The Other Music Update

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	November 14, 2007


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Ophiucus Pluramon Burial Vashti Bunyan Hisato Higuchi Caetano Veloso Jorge Ben Gene Clark & Carla Olson Gram Parsons Testbild! The Dreamers Art of Field Recording Box Set Ethiopiques Vol. 22 Efterklang Baby Dee Sun City Girls The Abyssinians BJ Nilsen Boscoe Health Marc Wilkinson		Witchcraft Excepter Kathy Smith Dan Kaufman Tommy Roe 10 Tons Heavy (Planet Mu compilation) ALSO AVAILABLE LCD Soundsystem Tussle Lindstrom Sigur Ros Citay Bright Eyes Little Brother Bear in Heaven Besnard Lakes Castanets Holy F**k COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

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WIN TICKETS TO SEE BRIGHT EYES AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL!
It seems like just yesterday when Conor Oberst was playing the early slot, warming the stage for Grandaddy at the Bowery Ballroom. Fast-forward seven or so years later, and he and his Bright Eyes are headlining New York City's prestigious Radio City Music Hall next Monday night! It's surely a show that fans won't want to miss and the opening acts, Thurston Moore and the Felice Brothers, aren't too shabby either. We've got two pairs of tickets to give away to this night, and all you've got to do to enter is send an email to contest@othermusic.com, along with your daytime phone number. We'll be picking the two winners this Friday, November 16th.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL: 1260 6th Avenue NYC

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		WIN TICKETS TO SEE WILEY A week from this Friday, Wiley will be performing his only currently scheduled United States date at New York City's Knitting Factory, supporting his latest album, Playtime Is Over! Joining the Godfather of Grime is a slew of other performers on the bill, including MRK 1, Messiah, Zinc Larynx, Killer Waldren and Jason Mundo. We've got two pairs of tickets to give away, and all you have to do to enter is send an email to enter@othermusic.com, and please include your daytime phone number. We'll be notifying the two winners this Friday, November 16th, so what are you waiting for?! FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23 KNITTING FACTORY: 74 Leonard Street NYC

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BLACK DICE TICKET GIVE AWAY
Next week, avant-noise alchemists Black Dice will be performing at Highline Ballroom in support of their great, recently released Load Blown album on Paw Tracks. Opening the night will be Wizzardzz (which features fellow RISD'er Brian Gibson of Lightning Bolt) and Awesome Color. Other Music has three pair of tickets to give away; to enter send an email to tickets@othermusic.com, and please include your daytime phone number. We'll be picking the three winners on Friday, November 16th.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23
HIGHLINE BALLROOM: 431 W 16th Street NYC

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Sat 01

WIN RICHARD HAWLEY TICKETS
One of Other Music's favorite crooners (and Pulp's touring guitarist), Richard Hawley returns to the States to perform at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, December 1st. Anyone who's seen Hawley play live can attest to the fact that he's a great showman, he and his band delivering a live set of originals (and usually a few surprise covers) that fit nicely between the songbooks of Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. To enter to win a pair of tickets, just send an email to giveaway@othermusic.com, and please include your daytime phone number. We'll be picking two winners this Friday, November 16th.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1
BOWERY BALLROOM: 6 Delancey Street NYC


	$15.99 CD		OPHIUCUS Ophiucus (Lion Productions) "Darbouka" "Universe" I was watching the Lost Books of Nostradamus on the History Channel a couple weeks ago, which was a total crock of doo-doo by the way, and there was much talk of an obscure zodialogical sign/constellation named Ophiucus, that I'd never heard of, but that I apparently need to be watching as there's some sort of cosmic aligning regarding the serpent-wearing star-man that's going to happen soon that'll usher in the Apocalypse. But what really concerns me is if Nostradamus could have possibly predicted that just days after having watched said program, a compact disc bearing the name Ophiucus would arrive at Other Music and end up being the most wonderful French record heard within these walls since Gerard Manset's La Mort de Orion? It would take a multi-million dollar budget and a panel of dubiously degreed experts to find out, no doubt. Ophiucus (the band) cut one stellar album for Barclay back in 1972, a singularly ambitious affair that nevertheless orbits a similar artistic territory to that covered by the Pretty Things Parachute, the Beatles White Album, early Pink Floyd, and Faust IV. There's a heavy use of pastiche, often within a single track, with references to musique concrete, pastoral folk, French chanson, and the multi-part harmonies of the Beach Boys. They were also capable of flat out rocking, in sales floor parlance we call these songs "mega jams." Seriously though, this is yet another killer release from Lion Productions, on a fast track to being the best reissue label on the planet, and this one oughta appeal to a wide swath of Other Music customers, whether you favor the Decadanse or the Psych section. [MK]


