Nels Cline - Coward

Cryptogramophone

Good Lord, how does he get some of that sound out of a guitar? This album is pretty much just solo Nels on all sorts of stringed contraptions, and I think it is one of his best. Beautiful, dense pieces that bounce around in your skull for days afterward.

Fernwood - Sangita

Whitehorse One

A really nice, rather amazing CD of instrumental pieces done on a wide assortment of acoustic, mainly stringed instruments. The songs are complex and thoughtful enough that they don’t venture into new age drivel, and the musicians, Gayle Ellet and Todd Montgomery, are obviously extremely talented, but use their talents at the service of the compositions, rather than showing off their chops. It’s subtle, but it gets under your skin.

Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor

Drag City

Some releases by Jim O’Rourke I really like, some I really don’t like. This one I REALLY like. It’s basically one long, continuous chamber-rock piece that builds and releases tension as it goes along, and subtly changes course during its duration. The instrumentation is pretty standard for Mr. O’Rourke (I had a friend who used to nickname him “Smarty Pants”), but the rather astounding thing I didn’t pick up on until after I listened to the CD is HE PLAYED EVERYTHING HIMSELF, (and overdubbed it during a long period of recording). Yikes! Good one, Smarty Pants.

Balmorhea - Constellations

Western Vinyl

I know nothing at all about this band, but I dug the cover artwork, and decided to give it a go. Very cool, mostly acoustic post-rock/chamber-rock that has a dark undercurrent to it. I’m gonna listen to this a lot more, I can tell.

Ben Frost - By The Throat

Bedroom Community

Wow. I sort of take electronic music for granted sometimes, but every once in a while I’ll hear something that will make me sit up and take notice. By The Throat is a dark, propulsive thrill ride that is equal parts death metal, musique concrete, and modern electronic composition, and great all around.

The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

Warner Bros

The Lips have been making me smile for many years, but it’s way cool to see them REALLY let their freak flag fly on their latest release. It seems that Wayne and the lads have gone back and dug out their Krautrock and middle-period Floyd records, and have transformed themselves into born-again prog-rockers that would do the guys in Can and Neu! proud. This record gets better and better each time you play it.

Nick Cave/Warren Ellis - White Lunar

Mute U.S.

A collection of (mostly) brilliant film soundtrack work that Mssrs. Cave and Ellis have been squeezing in the last few years in between gigs with The Bad Seeds, Grinderman, The Dirty Three, curating music festivals, writing novels, writing films, and generally lounging around. You guys make my head hurt. I wanna be you when I grow up.

All Tomorrows Parties

A really cool cinema verite ride through the on-going series of concerts put on by the good folks at ATP. It isn’t so heavy on performances per se, but it takes footage from pro filmmakers and fans to give you a feeling of the fun and musical invention that has been a big part of these festivals. Inspiring.

David Sylvian - Manafon

Samadhi Sound UK

Sylvian’s most obtuse and challenging work yet is also one of his best. I admit, his latest work takes a while to rope you in, but when it does, you pick up on all the weird happenings behind his voice, and it’s hard to shake.

Broadcast and the Focus Group - Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age

Warp

I’ve dug Broadcast for a long time, with their skewed electronic take on '60s and '70s era library music, soundtracks, jazz and Euro-pop. This time they’ve teamed up with The Focus Group and have gotten even stranger and trippier than ever before. This is psychedelic music of the highest order.

tip: You know, there’s probably a lot more that I’m forgetting, but that’s for you to go out into the store and find for yourselves! Thanks a bunch for some great times. If you are ever in Claremont, check out Some Crust Bakery, or find us at www.somecrust.com.

Zombelle - Gurgle Beaste

Living Tapes

www.myspace.com/zombellemusic

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna write about my own album. I make my own rules.

"A milky-heart-heavy orb of lightless womb sensations which began attracting crowds to her live shows. With very basic guitar chords complimented by a slew of vocal tracks, heart-beat rhythms, experimental sounds, creaks, and a feel reminiscent of a creeped-out-Shadow-Spector-drenched-soul-era, her sound is certainly her own."

After years of these tracks collecting dust, they've finally been released on the Living Tapes label. If you don't know Living Tapes, you should look them up (www.myspace.com/livingtapes). All releases are limited to 100 on colored tapes. Other artists who have been released by LT include: VUM, Pharaohs, Kinit Her, Black Church, Ecto-plasm Girls, Frank Alpine, Foot Village, Paint, Medio Mutante, and the short-lived SWFT WINGS.

