SIGUR ROS - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

Looking outward after last year's Heima/Hvarf-Heim homecoming, much of ...Endalaust was recorded with Flood (U2/Smashing Pumpkins/PJ Harvey) around the world, with sessions taking place not only in Reykjavik but also New York, London and Havana. Wondrous trojan-horse leadoff "Gobbledigook" jams its foot in the door forcefully, and three minutes of tribal acoustic glossolalia rushes in; the rest of the record might come off as one big comedown to those piqued by such immediate odd-pop heights, but the meat of Med Sud... could also be seen as the sort of slowburn narcosis they do best.

P.F. SLOAN - Here's Where I Belong: The Best Of The Dunhill Years 1965-1967

The fame of those few tunes he wrote that broke through ("Eve Of Destruction", "Secret Agent Man") may still precede him, but the mystery that has surrounded P.F. Sloan ever since Jimmy Webb penned a song (concerning the price paid for the act of creative, soul-wringing songwriting) in his honour (and Eugene Landy temporarily lay claim to his identity!) unclouds itself that much more with the release of this Big Beat anthology, collecting Sloan's first two records for Dunhill, Songs Of Our Times and Twelve More Times. Slighted, sneering folkie-done-wrong self-righteousness rarely sounded so tuneful.

DENNIS WILSON - Pacific Ocean Blue

A labour of love decades in the planning, this beautifully-packaged two-disc deluxe reissue of Wilson's 1977 solo opus (only issued once on CD, way back in '91) is here at last--in fact, delays are still holding up P.O.B.'s proper Canadian release, making us one of the few places in town (and possibly the country) to carry this title at the moment! Paired with shelved 'lost album' Bambu, Dennis' wizened but still spry singing recalls Pussy Cats-era Nilsson, playing most of the instrumentation himself despite a long list of collaborators, including co-producer Gregg Jakobson and Beach Boys sessionist Carli Munoz.

VA - African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds From Benin & Togo '70s

African funk fans have truly been spoiled this past year, with three installments of Soundway's Nigeria Special series, Drag City-distro'ed Malian reissue label Yaala Yaala up to their fifth title, and Strut just having released its Lagos Jump single-disc follow-up to the unavailable original Nigeria 70 set. Having already enticed Afro-fiends with anthologies dedicated to The Green Arrows and Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Analog Africa dives right in with African Scream Contest's overview of the '70s scene in Benin and Togo, two countries smack-dab between better-documented hotbeds Ghana and Nigeria.

VAN DUREN - Are You Serious?

Purse-lipped and sleepy-eyed on the black-and-white cover of this 1977 debut for Memphis indie Big Sound Records, Van Duren was waiting for a closeup that never quite came. Having grown up and casually played with Big Star's Jody Stephens and Chris Bell earlier in the decade, it's only fitting that when the time came for Duren's own material to be released, it too bore Anglo-leaning, proto-power-pop tendencies. Similar to Emitt Rhodes, Paul McCartney or Todd Rundgren, the piano work is as impressive as the rockers--songs like "Waiting" show he learned just as much from pre-Wings Paul as Chilton/Bell.

WOLF PARADE - At Mount Zoomer

Like the Constantines' newest, keyboards gain added prominence here, with lead synth lines lending many tracks a somewhat more new-wavey sensibility than on the band's earlier releases. As long as Beck and Gary Numan don't decide to team up anytime soon, Boeckner/Krug will continue to have a unique push and pull at play, and while no particular songs are jumping out at this listener just yet, At Mount Zoomer has strong slow-grower potential. (Actually, hold that thought--"Kissing The Beehive"'s 9-beat riffing, vocal tradeoffs and modestly mousy disco-stomp breakdown's an epic last cut worth skipping to!)