	$15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		PLURAMON The Monstrous Surplus (Karaoke Kalk) "If the Kids Are United" "If Time Was on My Side" Marcus Schmickler has been a longtime favorite of ours, a dynamic artist with a formal electronic composition background who emerged from the edgy Cologne scene in the late '80s with the freewheeling improv performance groups Pol and Kontakta, before masterminding Pluramon's amazing debut Pickup Canyon, released on Mille Plateaux in 1996. That album, featuring Can's Jaki Liebezeit on drums, was a groundbreaking and eminently listenable blueprint for future music, blending electronics and found-sound samples with live improvisation, creating an unclassifiable soundtrack to the modern world. Schmickler has released a handful of diverse albums under his own name, as well as another, more electronic alter-ego, Wabi Sabi, but Pluramon has endured, and 10 years and five albums later we have The Monstrous Surplus. On the surface this new record could not have less in common with Pluramon's auspicious beginnings, and while for a cutting-edge artist bold change is always welcome, longtime fans may be surprised at the sound of this one. In fact, the band really morphed on 2003's Dreams Top Rock, adding Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks fame) on vocals and turning to a dreamier pop sound. The Monstrous Surplus embraces that direction wholeheartedly, with Cruise again handling some vocals (and co-writing half the tracks with Schmickler), and a dense, guitar-heavy dream-pop sound that draws heavily on '90s shoegaze like Slowdive and Chapterhouse, but with an updated, churning electronic undercurrent that is sure to appeal to fans of recent stuff from Ulrich Schnauss and M83. In the end, Pluramon's music has always been about sound and texture; and though early releases were painted from a freeform post-rock palette and the new direction is far more song-oriented, Marcus Schmickler's attention to detail and meticulously layered creations are always sweet nuggets of ear candy. [JM]


	$15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		BURIAL Untrue (Hyperdub) "Archangel" "Untrue" As last year drew to a close, we watched Burial's self-titled debut creep up from nowhere only to top many best of 2006 charts. Now the follow-up, Untrue, seems poised to do similar damage in '07. For lack of a better term, Burial makes dubstep, though I would argue that the palette and scope moves far beyond any tag. What Burial has done -- twice now -- is craft albums that are more about the overall journey than the stops along the way. He creates a deep, mysterious and dark world that is at once easy to penetrate for some, and a completely foreign place for others. Unlike many contemporary electronic producers, this is not a compilation of singles, nor is it a tastemaker's collection of inspirational songs; it's mood music...in the best possible sense. Burial makes albums that dare to be played from start to finish, and he invites the listener to step into the cavernous realm in which he dwells. Imagine coming in off the dark, shimmering urban city streets and walking into a party; but rather than stepping onto the dance floor, you take solace from hanging out on the sidelines, simply observing the action in front of you. Assembly line clicks, pops, booms, and scratches move along like the best Detroit techno, still the melodies are steeped in 2-step/garage, and England's low end theory. Burial's albums feel expansive, open, and wondrous. This is not, however, a party record, yet when the beats do drop, the firm influence of dance culture is embraced. If you're into new emergences in dance music and culture, Untrue may blow you away, but if you're the occasional dabbler in the world of electronic music, you may miss the point, it's hard to say. I feel like Burial could appeal to many, from fans of Battles to Panda Bear, Pantha du Prince to Rhythm and Sound. Electronic record of the year, just watch. [DG]


