BAD TIMES s/t (Sympathy For the Record Industry) cd 14.98
This is Eric Oblivian (Oblivians), Jay Reatard (Reatards, Lost Sounds), and King Louie Bankston (Persuaders, King Louie One Man Band, Royal Pendletons). They got together to record an album of songs they had worked up in their individual "bad times" outside of their regular bands. All three met in New Orleans for one day of practice and one day of recording. Totally fuzzed out fucked up lo-fi madness. Punky and Stoogesy, a wild and chaotic messy party.
RealAudio clip: "Over You"
RealAudio clip: "Momma Told Me So"

BAD TRIPS, THE s/t (Rocketship) lp 15.98

BADAWI Safe (Asphodel) cd 14.98
Some of you might be familiar with Raz Mesinai from his work with the illbient/ambient dub project Sub Dub. If so you know that he has this great ability to get to eerie places in the music he creates. Growing up in Jerusalem he spent many of his formative years around Bedouins and really really latching onto their musical stylings. Then studying with dervish sheik Murshid Hassan he became a master of Middle Eastern drumming excelling in the playing of everything from bendir to zarb to darbukka. Meanwhile, he also studied extensively with folk musician and Hasidic rabbi Harov Shlomo Carlebach. All this background info really sets the stage for this outing as Badawai. The underlying tension in his homeland is no doubt a constant fuel for his music. Taking from both Palestinian and Jewish traditions he creates songs that are loaded with suspense and sizzle under the surface. With an amazing ensemble including Eyvind Kang, Marc Ribot and Mark Feldman the result is darn near flawless. It might just be a matter of moments before Mesani is snagged by a big film studio because we can't think of anyone better suited to score films filled with drama, mystery, suspense and horror. Wow.
MPEG Stream: "Etheric Uprise"
MPEG Stream: "Safe"

BADGERLORE Stories For Owls (Free Porcupine Society) cd 14.98
What do you get when you take Tom Carter of Charalambides, Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance, Pete Swanson of the Yellow Swans and Rob Fisk of Seven Year Rabbit Cycle? The curiously monickered Badgerlore actually, who manage to take the disparate sounds of all the contributors and weave them into a rich thick sonic soup of fuzzed out psychedelic soundscapes, haunting disembodied falsetto vocals, urgently strummed acoustic guitars, keening minor key melodies, and darkly ominous rumbles and whirs, all beneath a thick haze of speaker hiss, staticky grit, warm thick reverb, fuzzy instrument buzz and atmospheric shimmer. So lovely. Packaged in beautiful hand screened / yellow ink sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Stone Stick Earth Brick"
MPEG Stream: "String Wrist"

BADGERLORE Stories For Owls (Yik Yak) lp 14.98
What do you get when you take Tom Carter of Charalambides, Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance, Pete Swanson of the Yellow Swans and Rob Fisk of Seven Year Rabbit Cycle? The curiously monickered Badgerlore actually, who manage to take the disparate sounds of all the contributors and weave them into a rich thick sonic soup of fuzzed out psychedelic soundscapes, haunting disembodied falsetto vocals, urgently strummed acoustic guitars, keening minor key melodies, and darkly ominous rumbles and whirs, all beneath a thick haze of speaker hiss, staticky grit, warm thick reverb, fuzzy instrument buzz and atmospheric shimmer. So lovely. Packaged in beautiful hand screened / metallic ink sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Stone Stick Earth Brick"
MPEG Stream: "String Wrist"

BADGERLORE We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits (Xeric) cd 16.98
A welcome and wonderful follow up to the debut Badgerlore record from a couple years back. This time out Rob Fisk (7 Year Rabbit Cycle), Tom Carter (Charlambides), Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance, Comets On Fire), and Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans) add Glen Donaldson (Blithe Sons, Skygreen Leopards) and Liz Harris (Grouper) into the stew, creating hazy and blurry meditations that sound like some perfect cosmic meeting of the most ghostly moments of Loren Mazzacane Connors and the earthly explorations of The Jeweled Antler set. It's almost as if you can hear the sounds of the mud and the moon on this album as there is such a prevailing sense of nature intertwining with the outerworld. Grouper's sensibility is felt in a really nice way, adding wonderful layers of delay and mystique to the already mysterious surroundings. One of those records that perfectly fills that mysterious gap somewhere between waking and sleeping. Whispers of guitars, voices off in the distance, rumblings you can't totally place. It all feels like some weird fever dream where you can't really make out what's happening but you can't imagine being anywhere else, enthralled and blissfully entranced...
MPEG Stream: "The Crops That You Tend"
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Wine"
MPEG Stream: "Duet"

BADLY DRAWN BOY About A Boy (Original Soundtrack) (XL Recordings) cd 16.98
Once Byram brought it to our attention that Mr. Damon Gough sounds remarkably like a rather chipper Elliott Smith, we couldn't hear these songs as being sung by anyone but! Check out the songs "Something To Talk About" or "River Sea Ocean" if you wanna hear for yourself what we're talking about. So if you've been craving something new from either of these gifted songcraftsmen, this soundtrack might be calling your name. It's all here! Rollicking do-do-dododo's, sweeping string and horn swirliness, sweetly strolling acoustic guitar melodies, lush female backing vocals... oh yes, and of course, his scruffy, knit-capped, sensitive guy voice. He *is* a lot more happy then Elliot Smith, though, and the music sounds that way too. Oh and one more lil' observation, the second track sort of swerves in and out of Sanford and Son tv show theme song-ness. Strange, but aside from that oddness, this impressive soundtrack will certainly not disappoint Mr. Gough's many admirers, will certainly win him a batch of new ones, and will tide everyone over until the next BDB album proper.
RealAudio clip: "Something To Talk About"
RealAudio clip: "River Sea Ocean"
RealAudio clip: "Walking Out Of Stride"

BADLY DRAWN BOY Born In The U.K. (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
Another solid ear pleaser from Mr. Damon Gough. He's always been a fine folk popster (or pop folkster?), but Born In The U.K. might be his most country leaning album to date, and his most smooth and accessible. He's definitely scaled back a bit from the grand orchestrations of his last album, 2004's beauty One Plus One Is One. While he might be prone to rambling and mild distemper on stage, here on record he keeps things even keeled, the tone warm and the mood down low. Still very steeped in sentimentality. His songs always make you go "awwwww". Some have liken him this time to a more sullen Neil Diamond (mind you, not quite to the extreme of Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann). Maybe a bit damp, but never dreary. Such shufflin' shamblin' sweater wearin' earthiness makes a perfect accompaniment to an autumn cuddle up.

