Crouching in her backyard garden, Shannon Stephens is poised for greatness. Although she ran from music for almost a decade, she’s not hiding now.

Drawing from a rich variety of influences from the cradle to his crate digging years, Roberto C. Lange as Helado Negro cites influences such as Funkadelic, DJ Premiere, South American 60’s pop, Arthur Russell, Ecuadorean ballad singer Julio Jaramillo, and the production style of Adrian Sherwood in the early ON-U Sound releases. But when asked about his contemporaries, Roberto references all the players on the album, adding the names of visual artists David Ellis and Christian Marclay, two artists who implement elements of DJ culture in their work. This is apropos when listening to the record, which it seems as if the songs have been sculpted or painted.

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When describing his sound, Lange explains that most of the songs start as a simple idea like a loop from the MPC, recordings of himself playing guitar, field recordings re-processed in the computer, or sampling from vinyl. The music develops with the understanding that no idea is sacred, and each new element contributes, whether it’s kept or discarded as the song moves itself forward. The music is saturated with the glow of Latin music explorers like Os Mutantes, Tom Ze, and Arto Lindsay, while vocal influences range from Hector Lavoe to the Red Crayola’s Mayo Thompson, but Lange’s musical sensibilities derive more from instinct and emotion than stylistic identifiers. Throughout the album his vocals (with lyrics sung in Spanish), shrouded in wet reverbs and slappy delays, float above a weave of buoyant guitars and polyrhythmic sounds, conveying both transparent and abstract romantic-poetic ideas. The album title, Awe Owe, or AH! OH?, references Lange’s outlook on his past and future, “AH!” for realization and “OH?” for his understanding of how there is always much more to learn.

900X is the moniker for James McAlister. James has released the first 900X record, titled “Lubbock, 1980” as the first in an instrumental Music Library series for the Lander, WY based record label Asthmatic Kitty. “Lubbock, 1980” is a collection of songs recorded both at home an on the road, in numerous environments and non-environments from 2004-2008. James continues to do remix work and original film music under the 900X umbrella with such artists as My Brightest Diamond, Slavic Soul Party, and Sufjan Stevens. 900X can also be heard on the Asthmatic Kitty-curated Habitat compilation.

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Law of the Least Effort is the name under which Casey Foubert records and performs his instrumental compositions. This collection of songs, “Music for Measurements”, is an homage to 60’s and 70’s session bands like The Meters, Booker T and the MG’s, The Funk Brothers, the JB’s, and guitar players like Clarence White, Link Wray, JJ Cale and John McLaughlin. Casey Foubert is a freelance producer/engineer/sideman living in the Seattle area.

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“Music For Drums” is the first in a series of records conceived by Casey Foubert and James McAlister using drums, percussion, and user designed software effects as the sole sound source. Foubert and McAlister drew from both improvised drumming and pattern-based sequencing with samplers to create themes molded into songs. While the concept excludes harmonic and melodic conventions, atonal “melodies” present themselves alongside the groove centered songs.

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“When I listen to this collection of unreleased songs, I’m taken back to that formative tour where much of this material-and Royal City itself-took shape.”

Hermas Zopoula is many things. He is the youngest of 36 children. Born in a small village named Yoro, he is Burkinabe, a citizen and resident of Burkina Faso, West Africa. He is a moped enthusiast, orphanage volunteer, and internet cafe proprietor. Hermas is also a psalmist, and Espoir is his first international recording.

Hermas sings in four different languages on the album: French, English, Dioula, and Sissali (Hermas’ mother tongue). The only way to introduce Hermas’ sound was to release Espoir as a two disc set. The first disc, recorded in a government studio in Burkina Faso, presents a refined and practiced Hermas. But the Hermas on the second disc is the one most Burkinabes know, just him and his guitar in his backyard.

Hermas is a big fan of Malian singer Salif Keita. He also connects with reggae music, especially the musicians who see music as a way of bringing about justice and peace. Bob Marley is an immediate inspiration, but like many Burkinabes, Hermas has a deep love for Lucky Dube, who used his music to expose government corruption in the murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. Comparisons to singer/song-writer Seu Jorge are inevitable, but listeners will find Hermas’ voice sweeter and warmer. Other audible influences in Hermas’ music are Afro-pop pioneer Thomas Mapfumo, King Sunny Ade, and Toumani Diabateï’s Symmetric Orchestra.

Hermas is currently employed as a translator by Air Burkina at the international airport in Ouagadougou. When Jonathan Dueck, the album’s cover artist and Hermas’ friend, last left Ouagadougou, Hermas waved good-bye to him right from the tarmac.

Cryptacize deals in the unforgettable melody, the forsaken chord and the extravagant sentiment. It’s a distinct kind of pleasure they offer, not casual background or ‘lifestyle’ music.

David Stith’s ethereal voice communicates the unfathomable—mysticism, the commingling of water and fire, waking dreams, spiritual torment—with such reckless abandon that is rarely seen in many albums, let alone a debut work.

The Story of Fol Chen: Traffic was thick, thick, thick and Samuel Bing was unwell, strung out on the latest psychotropic fads: sleeplessness and feeling crummy. The Northern State was crawling like a funeral procession for Robert Moses. Above the overpasses, the clouds were lined with gristle. Even the horizon seemed to be sinking. So, […]