Browse by Label: DRAG CITY

Artist:	ROYAL TRUX
Title:	Twin Infinitives
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	DC 003LP

First vinyl pressing of Twin Infinitives since the original LP issue in December 1990. Gatefold sleeve. "Neil Hagerty: We wanted to let things happen. I took all the tapes I had: rehearsals, studio stuff that survived, other random shit like shortwave recording etc and cut that together in a long collage. Then I broke that into short segments arbitrarily, about the length of a good rock song. We dumped those segments onto multitrack, called them songs, and just started putting little patchwork bits here and there for the next year and a half or whatever it was."

Artist:	ROYAL TRUX
Title:	Untitled
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 010CD

"Rising from the silence, shaking the muck of level-Z rock and roll detritus from their feet, Royal Trux returned to action in October of 1992 with an untitled album, their third. It had been two years since they'd vanished into the negative zone with Twin Infinitives, an ultimate left-turn that appeared to have no endgame. A few half-aborted live shows and several attempts to make another album had occupied some of the time since then. Neil and Jennifer had played out the string in San Francisco and moved back to D.C. The music never stopped, but the face to whatever world Royal Trux was living in had gone silent. Up to and including this moment, Royal Trux worked the fringes. To taste-makers of the period, what they were doing 'had something to do with the future of music.' While this was to continue to be the Trux' private M.O., untitled began a process of reversing those opinions. As organically as Royal Trux moved from their first album to Twin Infinitives, they continued their transformation, confounding their watchers with a personalized, yet elusive, elemental design. For untitled, Royal Trux strung together eight pieces of varying vintage that clearly communicated their rock and roll desires with the most direct approach to playing songs they'd yet taken. Royal Trux recorded untitled as a duo, their second and last album in this configuration. Hagerty handled the instruments and sang with Jennifer, taking a solo acoustic turn on 'Junkie Nurse.' 'Lightning Boxer,' 'Sometimes,' and 'Hallucination,' all featured in the 'What Is Royal Trux?' tour of late 1990, gained additional bite on untitled, generally arranged with several guitars, a drum kit and their vocals. 'Most direct' should be considered relative to what is Royal Trux -- for the most part, untitled displays a murky finish, with distant, dissonant and fuzzy guitar leads, half-buried vocals and a meticulously underproduced sound."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Malefactor, Ade
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 045CD

"Malefactor, Ade brings us to the third (and most recent) phase of Red Krayola history. It harks us back to the Germany of the late 1980s. The material on this release was written by Albert Oehlen and Mayo Thompson, with contributions from Werner Büttner, Andreas Dorau and Rüdiger Carl. These songs were laid down 'fast' over two days in Hamburg and finished in England where the then-Rough-Trade-executive Thompson was producing Primal Scream. The idea of things overlapping each other was raised to a principle in this period, and the strategies employed to realize this principle are still coming to fruition on the most recent Red Krayola release, Fingerpainting. We think."

Artist:	THOMPSON, MAYO
Title:	Corky's Debt To His Father
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 049CD

Originally reissued by Drag City in 1994. "Mayo Thompson's until now ultra-rare solo album. The album was produced in Houston, Texas in 1970 by Thompson, Frank Davis and Roger 'Rocket' Romano for the short-lived but nonetheless legendary Texas Revolution label of Walt Andrus. Though pressed and advertised in the pages of Rolling Stone, the demise of the label meant the album went largely undistributed until the mid 1980s when Glass Records (London) gave it its first proper release. Coming as the sun set on the first psychedelic rock era, Corky's Debt evokes the early days of acoustic blues, but is already in the maelstrom from which punk rock would emerge just a few years later. The set features innovative performances by some of Houston's finest musicians of the time playing eleven songs by Thompson -- one with Frederick Barthelme, with whom he started The Red Crayola. They represent a broad range of expressive manners and forms. Made to stand with the finest comparable work of the period, Corky's Debt shows Thompson at his most accessible. Unique ballads, blues, rock and love songs flow one to another with style, grace and intensity, and the handling of diverse popular-music idioms and language that characterize his more widely known work in The Red Crayola are also to be found. The line between genius and madness is very thin. The line between a million dollars and nothing is also very thin. Had Corky's Debt been heard back then, today, if someone mentioned Astral Weeks, you might say, 'It does?' The beat lives on."

Artist:	PALACE MUSIC
Title:	Viva Last Blues
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 065LP

2009 repress, originally released in 1995. Featuring Will Oldham, Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein, and recorded by Steve Albini. "The Palace team has put out many a record, but as far as accessible and slightly upbeat musical ruminations go, Viva Last Blues certainly sees the players near the top of their game. Things are a little thicker and dirtier than on the more laid-back acoustic records this prolific artist has put out, but the rock approach adds worlds to the delivery and creates a powerful palette for the equally important lyrics. Oldham is a truly underrated American talent, and this is among his best work, so take the time to find it."

Artist:	PLUSH
Title:	More You Becomes You
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DC 070CD

"Representing a night without sleep of the soul, More You Becomes You is a collection of awake dreams all played to the tender accompaniment of a long piano. By a lone piano player. Liam Hayes' visions have been placed by those who know in the category of what we like to call chamber-pop, which implies the presence of some sort of orchestra, or faux-orchestra, or at least some kind of classically-oriented harmonic and melodic are. References points for the LP include: Nicky Hopkins' rare solo LP, The Tin Man Was a Dreamer, and Harry and Randy's Nilsson Sings Newman. And of course no comparison would be complete without John Phillips' bottom of the barrel pop classic, Wolf King of LA.

Artist:	RED CRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Soldier-Talk
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 079CD

"The Red Crayola's Soldier-Talk returns at last. Drag City Records are proud to announce that, after having been missing in action for twenty-eight years, this vital, much acclaimed work is now available again. Soldier-Talk appeared first on Radar Records. A custom label built around Elvis Costello, financed and distributed by WEA, Radar had licensed the International Artists catalog in 1978 and had already re-released the band's first album, The Parable of Arable Land, and first single, 'Wives in Orbit' b/w 'Yik-Yak.' Soldier-Talk was The Red Crayola's first new commercial release since 1968. Recorded after their second tour of Europe where they shared the highways with columns of NATO forces on the move in a rapidly heating Cold War, it reflects the world as it sat, awash in punk rock and its cognates, dreading mass destruction. Soldier-Talk is petit-guignol, a travesty of expression; its screams and sighs, a theatre of terror."

Artist:	STEREOLAB
Title:	Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2)
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	DC 082LP

2009 repress on black vinyl, originally released in 1995. Housed in a foldout cardboard sleeve with chipboard insert. Includes "Exploding Head Movie 'Animal Or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason...)'," a cut from their essential collaboration with Nurse With Wound, Crumb Duck. "Refried Ectoplasm, which compiles compilation cuts, outtakes and single tracks of the post-Switched On period, is a terrific get-acquainted visit with the band's ever-changing moods. In addition to self-explanatory mood pieces like 'Harmonium' and 'Farfisa,' the thirteen-song set contains a previously unreleased 'country' (the band's designation, not necessarily a factual description) reworking of the airy 'Tone Burst.'" -- Trouser Press

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Live 1967
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DC 092CD

Live recordings of the original Red Crayola, from the Angry Arts Festival (6/29/67) and the Berkeley Folk Music Festival (6/67), including guest John Fahey on one track. In the style of Drag City's other archival resurrection, Coconut Hotel, this represents the The Red Crayola at their most way-out. "Despite penning a couple of classics of psychedelia on their first LP ('Hurricane Fighter Plane' and 'Transparent Radiation'), the band showed up at the Berkeley Folk Music Festival in the summer of 1967 with a markedly different approach to ensemble playing. Taking off from the concept of a 'free-form Freak Out', The Red Crayola leaned towards avant-garde approaches. Playing feedback-pieces, sound-as-music, time- and no-time pieces, compressions and motions, one-second pieces, music within music, unhearable music and so on. At the Berkeley Folk Music Festival they met John Fahey, master of the indexes and finger picked guitar. He sat in on their set there. Also included in this mind-melting collection of feedback drones, improvisation and unhearable music are recordings made in their Venice hotel room after their concert there. These pieces represent the 'unplugged' Crayola approach to their unconventional dictum, as well as their serious attitude towards this often lighthearted, intellectual-physical genre."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Hazel
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DC 098CD

"Throughout the 16 tracks on Hazel, the group vibe is in full effect...a relaxed, varied LP, the latest in form and content; language and music, art and culture; featuring as many of the above as possible on one record. Drawing on the collective mind that have participated in the 90s Krayola throughout the last 3 years (David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire, Tom Watson, Stephan Prina, George Hurley) and adding a new voice (Mary Lass Stewart), Hazel realizes the musical socialism that Mayo Thompson and his various Red Krayolai have historically hunted for since the mid 1960s. Recalling the diversity of 1968's God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It, Hazel also brings to mind the pop music of Kangaroo?(1981), and of course the slinky rhythms of most recent Krayola excursion Armour and Language (1995)."

Artist:	OLDHAM, WILL
Title:	Joya
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DC 107CD

"Back from an extended tour of the wild, Will Oldham has delivered his second solo LP and his first new record since Arise Therefore in the Spring of 1996. Thought at the time to be Palace Music, Arise Therefore now sounds like the music of a man alone, departed from the brotherhood he knew forever. Joya however, finds him in good company...like the President Jimmy Carter, William Faulkner and other southerners before him, Oldham as seen his vision of a country unified go down in flames like so much fucking shit, and has had to beat a hasty retreat into obscurity and eventual delirium."

Artist:	OLDHAM, WILL
Title:	Guarapero:Lost Blues 2
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 111CD

"What we really have here, beyond all brain-thumbing vanity, is a collection; or perhaps re-collection, of fan-pleasing rare and lost tunes, some of which have only been seen in bootleg (or 'pro-artist') format. Guarapero:Lost Blues 2 is for the pimply faced True Fan who waved the flag, carried the torch and bitched like a bitch over what he/she was/is entitled to in a Palace singles compilation. Now they and you can relive the Palace years (1991-1995) and the Oldham years (1996-2000) with total freaking recall. This one's for you -- now go screw."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Lama Rabi Rabi
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 113CD

4th album and first non-PSF full length release (worldwide release for Drag City). "Ghost was born in 1984 by some Tokyo Japan youth. At the beginning they were playing completely experimental improvisation but doing so naturally, as a form of worship. Through the production of the 1st album Ghost, and their second, Second Time Around, their sound has slowly changed to the expression of songwriting. Along the way, they have attracted attention for their fascination with traditional Japanese religious music, and a fascination with trance-rock jamming, as well. Last year, the third Ghost album, Temple Stone appeared, containing ten tunes recorded live at an old Buddhist temple and a church. Their live activities are usually held in magical patterns. They used to play anywhere (temple, church, field, woods, ruins, etc.) with an ideal of conception and creation free from constraint. Their purpose is real spiritual music when and wheresoever they play it."

Artist:	AERIAL M
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 114CD

"M like Minimal. I mean, once you sit down and hear three guitars, a bass, drums and a shaker coming out of the speaker, minimal might not be the first word that comes to mind. But sooner or later the cleanliness of the mix and the lightness of the music in general sweeps away, leaving a pure sound. There's folk music in this, and scratchy punk guitars. Low-key jazziness, an awareness of dance-beats, a series of rhythms that ebb and flow. Just before it's all over, classical overtones are evoked. Always backed by firm, indivisible drumming. Aerial-M is a group of sounds recorded in Louisville, KY for the most part."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Red Apple Falls
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 116LP

2009 repress, originally released in 1997. The sixth Smog album, and the first one produced by Jim O'Rourke. Tracks include the single "Ex-Con" and "I Was A Stranger," later covered by Cat Power. "Like Wild Love and Knock Knock, Red Apple Falls represents the more elaborate side of Bill Callahan's discography. His outsider/loser image is still perfectly intact, but it is shaped here with a more expansive sonic palette. Everything from French horn and pedal steel to hurdy gurdy is employed on these unassumingly poetic tales of self-loathing. There's a larger cast than usual at work here, and the denser musical texture may be the reason Callahan's lyrical self-deprecation seems more like an artistic device than a desperate cry in the wilderness. The use of more natural, organic imagery in the songs, however, adds an extra level of depth to the subtle, carefully constructed."

Artist:	TELE:FUNKEN/FLYING SAUCER ATTACK
Title:	Distant Station
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 117CD

"Using samples of timeless FSA compositions such as 'Oceans' and 'Popol Vuh I,' Tom Fenn aka Tele:Funken has produced a new work that ups the sci-fi quotient in the FSA sound -- a record called, appropriately, Distant Station... divided into two parts, the Tele:Funken transmission utilizes long moments of silence, static drones and slow fades in and out. It's even more static than the dreamiest of FSA material, which suddenly seems a lot more rhythmic in comparison. These sounds ebb and flow too, but in a much slower fashion. The dreamy, trancelike element to the FSA sound is brought out by the Tele:Funken sound system."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Bad Timing
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 120CD

"Make no mistake, Bad Timing is not a pop album by any standards. But it is a musing on popular standards and uses much of the same instrumentation that many of our country's most popular records have. Yes, Bad Timing is a theme record, Jim O'Rourke's pop opera, just waiting for someone to come along and play with it. Based on Fahey-esque 6-string acoustic guitar foundations, each of the three pieces expand to include other musical elements. Piano, organ, electric guitar, brass, strings -- everything, it seems except vocals! Think of the impressionist Americana of Van Dyke Parks and the soundtracks of Jack Nitzsche."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Bad Timing
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 120LP

LP version, 2009 repress; originally released 1997, the first O'Rourke album for Drag City. "Make no mistake, Bad Timing is not a pop album by any standards. But it is a musing on popular standards and uses much of the same instrumentation that many of our country's most popular records have. Yes, Bad Timing is a theme record, Jim O'Rourke's pop opera, just waiting for someone to come along and play with it. Based on Fahey-esque 6-string acoustic guitar foundations, each of the three pieces expand to include other musical elements. Piano, organ, electric guitar, brass, strings -- everything, it seems except vocals! Think of the impressionist Americana of Van Dyke Parks and the soundtracks of Jack Nitzsche."

Artist:	OLDHAM/RIAN MURPHY, WILL
Title:	All Most Heaven
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	DC 123CD

"All Most Heaven is actually a Will Oldham and Rian Murphy affair. And a very steamy affair at that. Initially, Oldham wrote the songs and gave a demo to Murphy to produce them as he saw fit. This involved enlisting dozens of talents to arrange and play musical and vocal parts. Once this was done, Will was brought back into the picture, to sing the haunting and mysterious words to the songs as only he can. A little sweetening, a little remixing, and here you have the finished production."

Artist:	FAHEY, JOHN
Title:	How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	DC 124BK

2009 reprint, originally published in 2000. "John Fahey is feared and revered around the world as a guitar player and composer. His inventions for acoustic and electric strings are the stuff of legend. Since he began recording in Maryland in the late 1950s, Mr. Fahey's access to the unknown tongue has been made manifest on over 30 albums, and his presence has unsettled audiences from here to Tasmania. He has served as a spiritual model for guitarists as disparate as Leo Kottke and Thurston Moore. He has been called a musical visionary by everyone from The New York Times to Ptolemaic Terrascope. John Fahey is a giant of 20th Century American Music. This is well known. It is perhaps less well-known that Fahey's pen has the same world-gobbling ferocity as his guitar. His early records included savagely hilarious liner notes, and other sightings of his clamorous writerly discourse have surfaced over the years. Now, finally, here is a collection that makes an explosive selection of his work available for general public consumption. What else can we possibly say, except, 'Grab your ankles, dear readers. It's kingdom time!'." -Byron Coley, 1999. Introduction by Jim O'Rouke. 291 pages, paperbound. $19.98 suggested list price.

Artist:	GHOST
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 127CD

US pressings on both formats of the first 3 Ghost albums, previously available as Japanese imports on PSF. Starting with the self-titled debut from 1990. "This is primitive early Ghost, psychedelic in the bell-bottomed way, sort of like a German Os Mutantes (or perhaps a Brazilian Amon Duul), mixing ethnic sounds in with the groovy beats, guitars, and the haunting wail of a recorder to create (rather than recreate) and ultimately define (rather than redefine) a completely modern psychedelic sound! With titles like 'Guru in the Echo,' and 'I've Been Flying,' the young psych side of Ghost is much on display here."

Artist:	TURN ON
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 131CD

"Coming on much like the keyboard-heavy synthetic dance sounds that Stereolab have offered over the years, Turn On is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a duo comprised of Tim Gane (Stereolab) and Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas). The results? An instrumental travelogue of beats and grooves, some barely a minute in length, others stretching out a bit and all impeccably rendered with touches of whatever makes it happen: synthetic percussion, keyboards galore, drums, shakers, banjo, samples and sequencers, even a cameo appearance of vocal 'ba-ba-ba's'." 11 track, 29 minute EP.

Artist:	DALL, CYNTHIA
Title:	Sound Restores Young Men
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 132CD

"Sound Restores Young Men, Cynthia's sophomore effort, features other songs, other sounds and other catharses, as well as another high-voltage dose of heavy nerves. What we have is another beautiful record, a second LP from the young talent who has learned to call herself Cynthia Dall. The thrumming and chiming of electric guitars is the heartbeat of this record with other textures insinuating themselves over time. Pianos come and go. Distortion and reverb gather like clouds, then disperse as emotions that blew in then blow away."

Artist:	WALKER, SCOTT
Title:	Tilt
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 134CD

Domestic issue of this strange1995 album, previously issued in Europe on the major label Fontana. "It must be stressed that even those familiar with Walker's career -- the sublime mid-60s Walker Brothers hits, the dramatic maturation of The Voice and Inimitable Presence on the not-to-be-missed first four solo LPs -- were shocked by Tilt. Yes, Tilt astonishes. The bleak, gothic theatre that Walker's oblique lyrics and operatic vocals convey is bolstered every step of the way by dark string arrangements, reverbed guitars, the whirring of synthesizers and the rattle of percussion. It furthers by an astonishing margin the already singular breadth of Scott Walker's 30-year career, finding him at still another and different peak of his ability as a vocalist and lyricist. And God what a barren and unfamiliar summit it is!"

Artist:	WALKER, SCOTT
Title:	Tilt
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 134LP

First repress of the vinyl version in a number of years. Domestic issue of this strange1995 album, originally issued in Europe on Fontana/Universal. "It must be stressed that even those familiar with Walker's career -- the sublime mid-60s Walker Brothers hits, the dramatic maturation of The Voice and Inimitable Presence on the not-to-be-missed first four solo LPs -- were shocked by Tilt. Yes, Tilt astonishes. The bleak, gothic theatre that Walker's oblique lyrics and operatic vocals convey is bolstered every step of the way by dark string arrangements, reverbed guitars, the whirring of synthesizers and the rattle of percussion. It furthers by an astonishing margin the already singular breadth of Scott Walker's 30-year career, finding him at still another and different peak of his ability as a vocalist and lyricist. And God what a barren and unfamiliar summit it is!"

Artist:	THE VOCOKESH
Title:	Paradise Revisited
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 136CD

"The cult of Frenecki is still at large. They keep to themselves and no one bothers them, but if you storm their house, you'll find a lot of vintage electronic generators, a cache of foreign instruments, some rather large amplification devices and stores (and scores) of axes, picks and strings. This is prog rock, but a pre-post-rock version of prog. Coming on like an undiscovered green world of music, the Vocokesh manage to reintroduce earth-bound psychedelia into your mix."

Artist:	FLYING SAUCER ATTACK
Title:	New Lands
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 137CD

Supposedly the beginning of "Phase Two" in the FSA odyssey, and a relatively massive one at that. "The long-awaited follow-up to Further has been a long time coming -- over two years to be honest. Since that acoustically-singed offering, the sound of FSA has revolved into metallic pastures...this new FSA sound steers through the past pop music into the direction of rhythmic loopery. Bass anchors the familiar guitar fuzz, edgelessly felt through the wall of sound and giving it a beat where one was only imagined before. Previously only hinted at, this pulse booms forth in a bigger way, although still obscured by clouds."

Artist:	MOVIETONE
Title:	Day And Night
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DC 141CD

"The second album from Great Britain's Movietone. Formed by Flying Saucer Attack's Rachel Brook, in Bristol. The first half of 1997 was spent recording Day And Night, a shift from the aggressive sonic outbursts of their debut to a softer yet more intense acoustic based set. It's based on songs and the singing of Kate Wright in front. The sounds range from around from almost-there acoustic guitar and piano intro-versions to rather more percussive rhythmic workouts that find keyboards drifting in over beds of guitar play. 'Dreamy' is a word that come to mind. Woodwinds blow and strings sound, merely suggesting the orchestral without every fully entering that hallowed (and recently, much traversed) pantheon."

Artist:	MOEBIUS/PLANK/THOMPSON
Title:	Ludwig's Law
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 143CD

First ever issue of this unreleased collaborative album from the mid-80s (although the instrumental tracks are theoretically the same as those found on the Moebius/Plank En Route CD, released by the Curious Music label in the US). "Ludwig's Law is a relative puzzle that is only now taking a coherent shape. By 1985 the final releases of the second generation Red Crayola were behind. It was at this time that Mayo Thompson met Moebius. Moebius has been delivering an album a year to Sky, often producing them with Conny Plank. Moebius and Conny had been building basic tracks in an emulator. They invited Mayo Thompson to write lyrics and sing. Mayo Thompson had just discovered the work of Werner Büttner and Albert Oehlen -- artists whose language played on pretense and the potential for misrepresentation, among other things. Mayo senses a place to start in their book Angst vor Nice. For lyrics, a selection was 'sampled.' Sky rejected the master, Ludwig's Law was regulated to the vault."

Artist:	PRINA, STEPHEN
Title:	Push Comes To Love
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 147CD

"In the spirit of those great LA pop records of the seventies (notably the work of Steely Dan) these combined talents [lyrics: David Grubbs, Mayo Thompson, Dennis Cooper, Lynn Tillman, etc.; production: Grubbs & Jim O'Rourke; drums & vocals: John McEntire & Sam Prekop] have produced further expansions and refinements to the world of breezy, intellectually informed pop music. Prina's own keyboard and guitar work have been augmented with synthesizer, pedal steel, cornet and a smooth rhythm section of bass, drums and, occasionally, a drum machine. Like the classical, pure vocalists who have come before him (Sinatra, Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Morrissey, Manson), Prina wraps his voice around the diverse material, presenting an LP as the soundtrack for every man, whether that man is a woman, an academic, a performance artist, a homeowner, a lover, somebody's stepson, 'Mr. Generosity,' or you."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Snuff Box Immanence
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 148CD

1999 release, repressed for the first time in a while. "Following up the widely lauded Lama Rabi Rabi was quite a task for Masaki Batoh and Ghost. Ultimately, the follow-up takes the form of not one release, but two -- the other of which is the simultaneously released Tune In, Turn On, Free Tibe (DC 165). Snuffbox -- featuring trumpet, trombone, marimba, vibes, glockenspiel, Celtic harp, lute, recorded, a variety of keyboard sounds (including the irresistible sounds of a harpischord), banjo and tubular bells is a dreamy, colorful LP, heavy with the sound of a moody Ghost. Snuffbox Immanence is acoustic folk subverted by electronic psychedelic blurs and sound effects -- an existent shimmer and flowering of eternal beauty, over and over again. Once again, Ghost come from beyond, preaching a life other than this day."

Artist:	SILVER JEWS
Title:	American Water
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 149CD

"David Berman is a funny guy who talks too much. But when he straps on the guitar, he's a funny guy who sings not nearly enough. Then there's the pop know-how of Pavement singer Stephen Malkmus, his soothing voice in direct Cher-like relief to his muse: the inspiring untrained gravel of Berman's lead vocal (Sonny!). Bingo -- you've got American Water. This record will be your prostitute for the next six weeks, should you come up with the nerve to pimp it."

Artist:	FROST, EDITH
Title:	Telescopic
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 150LP

LP version. "Edith, possessed of such a very lovely voice, it's true, here turns in a sophomore effort that goes way beyond all previously established boundaries. Telescopic ups the ante on here soulful folk-tunes, filling out the curves and arcs of her body of work with colorful arrangements of guitars, acoustic and electric bass, piano, synthesizer, mandolin, accordion, drums and percussion, cello and violin, and just for good measure, a flute! It is psychedelic Edith, really -- brightly colored, neo-rootsy and vibrantly tuneful."

Artist:	LICHT/LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, ALAN
Title:	Hoffman Estates
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 151CD

A large ensemble improv album, featuring Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Kevin Drumm, Rick Rizzo, Darin Gray, etc. "O'Rourke decided to pair up Loren with Alan Licht. A full day of improvising was recorded, selected, and then arrangements were later added by O'Rourke in a sort of Gil Evans/Miles Davis move, or more appropriately Teo Maceo meets Mazza-Licht. Organized like a continuum of music that brings new meaning to 'suite' (or at the very least, a flexible new spelling), the record is at once a psychedelic brew of fuzzed-out free jazz and howling blues that at times will make your head spin. The truly out and shout nature of the music that day took everyone by surprise, and it'll be no surprise when it takes you too. As in 'O-U-T'. Comparisons: From the free jazz of Pharaoh Sanders and Bill Dixon to the early 70s electric space of Miles Davis' 'He Loved Him Madly,' to the molasses blues of Connors' classics like In Pittsburgh. This record has the distinction of sounding distinctly unlike any of these recordings."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Fingerpainting
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DC 156CD

"Now we have The Red Krayola's state-of-the-states address 1999, presented to one and all in grand Red Krayola style, going all the way back to the days when they spelled it with a C instead of a K (c. 1967). Back then, the world was hearing it's first of this now legendary outfit. Having never tried to do anything the same twice, The Red Krayola, manage in a way not to again on Fingerpainting, although this time, in a way, they tried. Fingerpainting features unreleased songs from the distant days of 1966. The 90s Red Krayola shuffles these ancient pre-Arable Red Crayola songs with the sounds of neo-freakouts, live on the world's stage -- free, familiar, ugly, for a whole bunch of new generations. Fingerpainting features both the latter day Krayola and the original Red Crayola, from thirty years back, bringing it all full circle. And thus allowing another circle to be formed as soon as possible."

Artist:	STEREOLAB
Title:	Aluminum Tunes
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	DC 159CD

"This is Stereolab's third 'Odds and Sods' compilation. Comparing this to Switched On from some five years back, it's a very different listening experience, though certainly no less enjoyable. Plus, they keep growing in size -- Refried Extoplasm was twice as long as Switched On, and Aluminum Tunes is three times as huge. Recorded between 1994 and 1997, Aluminum Tunes is the companion piece to Stereolab's two most popular records, Mars Audiac Quartet and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. The tunes were gathered from over twenty diverse releases, ranging from split 7" singles, tour singles, compilation tracks, a 12" remix, a bonus CD, and the entirety of the acclaimed EP, Music For the Amorphous Body Study Center. The reference points are the same as ever, yet more perfectly integrated -- mood music, muzak and bubblegum pop, soundtrack sounds and orchestral jazz, all layered with analogue synth sounds and an understanding of minimalist that betrays the influence of Kraut-rock bands."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Knock Knock
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 161CD

"The only thing familiar about Knock Knock is the now familiar Smog sensation of being somehow completely unfamiliar! At this point in his illustrious career, there certain styles he feels comfortable with. But who'd've guessed that super-sexy space cowboy would be one of them? Several ballads on Knock Knock are of the spirit of Bill Callahan...a record with a divide of hard and soft ones, a record with a torn curtain inviting you to look inside. It is a real-life opera, a story told in song -- the story of a kid named Smog. A real tour de force."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Knock Knock
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 161LP

2009 repress. LP version. "The only thing familiar about Knock Knock is the now familiar Smog sensation of being somehow completely unfamiliar! At this point in his illustrious career, there certain styles he feels comfortable with. But who'd've guessed that super-sexy space cowboy would be one of them? Several ballads on Knock Knock are of the spirit of Bill Callahan...a record with a divide of hard and soft ones, a record with a torn curtain inviting you to look inside. It is a real-life opera, a story told in song -- the story of a kid named Smog. A real tour de force."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Eureka
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 162CD

1999 album, release, repressed 2009. "With his new LP Jim is doing for himself what he's more than generously done for other so-called musical talents. Everybody wants a little pop in their lives and the O'Rourke is no exception. There is no way to listen to Eureka without hearing the eccentricity, the progressive musical textures, the utter lack of anything like pop music, but at the same time it's magnificent in scale, pleasant to listen to, catchy and even reminiscent of other records you might actually have heard on The Casey Casem Show. If Bad Timing was regarded as a crossroads of O'Rourkian interests, Eureka is a six-lane clover-leaf junction of singer-songwriter traditions, production styles of the 70s, confusion and contradiction as well as the riveting sound of the artist putting all his cards on the table."

Artist:	U.S. MAPLE
Title:	Talker
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 164CD

"Recorded by Martin Bisi and produced by Michael Gira (of Swans) at B.C. Studios -- check your old Sonic Youth records! Talker is the third U.S. Maple record -- and each record has sold more than the previous one (Long Hair in Three Stages & Sang Phat Editor)." "I got it all...Robin Eggs, Spacers, Black Beauties...Pot. I always have Pot because otherwise, I ain't gonna make no money. See, I'm a girl and it's tougher for me. They call me 'Scorpion' because I like the Scorps a lot. See this shirt? It's from the '86 tour when they fuckin' rocked! Concert shirts don't last so long always. I think this one's got the good ink in it." -- Lisa Walters, Class of '88.

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Tune In, Turn On, Free Tibet
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 165CD

"It seemed as if Ghost had been in the studio for a million years. It turned out to be only six months in our time. But with the flood of material recorded in their recent extended studio sessions, it was possible to think in terms of releasing not one, but two Ghost LPs, all at once. With Snuffbox Immanence set as the next official release, Tune In... was hastily added to the schedule. Included in the liner notes is a message from the Liason Office of his Holiness the Dalai Lama, detailing the struggles of the nation of Tibet in their ongoing bid for independence from China. Ghost add to this protest a series of dense, somber, acoustic compositions. Each of these songs turns a new page in the eternal book of Ghost. An atmosphere of morning pervades, as Ghost gives their undying respect to the nonviolent resistance of the people of Tibet

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Dongs Of Sevotion
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 169CD

"Sensual to the extreme, from its opening tango to the very last waltz. It's classic entertainment, dipping its little beak into every kind of pop you can imagine. Like mostly the kind that hasn't really been heard yet, you know? Of course, Dongs, as we call it around the Mensa's room, wouldn't be a a classic without the best of the 70s, 80s, and 90s on display, so of course, they are. Not that we can tell. As the man says, if you can remember the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you weren't really there. And we definitely weren't."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Live From a Shark Cage
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 170CD

Post-M, Ariel M. "The questions remain. And the answers won't be found on Live From a Shark Cage. It's a confusing, fucked up M record to the extreme. If you're the kind of person who hears voices, this record will only double your problem -- there's found sounds, singing voices, and instrumental voicings that will only increase the lack of peace in your troubled mind. And it's all stretched tautly across the trademark guitar sting and smoothness that we've come to expect from M. Oh, those dreamy, repeating rhythm patterns. Oh, the violence."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Japan in Paris in LA
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 171CD

"The Yonemoto brothers 1997 film, Japan In Paris In L.A. tells the story of the painter, Saeki Yuzo -- an authentic bohemian hero lionized in his homeland as the 'Japanese Van Gogh.' The film captures the drama of his plight through a multiplicity of avant-garde visual strategies. They reflect in their form the tragic psychology of the tortured artist. The Red Krayola were engaged to provide appropriate atmosphere for this narrative. At the time, the ever-shifting personnel included David Grubbs, Stephen Prina, Tom Watson, Jim O'Rourke, Mary-Lass Stewart and Mayo Thompson. Japan In Paris In L.A. isn't just soundtrack music, it's also the sound of the rare combination of these individuals. Make it the soundtrack to the drama of your own plight today."

Artist:	HALF JAPANESE
Title:	Sing No Evil
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 173CD

"The year was 1984. In the second of two releases on the infamous Iridescence label, Half Japanese presented Sing No Evil, along with Our Solar System, to a decidedly younger and less jaded public than the kind we've got on our hands today. The fourth proper Half Japanese LP found the group streamlining their sound ever so slightly. What may sound like rawness to the uninitiated could actually be regarded as slick by fans of the initial Half Japanese releases. Sing No Evil featured cleaner production, fewer songs, and a more cohesive group sound."

Artist:	HALF JAPANESE
Title:	Our Solar System
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 174CD

"David Fair was the principal songwriter on Our Solar System, which perhaps explains why Half Japanese released a whole other LP in the same year. It seems Jad Fair had a few more songs up his sleeve as well. The brothers Fair are accompanied in their group by members of The Velvet Monkeys on Our Solar System, and by The Orthotonics on Sing No Evil. Our Solar System is speckled with cover tunes from some of the groups that turned them on. The sound of this music is rough-hewn, high energy, art punk, complete with a home-recorded vibe, saxophone parts that honk and drone, and lyrics that explore romance from the point of view of unrequited love and lust."

Artist:	TURNER, MICK
Title:	Marlan Rosa
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 175CD

"In another life, our Mick must have been a sailor -- his records heave and gurgle just like the seafaring vessels of yore. You might say it's like, almost thematic or something, casting off from several different styles and topics on it's journey. Speaking instrumentally, that is. And that Spanish flavor is even more in evidence this time around. This Australian fellow is making completely original world-style records in an utterly quiet way, a hero in the hallowed tradition of the old man and the sea.

Artist:	BROTHER JT 3
Title:	Way To Go
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 176CD

"Combining the classic trappings of 60s psychedelic guitar rock with an eccentric spirituality, Brother JT records are deep, penetrable records that seek to entertain. And as the years go by, that palette just keeps expanding... A meeting of the minds with JT led to the following direction: a heavy bottom (like, say, Led Zeppelin II, with a kind of liquid, flowing head (something like, say, Coltrane's Live At Birdland). This was the starting point. As the chequered flag waves, we see a heavy pop LP, thick with guitars, thumping drums and stoned tremulous melodies that take the listener on a quick trip through the complex patterns and designs that are unique to the mind of JT."

Artist:	FLYING SAUCER ATTACK
Title:	Mirror
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 177CD

"The word on Mirror. After the ragged New Lands, Flying Saucer Attack finally get sensible, learn from their mistakes and spend two years fine-tuning their most diverse and yet most coherent album to date. When you listen to Mirror, you hear eleven proper songs, no instrumental filler, better recording, better melodies, better singing, and yet, perhaps sadly for some, no sell out. 'Proper' song stylings include: some straight acoustic, one traditional folk melody rewrite, one Chemical Brothers pastiche, one Can rip off, one Tom Rapp tribute, and two jungle rhythm-based songs, all balanced together to sound like a whole journey from one end of Mirror to the other."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Halfway to a Threeway
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 178CD

1999 EP release, repressed 2009. "It seems like it was only a few months ago that Jim O'Rourke changed everything with the release of the incredible Eureka. And by George, it was only a few months ago. Well never mind -- here he is again with a little more of the same: pop music, but credibly different this time, of course. The pop stylings of Jim O'Rourke will never seem familiar to any of us (that's not his style, silly) but his combination of folk, classic rock, (smooth jazz) and the inevitable twist of the old avant-garde is always something new. Having established himself last time out as some kind of songwriter and singer in his own write, Jim presents more funky, catchy, poppy songs with and without vocals that are sure to spin semi-endlessly on turntables, digital discburners and those fab MP3 players across this land of ours."

Artist:	SWEENEY & BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY, MATT
Title:	Superwolf
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 179CD

"This record, Superwolf, is credited to Matt Sweeney and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Bonnie challenged Matt to write music to a series of song lyrics, and this collaboration was done over some months, and included live shows in London, New Orleans, Brooklyn, and Baltimore. The two retired to Paul Oldham's Rove Studios to lay the songs down. They enlisted the help of drummer Peter Townsend, and vocalist Sue Schofield dropped in for a brief cameo."

Artist:	BATOH, MASAKI
Title:	Collected Works 1995-1996
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 180CD

"The works that Collected Works collects are A Ghost From The Darkened Sea and Kikaokubeshi, two albums recorded and released in 1995 and 1996, during the final period of conceptualization for Ghost's Lama Rabi Rabi album. These two solo records allowed Batoh to explore musics and textures in an entirely free space from the already quite free (and rapidly morphing) Ghost. This is a solo record in a very complete sense: acoustic guitar, marimba, harmonium, voodoo drum, bells, hurdy gurdy, organ, drums, horns, duff, Moog synthesizer and the mysterious 'giri giri pee' are all played by Batoh. In addition, field recordings done by Batoh are in the mix -- birds, seashore, winds on a bluff, industrial noise, metro, mountains, etc. The two works are fundamentally different: A Ghost From The Darkened Sea being an earthy collection of folk-songs; Kikaokubeshi composed almost entirely of a dreamy ambience."

Artist:	SWEET & HONEY
Title:	Live at Your Cosmic Mind
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 181CD

"Sweet & Honey was active from 1989 to 1993 in Tokyo. In the beginning, they were formed as a trio by Junichi Yamamoto. In 1991, their guitarist left the group. And later on Koji Hagiwara and Masaki Batoh joined together. Then they started to explore their own deep cosmic sound. Ten years later, Live At Your Cosmic Mind is the sonic fossil left behind in their tracks. Cast your satori mind back through the many dawns of time -- a time when even Ghost was in their dawning days. In this time, Ghost's leader Masaki Batoh was many things. One of those things was a guitarist in Sweet & Honey. Channeling the great Les Rallizes Denudes and running in stride with contemporaries like Fushitusha and High Rise, Live At Your Cosmic Mind is the blissed-out Japanese answer to Hawkwind's monstrous 'Space Ritual'."

Artist:	HAGERTY, NEIL
Title:	Neil Michael Hagerty
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 182CD

"Hey, I'm not a big fan of that prick Stalin, but he had the right idea about history. It's just a matter of erasing a few people from photographs and changing dates. So, I'm not impressed by the marketplace c***suckers trying to tell me what is what. They don't know s***, they don't know rock and roll. That's The Spaniels, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers and about five other guys and that's it. There's plenty of style and abstraction to be rewritten and reintroduced on the unsuspecting to keep other people in business for decades to come -- no problem with getting co-opted. But what about the humans? They have been undervalued. So, at any rate, this isn't a chip-based module to stick 'in the slot,' if you know what I mean. That's fine. If you want to say something about this record don't write nothing, let's notate this bulls*** strictly with invoices and bills of lading -- even liens!!! Say it was built on particular sounds I like: shoe sounds on a basketball court, boxes getting kicked around by bored kids, mama snoring like a pig; the low-end is all electronic, you can say that, but all recorded music is electronic by definition, so why bother? You can say that all the songs are 'straight up,' no more propaganda-parodies for me; what did that ever get me but too much money and obsessive fans? Every song is about someone I have met in my travels over the years and I've met a lot of people so I have plenty of material in store (watch your step, pal.). Each song is either from the point of view of that person or from another person's point of view of that person; it's not my point of view, that is where the guitar comes in. I want to just make good on a bit of music that's been forgotten. Just something nice to go out and hear at a club.Your parents will hate it, but your grandparents might like it if they're ! ! dead and floating around. They do that after death, I'm told." -- Neil Michael Hagerty, 2000

Artist:	OLDHAM, WILL
Title:	Ode Music
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	DC 183CD

"Ode Music is all instrumental (or 'silent music') recorded in Shelbyville, Kentucky by Paul Oldham. The songs were recorded and 'written' or made up, for a short feature movie called Ode, made by Kelly Reichardt (who previously made a low budget, well received movie called River Of Grass, which at present has some kind of cult following, we are told). Ode is a low-to-no-budget remake of the older Ode To Billy Joe movie, which is in turn based on the novel which was in turn, based on the song. The story of Ode has to do with a boy and girl in the South, each figuring something out about their own, primarily sexual, identity."

Artist:	TIED & TICKLED TRIO
Title:	EA1 EA2
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 184CD

"Although EA1 EA2 is the first domestic release from this electro-jazz group, it's their second release overall. Their quest for sound as a final product results in a special kind of communication based on the combination of a strong driving, This Heat-like rhythmical force, the hypermodern kitchen noises of Mouse On Mars, and the superficial sound of Blue Note records -- which when put together don't fit into anybody's pigeonholes. You can hear the sound of 60s jazz as well as experimental/electronic stuff reminiscent of Miles Davis' or Herbie Hancock's 70s jazz sound. Further, you'll find unusual 80s On-U dub sounds mixed with the piece de la momente that crop up from time to time. It's contemporary 'post-rock' with intelligent electronic phrasings."

Artist:	GRUBBS, DAVID
Title:	The Spectrum Between
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 186CD

"Six months in the making, The Spectrum Between reflects the changes brought on by David's relocation from Chicago, a home of ten years, to Crooklyn. No longer able to easily draw upon the musical associations built up over years spent in the midwest, David progressed slowly with the new material. Eventually, a worldwide pool of collaborators were drawn into the project -- including Noel Akchote, and others from the Rectangle records collective, Swedish reed sensation Mats Gustafsson, and the omni(im)potent John McEntire on batterie."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Rain On Lens
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 187CD

"Making a trip to see an old friend and all they can talk about is how they never see you because you never come to where they are although you are there right then and then you talk to them after you've left and they tell you they wish they'd just enjoyed themselves while you were there and when are you coming again? You'll notice in the text of this LP that Smog is now (Smog). Note to self. The uninitiated listeners will hear this LP as a greatest hits package, sending them scurrying to find the record that each song is from. Note to self: They're all from Rain on Lens by (Smog)."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Blues, Hollers and Hellos
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 190CD

"The Red Krayola want to contribute. Their new EP continues the tradition of music worthy of the serious attention of busy people. Life continues to travesty everything. Over time, The Red Krayola have expected the worst, yet hoped to be surprised. Some grim satisfaction in science carries on the blues. The Red Krayola weigh in, resulting in what we at Drag City refer to as 'entertainment.' Can blues record an analysis of the position? This is just one question, we understand, that needs no answer Everybody gets everything, right? As the world turns, Blues, Hollers and Hellos, yawns in the open spaces of an old guitar and drums core. Any sense of irony must be your blue hammer. But fall, if you will. Blues, Hollers and Hellos is packaged with a tanned, cool Southern perspective. It delivers its electrical message on a light breeze, leaving the listener plenty of room. To get comfortable, for those of you that worry ? this is a Red Krayola record. Graphic exterior giving lie to what lies within. Which is of course provocative and compelling. Blues, Hollers and Hellos is a six-track record of new music, listen to it. Is impeccable blues an oxymoron?"

Artist:	HIGH LLAMAS, THE
Title:	Buzzle Bee
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 191CD

"The High Llamas return to your stereos with their sixth full-length album, featuring 8 new tracks recorded in 2000. Much continues to be made of the influence of both The Beach Boys and Steely Dan upon the High Llamas, but these are increasingly irrelevant comparisons for the next-millennium model High Llamas. These days, it's flavors of South America mixed with a delightfully obscure taste of sixties soundtrack composers, such as Francis Lai and Peter Thomas. With Buzzle Bee, the High Llamas are spinning a curiously English global music. The effect is pastel and day-glo all at once, a kind of cosmic-age-tropical-cabin music that sounds unlike anything else."

Artist:	MOVIETONE
Title:	The Blossom Filled Streets
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 193CD

"This is the third Movietone LP since their formation in 1994. It finds them honing their signature quiet/monophonic approach. It's true, all music starts out of nothing, but Movietone music makes you aware of that like no one else, starting up some feakily spindle-like jazz groove which may temporarily baffle, then laying down an alternative bizarre foundation -- wild, untutored, intuitive picture-music. Their records and concerts are like no others."

Artist:	BELLINO, DIANNE
Title:	Slitch
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD/CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 195DVD

"Slitch is a short comic film about a teenage girl's summertime lust, featuring fantasizing, bubble gum, and bicycle riding. Directed by Dianne Bellino and shot on location in sunny oceanside Rhode lsland, Slitch stars Will Oldham as a mentally unbalanced surfer, blending in seamlessly with a cast of lovely local ladies. Slitch is a DVD+CD package that includes the movie with a re-mastered digital soundtrack (rare for 16mm independent movies), as well as Animation! Jokes! Bright Colors!" NTSC region-free, 16mm, color, 23 min.

Artist:	THE CONTINENTAL OP
Title:	Slitch Music
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 195EP

Written and performed by Will Oldham and Dave Pajo. "Slitch is a short film made by Dianne Bellino, an artist whose works have appeared on a number of Palace releases. Shot on location in sunny oceanside Rhode Island, SIitch stars Will Oldham as a mentally unbalanced surfer, blending in seamlessly with a cast of lovely local ladies. Ranging from pastoral and pretty to blunt and punk, Slitch Music spins around crazily for a half an hour, spitting instrumentals, chants and something resembling traditionals out in equal measure."

Artist:	FUCKING CHAMPS, THE
Title:	IV
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 197CD

"The Fucking Champs are not a metal group. They claim to make 'total music'. No one knows what the fuck they mean by this, but when you play IV, you will know that it's totally fucking awesome. Largely instrumental, their new full-length alternates between 'let's-squeeze-every-Queen-riff-into-one-song' rockers, ultra-pretentious mellotron-laden space-outs, and strange attempts to outdo Billy Gibbons' after-school-special-of-the-extreme-future sequencing."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Accumulation: None
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 200CD

"Accumulation: None is your (Smog) singles compilation. Actually, truth be told, only ten of the twelve songs on Accumulation: None have appeared on 7" vinyl. It wouldn't be a proper singles collection without single sides plus other perks in store for you -- which is why there are other perks in store for you when you acquire Accumulation: None for your personal collection of singles collections. For instance, six of the songs have never been released in the United States. Two of the songs were broadcast on the radio, then released as b-sides. And this in faraway England -- a virtual wasteland!"

Artist:	KEV HOPPER
Title:	Whispering Foils
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 201CD

"Whispering Foils is Kev Hopper's first recording for Drag City. It marks a foray into more melodic and accessible areas than his previous releases (such as 1998's Spoombung). With Whispering Foils, and intoxicated mixture of propulsive prepared bass, atmospheric sampledelic electronica and the surreal sound of the musical saw form the main sound -- with percussionist (and High Llama) Dominic Murcott adding marimbas and vibes. Luminaries such as Sean O'Hagan and Charles Hayward, among others, make guest appearances. Suffice to say, Whispering Foils is a sweet, gentle instrumental pop listening experience, easy on the ears and yet electric, arty and ultimately challenging- a complete entertainment."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Insignificance
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 202CD

"Insignificance consists of rock plus multiple musical allusions, layers of discreet noises, great playing from all the players and, to top it off, funny pop tunes laced with lyrical arsenic. As the moving finger of O'Rourke points (and clicks...just kidding! Insignificance is an all-analog affair), moments will come and go -- to remind you of other moments. Moments will arrive that have no precedent. And different, conflicting emotions will flash within you. He'll have total control of you, the helpless listener." [LP version forthcoming]

Artist:	LOOSE FUR
Title:	Loose Fur
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 203CD

"Dammit, Loose Fur is Glenn Kotche, Jim O'Rourke and Jeff Tweedy -- three guys playing musical songs featuring singing, aka popular music. But you didn't hear it from us. So anyway, in the dead of night, when everyone else in the fucking world was partying, so were they -- down at the Fantasy Factory, naturally. That's what we in the biz call your everyday, average, All-American recording studio. Not Loose Fur, though. No, they just call it a recording studio, just like everyone else. Some people say we're crazy. For those of you out there in the fucking world who've enjoyed records from any of these three people who made it, Loose Fur is a record for you. It's an amazing, powerful, hypnotic release -- and everyone is going to be talking about it in the year to come -- so beat the rush and get interested now."

Artist:	LOOSE FUR
Title:	Loose Fur
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 203LP

2009 repress of the LP version, originally released 2003. "Dammit, Loose Fur is Glenn Kotche, Jim O'Rourke and Jeff Tweedy -- three guys playing musical songs featuring singing, aka popular music. But you didn't hear it from us. So anyway, in the dead of night, when everyone else in the fucking world was partying, so were they -- down at the Fantasy Factory, naturally. That's what we in the biz call your everyday, average, All-American recording studio. Not Loose Fur, though. No, they just call it a recording studio, just like everyone else. Some people say we're crazy. For those of you out there in the fucking world who've enjoyed records from any of these three people who made it, Loose Fur is a record for you. It's an amazing, powerful, hypnotic release -- and everyone is going to be talking about it in the year to come -- so beat the rush and get interested now."

Artist:	IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO
Title:	Imitation Electric Piano
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 204CD

"Now then -- Imitation Electric Piano is essentially (and quintessentially) Simon Johns. Simon's tale is as follows: having previously occupied the position of songwriter and (multi) instrumentalist in Clearspot (of a Duophonic Super 45s single fame), he then graduated to the role of playing of bass player on Stereolab's most recent interactive role-playing games, Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night and The First of the Microbe Hunters. It's a wild, inspired recording, and actual inspirations for Imitation Electric Piano include The Soft Machine, Yes, Big Black, old motorbikes and Michael Palin. Imagine that! The sound of Imitation Electric Piano is all of them, all ultimately captured on vinyl and CD -- with a bit of carcinogenic sweetener spread across the top for good measure."

Artist:	WEIRD WAR
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 205CD

"Weird War features Ian Svenonius and Michelle Mae from The Make-Up as well as Neil Michael Hagerty, late of Royal Trux (and early for the rest of his career). Originally conceived as an artistic movement, Weird War turned to music and terror when the static medium proved unsuitable. A volatile organization, its means of production are intentionally unorthodox: 'We pick material at random ? a poem by the painter Marsden Hartley, a caricature by a newspaper cartoonist, Goldberg, some banal slogans. Someone gave us a photo of a woman's leg in a too-tight shoe; we add some equivocal riffs and lyrics from our own files.'"

Artist:	FROST, EDITH
Title:	Wonder Wonder
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 209CD

"Do you hear that gentle sound? It must be time to breathe again. Edith Frost is finally back among us, with 41 minutes of stellar new tunes. People often remark that Edith Frost is a pure country singer. And while we here at Drag City prefer not to confirm or deny such country pigeonholing (what, me -- country?), we'd have to say that Edith Frost's music is a genuinely laid-back, down-home kind of thing, but in an oddly tripped-out fashion. Whether she's singing country music or not -- which she mostly isn't, on Wonder Wonder anyway -- roots are still roots yuh cain't cut 'em away. And the LSD certainly helps here. The point is, in her short five years of making records, Edith Frost has taken great strides into the far-flung field of pop music. Whether she's on about attraction or love lost, optimism or mistrust, Edith's purty (irony, not illiteracy, people!) voice and wild lyrics cut to the truth of the circumstances, truth seen clearly through a mellow haze of pure wonder. And Acapulco Gold."

Artist:	A DRAG CITY SUPERSESSION
Title:	Tramps, Traitors And Little Devils
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 210CD

"So, here we have a trio of exceptional musical talents -- Bill Callahan, Edith Frost and Neil Michael Hagerty -- all known from their work as solo artists, but this time, throwing their lot together for one crazy all-or-everything grab at the golden rings of the sun. And, just to show that magic's still in the moment. Tramps, Traitors and Little Devils makes it happen. It's the wildest set of trophies yet for the walls of this super group of performers. On Tramps, Traitors and Little Devils, Hagerty, Frost and Callahan come together in a fashion that recalls the epic scope of the collaborations from the days of the old gods -- the days of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and yes, even Young. What our three young heroes have created here harks back to the days of Déjà Vu with a combination of beautifully sweet tunes, hard-hitting tunes with lots of commentary about what's going on, as well as some kick-ass looks back at where some of us have been. Plus a few delightfully gratuitous hits thrown in for good measure. Good measure -- and fun. Ear pleasing, uptempo, total fun."

Artist:	HIGH LLAMAS, THE
Title:	Beet, Maize & Corn
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 211CD

"Don't worry -- the signature melodies, harmonic structures and sweetly flowing beauty of Highest Llama Sean O'Hagan's style are very much in evidence on Beet, Maize and Corn however, in a radical rethinking of songwriting and arrangement, they are presented in a starkly changed manner. Eschewing electronics in favor of an organic sound, dropping drums down in the mix and emphasizing the acoustics of stringed instruments, Beet, Maize and Corn is an striking new statement from a songwriter who's been pitching his tunes into the ring for over a decade. If that sounds like a daunting task, it is easily done here simply a matter of changing focus, drawing water from different wells, reaching a bit deeper."

Artist:	LICHT, ALAN
Title:	An Emotional Memoir Of Martha Quinn
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 213BK

"A thoughtful and entertaining look at how music and culture infect ('cross-pollinate?') each other, Alan Licht's An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn succeeds by being real. Paper, ink, binding -- it's all there -- but Licht, a long-time musician -- and writer of music-inspired commentary -- has brought the lessons learned, the high and low-lights of the last few decades in the realms of popular music, back home again. In his own words, Licht's book 'is a highly subjective survey of the last two decades as seen through my prism as a music performer, listener, scenester, and occasionally, writer. It traces the changes in the New York and national underground music scenes, paralleling my personal journey through adolescence to adulthood.'"

Artist:	HAGERTY, NEIL MICHAEL
Title:	Plays That Good Old Rock And Roll
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 214CD

"For this, his second solo strike, Neil is accompanied by his touring band. The results, as you will soon see, stagger out on the street with a left shoe colored country and a right shoe dripping R&B. 'We' can only conclude that what 'we' have here is just a batch of good old rock and roll. Although Neil Michael Hagerty and his band have their dial fixed between stations, their ears are tuned to the roar. Whether singing an homage to the stars of Internet porn, describing a shaky scheme to deal drugs through a pizza delivery chain or rendering a simple emergency prayer, Neil Michael Hagerty makes us glad once again that rock and roll has died a thousand times only to rise again."

Artist:	BROTHER JT 3
Title:	Spirituals
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 219CD

"The songs on Spirituals are actual spirituals according to Brother JT. As he put it, they're 'spirituals for people who can't deal with the old man in the sky thing anymore, but who still want to believe there's more to life than just breathing.' So yeah -- agnostic spirituals. And what better way to take your spirituals than in a rich acoustic jam! Delivered with fervent belief Spirituals keeps it heavily light, but groovy -- acoustics to the fore adorned with a bit of sax, sitar and synth -- as well as the odd outrageous fuzztone guitar. Add a bit of flute playing sweetly sprinkled on top. Stir."

Artist:	SUNTANAMA, THE
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 220CD

"The Suntanama remedy: roughecommon blues chords and structures arranged and spread around, such that familiar grooves, some timeless, get their sound working. Often in their arrangements, and rare across the bridge, the vocal carries the heat with the drums and drops into the melody. The hand-to-mouth singing style, burrowing into the want of an audience's breadth of participation or lack thereof, belies the way of the Hat. The bluesman with the biggest hat, having passed it around at the end of the gig, never has to be beg or get burned. It just requires proper saturation. The Suntanama was produced by Neil Michael Hagerty and engineered by Brian Paulson. The album in sequence, sound and production captures the pull, the full ebb and flow, the very width of The Suntanama, live and in person."

Artist:	KEV HOPPER
Title:	Saurus
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 223CD

"The Saurus mini-album is a collection of five tunes written especially for the musical saw. Sometimes the speakers don't seem strong enough to handle the swellings of Kev's constructions. Real breezes seem to fill real sails before your very ears. The sound of Saurus has shifted slightly from the sound of Whispering Foils, employing different instruments, drawing from other wellsprings. But the results are still soundtrack music for the soul; soothing, wordless yet active and imagistic. Saurus features Sean O'Hagan (from The High Llamas) on guitar, Kelsey Michael (from Minnow) singing and Rhodri Marsden (from the fast-rising The Free French) also singing and playing bassoon."

Artist:	GRUBBS, DAVID
Title:	Rickets & Scurvy
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 224CD

"Three albums into his solo adventure, David has clearly learned how to make records work as records, filling them start to finish with entertainment, moments, insight. Rickets & Scurvy is a very complete, start-to-finish kind of beast. The songs kick ass, rocking harder than David's songs have in ages. The process goes further as a result. Rickets & Scurvy's best moments are presented with disarming directness, an ability to plunge to great depth, with abandon."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Hole of Burning Alms
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 231CD

"Perhaps this is the cheese that will tempt you from your lousy hole. Way back before Papa M had broken out his brand, there was this music. It didn't have words for the most part, but it was bright-electric, humming low then launching with a secret fury, painting a picture, then slashing the picture with a gleaming blade. It rocked, it rolled...and it faced the wall, with a blush and a cry inside. Hole of Burning Alms collects Aerial M and Papa M singles from 1996 through the year 2000."

Artist:	SCENE CREAMERS
Title:	I Suck On That Emotion
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 234CD

"...creep from their hideout onto this Drag City long-player to wreak their fury on the CIA pig counter-gangs and other synthetic all-purpose formations who hold sway over their Washington, DC HQ. Their corpse hand holds aloft the promise of what could be with swirling solos, disco frenzy, and frenzied aesthetic discussions. Seize a glimpse of their glory even while their lair is encroached on by the hypnotized who attempt to commodify their essence and transform it into the compromised content-less mediocrity which passes itself off as rock and roll today."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Supper
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 235CD

"Slipping and gliding, your hero has returned. (Smog) is back in the building. With him is his newest record. But he?s not going to sing it for you, no. Instead, he's going to play it for you. And so, with a press of a button the new (Smog) album, Supper. Supper will strike some of you as easy-listening (Smog) which is simply proof that you (Smog) fans out there have hardened over the years. Sure, Supper features soft steel guitars, female harmony vocals, fluttering guitars, a sentimental ode to 'Our Anniversary', and more heart-warming things packed into its 43 plus minutes, but honestly it's still (Smog), isn't it? That means sharp observations, a steady stream of humorous spectres, discomfiting intimacy and other heart-warming things packed into nine melody-filled tunes."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	Supper
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 235LP

LP version. 2009 repress, originally released 2003. "Supper will strike some of you as easy-listening (Smog) which is simply proof that you (Smog) fans out there have hardened over the years. Sure, Supper features soft steel guitars, female harmony vocals, fluttering guitars, a sentimental ode to 'Our Anniversary', and more heart-warming things packed into its 43 plus minutes, but honestly it's still (Smog), isn't it? That means sharp observations, a steady stream of humorous spectres, discomfiting intimacy and other heart-warming things packed into nine melody-filled tunes."

