We got two different records from the Medical label for Record Store Day, and got enough extra to list for all you far away folks who couldn't make it to aQ in person, a killer Alexander Robotnick collection, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and this one, part two in the ongoing Electroconvulsive Therapy series, which collects rare new wave singles, this second volume focusing on a label called Fuzz Dance, gathering up 3 super rare, iconic Italo disco 12"s (along with a couple bonus tracks), from a handful of bands we had never heard before, Trophy, ZED, Mya & The Mirror, Mon Bijou and NAIF Orchestra, but that's kind of the joy of these sorts of comps, and Medical in general, who manage to dig up some crazy cool rarities.
So yeah, Trophy meld some classic eighties new wave pop with their Italo Disco, pulsing synths, strummed guitars, Teutonic vocals, plenty of squelch and echo drenched handclaps, offering up both versions, a vocal and a weirdly electro-dubbed 'instrumental'. ZED give us "Plastic Love" which sounds like it could have been a hit in the eighties, sort of Berlin meets Human League, pulsing synths, dramatic female vox, the instrumental version super stripped down, and sans vocals, sounding surprisingly like a slightly discoier Kraftwerk!! Mya & The Mirror offer up more of the same, sultry electro-disco new wave, the vocals heavily accented and sultry, with some weird horns (!), the "Reflex" version, essentially instrumental, but with way more horns and wilder eighties percussion. Crazy stuff. The extra tracks include Mon Bijou's "Just A Lover", which again, sounds like some could/should have been eighties new wave electro pop hit, while NAIF Orchestra's "Check Out Five" adds some funky guitar strum to pulsing synths, and some super loopy vox, the vibe playful, a little goofy, but super catchy, and like the rest of the tracks here, sounds like it was yanked straight out of some alternate universe eighties new wave hit parade.
No liner notes this time, but comes in a super striking, very Italo-disco looking cover, the vinyl on heavy 180 gram Italian flag colored vinyl (!), and as always, very limited...
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume six is titled Come Into My World and has tracks from Thackeray Rocke, Those Guys, The Tasmanians, King James and The Royal Jesters, The Night People, The Insects, The Endd, and much more.
Those sweethearts from Dionysus/ Bacchus Archives (who brought us the awesome Hava Narghila Compilation) released this great series of early to mid 60's American garage, a while ago, but we only recently discovered them. Great sound quality, and a collection of obscure songs. Not a greatest hits garage comp that sounds like an hour on an oldies station, but some super hard to find gems with an emphasis on psychedelically tinged garage. Volume 7 garage by the Spirits of Blue Lightning, The Lazy Eggs, The Cindermen and others, including a rarity by a different, not-famous Ides of March.
This delightful new collection from the great British crate-digger Johnny Trunk focuses on the lighter and more whimsical obscurities of British Folk. Think a more kid-friendly Wicker Man Soundtrack-same spooky and wondrous undertones but without all the, er... shall we say, ribald subtext. There is definitely an acidy H.R. Pufnstuf vibe to some of the songs which made some of us imitate those overacting kids on Barney. In fact some of these songs were recorded for children's movement classes in the early seventies, using lots of zany instruments like penny-whistles, kazoos and ocarinas. While this is not strictly aimed at children (some songs like Basil Kirchin's sublime "I Start Counting" might be too slow for full kiddie enjoyment), we think parents would rather have their young kids listening to this stuff than crap like Barney or Raffi. Fans of "incredibly strange music", novelty records, and sixties and seventies folk-pop should check this too. Far out!
No longer vinyl only, G-Spots is now on cd. We didn't know it would happen so soon, but it's boon for all the turntable-deprived amongst you. And it's got six extra tracks on it, as well! Here's more or less what we said about this collection when we highlighted the LP version:
Aside from the eye-popping cover art, the first thing you might notice about this record is its intriguing title - G-Spots: The Spacey Folk Electro-Horror Sounds Of The Studio G Library. But what does it all mean, and how could the music live up to such a ridiculously awesome yet difficult to parse description? Well, check the sound samples to find out, or read on...
