The Other Music Update

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	May 17, 2007


			A MESSAGE TO OUR EARTHLINK SUBSCRIBERS Several subscribers who are using Earthlink email accounts have written in to tell us that they are receiving multiple copies of our announcements. Our tech support team has determined that this is an Earthlink issue and recommends that anyone who is receiving several copies at a time of our updates to re-subscribe to our mail list with a non-Earthlink email account. You can do this automatically by going to www.othermusic.com/index.cgi. You'll find a dropdown box on the orange navigation bar on the left-hand side where you can subscribe your new email address, and un-subscribe your old one.


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Lubomyr Melnyk (mp3 available) Efdemin Pan Sonic Fennesz / Sakamoto Betty Davis (mp3 avaiable) Cult Cargo 2 (various - mp3 available) Dungen Life on Earth! Au Revoir Simone Max Mohr Vladislav Delay Tectonic Plates The North Sea KTL Black Devil Disco Club Excepter Henry Flynt Wilco The Scientists Searching for Shakes (various) Machinefabriek		Mark Sultan (mp3 available) Al Stewart Delaney & Bonnie Idle Race Jeronimo Malachi Alex Delivery (mp3 available) ALSO AVAILABLE Sun Ra Telefon Tel Aviv (remixes) FEATURED MP3 DOWNLOADS Spanish Harlem Orchestra A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Blue" Gene Tyranny Larry Young Voxtrot (single)

Photo by Matt Hobbs

ABSOLUT WORLD TICKET GIVE-AWAY THIS SUNDAY
In anticipation of the launch of Absolut Vodka's first new advertising campaign in 27 years, In an Absolut World, Other Music, Giant Step & Absolut Vodka will be partnering this Sunday, May 20, 2007, to give away 100 pairs of tickets to some of this summer's hottest concerts. We cannot announce the bands in advance, but venues include McCarren Pool, Central Park SummerStage, Keyspan Park, Highline Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Roseland Ballroom and the Town Hall, and it's a great selection of many Other Music favorites and top sellers. Some of these events are already sold out. Tickets will be distributed one pair per customer, first come, first served, starting at 12 noon this Sunday at the shop. You must be 21+ with government issued ID to participate.

SUNDAY, MAY 20 @ NOON
OTHER MUSIC: 15 E. 4th Street NYC

MAY

Sun 13

Mon 14

Tues 15

Wed 16

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TONIGHT: DUNGEN LISTENING PARTY AT K&M!
Tonight, (Thursday, May 17), we'll be featuring DUNGEN's highly-anticipated new album, Tio Bitar at our listening party at K&M. It all gets underway at 10:00 P.M. when we'll play the record in its entirety, and afterwards, Other Music DJs will take over the decks. There will lots of Kemado Records give-aways plus FREE VODKA GIMLETS (while they last) and BEER SPECIALS all night long!

TONIGHT, THURSDAY, MAY 17!
10 P.M. to Last Call

K&M BAR:
225 N. 8th Street (Corner of Roebling)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
*NO COVER*

MAY

Sun 20

Mon 21

Tues 22

Wed 23

Thurs 24

Fri 25

Sat 26

TICKET GIVE-AWAY TO DIRTYBIRD APT RESIDENCY
San Fran's finest, the Dirtybird label kicks off their monthly residency at APT next Thursday, May 24. Featuring Claude VonStroke and Christian Martin on the decks, it's guaranteed to be a great night of warm grooves, tech-house and Detroit acid. Enter to win a pair of tickets by emailing to tickets@othermusic.com The two winners (one pair each) will be notified on Monday, May 21st. Please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached.