	$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3		VASHTI BUNYAN Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind (DiCristina) "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind" "17 Pink Sugar Elephants" British folk chanteuse Vashti Bunyan is the stuff of legends, her truly inimitable voice instantly creates an unparalleled sense of intimacy and warmth that's both individual and universal, her simple sad songs emanating a sense of joy and wonder in the trials and tribulations of love, loss and self-discovery. Thirty-seven years after the release of her, up until recently, lone album, Just Another Diamond Day, she has become a sort of elder stateswoman of the contemporary folk scene and beyond, collaborating with the likes of Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, as well as recording stellar new work of her own. Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind, however, looks back, collecting two 45s she released for Decca and Columbia, unreleased material she recorded for Immediate, her very first acetate demos, and reel-to-reel recordings made by her brother John, all dating from 1964-67, thus predating Just Another Diamond Day by several years. After getting kicked out of art school for spending too much time playing guitar and singing her songs, she caught the ears of Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham who was so impressed that he gave her a Mick Jagger / Keith Richards tune ("Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind') to record as her first single for Decca, coupled with her own number, "I Want to Be Alone." A single on Columbia followed as well as some recordings for proposed singles on the Oldham co-owned independent label Immediate that were never released. Though there was a minor buzz, Bunyan never quite caught on. Disenfranchised with the recording industry, she disappeared for a few years only to remerge, quite literally, out of the woods with her most personal and fully realized statement yet in the form of Just Another Diamond Day. While the vocal delivery and gentle guitar playing on these early singles are unmistakably Vashti, the production and orchestration (strings, percussion, backing vocals, etc.) of these songs recall a more '60s pop sound, almost like a British Francoise Hardy rather than the more stripped-down folk stylings that she has become known for. Several of the songs on the debut album are found in earlier versions here ("Love Song," "Winter Is Blue," "I'd Like to Walk Around in Your Mind") -- while it's not quite as captivating as the version on the album, it's interesting to hear the aforementioned "Winter Is Blue" as a somewhat melodramatic pop song featuring sweeping strings and shakers! The rest of the songs included in this collection are from home recordings that Vashti and her Brother John made, the second CD being an entire reel-to-reel tape that Vashti recorded of her earliest tunes in 1964 and which she only recently rediscovered, where she announces each song title prior to the performance. The fragility and slightly lo-fi quality of these recordings lends itself well to Bunyan's intimate style, amplifying the feeling that she's singing directly to you. Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind is another fine glimpse of one of the most honest and direct female voices to be rediscovered in recent years, and includes detailed liner notes by Vashti and Andrew Loog Oldham as well as lyrics and rare photos. In the words of Oldham, "It took a little while, but it's her while now." [KH]


	$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3		HISATO HIGUCHI Butterfly Horse Street (Family Vineyard) "Electric Guitar Light" "Kind Line" Japanese guitarist/vocalist Hisato Higuchi's third full-length seems to function in two modes. The first is a plaintive, reverb-drenched approach to electric guitar that seems intent on slowly building melodies one lingering note at a time -- an approach that fans of Higuchi's last album on Family Vineyard or of his like-minded elder, Loren Connors, will undoubtedly appreciate. The second approach Higuchi employs here is heavily distorted and always on the verge of feedback; and while louder than the former approach, it isn't as different as it might seem. Both styles of playing share a disciplined, searching sense of intensity and appear more like two sides of the same coin than dialectical opposites. Higuchi's infrequent but affecting wordless vocalizations arrive and disappear like passing night clouds, a grounding human presence in what is otherwise a decidedly abstract, emotional landscape. An intimate record of solitary improvised exploration. [CC]