Melody Hirose had this to say about the 10 bizarre lo-fi tracks: "Gurgle Beaste, an otherworldly love curse from Angeleno neo-psychette, Zombelle. Stripped and baring all bones, Shan Beaste blends acousitc soul mysticism and moody crypt pop into seductive toxic swamp songs. Interwoven are intoxicating lo-fi interludes of oscillation insanity that perplex and mislead. Sultry, dreamy, but always dark, Zombelle, a lady after your esoteric heart."

Interested in releasing this album on your vinyl label? Contact me. I'm into it.

Yoko Ono & Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head And The Sky

Chimera

YOKO IS NOT A VERB! Now, having said that... At the age of 76 Yoko is still bringing us avant-sounds far beyond those which have been popularized via media. How does this happen? We're coming up on 2010 and STILL Yoko is bringing it to the table. Bat For Lashes who? Watson Twins who? So then, who is carrying out the work of "The Plastic Ono Band?" Sean Lennon, of course! Alongside Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and the band Cornelius. The caterwauling is minimal and the songs are extremely cohesive. Perhaps it's feminine pride that brings me to this spot, but there is absolutely no denying the strength of this album. There are moments that grasp at the same airs of "Kiss Kiss Kiss" or "Nobody Sees Me Like You Do" but, ultimately, this is fresh material. Still a pioneer of the arts community? YES.

Sic Alps - US E.Z.

Siltbreeze

www.sicalps.com

I walked away feeling sticky and very very introverted the first time I saw this band perform. It was a pretty cerebral experience which was confusing as I found myself dancing and vibrating. Their messy and (dare I say, phantasmagoric?) sludgy lo-fi Phil Spector influenced spectre production is nothing to sneeze at either. The lyrics are bizarre and tend to be dark while the guitars slide out from under one another rhythmically as drums follow in a booming, lazy drive. Picture this: 1967, UFO club, London. Sic Alps opening up for Syd Barrett's Floyd - that's the way I see it.

"Let's all go where the sea meets the sky and sun hits the sand. Lay down on your back, we''ll have an understanding. I never want no hassle, man. Let's not go back to the Viet Nam contract. Forget about the poor and the black. It goes 1, 2, 3, 4. They sent them home dressed up in bags. I never want no hassle, man."

Clara Rockmore - Theremin

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (Deluxe Edition)

Streamline/Interscope/Kon Live

She's all four horsemen of the apocalypse and the apocalypse has never looked so good! Love her or hate her, you can't deny her. It's about time pop culture kicked it up a few steamy notches. Things were starting to border on boring. As far as I'm concerned, no current pop entertainer can top Gaga. And, even though I'd rate her fashion, wigs, and stage props before I'd think to mention her voice - I still have hope that she'll shine brightly and won't be just another dazzling dud.

The Mantles - The Mantles

Siltbreeze

"Don't Lie" is a classic, and the whole LP rules.

The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms

Bar None

They just reissued this classic and oh baby did it make me happy. "Raised Eyebrows" is the most epic instrumental of all time.

Them - Again

Polygram International

Galaxy 500 - On Fire

Rough Trade

This is the kind of record you put on and reminisce to. Time to talk about the golden days and drink some wine.

The Fresh & Onlys - The Fresh & Onlys

Castle Face

Great garage poppy band from San Francisco, both of their albums are keepers.

Tijuana Panthers

Get your grubby paws on anything those dudes put out, it's dope. Check for 7"s.

Best Coast - Something In The Way

PPM

This one time when I was 15, I smoked pot. It kind of sounded like this.

Vum - Strange Attractor

Dark with surf tones and percussion and aesthetic that reminds me of Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand."

Neverever - Angelic Swells

Slumberland Records

Reverby diva vocals over poppy tunes that would make the most reserved wall-flower get out on the dance floor.

tip: ALLAH LAS - check out myspace.com/allahlas for some righteous tunes

Moon

Sam Rockwell was 100% snubbed by the Oscars. This was by far, I think, the best acting performance of the year. If George Clooney wins an Oscar this year, I hope he gives it to Sam Rockwell.

Why? - Eskimo Snow

Anticon

Iron Giant

In case you forget how to be a kid at heart.

Bike For Three! - More Heart Than Brains

Anticon

This is a Buck 65 album, but he released it under the name Bike For Three.

Oak & Bone - Oak & Bone

Hex Records

Brutal hardcore: loud, angry, and they mean it. Four songs of fury, the first release from Oak & Bone, and pumped for more to come!

