15 East 4th Street
NYC, NY, 10003
(212) 477-8150
www.othermusic.com

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Sometimes, in New York, you'll see something which amounts to be a geographical metaphor. A point in case is Other Music. Tower Records on Broadway downtown provides a selection from pop to showtunes to classical to alternarock and a little bit of the music we listen to; but it is shamelessly commercial. Yet literally around the corner from it, on a little street between itself and Tower Books, you'll find Other Music—a haven for bizarre, experimental, and barely-classifiable music. Music for mutants.

Other Music covers everything from World Music to World Serpent, from Hard Techno to Hard Noise. This is the place where most people go to find Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Neubauten, and Non CDs, and it was no problem for me to find a good selection of Yma Sumac when the mood struck. Prices, since most are imports, can be frustrating; but the domestic CDs I saw were at very reasonable prices, and one can occasionally spot a great import bargain.

Commentary by Clifford H. Low, Sunday, October 9, 1997.