	$19.99 CD		CAETANO VELOSO Araca Azul (Lilith) "De Cara /Eu Quero Essa Mulher" "Julia/Moreno" This one's for all of the freaks. In 1972, Caetano Veloso was back from three years of political exile in London and riding a new wave of popularity thanks to his excellent Transa album. His follow-up, Araca Azul, went on to become somewhat legendary as one of the most returned and refund-requested albums in the history of Brazilian music. While not exactly Metal Machine Music, it's easy to understand what all of the fuss was about -- Veloso decided to make a record in which he plays around with sound poetry, a bit of musique concrete and field recording experimentation, and intensely fragmented song structures. It's amazing, and actually proves to be one of his most beautiful (and misunderstood) albums. On Araca Azul, Veloso takes all of the lessons learned from the rollercoaster ride that was the Tropicalist movement and pushes them to their logical extremes as a fitting farewell to the movement as a whole. The abrupt juxtapositions of traditional carnival sambas rubbing and knocking elbows with flailing electric guitars and rock drums prove more startling when placed side by side rather than overlapping one another in pastiche; the onomatopoeic wordplays of Tropicalia's clever lyrics here stretch into concrete syllables and palindromes recorded both forwards and backwards. What's most startling amongst all of the experimentation, though, are the gorgeous gems of song that Veloso seemingly smuggled onto this album -- the unexpected turn "De Conversa"'s layers of sound poetry and body percussion suddently segue into a beautiful arrangement of Milton Nascimento's "Cravo E Canela" for, well, voices and body percussion, for instance. Or, take the simple, catchy-as-flu melody of "Gilberto Misterioso" which Veloso spends five minutes treating it like Silly Putty -- he bounces it around the room on a simple bossa beat for a few minutes, stretches it across some blocks of atonal piano in its middle section before rolling it back into a ball and bouncing on the keys and some bongo drums for its conclusion. Then there's "Julia/Moreno," one of Veloso's most beautiful ballads -- written for his then-unborn first child, of which the sex was unknown (it was a boy!) so he serenades it as though it were both. On "Epico," he takes a walk outside, singing to himself on the streets, serenading the passing traffic as a bombastic spy theme trumpets inside of his head. The album closes with the title track, a sharp, melancholy minute-and-change acoustic haiku that's there-and-gone like a daydream; in reality, this last song serves as Veloso's return to reality after his preceding 37 minutes behind the looking glass. Highest recommendation! [IQ]


	$24.99 CD		JORGE BEN Big Ben (Universal Japan) "Na Bahia Tem" "Lalari - Olala" Here we have a long-overdue Japanese reissue of one of samba-soul master Jorge Ben's most elusive albums, 1965's Big Ben. Overall, Big Ben is unique in his discography because it's definitely the most jazz-influenced of all of his records -- acoustic piano, swinging ride-cymbal grooves, and robust horns are featured on nearly every track, with much less of Ben's trademark staccato rhythm guitar sound. These changes in turn work much more to the album's advantage than one may expect, and it's fitting to note that half of the album's 12 tunes are covers; while perhaps not unusual for most bossa and samba stars' albums of the time, it was unusual for Ben, who was a prolific songwriter from the start of his career. This record also was the end of an era and a figurative calm before the creative storm for Ben; he'd drop a serious scene-changing bomb with his next record, 1967's O Bidu (Silencio No Brooklin), which predated the Tropicalist movement by a whole year and would influence it immensely. Highlights on Big Ben include opener "Na Bahia Tem," with Ben coming out swinging in full, robust voice, "Patapatapata," featuring one of those beautiful onomatopoeic melodies Ben writes so well, only this time subbing his rhythm guitar for tumbling piano riffs, and the hyperactive album closer "Agora Ninguem Chora Mais." Best of all is "Jorge Well," with its heavy jazz groove and Ben pleading (in English) to "take it easy, girl... come dance bossa nova/ come dance with me/ I dance very well/ because/ I am Jorge Well/ ask my mama..." Advice worth listening to...Mama would be proud. [IQ]


