surprised to hear little more than the couple's voices and some acoustic guitars. In this light, Pullhair Rubeye is a surprisingly straightforward and stripped-down album in the spirit of the much-loved Sung Tongs. At the same time, it's the most unusual and thought-provoking Animal Collective-related project yet. Perhaps it's even intended as a statement on the death of the CD or LP as a physical musical object. What does it matter if the album is backwards if most people are going to illegally download the "corrected" mp3s anyway? In any case, it's almost like having two albums for the price of one, and who could possibly complain about that? Pullhair Rubeye isn't really all that radical, but it's arguably unprecedented and it's sure to be an album that people will be talking about for years to come. [RH]


	$5.99 CD-EP		OOIOO OOEYEOO Eye Remix EP (Thrill Jockey) "Umo" Boredoms' Eye is a maniac remixer: the Mo' Wax remix from way back, his Black Dice reworking, and the recent thrift-store disco edit 12-inch. He picks up a track, slams it into some random effects and samples, and makes it his own. This EP contains two of his OOIOO remixes, "Umo" and "Uma," both being tropical baile funk warpath jams. The originals feature the made-up language and the drum army sound that OOIOO have been exploring, but here Eye subtracts the block party vibe, throws the vocals to the front and adds epic filtered-out techno elements, arpeggiated house breakdowns with gladiator arena percussion, short sections of drum 'n' bass, and brain-twisting EQ sweeps. Eye reminds one how fun it is to make oneself dizzy! Sh*t, compared to this, Klaxons is as "new rave" as Calvin Johnson...or Daniel Johnston! [SM]


	$14.99 CD		ARCTIC MONKEYS Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino) "Flourescent Adolescent" "Do Me a Favour" Life has likely changed quite a bit for the Arctic Monkeys since their debut album became a viral smash hit on MySpace and they became the mouthpiece for disaffected British youth (and the disaffected British youth in all of us). For instance, they're huge stars now! But living their dreams hasn't softened the band one whit. They've kept the irresistible formula that made their name: furiously tight, intertwining guitars, crisp pounding rhythms, and Alex Turner's witty, wicked lyrics. Although the hooks and the hits are still here, Favourite Worst Nightmare is darker, more claustrophobic and angrier than the debut, full of personal betrayals and venom...and fun. Arctic Monkeys had one of the biggest debut albums ever in the UK, not by soft-selling their sound or worrying about the numbers, and the sophomore release shows no compromise to the major labels and huge expectations that are now on their shoulders. They come out of the gate pounding and slow down for no man, so hang on tight or step out the way. [JM]


	$16.99 CD		SPANK ROCK Fabriclive 33 (Fabric) "Wordy Rapping Hood" Playgroup Remix "I'm Ready" Kano Those boys in Baltimore, B'More that is, are at it again. Spank Rock have made it onto the Fabric series of DJ mixes, this one being number 33. A little SR 101 from fellow dance-rock-hop bands like CSS, Bonde Do Role, Chicks on Speed, Hot Chip and Mr. Oizo, to new school electro from Simian Mobile Disco, Mylo, Metro Area, Miss Kitten & The Hacker, and a heaping dose of old school favorites via the likes of Kurtis Blow, Kano, Yello, Dominatrix, Yes, the Romantics and L.T.D. This one is full of flavor with choice remixes by Justice, XXXchange, DFA, Playgroup, and Maurice Fulton. A bit overwhelming at times and much like their album, Spank Rock's mix includes all the things you hate to admit you like, or liked. One for the hipster in all of us. [DG]


	$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3		FRED ANDERSON & HAMID DRAKE From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey) "Planet E" "Strut Time" It shouldn't be surprising that a pair of artists as dynamic and challenging as Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake -- stalwarts of the Chicago AACM free-jazz scene and consistently thrilling players with an intensity that is simply not proper for gentlemen of their age -- would take a different path on this excellent new collaboration than they did on 2004's stark Back Together Again. But of course, players this vibrant are ALWAYS surprising; otherwise, they would be playing pop music I suppose. On From the River to the Ocean, the sax and drum duo is joined by Tortoise's Jeff Parker on electric guitar, Josh Abrams of Town and Country on bass and guimbri and Harrison Bankhead on cello, piano and bass. The results are eclectic and electric, from the rhythmic cacophony of "Planet E," with Parker and Drake's equally thrilling solo turns, to the serene album closing sax and guimbri duet. From beginning to end, a wonderful new record with depth and passion, as if we expected anything less. [JM]