MPEG Stream: "Welcome To The Overground"
MPEG Stream: "The Way Things Used To Be"

BADLY DRAWN BOY Have You Fed The Fish (Artist Direct) cd 16.98
In-store listens of this new Badly Drawn Boy album have drawn more vocal comparisons to the intelligent, tweaked pop of Robyn Hitchcock than to the sentimental, boyish heartbreak of Elliott Smith (to whom he formerly bore more than a striking vocal resemblance). Yet, this also seems to be his most accessible work to date. Whereas Hour Of Bewilderbeast was lovely, melancholic, and flowing, this is much more saturated, eccentric, and lively (much like Hitchcock or more recently Destroyer's Dan Bejar). Actually Damon Gough's recent soundtrack to About A Boy seemed a much more logical full length successor to his debut! However, this album does still shine with the sharp, detailed songcraft (often very reminiscent of Lennon and McCartney) and soaring grandeur of his previous works, not to mention the deeply romantic heart, but he's incorporated more classic '60s/'70s pop rock elements (y'know, lots of piano, a fine variety of backing vocals!) into the arrangements. A little different, yes, but pretty great in a grow-on-you-with-every-listen kind of way.
RealAudio clip: "Born Again"
RealAudio clip: "You Were Right"

BADLY DRAWN BOY One Plus One Is One (XL Recordings) cd 16.98
Damon Gough has pulled out all the stops for One Plus One Is One -- another totally grand Badly Drawn Boy album. Although his last full length Have You Fed The Fish received mixed reviews around these parts, O.P.O.I.O. looks to be the one to which both old fans and newcomers will take a fresh, generous shine. Can this man write a song or what?! And sing it in that achingly sensitive lad voice (still very much like fellow beloved folk-pop troubadour the late Elliott Smith)? And incorporate such a range of styles into his pop structures (some country, some cabaret, some prog even!)? And arrange it all in the most lush yet still earthy orchestrations? Soaring strings, introspective piano, feverish flutes, acoustic guitars? It really doesn't matter what instrumentation he chooses, his songs on this album consistently charm the pants off the listener. Who else can make an album that's the perfect soundtrack for both dreary'n'rainy and warm'n'sunny days. So damn good! One particular album highlight (of which there are many) is the seventh song "Year Of The Rat" which comes complete with glorious children's chorus (psst, the kids reappear on the fourteenth song "Holy Grail"). Absolutely splendid!
Note: this domestic release includes two bonus tracks!
MPEG Stream: "Year Of The Rat"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Ask Me I'm Only The President"

BADLY DRAWN BOY The Hour of the Bewilderbeast (XL/Twisted Nerve) cd 10.98
Now released domestically!...When we first heard the Badly Drawn Boy, we couldn't believe our ears. Who was this guy? He was like a Britpop Beck; sort of Beck-like voice, twisted pop sensibilities, beautifully Sentridoh-style home recording, and songs that kill. Well, we still don't exactly know who he is, except for the fact that he's the Mercury Prize winner, but at least now there's more than two impossible to find eps. Surprisingly, for his first full length, BDB has abandoned the lo-fi bedroom sound, and lots of his Beck-isms and created a lush, hyper-produced pop masterpiece. Somewhere between Elliott Smith, Radiohead, and Beck. Right off the bat, the first song is a spare arrangement for strings and oboes and cornets. In fact the whole record is dotted with swelling string parts, horns, accordions, bleeps and bloops and super creative production. This is a weird and beautiful (albeit commercial, compared to his earlier recordings and remixes) record, definitely for fans of Beck, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, Quasi, Built to Spill, etc. Imagine Beck or Elliott Smith, if they grew up in England, listening to Radiohead and Oasis, and cut their teeth doing remixes for a who's who of British pop/dance groups, and put a record out on MoWax. It's kind of like that, but not exactly. But it *is* totally great.
RealAudio clip: "The Shining"
RealAudio clip: "Once Around the Block"

BADLY DRAWN BOY The Hour of the Bewilderbeast (XL/Twisted Nerve) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited pressing on vinyl! When we first heard the Badly Drawn Boy, we couldn't believe our ears. Who was this guy? He was like a Britpop Beck; sort of Beck-like voice, twisted pop sensibilities, beautifully Sentridoh-style home recording, and songs that kill. Well, we still don't exactly know who he is, but at least now there's more than two impossible to find eps. This too was a little difficult to get (check out the price) but it was worth it. Surprisingly, for his first full length, BDB has abandoned the lo-fi bedroom sound, and lots of his Beck-isms and created a lush, hyper-produced pop masterpiece. Somewhere between Elliott Smith, Radiohead, and Beck. Right off the bat, the first song is a spare arrangement for strings and oboes and cornets. In fact the whole record is dotted with swelling string parts, horns, accordions, bleeps and bloops and super creative production. This is a weird and beautiful (albeit commercial, compared to his earlier recordings and remixes) record, definitely for fans of Beck, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, Quasi, Built to Spill, etc. Imagine Beck or Elliott Smith, if they grew up in England, listening to Radiohead and Oasis, and cut their teeth doing remixes for a who's who of British pop/dance groups, and put a record out on MoWax. It's kind of like that, but not exactly. But it *is* totally great.