Artist:	MONADE
Title:	Socialisme ou Barbarie
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 237CD

"Socialisme ou Barbarie is the delightful debut album from Monade. Monade, if you haven't heard, is the nom de plume of Laetitia Sadier when she isn't fronting Stereolab with her singing, Moog playing, tambourine and, of late, trombone. The relatively spare arrangements of Socialisme ou Barbarie create a mood slightly more tranquil than Stereolab sounds of late, bringing to mind not only the Peng! era but also folky sounds not always associated with Laetitia's music up to this time. The setting allows for the beauty and simplicity of Monade's songs to shine through. In short, Socialisme ou Barbarie is perfect for bedroom reading. Or any space you please."

Artist:	IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO
Title:	Trinity Neon
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 238CD

"Imitation Electric Piano are still an instrumental band -- but with a delightful vocal presence on several songs. Simon hails from the band Clearspot and produced a 2 track 7" for Duophonic Super 45s featuring the drumming skills of Colm from My Bloody Valentine. Next Simon became Stereolab's bass player. Then Simon formed Imitation Electric Piano and recorded an EP and this lead us to Trinity Neon, their debut long player. Sweet, beat-crazy post-pop instrumentals and instant classics."

Artist:	AZITA
Title:	Enantiodromia
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 239CD

"On her debut LP/CD entitled Enantiodromia, what Azita's got is a handful of original piano-based tunes, almost all of them featuring vocals, melodies, lyrics and all the things that most of us out here in the mainstream regard as elements of that popular music form known as 'songs.' And the playing on these songs is tight. Latter day rhythm heroes John McEntire (drums) and Matt Lux (bass) get together in a lightning quick rhythm section that will have you recall sleek, funky constructs from days of yore. They're topped with a bit of pure, clean guitar obbligato from Jeff Parker and some classic cornet playing from Rob Mazurek. If only Becker and Fagan had heard these guys! Long known for her idiosyncratic visions as leader of the Scissor Girls and Bride of No No, Azita steps out from the rock and non-rock of those groups and into a whole new thing."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	Farewell Sorrow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 240CD

"After more than five years, three LPs and several 7" singles as 'Appendix Out', Scottish singer and man of letters Alasdair Roberts is bidding farewell to his nom-demusique (but fortunately not his raison-d'être!). Heavily steeped in the lineage of European folk music (the Scots have something to say about this, you know), the words and music of Farewell Sorrow evoke a spirit of youth, an air of reckless abandon, a passion not meant to stay in this world. Sure, there are still a couple of the dirges you might expect, but they're now enlivened with a subtly malevolent, rakish wit and nestle alongside bona fide pop songs detailing the lighter side of life in Alasdair's imaginary kingdom."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Two
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 242CD

"In the year to come, while Papa M traverses the world in the mirror-windowed rocket called Zwan, you the fans of Papa M will not be left in the silver dust on the side of the cosmic road. No, instead you'll be offered a series of sonic treats. And in this fashion, 2003 will pass into the books -- and you will receive a wealth of new Papa M music -- without ever ascending the mountain of full-length-itude that a new Papa M album necessitates. This second single features two more tunes from the pen of Papa M, as well as an arrangement of a song 'discovered' by John Jacob Niles."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Three
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	DC 243CD

"On One and Two, Papa played us some brand new songs, as well as personalized remodels of old blues and traditional pieces. Three finds him in classic-rock territory, scoping trad-folk number 'Wild Mountain Thyme,' (famously done by The Byrds at the dawn of the psychedelic era) and Little Feat's 'Truck Stop Girl.' Topping these two with an original called 'Who Knows,' Papa M writes his own pop-rock gem, a melodic tune with folky strumming, ska-inflected drums, and lots of twangy leads for good measure."

Artist:	FAHEY, JOHN
Title:	Vampire Vultures
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	DC 245BK

"The publication of How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life did a great deal to spread the word of Fahey's literary talents, though sadly only a year before he died. Vampire Vultures is an unexpected gift and should ease the grief of those who thought they would never hear anything from John Fahey again. Originally a project of his own conception, it was to be an epic work that would expand on many of the characters and experiences he introduced in Bluegrass. Compiled from his private papers, Vampire Vultures includes notebook entries, short stories, and letters never sent, revealing the struggles and victories of a cult artist's life in modern America."

Artist:	ROGERS, WAYNE
Title:	Constant Displacement
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 246CD

CD issue of a prior 1999 LP release. "Constant Displacement began as a series of experiments in song form, mainly to satisfy the whims of the artist himself, who never intended it to be issued. How else to explain the wispy balladry, the balls-to-the-wall rock 'n' roll, or the six-minute version of a fucking Thunderclap Newman song? Constant Displacement is Wayne's fifth solo album, a tribute to Rock formalism based on traditions no loftier than Danish and South Asian renditions of 'Stepping Stone,' though he is apparently hearing something in them that no one else is."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Four
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	DC 247CD

"After three CD singles filled to their five-gallon brims with the multihued waters of pure M-ness, after a break in the action at the end of the summer, the Papa M singles series is ready to resume. The number you need to remember? Four. As his eye slides forward in time, so too does single Four, ring with new tones. Sounds that were previously hinted at come springing forth from his belly -- waltz-timed fifties balladry, soaked in sentimental reverb; synth squiggles erasing the taste of a banjo dirge; spiffy-tempoed acousti-pop and bitchy lyrical accusations, topped with undulating guitar leads, climaxing in jam."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Hypnotic Underworld
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 249CD

"For the first time in many moons, the tribes of Earth have real call to celebrate -- the return of Ghost. Their new offering, Hypnotic Underworld, is their best album ever -- more colorful than Ghost, heavier than Temple Stone, deeper and wider than Lama Rabi Rabi, more psyched and folked than Snuffbox Immanence and Second Time Around and with a more mountainous jam than Tune In, Turn On, Free Tibet. Believe it. Yes, Hypnotic Underworld is heavy with highlights, ranging the continents in quicksilver fashion, adding 70 minutes of Ghost sounds to this world, all streamlined to an ultimate intensity."

Artist:	WEIRD WAR
Title:	If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 251CD

"Weird War previewed this new LP/CD, their most mature work, with the hit single 'AK-47'. It outlined a radical inversion of time contracting trends and imperialist savagery in a disco manifesto which drew from prophets such as Bohannon and Bumble Bee Unlimited. This gave us a stunning glimpse into a future which has now appeared and is upon us; a universe of guitar solos layered upon Mao quotations, electric sitar exploding over runic incantations, chanted ruminations on the implications of work, love and sex and a Hathaway guided tune regarding the future mummy-style curse of Babylon."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Sings Greatest Palace Music
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 252CD

"For years, Palace fans and friends have reveled in the knowledge of one of the world's most unique songbooks. Now they can encounter some of the best-known of the songs all over again, in contrast and collaboration with the originals. There's no hard-and-fast, reductive reasoning to the way these songs have been remade. They were chosen by the fans and recorded with a new group of participants, in different places than the originals. The outcomes are different. It's a whole other beast, not merely a remix record or simply 'Palace with strings' -- though the former and the latter both come to you with strings attached."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Singles
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 257CD

"Here's a record you didn't know you were waiting for. Singles is a comprehensive compilation of The Red Krayola singles from 1969-2004, hits and misses. These songs represent The Red Krayola's commitment to the basic carrier, the 7" single. A single point of reference -- the lone song, in an ocean of other songs. Each of these songs were calculated efforts that reflect the time and conditions in which were they released. They are lottery tickets, slots on the wheel, each one a chance. These singles were made for the day they were released. Some of them reached their targets, some are reaching the targets only today and only because they've been compiled on this record. These are records created in Texas, New York, the UK, Germany, Chicago and Los Angeles, made by The Red Krayola whoever they were at the time of they recorded them in 1970, 1978, 1981, 1989, 1994, and 1999."

Artist:	PAPA M
Title:	Six
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	DC 259CD

"Having knocked out a bit of everything from One, to Five, raging all over acoustic folk, faux-classical, blues, duets, randy guitar-rock and something we like to call 'more', Papa M splits the coconut open this time to reveal -- fully calculated post-product, streamlining everything that's gone before into a new hybrid. The twist this time that adds to the thrill of it all: the surging 'Foreign Hotel Garden', featuring a hallucinogenic journal-entry lyric with spoken-word delivery. It's new and unusual. Whether breaking your heart or busting your jaw, Papa M is forever taking off into a previously unoccupied realm. It's his realm now -- and it's good. Make it yours soon."

Artist:	MOVIETONE
Title:	The Sand and the Stars
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 260CD

"This is the fourth Movietone LP (3rd on Drag City) since their formation in 1994. Inspired by the likes of Nina Simone, Jefferson Airplane, The Carter Family, The Band and Sandy Denny, Movietone also referenced the field recordings of late ethnomusicologist, record producer and radio producer Alan Lomax as a specific inspiration for the recording of The Sand And The Stars: 'We wanted to capture all the sounds of life outside the silent walls of the recording studio. The locations were chosen to suit the songs'."

Artist:	OLDHAM, WILL
Title:	Seafarers Music
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 261CD

"Seafarers is a feature-length documentary, shot in Rotterdam, the world's largest port. It follows four seafarers -- a Swede, a Polynesian, a Croat and a Nigerian -- each with their own incredible story -- as they wait to go back to sea. In a sailor's bar, men get drunk and play guitars, trying to enjoy their small amount of shore leave in the Port of Rotterdam -- an inhuman, futuristic landscape of refineries, burning gas and vast chemical tankers. Much to the delight of director Jason Massot, Will and crew produced a theme for each one of the sailors, evocative of their surroundings. We're delighted too -- 'silent'-music records from Will Oldham sell better than some people's 'loud'-music albums. So, everybody's happy -- except you landlubbers, of course. But you'll be happy soon enough -- once you get an earful of Seafarers Music. The latest in a series of (mostly) instrumental EPs from Will Oldham."

Artist:	FAUN FABLES
Title:	Family Album
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 262CD

"This is the third recording of Faun Fables, the experimental balladry shaped by Oakland-based artist Dawn McCarthy. Her work unfolds in a visceral combination of music and theatricality she calls songtelling. The main instrument is her cathartic voice, framed by harmonically adventurous guitar. On this album, she is joined by Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, adding a bestiary of vocals, instrumentation and song collaboration. Family Album is another prize for fans of traditional folk music, the occult, cabaret, art rock, medieval prose and all the wonders of the world."

Artist:	NEWSOM, JOANNA
Title:	The Milk-Eyed Mender
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 263CD

"Drag City takes great pleasure in introducing to you a remarkable new musical singer, songwriter and all-around talent, Joanna Newsom. Joanna's music has more of an affinity with the folk revival of the 60s, or the bluegrass movement at present, than with most contemporary 'folk' (or 'anti-folk') scenes. Affinities aside, her style could hardly be called bluegrass; nor does it evoke the pastoral tonalities of 60s folk: she sings about whalebones, sleep, grammar, mollusks, accumulation, automobiles, owls, burning boats, string collections, milk, teeth, bridges, balloons, cake, colors, and kin, all in an otherworldly, ragged-sweet voice that defies convention. Her harp arrangements are at times ethereal and delicate, at others galloping and ornate, but never overwrought -- presenting not so much a mere fusion of influences, as an inquiry into the places where those influences naturally intersect. She considers the late composer Ruth Crawford Seeger (who was one of American folk music's earliest advocates, as well as a vanguardist composer) to be a major influence, because of Seeger's ability and desire to reconcile the tenets of experimentalism with her love for a beautiful melody."

Artist:	AZITA
Title:	Life On The Fly
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 264CD

"Following her acclaimed debut album, Enantiodromia, Azita brings more of what made that album great -- rhythmic, virtuostic piano-based songs with intense, driven singing -- and something different again, as well. Life On The Fly features the same crack group of players backing her up -- but this time, a diversity of keyboard and vocal textures are in the mix, adding harmony to the strong, twisted melodies of the songs -- which themselves, are all-new. So it goes in Azita's parade of sunshine and noir -- fun and/or games. Themes of (mostly unfavorable) dealing, bargaining, trading, or compromise underlie every track on this record. The maze of details she finds behind potentially benign everyday events creates a flies-eye kaleidoscope of lyrical refractions that distort and clarify in their turn. Traveling with Azita from point A to point B becomes an adventure, a trip that you take with her driving and you riding shotgun."

Artist:	WHITE MAGIC
Title:	Through the Sun Door
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 265CD

"White Magic was magically formed from the ashes in Brooklyn, NY (a beautiful community of freaks making new sounds). The roots are in Maryland and Massachusetts. The sounds are of ritual and prayer, parts of an old piano, and the prophesy of a new consciousness in music and in peace we come from the Sun. White Magic is influenced by Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Karen Dalton, Love, Great Society, Sun Ra, Eric Satie, The Fugs, The Zombies and all good music of the world."

Artist:	GRUBBS, DAVID
Title:	A Guess at the Riddle
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 266CD

"David Grubbs has worked simultaneously at records of songs and records of longer, immersive instrumental pieces. A Guess At The Riddle is a record of songs. It feels like an unburdening. Matching experimentation with articulateness, A Guess At The Riddle is to David's other solo records what Gastr del Sol's Camoufleur was to their preceding records. One finds acoustic instruments (David's piano and Nikos Veliotls's cello) brokering peace agreements with electronics (Matmos), one finds full bands going full-bore (Adam Pierce and Thomas Belhom kicking ass behind the drums, David returning to the electric guitar, David's freshest, most lively-sounding production), and one finds David's strongest collection of songs."

Artist:	HALF JAPANESE
Title:	Loud and Horrible
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 270CD

"Most of the music found on Loud and Horrible hasn't seen release on compact disc -- until now. Having self-released a 7" EP in the original year punk broke (1977), Half Japanese released their LP 'debut' in 1980, a 3-LP, 50-song opus called 1/2Gentlemen/Not Beasts. With this massive achievement under their belt, they began to evolve into more of a band. Rehearsing at their home in Uniontown, Maryland with a growing group of other musicians, they developed the songs and sound of Loud. And 'loud' is one word that will definitely describe your initial impression of this CD. The pure power of the rock on both Loud and Horrible may strike the uninitiated as utter chaos. However, as Byron Coley notes, 'we can hear the band's first move towards externally graspable organization in the songs on Loud.' Loud and Horrible is a reissue of a classic Half Japanese LP from 1980, plus an EP from 1981, plus extremely rare b-sides and tracks from a flexidisc."

Artist:	RTX
Title:	Transmaniacon
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 271CD

"Jennifer Herrema is back. It's not the Royal Trux, it's RTX. Flash to the present. Transmaniacon sounds instead like it was recorded on Mars -- or maybe Saturn. Together, Jennifer, Nadav Eisenman and Jaimo Welch track into new territory. The sounds will immediately make sense, sounds formed into the tightest breed of pure rock energy. A mass of guitars that squirm and scream around the granite rock of the rhythm section, occasionally rocketing into the sky -- pre-verb ricochets colliding with waves of synth and razor sharp vocals cutting right through anything in their path. Jennifer summons the ageless teenager eating cotton candy with the summertime blues and it all boils down hot and cold into one piece of controlled rage post-apocalyptic marching music, or titanium stadium rock, with tight pop rhythms. And the vibe is dead on weird, ripe with images. . . what comes to mind. . .biker gangs, sci-fi mythology, and personal introspection (destruction and then triumph formed from the ashes). This is the sound of RTX."

Artist:	FAUN FABLES
Title:	Early Song
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 273CD

"Early Song is the first chapter of Faun Fables. A songbook documenting the material Dawn McCarthy performed and travelled with as a soloist, leaving her work with bands and cabarets of NYC in 1997. It is a testament to the kind of spaciousness and focus McCarthy was seeking back then, amidst the whirlwind and stimuli of big city life. It marks the beginning of her work with stark compositions that give the vocals full sway. Early Song's originals were written from 1994 -1998, and the five traditionals included attest to McCarthy's love of folk tunes as vehicles for striking vocal narrative."

Artist:	HAGERTY, NEIL
Title:	Public Works
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 275BK

"Public Works is a collection of 17 satirical essays and short stories by Neil Hagerty. It brings together for the first time all of Hagerty's's short pieces which appeared in magazines and journals during his travels through the past ten years. Collected and revised, they form a newly realized endeavor which embraces a broad set of concerns: the starkly pallid 'Travel Diary' abets an elegy for the humor magazine CAR-toons, a short story set in the nexus of boxing and right-wing activism appends a conversation with the ghost of Al Jolson. We visit dark, dusty border towns and encounter the world within a dirty mattress. Such a classic literary genres as the western and the detective story are revisited through characters who are the compelling, ironic and humorous people we meet every day, as well as a few whom we pass without notice. Baked beans are also discussed."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	The Return of the Third Tower
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	DC 276LP

"Pissing in the wind, flying the flag in a fogbank, watching pornography featuring the Invisible Man -- and so, whereas, we aren't doing that, as I mentioned, no hoarding on our part is invoked and we are grateful to you. It is consistent with this to exploit specific interests in the form of questionnaires or persuasive invitation and to invoke expectation confounded by events both current and persistent. Elements include: the day I handed the singer from the Durango Scorpions a laundry list and he sang it straight from the page in a crippled accent, the audience loved him for it; strict diagram of what the resulting development this is, to be used as a model for all future Howling Hex to be repeated without question; hiding in a tower that was overlooked -- perhaps it didn't exist yet it is erect."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	All-Night Fox
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 277CD

"Deeply grooved and stomping, alive with a triple-headed vocal attack, aloft on clouds of reverb, All-Night Fox can be heard in a variety of tongues. As in so much of life, meaning comes after the moment of impact. This is built into the design. The songs on All-Night Fox are free from structural cliché -- 'verse,' 'chorus' and 'solo' have been incorporated into a stream that runs through the entire album. Additionally, the generic designations 'rhythm and blues' and 'rock and roll' are surpassed. The Howling Hex play their music beyond genre, with the reality of rhythm and blues inherent in the music, regardless of whether or not it is exploited for their image. The Howling Hex features Neil Michael Hagerty on guitar, vocals, production and songs."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Agnes, Queen of Sorrow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 278CD

"A miniature disc, containing just a few songs more from the Greatest Palace Music sessions. For gluttons like us, this is a perfect aperitif. Leading off with the duet we now know 'Agnes, Queen of Sorrow' to be, this dessert bite veers into lighter territory with a single-that-never-was (until now!), 'Pussyfooting.' A-glitter with jewels, this is a different kind of greatest music, a glide onto the dancefloor and an utter delight. Previously unreleased in any form. Line up the hard-core fans -- we've got a little gem for them. In addition to two non-LP tracks, this enhanced CD single also includes a video for 'Agnes, Queen of Sorrow'."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Metamorphosis: Ghost Chronicles 1984-2004
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	DC 279CD

"From twenty years of performances, many of them hidden from the public eye, Ghost give you Metamorphosis: Ghost Chronicles 1984-2004 DVD + CD. What you will find in the nearly three hours of footage on the DVD: improvisations, one-time-only band lineups, unknown band lineups, unknown places, performances in temples, psychedelic costumes, bonfires, freak-outs and trances, the visual analog of a song from Temple Stone, footage from Terrastock, a variety of light shows and a demonstration for the oppressed people of Tibet. Over the course of the twelve performances, a total of thirty different songs are played -- with a couple of extras thrown in for good measure." The DVD is NTSC, all-region, 150 minutes.

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	No Earthly Man
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 283CD

"Over the course of three albums of original music with the band Appendix Out and a pair of albums under his own name, Scotsman Alasdair Roberts has been moving toward a purer understanding, exploration and interpretation of the traditional song of the British Isles. No Earthly Man shouldn't be regarded as a culmination of this exploration: this is Roberts' music, something he'll be fiddling with for the rest of his days. However, this new album comes with some sense of finality, part of which may have to do with its focus -- a set comprised entirely of death ballads. Recorded near the whisky distilleries of rural Aberdeenshire and mixed amid the tobacco fields of Kentucky, No Earthly Man benefits from the playing and perspective of a diversity of musicians, and from the production talents of honorary Scot Will Oldham."

Artist:	AUGUST BORN
Title:	August Born
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 284CD

"August Born is a collaboration between Japan's Hiroyuki Usui and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Well versed 'heads already know Hiroyuki under his alias of L, in which he recorded the subtle psychedelic gem, Holy Letters. Along with spending time in Marble Sheep, he also played drums for Fushitsusha for six years and played in an early incarnation of Ghost, which can be seen on the live DVD, Metamorphosis. Holy Letters was an early template for Six Organs when it was released nearly ten years ago. August Born started off as a game that was based on the idea of 'fortuitous mistranslation.' That is: even if they didn't understand exactly what the other wanted to do or where to go with the song, the songs themselves would find their own direction. The project started with the scraping sounds of a bird being buried. As improbable as it seemed, these sounds eventually created music. August Born is a mellow work seamlessly blending Hiroyuki's guitar, vocals, vibes, harmonium, bass, drums, cello, field recordings, and didgeridoo with Chasny's unmistakable voice and guitar. The tunes found here hold rewards that will only grow with patience and time."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	No More Workhorse Blues
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	DC 285CD

"Like 'Agnes' before it, 'No More Workhorse Blues' is a fan favorite from the GPM collection. 'Ruby' is a second collaboration from the makers of 'Happy Child' -- Bonny Billy and Tweaker, those crazy bastards! 'The Kiss' is Bonnie's timeless rendition of Judee Sill's classic ballad -- perfect for playing at wedding processionals, divorce processionals and other memorable social affairs. this enhanced CD also includes a video for 'No More Workhorse Blues' directed by Harmony Korine."

Artist:	NEWSOM, JOANNA
Title:	Sprout and the Bean
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	DC 287CD

"Joanna Newsom's music captures what we've all lost -- freedom to believe in the power of the imagination. Neither childlike nor completely 'adult,' Joanna's music exists in a space all its own. Other worlds are alive, not in the ether, but inside the mind. In 'Sprout and the Bean,' she schools us all. The video takes us on an adventure from class room, with chalk creatures coming to life on the blackboard, to a green valley and a chorus of Joannas magically appearing. 'Ask the councillor, ask the king,' Joanna Newsom's 'Sprout and the Bean' is a magical thing."

Artist:	WEIRD WAR
Title:	Illuminated by the Light
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 288CD

"Weird War (neé Scene Creamers) have re-grooped and reconfigured once again after last year's startling, scary and critically psychosed If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em. Though recorded at the same studio (Key Club), the two records will look at each other from within the bin as suspicious progeny do, each doubting the paternity of the other. Instead of the dark and fuzzy psych stomp of ...Beat 'Em or the down home agit-poetry of I Suck On That Emotion, Weird War have begun to explore the esoterica they hinted about last time, but this time with a leaner, cleaner chassis which features new group-member, super drummer Sebastian Thomson (of Trans Am /Trans Champs/Fucking Am/Frequency fame)! He joins guitarist/master musician Alex Minoff, bassist/vocalist/etc. Michelle Mae and singer Ian Svenonius (note spelling), the loved and beloathed establishment of this cranky, creaky pa/ma po-mo su-grou."

Artist:	PAJO
Title:	Pajo
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 289CD

"From the bitter chocolate shell of Papa M emerges... Pajo. Circumstances decide what you feel about music -- where you were when you first heard it; how old you were (or how old you thought you were); the color of the sky or brutality of the season; who turned you on (or who you thought they were). This figures in how the music-making is felt about as well. Pajo recorded the songs here in constant flux, singing vocals late at night when flat mates were asleep. At this point, Pajo has put out records as M, Aerial M and Papa M. Why not do another?"

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	You Can't Beat Tomorrow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 291CD

"The DVD contains the pilot episode of The Howling Hex's variety show, You Can't Beat Tomorrow, while the CD is the soundtrack of the same name, containing complete versions of the songs featured in the show -- and more. Listeners who've already sampled the high-energy sounds of The Howling Hex (as heard on their CD, All-Night Fox) will be thrilled by the expanded lineup, featuring The Theatre Fire on banjo, violin, trumpet and pedal steel guitar and Neil Michael Hagerty on lead vocals and guitar. The video presentation weaves a collage of every-day images, musical segments and a hilarious animated serial following a group of all-American types down at Henry's bar."

Artist:	SMOG
Title:	A River Ain't Too Much To Love
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 292CD

"A River Ain't Too Much To Love was recorded at Pedernales in Spicewood, Texas. That's Willie Nelson's place. There is a feeling these songs give you that you haven't had since the days when music was your impetus. A River Ain't Too Much To Love is as raw and direct as a Sun session and as warm and assured as the early seventies. Majestic, monolithic and agile at the same time, this is an album not of lost wandering but of determined migration. The natural urge that was buried in Humankind once the Pines were felled and the Rivers damned."

Artist:	WHITE MAGIC
Title:	Dat Rosa Mel Apibus
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 293CD

"White Magic is the songwriting and vocal lyricism of Mira Billotte engaged by the talented likes of 'Sleepy' Doug Shaw, Jim White (Dirty Three), Tim DeWit (Gang Gang Dance), Tim Barnes, Samara Lubelski, Shahzad Ismaily, Jesse Lee, Karen Leblanc and Brad Truax. White Magic's debut full length album Dat Rosa Mel Apibus is an elaborate evolution from the first release. It is a journey which sets forth into an untamed musical landscape, finding the familiar in unusual streams of new sound -- a new music. A music that knows the past, but does not repeat it. Torch songs ride into dark ragas and devotional dub with prophetic resonance. Influences of African and tropical guitar rise and reel through the harmony. The album is a movement of great proportion, exploring the emotional and the spiritual to unbounded and sublime depths."

Artist:	HIGGINS, GARY
Title:	Red Hash
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 295CD

First reissue of this underground folk-psych classic, originally released in 1973 as a self-released LP. "Red Hash features eleven haunting tracks of folk-pop played on acoustic and electric guitar and arranged with percussion, cello, flute, piano, organ, bass and mandolin. This plus Gary's transcendent vocals bring to mind the perfectly-damaged vibes found in David Crosby's masterpiece of peace, love and paranoia, If I Could Only Remember My Name and the recently re-discovered and acclaimed Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs. This is the first-ever authorized reissue of Red Hash -- direct from the original master tapes. The Red Hash CD includes two unheard bonus cuts and never before seen artwork/photos. Red Hash is held in very high regard by current torch-bearers/taste-makers: Animal Collective, Joanna Newsom, WFMU, Devendra Banhart, Ben Chasny, Sunburned Hand of the Man, White Magic, and Espers."

Artist:	SILVER JEWS
Title:	Tanglewood Numbers
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 297CD

"The seasons come and go, as do the years. Nothing is guaranteed. Save one item: as long as David Berman rampages on the outer crust of this planet with at least one fellow traveler, the Silver Jews will always exist. Still, after the world-weary ennui of Bright Flight and an unprecedented four years had passed without a new Jews to review, even the most faithful had begun to wonder what the future held. Was the music community still covered by the No-Band-Break-Up Guarantee that came included in the sleeve of 1993's Dimemap of the Reef EP? Had we lost sight of 'the only band that doesn't buy ads,' 'the only band that is never on tribute albums,' 'the only band that doesn't play live,' and remember this one: 'the only band that matters?' Tanglewood Numbers answers all of your questions and then asks them some more. The future's full of rock, hard knocks and some of the best fucking songs you've ever heard."

Artist:	PEARLS AND BRASS
Title:	The Indian Tower
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 300CD

"'Power Trio.' Say the phrase to any long-hair since its conception some 40 years ago and they'll immediately know what to expect. Blistering leads, power-house drumming, heavy bass lines and bluesy vocals. Sounds like a formula, yes? Well, it is. Many have stepped up to the plate, attempting to make their 1+1+1=3 but few dare be mentioned in the same breath as legends like the Groundhogs, Grand Funk, Sleep, Sir Lord Baltimore and the almighty Cream. But who among us will take this hard rock to a new place? Enter Josh, Joel and Randy: three young dudes from the woods of Nazareth PA. They've been playing together for half their lifetime -- thirteen years -- and clearly, they've done their homework. Burned one-too-many while listening to endless amounts of Randy (both Holden AND California). Learned every song by anyone with 'Blind' or 'Mississippi' in their name. Essentially leaving them each with degrees in Cactology and a Masters in Riff-ality."

Artist:	FROST, EDITH
Title:	It's a Game
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 301CD

"Edith Frost is back from a four-year canter through the wilderness. She's been called a chanteuse and a country torch singer -- but Edith's style of writing, singing and playing is all that and more. Since 1996, she's honed her song craft on a series of Drag City releases -- starting with a self-titled, home-recorded EP and a subsequent trio of acclaimed albums, each of which presented a unique setting, turning Edith subtly away from the country underpinnings of her songs. Since Edith Frost's 'country' has many roots -- country, folk, blues and soul, tin-pan alley and jazz -- this makes the eclectic nature of her discography a natural thing. It's a Game features the playing talents of Josh Abrams (Prefuse 73), Lindsay Anderson (L'Altra), Azita, Dave 'Max' Crawford (The Mekons), John Hasbrouck, Emmett Kelly and Jason Toth (The Zincs, Manishevitz)."

