Tuesday, August 26, 2008

((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) Stereolab, Gas, Karen Dalton & more

ost DAISIES CD
*** "The follow-up to the critically-acclaimed release of (the previously unreleased) Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders -- another Czech masterpiece. This immaculate release has been compiled in close accordance to the original storyline and comes complete with unseen archive images, original international poster designs and new and extensive sleevenotes by Andy Votel and Professor Peter Hames. This release also carries personal endorsements from Jarvis Cocker, Trish Keenan (Broadcast) and Jim O'Rourke."

v/a BEAT AT CINECITTA Vol. 1 CD
v/a BEAT AT CINECITTA Vol. 2 CD
v/a BEAT AT CINECITTA Vol. 3 CD
*** "A sensual homage to the most raunchy, erotic beat film music from the vaults of Italian 60s & 70s cinema. Brass pasta sound for hot nights from some of the most acclaimed Italian composers of all time: Bruno Nicolai, Pierro Piccioni, Armando Trovajoli, Luis Bacalov, Riz Ortolani."

v/a BERETTA 70 CD
*** "Roaring themes from thrilling Italian police films. The first compilation dedicated to the smashing sounds from the violent streets of 70s Italy. Though cops in their roaring Alfa cars, soul, groove and vocal tracks like a punch. Italy´s elite of filmmusic composers has gathered to compliment hardboiled crimefighters with Alfa Romeo Action Funk Soul."

v/a THE IN-KRAUT Vol. 3 CD
*** "Guten Tag! Willkommen to the third and final installment of The In-Kraut, a deep trip into the funky musical spheres of 1960s and 1970s Germany -- an undiscovered universe full of Hammond-heavy grooves, tight big band arrangements and fuzz guitar-enhanced dancefloor nuggets. Dip into a motherlode of 20 rare soul, beat, now sound, mod, jazz & soundtrack gems. Hot kraut!"

v/a NEW YORK EYE & EAR CONTROL CD
*** "ALBERT AYLER (tenor sax), ED BLACKWELL (trumpet), DON CHERRY (trumpet, cornet), SUNNY MURRAY (drums), GARY PEACOCK (bass), ROSWELL RUDD (trombone), JOHN TCHICAI (saxophone, alto sax). Michael Snow assembled a stellar group to improvise a sound track for his art film, titled Walking Woman, featuring a silhouette that is rumored to have been inspired by Carla Bley."

v/a NIGERIA DISCO FUNK SPECIAL: The Sound of the Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79 CD
*** "Lagos, Nigeria, 1974-1979: the funk & disco capital of West Africa. Nigeria Disco Funk Special is an amazing collection of heavy dancefloor grooves from urban Lagos in the '70s -- hot and driving slices of funk, disco and boogie that show just how vibrant the music scene was in one of West Africa's most populous and culturally diverse cities."

v/a POP SHOPPING CD
*** Subtitled: Juicy Music from German Commercials 60-75. "Lets go way back in time; imagine Gerd Wilden, Klaus Doldinger and Horst Jankowski when they were young and reckless: this all-style Pop-o-rama with and without sing sung slogans and subliminal messages will leave you and your grandma breathless!"

ELLEN ALLIEN Sool 2xLP / CD
*** Ellen Allien's 4th album. "This one is subtle, mysterious, and minimal. Sool is intended to be a valve, a loophole, a respite from the crazy summers into the introspection and hibernation of winter. This could easily be Allien's most intimate album yet. But Sool also illustrates that minimal is not only meant for private moments, but also for the dancefloor."

BALDELLI & DIONIGI Cosmic Disco?! Cosmic Rock!!! CD
*** "Daniele Baldelli remains one of the first Italian DJs, who started his illustrious career back in the '60s and became one of Italo-disco's kings of the dancefloor. Cosmic Disco?! Cosmic Rock!!! celebrates a turntable odyssey from a man who lived and breathed Italian disco, American Rn'B and synth pop and pioneered the sound which has influenced countless DJs and producers who currently mine the golden age of synth pop for inspiration. A mixture of European records alongside American soul records, rhythm and blues and funk combined with Afro style against Ravel, Steve Reich, Jorge Ben, Depeche Mode and Malinke chants from New Guinea. Edited by Marco Dionigi."

KAREN DALTON Loop Tapes CD
*** "Never-released 1963 home recordings discovered on the same reel-to-reel tapes that house Cotton Eyed Joe. Karen Dalton circa 1962/63 was at her most pure, most powerful, and at ease. These recordings document her unique artistry at the time she was profoundly influencing the likes of Fred Neil, Tim Hardin and Bob Dylan."