BAGS Survive (Artifix) 7" 4.98

BAGS, THE All Bagged Up (Artifix) lp 14.98

BAGUNCA, PAULO E A TROPA MALDITA s/t (Discos Mariposa) cd 17.98
It's no surprise to learn that this album developed a strong underground following among Brazilian youth when it came out in 1973. With its forward thinking arrangements, perfectly played Moog and a merging of samba, afro-funk and American rock and folk, it was for sure a record that hinted at what smart weird pop music would sound like in the decades to come. Twenty years later in a different part of the globe groups like Olivia Tremor Control and the whole Elephant Six collective were playing this same brand of eclectic and oh-so-smart pop. But these guys were doing it way back in the seventies! You might remember Paulo Bagunca E A Tropa Maldita for their appearance on the Brazilian version of the Love Peace and Poetry series. Another nice reissue from Discos Mariposa. Good stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Grinfa Louca"
MPEG Stream: "Madalena"

BAIER, SIBYLLE Colour Green (Orange Twin) cd 16.98
Some of us here whose proclivities gravitate towards rare psych and folk have been bemoaning the recent flurry of "buried treasures" and "lost classics". It seems a day does not go by without a new release or re-issue of a forgotten or recently discovered artist rescued from obscurity passing before our attentive eyes and drooling mouths. Sometimes the "lost classic" status is not always deserved (not everything made in the sixties and seventies that didn't receive any attention is noteworthy, somethings are better off staying buried or lost), but it's sure keeping the reissue labels and revisionist musicologists busy as they map out an ever-growing expanse of the spheres of influence on music today. It's hard to keep up and also pay equal attention to all the great music that is being made right now. This makes us very happy on the one hand that amazing music continues to be discovered but it also drives us crazy us to see our paychecks quickly dwindling every week. Why just in the past month, we've seen re-issues from Bridget St. John, Kay Hoffman, John Jacob Niles, Kaleidoscope and Fairfield Parlour (all pretty amazing!) among others. And now on our plate are these previously unreleased home recordings of German underground folk singer, Sibylle Baier. We must admit when we first heard this, we suspected fraud. These recordings sound almost too contemporary to have been made in the early seventies. But after doing a little research, we found out this is no fraud. These intimate recordings fully deserve their "buried treasure" status, for whatever that's worth at this point. Baier, only previously known for a song on an early Wim Wenders film soundtrack, recorded these songs in her home from 1970-73 after a "spirit-renewing" trip through the Swiss Alps. She has the warm Sunday jam and tea voice reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan, but with the more spare guitar compositions and melancholy vocal delivery of someone like Chan Marshall. In fact, we sort of wish the new Cat Power or Beth Orton records were this good! Like Bunyan, Baier shunned what could have been a successful career in order to raise a family and it's because of her son, Robby, that these recordings are being heard at all. But unlike Bunyan, these songs don't derive from a back to nature hippie-folk aesthetic, but rather they come from a more delicate fragility where life's beauty and despair are interwoven with the tiny details of daily life. Beautiful! Totally recommended for seventies folk enthusiasts as well as fans of contemporary singer/song-writers.
MPEG Stream: "Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "I Lost Something in the Hills "

BAILIFF, JESSICA Feels Like Home (Kranky) cd 14.98

BAILIFF, JESSICA Hour of the Trace (Kranky) cd 13.98
Album number two finds Jessica again working with Alan from Low. This time around the songwriting has drastically improved, and the delicate yet dense washes of velvety guitar bear a remarkable resemblance to, yep, you guessed it, Low. Another beautiful release from Kranky. Recommended!

BAILIFF, JESSICA s/t (Kranky) cd 14.98
Whenever this album has been played in the store (which is plenty of times already!), folks have clambered to find out what the loveliness is. Well, it's the new Jessica Bailiff! She's singing a lot more this time around, and it's a welcome development. Her third full length is absolutely dreamy, quietly weaving together elements of spartan folk and spacious chamber music, with plenty of nods to fellow Kranksters Low (whose Alan Sparhawk produced her first album). Listening to this eponymous album almost feels like an intrusion, but each of her songs only draws you in further. These are the songs sung to the stars on a sleepless night. Quite often her softly murmured vocals are only accompanied by some hushed strings, piano or a barely strummed acoustic guitar - both hovering in the air like a frosty breath. And even when more sounds enter the stage - a sitar, a violin-uke, some digital effects - they're the sheerest of shimmering veils. Mesmerizing.
RealAudio clip: "Hour Of The Traces"
RealAudio clip: "Time Is An Echo"

BAILTER SPACE s/t (Flying Nun) cd 23.00
Bailter Space by now is all but defunct, with most of their records released through Matador in the US now deleted and unavailable. That's unfortunate, as the short lived career of this late '80s and early '90s New Zealand droned out, art-rock band offered a brilliantly unique parallel to the English shoegazing scene (dead ringers sometimes for Swervedriver) and Seattle's nascent grunge community.
Bailter Space was a trio, whose members performed as NZ legends The Gordons in the early '80s, developing a cantankerous post-punk sound whose short-fused riffs, off-kilter bursts of noise, and rhythmic teeth-gnashing had been one of the many influences on Sonic Youth. After their dissolution in the mid 80s and subsequent resolution as Bailter Space in 1987, the trio had softened some of the rough edges creating a signature sound that perfectly brought together Joy Division and the Velvet Underground within the bleary-eyed charm that seemed almost natural to every one else on Flying Nun (e.g. The Chills, Pin Group, This Kind Of Punishment, etc.).
It's a bit hard to figure out what's going on with this record, a compilation actually of tracks from other releases, a greatest hits sort of, there's no real info, and the album doesn't even say which track came from which album -- just a track listing and the legal stuff, that's it. Needless to say, they all rule, and it makes us want to listen ot ALL those records again. As we mentioned, all of their US albums are out of print (and it's unclear if the NZ releases are still available); so this anthology is certainly a welcome return for a band that had long been a favorite of Aquarius all the way back to our days on 24th Street. Here you'll find the spry rhythms of "Tanker" (which was the title track from their 1988 album) darkly forecasting the shimmer and drone of Ride and Slowdive; there's also the narcotic tunes of sci-fi shadow and murk from their last great album Vortura (e.g. "X" and "DarkBlue"); and plenty of distorted-then-blurred extended passages of drone guitar which really sound like they must have been the template for Justin Broadrick's Jesu. We love this band, we have for years, their Robot World record is one of Andee's ALL TIME favorites. If you don't know this band, you need to. And this is a pretty great way to discover them for the first time, and even if you're already a fan, it's a pretty bad ass Bailter Space mixtape.
MPEG Stream: "Robot World"
MPEG Stream: "SoLa"
MPEG Stream: "Tanker"

