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CD
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TOM 140CD
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"With highly regarded drummer Christian Thome and Feinmotorik's Marc Matter, who both have contributed to the present album recording, Yvonne Cornelius (Niobe) has once more performed magic, enveloping little stories in multi-facetted songs. As always the exotic atmosphere that is lost in reverie is maintained. A near escape from the 'other' life. Twelve pieces about the question, how one's life might possibly have turned out. Yvonne Cornelius, composer of colorful and complex arrangements, and extraordinary vocal virtuoso, narrates in rich, imaginative ways from different characters who picture -- within a song -- how their actual life would turn out if it was not beautiful but horrorible."
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7"
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TOM 135EP
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"Diamond Rings is a creative outlet for Toronto based artist and musician John O. His first single All Yr Songs was released on limited edition vinyl via his own boutique label and design house Hype Lighter in August 2009. Diamond Rings' follow up single Wait & See marks his first release with German record label Tomlab and features gated snares, distorted guitar, and a catchy chorus featuring backing vocals from Toronto based indie-pop star Gentleman Reg. The B Side is an unlikely cover of Sebadoh's 'On Fire' that trades the mid-nineties acoustic aesthetic of the original for nightclub-ready MIDI beats and shimmering analog synth flourishes."
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CD
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TOM 134CD
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"Six years after the release of his previous album Landau, Toronto's Chris A. Cummings, a.k.a. Mantler, is set to releases his highly anticipated fourth album Monody." "Cummings' feather-light vocals and lush instrumentation recall Timber Timbre, though in a more distinctively upbeat way. The disco beats ('Fresh and Fair') and Isaac Hayes-style horn-and-string arrangements give the music a slight 1970s AM radio colouring." -- Eye Weekly
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LP
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TOM 134LP
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12"
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TOM 136EP
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"Judy At The Grove is a pop record of a different order, transcending any expectations of what 'indie' music should sound like. Pristine production values, bonkers arrangements, and a star-studded list of talented guest musicians all prove that No Kids are onto some next level shit. Every track on Judy At The Grove points to a ingenuity, maturity, and clarity of vision that lifts No Kids heads and shoulders above their contemporaries."
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CD
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TOM 125CD
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"Blackbird's Echo is the title of the fifth full length album by Cologne, Germany based Niobe, recorded and produced at Studio G by Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, Home & Garden) in Brooklyn, New York with Aki Onda, Brooklyn, New York acting as guest producer and collaborations with David Grubbs, DJ Olive."
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LP
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TOM 125LP
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CD
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TOM 127CD
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"From Kraftwerk to Leonard Cohen, The Smiths to Suicide, and Pet Shop Boys to Smog, Chicago's one-man musical army Own Ashworth -- aka Casiotone For The Painfully Alone -- has been bracketed with all manner of illustrious names in the course of his eleven year career. But in collecting the 7-inch split-singles and compilation tracks he released from 2004-7 (all but two of them on CD for the first time), Advance Base Battery Life provides compelling evidence of the singular nature of this industrious film-school dropout's talent."
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LP
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TOM 127LP
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CD
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TOM 128CD
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"Hot on the heels of the recently released singles and rarities compilation Advance Base Battery Life comes Vs. Children, the fifth album proper by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Vs. Children continues the trajectory of 2006's Etiquette, which showed singer/songwriter Owen Ashworth straying from the strictly electronic instrumentation of his earlier recordings."
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LP
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TOM 128LP
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7"
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TOM 124EP
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"A Song For Ellie Greenwich is the first single from Entanglements, the third album by Parenthetical Girls."
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CD
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TOM 122CD
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"The Town Topic EP is the soundtrack to video artist and photographer Laurel Nakadate's debut feature film, Stay The Same Never Change. Laurel commissioned Casiotone For The Painfully Alone's Owen Ashworth to provide all of the music for Stay The Same Never Change, right down to the character's ring tones. The Town Topic EP consists of thirteen short instrumental pieces, book-ended by two vocal tracks that were recorded specifically for the film. This EP also collects tracks from two limited, vinyl-only EPs (the Town Topic 7", released by OIB Records in Brighton, England, and STSNC Instrumentals 7", released by People In A Position To Know Recordings, Inc. in Olympia, WA), plus one bonus track, the previously unreleased 'Lesley Gore on the Tami Show (instrumental).'"
