Earlier this year, singer-songwriter Essie Jain invited Nico Muhly to arrange a beautiful new collection of songs that she had penned for her fourth album. With Nico conducting an ensemble featuring some of the city’s finest musicians, the resulting All Became Golden was performed and recorded in front of a small audience of friends and family at New York City’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Our good friend and filmmaker Natalie Johns (of Dig for Fire) was there to document this wonderful collaboration, and is currently editing these intimate sessions into an audiovisual album, which will be released later this year. In the meantime, here’s a preview of what is sure to be a stunning full-length, via this video of their performance of “Raise You.”
If you’ve been visiting our East Village shop for a while you may remember the Customer of the Month display that used to hang on the column near the check out register. We thought it would be fun to bring it back. This month we’re spotlighting Kurt and John (John also plays in a great NYC-based ambient-electro trio called House of Blondes – we’ve got the band’s CD and LP is available at Other Music) who offer up some fun music trivia about themselves.
Name the first record you ever bought.
Kurt: “Der Computer Nr. 3″ by France Gall
John: “Too Much Heaven” by Bee Gees
Name your first live concert.
Kurt: Shannon Jackson and The Decoding Society at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
John: Prince at MSG
Name a song you can’t get out of your head.
Kurt: Something from Glass Candy or Chromatics
John: “My Best Friend’s Girl” by The Cars
How long have you shopped at Other Music?
Both: Since ‘97
Favorite bands/genres:
Kurt: Jazz, Classical, Electronic and Pop
John: Impossible!
Favorite sections at Other Music:
Kurt: New Arrivals, Electronic, Staff Picks
John: Minimal Wave, Electronic, Staff Picks
Top 3 albums/bands you were turned onto at Other Music:
Kurt: The Caretaker, Andy Stott, and Byetone
John: Kuedo, The Wake, and Dam-Funk
Your go-to people in the shop:
Kurt: Scott, Daniel and Mikey
John: Daniel, Scott and Karen
Why record stores over online shopping?
Both: Physically attracted to LPs & CDs, the filtered selection, and the cool staff
I’m DJing the biggest, awesome-est music fest of the century. I have to be sure to drop “______________” in my DJ set:
Kurt: “Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne” by Suicide
John: “Hollywood” by Cluster
Since 1995, Other Music has attempted to harness the diverse tastes of our staff and customers into what we hope has been a consistently challenging and enlightening mix of records, released on the most interesting labels from around the globe. Now, we are thrilled to announce a new venture; in partnership with our friends at Fat Possum, we are launching Other Music Recording Co. to bring the same varied taste and enthusiasm that has always defined our shop to our very own label.
Our first two signings are both artists that fans of the store may already know; Other’s first release, OM-001, drops on April 24: the debut 7-inch from Ex Cops, whose self-released CD-R was a big mover here a few months back. This new Brooklyn group’s hazy mix of influences draws on vintage British and New Zealand indie, Factory Records and a Velvets/Feelies jangle that is distinctly New York, all with their own sunbaked pop vision. What began as a bedroom-recording project for Brian Harding has been fleshed out into a full band, and Ex Cops are now in the studio putting the finishing touches on their debut album, due out on Other later this spring. Also out this spring on Other, the debut solo album from Shintaro Sakamoto, the former frontman of the legendary Japanese psychedelic group Yura Yura Teikoku, whose stunning solo set of quiet, percussive songs draws on ’70s folk and AM radio pop from the U.S., U.K. and Japan, as well as folk forms from across continents and eras; How to Live with a Phantom, released late last year on Sakamoto’s own Zelone label in Japan, is an enigma and an instant classic that blew so many minds here when a few imports trickled into the shop, we had to release it domestically ourselves.
Other Music Recording Co. will feature new artists and reissues, in all styles, from all eras — we hope to continue connecting great music with passionate fans as we always have in the store, and we thank you for your ongoing support!
We are very excited to announce a record release party and special in-store performance from a New York City legend, none other than Lee Ranaldo, celebrating the release of his great new Matador LP, Between the Time and the Tides! This is sure to be packed, so arrive early to get a good spot on the floor.
TUESDAY, MARCH 20 @ 9:00 P.M.
OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street, NYC
All Ages | Free Admission | Limited Capacity
Like we had mentioned in our announcement for this in-store, even though the night was being billed as Fred Armisen’s Playlist, Live, we had no idea of what to expect. While Armisen’s earliest stint in the entertainment business wasn’t in front of the television camera, but rather sitting behind a trap kit drumming for Trenchmouth during the ’90s, his musical side still pops up frequently in his Saturday Night Live characters (from the Queen of England turned punk rocker to the hilarious hardcore wedding band sketch from last season – which spawned a 7″ single on Drag City) and starring alongside Sleater-Kinney/Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein in the IFC comedy series Portlandia. So with the comedian standing on Other Music’s floor encircled by a small ring of guitar amps, timbales, electronic drums, and the Quintron-invented Drum Buddy (a sort of Theremin-meets-rhythm box with spinning lights), and a row of sampler pedals at his feet, it was immediately apparent that this was not going to be your typical stand-up routine – far from, in fact.
