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CD: $12.98
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Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Strange Form of Life
The forth single from "The Letting Go". The three other tracks on this EP are from a Daytrotter session and they're also from various phases of the Bonnie `Prince's storied career. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Drag City
Genre/Style: Yaw'ternative / Acoustic
MP3 New Partner
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Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis
Three years in the gestation and 13 days in the making, Jarvis Cocker stops writing songs for other people to deliver the first solo album of his 25 year career. Along the way he ropes in Richard Hawley, Steve Mackey (ex-Pulp) and Fat Trucker Ross Orton to be his band, quits table tennis, "masters" the piano and learns to stop worrying and love the bomb or maybe not quite.
'Jarvis' is a both a thoughtful and thought-provoking record, shot through with lavish beauty, dark humour, satire - both subtle and savage - and a genuine and much-missed sense of Northern conviction. The songs seem to exist on a sometimes-delicately-balanced-sometimes- swinging scale between sentiment and cold-eyed analysis, each distinguished by the unmistakeable (and never better) voice of our lanky protagonist.
Unease and disquiet permeate 'Jarvis'. And whatever else we may speculate about the effects of marriage, family and the laying to rest of Pulp on Jarvis's constitution, it seems safe to say they've not mellowed him. At the heart of the record an extraordinary cache of songs display a writer of unparalleled deftness of touch, even by his own previous standards.
'Jarvis' is a record with a distinct beginning, middle and end. Fronting the set we have 'Don't Let Him Waste Your Time', 'Black Magic' and 'Heavy Weather'. Loosely speaking this would be the pop portion of the album. But first there's the brief prelude 'Loss Adjuster (Excerpt Pt.1)'. Jarvis: "I thought it would be funny, cos everyone's always saying how good I am at writing lyrics, to start with something instrumental. Also it's a trick to make people turn the record up by making it really quiet at the start - I nicked that idea off Gwen Stefani."
When it kicks in with a bang, 'Don't Let Him Waste Your Time' takes an idea of grand musical scale and fits it within the swaggering frame of a memorable instant anthem. A cautionary tale about men's intransigence within relationships, Jarvis struts through it all telling it like it is: "Some skinny bitch walks by in some hotpants / And he's running out the door".
Written for Nancy Sinatra as "[his] blow for feminism", the most surprising thing for Jarvis was that the first song on his solo album should feature a saxophone break, something his previous self would have sworn blind would never happen. "But it is very quiet and in the background," he adds, not entirely convincingly.
"As a father and husband I don't have time to sit around strumming an acoustic guitar," he says. "So I write things in my head and then if they're still there two or three days later I assume they have some worth and hum them into a tape recorder."
In this way, the record was written from a period beginning with Jarvis's move to Paris two-and-a-half-years ago. "Something I've learned is that it's good to ruminate for a long time, but then once you're ready to act quickly and decisively without too much time to reflect. It's a bit like pregnancy, once it's gone full-term, it's got to come out."
'Jarvis' was recorded with Steve Mackey (bass), Richard Hawley (guitar) and Ross Orton (drums) over 13 days in Sheffield, with Jarvis himself playing piano and guitar. And while there might be a little "lipstick on the gorilla" (to quote Hawley) it's pretty much as they laid it down live, with Graham Sutton pressing record. Most of the songs are first or second takes with Hawley having only been shown the song for the first time that day (his own career making rehearsals something of a no-no).
