It's been a long five years since "October Language" for the New Orleans duo of Turk Dietrich & Michael Jones aka BELONG & the group has made some significant changes to their sound during that time. We didn't realize it then but their 2008 e.p. of covers called "Colorless Record" was a little hint at what was to come on their 2011 Kranky debut. The biggest chance is of course the addition of drums & vocals. The washy drones & ambience are still prevalent but now they exist as a comfortable bed for the minimalist, almost dark-wave songs to lie on. The first thing that came to our mind when we heard this was "Faith" & "Pornography" era CURE drenched in lo-fi mellotron string drones with ancient sounding drum machines & vocals barely peaking through. In a way, "Common Era" is almost like the perfect middle ground between the other 2011 Kranky releases to this point, DISAPPEARS' "Guider" & Tim Hecker's "Ravedeath, 1972" & will certainly end up on many of our employees' best of lists for the year.

Great collection of COMMON's best, but only from his first three records, "Can I Borrow a Dollar?," "Resurrection," & "One Day It'll All Make Sense." These are classic COMMON jams, and there's a bunch of Chicago references, to boot. These tracks aren't as polished as his later releases like "Be" or "Like Water for Chocolate," but the beats and lyrics are there, and that's all you need for a great hip-hop record. Get this!!!

Montreal's Brigitte Naggar makes knotty, ethereal folk under the moniker COMMON HOLLY. The rhythm section is particularly strong here, supporting the arrangement of synth and strings and giving grounding to Naggar's more confessional songs.

Don't be alarmed, it's okay to fear VAN MORRISON in the '80's-but this record is pretty good, recalling the more meditative and open ended song structure and song length of "Astral Weeks"-worth the price alone for "Haunts of ancient peace" and"Summertime in England"...

Debut album from this Boston MC. RIPSHOP's style is on the gangster tip, but with clever wordplay and a smooth flow. Features cameos from KRUMBSNATCHA, JAYSAUN, & more!

COMMON teams up with KANYE WEST here for a dynamic album that eschews the theory of "the bigger (i.e. more producers, guests, clutter) the better" to stripping down the entire affair to only have a few slight appearences from JOHN LEGEND, THE LAST POETS, BILAL, and JAY-DEE (who turns in two productions here). The end result is what could be considered the bookend to "Like Water For Chocolate." This is going to be a classic in the history of Hip-Hop...GET THIS!!

Montreal's Brigitte Naggar makes knotty, ethereal folk under the moniker COMMON HOLLY. The rhythm section is particularly strong here, supporting the arrangement of synth and strings and giving grounding to Naggar's more confessional songs.

The 2016 album from FIELD MUSIC finds them adding some funky rhythms & some 'rock & soul' style tunes ala HALL & OATES. Actually some of these songs sound A LOT like HALL & OATES which we'd imagine will please a lot of people. Fans of their other albums, SPOON, HALL & OATES, PRINCE, etc... will love this.

CHICAGO 1977 FEATURING JIM PETERIK (FROM BERWYN, IL) WHO WAS LATER IN SURVIVOR (EYE OF THE TIGER)