Artist:	NEWSOM, JOANNA
Title:	Ys
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 303CD

"Five songs, fifty-five minutes, what-an-album! Ys is to Ms. Newsom a dream collaboration between her voice and harp and a full orchestra -- a sound many of us fans have thought we were hearing when listening with closed eyes at her concert performances. Songs familiar to Joanna's following are a big part of Ys, having been performed in concert over the past year -- but not with the arrangements you'll find on four of the five songs here (one song being 'classic' Joanna; which is to say, solo). The songs, conceived with harp and voice and tracked as such by Steve Albini, were arranged with kindness and love by the legendary Van Dyke Parks over several months of correspondence and collaboration with Joanna. At the end of the day, the instrument count included strings, woodwinds, and brass plus dulcimer, marimba, various percussive instruments (including a horse skull!), banjo, mandolin, electric bass guitar (played by master of mellow Lee Sklar), electric guitar (played by jazz-great -- and-definitive-MAD-magazine-authority, Grant Geisseman), and accordion played by Van Dyke himself. If this seems like a bit of an overfull house -- wait'll you hear the mix Jim O'Rourke made of it! It's light and lilting, with Joanna front and center and sounds blowing and tearing and swelling around her, in perfect consort. The wide-screen beauty of Ys is due to, among other things, a scrupulously all-analog production involving forty-odd tracks spread over two synched-up 24-track tape machines, mixed to tape and mastered at Abbey Road, home of the all-analog mastering path!"

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Introduction
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 304CD

"The Red Krayola live to see another day. Having communed with their fans around the world in 2005 -- in Europe, Japan and the U.S. -- they were invigorated. Last summer they returned to one of their favorite haunts, the recording studio, for a session to capture the magic all at once. Today the result -- Introduction, 15 songs strong -- is here, and does just that. Introduction is an epic that presents The Red Krayola at their very best. Featuring the contributions of long-time members Stephen Prina, Tom Watson and John McEntire (who recorded and mixed the album at his Soma Recording Studio), Introduction introduces the accordion styles of Charlie Abel, whose slow flickering squeeze-box lines the album, and the elegant perfection of Noel Kupersmith's bass. The moods of Introduction are alternately contemplative, whimsical, aggressive, amorous, innocent and raw -- while always decorous in that special way popular music demands. Introduction is a new masterpiece from The Red Krayola -- a world of strengths, a compendium of knowledge, a record for today -- to be played for generations to come."

Artist:	P.G. SIX
Title:	Slightly Sorry
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 305CD

"Pat Gubler (aka P.G. Six) came on the scene in 1994, as a member of Memphis Luxure, a noise/rock band from Port Chester, NY. That band morphed into Tower Recordings, a musically omnivorous ensemble that released several albums on the Siltbreeze and Communion labels over the past decade. Pat's first solo album, Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites saw the light of day in 2001, followed by The Well of Memory in 2004. Music from the Sherman Box Series, a collection of instrumentals, arrived in late 2006. His music fuses an unlikely range of influences including '60s British folk, country rock, & experimental music. On Slightly Sorry, in addition to the Anglo-Irish quasi-folk influences, you get some Garth Hudson attempts, some Roger McGuinn-izations, the odd Crazy Horse-ism and a pretty nifty cover of a song by Youngbloods pal Jeffrey Cain (note there is a near-approximation of some Dave Schramm-ittude on that Cain number -- not really but kinda. Okay, maybe not). After all influences have been calculated, the roots-informed, detail-obsessed, defiantly handspun sound -- and the transcendently glossy results of such alchemy, make the truth about P.G. Six."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	1-2-3
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 308CD

"Quick and easy as 1-2-3 we present the long awaited and much requested digital compact disc release of the '03 -'04 limited-edition vinyl-only series from The Howling Hex. Streamlined to their atomic essences, each song on 1-2-3 is a diamond of soulful tunage pre-prepared to incite and excite and invite further investigation. From the crisply electronic automation of 'Hero' through the homespun operatic mourn of 'Breakaway' to the seven-step border beats of the seductive 'Doing Fine' -- leave alone the always present electric guitar."

Artist:	LOOSE FUR
Title:	Born Again In the USA
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 309CD

"Rising from the undead three years after their debut is Loose Fur with an album of all new, all-American rock and roll called Born Again In the USA. The Loose Fur II sound is irreverently all over the place. Twinned electric guitarmonies and stop-on-a-dime rhythms give way to breezy acoustics and melodious whistling, which in turn fades into an ominous well of vibes, percussion and...distant thunder. Throughout Born Again In the USA, Loose Fur keep the changes (and the chuckles) coming, crafting a complete album of classic and questing pop music that threatens to satisfy fans of Wilco, O'Rourke, On Fillmore and even Godpsell all at once. It's just that all-encompassing -- a populist entertainment that takes no prisoners. Loose Fur is a super group/power trio (take your pick), comprised of Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Glenn Kotche (Wilco and On Fillmore) and Jim O'Rourke (Loggins & Messina)."

Artist:	ESPERS
Title:	II
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 310CD

2009 repress. "From the beginning, Espers has been a living, growing thing. II finds the group at sextet size, with greater powers and capabilities than before. Still, the original spirit of the band -- the American ideal of the democracy (that is in no way reflected in its current government) -- rules Espers in everything they do, gives them true freedoms to reach for the spiritual and the fun at once, and to make their music from it. The sound of Espers II was achieved using a mad variety of instruments, from your standard, everyday Martin 6-string acoustics, Fender jazzbass and drumkit to more exotic implements such as doumbek, dholak and male & female larynx (which we assume are swung around in the air to produce a recorder-like sound). Espers at play tap into their shared spaces with joy and a sense of humor (and wonder, naturally). The musical outcome is a friendly new sensation -- as the record plays, it warms the room and dims the lights with dense yet agile atmospherics, allowing you, the listener to relax, despite and yet still in communion with the realities of our present day."

Artist:	ESPERS
Title:	II
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 310LP

2009 repress of the LP version, originally released 2006. 2009 repress. "The sound of Espers II was achieved using a mad variety of instruments, from your standard, everyday Martin 6-string acoustics, Fender jazzbass and drumkit to more exotic implements such as doumbek, dholak and male & female larynx (which we assume are swung around in the air to produce a recorder-like sound). Espers at play tap into their shared spaces with joy and a sense of humor (and wonder, naturally). The musical outcome is a friendly new sensation -- as the record plays, it warms the room and dims the lights with dense yet agile atmospherics, allowing you, the listener to relax, despite and yet still in communion with the realities of our present day."

Artist:	SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Title:	The Sun Awakens
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 312CD

"Listening to The Sun Awakens back-to-back with its predecessor will provoke a different response. There's a few treats, sure. As a matter of fact, it's all treats to our ears. But it's not all happy beans, just so you know. As a matter of fact, it's the darkest Six Organs of Admittance yet. In addition to titling songs cheerless things like 'Black Wall,' and 'Torn by Wolves,' Ben's brought a bit more electric guitar into the mix to help bring out the darkness. Tim Green is behind the board making sure that everything sounds rock-solid, and the acoustics are brilliant, almost blinding. Side one is a six-song circle where waves of guitars build and beauty is betrayed by madness...in the prettiest possible way. Side two is a trip down the droning 'River of Transfiguration.' The inspiration here is Hermann Nitsch. You might hear Popul Vuh as an influence too, as well as Hapshash and the Coloured Coat. Overall though, Six Organs of Admittance doesn't believe in the critical myth that an artist who flirts with the obscure needs to consolidate their experimental tendencies into more and more listenable music in order to expand the envelope of what pop music can be. He don't believe in a linear aesthetic trajectory either."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	In Stormy Nights
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 313CD

"Over the hour's-worth of music and sound that makes In Stormy Nights, Ghost apply their folk sounds, improvisations and avant-garde constructions to a savage evocation. In the world we live in today, we can only imagine what this means. And we agree. Throughout In Stormy Nights there are a variety of sounds and songs, ranging from pop-folk numbers to hard rock to outré concepts held together by Ghost's diverse musical personality. The essence of Ghost is the epic 'Hemicyclic Anthelion.' Nearly thirty minutes of free improvisation from several live shows are strung together into a seamless progression. This piece is a cornerstone of In Stormy Nights and a representation of the original approach of Ghost -- pure improvisation. Ghost are forever looking for themselves in the music they make. To make ordinary beauty is easy, but Ghost are listening beyond that. Even the acid-folky songs are based in improvisation. Over the years, Ghost have never had the same lineup twice on any of their album sessions -- until now. The In Stormy Nights Ghost is the same Ghost that recorded Hypnotic Underworld and the same group that thundered across the U.S. in 2004. They display intense power on these new recordings, incorporating frame drums and tympanis and the 'springer' (a device made by Batoh that contains metal springs, a resonance box, plasma ball (light) and rotating machine to create a heavy yet Theremin-like sound) into their already-diverse orchestra. The center of the album is a series of tympani-driven songs that rock with a fury, mirroring the martial mood of our governments -- a mood that musicians and artists may not share in beyond reflecting it. This powerful section concludes with an absolutely blasting cover of Cromagnon's 'Caledonia' -- a favorite band of Ghost's that they are delighted to share with listeners in this fashion."

Artist:	PAJO
Title:	1968
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 315CD

"Fans of Pajo's first, self-titled record may be surprised to discover that he's still around to make a second one. After the fragile, shattered tone of Pajo -- and the quiet year that followed its release -- it wouldn't surprise (only shock) to learn that he'd shuffled off our puny mortal coil. Pajo lives on. The melancholy air survives -- but 1968 is by and large less sentimental than Pajo. The making of 1968 was influenced by horror movies, the music of Gorguts, and the poetry of Hafiz. Some of the words are straight from Hafiz and altered to fit. The song 'Wrong Turn' is about the movie of the same name. These diverse elements have been torched and sunk beneath the seemingly placid surface of Pajo's music -- which ripples disturbingly as songs, sounds and lyrics pulse below."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Cursed Sleep
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 316CD

3 track CD single. "The title track of this single is smooth, elegant and assured, with every bit of tangled hair in place. Swaggering in vocally with a hitherto unknown quality and with a gang of string players in tow (the long-haired kind!), Bonnie receives harmonies alternately cute, cool and ballsy from one of his (and our) favorite singers, Dawn 'The Faun' McCarthy. Sweet melody abounds, as it should for an advance look into a mind-blowing new album. And the rest -- Eyes flashing, 'The Signifying Wolf' shuffles discordant through a snake-pit of questions, declamations and undulations -- a dance we're all familiar with, so grab a butt-plug and jump on in. The conga line forms to the rear. As always, when it's all through, there's 'God's Small Song' to be sung -- red-eyed and feeling no pain."

Artist:	HIGH LLAMAS, THE
Title:	Can Cladders
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 317CD

"It's been three years and several months of fortnights since the world was last graced with the sounds of The High Llamas. The acoustic flavor of Beet, Maize & Corn remains present in the sound of Can Cladders -- a string quartet lays the harmonic bed of the material, joined there by a quartet of female vocalists. All of which lends the gospel truth to the Llamas traditional group profile of piano, bass and drums with vibes, organ and a bit of gut-string acoustic for good measure. Plus a few more touches and curves for extra-good measure and good flavor to boot -- after all, ear candy is the once-and-future name of the pop game that created Can Cladders, and The High Llamas have ever been explorers in search of that exotic spice. During the creation of this new music, O'Hagan channeled a lot of white soul into his writing, with inflections of Laura Nyro, the Laurie Records sound, Motown drum feels and late-'70s UK reggae. Listen for the Jerry Dammers bounce in 'Honeytrop' and you'll see how these sounds coalesce with The High Llamas' unsinkable sunshine pop. Equally eclectic in the lyric department, the songs of Can Cladders concern themselves with a number of different premises: a tour manager retiring to Derbyshire, an art theft in East Anglia, the exploration of the Arctic by a city fund manager and ruminations on the Canterbury scene and the life of jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby -- among several other humorous and poignant topics."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Cold & Wet
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 318CD

"First came 'Cursed Sleep,' then The Letting Go. Now get ready to get Cold & Wet, the latest release in a series from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, all centered around the awesome new album, The Letting Go. His new issuances are always greeted with a razed glass and a yell or two from dark corners. Cold & Wet will not let the fucks down -- a favorite from The Letting Go combined with a favorite 'Master and Everyone' song (cut LIVE) and a rendition of a Kenny Rogers favorite from the 1980s, plus (on the CD) the video for 'Cold & Wet'."

Artist:	FAY GROUP, BILL
Title:	Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 319LP

"The Durtro Jnana CD release in early 2005 added a new chapter to the Bill Fay legend. And now comes another addendum: the LP release of Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow features a new mastering of the material, a remix of 'Planet Earth, Daytime' extending the song's length, and the inclusion of three tracks not on the CD ('Change Is Near,' 'Pear Tree' and 'My Friend') in place of a montage of songs (tracks 6-14 from the CD). This is a sequence that better serves the album format and provides a fresh listening perspective for those among us who've worn out their CD copies already. Additionally, Bill Fay has written extensive notes for inclusion in this new package, illuminating the period in which the album was written and the intentions with which it was undertaken. Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow was recorded in 1978-1981 but remained unreleased until 2005. The Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow LP is slightly resequenced and ten minutes shorter than the CD, a move that clarifies the scope and curve of the album."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	Nightclub Version of the Eternal
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 320CD

"Existing simultaneously below the crust of the earth's war-torn culture and on the main street of consumer America, The Howling Hex spend their time pushing their trademark New Border Sound to the bold, the curious, and the jaded alike, crafting sonic pleasures for all needs. Albums such as All Night Fox and 1-2-3 have explored frontier sounds and sampled local cultures while brewing an unmistakable essence of rock and roll as never heard before. The A-V approach of You Can't Beat Tomorrow caught these two Americas in the frame as The Howling Hex jammed their unmistakable sound. Now come seven new songs that take it higher. Nightclub Version Of the Eternal builds, builds and builds in the manner of The Howling Hex live shows seen across America funking on and on with a collective abandon, while dispensing information with g-g-generous style. The wide net of The Howling Hex sound this time around shows the influence of Wolf Parade, Fela and The White Stripes."

Artist:	HAMBURGER, NEIL
Title:	The World's Funnyman
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 321DVD

"The World's Funnyman is the eighth full-length Neil Hamburger release and his second DVD release. Fans of past album releases such as Laugh Out Lord and Raw Hamburger can now enjoy Neil's comedy routines live and in person (on DVD) while waiting for his next concert appearance in their town. Including a concert film, a short documentary, a featurette, and other bonus features!" Also includes FREE limited-edition mini-reproduction of original theatrical lobby card. Contains Swearing. Color / B&W Approx. 90 minutes. NTSC format, all-region.

Artist:	FOSSON, MARK
Title:	The Lost Takoma Sessions
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 322CD

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting 1977's newest discovery -- the best guitar player John Fahey has heard since Leo Kottke -- Mark Fosson! You didn't hear it then, but that's no reason it shouldn't be said after all these years. The CD being hawked here is the work of the last artist ever signed to Takoma Records by John Fahey. Mark's sound will not be unfamiliar to anyone who's heard an album of solo acoustic guitar or two in their life. On The Lost Takoma Sessions, Mark plays his style with the same individual personality that former Fahey discoveries such as Kottke, Robbie Basho and Bola Sete had -- not to mention lesser known Takomen like Peter Lang, Richard Ruskin, and Tom Akstens. The Fosson sound is light and smooth, perhaps best represented by the bright and melodious 'Sky Piece' -- though the entire album is a sweet listen."

Artist:	IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO
Title:	Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It 'Til It Bleeds
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 323CD

"Imitation Electric Piano were formed in 1999 by Simon Johns, Stereolab's bass player of the last seven years, and Andrew Blake, whose credits include Felt and Primal Scream. To sing those words, they chose a rising star in the Brighton folk cosmos, Mary Hampton, and set about writing a handful of songs about breaking up, self-doubt and the death of close friends. Sounds dire, but the songs they came up with retain the catchy riffs and grooves that have been Imitation Electric Piano's forte; this time, with plaintive, fragile melodies on top. Meanwhile, more of Simon's teenage influences have come through, unexpected influences like Black Sabbath, The Stooges, and the Buzzcocks -- all ring-modulated through Imitation Electric Piano's post-modern sonic sensibilities."

Artist:	KING KONG
Title:	Buncha Beans
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 324CD

"The legend has returned. King Kong lives again! It was at the dawn of the century we last heard from Kong, when The Big Bang streaked across skies with its cautionary tale of interplanetary space travel and breeding. Five years have passed since that time -- but time has no meaning to Ethan Buckler, the mad genius behind the funky veil of King Kong. His deceptively-simple-but-actually-quite-layered observational dance tunes don't come easy -- and Kong will sell no groove before its time. The musical menu for the new songs is a little different from the Kongs of lore. This means, more rockin' sounds, less funky sounds on Buncha Beans. Maybe even more grown up than previous incarnations of King Kong -- well, a little more grown up, anyway. Say eighth grade as compared to kindergarten."

Artist:	JANSCH, BERT
Title:	The Black Swan
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 325CD

"Bert Jansch has enjoyed a musical career that stretches right back to the early 1960s. His debut album was recorded on a Revox tape deck in the kitchen of a London flat, played on a succession of borrowed guitars and reputedly sold to Transatlantic Records for £100. The likes of Jimmy Page and Neil Young have all acknowledged how important Jansch's work was in shaping their musical development. Neil has been quoted as saying, 'As much of a great guitar player as Jimi was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar...and my favourite.' Today, new generations of acolytes, including Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler, cite Jansch as a true musical innovator. Records made forty years ago with the band Pentangle and under his own name are now classics being listened to by a new generation of fans. Over the past five years, he's received tributes and awards from the BBC, Mojo magazine and musicians whose music has been influenced by his. Lifetime achievement awards are given because of a lifetime of achievements -- and Bert Jansch has continued to write and record all down the years, creating fresh sounds within the context of traditional music. This essence is fully evident in his fine new release The Black Swan -- which, not unlike his first album, was recorded (partially) at home. The Black Swan features a number of guest appearances from contemporary musicians (such as Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart and members of groups such as Espers and Mazzy Star) living the dream of playing with the master, Bert Jansch."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	The Amber Gatherers
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 326CD

"After his 2005 collection of tragic ballads, No Earthly Man, Alasdair Roberts bounces back with a bright and shiny new record, The Amber Gatherers. We knew the grave couldn't hold him down for long! Seems he's a changed man -- is that a smile playing upon his lips? You best believe it. In contrast to No Earthly Man, whose moments of glee were generally hard to discern (although Lord knows they certainly were there for the keen of ear to enjoy), The Amber Gatherers is a pure pop record. A jukebox record, no less! Seems like this time, Alasdair wanted to make the kind of music you might hear on walking into your favorite bar, rather than drifting from the speakers of, say, your local charnel-house."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Red Gold EP
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 327CD

"Behold Red Gold, the new EP by The Red Krayola in which, following their formal Introduction, they pump out more dark matter from that deep pool of elemental, benchmark crude to lubricate the wheels of history, and rub in your hair. Red Gold features three instrumentals and three songs. 'Paris' conjures the city of lights, an arcade dance-floor at the end of night. 'I Was Bad' is a pure electric harpsichord blues in which fact is truth and truth is triumphant. A gigantic earhook drives 'Easy Street,' the karaoke version of 'Greasy Street'. Its heavy instrumental power fuels words. Come on, sing along. 'The Essence of Life' finds cause for grounds for compassion in the sameness of human function for most purposes. 'The Well' ponders collaboration, how darkness stands to common sense, and how therein hang tales. 'Bong Bong' exits on the street and meanders away. The Red Krayola are members in good standing of the entertainment establishment. They appeal to the broadest cross-section in the marketplace. They have worked and played for forty years inside the great, Billboard-tracked, musico-industrial complex."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Lay & Love
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD EP
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 329CD

"The third single from Bonny's momentous latest. The now-mythic The Letting Go group is fully in effect on Lay & Love -- Jim White and Paul Oldham on rhythm, Emmett Kelly playing guitar, Dawn McCarthy bringing voice and Valgier Sigurdsson recording and mixing. Outside of the context of The Letting Go, 'Lay And Love' shines ever brighter and kicks off a remarkable fourteen minutes of musical experience -- for after 'Lay And Love,' the balance of the single is given over to two rarely-covered songs from the catalog of Bob Dylan. 'Señor' is rendered by Bonnie all on his lonesome (with recording by 'Tusitala de las olas'). 'Going to Acapulco' features backing from the early days of the century -- a New Orleans-style brass band accompaniment."

Artist:	GHOST
Title:	Overture
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DC 330CD

"At sunset on the night of October 9th, 2006, a crowd gathered at Nippon Yusen Soko, a converted warehouse space located on Yokahama Bay. Their purpose: to see and hear new music played by Ghost. Once they had completely arrived, the doors were shut and locked and the announcement made: no one would enter or exit the space until the performance was complete. Starting in complete darkness, the performance was spun, like yarn from a cocoon. The set for this evening was not just new to the audience. For this event, Ghost played entirely improvised material. Improvisation is the wellspring of creation for Ghost, both live and in the studio, though they've never made an entire album of improvisations until now. In order to not miss a single inspiration, Ghost brought their orchestra's-worth of instrumentation, playing bass, drums, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, saxophones, flute, tin-whistle, bells, frame drums, lute, tabla-baya, waterphone and even tapes! The performance space was chosen for its sonic qualities such as natural reverb as well as its resemblance to Potala Palace in Lhasa -- an ancient meditation retreat. Band members were spaced apart to prevent eye contact and allow distance for the reverberations to unfold between them -- which in turn, were recorded by four microphones spaced distantly from the band and faced toward the walls, in order to catch the sound in the room with the audience present as well as the echo of that sound. The CD performance is an edited version of the evening's events -- but the DVD is a completely live, four-camera view into the collective journey of Ghost and their audience. In addition to the sounds and sights of the band in action, the viewer will also experience the atmospheres created by Overheads, whose far-ranging light works (and subtle placement of a lace curtain) enhanced the mood within Nippon Yusen Soko that night." DVD length: 1 hr., 30 mins.; color, NTSC format; All-Region; Audio: Stereo & 5.1 Surround.

Artist:	RTX
Title:	RaTX
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 331CD

Formerly known as ~~Western Xterminator~~, now known as RaTX. New title, same contents as originally released in March, 2007. Message from above: "don't fool around with the pest control business!" "Lights flicker and bells chime. The far-out sound of thunder draws nearer. Jennifer Herrema and her horsemen are returned and ~~Western Xterminator~~ is the recollection of their long journey. The mission statement reads like this: The ~~Western Xterminator~~ travels long miles leading an ever-increasing horde of rats in a train behind. Lured by the high definition frequencies put out by the Xterminator, the rats have no choice but to follow. They dig it, really -- it's a gas. Steeped in smoke, belching flame, couched in a rainbow of fuzz, RTX loosen limbs once again for another trip into the wild. Evolved from the dust like myth from mystery, ~~Western Xterminator~~ plunges from a flute-driven prelude into what brought you here today: solid rock -- flanged and wacked to give the rock corps of RTX their jollies, of course. And if they're happy, you're happy."

Artist:	RTX
Title:	RaTX
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 331LP

"Back in March of this year, we issued RTX's second ball-busting album, under a title that we all really loved and you did too. But the man! The man came down on us, telling us that in a court of law the album with that title would be struck down and that we must cease and rethink. Thusly armed, we went to RTX and told them that a rebirth was at hand. Fortunately, they were up for the change -- and RaTX is the inevitable result! Containing the exact same contents as its former self, RaTX has the additional benefit of being released in a super-limited vinyl edition (manufactured behind the former Iron Curtain) with exclusive artwork. It's the least we can do to party in the face of the man and his stupid rules and laws. If you haven't given rock of the heaviest kind a spin this year, RaTX is the album you need to have. Unless you already have it under a different title."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Woke On A Whaleheart
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 332CD

"You could say this is Bill Callahan's debut album. Although he's sired a dozen albums under the name of Smog, he has laid that name to rest and, well, Woke on a Whaleheart. Another debut. With the same maverick spirit of, say, a Nilsson or a Cat Stevens, Bill Callahan has made an album that is born of no school of music other than what is in his heart and soul. Boasting the propulsive, glittering and classically pretty arrangements of Neil Michael Hagerty, this album manages to bypass the trends of the modern day while shunning retro entrapments. With a mix of gospel backing vocals by Deani Pugh-Flemmings of the Olivet Baptist Church, the incendiary guitar work of Pete Denton, and the honeyed violins of Elizabeth Warren, the music on this album touches on gospel, tough pop and American Light Opera."

Artist:	FUCKING CHAMPS, THE
Title:	VI
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 333CD

"It is oft opined that to the victor go the spoils; truly then, the world belongs to the Champs. The Fucking Champs, that is. In the four years since the release of V, they have roamed their domain endlessly, holding concerts when and where they desired. As ever, the neck-choking guitar acrobatics that are The Fucking Champs' signature are in place. The pummeling of tom-toms reaches dizzying, spiritual heights. Their almost clairvoyant guitar interplay and ferocious drum attack is captured in transparent sterling detail. Their grand and benevolent (yet playful) sense of humor (that has no relationship to irony whatsoever) arcs above the melee, creating song titles such as 'A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Ideas,' and 'That Crystal Behind You? (Are You Channeling).' Yes, humor has its uses."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Diamond Dancer
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 335CD

"Bill Callahan is the man who used to record under the name Smog. Now he is Bill Callahan. He cut an album with Neil Michael Hagerty co-producing and arranging all the songs last. Bill decided to give people a head's up and a taste of what's to come by releasing a single from the album with an exclusive B-side that comes from the same sessions but won't be on the album. 'Diamond Dancer' is the story of a young lady having an epiphany on the dance floor while dancing alone. 'Dancing all by herself and not minding,' as the song says."

Artist:	NEWSOM, JOANNA
Title:	Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band E.P.
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 336CD

"A new Joanna Newsom record already? Don't rub your eyes and ears just yet -- it's 'just' an EP. But with all new arrangements and performances of two already-classic Joanna songs and the debut of a brand-new song, it's a solid short-play record at least -- and another inspiring slice of Newsom at best! Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band E.P. was performed by Joanna's road-tested band: Kevin Barker, Neal Morgan, Dan Cantrell and Ryan Francesconi, with Joanna Newsom singing and playing her harp. Recorded and mixed in its entirety by Tim Green at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band E.P. is an all-new, live and lively look into the world of one of today's fastest-growing young artists."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Strange Form Of Life
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 337CD

"Another haunting chapter from The Letting Go, 'Strange Form of Life' is highlighted for your edification. The gauzy webs of this song gleam with clarity divorced from its siblings on The Letting Go; the music made by Emmett Kelly, Dawn McCarthy, Paul Oldham and Jim White shines all the brighter. In stark relief are the three tracks from a Daytrotter session, done during the Bonny Billy free tour of Midwestern states in August 2006. In the wide-open spaces of Iowa, the ten year-old songs 'New Partner,' and 'The Sun Highlights the Lack in Each,' are delivered in solo performances of Bonnie with guitar, both finding new life in the process. Also delivered is a pre-release version of 'The Seedling,' bristling with the energy found in the layers of The Letting Go version. The appearance of an electric guitar in this ostensible 'solo' performance only adds to the mystery and menace of the song."

Artist:	BORIS WITH MICHIO KURIHARA
Title:	Rainbow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 338CD

"Boris with Michio Kurihara -- a not unlikely combination, but who thought it would happen? Yet they play with such fantastic harmony. Rainbow is not just a perfect combination; it is a meeting place, with all players aligned in a singular cause -- to make a album that elevates us and them. For such a formidable combine of noise-making rock and rollers, there is much open space in Rainbow. Sometimes akin to a topless chasm extending forth into the firmament, Rainbow is also a horizonless atmosphere, with Boris' spacious trio creation scorched by traces of Kurihara's skywriting guitar leads. Make no mistake: Rainbow is not without its moments of speaker-shredding intensity. Opening with the powerful cry of 'Rafflesia,' the album flashes through dynamic moments, with short pop songs providing interludes to lengthy expeditions. A glockenspiel glimmers in the distance and Takeshi and Wata take turns with the lead vocals. Muted intimacy is blasted open with a droning, tom-pounding jam. The colors shift gracefully throughout, giving lie to the album title. Is elegance a word for Boris? They array their rock with great care, and Kurihara's encyclopedic habit of guitar tones accompanies them with great sensitivity -- ranging from Mesozoan stomps to near-static meditations to concise melodies rendered with precision? in other words, Rainbow is a heavy rock album with classically melodic aims -- who doesn't love such a thing?"

Artist:	CONCENTRICK
Title:	Aluminum Lake
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 339CD

"Concentrick is the sonic endeavor of one Tim Green -- the very same Tim Green who engineers your favorite records, the heaviest records, mostly done in his very own Louder Studios; the self-same Tim Green who revolutionizes your collection of fine metal with the records by his band, The Fucking Champs. Former incarnations of Concentrick have passed through phases of all-electronics and all-ambient, only to arrive at this organic, and occasionally rocking place. You will find Tim's signature melodic layers of augmented fourths and fifths in Aluminum Lake, but know this: not all these layers are flung from an electric fret board -- many rise from acoustic guitars and vintage analog synths! And that's what you love about Aluminum Lake -- it is a natural synthesis. It unifies your cold, helpless being in a world that seeks to drag you down, arming you with a weightless arsenal. Strapped to the hilt, your favorite weapon invigorates. As you sleep, it surrounds and protects you with gentle waves."

