Albums added since last update: 7,368

Featured Releases

Arcade Fire, No Cars Go (2)

Really just a b-side, “Surf City Eastern Bloc,” a slow-burn with a Floydian, second-side-of-The-Wall vibe. Arcade Fire also recently gained the distinction of name-dropping in NBC’s Chuck as a prototypical nerd makeout band.

Asobi Seksu, Stay Awake 7″ (2)

Bite-sized morsel of shimmery shoegaze, plus a cover of the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me.”


Michael Brook, BellCurve (8)

Remixes of the RockPaperScissors (11) album, although stylistically almost more of a companion piece - more Hope Blister than rave-out Thunderpuss house or that sort of thing. Lisa Germano’s contribution to “Want II” is ever more gauzy than on the original, making for a nice holdover until the next Imogen Heap.

Doop, Circus Doop (12)

One of those novelty dance acts that has surprising depth past their overplayed single, in this case 1995’s Charleston-meets-techno “Doop” (we even tried it out during a ballroom dancing class, and it makes for a serviceable foxtrot). While the varying mixes of “Doop” can wear out their welcome, both “Huckleberry Jam” (a blues-harmonica stomp) and “Yoghurt” (Nordic dance-pop bliss built around a single word chorus) are refreshing standouts. The track listing differs somewhat from other releases - a nice hard-trance mix of “Huckleberry Jam” is exchanged for more “Doop” single mixes, but does include the previously-separate “Ridin’.”

Faithless, To All New Arrivals (11)

Generally overlooked latest release, three years after No Roots, with the possible exception of the single “Bombs.” Guest vocalists include the Cure’s Robert Smith (”Spiders, Crocodiles & Kryptonite”) and Cat Power (”A Kind of Peace”).

Gus Gus, Attention (10)

A stripped down affair from the go-anywhere electro-noir of prior albums, Attention is harder-edged synthpop. “David” and “Desire” were the main singles, but “Dance You Down” is perhaps the purest 80s homage, with “Detention” as a nice ambient interlude. Burbling synth goodness throughout.

His Name Is Alive, Firefly Dragonfly (4)

A very welcome return by the ever-changing HNIA to the style of Home Is In Your Head (23) and Mouth By Mouth, although a little more straightforward and up-mixed. Firefly includes a expanded acoustic-driven retake on the seminal “There’s Something Between Us and He’s Changing My Words” from Home, with Andy FM taking on the sweetness of Karin Oliver.

-, XXMER (12)

Intended as a follow-up companion to Detrola (15), XMMER maintains the some-of-everything pastiche that is their trademark: “Youngblood”’s string/acoustic arrangements run into perky pop (”Go To Hell Mountain”), into distorted moodpiece “The Wolf Put His Mouth on Me.” Andy FM sings throughout. His Name also has an instrumental version of XMMER (as with Detrola), plus other goodies like Livonia Strings available as paid downloads through Silver Mountain Music.

Ministry, The Last Sucker (11)

“It’s the end of mankind as we know it.” The last Ministry album, and the conclusion to the unofficial anti-Bush trilogy begun with Houses of the Molé and Rio Grande Blood (11). Al Jourgenson has long seemed to draw primal inspiration from the Bush family, going back to the unrelenting Psalm 69, and he seems to have dragged the band out of its drug-fueled languor in doing so. Maybe it’s just the digital format, but despite its trappings, this seems to lack some of the ‘crunch’ of Psalm 69 and Land of Rape & Honey. Still, it’s a screaming finale for the industrial thoroughbred.

Múm, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (12)

The latest from twee-indie Icelandic outfit Múm. That’s really all I needed to know. I suppose I missed all the uproar over former vocalist Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir leaving and releasing Pullhair Rubeye (8) - recorded completely backwards (blame David Lynch) - with husband Avey Tare of Animal Collective. They seem to have weathered her absence just fine, and efforts like “They Made Frogs Smoke ‘Til They Exploded” are just as quirky and endearing as ever.