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CD
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TOM 120CD
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"Portland, Oregon's Parenthetical Girls have traded in their small-screen sincerity for a bold and blustering technicolor -- a lush, longing and lusty celluloid schmaltz they call Entanglements. An orchestral song-cycle of grand sonic ambition, Entanglements is an eleven-song, linear narrative of ascendancy, adolescent sexuality, quantum mechanics, consent and other moral ambiguities! Borrowing string-swept sentimentality from the likes of Van Dyke Parks, Scott Walker, Jack Nitzsche, and Burt Bacharach, Entanglements draws colorful lines across the expanse between these orchestral pop antiquities and the more formidable strains of modern classical composers -- its hues distantly reminiscent of names like Krzystof Penderecki, Philip Glass, and Gavin Bryars."
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CD/DVD
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TOM 119CD
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"Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion is a brilliant live performance collaboration between Thee Oh Sees and video director Brian Lee Hughes. The project resulted in a double-disc DVD/CD set featuring live performances filmed and recorded, not on stages, but at a variety of hauntingly scenic sites in and around San Francisco. The film is also studded with dozens of stories, jokes and whatnots filmed during their four-day filming adventure. The resulting recordings are included on the audio CD. The results are a rare and necessary masterpiece. Step into the lush dark charm of Thee Oh Sees."
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CD
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TOM 118CD
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"Prior to entering The Master's Bedroom earlier this year, San Francisco's Thee Oh Sees originally self-released the more subdued Sucks Blood in early 2007 to fund the latter's recording. Steeped in the natural hues of analog and reverb, Sucks Blood is a subtle gem of irresistible pop and basement psychedelia. Immediate classics include the ghostly saw-tinged title track and the charming lumber of the harmonious 'Ship.' Sucks Blood is quite simply yet another testament to the total genius of John Dwyer for those who have yet to heed."
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CD
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TOM 117CD
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"Somewhere beyond nostalgia, beyond the garage, somewhere beyond the fireside song and supposed goo-rock, you will find the latest incarnation of Thee Oh Sees, now a quartet composed of John Dwyer (OCS, Coachwhips, Pink & Brown), Brigid Dawson, Petey Dammit! and Mike Shoun. The prolific John Dwyer contends again for best album of his career with The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In. Following 2007's understated and unjustly ignored Sucks Blood, The Master's Bedroom... weaves Dwyer's signature AM radio howl with the catchiest of driving tunes, Dawson's gorgeous harmonies, heightened fidelity, thick spring-reverbed bombast, mighty drums (at times in pairs), and an undeniable pull."
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CD
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TOM 108CD
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"Come Into My House is the first release by Vancouver, Canada trio No Kids, which is comprised of three-quarters of the critically revered pop band P:ANO. Come Into My House achieves an unexpected cohesiveness despite the wide range of musical styles over its 12 tracks. Golden era Hollywood musicals, Jam & Lewis-inspired production techniques, the icy displacement of contemporary R'n'B, and the breadth of Arthur Russell, disco, pop, and avant garde compositional work are referenced and married together by novelistic narrative strains, a lush instrumental palette, and a cinematic atmosphere."
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7"
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TOM 106EP
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"Numbers emerges from the dusk of last year's full-length, Now You Are This, with a pair of rollicking jams that refuse to let the summer set from our hearts and minds. 'Is That Really True?' takes on the heavy question of real knowledge with a fuzz bass and drone organ before turning to an irresistible hum-along chorus. And prevailing question remains: 'What can we know?' On the flip, the Tommy James and the Shondells classic 'Crimson and Clover' experiences a fuzz rock reawakening shot through by pointedly triumphant guitars and dirty synth. All builds to an end with a brilliant reenactment of the tremolo chant 'Crimson and Clover - over and over...' Summer may go, but it won't be gone forever." Limited to 500 copies.