Artist:	BAIRD, MEG
Title:	Dear Companion
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 340CD

"There was a time when traditional music was just folk -- a time when folk wasn't hyphened up with words like psych and rock and pop. It was just there on its lonesome, like a lone girl and guitar. That's what you hear on Meg Baird's Dear Companion. Her lyrical singing and songwriting imbues the sound of the psych-folk group (see, there we go again) Espers, but this is Meg's solo debut. Traditional songs are of such great age that it is not known where they began. They are lost to time, for a world to pick on and interpret. With songs like 'The Cruelty of Barbary Allen,' 'Willie O' Winsbury,' and the title track, Meg interprets the old airs with voice and fingerstyle picking. Mixing traditional songs with her original compositions lends the album its variety. She further mixes it up by reaching for some deep cuts from a few records most of us haven't yet heard. Sure, there's a Jimmy Webb song, we're good with that -- but we've got Meg to thank for all our future listens to Fraser & DeBolt (whose delightful 'The Waltze Of the Tennis Players' is covered) and Chris Thompson. And her cover of The New Riders of the Purple Sage song 'All I Ever Wanted' will make your heart explode in a way the NRPS version never did -- gently."

Artist:	HANNEMANN, JENS
Title:	Complicated Drumming Technique
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 341DVD

"After many years of selling LPs and CDs full of the wild mystery of music with no explanations and fewer apologies, Drag City is pleased to finally be able to give something back to the legions of wanna-be musicians that form our listening audience around the world. Complicated Drumming Technique is a first for us: an educational DVD teaching the craft of drum work (aka drumming) to beginners and experts alike. Respected comedian and television personality Fred Armisen brought percussionist Jens Hannemann to our attention with an ingenious DVD that opened our eyes to the responsibilities and million little victories that drummers everywhere experience behind the kit, unbeknownst to us. If we knew so little about it, then the rest of you are probably completely in the dark! Don't worry; Jens Hannemann's Complicated Drumming Technique can easily be yours as well." Special Features: Printed Scores, Interactive Menus, Chapter Selection, Full-Color DVD label. Color, NTSC format, region free, Running time: 28 min.

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA WITH ART & LANGUAGE, THE
Title:	Sighs Trapped by Liars
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 343CD

"With the entirely new music statement, Sighs Trapped by Liars, The Red Krayola renew their association with conceptual artists, Art & Language. Beginning in 1973, their collaboration includes the video projects 'Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors,' and 'Struggle in New York,' as well as the much-acclaimed and decried music releases, Corrected Slogans, Kangaroo?, and Black Snakes. Thirty years has mellowed the various parties not at all. The faint-hearted might want to swallow something calming before giving Sighs Trapped by Liars a spin. Sighs Trapped by Liars is as much a delightful bit of latter-day entertainment as it is a sensational musical excursion not trapped in any era. The composers of Red Krayola classics such as 'Keep All Your Friends,' 'Portrait of V.I.Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock,' 'Black Snakes,' and 'Born In Flames' have made another try at negotiating the relationship between language and music in this new collection. Speaking in a contemporary (and frequently foul-mouthed) voice they say something we could all stand to hear -- in a popular music format that we can all enjoy. Those expecting a further trip into the radical leftist pamphleteering of the former works will have to listen closely; these are new songs for new days. Perspectives are taken from quotes, exhibits and jokes of history are translated into material that addresses the state of the art. This music couldn't be made without the experiences and politics of former days. The questions the '60s asked about the very idea of music and objects inform the practice today; the relationship of these new songs to the old ones is projective and analytical, subject to change without notice."

Artist:	TURNER/TREN BROTHERS, MICK
Title:	Blue Trees
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 344CD

"Since 1997, we've happily issued Mick's distinctive brand of instrumental guitar songs on records such as Tren Phantasma, Marlin Rosa and Moth, in addition to the self-titled Tren Brothers EP -- so we know of where we speak. We enjoy the nocturnal and oceanic leanings of Brother Mick's compositional muse. But we're not the only ones. In addition to his worldwide fanbase, Mick also numbers among his admirers other record labels -- and over the course of time, he's responded to their flatterings by bestowing them with a song or two for their compilation, or vinyl-only single project or limited-edition CD... whatever these freaks wanted, Mick didn't care. It's just about music and art to our boy. Thing about vinyl-only/limited-edition/and compilation releases is: they don't last forever. Now that some of these releases have run their course, we're here to beat the bootleggers -- go back to your live shows, dicks! In the meantime, we've got a proper singles compilation for a hitherto unlikely suspect -- Mick Turner. It's called Blue Trees and it has some unreleased tracks and some great cover art from Mick that explains more than we ever could about the album title or the music. It's a whole new record."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	XI
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 345CD

"Off in the distance, the sounds of cities and towns groan, rumble and heave. It might be bustling industry or some strange storm that stuck around so long that inhabitants forgot it was ever supposed to leave. In some places, it is rumored that sirens are forgotten altogether. Can you imagine? OMG! With this in mind, The Howling Hex congregated. A tour had been booked and there was work to do. Working collaboratively with each other, the band descended upon each city in turn. Nightly, they gathered with the citizens and took note. Wherever The Howling Hex went, they heard the sirens -- howling, screaming, soothing. They put them in the grooves of their new songs. Writing songs on the road and playing them, night after night, led them and us to this moment-defining statement: XI. After all, Odysseus tied himself to a mast for a reason. A piece of every city can be heard on XI. In fact, spin XI on and you will find as well several states of mind and sound in the funky-swift, breviloquent songs. Think of The Minutemen playing Blue Oyster Cult's 'Godzilla' backwards (and underwater) to the post apocalyptic denizens of Hendrix's '1983' -- but think fast because another song is coming and there's a riot going on. Guitar leads conversing with fat bass leads in front and behind you as saxophones wail before stripped-down drums, the frenetic beating of the conga and other percussive instruments. This unnameable thing we know as rock is matched on XI with sharp-eyed lyricism and a multiplicity of vocal approaches."

Artist:	RANDALL OF NAZARETH
Title:	Randall of Nazareth
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 347CD

"The connection between Randall and his mother band is evident from the kickoff track, 'Safety in the Sand,' which rolls like a rock group named Pearls and Brass, but with the rhythm section mysteriously disappeared and an acoustic guitar replacing the galloping electric. As different time signatures and tempos drift in through the performances, the preferred mode of expression remains acoustic, to haunting effect. Randall of Nazareth's take on the folk blues canon is expert, informed by the deities of the 19th and 20th centuries, but idiosyncratically his own. Picking and groaning, Randall streamlines the performances with discreet touches: jingling bells sweeping through 'Climbing Trees,' a chorus of harmony voices in the distance in 'It's Nice to Know,' extra licks on the guitar or vocal here and there. There's an inherent joy in the playing and the realization of these odd moments -- which is good, because there's a numbed loneliness to Randall of Nazareth that the song 'Ballad Of A Sorry, Lonely, Breaking Man,' (with the lyric couplet 'my closest friend and I can't bear to hear your name/I should pack my things and go back from where I came') doesn't begin to touch. Randall of Nazareth sees the world from the bottom of a glass, with the floor falling away to expose an underworld of aching soul. Gritty, arid, timeless... this is music that evokes squalor with elegance, evoking midnight at noon with all mysteries intact and growing quietly more intense with the years. Randall of Nazareth is Randy of Pearls and Brass."

Artist:	SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Title:	Shelter From The Ash
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 348CD

"Shelter From The Ash features a most fluid combination of electric and acoustic Six Organs of Admittance styles. Chasny went into the studio with the songs both in his mind and also demoed out, a different way of working than in previous sessions. Sure, improvisations were still a big part of the sound; within the song structures, they create dynamic sparks from the other side of the inspiration. Additionally (if you must know), standard tuning played a part for the first time in history -- but don't worry, this doesn't mean that Six Organs of Admittance has come in from the drone-storm -- far from it! The man who was once 'Torn By Wolves' in an unknown key is now 'Coming To Get You,' no matter what it takes -- with a tuning any man could play, but few would use as he does. The session was conducted in the glamorous confines of San Francisco's Louder Studios, where so many bands have had their hard and heavy essence redefined. Six Organs of Admittance was no exception. Additionally, the session featured such luminaries as The Magik Markers' Elisa Ambrogio, The Fucking Champs' Tim Green and Chasny's Comets On Fire bandmate Noel Harmonson and gadabout-to-the-stars Matt Sweeney pitching in. Six Organs of Admittance has been a collaborative ground in the past, and what happened here is what always happens: an organic oneness, a record very comfortable in its many skins."

Artist:	BISHOP, SIR RICHARD
Title:	Polytheistic Fragments
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 349CD

"It goes without saying that Polytheistic Fragments is an instrumental release -- who among us would want it otherwise? In the tradition of his classic debut, Salvador Kali, this new record features equal amounts of improvisation and composition. Sir Richard's powers lie in his ability to captivate with just the sound of his guitar, but he doesn't completely abandon studio processes, which allow Polytheistic Fragments to communicate a greater wholeness: all Sir Rick, all the time, if you will. We have come to expect a few solo acoustic guitar pieces with the gypsy stylings of his hero, Django Reinhardt -- and as if to tenderize our consciousness and prepare it for the ride, 'Cross My Palm with Silver' meets and exceeds our expectations. 'Rub 'Al Khali' is an ode to the oud, a northern African lute of sorts. On 'Free Masonic Guitar,' Sir Richard manifests free form acoustic playing wholly in his own style. Peppering the mix are the sounds of electric guitar and lap steel guitar, bringing contrast and color. 'Hecate's Dream' is a dreamy praise to a dark Greek Goddess, but 'Tennessee Porch Swing' and 'Canned Goods and Firearms' switch gears to good old down home Americana and country twang. Sir Richard is renowned for his prowess and mastery with the guitar, but the piano playing on Polytheistic Fragments shows a fluid, meditative style. 'Saraswati' is a lengthy river piece bathed in Hindustani serenity, while 'Cemetery Games' is a short celebratory skeletal dance, with more light-heartedness than spook. In a record with so many spirits, Bishop fills in the space where necessary and rounds out the feeling with catchy tunes such as 'Elysium Number Five' and 'Ecstasies in the Open Air.' Polytheistic Fragments shows that the divinely inspired Sir Richard Bishop cannot be contained in one form."

Artist:	WHITE MAGIC
Title:	Dark Stars
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 350CD

"In our galaxy small regions of space weighing more than about five of our suns exist. They consume nearby gas and stars and nothing ever escapes their grasp. In the centers of large galaxies these regions can weigh as much as several billion suns -- Dark Stars. The Dark Stars EP contains themes of the Universe, and the dark stars that remain unseen in the night sky and within us. They are the infinite holes in the universe and in the human soul, remnants of a supernova. Invisible stars exist if they are massive enough. The Dark Stars EP is succinct and has a more immediate sound than the sprawling landscape and detail of its predecessor, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, yet still captures the same spirit of depth and exaltation. Mira Billotte's song writing and vocal incantations once again convey an ephemeral, immortal universe of sounds. 'Dark Stars' also has great vocal additions from Doug Shaw that interweave with Mira's commanding voice, plus an excellent Doug Shaw composition called 'Winds.' In addition, Jim White contributes his complimentary and intuitive powers on drums. Tim Koh adds a new layer of strength on bass with intricate lines and just the right emphasis on key parts."

Artist:	WHITE MAGIC
Title:	Dark Stars
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 350EP

12" vinyl version of this 4 track EP, the 4th White Magic release on Drag City. "The Dark Stars EP is succinct and has a more immediate sound than the sprawling landscape and detail of its predecessor, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, yet still captures the same spirit of depth and exaltation. Mira Billotte's song writing and vocal incantations once again convey an ephemeral, immortal universe of sounds. 'Dark Stars' also has great vocal additions from Doug Shaw that interweave with Mira's commanding voice, plus an excellent Doug Shaw composition called 'Winds.' In addition, Jim White contributes his complimentary and intuitive powers on drums. Tim Koh adds a new layer of strength on bass with intricate lines and just the right emphasis on key parts."

Artist:	BABY DEE
Title:	Safe Inside The Day
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 351CD

"I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. This album is very much about the street I grew up on. Where The Earlie King ruled without mercy. And Bobby Slot and Freddy Weiss invented the Dance of Diminishing Possibilities. I left for New York in 1972 and eventually became a musician. I was good at the sacred and I was good at the profane but I could never get the hang of anything in between and I went from the street to the church to the street again and then I stopped. I found myself back in Cleveland and began to write songs. And then I stopped writing songs. I thought I had said everything I had to say and there was nothing left to say, so I simply stopped. And then I remembered Bobby Slot and Freddy Weiss and my own father and all the little ghosts that lived with us and I realized that there was something left to say after all. The inside is bigger than the outside, more important, and less destructible. 'Many mansions' and all that. Kingdom of god. I love everybody." --Dee

Artist:	VALERIE PROJECT, THE
Title:	The Valerie Project
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 352CD

"Greg Weeks (of Espers) is describing the genesis of a new musical review entitled The Valerie Project. Inspired by a classic of Czech New Wave cinema, Jaromir Jires' Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), Greg, joined by members of Espers and other Philadelphia groups such as Fern Knight, Grass, Fursaxa, Timesbold, Woodwose and Rake (as well as enigmatic electronicist Charles Cohen), conceived a new soundtrack to the film. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is an allegorical coming of age film; a work populated by bewitched earrings, weasels, vampires, frisky maidens, friskier huntsmen, wicked aunts, bespectacled eagles and the handsomest moustache this side of 1970, the year the film debuted. Key to The Valerie Project's conception is how reframing the film's action with an alternate soundtrack draws new interpretations from a work of depth and changeable meaning. Lubos Fiser's original score is lovingly recalled and ambitiously targeted by the group as a sound cycle to be equalled every time they play it. The tone is dense and ornate, expansively acid-charged -- 'a symphonic version of Magma' at its zenith. In particular, the film's themes of lost innocence and pastoral living struck a chord with Weeks and his fellow players. 'There's a current movement towards responsible living... a need and desire to reorient to a world that is too chaotic, too oppressive, too technologically stifling,' says Weeks. 'It's a new version of the "back to the land" phenomenon only with lessons learned. Valerie taps into so much of that. It projects a political and cultural message that is all the more relevant today.'"

Artist:	RTX
Title:	JJ GOT LIVE RaTX
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 353CD

"You're cruisin' down interstate X with your hair thrashin' through the t-top . . . all of a sudden JJ GOT LIVE RaTX hits the box like nothing you've heard! Skyscraping power chords . . .'Rainbow High!' Arcing from the walls of solid concrete blocks . . . huge hooks that would twist the biggest shark in the pond . . . you gotta get the record, touch it . . . and lick it up! HEY, Kid, We'll take you to Venice Beach. Body-builders stepping on rats and all that. Roller-bladers. SHIT! Push yourself past the break and ride the wave through the crash. Pounding and pounding. It gets all inside your head. Totally hit me heavy. Like, go big or go home. I mean, I went to high school -- for like a minute! What I learned is that it ain't for me. Since, it's been nothing but tasty waves and the kindness. People talking about it all like it's the end, like we're moving downward. Spirals and shit. But that's not my reality. Some say we do it different, and they're on target. See, we're on cruise control, lookin' straight ahead, knee-highs up on the dash board. Still smokin' indoors. A parallel paradise. Copper-toned hulks and honeys everywhere, down by the pier, chillaxin'. New Wave in California means metallic skies. A luxury everyone can afford. Yeah, JJ GOT LIVE RaTX is the white-hot luxury sound for sure. Jennifer's pipes are smokin' and she's offering no mercy at its finest. The songs got flashy virtuoso drums, full-wave synth sweeps and shred guitar that will knock you on your ass and leave you slobbering for more. And they got more. JJ GOT LIVE RaTX -- you should get some too."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Ask Forgiveness
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD EP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 354CD

"Following the many intensities of The Letting Go and its three singles and EP, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy went to Philadelphia to cool out with a record of covers versions. But the combination of summer days, Philadelphia streets and the way Bonnie was ambushed in the cooling process, producing eight sizzlers instead and creating the need to 'ask forgiveness.' Redolent of the haze hovering o'er the city of brotherly love, Ask Forgiveness was recorded on the fly at Hexham Head. With a basic alignment of Bonnie and Meg Baird on acoustics and vocals and Greg Weeks on electric guitar, aided and abetted by Maggie Wienk on cello at times, the colors begin shifting and flashing right away, with acoustics glinting and a bit of electric guitar tone, running clean to resonant to Leslie and back; a light touch on the faders bringing vocals and guitars to and fro in perfect time. Covering a handful of diverse songwriters (Newbury, Guðmundsdóttir, Anzalone, Ochs, Billy, Haggard, Caldwell and Kelly), Bonnie makes each one of their songs his own simply, through the process of having taken it within and loving it -- and then singing it out again, in good company."

Artist:	MAJOR STARS
Title:	Mirror/Messenger
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 355CD

"Now giant-size and louder than ever, Major Stars plunge further down the path of their second, larger life with Mirror/Messenger. Their new sextet record features the same triple-guitar frontline and fervid vocalizations from Sandra Barrett as did 2006's Syntoptikon -- but with more songs then ever before found on a single Major Stars album (as many as two albums, in several cases). Mirror/Messenger is an assault on popular music, with considerable muscle exerted to create a jukebox-ready duck-and-shuffle -- if the needle don't get tossed out the groove, that is. From their Massachusetts aerie, Major Stars have rocked the world six albums over during the past decade. On this, their sixth album, the signature guitar union of Wayne Rogers and Kate Village (first immortalized in Crystalized Movements and later in Magic Hour) is further emboldened by Tom Leonard, whose prior tenure as Major Stars bassist ensures that he knows of what Major Stars rock. Sandra Barrett's lead wail gives every song an unshakable foundation from which the screaming solos depart with fearless frequencies. If the new sound of Major Stars sound is wider and more vivid than known, it's because this time, there's twenty-four tracks of rockness blaring at you through the mix. Plus, the relatively new lineup have an album, a tour and another year of life under their belt. And ultimately, ten years have done nothing to mellow Major Stars, for which they must be congratulated. The devious interweaving of the psychedelic with the rock is, as ever, a delight, to consistent yet somehow changed ends. They keep the craft surging forward, maintaining sufficient heat to ensure that nothing gathers on them as they beat it down the line."

Artist:	SINGER
Title:	Unhistories
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 356CD

"Singer is the rock band peopled by Robert Lowe, Todd Rittmann, Adam Vida and Ben Vida. Their music has two guitars, bass and some drums, plus four lovesome voices that may or may not have given the band their name (we don't know for sure, they're kinda tightlipped when not singing). The Unhistories sound is psychedelic, but not in the paisley way. More mind-expanding/modern... get it straight, Singer isn't referencing any past trend in music. Their original idea involves their (very) original compositions tangling with voices stumbling, clucking, heaving, whipping, shrieking and sighing in a graceful jumble. This is a crux. They've played around a little bit and there's a convivial breeze that blows the air on show evenings. Singer stride forth from the crowd and strike their variations on the pose. Then the semi-describable WHAM of their show, a friendly sidling that shatters into lurching, explosive entertainment without fail. A stiff-legged stomp with that argument of harmony voices uncoiling throughout. What do you expect? It's kinda tense or it's nothing. But it's not a nightmare, just a weird dream. Don't be afraid!"

Artist:	SILVER JEWS
Title:	Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 358CD

"Silver Jews make quintessentially American popular music -- but 'Suffering Jukebox' and 'My Pillow is the Threshold' strike deep into the worldwide realm of the chart-worthy Song. This is the sound that sold out countless shows across the globe on the first-ever Silver Jews tour back in 2005 and 2006. This is a sound for all nations. Witness the wide-hearted power of the chorus of 'Strange Victory, Strange Defeat' or the ear-pleasuring chime of 'Open Field' (a Maher Shalal Hash Baz cover!), which will recall to old-timers their footloose days of R.E.M. fandom before the rest of the world knew or cared -- or didn't care anymore. Here the urgent burst of life and how to live it is realized! Days of '80s-'90s flavor are aflame again in these tunes. For Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea's epic centerpiece, look no further than 'San Francisco, B.C.' A panorama of music history is on display behind Berman's fable of dovetailing fates, featuring the ominous appearance of Mr. Games -- a Merry Pranksters version of 'Street Hassle,' if you will. As ever, history is longer than we think. Classic Silver Jews-isms signal our arrival into 'Candy Jail,' an institution overflowing with assorted titular sweets as well as a few bitter treats too. Suddenly the sky is overhead as the breeze ruffs our hair and 'Party Barge' is merrily launched. It's back to a state of nature for the finale, and with the realization that 'We Might Be Looking for the Same Thing,' along with all our other human feelings, we swing back to our local jungle, waving goodbye to D.C.B. and his bunch, edified, emulsified, intensified, stronger, ready. Uncanny! Excellent! An essential product of the times! A new and necessary album from Silver Jews!"

Artist:	ESPVALL & MASAKI BATOH, HELENA
Title:	Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 359CD

"Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh are known to open-eared music listeners for their collaborations with other artists -- artists with names such as Ghost, Espers, Damon & Naomi, Fursaxa, Tom Rapp, Lukas Ligeti, Bert Jansch, among many others. By collaborating with each other, they've made one of the most beautiful recordings either one of them has yet participated in. They first met at a festival in the United States in 2006. Batoh presented Helena with a handmade bamboo instrument; short on spare celli, she gave him a copy of her solo CD. Afterwards, they stayed in touch. At some point Helena suggested an improvised musical collaboration. Batoh wrote back and said: 'Actually I'm too busy now to think about music... if my idols Moondog, Henry Cowell or Toru Takemitsu wanted me, I'll refuse their orders.' Several weeks later, he had a change of heart. He contacted Helena and said that he felt they should record not improvisations only, but songs as well. Helena made a demo of some Scandinavian folk songs that she remembered in her spirit from growing up in northern Sweden, thinking that maybe they'd record one. The recording session was held in Tokyo over four days in December 2007. For instruments fans, this session might be a treasure. So many strings were used: 6- and 12-string guitar, banjo, cello, hurdy-gurdy, harp, contra bass, chappa Tibetan bells, Kin (Buddist metallic bowl), timpani, bass marimba, vibraphone, thunder sheet & on & on. Six of the Swedish traditional tunes were reconstructed, along with Batoh's arrangement of 'Death Letter,' a classic Son House delta blues song. Additionally, a European medieval tune was addressed in its own arrangement and expression. 'Zeranium,' a dreamy folk tune that Batoh wrote for Damon & Naomi (they didn't use it), was re-arranged for this session as well. The improvisations were done on the last recording day, with no overdubs. 'Completely Free' was the essential concept. For one of them, they were joined by Batoh's fellow Ghosts Takuyuki Moriya (contra bass), Kazuo Ogino (piano,Celtic harp) and the santur player Mayumi Nagayoshi. The same morning, Helena had received notice that her grandmother suddenly had died, and that a dear friend had chosen to end his life. Two death letters in one day? There is great emotion reflected in the improvisations. And great depth and beauty throughout the whole Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh album."

Artist:	SPACEMAN/SUN CITY GIRLS, J.
Title:	Mister Lonely: Music From A Film By Harmony Korine OST
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 360CD

"When Harmony Korine started the production for his film Mister Lonely back in 2006, he asked two of his favorite artists to send him music to accompany the images and scenes he was putting together. They were busy, so fuck 'em, they get no ink here -- but both Jason Spaceman and Sun City Girls were actually his favorites anyway. Some of the sounds these two formidable musicals acts made comprise the all-new soundtrack album, Mister Lonely -- Music From A Film By Harmony Korine. Korine's previous films have found their truths in unblinking realities cross-cut with surreal images, exposing an emotional core that remains elusive after the movie is over -- ennui, delight, disgust, celebration... soft-core snuff porn? Mister Lonely subtly heightens all these effects with a narrative involving celebrity impersonators searching for a place where they just can be themselves and nuns who have discovered a new way to fly. The soundtrack for Mister Lonely is deceptively minimal -- a guitar or piano line that blinks past repetition and blushes into something grander; a motif reappearing under new auspices; link pieces that become spotlight moments, densely worked-out, stars in their own right. Classic soundtrack sounds are modern and nostalgic, which may make the progressive tilt of Mister Lonely 2008's #1 dark-horse chart-topper! Working independently and never collaborating (would you believe in studios right next door to each other? How about in same studio during different hours of the day?), Jason Spaceman and Sun City Girls employ an instrumental approach for the sounds here, with one or two chanted exceptions. Their music conspires in an exquisite corpse-like fashion -- without knowing what the other was doing, they've each brought half a body to the film, supplying the apparitional and austere sounds of a world in which everyone is something they're not, i.e. the people they dream of being."

Artist:	MONOTONIX
Title:	Body Language
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 361CD

"Monotonix are a punk trio from Tel Aviv, featuring guitar (Yonatan), drums (Ran) and vocals (Ami). They formed in November 2005, set up on the floor of the club with the audience, and the party began. But the party usually got too wild, the power got cut, the cops were called and Monotonix were banned from playing again almost everywhere. Before long, they were looking for good places to play outside of Israel -- and they were delighted to find that there are more rock and roll party places outside of Israel than inside! Body Language sounds almost like a Monotonix show. The only thing you can't hear is the sound of your heart beating in your ears after having been chased around the room by a vocalist with his pants literally on fire, then getting doused with beer and dancing your ass off to the guitar riffage, then ending it all by carrying the drummer around on your shoulders while a few other guys hold his kit up so he can keep drumming. You don't end up quite as out of breath when listening to Body Language, but you do get a ton of excitement anyway, courtesy of a killer guitar sound, precision power drumming and lusty lead vocals (with just a few little overdub touches, to add even more excitement)."

Artist:	OSOREZAN
Title:	Mimidokodesuka
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 362.1CD

"'Do you like Derek Bailey?' This was the question posed to Jim O'Rourke on his first meeting with bass-playing fury Darin Gray. Fifteen years later, this Osorezan record might help you guess the answer -- but in case you're on the dense side: yes, Jim liked Derek Bailey and he got on famously with Darin too. They've made lots of great records together (Brise Glace, Hoffman Estates, All Most Heaven, Jim's solo albums) and had lots of laughs making 'em. Osorezan came about when Jim was given the opportunity to bring some players to Japan to basically do whatever he wanted. A wide, kinky net for sure -- but after considering his options, what he chose to do was a 'deep roots' project (spoilsport!), a return to the kind of music he played before anything else, way back at the beginning (circa the '80s and his teenage years, in case you're wondering when the beginning was). The very nature of free jazz/improvisation means that you are always joining up with other people -- and over the years, Jim had participated in plenty of sessions such as these (developing a guitar style that has grown and changed but remains essentially the same one he started with), but had never initiated one of his own. He's been a shy lad, though you wouldn't know it from reading The Wire. And so Osorezan was formed! Jim on electric guitar and Darin on contrabass bonded with Chris Corsano, who's blown the free world on its tony ass with his unbridled power, intensely collaborative nature and smooth stickwork behind the kit (before you get any ideas, he's a drummer). Plus, Björk's fans seem to like him too. Mimidokodesuka was recorded live at the Pit Inn in Tokyo during a 2005 residency that included sets with alto sax legend Akira Sakata (recordings of which have been released separately and elsewhere). The music appears here pretty much as played, all from the first set. The agreement between players is kinetic and immediate, with everybody playing alternately for each other and to the skies. There's lots of color and dynamic tension, for those of you who like that sort of thing. Lots of good awesomeness too, if you're interested in that. Mimidokodesuka means 'where's my ear?' You'll find the question appropriate to the listening experience, especially if you do the right thing and PLAY IT LOUD."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	Tamper
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 362.2CD

"Part two of the multi-part Jim O'Rourke 'Old Timing' reissue series is Tamper, from 1991. Tamper is a set of three acoustic instrumental compositions recorded on analog tape during the final days of the first digital wave (we're at the end of at least the third wave nowadays), when everyone but a certain young schoolboy in short pants were looking towards CDs and DATs as the things of the future. Fools! As both those purely transitory formats fade into obsolescence (what's DAT?), Tamper's analog sound rises again -- and even though it comes to you on the frighteningly emaciated CD format, it's still a reminder of the reward that pure sound before all definition has to offer us. The spaced-out minimalism of Tamper is as forward-looking today as it was 17 years ago -- and as such, it's a seminal work in Jim O'Rourke's catalog. That's what this reissue series is all about, bringing it all back home to some of the young master's lesser-known works -- all remastered and shit. And with Tamper, the goal is to get back to listening to the sound rather than what we expect of it -- the literal sound of a piano as opposed to us hearing our expectations regarding the playing of a piano. As sweet and virginal as all this sounds, we the listener find ourselves straining to hear unvarnished acoustical sound throughout the album -- there's some of that here, but there's definitely some pixie dust in Jim's methods. Tamper's three pieces move quite fluidly along -- so much so, that you might never consider that they're actually mapped out in a constant series of crossfades. No particular sound lasts more than 10 or 20 seconds, a process which interprets things in its own mind- (and ear-) bending manner -- and gives Tamper a blazed trail all of its own!"

