The Other Music Update

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	September 12, 2007


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Animal Collective Gang Gang Dance Dirty Projectors Oakley Hall Black Lips Circle Music of Nat Pwe (Sublime Frequencies) Group Inerane (Sublime Frequencies LP) Brazil 70 (Soul Jazz comp.) Konono No. 1 Lipa Kodi Ya City Council (Various LP) Michael Yonkers Vic Chesnutt Young Marble Giants A Place to Bury Strangers The Go! Team Pinback Deepchord Presents: Echospace Taken by Trees		Qui Deadline Rain Baby Elephant A.R.E. Weapons ALSO AVAILABLE Shout Out Louds Emma Pollock Mono Film School Helios The Good Life BACK IN STOCK Tully

		WIN TICKETS TO A SECRET FIERY FURNACES SHOW Other Music loves to play anchorman, and if you're a fan of the Fiery Furnaces you'll want to tune in to this update, because we have breaking news. After an uncharacteristically quiet spell, the Friedberger siblings are back with a great new album, Widow City, on Thrill Jockey (to be released on October 9), but we don't want to make you wait. The band is playing a secret show to preview the record for friends and the press next Tuesday, September 18 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City, and we have 2 pairs of tickets to give away. Just email us at tickets@othermusic.com to enter. But we can't all be winners, and Thrill Jockey and the band have made a very limited supply of tickets available for sale to Other Music customers, $10 each cash only at the shop. And as a VERY special bonus, for an additional $10 with the purchase of a ticket, Thrill Jockey is offering a high-quality mp3 download of the full album from their site today. Stop by Other Music to grab a ticket and your opportunity to hear the new album and see the band perform it weeks before the rest of the world!

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		MICHAEL GIRA TICKET GIVEAWAY This Friday, September 14, Michael Gira will be performing at the Highline Ballroom, celebrating the release of his excellent new Angels of Light album, We Are Him. Also joining the former Swans-man will be openers Marissa Nadler and Castanets. Other Music has three pairs of tickets to give away to this night, and to enter, email giveaway@othermusic.com. Please leave a phone number where you can be reached. The winners will be chosen on Thursday, September 13. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 HIGHLINE BALLROOM: 431 W. 16th Street NYC


	$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3		ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Strawberry Jam (Domino) "Chores" "Fireworks" This year, we've already been given two separate and very different sounding releases from members of Animal Collective: Person Pitch from the always-on-point Panda Bear, and Pullhair Rubeye from ecstatic troubadour Avey Tare and his wife Kria Brekkan. These two albums were a clear display of the crossroads at which Animal Collective was standing. Do they embrace melodic structure and carefully crafted chaos, or should they remain experimental and unpredictably free? Instead of choosing one or the other, they've decided to camp out at the point where the paths meet, and with Strawberry Jam we are treated to an organic melange crafted from little bits of sweet, tart, and sticky. It reminds me of when Radiohead released OK Computer; the band sounded different while still retaining many of the familiar traits from their previous albums. With Strawberry Jam, AC have distilled their sound and structure, and mixed it in a way that leans more towards indie rock than anything they've ever presented. But it's not like any indie rock that you've heard before. So what's different you ask? Avey Tare is now positioned as a proper lead singer and homeboy Panda Bear shines in his mere two moments; both vocalists are upfront and clear in the mix, they even include a lyric book for the first time. Symbolically, it's like the shedding of the costumes that they often wore in their live shows and photos. Though Sung Tongs' wonderful explosions of childlike fun and the moodiness of Feels can't be duplicated, they have created something that incorporates all that and more, in separate yet equal parts. Their shared influences of tribal drumming, tropicalia and psychedelia are all present, and you can also detect the influences of electronic composers like Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. It's as if Animal Collective let go of some of their quirky folkiness and are seemingly inspired to try out new things. Songs like "Fireworks" and the following "#1" are awesome, weird and wonderful, and simply incredible. The atmosphere that they create is richer than before and AC's use of rhythm and textures are more complex and purposeful, bringing to the forefront a fantastic fusion of electronic and acoustic elements, but even so, we can still hear the words and vocal melodies; it's a clarity that we never would have expected from the band. Alright...enough already. At this point, many of you plan on buying Strawberry Jam, and I'm sure there are many more who have curiously followed the band's upward trajectory in print all these years, but have yet to sign on. Either way, this is the album that longtime fans and newcomers both should own. I'm happy to report that Strawberry Jam is not only one of their best records to date, it's also one of the best albums of the year. From boys to men for sure. [DG]