	$17.99 CDx2		GENE CLARK & CARLA OLSON In Concert (Collectors Choice) "Tried So Hard" "Last Thing on My Mind" I ignited a minor continuing controversy at the shop eons ago when I first started working here, after having written a description card for a then recently reissued Gene Clark album in which I stated that Clark was more soulful than Gram Parsons. Certain staff members were outraged at the perceived slight against Parsons, others were clearly Clark partisans. I know what you're thinking, but seriously, we work in a record store, this is what we do during the day, and sometimes it is as ridiculous as you'd imagine. Anyhow, the point is essentially moot, both men were geniuses, as evidenced by this week's update which finds two totally essential reissues of elusive live recordings by the twin titans of American roots rock. Parsons might have the bigger cult, but the many Gene Clark fans I've met have all been really, really, really into Gene Clark. Like when you have a secret that you don't want anyone else let in on, so you hold it close and treasure it. What some of them don't know however is that he was still capable of making some devastating music right on up to his death in 1991. The eighties were a rough decade for his health, he had a tragic drug and alcohol addiction that necessitated the removal of a portion of his stomach and intestines the same year the first disc of this set was recorded, but his music was also having its first go-round of being rediscovered by the Byrd's worshipping members of L.A.'s paisley underground. He hooked up with a young Texan singer on the scene named Carla Olson who managed to steer him back towards the stripped-down roots music he was best at performing, they recorded one critically lauded studio record together before Clark's old demons caught up with him again. The first disc is from a 1988 radio show featuring a solo Clark singing selections from a number of his best solo albums, his voice in top form with a well worn patina shaded by some incomparable inner turmoil or tragedy. The second disc is from a live gig in 1990 with Carla Olson, the arrangements are sparse but the mood is lighter, and they perform duets reaching all the way back to the Byrd's catalog. It's a seriously good show, and a fortunate gift to finally have it on CD. Clark succumbed to a bleeding ulcer less than a year later, the drink having finally done him in. [MK]


	$18.99 CDx2		GRAM PARSONS & THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS Archives Volume 1: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 (Amoeba) "Hot Burrito #2" "You're Still on My Mind" First of all, major, major thanks to the always excellent Amoeba record shops for having the tenacity to get this brand spanking new Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Bros two disc live set out into the world. The man died much too young and as we all know, there's a dearth of material in his rack. These tapes had long been hiding out in the Grateful Dead's infamous tape vaults, recorded long ago by the legendary Owsley "Bear" Stanley who'd since kept them pretty close to his chest. Incidentally, I was personally told recently by a (very) longtime Grateful Dead roadie that the Dead stashed their liquid LSD in a hidden compartment in Owsley's tape recorder, his eyes sparkling in rapturous wonderment at all the hours upon hours of music that had to pass by those vials on its way to posterity. Cosmic American Music indeed. Regardless, Owsley knew what he was doing when he pressed the record button, and the Burrito Bros were killing it on these two nights in early April, 1969, Gram mic'ed close up, the very breath of clarity, aching in all the right places. Hillman no doubt feeling the heat off of Garcia, competitively ratcheting up the heights of his guitar solos. If this here artifact doesn't put to rest the rumors that the Burrito's were slouches live I don't know what will. Hell, I'm thinking of packing it in for the rest of the year, I can't even imagine anything on the horizon kicking this baby out of constant rotation. [MK]


	Testbild! $13.99 CD The Dreamers $13.99 CD		TESTBILD! Une Teinte Intense (Friendly Noise) "Labyrinthine" "L'Errante" THE DREAMERS Day for Night (Friendly Noise) "Day for Night" "Michael" In our endless quest to try to introduce you to interesting sounds ahead of the curve, we bring you six new titles from Friendly Noise. Based in Skarpnack, Sweden, the label's output combines the styles and sensibilities of imprints like Morr Music, Karaoke Kalk, Type, and Hapna. You can also detect a sort of post-Belle and Sebastian charm in their artists, the musicality and orchestration bolstered by an overall sophistication that unintentionally seems to reference Les Disques du Crepuscule. One of the most recent Friendly Noise releases, Testbild!'s Une Teinte Intense is a good one to start with to get an overall sense of the label. Excellent production qualities showcase a variety of modern, trans-continental pop thanks to old-fashioned songwriting decorated with sampled bits and field recordings. What results sounds like the United Nations of Antena: a little dubby indie tropicalia here, a little Arabian ambient pop there, a little mod-pop Free Design/ indie-lounge a la Sea and Cake there; but Testbild! maintain a skilled balance of sweet and mature throughout. The Dreamers' Day for Night is another great release for trying out Friendly Noise. Featuring a male/female duo with the vocal texture and cadence of Broadcast's Trish Keenan, but with its own musicality, personality and atmosphere set in a breeze-blown, sun-drenched pasture, the record is really charming and full of self-assured confidence -- light on its feet in that Brazilian way and positive in that modern indie way, but solid and thoughtfully written. The Dreamers are very easy to like but definitely not just another guilty pleasure. I really wish I had the time and space to elaborate on all the releases but listed below are some other great Friendly Noise titles that we're carrying. (Click on the title to add to your shopping cart.) [SM] MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS: You In Honey $12.99 Excellent post-Dntel electronic songs with exceptional variety, subtlety and charm. DIFFERNET: Collapsing Universe $12.99 Also excellent female-led pop-tronica that has slightly more abrasive electronic sounds but still maintains the label's overall qualities. They're almost like a Friendly Noise version of the Knife, but more personal. Includes a killer cover of Eurtythmics' "Savage!" VARIOUS ARTISTS: Are You Scared to Get Happy? $12.99 Includes tracks by the Field and Radio Dept., as well as Flow Flux Clan, Testbild! and Kuryakin...not a bad place to start! TESTBILD!: Imagine a House $12.99


