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Chino Mala Leche EP (Mag Wheel)
DJ Michael Fierman Fire Island Classics Volume 2 (Centaur)
The Ananda Shankar Experience and State of Bengal Walking On (Real World/Virgin)
Zoobombs Let It Bomb (Emperor Norton)
Tokyo's Zoobombs take the half-ironic Stones worship of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and detonate it over a Japanese sensibility--making you wonder which half of their trip is ironic. Wait, no--they start with Spencer's former Pussy Galore and compete clatter for junkabilly clatter. Hang on--then they do write a Stones ballad, but rap in Japanese over it. And then they grunge up Spinal Tap's '65-Stones piss-take "Gimme Some Money," before redrawing the fine line between "Sister Ray" and "Roadrunner" on the closer to their second album. And that's leaving out the killer/clamour organ-funk rave-ups. Let's just say these cats are the bomb. 8.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
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When the Nils called it at day in 1993 many thought that Nils main man Alex Sorias was down for the count. After one listen to this brilliant 6-song EP, it becomes clear he was just taking a breather in the corner. Now he's come out swingin': the most notable improvement are his vocals, standing front and centre, where they always should have been. Songs like "Worlds Apart" and "Misbehavin'" showcase Soria's signature mastery of pop/punk while managing to sidestep maturity for bright-eyed rock excitement. In a nutshell, fucking great. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)
The Saint was the early '80s NYC club that basically birthed the gay circuit aesthetic through a hi-NRG soundtrack, a rich white guest list and loadsa muscles packed with synthetic drugs doing the pumpy-pump. Michael Fierman was one of the Saint's best-loved residents, moving with the crowd from the club onto the beaches of Fire Island for the summers. Disc one of Fire Island Classics is a brilliant document of the sound of this gay A-list, right before the spread of AIDS. If you can get past the "Music Box Dancer"-reminiscent intros of forgotten '80s faves like Crystal in Pink's "Back to You," you can begin to fathom what it may have felt like debauching 'round Babylon before the fall. The comparably disappointing second CD features recent circuit hits like the Whitehouse's cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." 7.5/10 (Mireille Silcott)
The recent death of '60s sitar psychedelicist and 'Indo-funk pioneer' Ananda Shankar is particularly poignant. Not just because he was only 56, but also because he and his oeuvre were just being rediscovered by a proverbial new generation of xenophilic beat-heads and diasporic Indian DJs, including London's Sam Zaman (aka State of Bengal), who joined Ananda and band on this 1998 set for Real World. Ananda's template for east-meets-west is obviously updated with Zaman's d&b doctoring, but the best moments are (live) versions of two old Ananda numbers; flute-frenzied slabs of Shankar-Shaft music that beg a burrow through his back-catalogue. 7.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw)