With a title like A Ride Across The Skies On A Knife Dipped In Blood, we had seriously high hopes for this compilation from UK microlabel Curor and we were not disappointed. A handful of familiar faces: Jazzfinger, Ben Reynolds, Number None, Peter Wright... but loads of groups new to us, most of which had is scrambling for our computers and hopping on the internet to track down more recordings by these weirdo noisemakers. Like all great comps. Ride Across functions simultaneously as a sort of mixtape sampler, as well as a surprisingly cohesive listen, considering how varied the sounds of these bands are.�
Some of the highlights include�Atoms and their�little tinkling flurries of guitar glimmer that morph into a slow melodic crawl, all tentative guitar and strange scrapes and creaks.�Heidika, who unfurl warm soft tangles of finger picked acoustic guitar and minimal mournful strings, a laid back and wintry Appalachian folk with a subtle buzzing raga element. The super bizarre�Injury Chic, one of the noisiest bands on the comp, kicking up�dense swirls of harsh noise, laid atop simple percussive thump and clatter, with ultra distorted sung/spoken vocals, sounding like a modern co-ed Whitehouse. AQ faves�Jazzfinger with a gorgeous slab of sound, all�clattery clouds of looped piano, a strange mechanical rhythm laid over a murky, fuzzy seasick waltz, a bit like the the soundtrack to some strange Quay Brothers�style�animated film. Then there's the strangely named�Family Battle Snake who spew forth a�cavernous skreescrape of industrial whir and haunting alien FX. Maybe our favorite track on the record comes from�Raised By Wolves beginning with�militaristic martial snare,�bits of guitar clang, all intertwined with ominous high end synth drones, with the drums getting more and more spastic and complex, like some dreamy droney cd-r outfit backed up by a skittery free jazz drummer, eventually erupting into a chaotic distorted blown out near-noise jam. Wow!�Number None offer up their own bit of�creeping grinding slow motion ambience, rumbling and moaning atmospheres, muted melodies, and occasional bursts of blown out guitar fuzz and glistening streaks of feedback. and the disc finishes off with another AQ fave,�Peter Wright, who offers up another blissy expanse of serene drift, this time, heavy on the guitar, well, not 'heavy', but more guitar than usual for Wright, woven into dreamy cyclical melodies, all�floating over long stretches of distant drones and rumbling swells, and that's not all.�
A killer comp and a whole bunch of new bands to get all obsessed with.�
From the Swedish Waerloga label, who you should remember as the folks responsible for the Orc-ish and vampiric dark ambient rituals of the mysterious Za Frumi, comes a massive comp of like minded bands and individuals, all exploring the dark damp recesses of their souls, trolling through moonlit forests, dripping caves, lunar landscapes and other mysterious and dimly lit lost worlds. Pretty exciting comp considering we haven't heard of about 90 percent of these bands and most of this stuff is pretty great. Two tracks from Za Frumi exploring similar territory as on their records proper, a a little dark ambient moodiness from The Soil Bleeds Black, and one track from AQ faves Sagor & Swing, and that's about it for bands we know. But fear not, the rest of the comp travels a similar musical path, dark rumbles, dreamy atmospherics, festive renn-faire frippery, downright scary doomscapes and all creepy and creaking stops in between. By the way we think Uglakh is the name of an orc, not a band...
Wow! Here's a terrific tribute to Will Oldham (aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy aka Palace aka Palace Brothers aka Palace Music, etc). This homage comes in the form of a collection of cover versions performed by many familiar AQ faves and fine contemporaries of Mr. Oldham. Each of them brings his/her own distinct flair to the chosen tune, but we noticed that some come remarkably close to absolute replication of the original. Hmmm, what's that old saying about mimicry being the sincerest form of flattery? But is it mimicry when someone really does sound like someone else without even trying? No, of course not. Anyways, the highlights and notables include Calexico, Iron And Wine, Mark Kozelek, Scout Niblett, Rivulets, Court And Spark, Pinetop Seven, and Jolie Holland. Great for fans of one and all.
Remember that rad White Lace And Strange compilation we highlighted not long ago? Some killer late sixties, early seventies psych rock from the USA, garage bands gettin' "heavy". Well this disc, on the same Nick Saloman-affiliated label Psychic Circle, is in some ways a sequel, featuring similar bands of the era from the UK (and one Israeli band that recorded in London, to be perfectly accurate). With the subtitle "20 Gems From The Early Years Of Prog", it's billed as a collection of obscure "progressive rock" tracks... but the stress is on the rock. After all, Black Sabbath was once considered a "prog" band too. Sure, there might be some keyboards, but there's lots of raw, raucous energy here, both singers and guitarists wailing away in full fuzzed-out psychedelic proto-metal glory, when they didn't know from headbanging but knew how to boogie! Being a comp, of course some of this is better 'n the rest, but quality control is pretty high. Some faves include the punkish Helter Skelter (ex-Crushed Butler), the powerful axe-action of Israel's Jericho, and the heavy blues thud of early UFO, among other treats here to be heard from these bands (some we already knew, some new to us): Treetops, Mousetrap, Deadwood, Fuzzy Duck, Incredible Hog, Mouse, Beggars Opera, Kingdom Come, Little Big Horn, Strange Fox, Onyx, Spontaneous Combustion, Sheephouse, Pussy, Axe, Sunchariot, and Kansas Hook. The liner notes provide interesting tidbits on each artist (ferinstance, if you're as much of a proto metal geek as Allan, you'll be excited to get the track by Pussy, a later incarnation of one-album wonders Jerusalem).
NOW ON VINYL!
Remember that rad White Lace And Strange compilation we highlighted not long ago? Some killer late sixties, early seventies psych rock from the USA, garage bands gettin' "heavy". Well this disc, on the same Nick Saloman-affiliated label Psychic Circle, is in some ways a sequel, featuring similar bands of the era from the UK (and one Israeli band that recorded in London, to be perfectly accurate). With the subtitle "20 Gems From The Early Years Of Prog", it's billed as a collection of obscure "progressive rock" tracks... but the stress is on the rock. After all, Black Sabbath was once considered a "prog" band too. Sure, there might be some keyboards, but there's lots of raw, raucous energy here, both singers and guitarists wailing away in full fuzzed-out psychedelic proto-metal glory, when they didn't know from headbanging but knew how to boogie! Being a comp, of course some of this is better 'n the rest, but quality control is pretty high. Some faves include the punkish Helter Skelter (ex-Crushed Butler), the powerful axe-action of Israel's Jericho, and the heavy blues thud of early UFO, among other treats here to be heard from these bands (some we already knew, some new to us): Treetops, Mousetrap, Deadwood, Fuzzy Duck, Incredible Hog, Mouse, Beggars Opera, Kingdom Come, Little Big Horn, Strange Fox, Onyx, Spontaneous Combustion, Sheephouse, Pussy, Axe, Sunchariot, and Kansas Hook.
Shellac, Big'n, U.S. Maple, and Brise-Glace - all covering their favorite AC/DC compositions. What more needs be said.
