Tuesday, July 14, 2009

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) Wolf Eyes, MGMT, Son Volt, Dead Weather and weird stuff

ost CUL-DE-SAC CD
*** "Jazz pianist, Krzysztof Komeda's rarest and weirdest music performed for a film directed by his friend, Roman Polanski. Huge rarity -- here for the first time since 1966. Full explanatory liner notes included."

v/a LEGENDS OF BENIN CD+BOOK
*** Analog Africa presents Legends Of Benin, a collection of super-rare and highly danceable masterpieces recorded between 1969-1981. What you are about to hear is distinctively Benin -- a thick brew of agbadja, soul, cavacha, funk, Afrobeat, and Afro-Latin sounds all mixed in with heavy traditional rhythms."

v/a LOCAL CUSTOMS: Downriver Revival CD+DVD
*** BACK IN STOCK! "Between 1967 and 1981 in Ecorse, Michigan, Felton Williams chronicled gospel, group soul, garage-punk, northern, jazz, and funk and issued them on the Solid Rock, Compose, and Revival labels. Compiled here are 24 recordings and a DVD of the over 200 sound recordings and a 30 minute featurette on the making of Downriver Revival."

v/a ROOTS OF CHICHA: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru CD
*** RECOMMENDED "In the oil-boom cities of the 1960s Peruvian Amazon, the chicha style was loosely inspired by Colombian cumbias but incorporated the distinctive pentatonic scales of Andean melodies, some Cuban guajiras, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, wah-wah pedals, farfisa organs, and moog synthesizers." Excellent comp!

v/a SI, PARA USTED: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Vol. 2 CD
*** "Cuban jams from the days of Castro, updated with funk, fuzz, and some revolutionary fervour. The music ranges from son, rock, jazz, and funk, and abounds with psychedelic influences, electronic experimentation, and a heavy dose of soul."

v/a TINY MIX TAPES: Darfur CD
*** "It's been over six years since the War in Darfur officially began. The UN states that up to 300,000 lives have already been lost, with an additional 2.7 million driven from their homes. But while figures continue to rise, awareness of the conflict has declined. This extremely limited-edition CD/LP compilation features 11 exclusive tracks from Jim O'Rourke, Balroynigress, WHY?, Frog Eyes, Burning Star Core, Xiu Xiu, Mount Eerie, Wooden Wand, The Flying Luttenbachers with Henry Kaiser, nmperign and Dan Deacon. 100% of the profits will be donated to the International Rescue Committee."

BEASTIE BOYS Ill Communication 2xCD
*** Already sold out! More on the way!

BOREDOMS Seadrum/House Of Sun CD
*** RECOMMENDED BACK IN STOCK!

CHICKS ON SPEED Cutting The Edge 2xCD
*** Fifth album. "The result of two years of productive creativity created by using the Objekt Instruments; amplified rocks, a high-heeled shoe guitar, a sax going through a guitar amp, plucking a gutted piano, and the inspiration for the album title, scissors."

CLUTCH Strange Cousins From The West CD
*** New!

CUNNINLYNGUISTS Strange Journey Vol. 1 CD
*** New!

THE DEAD WEATHER Horehound CD
*** "The Dead Weather is Alison Mosshart (THE KILLS), Jack Lawrence (THE RACONTEURS), Dean Fertita (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE), and JACK WHITE on drums and vocals."

FRANCO & LE TPOK JAZZ Francophonic Vol. 1 2xCD+BOOK
*** "Francophonic finally gives Franco his due. Vol. 1: 1953-1980 comes out on the 70th anniversary of the artist's birth. From Sterns -- 'one of the world's finest disseminators of African music,' according to The New York Times."

JANE Berserker CD
*** RECOMMENDED BACK IN STOCK! "PANDA BEAR and SCOTT MOU doing "mechanical robo dance jams like Detroit and Chicago and the Germans but with less 0s and 1s and more souls." Super good, kinda' hard to describe.

ABNER JAY One Man Band CD
*** "The ultimate one-man-band wild man from the 1960s -- banjo, guitar, drums, harmonica, and voice at the same time -- and the most unusual music talent the world has ever seen and a true southerner. Subjects range from LSD to 'what's six inches long and has two nuts on the end' -- you got to hear it to believe it. A true glimpse at some real Americana."

LINDSTROM & PRINS THOMAS II 2xLP+CD / CD
*** "This is the highly-anticipated second full-length release by Oslo's cosmic-disco kings, a distinctively more organic, psychedelic, live and loose record featuring elements of Italo, Krautrock and disco-influenced productions."

MGMT Time To Pretend CD
*** MGMT's first release ever -- six exclusive jams!

MOKIRA Persona CD
*** "Constructed entirely in analog; the warming hiss of tape, the decomposing buzz of a monosynth, and the nostalgic twitch of the Roland TB303, Mokira has heard his fair share of Cluster and Harmonia records, but his sound is just as rooted in psychedelic rock and even Basic Channel-era dub techno as Germanic ambience."

POPUL VUH Coeur De Verre CD
*** "The soundtrack to Werner Herzog’s 1976 film is one of the true Popul Vuh masterpieces, often citied as the finest of Popol Vuh’s works. Coeur De Verre is based on traditional East Indian classical music on a slow and concentrated blissed out trip through the spiritual and emotional psyche of the human heart."

NINA SIMONE Gifted & Black / Live At Berkeley CD
*** Two albums on one disc!

SON VOLT American Central Dust CD
*** "Jay Farrar has delivered what may be his finest work yet, carrying on the tradition of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Rolling Stones of Exile on Main Street, et al."

OMAR SOULEYMAN Dabke 2020: Folk & Pop Sounds Of Syria CD
*** "The second volume of Northeast Syrian dabke music from legendary vocalist Omar Souleyman and his group, culled from dozens of cassettes recorded in Syria from 1999-2008."

TALIBAM! Boogie In The Breeze Blocks CD
*** "The Brooklyn duo's first ESP Disk release is ensemble playing that goes beyond personal choice to capture a mood and the deep anthropology of the strange beauty of contemporary opposing and debt-maxed-out stimuli."

WOLF EYES Always Wrong CD
*** "Coming forth from the piles of tape loops and effects, the bulk of tables reeling with electronics have been shed. This clarity never sacrifices intensity as paradoxically this is the most organic of the full lengths but also the harshest and most dissonant."