THE NOTWIST - The Devil, You + Me

More guitar-driven for the most part than 2002's Neon Golden, these Germans led by the stilted sincerity of singer Markus Acher regroup after spending more than five years concerned with the handful of other projects they collectively juggle, among them Tied + Tickled Trio, Lali Puna, Console and 13 & God (with anticon. crew Themselves). Not only should old fans of the band waiting for new material get their melancholic pop fix from The Devil, but there's also a good chance that admirers of newer acts that take a similarly wistful joy in the forlorn, from Hot Chip to Peter, Bjorn and John, will share the sentiment.

STUDIO - Yearbook 2

In the wake of last year's West Coast collection, Studio's Dan Lisvik and Rasmus Hagg subsequently wowed the cosmically-conscious of the dance music world with these 12" remixes, using the glistening guitars and tropical throb of their own productions as a template for some serious supplementary income (wonder how much Kylie's people pay?), even divvying up the jobs on occasion for maximum efficiency in true Swedish fashion. Head right to the heart of this disc for their revamp of Rubies' "Room Without A Key", setting the ladies' cool coos against odd-timed (6+8?) kinda-cod-reggae bass slink.

FEUERMUSIK - No Contest

Jeremy Strachan and Gus Weinkauf surely burn in mere duo format (the configuration they mainly use live for practicality's sake, although arrangements have been charted for guest horns on special occasions), but the heft at hand on record, thanks mainly to the magic of overdubbing and Strachan's schooled ear, transforms the work of this erstwhile Rockets Red Glare rhythm section into something closer to the big-band buoyancy of Moondog at his most swingingly symphonic. Check out their live in-store set on Wed. Jun 25 at 6pm. 

THE COOL KIDS - The Bake Sale

Setting up shop somewhere between the profane, goofy fun of Spank Rock and the nonchalant menace of the Clipse, these Chicagoans clearly know that if you name it, they will come, as savvy netizens have clamoured over this release for most of the past year. Now that those less cool are privy too, we can tell what all the fuss has been about--when MC Mikey Rocks' eponymous theme song hits the speakers, make sure you're holding on, because these dark, stripped-down beats, economical as the 32-minute rewind-friendly running time, rattle as assuredly as the name implies.

THE BEES - Sound Selection

As well-rounded as you'd expect from a lot whose songcraft so suavely synthesizes styles into gently beatwise, tuneful pop form, Sound Selection is a mix compilation a la Late Night Tales or Back To Mine, valuing feel and, well, selection over perfect blending and matching. Soulful choral consternation from the Staple Singers and Redbone goes one-for-one with late-golden-age hiphop for the front half of this sequence (maybe even poking fun at comp-curation vanity in choosing De La Soul's "Ego Tripping, Part 2"), and the band's own "Left Foot Stepdown" fits right in after a double-dose of reggae.

QUIET VILLAGE - Silent Movie

Clearing samples and changing labels (from Virgin to !K7) may have pushed back this first CD release by DJ/producer duo Matt Edwards (Radio Slave/Rekid) and Joel Martin for over a year, but it's a testament to their reputation as leftfield dance tastemakers that Silent Movie stays timely, with most spotters still catching up to their cosmic playlisting. More selections than creations, this collection of tweaked-out finds (Alan Parsons, meet Andreas Vollenweider!) may represent the nadir of re-edit culture for some, but it evens the playing field for those who missed out on the pricey preceding 12"s.

VA - Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro Funk

A more accurate subtitling than could be expected, with an even mix of all three feels as well as welcome veers, like an Africa-meets-rockers take on the "Baby I Love You So" riddim for Chief Checker's "Africa Irie". As with Disco Not Disco, the 2001 3CD set that gave this its name will remain out of print, but there's lots to bask in right here, from Sir Shina Peters' talking-drum juju "Yabis" (the most modern-sounding production compiled) to Bola Johnson's stuttering palm-muted "Ezuku Buzo" and the spacey slapback on Peter King's "African Dialects" (whose 'lost LP' Shango on Strut is also OP).

