Two of our favorite words! (Though we normally spell Phinland, Finland.) The current Finnish psych
phenomenon -- Avarus, Kemialliset Ystavat, Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, Kiila, etc. etc. is of course a major AQ obsession. As is vintage psych from, well, heck just about anywhere, but certainly Scandinavia. So this double-disc compilation, subtitled "Finnish Hippie & Underground Music 1967-1974" has got us all excited. There's 29 tracks from almost as many artists, a fantastic trip into the early daze of the Finnish freak-scene. Perhaps another good subtitle would have been: "When Drugs Came To Finland". There's even a few songs about marijuana to set the mood, starting off disc one. But Psychedelic Phinland is just as political, and parodic, and perverse as it is potheaded. There's plenty of Flower Power pop and/or fuzzed-out blues rock, but you'll also find jazz-damaged prog and mystic folk, revolutionary theatre and electronic insanity. There's so much here, we can't mention it all, but look out for heavy psych jammers Baby Grandmothers, "rocking lavatory anarchists" Suomen Talvisota 1939-40, and progrock pioneers Wigwam... then there's there's Eastern-inflected psych-folk from Pekka Streng and the Yippie ranting of Markku Uto...
And then on disc two things get REALLY weird. Yeah this one's even further out, crossing over a bit into "Arktinen Hysteria" territory (you maybe remember, that great collection of early Finnish avant-weirdness from a while back, also released by Love Records). It starts off innocently enough with our new favorite band(name), Those Lovely Hula Hands. Really, that's their name, and they included several 13 and 14 year old sisters playing violins and recorders, singing gently amidst tape-recorded bird-twitter... a song about Tarzan! Then we hear from Pekka Airaksinen and also his band The Sperm, doing extended feedback and tape music experiments. We remember The Sperm from that Arktinen comp and had wanted to hear more. Later on, there's some wonderfully primitive, ceremonial hippy jamming, particularly from a band called Sikiot, who have a krautrockish vibe like Siloah or Amon Duul. And there's plenty more, some other names of note on these cds include J.O. Mallander, Charlies, Topmost, Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int, Apollo, Blues Section, Hector & Oscar, and Kruunuhaan Dynamo...
All of this is pretty much totally obscure, in fact a lot of it consists of previously unissued archival recordings from the vaults of Finland's Love label and other sources... A true labor of Love. Comes with a twenty page, full color cd booklet with English-language notes on each track and tons of cool old photos and graphics.
Recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Since the beginning of the Century, there has been a growing community of Puerto Ricans in Hawaii. These recordings made in 1990, reflect their unique niche. At times, the music is archaic in comparison to mainland Puerto Rican music, yet is spiced with influences from both Hawaiian and Japanese neighbors.
FINNISH WEIRD MUSIC OBSESSIVES will not want to pass this up. The strangely named Puistokiitajainen compilation collects haunting and lovely, mostly acoustic tracks from another circle of the Finnish music underground that we have seemingly barely scratched the surface of. Not a single band name we recognize: Adolf Hiller, Amigo Result, Krax Orchestra, Parta & Viikset, Esko Mrk, Tomi, Pulkkinen, Monuments In The Horizon, Jump P.A. And The Guitar That Wasn't Mine, Kanttoripoika, Stories, Jan-Erik & His Band Of Banjos, Neljakakkonen, but we're willing to wager at least a few name we know might be involved. But it hardly matters, every track here is a gem. Dark and folky, detuned and deconstructed, dreamy and drifting. acoustic guitars crumble and drift, wrapped in dense swaths of tape hiss, harmoniums and accordions wheeze out old timey ambience, metallic percussion and random clinks and clatters shimmer way down in the mix, whirring stretches of tinkling ambience butt up against birdlike FX and looped angular guitar, field recordings, and tiny tangles of warm dreamlike strum, each track totally unique, but somehow sonically linked to each other, like a strange sampling of the long lost works of some recently unearthed alien Appalachia, all muted twang and abstract ambience. So nice. ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
Our pal Stan at Aether Records put together this comp of modern-day psychedelic bands paying tribute to the psych greats of the past. Like most comps, it's got its winners and losers, but the concept works out pretty well, and it makes for a good introduction to both the contemporary acts doing the cover versions and the '60s/'70s era artists being covered, who range from Woodstock-era big shots to obscure artists mainly known today only to psychedelic record collector freaks, here's some of 'em: The Doors, The Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Pretty Things, The Fox, Apple, The Syn, Linda Perhacs, The Churchills, The Incredible String Band... Meanwhile, the international array of artists doing the covers are *definitely* obscure, with the best-known to AQ customers probably being the Bevis Frond, P.G. Six (doing the ISB cover of course!), Abunai!, and SF's own Mushroom. Then there's Israel's psych-popsters Rockfour (who tackle a track by Israel's premiere '60s psych export, The Churchills), Japan's Kaminumada Yohji (whose 'cover' of AQ-fave UK pagan weirdos Comus is actually more of an improvisatory interpretation inspired by Comus, sorry to say) and ten others, some of which Terrastock types will doubtless recognize. Fortunately, Stan provides plenty of background in his detailed liner notes on every band/track. Generally you can't tell past from present with these covers, one exception being female-fronted LA duo Senseri who start things off with what's maybe a too modern-sounding (and cheesy) take on The Doors' "Peace Frog". After that though you're totally in the realm of retro nirvana though, geared towards fans of the genre. Of course fans will have their own ideas of what bands shoulda been on here (both old and new)...
MPEG Download: BEVIS FROND "Grounded" [/audio/pgsixmynameis.mp3]
MPEG Stream: BEVIS FROND "Grounded" [/audio/pgsixmynameis.m3u]
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The Sanity Muffin cassette label just keeps bringing out the gems. This one is a fantastic mix of obscure psych guitar gems from Asia from the '60s and '70s. From cinematic Spaghetti Western-ish sojourns to go-go pop, electric guitar weirdness, pastoral exoticism and funky eastern soul. Like the Teenage Dance Music from China, Indonesian guitar, Shadow Music of Thailand and Cambodian Rock comps, this is an incredible mix of little heard guitar driven music coming out of various Asian countries. Here are the groups included: The Red Stars, Cousen Brothers, M. Shariff and The Zurah, Salim I., The Caterpillars, Adnan Othman & The Wanderers, The Tones, The Steps, Jong-Yee Sho, The Hawks, M. Johari & Quandos, TLA Production Group, Mei Fong W/ Tony & The Polar Bear Five, Charlie and The White Cloud Orchestra, Group 123, and Apollo Band.
Super limited to 100 copies! Get it while you can!
Okay, whose w-a-c-k-y idea was this??? Today's "punk" bands take aim at today's top 40 hitmakers. On the "punk" team? Dynamite Boy, Stretch Arm Strong, Noise Ratchet, Nicotine, Reach The Sky and a dozen more. Some of their targets? Destiny's Child ("Survivor"), Pink ("Get This Party Started"), J. Lo (I'm Real"), Britney Spears ("...Baby One More Time") and the
FINNISH PUNK! PRE-ORDER! FINNISH PUNK! PRE-ORDER!