B-Music / Finders Keepers are the masters of the mix, headed up by DJ / record collector extraordinaire Andy Votel, pretty much every compilation these guys put out is like getting a super far out mix tape from your weird music obsessed best friend who knows everything about ____ (Turkish psych, lost disco, weirdo proto metal, lost soundtracks, Pakistani film music, Hungarian psych prog, etc.). To that list, of music your imaginary best friend (aka Andy Votel and his B-Music gang) is well versed in, you can now add "Mid-Med-Mod-Rock & Spanish Psychsploitation From The 'Cradle Of Spanish Pop'". Phew. Absolute Belter collects a handful of classic jams from the Spanish label Belter, marking the label's 50th anniversary!! Lots of incredible stuff here, plenty of fuzzed out psych, groovy funk, and especially intriguing, weirdo covers of songs by The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Quincy Jones, and most excitingly, Curved Air's "Back Street Luv" done by a group called Control (which is also on that Radio Galaxia comp!). It's a fuzzy, but more poppy than proggy version, makes us wish someone would do a cool anthology of all Curved Air's stuff, so good! But we digress...
The highlights are too many to mention one by one, it's basically a whole record of highlights, but besides that killer Curved Air cover, there's Fusioon's, warm washed out wearily psychedelic "Tocata Y Fug", with its woozy organs, majestic melodies, and weirdo prog-isms, or Furia's theme song "Furia", a heavy psych groove burner, with some awesome harmony vocals, thick basslines, and a killer main hook. Or howabout Soledad Miranda, most famous for being nude in Vampyros Lesbos with some groovy, loungy exotica, all soaring strings and jazzy drums, very Bond theme sounding, and she actually has a great voice. There's Los Mismos' "Jefe Ironside", a sort of disco cop show theme meets hippy jam from the musical Hair, or Control's country flecked bass heavy psychedelia, Los Gritos' "Veo Visions" a sci-fi fuzz groove, with tons of out-there Joe Meek production weirdness, we could go on and on and on and on. Needless to say, but we shall anyway, if you're a fan of the label, and any of their collections, the BYG Deal, Well Hung, Pomegranates, The Sound Of Wonder, well then you're probably gonna want this, or if you're just into cool fuzzy freaky far out psychedelic sounds, this could very well be the mix tape of obscure stuff you've been hoping someone would make you!
In the liner notes for this compilation, Saburo Teshigawara states that "the nothingness of immobility is an extraordinary energy with minus quality that functions dynamically." Teshigawara is the director of the Japanese dance ensemble Karas, which has been seeking out the beauty of the human essence within a manufactured environment. As the score to the ensembles' worldwide tour of
As a whole, this compilation develops a simple yet effective narrative-like construction with a gentle revelation of sound that reaches a specific denoument and fades ultimately into silence. Biosphere and Zoviet France open up the album with some beautifully radiant drone work. Monolake and Hallucinator then kick things into gear with the archetypal Chain Reaction heroin house sound. Hazard and Gescom (who are surprisingly quiet!) round out the compilation with minimalist pieces more suited to the Trente Oiseaux label. Very nice work.
For those of you who've been keepin' track of the Ace Of Spades limited edition cd-r series of monthly live acoustic performances at Oakland's Mama Buzz Cafe by various Bay Area rootsy folksy musicians, here's the final release! It's a limited edition 'best of' compilation cd (not a cd-r), and it features a single track each from seventeen different artists including Rogue Wave, The Moore Brothers, Sean Hayes, Black Bear, Dave Gleason's Wasted Days, Alela Menig, The Lonely Hearts, Jason Webley, Paul Panamarenko, Mandrake, Black Bird Stitches, Laura Weinbach, Audio Out Send, Etienne De Rocher, Brian Glaze, Bart Davenport, and Paula Frazer.
And for extra warm fuzzies, it's a benefit cd with for the Little Kids Rock Foundation supporting children's music education.
Thank goodness for compilations like The In-Kraut and Disco Deutchland which were not only super fun collections, gathering up some of the most amazing late '60s and '70s German grooviness, but they also helped dispel the common stereotype that German music and culture is deadly serious, cold and austere. Those records helped highlight a carefree side to to the German music scene that we hadn't often been exposed to. Achtung! furthers our exposure to this fun filled world with 20 instrumentals that perfectly tie together the go-go kitchy fun of the In-Kraut records, the dancefloor ready jams of Disco Deutchland as well as some serious grooving funk and poppy psychedelia informed by Philadelphia soul, The JB's, afro-pop, cocktail parties, ye-ye French-pop and B-movie scores. Totally fun and totally perfect as the soundtrack to your next party. Artists include: James Last, Max Greger, Peter Thomas, Ambros Seelos, Ady Zehnpfennig, Gerhard Narholz, Hans Haider, Don Kelly Band, Kai Warner And His Orchestra, Theo Schumann Combo, Henry Arland, Heinz Kiessling, Orchester G�nter Gollasch, Pete Jacques, Hans Ehrlinger And His Orchestra, Catch Up, Helmut Zacharias, Roberto Delgado, Berry Lipman and Orchester Walter Kubiczek. All your favorites!
Here's a cool comp of rare vintage '60s garage psych gems, that itself is a reissue of a long lost album, Acid Dreams having first been released back in 1979 on vinyl in an edition of just 77 copies, we're told. Apparently that record was compiled by the owner of a record store in Berlin, who thought that the then-current crop of new wave punk rock fans needed a lesson about the original wave of snotty, freaky, DIY "punk" from the previous decade... And indeed the nameless compiler picked some killer cuts from his collection of U.S. '60s psych singles for inclusion here, full of distortion and attitude ready to go toe-to-toe with the class of '77. Loads of fuzzed out guitars, urgent drumming and trippy lyrics burst forth across the 18 tracks here, most of 'em energetic yet moody 2-3 minute blasts, including songs from Zakary Thaks, Faine Jade, Music Machine, Mystic Tide, Painted Faces, Balloon Farm, Outcasts, Beautiful Daze, Caretakers Of Deception, Teddy & His Patches, Minds Eye, White Light, Remaining Few, Stereo Shoestrings, Unrelated Segments, Velvet Illusions (who get not one but two tracks on here, both awesome), and Vejtables (who were from San Francisco - hmm, could the spelling of their name maybe have been an inspiration to Wooden Shjips?). As you can see, all acts for the most part pretty obscure outside the collectors' realm, really. Poppy stuff, but probably too freaky for the masses, though it's not all hard acid wah wah guitar frenzies here - when not stormin' and stompin', Acid Dreams provides plenty of pleasant psychedelic swirling jangle as well.
Reissued now on cd by the same label that brought us the Electric Asylum comp listed last time, the no frills design of the original private press LP has been augmented with photos and brief liner notes on each and every track in the cd booklet.
Remember a long time ago, when only ROCKSTARS made videos? Aerosmith, U2, Yes, remember how you'd wait anxiously for so and so's new video to debut on MTV? A lot has changed since then. First and foremost, MTV doesn't actually show videos anymore. Second, almost all bands make a video at some point. And with the advent of digital video and cheaper production techniques, bands are finally able to make the kind of videos they could only dream about before. And now some of the most truly bizarre and amazing videos are being made by the same folks who are making truly bizarre and amazing music. If you have cable, you might have seen some of these videos on MTV2 or Fuse or Much Music, but for those of you without cable (like us) of those of you who just want to see these videos whenever you want, well, the fine folks at Sub Pop have offered up this super cheap, super deluxe video collection gathering up some of their best and brightest, and some of the coolest videos we've seen in ages. Just listing the bands should have indie rockers all in a tizzy: Shins, Ugly Cassanova, Iron And Wine, The Postal Service, Hot Hot Heat, Constantines, The Thermals, The Album Leaf, Low, Jennifer Gentle, The Helio Sequence, Kinski, Sleater Kinney, Rosie Thomas, Chad Vangaalen, Love As Laughter, Fruit Bats, Wolf Parade, The Elected, Rogue Wave and Mudhoney. Phew! Some of the highlights include the Ugly Cassanova video which has to be the most insane, most ridiculous, and somehow both the grossest and the cutest videos ever. Seriously. Every time we watch it, we're dying, it's so weird and funny and sick! Imagine a video very bright and primary colored, filled with infants, toddlers, insects and all sorts of anuses and intestines and shitting and farting. Woah! But even the gross stuff is kinda cute.