Some of you may remember the equally great, SUPER limited (not to mention uber-pricey) Electrosonic record from a few lists back, featuring library music from esteemed BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer and titan of early electronic experimentation, Delia Derbyshire. Much in the vein of that long gone gem, G Spots contains selections from the somewhat mysterious Studio G, a production company started by one John Gale, whose work in advertising inspired him to up the ante on the music we either take for granted or generally find annoying as shit. Rather than approaching this work as mere background music, Gale wrangled in a number of composers to bring his vision to life. Things kicked off with a series of 7" records before moving on to lps. Gale claimed to release the first collection of library music to feature actual artwork, and you are advised to go to Trunk's website to view some stellar examples of Studio G's visual aesthetic.
The music, of course, is pretty dang great as well. The songs basically set out to mimic the popular trends of the time, resulting in a sound that is at once familiar, yet strangely distant, as they were produced in a laboratory-like setting with studio musicians. Of course, that kind of thing happened all the time, but it's much more intriguing to imagine this as some sort of parallel reality interpretation of pop music in the '60s and '70s, made by chain smoking guys in their thirties with thick horn-rimmed glasses and neckties. Aside from song titles, the 20 spacey folk electro-horror tunes collected here are identified only by their catalogue numbers and composers, most (all?) of whom you will not recognize. This lack of information only adds to the mystery, in the best way.
It is possible, based on the 4 digit catalogue numbers, to piece together some sort of loose history, not only of Studio G's evolution, but of musical trends in general. Opening with the moody organ piece "Icicles", many of the other songs on the first side are fun, lightly psychedelic pop that would have fit perfectly in any number of party scenes in any number of 1960s movies. Airy acoustic guitars mesh with the occasional spacey weirdness, the songs are at times accompanied by live drums, but sometimes feature early, primitive rhythm machines. The final song on side one of the vinyl (track 15 here), however, the perfectly named "Deformed Theme", is an anti-melody that ventures into darker territory, a creepy synthscape setting the mood for much of the rest of the disc, where ominous, surprisingly heavy Goblin-esque songs like "Cosmic Dust" and "Cosmic Blues" rub elbows with "Freak Blues", which would not sound too out of place on Bruce Haack's The Electric Lucifer. Then there's the hilarious "Dangerous Voyage", a funky, tropical-tinged piece that would sit well in your favorite '70s porn film, with its lead harmonica, fretless bass, and hi hats galore. Other songs feature flutes, more synths, weird tape effects, and random elements of percussion. Throughout it all, things flow perfectly, all part of the style that John Gale created with Studio G.
When you think the impossibly prolific Robert Pollard couldn't possibly eke out another tune, another whole cd lands in your lap. How does he do it!? Well, you better brace yourself dear fans! Because although this is not a new Robert Pollard album, it is a fifty six track double cd collection which compiles a broad array of tracks from the various Robert Pollard fronted bands on Robert Pollard's Fading Captain label. Some of the groups include Go Back Snowball, The Moping Swans, Circus Devils, Airport 5, Lifeguards, Alien Mofo, Radiation Feeder... the list goes on and on... and yes, it includes Guided By Voices.
And what do you know, you also get six previously unreleased tracks and a 50-page full-color book to boot! This release marks the forty fourth and final release of the Fading Captain Series. Ahoy matey!
If there's something you haven't been getting enough of lately, it's angular female-fronted post-punk from the late 70s/early 80s! If you don't already own the Slits b-side track cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", get this cd now! It could be the only reason to buy this cd, except there are other tracks on here that are just as fist poundingly angularishly toe tappingly awesome -- if not MORESO!!
Maximum Joy's "Stretch", Dorothy's "Softness", Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business", Jajaja's Blondie-esque vocals over trainwreckish spazzmatic bass, ahh!! I'm freaking out. The only weak point might be the jazzy Neneh Cherryesque tone of Rip, Rig and Panic.
