American classical composer, Steve Reich, has at least one thing in common with great science fiction writers: they put your mind through a blender. This week, Reich celebrates his 75th birthday while he continues challenging audiences with a new musical language.

Never heard of Reich? Watch this short documentary on his life and you may have to restrain yourself from checking out everything the AADL has by him. As the documentary says, Reich’s work is often based on repeated melodic patterns set to a regular pulse. His instrumentation is often unusual, such as using hand clapping and tongue clicking for an entire piece, or swinging microphones on pendulums over speakers to produce rhythmic feedback.

Brian Eno says his music wouldn’t exist without Reich’s influence. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas says, “I know when I’ve truly learned [Reich’s] pieces because they stop hurting.” Reich has named Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Charlie Parker’s music as strong influences on his work. Put these pieces together and you get a complex rhythmic experience akin to setting your brain blender on ‘Frappe.’

If you have enjoyed the books of Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith, we have a real treat for you in the audiobooks section. Confessions of a Serial Novelist is a recording of a hilarious, live presentation by him in New York City while on tour.

Many of us know him as a talented and amusing author of numerous series, including The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Sunday Philosophy Club and 44 Scotland Street. If you are a fan of his writing, and enjoy his erudite commentary, cheerful manner and quirky sense of humor, this recording of him talking about being an author and reading from his work is so laugh-out-loud funny and so thoroughly delightful and entertaining it is not to be missed.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

POP / ELECTRO ROCK
Emma's Mini: Glamorously Femme Electropop
Emma's Mini is a duo based in Seattle, WA. In April of 2003 they self-released this album, "Beat Generation Mad Trick". Taking their cue from bands such as Lamb, Massive Attack and Moloko, Emma's Mini seamlessly blends Suzanne McClean's rich, lush vocals with Demian Shoemaker's innovative beats and soundscapes.

CLASSICAL / CHAMBER MUSIC
Colin Booth: Solo Harpsichord Music
Peter Philips, one of the great musical geniuses of the age of Queen Elizabeth I, was forced into exile in Europe because of religious intolerance in England, following the failed Spanish Armada. Not only did he become a famous composer throughout the continent, but his music, unlike his person, was celebrated in his home country. This album, "Peter Philips - The English Exile", has received enthusiastic praise from reviewers. Listen to Colin Booth play the music of Philips on a large and unusual harpsichord -- a copy of an Italian 17th Century instrument with two keyboards.

AMBIENT / ELECTRONIC
Dr. Sounds: Spacey Ambient/Dark New Age
Dr. Sounds is Alexander Forselius, a Romanian-born artist, creating spacey, ambient/dark, new age tracks using mostly free software packages. Alex has Aspergers Syndrome and feels he is a little different in thinking about and experiencing the world. "I think my brain values mathematics and logic before feelings...I mostly feel integrated with the computer, and feel a deep relationship with it...my experience in childhood, and autistic experience of the unorganized social world, is transmuted to unique, illustrative, ambient soundtracks that don't follow a given musical genre."

PUNK / ROCK
Rocket City Riot: High Energy Rock and Roll
Snotty punk rock reminiscent of the Sex Pistols. This 10th-anniversary redux of "We Name the Guilty Men" is raw and vital rock and roll that shakes your teeth. You will hear songs about love, death, and drinking, the holy trinity of punk rock. This is not the kind of music that RCR makes anymore, so get it while the getting is good.

WORLD / FOLK
Kara Nomadica: A Fresh New Sound Driven by Traditional Arabic and Turkish Rhythms
Kara Nomadica is a fusion of ancient and exotic instruments from the Middle-East, North Africa, and Australia. This album is driven by traditional iqaat (rhythms) and maqamat (micro-tonal scales) of Turkey and the Arab world. The band explores original compositions and breathes new life into a select repertoire of traditional Middle-Eastern classics. Denver music reviewer John Zwick says, "Kara Nomadica is what happens when you bring together a mess of overqualified music geeks with Middle Eastern instruments you've never heard of...it's a damn captivating sound."

