NINA NASTASIA & JIM WHITE - You Follow Me

While on tour together, White suggested to Nastasia that they record an album of duets: drums, guitar and voice. That's it, and it works thanks to the duo's good sense to keep the album brief (31 minutes), and the fact that the drummer in question is White. With years of experience in the magnificent Aussie trio The Dirty Three, White's singularly off-kilter, drunken beats are legendary, providing the perfect foil to Nastasia's terse, dark folk. You Follow Me dances before you like leaves caught in a wind; a natural waltz that quickens and slows with pace of barely-caught breath. 

PETER MARTIN & FINCH - Drouyn

Flitting from atmospheric new-agey synth orchestrations or folk vignettes (Martin) and foot-on-the-monitor proto-metal boogie (Finch), this collaborative '70s Aussie surf soundtrack sure is a weird one! A personal favourite of the new batch of reissues from mondo bizarro Japanese reissue label EM Records.

NEW BUFFALO - Somewhere, Anywhere

Sally Seltmann's New Buffalo makes a charming return with an album that is even more inward than her previous Last Beautiful Day. That Seltmann is married to Darren Seltmann of hyper-sample dance kings The Avalanches is nowhere evident; musically, the pair share nothing except a studio. New Buffalo charts her own path, primarly eased into existence by her barely-there voice. The naked piano arrangements and transculent vocals carry an intimacy that borders on the uncomfortable, but Seltman's strong songwriting and universal subject keeps the listener just on her side. 

IASOS - Inter-dimensional Music

Released by EM Records, who work hard at finding rare stuff, this album is really wonderful. From what I can tell, Iasos primarily plays flute into delay and reverb pedals on a dock on the shore of the Mediterranean in his bare feet. Iasos says: "This is the album that began the genre of 'New Age' Music, in 1975, along with Steven Halpern's 'Spectrum Suite'. This can be thought of as a sonic journey through a great many realms - from etheric tropical to interplanetary - great for 'consciousness-traveling' via sound. Designed for focused listening - definitely not as 'background music'."

ROXY MUSIC - Flesh and Blood

I have this strange love for Roxy Music's Avalon and this is their next closest album to that. While Avalon is a head first plummet into overwhelming smoothness, Flesh and Blood, its immediate precursor, is a fumbling step into that same sort of suave. Avalon is the better album and Flesh and Blood is hit and miss. The covers, "Midnight Hour" and "Eight Miles High," are as uncomfortably lazy as they are comfortably soft. I enjoy the album a lot though. The title track is a quintessential example of Ferry's preoccupation with his lady-loves. The cover is also probably my favourite album cover. Ever.

MARISSA NADLER - Song III: Bird on the Water

Possessing a voice that is beautiful and enchanting beyond words, Marissa Nadler has created a work that lays waste to most of her contempories that are lazily lumped into the "New Weird America" bag. Sparingly produced with barely more than just her voice and acoustic guitar, Nadler's third album is bathed in cathedral-sized reverb and maintains an intense mood that Mazzy Star always aimed for. Apparently, she studied "acid illustration" and that influence comes through in the otherworldly sound. One of my favourite new releases so far in 2007.

CARIBOU - Andorra

Ever since his stunning 2003 sophomore left turn, Up In Flames, it's been clear that Caribou is capable of nearly anything. It isn't so much that Andorra sounds worlds removed from his past work. It's another densely layered, polyrhythmic, psychedelic carnival ride of an album. But his career transition from IDM glitch king to Zombies-obsessed falsetto pop junkie has been so organic, it's only when you listen to this back-to-back with his debut, Start Breaking My Heart, that you truly realize the massive scope of his growth. In other words, Andorra is fascinating and bloody gorgeous.

read our interview with Caribou here

M.I.A. - Kala

Given the unseasonably cool weather in Toronto lately, it's hard to believe it's summer, nevermind August. Anyone looking to the replicate that hot, sticky vibe best pick up Kala. This record is more than just a collection of wickedly written club anthems, although that it certainly is. M.I.A.'s restlessly globe-trotting beat radar leaves no stone unturned, and hearing gamelan and African rhythms so effortlessly spliced with high-gloss Miami/London club crunk is as hot a blast of sunshine as any 2007 recording can boast thus far. Politically charged and damn smart too. Shake. Your. Rum-pah!

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS - Challengers

Despite much blogosphere chatter about Challengers being dour and lacking the energy of past efforts, the latest from the New Pornographers is hardly a snooze. A better suggestion might be taking a bit more time to embrace an album whose charms are no less abundant, just more subtly displayed. Sure, maturity always feels like code for "less enjoyable", but the gentle regret and sadness of Challengers is indeed a mature turn. In fact, the 'challenge' of which the band speaks could easily be toward its audience: come bearing patience, and you'll leave with beauty.

TALIB KWELI - Eardrum

Hip-hop fans craving trunk-rattling power best take a pass on Eardrum, an album whose songs are more built on carefully constructed jazz and neo-soul sounds. The album's strength, and Kweli's strength in general, are his words. Kweli is a fantastic MC, possessed of impeccable flow and heady lyrics that are always intelligent without being showy or condescending. Boasting an impressive cross-genre guests list (everyone from Jean Grae, Madlib and Kanye to Norah Jones, Roy Ayers and Justin Timberlake), Eardrum is a little long, but has more than its share of solid, whipsmart tracks.

