Gladiators - Studio One Singles
This is, to me, the definitive Gladiators collection - a treasure trove of their best work at the label, along with many of the corresponding dub b-sides. An essential purchase!

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Sharon and the boys’ third album is a burner. I think it’s my favorite of the three. The title track alone is worth the purchase price. Amy who???

Paul Weller - Wild Wood (Deluxe Edition)
This double disc expanded version of one of my fave ‘90s albums is totally worth buying. The second disc contains 28 (!) unreleased tracks that are amazing. His demos are better than most people’s completed albums!

Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind

Vashti’s early, poppier side is exposed here, as well as one-take live recordings from ’64-’66 that display her unique talent wonderfully. Her voice and melodies haunt me.

Honorable Mentions:
Gram Parsons w/ Flying Burrito Brothers - Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969

Billy Butler - Right Tracks: The Complete Okeh Recordings

John Mayall - John Mayall Plays John Mayall & Live at Klooks Kleek

Nathaniel Mayer - (I Want) Love and Affection (Not the House of Correction)

Dungen - Tio Bitar

Dreamdate - Come Over Now

Liars - self-titled

Interpol - Our Love to Admire

The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out

Soiled Mattress and the Springs - Honk Honk Bonk
The great thing about these NYC strange young men is the underlying perverse aspects that seep from the feet of those who bop, pogo, tango and waltz in 2008.

Nodzzz - I Don’t Wanna Smoke Marijuana 7”
These Bay Area poppers gave a great little nugget (sorry) for all of us to second guess the magical toke (sorry!) to. Very kind, yet choke Amoeba staffers. Call blasphemy!

Girls - Live at Café Du Nord
This aching pop came on real strong for a first show, and the girls in the crowd were slam dancing and singing all over the PA. A triumph! P.S. There is a girl in the band.

Sex Vid - Tania 7”
Holy cow, this one has the willies worried! Get out of Sex Vid’s way! I guess hardcore isn’t quite as much nostalgic as some geezers would guess!

Magnetic Fields - Distortion
This blissful pop refi nes a certain sunglasseswearing- what’s-their-name-who cares. I could drink some Cokes with this good time of an album. Mellow summer sammer.

tip: Annihilation Time live, Miles on the Corner Box, Planet Earth DVD set, California Love, Reaping the Whirlwind.

Dystopia - self-titled
Soundtrack to the impending apocalypse. Listen and prepare.

Devil Makes Three - self-titled
Perfect album for porch sittin’ and whiskey sippin’. See them live!

Chumbawumba - Singsong & a Scrap
Stripped down acoustic folk by longtime English radicals. Try to forget Tubthumping ever happened.

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Dona Got A Ramblin’ Mind
Traditional country and bluegrass revitalized by three young southerners.

Born/Dead - Final Collapse
Raging!

5 Picks...

Jneiro Jarel - Three Piece Puzzle
Not new, but maybe I slept on it because it existed in a parallel universe where the Native Tongues never broke up and MF Doom got regular play on KMEL’s Top 7 @ 7. Nice balance of the golden age and the futuristic. His group album with Shape of Broad Minds came out this year and is also a good listen, but if you’re not up on Jneiro, this where to start.

Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
One of the most well rounded emcees on the mic, and Exile’s been bangin’ em out since I was buying Emanon and Dream Sequence cassettes in high school. “The new Pete Rock & CL is Exile & BL”...hmm, maybe. Best debut HipHop album to come out in years!

DJ Haylow - Influence N Inspiration
Somehow Haylow always has another mixtape to make my Top 5 and I.N.I is no exception. Feel good Hip Hop & Vintage Soul seamlessly inter weaved with fresh sound bites from legendary figures to keep your ass moving and your fi st raised. Essential.

Mia Zuniga - Stories Such as These
A sweet voice, an acoustic guitar, and solid production make for excellent “Sunday afternoon, light some incense” music. One of the best emerging talents out of the bay.

O.C. - Word... Life (reissue)
Somehow this album always gets left out of those “best albums of the golden era” conversations, but in my opinion ranks higher than 90% of the other ones everyone always talks about. Vintage D.I.T.C.! Out of print for years finally repressed for all you suckas to recognize!

tip: Makossa Tuesdays @ Easy Lounge in Oakland and Creme de la Creme every 3rd Sunday @ Kitty’s in Emeryville. Go!

Karen Dalton - Cotton Eyed Joe
Karen’s voice is from another dimension, where Billie Holiday picked up the guitar/ banjo and made time stand still. Collected from unreleased live performances. “When I Think of Freedom” is breathtaking, ok?

Les Rallizes Denudes - Yodo Go A Go Go
In just a few short months since the release of Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler we have seen an impressive resurgence of Rallizes reissues; start with this one! Collected from various bootlegs.

