This Week's New Stuff (Darla)

Here are some interested releases from the Darla weekly newsletter (forgive the formatting but because Darla's email is so big, it gets cut off in Googlemail and I have to use a badly formatted version) - see these new releases and more here (not I don't receive promos or any sort of compensation from Darla - I'm jest a conthumer, like you, maybe):

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW	Lost Picking Flowers In The Woods	lp	$8.70
Graveface 643157369394. BMSR are back with another mind-bending record of child-like electronica that's warm and fuzzy all over and makes you feel the same. The usual superb melodies, warped and woozy sounds, and vocoder vocals. This has one bonus track not available on the CD version (which isn't due out til 2006). And complete with a nice chocolate ice cream scoop face on the cover. Vinyl limited to 500 copies.

CHRISTELLE DELANEY	Delaney	cd	$12.00
Pehr 676347701926. Delaney is 33 year old Parisienne Christelle Delaney. She sings with a beautifully detached voice, accompanied by her acoustic guitar or a backing rock band. She sings mainly in French but several of her songs are in English. Pehr is releasing her first and only album in the US, and she is currently recording a new album. "Singing in a deep, distant voice reminiscent of Nico ... easily some of the best progressive French pop we've heard in years" [highest rating] � Lmnop �Similar in tone to Stereolab's Laeticia Sadier � with the intimate quality of someone singing a lullaby � her words glide over the music and through the speakers, seeping into surrounding walls like clouds of smoke � somber yet enticing� � The People�s Dance Party �subtle, dreamy and folk-inflected � seductive � a muted PJ Harvey� - Leonard's Lair �Delaney sings sultry french pop songs but there is a underlying element of sadness underneath� nico-ish� � Pale Bear "Delaney has a curious capacity for seduction." -Netmusik "Elegance... the memory of cat power... amazing first album" - Green Ufos "There is a sadness right through this disc but also the will to move and advance... it's something rare... touching and sufficiently mysterious to be attaching, a crossing between Edith Frost and PJ Harvey" � Matamore �Like PJ Harvey on barbituates� timid yet sinister� this opaque opus recalls a bottle in the sea� � Octopus �An excellent record requiring an acute sense of hearing� � Blah Blah

BODUF SONGS	s/t	cd	$10.80
Kranky 796441808526. Boduf Songsis Mat Sweet, who lives in Southampton, England. He recorded some songs for kranky as demos in early 2005 at home with an acoustic guitar, some cymbals, violin bow, toy piano, manipulated field recordings, and a computer. With less than ideal equipment and under less than ideal conditions, he created songs with memorable melodies, artful arrangements and carefully placed effects that lend an air of surrealism to the album. The recordings made such an impact on kranky that we decided to release them as is rather than having Mat re-record the songs, and possibly lose any of the immediacy and intimacy that make them so engaging. Deceptively low key, Boduf Songs skirts between singer-songwriter, psychedelic, home recorder and folk modes, bringing an obtuse, angular minimalism to these forms. Listening to this music visions of a beautiful spring day in an English meadow come to mind. With death keeping a close and watchful eye from behind a nearby tree. Mat Sweet will be recording a new Boduf Songs album for kranky this summer and fall under more ideal recording conditions.

CHRISTINA CARTER & ANDREW MACGREGOR / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN	The Earth To The Spheres v.4	cd	$14.75
Very Friendly (UK) The fourth volume of the �From the earth to the Spheres� series, set up by Italy�s My Cat Is An Alien, sees the American queen of psyche-free-folk music Christina Carter (Charalambides, Scorces), here at her debut as the new duo-project together with Andrew MacGregor (Gown). The title of their piece, �We know when we are thinking about each other�, gives an idea of the intimate mood which envelops their two guitars� minimal tunes, made of reiterate single notes which recall Christina�s last masterpieces as Scorces and Charalambides; her harsh yet warm plucking at the strings and her fascinating vocals, accompanied by Andrew�s bass guitar chords and singing, sound as if the listener was called to witness the secret dialogues between two distant lovers� hearts. The title of MCIAA�s track, �The circle of life & death�, fits as ever before Roberto�s cover painting, where the dark imprints left by a white leaf on the acrylic-colored wooden surface create a circle-like representation of life and death. As the violet color recalls transcendence indeed, so do the opening floating-guitar tunes and Roberto�s wordless-vocal hymn: this is probably the most melodic piece in all MCIAA�s career to date, since the musical texture represents a new starting point from which their space guitar sounds can develop. The piece moving into a sort of Wagnerian epic crescendo, a raging storm of space fragments from beyond the Solar system will imbue the Earth with a blinding light, before everything collapses into the darkness of the Cosmos