THURSDAY, MAY 24
APT: 413 W. 13 Street NYC


	$15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		LUBOMYR MELNYK KMH (Unseen Worlds) Three KMH Four KMH I think it's safe to say that the true history of minimalism has yet to be written, with unexpected byways heretofore hidden from public view routinely surfacing seemingly every year. Case in point, the unexpected re-emergence of Lubomyr Melnyk and his debut album KMH, which is surely one of the must have reissues of the year. Mr. Melnyk has apparently been hiding in plain view, as he's perfectly reachable via a detailed website where he sells copies of his "piano music in a continuous mode" on LP, CD, and cassette. He also offers a correspondence course for those interested in learning his idiosyncratic piano technique. He'd probably quibble over the minimal tag, he prefers to refer to his music as maximal, but for the average reader of this update we won't split hairs. Possessing a Rasputin-like visage and Ukrainian parentage, Melnyk's mature music was the result of a negative reaction to the "nightmarish" world of modern music, and a positive one to the way opened by the advances of Terry Riley and Steve Reich in the mid-seventies. Wishing to return to the harmonic splendor of Chopin and Mozart, Melnyk expended his considerable energies developing a "continuous mode" of playing, dense in sound clusters and rich in harmonic overtones. It is somewhat analogous to Charlemagne Palestine's Strumming Music, but with a more detailed melodic sense, in that his pieces seem to "go" somewhere. KMH was Melnyk's first recorded attempt at documenting his new mode of playing. The initial patterns to emerge are in a somewhat dissonant vein, but as the fifty-minute piece progresses the sonorities become more and more lush, with rows of notes materializing out of some kind of achingly beautiful ether. Extremely listenable, and seemingly endlessly fascinating, KMH is a major rediscovery that will surely change the way people look at official canon of minimal music in the twentieth century. There's no reason he should be left out of the textbooks from here on out. [MK]


	$15.99 CD		EFDEMIN Efdemin (Dial) "Le Ratafia" "April Fools" So, not like they're Blur and Oasis or anything, but the recent controversy around the shop has been which album is better, the new Pantha Du Prince or Efdemin? I won't get into a bullet-point breakdown, as they're both such adorable records. In fact, more than one of us here at OM is known to mix back and forth between a copy of each album in their DJ set. For every languid, romantic buildup in PDP's This Bliss there is a perfectly panther-slick, muscle-toned, endless groove in Efdemin's self-titled album to follow it up with. What can I say? Not much, because words fail to convey the feeling these tracks inspire. We are not used to hearing albums this solid and full of cuts that could just loop on into infinity for all we care. Even if I told you that Efdemin makes the most non-retro-nostalgic Detroit, efficient, deep-ass, on-point jams, full of warmth and slooow-rising energy, it still wouldn't really do him justice. These tracks are strangely blissful (in a "house" way) and muscle-y (in a "Detroit" way) and sophisticated (in that "Dial" way -- after all, Efdemin is P. Sollman who also released an album of beautiful, ambient installation soundtracks), but in a way that's all its own. Dial is killing it now. Another proud addition to the top 5 techno albums of the year. Highest recommendation!! [SM]


	$14.99 CD		PAN SONIC Katodivaihe / Cathodephase (Blast First) "Lahetyst / Transmission" Pan Sonic have a deep and impressive catalog, spanning close to 15 years, but after all this time I've probably returned to their early, groundbreaking Sahko EPs more often than anything subsequent. In the early-'90s, minimalism was still a delicacy generally reserved for the avant-classical set, but Pan Sonic instinctually explored the cool underbelly of electronica that was as far removed from Eno's hazy ambiance as it was from the dance floor, crafting melodic, musical, rhythmic and compelling pieces from the tiniest and most meticulously assembled bleeps and pops. Inevitably, the duo (formerly a trio) has fleshed out their sound on subsequent releases, but their essence remains, and Katodivaihe is a thrilling and sometimes startling progression. Pan Sonic has broadened their palette, if not their focus, with dense sheets of metallic noise, swampy and propulsive bass tones and even cello weaving in and out of these pieces. The tracks can freeze time, hanging on minutia like a fly buzzing against a window or a door slowly creaking in the wind, or thunder unstoppably like a freight-train, but their core emotion is consistent, and consistently spine-tingling. Katodivaihe is a powerful and lasting statement from a true modern innovator. [JM]