The there's a Shins video where the band members reproduce various indie record covers: Slint, Squirel Bait, Minutemen, Cat Power, see if you can name them all. The other Shins video is great too, an awesome construction paper animated sequence with white paper cows so cute. And then the two Postal Service videos are awesome too: one is a gorgeous sleek futuristic machinescape, all sterile and very white and shiny, the other is a cheesy eighties karaoke scene intercut with a far out futuristic space subplot, featuring Jenny Lewis! The Iron And Wine videos are beautiful and heartbreaking, just like the songs, sun dappled summerscapes, glistening water, green lush grass, sumptuous foods, each video dense and colorful, somehow perfectly conveying the love and hope and sorrow in the songs. WOW.
Pretty much all the videos here are well worth watching, some over and over and over, lots of cool animation, lots of high concept, plenty of cool production and bizarre imagery, very few by the numbers performance videos, plenty of innovation and creativity, which is just what we expect from these bands anyway!
Electronica comp with Jake Mandell, Kid 606, Kevin Blechdom, Arovane, Stewart Walker, and others.
Not all, but some of the AMAZING 'post-rock'/electronica singles that tasteful U.K. label Fat Cat has previously issued and have subsequently let fall out of print. From Fonn & Live Human's murky yet live intrumental breakbeats to Transient Waves & Immerse's haunting scores and back to the techno throb of Chain Reaction artist Various Artists. Also featured is one of the stellar Bjork remixes by Funkstorung. If you missed out the first time, here's your chance to hear a wonderful intro to the melodic mellow side of the new 'electronica' styles.
Earlier in 2007, the San Francisco based sound-art organization 23five held their annual Activating The Medium festival at The Exploratorium, a science / art museum housed within a converted aircraft hanger. In the past 23five had always hosted some pretty impressive events, collaborating with such esteemed institutions as SFMOMA, the San Francisco Art Institute, SF Cinematheque, and Recombinant Media Labs; but the two nights held at The Exploratorium probably showcased their best programming to date. Field recordings were the general theme, and the international cast of characters brought an exemplary variety of strategies in how to utilize the field recording in modern composition.
The first night featured Aaron Ximm, Camilla Hannan, Tarab, and BJ Nilsen. San Francisco's Aaron Ximm (aka Quiet American) has long been a proponent of the field recording, having hosted the seminal Field Effects series at his 964 Natoma loft several years back. Ximm grounded his field recordings of street vendors and competing popsicle carts with an evolving chorus of low frequency sine waves for a captivatingly quiet piece. Australia's Camilla Hannan offered an explosive set of de-contextualized factory sounds and construction site noise, which perfectly counterpointed Ximm's comtemplative piece. Fellow Australian Tarab presented an earthen kaleidoscope of crunching soil, wind-swept aridity, and sympathetic dronescaping. BJ Nilsen concluded the night with a slow building crescendo of his post-Niblock church organ drones that erupted with oceanic field recordings from the same sessions for his collaboration with Chris Watson.
Immaculately recorded, smartly packaged, and extremely limited.
Earlier in 2007, the San Francisco based sound-art organization 23five held their annual Activating The Medium festival at The Exploratorium, a science / art museum housed within a converted aircraft hanger. In the past 23five had always hosted some pretty impressive events, collaborating with such esteemed institutions as SFMOMA, the San Francisco Art Institute, SF Cinematheque, and Recombinant Media Labs; but the two nights held at The Exploratorium probably showcased their best programming to date. Field recordings were the general theme, and the international cast of characters brought an exemplary variety of strategies in how to utilize the field recording in modern composition.
The second night featured Keith Evans, Matt Shoemaker, Olivia Block, and Steve Roden. Oakland's Keith Evans presented an exquisite expressive combination of 8mm film and abstracted field recordings as a portrait of Mount Tamalpais. Matt Shoemaker's deliriously cinemascopic sound design situated itself as a blurred mass of grey, John Duncan-esque drones pocked with whip-snap cuts of highly detailed eruptions. Olivia Block broke her set into two electro-acoustic vignettes, offering her own take on the seminal work of Luc Ferrari and Pierre Henry. Steve Roden quietly turned in an emotionally resonant performance for a table top guitar and voice, spinning a delicate web of loops and echoes through his twin delay pedal set up.
Immaculately recorded, smartly packaged, and extremely limited.
A prime example of Trojan's strange marketing tactics. With the exception of a couple songs on volume two, all of the tracks on the two "Adults Only" cds are available for a much better price point, with a lot more tracks included, on the Trojan X-Rated Box Set. Kind of odd that they would reissue these discs just after assembling that collection, but I guess they gotta keep busy somehow.
A prime example of Trojan's strange marketing tactics. With the exception of a couple songs on volume two, all of the tracks on the two "Adults Only" cds are available for a much better price point, with a lot more tracks included, on the Trojan X-Rated Box Set. Kind of odd that they would reissue these discs just after assembling that collection, but I guess they gotta keep busy somehow.
Local label Voltaire does it again. First it was the Publicist Keep It Off The Record 12", a killer slab of propulsive robotic cyber funk grooviness from the alter ego of one of the guys in Trans Am, now it's Affairs Online, a new compilation, and a fantastic collection of retro psychedelic disco-prog Euro-synth electro, and introduces us to five new artists (one of which is in fact Steve Moore of Zombi in disguise), hailing from all over the globe, Sweden, Japan and the US, but what they all have in common is their slavish worship of vintage Eurodisco and old school electro and synthwave, and whereas lots of other artists dabbling in the same sort of sounds twist them all up, add some modern twist, the sounds here are perfect replications of songs that could have been, soundtracks to some obscure eighties softporn VHS, or the score to some rare Argento giallo, the sounds here are all swirling synths, groovy beats, vintage analog buzz, and that hazy eighties production.
Lovelock, aka Steve Moore, offers up a track that sounds like the soundtrack to the Loveboat or Hart To Hart or some other classic TV show, a little disco-y, a lot funky, with warm synths, and soaring faux strings, tense and dramatic and melodic, evoking the lazy after school TV watching afternoons of our childhood as much as some futuristic Eurodisco. Loose Shus gets all Logan's Run with his track, creepy pulsing synths, and percolating sci-fi melodies, before the song kicks in with some discofunk bass and lots of handclaps. Narctrax is a little ethereal, but that swirling groovy haze is wrapped around some pulsing rhythms, more handclaps and a big fuzzy bassline that would have Daft Punk in a tizzy. Le Pimp is total eighties Eddie Murphy movie soundtrack, slap bass, synth stabs, a woozy electrofunk that would work in a dance-off as well as a chase scene, and finally, Erik Artur offers up a brief bit of washed out squiggly swirly electro synth melancholia rife with swoops and bloops and swirls and bleeps.
So awesome. And obviously anyone into the current crop of retro futurist synth wave Goblin/Carpenter revivalists will dig this BIG time.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered! And check out these amazing videos that were created to accompany some of the songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evEG1j1kvV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqc2hZFsoTc
With more to come!!
