3/27 new arrivals

An excellent day for freshly ripped, with a gorgeous, avant-garde Japanese album, a reggae classic, the new one from the Fall and a solid effort from an eMusic subscriber!

Editor’s Note: Today we institute a new rating system for New Arrivals. Downloaded means that the writer actually downloaded these titles (the highest form of praise!), whereas Recommended means that the samples and outside research suggest quality. The writer reserves the right to download any and all Recommended titles at a later date.

Downloaded
Teiji Ito, Tenno: Ito has been composing film scores and writing music since 1952 (he died in 1982), but until this album today, I had never heard (or heard of, for that matter) him. The six pieces here are very intricate compositions that bridge free jazz, traditional Japanese musics and menacing animal samples (elephants stampeding, etc). This is a harrowing and absolutely stunning work that is very much reminiscent of Kurosawa and Ozu’s films, even if I were ignorant of the Japanese connection. “Tenno,” by the way, is apparently a reference to Tenno Beach, which bears some relationship to the Emperor of Japan (thanks Wikipedia!). I am in love with this record.

Barrington Levy, Englishman: I’ll be a bit brief as Joe just wrote a longer Levy post, but Englishman is Levy’s 1979 debut, and it is a strikingly soulful reggae record, really sweet and heartfelt, a far cry from his contemporary, more tech-heavy works. I’d like to offer this up as an overlooked roots-reggae classic.

The Fall, Reformation Post T.L.C.: Joe has really been into this record (I have yet to listen), and his eMusic review articulates his thoughts well. A sampling: “The angriest Fall record in recent memory opens with the sound of Mark E. Smith cackling. It’s not a happy laugh — instead it’s wild and unhinged, a kind of foreshadowing of sinister times… While the record’s title goes a long way to imply its contents (Post-TLC can — and probably should — be read as “post tender loving care”), its sheer nastiness, even for a noted misanthrope like Smith, is genuinely bracing.” Other reviewers have been much less generous toward this new one, but I’m excited to find out for myself.

John Zorn, Six Litanies For Heliogabalus: A great user review from mdc: “Heliobagalus was one of the Roman emperors we didn’t study in my 4 years of H.S. Latin, but I wish we had… More Patton/Dunn/Baron madness, this time with Jamie Saft on organ (yay!!!), Ikue Mori on electronics, plus some female vocals, and JZ himself on sax. It’s less intensely aggressive than the Astronome and Moonchild albums, a more trippy and spacey. With the organ and voices, it reminds me a little of the Ruins’ Symphonica, which I LOVE.”

Life in Bed, Exercises for Translation: This is not a new arrival today, but I’ve been meaning to mention this record for a while now, so here it goes. A few weeks ago I traveled to Pittsburgh with a few other eMusic staffers to chat with a handful of subscribers, and one of them was a very good dude named Sean Finn. Sean and I boozed afterwards, geeking out over records and bands who have come outta Pittsburgh (Don Cab holla back!), and Sean mentioned that his own band, Life in Bed, was on eMusic, too. I downloaded it when I returned, not expecting much (just my way), but I was way, way wrong. “Throwback,” the lead track from the EP linked above, has been a staple of mine ever since, a great Jawbox-ing indie rock tune with a great, dipping chorus that I can’t seem to hear enough. Anyway, dude deserves a shoutout. And go see their shows!

Recommended
Prodigy, Return of the Mac: Another Joe review: “Prodigy was only 19 years old when Mobb Deep recorded 1995’s The Infamous, a gritty, harrowing New York hip-hop album that, along with Enter the Wu-Tang, helped cement the mid-’90s East Coast sound. It should have been a setup to a long and towering career, but it ended up being a prologue without a follow-through… Though there’s nothing on Return that matches the doomsday drama of, say, “Shook Ones, Pt. 2″ from Infamous, it’s a solid and sinister effort nonetheless.”

Yellowman, Most Wanted: Best-of from the dancehall great, and a comprehensive one at that. I’d still start with Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt, but this seems an equally good place.

Call Me Lightning, Soft Skeletons: Joe’s been hot on Call Me Lightning, but I’m not nearly as impressed. Expect some justification from him in the comments section.

Amy Millan, KCRW.com Presents Morning Becomes Eclectic: Stars singer doing her own numbers, as well as Death Cab and Stars covers.

Antelope, Reflector: New Dischord band featuring former El Guapo member that sits pretty comfortably between the Evens and Q and Not U, only not nearly as good as either.

In Flames, Come Clarity: Swedish black metal — the kids seem to love it! — from In Flames, and this is their most recent album. Blink and you mighta missed it, but eMu suddenly has a very credible metal catalogue!

Monolake, You Are There: Big, orchestral post-rock, though not quite at Godspeed level — quieter, mainly — but who knows what crescendos lurk in those 12-plus minute tracks…