v/a AFRO TROPICAL SOUNDZ Vol. 1 CD
*** RECOMMENDED "A retrospective 'discovery price' sampler featuring a choice selection of Soundway's tracks released over the last nine years. From the highlife, disco and rock sounds of '70s Nigeria to the golden age of Panamanian music, Benin's Afro-Latin grooves, Colombia's champeta and all other forms of tropical and Afro sounds imaginable."
BAND OF HORSES Infinite Arms LP+MP3 / CD
*** "The songs on 'Infinite Arms' project the essence of the different American locales that became the setting for the recording and songwriting process, yielding the group's most focused and dynamic recordings to date."
BLACK KEYS Brothers 2xLP+CD / CD
*** "An even more intensely focused, deeply soulful set that includes a cover of Jerry Butler's 'Never Gonna Give You Up.' Inventive & impassioned with more than a little dark humor; the grooves alternate between ballsy swagger and bluesy rumination."
NELS CLINE SINGERS Initiate 2xCD
*** "Documenting a remarkable three-day recording session, Initiate is a double album - one studio recording, one live recording. Three members of DEERHOOF play percussion on the live album."
DEAD WEATHER Sea Of Cowards 2xLP / CD
*** "A robust and vigorous second act, filled with primal, bone quaking rock rhythms and the same stellar urban blues and throbbing sleaze as its predecessor; but this time The Dead Weather push their sound even further."
DESTROYER Streethawk: A Seduction LP / CD
DESTROYER Thief CD
DESTROYER City Of Daughters CD
*** BACK IN PRINT!
KIERAN HEBDEN & STEVE REID Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 CD
KIERAN HEBDEN & STEVE REID Exchange Sessions Vol. 2 CD
*** BACK IN STOCK! RIP Steve Reid. "Kieran (FOUR TET) was keen to revisit the kind of intense dialogues to be found in 70s free jazz duos; Steve liked Four Tet and wanted to engage with modern electronic textures, something he felt had not yet been done well in jazz."
THE JAYHAWKS The Bunkhouse album CD
*** "Originally released in 1986, Jayhawks debut has more in common with Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers than it does with later Jayhawks classics."
KINGS GO FORTH The Outsiders Are Back CD
*** RECOMMENDED "A powerhouse ten-piece soul unit consisting of seven players and three singers that is simply one of the most thrillingly creative new bands to be heard, in any genre, in the U.S.A. today. And to date, the soul revival has not produced another band with a vocal blend so rich in tone and feeling."
TALIB KWELI & HI-TEK Revolutions Per Minute CD
*** "Since 1997, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek have achieved critical success as the rap & producer collaboration known as Reflection Eternal. Here's the follow-up to their debut!"
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM This Is Happening CD
*** "The new album is LCD Soundsystem's first full offering of new studio material since 2007's Sound Of Silver."
JAMIE LIDELL Compass LP / CD
*** "Jamie Lidell's most eclectic album yet: songs shift, chop, change and mutate genres and forms before our very ears. It's got funk in spades; the jaw-dropping vocal power; it rocks, it pops, it's sweet, angry, hard, soulful and soft, often within the span of a single track."
MAGNETIC FIELDS 69 Love Songs BOX
*** BACK IN STOCK!
MALE BONDING Nothing Hurts CD
*** "Nothing Hurts is the Sub Pop debut and first full-length for Dalston-based trio Male Bonding."
MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE Raw Cuts Vol. 1 CD
*** "Stuttgart's Motor City Drum Ensemble drops a heady mix of contemporary house and breezy techno combined with heavy doses of soul and diva-disco blurts, all blended until creamy-smooth and groove-able. This CD compiles all MCDE material plus three exclusive tracks."
NAS & DAMIAN "JR GONG" MARLEY Distant Relatives CD
*** "Two serious artists explore and celebrate the correlations and deep-rooted connections between reggae and Hip Hop, featuring the signature instrumentation and musicianship of Marley with the hard-hitting beats and lyrics of Nas."
ROLLING STONES Exile On Main St LP / 2xCD / CD
*** Perhaps you've heard of them! This thing is flying off the shelves already.
SHINING Blackjazz CD
*** "Norwegian band SHINING have created their own unique and bizarre hybrid of jazz and extreme metal, with their one of a kind sound and experimental approach to music."
SIGHTINGS City Of Straw CD
*** "With a deep reach beyond the spirit of their influence (ie: Birthday Party, The Dead C and Jesus Lizard), the band's seventh studio album is the crucible from which their grandest and most coherent statement finally emerges."
STAFF BENDA BILILI Tres Tres Fort CD
*** "Staff Benda Bilili is a group of paraplegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo. They make mesmerising rumba-rooted grooves, overlaid with vibrant vocals with echoes of old-school rhythm and blues, then reggae, then no-holds barred funk."