BAIRD, MEG Dear Companion (Drag City) cd 14.98
If Josephine Foster is the modern day equivalent of Shirley Collins, then Meg Baird would be the contemporary Anne Briggs. Here on her long-awaited yet sweetly low-key Drag City solo debut, Baird, who also fronts Philadelphia's Espers, has been channeling the old ghosts of British Folk (we got a glimpse on the disc of traditional numbers she recorded with Helena Espvall and Sharon Krause, a few lists back) through new and traditional numbers that feel contemporary and timeless without being too folksy or quaint. Sure the influence of folk music's past is anything but new these days, but Baird has been at it for a real long time, and while she has had some killer tracks on compilations now and again, including the ground-breaking "Golden Apples Of the Sun", it's nice to finally see a proper full length from this fair-headed lass who can strum a wistfully folky tune with the best of them. Lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Sweet William And Fair Ellen"
MPEG Stream: "All I Ever Wanted"

BAIRD, MEG Dear Companion (Drag City) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If Josephine Foster is the modern day equivalent of Shirley Collins, then Meg Baird would be the contemporary Anne Briggs. Here on her long-awaited yet sweetly low-key Drag City solo debut, Baird, who also fronts Philadelphia's Espers, has been channeling the old ghosts of British Folk (we got a glimpse on the disc of traditional numbers she recorded with Helena Espvall and Sharon Krause, a few lists back) through new and traditional numbers that feel contemporary and timeless without being too folksy or quaint. Sure the influence of folk music's past is anything but new these days, but Baird has been at it for a real long time, and while she has had some killer tracks on compilations now and again, including the ground-breaking "Golden Apples Of the Sun", it's nice to finally see a proper full length from this fair-headed lass who can strum a wistfully folky tune with the best of them. Lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Sweet William And Fair Ellen"
MPEG Stream: "All I Ever Wanted"

BAIRD, MEG / HELENA ESPVALL / SHARRON KRAUS Leaves From Off The Tree (Bo'Weavil) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Meg Baird and Helena Espvall, the string players and female vocalists of Espers, team up with British folkie, Sharron Kraus for a hazy afternoon's recording of traditional English and Appalachian folk songs. Sung simply and played sweetly on guitar, cello, and dulcimer by a trio well versed in the dulcet timelessness of the folk cannon, these nine songs recall the best work of Shirley Collins, Sandy Denny and Shelagh McDonald. Lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Now Westlin' Winds"
MPEG Stream: "False Sir John"

BAJA Maps / Systemalheur (Still) cd 16.98
Baja is a German collective revolving around a composer by the name of Daniel Vujanic. By the sound of things, Baja see themselves in neither Germany nor Mexico, but in Chicago circa 1995 when Gastr Del Sol was deconstructing any number of musical tropes into their own rigid signature sound. Both of the two long-form Baja tracks are decentered compositions of angular guitar plucking, ECM jazz motifs, elliptical bass riffs, painterly splatters of multiple horns, and stumbled percussive rhythms.
MPEG Stream: "Maps"
MPEG Stream: "Systemalheur"

BAKAMONO Long Time Cain (Super8) cd 12.98
Local favorites, loud, raw, and crunchy, packaged in a pretty cardboard'n'gold digipak.

BAKER, AIDAN / NOVELLER Colorful Disturbances (Divorce) lp 17.98
A pretty perfect matchup, Aidan Baker, 1/2 of doom drone duo Nadja, and avant-drone guitarist / filmmaker Sarah Lipstate aka Noveller, who both offer up some of their prettiest sounds for this collection of Colorful Disturbances.
Lipstate starts things off with a gorgeous smoldering driftscape, a sea of tinkling chiming high end melodies draped over soft swells of buzz and crunch, while within a pulsing blur holds it all together. Dreamy and divine, definitely the sort of track that could have been double or triple the length. Her second contribution is just as good, a bit more minimal, slightly glitchier and buzzier, but still serene and dreamlike, with a slightly ominous vibe, reverbed guitars are left to float in a constantly swirling cloud of sonic grit and soft focus hiss, that hiss constantly changing shapes and revealing partially obscured sounds and voices and melodies. So nice, this too could have filled up the whole side and we would have been perfectly happy.
Baker contributes a single 20 minute sidelong drift, all washed out glimmery tones, long and blurred and smeary and indistinct, creating a slow shifting layered landscape of gauzy soft focus colors, sun dappled and prismatic, warm and muted and totally lovely. Easily one of the prettiest tracks we've heard from AB for sure. Like we said, a perfect match!
Vinyl only and limited, so grab one before they disappear...