	$63.99 CDx4		VARIOUS ARTISTS Art of Field Recording Volume 1 Box Set (Dust-to-Digital) It would be difficult to overstate the appropriateness of the title "Renaissance man" for Art Rosenbaum: he's an accomplished writer, educator, musician, painter, record producer, concert and festival organizer, and with the help of his wife Margo, a tireless musicologist and archivist of traditional American music. Since the 1950s, Rosenbaum has committed to tape hundreds of hours of incredible music most of us would have assumed to be extinct. Impassioned hymns, work songs, blues, dance music, topical songs, and Child and Laws ballads are among the music he has collected from all over America. Taking his cue from Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, as well as from Pete Seeger's advice to him, "don't learn from me, learn from the folks I learned from," Rosenbaum set out to find those for whom music was a family and community heirloom: something learned and used, and then passed on to the next generation. This quest led him to blues guitar great Scrapper Blackwell in Indianapolis, IN, singer/banjoist Buell Kazee in Winchester, KY, Skillet Licker Gid Tanner's son Gordon in Dacula, GA, folk-art icon Howard Finster in Pennville, GA, Tommy Johnson protege Shirley Griffith in Indianapolis, IN, as well as numerous outstanding heretofore-unknown musicians, all heard for the first time on CD on this collection. The generous number of tunes on AOFRV1 (110!) doesn't lend itself easily to more than an unfair cursory summary, which, given our space limitations, is all this review can undertake. Spread out over four themed discs (Survey, Religious, Blues, and Instrumental and Dance), the music contained demands attention. Though I can't call it a standout, as every track on this set is outstanding (no exaggeration), one of my favorites on the Survey disc is Mary Lomax's "Lord Daniel [Child 81]," particularly her assertion after the performance that she felt "not a bit sorry for Lord Daniel" -- you don't get this sort of insight on commercial releases confined to the sterile environment of the studio. Something about Jack Bean's demented delivery on "Song of Fifty Cents" is, in the best way possible, analogous to SST punks Saccharine Trust! Although the Religious disc seems to get progressively better with each passing track, the Sacred Harp Singing Group's "Assurance" has a uniquely chilling yet triumphant effect on me, while the shout number "Jubilee" performed by Lawrence McKiver and the McIntosh County Shouters as well as the lined-out "The Lord Is Risen" by Deacon Tommy Tookes and Congregation transport this listener to a place other music simply cannot. A revelation on the Blues disc is Eddie Bowles' "Bowles' Blues:" Bowles was born in New Orleans in 1884 and his playing encapsulates the "melting pot" characteristic of that region, with elements of jazz and blues in equal and superlative measure, all learned firsthand well before the popularity of the phonograph. The Instrumental and Dance disc contains many rollicking numbers, but none more mesmerizing than Alan Lomax discovery Pete Steele's "Coal Creek March." As with each of Dust to Digital's releases, Mr. Ledbetter has raised the bar: the packaging (LP size) is stunning, with paintings, drawings and photographs by husband wife team Art and Margo Rosenbaum, beautifully re-printed in a 95 page bound book with extensive notes on their half-century journey, as well as track by track analysis. Trust me when I say that if you enjoy music at all you owe it to yourself to buy this set and spend as much time as you can spare with it. There won't likely be a more engaging release, until Volume 2 of Art Of Field Recording comes out next year. [KC]