So note bene: this is by all means NOT "the current trend" in musical consumerism, HOWEVER, it's an incredibly concise and concentrated comp consisting of totally mind-boggling music. And nevermind the politics, dudes. It's fucking great music!!
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Soundtrack to Harmony "Kids" Korine's controversial film "Gummo", featuring much in the way of underground black/noise/death/doom metal sounds, some of them previously unreleased. Some names: Spazz, Absu, Bathory, Burzum, Eyehategod, Brujeria, Sleep, Destroy All Monsters, Namanax and more. Oh yeah, AQ-pal and CMJ metal scribe Ian Christe's Dark Noerd (black metal breakbeat band) appears, and Ian's smart musical aesthetic basically sets the tone for the whole collection. Now the question is, will "Gummo" do for any of these bands what "Kids" did for the Folk Implosion?
When this first arrived, we thought maybe Important Records had re-released Jefre Cantu Ledesma's serpentine drone solo work of the same name that had come out on Spekk last year. But it seems there might just be more than one Jorge Luis Borges fan in the world, and one of them is James Blackshaw. Those of you who were lucky enough to see him perform live here in our store were witness to his magical powers of acoustic alchemy, and between pieces he quietly mentioned this new release that he had compiled. Bringing together avant-acoustic string pieces specifically recorded for this release by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem (also his recent collaborator in Bretheren of The Free Spirit), Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, of Espers, Japanese koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, as well as Blackshaw himself. Beginning and ending with pieces by Cheiko Mori, we are taken through a twisting sojourn of cross-cultural touchstones and stylistic complexities. The range of classical lyricism and free improvisation highlights each individual's unique contributions while also recognizing a vital connection to each other's methods bringing the whole together. Excellent!
Cool vinyl-only comp of German beat groups.
Cool vinyl-only comp of German beat groups - this one including Cindy & Bert's "Hund Der Baskervilles", a re-write of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"!!!
New Jersey's Gern Blandsten Records celebrate nine years of existence with this compilation of two dozen tracks by two dozen of Gern Blandsten's finest boy bands galore. Running the gamut from Wire / Gang of Four influenced post punk angst (Computer Cougar)
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Great, wild compilation of "Raw Funk" circa 1967-69. You get Andre Williams, Soul Continentals, Jimbo Johnson & The Violators, Willie Tell & The Overtures, and many more obscure but very funky artists. We've been selling this--and others in the series ("Pow City" & "All Night Soul Stomp")--for a while now, and quite briskly...so we thought we'd finally put it on the list so that mailorder types could get up, get into it and get involved, too. [/cat/compilationsplit44.html]
More funky fucked up soundtracks from lost porno films, a la the Deep Note compilations, but unlike those classic seventies jams, these all seem to be from the eighties and most of them seem to be borrowing themes from popular music and television shows, which sounds weird, and it is, but it also makes these pretty fun and freaky. Plus try to imagine folks doing the nasty to most of these songs and it's downright impossible. It more likely that you'll be imagining car chases, and poolside brunch on the Love Boat or some strange montage on Fantasy Island.
From "Move On" which is a total rip of that song that goes "Whatchoo gonna do when she says good bye..." with some very Steely Dan sounding instrumentation, to "I P Walk" which borrows heavily from that Rick Astley song "Never gonna give you up...". The best title of the bunch is definitely "Hawkwind And Fire", but instead of sounding like Hawkwind, it absolutely is the theme to some totally famous eighties TV cop drama. But the pinnacle of whatthefuck on this comp has to be "The Heist" which is actually the theme from People's Court!!! Who the hell is fucking to the theme from People's Court?!? Unless it's from some People's Court spoof porn movie, People's Pork or something....
The coolest track by far though is "The Bends" a groovy laid back heavy psych rock jam, with super out of place space age synths, all fuzzed out, the whole track peppered with weird damaged FX. Another track that makes it difficult to imagine folks fucking to it.