BALBOA / ROSETTA Project Mercury (Level Plane) cd 13.98
As we've no doubt mentioned before, metallic post rock seems to be its own little cottage industry, spawning more bands that it's possible to keep up with, and causing lots of bands to suddenly shift their sound, to be either more metal (for the post rock bands), or more post rock (for the metal bands). But as we've also mentioned before, it's tough to complain about a sound that combines two of our favorite musics. Metal, heavy and crushing, doomy and massive, and post rock, with its mathy rhythms, moody melodies, and soaring arrangements.
One of our favorite purveyors of this sound is Rosetta, from Philadelphia, who gave us one of our favorite postrockmetal records a few years back in the form of The Galilean Satellites. The approach for that release was unique, in that one disc was song based, with all the requisite crushing riffs and mathy metallic crush, while the second disc was all ambient, long tracks of swirl and shimmer, drone and rumble.
With the postrockmetal feeding frenzy, we were sure Rosetta were on the fast track to being big names in the scene, but they seem to still remain just below the spotlights, which seems to have done them no harm in terms of new music, their half of this split destroys. Albeit beautifully and dramatically. Two tracks, both topping 10 minutes. Both beginning with plenty of soaring jangle and Godspeed like cinematic build. Guitars chime and ring out, the drums are simple, perfectly supporting the rest of the instruments as they drift skyward. The first track builds and builds in intensity, only becoming truly metallic near the end, when the chiming high end guitars drift off leaving a churning downtuned riff, but even that riff is wrapped in effervescent streaks of glistening far away guitar harmonics, and strange vocal snippets, and rumbling whirring low end drones.
The second track follows a similar pattern, but the heavy parts STAY heavy, with howled guttural vocals, and a very Neurosis-y riff, but again, still surrounded by all sorts of incandescent guitars and dense swirls of ambient buzz.
Rosetta are teamed up with fellow Philly noisemakers Balboa, who also do their own version of the metal math rock, but theirs has a foot firmly planted in punk rock, hardcore to be exact. The first track starts off like a super charged nineties math rock jam, with angular guitars and BIG drums, vocals that are sort of sad boy, but build into full on howls, when all of a sudden, the band lurches into an almost blast beat, a furious punk rock blast, that shifts gears again, into a seriously hooky hardcore groove, sounds like a weird mix, but it sounds amazing. And a perfect foil to the languid expansiveness of Rosetta. The other two songs, don't get as punk rock as the opener, instead, mining more of that nineties math rock sound, Polvo, Dazzling Killmen, Hoover, the songs are loping stretched out grooves, the bass and guitar locked in tight, the drums almost tribal, everything crashing together in huge bursts of metallic emo fury. Pretty great.
And as if that weren't enough, the two bands combine forces for the closer, the title track, which to be honest sounds like it could be either band, as easy as both, BUT, it's amazing, a seriously gorgeously executed, heavy and hooky chunk of mathy metallic rock. From the beginning, a propulsive, almost krautrock jam, that slowly and steadily builds into a seriously thick bout of massive roiling guitars, and chaotic drumming, all downtuned and dripping with distortion, the only hint that this is actually two bands is about three quarters of the way through, when the drummers engage in a relentless double kick dual, over which ALL the guitarists spit out spidery glistening guitar lines, a huge glimmering tangle of melodies that sparkles and shimmers, and as you might expect is quickly sucked under another crushing wave of grinding growling guitar. Awesome stuff. Fans of the usual suspects (Isis, Baroness, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Pelican, Tides, Conifer, Minsk, etc..) most definitely NEED this.
MPEG Stream: BALBOA "Kaddish"
MPEG Stream: ROSETTA "Tma-1"

BALDWIN, MATT Paths Of Ignition (American Dust) cd 14.98
We love our modern Appalachia, tangled steel strings, gorgeous sprawling avant bluegrass, Fahey, Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, Ilyas Ahmed, it's a crowded field, but all the key players manage to create something much more special than just a Fahey rehash. Sure there are tons of folks out there with a guitar, a heavily worn copy of Death Chants, and not an original musical idea in their head, but there are the few, like the above folks mentioned, who took that sound, and were inspired to create their own soundworlds. You can add Matt Baldwin to that list.
It's a little hard to put a finger on what exactly makes Baldwin's sound so special, it could be more of a focus on classic melody, than on pick and strum, the opening track on Paths Of Ignition darkly unfurls into a warm whirring pastoral guitarscape, lots of major key melodies, unlikely harmonies, strange bits of slippery slide, and plenty of electric guitar buzz, some soaring growling leads, all woven into some haunting raga infused psychedelic space folk. The whole track is laced with tangles of wild almost-shredding guitar, deep resonant drones, swirling little melodic flourishes, it all transforms -his- take on Appalachia into something much more tripped out, psych rock and almost poppy in its prettiness.
The rest of the disc hews a little closer to the neo-Appalachia party line, but even then, his tracks slither and buzz, lots of haunting guitar rumble, intricate finger picking, delicate melodies, dreamy and drifty, mysterious and timeless. Except the one cover, the song that actually got us interested in Baldwin in the first place. It's only 4 minutes long, but it's a killer. Baldwin takes on Judas Priest's "Winter" and nails it. The main riff of the original sounds perfect on a steel string, brooding and ominous, beneath that guitar deep swells of buzzing guitardrone pulses and throbs, and the vocals, Baldwin does a pretty excellent Halford, a reverb drenched high pitched croon, complete with vibrato and little trills, the track finishes off with some killer lead guitar, sprawled over that gorgeous languorous main riff, that seems to slither and drift on forever.
Any one into the current crop of modern Appalachian / neo-folk / whatever-you-call-it guitar music will definitely dig this, and while it's worth it for the Priest cover alone, the whole record is pretty fantastic. Now it's up to Blackshaw to cover some old Scorpions, or Rose to take on a classic UFO or Uriah Heep track, so if either of you guys is reading this...
MPEG Stream: "Winter"
MPEG Stream: "Weissensee"

BALDWIN, MATT Paths Of Ignition ( American Dust) lp 14.98
This list highlight from a couple weeks back is NOW ON VINYL! And, we noticed, also now the Record Of The Month for July on Julian Cope's Head Heritage website, which we love. Read our review, then go read his... from which we learned something we should have realized, that the first track is a Neu! cover! So, here's what we said before about the cd version:
We love our modern Appalachia, tangled steel strings, gorgeous sprawling avant bluegrass, Fahey, Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, Ilyas Ahmed, it's a crowded field, but all the key players manage to create something much more special than just a Fahey rehash. Sure there are tons of folks out there with a guitar, a heavily worn copy of Death Chants, and not an original musical idea in their head, but there are the few, like the above folks mentioned, who took that sound, and were inspired to create their own soundworlds. You can add Matt Baldwin to that list.
It's a little hard to put a finger on what exactly makes Baldwin's sound so special, it could be more of a focus on classic melody, than on pick and strum, the opening track on Paths Of Ignition darkly unfurls into a warm whirring pastoral guitarscape, lots of major key melodies, unlikely harmonies, strange bits of slippery slide, and plenty of electric guitar buzz, some soaring growling leads, all woven into some haunting raga infused psychedelic space folk. The whole track is laced with tangles of wild almost-shredding guitar, deep resonant drones, swirling little melodic flourishes, it all transforms -his- take on Appalachia into something much more tripped out, psych rock and almost poppy in its prettiness.
The rest of the disc hews a little closer to the neo-Appalachia party line, but even then, his tracks slither and buzz, lots of haunting guitar rumble, intricate finger picking, delicate melodies, dreamy and drifty, mysterious and timeless. Except the one cover, the song that actually got us interested in Baldwin in the first place. It's only 4 minutes long, but it's a killer. Baldwin takes on Judas Priest's "Winter" and nails it. The main riff of the original sounds perfect on a steel string, brooding and ominous, beneath that guitar deep swells of buzzing guitardrone pulses and throbs, and the vocals, Baldwin does a pretty excellent Halford, a reverb drenched high pitched croon, complete with vibrato and little trills, the track finishes off with some killer lead guitar, sprawled over that gorgeous languorous main riff, that seems to slither and drift on forever.
Any one into the current crop of modern Appalachian / neo-folk / whatever-you-call-it guitar music will definitely dig this, and while it's worth it for the Priest cover alone, the whole record is pretty fantastic. Now it's up to Blackshaw to cover some old Scorpions, or Rose to take on a classic UFO or Uriah Heep track, so if either of you guys is reading this...
MPEG Stream: "Winter"
MPEG Stream: "Weissensee"

