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Music

Perlich’s Picks

Rating: NNNNN


Every week there’s so much amazing music released on the down low — mesmerizing space jazz reissues, bangin’ club remixes, lost garage rock artifacts — that you never hear on the radio or read about in the mainstream media. NOW launches a new column to uncover the killer thrillers you might’ve missed. Good digging!

Memphis madness

In Memphis, where the threat of snow flurries is causing mass panic and hoarding of bottled water and canned provisions, houses are rocking to the raunchy sound of the Chains And Black Exhaust dirty, distorto-funk comp devised by the crate-robbing Memphix label crew. Shouted chants, wildly pounding drums and scorching fuzz guitar from the likes of Black Merda, Creations Unlimited and Iron Knowledge make the so-called hard funk on other collections sound like cheesy Northern soul tweeness. Be forewarned, this is an unlicensed ghetto-style job, dubbed directly from scratchy 7s with no notes and no track listing. But once you hear Gran Am’s super-dope Get High, you’ll know you need this. There are only 1,000 copies, so e-mail Chad at memphix-records@msn.com on the double.

Rhinestone rethink

Sure, everybody knows Glen Campbell is an A-team country session picker, but wait till you hear his head-noddin’ cover of Jerry Reed’s Oh What A Woman! Bet you didn’t know the Rhinestone Cowboy could get down like that. Beach Boys fans will want to track down the Zonophone 7-inch for Campbell’s take on the Brian Wilson obscurity Guess I’m Dumb on the flip side. Too much!

Jazzy joints

When it comes to legit rare-groove reissues, UK-based online powerhouse www.whatmusic.com is tough to top. Its latest wave includes Paulo Moura’s bossa-jazz classic Fibra (which includes sought-after club stormer Vera Cruz), Argentine saxophone great Chivo Borraro’s stellar Blues Para Un Cosmonauta and the obscure Song For Rene session from Open Sky Unit’s Jacques Pelzer with a seriously deep version of Coltrane’s Naima. Oooh, sweetness!

Dubwise damage

Classy UK collector’s shop/label Honest Jon’s, which has thinned my wallet on numerous occasions, makes up for Damon Albarn’s Malian misstep with two righteous roots Light of Saba 12-inch singles — Africa and Lambs Bread Collie — to preview the highly anticipated Cedric Im Brooks collection, due any minute.

Cagey Britt

I thought I was being clever by going to Cosmos the weekend before vinyl vampire King Britt hit town for a Garage416 session and drained the joint dry. So imagine my surprise when I showed up to find his Philly highness had sneakily arrived a week early and was just paying for a stack of rare wax the size of a subcompact. Nuff respect!

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