COMES WITH A SMILE	Issue 19, Autumn 2005	magazine + cd	$9.99
Comes With A Smile (UK) 0744700415319. CD features: 1. Espers - Firefly Refrain 2. Picastro - Shorter Hard 3. Richard Buckner - Pull (live on RCF, France May 2003) 4. Sleater-Kinney - Entertain (live on XFM, UK April 2005) 5. The American Analog Set - Everything Ends In Spring (edit) 6. Aaron Stout - The Ballad of Mr Lamatta 7. Marissa Nadler - Flora Barone, Queen of the Vaudeville Throne 8. Four Tet - Both When I'm Alone and We Both Are 9. Tremulous Monk - Tea Hippy 10. Laura Veirs - Flotsam 'n' Jetsam 11. David Eugene Edwards - Nobody 'Cept You 12. Vetiver (featuring Hairy Fairy) - You May Be Blue (live at Les Vieilles Charrue, Brittany July 2005) 13. colleen - The Zither Song 14. Laura Cantrell - Hammer and Nails 15. Pacific Ocean Fire - My Drinking Days Are Done 16. Maria Taylor - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 17. Frank Black - Atlantis Some CD insights: 12 of the tracks are exclusive to this release, the remaining 5 can be classified as "rare", "hard to find" or "sufficiently different to qualify as exclusive if we weren't so exacting in our definition of what constitutes 'previously unreleased' so as not to disappoint hardcore collectors." The Espers track also appears on the CD accompanying the June/July '05 edition of the US magazine, The Believer, in slightly edited form and The Picastro song featured on a very limited edition--and out of print--compilation on Canadian label Antiantenna Records. The American Analog Set track will appear in extended form on their forthcoming vinyl-only, tour-only EP and The Four Tet track was previously available on a split 7" --both tracks appear here on CD for the first time. David Eugene Edwards' track is sourced (and carefully re-mastered) from the 16HP DVD and the colleen track will feature on a 500 copy only limited edition CD from Staalplaat Records out in September. The CD includes 5 cover versions--Espers cover Fursaxa, David Eugene Edwards covers Bob Dylan, Laura Cantrell covers The Schramms, Maria Taylor covers Ewan McColl (although the song was most famously recorded by Roberta Flack back in 1972), and Frank Black covers Donovan. There are some impressive guests helping out on tracks by American Analog Set (Matt Pond on backing vocals), Vetiver (Hairy Fairy AKA Devendra Banhart and his band), Laura Cantrell (Calexico and friends) and Frank Black (musicians featured on his current album including Spooner Oldham, Anton Fig and Steve Cropper, plus a spoken word intro by political satirist / author / comedian Al Franken). Interviews: The American Analog Set, Frank Black, Richard Buckner, Laura Cantrell, colleen, David Eugene Edwards, Espers, Four Tet, Magnolia Electric Co., Marissa Nadler, Sleater-Kinney, Smog, Maria Taylor, Tremulous Monk, Laura Veirs, and Vetiver.

FEATHERS	Absolute Noon	cd ep	$7.40
Hometapes Restock. Feathers is Eddie Alonso, Matt Crum, and Eric Rasco. All natives of bustling Miami, they rose from bands and personal endeavors to join musical forces. A natural chemistry quickly developed between them, focusing on an earnest diligence to sonic detail and an almost religious fervency to uphold quality in structure and melody. Feathers' songwriting quest has led them to this exciting result: Absolute Noon. Dense and curiously orchestrated, Feathers arrives with soaring strings, a possessed flute, and persistent brass to the backdrop of electric harpsichord, farfisa organ, electric sitar, and jaunty electronic processes and ruminations. Nothing is out of stylistic question, from nostalgic tones to experimental whips and twirls; a persistence of impersistence bringing with it a level of whimsy likely absent to the disillusioned modern ear. Feathers effortlessly creates a kaleidoscopic menagerie of sounds and moods that are the sonic equivalence of fiftycent words ike "kaleidoscopic," and "menagerie." Their complex arrangements demanded perfection, leading the Miami trio to Chicago's Soma Electronic Music Studios and to seasoned veterans Mike Jorgensen (Wilco) and John McEntire (Tortoise) for engineering expertise and additional instrumentation. They welcomed some of Chicago's finest studio musicians to the dialogue, including Fred Lonberg-Holm (Jim O'Rourke, Terminal 4, etc.) on cello, Paul Mertens (Brian Wilson's Smile) on flute, bass clarinet, and bass harmonica, and Jeb Bishop (The Vandermark Five) on trombone. Absolute Noon is nothing if not finely crafted. Alonso, Crum, and Rasco have created a musical eruption. Feathers has chosen the route of triple EP to debut their unique musical stylings to the world. Absolute Noon marks the first chapter and Synchromy, the second chapter, is currently being recorded in Miami and Chicago; Synchromy is due for release in late Fall 2005. Their third and currently untitled chapter will be released in Spring 2006. Absolute Noon features artwork by Typestereo, creator of Miami's infamous Battlezine. The record comes packaged in a beautiful, deluxe letterpress case printed by Portland�s Stumptown Printers.

v/a	EXOTIC BEATLES v.2	cd	$12.99
Exotica (UK) 30 Tracks including: Arthur Mullard's cockney Yesterday - The Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Polka - Japanese a cappella Hard Days Night - A Redneck, Hillbilly version of Let It Be - Psychedelic Nowhere Man - A nursery version of I Am The Walrus and a 1920's style Hey Jude...the cast list includes Frank Sidebottom - Maurice Chevalier - Lol Coxhill - Mae West - Ron Geesin - Brian Sewell - The Beatle Barkers - Ena Baga - The Squirrels - Johnny Prytko and The Connecticut Hi-Tones and Professor Stanley Unwin amongst others. "This has to be the definitive Beatles album" Melody Maker "As inexplicably brilliant as it is totally obscure" Select "Forget The Beatles...this is the album you should be getting for Christmas" Record Collector "Sleeve of the year, no contest" The Independent.