A pretty fun and fantastic listen all around, but it's definitely gotten us dying to see what sort of weird and wild sex could have possibly transpired to the demented strains of these far out tunes. Maybe the next porn music reissue, instead of just issuing a cd, should just go for it and reissue the actual porno? Just a thought...
First in a proposed series of lps, based on a phrase used by Henry Cowell and later included in a lecture by John Cage, which in a nutshell describes a musical movement of the time (Wolff, Brown, Feldman, Cage, etc.) involving getting rid of the glue and allowing sounds to be themselves, instead of sticking them together into some sort of continuous form.
High concept certainly, and while it is easy to hear how the various artists on this comp did in fact get rid of the glue, loosed from the concept, it still plays like some killer outsider free rock compilation. Which it is. Some of the names you probably know, Excepter, Talibam!, BIG A little a, but most of them you probably don't.
A quick track by track: Dirty Churches do a sort of droning hypnorock, with guttural female vocals and drifting psych guitars, definitely the most 'glued' of the bunch. Spin-17 are kind of like a brain damaged Deerhoof, sing songy nonsense female vocals, weird gurgly male vocals, and other strange childlike vocalizations, toy percussion, all clattery and chaotic and very weird. K.P. are a sludge-skree collective from Brooklyn and manage to kick up a serious din, massive crumbling distortion, damaged electronics, dense and dark and seriously freaked out. BIG A little a (Aa) rock a sort of spaced out psychedelic rhythmscape, thick buzzing synths, tribal drumming, almost sounding like a super lo-fi version of newer Boredoms mixed with Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh. Fessenden features at least one member from Pan-American, but sounds nothing like that, instead it's a buzzing minimal electro acoustic soundscape, lots of hiss and fuzz, drone and buzz, creaks and clatter and grinding crunch, a creepy industrial ambience, thick with mysterious muted percussion. Eager Meek is one man and a guitar, but you'd never know it. All sorts of swirly ambience, strange distant percussive rattles and scrapes, very haunting and spaced out. Up next is Mialessot, featuring NYC saxophonist Daniel Carter and analog noisemaker Old Ghost. Imagine a free jazz / Japanoise mashup and you'd have a pretty good idea of what these guys are all about. A bracing blast of damaged synths and blown out guitarnoise, a swirling roiling cloud of grind and rrrrooooaaar all piled atop a squirming and skronking tangle of free jazz sax, bleating and moaning and screeching. Pretty far out. Maria Chavez, does some super abstract turntable noise, utilizing old records and an arsenal of damaged record needles to create a spacious sound field peppered with lots of crackle and squeaks, pops and scrapes and alien squiggles, very minimal and abrasive but really awesome. would love to hear more from her.