Drive, an action-packed speed thriller starring Ryan Gosling as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night.
When he falls for Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld, he find himself shifting gears and going on the offense. Based on the mystery novel Drive by James Sallis (also available in audio).

I Don’t Know How She Does It is based on the novel by Allison Pearson. Sarah Jessica Parker plays Kate Reddy, whose daily life is a non-stop balancing act - between her job and family. Complicating matters is Kate's charming new business associate Jack (Pierce Brosnan), who begins to prove an unexpected source of temptation.

Straw Dogs is based on The Siege of Trencher's Farm-Straw Dogs by British writer Gordon Williams. In this re-make of a 1971 film, David and Amy Sumner, a Hollywood screenwriter and his actress wife, return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father's death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie, leading to a violent confrontation.

Killer Elite is based on a shocking true story that pits two of the world's most elite operatives --- Danny, an ex-special ops agent, and Hunter, his longtime mentor --- against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Originally published as The Feather Men by Ranulph Fiennes.

Michael Lewis's Moneyball : the art of winning an unfair game (also in audio) is now adapted in a film starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane - the Oakland A’s general manager who reinvents his team to outsmart the richer teams by signing undervalued players considered flawed but who have a knack for winning games.

What’s Your Number? is based on the novel 20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak. When Delilah Darling reads a survey revealing that most people have 10.5 sexual partners in their lifetime, she begins to feel like a tramp. She’s slept with 19 men so far --- almost twice the national average. Unwilling to up her number, but also unable to imagine a life of celibacy, Delilah tracks down every man she’s ever slept with in a last-ditch effort to make it work with one of them.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

BLUES / JAZZ
Bluesboy Jag: Authentic 1920's Solo Blues Guitar
Pared down to the down-home marrow of their bluesy bones, the twenty-six acoustic tracks of "Four Strings" are like an ultra-pleasant visit to guitarist Jag's front porch, where he plays for you on his hand made cigar box guitars. Intimate, unvarnished, authentic. Iced tea or lemonade with that?

CLASSICAL / OPERA
Philharmonia Baroque: Historically-Informed Classical Orchestra
Celebrated Dead Man Walking composer, Jake Heggie, has a fascinating take on the Persephone myth. In this recording, Philharmonia Baroque brings the tale to life with the help of Broadway superstar Patti Lupone and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. "To Hell and Back" traverses an impressive amount of musical territory in just five scenes—a turbulent overture, a dulcet duet, a potent cabaret number, and a penetrating aria among other things. Heggie uses these stylistic choices to develop his disturbing, deeply affecting portrait of spousal abuse and the familial denial that perpetuates it.

HIP HOP
Jay Love Baby: Booty Shakin' Baby Makin' Music
Atlanta-based B-Boy/breakdancer/deejay/producer/artist, Jay Love, delivers his new release, Ego Centric, a great party starter album packed with dance floor classics. It's highly energized with the feel of the Black Eyed Peas, beats like Timbaland and a vocal flow similar to T Pain and Flo-Rida. Booty shakin' is guaranteed.

FOLK / NEW AGE
Lydia McCauley: Intriguing Piano Compositions with Dynamic Accompaniment
ForeignLander is a collection of innovatively arranged pieces from 17-20th Century British Isles and Appalachia, beautifully performed by Linda McCauley and her Ensemble, along with special guests. A well known artist in the Celtic and New Age worlds, she slightly detours on this album by taking traditional Appalachian melodies and working her magic on them. While careful to preserve Appalachian traditions, Lydia creates a fresh sound that pleases both traditional and progressive music audiences.

ALT ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL
Kavanah: Eclectic Intense, Industrial Ethnic, Classical Phrasing, Soundtrack, Cirque
This soundtrack to the hit traveling circus show, Cirque Montage, is an eclectic mix of World Music, Electronica, Jazz and Cirque. Composer Martin St-Pierre and vocalist Kate St-Pierre are both Cirque du Soleil and Dragone (Le Reve) alumni.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

FOLK-ROCK
Robin Grey: Gently Experimental Nu-Folk
Robin Grey writes beautifully ironic, poetic-based tracks for the story-lover in all of us. His voice and attitude harkens back to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, with masterful lyrics and deadpan delivery. Strangers With Shoes is colored with acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, piano, double bass, organ, percussion toys and any other instruments he can fit into his little London studio. As one reviewer stated, "Grey is one of those wonderful talents that could recite the phone directory on record and you'd still be enthralled".

