New Library Additions
Every week we add a wide range of music to our library, from the newest local releases to lost gems from the archives. Here’s a list of some of what we’ve recently added.
Week of Jun 4, 2010
J Dilla Donuts
J Dilla was a vaunted producer who collaborated with many of the most talented names in hip-hop, including De La Soul, Madlib, ?uestlove, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, and Common. Released three days before Dilla’s untimely death at age 31 from the blood disease TTP, Donuts is far more than the sum of its parts: a producer’s reel of music and beats blending jazz, rock, and electro with classic hip-hop; it is an essential, soulful, and irrepressibly joyful album.
Future of the Left Travels With Myself and Another
Future of the Left, a Welsh post-punk band featuring two-thirds of the mighty Mclusky (including singer/guitarist Andrew Falkous), pick up where they left off and get heavier, catchier, and stranger on their second full-length album. Guitars grind, crunch and squeal, keyboard lines hum, the rhythm section pounds and throbs, while the lyrics, equal parts bilious and absurd, are delivered with a melodic throaty shriek; through it all is a compelling power and charisma that few other bands can match.
XTC Skylarking
XTC’s creative and critical zenith, Skylarking distilled the best elements of the pop-punk melodies from their mid-‘70s origin, the rhythmic intricacies of their new wave output and the orchestral and pastoral impulses of their early 80’s releases, even though leader Andy Partridge described producer Todd Rundgren’s recording process as “being forced in a box and having it beaten out of you.”
Icy Demons Miami Ice
Icy Demons could perhaps best be described as the mutant spawn of Brian Eno and Man Man — gnarled, proggy, lush and groovy all at once. Miami Ice alternates between glass-clinking, air-conditioned sambas, post-rockin’ harmonized vocal pop and general weird awesomeness.
Umberto From the Grave…
Expo ’70 bass/synth player Matt Hill has gone solo. His debut LP under the Umberto moniker is an analog masterpiece heavily influenced by the classic film score work of Goblin, except arguably better. Previously only available as a hyper limited CD-R and cassette via Sonic Meditations, this edition comes to us from Chicago’s own Permanent Records.
Cains and Abels Call Me Up
One might not expect the spiritual heir to Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s I See A Darkness to come from an unassuming little Chicago band, but here it is. Cains and Abels, formed in Michigan but now based in the Windy City, have made a record as difficult as it is necessary: rich with atmosphere, providing just a glint of otherworldly light against the deep, dark woods.
Cal Tjader Soul Sauce
With a major label finally behind him after a decade of recording, St. Louis-bred vibraphonist Cal Tjader became the go-to figure in Latin jazz despite not being of Latin descent. Soul Sauce may be the crowning achievement of his Verve phase: challenging and sophisticated though 100% accessible with crossover appeal.
Allá Es Tiempo
This 2007 debut from Chicago’s must-hear Allá, Es Tiempo is an inviting cocktail of Tropicalia, jazz, post-rock and dream-pop so good it might even convince you it’s summer again.
Clogs Stick Music
You may know them best from their work with The National, but Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome have long collaborated on this other project, a sort of percussive, bang-on-a-can take on jazz, rock and contemporary classical that defies easy summarization.
Stereolab Peng!
The opening volley from one of indie’s most category-proof bands, Peng! introduced the world to the retro-futuristic sounds of Stereolab way back in 1992, and its effects are still being felt today.