Finally a killer closing one two punch. First Talibam! who give us their fucked and furious drums vs. synth sound, this time the relentlessly spastic free jazz drum splatter is pitted against creepy atonal organ (sounding a bit like a ball park organ) and fuzzed out synth. The Excepter, fronted by an ex No Necker, doing some weird eighties faux new wave thing, with electronic percussion, cheesy synths and really loud vocals, wrapped in tons of effects, reverb especially, swooping and soaring and sounding seriously demented.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. Includes a fold out poster with art by all the bands... ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search fr the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! ALL SMILES "Ten Readings Of A Warning" (Dangerbird) cd 11.98 ALVA NOTO "Xerrox" (Raster-Norton) cd/lp 17.98/26.00 AM (ANTHONY MILTON) "Poerua Acid" (Diagnosis...Don't!) 3"cd-r 10.98 ARCTIC MONKEYS "Favorite Worst Nightmare" (Domino) cd 14.98 ART FLEURY "I Luoghi Del Potere" (Die-Schachtel) cd 27.00 ASBESTOSDEATH "Unclean / Dejection" (Southern Lord) cd 10.98 ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND "Ekranoplan" (Tee Pee) cd/lp 13.98/ AUGHRA & MOSH PATROL "Is There Anyone Else Outside?" (Magic Bullet) cd 12.98 AUSTRASIAN GOAT, THE "s/t" (I Hate) cd 16.98 AVEY TARE & KIRA BREKKAN "Pullhair Rubeye" (Paw Tracks) cd/lp 14.98/14.98 BACHI DA PIETRA "Non Io" (Die Schachtel) cd 19.98 BASHIR, MUNIR "Rhythms & Melodies" (Le Chante Du Monde) cd 19.98 BATTLES "Atlas" (Warp) 12" 9.98 BLACK SABBATH "The Dio Years" (Rhino) cd 16.98 BOSETTI, ALESSANDRO "Expose" (Die Schachtel) cd 19.98 CARAVAN "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over With You" (Eclectic Discs) cd 17.98 CARAVAN "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" (Eclectic Discs) cd 17.98 CEYLEIB PEOPLE "Tanyet" (Vault) lp 14.98 DALEK "Abandoned Language" (Ipecac) cd 15.98 DAME DARCY "DVD Hi-Jinx" (Press Pop) dvd 21.00 DANIELSON: A FAMILY MOVIE (A DOCUMENTARY MUSICAL BY JL ARONSON) (Image Entertainment) dvd 27.00 DEAD CHILD "s/t" (Cold Sweat) cd ep 10.98 DESTROY ALL MONSTERS "Grow Live Monsters" (MVD Visual) dvd/dvd 16.98/16.98 DEVILLOCK "These Graves" (Tone Filth) lp 15.98 DINOSAUR JR. "Beyond" (Fat Possum) cd 13.98 DODHEIMSGARD "Supervillain Outcast" (Moonfog) cd 13.98 EVOKEN "Embrace The Emptiness" (Elegy / Solitude) cd 14.98 FALL OUT BOY "Infinity On High" (Island) cd FINNTROLL "Ur Jordens Djup" (Spinefarm) cd 16.98 FLIED EGG "Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine" (Universal Japan) cd 22.00 FLIED EGG "Goodbye" (Universal Japan) cd 22.00 FLYING LUTTENBACHERS "Destroy All Music Revisited" (Skin Graft) cd 14.98 FOLKSWINGERS, THE "Raga Rock" (Fall Out) cd 17.98 FOOD BRAIN "Bansan" (Universal Japan) cd 22.00 FORGOTTEN TOMB "Negative Megalomania" (Avantgarde) cd 14.98 FROG EYES "Tears Of The Valedictorian" (Absolutely Kosher) cd/lp 14.98/10.98 FURSAXA "Alone In The Dark Wood" (All Tomorrow's Parties) cd/lp 16.98/16.98 GAINSBOURG, CHARLOTTE "5:55" (Because/Vice) cd 15.98 GIFFONI, CARLOS & LASSE MARHAUG "Lesbian Brunch" (aRCHIVE) cd 14.98 GOWNS "Red State" (Cardboard) cd 11.98 GREENHAM, LILY "Lingual Music" (Paradigm) 2cd 26.00 GRINDERMAN "s/t" (Anti) cd/lp 14.98/11.98 HARRIS, BETTY "The Lost Soul Queen" (Aim) cd 16.98 HAVOK UNIT / ANDOCEANS / THE SIN:DECAY (V/A) "Synaethesia - The Requiem Reveries" (Vendlus) cd 9.98 HAYWARD, RICK "s/t" (Sunbeam) cd 16.98 HEBDEN, KIERAN AND STEVE REID "Tongues" (Domino) cd 15.98 HENRIKSEN, ARVE "Strjon" (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98 HOOKER, D.R. "The Truth" (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98 HOTOTOGISU + BURNING STAR CORE "Volume 1" (DroneDisco) cd 11.98 IRA DE DIOS, LA "Archaeopterix" (Ogro) cd 14.98 IRA DE DIOS, LA "Hacia El Sol Rojo" (Ogro) cd 14.98 JOYLESS "Wisdom & Arrogance" (No Colours) cd 15.98 KLAXONS "Myths Of The Near Future" (Geffen) cd 10.98 LADY SAW "Walk Out" (VP) cd 15.98 LAGHONIA "Unglue" (Repsychled) cd 15.98 LOUDEST WHISPER "The Children Of Lir" (Sunbeam Records) cd 16.98 LOVERS "Sleep With Heat" (Orange Twin) cd 15.98 MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ "L'Autre Cap" (K) cd/lp 14.98/13.98 MARGINAL CONSORT "s/t" (Improvised Music From Japan) 4cd 79.00 MERZBOW "Bloody Sea" (Vivo) cd 14.98 MERZBOW "Merzbear" (Important) cd 14.98 MIKAMI, KAN "Barking Practice" (PSF) cd 22.00 MIKAMI, KAN "Live Kolian 2006" (Mikami Komuten) cd 22.00 MINSK "The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment" (Relapse) cd 12.98 MOONSORROW "V : Havitetty" (Unruly Sounds) cd 12.98 MOVING GELATINE PLATES "s/t" (Musea) cd 21.00 NOISETTES "What's The Time Mr. Wolf?" (Universal Motown) cd 10.98 OBSCURUS ADVOCAM "Verbia Daemonicus" (Battle Kommand) cd 14.98 ONO, YOKO "Open Your Box" (Astralwerks) cd 14.98 OPTIMO "Walkabout" (Endless Flight) cd 16.98 OV "Noctilucent Valleys" (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98 PAGAN ALTAR "Mythical & Magical" (Oracle Records) cd 21.00 PALE DIVINE "Cemetary Earth" (I Hate) cd 16.98 PLAIN RIDE "Strange Trial" (Ektro) cd 14.98 POLLARD, ROBERT "Silverfish Trivia" (Prom Is Coming) cd 10.98 PONYS, THE "Turn The Lights Out" (Matador) cd 13.98 PRIESTBIRD "In Your Time" (Kemado) cd 13.98 RAMESES III "Honey Rose" (Important) cd 9.98 ROTH, DAVID LEE "Sonrisa Salvaje" (Friday Music) cd 15.98 SILVER DAGGERS "New High & Ord" (Load) cd 14.98 SPOOKY, DJ "System Error. Al-Yamamah Mix" (Horus) cd 17.98 STARCHASER NETWORK "s/t" (Tarot Productions) cd 14.98 STINKING LIZAVETA "Screams Of The Iron" (At A Loss Recordings) cd 13.98 THRONE OF KATARSIS "An Eternal Dark Horizon" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 THUNDERBOLT "Apocalyptic Doom" (Agonia) cd 15.98 THUNDERSTORM "As We Die" (Spv GmbH) cd 16.98 TIMBALAND "Timbaland Present: Shock Value" (Blackground) cd 15.98 TIMES NEW VIKING "Present The Paisley Reich" (Siltbreeze) cd/lp 13.98/13.98 TRANSMISSION 0 "Memory Of A Dream" (Candlelight) cd 13.98 V/A "Colombia! The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes. The Powerhouse Of Colombian Music 1960-76" (Soundway) cd 17.98 V/A "For The Sick: A Tribute To Eyehategod" (Emetic) 2cd 13.98 V/A "How Low Can You Go?" (Dust To Digital) 3cd 58.00 VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA "Wisdom Thunderbolt" (VHF) cd 13.98 VOG "s/t" (Shifty) cd 11.98 WE ALL TOGETHER "Singles" (Repsychled / Lion Productions) cd 15.98 WORMWOOD "Behemoth" (Kreation) 2x7" 7.98 XYNFONICA "A Feast For Famished Ravens" (Hekaloth / Cyclops) cd 15.98 ZORN, JOHN "Six Litanies For Heliogabalus" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 ZOZOBRA "Harmonic Tremors" (Hydra Head) cd 13.98 _______________________________________________________________________ ABOUT MAILORDER
New, nicely packaged compilation of afro-beat from Ghana's golden era. Sound Way boasts that the 14 tracks included here from the 1970's are all extremely rare and previously unreleased outside of Africa. So if the Fela reissues and various Strut collections aren't enough, here's a nice addition to the collection. Includes a 16 page booklet detailing the history of Ghana's music industry.