	$14.99 CD		FENNESZ / SAKAMOTO Cendre (Touch) "Oto" "Kokoro" Austrian guitar and laptop mastermind Christian Fennesz and Japanese compositional genius Ryuichi Sakamoto inaugurated their collaborative efforts with Sala Santa Cecilia, an almost patchwork EP that found the two performers working valiantly to integrate their trademark sounds into one cohesive whole. United again for a long-planned full-length, Fennesz and Sakamoto thus present Cendre as the fruits of their continued efforts, an album marked by a seamless integration of two electronic heavyweights' brightest and most complimentary tones. Though the two men didn't record any of the disc's eleven pieces while in the same room, Cendre strikes as a carefully considered, delicately constructed, and shimmeringly beautiful work of modern ambient composition, one that's effortlessly syncretic in its ultimate execution. While Fennesz and Sakamoto each took turns initiating pieces for the album, passing them back and forth until a whole emerged, there's little here to suggest that there was any creative bickering over the proceedings. Instead, Christian Fennesz slots his electronics nicely into the spaces left by Ryuichi Sakamoto's mesmerizing piano lines on "Mono," and drapes endlessly reverbed acoustic guitar across the simple electronics and spare keys of "Glow." And even though Fennesz downplays the volume and often tempers his playing to match the gentility of Sakamoto's, moments like "Kokoro" still evidence a flair for the distorted, pulling a steady prickle of feedback across ominously atonal notes. Darker moments like these present themselves throughout much of Cendre; however, the pair are at their best when playing off their disparate melodic sensibilities, as on the beatific "Haru," a plaintively effective duet for unfettered piano and aquatic drones. Far from just an interesting academic exercise, Cendre lives and breathes of its own accord, with both Fennesz and Sakamoto bent on taking the most tonally scenic route through their musical accord. [MC]


	Betty Davis $15.99 CD $9.99 mp3 They Say I'm Different $15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		BETTY DAVIS Betty Davis - Remastered (Light in the Attic) "Anti-Love Song " BETTY DAVIS They Say I'm Different - Remastered (Light in the Attic) "He Was a Big Freak" After decades of gray-market bootlegs, the wild, raunchy funk of Betty Davis finally sees legitimate, royalty-generating reissue. It's been too long. For as long as I've been collecting records, Davis' titles had only generated awe and speculation. Original copies all reside in the crates of beat diggers, record collectors' shelves, or on record store walls, usually behind an oppressive price tag. Those days, it seems, have come to an end, with two of her three albums receiving the deluxe treatment via Light in the Attic. Betty's tale begins in Pittsburgh (where she once again resides) but really took off when, in the late '60s, she was briefly wed to Miles Davis, introduced him to Jimi Hendrix, and received credit for generating the ideas that fueled Bitches' Brew and, from the sound of things, Miles' divisive electric period as a whole. She was also a songwriter, having written hit material for the Commodores and the Chambers Brothers, but held her ground for complete creative control as a performer and songwriter, even shunning Eric Clapton as a producer for her album sessions. Originally released on the Just Sunshine imprint of the long-gone Paramount Records, these albums cut a wide swath through what was acceptable behavior for a female artist. Up until then, no women in soul, save Marva Whitney, had ever sustained a banshee shriek such as hers, much less a white-hot sexuality, coupled with fierce, progressive feminism. Her records tell the tales of streetwalkers, living in the fringes, and what it takes to retain yourself in all sorts of relationships, but never does plays the victim, nor does she hold down the God-fearing moralism that soul music had slipped into as the Vietnam war dragged on. Not her - she was the biggest, loudest badass in town, and her music, all of which she wrote herself, retained these marks, scratches and bruises. Betty Davis dropped first, in 1973. Larry Graham's bass line on "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" has been sampled numerous times since the birth of hip-hop, most notably in New Kingdom's monstrous "Big 10 1/2," and it's a groove that will remain permanently locked into your brain. Cemented in by Gregg Errico's solid backbeats and contributions from some of L.A.'s hottest session players (including Sylvester, the Pointer Sisters, and of all people, Journey's Neal Schon), Davis croaks, coos, and shouts all over "Walkin' Up the Road," "Steppin' In Her I. Miller Shoes," and the rest of the selections as someone who would beat the stuffing out of a man if it meant compromising her beliefs, or those of others. And beat she does, on the '74 follow-up They Say I'm Different. "He Was a Big Freak" comes out of the closet with wild tales of S&M ("I used to beat him with my turquoise chain!") atop rock solid, borderline evil funk. A throat punch to conventional wisdom, practically every daring, outgoing pop and R&B star in her wake, from Tina Turner and Prince to Peaches and Madonna, owe a large chunk of their careers to the existence of Davis' street-smart, no-bullshit grooves. For those who have already bought the boots, these editions come with thirty pages of extensive photo sessions and liner notes, as well as unreleased material unavailable until now. This is the funkiest thing you will buy in 2007. Bow down to the Queen. [DM]