GAS Nah Und Fern 4xCD
*** "A remastered deluxe package of all four Mille Plateaux albums by Kompakt's co-founder and co-owner, Wolfgang Voigt. Gas is the vision of a sonic body between Schönberg and Kraftwerk, between French horn and bass drum. Gas is Wagner goes glam rock, and Hansel and Gretel on acid. Gas takes you on a seemingly endless march through the woods into the discotheque. Reducing the material to its basic aesthetic structure by using different zoom, loop and alienation techniques, he releases it from its original meaning and context, creating a kind of aesthetic essence, a cave to get lost inside. This 4CD box comes in a special and stylish collector's format, including 4 small artwork prints."

GROUPER Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill CD
*** "The third full-length for Portland-based Liz Harris. Harris turns down the fuzz boxes which caged (and to some degree defined) her sound and allows her voice to ring out above everything else. It is an album steeped in the world of dream-pop -- a genre pioneered by the likes of Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil -- perfect, left-field pop songs."

HERBIE HANCOCK Hear, O Israel CD
*** "Originally privately pressed in 1968 in minute numbers and only for sale at Friday night prayer concerts, Hear, O Israel has to be one of the rarest and most extraordinary jazz recordings to come out of New York. Written by a 17 year-old and played by one of the greatest jazz line-ups of all time, this really has to be heard to be believed. Music written by HERBIE HANCOCK, JEROME RICHARDSON, THAD JONES, RON CARTER, JONATHAN KLEIN and GRADY TATE."

JOHN HILL Six Moons Of Jupiter CD
*** "This is a previously unreleased concept album from John Hill pulling together a veritable smorgasbord of US legends including SUSAN CHRISTIE, Moog pioneer WALTER SEAR, jazz legend GERRY MULLIGAN and JIMMY VALERIO to produce this progressive break-heavy monster, once doomed never to see the light of day."

JAGUAR LOVE Take Me To The Sea CD
*** "The debut album from Portland, Oregon's JAGUAR LOVE follows their hotly sought-after (and long sold-out) debut EP released this past June. Formed from members of the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves, JAGUAR LOVE add heavy-duty glam moves and crunchy, addictive hooks to the mix."

MELVIN JACKSON Funky Skull CD
*** "Amplified bass, electronic effects, and more, all served up in one of the headiest funk albums of the '60s. Eddie Harris' bassman Melvin Jackson works with AACM horns, PHIL UPCHURCH, SOUND OF FEELING, and lots of funky rhythms on the stretched-out tracks. Soulful, sophisticated, and totally righteous!"

JENNIFER O'CONNOR Here With Me CD
*** "Here With Me is a breezier, more upbeat work than 2006's fantastic Over The Mountain, but we'd be lying if we told you the album packed any less of an emotional wallop. Jennifer's songs have never before sounded this crafted, or hit the listener with such immediacy."

PAAVOHARJU Laulu Laakson Kukista CD
*** "The 2nd full-length from Finland's Paavoharju. Laulu Laakson Kukista (A Song About Flowers of the Valley) evokes the sounds of raindrops falling on a sheet metal roof melting together with an old television's random dot-pattern noise. Backwards pianos, backwards vocals, tilted organ and baroque beats lean against sweeping operatic soundscapes and gossamer back-porch folk singalongs. Suddenly all this started to form esoteric mildew to cassette's magnetic tape."

JUDEE SILL Dreams Come True 2xCD
*** "Judee Sill died of a heroin overdose in 1979 before she completed her third album. The eight songs intended for that album are included here, mixed by JIM O'ROURKE. This 2CD set also includes rarities from the '60s and '70s."

STEREOLAB Chemical Chords 2xLP / CD
*** FREE 7" w/ purchase while supplies last!! "Arguably the band's tautest, most highly focused work this century, Stereolab's eleventh album is a collection of 'purposefully short, dense, fast pop songs,' according to Tim Gane, brimming with Motown-like drums, Sean O'Hagan's finest baroquepop brass and string arrangements and etched with some of Sadier's most eloquent, mellifluous vocal performances to date."

STUDIO Yearbook 2 CD
*** "This is THE collection of Studio's celebrated Balearic-dub-disco remixes of Kylie Minogue, Williams, A Mountain Of One, Shout Out Louds, Love Is All, Rubies, and Brennan Green. These are highly sought-after remixes compiled together from hard-to-get vinyl releases."

WEE You Can Fly On My Aeroplane CD
*** Former CAPSOUL songwriter Norman Whiteside issued this lone album of psychedelic soul, firmly ensconced in Innervisions-era Stevie Wonder. Smooth, sexy, and synthy, this peerless nine-song LP has been expanded to nineteen "panty soakers".