NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Joanna Newsom, Johnny Cash, Fela, Eluvium and more

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE Songs Of Praise CD
*** REISSUE!

JOHNNY CASH American VI: Ain't No Grave CD
*** "The sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings albums is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges - the pursuit of salvation, the importance of friendships, the dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival."

ELUVIUM Similes CD
*** "Similes is a courageous creative leap into elements previously uncharted by Eluvium: percussion, a verse-chorus song structure, and singing. In this way, Similes is the most truly experimental Eluvium album yet, and the most accessible."

FELA Gentleman / Confusion CD
*** "Gentleman is both an Africa 70 and Afro-beat masterpiece -- some of the most interesting and innovative of Fela's '70s material. Fela Kuti's 1975 Confusion shows him and Africa 70 at the heights of instrumental prowess and ambiguous jibes."

ERIC JOHNSON Tones CD
*** REISSUE!

LOCAL NATIVES Gorilla Manor CD
*** "Soaring, sky-scraping harmonies, dreamy orchestral melodies, & throbbing tribal beats. Draws a line from the vocal stylings of Crosby Stills Nash & Young & the Zombies through the more esoteric edges of post-punk & Afro-beat."

JOANNA NEWSOM Have One On Me 3xCD
*** "Joanna Newsom fans: don t look now, but Joanna's about to let her hair down -- this 125 minutes-worth of songs is nothing more than a new album. Through the course of eighteen songs, Joanna visits upon us ditties, weepies, court dances, rump-bumpers, epics and moments of wraparound fantasia. Have One On Me - ah, have three, they're small!"

THE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA Kollaps Tradixionales CD
*** Sixth album. "The newly minted quintet has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms."

ALI FARKA TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE Ali & Toumani CD
*** "Ali and Toumani is the second and final album pairing the late Malian guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, and features Orlando 'Cachaito' Lopez on bass. Playful, effervescent, and masterful."