OH NO - Dr. No's Oxperiment

The third album by the younger brother of hip hop producer Madlib, Dr. No's Oxperiment is more than just a case of sibling imitation. You can't deny how similar the album is to Madlib's superb 35-track instrumental opus, Beat Konducta Vol.1&2, but Oh No's style is far more focused on melody than spooky atmosphere. Patched together from samples of Turkish, Greek, Italian and other rare European psychedelia, Oxperiment is dizzying, hooky and fun wordless hip hop that proves these brothers can eat at the same table without stealing too much from each other's plates.

WHITE NOISE - An Electric Storm

A pairing of American-born David Vorhaus with BBC Radiophonic Workshop techs Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, White Noise was a definite contender for the oddest band signed to Island in the late '60s. With a more soft-pop-tinged A-side (although not without its more hardcore moments, such as the actual orgy recordings spicing up the Beach Boys bassline of "My Game Of Loving") backed by two long-form freakouts on the flip, An Electric Storm is both a novel artifact of its time and a highly original project that's still considered a high-water mark for experimental pop.

OKKERVIL RIVER - The Stage Names

In 2005's Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River gave us a classic indie rock album. Literary, passionate, nervous, exuberant and dynamic, it played like film, full of recurring characters and themes. Like The National's Boxer, the new Stage Names stands to inherit the rewards of two years of touring, word-of-mouth and eager anticipation. So good on Will Sheff and crew for making a record that equals the superb Black Sheep Boy on every level. The Stage Names is a worthy sequel and honours expectations by relying not on gimmicks, but conviction, spirit and strong writing to seal our love.

MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. - Sojourner (Box Set w/ DVD)

Like Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) or Bill Callahan (Smog), Jason Molina has the distinction of being one of indie rock's most prolific and mysterious personalities. Using his elusive psuedonyms like an undercover agent (first Songs:Ohia and now Magnolia Electric Co.), Molina is a narrator and observer of great quality and insight. This box set collects a wealth of unreleased material, both solo and in full-band lineups, that is anything but subpar. Complete with a lovely woodcut box and DVD, it won't bring you much closer to understanding the man, but it's a great pleasure being lost in his world. 

GRAND ANALOG - Calligraffiti

Winnipeg MC Odario Williams, also as a member of hip hop crew Mood Ruff, has been working on Grand Analog for some time. Less of a linear solo project than a guy inviting his talented friends over to work on his tunes, Calligraffiti refused to be contained. The key here is that despite its grand ambitions, Calligraffiti remains focused on hip hop first and foremost. So no matter how many genres are on tap (classic rock, reggae, etc.) the foundation of the record is beats and rhymes. A further indication that it's high time Canadian hip hop gained the same cred as its indie rock.

BISHOP ALLEN - The Broken String

Bishop Allen took it upon themselves to generate some buzz last year. The project? An EP a month for a year, producing an incredible 58 songs and blog-load of hype and ecstatic write-ups. Now they've taken the cream of the crop and assembled a full-length for wider consumption. The verdict? The Broken String boasts more than enough great tunes to suggest their 2006 marathon was more than just an exercise in excess. Their take on literate folk-pop has plenty of contemporaries (Decemberists, Shins, Okkervil River), but they display enough wit and hooks to prove their worth.

CROWDED HOUSE - Time On Earth

It's so easy to be cynical about this recent rash of reunions. So what makes Crowded House's case different? Well for starters, Kiwi songwriter Neil Finn never stopped making quietly vital solo albums in the time since the breakup; in fact, this was originally slated to be his third until the presence of CH bassist Nick Seymour shifted his focus. Or maybe it's just that the unassuming Finn is one of the most consistent, unsung writers in pop. Like all CH albums, Time On Earth is an exceptional study in lasting, bittersweet beauty. Such simple pleasures shouldn't be questioned, only embraced.

BAT FOR LASHES - Fur and Gold

Let's get this out of the way: Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan sounds a lot like Bjork. Ah, but which Bjork? With the Icelandic icon currently exploring life as some kind of walking technicolour apple, it's easy to understand why so many Brits are nuts for Bat For Lashes. On Fur and Gold, Khan displays a directness that many of the artists to which she's compared (Bjork, Kate Bush, Tori Amos) have forsaken, all while retaining an air of unpredictability. Handclaps, harps, and piano create a translucent fabric that dresses but never obscures the exquisite centerpiece of this confident debut: Khan's voice. 

EL KINTO - S/T

If you’re a fan of Tropicalia, you’re bound to be knocked out by this compilation. Led by the eccentric Edouardo Mateo, El Kinto recorded some of the more unique sounds Uruguay had to offer in the late ‘60s. Their trick was to blend their country’s native “candombe” music with bossa nova and British beat. Seductively melodic and slightly off-kilter, El Kinto’s songs were never even released at the time, strangely enough. The liner notes explain why in compelling detail, and also provide the English translations of their Spanish lyrics, just in case you wanna sing along.

TALK TALK - Spirit of Eden

Talk Talk had already found fame with their first three albums, so they decided to make the next one on their own terms.  The result was a meandering avant-gardy, jazzish pop album that was near-impossible to tour live. EMI wasn't thrilled, of course, but critics were and so am I, because Spirit of Eden is glorious. It's been called atmospheric and lush, which it is, but with ecstatic rock-on moments, too. It's also been called timeless, and that's sure proven true--20 years on, and every time I play the album here someone gets a dreamy look in their eyes and leaves with it.