"I quite liked taking more responsibility," says Jarvis of his co- producer-cum-auteur role. "Normally I spend most of my time in a studio playing pool or table tennis, but this time I didn't play any - largely 'cos you look like a nerk playing them on your own." -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Rough House
Genre/Style: Pop / Rock
MP3 Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
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CD: $13.98$8.98
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Ferocious Eagle
The Sea Anemone Inside of Me Is Mighty
There's a dearth of contemporary bands doing what Ferocious Eagle does, so one has to reach into the wayback machine to extract the names of bands mining a somewhat similar sound and feel. Bands like, oh, Erectus Monotone, early Unrest, Polvo, HMS Cervix, maybe Pitchblende ... I think I just wet myself. And dated myself. But the music of Ferocious Eagle is far from dated. Unless fun is outdated. Unless boundless energy leaping from the speakers is greeted with a yawn. Unless you need a violinist, at least one woman, a really tall dude with red hair, some ill-fitting suits, and Canadian citizenship to be hip. In which case, Ferocious Eagle is SOL. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: 54 40 or Fight
Genre/Style: Rock
MP3 The Sea Anemone Inside of Me Is Mighty
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CD: $15.98
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Fountains of Wayne
Traffic and Weather
First ever U.S. reissue of this album, with new liner notes by Peter Margasak. "Released in 1971 while Gil was living in London, this is the third self-titled release from the bossa nova and tropicalia legend. Gil recorded this album while in political exile from his native Brazil and its somber, straightforward tone is a welcome change from the experimental, psychedelic assault of his 1969 long player. Featuring 8 originals and a brilliant coverA new, indelible cast of characters is inducted into the FOW pantheon of stars on Traffic And Weather: Yolanda Hayes, a sullen object of affection behind the glass at the Department Of Motor Vehicles; Seth Shapiro and Beth Mackenzie, two lonely, hardworking New Yorkers who cross paths - sort of - in "Someone To Love" (which features Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur singing backing vocals); the exhausted couple in "Michael and Heather At The Baggage Claim", dragging themselves onto an airport shuttle bus after a long trip; newscasters in heat in the album's title track, and many others. Hapless protagonists like the suspicious boyfriend of "This Better Be Good" and the hit-man target in "Strapped For Cash" are also classic Fountains Of Wayne narrators.
Travel and transportation continue to figure heavily in the on-the-go world of FOW. The guy who buys himself a "'92 Subaru" is convinced that the right pimped-out ride is all he needs to get the girl; in the Beatlesque "i-95" a driver explores a rest area gift shop late at night, on the way to visit his loved one; we hear of "an eerie kind of sadness on the highway today" in the Gram Parsons-tinged "Fire In The Canyon" (featuring backing vocals by the Candy Butchers' Mike Viola, who was the voice of "That Thing You Do"). The misery of sitting in coach on a delayed flight is examined in the wistful waltz "Seatbacks And Traytables" (which contains a guest appearance on guitar by James Iha). And in the semi-epic "New Routine", we follow a series of characters who each randomly pick a new place to live, only to discover someone else there who can't wait to move away. Steve Winwood's 'Can't Find My Way Home,' this Water release also contains 3 bonus tracks including covers of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. A tropicalia classic."-CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Virgin
Genre/Style: Rock
MP3 Mysace
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3"CD: $5.98
7": $3.98
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Ground Horn Unicorn
Damn I WISH I Was Fat
What do you want? What do you need? You cool with just, you know, hanging out and stuff? Who wants to be young anymore, right? Remember how pissed you'd get back then? Remember how that felt? How it burned your gut and made you feel tense and shaky and alive? Remember how fucking ENRAGED you'd get about the things you believed in? How you could talk for hours and you really, I mean really, believed anger could be used as leverage, as a tool? Who wants to believe in anything? Who wants to be young anymore? Not you, that's for damn sure. Music? Like listening to music? Sure you do. What's your music say? What does it make you feel? Ever snorted ground unicorn horn and seen visions of cavemen and anti-intellectual dick waving and kingdoms of rats? Ever been inside the mothership's computer while a nasty ½ downright vicious fucking virus shagged ass through the mainframe before the thing went up like a goddamn torch? (And god, it lit the skies for days.) Ever walked into the sun and felt your face melt onto your T-shirt? Never been to the sun? Never been anywhere? Where you been all your life? The "expert's" murmur: Nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Three One G
Genre/Style: Punk
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CD: $18.98
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Idlewild
Make Another World
2007 album from the Scottish rockers, their first release on the rejuvenated Sequel label. The album was recorded over a six week period in Edinburgh with longtime producer Dave Eringa. On Make Another World, the band return to a rockier sound reminiscent of their earlier releases. 10 tracks including the singles 'If It Takes You Home' and 'No Emotion'. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Sequel
Genre/Style: Pop / Rock
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CD: $14.98
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The Jai-alai Savant
Flight of the Bass Delegate