	$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3		TERRY RILEY Les Yeux Fermes / Lifespan (Elision Fields) "Happy Ending" "The Old Timer" Two film scores by composer Terry Riley are offered for the first time together on this release. "Les Yeux Fermes" consists of two long-form pieces - "Journey from the Death of a Friend" for organ, and "Happy Ending" on sax - that follow in Riley's looped, exploratory worldview. "Lifespan" tracks ruminate for shorter running times, bringing other instruments into the fray as counterpoint to Riley's intricate scale manipulations. Compelling avant-garde music, and for many, an essential purchase. [DM]


	$13.99 CD $13.99 LP		DNTEL Dumb Luck (Sub Pop) "To a Fault" "Breakfast in Bed" It's been quite a few years since Jimmy Tamborello delivered a record under his Dntel moniker, but in the interim he became an international pop star with Ben Gibbard and the Postal Service, as well as releasing a lovely record under his James Figurine guise last year on Plug Research. Tamborello's projects are varied and disparate, yet they all draw on similar influences, just in differing proportions. He comes from an indie-pop background, but has become a master of bedroom electronics, and is clearly drawn to both melodic dance-pop as well as glitchy electronica. At its core, Dumb Luck is a sad and warm pop album, enlisting on vocals the likes of Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Markus Acher (Notwist), Valerie Trebeljahr (Lali Puna), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and several others, to surprisingly moving effect. But while the vocals are sweet and sad and full of melody and music, the production is sly and understated. Many of the tracks come off as simple lo-fi bedroom recordings at first, with crackling ambience and simple acoustic instrumentation, but as they drift over you the depth and precision of the tracks unfold, subtly shifting rhythms and multi-hued layers of sound caressing and cajoling real emotion from the singers. The end result is one of the finer pop-electronica records we've heard in some time, sure to be adored by fans of Morr Music and any like-minded static-filled pop productions. [JM]


	$8.99 CD		DEERHUNTER Flourescent Grey (Kranky) "Flourescent Grey" Atlanta's Deerhunter follow up their wildly successful Cryptograms full-length with four more songs of psychedelic guitar pop of a pretty high order, plus a real nice video for "Strange Lights" from the aforementioned album that looks like their audition for Glass records. If you're already a fan or just wondering what the fuss is about, this record is for you. [DMa]


	$14.99 CDx2		SEEFEEL Quique - Redux Edition (Too Pure) "Climatic Phase #3" "Through You" One of the most subversively influential records of the early-'90s has to be Seefeel's Quique, from 1993. Mark Clifford, Sarah Fletcher, Daren Seymour, and Justin Fletcher picked up on the blessed-out shoegaze-techno drone of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (more specifically the closing track "Soon") and extended the ideas, leaving traditional pop song structures behind. The opening track "Climactic Phase #3," sounds exactly like the title. It starts with a disarmingly gentle blast of quivering guitar/synth drone loops, then a drum kick mimicking the sound of a heartbeat is introduced, before morphing into a techno anthem that would make Michael Mayer and his Kompakt crew green with envy. Tracks like "Polyfusion" and "Industrious" introduce a dark industrial dub/dance update that bands like AR Kane and Section 25 experimented with a few years earlier. Seefeel's lifespan was fairly short and the band went on indefinite hiatus less than three years later...MBV, anyone?? This stellar reissue also includes b-sides, rarities and unreleased material as well. Any passing fan of Ulrich Schnauss, the Field, Boards of Canada, etc., who aren't familiar should consider this required listening; Seefeel was just as good, no BETTER, than all of these bands. And for everybody else, this is album still sounds as good -- ah f*ck it -- BETTER now than it ever did! [DH]


	$8.99 CD-EP		ASBESTOSDEATH Dejection Unclean EP (Southern Lord) "Nail" "Anguish" This long-awaited CD collects both 7" singles released by these dudes who would soon morph into metal/doom/sludge legends Sleep (minus one) and later High On Fire and Om. Grinding jams, quite heavy on the personal, apocalyptic vibe that are the perfect realization of crossover as it is impossible to separate the punk from the metal. All four songs stand the test of time quite nicely. [DMa]


