From where we're sitting (lotus-legged, naturally), Kranky has been on a roll these past few years, signing many notable new (or newish) acts that are often solo projects or duos, yet feel fully-formed: Valet, White Rainbow, Atlas Sound, Lichens, Benoit Pioulard, Andrew Pekler, Cloudland Canyon...Although there are many elder bands on the Chicago-based label's roster of this general, ineffable ilk (Charalambides, Windy & Carl, Stars Of The Lid, Keith Fullerton Whitman, etc.), the A&R pace certainly seemed to pick up right around the time they took on Bird Show's first record, Green Inferno, back in 2005.

Then working with fellow Town And Country player Liz Payne only to go it alone for '06's Lightning Ghost, multi-instrumentalist Ben Vida is joined on this untitled effort by four other players: Rob "Lichens" Lowe and Ben's brother Adam, the three of whom are also 3/4 of US Maple successor of sorts Singer; improv percussionist Michael Zerang; and Greg Davis, who has toured as part of a collaborative trio with Vida and Whitman. Pan-African, Middle Eastern, South Asian and South American soundways intermingle in a rhythmic haze that's maybe more confident in how it'll cohere and congeal than the last two albums, as this more social setup allows for simultaneous recording and fewer overdubs. The fourth-world spirits of Riley, Hassell, and Codona run through this music, and a true fusion connection is here for the making.

Joseph Raglani, for his part, presents a mighty fine floater with Of Sirens Born, mainly synthesized and seemingly rooted in old-school analogue academic experimental electronics, but with enough warmth and gumption to want to lump it in with the punkier noiseniks and ambient outcasts. Makes for terrific namesake theme music whenever it graces the store's PA!

Nico Muhly's day job as assistant to Philip Glass is a particularly pertinent backstory when confronted with the Einstein-ian barrage of rich low-end and flutttering operatic chatter (with mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer instructed to incorporate as many past street addresses lived at into said overdubs) on Mothertongue's first, eponymous piece. Harpischord, celeste and trombones back Helgi Hrafn Jonsson's recitations riffing on various early-1600s texts for the duration of "Wonders", but nu-folk wunderkind Sam Amidon threatens to steal the show with "The Only Tune"'s cheery telling of a murder ballad involving two sisters, slowly drawn out additively.

An artifact of early digital recording and composition (the year: 1985; the main tool: the Fairlight CMI polyphonic sampling synthesizer), Don Juan transcends both the era of its making and the many styles it encompasses, from speedy-grid minimalism to pensive lyre passages (played on an electro-acoustic model of Lauten's own invention, the Trine) and drawn-out, haunting choral singing (as on the mid-opera "Death Of A Woman", where Don Juan himself is voiced by Arthur Russell--his chief accomplice Peter Zummo also features prominently throughout). This reissue continues Unseen Worlds' mandate, giving deserving cult avant-garde classical works a new audience.

Setting off what seems to be a full summer schedule for Blue Fog (with new discs from $100 and Andre Ethier to come), Jennifer Castle follows 2006's self-released Live At The Music Gallery with more sparse, beguiling beauty. Castle's guitar playing is as wonkily gentle as in her celebrated live shows, punctuating pauses with bluesy pull-offs. Folk-fiddling fellows Ryan Driver and Doug Tielli cameo, as You Can't Take Anyone ably introduces parts beyond our city limits to the range and power of one of this town's true balladeers, singing a secret language about to be made not-so-secret.

Two short, sweet Torontonian CD-Rs with handmade packaging and crack production jobs by our own Mike Smith. Cry Rumble charms with Kussin's squeaky drawl and sturdy country songwriting--if there are any $100 fans out there who haven't heard Jessie's tunes, make room for another local favourite. Gallantries, on the other hand, is the third 3" EP from Smith's jazzy, twangy, meter-shifting through-composed mongrel.

Anyone who's ever witnessed Eric Chenaux's playing (whether jazz guitar in Drumheller, free improvisation in The Draperies, Guayaveras and countless other permutations, 'standards' old and modern in The Reveries, or his own singing songs) is aware of his ability to floor without fanfare, letting his music speak for itself with soul and dignity, fusing forms with a tender, studied ease. Chenaux's second set for Constellation finds the de facto Rat-drifting ambassador digging deeper into his Scots-style reels in particular, aided by, among many others, David Prentice's violin and Nick Fraser's tattoo rolls.

Timed for release alongside Eric Chenaux's Sloppy Ground is frequent collaborator (in The Guayaveras, Draperies, and Reveries) Ryan Driver's first solo set, recorded last fall and produced with fellow Reverie Jean Martin. Touching on the kind of woozy country Driver sings with The silt, yet ranging out with falsetto yodellers "Time And Trouble" and "Spinning Towers" (both already live staples at this point), assists from Martin, Chenaux, Andrew Downing, Jennifer Castle and Martin Arnold flesh out another dreamy nethergenre missive from Planet Rat-drifting.

Following a collaboration with Alter Ego on Gavin Bryars' re-recording of The Sinking Of The Titanic in late '07, an end-of-year classical/experimental highlight, Jeck returns to solo mode, recording live sets and editing the MiniDisc'ed results, adding a dash of post-production to these seemingly semi-improvised pieces. Having now contributed a number of albums to Touch, Sand continues to patiently mix droning ambience and clacking looped-skip rhythms, all built up from scratch with old LPs played on multiple Dansette turntables and manipulated with a Casio sampling keyboard and effects.

Local hero Alex Lukashevsky has long been an artist fave, but his experimental combo Deep Dark United has never really caught on. For starters, he's not exactly big on self-promotion. Heck, we can't even find a picture of his new album on the web! But more likely, it's because for all of their solid albums, the only way to really experience DDU is live. Recorded at Tranzac earlier this year, this 13-song set may be the best case yet for Lukashevsky's work, as his marvelously idiosyncratic songs meet their match in his unhinged performances. Egged on by the gypsy/jazz clamour of his crack band, the man sings like he's in the midst of a fevered dream. Dive in!

Although now a resident of St. John's, Nfld., Strachan has been a Toronto fixture for years. Whether as a bassist in Sea Snakes, an indie-rock sax-for-hire, or in woodwinds n' buckets duo, Feuermusik, he is an endlessly capable musician. This 36-minute solo album stretches those capabilities to their furthest yet; a four piece suite in response to the paintings of Toronto artist, Katie Bond Pretti, The Heart Of The Matter is an enthralling listen. Recorded in a T.O. art gallery and emboldened by the room's natural reverb, Strachan's sax and clarinet sing with intelligence, reserve and emotion.