	$5.99 CD-single $3.99 mp3		ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Peacebone (Domino) "Peacebone" Also available, the first single off of Strawberry Jam. Avid fans are sure to recognize "Peacebone," as it's been a live staple in the band's sets for the past year or so. Both CD and mp3 formats include the non-album track "Safer" and remixes from Black Dice and Pantha Du Prince.


	$10.99 CD $2.99 mp3		GANG GANG DANCE RAWWAR (Social Registry) "Nicoman" "The Earthquake That Frees Prisoners" RAWWAR, Gang Gang Dance's second release of the year, provides a long-awaited sample of new material from the innovative NY-based experimental rock band. Crank the volume up loud -- Gang Gang Dance's EP begins aggressively in comparison to the wide range of subtle, ambient approaches they sometimes favor. Wildly schizophrenic and urgent, "Nicoman" is the closest Gang Gang Dance have come to capturing their integral live energy in a recording. Edgy and extraterrestrial, this live crowd-pleaser carries the infectiousness of !!! while also reflecting a progression recently made by a few, choice psych-noise Brooklyn outfits -- notably Telepathe, also on the Social Registry imprint -- to downshift into a darker and intriguingly sexual, hypnotic sound. Lizzie Bougatsos heightens this tension on the first track by interjecting raw, monotone rhymes with a delivery that rivals M.I.A., adding explosive shrieks for punctuation. The second track, "Oxygen Demo Riddim," is an improvised instrumental with bright '80s synths climbing over dirty bass beats and a frolicking childish melody that mimics Bougatsos' almost entirely absent vocals; this structured, fleshed-out electronic jam may represent a less scatterbrained portion of the band's new material. The final track, "The Earthquake That Frees Prisoners" is longer than the first two songs combined, an unsettling mix of animalistic, wailing synths taking off and landing, anxious percussion, and samples of Gang Gang Dance's deceased singer Nathan Maddox posing cosmological questions and playing tour guide in the Middle East; all mashed up into the trippiest spoken-word slow-jam travelogue. RAWWAR marks a distinctly electronic moment for Gang Gang Dance, and cannot help but predict another groundbreaking full-length to follow. [KS]


	$14.99 CD $12.99 LP $9.99 mp3		DIRTY PROJECTORS Rise Above (Dead Oceans) "No More" "Rise Above" If only because of the pre-release media hype, it's no secret that the concept behind the new Dirty Projectors release Rise Above is a re-working of the classic Black Flag LP Damaged from memory. The reality is that most wouldn't have a clue that these are "covers" upon first, second or third listen: it sounds nothing like Black Flag... or anyone else for that matter. The only thing that main Projector Dave Longstreth borrows from the original is Greg Ginn's lyrics... as best he could remember them after years of not having heard the record. Well, the lyrics and Black Flag's subversive spirit are reflected on Rise Above, but the music lies stylistically closer to a collaboration between Nina Simone, Asha Bhosle, Prince, and Todd Rundgren than anything punk/hardcore/indie/whatever-rock. But that's not really accurate either, since this band knows how to rock when it wants. The difference is the amount of restraint in this music, allowing the true pain of those "hardcore" lyrics to rain down in a helpless and hopeless trail of tears. One forgets that these are primarily songs about voluntary and involuntary relinquishing of control of one's life to alcohol, authority figures (pigs!), or depression. The DP's take on these anthems that informed my adolescence could have very easily fallen flat, but it didn't. It's as successful and respectful as this Black Flag fan could have possibly hoped for. Incidentally, the recording, arrangements, and vocal harmonies are as impressive as anything I've heard this year. Buy now in case of possible SST lawsuit (you never know). [KC]


