The New York Public Library's Office of Central Collection Development fields dozens of requests to purchase new material from our patrons each month. It is a great way to enrich our collections and cover lesser-known titles and areas of interest.

This list is a monthly compilation of my own personal favorite patron requests for music. I hope you will check out some of the great music that library users have suggested we acquire!

Provided are some great preview tracks for each. Just click on the titles to be taken to the Catalog.

The Blue Notebooks by Max Richter

Coolest find of the month! Richter has produced a stunningly beautiful album, mixing elements of classical, experimental, and electronic music; but the end result is so emotional and intimate that it defies any such deconstruction. Just, amazing. Here is a song I imagine God will play at the end of the world, when humans somehow finally destroy themselves, never having fully understood the important part they played in their own collective fate all along. (Preview)

King Night by Salem

Well, we had to have something on here to celebrate HALLOWEEN right? Here you have it: spooky, synth-heavy, wall-of-sound fantasticness. Oh, this is epic! And yes, I'm certain I hear "O, Holy Night" sampled in the background. (Preview)

The Voice of Lightness by Tabu Ley Rochereau

This is some great late-60s pop music from the Congo. It is a testament to the power of music: the undeniably good vibes that eminate from African pop music in the post-colonial period. Vive l'Afrique! (Preview)

Cape Dory by Tennis

There's a certain type of sound really taking over the indie-rock scene these days; a mix of lo-fi and 60s surf elements, with particular attention paid to just really nice and catchy melodies. (Preview)

MosaiK by Siriusmo

Anyone notice the kids are all in to Electro these days? Well, there was bound to be some requests. I'll just say that 80s casio keyboard-based music sounds pretty cool when fed through some 21st-century tricked out production gear. (Preview)

Step in the Arena by Gang Starr

This is East Coast, early 90s hardcore hip hop, stripped down to a bass-heavy beat with some New York jazz samples, and the group's own undeniable swagger and flow. This one might take you back! (Preview)

Split the Atom by Noisia

This is an abrasive, beat-heavy, drum-and-bass meets dubstep. Don't look here for those breathy techno vocals about love and freeing your mind and such. This batch right here is so SGTYF (Say Goodbye To Your Face, for you non-dubsteppers). And a great video to boot! (Preview)

Sofrito (Tropical Discotheque) by various

Ba- (wait for it) -rilliant! Climb into the back of some South American bus or other, the kind with chicken cages strapped to the top and goats licking your face, with kids looking at you all puzzled and amused, and the driver swerving around cliff turns like he might just be ready to meet his maker and take you all with him. But all is fine, because some tracks off this record can be heard eminating out of some cheap transistor radio somebody brought along. And am I really supposed to pick one track from this jam-packed box-o-gruvitos?! How about a mini-mix of all of them?! (Preview)

Nervous Nitelife (Live from Mansion) by Sydney Blu

If you want to spend an hour or two in a hip and jumpin' Miami night club, with the best woofers money can buy, surrounded by glow-stick swinging dancers... well, check this one out! Oh, she's good; and she's not going to stop until she's got the whole world bouncing in a black light glow, emanating off the wafts of machine-generated fog. (Preview)

Looping State of Mind by The Field

This right here is this month's "what just happened" entry, as that was my reaction after checking it out. Experimental, drony, minimal, trance-inducing at times. Yet, ah yes, there it is: a dynamic build, and story arc above the drone. They do it well! (Preview)

TUNE IN NEXT MONTH!