Artist:	HAMBURGER, NEIL
Title:	Sings Country Winners
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 363CD

"America's hardest working, most profoundly suffering Funnyman returns with his eighth Drag City release. No two Neil Hamburger albums have ever been alike, but this one will throw even the staunchest fan for a loop: Neil Hamburger sings country and western. As with the classic 'celebrity vocal' album by the likes of William Shatner and Telly Savalas, Neil's personality shines through, even when his vocal chords don't. Seven originals and three obscure covers pack in a maximum of storytelling and pathos in the tradition of the late great Porter Wagoner. On this once-in-a-lifetime release, Neil is backed up by a 'too good for Neil Hamburger' band who ensure that the sound is vintage country rather than unwanted novelty -- or worse yet, the universally-hated sound of contemporary country radio."

Artist:	SUARASAMA
Title:	Fajar Di Atas Awan
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 364CD

"Drag City is pleased to reintroduce the sound of Suarasama to the world. Fajar Di Atas Awan was first released by Radio France Internationale (RFI) in 1998, and the title track appeared on a Smithsonian Folkways compilation in 2000. This release is the first U.S. issue of the entire album and its first-ever release on LP anywhere. Suarasama is a group of many members, mostly ethnomusicological musicians. Founded in 1995 by Irwansyah Harahap and Rithaony Hutajulu, they are based in Medan City in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Suarasama plays contemporary music, exploring conceptually or instrumentally the sounds of African, Middle Eastern, Indian, Sufi Pakistani, Eastern European and Southeast Asian and particularly Sumatran traditions. Arranging this diversity of sounds and instrumentation, Suarasama come up with more than the sum of their parts; music that mitigates the absurd generalization in the name 'world music' with an organic approach. This organic quality is deeply compelling; the quiet beauty and simple intensity of Fajar Di Atas Awan express the album's title ('Dawn Over The Clouds') with a clarity that belies the complexity of the group's compositional methods. Faith is a theme of the lyrics, which even when not translated or understood, convey their essences with a meditative, prayerful approach, often using multi-part harmonies that indicate at (and create in the listener) higher ecstasies. Following a century of multi-cultural consolidation resulting in countries comprised of a multitude of different tribes, a group like Suarasama is inevitable; rather than isolating their Sumatran identity within the larger mosaic of Indonesia, they explore the meeting points of their music with the sounds of neighbor cultures, finding a harmony in the confusion. They're not the first -- we're reminded of Sandy Bull, John Fahey, the Radha Krsna Temple, the collaborations of Ravi Shankar and André Previn, even our own Ghost and Six Organs of Admittance."

Artist:	CHILDREN OF THE SIXTH ROOT RACE
Title:	Songs From The Source
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 365CD

"Songs From The Source is a lost-and-found 1973 recording of The Source family. These twelve songs were recorded live in the Hollywood Hills as a rehearsal for a concert date that Spirit of '76 -- aka YaHoWaH 13, The Savage Sons of YaHoWa, Yodship, and FireWaterAir, now known as Children of the Sixth Root Race -- had at the Whisky. A 1/4" tape copy of the recording was found in Chicago in 2006, though no one is really sure how it got there. Djin Aquarian, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for Spirit of '76, recalls being sent on a mission to Chicago later in 1973, where he believes he left the tape with an old friend. Djin wrote most of the songs in the year before he joined with The Source, as part of his solo 'mystical quest to help enlighten the world before it might annihilate itself,' adding, 'I'm glad both the album and the world are still here.' Though this rehearsal wasn't meant to be released at the time, there are probably no other recordings as complete of the band doing these songs. The Spirit of '76 had a different sound than the one YaHoWaH 13 made with Yahowa. Songs From The Source has more r'n'b-grooved energy, with splashes of synth and organ, a female vocal chorus and streamlined fusion rhythms backing the uniquely Yahowan lyrical populism of songs like 'Godmen' and 'Lost Dead But Hoping.' The ebullient, ever-climbing power of the climactic 'We Are the Dinosaurs,' has few analogues in the other Source recordings and is furthermore an outstanding piece of music from the entire era. Songs From The Source is a miraculous missing piece of The Source's positive musical movement. The members of YaHoWaH 13 (Djin, Sunflower on bass, Octavius on drums) were joined by family members Ahom, Aquariana, Cinderella, Rhythm, Vibration, and Zoroaster on lead guitar, to create the ecstatic sound of Spirit of '76. In summing up, Djin told us, 'I know Father is behind this redeeming of the Spirit of '76 album and up to his old tricks again... Yahowha.'"

Artist:	SILVER JEWS
Title:	Silver Jew
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 366DVD

"From behind closed doors since 1992, David Berman and the Silver Jews released a series of popular music records that earned the group dedicated fans all over the world. But being a Silver Jews fan always meant accepting you'd never live to see the day your favorite band would take the stage. Then in 2006, after five albums and fifteen years, David Berman decided to change all that. The band toured across America and Europe, all the way to Israel, playing these, their first forty shows, to a widespread outpouring of joy. Silver Jew is a simple document of one of those stops, whereupon the band played two shows in Tel Aviv, and spent a profound afternoon in Jerusalem." Bonus features include trailer, annotated slideshow, and two music videos. NTSC; All-region; running time: 52 mins.

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Lie Down In The Light
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 367CD

"Bonnie 'Prince' Billy is letting the sun shine in so you can Lie Down In The Light. Before you get undressed, we're talking about a brand-new 12 song album of excellent new songs and sounds, okay? Get that thong back up your crack and listen! Bristling with guitar strings and laced with harmonies, Lie Down In The Light is the brightest album to date from the Bonnie 'Prince.' Brisk tempos skip among his signature slower numbers and ballads. Bonnie's vocals are among his most expressive: carefully nuanced, singing all up and down his range, showing him at a judiciously dynamic and tuneful apex. Coloring the sound, is a subtle backdrop of percussive slaps and shakes (but nary a drumkit), touches of keys and steel, delicate harmony-vocal arrangements and other sweet surprises that might send some sad-sack fans back to their auto-erotic dungeons, fresh toys in hand. Lie Down In The Light features Bonnie repeat players Paul Oldham and Emmett Kelly and also benefits from the multi-instrumental presence of Shahzad Izmaily, who works percussion, piano, guitar, banjo and the mysterious, sensual 'row of wenches' -- I mean, mysterious, sensual 'row of wrenches.' New (duet) partner Ashley Webber forges her own presence next to Bonnie in a pair of fantastic turns. Additionally, some of Nashville's finest appear in between the band's strings and harrows, adding light (and yeah, we see a little darkness, too) wherever they appear."

Artist:	AZITA
Title:	How Will You?
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 368CD

"How Will You? is halls and mirrors of sound and voice, sour and sweet, sense and nonsense, implying and pointing the way, crushing to crescendo before starting again in a different way, in another song. Each successive stroke eventually paints a portrait, but something is missing. There's a space for you there. How Will You? isn't complete until you enter the room. You listening completes the picture. Throughout How Will You? Azita speaks personally, as people do -- seemingly simple, but just as you think you've got her pegged, a lyrical phrase takes off and a lovely melodic twist turns you back into the maze. As the album spins on, you're tangled in her private code, receiving stories in delusively linear fashion. The song is over and you're left with wild beauty, wry humor, florid sounds and the sting of urgently intoned words. You've never heard personal-sounding music like this presented with such persistent opacity. Azita is kind of one of a kind. How Will You? is a collection of songs that range from sun-bright and poppy to deep-focus, torrential. Azita stuck to straight-ahead voicings in her chords to bring heaviness to the sound, working with bassist Matt Lux and drummer John Herndon to arrange her songs with the strength of a rock and roll band throughout the album. The arrangements were augmented with her own guitar playing, as well as Sam Wagster's supernatural pedal steel parts and Emmett Kelly's classic guitar licks. Even in the midst of raging and stomping, the effect, as stated above, is painterly. How Will You? is compelling pop music, approaching in fun, with beats, and then sinking deep and growing within you."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA, THE
Title:	Fingerpointing
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 369CD

2008 release. "Free form freak out is dead! Long live free form freak out! Sounds are building blocks, say The Red Krayola, again and, now, again. '60s The Red Krayola began recording because posterity asked for it. Today, they proffer their latest sensational object, Fingerpointing, an antic concept rendered classic, for The Parable of Arable Land is Fingerpainting is Fingerpointing; Fingerpointing is Fingerpainting is The Parable of Arable Land. Fingerpointing follows The Krayola's ur-formula, first elaborated in The Parable of Arable Land (1967), designed to immerse and entertain the listener and confound the FM DJs and anyone else's quest for the perfect segue in a narrative of counter-cultural meaningfulness. Where Fingerpainting reiterates the structure of The Parable, Fingerpointing recapitulates the same structure and the same material as Fingerpainting. It too is a parade of freak outs and songs alternately, and, like its progenitors, a dynamic synthesis that puts in play all that is at stake in the musical relation under the rubric of entertainment. Fingerpointing could have been made for International Artists -- the songs, like flies in amber, are versions of unreleased relics of the day modernity in its ruthless pursuit of its next moment signed away its carefree days of youth. The songs are by Frederick Barthleme, Steve Cunningham and Mayo Thompson. The freak outs are not 'authored' in the usual sense. All of the music was recorded at Treehouse Studio in Pasadena, CA at the same time as the recording of Fingerpainting. It features the performances of David Grubbs, George Hurley, Albert Oehlen, Stephen Prina, Elisa Randazzo, Mayo Thompson, Tom Watson and Sandy Yang. The mix is by Jim O'Rourke. We had to wait ten years for Fingerpainting to achieve its initial level of distributive awareness -- it had taken until 1999 for The Parable of Arable Land! Thanks to compression effects, now hear The Red Krayola elaborate the third material link. Listen and see."

Artist:	FAUN FABLES
Title:	A Table Forgotten
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 370CD

"A Table Forgotten is the first taste in an ongoing series of projects by Dawn McCarthy on a theme that's been largely unexplored in recent times: the age-old practices of tending a home and its immediate impact upon our day-to-day lives. It is an invitation to return to our kitchens and homes with reverence, to enjoy a largely overlooked sanctuary in the modern age. After the Faun Fables record release of The Transit Rider in 2006, Dawn was invited to be Artist-In-Residence with Idyllwild Art Academy's Interdisciplinary students in the San Jaciento Mountains of southern California, where she began delving into this longstanding theme of interest. Drawing from her own personal experience and research into historical patterns, plus the students' concerns about family and home, a musical theater performance debuted on the Idyllwild Arts campus in May 2007. Since that production, she has continued developing and performing this material plus other new songs with the Faun Fables band. Within this theme, the music is largely shaped by the spirit, tools and movement of physical kitchen work- and by dimensions of housekeeping that are positive, pivotal, even revolutionary. The tools of basic chores become instrumentation and choreography: the opening track 'With Words and Cake' takes place at a table with bells to ring, kettles to whistle and dishes and utensils to hit. But along with McCarthy & long-time collaborator Nils Frykdahl's guitars, percussion and wind instruments, the recording features the talents of new members, violinist Meredith Yayanos, and multi-instrumentalist Kirana Peyton on harmonium, vocals, and the Irish bodhran drum. This new release is also imbibed with the additional delightful sounds and manipulations of Matt Waldron (Irr.App.(ext), Nurse With Wound) who co-produced the EP with McCarthy and Frykdahl."

Artist:	HOWLING HEX, THE
Title:	Earth Junk
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 372CD

"Come back to the world of the all-new, all-different Howling Hex, the planet of Earth Junk. Three targets are routinely sighted during the genesis of new music in The Howling Hex's free-ranging New Border Sound: observation and incorporation of space/time around the band in the period preceding the recording of the album (aka, the writing process); a consideration of the nature of the worldwide audience of The Howling Hex, whoever they may be (i.e., the marketing meeting); and additionally, the consideration of equally unpredictable future listeners (with nominal input from Drag City account executives). Each time around, this method elicits new sounds from The Howling Hex in a divergent, entirely refreshing manner. What does that make Earth Junk? Take a guess. If you figured on an electric country-pop hoedown for small ensemble (featuring circus organ), as minimal and repetitive as all rock and roll, you'd be getting somewhere. If you're concerned it might create a bit of curiosity or perplexity, you're on the right track. The Howling Hex are convinced that as musical entertainers, they owe the audience (an audience? Any audience!) something of value for their money. Emblematic identity and presentation doesn't fall under their umbrella of worthwhile experiences -- and furthermore, what seems dire and spacious can also be sly and hellacious. With The Howling Hex, you're free to get up or get down, and know there's room for one more -- and another beyond it. As test listeners, we concur. Recorded in Austin in the late winter of early 2008, Earth Junk is a ramble in the dappled sunlight of the American southwest, twisted metallic folk-art in the ever-changing breeze, an offering to all nations. Throw Earth Junk in your sound-trunk and keep on rolling. The Howling Hex will be there to greet you whenever -- and wherever - you arrive."

Artist:	GRUBBS, DAVID
Title:	An Optimist Notes The Dusk
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 373CD

"'A step into the void' is how David Grubbs describes An Optimist Notes The Dusk, his first solo album since 2004's A Guess At The Riddle. Much the same way that each of Gastr del Sol's albums sought to avoid precedent and to model a world in which nothing should be taken for granted, An Optimist Notes The Dusk steps into the void. Nothing necessitates -- it's all built from the ground up, and at each step of the way it could have been built differently. David Grubbs' previous solo albums have tended to divide cleanly between pop records (The Thicket, The Spectrum Between, Rickets & Scurvy, and A Guess At The Riddle) and more experimental, instrumental records that investigate solo performance, drones, and hypnotic repetition. Grubbs' pop records stand in a series of increasing refinement. Here, the cards have been shuffled (is he dealing with a full deck?). An Optimist Notes The Dusk presents five longish songs and one eleven-minute instrumental floor rumbler, and the album can't be said to fall into either of the previously staked camps. Much like Gastr del Sol's recordings, arrangements take their own sweet, otherworldly time to unfold, and you're likely to discover that the undertow is stronger than you reckoned, and that you wind up a disorienting distance from where you began. That describes the associative flow of individual songs and of the album as a whole. How do you get from the exquisitely unraveling song-skein of 'Gethsemani Night' to the analog-synth sleeping bag of 'The Not-So-Distant?' The band left the building a long time ago. Much continues to be written about the end of the album and its splintering into the MP3dom of individual songs. An Optimist Notes The Dusk is at one and the same time an album and a collection of splinters. There is no contradiction. Do we dare suggest that it feels very 'playlist?' The electric guitar is central to An Optimist Notes The Dusk. In Grubbs' hands, the guitar can be as languid and liquid as Loren Mazzacane Connors' ('Gethsemani Night'), as spikily anthemic as the Pretty Things ('Holy Fool Music'), or as obsessively patterned as your favorite banjo eccentric ('Eyeglasses of Kentucky'). Speaking (singing) of Kentucky, bluegrass-native but Brooklyn-residing Grubbs seems to have lyrically reconstructed the Kentucky of his dreams, with songs about Thomas Merton's hermitage at the Abbey of Gethsemani and Lexington photographer Ralph Meatyard's trick of turning the waiting room of his Eyeglasses of Kentucky store into an exhibition space. Optometrist, optimist note the changing sky. Two sonic secret weapons have been brought in: drummer and percussionist Michael Evans and trumpeter Nate Wooley, both of whom ride musical divides like they've never heard of such divisions. It's all in making the right sound at the right time, what could be easier?"

Artist:	BROTHER JT 3
Title:	Jelly Roll Gospel
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 374LP

"Brother JT3 is back -- get ready to shake! Shake! Shake! Ever since the 'acid bubble-punk' days of The Original Sins, JT has been a leader in the field of guitar-rock that's good for the soul. Jelly Roll Gospel is the latest jam in the line of house-party blues discs that Brother JT has released on Drag City over the past few years: the thick guitar jams of Way To Go, the acoustic-flavored Spirituals and the roots-rock Hang In There Baby are but a prelude to this latest. The constant for Brother JT3 over the years is a desire to lift you the listener up; to share reflections from a secret life that, for some, constitutes religion (we prefer the term 'spirituality' -- but we're not here to judge -- not!) and to deliver the message in rhythmic but exotic rock n' roll that has the basic necessities to move us -- spiritually, of course, but more to the point -- physically, dancefloor style. Jelly Roll Gospel is no exception to the rule. From the first groove of this long-player, the rhythms are live and relentless, making JT's new soul anthems burst energetically from the speakers in full-spectrum stereo sound. Comprised of bassist Art DiFuria (Photon Band), drummer Jamie Knerr (Psyclone Rangers), and JT, the Brother JT3 deliver their trademark blues-and-roll whomp, shaking everything in sight to keep the beat going -- while weaving in unexpected touches, such as a dub reggae bounce, at several mind-blowing moments. The songs are all finished pieces from the darkly whimsical mind of Brother JT. Whether reacting to the buoyancy of '70s Afro-pop ('Lift You Up'), imagining self-penned songs played on the radio if he were the last man on Earth ('Ribbon Driver'), or examining the darkness and light within and without him ('Bad Vibrations,' 'Do Ya Good,' 'Everything's Alive'), Brother JT's music is delivered with trademark high-spirits and otherworldly flashes of color. In an effort to keep it live and loose, Jelly Roll Gospel was recorded 'at home,' (at Dan's House Studio and JT's 'living room' set-up in Bethlehem, PA), where spontaneous and relaxed vibes prevailed (and the moonshine didn't hurt, either). They're prevailing still -- just drop the needle and you'll see."

Artist:	O'ROURKE, JIM
Title:	The Visitor
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 375CD

"The cat's back in the bag again -- try not to throw it in the river this time! This one is special: Jim O'Rourke has delivered his first new solo album since 2001. Working relentlessly since he burst onto the scene in 1989, Jim has played, recorded and mixed a couple hundred records -- but only a dozen of them have been Jim O'Rourke-endorsed products that bear the name that gives his promise of quality. That relative handful of albums has established a brand that's been burned deep into Jim's flanks. Is it any wonder that he fled the western hemisphere; never leaves his Tokyo apartment and isn't seen in public anymore without a strong drink in his hand? So anyway, it's been a long time since one of Jim O'Rourke's popular music records. The Visitor hasn't made us wait as long as Chinese Democracy but it has made us wince a lot less. Call it Jim's Japanese Democracy -- a republic of one inside the studio where it was recorded and mixed. The Visitor is a seriously all-O'Rourke affair -- all the sounds you hear are Jim and Jim alone. So this time you can't blame any of those session dudes and their bloodless line readings -- the chill you're getting is a one-hundred percent O'Rourke effect. As a matter of fact, it might be more like two hundred percent -- some of The Visitor is tracked so deep, it took two hundred tracks to hold it all. It doesn't sound like it though -- to Jim's credit, the mix sounds very minimal, very straightforward -- not like several hundred tracks at all. Call it his invisible wall of sound -- Spector without the gun. But what Jim lacks in firearms, he makes up for in desire. Speaking of sound, all the classic O'Rourke-isms are here, for you musicologist types: percolating banjos, smooth electric leads, organic, kicking drum sounds, the flickering of shakers to the left and right, mellow but ominous woodwinds, sounds that indicate 'vintage' (before turning left and running out the door), sonic jokes, sonic tear-jerkers, sonic jerkoffs, all wrapped in spacious yet subtle left to right placement of everything in the picture. There's moments of low comedy next to high drama and juicy melancholy with a seeming lack of regard for proximity (which of course is just what Jim wants you to think, that's how jaded and perverse he is!). Plus -- sudden surging rhythms! A roil of noise or two! Constantly shifting moods! Things that aren't what they seem! The Visitor is sort of 'O'Rourke Does O'Rourke' -- Jim recontextualizing everything he's done over the years, and throwing out the bullshit. The one thing you won't hear is his voice -- perhaps another O'Rourkian self-examination? Or maybe he's just saving it for all the name-calling on his next album. At the end of the day, The Visitor doesn't overstay its welcome -- call it a cautionary tale, rest of the music world! And get ready for redefinition -- Jim O'Rourke is back."

Artist:	MAGIK MARKERS
Title:	Balf Quarry
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 376CD

"Oh, Magik Markers -- you dirty fuckers! You look like a reasonably intelligent young woman and man -- perhaps a bit intense, but who isn't in these end times? Then the needle drops and you're amok, dusting us from the git-go, wild-eyed in a china shop where stop keeps meaning more. Ah, if it were only music -- but it would appear you've rethought that too. And would it kill you to crack a smile? When an album begins with a song called 'Risperdal,' one should assume a mind-and-body-slamming forty-five minutes or so are underway. And 'one' wouldn't be wrong, dickhead. Sure, Balf Quarry has moody space in its soul, melodies whether stretched over rock, ululating rhythm, chimes 'n piano and/or wah-wah. Regardless of the configuration, Elisa Ambrogio and Pete Nolan are locked together, beating it out, listening to feeling the sound of their earth quake. And slicing through all the atmosphere, Elisa's voice is a spear of light, splashes of mud, an acid purple flashback. The Balf Quarry libretto reads like an inner monologue of some poor bastard from The Stand: desperate and vengeful musings from the head of a witness to and survivor of an apocalypse, in a world they never made, dreaming helplessly of the demons out west. 'Safe before their life sets in' might mean hope in this landscape. The world's not broken -- people ruin it every time. Working with engineer Scott Colburn (Sun City Girls, Animal Collective, Sir Richard Bishop), Magik Markers have captured a lot of different moods and twitches on Balf Quarry. Tremoring mid-rhythms form the body, with a couple showers of hardcore, high flying free-duo style and several clinking music boxes of woe as well. On slower tunes, the mass of brooding guitar tone generated is Elisa's signature, a carving all of her own. Fills, licks and other touches move the songs a broken arm's length away from a fundament of chaos and horror. When colors actually match and you have grey music for grey days, it's great -- but what about grey music for cherry red lava days, or rainbow sounds arcing over six months of darkness? Anything goes -- and just your luck, Magik Markers have brought anything with them on Balf Quarry -- a multicolored projectile of vomit you can sing along to! If psychosis is your thing, Balf Quarry is like a jukebox just for you. The only thing it's missing is a brick attached to the CD to facilitate throwing it through your window! No, we're not talking about you, asshole. This is the royal 'you' -- the 'you' of all Magik Markers fandom, the 'you' of anyone with ears and the guts for this shit. Wot fun! Prepare for the birth of the second sun, y'all."

Artist:	O'HAGAN & JEAN PIERRE MULLER, SEAN
Title:	The Musical Paintings, Vol. 1
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	BOOK/CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DC 377CD

"Since 2002, British musician Sean O'Hagan and Belgian artist Jean Pierre Muller have collaborated on several installations utilizing a fantastic conceptual innovation called 'The Musical Painting.' The Musical Paintings Vol. 1 is a book that catalogs images from the first two installations, 'Waterloo to Waterloo,' and 'The Musical Wheel.' Additionally, the book contains an enhanced CD with the musical material from both shows as well as a computer version of 'The Musical Wheel,' which is kind of like The Beatles' 'Love,' but without the fruity acrobats and jugglers. Just kidding, it has much more integrity than that. The concept fairly much describes the object: a free-standing painting which houses a musical composition within. The painting surface comprises of multiple panels, some of which respond to touch, triggering aspects of the composition looped within. The responsive panels act as tools enabling the viewer to alter the music as they encounter the painting. Though The Musical Painting employs advanced digital processing which enables remixing options, the interaction, surface and content (musical and visual) are organic and tactile. The painted panels offer a storyboard, which may or may not relate to the composition. It is for the viewer to decide and invent, making the live encounter uniquely human. The book encounter is also a human event, utilizing the turning of pages and the use of eyeballs to simulate an everyday encounter. But seriously, Jean Pierre Muller's colorful contemporary pop-art visual commentaries are accompanied by Sean O'Hagan in fullest 20th century soundtrack mode -- multi layered, yet light compositions twisted with electronic rhythms and modulations. Together, they create an engaging, thought-provoking A/V experience, whether viewed in the gallery or in front of the speakers at home with the bong and your copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook. Free your mind and your sensibilities will follow!" Book = 96 pages, hardcover, full-color.

Artist:	J.T. IV
Title:	Cosmic Lightning
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP/DVD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DC 378LP

Repressed again -- and still "rare as hen's teeth"? "Like a bolt from the black, Cosmic Lightning has struck again -- but who felt the shock the first time around? The sounds of J.T. IV were too much for 1980s Chicago. Now they can be truly absorbed, 20 years after they first flashed. Rock and roll often grows out of harsh circumstances. John Timmis IV survived a broken childhood and a nightmarish adolescence, ending up homeless and hustling on the streets after being committed to a mental hospital by his mother in the mid-'70s. At New Trier High School on Chicago's North Shore, he obsessed over the Velvets and David Bowie and taught himself how to play guitar. Two years later, he recorded his first 45, Waiting for the C.T.A. backed with 'Song For Suzanne' and 'Death Trip.' Then came 'In The Can' (written during his institutional stay), which was included on the B-side of his second single, Destructo Rock. These singles were pressed in runs of a hundred or two -- and there are only two known extant copies of the first release. Both were recorded at Odyssey Studio on Michigan Avenue and released on J.T.'s Rock And Roll Records imprint. John did his best to publicize his work, giving away copies of Destructo Rock all around town. During the '90s, rare sightings were reported at record stores, and rumors persist that a few 45s can still be found in jukeboxes in Europe. Sadly, John's talents didn't include selling his records, and the copies he gave away haven't survived in any great numbers. After an odd absence in which he claimed to have been horribly disfigured in a car accident, John rebounded in 1987, and released his last single under the name Frankenstein. The Cosmic Lightning album was compiled from his singles discography. Additionally, he produced and directed the 85-hour film (longest film in history, according to the Guinness Book of World Records) entitled The Cure For Insomnia, which played once at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He finished a memoir entitled From The Inside, framing his life story inside a narrative of his time incarcerated at the Menninger Clinic. In 1988 he moved to Ohio, never to be heard from again. He died in 2002 after a long struggle with drugs and alcohol. Though his music was energized by the punk and glam movements, John was beyond style, feverishly (and unknowingly) meshing punk and classic rock sounds with dark psychedelic touches. He performed live only three times, at events that were almost make-believe concerts, showcasing his appeal in serendipitous fashion. The spirit of J.T. IV was a unique and damaged thing. He was a legend in his own mind, a mind that opened several times in his lifetime with thrilling results. His 1977 sophomore yearbook photo from New Trier graces the cover of Cosmic Lightning, as close to an official portrait as he ever came. This is what's left of J.T. IV -- and it rocks."

Artist:	WORKMAN, NIMROD
Title:	I Want To Go Where Things Are Beautiful
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 379CD

"Nimrod Workman (born Martin County, Kentucky, 1895) was a coal miner, a union activist, and a gifted singer. After a slipped disc and black lung forced his retirement from the mines of Mingo County, West Virginia, where he had worked for 42 years, he became a sought-after performer and raconteur. Loquacious and mischievous, with the energy and intensity of a man half his age, he appeared on records, in films (Harlan County U.S.A. and Coal Miner's Daughter), across the folk festival circuit, and as a guest on The Tonight Show. In 1982, folklorist and musician Mike Seeger visited Nimrod at his home in Mascot, Tennessee, and with the support of an NEA Folk Arts grant, made nearly 18 hours of recordings of Workman's songs and stories. While those sessions provided the most extensive coverage of Nimrod's talent ever made, they went unissued. Come the late 1980s, Nimrod was in too poor of health to keep up his touring schedule, and he died at the age of 99 in 1994. I Want To Go Where Things Are Beautiful draws on Seeger's 1982 recordings of Nimrod Workman and gives the man his first LP release in 30 years, as well as his first-ever solo CD release. It showcases Workman's huge repertoire of songs, humorous and melancholy, sacred and sinful; it ranges from the old British ballads of 'Barbara Allen' and 'Lord Daniel' to Nimrod's own topical material, inspired by his experience as a miner and a card-carrying member of the UMWA. It's a long overdue portrait of a unique performer much loved and revered, but too often overlooked."

Artist:	KORINE, HARMONY
Title:	The Collected Fanzines
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	DC 380BK

Trade paperback approx. 350 pages, 24.98 list price. Reproduces all the original pages, mostly hand-written or featuring primitive xerox art, that were published in small editions, 1992 thru 1999. You're excused if you've never seen or heard of these "fanzines". Influential line: "Janet Jackson thinks Christ is a Hoax." There are many other pages with similar sentiment, but dude, the vibe is a little scurrilous... "Going back through the years...it's so hard to remember, I was always tripping and falling over myself. These 'zines were written over the last fifteen years, mostly in dark rooms and the basements of old people. With names like Adulthood, Foster Homes and Gardens, Pocahontas Monthly, Hümer, and others, they were sold in limited editions out of the Alleged Gallery and Andrea Rosen Gallery. Some were sold on street corners and given away to the tramp sects that were so prominent during that time period. Scraps of paper and half thoughts in the guise of art objects, you see. Not many people actually got a chance to have these but the ones who are still amongst the living have greatly benefited. I know one lady in Panama who has the complete set, her family has stopped referring to her as a gimp, now they call her Sue. They were never meant to be collectible -- just low-concept laugh-inducing juxtapositions of words and images, images and images, lists, monologues, cartoons, free verse, jokes, half-thoughts, fake/real interviews, innuendo and Matt Dillon's phone number. If you sold them on eBay for a bunch of money, I want my cut. Or if you bought them then please spare a percentage to the dyke army and the flame militia, it's a good charity and its ribbon buttons are invisible. Some of them read like letters from prison. I know these were popular in some prisons but I'm not sure why. -- Harmony Korine, 2008.