The last Honest Jon's compilation we carried focussed on the roots of Congolese Rumba through a wave of Latin influence on the region from the thirties to the fifties. The latest Honest Jon's compilation, Africa Boogaloo, expands upon that concept by tracing Latin music's influential trajectory from the fifties to the seventies all along Africa's Western Coast from the Congo to Senegal.
Culled from rare recordings by both celebrated artists as well as the little known, this compilation focuses not so much on the single artist but the bigger dance bands like Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Orchestre OK Jazz, and one of the major stars of Afro-beat, Manu Dibango (here performing the title track with Le Grand Kalle and Don Gonzalo). Boogaloo being a hybrid style of soul, R&B, mambo and various other forms of Afro-Cuban music, it makes sense that not only would it be popular in Africa whose various indigenous musical styles inspired Latin music in the first place, but that it would proliferate further into modern fusions of various African musical forms. The constant cross-cultural influence is amazingly uncanny as well as delightfully infectious!
When we first ordered this, we imagined it would be a compilation of rapping in African music, or more like the roots of modern rap in Africa, but instead this is a collection of some of the most popular contemporary rap groups in Africa, and it's pretty great. It's interesting to hear how the music, while obviouly reminscent of American hip hop, incorporates all sorts of traditional African musics as well as modern music (especially Mbalax or African commercial pop), as well as rapping in French and Wolof and a heavy political/religious bent as 90% of African rappers are Muslim. As a simple hip hop compilation, this stands up pretty well. Fans of MC Solaar and the Le Flow hip hop collection from a few years back will love this. But as a musical and sociological document, complete with Trikont's excellent liner notes, this is essential.
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.
Samy Ben Redjeb, the man behind the Analog Africa label, allegedly went through some 3000 records before picking the 14 tracks that make up this amazing compilation of mid-'70s sounds from Benin and Togo - the two smaller countries that happen to be sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, two of the dominant cultural forces in African music at that time. As much as the music included on African Scream Contest shows the influence of those neighboring heavyweights, there are plenty of other elements coming into the mix. You can hear Afro-Cuban horn blasts and clave rhythms alongside samba grooves and James Brown funk. That you can hear blues and soul being filtered through highlife, Afrobeat, and even traditional choral music is one of the things that makes this period of African music so exciting: no one influence holds any more sway than any other, and the result is something totally unique that manages to be strangely familiar while sounding like nothing you've ever heard in your life.
Like the title says, this stuff is definitely raw - you can hear musicians who not only taught themselves how to play, but in doing so created their own culture, national identity and music. For every influence pulled from elsewhere in the world (be it US funk or Brazilian rhythms), there's something distinctly regional through which it gets filtered; for example, Benin is the birthplace of voodoo, and that must surely have been an influence on the sense of wild abandon and frenzy that this music manages to capture so perfectly. Simply put, this is heavy stuff!
The standard for these kinds of compilations has been set incredibly high by labels like Strut, Sound Way, Soul Jazz and the like, but if anything Analog Africa have raised the bar even higher. It took three years of research, crate digging, interviews and detective work to put this compilation together and it shows: this presentation of the music, liner notes and archival materials is meticulous, loving and borders on obsessive. This is an amazing collection of songs that once again shows the incredible depth of cultural output happening in Africa in the '60s and '70s. It's a great time to be a fan of these musics, and this stunning compilation shows us exactly why. Recommended!
A collection that only begins to scratch the surface of the rarely heard of underground jazz scene in South Africa. Compiled by Jake Behnan, "Afrika Underground" covers "jazz funk & fusion" stuff from the mid-seventies to the early eighties, from the
In addition to reissuing their Ghana Soundz collection, Sound Way has put together an additional 12 rare tracks of afro-beat from Nigeria. Included along with mainstays Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius are several lesser known (this side of the pond anyhoo) groups like The Mebusas, The Don Issac Ezekiel Combination, The Martins Brothers Dance Band and more. Like Ghana Soundz, this CD comes with a thick booklet of info, including artist bios, and album art repros.
NOW ON VINYL!
In addition to reissuing their Ghana Soundz collection, Sound Way has put together an additional 12 rare tracks of afro-beat from Nigeria. Included along with mainstays Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius are several lesser known (this side of the pond anyhoo) groups like The Mebusas, The Don Issac Ezekiel Combination, The Martins Brothers Dance Band and more. Comes with a thick booklet of info, including artist bios, and album art repros.
There aren't many instruments that we would want to hear a whole record of. But drums are an exception. Drums seem to be the unifying instrument for all music lovers. Whether it's hip-hop, Japanese noise, krautrock, funk, afro-beat, etc. we all love hearing the drummer get wicked! There is something so mystical and powerful about the sound of drums that its no wonder that they have often been used as the main instrument in so many mystical & spiritual settings. Recorded by Soul Jazz in Cuba at the ICAIC studios these recordings demonstrate the African-influence on the drumming used in Cuban religious cults and ceremonies. Much like the amazing Voodoo Drums, and Spirits Of Life comps Soul Jazz put out a few years ago this is another great collection of frenzied drumming for a higher calling.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Yet another collection of classic 70's afro-funk. Subtitled "Motherload From the Motherland", the 13 tracks here are certainly a goldmine of afro-funk. Some are in the vein of Fela Kuti, some are bizarre interpretations of the James Brown sound, and some are akin to the instrumental tracks you might find in a seventies film score. Featuring cuts by the likes of Manu Dibango, Matata, Dick Khoza, Assagai, and much more. All the tracks were mastered directly from vinyl sources, so along with the usual surface noise anomalies you get a couple songs where the lp's hole was punched off center and the track is a bit warbled. Rather charming, I think. The bad or, to be sure, truly sucky thing about this compilation is its complete lack of liner notes whatsoever -- you get a track listing and that's it. I'm not opposed to quasi-bootleg re-issues, but if someone's going to go through the trouble of archiving the tracks they should at least give a little background info as to their origin, maybe even some bios on the more obscure artists.
Now on vinyl!
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
Kona records presents a new collection of Afro-Soul and Funk tracks taken from the late sixties to the early seventies. 11 tracks from 11 groups that arose out of the Pan African identity movement in the 60's, hailing from Sierra Leone, Kenya, Zaire, Ghana and elsewhere. Super tight, ready to explode afro-funk tracks that will make your butt shake are what you can expect when you put this
Chances are lots of us here at AQ are like you in that we can get a bit overly obsessed when we fall in love with something. Case in point: this mind melting electro-disco compilation from the new Troubleman Unlimited offshoot label Italians Do It Better. There are thousands of amazing records here in the store to listen to everyday yet we can't stop putting this on. Day after day and often multiple times during the day this always seems to find its way back to the cd player, making us feel like we're dancing on clouds, floating high in the sky, never to come down. Influenced by the best moments of early disco, Giorgio Moroder and the whole Italo-disco scene (of which the label name is a tip o' the hat to) this comp is a collection of tracks from 12"s, LP's and demos that have been pretty impossible to come by in these parts. Folks like Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, Professor Genius, and more have channeled their inner Moroder and captured that perfect late night dancing on air sensation after a long night of consumption and exertion, dancing your ass off, dressed to the nines and never wanting the party to end. Whether they're covering Kraftwerk or R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day (a legendary and sadly obscure project by DNA co-founder!) or creating their own songs that fit perfectly into this after dark wonderland, all these artists have totally dialed into a sound and style that we find so irresistible. Where electro-clash was cold and calculated, these sounds channeling a heartfelt love of vintage disco have a seductive and sensual quality that's been making lots of us swoon. So highly recommended!
