by S. Victor Aaron Some favorite jazz albums that don’t come up at the top of anyone else’s top records list, but I thought were outstanding despite the lack of publicity

Guitarists Bill Anderson and Billysteve (yep, one word) Kopri turn the blues inside out on Churchwood’s “Vendidi Fumar,” then wear it around like Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Theirs is a sound — sudden, bright and menacing — not unlike a car crash

by Mark Saleski Good gawd, the man is a veritable Fort Knox of ideas. From barroom stompers to pensive ballads to clattering percussion to spoken word oddities. Waits reciting Bukowski? Yes, please! Waits is the weird uncle you’re fascinated by and scared of at the same time. You still love him though. ‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from [...]

Last fall, we saluted the arrival of a new Richard Pinhas CD, Metal/Crystal, one that supplemented his trio with fellow experimentalist warriors Merzbow and Wolf Eyes.

by Fred Phillips Converting a huge CD collection to digital as I’ve been doing slowly for the past couple of weeks can be tedious, but it also has its rewards: Namely, stumbling across very cool records that you haven’t spent any quality time with in years.