Instead, Armisen performed a one-man show playing and looping each instrument, turning Devo’s “Beautiful World” into a motorik, Neu!-esque romp across the Autobahn, and, speaking of the Autobahn, delivering a jaw-dropping, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cover of Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator” (while asking the crowd to forgive him for his German accent imitation). Of course, the evening was far from stoic – at one point he took a moment to “show off” by playing his favorite bass line, the Jackson-Five’s “I Want You Back,” and then added that he isn’t a Michael Jackson person. But Armisen’s forty-or-so minute set was first and foremost a love letter to music, made up of songs that changed his life, and ours too, from the likes of the Clash, the Stranglers and the Damned (whose “Life Goes On” was announced as one of his all time favorite songs), and an impromptu audience-request for Prince’s “Raspberry Beret.”
This was a test run of sorts for what is planned to be a semi-regular night in the coming year (Union Pool was mentioned as a possible venue), sharing his favorite songs and encouraging likeminded fans in the audience to come up on the stage and join in – and you won’t want to miss. Other Music has been privileged to play host to so many great shows from some incredible artists through the years, but Fred Armisen’s Playlist was truly one of the most memorable – and personal.
Celebrating the release of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls will be performing an in-store performance live at Grimey’s record shop in Nashville, and Other Music will be webcasting the concert right here on this page, along with lots of other great indie shops across the good ol’ U-S of A! Check back here at 6 p.m. (EST) this Friday, September 16, and catch the band playing new tunes off their great new album, and be a little part of history partaking in the first ever nationwide in-store performance.
And for those of you in New York City, you can catch Girls up close and in person at Other Music next week, on Wednesday, September 21, at 9 p.m. This will be a free performance, but get here early, we anticipate this one is going to be packed.
We love Cass McCombs and so does Brian King, who calls him “the Lee Hazlewood of Atwater” in this interview filmed at Los Angeles’ historic Gaylord Apartments.
We are thrilled to announce the line-up for our fourth annual SXSW Lawn Party, which we’ll be presenting again with our good friends, Dig For Fire! As you can see below, we’ve got an extraordinary two-days of music planned, so if you are in Austin for SXSW, please do join us on the Thursday and Friday afternoon of the music festival. Whether you can stop by or not, Dig For Fire will be filming the performances and you’ll be able to see all the highlights on youtube.com/sxswlawnparty. And check out this YouTube channel in the coming days, where we’ll be posting some of our favorite musical moments from past years events, including never-before-seen performance footage. Speaking of, the xx’s full 30-minute performance at last year’s Lawn Party has just been posted on YouTube, which you can view here! See you in Texas!!
THURSDAY, MARCH 17
HILL STAGE: Papercuts (1 pm), Cass McCombs (2 pm), Twin Shadow (3 pm), Sharon Van Etten (4 pm), Low (5 pm), Edwyn Collins (6 pm)
VALLEY STAGE: Hanni El Khatib (1:30 pm), Olof Arnalds (2:30 pm), Janka Nabay (3:30 pm), Lia Ices (4:30 pm), Ted Leo (5:30 pm)
FRIDAY, MARCH 18
HILL STAGE: Dead Gaze (1 pm), Lower Dens (2 pm), Grass Widow (3 pm), Cults (4 pm), James Blake (5 pm), !!! (Chk Chk Chk) (6 pm)
VALLEY STAGE: Jamie Woon (1:30 pm), John Vanderslice (2:30 pm), The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl — 3:30 pm), Sam Amidon (4:30 pm), Tune-Yards (5:30 pm)
FRENCH LEGATION MUSEUM: 802 San Marcos Street Austin, TX
1PM to 7PM both days | Free | All Ages (21+ w/ID to drink)
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx’s anticipated We’re New Here is coming out on February 22 on XL Recordings. (We’ll have it for sale on CD & LP in the shop, and for download here on Other Music Digital.) Jamie’s remixes and productions for other artists is almost as acclaimed as his main band, so the prospect of hearing the xx’s not-so-secret weapon re-working this legendary poet/soulman’s comeback album, I’m New Here, is exciting for fans of both artists. While it’s still a few weeks away from the record’s release, XL has set up a virtual transmitter that allows owners of an iPhone, iPad, Android (running OS 2.3), touchscreen Blackberry, and many other newer makes of smartphones, to stream the album in its entirety while you’re inside our East Village store. We don’t really understand the technology, but it’s pretty cool and if you’re one of our local customers, you should definitely check it out during your next visit. Just point your phone’s web browser here: http://www.werenewhere.com/radio/