Holy Modal Rounders - Bound to Lose DVD
Take a trip with quite possible the strangest folk group out of 1960s New York. Eccentric, honest, crude, heartwarming, drunk, irresponsible.

Moolah: Maurice and Walter Present Moolah
Our friends at Scorpio Records/Distribution have truly outdone themselves! LP reissue of this virtually unheard psych/kraut/ cacophonic 1974 masterpiece. Fans of Cluster take note! Great price.

Tropicalia: Ou Panis Et Circensis - various artists
Finally the public can get their sweaty palms on the album that started a whole movement in Brazil 1968. Forget any other Tropicalia collection. This is the ultimate collaboration featuring Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gil Costa and more.

tip: Check out Ugly Things mag for anything psych. Listen to the Minutemen always. Don’t buy overpriced Experimental releases anymore.

Saint-Saens Organ Symphony - Poulenc Organ, Go & Barber Toccata Festiva with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Chistoph Eschenbach (Conductor), Oliver Latry (Organ)
This disc is filled with 3 beautiful compositions, Barber’s piece begins with a flurry and eases gracefully into such elegant phrasings. The richness of the strings and Latry’s organ are in high relief on Poulenc’s organ. In both pieces the strings exemplify solace while the organ underlies reality and truth. Eschenbach has a masterful command of this important distinction. Agreement is miraculously attained in Saint-Saens organ Symphony and enlightenment is finally achieved. Luscious, sonorous sounds of this breathtaking recording have never failed to fill my heart. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Prokofiev Piano Concerto #2 - Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic,
Yundi Li (Piano)
Yundi Li contributes a pristine and yet frantic splash of energy into Prokofiev’s powerful composition trying desperately to quell the doom and gloom which the piece dictates. His success lies with his valiant chase despite impossible odds, Ozawa’s Berlin Philharmonic and Yundi Li together make this a great listen.

Gershwin Piano Concerto in F - Rhapsody in Blue & Cuban Overature –
Jon Nakamatsu (Piano) and the Rochester Philharmonic – Jeff Tyzik (Conductor)
These engaging pieces emphasize the classical despite their jazz overtones. The mellifluous and elegant playing by Jon Nakamatsu dances with polished delicacy alongside sweeping, flowery melodies. The bouquet of Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic manages to encapsulate the Big Apple in the 1920s. It’s a miracle!

Mahler Symphony #5 - Davies Symphony Hall – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra –
Mariss Janson (Conductor): Monday, January 28, 2008
I haven’t given up trying to find the perfect Mahler Symphony on CD but then my abode is not that spacious or isolated. To enjoy the many variations of delicacy and intensity that his symphonies present one needs lots of space. Hearing the RCO perform Mahler’s 5th live at Davies earlier this year made me realize that this might be the only way—at least, for me. Janson and the RCO gave a potent (sans screechiness of the strings) and glowing performance radiating a warm brilliance throughout the hall which made even Renan forget where he was (or wasn’t?). The fact that this performance still lingers within (or Renan… hmmmm) qualifi es this as my most recent musical climax. Oh, how I adored that evening!

2007 Releases in heavy rotation this last 6 months…

Raoul Bjorkenheim & Friends - Box: Studio (Rune Grammofon)
An international “super-band” of sorts got together briefly in Stockholm to record an all-improvised record of amazing instant compositions - featuring Trevor Dunn & produced by Zorn. It seems not-ashardcore as Scorch Trio records and filled with more subtle listening. A must for pure Improv fans…

Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
Played it so many times - thoroughly fearless Art-Pop moods created out of thin air. A collaging of styles & infl uences nobody else could pull off. Featuring Steve Shelley of S.Y. & otherwise a beautiful band of friends…

Alemayehu Eshete - Ethiopiques 22 (Buda Musique)
Alemayehu’s various bands from ’72- ’74 all Rock and provide an incredible groove in which deep poems about life are interwoven. This one is a “must” of this extensive series…

Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets ’65-’70 - various artists (Rhino)
From the well known to the barely known. Definitive examples of this highly eclectic scene. Four beautiful discs & a great book. Deep, yet barely scratching the surface.

Carl Stone - Al-Noor (Intone)
Carl builds incredible instrumental music out of bits & pieces he fi nds. Exciting minimalism that jams, perplexes, & inspires. A great new sound like no other! As usual, created in studios all around the globe…

Miles Davis - On the Corner 6 CD Set (Columbia/Legacy)
Imagine a release with over 2 hours of previously unissued Miles from ’72-’75. A few of the best bands ever with Miles. INCREDIBLE sounds of inspiration and a killer book with lots of rare photos, etc…

ALSO RECOMMEND: the new Meshuggah, White Rainbow and Gultskra Artikler.