Artist:	KORINE, HARMONY
Title:	The Collected Fanzines Box Set
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Boxset
Price:	$90.00
Catalog #:	DC 380LTD-BK

Limited deluxe box set containing exact reproductions of the original eight fanzines. "Some of these collected fanzines were done in collaboration with Mark Gonzales. Harmony and Mark would go back and forth, trying to make each other laugh. They'd stay up for days writing poems based on the names of famous people like 'Mae West Go East.' When there were enough sheets, they'd put them in some kind of order, a lot of time they would use the pages as pillows. It was a lot of fun, lots of laughs. We've tried to reproduce them in trade paperback form with the same production values -- which is to say, not much. They also come in an ultra-deluxe limited-edition box-set containing replicas of the original fanzines, for those of you with your eyes on future auction profits. Fuckers. Harmony's house burned down around 2000 or something. At that point, the focus shifted. And he got lazy. But today, we've got this collection of seven fanzines from a time of innocence, exploration, experimentation, discovery, depression and hanging around. Including these fanzines: My Friend Or Sheep Boy, Adulthood, Adulthood 2, Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting, Foster Homes And Gardens, Humor. Pocahontas Monthly, Hümer."

Artist:	LIECHTI, PETER
Title:	Kick That Habit
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 381DVD

"Kick That Habit is a 1989 film by Peter Liechti, an audio-visual portrait of his native country, eastern Switzerland. The film collects samples from the land-and-soundscape, underscoring in the process the oft-ignored industrial underpinning of our latter-day culture. Also native to eastern Switzerland is Voice Crack, the everyday household electronics duo of Norbert Möslang and Andy Guhl, whose musical workings are explored as part of Liechti's vision. Whether clicking quietly and rhythmically or humming and shrieking at ear-splitting volume, their recycled electronics produce innovative sounds and provide an appropriate accompaniment in this cinematic search for the detritus of our culture, the lost and destroyed remains of the last century of progress. Kick That Habit is a short, tense film comprised of flashing images: footage of Voice Crack rehearsals and concerts is juxtaposed with visual shards of the fall and winter landscape of the area between Alpstein and the Bodensee. Utilizing color and black-and-white footage as well as combining the visual and the acoustic in an expression that subtly synthesizes the two, Liechti delineates a world of existence through sound and geography. Like the world the rest of us live in, it's a world of beauty, quiet tragedy and the endless march forward." NTSC, 42 minutes, 4:3, mono, all-region.

Artist:	HAMBURGER, NEIL
Title:	Western Music And Variety
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 382DVD

"Following in the footsteps of celebrity Greats such as Telly Savalas and Leonard Nimoy, in 2008 'America's Funnyman' Neil Hamburger temporarily set aside his bag of laughs in order to entertain his audiences through the ancient medium of song. His well-received album Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners was followed up by a 9-city tour, at which Neil and his all-star band (including Prairie Prince of The Tubes, Atom Ellis of The New Cars and Dieselhed, and country guitar ace Dave Gleason) put on a nearly two hour long variety revue, chock full of music and the kind of laughs that Hamburger fans are accustomed to. The tour ended with an invitation-only Fourth of July gala event at Hollywood's famed Radio Recorders Recording Studio, Studio E, hosted by the infamous radio personality Dr. Demento. This legendary room was where Elvis recorded 'Jailhouse Rock' and All Shook Up,' Bobby Darin recorded 'Mack The Knife,' and Bing Crosby recorded 'White Christmas.' As luck would have it, within days of this performance, the property was shut down, locked and boarded up, with destruction imminent. Hollywood's longest-running (since 1933), most-historic recording studio is slated to be torn down to make room for a restaurant, can you imagine that? Thus this show, carefully captured on out-of-date film by a vagrant group of UCLA grads, takes on added historical significance. The film of the Radio Recorders gig, now titled Western Music and Variety, is an accurate, entertaining document of Neil Hamburger's foray into the world of Bakersfield-style country and western. In addition to three short sets of the jokes Hamburger built his reputation on, the film features the 'live and dirty' versions of many of the songs heard on his popular LP album, as well as a dramatic reading of The Bee Gees' 'I Started a Joke.' The DVD also includes plenty of bonus material to satisfy the entertainment needs of the financially-devastated consumer." 87 minutes, NTSC All-Region DVD.

Artist:	SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Title:	RTZ
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	DC 383CD

"The double-CD epic called RTZ (named after the button on a Tascam 484 that 'returns to zero') fashions several lesser-known pieces from Six Organs of Admittance's early years into a massive prismatic arc, colossal and organic like some wonder of the ancient world. How could it be otherwise? Even when existing as only one half of a record, as many of these pieces once did (and still do, somewhere), Mr. 6OOA (Ben Chasny, y'all!) leans into the eternal -- letting the winds of Time scar his face and the light of All There Is burn his skin black. Grandmaster Chas has sacrificed the body for his music time and again over the years. RTZ is an iridescent chimera infull flight, viewed through stained glass. Cataloging these early non-album excursions requires a bit of leg-(and mind)work. RTZ travels back to the dawn of this century to locate 'Resurrection,' half of a Time-Lag split 12' with Charalambides. 'Warm Earth, Which I've Been Told' is half of a Mental Telemetry split CD with Vibracathedral Orchestra and Magic Carpithans from 2003. 'You Can Always See the Sun,' was part of Three Lobed Recordings.' 'Purposeful Availments' subscription CD series in 2002. And 'Nightly Trembling' was released way back in 1999 in an edition of 33 copies, all given away for free! That's some spiritual shit right there. Combined with a never-before-released extended piece called 'Punish the Chasm with Wings' from pre-millennial days and you've got yourself a deep, DEEP box set, crammed into a double CD. Rich with excursions to exotic musical climes and rhythmic with prayerful chants from the dark shadows of the earth, RTZ uses strings and bells, riffs both warm and icy, glowing lead guitars, massed voices and the pure, open air for its mantras and rituals. As the title alludes, these old sounds were forged in that bastion of personal expression, the four-track recorder. When a man can record a few feet from his bed, he becomes more inclined to render his nocturnal intuitions. And when that man is Ben Chasny, he can use those remastered (but still good and dusty) early recordings to attain the ultimate goal. We should all be so lucky. Oh wait, we are -- now that we've got RTZ forever, and more."

Artist:	RED KRAYOLA WITH ART & LANGUAGE, THE
Title:	Five American Portraits
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 384CD

"The Red Krayola with Art & Language present, in association with Drag City Records, Five American Portraits. The five subjects in sequence of appearance are: Wile E. Coyote, the Warner Bros. cartoon character; George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, former presidents of the United States of America; John Wayne, the actor; and Ad Reinhardt, the artist. Their portraits in words and music will hang in the halls of your mind, taking shape as their features are described against backdrops of familiar and characteristic music, for convenient reference listed below. Wile E. Coyote: 'Roadrunner' (Ellas McDaniel); President George W. Bush: 'Texas Our Texas' (William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wright), 'The Eyes of Texas' (lyrics by John Lang Sinclair, music based on the American folk song 'I've Been Working on the Railroad,' a.k.a, 'Levee Song'), and 'The New Eyes of Texas' (music and lyrics by Mayo Thompson); President Jimmy Carter: 'Georgia on My Mind' (Hoagy Charmichael and Stuart Gorrell) and 'Dixie's Land' (Daniel Decatur Emmett); John Wayne: 'The Searchers' (music by Max Steiner, incorporating 'Just a Closer Walk With Thee' (D. Gillis), and 'Dixie's Land' (op cit); Ad Reinhardt: 'Piano Sonata No. 6' K284/205b, first movement, first and second sections (W.A. Mozart), which incorporates the signature motif of 'Paint it Black' (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards)."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 385CD

"Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is the new Bill Callahan record. And at the risk of being redundant, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is about as beautiful an album as you can expect to hear sung circa 2009. True, it's early yet... but wait 'til you hear this record. Unfolding like a first view of paradise, then a slightly less ecstatic second view of paradise and then finally a glance back over your shoulder at that stupid paradise bullshit, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle surveys a landscape that grows organically, like the time two people spend together -- or the time one person spends alone (with another). One way or another, it's awfully pretty -- something's clearly making Bill feel like a natural man. And high in the saddle, with a pouch of Big League Chew and nine sweet new tunes in tow, he's riding herd over a diverse bunch of sounds by top-notch players. Sure, there's guitar, keyboards and drums, just like there's always been -- but arranger Brian Beattie brought some old friends back into the picture: violins and French horns. It's been awhile since Bill's gone out dressed up in strings and brass, but they still look good on him -- better than ever, in fact! Plus, recording in the big state of Texas has given Bill Callahan a panoramic sound-screen, filled with verdant and sparkling sounds, all of which allow him access to the depths of expression, allowing a gentle and stirring view of that which we call 'soul'. Singing as personal as ever while still spinning wild yarns and melodic guitar fictions, Bill Callahan's on an idyll we hope won't ever end. We can't grant his wish -- but we sure can love Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle."

Artist:	BERMAN, DAVID
Title:	The Portable February
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	DC 386BK

"David Berman has spent the last two decades in the public eye, stalking out his own territory as the leader of the rock band Silver Jews as well as poet and writer of the book Actual Air. In both cases, his address to the world has been marked with a singular touch; a literate, yet low-budget approach to communicating the beauty and absurdity of Earth-based life. As his fans will tell you, his work exemplifies entertainment at her best. Over the course of this time, his drawings have accented lyric sheets, enlivened autograph sessions and eventually provoked more than one request for a collection of the same. This accounts for The Portable February, a cheaply-priced but handsomely appointed hardcover compendium of the Berman visual sensibility. The sound of David Berman is familiar to the popular music world. The look of Berman isn't far off: a left-handed, child-like scrawl, scored with a wit and observation that confutes the often primitive nature of his line. Running the gamut from faux-political to faux-New Yorker, Berman's cartoons incorporate strains of high comedy and low comedy, wistful Americana, contemporary art, dream visions and a visual analog to the semi-penetrable personal allusions that have comprised his writing over the years. The Portable February is funny, sure -- but it has as many moods as the day is long in the summer and short in the wintertime. As the artist himself put it, 'The drawings are pitched into some rudimentary space of public art, a place we might think of as between and below Gary Larson and Raymond Pettibon.' Whether or not you know it yet, this place is the size of your life or mine: portable but daily growing. Conveniently sized to put in your bag and carry away and painlessly priced as well... what better a fate for the shortest and hardest of all months?" 97 pages, black & white, hardcover.

Artist:	DEATH
Title:	...For The Whole World To See
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 387CD

"Their time in the studio was overseen by engineer Jim Vitti, whose work with Parliament/ Funkadelic seems to have informed his decision to record Death in raw fashion with little polish, showcasing the organic power relationships within the trio. The songs recorded there make up ?For the Whole World to See, which today blasts from the speakers as a fresh and inspired early entry in the category of punk rock. Death had a single pressed, Politicians In My Eyes b/w Keep On Knocking, selling them at their shows and on the street. Things weren't really going anywhere when they heard from Columbia Records' president Clive Davis. He was interested, but he had one demand -- they'd have to change their name. David, acting as the band's leader, would have no part of it, a decision that ultimately brought an end to Death. Moving to New England, David, Bobby and Dannis reconnected with their faith, forming the Christian rock-n-roll band The 4th Movement, whose self-released early-80s album joined Death's 45 as a sought-after obscurity for the next generation. 2009 is the time that Death is finally here ...For The Whole World to See. ...For The Whole World to See is the first full-length release EVER for the band called Death -- with only one 7" single to their name, and that usually goes for about a grand per. That's $1000! For those who do have the single, the remastered sound here will break you up."

Artist:	DEATH
Title:	...For The Whole World To See
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 387LP

LP version, repressed. "Their time in the studio was overseen by engineer Jim Vitti, whose work with Parliament/ Funkadelic seems to have informed his decision to record Death in raw fashion with little polish, showcasing the organic power relationships within the trio. The songs recorded there make up ...For the Whole World to See, which today blasts from the speakers as a fresh and inspired early entry in the category of punk rock. Death had a single pressed, Politicians In My Eyes b/w Keep On Knocking, selling them at their shows and on the street. Things weren't really going anywhere when they heard from Columbia Records' president Clive Davis. He was interested, but he had one demand -- they'd have to change their name. David, acting as the band's leader, would have no part of it, a decision that ultimately brought an end to Death. Moving to New England, David, Bobby and Dannis reconnected with their faith, forming the Christian rock-n-roll band The 4th Movement, whose self-released early-80s album joined Death's 45 as a sought-after obscurity for the next generation. 2009 is the time that Death is finally here ...For The Whole World to See. ...For The Whole World to See is the first full-length release EVER for the band called Death -- with only one 7" single to their name, and that usually goes for about a grand per. That's $1000! For those who do have the single, the remastered sound here will break you up."

Artist:	ESPVALL & MASAKI BATOH, HELENA
Title:	Overloaded Ark
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 388CD

"Further along the path of musical friendship that Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh have discovered for themselves, we find Overloaded Ark ready to sail. And indeed, a new and better society might be provided for with all that they've packed on board. These are end times, we are told. Often, though, the craft of Espvall & Batoh drifts through placid waters. In the distance, thunderheads raise up and lightning flashes. When the storms finally come raging, they blow through -- and, singular in purpose under skies of shifting color, the intrepid ark sails onward. Espvall & Batoh have come prepared for anything, armed with acoustic and electric guitars, cello, renaissance harp, organ, sho, banjo, electronics, recorders, piano, hurdy gurdy, frame drums and several more obscure instruments such as auschpfeife, crumhorn, cornamuse, darbuka, and rig. Listen for them! But look them up first, so you know what you're listening for. There are vocals as well, sung mostly by Helena but also with Batoh's empathetic support. They are backed by two of Batoh's Ghost-mates, Kazuo Ogino and Junzo Tateiwa, and joined by ancient music specialist Haruo Kondo. As on the first Espvall & Batoh album, Overloaded Ark features a trove of traditional and ancient music alongside self-composed explorations. Songs from many cultures and ages are in evidence, from Scandinavian folk to German madrigal to French and Italian medieval court dances and even a good old Latin hymn! Nearer our present day, 'Sueno Con Serpientes' is a cautionary tale from the legendary Cuban protest singer Silvio Rodriguez, and 'Sham No Umi' is a Batoh solo piece from the mid-'90s. Espvall & Batoh endeavor to combine sounds from different times in history with an eye towards the creation of a peaceful new global village in the world of today. And indeed, Overloaded Ark is a gentle and expansive trip, fusing the sounds of east and west, new world and old into a new epic for all nations. Charted with grace and skill, Overloaded Ark is a human record, its passions focused under a stoic, enduring exterior."

Artist:	LIECHTI, PETER
Title:	Signer's Suitcase: On The Road With Roman Signer
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 389DVD

"Signer's Suitcase (aka Signers Koffer) is a kind of road movie across Europe -- from the Swiss Alps to eastern Poland, from Stromboli to Iceland. Always following the scenery's magically-charged contours, immersing yourself, letting yourself be infected, then traveling on. And what better traveling companion than the elusive artist Roman Signer? A quiet roommate -- but always with something unexpected up his sleeve. A road trip requires finding the right places. On the road through Signer's Suitcase, Roman Signer brings his chosen spots alive using a variety of tricks from his kit bag, launching brilliantly simple operations with a combination of gunpowder, fuses, rubber boots, balloons, stools, small tables and other seemingly random items. All his endeavors result in a marvelous visual display full of poker-faced humor that has earned him a place on the cover of Gastr del Sol's Upgrade & Afterlife, as well as the sometimes-title, Roman Signer: The Buster Keaton Of Art. Signer's Suitcase is also a journey through a state of mind, a tightrope walk from fun to melancholy. Mental and physical risk promote stimulus of the senses -- and sudden crashes and abrupt changes of mood determine the rhythm and atmosphere of this cinematic journey. Peter Liechti, whose collaboration with Voice Crack, Kick That Habit, was just reissued by Drag City, saw a calling in Roman Signer: 'the preservation of work that so resolutely resists commercial evaluation...or at least the capturing of it photographically, so that in some way it would endure. The sensuality and simple clarity on the one hand as well as this unimpeachable, almost religious being on the other were the challenge of filming Roman Signer's work. On the cinematic journey we made together, Roman Signer in a way dictated the route; the film improvises as we proceed on our way.'" NTSC format; 85 minutes; 4:3; mono, all-region.

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	Spoils
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 392CD

"Returned from his voyages of discovery around the globe, Alasdair Roberts has brought a sac of assorted goods for you merchants, eight epic new songs... Spoils, geddit? As the years pass, our Alasdair just keeps getting older. Not the way you and I do; more like accelerated growth, centuries passing. When the lad starts scoring his tunes for archaic instruments such as psaltery, viol and 19th century guitar, it's serving notice that he's going way back. In a sense, this makes Spoils his earliest album. Possessed of a spartan grace, Spoils is deceptive like that. On board are Alasdair's old hands from Appendix Out (Tom Crossley and Gareth Eggie) as well as free percussionist extraordinaire Alex Nielson, noted baroque guitarist Gordon Ferries, Emily MacLaren, Niko-Matti Ahti (of Finnish free-pop duo Kiila), and David McGuinness & Alison McGillivray (both of Scotland's Concerto Caledonia), bringing a loose and lively mixture of drums, bass, piano, flute, glockenspiel, harpsichord, harmonium, viol, synthesizer, dulcimer, psaltery, hurdy gurdy, fiddle, and of course guitars and voices. Ever heady, Alasdair's got the crew working together to support a craft comprised of luddite musings, tales from the traveling people and all manner of syncretic folklore, philosophy and a variety of faiths. In this way, our contemporary rallying cry of 'we are one' is voiced and fortified with images from international lore that march forth from the murk of time to this very day. Spoils has a lot on deck, but it's meted out evenly and with an intense energy, always in service of the songs, which are marked with some of Alasdair's finest melodies. Additionally, Spoils ingratiates new compositions in a deeply personal manner with the world of traditional music that has sunk beyond the horizon for too many of us. It is a gift to these latter days that a man like Roberts exists, to sing us back to our ancient home."

Artist:	YA HO WHA 13
Title:	Magnificence In The Memory
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 393CD

"The legendary Father Yod was a wealthy man, with a rich inner life, a family of disciples that loved him, many, many women and seemingly unlimited power. So why at the height of his success, did he choose to spend his time playing rock and roll? Having a band in residency at Father House provided him and all his children with another path to travel in their never-ending search for experience and wisdom. Taking time out from their busy schedule as Father's students and spiritual seekers in the Source Family, Sunflower, Octavius, Pythias and Djin took instruments in hand and, at a mere gesture from Father, turned up the amps and began tapping into the cosmos. First, they recorded themselves. The energy was good. Equipped by Father with instruments and effects pedals to ensure that they could create music that came 'from the spheres,' their sounds provided spiritual growth to everyone in the Source Family. After a time, Father became the lead singer, as 'a way to record wisdom in a modern, youth-oriented way,' Djin tells us. And YaHoWha 13 was born with Sunflower, Octavius and Djin. The music was recorded at a studio in the Father House on a TEAC 4-track reel-to-reel machine and was released on the Source Family's Higher Key Records label. In a couple short years, nine LPs were created, to be sold at the Source Restaurant and at YaHoWha 13 shows. Much sought-after items today, they've all been reissued. Even more exciting is the material that wasn't released - enough music to fill over sixty albums, all of them mind-blowers. Skimmed from the riches in Isis Aquarian's vaults (by Dave Nuss of the No-Neck Blues Band), the nine tracks on Magnificence in the Memory run the gamut of YaHoWha 13's rainbow of styles, from the whispered funk of 'Camp of the Gypsies' to the screaming and stomping of, well, 'Camp of the Gypsies.' Storming through moments with abandon, Father and his Sons never repeated themselves, committing everything they did to tape in a single take. The capacity of their riffs and grooves to sound like German prog bands of the same era, psychedelic rock bands of several years previous or the as-yet-uncreated avant sounds from the indie rock movement a decade away is testament to their ability to tap the source of human inspiration. Adds Octavius, 'These cuts will always be a source of inspiration.' The songs on Magnificence in the Memory were chosen to provide a non-stop exciting listening experience for Source fans and neophytes alike - and as Sunflower has stated, 'Father's music is our legacy and represents the voice of the times.'"

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	The Wyrd Meme
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 394CD

"At a dizzying peak of powers, Alasdair Roberts is knocking out tune after killer tune, all scored to the beat of his own weird drum, and we love him for it. This is why we choose to exist, to help cement the footsteps of musicians and eccentrics such as he, footsteps that will endure through into future days, just in case the music-buying public of our time somehow drops the ball. Imagine that! The Wyrd Meme is an EP occasioned by the aforementioned windfall of great music circa 2009 from our Alasdair -- the eight massive constructions on Spoils are succeeded by another four songs, this set comprising twentytwo minutes of pure aural Roberts: stimulating, colorful, melodic, and arresting, just for starters. At the time of Spoils (all those weeks ago), the press was inclined to toss around Alasdair's musical vision of syncretism quite liberally -- and it was well down of them to indulge. Of late, Ali has taken to stitching his lyrics together from a diversity of threads, weaving from line to line with myths and legends, verse and slang and old and new, bringing different schools together and wedding it all to his razor-sharp guitar and singing so precise and powerful as to make a groaning man cry. And the ladies like him, too. The syncretic style of this Spring felt so right for this new global village we're all in, The Wyrd Meme takes a dip in the pool as well. Really, it's kind of like a maxi-single, as each song stands in the spotlight afforded single tracks, each of them bidding to be the best song ever in the history of Alasdair Roberts. That's a long time, you know -- at least a couple thousand years just to start. The Wyrd Meme is an autumnal masterwork that'll sound great at any time of the year, every year for the rest of your life. Buy it for Christmas -- keep it to take with you in your burial box." Total playing time: 22 minutes.

Artist:	HIGGINS, GARY
Title:	Seconds.
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 395CD

"The music business is full of funny stories -- and some of them aren't that funny at all. Take Gary Higgins. In the early 70s, he made a great record, the culmination of years of listening and playing and work. Then he went to jail for marijuana possession, a short stint, but still, the kind of crime that's almost not a crime these days. The record came out -- but without him to promote it, almost nobody heard it, until... 2005: Red Hash, Higgins' megaobscure psychedelic folk-rock masterpiece is reissued on CD, drawing all kinds of acclaim and selling thousands of copies. Shows are played, interviews are done. But how to answer the question, why haven't you made another record since then? 2009: Gary Higgins' Seconds. is here to answer the question. It's a beautiful acoustic-based record featuring careful, melancholy arrangements in the tradition set by his famous previous record -- but with a few unpredictable musical touches. Additionally, Seconds. weaves black threads of lyrical reflection into its sleeve in the shortlived Higgins tradition. His was never a hippie-dippy perspective -- back in the day, his songs featured a thoughtful, but worldweary, occasionally even paranoid perspective. And today, he opens Seconds. with the couplet 'I got demons on my back/they don't travel nice.' Gary is from the original singer-songwriter wave of rock and roll. There's no need for him to pretend that his songs are being sung from another point of view. And so Seconds. strings together moments of life, working through regrets and reflections on fallibility, the odd flashback, and a few hopes for the future over the course of seven deep songs. Whether the material has been gathered in the years since his reemergence in 2005 or over the longer stretch since the last released Higgins material, it flows with oneness. And accompanied by his fellow travellers (including a couple Red Hash players as well as his son), he's put together a bold and colorful statement of where he's at today. Seconds. ain't no Sweet Baby James, or anyone else for that matter. This is the sound of Gary Higgins, making music and digging it once again."

Artist:	FEMS, THE
Title:	Go To A Party
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	7"
Price:	$7.50
Catalog #:	DC 396EP

"OK, we can all agree that reissue LPs are among the coolest things going in the music bizness today, right? Well, wait 'til you get ahold of the latest trend, reissue 7" records! We're getting the party started by resurrecting the fantastic sound of The Fems. To do so, we had to travel back to the year 1982, when this single was pressed in some insignificant amount by the band and spread around the country, one copy at a time. The Fems represented early American hardcore punk at a time when speed wasn't necessary in order to punk out and the intersection of angst and humor was a common crossroads for aspirant songwriters. Hence, the barbed humor of 'Go To A Party' and 'Is It Living?' alongside the primal screaming of 'Order.' The Fems were a legend in their hometown of Buffalo, presiding over energy-charged crowds with loads of sarcastic banter and making themselves a party favorite in the wide-open early 80s. Their 7"EP Go To A Party was recorded with the vocals, drums and bass closest to the mic and the guitar somewhere in the next room -- but the low, rumbling sound that resulted is a unique vision from early punk days. For frustrated collectors, it's a must-have -- but not too many copies have been pressed, as part of our effort to duplicate the original release in every way. Make us sorry, punker! If you're in Buffalo around Christmas you can catch The Fems' annual reunion show -- but if not, this is your chance at a rare slice of punk rock greatness come back from the grave!"

Artist:	BACHELORETTE
Title:	My Electric Family
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 397CD

"Bachelorette's music beams to us through a universe of unconquered pop music, where long beams of sunlight extend to infinity, and blue moons rise wistfully in the deep purple expanse. She stands in the cradle of modern songwriting, that of psychedelic pop music. The sense of infinite possibility felt in those songs, the desire to manipulate a collective sensation to become anything at all, informs Bachelorette's journey. The psych vibe shimmers in an acousto-synthetic haze, not really overt, so completely are those long-ago verses absorbed in her DNA. Her impulses are fed into a format that rhymes couplets over dancing beats, voices, keyboards, and a variety of guitars and percussions to create the melodic constructs we know so well, and delight in, and sing along with, and imagine to. Tasty candylike approximations, sweet and sour, billowing and knife-like, here for our pleasure. My Electric Family may be your introduction to New Zealand's Bachelorette -- good for you! She makes great records -- but this is the third Bachelorette record (the EP The End Of Things and the Isolation Loops album) and also the most topically focused. Her song structures are traditionally examinations of love and longing, the exploration of self versus self and in relation to the surrounding, silent universe. The songs of My Electric Family emphasize a particular fascination: the meeting of man and machine. We built them in our image, they're the more perfect us. Now we look to them looking at us. This is another kind of relationship. This is what Bachelorette does to make her sci-folk sounds -- she relates to machines, expressing her feelings in union with their electric/electronic function. This is imagination, soaring and expansive yet rigidly composed -- the firmament as viewed from the ground, an arc in the ageless sky where the light glows for us all. Our universe starts with the dirt, the grass and the trees. As sure as electric impulses pinball through our brain, the true expanse exists to be tapped within."

Artist:	BISHOP, SIR RICHARD
Title:	The Freak Of Araby
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 398CD

"Another album of acoustic guitar music from Sir Richard Bishop-- are you 'freakin' nuts? The Freak Of Araby is a new direction for our distinguished gentleman, and just in the nick of time as well. Sir Rick's had it up to here with solo acoustic guitar records! The Freak Of Araby isn't even a solo record! And there's no acoustic guitar on it! So let's have no more of this kind of talk. Over his years with Sun City Girls, Richard Bishop threw a wide variety of music and sound against the wall -- and all of it stuck. Among those who know, he's reasonably fluent in any number of international music traditions, playing them for (mostly) fun and (sometimes) profit all over the place. The Freak Of Araby is the debut of Sir Richard Bishop and his Freak of Araby Ensemble, a talented quartet of players getting deep into the Middle Eastern mystic with hand drums, percussion, bass, drums, electric guitars and a heavy dose of Moroccan chanters, all of it captured with depth, detail and sympathy for the eternal enigma by engineer Scott Colburn. But a Sir Richard Bishop album with a backing band -- how did this happen? After recording a cover of 'Ka'an Azzaman,' written by Elias Rahbani, one of Lebanon's finest songwriters, something dawned on Sir Richard. Half-Lebanese by birth (it didn't just occur to him later), he found himself suddenly possessed to really dig into Middle Eastern sounds. A pair of original melodies not fully developed at a prior recording session had the Arabic inspiration, so these were reattacked and finished in short order. Soon, Sir Richard's head was flooded with some of the classic sounds spun for him by his grandfather back in his (way) younger days, like Farid Al-Atrache, Oum Kalthoum and Fairuz, along with other personal favorites, such as the guitarists Omar Khorshid and Mike Hegazi. In addition to the studio improvisation, 'Taqasim For Omar,' the whole of The Freak Of Araby is dedicated to these inspiring players. Check 'em out. In addition to his soul-stirring electric guitar playing, Sir Richard grabbed a couple of Moroccan chanters and blew the house down on 'Blood-Stained Sands,' providing an epic (not to mention epochal, heh heh) finish to this journey to the center of one-half of the family tree. This is music meant to be played live, and Sir Richard's Freak Of Araby Ensemble intends to play it everywhere there's interest in hearing it. So get your Freak on."