	$17.99 CD $9.99 mp3		VARIOUS ARTISTS Cult Cargo 2: Grand Bahama Goombay (Numero Group) "Words to My Song" Dry Bread "Honesty Is the Best Policy" Gospel Chandeliers Quality reissue label the Numero Group delivers the second release in their new "Cult Cargo" series of region-specific funk and soul compilations with Grand Bahama Goombay. The first in the series collected obscure and forgotten 45 RPM nuggets from Belize; this time around, the focus is on the Bahamian region, most specifically the city of Freeport. Goombay (a word defined in the liner notes as an annual street festival, a pina colada-esque drink flavor, and perhaps most importantly, a drum) is less frenetic than its Belizean predecessor, though no less enjoyable; every cut here is loose, raw, and totally heavy. Highlights include a handful of tracks by Cyril "Dry Bread" Ferguson, from the civil-rights call to arms "Gonna Build a Nation" to "Words to My Song," one of the most moving songs about writer's block I've ever heard! Elsewhere, the Mustangs' "Time for Loving Is Now" combines a lopsided cowbell groove, a fuzzed-out organ, and beautiful harmony vocals, while Jay Mitchell serves up a monstrous 13-minute deconstruction of Mack Rice/Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally." My favorite cut, though, is Sylvia Hall's double-dutch abstinence ode "Don't Touch That Thing," which manages to combine a risque (for the '70s, at least) children's playground rhyme and a "Funky Nassau"-esque drum stomp into one of the best jams on an overall quality compilation. [IQ]


	$13.99 CD		DUNGEN Tio Bitar (Kemado) "Gor Det Nu" "Svart Ar Himlen Who couldn't fall for the psych-rock sweetness exemplified by our favorite Swedish exports (aside from shop employee Andreas Knutsen, that is) Dungen? 2004's Ta Det Lugnt broke out stateside due to its overwhelming sense of rock history, sure, but also because the hooks were killer and the instrumentals were truly psychoactive, even though they sang in their native tongue. With Tio Bitar getting released stateside this go-round, the band keeps their lingua intact, fully delivering on the rock goods. Draped in silvery chainmail packaging, this album is even more streamlined that Lugnt, with crunchy and terse rockers balanced out by more groove-oriented numbers, plus a great freak-out for guitar and drums as the centerpiece of the disc. [AB]


