Read all about it: SHUFFLEMAG.com/aaron berg talks about exiles-in paradise.

Horizon is pleased as punch to have just set out a stack of CDs from our own Aaron Berg (and 3 of our favorite upstate musicians). This post modern Americana opus is the result of 2 years of sonic work spanning a recording session in Chicago, then a mixing episode in Nashville and finally pressed up and released this month to us and the world. Read on or find out more, listen and download stuff at www.aaronbergmusic.net

THE SINGER: Raised in South Carolina, Aaron Berg grew up in a household that owns one of the South’s oldest independent record stores. So, it wasn’t surprising when at a young age he began playing bass and at 18 moved to New York City to study jazz bass at New School University. Soon the sonic direction of Berg began to veer as the Greenwich Village folk scene worked a spell on him blending his thoughts of the Carolinas back home with the blasts of life on the streets of Brooklyn. Berg abandoned jazz and dived into the teaming waters of Brooklyn’s post-modern singer songwriter scene. His first record “Songs for Madame X” debuted in 2007 -a flurry of recording and touring was followed by a self-published book of prose”Midnight Shining Sun” (an autobiographical travelogue packaged with a 14-track CD).

THE ALBUM: “Exiles In Paradise” is the second full-length studio album by Aaron Berg. Recorded in Chicago, and mixed in Nashville, “Exiles…” features: Mike Bagwell (pedal steel), John Byce (drums), and Chris Garrett (bass). Special guests include Jim Becker of Califone and Tim Joyce of Lesser Birds of Paradise. Instrumentation also includes upright piano, Fender Rhodes, violin, bowed bass, Hammond M3 organ, various percussion, dance hall drum machine, and ambient loops.

THE SOUND: While Berg draws on a mixture of Appalachian folk, 90′s grunge, delta blues, and contemporary Americana and hip hop, his sound is anchored in

The circus may be in town with elections, the economy, final football and whatever but guess what? WE are rockin’ to our own tune. In fact, we are pleased to say, thanks to Y’ALL, Horizon posted a decent (modest, but decent) increase in sales for December 2011 over the last few Decembers (can you say VINYL?). We are grateful, truly. Right now in mid-January we are stoked to have in a couple of recent releases that have been anxiously awaited for months; KATHLEEN EDWARDS CD/LP and A TRIBUTE TO GUY CLARK: This One’s For Him. The Gene Pick is a stunning jazz (surprise surprise) 2CD Live set by CHICK COREA, EDDIE GOMEZ & PAUL MOTIAN in remembrance of the late Bill Evans.

We are also sharing the love with 2 great FREEBIES of very cool music. First the MATADOR RECORDS Intended Play LP is either buy it outright for a whopping $2 or simply buy any vinyl in store and we’ll GIVE YOU FREE. That’s an 11 track fully loaded LP FREE, while they last and they won’t for long so do get on in here and claim your copy. PLUS we got a card from MERGE RECORDS that directs you to FREE DOWN LOAD sampler, not too shabby- thanks to MERGE you can taste test tracks from WILD FLAG, HOSPITALITY, CROOKED FINGERS, RICHARD BUCKNER and more. Yes Free, while it’s available.

Also, relax, as a help to summarize & clarify what actually happened musically last year and guide you to any magic you may have missed, Horizon has posted a blog by John “Indicator” Byce gathering and suggesting his own sonic trendy gourmet Top 20 selections of 2011. Forget New York Times, NPR or Pitchfork – we have JB and he knows. Yeah we have them all in stock on