A midsummer's night motorcycle ride through the dystopic streets of Akira's cyberpunk Tokyo? Check. A steamy make out session beneath the glaring neon lights of Blade Runner's perpetually rainy Los Angeles? Check. A romantic slow dance with Snake Pliskin in one of New York's seedier abandoned warehouses? Check! If this plethora of strange images are what's springing to mind it can mean only one thing... Another After Dark compilation is upon us! It's been a full six years since Italians Do It Better last graced us with the first After Dark installment and, like any great sequel, the second volume is more than worth the wait. Anyone familiar with this excellent record label knows what to expect - and knows that these guys are the best at what they do. And what they do is beautiful nocturnal synth pop heavily indebted to classic Italo-disco. For the uninitiated, imagine vintage Giorgio Moroder, slinky Euro club music, maybe a bit of John Carpenter... Or look no further than the inescapable Drive soundtrack, which features a couple of the artists featured here. What's so great about this compilation is actually how unlike a compilation it feels. There's an international roster of musicians on display here (Canada, France, England, US are all represented), but there's also a serious feeling of unity and cohesion. If you didn't know better, this could easily be one artist's full length lp with a series of guest vocalists (and seeing as Italians Do It Better head honcho Johnny Jewel is in approximately 95 percent of the bands featured here, it kind of is.) That's not to say there's not plenty of variety on display though! Glass Candy's tracks recall '80s Siouxsie & The Banshees at their poppiest (the vocals in "Warm In The Winter" especially seem to be a bit of an homage to "Peek A Boo") but with a glorious, life affirming, coming of age hope to them. Mirage and Desire are both a bit more melancholy and bittersweet in comparison - the sparse minimal thud of Mirage coming off a bit like a supremely forlorn Chromeo (complete with robot vocals and everything), while the soothing synth pads and romantic vocals of Desire tug at your heartstrings even while you're still working the dance floor in the same way Sally Shapiro does. Meanwhile, Twisted Wires sounds like Ian Curtis singing over jazzy lounge piano, while Appaloosa's charmingly monotone vocals sound a bit like Nico singing electropop. There are some darker moments too, like the eerie quasi-religious spoken word of Farah or the minimal throb of Mike Simonetti's "The Magician" which might not sound out of place on NIN's Pretty Hate Machine! And then there's the sexy digital strut of Chromatics to round things out. But despite these myriad influences there's a real concrete mood throughout - nocturnal yet vibrant, sparse yet alluring, neon yet noir. But still never in danger of clearing the dance floor.
It takes a lot more than just a killer collection of songs to make an amazing compilation, and leave it to Tompkins Square, generally no slouches in the comp curating department, to come up with this curiously themed focus on affairs of the heart, in particular, the strange corner of human nature the impels and compels us to pursue romance, and love, even when the relationship seems doomed from the outset. A base human instinct not to just to find love, but to often look for it in all the wrong places. And to commemorate those lost loves and tragic encounters in song.
These prewar tunes, include music from the Cajun bayous, the mountains of Eastern Europe, and rural America, focusing on various nationalities who emigrated to America, only to form super strong enclaves, with a mind to preserve their cultural heritage, one part of which was various traditions of courtship and marriage, traditions that were quite different from one nationality to the next. But as different as those traditions were, the emotions, the feelings of love and longing, of sorrow and hopefulness, are of course universal, and were again, immortalized in music, a music that is at once festive and celebratory, but often with a subtle underpinning of sadness, the sounds are a mix of European folk, country music, bluegrass and gypsy music, lots of fiddles and strings, emotive vocals, wild melodies, there's plenty of blues too, cuz if one thing we all know, love can give a person the blues something bad, so Dock Boggs and his banjo spin a tale of "False Hearted Lover Blues", the Stoneman Family mix some gospel vocals and some wheezing accordion into their sweet country twang, Emry Arthur laments the fact that "She Lied To me", and in between the blues are endless variations on string music, polkas, hoedowns, wedding dances, it's a heady mix, that's fun to listen to, even when the subject matter is heartbreak and misery.
There's no shortage of old timey comps, but this one is most definitely a gem, musically AND thematically.
Gorgeously packaged in an oversized soft cover book style sleeve, with a massive 60 page booklet, filled with rare photos, extensive liner notes, lyrical translation, and gorgeous original illustrations by Robert Crumb.
MPEG Stream: DOUGLAS BELLARD & KIRBY RILEY "Aimer Et Perdre (To Love And To Lose)" [/audio/vaaimeretperd1.m3u]
Everyone has a specific music they're especially fond of. And sure we're all pretty omnivorous when it comes to the music we love, but there's always that one sound or style you find yourself returning to again and again, that one thing on your iPod that gets played over and over like crazy, around here, folks tend to be partial to jangly pop, blackened metal, abstract noise, seventies proto metal, field recordings, sixties psych, Warped Tour emo metal, techno, or dubstep, among other things. But one thing everything here can agree on, is the importance of 'sleeping' music. Those blissed out sounds that are perfect for late nights, for that moment when your consciousness begins to drift, where for a moment, you get just a glimpse of the other side, before the curtain parts and your incorporeal self slips past, and doesn't return until the next morning. The soundtrack for that crossover is also very personal, some folks listen to buzzing black metal to drift off, others the mesmerizing thump of minimal techno, but there is a certain strain of ambient music that everyone here is equally enamored of. Minimal techno label Kompakt has coined the phrase Pop Ambient for this strain of electronic music, one that is not so much standard ambient music, or even new age, but more an electronica/techno with the beats removed, leaving just the ethereal ephemera, that at one time was a backdrop for the beats, but sans rhythms, those sounds become the focus, and are loosed from any sort of proper structure, allowed to flow and drift, to swirl and shimmer, this new music that is indeed ambient, and perhaps even a little new agey, but is ultimately something much more evocative and experimental, songs and sounds that acts as mysterious soundtracks for sleep, music that simultaneously serves as background ambience, but can also invoke active listening, allowing the listener to immerse themselves in the sound, to travel sonically to these otherworlds, to explore, and to get gloriously lost.
This double disc collects some of the current crop of ambient alchemists, a handful who are already aQ faves including Leyland Kirby, Klimek, Biosphere, Oneohtrix Point Never, Atlas Sound, Wolfgang Voigt, Markus Guentner, and Maps And Diagrams (whose cd on Time Released sound we reviewed recently), but even more that are brand new discoveries, all of whom are poised to become new favorites for sure, and pretty much instantly, this comp became out go-to late night listening collection.
The first disc is heavier on the new discoveries, opening up with a track by Orla Wren, who weaves a glitchy stretch of crystalline skitter, that reminds us a bit of Oval, all warm and liquid, hushed and delicate, but which soon blossoms into a lush thick swirl of layered buzz and softly swirling shimmer, laced with chiming melodies, and hazy bell like tones, one track in, and we already find ourselves wanting to hear more, which happens again minutes later when Rafael Anton Irisarri's track begins, a warm, swirling cinematic thrum, a very Caretaker-sounding sprawl of murky muddy strings, of looped string section shimmer, all blurred into something hazy and drifty, wreathed in soft hiss and warm record crackle, looped and lovely and hauntingly mesmerizing. The oddly named Let's Go Outside continue with their own brand of dreamy drift, a blissed out dreamdrone raga of metallic buzz and lush layered loveliness. Bvdub (aka Brock Van Wey, one of the curators of this collection) offers his own bit of looped and layered swirl, all effected steel strings, a sort of folky flutter smeared into lush string like swells, the lengthy track peppered with epic majestic bursts of heaving high end buzz, again all blurred into something more more ethereal, and so it goes, this is one of those rare comps, that not only plays like a proper album, but that doesn't slip up once, every single track here is gorgeous, and is woven deftly into the sonic fabric of the whole.