	$15.99 CD		LIFE ON EARTH! Look!! There's Life on Earth! (Subliminal Sounds) "Life on Earth" "Bubble of Magic" Life on Earth! is a large-ensemble side project of largely Swedish descent; in case the new Dungen record isn't enough for you, think of this one as a nice comedown. Gustav Ejstes and Mattias Gustavsson of Dungen join Mia Doi Todd, Josh Abrams, Subliminal Sounds honcho Stefan Kery, Ben Vida (Town and Country, U.S. Maple) and a dozen more musicians for an all-out supersession of delightfully syrupy, pastoral psychedelic pop. Projects such as this are often disparaged as unfocused or not of one voice, but there's always an exception to every rule, and this one is it, at times recalling the cautious lilt of the Free Design, CSNY's hard-strum lyric folk-rock, and the exploratory funk of Gainsbourg circa Melody Nelson. Hard to beat a record like this, especially in the midst of such nice weather. Highly recommended for fans of all of the above. [DM]


	$12.99 CD		AU REVOIR SIMONE The Bird of Music (Our Secret Record Label) "Fallen Snow" "Lark Lark" There's something pleasantly airport-esque about this Brooklyn trio's effusive, take-me-anywhere synth-pop: It's friendly and unimposing enough to lull you into a relaxed state, yet breezy enough to make you feel like you're on your way to somewhere better -- somewhere that probably has Kir Royales on the cocktail menu. Like Broadcast's Trish Keenan or Nouvelle Vague's codeine-coated New Wave classics, Au Revoir Simone traffics in a hazy shade of summer. You could be in Paris, Rome, Rio, or Stockholm, no matter; the shimmering clatter of three synths unfurling into the warmth of girlie verses (courtesy of Heather D'Angelo, Erika Forster, and Annie Hart) would still sound like it's homegrown. Celestial and nostalgic, The Bird of Music kicks into gear with "Sad Song," a decidedly un-sorrowful tune about a bus ride that's rich in handclaps and nostalgia. But giddy girl-group wonder "A Violent Yet Flammable World" is the true hit here, driven by a dreamy, Gallic wall of keyboards that Charlotte Gainsbourg could easily get with -- the chorus is wispy in all the right places, and the unwavering vocals keep the vibe sunny and bright. While there's nothing terribly athletic about any of these soundscapes, they aim to please in their own sweet and gentle way. In between Amy Millan and Ivy lie poetic, sweeping treasures like "Lark" and "Fallen Snow," alternately cajoling and mesmerizing. The chorus of "Stars" is a siren's call, slick in its playfulness: "You make me wanna measure stars in the backyard/with a calculator and a ruler, baby." And that's just when Au Revoir Simone has you just where they want you -- in the backyard, among the flowering trees, fireflies, and other gentle summer magic. [KO]


	$15.99 CD $17.99 LP		MAX MOHR Trickmixer's Revenge (Playhouse) "Diamanten" "Mellowmoon 2" Max Mohr has been putting out dark, ill 12-inches for a while now, always shying away from the limelight. Occasionally, he'd throw out an "experimental" track or a German disco jam, just to show that he's got it like that... Besides his "Sweet" single, I'd have to say his "Trickmixer" 12-inch was a pinnacle moment for Max Mohr; and for me too, I had it in my best-of list that year. Again, it was thrashing and bashing, but still cavernous as hell. Even Superpitcher dropped one of the tracks ("Old Song") on his Kompakt mix. Now, Max Mohr comes out with a full-length on Playhouse, dubbed Trickmixer's Revenge. Filled with more dark, twisted and sometimes schizophrenic tracks, some slash-and-throb hardcore through night fog ("Diamanten"), while other cuts bounce deep ("Old Song"). It's sick like Soylent Green, and ill-deep like Carsten Jost, but a bit more bent and a little f**ked like the last Johannes Heil. Playhouse always puts out sick dark house, but this one is a few degrees sicker. We need more stuff like this! [SM]


	$15.99 CD		VLADISLAV DELAY Whistleblower (Huume) "Stop Talking" "Recovery Idea" We cannot keep up with the multiple personalities that spring from the laptop of Mr. Ripatti, but while we expect lush and mirrored house tracks from his guise as Luomo, we also dig the ambient dubscapes he makes as Vladislav Delay. Anima was one of our favorite electronic albums of the era, and despite not getting as much love as say, Luomo's The Present Lover, Delay's Four Quarters offered echo-y bounty. And while Delay explores similar scapes for The Whistleblower, there are so many dark corners and wormholes in this place that you'll be falling for days. [AB]