	$13.99 CD $15.99 LP $9.99 mp3		OAKLEY HALL I'll Follow You (Merge) "Marine Life" "Alive Among Thieves" Over the course of a couple of great albums, Oakley Hall have established themselves as Brooklyn's finest purveyors of psych-touched country folk. Formed a few years back by ex-Oneida member Pat Sullivan, the band has since swelled to its current sextet, leaving a trail of tunes that trace vintage Americana roots through pounding rock refrains and the gorgeous harmonies of songwriter and guitarist Rachel Cox. Back with their fourth full-length I'll Follow You (and their first for the Merge label), Oakley Hall confidently steps forward with a brilliant set of tunes that effortlessly refine their distinctly original take on classic rock, folk, and country sounds. Ranging from the full-throated stomp of "No Dreams" to the chiming folk-rock of "Rue the Blues," the band wrap themselves around a series of compositions that are every bit as rich and supple as the influences they so clearly take to heart. Whether it's the earnest folkie balladeering of "Free Radicals Lament" giving way to an effuse full-band workout, or a shimmering steel guitar carrying the moody title track all the way through, I'll Follow You showcases Oakley Hall at their peak, with a wonderfully crafted song-cycle that's easily the best thing these six have ever done. [MC]


	$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3		BLACK LIPS Good Bad Not Evil (Vice) "Veni Vidi Vici" "Cold Hands" Less scuzzy sonically speaking, but still endearingly filthy, Atlanta's notoriously rambunctious boys follow up their live album debut on Vice, from earlier this year, with a fourth studio album that packs a whole lot of punch during its teasing 35-minute length. Taking its continuity cues a la the Nuggets comps, the aptly-titled Good Bad Not Evil grinds through a combination of the Lips' own perfected twist of lysergic-flavored garage rock and a more primal psychedelia, all done with a pretty off-kilter bluesy undercurrent and noticeably cleaner sound production. And while the band treads on its own well-worn territory, they skillfully manage to improve and further their phonic excesses every go around: there's the D. Boon-esque metallic guitar bashing jam, single "Cold Hands," the boozy "Lock and Key," and the surprising slow gem, "Veni Vidi Vici." So even if the edges are a little less rough as the immature foursome graduates from middle school to high school -- probably garnering a larger audience along the way -- was it really possible to get messier than the aforementioned nasty Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo, and did you actually want them to? The lyrics still always beg for distastefully funny sing-a-longs -- see "O Katrina!" and "How Do You Tell a Child" -- and the record as a whole is a refreshing breath of originally recycled air. If you can't love this kind of rock fun, you may need to lighten up. Recommended! [PG]


	$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3		CIRCLE Katapult (No Quarter) "Saturnus Reality" "Understanding New Age" Circle's Katapult, impressively enough, offers the same bone-crushing, fearsome unpredictability as a medieval weapon of siege. Similar to the way in which French armies carried only the catapult's vital ingredients between sites of war, Circle's latest album is built around a lean selection of elements which have come to define our understanding of their own self-referential, seriocomic movement, NWOFHM or "New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal," including hyper-confident repetition, primitive rhythms, and an experimental knack for combining dissimilar textures into an original, make-shift whole. The 16 year-old project originating from Pori, Finland has assembled its fourth release of the year, a 39-minute narrative through complex soundscapes which transgresses Kraut, dark psych and black metal categorizations. Katapult is cohesively nocturnal, cinematic, and far out -- at times an '80s cult action flick with screeching 8-bit synth lasers and chugging electric guitar chase scenes ("Four Points of the Compass"); other moments provide glimpses into a primal journey guided by the guttural intonations of Circle's founding member, Jussi Lehtisalo, over meandering orchestrations and arresting harmonies ("Skeletor Highway"). One of the most successful, and catchiest, fusion of sounds on the album is "Black Black Never Never Land," a track which lapses into one of Circle's meditative spaces in which a soft acoustic guitar lullaby, mechanized cicadas and the dainty puff of a far-off steam engine are united with the mournful chanting of spirits and a foreboding, spectral electric guitar jam. At last, Circle has perfected their emotive yet veiled sound, offering a fully hypnotic experience that will effortlessly hurl any listener out into the great beyond. [KS]