Holy shit does this look amazing. 4 cd's, 132 songs, 78 bands, 5 hours of classic FINNISH PUNK! Comes with a massive 76 page booklet (probably in Finnish though, but bet there are lots of pictures!). We don't have this in stock, nor have we even seen one, but we freaked out when we found out about this and thought you might too. We hardly know any of the bands, Terveet Kadet, Radiopuhelimet, a few others, but considering how much we dig those bands, and Finnish music in general, this seemed pretty amazing. They are a bit pricey, so we're only gonna get as many as we get orders for, so think long and hard, if you want one, add it to your cart, and we'll have one for you in the next few weeks, hopefully. Needless to say, this is a pre-order, so whatever else you order will NOT be held for these, we can ship your Finnish punk box on its own when it arrives, or with your next order. And if you weren't already convinced, have a gander at all the cool-sounding acts/songs on the track list:
CD 1:
1. Briard: I Really Hate Ya
2. Pelle Miljoona & N.U.S.: Olen tyoton
3. Eppu Normaali: Poliisi pamputtaa taas
4. Problems?: Ei taa lama p��h�n k�y
5. Pelle Miljoona: Lahdetaan kiitamaan
6. Se: Ei asfaltti liiku�
7. Pelle Miljoona & N.U.S.: Vakivalta ja paihdeongelma
8. Eppu Normaali: Nipa�
9. Maukka & Nahkatakit: Tahdon sotaa apatiaa vastaan
10. Pelle Miljoona & 1980: Pelkistettya todellisuutta
11. Problems?: Tapan aikaa
12. Ratsia: Lontoon skidit
13. Maukka ja Nahkatakit: Sapinaa�
14. Pelle Miljoona & 1980: Mulla menee lujaa�
15. Eppu Normaali: Mekin tehtiin rakkautta
16. Ratsia: Ole hyva nyt�
17. Pelle Miljoona & 1980: Nuoret sankarit �
18. Ratsia: Tama hetki ja tulevaisuus
19. Hassisen Kone: Muoviruusuja omenapuissa
20. Problems?: Katupoikien laulu�
21. Hassisen Kone: Hassisen Kone�
22. Pelle Miljoona Oy: Viesti�
23. Problems?: Maanantaina
24. Ratsia: Taalta tulee yo �
25. Hassisen Kone: Rappiolla �
26. Pelle Miljoona Oy: Moottoritie on kuuma�
CD 2:
1. Kollaa Kestaa: Musti sotakoira�
2. Sehr Schnell: Orja� �
3. Ypo-5: Energia on A ja O �
4. Briard: Fuck The Army
5. Sehr Schnell: 18 v.v.k
6. Karanteeni: Kaljupainen gangsteri
7. Sensuuri: Kirjoitan seinaan
8. Sehr Schnell: Vaihda vapaalle � ��
9. Kollaa Kestaa: Kirjoituksia kellarista
10. Loose Prick: Mua potkitaan paahan
11. Sehr Schnell: Neuroottiset pohkeet �
12. Ypo-5: Mari pogoaa �
13. Widows: Famous Five �
14. Briard: Miss World �
15. Karanteeni: Sid Vicious �
16. Vaavi: Mihin jai punk? �
17. Vandaalit: Ala pilaa nuoruuttasi
18. Ypo-5: Kaupunki muistaa nuoria
19. Karanteeni: Ei ole meilla mitaan paikkaa �
20. Sensuuri: Kaupunki nukkuu��
21. Widows: Wall Of Berlin �
22. Loose Prick: Kaupunki elamaa �
23. Kollaa Kestaa: Jaahyvaiset aseille�
24. Vaavi: Tytot hymyilee �
25. Kadotetut: Anna syd�mesi �
26. Vaavi: Rakkauden orjat ��
27. Widows: We�re Comin�
28. Sensuuri: Hengissa lapi Helsingin
29. Vandaalit: Betonikolossit � �
30. Fucking World: Human Rights
31. Kadotetut: Hiljaiset kyyneleet
CD 3:
1. Lama: Totuus loytyy kaurapuurosta
2. Rattus: Muotipunk
3. Terveet Kadet: Vapaa Pohjola�
4. Lama: Nimeton
5. Kohu-63: Paavola � � �
6. Terveet Kadet: Mull on liian lyhyt sanky
7. Kaaos: Kytat on natsisikoja �
8. Cadgers: Kaaosta taa maa kaipaa�
9. Appendix: Ei raha oo mun valuuttaa
10. Rattus: Rajoitettu ydinsota � �
11. Bastards: World Burns To Death
12. Terveet Kadet: Tornion kevat �
13. Riistetyt: Poliisivaltio �
14. Lama: Penisten vapautusrintama�
15. Maho Neitsyt: Ne ei myyneet mulle viinaa �
16. Kohu-63: Kaatakaa rauhanjuna �
17. Riistetyt: Ala luota systeemiin
18. Nato: Helsingin yot
19. Antikeho: Suomi -83 �
20. Maho Neitsyt: Mika mun paassa nykii �
21. Dachau: Huomenna haudassa
22. Lama: Ajatuksen loppu �
23. Unicef: Kakimassaa �
24. Kaaos: Mellakka � �
25. Destrucktions: Hinta�
26. Tampere SS: Painajainen olohuoneessa � �
27. Riistetyt: Systeemi tappaa �
28. Fucking Finland: Loputon sota� �
29. Marionetti: Palvele valtioo �
30. Terveet Kadet: Jeesus perkele �
31. Appendix: Huora � �
32. Bastards: Jumalan sotilaat���
33. HIC Systeemi: Ei ikina �
34. Kansan Uutiset: Koira on parempi kuin poliisi �
35. Aivoproteesi: Porojen maa �
36. Klimax: Suvivirsi � �
37. Varaus: Syyllinen �
38. Riistetyt: Bella Ciao �
39. Vaurio: Musta unelma �
40. Maho Neitsyt: Ei tippa tapa � �
41. Kansan Uutiset: Ankee aamu
42. Mellakka: Kiitollinen kansalainen � �
43. Pyhakoulu: Sa keinut �
44. KTMK: Kalinka� � �
45. Euthanasia: CCCP (Stalishnaja Hojo)
46. Maaseudun Tulevaisuus: Verenkuva � �
47. Radiopuhelimet: Saalimattoman ovela mies� �
48. CMX: Lapsi � �
CD 4:
1. Popeda: Erkki ja Leena
2. Se: Tulitikkutytto � � �
3. Vihan Muna: Terasmies �
4. Wrum: Takapihojen rocktahdet
5. Hellhound: Pakoon neonarmeijaa �
6. Raime: Ottaa paahan �
7. Paat: Jet set � � �
8. Tinneri: Mustavalkoinen maailma
9. Sig: Lauantaina � �
10. Se: Punk on typeraa �
11. Maukka ja Nahkatakit: Kun sa tuomitset mut
12. Paat: Rotat �
13. Hymy Taskinen & co: Hei, tytto, hei! �
14. Korroosio: Hei hei hei � �
15. Rattlers: Vaahtopaat�
16. Lola Ego: Kaupungin tytto �
17. Xtaasi: Er�s lauantaiyo �
18. Woude: Vanhat pierut
19. TV:n Orjat: Tavallinen ihminen � �
20. Vau!!: Yo asematunnelin keskitysleiriss� � �
21. Hurskas: Isanmaa huumaa �
22. 000: Silminnakija
23. Teurastamo 5: Elavia ruumiita �
24. 013: En jaksa enaa �
25. 000: Tanaan taalla, huomenna poissa� � �
26. Ne Luumaet: Sam pani kai jotain juomaani
27. Reds: Sydamenmurskaajat �
A quick look at the list of the bands on this DVD is all it should take. GBH, Angelic Upstarts, Adicts, UK Subs, Mau Maus, Exploited, Johnny Thunders, Lurkers, Eater, Vibrators, Peter And The Test Tube Babies and so many more. TOTALLY essential. Culled from an extensive video archive compiled by an independent video company who spent the eighties driving a van around the UK filming show after show and releasing them on video. This is a sort of a best of compiled from all of those videos and holy shit this stuff is amazing. All of the above mentioned bands totally destroy, and it's the first time we've seen lots of those bands live. Worth it for the GBH and Adicts footage alone! Plus there are tons of bands we've never even heard of who are just as cool: One Way System, Burial, Outl4w, Destructors, Urban Dogs, XPOZEZ, Dead Mans Shadow and even a handful of second wave punk rock bands like Red Alert, Menace, Business, Lurkers and more. Fuck yeah! Mohawks and liberty spikes and more spiked leather than the Folsom Street Fair!!!
Not a collection of Morrissey remixes, or covers as one might expect from the title (or if they are, they sure did a good job disguising them), but a collection of electronica artists new and old to the Morr label out of Germany. Stressing the closeness of these artists, who keep contact via phone and online (exchanging audio files), in their one sheet, this affinity is borne out in the overall sound of this comp. Lots of pleasant electronica in the vein of Boards Of Canada, or the down tempo melodious side of Autechre. Includes tracks by The Notwist, Arovane, Tied & Tickled Trio, Schneider tm, Flowchart and much more.
