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Special Announcement
With the upcoming Memorial Day weekend upon us in a few days, we're sure that many of you will be choosing rooftop bar-b-ques and good ol' outdoor fun over staring at your computer screen. So this will be the only announcement that we'll be sending out this week, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some great new releases that we're excited about. Scroll down this email and you'll see some of our favorite new arrivals at our Digital Store. On our CD/LP website's homepage, you'll find highly-anticipated albums from artists like Battles, the National, and Voxtrot, not to mention other great releases including Wareika Hill Sounds (led by Light of Saba's Calvin Cameron), a Gang Gang Dance DVD that comes with a CD of unreleased material, and an unearthed lost classic from Barbara and Ernie. We'll be updating both sites with more titles throughout the week so make sure to check back.

Rhythm & Sound Ticket Give-Away
Next Monday, May 28, Deep Space presents Rhythm & Sound at Cielo! These pioneering dub-minimalists, featuring Basic Channel founders Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald, will be joined by guest singer Milton Henry from the legendary Wackies label, and there'll be an exclusive DJ set from Francois K. Other Music has two pairs of tickets to give away to see this fantastic line-up. To enter, send an email to tickets@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The two winners will be notified on Friday, May 25.

MONDAY, MAY 28
Rhythm & Sound @ Cielo: 18 Little W. 12th Street NYC
Doors at 9:30 P.M.
$23 advance tickets available at Other Music

 

This Week's Featured Download

Kemialliset Ystavat
Kemialliset Ystavat
Fonal
$11.99
Listen & Buy

Led by multi-instrumental mastermind (and only real permanent member) Jan Anderzén, Kemialliset Ystavat (which in English means "Chemical Friends") has all but defined the ramshackle sound of modern Finnish psychedelia. Pulling in strands of loosely jammed folk, grimy noise, free associative percussion, and a whole toy chest full of other waifish accoutrement, Anderzén (along with the help of friends like Lau Nau's Laura Naukkarinen) has created a singular catalogue of constantly mutating sounds. Once again piecing together tape loops, acoustic guitars, and whatever else is within reach into endlessly enticing, wholly original slices of glorious otherworldly din, Anderzén has finally returned with an all-new, self-titled album for the always enjoyable Fonal imprint.

Though little has changed in the ultimate creation of the Kemialliset Ystavat sound since Anderzén's last installment, there's a newfound sense of clarity here that grants the album's twelve tracks a more spacious sense of serenity and a welcome new fidelity. That's not to suggest, however, that these tunes are any less mysteriously beguiling than the rest of the KY oeuvre, as the opening salvos of "He tulivat taivaan ääristä" waste no time in renewing Anderzén's descent into the farthest reaches of his own distinct sound world, wedging plaintive strums in between cracked voices and burbling keys. Tracks like "Superhimmeli" and the stately procession of "Kokki, leipuri, kylvettäjä ja taikuri (Enna 132 eaa.)" almost come across like a more winsome Faust re-envisioning the soundtrack to Jodorowksy's The Holy Mountain for a crew of forest-dwelling separatists, matching the chiming percussion and urgent acoustics with veritable symphonies of space age synths. Far from being just another entry into the dense library that Jan Anderzén has created over the past few years, this new album ranks head and shoulders above the rest, finally matching Kemialliset Ystavat's unkempt imagination with a fully realized pocket orchestra that takes these musings to brilliant new heights.

- Michael Crumsho