Hisato Higuchi has a new album out called Otomeyama Bottoms. The CD is available via his Ghost Disc imprint and 8MM has issued a 250 edition LP. A stunner, no surprise.

Since last year, Sitar Outreach Ministry's self-released debut LP Crucible Of Mutants has been a stone-cold favorite of ours. SOM is mainly one guy, a Bloomington metal worker who has spent considerable years in private studying the sitar before ever stepping out in public. So it's no surprise his first release a few years back was a deep trip cassette issued by (and recorded at) Magnetic South. Crucible Of Mutants followed and it has wound up reissued on cassette by the Burger Records crew. Everyone is down with the SOM, right? Next year, we'll be releasing a new studio LP by a full-band version of Sitar Outreach Ministry. We can't wait. Until then, check out this cover of Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" featuring Sonny from Apache Dropout and Miss Mess from Thee Open Sex.