Night Owls - Night Owls EP

Hex Records

Long time hardcore vets came together to form what is Night Owls. A breath of fresh air. It's seven amazing tracks of flawless riffs, catchy songs, and when it's over, you're mega bummed. Total Fugazi-meets-Lifetime-spunk, and I like it. PAY ATTENTION!

Pre - Hope Freaks

Skin Graft

Pre rules hard. Quirky, girl-fronted punk rock at its finest. Heavy on the percussion, heavy on the yells. Noise, haircut tacos, ohhs and ahhs. Doesn't get much better.

Converge - Axe To Fall

Epitaph

The first time I heard this album was live, and I couldn't function for the rest of the day. Jacob Bannon is the most furious man in the world, the drums are tighter and faster than ever, and the bass and guitar are in a brutal tantrum of equal fury. This album is effin insane (not to mention Disfear's Ulf Cederlund's appearance)!!!

Duran Duran: Hammersmith '82!

Duran Duran in their prime, caught in all their pirate-new romantic glory. It's a DVD/CD combo pack, and John Taylor's feathered hair is enough reason to even think about watching it. "Night Boat" AND "Friends of Mine?" Oh man. Oh man.

Outbreak - Outbreak

Think Fast!

Outbreak is more pissed than ever and they're on the warpath. 15 songs in 20 minutes. Right to the point. No bullshit. Eff yeah. MEGA eff yeah!

Fanga - Natural Juice

Underdog/IMPORT

A little gem of Afrobeat from France way under the radar; it was released in 2007 & features guests like Tony Allen - and not to mention the spirit of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and other African funksters. The new CD should be coming any day...

Various Artists - Tumbélé! Biguine, Afro and Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-1974

Soundway

A great recording of old music from a totally forgotten area, the French Antilles (think Haiti, Martinique)... Not surprisingly also great dance music, compiled by the brilliant people of Soundway Records. If you are listening to this sitting down, you must be dead!

Various Artists - Tropical Funk Experience

Nascente/Import

From the English-speaking part of the Caribbean, a very danceable compilation of old, sought-after tracks in many styles - calypso, ska, funk, soul - something for everybody.

Mamadou Barry - Niyo

World Village

Surprise release in the African section: Afro-beat and other swinging musical styles from totally unknown (well: in the west!) multi-instrumentalist based in Conakry, Guinea (West Africa).

Kasse Mady Diabaté - Manden Djeli Kan

Wrasse

Classic and classy Malian griot music by the former lead singer of the great Orchestre Badema. Together with Salif Keita he is one of the great voices of his country. Rolling, calming music, with notable guests: Djelimady Tounkara and Toumani Diabaté.

Romica Puceanu - Gypsy Songs

Buda Musique/Import

Just when you think you've heard all the gypsy CDs you ever needed there comes the incredible voice of Romica - who died in a car accident during preparations for her first big concert in the West, in Paris.

Buika - El Ultimo Trago

WEA

Late night music in honor of Chavela Vargas featuring the sultry Spanish-African singer with Cuba's great pianist, Chucho Valdes - a jazzy and emotional release.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula

Next Ambiance

August & the Spur of the Moment Band - The I-95 Asshole Song/ Lost Horizons

Pantera Records (1983)

Contrary to what your ears might be telling you, this is not Jimmy Buffett singing a scurrilous, outlaw, David Allen Coe song. "I-95" was written and self released by Fred "August" Campbell, and for a moment in the mid-1980s this was a popular song down in Florida where it was recorded at Ocean Sound Studios in Ft. Lauderdale. The opening lyrics go something like this:

"Well I was driving down I-95 the other night,
when somebody nearly cut me right off the road.
I decided it wasn't going to do any good to get mad,
so I wrote a song about him instead.
It goes like this...

Were you born an asshole, or did you work at it your whole life?
Either way it worked out fine, 'cause you're an ass-hole tonight."

And typical of life and the record biz itself, this track was originally the "B" side to the single. Isn't that always the case? According to what I've read, "I-95" received a surprising amount of airplay considering a quarter of the song would have to be bleeped. Is it a good record? Not in the classic sense. But it is an empowering anthem most any driver, biker, and cyclist can identify with, keeping their rubber side down, from Boston to L.A., across our endless, silvery ribbon of highway.