WORLD
Daniel Berkman: 21st Century Ambient African Kora
A wonderfully laid-back album, Calabashmoon blends Daniel Berkman's gorgeous kora playing with subtle beats and other little touches of vocals from regional performers for an overall feeling of sunny, world-influenced goodness. Berkman is known for his innovations to this 21-stringed instrument. In this collection of crafty and poignant pieces, he expertly weaves together a tapestry of sounds that gives the listener a sort of relaxed acoustic portrait of modern West Africa, from whence it comes. Be sure to check out the excellent title track, "Mystery Box House."

CLASSICAL
Sergio Azzolini & Vito Paternoster play Mozart and Haydn
Can a cello and bassoon form a duo? Three different composers thought so. W.A. Mozart composed a beautiful sonata for cello and bassoon, F. Danzi transcribed some of the most beautiful Mozart melodies, and F.J. Haydn composed two duets for cello/bassoon. Italian bassoonist Sergio Azzolini and Italian cellist Vito Paternoster demonstrate how these pieces continue to enchant, delight and amuse listeners today.

METAL / INDUSTRIAL / HARD ROCK
The Wretch: Painful Ambient Industrial Noise
Fantastically dark and elegantly industrial, Cyst by The Wretch is a surprisingly nuanced album that favors dynamic variation over mindlessly repeated loops. It's a hybrid of noisecore and drum 'n' bass, but with really smart rhythms and a noise-ambient wash that lends a huge amount of atmosphere and depth. The juxtaposition of totally glitched out, ever-changing beats with the eerie ghost calls and dystopian waveforms in the background works really well. The opening track "Turned" and "Do You" are great. "This is Terror" is beautifully brutal, and don't miss "Feel The Burning."

AMBIENT / NEW AGE
Tilopa: Healing Magic of the Japanese Zenflute
Pared down and austere, Tilopa's album, By The Way, sounds like serenity itself. The Japanese zen flute (kyotaku) is occasionally accompanied by monastic sounding vocals, and the overall effect is very subdued and meditative. "Red Fullmoon" is a particular standout on this album, a track that makes evident why this type of music was once favored by sects of wandering Buddhist monks. Most of the pieces on this album have that same type of traditional Zen sound, but there are a few more modern pieces here too, such as "Amigos De Viaje," which features acoustic guitar as accompaniment to the kyotaku.

Nick Ashford, who with his wife, Valerie Simpson, wrote mega-Motown hit after mega-Motown hit, died yesterday in Manhattan.

Ashford grew up in Willow Run, where he performed at the Willow Run Baptist Church. In 1996-1997, the Willow Run Community Schools included him in their first group of inductees into The Willow Run Hall of Fame.

Ashford attended Eastern Michigan University for awhile before moving to New York, where he fell on hard times. At 22, he met 17-year-old music student, Valerie Simpson, at the White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem, and thus music magic was ignited. The couple married in 1974.

Among their now-golden oldies hits are Ain't No Mountain High Enough, You're All I Need to Get By, Let's Get Stoned, and Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing,. Included in the star-studded roster of voices who performed their music are: Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan, and Whitney Houston. More recently, Ashford and Simpson were given credit on the late Amy Winehouse's Back to Black (2006) album for her Tears Dry on Their Own cut.

Ashford, who suffered from throat cancer, was 69.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

JAZZ / DOWNTEMPO
Drop Trio: Groove-Oriented Organ-Based Funk Jazz
Deliciously mathy structures overlaid with highly original, funk-tinged instrumental grooves are what you'll get on Big Dipper by the award-winning Drop Trio. Influenced by avant-garde jazz, this group thrives on improvisation. The overall vibe here is loose, but the chops are tight and the structure is never neglected. This is a great album to put on in the afternoon while you're working, or in the evening when you're ready for happy hour.