	$20.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Tectonic Plates (Tectonic) "Wear the Crown" DQ1 "Molten "Digital Mystikz One of our favorite secret jams comes in an unassuming plain brown package, with the title plainly printed on the cover: Tectonic (the label), Tectonic Plates (the comp). But what you find inside are two CDs containing the best slices of dubstep around. Based in Bristol, Tectonic is at the center of the action, and their selection here is right on, the first disc featuring 13 tracks from Skream, Distance, MRK1 and Loefah, among other notables. The second CD takes the cuts from disc one, along with seven more dubplates from Vex'd, Cyrus and Digital Mystikz, and blends it all into a tight DJ mix. It's slightly similar to Tempa's dubstep compilations but sans the MCing, and what results feels more like a studio mix as opposed to a live rave or private radio mix. Nonetheless, this Tectonic comp is clean yet no less vibrant, and though it's been out for several months, it's the one we that keep coming back to, thanks to the feel-good vibes which somehow come through the dark and staggering sounds. (Throughout, you feel the warmth of the bass fill your chest cavity.) If you've been keeping up with the dubstep sound of labels like the aforementioned Tempa or Planet Mu, many of their best new artists are included here. Definitely fresh and refreshing, you won't find a better collection of dubstep. For real! [DG]


	$14.99 CD		THE NORTH SEA Exquisite Idols (Type) "Take It from Me Brother Moses" "Cover Me with Knives" You might remember The North Sea (a/k/a Brad Rose, of Oklahoma) from a sublime split album with British drone ensemble Rameses III from last year. The promise of that release is brought full circle with Exquisite Idols, a gorgeous, dusky rumination of straight folk and carefully phased small instruments. Imagine an elementary, playful Animal Collective (recorded, not live) playing around with more traditional singer-songwriter elements, and you've essentially got this album, a joyful, confident, slightly melancholy time with unexpectedly strong emotional pull. The kind of record you connect with right away and remain familiar with as the months pass on, not to mention a perfect soundtrack to a sunset. [DM]


	$15.99 CD		KTL 2 (Editions Mego) "Soom 2" Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley and Editions Mego proprietor Peter "Pita" Rehberg began their work as KTL to score Gisele Vienne and Closer and Frisk author Dennis Cooper's theater piece Kindertotenlieder. Pulled from the same sessions that yielded last year's self-titled full-length, 2 emerges not as a simple sequel, but as a whole new beast. Given that both albums were culled from the same time and place, it would be easy to suggest that these records are of an indistinguishable piece. But whereas the first disc reveled in pitting Rehberg's digital grind against O'Malley's black metal atmospherics, 2 sneaks in enough variations in form to distinguish it as more than just a simplistic continuation or a collection of cutting room floor outtakes. Picking up right where the duo left off less than a year ago, "Game" opens the album on familiar ground -- all cavernous low-end and muffled drone that deals in eerie restraint. "Theme," however, spends its twenty-six minutes reinventing the form that these two came close to perfecting on their debut. Beginning with muted kick drum blasts, the track slowly builds into a buzzing din of near melodic tones that bend and twirl, uneasily shuffling to the fore and commanding full attention, ultimately erupting in a barrage of jagged feedback and near-occult buzz. While that track bears the unmistakable hand of Peter Rehberg, the "Abbatoir" that follows is distinctly of Stephen O'Malley's domain, a full-on blast of distended guitar dirge coated in digital grime and sub-bass rumble. Though these sounds are distantly removed from the theatrical work that birthed them, Rehberg and O'Malley's keen grasp of pummeling maelstrom gives this album a life all its own. [MC]