The Sirs - Drop Me a Line / I'm In Love

Amreco Records (1966)

Not to be confused with the German beat band known for their classic cut “Sunshine Girl” on Fontana Records, this band hailed from Portland, Oregon, featuring the oddly compelling and soulful vocals of Randy Culcango. The Sirs existed from about 1965 till the early '70s. As far as I know this is their only single and it is a curious mix of pathos and sunshine pop. "Drop Me a Line" knocks me dead every friggin’ time. (Once again it’s the "B" side.) Slow and meditative, beautiful, there's something about the mix of suspended and minor chords, rolling and tumbling cymbals accented by a lonely Vox Continental organ that eternally digs into my frozen black heart, squeezing out just a dusty sprinkle of good, enough though, that every time I play the track I immediately head over to the liquor cabinet and hope my old priest is in there taking confession.

O'Hegarty - Body in the Bag / What a Mouth

Verve-Folkways (1966)

Every record geek's collection benefits from twisted little English ditties to help explain our twisted little lives. Now I'm more of a cat person than a dog (it's the poop question), but "Body" yanks out several morbid cat jokes, driven along by an acutely cheery organ and a happy jaunt on the sunny side of the street as the singer tries to rid himself of a dead cat. The original lyrics start like this --

"I met a strange man on the street today
He shoved a bag into my hands and quickly ran away, I
really must admit that it took me by surprise
What a charming fellow to leave me such a prize.
But when I took a look inside
I couldn't believe my eyes,
He left me with a body in a bag
So on I went with a body in the bag
A body in the bag, ta ra ra."

Charles O'Hegarty wrote and recorded this song (once again, the record's "B" side). Mostly known as a singer of the traditional seafarer's ballads and shanties, O'Hegarty was also as a member of The Starboard List and occasionally he was a contributor to the National Lampoon during its heyday in the 1970s.

Della Reese w/ The Bobby Bryant Quintet - It was a Very Good Year / Solitary Woman

ABC Records (1966)

This record in the last few years has become what is known in the trade as a Northern Soul Monster. Highly collectable in the genre that stems from what DJs played in night clubs in Northern England in the '60s and early '70s. It goes for real money now, and sorry the record is long gone from Hollywood Amoeba -- it lasted here on the 45rpm wall of gems for about 8.5 minutes last Spring. Upon its initial release, "Good Year" only reached #99 on the U.S. pop charts and mostly vanished for the next 40 years, before being unearthed for 21st century consumption. (Jazzman Records has re-released a 7" of the track with another tamer, live version on the flip side.)

Though always associated with Frank Sinatra, his version, by comparison, sounds like yawning after chugging Codeine fortified cough syrup. (Truth be told, I love "Old Blue Eyes" version, I own the original album in all record-geek forms -- white label promo, mono and 180 gram vinyl.) But Della's version! It is demented as all hell. This track is completely unexpected from a singer whose career began in the 1950s as a gospel and jazz singer. Her biggest hit came in 1959 with the single "Don't You Know." Today Della Reese is mostly remembered for her role as Tess on the 1980s TV show Touched By An Angel. But on this track she is all grit and sass and teasingly ill mannered. Della weaves and struts through a constant flux of disappearing and re-imagined chords, abrupt killer drum breaks and tight, caroming horn lines, pushing her performance to this insane, possessed, over-the-top quality. This Is What I Live For!

Vic Caesar - Nixon's The One

In the calamitous year of 1968, jack of all trades, Vic Caesar, composed a campaign song for Richard Nixon called "Nixon's The One." A very odd concept for a man who once played piano for Marilyn Monroe on one of her USO tours, smoked pot with Bobby Kennedy and Sammy Davis Jr. and for some ten years lived at the Playboy Mansion. But, in '68, Vic wrote a seven-word tune in about 20 minutes and when Nixon heard it at a campaign rally, he loved it. According to legend, Nixon hugged Vic Caesar. After that dark day when Nixon won the election, Caesar was invited to perform the song at the Inaugural Ball. Dapper in a Nehru-jacket, Vic Caesar drove the crowd wild with "Nixon's The One."

What put this record on this year's list? Two reasons: first the production. Of course the song starts off hopeful and earnest. The vocals are cool, a little flute jazzes it up, the music production sounds like something out of Ferrante & Teicher or Andre Kostelanetz circa 1958, but then a minute later, there's a slight hint at something a little groovier, almost hip in its right-wing charm – bass and drums kick in, a little distorted guitar shreds in the background, vocals get modestly looser and funkier, even effervescent ... but then ... HOLD ON AMERICA! Before getting down to the level of some hippie love-fest/flower-power petiole stinking LSD frenzy, America is saved by a military band marching in, restoring order and musical respectability, saving the nation from yippies, minorities, and rock and roll, "Nixon's the one!" The crowd roars! A second reason this record is here on this list, this single came in the original picture sleeve -- very clean, suitable for framing, extremely presidential portrait of our only Quaker leader of the free world, Richard Milhous Nixon.