	$15.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Music of Nat Pwe: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar Vol. 3 (Sublime Frequencies) "Di Kanar Mandut" Bobadin "Yo-Yar Nat Pwe" Maung Maw This week we have the third installment of Sublime Frequencies' excellent Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) series. In Myanmar, many people believe in ghost spirits known as Nats. Both revered and feared, Nats are said to be capable of bringing good fortune or disaster to those who believe in them. Pwes are ceremonies held to honor and appease a Nat, who becomes visible to the audience via a psychic conduit known as a Kadaw. The Kadaw is a spirit medium, singer, storyteller, M.C., and magician -- the human incarnation of the ghost spirit, to whom the Kadaw must be "married." Consequently, being a Kadaw is a career path that attracts male cross-dressers (many of the Nats that they must personify, and to whom they are married, are female), homosexuals, occultists, and the more flamboyantly artistic members of Burmese society. The ecstatic rituals are propelled by percussion big bands known as Nat Pwe Orchestras. Centered around a circle of traditional Burmese drums, these orchestras also include a dizzying array of gongs, cymbals, bells, oboes, xylophones, and woodblocks. Fast, joyously grating and impossibly polyrhythmic, the Nat Pwe Orchestras captured here are some of Myanmar's most famous musicians. These bands are both incredibly tight and always on the verge of a paradoxical kind of chaos where everything -- every drum hit, gong strike, or cathartic vocal squeal -- is still in the perfect place. The emotional vocal lines, delivered with perfect precision by the Kadaws, are drenched in reverb and are often met with choral responses and chants from the band and audience, vocal exchanges that inevitably give way to some of the most insane percussion breaks you will ever hear, full of clattering cymbals, a hyperactive battery of Burmese drums, and cascading gong and xylophone runs. I can't help thinking that this music, festive, ecstatic, "exotic," and with all its ritualistic, occult and homosexual overtones, would have been the dream music of deviant and Flaming Creatures auteur, Jack Smith. According to the liners, Sun City Girl and Sublime Frequencies founder Alan Bishop was told personally by two Tuangbyone brother Nats (via several Kadaws) that he was to spread the music and culture of the Nats far and wide. Now how are you going to argue with that? [CC]


	$23.99 LP		GROUP INERANE Guitars from Agadez (Sublime Frequencies) The current sound of the Tuareg guitar revolution stems from the political music that emanated out of the Libyan refugee camps during the 1980s and 1990s, a "weapon" used by rebels to express dissent against the oppressive Niger government. Group Inerane has been carrying on this tradition for several years now, and with the newest Sublime Frequencies release (released alongside Nat Pwe: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar Vol. 3) listeners are treated to some of the most inspirational and energetic guitar music to come out of Africa since the Afro-beat movement of the '70s. Lead by 28-year-old guitar visionary Bibi Ahmed, Group Inerane sends a message to the people of Niger and the world, one of guitars, hope, and love. The music, almost all of it recorded within the last three years, is remarkable, ranging from simple and beautiful classic Tuareg guitar pieces to astounding choral works, with the ladies in the ensemble performing some tremendous vocal feats, and never letting down on the energy. The track "Nadan al Kazawnin" is a serious stunner, sounding like Vibracathedral Orchestra picked up from the UK and settled down in Africa. Packaged in a beautiful gatefold LP sleeve with full color photographs and pressed on 180 gram vinyl, Group Inerane: Guitars of Agadez is limited to 1000, so pick this up as soon as you get the chance. Highly recommended. [LR]