	$14.99 CD		BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB In Dub (Lo Recordings) "Constantly No Respect" "The Devil Inside Us" "Dub" might not be the most appropriate calling card for these remixes of the recent Black Devil Disco Club album 28 After, a dicey return for one of disco's legion of disappearing acts. Rather, the extended versions on the first half on In Dub play on the same field as Disconet or Razormaid 12"s from days gone by. Ideas rushed past in the original cuts are given room to breathe here, and in many cases improve on the album cuts themselves. The second half, however, is where things really get deep, with remixes from forward-thinking outfits and producers like Quiet Village (god, this one's incredible), Prins Thomas, and In Flagranti weighing in with strong, relevant interpretations of the same tracks. Looks like you can get blood from a stone - you just gotta throw it hard enough! Highly recommended. [DM]


	$13.99 CDx2		EXCEPTER Streams 01 (Fusetron) "Streets" "Mc333" Brooklyn's Excepter (which counts OM's Dan Hougland as one of its members) are one of those rare bands whose ability to consistently confound gets more intensely engaging with each and every release. And though they've crafted a handful of great, diverse records over the past few years that have traced paths straight through the heart of dance beats, noise gristle, and industrial thump each with equally dis-associative aplomb, they've been the most effective in live settings. Imbuing each performance with an almost ritualistic purpose and a harrowing presence, Excepter don't play songs or pieces as much as they do pure moods, using an array of synths and drum machines to create an unparalleled experience that can hardly be confined to any reductive comparisons. All throughout their tenure, the band has issued documents of their live efforts as free MP3 streams on their website. Streams 01 functions almost like a "best of" compilation for these takes, presenting two discs worth of sessions edited and sequenced by band acolyte Robert Girardin. Capturing bits and pieces of the band from almost every stage of their evolution, this set also works as a pretty great introduction for the uninitiated. Though tracks like the pulsing "Stairwells" and manically propulsive "Silence (Except Her)" are almost skeletal when compared to the cuts found on KA and Throne, they share a common reliance on off-kilter rhythms that fold back on themselves, giving the vocals and electronics a dangerously unbalanced set of legs on which to stand. Other pieces, like queasy electro bounce of "Who's There 2" or the grimy, sweat-soaked pull of "Self Destruction," deal in extremities of both beat and tone that few can capably match. A defiant step away from the almost song-oriented Alternation that emerged last year on 5RC, Streams 01 is a relentlessly fascinating look at the inner workings of the savviest consciousness shredding electronic improv ensembles out there, and one you'd be wise to pick up on post haste. [MC]


	$16.99 CD		HENRY FLYNT New American Ethnic Music Volume 4: Ascent to the Sun (Recorded) "Ascent to the Sun" Ascent to the Sun is the most recent entry in Henry Flynt's growing family of long form, solo amplified violin records that includes C-Tune and Purified by the Fire -- the latter of which seasoned Flynt fans will undoubtedly recognize as the sister, or perhaps mother, album to the one at hand. Ascent reworks the universal, Appalachian Raga of Purified into a more crystalline, conceptual form. The absence here of C.C. Hennix's tambura playing, which lent Purified its awesome, oceanic expanses, in some ways, allows for a more distilled view of the material of Flynt's violin work, which is an organic synthesis of minimalist Americana and the fine-tuned slurs of Indian classical music. The violin here is overdubbed, and the two voices echo and mirror one another in a seemingly infinite number of permutations that unfold rather like a prism turning methodically on each of its many facets. Vocal-like glissandi give way to modular hillbilly figures punctuated by terse, heterodyning, double stops, all in a heady, conceptual field that recalls the paradoxical call and response of talking to oneself. More an expansion of previously stated themes than a stab into new territory, Ascent is a solid entry into a catalogue already bulging at the seams with ideas...and there's more to come, I'm sure. [CC]


	$17.99 CD		WILCO Sky Blue Skly (Nonesuch) "Impossible Germany" "Hate It Here" For Wilco's sixth studio effort, with the band's place in alterna-history now pretty much set in stone, Jeff Twee