((((( NEW ARRIVALS: CDs ))))) New releases from Trunk Records, Sublime Frequencies, kompakt & more

v/a KOMPAKT TOTAL 10 3xLP / 2xCD
*** The Kompakt label's most-anticipated compilation release of the year reaches the double-digits with number 10. This diverse collection of solid-gold hit favorites is still standing and stronger than ever, coinciding with the Kompakt Total event.

v/a PANAMA! 3: Calypso Panameño, Guajira Jazz & Cumbia Típica On The Isthmus 1960-75 2xLP / CD
*** "From bilingual calypsos to guajira jazz, from tropical guarachas to cumbia tamboreras, this collection presents more of the golden age of Panamanian music and the music of the combos nacionales on rare recordings that have never been released outside the isthmus until now."

v/a SINGAPORE A-GO-GO CD
*** RECOMMENDED "22 supercharged Singaporean '60s beat, pop and "off-beat cha-cha" classics compiled from original vinyl 45s. The vocals are sung in the dialects of Mandarin and Hokkien and they soar, with catchy hooks atop groovy, clever beats. There's plenty of electric guitar, organ and crazy percussion rocking and twisting behind it all, at times reaching quite a mad and freaky state of affairs." On SUBLIME FREQUENCIES.

ANNIE Don't Stop LP / CD
*** "Both immediately listenable and utterly beguiling, this 'pop with strange edges' is mainstream and underground, all at once. Sometimes expressive, sometimes funny, but always totally fresh and utterly human, it's a twelve-course feast for the modern musical connoisseur -- a frenzied, but undeniably solid proposition, an effortless and organic blend with Annie center stage."

BEAK Recordings 05/01/09 > 17/01/09 CD
*** "2009 debut album by PORTISHEAD producer and multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow. The band wrote their entire album over the course of one 12-day session." This is supposed to be CAN-like. Also, good.

DAVID BOWIE Space Oddity: 40th Anniversary Ed. 2xCD
*** "Special 40th Anniversary two CD edition of David Bowie's classic 1969 album released in a digipak with an extensive booklet featuring rare photographs, memorabilia, and sleeve notes."

RAY DAVIES The Kinks Choral Collection CD
*** "Often referred to as 'almost indisputably rock's most literate, witty and insightful songwriter,' Davies had the ambitious idea to collaborate with the 65-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus to create The Kinks Choral Collection.

EDAN Echo Party CD
*** "From the detail-obsessed mind of EDAN comes an astounding pastiche of dance, rapp, and funk that utilizes everything from turntables to tape echo, glockenspiel, to guitar, moog to kazoo."

FELT A Tribute To Rosie Perez CD
*** "Slug (Atmosphere) and Murs (Living Legends) reunite for their third release from moniker FELT. With the fresh addition of Aesop Rock (Def Jux) on production and unwavering love for those forgotten actresses who warmed their hearts."

GROUP DOUEH Treeg Salaam CD
*** "Group Doueh's new album blows hot and dusty from the infernal sand-swept dunes of the Western Sahara. Five tracks of brain-shifting, ecstatic brilliance. Salmou Baamar's (Doueh) guitar/tinidit runs explode in cosmic shrapnel, raining down on the temporal nodes of the listener's brain."

GROUP INERANE Guitars From Agadez (Music Of Niger) CD
*** BACK IN STOCK! "Group Inerane is the now sound of the Tuareg Guitar Revolution -- rebel musicians of the Sahara. These ten tracks are a combination of amplified roots rock, blues, and folk in the local Tuareg styles, at times entering into full-on electric guitar psychedelia."

NORAH JONES The Fall CD
*** "Norah has taken a new direction, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partners Jesse Harris & Richard Julian."

KID SISTER Ultraviolet CD
*** "Kid Sister, a highly anticipated new artist known for her genre defining Electro Club Rap, has a unique mixture of adorable feminism combined with edgy Chicago swagger supported by witty lyrics and unique beats."

JOHN MAYER Battle Studies CD
*** Perhaps you're heard of him!

SHACKLETON Three EPs CD
*** "Shackleton's maverick take on snaking, tribal percussion; hypnotic melodies against electronic screeeeeee; seriously deep bass-y low-end backing ring modulators and dubwise sensibilities doesn't fit into any easy categories. Three EPs is a milestone already."

SUPERSILENT 9 CD
*** "After the departure of drummer Jarle Vespestad, the remaining three members recorded two sessions with only Hammond organs. It's debatable whether anyone would figure out the instrumentation without prior knowledge. It's also fair to say that 9 as a whole goes a long way towards being the most avant-garde and otherworldly recording the band has done so far."

JONNY TRUNK Scrapbook LP / CD
*** "Second album from UK-based Trunk Records label-head, Jonny Trunk -- a curious, entertaining and quite bewildering mix of samples, piano, men with no throats, lesbians and a Japanese choir. It's kind of jazzy, hip-hoppy, filmic, and borders on novelty once in a while."

EDWARD WILLIAMS Life On Earth: Music From The 1979 BBC TV Series LP / CD
*** "This is the first-ever release of the beautiful music composed for the groundbreaking natural history program Life On Earth. The magical, twinkling ambient sounds of science, nature and music for jellyfish -- soundtrack music, hinting at classical & library music, touching on the avant-garde, with a strong ambient feel and an unusual timeless quality."