Yet another incredible comp from the fine folks at Dust-To-Digital, after two recent aQ faves, the Luk Thung collection of obscure Thai 78's, and the Kassidat compilation of rare, raw 45's from Morocco. Well if you dug those, you're gonna want this one too, another collection of rare 45's, this time from Yemen, a handful of singles released in the sixties and seventies, documenting a sound and music that has historically remained immune from Western influence, and thus offers a true glimpse into the lives of the Yemeni people, and gives Westerners perhaps one of their first glimpses of Yemeni music. And as you might imagine, it's pretty magical, lots of oud, a buzzing guitar like instrument, that's rich and resonant, accompanied by fantastically expressive and emotional vocals, laid back and weary on some tracks, effusive and wild on others, some call and response, accompanied occasionally by simple percussion, handclaps, one track forsakes the oud completely and instead lays down an amazing percussive backdrop, all clattery and clangy and metallic, a shimmery pulsing field of hypnotic metal, over which some of the most beautiful vocals soar and swirl. The whole collection is stunning, by turns mysterious, intimate, playful, passionate and completely mesmerizing.
As always, the packaging is top notch, tons of photos, and extensive liner notes, on the region, the history, the songs and the musicians.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another document of Finnish music weirdness featuring a handful of aQ favorites, CIRCLE, in the form of their more sinister side project Rakhim, as well as Finnish cd-r darlings KuuPuu and LauNau. We won't go into too much detail as these are super expensive and we only got 15 or so...
Circle team up with Hans Joachim Irmler from Krautrock legends Faust, for a sidelong heavy percussion jam. The track begins with someone on the kit, busting out some wild fills that eventually coalesce into rhythms, while beneath the drumming is a constant low level clatter of tinkling chimes, muted hand drums, bits of percussive thump and rattle, sometimes whipped up into little flurries of subtle tribalism, but just as often allowed to just shuffle and drift. Part way through washes of muted looped guitar strum surface, accompanied by strange, heavily effected cookie monster vocals, all beneath thick swaths of droning chordal whir. The vocals continue to grunt and growl over an increasingly frenetic percussive backdrop, until everything stumbles to a halt.
The B side features Lau Nau and KuuPuu teamed up with someone called Lauhkeat Lampaat for a double boy/girl free jam, the results are as percussive as the other side, just more abstract, and less propulsive. The vibe is very NNCK or Sunburned Hand, Jew's harp, swirls of video game FX, strange chirping vocals, scraped steel strings, clattery percussion, fragmented melodies, peppered with brief bursts of frenzied drumming, wheezing kazoos, lots of woodblock, disembodied ghostlike vocals, all wound up into a chaotic finale, a wild forest faerie drum circle.
SUPER LIMITED, so much so that we probably can't get more, in a gorgeous blue tinted reindeer-and-snow sleeve, pressed on thick marbled blue vinyl...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
So stoked to have this awesome collection back in print!
Here's an interesting collection. Put together by Robert Crumb, at the behest of his wife Aline, from his personal collection of 78's. The collection moves across the globe by continent, starting in Louisiana, USA moving south through Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America; then touching down in Europe (Spain, Sicily, Greece and Turkey), moving south through Africa, on to India and South East Asia (Burma & Vietnam), and finally resting in the South Pacific. Most of the recordings come from the 30's (with a few from as early as 1927 and as recent as 1950) and are quite likely to be tracks you've never heard before in your life. Some artists, like Greek singer Rita Abadzi, first lady of Cajun Cleoma Falcon and Norteno musician Lidya Mendoza are well known, and have plenty of recordings assuring their place in history. But of much of the others on this disc, very little is known. In a typically erudite, but self deprecating and witty form that is unique to himself, Robert Crumb leads us through his recordings armed with what little knowledge he's been able to glean about each performer (mostly from the internet and, Crumb insists, with the help of others who understand such modern technology).
How we love Rock Is Hell! This Austrian label has given us some seriously damaged and dementedly genius jams over the last few years. A list of some of our Rock Is Hell faves should say it all: Thee Oh Sees, Burmese, Dig That Body Up It's Alive, Total Shutdown, Octis, Nate Denver's Neck, XBXRX, Ocrilim, Reflector, Mark Deutrom, Shit And Shine and so many more! And as if that weren't enough, all the Rock is Hell releases are gorgeously packaged, usually in super swank hand screened sleeves or deluxe limited boxes.
So Rock is hell turns 50, not years old, but FIFTY RELEASES!! And what better way to celebrate than by releasing a super limited lp, with tons of super short tracks by mostly super obscure Austrian bands (to us at least), who according to Rock Is Hell are quite popular at least in Austria. On top of that, these aren't just regular tracks, as the insert explains: "This record contains loops. locked grooves, songs running inside out, find out and enjoy"! Which is exactly what this is, a dizzying collection of fractured sonic fragments and super tranced out loops, the needle moving backwards and forwards, the sounds surprisingly hypnotic and tranced out, from murky, glitchy electronics, to dirgey distortion drenched noise rock stomps, in fact while reviewing this, we'd occasionally forget these were loops and get totally lost in some killer churning riff out, or some creepy blurry drift.
That said, this record does require some work, as you either end up stuck in a single loop, or lost in the ether between loops, so this is active listening, pick up the needle and drop it anywhere, and you're treated to some mysterious noisy, rhythmic, textural weirdness, like musical Russian roulette, but with a musical bullet in every chamber!
Of all the bands we really only knew a few, aQ faves Reflector of course, Bulbul, who are super awesome, but have yet to make it onto the aQ list, and [[[ Altar:Thron ]]] whose Rock Is Hell lp from a while back as a monster. Some of the other outfits/groops/musicians/weirdos involved: NoOne, Maja Osojnik, Heimo Wallner, Lepenik, Flugfeld, Muscle Tomcat Machine, The Striggles, Tumido, Big D., The Pooka Boys, Rdeca Raketa, Hella Comet, Martin Zrost, Macaque Revue, Rokko Anal & The Coathangers, Mental Terror, Spring And The Land, Dr. Mad Fister, and we could go on. And as we mentioned before, it doesn't really matter if you know the bands are not, probably impossible to find an exact track anyway, but we spent a long time exploring the various track and loops, and they're all pretty goddamn great, a few are definitely on the pummeling side, but most are super hypnotic, be they heavy or dreamy, dense or atmospheric. A super interactive and fiendishly fun record, packed with sounds weird and wonderful. Here's to 50 more releases! Long Live ROCK IS HELL!!
LIMITED OF COURSE!!! Pressed on ultra heavy clear vinyl, and housed in a two color hand silkscreened jacket!
Between 1995 and 1997, Hrvatski and various accomplices put together a vinyl only collection of two minute electro-shock / drill 'n' bass tracks called "Attention: Cats." That homage to the short attention span has in turn been reworked into even an even
We reviewed this a while back, a mind blowing, ear destroying, super limited collection of strange sounds, noisy weirndess and fractured heaviness, all gorgeously packaged in a silk screened box with inserts and buttons and all kinds of stuff.
We discovered a small handful of these tucked away, and figured some of you may have missed out the first time around. Maybe your last chance to snag one of these....
Everyone around here is a huge fan of weirdo music label Rock Is Hell, as are most of you judging from how fast we sell out of their stuff and how quickly it all goes out of print. Pretty much everything on Rock Is Hell has blown us away, the Dig That Body Up It's Alive lp, the crazy Nate Denver's Neck etched one sided lp box set thing, the super limited Octis lathe cuts, the XbXrX / Total Shutdown double 5", all gorgeously packaged and jam packed with mind melting sounds. With that in mind we worked out a special deal with Rock Is Hell, which will give AQ customers first (and maybe only) crack at this ULTRA limited 7" box set!!!
