na: pere ubu, brubeck & bad plus

A leftover’d edition of new arrivals, collecting the many notables that came in over Thanksgiving. Yum!

Pere Ubu, Dub Housing and New Picnic Time: Two absolute classic post-punk albums from Ohio, both essential. Dub Housing is the more canonized of the two, but don’t overlook New Picnic Time, which is equally weird, boisterous and fun. Although I’d still take “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” over any track on either of these albums, for Ubu newcomers these are musts.

Dave Brubeck, Indian Summer & The Bad Plus, Prog: The Telarc haul continues with two quite notable records, one from as canonized an artist as can be, the other from some Midwestern, pop-friendly comparative newcomers. The Brubeck record came out in August, and collects new, solo piano performances; the Bad Plus, also from this year, is a covers album that features a much-discussed cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” (a song, I must admit, that I have always detested).

Pink Floyd, London 1966/1967: I haven’t even sneezed in the direction of this one yet, but I highly recommend checking out James McNair’s extremely informative review on the album.

Prosaics, Aghast Agape: The Prosaics were from New York, and coulda been contenders before internal pressures saw them fracture and break up way too early. I caught their second-ever show back in 2004 (opening for 90 Day Men) and was blown away: they sounded like prime Mission of Burma, and just oozed professionalism and soon-to-be fame. This EP, their only release, didn’t quite capture that; though they were a great band, the recording is merely good — antiseptic where it should be rambunctious. Two members came from Tel Aviv and Rainer Maria, and for a good three months (an eternity in music time!) it really felt like they were going to conquer the world. They even had a song — not on here — that sounded like the post-punk “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Can you tell I was a huge fan?

ESG, A South Bronx Story: So yes, more Soul Jazz is appearing! ESG are an oft-canonized, little heard NYC act, and this collects their most essential recordings, which bridge post-punk and early hip-hop.

Jean Grae, The Orchestral Files: Here’s Keith Harris’ review:

Jean Grae is the most underutilized resource in hip-hop. With two full discs of new material in the can (and no current street date for either), she drops this, a compilation of unreleased tracks that’d be a career achievement for most MCs. The title may nod toward the Philadelphia International-style strings that sweep through a few tracks (notably “Soul Clap”), but more often the beats are spare and limber, ideal for spitting “ridiculous riddles like troll toll bridges,” or issuing playful yet deadly boasts like “I’m ‘ouch’ in the form of a person.” On “The Story,” she details a doomed childhood friendship with a narrative flair worthy of Biggie or Ghostface, while “My Angel Is You” describes a man in loving specifics that her competition on the other side of the gender line never squander on their lust objects. As for her lack of fame, it’s more criminal than any of the illegal acts this month’s best-selling thug rapper has copped to.

I have yet to listen, but if there’s even one song half as good as “My Crew,” I will be thrilled.

Susan Rafey, Hurt So Bad/Big Hurt: Originally released on Verve in the mid-’60s, this is a great document of slightly psychedelic blue-eyed soul. Part Petula Clark, part Nuggets, this album is worth grabbing solely for the first two title tracks, both of which feel ripe for inappropriate use in a Tarantino flick.

Broken Social Scene, Feel Good Lost: Their debut. Not essential, but pretty good.

British Sea Power, Open Season and The Decline of British Sea Power: More promise than execution on these two albums, but I’ve always dug “Apologies to Insect Life” from the latter of these.

A.R.E. Weapons, A.R.E. Weapons: Another lost NYC classic. This is a fantastic debut record, if only for “Street Gang,” “Hey World” and, more than anything, “Don’t Be Scared,” a joyous paean to teenage life. Here’s a review of the record I wrote back in 2003.

The Fiery Furnaces, Gallowsbird’s Bark, Blueberry Boat & EP: So we have almost the entire Fiery Furnaces catalogue now. I’m sure this is making a lot of people happy, just not me. Pffft!

The Libertines, The Libertines & Babyshambles, Down in Albion: The second album from the ‘Tines and Pete Doherty’s follow-up project.