The Jai-Alai Savant is the dub/reggae-rock brainchild of former Franklin frontman Ralph Darden. Based in Chicago, the trio also includes bassist Dan Snyder and former An Albatross drummer Jeremy Gewertz. Flight of the Bass Delegate is the band's full-length debut. The varied content of the album provides a glimpse into the "science fair for the creatively insane he hosts inside his head" as The FADER Magazine put it in a recent interview. While songs like the dub-heavy "Akebono" and reggae-rock "Scarlett Johansson, Why Don't You Love Me" take their inspiration from the daily grind of working and ex-girlfriends, most of the album's tracks are centered around a dark, semi-autobiographical concept involving a "superhero who loses his fucking mind and is forced to leave his city as it is attacked by mechanical invaders." -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: GSL
Genre/Style: Reggae / Dub / Rock
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CD: $13.98
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Kings of Leon
Because of the Times
Third album from the rockin' American quartet whose previous albums (2003's Youth And Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak from '05) have earned them a large worldwide following. Consisting of three brothers and a cousin, the Kings Of Leon mix their own brand of Southern Rock with touches of Garage, Punk and Alternative swagger. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: RCA
Genre/Style: Rock
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CD:$16.98
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KK Null
Fertile
K.K. Null is legendary Japanese noise experimentician Kazuyuki Kishino, and this is his first full-length solo release on Touch, following his collaboration with Chris Watson and Z'ev in 2005, which Boomkat called "moving and atmospheric," and The Wire wrote "...a complex dramatic work from a strict economy of means." K.K. Null is a composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of seminal noise group Zeni Geva and electronic wizard. One of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a wider context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early '80s. Kazuyuki writes: "In June of 2006, I had the good fortune of visiting Darwin in the Northern Territory in Australia and explored in Kakadu National Park with some good friends. I took my digital recorder along with me and did some live field recordings there. First we encountered a flock of wild birds just beside the South Alligator River, and then we happened to find 'bush fire' flaring just beside the road we were on. I also had a unique opportunity to record a magnificent symphony orchestra of insects, frogs and birds in wetlands just before sunset. At that time I had no idea or no specific purpose for using these field recordings, and in the middle of working on this album (Fertile) in my home studio, suddenly came up with the idea of mixing these field recordings into some of the tracks that were unfinished. I felt comfortable with layering & mixing different sounds from different locations and times, digital and analog sounds into one piece. I like also the balance of spontaneity (field recording) and intentional act (studio recording)." After playing the guitar as his main instrument for some twenty years, K. K. Null has gradually moved towards a more electronic approach. In recent years he has concentrated his efforts on his solo & collaborative recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica. His intense clashing waves of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures and droning isolationist material could be described "cosmic noise maximal/minimalism." -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Touch
Genre/Style: Experimental / Neo-Classical
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CD: $7.98
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Malajube
Etienne D' Aout
Single from Trompe-L'Oeil. Includes a few remixes and an unreleased track. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Dare To Care
Genre/Style: Pop / Rock
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CD: $15.98$8.98
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Paper Airplanes
Boyhood
"And here I thought the days of exuberant indie rock were over." So begins a review of Boyhood on the esteembed webzine Coke Machine Glow. The writer, unconvinced by the music of Wolf Parade or The Arcade Fire, yearned for a band to follow in the hallowed footsteps of The Shins, Grandaddy, Beulah and Olivia Tremor Control. "Then, out of the blue, came Paper Airplanes." Paper Airplanes hails from Wichita, Kansas. Their music can be likened to a cross between early-Built To Spill, the organic sensibilities of Ticonderoga and the playful abandon of Deerhoof. As one reviewer puts it, "This is the way indie-rock is supposed to sound: a jumbled-up rollercoaster of sonic arguments that manage to agree just long enough to remember the chorus." -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: 54 40 or Fight
Genre/Style: Rock / Pop
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CD: $14.98
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SIA
Lady Croissant
Astralwerks is thrilled to release a new mini LP by Sia, Lady Croissant, which was recorded live at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. The recording includes eight songs from both the Zero 7 and Sia catalog. This live performance captures Sia at an incredible hight, performing such songs as "Numb", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Distractions" and "Breathe Me". This release also includes a brand new studio track titled "Pictures". -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Astralwerks
Genre/Style: Pop
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CD: $15.98
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Sonic Youth
The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities
Now Available on vinyl.