BALROYNIGRESS Shampoo And Champagne (Kning Disk) cd 14.98
Here's another release of exceptional quality and artistry from the Kning Disk label, who have previous brought us fine disks from the disparate likes of James Blackshaw, Jerry Johansson, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Wolf Eyes, Giuseppe Ielasi & Nicola Ratti...
Subtly trippy and strangely entrancing, Balroynigress is an art-folk trio melting in the Swedish sun. We were immediately drawn to main man Erik Joer's withered, slightly druggy male vocals that alternately call to mind early Bowie and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. His and female vocalist Elvire Soyez's hushed voices wander tremulously amid the somber, bent and broken melodies woven from acoustic guitars, synths, melodica and piano... occasionally getting their boots stuck in the slushy sludge of the gently growling bass. Despite the album's title which to us suggests fizzy cosmopolitan festivities, the ten songs that comprise this Shampoo And Champagne potion are neither bubbly nor urbane. Ungrounded and seemingly far from city lights, they flow freely between the concrete and the intangible, the conscious and the subconscious, conjuring both the deepest of longings and glimmering hallucinations. We like! May also intrigue the fans of Devendra Banhart or Andrew Douglas Rothbard.
Don't dill-dally though! This is a very limited handmade pressing of 900!
MPEG Stream: "Postlove"
MPEG Stream: "The Landlord's Love Affair"

BALTHROP, ALABAMA Your Big Plans & Our Little Town (End Up) 2cd 12.98
Not a geographic location, Balthrop, Alabama is a singer/songwriter! Joining in the band naming tradition of the likes of Boston, Chicago, Kansas et al, former Bay Area now Brooklyn based solo singer/songwriter Pascal Balthrop's latest musical moniker is a place, but a fictional one, mind you! You might know him under his previous musical alias which was simply Pascal. With a new name and new hometown come new sounds, a broader scope, instrument palette and group of musicians to accompany him. On his brand new sprawling concept double (!) cd about big city encroachment on a small town, Balthrop's acoustic songcraft is definitely still very very indebted to Jeff Mangum, John Darnielle and the Elephant 6 Collective, but the telltale signs -- such as a very distinctly emotive singing delivery combined with unabashedly blatty horns -- are a little bit more subsumed into his own realm. His lyrical storytelling is less cryptic or surreal, and the downhome-y album unfolds like an indie pop country fair stage play. Some folks have likened his new songs such as "Love To Love You" to the Hidden Cameras in its peppy exuberance. Fans of all of the abovementioned, hop aboard!
MPEG Stream: "Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Tell The Stars"

BALTYCKIE SZEPTY s/t (Plus GSM) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Members of Polish avant-hippy collective Atman (aka Magic Carpathians) are involved with this project, the title of which we think translates into English as "Baltic Whisperings". Recordings of seals swimming in the Baltic Sea are augmented with moog, guitar, woodwinds, plus various other instruments and electronics. They've created an aquatic musical document of bathing, breathing creatures and drifting, gorgeous, and sometimes sinister, shimmering soundscapes. This is the kind of "new age" music we can like. Very limited availability.

BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE Capsules (Dynamophone) cd 13.98
An uncommonly sumptuous array of releases was just presented to us courtesy of the young music label Dynamophone. They've only been around since mid-2006, but already have a bountiful catalog of releases, and many more on the way. We think your ears will welcome them with a warm embrace. Particularly if you've been recently enjoying the aquatic drone releases on the Mystery Sea label, you might wish to check out the seemingly likeminded, but more melodically inclined Dynamophone artists. Really, the label is a treasure trove of shimmering and dewy listening delights. Delve in immediately (also see: Disinterested, Halou, Po, Pornopop, A Lily, Curium, and R/R Coseboom)!
This is the label's new release from Balustrade Ensemble, a group which features Grant Miller (also of the very different Mandible Chatter), singer/songwriter/pianist Liam Singer, and Scott Solter (whose worked with the likes of Singer, Mountain Goats, Spoon and Tarentel). Their intricate (mostly) acoustic (mostly) instrumentals are artfully woven from familiar instruments piano, guitar, cello, and pedal steel, and the less common mellotron, orchestron, claviola, and celeste. Each one seems to glimmer out through Victorian lace curtains yellowed and slightly threadbare from age, through shatters of antique crystal goblets dappled with droplets of deep red, through a flaking, clouded gilt mirror, through deep sea greens and azures. Very cinematic, in fact, the Dynamophone folks beat us to the punch at raising the darkly whimsical filmmakers the Brothers Quay as a point of reference. Very recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Glorianders"
MPEG Stream: "Incarnadine"

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #18 (Tedium House) magazine + cd 10.98
Sadly, the last ever ish (so we're told) of this long-running avantgarde music n' art magazine... And it remains entertainingly dense with confusion to the last. Obscure isn't obscure until it's been celebrated (and futher obscured) in the pages of Bananafish. This final issue leaves us with info and interviews with Jim Leftwich ("experimental writer, visual poet..."), Burning Star Core ("violin/electronics/voice iconoclast"), Nelson Gastaldi ("Argentinean psych-spatial composer"), Montract ("group of beach-blanket acidheads"), and Joe Colley ("ex-Crawl Unit noise mumbler"). There's also "surreal, interdisiplinary" comics from Mecca Normal guitarist David Lester and of course pages and pages of reviews of all kinds of noisy, fucked up music -- reviews that quite often are more interesting than the music itself, we sometimes suspect. Plus the requisite bonus cd that comes with the magazine, with stuff from all the above mentioned artists, including lots of excerpts from cassettes found by Joe Colley. Ah Bananfish, we'll miss ya.