	$18.99 CD $22.99 LP		VARIOUS ARTISTS Brazil 70: After Tropicalia (Soul Jazz) "Amor" Secos and Molhados" "Vivo Ou Morto" Nelson Angelo e Joyce Soul Jazz once again comes through and delivers a much-needed user-friendly comp highlighting a musically rich yet under-documented movement. Brazil 70 explores the country's popular music, following the tropicalia era. As most of you probably know, the tropicalia movement of the mid-'60s was broken up and destroyed by the oppressive military dictatorship that ruled the country at the time. An institutional act called A1-5 severely restricted civil liberties and required all art to go through an appointed censorship board. As a result, lots of performers at the forefront of the movement were deported, arrested and persecuted, and many of the musicians that remained had to tone down the overtly socio-political nature of their lyrics and lifestyle. But surprisingly enough, the artists chose to experiment even more musically and the lyrics became even more obtuse and impressionistic, many writing in code to get their message across. Other Music has been championing the artists represented on this comp for years now (Joyce, Novos Baianos, Nelson Angelo) and I can't recommend this collection enough. One of the best compilations of the year! [DH]


	$11.99 CD $9.99 mp3		KONONO NO. 1 Live at Couleur Cafe (Crammed Discs) "Nsimba & Nzuzi" "Mama Liza" One of the most memorable shows for me in recent years has been Konono No. 1's performance at Joe's Pub back in November of '05. Already blown away by the electrified Congolese music of their Congotronics album -- a mesmerizing, distorted mix of amplified likembe thumb pianos, homemade instruments (built from a variety of throw-away objects including car parts and pots and pans) and three singers -- I already had in mind the kind of raw performance that we would be treated to. When I didn't see the band's infamous primitive megaphone PA on the stage, I was afraid that the immaculate sound system of Joe's Pub might taper the saturated overtones of the thumb pianos. But what I soon witnessed was way more powerful than Congotronics, as bandleader Mawangu Mingiedi and his ensemble cast a spell on the audience, with their propulsive rhythms, call-and-response singing, and an hour-plus set which had the whole room joyously dancing, practically trancelike. Listening to this live performance recorded at the Couleur Cafe Festival in Brussels, Belgium is an instant flashback to that night. While the recording is cleaner than Congotronics (including the fiery versions of "Kule Kule and "Mamma Liza" off the aforementioned album along with several unreleased songs), it also captures the live energy of Konono No. 1 that, when played at full volume on my home stereo, sounds exactly as I remember the evening. If you haven't heard the band, you can do no better than to start here. Highly Recommended! [GH]


	$13.99 LP		VARIOUS ARTISTS Lipa Kodi Ya City Council (Misissippi) Here's the latest in a series of limited vinyl reissues from Portland, OR record store Mississippi Records, one of the most diverse imprints to surface in years -- their releases span from pre-war country blues collections to the agit-punk of the Dog Faced Hermans. Lipa Kodi Ya City Council collects African music from 1967 through 1972, a beautiful and rarefied assortment of R&B, high life, vocal choruses, palmwine, juju, and pop. Don't expect to be familiar with any of the artists here, unless you're a serious collector of these sounds, or moreover a historian. However, do expect to be entranced by the sounds of Zambia, Mali, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya, where the roots of calypso, the strains of Western pop and centuries of tradition culminate into a unique and remarkable album. If the raw, polyrhythmic funk of Moussa Doumbi's opener "Yeye Mousso" doesn't move you, nothing will. [DM]


	$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3		MICHAEL YONKERS Grimwood (De Stijl) "162" "The Answer" After Michael Yonkers' stellar debut album Microminiature Love was indefinitely shelved in the late 1960s (where it unfortunately stayed until De Stijl stepped up and released it just a few years back), the man himself took a step back and recorded the low-key, moody folk album Grimwood. A marked contrast to his debut's guitar grit and grime, his sophomore effort (which didn't see a release until Yonkers pressed it himself in 1974) is a shining, aching example of earnest bummer folk if ever there was one. Holding court on just acoustic guitar and the barest of additional accompaniment, Yonkers stretches his voice across the weeping lament of tracks like "Lonely Fog" and the spare "Sunflower," crafting raw, naked, lo-fi ballads that could have easily held their own against his then-contemporaries if only they'd seen a proper release. Dour and cracked in the best way possible, songs like the hazy "And Give It to You" further the refrain that his was a tweaked psychedelic talent that should have had some time in the spotlight. Playing through like a sparse analogue to, say, Skip Spence's Oar or some of Syd Barrett's more stripped down recordings, Grimwood is another thankfully rescued gem from the always-great Michael Yonkers. [MC]


