[No album count this month; I didn't check in time.]

Featured Selections

Au Revoir Simone, Reverse Migration (13)

Remix collection of the entirety of 2007’s The Bird of Music, with “Sad Song” and “The Lucky One” both earning double dips. Some tracks are actually more stripped down rather than built up, such as the spare Slow Club mix of “The Lucky One” which concludes in a rousingly messy chorus round.

Lisa Hannigan, Sea Sew (10)

Longtime musical partner of Damien Rice, Irish sweetheart Hannigan was set free amid some untoward drama, but confidently breaks out on her own on Sea Sew. The album enjoyed early success with the leadoff single “Lille.”

Ladyhawke, Ladyhawke (12)

Kiwi Pip Brown plunders the dusty chest of 80s pop and pulls off the new-new wave secret soundtrack to a John Hughes film that never was.

Ulrich Schnauss, Goodbye (10)

Schnauss moves on from his homage to 70s space rock like Tangerine Dream to epic 90s shoegaze like Slowdive and SoulWhirlingSomewhere, right from the aching swell of opener “Never Be the Same” with its crashing synth waves under blissed out vocals. Music for dreams to ascend into.

See Also

4 Clubbers, Secrets/Sonar (2)

Christina Aguilera, Just Be Free (12)

Asobi Seksu, Me & Mary (2)

Tracy Bonham, In the City + In the Woods (11)

Carla Bruni, No Promises (11)
-, Comme si de rien n’était (14)

Bush, Zen X Four (9)

Cobalt 60, Elemental (12)

Cujo, Adventures in Foam (18)

Ani DiFranco, Little Plastic Castle Remixes (4)

DJ Spooky, Collected Ambient Tracks (12)

Final Fantasy, Plays to Please (6)

Fisher, She Kissed Me (1)
-, Remind Me (1)
-, Closer (1)

Folksongs for the Afterlife, Put Danger Back in Your Life (11)

Repost.

Johann Johannsson, Forlândia (11)

The Handsome Family, Last Days of Wonder (12)
-, In the Forest of Missing Airplanes (3)

Hybrid, Fall Out of Love (8)

Katzenjammer Kabarett, Grand Guignol & Varietes (12)

Lacuna Coil, Visual Karma – Live at Wacken 2007 (12)

Cyndi Lauper, Shine (5)
-, Shine Remixes (6)

Lovespirals, This Truth (9)

Malicorne, Le Mariage Anglais (10)
-, Colin (11)

Material, Seven Souls (10)

Mediaeval Baebes, Miracle (3)

Ingrid Michaelson, Be OK (11)
-, Slow the Rain (9)

Lisa Miskovsky, Still Alive (Theme from Mirror’s Edge) (11)

Gary Numan, New Dreams for Old (19)
-, Scarred (12+10)

The Orb, Vuja De (7)

Plastic Bertrand, Dandy Bandit (11)

The Postmarks, By the Numbers (12)

Rajna, Duality (12)

Rasputina, Frustration Plantation – Bonus (9)

The Raveonettes, Wishing You a Rave Christmas (4)

Robert, Sourde Et Aveugle (12)

Shallow, CD Laser Lens Cleaner (6)

Stars, Sad Robots (6)

Miriam Stockley, Second Nature (10)

aka “The Voice of Adiemus”

Suicidal Tendencies, Suicidal Tendencies – remastered (12)

Taras Bulba, Sketches of Babel (10)
-, Peyote Moon (12)
-, Basta Cosi (3)
-, Von der Wahrheit (3)
-, Shiva Diva (3)

Throbbing Gristle, Thirty-Second Annual Report (9)

The Tiger Lillies, The Little Matchgirl (12)
-, Die Weberischen (14)

Trance Mission, Obsession (10)

Trentemøller, Remixed (5)

Vanilla Ice, Vanilla Ice Is Back! – Hip Hop Classics (12)

John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark (22)
-, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (22)
-, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (19)

New Musical Cast, Phantom of the Opera (13)
-, Mama Mia! (12)
-, Valley Girl (12)
-, Valley Girl Singalong (12)

soundtrack, Boom Blox (18)
-, Dead Space (17)
-, The Marvelous Wonderettes (12)
-, Need for Speed Undercover – Paul Haslinger (19)
-, Saw V (12)
-, Were the World Mine (12)

Free

various, BBC Music Magazine Sampler (13)
-, Deep Elm Sampler No. 8 (16)
-, Fiscal Apocalypse 2008 (15)
-, Mint Records Ridiculously Late eMusic Sampler (7)
-, Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler (13)
-, So Indie It Hurts: ROIR Rocks Volume 1 (11)

Spoken Word

Sherlock Holmes (Sir John Gielgud) – Doctor Watson Meets/The Final Problem (2)

Value

Fear Falls Burning, Fear Falls Burning + Nadja (6)
-, Frenzy of the Absolute (6)

Kronos Quartet, Plays Holmgreen (4)