BAND OF BEES, A Free The Bees (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
A Band Of Bees have totally captured those psychedelic pop sounds of the 60's in all their full technicolor glory (think: Kinks, Byrds, Small Faces), but combined them with the ballsier guitar sounds of the 70's, and some old Stax-y soul grooves (think: Temptations, Bar-Kays, Booker T And The MGs) too! The band deftly brings together a broad array of sounds and influences from the past. They recreate them with startling accuracy and present them with a fresh enthusiasm. The results? A super feel good, all-weather album!
MPEG Stream: "These Are The Ghosts"
MPEG Stream: "Hourglass"

BAND OF ENDLESS NOISE, THE s/t (Endless Band) cd 17.98
Polish outfit with members of the Magic Carpathians, but not nearly as droney or avant-garde as you'd expect from that, or from their name. Instead, this is lighter fare, kind of an indie-rock thing, not as psychedelic or weird as might be assumed.

BAND OF HORSES Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Unlike their last album last year Everything All The Time, Band Of Horses' sophomore full length aligns itself moreso with the buoyancy of Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, and My Morning Jacket than the slow creep of Sparklehorse and Songs:Ohia. They craft the beloved modern yelp-pop that's characterized by warm, rounded jangly pop/rock instrumentation and boyish male vocals that are cling expressively to the upper register. Wistful, autumnal tunes perfect for this time of year!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Salt Lake"

BAND OF HORSES Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) lp 14.98
Unlike their last album last year Everything All The Time, Band Of Horses' sophomore full length aligns itself moreso with the buoyancy of Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, and My Morning Jacket than the slow creep of Sparklehorse and Songs:Ohia. They craft the beloved modern yelp-pop that's characterized by warm, rounded jangly pop/rock instrumentation and boyish male vocals that are cling expressively to the upper register. Wistful, autumnal tunes perfect for this time of year!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Salt Lake"

BAND OF HORSES Everything All The Time (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Fans of My Morning Jacket, Sparklehorse, Songs Ohia, and Iron And Wine, you just might have another band jockeying for your affection! Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell, two ex-members of Seattle pop band Carissa's Weird, have regrouped in a new combo that doesn't stray too far from their former band's slow, lush sound, but takes it into more of a rural setting. Some of us (staffers and customers alike) thought they were a deadringer for My Morning Jacket -- from Bridwell's high mournful vocal delivery to the duo's balance of haunting Southern gothic ballads and rockier numbers. For a full box of tissues example of the former, check out the final song "St. Augustine". But whereas MMJ blanket their shadowy melancholic recordings in cavernous cathedral reverb, Band Of Horses apply a lighter coat -- their sun-drenched guitars countering the heavy-heartedness of the vocals. Really really really good!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "St. Augustine"

BAND OF HORSES Everything All The Time (Sub Pop) lp 12.98
Fans of My Morning Jacket, Sparklehorse, Songs Ohia, and Iron And Wine, you just might have another band jockeying for your affection! Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell, two ex-members of Seattle pop band Carissa's Weird, have regrouped in a new combo that doesn't stray too far from their former band's slow, lush sound, but takes it into more of a rural setting. Some of us (staffers and customers alike) thought they were a deadringer for My Morning Jacket -- from Bridwell's high mournful vocal delivery to the duo's balance of haunting Southern gothic ballads and rockier numbers. For a full box of tissues example of the former, check out the final song "St. Augustine". But whereas MMJ blanket their shadowy melancholic recordings in cavernous cathedral reverb, Band Of Horses apply a lighter coat -- their sun-drenched guitars countering the heavy-heartedness of the vocals. Really really really good!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "St. Augustine"

BAND OF HORSES No Ones Gonna Love You (Sub Pop) 7" 3.98

BANG Bang / Mother - Bow To The King (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Dunno what it is -- maybe reading Martin Popoff's encyclopedic Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Vol. 1: The Seventies (reviewed last list) -- but we've been on a real early '70s proto-metal hard rock kick of late. And one band essential to such listening is this one, so we've restocked a bunch of this cd reissue and thought we'd give it a re-list for those who missed it before. Here's what we wrote a while back when we first listed this:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last ... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Their entire output has now been reissued on two cds, the first of which (this one) contains their self-titled debut, recorded in February of '72, as well as their follow-up sophomore album recorded that same year in November (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands).
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delievers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and pyschedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums not long ago).
Bang's 2nd album was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

BANG Bang Music / Death Of A Country / Three Lost Singles (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1973, "Bang Music" was quite a bit more of your standard '70s rock/pop fare, not nearly as heavy as their earlier efforts. But it's nicely melodic and has a few rockin' tracks on it, like opener "Windfair".
Then we step back chronologically a couple of years for the conceptual "Death Of A Country", which was Bang's never-released first album, recorded in 1971 prior to their self-titled debut that came out the next year. With visions of societal corruption and ecological disaster, this album's doom-filled lyrics are certainly Sabbathian, although the music really doesn't get as apocalyptically heavy as what they came up with on "Bang". But still, a decent slab of downer psych-rock, more '60s hippie than '70s metal.
True heavy music connoisseurs really need this disc, though, for the two of the three "lost singles" included: the tracks "Slow Down" and "Feels Nice". They're the highlights here for sure. "Slow Down" woulda fit in well on their debut, while "Feels Nice" has more of Led Zep vibe.
Bang's slogan was always "Music Shot From Guns". Of the two cd reissues, it's the first ("Bang / Mother - Bow To The King") that's definitely using the higher caliber ordnance. But this one also gets off some good shots.
Note, unlike cd versions you might have seen before, these aren't bootlegs -- these reissues were done by the band themselves through their website. Initally they reissued 'em as cd-rs, but now they've done real cds, professionally printed. The cd booklets have the lyrics and credits, but we'd have liked some more art, photos, notes, etc. And as 2-on-1 releases, they've scrunched the cover art for two albums into each booklet's front panel, along with using some not-so-'70s Macintosh computer fonts. So, visually these could have been better, but oh well -- it's the music that matters. And much of Bang's music should definitely stoke those into early metal a la Black Sabbath and the aforementioned obscure greats.
RealAudio clip: "Windfair"
RealAudio clip: "Slow Down"
RealAudio clip: "Future Song"