The second disc is where most of the more familiar names can be found, many of those Pop Ambient veterans, Klimek (who even released a record called Music To Fall Asleep), starts things off with a field recording flecked slow burn drone, very darkly dramatic and ethereal, which leads directly into a track by Andrew Thomas (the other curator of this collection), his number a moody chunk of shimmery slowcore, all twangy Earth-like guitars over a hushed hazy backdrop of warm strings and glistening analog crackle, sounding almost like a Pop Ambient Barn Owl. Oneohtrix delivers some very minimal and dreamy celestial kosmische, while Biosphere weaves a gorgeous bit of orchestral thrum, all deep swirling strings, pizzicato melodies and mysterious percussion, while Markus Guenter finally introduces a beat, a murky minimal pulse, beneath another gorgeous sprawl of glistening droned out shimmer, and again, so it goes for the rest of the second disc as well.
ANYone who loves the Pop Ambient series will flip for this, as will fans of all things darkly dreamy, be it minimal electronica, abstract krautdrone, cinematic ambience or anywhere in between.
We made the first Air Texture compilation our Record Of The Week, back in November of 2011, a fantastic, and fantastically blissed out collection of ambient soundscapery from some of our favorite audio alchemists, running the gamut from dreamy Pop Ambience to abstract ethereal drone music, from modern classical minimalism to hushed softly psychedelic shimmer, and the many many variations in between. This is the second volume in what now appears to be an ongoing series, and once again features a lineup that reads as if it was curated by someone at aQ, as well as featuring a number of artists who contributed to the first compilation. Most folks will probably just need a list of the folks involved: Brian McBride of Stars Of The Lid, Loscil, Pan American, Mitchell Akiyama, Bvdub, Kyle Bobby Dunn, Simon Scott, Lawrence English, Marcus Fjellstrom, Rafael Anton Irisarri and loads more. And like the best compilations, it doesn't feel like a compilation, it plays like an album proper, or perhaps the perfect mix tape for late night chill out / drift off.
Brian McBride starts things off with a track that does not sound that far removed from recent Stars Of The Lid, huge sweeping swells of lush chordal shimmer and swoonsome strings, orchestral and symphonic and achingly majestic, dappled with pointilist piano and soft focus swirls, that blossom into radiant expanses of prismatic gauzy drift. Marcus Fischer weaves muted rhythms into a swirling sea of guitar twang and distant melodies, the sound washed out and rainswept, Loscil unfurls billows of blurred electronics, darkly dynamic, sounding like a slightly more sinister Oval, while Chris Herbert lays out a super minimal sprawl of softly staticky hiss and ephemeral thrum.
We could go track by track, but the great thing is how all the songs share attributes that weave all of these disparate pieces together, while each track remaining wholly unique, the listener is carried along by this constantly subtly shifting collection of sounds, lost utterly within each, the songs bleeding into one another, offering a bit of sonic familiarity, before revealing something unique to that track, a constant voyage of sonic discovery, which rewards close listening, but is equally effective as background ambience. Music that conforms to its surroundings like some strange sonic fog, hovering and drifting weightlessly in the distance, becoming something else entirely as we draw closer, and lose ourselves within.
Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff. And most definitely the perfect soundtrack for late nights, lost afternoons, rainy days, deep black nights, and drifting into oblivion.
Another 'remix' album of the processed electromagnetic radio waves released by Disinformation (the first was the Antiphony 2cd). The central analogy of these 'remixes' by Evan Parker, Jim O'Rourke, Lawrence Casserley, Mechos, Tactile, Simon Fisher Turner, and T:unk Systems is of an underground publication by 9th Century mathmetician Abu Ja'Far Muhammad Ibn Musa, who proposed the ideas of mathematical fractions to the rest of the world. Conceptually the remixes stand as 'surgical reunifications' in which broadcast data noise are transformed into pulsing drones and electrical melodies. The stand out contribution is clearly the Evan Parker remix in which is staccato blurts of multi tracked saxophone work brilliantly next to the noxious hypnosis of Disinformation's original.
This long in the works collection finally sees the light of day. The long lost Haiti recordings, gathered by the legendary Alan Lomax, who made these recordings over the span of about a year, from 1936 until 1937, when he and his wife were documenting music and rituals for the Library Of Congress. Recorded direct to aluminum disc (a total of over 500 discs), these recordings had been unheard by the public, ever since. The original recordings have been painstakingly restored, and they sound fantastic, most of the noise stripped away, without losing any of the music, and if anything, according to the compilers, the music sounds even better now, and closer to the sounds Lomax was actually hearing when he originally recorded these.
It's a pretty overwhelming collection, that invites hours and hours of listening, which we think most folks will happily offer, once they get just a glimpse of the sounds within, from street musicians, to children's songs, far out jazz to dreamy vocal music, classical piano to angelic torch songs, voudou worship to big band, just check out the samples for a little taste, an incredible collection of sounds, which have gone almost completely unheard for the last 70 years!!
Anyone into field recordings, and world music, if you dig the Sublime Frequencies series, the Yaala Yaala series, the Ethiopiques series, this music is amazing, another long overdue glimpse of a people and place, and their music, and that music says so much about the time, the life in Haiti, the politics, and how the rest of the world felt about Haiti, you can hear the influences of various musics from all over the world, the music here is more than just music, it's a sonic exploration of a time and a place, and the sounds are so evocative, they almost transport the listener body and soul. Fantastic!!
The box is gorgeous too, a linen covered hard box, printed on the cover, with a faux Haitian stamp, as if Lomax had mailed this box to you personally for safekeeping. Inside the cover is a pocket containing a reproduction of Lomax's Haiti journal, filled with reproductions of his actual notes, observations, drawings, photos and diagrams. The liner notes are housed in a gorgeous hardcover book, all the songs and artists, photos, lyrics, everything. The cds themselves are housed in another little linen covered miniature hardcover book, with printed paper pockets inside, just like a miniature version of the sleeves that old 78s were stored in. Then there's a reproduction of Lomax's Haiti site map, complete with his scrawled notes, and finally, a few photos, as if whoever sent the box, decided to include some snapshots. And all the various books can be removed with the ribbons attached to the inside of the box. Stunning. There's also some film footage, and there's just so much more.
Needless to say, so so so recommended!!!
Now this is a freakin' treat for all Japanophile music fans like ourselves!! Osaka's Alchemy label, home to so much great Japanese noise, punk, and psychedelic music over the years, has gone and put out a DVD collection for your enjoyment. It's pretty much all live stuff (with the notable exception of a strange MTV-style music video clip for a track from label boss's Jojo Hiroshige's most recent solo album!!) recorded at gigs dating all the way back to the '80s, up to this past year, depending on the band in question. So this covers a pretty good selection from the Alchemy label roster, new and old. Here's the line-up, in part: Masonna, Doodles, Up-Tight, Christine 23 Onna, Ultra Bide, Omoide Hatoba, Sekiri, The Genbaku Onanies, Angel'In Heavy Syrup, Subvert Blaze, Hoburakin, Hijokaidan, S.O.B. Kaidan, Incapacitants, and more... Something for everyone.
