v/a GROOVE CLUB VOL. 2: CAMBODIA ROCK SPECTACULAR! 2XLP***
RECOMMENDED "Recorded in raw, bare bones conditions, the wild and anarchic, rhythmic and undulating, sometimes sweet and lyrical music of the Khmer rock musicians seduced listeners around the world with their groovy sound. This is perhaps the most definitive collection of classic Cambodian rock music to appear on the scene to date."
v/a PAKISTAN: FOLK & POP INSTRUMENTALS 1966-1976 2xLP***
RECOMMENDED "A mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period." On SUBLIME FREQUENCIES.
v/a WEST INDIES FUNK 2xLP*** "11 choice cuts ranging from the Esso Trinidad Steel Band's steel drum-infused cover of the Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back' to the smooth, sweet harmonies of Wendell Stuart, to the thick bass and funky organ of 'Cardova' by Syd Jones & the Troubadours. Curated and compiled for maximum enjoyment!"
THE BOOKS Thought For Food LP+MP3 / CD
THE BOOKS The Lemon Of Pink LP+MP3 / CD*** BACK IN PRINT! New art & remastered + mp3s!
LO BORGES Lo Borges LP*** BACK IN STOCK!
CAVE SINGERS No Witch LP / CD*** "The Cave Singers songs have always been like beautiful, faded grayscale photos of this hinterland. Now, these photos are injected with hot blood and technicolor, a ferocity and bite: lush, greasy guitars Eastern-influenced blues, gospel choirs et al."
CHAIN & THE GANG Cry, Cry, Cry Over You 7"*** "While recording their first album at Dub Narcotic, Chain & The Gang had so many good, extra songs and radical ideas, it became obvious that it would spill over onto a Dub Narcotic Disco Plate 7" single."
CHAIN & THE GANG Music's Not For Everyone LP / CD*** "Music's Not For Everyone is pithy and succinct. Led by Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, Make Up, Weird War etc), there are roaring organ solos, shredding guitar, and plomping percussion with call and response vocals by fabulous back-up singers. Some will play this Music at pool parties, proms and pizzerias because there's a hard-edged dance groove. It sounds real 'earthy'."
CULT OF YOUTH Cult Of Youth LP / CD*** "Born out of a love for the post-industrial music and culture that had inspired him ever since he had first discovered music as a teenager, 'Cult of Youth' is a neo-folk masterpiece rooted in the acoustic guitar driven Teutonic chants of the early material."
DANIELSON Best Of Gloucester County LP / CD*** "A startlingly effective new band, a new thematic field (the locally-grown opus), produced with more sonic ambition than any recent Danielson effort, but without sacrificing the brave interior journey that we have come to expect from Daniel Christopher Smith." Okay!
DERADOORIAN / ALBERT MCCLOUD Split 7"*** NEW!
EAST NEW YORK ENSEMBLE At The Helm LP*** "At The Helm is a gorgeously careening collection of Indo-jazz that draws heavily on the near and far eastern sounds of Turkey, Korea, North Africa, India and China and threads them into a distinctively forceful Black Jazz idiom. This is a must for fans of rare groove & spiritual black jazz."
ETERNAL TAPESTRY Beyond The 4th Door LP+MP3 / CD*** "Beyond the 4th Door contains long stretches of melodic guitar improvisations, dark brooding songs that slowly build and expand to allow in layers of light harkening back to the early '70s experimental rock such as Popol Vuh, Cluster and Träd Gräs och Stenar."
THE EX Catch My Shoe LP*** "This is the 25th release on their own Ex Records & Catch My Shoe is the first with new singer Arnold de Boer. The songs range from high energy Gurage music from Ethiopia to hypnotic full on dance tunes."
MATTHEW FRIEDBERGER Meet Me In Miramas LP*** "Matthew Friedberger is one half of The Fiery Furnaces. He considers Rock-n-Roll, or Rock 'n Roll, or Rock, or This Thing, to be the Queen, or King, or Tyrant of Indeterminate Gender, of the Popular Arts. The word Tyrant in the last sentence is meant to include a sense of necessary illegitimacy."
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR F#A#(Infinity) LP
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR Slow Riot For A New Kanada LP
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR Lift Your Skinny Fists 2xLP
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR Yanqui U.X.O. 2xLP*** BACK IN STOCK!
GRAILS Deep Politics 2xLP+MP3 / CD*** "In their ongoing exploration of occult/fringe culture and the rich history of film music, they have cultivated a unique environment that inspires both an eternal sense of longing and an indelible sense of dread. Grails have found their true calling as purveyors of a new kind of library music."
INFINITY WINDOW Artificial Midnight LP*** "Comprised of Dan Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Taylor Richardson (Prehistoric Blackout), this LP is equally influenced by John Carpenter and the Taj Mahal Travellers; a heavy haze of fog, dark and heavy."
ITAL Ital's Theme 12"*** "100% Silk is a new Not Not Fun sister label from Amanda Brown (Pocahaunted, LA Vampires). "Debut outing by Daniel Martin-McCormick's (of Mi Ami, Sex Worker, etc) new late nite club-love project. You can feel the brotherhood."
JIB KIDDER Library Catalog Music Series LP / CD*** "For his Library Catalog release, Jib Kidder limited his sound pallette to the existing AK catalog, using only turntable manipulations, respatializing effects (echo, reverb, EQ) and splicing to create new mood-based shorts."
MI AMI Dolphins 12"+MP3***
RECOMMENDED "Dolphins is a melting, dystopian refraction of left-field new age, lush soundscapes and Italo daydreams overlapping with slaughtered dolphins and the heartbreak of 'Hard Up.' Simultaneously ingesting and rejecting pop pleasure, wide-eyed optimism and modern despair, it is equal parts improvisatory winging it and forceful, fully-realized vision. Blurring the line between the tainted and the sublime, Dolphins is the sound of a band thrillingly re-imagining itself."
MOON DUO Mazes LP***
RECOMMENDED "Certainly the most pop-oriented batch of songs from psych prodigies Moon Duo. Propulsive beats, the concepts of minimalism, expansion through repetition and sensory distortion are all still here and the dynamic interplay between Ripley of WOODEN SHJIPS guitar and Sanae's keyboard continue to push this band and genre into uncharted territory."
OKKERVIL RIVER Mermaid 12"*** ""Mermaid" is the darkest song you'll hear all year." WHATEVER, DOOD.
THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT II LP / CD *** "As single-minded as The Psychic Paramount's music may seem at first, it exists at higher elevations of decibel, intensity, motion, color, temperature and spills freely over the walls of genre, magma into new land. It is punk in its fury, noise in its rash extremity, and progressive in form."
RADIOHEAD The King Of Limbs LP / CD *** New! Perhaps you've heard of this hot, young British band. I've heard that one of the members even dabbles in soundtracks and another is a "dee jay!"
ROEDELIUS Selbstportrait Vol. 1 LP
ROEDELIUS Selbstportrait Vol. 2 LP***
RECOMMENDED "Roedelius of CLUSTER! Fleeting sketches, spontaneous improvisations, implied miniatures, rough compositions -- Roedelius recorded virtually every idea he came up with outside the studio sessions on a Revox A77 reel to reel, all played on Hammond & characterized by a combination of ländler, minimalism and harmonic simplicity."
SILK FLOWERS Ltd. Form LP / CD ***
RECOMMENDED "Silk Flowers are a synth-driven trio balancing parts of pop and noise with melodies that evoke emotion & counter typical notions of electronic music writing songs for live performance, creating a visceral dynamic event that fluctuates between gleeful dance music and rough-edged dissonance."
THE SKULL DEFEKTS Peer Amid 2xLP / CD*** "The Skull Defekts are Sweden's answer to the States' Sonic Youth and the Netherlands' The Ex and one of the centerpieces of the Swedish experimental rock scene. Taking a base of classic rock & infusing it with circular composition, drone, tribal music, Indian ragas, '60s minimalism, and experimental music from numerous ages." Also: vocals by DANIEL HIGGS.
D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX Arghiledes LP+MP3*** "D. Charles Speer is a founding member of No Neck Blues Band Arghiledes is greatly influenced by archival Arabic and Greek recordings and to those following modern takes on Arabic music (i.e. Sir Richard Bishop's Freak Of Araby)."
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD Dusty In Memphis LP*** BACK IN PRINT!
TAPE Revelationes LP+MP3 / CD *** "This is the eagerly-awaited fifth full-length album from Sweden's Tape. Tape has been around since 2000, making music in between experimentalism, pop and folk."
THANK YOU Golden Worry LP+MP3 / CD *** "An urgent collision of rhythm, melody, and noise with ears attuned to dub, Eno, 20th Century classical, and Konono No. 1, Thank You compose intricate yet immediate stunners. Ecstatic, fierce energy!"
HOTT LAVA presents MOON DUO & BAD INDIANS - Friday, April 1 @ Arbor Vitae