	$15.99 CD		ETHIOPIQUES VOLUME 22 Alemayehu Eshete (Buda Musique) "Ne-ney Weleba" "Yetentu Fegratchen" If you're fan of African music, you no doubt know about the fine Ethiopiques series. The latest edition, number 22, is probably one of my favorite installments yet. Featured artist Alemayehu Eshete has been included on other volumes of the series, but only with a song or two at a time, so it's great to finally get a whole disc of his late-'60s/early-'70s works, all put to tape during the years leading up to the fall of Emperor Haile Sellassie I in 1974. Often dubbed the Ethiopian James Brown or the Abyssinian Elvis (I also hear a lot of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' moody, slow-burn blues as well), Eshete's work is the crown jewel of Ethiopia's swinging sixties sound. Like the outstanding work of fellow countrymen Mahmoud Ahmed and Mulatu Astatke, Eshete's music is a kind of cultural time capsule, from his lyrical content to the mellow blues of his compositions. Rich arrangements of horn, flute, guitar, bass, piano/organ, percussion, and drums by his accomplice Girma Beyene, bring the swing of the music to full tilt. (Both Eshete and Beyene had fine success as solo performers, but it wasn't until they joined forces that they enjoyed their greatest success.) Despite the moodiness and dark themes that inhabited Eshete's songs, he became a beloved talent in his homeland, and this collection perfectly illustrates why. One of my favorite songs here is "Men Tetchiye Medritu," which poses the question "How much more can this world take?" over a slow horn-driven groove, with Eshete's low, full melody reminiscent of "Just My Imagination;" listening to the dubby production on the voice and guitar, you can almost compare it to Lee Perry turning the knobs on Porter Wagoner's Rubber Room. Needless to say, Ethiopiques 22 gets my highest recommendation. [DG]


	$14.99 CD $20.99 LP		EFTERKLANG Parades (Leaf) "Mirador" "Caravan" Icelandic soundtrack-tronica...Efterklang's Parades is a perfect marriage of Mum meets Broken Social Scene (how about "Icelanada"?), interwoven with strings and marching band instruments. Breathy passages are mixed with swooning choral arias, string breakdowns and build-ups, and fluttering electronics/piano that suddenly drop down and then crescendo for what seems to be days. The album shifts to starker stuff at the halfway point with a more vivid, up-close production quality: militant dirges, almost mourning strings, more drive and even more build-ups. Parades sounds like the score to The Grinch That SAVED Christmas set in a mysterious toy village with snow capped mountains in the distance. Hey, just like the cover! [SM]


	$18.99 CDx2 $14.99 mp3		BABY DEE Robin's Tiny Throat (Durtro Jnana) "The Prince of a Sparrow" "Half a Chance" Long associated with David Tibet's Current 93, Cleveland-born performance artist Baby Dee has also come to acclaim over the past few years for her work on Antony & the Johnson's stellar pair of albums. Originally a music director and pianist for a Bronx church upon her arrival in New York, Baby Dee gave up that life in favor of one with a circus sideshow before finally settling down to write and record for Tibet's World Serpent label. Compiling the out-of-print Little Window and Love's Small Song albums as well as the Made for Love single, The Robin's Tiny Throat presents a pretty authoritative view of the earliest stages of this beguilingly unique singer, songwriter, harpist, pianist, and occasional accordion player's career. Simultaneously calling to mind iconic vocalists like Tiny Tim and more stripped-down Scott Walker, tracks like the haunting piano monologue of "A Weakness for Roses" and the grim, harp-laced ballad "So Bad" neatly showcase Dee's impeccable performance and composition skills, as well as her undeniable flair for the dramatic. With a new full-length slated for release on the Drag City label at the beginning of 2008, The Robin's Tiny Throat gives intrigued listeners a perfect chance to catch up before then. [MC]