Artist:	WILSON, LARRY JON
Title:	Larry Jon Wilson
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 399CD

"In from the cold is Larry Jon Wilson, with his first album since 1980, an intense masterpiece of his casual performing style. Once upon a time in the 1970's, Larry Jon Wilson released four acclaimed albums and garnered a reputation as one of the best new 'outlaw country' songwriters around alongside such hallowed names as Mickey Newbury, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. Starting his career late (learning guitar in 1970, at the age of 30) and leaving it early (ten years later), he walked away from the business, not the music. Signed to Monument Records by Fred Foster on the strength of a letter and a demo cassette, his legacy has been the four albums of deep country soul released between 1975 and 1979, but none of them came as close to the bone as this new, appropriately self-titled album. Larry Jon Wilson has been quietly playing shows on and off in the southern states over the last two decades - but it wasn't until some new friends twisted his arm with recording gear in tow on the 15th floor of a Perdido Key condominium that a new album became a reality. This album stands apart from his '70s recordings. On Larry Jon Wilson, he stands mostly alone, occasionally accompanied by a single fiddle. With the release of Larry Jon Wilson, the world is privy to the Larry Jon Wilson sound, clear and worn, deep and resonant."

Artist:	SIC ALPS
Title:	A Long Way Around To A Shortcut
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	2LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	DC 400LP

"Ever shrouded, serpentine by design, the legend of the Sic Alps has at last made its way to the gates of Drag City. The new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl 2xLP reissue of A Long Way Around To A Shortcut is somehow a 'greatest hits' of the golden not-quite-decade of Sic Alps. Well, not quite golden, either. Can gold be tarnished? Can it be done on purpose? If so, Sic Alps are artisans of the highest order -- for their music is the bright, surging sound of ye olde rock and roll radio (and the garages that tuned in), but heard through air darkened with specks of nameless obstruction. In and amongst their ingrown sounds, Sic Alps take on classic tunes from Strapping Fieldhands, Throbbing Gristle and The Zipps on A Long Way Around To A Shortcut. It is to their credit that they completely absorb their estimated predecessors and create the only sound left to them: the sound of the Sic Alps. A Long Way Around To A Shortcut was issued as a CD in 2008. It collected songs that were first issued throughout the epic years of 2006 and 2007 on two 12"EPs, three 7" singles and a cassette, plus a song from a compilation CD-R and a song released nowhere else but on the ALWATAS compilation. The records were originally given titles like United, Strawberry Guillotine, Semi- Streets, Hip-Hop Sweepers Vol 1, Teenage Alps, The Soft Tour in Rough Form-- but all these original releases are long gone, and the CDs fairly much OOP as well. Can this vinyl version be far behind? The hordes are coming, so heed well and get your own copi(es) in stock now." With full color innersleeves.

Artist:	GALACTIC ZOO DOSSIER
Title:	#8
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	MAG/CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 402BK

"'The world's greatest psychedelic underground hand drawn pro-zine'. Two years in the making, this just might be the most action-packed issue of the magazine lauded by the likes of Mojo, Fader, Julian Cope, Pitchfork, Spin & Heads Galore! Featuring: Interviews with elemental folk goddess Vashti Bunyan, L.A. tribal-cult axman Djin Aquarian of Ya Ho Wha 13, raga guitar god Peter Walker, Krautrock visionary Mani Neumeier Guru Guru, light show pioneer Bill Ham. Features on: Del Shannon, The Blue Things, Eddie Hazel, The George-Edwards Group, Hoyt Axton, MV & EE, Kim Fowley, Skip James vs. Cream, Turned-On Superheroes, Brewer & Shipley. Plus: More sweet full-color damaged guitar god & astral folk maiden trading cards! And: A CD compilation of totally unreleased magical sounds by Ya Ho Wha 13, Vashti Bunyan, Peter Walker, Monster Magnet, La Otracina, Naked Death, Christina Carter, Ruthann Friedman, Samara Lubelski & way more!"

Artist:	VA
Title:	Ouled Bambara: Portraits Of Gnawa
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DC 403CD

"In the first release of its kind, Twos & Fews and Drag City present Ouled Bambara: Portraits Of Gnawa -- a presentation in sound and moving pictures of several of Marrakech's most experienced Gnawa practitioners and their individual interpretations of the deep, esoteric, and powerful tagnawit tradition. Gnawa music has been considered a kind of Ur-blues, and has also been linked to the music of voodoo and santeria. It's often described with words like 'hypnotic,' which it is. The Gnawa have long signified (at least to the small portion of the public that's bothered to think of them) all that is mysterious and phenomenal about Morocco: mystical Sufism, trance rituals, possession rites, ecstatic music and dance. Brought north most likely from the West and Central Sahel region of Africa over several hundred years, the original Gnawa were black slaves who synthesized animist African religious ritual with classical Sufi practice. But nothing sounds quite like the music of the Gnawa, and their music and their practice have usually elided definition, if not description. They are healers who intercede with the fiercest of the djinn spirits -- the mluk (whom other Sufi orders avoid) -- on behalf of their suffering clients. Their rituals invite possession by these mluk, with the deep thump of the guinbri lute and ever-rattling, clacking percussive accompaniment whipping the dancers into states of trance in which they struggle with the powerful spirits. Ouled Bambara means literally, 'children of Bambara,' and the name of the musical suite that begins the nocturnal portion of the Gnawa ritual. The Gnawa are considered an underclass in Moroccan society, but they nonetheless play a vital role in its spiritual life. Ouled Bambara: Portraits Of Gnawa is an exploration of that role and some of its most talented actors." NTSC All-region format DVD, in French and Arabic with English subtitles.

Artist:	OM
Title:	God Is Good
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 404CD

"It's been years now -- just about two, judging from the sun. OM have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. Today, they say, God is Good. Are you surprised? Perhaps you've haven't understood what OM was saying to you. But perhaps you felt something... It's true that the one way pursued by OM leads in many different directions. It is a mystic path. Songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. OM albums are rituals, personal convictions transcripted into verse. Playing the music is visceral, emotional, a catharsis of soul and spirit. As the ghat liberates soul from body to the ultimate, so too do OM strive to disengage from the finite object of their objective mortal self to rest in the empty and timeless witness. And in doing so, they seek to release you as well. As ever, dynamic relationships and the slow building of mood are attenuations that shape the structures of God is Good. With careful microscopic increase, the energy grows through the four songs, leading towards moments that one could interpret...revelation? Oblivion? Awakening? Since 2004, OM have burned their name into the annals, trolled the fertile crescent, faithfully made more out of what little was put into their hands, forged three full-length albums from white-hot evaluations of the infinite. The duo that is OM is composed of bass and drums and whatever else comes into their mind that will serve the song and do it justice. Al Cisneros has been pursuing the pure note as OM (and previously with Sleep) for many years now, but this is the first OM record to feature the battery of Emil Amos, who replaces Chris Haikus in the chair. You can go to the shelf and study it: there are comparative religions, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, and history. Turn around, and there is OM. Their vibrations of the philosophical and the physical are meant to move you. Believe."

Artist:	NIBLETT, SCOUT
Title:	It's Time My Beloved
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	7"
Price:	$6.00
Catalog #:	DC 405EP

"Like heat rushing in the door, Scout Niblett is suddenly in the room again. Her familiar keening moan opines, 'It's time I danced again,' and the pressure intensifies. 'It's Time' unfolds slowly, doing the grind, working her body and yours. It's better than Bikram yoga, and twice as hot. Flip the platter and you get 'My Beloved,' a grooving, stop-start hip-bumper, with the drums break-beating forward in sway with Scout's wall of burning guitars. As always, Scout's the player behind all the sounds on the record. This one was done at home while a foot of snow crept around outside her front door, providing the isolation required to do all the playing and recording and not go completely mad. Just slightly mad will get the job done every time. This is the first Scout Niblett record to be released on Drag City and we're glad to have her eerie presence on our side."

Artist:	CHATMAN, VERNON
Title:	Final Flesh
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	DVD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	DC 406DVD

"NEW from Vernon Chatman, a co-creator of some of this millennium's most outre cable television programming (Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel and -- yeah -- Doggy Fizzle Televizzle - !) is a DVD destined to change the way we look at entertainment, pornography and probably the legal system. Final Flesh is a feature film produced in four parts: the script written by Vernon was divided up and submitted to four unique film production companies that work exclusively in the field of customized adult content. The companies' shared charter is to produce a film that explores the writer's chosen fetish -- and with this in mind, Vernon wrote with demented determination, in order to push the definition of fetish into the realm of the cosmically absurd. Then he sat back to see what his charges would deliver. The resulting film is an epic narrative for our time. Final Flesh is a surreal, apocalyptic My Dinner With Andre -- in other words, existential, sublime and ridiculous, featuring unmistakeably porno production values and shudderingly unseasoned porno actors and actresses -- but no actual sex! Chatman's sexworker hirelings applied themselves earnestly to his cerebral text (never suspecting the prank nature of the project). Working in complete isolation from each other, they made Final Flesh a cinematic 'exquisite corpse' whose fervid rottings comprise an insurgency in the field of...well, all the fields that involve people looking at other people for entertainment. Final Flesh isn't just a meta-comedic concept whose time has come -- it 's also a hot evening's entertainment filled with religion, sex, philosophy, fashion, culture and 'reality' (with all the pathos that implies), plus some really amazing dialogue. Few will sit the fence on this. Few should. Final Flesh is a confrontation and a contradiction that deserves its day in (kangaroo) court. Fortunately, it 's the way of the world that the curious and easily influenced will be drawn into the web that is Final Flesh, whether they like it or not -- thus dissolving its concepts of 'avant-garde porn' and 'comedy' into the unsuspecting mainstream, where their questionable merits will have the desired evolutionary impact. If your spirit is willing -- the Flesh will freak you!" Running time: 71 min.; NTSC all-region format.

Artist:	LIGHTS
Title:	Rites
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 408CD

"In past lives, who says we were actually anyone special, or even anyone at all? We could have been inanimate household objects, cookies or candles. Or perhaps we were star-beings, not even of this earth, breathing in silver and drinking gold in order to survive. Nothing would give greater pleasure to the earth people known as Lights than to have lived any of these former lives. Like the Queen of Cups, they've got a feeling and a compassion for everyone and everything. It's in their blood. Once you've started spinning their new record, Rites, you'll understand their feeling. Any band that mutates the powers of Jimi Hendrix, unicorns, Stevie Nicks, glowsticks, Prince, Indians and cowboys, Yoko Ono, red wine, Jem and Beyonce into their own smoothly flowing sound, they're acting from the heart -- or the dark side of their Id. Lights are a Brooklyn musical troupe that have shaped psychedelic mojo Pop into a serpentine smoke ring, floating over both New York's forbidding urban scapes and the West Coast's sunshine vibes. By which we mean that their songs are the lovechild of American soul music, country, metal, psychedelic rock, disco and new age. Together, Sophia Knapp, Linnea Vedder and Andy Macleod create Lights, a gang of outside/insiders with a multicolored, multitrack mind. Lights come through the visual spectrum. They see the aesthetic value of luxury items, the power of the object. For Lights, the Funkadelic diaper is an essential part of the P-Funk experience. There are no extraneous details. The look is as much of the encounter as the music. Whatever they were in a previous life, Lights aren't rocks or seaglass, beautiful but incapable of perception. They've got eyes and ears, they're human. No wait -- they're more than that! They're like a pool that everyone comes diving in and climbing out of. And algae gathers over time. And the sun and the moon shimmer on their surface. Lights will also be known for their raucous wild live shows that swirl with soft colors and night shapes provided by the one and only Wizard Smoke and her paint box of analog light show techniques. Lights just keep growing. They were born in rhythm, chanting their message -- but with Rites, Lights are passing into a more encompassing sense of what their music can be, a collage of the old and the new, where the American East meets the American West in a sexy fairytale world of magic, mirrors and white light."

Artist:	SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Title:	Luminous Night
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 409CD

"Through dark days and glowing nights, Six Organs of Admittance continues to step to the far rim of the world with purposeful strides. Indeed, new horizons are visible throughout Luminous Night. Be it in the face of spiritual crisis or catharsis, Ben Chasny as Six Organs refuses to stagnate, or to evolve in predictable fashion; in response, he keeps moving on. This is the first Six Organs of Admittance albums with such a lengthy gap between it and its former number. In the past two years Chasny has kept busy writing this new epic, moving house to Seattle, composing soundtracks for novels and movies, and touring constantly in America and Europe (with bands like The Dead C and OM) as well as being invited by legendary post-metal group Neurosis to play their Beyond The Pale festival in Belgium. Six Organs of Admittance is such a singular experience that it is sometimes easy to forget that Ben was the lead guitarist in Comets On Fire, as well as a songwriter and guitarist for Current 93's Black Ships Ate The Sky album and half of the pan-Pacific psych-folk duo August Born. But clearly, Chasny knows heavy, having grown through times of heavy and times of light. And in answer to the question what's heavier, a pound of rock or a pound of feathers, Six Organs of Admittance has devised this for Luminous Night: a pound of rock covered with a pound of feathers -- twice as heavy, but feathery light to the human eye. With Luminous Night, Chasny's working with some heavy dudes, like producer Randall Dunn and Eyvind Kang, whose sound on viola shines with a guiding glow throughout the album (both Dunn and Kang contributed their talents to the outré arrangements of the recent Sunn O))) album). The other invaluable contributors to the album are Hans Teuber on flute, Tor Dietrichson on tabla, Matt Chamberlin on drums, and Dave Abramson on percussion. Occupying their spots with care, they've collaborated to create something rich and vibrant, aching and new, in the world of Six Organs of Admittance. The arc of Luminous Night is wide as the sky, commencing with a stirring instrumental evocation of the Greek myth of poor Actaeon before flowing into the vocal, the vengeful, the ancient, the divine and celestial, scored with guitars, bass, viola, flute, tabla, electronics and synthesizer, as well as a buried-in-the-rain-soaked-earth-of- Seattle-then-exhumed four-track cassette that formed the basis of the instrumental 'Cover Your Wounds With the Sky.' For its blanketing sound, Luminous Night draws inspiration from such cinematic sources as Jodorowky's El Topo soundtrack and the scores of Kurosawa's samurai films, but is at the same time music that could only have come from the singular sound world of Six Organs of Admittance. What is it about the man that buries his sound in the ground? He has faith in the earth, for one. When we think of Six Organs of Admittance, we think of a man with six-string ambitions, a rambler with mystic beliefs and dark electric visions. It's a big universe and we're only human, which basically means that we've got spirit and that we're going to die. But until then, we live. Six Organs of Admittance has lived to tell about it on Luminous Night."

Artist:	MONOTONIX
Title:	Where Were You When It Happened?
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 411CD

"Monotonix are back -- but how can this be, if they never really went away? They're the People's Rock Band, playing anywhere and everywhere that they're allowed to play all around the world. Nobody anywhere has played more gigs than Monotonix over the past two years. Nobody -- unless 'playing gigs' is code for scratching one's ass, in which case, we're all as Godly as the Monotonix crew. Speaking of ass, wait'll you see the back of Where Were You When It Happened? ! What it lacks in cheek, it makes up for in crack. But what are Monotonix supposed to do? Fans of their incredible live energy insist that their first record, the Body Language EP, is great, but can't possibly approach the thrill that comes from being rocked from within, doused with band-sweat, trash and a variety of drinks, mooned and then challenged to bear the group aloft while they climax their relentless assault. Fucking duh! No LP, CD or DVD can duplicate that -- not even Blu-Ray (not yet). Still, over the course of their two releases, Monotonix have mastered an approximation of their live rush. Where Were You When It Happened? roils and rocks with frenetic glee, shows a lot of skin, and is over before you know it. Where Were You When It Happened? works up a sweat with raw rock and roll, acid guitar licks and riffs, screaming choruses and, in general, the wildness of Monotonix in a way that makes for repeated album listening (and pummeling). How did they do it? Where most bands refine their production sound as they go forward, Monotonix have reverse-refined themselves, playing dirtier and more energetic to capture the lightning they are known for."

Artist:	JANSCH, BERT
Title:	L.A. Turnaround
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 413CD

"Drag City is 'chuffed' to announce the firsttime release on CD of the three albums Bert Jansch recorded for The Famous Charisma Label in the 1970s: L.A. Turnaround, Santa Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum, all of which have been out of print for decades and are among the most sought-after Jansch albums among fans and collectors. For these new releases, Bert Jansch handpicked the bonus material, much of which is previously unreleased. In some cases this material has been unheard by anyone in thirty years, including Bert himself. Bert Jansch was signed to Charisma by label boss Tony Stratton Smith in 1973, the year that Pentangle decided to go their separate ways. L.A. Turnaround appeared in September 1974 to great acclaim, hailed in the press as 'not far off from being the perfect album.' It was produced by former Monkee Mike Nesmith at Stratton Smith's house in the country in Crowbridge, Sussex, and in Los Angeles, and features not only Nesmith on guitar but also pedal steel guitar maestro Red Rhodes, then in Nesmith's group. Rhodes' presence gives the album a unique sound enhancing Bert Jansch's own songwriting and performance skills with his haunting steel guitar. Other tracks on the album were completed by a group including Klaus Voorman on bass and, on certain songs, slide guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and fiddle player Byron Berline, giving this album an authentic L.A. '70s vibe, despite its UK origins. This edition of L.A. Turnaround is also enhanced to include a previously-unseen 13 minute cinema-verité film, made during the recordings at Stratton Smith's Sussex mansion and featuring Bert, Mike Nesmith and Red Rhodes recording and performing four songs including 'Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning.' This charming, informal film -- a wonderful historical document -- also sees everyone chatting, dining and playing billiards at the pub -- brilliantly capturing the atmosphere of the sessions. Each of these new editions is packaged using the original artwork along with contemporary photos, etc." Includes commentaries by Mick Houghton and Tony Stratton Smith.

Artist:	JANSCH, BERT
Title:	Santa Barbara Honeymoon
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 414CD

"Santa Barbara Honeymoon was recorded in America over a two-month period the following year and is a further departure for Bert Jansch, mixing his familiar style with a definitive L.A. over-the-top production sound, featuring backing singers and session players including horns, steel drums and a Dixieland band. This wasn't what most people wanted or expected from a Bert Jansch album, but time has kindly tucked the outrages of three decades ago beneath the intrigue of the sound, accenting some of Jansch's best songs of the period. An added bonus is the handful of previously unreleased solo tracks recorded live at the Montreux Festival in the summer of 1975." Includes original artwork, lyrics and commentary by Mick Houghton.

Artist:	JANSCH, BERT
Title:	A Rare Conundrum
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 415CD

"A Rare Conundrum was recorded in a more familiar style in the UK during 1976 and released by Charisma in May 1977. The majority of the album features Bert with a group he'd put together consisting of Rod Clements on bass, Pick Withers on drums and Mike Piggott on violin. By the time the album was released the group had split after Clements returned to a re-formed Lindisfarne and Withers joined Dire Straits. A Rare Conundrum marked a return to a simpler style: it includes delicate instrumentals, Irish traditional songs, a couple of slow blues and some of Bert's most overlooked songs which look back to his childhood ('One To A Hundred') and his early days on the folk scene in Edinburgh ('Three Chord Trick' and 'Three Dreamers')." Includes original artwork, lyrics and commentary by Mick Houghton, as well as notes on each track by Bert Jansch.

Artist:	ESPERS
Title:	III
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 416CD

"Picking up the threads with ease, Espers III was intended to be an aural reversal of the layered sound of II. The goal was to record fewer tracks in order to achieve a stronger, more oxygenated sonic presence. Where II was almost claustrophobic in its density and darkness, III was envisaged as being somehow lighter, effervescent; perhaps even of a cheery disposition at times (whoa there! Don't go not breaking our heart, Espers). Under these auspices, recording started in late 2008 and spilled into the spring and summer of 2009. As more time passed in the recording process, a growing dementia within both song and lyrics emerged, making even the most ethereal songs on III seem oddly unwholesome to all involved. As with past releases (both by Espers and significant others), III was recorded with the vinyl LP in mind, playing as a whole divided into two equally weighted sides. Recorded to analog tape and mixed to analog tape again at the end, the songs ended up in a stippled, rippling, ever-flowing space, another important factor in the realization of III. 'Space' is a core concept here -- each of these songs in some way access new space, whether they are envisioning, locating, or claiming and colonizing it. In fact, III's working title was Colony, owing to a subtextual thought process that encompassed aspects of Herzog's Aguirre, Heart of Darkness, cult groups, deep Amazonian treks, religious nation building, ritualistic drug ceremonies (taking drugs to take canoe trips to take drugs on) -- eg., escape from assimilation, surviving cultural wars by embedding themselves in the wilderness, among friends and fellow travelers. The cover aesthetic and Xavier Schipani's arresting artwork mirror these themes and Espers' desire to reach beyond what might be expected of an Espers album with metaphoric imagery and increased dimensionality -- not just a new Espers album, but indeed, a new Espers."

Artist:	MAJOR STARS
Title:	Return To Form
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 418CD

"When you've got a love for music, there's no time to spare. The band called Major Stars all got other gigs that take them from place to place without room to converse much. That's okay, because they're about playing music, not small talkin'! So what's been going on around the practice space then? Major Stars have a new one that might lay it on you all at once like a plank of solid stone, and they're calling it Return to Form. Starting with a mid-fight schoolyard threat like 'Better Stay Down' (what, no exclamation point?), Major Stars do definitely seem to be returning to somewhere on this new new album, maybe even perhaps somewhere adolescent where the rock and roll was never better? But really, titling the whole damn thing Return to Form has some humor in it. Mirror/Messenger wasn't out of form; all Major Stars records have been a part of a vision and even if some shit said he or she (probably he) didn't like it, that doesn't really call for a response title on the next album. We read it like this: it's you who's returning to form! Major Stars atomized you to fucking bits on the last record and only now are you returning to a fully formed entity. And here Major Stars are to blow you to pieces again. You're fucked up. Return to Form's got eight pieces, all heavy rocks, a few of them come with power jams. There's also a few just under three minutes, but distinguished by riffage that lifts 'em up. The guitars trio of Wayne Rogers, Kate Village and Tom Leonard is into their third full album as such, allowing them to have fused into a wall of distorto with a myriad of identities but singular purpose. Behind their ubiquitous combination signal, the drums trample with pummelous authority. Still, they can't help but sound a bit crushed by the din, glorious din. This is Major Stars' signature rock of the easties -- more likened to the sounds of Motorpsycho than any of that psych-rock these days! Again, this is organic growth, home territory. Could it be that the space you know is better than the space you don't know? Major Stars got answer, and it's Return to Form."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	The Letting Go
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 420CD

"Through the years and the shape-shifts of different albums, players and songs, the music of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy has proven to be an experience of sharing: Bonny sharing the songs with musicians for a new experience; Bonny sharing the record with you. What do you think? The Letting Go is an overwhelming undertaking. As mentioned, there are strings -- lovely charts that do so much more than just trace chord changes up and down the neck. Arrangements by Ryder McNair and Nico Muhly are threaded throughout the record, augmenting a simple quintet of players to provide a sixth sense. The deceptive nature of his band is on display from the top. 'Filthy' Jim White is known far and wide for his resource behind the drum kit and he proves it song after song, with sensitivity that provokes dynamic variety from skins, an acoustic depth to the room. Paul Oldham's bass is a feeling accompaniment to Bonny's guitar, played with brotherly clairvoyance and constancy. Young Emmett Kelly's clean electric guitar lines roam within the web and suddenly shine, are blues and folk and r'n'b in shifting turn, guilelessly tactic and soulfully expressive. And up front with Bonny is the bewitching Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables. Her vocal flights on those records can hardly prepare one for the intimacy and empathy of her harmonies and other voices on The Letting Go."

Artist:	NIBLETT, SCOUT
Title:	The Calcination Of Scout Niblett
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 424CD

"Drag City rolls up on the Scout Niblett scene just in time for the grand calcination. What luck, to arrive in time for such good timing! Her new record is her most tightly coiled long-player yet, a heavy handful of songs that are reaching for the ripe and the light. People come to Emma Louise 'Scout' Niblett for the joy of a scalding hot bath of sound amidst stark, bluesy emoting -- and she won't let 'em down this time. But something has shifted. Having made herself a record or two's worth of celebration ballads and moody freakouts, she seems to be hearing that call from within to feel for other things. Yelling at the kids around the way only ever gets you so far. And so, it's time to holler inward. The Calcination of Scout Niblett finds our girl in phase transition, exchanging elements for the betterment of her organism. Stripping down. Surrendering. Taking the bull by the wheel and driving to another place. Take the picture on the cover. It's the first album photo where Scout's acknowledging the camera, a new relationship giving sign of a greater awareness of herself and a desire to confront -- a new confrontation, a more sober and realistic conversation. Throughout The Calcination of Scout Niblett we see Scout in deep focus. The lens has dollied in and stuck there. The sweat conjured in performance permeates the screen; darkness is all around her, overwhelming the picture. She's in an empty space and her voice snaps against the walls, behind weird shadows we can't make out. And cutting through, we might believe that we're hearing an inner monologue or two. The songs string together, almost as one, her guitar growls and bites, and the black velvet of space hovers. Just when the tension in the room and the filament of guitar can't glow any brighter, suddenly a band erupts, accompaniment to her vision -- and then back down to Scout and guitar. All the better for the boys to not get too burned. Well, burned just enough. Well-done, even! The Calcination of Scout Niblett is an intense devotional, a determined spirit journey and a collection of great slow-dance songs."

Artist:	BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
Title:	Beware
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 666CD

"Breaking through the dirt and shooting upward into our atmosphere is a new variety of exotic Bonnie 'Prince' Billy plant. Stronger. Stinkier. It blooms in low light and cold but thrives in the sun as well, showing enticing spots and eating small creatures as they wander into its jaws. They had it coming, they were weak.... and you're next! Beware. Though Beware shares spit with its immediate predecessor, Lie Down In The Light, its reach is longer, its arches more grandiose. Where fiddle and steel contribute their rustic timbre alongside guitars and voices, a thickening thud of low tone rolls beneath, giving the record a bottom that's fun to watch bounce in new clothes. This intensifies the air and heralds Beware as Bonnie's most ambidextrous record to date -- even more so than The Letting Go! A listen or two through and you too may conclude that this could also be the great Bonnie 'Prince' Billy contempo-country record -- though, as always, the 'Prince' goes his own special way, even when climbing the charts with brawny arms and classic titles like 'I Don't Belong To Anyone,' 'You Can't Hurt Me Now,' and 'I Am Goodbye.' Though the title -- and catalog number! -- portends horror, Beware is a much more measured exploration of the soul's frailty and the sorry state of human relationships than your typical, everyday, bleaked-out, all-and-nothing roots rock platter. Song titles suggest half of a heated dialogue, perhaps just one side of a super-apocalypto phone call. Yet, there's humor here as well, some of it too cute to call black. Lyrically, domestic ripostes are mixed with I-thou asides, statements of lusty selfhood and subtlety in between the lines, examining culpability and the need for release and rebellion, if you must know. Basically, if you haven't learned already, love goes down mazy, anfractuous paths, on some days giving rise to irritations -- both spiritual and physical -- and the difficult consideration of an alternative fate. Sometimes all you want to do is fuck. Then there are the times of fun, laughter and learning, and the sudden appreciation of your partner, your only friend. And with all these things in hand, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy says Beware."

Artist:	PLUSH
Title:	Underfed
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	SN 010CD

Underfed is the homegrown early version of Plush's 2002 release, Fed. "Ever wonder what it's like to try and build a mountain? Fed was a record put together over countless days and nights, rehearsals and recording sessions, finally spanning a seven-year period. Basic tracks were recorded over an entire summer. Once they were completed, Plush-man Liam Hayes spent an entire winter making overdubs on them as a guide for an arranger to write the charts that would finish the album once the Earth grew warm again. When this finally happened, Fed took on a different shape. Underfed is the record before those other contours were cast upon it. It's the sound of trains passing a makeshift studio on Lake Street, the buzz of ancient gear carted uptown and down, the organic aura of secret places caught on tape, a fading smell of incense, Chamberlins whirring mysteriously and scoring paper fluttering in the wind on the coldest days of our lives."

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Artist:	GASTR DEL SOL
Title:	Crookt, Crackt, or Fly
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 043CD

Artist:	RED CRAYOLA WITH ART & LANGUAGE
Title:	Kangaroo?
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DC 080CD

Artist:	RED CRAYOLA/BISMARCKSTRASSE/50
Title:	Three Songs On A Trip To The United States
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DC 105CD

Artist:	STYRENES
Title:	One Fanzine Reader Writes
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	12"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	DC 108EP

Artist:	USA
Title:	Little Birds
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 115LP

Artist:	CHESTNUT STATION
Title:
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	DC 121LP

Artist:	HAGERTY & THE HOWLING HEX, NEIL MICHAEL
Title:	Neil Michael Hagerty & The Howling Hex
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 227CD

Artist:	BROTHER JT
Title:	Hang In There, Baby
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 254CD

Artist:	FUCKING AM, THE
Title:	Gold
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 269CD

Artist:	RTX
Title:	Speed to Roam
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 286CD

Artist:	BONNY/SWEENEY
Title:	I Gave You
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 298CD