Slowdive, Just for a Day (9)

A shoegazer classic. Heck, just a classic. Dreamy summer days embodied in 9 tracks. They haven’t quite shed their Cocteau Twins fixation yet, but that’s hard to fault.

Sunscreem, Love U More (9)

One of those perfect pop songs - with Erasure-worthy chorus - that may only be distorted by remixing, but you can always just go with the original album version. Similar treatment available for Perfect Motion (12), also from O3.

Thom Yorke, The Eraser (9)

Radiohead’s Thom goes solo, with minimal shuffle loops and piano codas. Ejects some of the full band’s bombast, which some reviews decried as rendering it flat, but coming from a fan of Mark Van Hoen’s similar work in Locust, I actually prefer it at times. The Harrowdown Hill (3) single has an extended mix plus 2 b-sides.

Free Stuff

various, Daytrotter Sessions (7)

various, Devil in the Detail (14)

various, Harmonia Mundi (10)

various, Kaleidoscope Room 1 (14)

See Also

Aarktica, Matchless Years (8)

Brodsky String Quartet, Britten String Quartets 2 & 3 (8)
-, Sculthorpe Island Dreaming - String Quartets (11)
-, Respighi Il Tramonto String Quartets (6)
-, Schoenberg/Webern/Zemlinksky Music from Vienna (9)

Bruderschaft, Forever (13) +Forever Ltd Edition (13)

Tony Carey, I Won’t Be Home Tonight (10)

Also recorded as Planet P Project.

Dark Sanctuary, De Lumiere Et D’Obscurite (13)

Dead Kennedys, Milking the Sacred Cow (12)

Well, at least they’re upfront about it.

Darren Emerson, Bouncer (2)

Lida Husik, Faith in Space (10)

Information Society, Synthesizer (13)

Mighty Lemon Drops, Sound…Goodbye To Your Standards (11)
-, Ricochet (11)
-, Laughter (11)

Robert Miles, Organik Mixes (14)

Colin Newman, Commercial Suicide (11)

Formerly of Wire.

Pet Shop Boys (billed as Collaboration w/ Paul Rauhofer), Break 4 Love Part 1 (8) & Part 2 (6)

Songs of Lemuria, Deep (14)

A German piano-driven new age group is a somewhat unlikely place to find a cover of Nirvana’s “All Apologies.” I just like the band name.

soundtrack, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant (11)

System 7, Planet 7 (8)

Yo La Tengo, Upside Down (5)

The 24-minute “Sunsquashed” also qualifies as a Value download.

Tribute Corner

Brian Setzer Orchestra, Wolfgang’s Big Night Out (12)

A swing version of “Hall of the Mountain King”? Hold me back!

Buddha Lounge Ensemble, Renditions of Evanescence (11)

Club 69, Warm Leatherette (3)

Galaxy 4, Doctor Who Theme (4)

Razed In Black, Covers (11)

Because we can always use a goth-industrial version of “A View To A Kill.”

Reggatta Mondatta, Police Tribute (13)

Pretty much straight cover band, which has its own beer-and-pretzels charm before you realize you’re gnawing off a limb.

various, Let’s Hear It For the Boy Vol 1-6 (Megahit Records)

Similar to the “Do It Again” series (although now with more male beefcake), eurodance and house covers of varying pop hits. Renditions of Madonna and Britney Spears are often not much varied than their regular remixes, but songs that weren’t originally dance-oriented can turn out quite interesting.

various, Radical Re-Interpretations (15)

various, Sci-Fi Cafe (12)

Electronic versions of sci-fi themes, e.g. Loop Guru does Star Trek. (Was actually already on the site, but they’ve added a second copy for whatever reason.)

Celebrity Crooners

Danny Aiello, Besame Mucho (1)
-, Save the Last Dance for Me (1)

John Travolta, Greased Lightning (20)

“You Set My Dreams To Music”? Nightmares, more like.

(note: Sammo Hung, Stand Up and Swear (13) is actually a Welsh punk band, not the portly Kung Fu star/director.)