Notes on Some Recent Acquisitions 23rd May 2004

The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter : An exquisite 2 cd compilation of Baxter's best ethno-forgeries. Ridiculously easy to listen to but the orchestrations are concise and fluid.

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours : Emminently ignorable in 1977 (at least it was for punky me) but everyone else knew better. A grand old dame of sophisticated pop.

Goldfrapp - Black Cherry : A fabulous re-iteration of the beauty of massed synths (see below for more)

Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Minder : thanks to Jay for letting me in on this lovely release. Her voice is just fine for me but, yes, it does grate over time. I really like this new avant folk stuff - it never seems as worthy as the old style folk... and that's a very, very good thing. Vetiver's self titled isn't as interesting as this one but still has some lovely tunes.

Click here for the full list.