New York's most influential avant-garde rock band, Sonic Youth, follow up their critically acclaimed 2006 release, Rather Ripped, with a special set sure to please fans and completists. The Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities, a collection of near-hidden Sonic Youth gems hand-picked by the band, brings together songs from throughout the band's tenure at Geffen Records. Focusing on tracks previously available only on limited-edition compilations, vinyl-only releases, or as B-sides or international singles, The Destroyed Room also features material that has never before been released. This deluxe, double-vinyl LP edition is being released on the band's own Goofin' Records imprint with a CD version available via Geffen. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Goofin' / Geffen
Genre/Style: Rock / Post Punk
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CD: $17.98
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Stars of the Lid
And Their Refinement of the Decline
The long awaited new album from Stars of the Lid is finally ready for your sonic immersion. Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over the last five years, SOTL once again deliver a massive work filling two compact discs and three vinyl albums, clocking in at over two hours. While most albums of this length would be considered tedious at best, SOTL are arguably the only contemporary composers who can seemingly alter the time-space continuum simply through the playback of their organized sound. They take time itself and stretch, compress and turn it inside out, altering what would otherwise be an arduous test of nerves into an interlude of half awake dreams that ends too soon. In this album, SOTL picks up where The Tired Sounds Of... left off with an emphasis on melodic development, moving their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone and subsequently frustrating all the typical ambient cliches associated with their music. Perhaps the best references for this current work would be found in the score to the film Le Mepris by Georges Delerue, the orchestral works of Zbigniew Preisner, or the 1958 CSO/ Fritz Reiner recording of Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain, specifically the third movement. But in the final analysis, such comparisons are superfluous at best, as Stars of the Lid have created a musical universe in which they are the sole inhabitant. Simply put, this album is a masterpiece. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Kranky
Genre/Style: Neo Classical / Ambient
MP3 Apreludes (in C Sharp Major)
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Throbbing Gristle
Part Two: The Endless Not
The legendary Throbbing Gristle have completed their first new studio album in 25 years, entitled Part Two. Almost 30 years on since their inception from the ashes of performance art troupe/media guerrilla cell Coum Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle's challenging, expressive, self-empowering manifestos and music are as relevant today as they were back in the bleak mid-'70s. As historically important during their active period of 1975 - 1981 as contemporaries Can, The Sex Pistols, and Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle's influence on today's music (from experimental production techniques and confrontational live shows to independent promotion via their own Industrial Records label) runs far deeper than they are often credited. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Mute
Genre/Style: Experimental / Industrial / Noise
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The Twilight Sad
Fourteen Autumns Fifteen Winters
The ambitious debut album from Scotland's Twilight Sad lives up to the promise of last year's acclaimed eponymous EP. Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, produced by Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon, Mice Parade), adds an epic scope to the band's already-evident focus on sonically detailed, emotive, and eloquent song. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Fat Cat
Genre/Style: Post Punk
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Various Artists
Funk 45's From the Alligator State
The definitive survey into the late '60s and early '70s funk scenes of Florida's funky cities, restored and remastered from rare 45s and master tapes for perfect sound quality. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Stones Throw / Now Again
Genre/Style: Funk / Soul
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CD:$16.98
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Various Artist
Columbia!The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes
...The Powerhouse of Columbian Music 1960-76. Soundway Records presents the tropical sound of Colombia. From the salsas and descargas of Cali, Medellin and Bogota to the Afro sounds and raw cumbias of Cartagena and Barranquilla, this is the sound of Colombian dancehalls and clubs in the '60s and '70s, when the legendary Discos Fuentes record label led the way. The sounds emanating from the barrios and beaches of Colombia are a unique mixture of Latin sounds and Afro rhythms, drawing influences from the New York and Puerto Rican Latin scenes, the highlife and rumba of West Africa and the calypso of the Caribbean, as well as the tropical rhythms of the Colombian cumbia, gaita, fandango and porro. Driving percussion, swinging horns, hot pianos and jumping bass lines -- this music was made for dancing. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Soundway
Genre/Style: Disco / Latin Funk
MP3 Fruko y Sus Tesos - Salsa Na Ma
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CD:$16.98
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Various Artist
I Walk The Lonely Night: 20 Obscure Gems...