Vic Caesar also acted in several ragged low-budget films like The Executioner and Alice Goodbody. And, most notably, he composed the soundtracks for a couple of blaxploitation films, such as 1977’s Bare Knuckles. Somehow Caesar ended up at Motown producing disco records. Even into the late 1990s you could buy an autographed copy of this single at Caesar's nightclub in Phoenix, Arizona. Sadly, Vic Caesar passed away in 2000.

Doug Snyder & Bob Thompson - Daily Dance

Cantor

Uber-damaged loner noise dispatch from Ohio, 1973. Has a kinship with the more outre elements of the ClePunk scene (The Styrenes/Eels/RFTT), as well as laying a proto NoWave vibe. Heavy drum crashes and distorted guitar squall, that could easily be Branca or Chatham--but this is years earlier. Not just noise, but some genuine jazz interplay. There are Borbetomagus and LAFMS connections. Look it up.

Heldon - Electronique Guerilla

Cuniform

Gorgeous reissue of seminal French prog/psych masters' debut from 1974. Heldon emerged fully-formed, sounding every bit as kosmiche as the Kraut legends they get name-dropped with. Scant percussion, but still totally propulsive. For fans of Manuel Gottsching's Ashra guise, Hawkwind at their spaciest, or Agitation Free. Comes with a bonus 45 from Pinhas' earlier project, Schizo, which bears much more in common with their UK progressive brethren in Crimson/Arthur Brown/May Blitz.

Emeralds - What Happened

No Fun Productions

Phenomenal abstract/synth/space-out noise. These dudes consumed Klaus Schulze whole. Moves from stark to swarming, in split seconds -- like the best Concrete does. This album has some really majestic and composerly-sounding moments, which projects from this "scene" often don't. This is mastered by James Plotkin, but check out Solar Bridge on Hanson, to see what Dilloway did with them.

Luc Ferrari - L'Oeuvre Electronique

ina-GRM (France)

Luxuriously pricey folio of all Ferrari's Musique Concrete compositions. Ten discs and a nice booklet (with English!), covering his career from the late-'50s tape pieces, through the skewered "orchestration" of Tautologos, and into some newer theatre/radio work. Ferrari was an endlessly dynamic composer, swinging from pastoral to cacophonous, fluidly and often.

Charlie Nothing - The Psychedelic Saxophone of...

Takoma/Unknown

One-of-a-kind solo sax improvisations, miraculously and incongruously released on Fahey's Takoma label in '67. This guy should go down in the Great American Pantheon of Outsider Instrument Builders -- along with Partch, Moondog, and Yonkers -- but this early recording comes off like an Alan Watts backdrop. Fluttery sax runs over ringing gong shimmer. This record came from an era when a lot of drug-addled or just plain weird music got mistakenly labeled as "psychedelic."

Throbbing Gristle - Gristleism

Industrial

This was a big year for TG acolytes. The excellent Third Mind Movements release, a noise toy that you're not bored with instantly, and shows in the US. Not to mention continually amazing archival debris from the Dais label (COUM Transmissions / a live one with Genesis & Tony Conrad), that hardly anyone will get to hear. Just as perplexing and relevant as ever.

Various Artists - The BYG Deal

Finder's Keepers

Super cool comp, which we've come to expect from anything Votel related. I've adored the BYG label for nearly a decade for their monolithic run of 1960s Free Jazz under the Actuel banner, and always said there were more than one psych-monster hiding out in there. You get tracks from those guys (Ame Son & Freedom), and a ton of other EuroProg madness, both familiar (Gong, Soft Machine-offshoot Banana Moon) and unfamiliar (are you shitting me, Vangelis?). This will fit nicely beside the three-disc JazzActuel Collection with the Thurston & Byron liners, that you hopefully got way back in the '00s. But why didn't they mess with Musica Elettronica Viva?

tip:

R.I.P. Jack Rose, Ron Asheton, Rashied Ali, Lux Interior.
Zachary says hello to Thurston Moore, Mississippi Records, the LAFMS, Julian Cope,  and Kerryanne.
Eat at Animal on Fairfax.  Read Lovecraft.