Check out this list of some of the most exciting, newly purchased CDs from our circulating collections for your listening pleasure. Click on the album titles to be taken to the catalog and put the CDs on hold, and don't forget the provided PREVIEW tracks. Enjoy!

Subway Salsa: The Montuno Records Story by various (2011)

There's a lot of fun history with this one, much of it included in the liner notes. A good 40 years ago, Times Square was a very different place. There was no Disney Store or Hard Rock Cafe. Plus I wouldn't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure the very spot where the Marriot Marquis Hotel is on Broadway used to be an arcade called "Fascination" right next to a x-rated theater called "Kittykat".  I spent a lot of time in one of them. Back then there was a record store called simply, Record Mart. It was underground, in the subway, and it became a Mecca for Latin music lovers. Deliberately catering to their customers, they began to carry everything people wanted to hear; and that meant lots of Haitian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican music; as well as, of course, Nuyorican Salsa. The staff's knowledge of the music grew to legendary proportions, to the point where youngsters would hang around the store just to eavesdrop on conversations. In fact I once read a guy named DJ Bongohead state that it was like walking into an encyclopedia of Latin Music.That store had its own label, ran out of the back of the store: Montuno Records. This collection is a document of that label, and it is as diverse at it is awesome. And you'll be happy to know, the Kittykat might be gone, but Record Mart is literally STILL THERE! To learn more about Salsa in NYC, check out the new exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York, running through November 26, 2017. PREVIEW

Day Breaks by Norah Jones (2016)

I remember, as many readers probably do, when Norah Jones hit it big with her debut album, "Come Away With Me". That was all the way back in 2002. That album cleaned up at the Grammys! I can still remember this shot of a diminutive Jones trying to simultaneously hold her 5 Grammys all at once so the media circus could get a good shot of her. I swear, I saw in her expression, this look, certainly thrilled with an incomparable Grammy sweep; but yet, kindly, thinking, "what is this media circus? I'm just a musician, a lover of music. I'm not meant for these cameras." And her next steps in music seem so perfectly calculated so as to avoid the media circus, while taking full advantage of this amazing reception. She took her time between albums; racked up an impressive array of collaborations, which seemed to me sometimes deliberately using her notariety to call attention to lesser-known musicians; and managed to quite impressively avoid the media circus. It was almost as if "Come Away With Me" got so much attention, she deliberately down-played the spotlight to be able to remain sane. I don't know. But get this, she is married, with two kids, and nobody knows who the husband is! I mean, this is not some long-distance relationship; they live together! And nobody knows who the guy is! It would take some aspiring TMZ photographer about 5 seconds to figure it out, but she's downplayed the whole putting one's personal life on display that people just respect that. Weird! Respect of famous people. What is this! Where are we? Anyway, she lives in Brooklyn, so maybe you know. Keep it to yourself I guess. But having avoided the fanfare of her debut album, she has continued to put out a string of wonderfully mellow collections and is still as talented and tasteful as ever. 

If you have any appreciation for classic jazz vocal music, I honestly can't imagine you not enjoying this recording. And this preview track is my personal favorite: PREVIEW

Amanecer by Bomba Estereo (2015)

This is Latin music for the modern ear, and I mean that in the best way possible. Named after a Colombian slang phrase for a bad-ass party (eng: stereo bomb), the feelings evoked here range from lilting beach sunsets to bass-heavy barrio dance halls. All I can say is when they hit into a groove, it's just, it's just, the whole world right there in that song. Influences from everywhere, and every time. It's truly captivating! PREVIEW

For the Recently Found Innocent by White Fence (2014)

If you think jangly, shoe-gazey, psychedelic, and pop-folk are terms that sound good together, give this one a try. The brainchild of a one Tim Presley, a musician seemingly addicted to writing songs and recording them in his bedroom on his 4-track. This DOES have a lo-fi feel to it, but it's not as rough-around-the-edges as, say, Daniel Johnston. Johnston's music is great, but part of its charm is that he didn't have the time to think about music production. Just push record and get it on tape. Presley is different. So he uses some dated recording equipment, but indeed uses it to its full capacity. Recall, Sgt. Pepper's was recorded on a 4-track. That was a long time ago, but for Presley, you really don't need to buy the latest digital, souped-up, recording gear to make a great album.  And I'd bet Presley has a few Beatles albums kicking around his collection. PREVIEW

Songs of Time Lost by Piers Faccini & Vincent Segal (2014)