The set is limited to only 400 copies, it was almost completely sold out on preorders, minus the 8 or 9 we just got, so this will be your last and only chance to get one of these, if you didn't already preorder one. All the records are on white vinyl with white labels, and the records are housed in a silkscreened cardboard box with an inlay and 2 buttons designed by BONGOUT (http://frre.fr.freee.frfr.e.free.fr/). And all the copies we got have the secret bonus 7"!!! Only 50 or so of those! The singles included are:
Foot Village (USA)
Z's (USA)
Sasqrotch (USA)
Child Abuse (USA)
Death Sentence: Panda! (USA) / Fugu & The Cosmic Mumu (AUT)
Bulbul (AUT)
Bug (AUT) / Reflector (AUT)
Rokko Anal (AUT)
So if you want to be one of the lucky few to own this crazy chunk of sonic and visual weirdness, click the buy button and you'll be all set! So there you go, don't blow it!!!
And remember, ROCK IS HELL!!!!! ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just searcgh for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! 3 INCHES OF BLOOD "Here Waits Thy Doom" (Century Media) cd 15.98 ACCUSED, THE "The Curse of Martha Splatterhead" (Southern Lord) cd 13.98 AFRICA GERMANY GERMANY MEXICO TURKEY AUSTRALIA "s/t" (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 25.00 ALTAR OF OBLIVION "Sinews Of Anguish" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98 ALVA NOTO & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO WITH ENSEMBLE MODERN "UTP_" (Raster Norton) cd+dvd 32.00 ANTLERS, THE "Hospice" (French Kiss) cd 12.98 ARGUS "s/t" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98 ASTRA "The Weirding" (Rise Above) cd 13.98 ASYLUM "The Earth Is The Insane Asylum Of The Universe" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98 BEHEMOTH "Evangelion" (Metal Blade) cd 15.98 BIBLE OF THE DEVIL / BLADE OF THE RIPPER "split" (Scarey Records) 7" 5.98 BIRDS OF AVALON "Uncanny Valley" (Volcom Entertainment) cd/lp 14.98/13.98 BLACK JOKER "Watch Out" (Olde English Spelling Bees) lp 21.00 BLACK SHEEP "Kiss My Sweet Apocalypse 2" (Invada) 2cd/2lp 31.00/39.00 BLIND BLAKE "Bahamian Songs" (Megaphone) cd 17.98 BLK JKS "After Robots" (Secretly Canadian) cd 14.98 CABLE "The Failed Convict" (The End) cd 12.98 CONGA DE LOS HOYOS "Carnival Music Of Easern Cuba" (World Audio Foundation / Soul Jazz) cd 17.98 COURTIS, ALAN / BRUCE RUSSELL / EDDIE PREVOST / MATTIN "The Sakada Sessions" (Azul Discographica) lp 27.00 DDAA "Action And Japanese Demonstration" (Fractal) cd 27.00 DELAY, VLADISLAV "Tummaa" (Leaf) cd 14.98 ELECTRIC PRUNES, THE "Mass In F Minor" (Reprise) lp 14.98 ESPVALL, HELENA & MASAKI BATOH "Overloaded Ark" (Drag City) cd/lp 14.98/21.00 ESSO TRINIDAD STEELBAND, THE "Van Dyke Parks Presents" (Bananastan) cd + dvd 16.98 FENRIZ' RED PLANET / NATTEFROST "Engansgrill" (Indie Recordings) cd 21.00 FLUXION "Inductance" (Echospace) 12" 13.98 GOES CUBE "Another Day Has Passed" (The End) cd 14.98 GRASS WIDOW "s/t" (Make A Mess) lp 12.98 HABOOB "s/t" (Long Hair) cd 27.00 HARBOURS "No Souvenirs" (HR) lp 14.98 HEALTH "Get Color" (Lovepump United) cd HEIMS "Worship Or Die" (Moribund Cult) cd 15.98 HOOD, ROBERT "Minimal Nation" (M-Plant) 2cd 17.98 ILL WIND "Flashes" (Sunbeam) 2cd 25.00 JAFFE, SARA & MIA CLARKE "The Art of Touring" (Square Root Books) book + cd 19.95 JANDEK "Not Hunting For Meaning" (Corwood Industries) cd 8.98 KUUPUU "Lumen Tahden" (Time-Lag) cd/lp 15.98/29.00 LA NUEVA BANDA DE SANTISTEBAN "Sabor A Fresa" (Vampi Soul) cd 22.00 LI JIANHONG "Classic Of The Mountains And Seas" (PSF) cd 22.00 LITMUS "Aurora" (Metal Blade / Rise Above) cd 14.98 MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ "C'est La Derniere Chanson" (K) 2cd 13.98 MASERATI "Passages" (Temporary Residence) cd 13.98 METH TEETH "Everything Went Wrong" (Woodsist) lp 14.98 NECRONOMICON "Strange Dreams" (Garden Of Delights) cd 22.00 PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART "Come Saturday" (Slumberland) 7" 3.98 PLAIN RIDE "House On The Hill" (Ektro) cd 14.98 PUMICE "Perservere" (Soft Abuse) 7" 6.98 RAVAGE "End Of Tomorrow" (Metal Blade) cd 14.98 ROCKCELONA "La Bruja" (Estereo Fonico Country) cd 25.00 ROXY MUSIC "s/t" (Virgin) lp 21.00 ROYHKA JA RATTO JA LEHTISALO "Hiekkarantaa" (Ektro) cd 14.98 SARKE "Vorunah" (Indie Recordings) cd 21.00 SCIENCE FICTION DANCE PARTY "Dance With Action" (B-Music / Finders Keepers) lp 29.00 SINISTER REALM "s/t" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98 STONE GARDEN "s/t" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98 SUCH HAWKS SUCH HOUNDS (Long Song Films) dvd-r 16.98 SWASHBUCKLE "Back To The Noose" (Nuclear Blast) cd 15.98 TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "Archive 1" (Jinya) 5cd 95.00 TREE PEOPLE, THE "Human Voices" (Guerssen) cd 17.98 V/A "A Orillas Del Magdalena" (Domino Sound) lp 14.98 V/A "Electric Asylum Volume 3" (Past & Present) cd 17.98 V/A "La Belle Epoque" (EMI / Zonophone) cd 14.98 V/A "Songs In The Key Of Z: Volume 1 & 2" (Cherry Red) 2cd 16.98 V/A "The Midnite Sound Of The Milky Way" (Big Beat) cd 16.98 V/A "Transmissions From Sinai" (Arthur) cd 13.98 VIVIAN GIRLS "Everything Goes Wrong" (In The Red) cd 13.98 VOIVOD "Infini" (Relapse) cd 14.98 WARDRUNA "Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga" (Indie Recordings / Fimbullijod) cd 21.00 ZOMBY "Digital Flora" (Brainmath) 10" 14.98 ZOMBY "One Foot Ahead Of The Other" (Ramp) cd/2x12" 14.98/25.00 _______________________________________________________________________ Please place your order via our website. [1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings! [2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive. [ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
That's right, 500 lock grooves (250 per side!) from the likes of Sonic Youth, Terry Riley, Derek Bailey, Aube, Bruce Gilbert, Zoviet France, Otomo Yoshihide, 2000 Dying Rats, Jan St. Werner, Marcus Schmickler, His Name is Alive, Mortician, Exit-13, Today is the Day, Brighter Death Now, Soilent Green, Masonna, Id Battery, and 482 more! Hilarious and very very cool listening. Some are 2 seconds long, some run up to 10 or so. Adventurous DJs should buy this, most of us did...
Lock grooves are so cool. There are records that unwind into that perfect final moment, and then that moment is so seamlessly looped and locked, that you end up listening to it for ages before you realize that it would in fact go on for EVER. Then there's the lock grooves in the middle of songs, placed there by sonic terrorists looking to subvert the listening experience, turning their songs into sonic minefields, or obstacle courses (Billy Bao, being the most recent culprit). But there is an art to the lock groove, that brief couple seconds as the ultimate micro-composition. The musical version of Flash Fiction. Just enough time to whip up a tiny fragment, not enough to be called a song, just a SOUND, and then crafting it just so, so it plays over and over, seamlessly, sometimes blasting endlessly, sometimes locking into a stuttering rhythm. But there's the problem of what kind of person pulls out a record of lock grooves and sits back, and listens to the same 2 seconds over and over and over. Records like that either require some sort of zen bliss out, or they require active listening, constantly lifting the needle and placing it in the different grooves, sampling all the various micro-tracks. As you might imagine, we're pretty into records like this, and while it's true, they're not easy listening by any stretch of the imagination, they do offer up a strange window into sound, and music making, and in the case of this the second RRR lock groove disc, into the various permutations of NOISE.
