• My favorite chill-down record of the moment is the just released Last Night, a soulful, sweet funky breeze from the eclectic entity known as His Name Is Alive. Initially a somber, dark sound experiment by Warren Defever, the outfit has re-invented itself with each album on the 4AD label, this time taking a left into funky café jazz and soft acoustic soul.
• Prepare yourself for "gorilla-rap" or maybe "gorilla-scat" as lowland superstar Koko has announced the debut of her Fine Animal Gorilla album, the first ever release by, well, a gorilla. The 31-year-old is best known as one of a select group of lowland gorillas raised to communicate in American Sign Language by San Francisco's Gorilla Foundation.
Retailers are wishing for a DVD Christmas this year, and record labels large and small are releasing tides of great titles. The Cult has just released Live Cult, a 17-track concert CD filmed at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium.
• For 20 years, Boston held the record for the best-selling debut album of all time, and it's hard to flip through anyone's uncle's record collection and not find a copy of the self-titled monster from 1976. Even though Boston has had just three releases since then, the group is back this Tuesday with Corporate America, featuring guitarist and electronics superstar Tom Scholz and original vocalist Brad Delp.
• This Tuesday the Elektra label releases the next four concerts in its Live Phish series, volumes 13 through 16, this time featuring the band's much-heralded Halloween performances from 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998.
• While record labels come and go, others are destined to define their own sound and culture, offering to the listener a musical manifesto that brands its artists to the label's imprint. With that in mind, let us bow down to two tasty new box sets celebrating double-decade anniversaries of independent record labels that have beaten the odds.
This Tuesday brings the highly anticipated release of previously unavailable demos and live sessions from the late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley and former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas. Entitled Songs To No One 1991-1992, the 11-track collection bears the Knitting Factory Records imprint and features four tracks recorded at the intimate New York City nightclub.
• Two new pop psychedelic masterpieces have colored my mind with crackling fragility, mysterious aloofness, and the bite of crisp cider. This Tuesday brings the long-awaited return of The Soft Boys, re-formed last year to a sold-out concert tour.
• The audio alchemists of Negativland have done it again, challenging listeners with an electronic cacophony to accompany their latest "art damage" project, entitled Death Sentences of the Polished & Structurally Weak.
This Tuesday brings an avalanche of soundtrack CDs from upcoming films and music-fueled television dramas. Epic Records' release of the Moonlight Mile soundtrack is a well-conceived quilt of iconic hits and interesting choices.

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