	$12.99 CD $9.99 mp3		THE ROSEBUDS Night of the Furies (Merge) "Night of the Furies" "Silence by the Lakeside" Once a sunny, rambunctious pop duo, North Carolina's the Rosebuds are now flirting with synths and an almost Knife-like sensibility in their craft. The songs sound darker, further removed from any human presence in a sort of New Romantic mindset. Somewhat unexpected, given their current direction, but a rewarding listen all the same, offering an interesting makeover for the group. [DM]


	$13.99 CD w/ DVD		Aa GAame (Gigantic Music) "Manshake" "Horse Steak" Sometime over the last year, I started seeing flyers around town with simple intriguing line drawings of elf children in headdresses dancing around campfires, human-like elephants, and other things supernatural and mystical. The only constant thing on these flyers were the letters Aa. Their debut full-length is a continuation of the ecstatic release that made Animal Collective and Black Dice so exciting the first time around (more Danse Manatee than Sung Tongs). GAame is a welcome edition to the New York now-sound running through the underground of its boroughs. A wild mix of percussion, electronics, tape loops, effects, saxophone, synths, whoops and soft screams, it seems to me that the wealth of bands practicing the voice-as-texture formula is spreading. Some comparisons can be made to the likes of Liars, Dirty Projectors, Professor Murder, the aforementioned Animal Collective and Black Dice, and I also hear older influences such as the ethno-ambient structures of Eno & Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. I listen to this CD the same way I listen to others in this experimental/structured improv sub genre of indie rock: those times that I need to scream and can't. Aa give that sense of exhalation much needed around these parts. A good, exciting, and vibrant debut, I'm on the lookout for a new flyer so I can catch them live, it sounds like a good time. In the meantime, I'm going to check out the bonus DVD of live footage, that's included. If you can't get to the party, sometimes the party comes to you. Release some tension. [DG]


	$17.99 CD		PATTI SMITH Twelve (Columbia) "Midnight Rider" "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" By my count this is Patti Smith's eleventh, not twelfth album, but the hall-of-fame punk heroine presents twelve interpretations of classic rock gems on this fine new record. The choices, although occasionally eyebrow-raising (Tears For Fears?), are not exactly revealing -- Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Hendrix, Doors, Neil Young and Jefferson Airplane...in a nod to the modern era she even takes a banjo to "Smells Like Teen Spirit." These are great, classic songs done faithfully yet in their own inimitable style by Smith and the boys (Lenny, Tony and Jay Dee), always tasteful, emotional and real. Surely it's a lightweight record from a heavyweight performer, but we can wait for her twelfth album for the high art. [JM]


	$17.99 CD		SENKING List (Raster Noton) "Great Day" "Crevasse" A killer new full-length from Senking who usually puts out records on the bittersweet, melodic Karaoke Kalk label. Senking has made everything from vast minimal ambient albums to sparse, poppy dub. Uncharacteristically, List is more of a catacomb-crawling, spelunking excavation of mid-tempo digital doom and dirge with just enough melody to keep it afloat. Totally stripped-down Gyral-era Scorn meets Vladislav Delay's Basic Channel releases, but just a tad more organic sounding, List is dark and creeping with a primal, post hip-hop leaning, and includes vocal samples on some tracks to add to the unease. Really good. Really solid. Recommended. [SM]


	$17.99 CD		ALVA NOTO Xerrox Vol. 1 (Raster Noton) "Haliod Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris)" "Haliod Xerrox Copy 6" Alva Noto is at it again. Xerrox is made up of samples and field recordings collected during his travels that were Xeroxed with the aid of a sample transformer (designed by Christopher Brungge). Though the sounds are seemingly distorted beyond recognition, they still retain Noto's trademark textural detail. (The list of source thank you's: Narita Airport, Air France, telephone wait-loop Lufthansa hotel, Yamaguchi 7-11 etc.) Xerrox offers tracks of nicely arranged textures, large and small, and as an album it sits somewhere between the Noto/Sakamoto records (minus the piano but with the subtle, active changes) and the physical -- as opposed to clinical -- feel of the Trans-series, sans the beats. "Haliod Xerrox Copy 1" is consistently dense and open throughout but manages to move and shift nonetheless. It's probably no coincidence that the tracks have the feeling of air travel, its layover points and the streams of information exchanged with it. Alva Noto's own version of Music for Airports...[SM]