Whereas RRR-500, now out of print, had 500 artists each offering up on groove each, RRR-1000, takes 20 artists, and let's each one deliver FIFTY grooves each. THAT'S ONE THOUSAND LOCK GROOVES ON ONE LP!! The one benefit here, is that the grooves are gathered in little bunches, which makes it easier to hear the specific artist you're looking for, although good luck finding the same track in less than 10 or 20 tries. Needless to say, this is a killer record, for folks into weird sound, and fucked up musical objects. It almost doesn't matter who's on here, but a quick glance at the artists will give you a rough idea of what you're in for: Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Fullerton Whitman, C. Spence Yeh, Prurient, Kevin Drumm, Incapacitants, Francisco Lopez, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Sudden Infant, Damion Romero, RLW, Jerome Noetinger, The New Blockaders, Lasse Marhaug, Jason Lescalleet, GZ Jupitter-Larsen, Carlos Giffoni, AMK, Thomas Dimuzio and Aaron Dilloway.
And sonically, while it does tend toward the noisy, there are some amazing bits of minimal drone, lurching rhythmic stutter, garbled vocal weirdness, grinding noxious buzz, warm whirring crunch and about every variation in between. And in our hop scotching across these 1000 tracks, we found ourselves lingering happily on a whole bunch of em.
Cool hand made covers, photocopies, found images, bits from magazines, and lots of duct tape!
Of all the Sublime Frequencies collections, the various 'Radio' compilations are definitely our favorites. But at the same time they are also maybe the most problematic, It seems somehow disingenuous to travel to another country, turn on the radio, record several hours worth of music and sound, come home, put those recordings on a cd and then sell them. Not just disingenuous but quite possibly dishonest. It also seems a little weird to be thrilled by all the 'crazy' sounds we hear on the radio in these various countries. A guilty pleasure, very much that aspect of cultural tourism. "The music there is SO WILD!! And SO WEIRD!!" And it seems inconceivable that someone from some other country would come to the US, and do the same thing, returning to their countries to release discs packed with shock jocks, and crappy pop music, and morning zoo's and dry NPR discussions and modern rock and Loveline. But you never know. Although part of the reason that something like that would probably NOT happen, is that American culture, from the music to the clothes to the television shows, is already so invasive, there's probably not a corner of the world where people aren't discussing Lost or Paris Hilton or Brad and Angelina's baby or rocking out to the new Red Hot Chili Peppers. But the music and culture of these other countries does not have the same sort of universal reach. So it is actually quite a thrill to hear all of this amazing music, all of these voices, ads and commercials and songs. It's absolutely fantastic. It's just worth thinking about all that other stuff once in a while and realizing that in a sense, even just listening to these discs, we are guests, and we are digging the work and art, the livelihood and passion of hundreds of musicians and vocalists and deejays and artists. And we are digging it. A whole lot.
The first few 'Radio' compilations were a little too schizophrenic, only allowing us to hear a few seconds of a song before the dial was spun and we were bombarded by some new burst of musical randomness. It was pretty amazing in a totally overwhelming ADD short attention span sort of way, but they rectified that, realizing it was just as dizzying but way more satisfying if we got to hear whole songs. So here we are.
Radio Algeria. A sampling of wonderful sounds from the Mediterranean coast, all the way to the Saharan desert. According to the liner notes, the music represented here includes sacred Islamic traditional music, Berber folk, Andalusian Orchestral music, Tuareg, modern Arabic pop as well as Guesba, classic early Rai, Khabyle and Saharaui, ummm, sorry to say none of us actually know what any of those in the last batch sound like, but needless to say, like the rest of the 'Radio' series, this is a wild, eye opening ride through the airwaves of Algeria. Compiled from recordings made in 2005 of AM, FM and shortwave broadcasts, this is a heady mix of musics new and old, the sound is definitely Middle Eastern, with plenty of tracks sounding almost Bollywood, and a definite French music influence all over the place, the sounds range from modern sounding hip hop double dutch but with the melody played by a snake charmers flute, cheesy eighties schmaltz, groovy twangy buzzing dreamy psych pop, old timey fuzzed out Eastern jazz (like a Middle Eastern Django Reinhardt), killer sixties sounding fuzz rock, that almost sounds like the Butthole Surfers at points, groovy sing songy folk, MTV style romantic ballads, flamenco guitars, and crooned vocals, keening fiddles, tribal drums, some Middle Eastern sounding blues, with sweeping strings and weeping melodies, wild solo female vocals drenched in reverb and soaring, warm operatic male vocals, glossy melancholic pop, shuffling rhythms, strummed acoustic guitars, murky modern pop rock and militaristic big band marches, all interspersed with different variants of local and regional musics. All totally fascinating and completely overwhelming and one of the most amazing sonic travelogues ever! If only the stereos in our cars could pick up Algerian radio, we'd most likely never listen to anything else ever again!
SO RECOMMENDED!
Another special release for this year's Record Store Day, that we managed to get enough of to list and review for all the aQ peeps who weren't able to visit the shop in person.
By now most regular readers of the aQ list are well aware of just how much we love Andy Votel's B-Music label, the dizzyingly eclectic home of recordings from Jean-Claude Vannier, Selda, Mustafa Ozkent, Sarolta Zalatnay, as well as purveyors of all things Turkish psych, lost disco, weirdo proto metal, lost soundtracks, Pakistani film music, Hungarian psych prog and more more more.
We raved about the Pomegranates comp recently, as well as The BYG Deal collection, also, the Sound Of Wonder, Well Hung, if there's one thing these guys do better than anyone, it's make mixtapes, transformed into head spinning, ear tickling compilations, so it should come as no surprise that their Record Store Day sampler is another killer mix. And instead of just being ONLY a handful of tracks you can get on other releases (although some in fact are), it focuses on harder to find B-Music gems, whether from WAY out of print records, or not yet released jams.
Beginning with a killer chunk of slice and dice space synth disco from weirdo French mad scientist Jean-Pierre Massiera, the record flits from sound to sound, from country to country, from era to era, but somehow still manages to flow. Persian psych pop slips right into some gritty synth funk, which leads right into some woozy, tripped out Asian psych, finishing off with some awesome Italo fuzzfunk, wild and trippy and druggy and awesome.
The flipside begins with some warped easy listening which is transformed into some seriously far out skittery fuzzy outsider funk, followed by some "synth bass stoner funk", then a Curved Air cover, taken from the Absolute Belter comp reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, sequing into some exotic soaring string driven dancefloor Bollywood style groove, before finishing off with a bit of Welsh Rare Beat.
Awesome stuff. An absolutely killer mix, and maybe the ultimate party platter of the year. LIMITED too, we probably won't be able to get more of these, so best to snag one while they last...
The fourth installment of Sublime Frequencies' Radio series of recordings lands us safely in India. We are led, blind folded through a thousand bazaars and fed a steady diet of Indian film. Indian culture has the most advanced knack for absorbing all other musical art forms and completely subverting them to their own purpose. You've undoubtedly heard a myriad of Bollywood soundtracks by now, so you can consider yourself somewhat prepared for this journey. What you will be overwhelmed by is the sheer immensity of the trip's itinerary. Radio India is like a thousand bollywood cassettes crammed together into one. Yes, like Radios Java, Palestine & Morocco, this one's a channel surfer. Fortunately the Bishops have now mastered the attention spans of the average listener and have thus included somewhat longer snippets -- generally -- softly crossfading to the next selection. And to be fair, you get a lot more than the standard fare that you know from all those Bollywood comps. Along with those -- the most frenetic and maniacal samples to be found -- there's a myriad of other bizarre amalgams of traditional Indian music, traditional Indian music fused with electric organ, veena drones harmonizing with the humming and buzzing of short wave radio anomalies along with soothing voice-overs set to gregorian chants and primitive drum machines. Wow.