BANGS Call And Response (Kill Rock Stars) cd 11.98
Ahhh. The Bangs are back with this cd ep of high energy, guitar riffin, punk rockin', high pitched yipping, sweet and sweaty Sleater Kinney-ish RAWK! The Bangs definitely sound like Olympia girl rock, big time. And Sleater Kinney comparisons are unavoidable; they also remind us of the Go-Go's but with a '70s rock edge. Cool stuff.
RealAudio clip: "Call And Response"
RealAudio clip: "Kinda Good"

BANGS Sweet Revenge (Kill Rock Stars) cd 12.98
This band can't help but draw numerous comparisons to other Kill Rock Stars and K Records feisty girl-fronted bands such as Bikini Kill or Bratmobile. Indeed they do sound like a younger more bubblegum-loaded incarnation of said bands, and indeed one Bangs member (Maggie Vail) is the younger sister of Bikini Kill's Toby. But y'know what? I think I've got a better point of comparison. The fifth track "Undo Everything" brings to mind one of the slower numbers on The Go-Go's self-titled album. Actually quite a lot of this record is sweetly reminiscent of Belinda, Jane and co. and we like it!

BANGS, LESTER AND THE DELINQUENTS Jook Savages on the Brazos (Moll) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Arguably the best music writer of all time, Bangs breaks out with powerful, loose-cannon garage rock that's kinda the counterpart to his prose. Recorded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, shortly before he died. Very rare German import.

BANHART, DEVENDRA Cripple Crow (XL Recordings) cd 13.98
For his latest full length, Banhart has taken a marked departure from the mystical woodland art-folk kingdom he conjured and inhabited on his first three albums. This is evident even before you hear a single note -- he opted for a Sgt. Pepper style collaged crowd photograph on the front cover rather than another of his illustrations. He's tempered his vocal delivery to a more approachable range -- this might disappoint some of his fans for whom his unmistakable 'old' voice was the thing they loved most about his music, on the other hand though it certainly has the potential to appeal to a much broader audience -- but he's ventured out stylistically in a number of directions and incorporated various different instrument combinations into the surprisingly lush arrangements with wonderful results. Take for example the second song "Santa Maria Da Feira" and the sixth "Quedateluna" which both brought to mind glimmers of a long lost Gilberto Gil album, the almost soft rock production of the third song "Heard Somebody Say", not to mention the fourth song "Long Haired Child" which possesses a primal electric guitar psychedelic bluesiness that recalls Arthur Brown's demonic '60s stomp "Fire" (albeit much less unhinged). Midway through the album, some songs crop up that are more akin to the Banhart of old such as the quirkily playful ninth tune "Some People Ride The Wave". 22 songs! Wow! So great!
MPEG Stream: "Santa Maria Da Feira"
MPEG Stream: "Long Haired Child"
MPEG Stream: "Some People Ride The Wave"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Cripple Crow (XL) 2lp 16.98
Now on vinyl with reconfigured cover art and a gatefold sleeve with eight extra tracks including the most recent reggae/afro-beat single "White Reggae Troll". Only four of the extra tracks have never been released, the rest come from the "Heard Somebody Say" and "I Feel Just Like A Child" singles. Still, that's 30 songs! The new cover art and gatefold expounds on the original Sgt. Pepper-inspired photomontage by adding tons of photos from friends as well as fans who were encouraged to submit images through Banhart's website (including our very own Scott!). Here is what we said about it the first time around:
For his latest full length, Banhart has taken a marked departure from the mystical woodland art-folk kingdom he conjured and inhabited on his first three albums. This is evident even before you hear a single note -- he opted for a Sgt. Pepper style collaged crowd photograph on the front cover rather than another of his illustrations. He's tempered his vocal delivery to a more approachable range -- this might disappoint some of his fans for whom his unmistakable 'old' voice was the thing they loved most about his music, on the other hand though it certainly has the potential to appeal to a much broader audience -- but he's ventured out stylistically in a number of directions and incorporated various different instrument combinations into the surprisingly lush arrangements with wonderful results. Take for example the second song "Santa Maria Da Feira" and the sixth "Quedateluna" which both brought to mind glimmers of a long lost Gilberto Gil album, the almost soft rock production of the third song "Heard Somebody Say" (along with title song "Cripple Crow", some of the best contemporary anti-war songs!), the Andrew Loog Oldham-sounding sitar groove of "Lazy Butterfly", not to mention the fourth song "Long Haired Child" which possesses a primal electric guitar psychedelic bluesiness that recalls Arthur Brown's demonic '60s stomp "Fire" (albeit much less unhinged). Midway through the album, some songs crop up that are more akin to the Banhart of old such as the quirkily playful ninth tune "Some People Ride The Wave". We could on and on about this! Wow! So great!
MPEG Stream: "Santa Maria Da Feira"
MPEG Stream: "Long Haired Child"
MPEG Stream: "Some People Ride The Wave"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Heard Somebody Say (XL) cd ep 3.98
Another lil' shortie from Mr. Banhart! Please note the vinyl and cd versions' track listings are not the same! The cd features the title song (taken from Devendra's most recent full length Cripple Crow) as well as two exclusive tracks not on the 7" ("Lickety Split" and "Chicken"). The 7" record features the title song plus one exclusive track not on the cdep ("La Pastorcita Perdida").
MPEG Stream: "Heard Somebody Say"
MPEG Stream: "Lickety Split"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Heard Somebody Say (XL) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another lil' shortie from Mr. Banhart! Please note the vinyl and cd versions' track listings are not the same! The cd features the title song (taken from Devendra's most recent full length Cripple Crow) as well as two exclusive tracks not on the 7" ("Lickety Split" and "Chicken"). The 7" record features the title song plus one exclusive track not on the cdep ("La Pastorcita Perdida").
MPEG Stream: "Heard Somebody Say"