One of the most dependable netlabels is Dusted Wax Kingdom, which regularly releases hip-hop instrumentals that balance old-school aesthetics with the clean aural space provided by digital technology. The music generally takes the form of lounge-oriented jazz source material that’s been cut and spliced into rhythmic, atmospheric goodness. The latest, **Ribbonmouthrabbit**’s *Follow the White Rabbit*, is no exception, and key among its cuts is “Criminal Conspiracy,” its loping beat and cycling rhythm given a bit of narrative oomph from some underworld vocal samples ([MP3](http://ia801608.us.archive.org/9/items/DWK189/Ribbonmouthrabbit_-_03_-_Criminal_Conspiracy.mp3)). Ribbonmouthrabbit is **Tamas Toth**, who’s based in Miskolc, Hungary. Much of the Dusted Wax output comes from countries once part of the Eastern Bloc. One interesting thing about that geographic concentration is that the musicians can collectively, in some way, be heard to be employing compositional approaches that post-date the fall of the Berlin Wall to, in turn, rework musical material that originated during the Cold War.
Get the full album at [dustedwax.org](http://dustedwax.org/dwk189.html). More from Hungary-based at Toth/Ribbonmouthrabbit at [soundcloud.com/ribbonmouthrabbit](https://soundcloud.com/ribbonmouthrabbit).
There’s a new book out about the song “Hallelujah,” Alan Light’s *The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah.”* The song was written and initially performed by Leonard Cohen, but it is best known for its other renditions, most notably the late Jeff Buckley’s, itself founded on the arrangement of an earlier version by John Cale of the Velvet Underground. In more recent years, the song has become ubiquitous, appearing regularly in the background of TV dramas and the foreground of singing competitions. As someone currently at work on [a book about an album](https://disquiet.com/2012/08/31/saw2for33third/), I was intrigued by the idea of a book simply about a single song. My college alumni magazine asked me to review it (the book’s author is a fellow alum, in fact a classmate). There are many lessons to be taken from the book, key among them something I focus on in the review’s final paragraph:
