NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Rufus, Disappears, Wooden Shjips, Roky, Baby Dee...

THE APPLES IN STEREO Travellers In Space & Time CD
*** ''The new material recasts the Apples' signature pop sounds in chrome-plated futurism, all while adding a dance-driven vibe channeling ELO, Barry Gibb, Wild Honey-era Beach Boys and Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson."

BABY DEE A Book Of Songs For Anne LP / CD
*** "After seeing the overwhelming response to Safe Inside The Day in February 2008, the peerless Baby Dee returns with A Book Of Songs For Anne Marie, essentially a prequel to Safe Inside The Day."

BLACK TAMBOURINE Black Tambourine LP / CD
*** "2010 retrospective includes everything ever released by the late '80s/early '90s D.C. Indie Pop band that included members of Velocity Girl. Features four new songs that the band reunited to record, including Buddy Holly and Suicide covers."

CARIBOU Swim 2xLP+MP3 / CD
*** "With its absorption of club culture sounds weaved within subtle pop frameworks, Swim is Caribou's masterpiece the record he's wanted to bring to fruition for as long as he's been making music."

CIRCA SURVIVE Blue Sky Noise CD
*** "A reinvention of the bands trademark sound led by unique vocals and distinguished musical styling from one of the most visionary and forward-thinking young bands in contemporary rock music today."

DENGUE FEVER Sleepwalking Through The Mekong CD+DVD
*** "The document of DENGUE FEVER's journey to Cambodia to perform ‘60s and ‘70s Cambodian rock n' roll in the country where it was created and very nearly destroyed. The odyssey is a homecoming for singer CHHOM NIMOL and a transformation for the rest of the band as they perform with master musicians and record new songs along the way."

DISAPPEARS Lux LP / CD
*** RECOMMENDED "Drawing on a combined reverence for reverb, heavy tremolo, distortion, delay and repetition, Disappears play minimal rock music inspired by krautrock, punk rock, the mid ‘80s New Zealand scene, and a bit of everything in between." On KRANKY.

ROKY ERICKSON True Love Cast Out All Evil CD
*** "Legendary musician Roky Erickson triumphantly returns with a new album backed by Okkervil River. The jams detail with heart-breaking candor a harrowing life that has included shock treatment, imprisonment, mental illness, and irreversible loss."

JD & THE EVIL'S DYNAMITE BAND Explodes Across The Nation CD
*** "Solid breaks from the label that would become Truth & Soul, a bit more on the jazz / experimental side of things, each song basically showcasing a different instrument going solo over a steady sparse funk backing. Spooky vibes."

KID 606 Songs About Fucking Steve Albini CD
*** "A collection of psychedelic love songs paying tribute to all things analog. This album was carefully constructed to be the soundtrack for the peak 72 minutes of your next trip."

KING KHAN & HIS SHRINES Three Hairs And You're Dead CD
*** Voodoo soul is the name, dirt-ass R&B funk is the game. Early KING KHAN AND HIS SHRINES at their best.

NATALIE MERCHANT Leave Your Sleep CD
*** "Natalie Merchant has adapted 19th and 20th century British and American poetry - well-known and obscure works, anonymous rhymes, children's lullabies, all of it timeless material full of direct emotion - and fashioned new songs from these words."

JONAS REINHARDT Powers Of Audition LP / CD
*** JONAS REINHARDT continues his cosmic flight inward on a mesmerizing journey to cracked and digitized moonscapes. This is music of the spheres for an electronic era where new age visions are re-imagined through a lens of experimental rock." Feat. Damon Palermo of MI AMI.

SIGHT BELOW It All Falls Apart CD
*** "The Sight Belowʼs overcast moods give way to a rainbow of brooding, melancholy textures, incorporating strings, brass, samplers, synthesizers, and vocals into the mix alongside the usual guitars and beats."

SETH TROXLER Boogybytes Vol. 5 CD
*** "The track selection conveys a palpable deepness, occasionally harboring a touch of melancholy, yet never becoming overwhelming, for at its peaks -- which certainly include Seth's Fever Ray mix -- the tension is released in the most explosive and unbridled manner."

VEX'D Cloud Seed 2xLP / CD
*** "Cloud Seed is comprised of original music intended for the group's never-released sophomore album, plus rarely heard remixes from the same era. Expertly sequenced to flow like a full album, it's an addendum to the career of Vex'd (who rarely work together anymore), made from the best of their work."

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu CD
*** "Recording the hugely personal & deeply emotional All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu was one of the most difficult things he has ever done. Piano, voice and maybe not much else."

WOODEN SHJIPS Vol. 2 CD
*** RECOMMENDED "Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy to tranced-out cosmic bliss! This second compilation of hard-to-find Wooden Shjips tracks is nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams." It's better than their second album proper, even.