There is a quiet longing to this collection. The subdued vocal stylings of Faccini seem at times like a songbird perched on a casket; the cello of Segal, a wooden cart rolling down a cobble-stoned street. What is it? I'm not a poet, but this record is a poem, these musicians poets. The lyrics go from Italian to English, French, Creole even...maybe? If you could travel the world and magically avoid all tourist traps, just see the dusty children in the backstreets playing, the fishermen's boats returning at dusk, the locals converging in the square because that's how it's always been...if you could do that, wouldn't you?  PREVIEW

Ifetayo by Black Truth Rhythm Band (2011)

The Black Truth Rhythm Band hails from Trinidad, a country that developed probably the coolest instrument fashioned from an industrial byproduct the world has ever seen, the steelpan (or steel drum, made literally from an oil drum that is then musically tuned). Black Truth appeared in 1976 to drop this one album. It is unique in its incorporating the Trinidian sounds of the steelpan, with a conscious embracing of African influences, and certainly some American funk in there as well. Luckily, Soundways records unearthed it and rereleased it. It's extremely listenable, with nary a weak track on the whole thing. As solid as any Afrobeat record out there. I'll swear to it. PREVIEW

The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru, Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1968-1975)

Chicha is the name of a fermented beverage made from corn that is found in many varieties around Central and South America. It was here before Columbus, has been found at Machu Picchu, and has been used in both religious rituals and social gatherings for centuries. From this intoxicating beverage, the Peruvian offshoot of Cumbia known as "Chicha" takes its name. It's history is a lot like rock and roll. It developed into its own style with the introduction of amplifiers. It was seen by old, snooty types as a dangerous influence that would corrupt the youth. The genre was considered "low class", etc. Chicha has been around in Peru for a long time, and there have certainly been Chicha bands throughout. I in no way want to put too much emphasis on the historical importance of this release, but something happened that was pretty cool. This collection of classic Chicha songs was released in 2007, and the international community loved it! And the Peruvians were proud of it, this calling of attention to a colorful genre of music that the country could claim as their own. And so, Chicha has had a resurgence of popularity in Peru! As it should. It's great party music! PREVIEW

Hedzoleh by Hedzoleh Soundz (2010)

If the above band, Black Truth, is a great example of African influences combined with the West Indies, this here is a great example of pure, unadulturated Afrobeat. Through the 60s and 70s, Accra, the capital city of Ghana, was a hot-bed of musical activity. Many night clubs tried to out-do each other, hiring a variety of bands for residencies. One such legendary club was the Napoleon Club, and one such band was Hedzoleh Soundz. Though the influence of American rock, R&B, and funk elements would become quite common in many African bands in the 70s, Hedzoleh were early adopters of western influences; and their combining of these elements is spectacular. PREVIEW

What One Becomes by Sumac (2016) In 1968, a quite unfamous and, dare I say, rather unremarkable, blues cover band was practicing in Birmingham, England. At the cinema across the street, there was playing an Italian horror film by Mario Bava. The name of that film was "Black Sabbath".  The band, then known as "Earth", thought to themselves....'Isn't it fascinating how people will pay money to be scared? People like being scared!' So they took the name of the film as their own, wrote a song named after the film (the first song they ever wrote), and released their first album,  title: "Black Sabbath". The title track is what the band known as Black Sabbath decided should be in music: fear, fear of evil, of the darkness that looms, of spiritual entities that you can never be sure whether they are really there or not. That title track is about Satan coming to get YOU, and you don't even know why. But you plead to God for help. But it doesn't seem to matter; God can't help you now. It's too late; you are most certainly bound for eternal damnation. And that IS scary! Hell, they even used the "The Devil's Interval" as the main riff of the song. It is near-perfect in its execution, really. So when the music journalists try to trace back heavy metal to Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Cream, Hendrix, sure, musically they get pretty heavy. But they weren't putting horror movie themes to music. Sabbath did that. But it wasn't all contrivance for "the Sab", mind you. Bassist of the band Geezer Butler really WAS visited by a "figure in black" that stood at the edge of his bed in the middle of the night, he'll tell you. His proof was that the book of the occult he had had dissappeared too. We can assume the dark figure took it with him.

In my opinion, that moment when Black Sabbath decided heavy riff-oriented music should also be freaking scary, is when heavy metal was born; at least the scary branch of it, which is a pretty big branch. And that branch has continued to grow, and get scarier, and darker, and heavier. And so, here we have it, "What One Becomes" by Sumac. It will frighten you.  PREVIEW

Music for Saint Anthony of Padua by Guillaume Dufay (1996) If you need your soul cleansed, and need to hear some music that evokes angels instead of demons; look no further than Dufays beautiful mass written circa 1448 for the dedication of the high altarpiece (by Donatello) of the church in Padua. This is nothing short of a masterpiece of choral polyphony!   

Though I wasn't able to find an online preview of this recording, here is another fine group doing the piece which will give you a feel for the music. PREVIEW