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A second volume of rare afro funk from Ghana, every bit as good as the first. 14 tracks, all from the seventies, highlight Ghana's fertile music scene and the varied influences -- from funk & soul to fusion & jazz, and even rock. Like its predecessor, Ghana Soundz 2 comes well documented with bios on the artists, archival photos and album art repros. Here's to hoping these don't go scarce again so soon.
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We listed this compilation a couple years back, but unfortunately it went out of print, but thankfully Sound Way has just gotten around to reissuing it. Ghana Soundz is an impressive collection of afro-beat from Ghana's golden era. Sound Way boasts that the 14 tracks included here from the 1970's are all extremely rare and previously unreleased outside of Africa. Includes a 16 page booklet detailing the history of Ghana's music industry, bios on the artists included and photos of the original album art.
After wonderfully tackling the amazing sounds of 1970's Nigeria in their stellar Nigeria Special series, the folks at Sound Way now have applied their refined crate digging skills to the sounds of Ghana, assembling an amazing collection of tracks from 1968-1981. It took almost a decade to painstakingly track down the 37 tracks that make up this double disc and damn all that work was so worth it! We have always been huge fans of so many of the sounds that have come out of West Africa, and this comp is only fueling that fire even more. We can honestly say we had not heard of just about any of the artists here but they have all grabbed our attention as every track on this collection has something special going on, whether it's the hypnotic guitar playing, or the unique emotive vocal delivery, we find ourselves madly scrambling to see what track is playing to find out who the artist is so we can try to track down anything else by them. While not quite as outwardly flashy as some of their Nigerian counterparts, the songs on Ghana Special unfold with a distinct richness in songcraft and so many totally beautiful psychedelic and entrancing moments.
Once again Sound Way demonstrate that they not only have impeccable taste but that they also understand how to make compilations that flow, and feel like proper albums from start to finish instead of just a haphazard collection of tracks.
The double-disc cd set also comes with a 44-page booklet of photos and liner notes, including a history of this amazing musical era. School is in session and we're in the front row taking notes cause this shit is just so damn good! FYI there's also vinyl version comes in a monstrous box, the songs spread out over 5lp's, and includes two bonus tracks not available on the cd, but we happen to be out of it today, maybe we'll get a couple more in next week...
School is in session and we're in the front row taking notes cause this shit is just so damn good!
Originally released in 1979, Ancient Ceremonies is a collection of recordings from the country of Ghana. Unlike the High Life And Other Popular Music release which features music from the same country, the recordings on this disc focus on -- as the title suggests -- ancient music, which is completely devoid of any inflluence of Western music (of European or Afro-American.) That said, in the music of Adolphis Micah -- who accompanies himself with a one-stringed bowed lute called a gonje -- one can distinctly hear the roots of blues music. It's actually too bad that more music of Micah wasn't included on this disc, because it's definitely the highlight of the album. Also nice though are the tracks included here of music performed on the dzil and chohun, both xylophones (and ancestors of the marimba) which are played by two people facing one another. Unlike the Europeanized version of the aforementioned marimba, they include a thin membrane of spider web under their resonators which creates a buzzing tone when the keys are struck. The rest of the tracks consist primarily of drum and chant tracks with the occasional flute. Along with the standard liner notes, album editor Stephen Jay has included a glossary of musical instruments heard on the disc.