We're pretty damn excited by Sun City Girls 33.3 percenter Alan Bishop's new Sublime Frequencies label. "Dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers" Sublime Frequencies is slipping on the shoes apparently discarded by such pioneering labels as Smithsonian Folkways, Nonesuch Explorer, et al. Unlike previous explorers in such unheard music, Sublime Frequencies is not restricted by academic or commercial purposes. The latter probably deserves a bit more explanation; for where much of the post-Explorer purveyors of "world music" shamelessly produce an endless slough of slick garbage that sounds like the crap you can hear on any U.S. top 40 radio station merely sung in another language (Christ, if I had a wooden nickel for every fuckin' starry eyed NPR music review extoling the uniqueness of some generic world music outfit that combines electronic music with traditional folk, yadda, yadda, yadda the world's forests would be clear cut by now) the recordings you'll hear presented by Sublime Frequencies come from the cracks in the pavement of the culture makers. Through field recordings (many made by Bishop himself in his travels), radio and shortwave broadcasts, some of the most amazing music and audio you've never heard has been assembled. Balls to fidelity, none of the artists here would be allowed within 10 miles of a Putamayo A+R executive, this is the punk rock of field recordings!
Radio Java is volume 2 in Sublime Frequencies' catalog, and is an absolutely amazing collection of tracks recorded off of stations in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yokyakarta and Bandung in 1989 by Alan Bishop and Manford Cain. Along with some familiar tunes, including a wealth of amazing Jaipongan tracks from West Java (See "West Java: Sundanese Jaipong and Other Popular Music" we listed from the Nonesuch Explorer series). But along with the snippets of Kerongcong (a bizarre amalgam that sounds like lopsided Hawaiian music) and Dangdut (an electrified pop music with ties to Indian film music) there are some insane cuts from radio commercials, enthusiastic DJ's,theater excerpts that are just plain remarkable. The disc is cobbled together in a channel surfing collage that continues to catch you off guard. Just when you've been lulled into teary-eyed submission by some sultry Sundanese singing, you're treated to a noise blast that would make Masami Akita blush. Radio announcers growl with their microphone inputs overloading, and crazy slapback echo that's just uncomprehensible, a cookoo clock rings and is followed by a strange ringing tone that sounds like early FM Synthesis experiments, and all this from one visit. You know there's more good to come soon, and that's a heartening thought in a world that's ever succombing to the blanding effects of U.S. commercial culture. Wonderful!!
Recorded by SCG man Alan Bishop during a summer 1983 visit to Morocco. Like Radio Java and palestine discs, the material for this 20 year old collection of recordings is taken straight off the radio. But unlike the Radio Palestine recording Morocco is much less attention deficit disorder ridden. Rather than clipping along in ten second and less sound bites, songs are actually allowed to develop and even finish on many a track. Tucked in alongside news reports, commercials and short snippets of Moroccan Serge Gainsbourg impersonations there are some really amazing Moroccan originals. "Radio Fes" features a live recording of a Moroccan orchestra supercharged with organ and electric guitar -- listen for the howls of joy from the back of the hall during the quiet sections. Other tracks feature traditional musicians cranking their sound out via low wattage transmitters and lo-fi equipment to produce a squashed ethno garage sound. There's a huge variety of stuff here and it all mixes well together without sounding too chaotically eclectic. As a bonus for those die hard SCG fans, there's a couple of classics that you may recognize here in their original form. A few more Sublime Frequencies recordings like this and someone will be able to put together a handsome "Roots of the Sun City Girls" comp.
It's a strange time to be reviewing a disc collecting various Burmese radio broadcasts, considering the recent natural disaster and the extreme and heartbreaking loss of life. But in some ways it's quite timely, as even in the face of nationwide disaster, the Myanmar government continues to be suspicious of outsiders, refusing international aid, and making recovery and rescue even more difficult that it would already be.
This collection addresses a similar situation, the Burmese government's obsession with controlling everything people outside of Myanmar read or hear about the country, to the point of draconian rules and regulations, and near total control of TV and radio. So, like the liner notes say, here is a rare glimpse of real Burmese life, music, news, commercials, all of the sounds one might experience in an urban center in Myanmar, car stereos, shops, street corners, a gloriously varied collection of sounds and music, voices and broadcasts.
It's tough to make peace with these collections. We've written extensively about it in other reviews. On the one hand they are totally fascinating, the sounds are weird and wild and wonderful, but one must be wary to not objectify and exoticize the people and cultures represented. It's definitely a fine line, and this series and others like it constantly toe that line, but it does seem like these are respectfully assembled and they do seem to help bring people together, to help us familiarize ourselves with worlds we would otherwise never experience in our day to day lives.
And from a purely sonic standpoint, these recording are dizzying, fantastic, so varied and wondrous. It sometimes seems depressing to think about US radio, if we're getting a glimpse of real life in Myanmar, what would people think about us? Car commercials, Madonna, sales, shock jocks, hmmm, then again maybe it is an accurate way to get a feel for a place...
Anyway, all of the politics aside, world music obsessives and field recording geeks will have a field day. These Radio comps are definitely an acquired taste as they have a serious short attention span vibe to them, like driving in a car while some little kid in the front seat randomly switched stations. But unlike here, pretty much every stopon the dial reveals something amazing, or at the very least interesting. All kinds of music, classical Burmese, Western style pop songs, schmaltzy ballads, country, surf, fuzzy psychedelia, commercial jingles and every possible stop in between. But it's definitely not just music. Lots of news broadcasts, some in Burmese, lots in English, commercials, what sound like radio dramas or soap operas, and then a whole bunch of sounds and voices where it's difficult to tell what they are. All in all, an absolutely fascinating sonic document, and another excellent Sublime Frequencies release. But if you're still feeling a little bit weird, maybe if you buy one of these, you can also send a little scratch to the Burmese cyclone relief effort. In fact even if you don't buy one of these you still should...
Of all the Sublime Frequencies releases, we'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite. We've made a BUNCH of them our Records Of The Week, and rarely does a couple lists go by without some new fantastic world music obscurity for us to rave about. But if we had to, we'd probably have to go with the series of 'Radio' releases. They're essentially recordings straight off the radio, the Sublime Frequencies guys traveling all over the world, sitting in their hotel room, or at someone's house, and just recording the radio. The results are fantastic and fascinating, and pretty excellent sampling of the culture, not just the music, cuz you get songs and bands and singers of course, but also advertisements, talk shows, politics, DJ's, and often, it's kind of dizzying, almost like someone's just flipping through the stations. But every one so far has been a blast.
For Radio Niger, the pace is not so frenetic, but the sonic breadth is as expansive as ever, with some of the coolest music we've heard, but liberally laced with all manner of diverse sounds and sonics, as the liner notes describe, some of what you hear: shout-outs to girlfriends, drunken storytellers who just wander into the studio, comedy skits, lots of amazing Tuareg desert blues, news snippets in English from the BBC, lo-fi marketplace cassettes, auto-tuned Nigerian pop, DJ's sing along with songs on the air, there are super avant cut up collages, classic African folk...
It's all pretty fantastic, but unlike the other installments in the 'Radio' series, this one is much more musically fleshed out, with almost full songs getting played, and lots of it amazing, from dirgey desert blues to wild psychedelic guitar buzz, cool, groovy new wave pop to wild drum heavy, high life, some minimal vocal/hand drums, and some seriously twisted juxtapositions, a jam that sounds like an African Steve Miller, bumped up next to wild, spastic tribal drumming, and rapid fire vocalizations, or more modern radio pop nestled right next to cool soundtracky, horn flecked funk! Like the other comps, Radio Niger is another fascinating sonic travelogue, and a glorious glimpse into the music, the culture, and the people of Niger.
Includes a booklet with liner notes, and lots of photos! (Oh, and did we mention the awesome song titles? "Sahel Drum-Machine Gun", "Moussa Poussy Galore", etc.)