FLEET FOXES - Fleet Foxes

Seattle's Fleet Foxes' full-length is a confident, carefully tailored follow-up to their debut EP Sun Giant. The songs are atmospheric, leaving the listener lost in moments of reverie drenched in reverb, and captured moments that are at times pastoral. Their sound is hard to classify, as it's clearly inspired by a diverse range of music: equal parts gospel, choral, celtic folk, and west coast rock reminiscent of bands such as Steeleye Span, CSNY, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and My Morning Jacket. If there is one thing that is apparent after listening to the Fleet Foxes, it is that they craft baroque songs that are rich in harmonic vocal rounds, and compliment them with rich, swirling strings. A refreshing treat for this summer.

JESSIE KUSSIN - Cry Rumble/MUSKOX - Gallantries

Two short, sweet Torontonian CD-Rs with handmade packaging and crack production jobs by our own Mike Smith. Cry Rumble charms with Kussin's squeaky drawl and sturdy country songwriting--if there are any $100 fans out there who haven't heard Jessie's tunes, make room for another local favourite. Gallantries, on the other hand, is the third 3" EP from Smith's jazzy, twangy, meter-shifting through-composed mongrel.

TAPE - Luminarium

Like all proper instances of zeitgeist it's doubtlessly happenstance, but still it's timely to find Tape's newest released just one month after Portishead's, as these Swedes' airy instrumentals, long comparable to Gastr del Sol's use of guitars, keyboards and slight electronic treatments, also now share much of Third's paranoid-but-pastoral mood. Skip straight to "Fingers"' reedy organ, speedily stumbling over a lower-register three-chord cycle and soon to be joined in its race by brushed snare and snaking Tortoise-like vibes and electric guitar. Relaxing yet unsettling art-pop, and their least obtuse set yet.

SPIRITUALIZED - Songs In A & E

The first thing one can't help noticing is how worn Jason Pierce's voice has become, the result of a 2005 brush with respiratory failure from which he has slowly recovered. It's a transformation severe enough to make certain songs on In A & E sound like the work of another singer entirely, especially on rimtap rocker "I Gotta Fire", where Pierce's raspy whine matches the wah guitar accompaniment like a modern Malcolm Mooney sparring with Michael Karoli. It's at moments such as this or "Yeah Yeah", when J. Spaceman's frailty is most exposed but he belts out a hearty rock'n'roll howl regardless, that these Songs are at their most vital.  

GONZALES - Soft Power

Workplace stresses conveyed kids'-song-style set the tone on this first vocal Gonzales set of the post-Let It Die era, as the prankster entertainer gets seriously silly on Soft Power. "Slow Down" is the EZ-listening ballad you'd wish John Tesh played between Air Supply and Christopher Cross, step-up key change and all. "Theme From In-Between" steps in with piano-bar cheek that lets on that this is the man from that "Leisure Suite" four years back, while Ms. Feist herself issues the command on "Let's Ride", a full-on string-laced disco number splitting the difference between Patrice Rushen and The Bee Gees.

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY - Lie Down In The Light

With Drag City following the example just set by The Raconteurs in sneaking this album onto shelves, and after enough covers, demos and live recordings to tide us over in the two-year interim, we're suddenly, happily given a new full-length Will Oldham effort to contemplate. Marrying The Letting Go's atmospheric approach to the upbeat, relaxed glint of such past efforts as Ease Down The Road, the perverse touches are still there if you look hard enough, and Ashley Webber shines as co-vocalist on many of these songs. One to sit with and listen to in good company.  

AL GREEN - Lay It Down

Four of Lay It Down's eleven tracks were written on the first day of recording, and that spontaneity is apparent, helping leaven what could have just become a stifled opportunity. Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson gets that Al Jackson groove down on "Just For Me", and John Legend's cameo on "You've Got The Luv I Need" holds its own. Sure, most of the album's incredibly smooth, and there may be too many slow jams for many people's tastes, but ?uest and James Poyser clearly know Willie Mitchell's work, delivering an intriguing experiment that's respectful but thankfully isn't overly reverent, either.