Highlights for us include the intense fuzz guitar psych dealt out by Up-Tight, the hippy metal of Subvert Blaze, the absurd noise-fest of Hijokaidan's 25th anniversary performance, the wonderful delicate psych-pop of all-girl duo Doodles, and the guitar-smashing, cymbal-chucking noise trance tantrum of the infamous S.O.B Kaidan performance (noise mongers Hijokaidan joining forces with the ledgendary Japanese thrash-metal outfit S.O.B. in 1989). And special mention must be made of Christine 23 Onna's punked-out, super-distorted '60s psych groove assault, which culminates with Maso Yamazaki jumping on, and knocking over his synthesizer before taking a dive into the crowd!
Since we'd guess that only a few AQ-customers have been lucky enough to attend very many shows at clubs like Osaka's Eggplant or the Shinjuku Loft in Tokyo over the past two decades, this is even more essential if you're at all a fan of this scene... 117 minutes, NTSC, all regions. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just cut and paste the info into the comments area on the order form, or just email mailorder@aquariusrecords.org. AESOP ROCK "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives" (Definitive Jax) cd 17.98 AKIYAMA, TETUZI "Route 13 To the Gates of Hell" (DAT-3 / Fader) cd 19.98 AKIYAMA, TETUZI / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / TAKU UNAMI "Compositions for Guitar Vol. 2" (A Bruit Secret) cd 17.98 AKRON / FAMILY "s/t" (Young God) cd 13.98 ALIAS "All Things Fixable" (Goodwithmoney) cd 14.98 ANDEREGG, BRENDON "Falling Air" (Psych-O-Path) cd 13.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "Certain Blacks" (Free America) cd 17.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "Phase One" (Free America) cd 17.98 ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO "With Fontenella Bass" (Free America) cd 17.98 AUBE "Chain[Re]Action" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98 AXOLOTL / YELLOW SWANS / GERRITT "split" (Jyrk) cd 5.98 AYLER, ALBERT "Live On The Riviera" (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98 BEANIE SIGEL "The B. Coming" (Roc-A-Fella) cd 14.98 BECK "Guero" (Interscope) cd 15.98 BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE "Korrelations" (Old Europa Cafe) cd 15.98 BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL / BRUCE RUSSELL "s/t" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 16.98 BLACK LEOTARD FRONT "Casual Friday" (DFA) 12" 6.98 BRAIN DONOR "s/t" (Mister E) cd 13.98 BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Saxphone Improvisation Series F" (Free America) 2cd 25.00 BUDD, HAROLD "Avalon Sutra" (Samadhisound) cd 17.98 BURTON, JAMES & RALPH MOONEY "Corn Pickin' & Slick Slidin'" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 BUSDRIVER "Fear of a Black Tangent" (Mush) cd 14.98 BY THE END OF TONIGHT "A Tribute To Tigers" (Temporary Res) cd 14.98 CALIBOS "Me And The Window" (Handheld) cd 11.98 CARIBOU "Yeti" (Domino) cd ep 6.98 CEPHALIC CARNAGE "Anomalies" (Relapse) cd 14.98 CHARALAMBIDES "Our Bed Is Green" (Kranky) 2cd 16.98 CHICKS ON SPEED AND THE NO HEADS "Press The Space Bar" (Chicks On Speed) cd 14.98 CLARINETTE "Transmuting Fall" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98 COH "0397post-pop" (Mego) 2cd 24.00 COLD BLEAK HEAT "It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War" (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98 COMETS ON FIRE / BURNING STAR CORE (Yik Yak) lp 14.98 COPE, JULIAN "Citizen Cain'd" (Head Heritage) 2cd 24.00 COTTEN, ELIZABETH AND JESSE FULLER "Masters Of The Country Blues" (Yazoo) dvd 16.98 CRISTINA "Doll In The Box" (Ze Records) cd 16.98 CRISTINA "Sleep It Off" (Ze Records) cd 16.98 CURRAN, ALVIN "Canti Illuminati" (Fringes Archive) cd 21.00 DAEDELUS "Exquisite Corpse" (Mush) cd 14.98 DAFT PUNK "Human After All" (Virgin) cd 17.98 DALE, JON "Son D'Air" (Rhizome) cd-r DAREDIABLO "Twenty Paces" (Southern) cd 14.98 DARK TRANQUILITY "Character" (Century Media) cd 12.98 DAVENPORT "Marble Seed" (Jyrk Collective) cd-r 5.98 DILLOWAY, AARON "Boggs, Volume 2" (Hanson) cd 14.98 DJ QBERT "Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik" (Gurakutiku Batto Heaa) cd 14.98 DROP THE LIME "This Means Forever" (Tigerbeat 6) cd 14.98 DUNGEN "s/t" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 EGLIN, FABRICE & JEROME NOETINGER "Psychotic Reactions & Lightnin' Rag" (A Bruit Secret) cd 17.98 ERICKSON, ROKY "I Have Always Been Here Before" (Shout! Factory) 2cd 31.00 EVOL "Magia Potagia" (Mego) cd 16.98 FOG "10th Anniversary Freakout" (Lex) cd 15.98 GANG GANG DANCE "God's Money" (Social Registry) cd 14.98 GHOST "Metamorphosis" (Drag City) cd + dvd 17.98 GRUBBS, DAVID & NIKOS VELIOTIS "The Harmless Dust" (Headz / Fader) cd 19.98 HAFLER TRIO "Being A Firefighter Isn't About Squirting Water" (Important) cd 10.98 HAINO, KEIJI "Uchu Ni Karamitsuiteru" (PSF) cd 19.98 HALF-HANDED CLOUD "Thy Is A Word + Feet Need Lamps" (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98 HALL, ARCH JR "Wild Guitar!" (Norton Records) cd 14.98 HARMONIC 33 "Music For Film, Television & Radio Volume One" (Warp) cd 16.98 HELLA "Church Gone Wild / Chirpin Hard" (Suicide Squeeze) 2cd 15.98 HORTICULTURAL COMPASS "The Apparition Of Bees" (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98 KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF "Absencen" (Staubgold) cd/lp 15.98/14.98 KARKOWSKI, ZBIGNIEW "One And Many" (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98 KASABIAN "s/t" (RCA) cd 12.98 KIRKEGAARD, JACOB "Eldfjall" (Touch) cd 15.98 KOICHI, MAKIGAMI "Koedarake" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 KUTI, FELA "The Best Of Fela Kuti: Music Is The Weapon" (Wrasse) 2cd + dvd 33.00 KYLESA "To Walk A Middle Course" (Prosthetic) cd 11.98 LACY, STEVE "The Gap" (America) cd 17.98 LAST OF THE JUANITAS "In The Dirt" (Wantage) cd 13.98 LAVAGNINO, ANGELO "Gamma 1 Quadrilogy" (Dagored) cd 16.98 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "Yr City's A Sucker" (DFA) 12" 6.98 MACLEAN, JUAN "I Robot / Less Than Human" (DFA) 10" 6.98 MADLIB "Mind Fusion Vol. 1" (Madlib) cd 16.98 MADLIB "Mind Fusion Vol. 2" (Madlib) cd 16.98 MAEROR TRI "Hypnobasia / Ultimate Time" (Old Europa Cafe) cd-r 25.00 MAGICK MARKERS "I Trust My Guitar, etc." (Ecstatic Peace) lp 16.98 MARSUPILAMI "s/t" (Breathless) cd 15.98 MATHIEU, STEPHAN "The Sad Mac" (Headz / Fader) cd 19.98 MATTHEWS, ERIC "Six Kinds Of Passion Looking For An Exit" (451) cd 14.98 MENCHE, DANIEL "Sirocco" (Important) cd 14.98 MERZBOW "Bariken" (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98 MF DOOM "Live From Planet X" (Nature Sounds) cd 12.98 MIKAMI, KAN "Bachi" (Abruit Secret) cd 17.98 MILTON, ANTONY "'Sirens' & 'And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 MOBY "Hotel" (V2) 2cd 16.98 MORRICONE, ENNIO "La Califfa (OST)" (Dagored) cd 15.98 MOUNTAIN GOATS "Nothing For Juice" (3 Beads of Sweat) cd 14.98 MOUNTAIN GOATS "Zopilote Machine" (3 Beads of Sweat) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 MOUNTAINS "s/t" (Staartje) cd 14.98 MOUTHUS "s/t" (Psych-O-Path) cd 13.98 MU "Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge)" (Output) cd 16.98 MULCAHY, MARK "In Pursuit Of Your Happiness" (Mezzotint) cd 15.98 NULL, KK "Prime Radiant" (Blossoming Noise) cd 12.98 OCS "3" (Yik Yak) lp 14.98 OKAY "High Road" (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98 OKAY "Low Road" (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98 OS MUTANTES "Everything Is Possible!: The Best Of Os Mutantes" (Luaka Bop) cd 12.98 OSBOURNE, OZZY "Prince Of Darkness" (Epic) 4cd boxset 42.00 OUT HUD "Let Us Never Speak Of It Again" (Kranky) cd 14.98 PATTON, CHARLIE "Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs" (Yazoo) cd 16.98 PLAIN RIDE "On The Flow" (Ektro) cd 14.98 PREFUSE 73 "Surrounded By Silence" (Warp) cd 15.98 PRINCE PO & RAEKWON "Bump Bump" (Lex) 12" 5.98 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE "Lullabies To Paralyze" (Interscope) cd 16.98 RAMONES "End Of The Century, The Story Of The Ramones" (Rhino) dvd 23.00 RODEN, STEVE "Ear(th)" (Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery) cd 13.98 RUDD, ROSWELL "Roswell Rudd" (Free America) cd 17.98 RUNEMAGICK "Envenom" (Aftermath) cd 14.98 SECTION 25 "So Far" (LTM) dvd 32.00 SEHT "The Voice Of The Taniwha" (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98 SHEPP, ARCHIE "Black Gipsy" (Free America) cd 17.98 SHIFLET, MIKE "The City Is All In Your Head" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98 SHINING IV "The Eerie Cold" (Avantgarde Music) cd 14.98 SHIPPING NEWS "Flies The Fields" (Quarterstick) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 SHORTER, ALAN "Tes Esat" (Free America) cd 17.98 SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA, A "Horse In The Sky" (Constellation) cd/2lp 14.98/19.98 SMEGMA "Rumblings" (Hanson) cd 14.98 SNOW PATROL "The Trip" (Fiction) 2cd 28.00 SPOONBENDER 1.1.1 "Stereo Telepathy Academy - Live In San Francisco 2004" (Seismic Seance Recordings) cd-r 11.98 TAAKE "Doedskvad" (Karisma) cd 14.98 TARWATER "The Needle Was Travelling" (Morr Music) cd 16.98 TERRESTRIAL TONES "Blasted" (Psych-o-path) cd 13.98 TETREAULT, MARTIN & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE "2.Tok" (Dame) cd 15.98 THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND "Philadelphia Folk Festival 1969" (Tallulah) cd 13.98 THORNTON, CLIFFORD "The Panther And The Lash" (Free America) cd 17.98 THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW! "Justamustache" (Frenchkiss) cd 14.98 TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI "Itsuka, Toky Mite Ita" (PSF) cd 21.00 TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI "Pistol - Shibuya Apia Live" (PSF) dvd 26.00 TWEET "It's Me Again" (Goldmind) cd 16.98 V/A "12" / 80s" (Family Recordings) 3cd 28.00 V/A "Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities 1968-1974 Vol. 1" (Now-Again) cd/lp 14.98/16.98 V/A "Counter Culture 04: Best of 2004" (Rough Trade) 2cd 24.00 V/A "Definitive Jux Teaser 2005" (Definitive Jux) cd 5.98 V/A "Essential Afrobeat: The Very Best of Afrobeat" (Family Recordings) 3cd 28.00 V/A "Everything Comes & Goes - Black Sabbath Tribute" (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 V/A "Rio Baile Funk: Favela Booty Beats" (Essay) cd/12" 16.98/9.98 V/A "The Joe South Tribute Record" (Jackpine) cd 14.98 V/A "World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing" (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98 VANDER, CHRISTIAN "Un Homme... Une Batterie" (Seventh Records) dvd 27.00 VITAMINS FOR YOU "Desole... Monsieur Soleil, C'est Le Neige Qui Va Me Liberer" (Intr.Version) cd ep 10.98 VOLCANO THE BEAR "The Idea Of Wood" (Textile) cd 16.98 WALDRON, MAL & STEVE LACY "Mal Waldron With The Steve Lacy Quintet" (Free America) cd 17.98 WEST, SPEEDY "Steel Guitar" (Sundazed) cd 13.98 WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON "Buckminsterfullerene / Pange Lingua Gloriosi" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) 2 cd-r 16.98 WORKS, THE "s/t" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 WRIGHT, FRANK "Uhuru Na Umoja" (Free America) cd 17.98 ZORN, JOHN "Rituals" (Tzadik) cd 15.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
A children's fantasy pop album produced by Richard Preston and Louis Phillipe, whose sophisticated production surrounds playful songs about bears, tigers, candy floss, orange marmalade, and sunshine... that at times sounds like the Raincoats, or possibly the Brady Bunch.
Curated by Tortoise & Foundation, All Tomorrow's Parties - a music and film happening - took place this year April 6th through 8th in East Sussex. This compilation documents the gathering of musical allsorts that included Yo La Tengo, Boards of Canada, Calexico, Black Heart Procession, Autechre, Broadcast, and Tortoise.
Audio document of the too frequent 'All Tomorrow's Parties' festival, a huge rock and roll gathering, curated by different indie rock royalty each time. This most recent compilation/festival (curated by Sonic Youth and scheduled to take place in March 2002)
Steve Albini/Shellac is the chosen artist to curate the next All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the U.K., and so here's the requisite compilation cd. Their bands of choice are Shellac (doh!), Mission of Burma, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nina Nastasia, Threnody
This comp bring together two discs worth of artists who appeared at the Autechre-curated All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0 festival in the UK earlier in April. Featuring unreleased tracks from Masters of Illusion, Push Button Objects, Jim O'Rourke, San Francisco's own O.S.T., Dr. Dooom, Anthony Shake Shakir, Mark Broom, Disjecta, Autechre, Earth (that's right, an unreleased Earth track!), Bola, Pita, Baby Ford and Hecker as well as tracks by Public Enemy, Gescom, Made, Stasis, and BFC.
MPEG Download: EARTH "Dissolution III" [/audio/earthdissolutionIII.mp3]
MPEG Stream: EARTH "Dissolution III" [/audio/earthdissolutionIII.m3u]