Another collection of music, commercials, news reports and noise culled from radio broadcasts recorded by Alan Bishop. The tracks here were captured by Mr. Bishop in 1985 in Egypt and Jerusalem. Of the three radio discs released to date by Sublime Frequencies, this one is the most ADD afflicted. The bulk of the sound samples collected here are less than 30 seconds in length, some of them mere seconds, with most of the edits even seemingly to have been done using the radio dial at the time of their being recorded. That said, there's an abundance of odd music and sounds crammed into the 66 minutes of this disc: BBC news, a Soviet-esque female chorus with piano, romantic instrumentals, hammered dulcimer and drone, chipper singers with orchestral accompaniment, psychedelic electric oud solos, commercials, religious broadcasts, radio noise and more. Sit back and let Alan take control of the remote for an hour.
We know you love that Cambodian rock. And you know what? We love it too. Of late there seems to be an obsession with it; between the 4 Cambodian Rocks collections, the Cambodian Cassette Archives and Dengue Fever, we've had a pretty good run of it thus far. But now Sublime Frequencies is upping the ante with a collection unlike all those that preceded it. While the Khmer Rouge did a pretty good job of wiping out all the original performers, along with thousands of other innocent people and displacing the population of Cambodia, it couldn't completely wipe out the music. The original cassettes, still floating around are still being played on the radio to this day. Except that they aren't always played in strictly original form. Most stations, with the exception of the state run AM one, have taken to playing re-mixed versions of the songs with overdubbed instrumentation ranging from guitars and drums to synth keyboards in an attempt to keep the music fresh with the younger generations of listeners. This collection includes both the un-mixed originals taped off of the state run AM station and the re-mixed versions from the FM stations. Those of you already well suited with the previously released Cambodian rock collections will certainly get a kick out of several cuts here (some of which are most certainly completely different recordings from the ground up). Much more even than the Khmer Rocks releases, this collection has a great deal more variety of tunes (not just the garagey numbers), including some that feature traditional instruments, or at least traditional sounding. One tune in particular features just vocals and solo electric guitar which could easily be the Cambodian Lightnin' Hopkins. Additionally, Radio Phnom Penh differs greatly from the other discs in the Radio series on Sublime Frequencies in that not only are the songs allowed to play all the way through, in their entirety for the most part, but there's only very brief station ID's and disk jockey talking included.
Now all Sublime Frequencies needs to release is an Iranian disc and we'll have big W's "axis of evil" covered. But seriously, of all the countries on the globe -- axis or no -- the biggest cultural blackout has to be North Korea. Assembled by Christiaan Virant from a variety of source material: shortwave radio intercepts, field recordings (recorded in stealth mode in North Korea) and CDs produced by the North Korean government. Virant recorded and or collected most of the tracks between 1995 and 1998, though some of the shortwave tracks were recorded in 2005. Listening to Radio Pyongyang it's hard not to imagine North Korea as being a big version of the Small World exibit at Disneyland. The my-way-or-the-highway solipsist cultural imagineering is something uncle Walt could certainly appreciate. As such, this album is stuffed with Soviet style choruses singing victorious sounding patriotic hymns supported by pounding polka-meets-house beats, and cheery children's choruses doing much the same. That shouldn't be much of a surprise, but there will be sudden breaks in the songs with eighties pop-rock power chords, think the Miami Vice theme, and then suddenly take a wide left into pastoral schmalzy pseudo-classical refrains (often with voice-overs extolling the greatness of the North Korean government and Kim Jong Il). We actually really really enjoyed this, but at the same time are glad we don't have to listen to this sort of stuff 24-7 like those poor folks in North Korea!
Upstairs is the cd-r imprint for nostalgic electrons and warped lo-fi esoterica run by Daniel Lapotin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), and what's a better way to kick-start things than with a comp of the accomplices, malcontents, and hangers-on? There's a handful of artists we're familiar with (Julian Lynch, Pulse Emitter, Africa Germany, Caboladies, and of course Oneohtrix who's covering a Grouper song which sounds as weird and fucking awesome as you could imagine!) but a ton we've not got a clue about. For example, take Autre Ne Veut's '80s pop simulacrum filtered through disposable recording techniques; or the anti-aesthetics, bleepity techno of cheap synthesizers from No Fun Acid; or the suitably kosmiche zone tripping from Stellar Om Source; or the wild and woolly oscillations from Nackt Insecten. Pulse Emitter's jagged electronica maps out lunar rhythms for those smooth surfaces of synthetic melodies he's mastered in recent years. Julian Lynch wistfully taps out softened melodies sort of like an idiot savant rendition of Erik Satie with some squiggly ring modulation tossed in for good measure. Gatekeeper brings the compilation to a conclusion with murky recapitulation of early Chris & Cosey smears of shadowy electronica. There's plenty more between all of these points of interest, making for a pretty great album. It's a shame that there's only 75 copies, and Upstairs has already sold out of all of their copies...
Fuck! What a mess of a weird fucking album! This is the sixth "Radio" release from Sublime Frequencies and quite possibly the best (for those who can appreciate the most damaged aspects of bizzare station ID's and channel surferyness). People in the United States sometimes don't realize just how loud our country is. We inundate the world with our radio, television and movies, but rarely have a clue as to what's happening elsewhere in the world. The rest of the world does have to listen to us, like it or not. We hold the cultural bully pulpit. So it's always nice to hear our own cultural exports turned inwards upon themselves, and the "Radio" series from Sublime Frequencies allows us to hear from around the world. Radio Sumatra begins with a seriously demented melange of eighties guitar rock pre-empted by evil gremlin voiced disc jockeys, like the voices you hear in your head after you eat an entire box of Captain Crunch in one sitting. Later, chipper voice talents intone over the what sounds like Sumatran black metal and phone callers to another station perform live karaoke on the radio. And this is only 15 minutes in. Towards the end the sounds of Islamic hip hop and primitive techno hold sway. We won't kid you though: there's a lot of super saccharine pop sandwiched in here. We're talking top forty radio... even if it is Sumatran. But this collection will slay you despite that. Or maybe because of that!
Of all the Sublime Frequencies collections, the various 'Radio' compilations are definitely our favorites. But at the same time they are also maybe the most problematic, It seems somehow disingenuous to travel to another country, turn on the radio, record several hours worth of music and sound, come home, put those recordings on a cd and then sell them. Not just disingenuous but quite possibly dishonest. It also seems a little weird to be thrilled by all the 'crazy' sounds we hear on the radio in these various countries. A guilty pleasure, very much that aspect of cultural tourism. "The music there is SO WILD!! And SO WEIRD!!" And it seems inconceivable that someone from some other country would come to the US, and do the same thing, returning to their countries to release discs packed with shock jocks, and crappy pop music, and morning zoo's and dry NPR discussions and modern rock and Loveline. But you never know. Although part of the reason that something like that would probably NOT happen, is that American culture, from the music to the clothes to the television shows, is already so invasive, there's probably not a corner of the world where people aren't discussing Lost or Paris Hilton or Brad and Angelina's baby or rocking out to the new Red Hot Chili Peppers. But the music and culture of these other countries does not have the same sort of universal reach. So it is actually quite a thrill to hear all of this amazing music, all of these voices, ads and commercials and songs. It's absolutely fantastic. It's just worth thinking about all that other stuff once in a while and realizing that in a sense, even just listening to these discs, we are guests, and we are digging the work and art, the livelihood and passion of hundreds of musicians and vocalists and deejays and artists. And we are digging it. A whole lot.
The first few 'Radio' compilations were a little too schizophrenic, only allowing us to hear a few seconds of a song before the dial was spun and we were bombarded by some new burst of musical randomness. It was pretty amazing in a totally overwhelming ADD short attention span sort of way, but they rectified that, realizing it was just as dizzying but way more satisfying if we got to hear whole songs. So here we are.