... from the British Beat Era. I Walk The Lonely Night is the first compilation in Psychic Circle's "Ballroom Beat" series -- a selection of relatively unknown but nonetheless excellent tracks from UK beat groups and artists which were gigging and recording between 1963 and 1966. Artists include: The Imp-Acts, Karl Stuart & The Profiles, The Zephyrs, Dave & The Diamonds, The Secrets, The Chevlons, Ian Edward &The Zodiacs, The Wackers, West Five, Lee Bennett & The Sunliners, Mark Loyd, The Images, The Mighty Avengers, The Druids, Bobby Allen & The Commanches, The Midnights, Brian Howard & The Silhouettes, Pete Best, The Jynx and The Cyclones. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Psychoc Circle
Genre/Style: Garage / Beat
MP3 The Imp-Acts - If I Were The Only One
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Various Artists
Lovin' Fire: 20 Obscure Gems from the UK and Europe
Brand new prog compilation containing rarities, compiled by legendary psych musician and Psychic Circle label-head, Nick Saloman (The Bevis Frond). Psychic Circle endeavors to go a little bit further than your average comp imprint, and the intention is to assemble themed albums of rare tunes that have been overlooked by other compilers. Psychic Circle's production values are of the highest order, and the sound quality as good as it can possibly be. The original artwork is designed to reflect the musical content, and the 8-page booklet, written by Saloman, is informative and well researched. The names of the bands may not be familiar, but the quality of their music is undeniable. As the '60s gave way to the '70s, it wasn't just fashion that was in a frenzied state of flux. Music, too, was undergoing a seismic transformation. By late '69, progressive rock was becoming established as the prevailing musical genre, a position it was to occupy until the birth of punk in the next decade. This compilation comprises 20 unknown diamonds, previously un-comped on CD, from prog's early days. Artists include: Silence, Ray Owen's Moon, Ipsissimus, The Warm Sensation, Pacific Sound, Apartment 1, White Mule, Left Side, Mayroc, The Exchange And Mart, The Royal Servants, Custer's Track, Rainbows, The Locomotive, Andromeda, Whichwhat, The Influence, Children, Hunter and Paul Nicholas. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Psychic Circle
Genre/Style: Rock
MP3 Silence - Mother's Game
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CD:$18.98
LP Vol 1:$23.98
LP Vol 2:$23.98
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Various Artists
New York Latin Hustle!
...The Sound of New York. "New York's melting pot of Puerto Rican, Cuban and Afro-American musicians led to stunning culture clashes in the 1960s and '70s when Latin styles mixed with funk, disco, soul and jazz to produce new hybrids such as boogaloo, Latin jazz, disco and salsa. All these are featured in Soul Jazz Records' latest journey into Latin music, New York Latin Hustle!. The record features all the kings of Latin music -- Tito Puente, Machito, Eddie Palmieri, Candido, Ray Barretto and many more, alongside rarer, lesser known names. In the 1960s, Fania Records and Tico Records released stunning Latin boogaloo, descargas, Latin soul from the emerging New York Latin scene. In the 1970s, Salsoul Records similarly mixed salsa, soul and funk to release stunning Latin disco crossover material such as Candido's 'Dancin and Prancin,' which would go on to be a million seller. New York Latin Hustle! brings all this together and features Latin music from all these styles, labels and eras. The album comes with extensive sleeve-notes and exclusive photography. The CD comes in customary slipcase and the LP is on super-heavy and loud vinyl. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Mute
Genre/Style: Funk
MP3 Ismael Quininos - Control
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CD:$16.98
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Various Artists
White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s
Heavy NPR crossover interest in this CD. "Released in association with the publication of legendary record producer Joe Boyd's autobiography. Fledg'ling are very proud to announce the release of this remarkable companion CD -- tracing the story of Joe's production work in London during the swinging sixties. Carefully remastered. Deluxe digipac with full-color large format booklet. Extensive sleevenotes by Joe Boyd." Artists: Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse; The Incredible String Band; Johnny Handle; Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy & Diz Disley; Pink Floyd; The Purple Gang; Soft Machine; Fairport Convention; Shirley Collins; Nick Drake; Fotheringay; Mike Heron; Vashti Bunyan; John & Beverley Martyn; The New Nadir; Dudu Pukwana & Spear; Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath; Nico; Geoff & Maria Muldaur. -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Fledg'ling
Genre/Style: Rock
MP3 Uavailable
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CD:$16.98
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Wolfmangler
Dwelling In A Dead Raven For The Glory Of Crucified Wolves
Wolfmangler is the musical vision of Polish revelator D Smolken, formerly of Dead Raven Choir. His music is slow, grim, noisy and shambling, a deconstructed hybrid of twisted folk and hinterland doom metal. Bowed double bass, electric bass, flute, French horn and violin merge with sinister growls and whispered vocals rich with the symbolism of life and decay creating a listening experience at once unsettling, twisted and darkly beautiful. Dwelling In A Dead Raven For The Glory Of Crucified Wolves takes his trademark raw buzzing intensity and pushes it even further down an uncharted thorny overgrown path creating a wall of noise that almost seems to suck the air out of the room, leaving a festering rotten discomfort -- a real sonic alchemy -- creating oil from sound. We doubt you will hear a record so deliriously unsettling this year. Maybe in any year... -CP
Release Date: 04/03/07
Label: Aurora Borealis
Genre/Style: Experimental / Industrial / Noise
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