CLASSICAL
Three Holies Church Choristers: Ancient Eastern Church Music
Gorgeously solemn and reverent, Hymns of the Ancient Church features a number of very rare chants representing the three main canonical singing traditions of the Eastern Church: Byzantine, Georgia and Old Rus. These ancient, holy songs served as the foundation not only of later religious singing, but also classical choral music. All the chants are performed by choristers of the Three Holies Church (Kharkov, Ukraine) conducted by Igor Sakhno—one of the great experts in this form.

POP
Spoons: Retro 80's Music
Formed in 1980, this band made Spoons a different kind of household word. Their unique brand of upbeat, danceable music quickly became anthems to legions of fans. Now, more than two decades later, who could have predicted the phenomenon known as "retro 80s", when old and new fans alike would rediscover these classics? Unexpected Guest At A Cancelled Party is packed with previously unreleased recordings and concert favorites, from the vintage 1982 - 1985 years. Listen to Spoons again, or for the first time, and enjoy.

WORLD / FOLK
Sherefe: Balkan and Middle Eastern Music
Sala Sala is a full 78 minutes of eastern Mediterranean soul food with gorgeous songs from Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Bulgaria. Sung in native tongues and using traditional instruments, these songs are elegant and danceable. Well honed from hundreds of performances at concerts, festivals, weddings and private parties, Sherefe's rich sound is a melding of cello, bouzouki, oud, gadulka, saz, double bass, Middle Eastern percussion and evocative vocals.

ROCK / DARKWAVE
Opened Paradise: Intense Goth Rock From An Ancient City
The incredible, hollowed out grandeur of the songs on Occult bring you straight into the darkly glorious and melodic world of Opened Paradise. Frontman Periklis E's voice is so evocative and intense that it gives Peter Murphy a run for his money. Babis on guitars and Constantinos on drums lend a dire, driving sound to the album that is the perfect counterpoint to the cavernous vocals. So strong and excellent is the overall mood of this album that we strongly recommend turning off the shuffle play for an hour in order to listen to it all the way through, the first track to the last. Dark, dramatic feelings guaranteed.

And the nominees for the World Fantasy Awards include: 2 debut writers (both just happen to be women...) and 2 set in Africa

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes-my personal favorite from this South African writer

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin-she has written plenty of award winning short fiction,this is her first novel & part of the Inheritance Trilogy (the third book comes out in October)

Silent Land by Graham Joyce- genre mashup mostly of suspense fiction and a bit of fantasy thrown in; compared to writers Haruki Murakami and Ian McEwan

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay- not unlike the fantasy writer George R R Martin did with his Song of Ice and Fire series, Kay tries to do with one book set in a world not unlike 8th Century China; lots of kudos from reviewers

Redemption In Indigo by Karen Lord- another first fiction retells a Senegalese folktale

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor-known for her young adult fiction, this book takes place in a postapocalyptic Saharan Africa where a young girl must use her magic to end the oppression of her people, the Okeke

Lifetime achievement awards go to Peter S. Beagle (of Last Unicorn fame) and Angélica Gorodischer.

The winner will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention held this year on October 30th in San Diego. So get your geek on!

Jennifer Close's debut novel Girls in White Dresses * is a perfect way to wrap up a lovely summer, like putting on your favorite frock just one more time.

"Wickedly hilarious and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love—all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers." You get the picture.

Sunday after Sunday, Isabella, Mary, and Lauren in their pastel dresses, attend bridal shower after bridal shower, drink champagne, eat minuscule sandwiches and doll-sized cakes, all the while thinking when-it-would-be-their-turn.

"Close's novel in a series of linked stories, expresses the perfect blend of mid twenties angst, collegiate nostalgia, and plentiful laughter."

For fans of Melissa Bank's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and J. Courtney Sullivan's Commencement (in audio)

* = Starred review