Radio Thailand, two whole discs culled from 15 years of recordings, captured between 1989 and 2004. A wonderfully confusional blur of Thai radio craziness, and crazy it is. A glorious hodge podge of everything under the sun, including cheesy eighties Indian disco, bizarre Thai arena rock, with wailing guitar leads, and murky Casio style rhythms, English language radio announcements, funky hip hop rock with guttural Muppets like vocals and a braying donkey chorus, complete with Knight Rider synths, Thai style Miami bass, with bumping beats and rapid fire rapping, goofy funky ska, groovy late night lounge funk, old soundtrack music, fuzzy, old school soul with big boomy drums and sweet horns, weird American style rapid fire commercials, distorted shortwave transmissions, haunting otherworldly piano, what sounds like Thailand's answer to Humpty Hump, but with wild swaths of LOUD synthesizer, full on sitar jams, Japanese style pop, sixties girl group harmonies, groovy exotica, radio dramas, solo blues vocals, and all sorts of traditional Thai musics mixed in with this dizzying barrage of music and voice and sound.
So totally amazing!
Sublime Frequencies' fantastic 'Radio' series continues. We've loved em all: Radio Palestine, Radio Thailand, Radio India, Radio Pyongyang (!), and all the rest... The series took a hiatus for a few years, but then came back with Radio Niger last year. And now, thanks to the travels of SF stalwart Mark Gergis, we've got Radio Vietnam! For those unfamiliar with the 'Radio' series, it's basically like (in fact, IS) someone in a hotel room someplace in a foreign country, spinning through the radio dial, recording whatever weirdness catches their ear, and putting it together on disc as a sort of sound-collage sampler of the sublime (and otherwise interesting) AM and FM radio frequencies found in whatever locale is the subject. There's a variety of music, of course, and also DJs and ads and talk shows and whatever else is on the radio. Even some static. Always a crazy 'sonic window' into a non-Western culture.
Radio Vietnam finds Gergis recording radio signals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City over an 11-month period between December 2013 and November 2014. You get the his most interesting and out-there finds, ranging from traditional ethnic music, modern pop, advertising jingles, news broadcasts, exercise programming, and much more. A treat for the armchair traveller in all of us, as always.
Digipack with detailed liner notes by recordist/compiler Mark Gergis.
Yeah, you're right, these aren't new collections. In fact they're over six years old at this point. But imagine our surprise, johnny-come-latelys we are with these comps, when we picked them up for the store and discovered that we were already familiar with one of the tracks from a record of the week pick of a year ago. What I'm speaking of is DJ Rupture's inclusion of the Greensleeves (via Ridley Don) jungle remix of Barrington Levy's "Here I Come" on volume two. While Rupture did in fact add his own treatment to the mix, pitching it down drastically half way through, we were a little miffed that the mix -- which we thought was one of the best parts of the Gold Teeth Thief -- wasn't his own. Like the Trojan Jungle collections the two Ragga Jungle Anthem volumes are merely previously released tracks that have been remixed with breakbeat jungle rhythms, but where as the Trojan collections worked with classic reggae and ska material, the Ragga Jungle Anthem collections are all contemporary dancehall, which lends itself to such remixing. And sure the beats aren't new or groundbreaking, or even that original, but hell, it sounds SOOOOO GOOD. That classic jungle rhythm the got us in so into jungle in the first place. No tech step or hard step or dark core or whatever, just big dumb fun floor shaking wall rattling JUNGLE rhythms under some classic dancehall. You can't go wrong.
Yeah, you're right, these aren't new collections. In fact they're over six years old at this point. But imagine our surprise, johnny-come-latelys we are with these comps, when we picked them up for the store and discovered that we were already familiar with one of the tracks from a record of the week pick of a year ago. What I'm speaking of is DJ Rupture's inclusion of the Greensleeves (via Ridley Don) jungle remix of Barrington Levy's "Here I Come" on volume two. While Rupture did in fact add his own treatment to the mix, pitching it down drastically half way through, we were a little miffed that the mix -- which we thought was one of the best parts of the Gold Teeth Thief -- wasn't his own. Like the Trojan Jungle collections the two Ragga Jungle Anthem volumes are merely previously released tracks that have been remixed with breakbeat jungle rhythms, but where as the Trojan collections worked with classic reggae and ska material, the Ragga Jungle Anthem collections are all contemporary dancehall, which lends itself to such remixing. And sure the beats aren't new or groundbreaking, or even that original, but hell, it sounds SOOOOO GOOD. That classic jungle rhythm the got us in so into jungle in the first place. No tech step or hard step or dark core or whatever. just big dumb fun floor shaking wall rattling JUNGLE rhythms under some classic dancehall. You can't go wrong.
Holy cow! Yet another fantastic Sublime Frequencies release, this one a double lp of Rajasthan street music from Western India, a region plagued by power failures, droughts, dried up rivers, and the ever encroaching deserts, with a history of continuous invasions, epic battles, and brutal slaughters. (Sorta sounds like this is gonna be a metal comp, but no it's not.) The people of the region are resilient, and this history and the surrounding folklore are forever immortalized in music, a sound at once devotional, traditional and celebratory, the songs on this compilation collected over a two year period between 2007 and 2008, recorded live on street corners, and in people's homes, capturing the raw emotion and deep beauty of the music, and all it embodies and represents. The sounds are super varied, from droned out ragas, trancey and hypnotic, with gorgeous lilting vocals and long layered tones, some peppered with wild percussion, and on some tracks, the singer will just break from the song, and talk to someone else in the room before slipping right back into it. Other tracks sound a bit like stripped down Bollywood musicals, soaring female vocals, buzz wreathed rhythms, and still others are groovy, hazy, psychedelic Indian folk music, shimmering strings, stunning vocal melodies. And while there are moments of meditative melancholia, much of the record seems to celebrate life, the music and voices, infused with a vitality and positive energy, that belies the trials and tribulations of the region and its people. Truly gorgeous stuff.
Packaged in a super heavy, full color gatefold jacket, with tons of cool photos, and extensive liner notes, as well as a two sided printed insert, with still more liner notes, on these recordings, the region and its history, as well as notes on each song and performer.
At this point, sixties psych reissues are a dime a dozen. We have a whole section in the store, packed with good ones, and those are only a tiny fraction of what gets released. We've groused about it before, but just cuz it's old and rare, doesn't make it worth reissuing. Though sometimes, wow, is it ever!
The one thing we had never seen though, was a collection of sixties garage and psych from Iran. Then again, we had probably never wondered about the garage psych scene in Iran at all, but Raks Raks Raks has set us straight, and has us wishing we had.
As one might imagine, playing in a psychedelic rock band in the Middle East in the sixties was no cake walk, although according to the liner notes, it was maybe not as bad as we in the West might imagine, but amidst the various restrictions, political and personal, folks were of course still expressing themselves, and making music, and the results speak for themselves. Odds are, like us, you won't recognize a single band here, but it hardly matters, every track here is a winner, from Asian sounding grooves, to Ventures like surfy twang, to distinctly Middle Eastern sounding melodies, to fuzzy fifties-ish vocal doo wop, to twisted Monkees-like catchy pop, to Ethiopiques-ish jazzy funky grooves, to jangly psych folk, to fuzzy organ driven Joe Meek like grooviness, all infused with a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe, not just the language, the sound itself. Lo-fi, but so bursting with life and color and energy, classic sounds but imbued with elements and twists that make the tracks on Raks Raks Raks stand WAY out from the ordinary sixties psych reissue crowd BIG TIME! Expensive maybe, but so so worth it!
Massive booklet with extensive liner notes, as much about the history of the era and the politics of the region as the music and the artists.
Actually this record is a few years old, but on first glance you could see why it got little attention. A rather shitty photoshop montage of the heads of four of the "Allstars" onto a cornball western snapshot as cover art illustrates the problematic artwork. For such reasons, this record has been spotted in the country / western bargain bins at large uninformed record stores.
Anyway, what you get on the disc is spacious hyperminimal electronics that is the result of collaborations between Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic, Philius, etc.), Abe Duque (Kirlian), Suzanne Brokesche (the much unappreciated yet brilliant Sil Electronics), and many other minimal tweakers. Very similiar in scope to the last Plastikman record.
A great collection of soulful '70s reggae tunes centered on producer Clive Chin of the legendary Kingston studio (and retail record mart) Randy's. Highlights include Alton Ellis' "Too Late", Senya's "Roots Man", the Randy's All Stars version of the