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CD
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TOM 081CD
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"Which band can claim to take over the dancefloor with a twist of R'n'B, radio-pop and electronica? Who has the secret recipe for a sound that equally stimulates teenagers and people in their 30s? Who sounds as sexy as Justin Timberlake and The Soft Pink Truth combined? And who was the cover star of the San Francisco Guardian in May 2005 with the headline 'dance, punk, dance'? Hey Willpower is one of the hottest acts in the R'n'B underground emerging from the U.S."
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7"
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TOM 109EP
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"The A-side, 'Wedding' defines Munch Munch's sound. With prominent synth similar to Of Montreal, and the distinct vocals of Klaxons, this track is a piece of raucous DIY charm. Complex drums and synth move in to a jingle pop ditty with 'Endolphins.' Like Architecture In Helsinki, Munch Munch are able to blend funk elements into the proceedings, making this track easy for every stripe of listener to enjoy. It is as hypnotic as Steve Reich-esque patterns play counterpoint to old school Neptunes style breakdowns. The end to this delectable slice of musical initiative is 'Wet Nightmare' -- the shortest track on the single, but by no means the least noteworthy. Like a Christmas song on speed, it grabs your attention and holds you tight, ending in a crescendo of frantic gusto. Recording frantic pop explosions in their bedrooms, they mix abstract lyrics, unpredictable structures, and ecstatic playfulness into a unique sound that appears to be the start of a fruitful career."
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7"
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TOM 103EP
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"After last year's ecstatic album Night Life, SF's Erase Errata return with two new and exclusive recordings for this series. With 'Clear Spot' they pay tribute with a genius cover version of one of their heroes, Captain Beefheart. The flipside brings you 'Pass The Crimson,' a dynamic and cutting new song that follows EE's tradition: Ellie's sliding bass, Bianca's tricky drums and vocalist Jenny's staccato singing."
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7"
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TOM 083EP
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"The Blow's smash hit from Paper Television is finally available on an attractive 7" with a fine selection of remixes from some talented friends. Lille, France-based trio, Dat Politics, have taken the mellow, spring-like love song on a bouncy rollercoaster ride. A hyperactive beat mashup has replaced the original beat, while keeping singer Khaela Maricich's sweet voice safely belted through the loops. London's new premiere resident, DJ Rory Phillips is one of the heroes of The End's Trash (now Durr) Club fame. Fresh off of remixes for Franz Ferdinand and Les Georges Leningrad, Phillips has given 'Parenthesis' a more sensitive treatment, transforming the rhythm into a static, repetitive, but cool house beat. Rounding out this single is the previously-unreleased 'Get Around,' a frantic, dynamic gem from the Paper Television sessions that you shouldn't miss!"
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CD
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TOM 102CD
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"Misha are Ashley Yao and John Chao. The two have crossed paths since their childhood days in Taipei, but each time, circumstances caused them to move, wandering the world (here in Hong Kong, there in Paris) until they met again after college in New York. Two years after their debut on the highly respected Alphabet-Singles-Series on Tomlab, the Asian/American duo now present their first longplayer Teardrop Sweetheart, a cycle of happy/sad love songs with a new take on an old pleasure: the classic pop album. Walking the line between traditional songwriting and modern music making, settings of grandeur and intimate doubts, Ash and John make little big things, imagining a dimestore Joseph Cornell, and Buster Keaton with holes in his shoes."
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CD
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TOM 099CD
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"When Von Spar made their critically acclaimed entrance in the pop circuit in 2003 (e.g. cover story in Spex Magazine) they were regarded as the German answer to the post-punk/no-wave-renaissance. But their debut was more a clever parody about eighties-style hipster-bands. In the meantime the former trio grew to a five-piece band, which now (three years later and wiser) returns with an uncompromising album that gets ahead of all expectations. It will surprise their audience and critics and maybe leave them confused at first. Detached from the usual style issues Von Spar have exorcised the zeitgeist and overtaken the discourse. There is no scheme. Anything goes."
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