	$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3		VIC CHESNUTT Noth Star Deserter (Constellation) "Warm" "Everything I Say" Most musicians mine their own personal pain for their art, and whether they're just more in touch with their dark side, or in fact a bit darker after all, maladjusted musicians are pretty much par for the course. Vic Chesnutt is no exception, and by necessity he's sort of in your face about it. Chesnutt has been confined to a wheelchair, with a series of related health issues, since he was injured in a car wreck at the age of 18 in the mid-'80s, and his health issues, combined with a healthy appetite for drugs and alcohol and a wry sense of humor have made for some of the more intensely pathos-driven folk of recent years. Chesnutt is an immensely talented songwriter who has flirted with popular success and stardom right from the start; "discovered" by Michel Stipe in the late '80s, the R.E.M. frontman produced Chesnutt's first two albums, who then went on to collaborate with musicians as diverse as Lambchop and Widespread Panic in the coming years. Chesnutt's star seemed destined to shine (perhaps too) brightly when in the mid 90s the Sweet Relief musicians' charity organized a tribute album with the likes of Madonna and Hootie & the Blowfish covering Vic's songs, and he was soon signed to Capitol Records. Anyway, that was more than 10 years (and a couple of labels) ago, and as you might expect for someone whose career is built on struggle, there have been some ups and downs. But rather than fade to black as you might expect, Vic is still rolling along, and 2007 finds him making his best music in years in excellent company, signed to Constellation, with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band as his backup group (along with Fugazi's Guy Picciotto and others), and Jem Cohen producing. The fit is perfect, with Silver Mt. Zion's dense atmospherics the perfect match for Chesnutt's haunting songwriting, an it's great to hear that band, known for sprawling instrumental moodiness working with a singer. For those familiar with Vic's history, the results are a joy, with some of the best songs he has written in years and a great, dynamic group of musicians backing him up. Here's a sad and sick statement that I think most music fans will understand: It's heartening to hear a musician still struggling with his demons this many years on. From his pain comes our deep, lasting pleasure. [JM]


	$18.99 CDx3 $17.99 mp3 Expanded Edition $9.99 mp3 Album Only (No Bonus Tracks)		YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS Colosal Youth (Domino) "Final Day" (From John Peel Session) "Searching for Mr. Right" In just a couple of short years at the end of the 1970s, Welsh trio Young Marble Giants burned a bright post-punk flame that still casts a huge shadow some decades later. Built out of the most basic blocks of guitar, bass, organ, and vocals (with a spare click track providing the rhythms), the Moxham brothers (principal songwriter Stuart and bassist Philip) and Alison Statton crafted the most brittle of tracks in their short existence. Sweetly melodic and yet still hauntingly ethereal, the band took punk's simplicity and imbued it with hints of reggae, funk, simple electronics, and folk, creating a beautiful and timeless sound. Domino's Colossal Youth collection pulls together every last track the band cut, including their lone LP, a handful of singles, and a couple of songs recorded for John Peel's radio show. Ranging from the simplistic bass and guitar chords of "Eating Noddemix" to the urgent strums of "Credit in the Straight World" and "Final Day," Young Marble Giants were one of the first groups to map out the wide open spaces of post-punk, creating a succinct body of work that would inspire countless punk, new wave, and indie pop bands over the coming years. [MC] There are two download versions available. The Expanded Edition includes the full album plus bonus material, a total of 46 tracks. You can also purchase a 15-song version which features the album's original track selection, but does not include any bonus cuts.


	$12.99 CD		A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS A Place to Bury Strangers (Killer Pimp) "Missing You"