Here's a little something for your lo-fi pop sweet tooth... a compilation 7" record featuring Bart Davenport, Chicken On A Raft as well as Elephant 6ers The Minders and Of Montreal. Mr. Davenport's contribution is a gently sung and strummed ditty called "Tee". Of Montreal's is a spritely demo version of "Epistle To A Pathological Creep". The Minders deliver a droll Young Marble Giants-ish "Jealous Baby" and Chicken On A Raft get all raw, acoustic with "Lone Pilgrim". Limited pressing of 500, so hop to it!
Wu Tang's The RZA put together this popular disc with songs from the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's film Ghost Dog. Dark urban Hip hop R&B tracks mixed with "samurai code quotes" from the flick. Sunz of Man, Black Knights, Kool G Rap, Masta Killah, Jeru, Wu Tang Clan, The RZA himself and others appear.
Five year anniversary music issue, featuring Cibo Matto, Money Mark, Automator, LA turntablists the Beat Junkies, DJ Krush, and... Shu Uemura the makeup tycoon. Only 1000 of the issues come with the free Money Mark flexidisc (exclusive material he recorded at the Giant Robot loft), but luckily all of ours have it! There's also the usual little article by Windy talking about "music no one's ever going to hear".
Gathering together new and old recordings of the beauty of true country. Classics by legends such as Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard alongside exclusive songs from Neko Case (easily two of her best!) and The Souvenirs.
From the label that brought us Dust Sucker and Mersey Trout (the Magic Band live in Liverpool) comes a collection of recordings -- from the 1920's to the 1960's -- which serve to illuminate the vast musical influences of the enigmatic and inimitable Don Van Vliet a.k.a Captain Beefheart. As one might imagine, such a musical map would surely cut a broad swath. While many of the tracks have a direct connection to the Captain's works like "New Minglewood Blues" by the Noah Lewis Jug Band, whose opening lines are exactly the same as "Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes I Do". Other tracks, like those by Blind Willie Johnson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk point out obvious influences on Vliet's vocal style and proclivity for playing two wind instruments at once. While the majority of tracks here are early blues & string band recordings -- Blind Blake, Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson, Uncle Bud Landress, Al Simmons, Blind Joe Taggert, among others -- there's also plenty of jazz cuts -- Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway -- and oddballs like Lord Buckley, The Fang and Hawaiian slack key players Kanui & Lula. On top of all this are interspersed rare tracks of the Magic Band, interview snippets and random remarks from Captain Beefheart. Whether you're a fan of Captain Beefheart or not, you just might like this collection anyhow as just an interesting mix cd.
No way...yes way! It's a bonafide K-tel compilation devoted to "indie rock." Coulda been quite painful, but amazingly this is actually a really nice collection. I don't know how they went about putting it together, but it's certainly got some stuff atypical of your usual "as-seen-on-tv" K-tel hits package. Husker Du, The Fall, Pussy Galore, Half Japanese, My Dad Is Dead, Yo La Tengo, The Wipers, The Minutemen, Savage Republic, Mekons, Mudhoney, Spacemen 3, Flaming Lips, Black Flag, The Pastels, The Melvins, more! It's like being in college all over again, at least for those of you who are 'our' age. A pretty great compilation!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
For fans of Ultra Chicks and Swinging Mademoiselle comps, wonderful playful french girl pop!
Even if it is last year's fashion (meaning: this was released back in October '05), we've fallen head over heels for this stylish boxset! The tunes, the big booklet, the chic black'n'white hatbox packaging... all of it! The folks at Rhino Records have always made it their mission to dish out the oldies-but-goodies, but they have truly outdone themselves with this '60s girl group extravaganza. Each of the four cds contains thirty songs for a whopping total of one hundred and twenty songs! They cover a lot of ground from pert pop to smoooth soul, from peppery R&B to sashaying country. Many of the featured artists will undoubtably be more than familiar to you, but we'd wager that just as many will be new to you. That said, even if you do recognize the faces, you very well might not recognize the songs. This boxset is dedicated to shining a rosy glowing spotlight on the more obscure tunes. Aaah, some things -- such as good music -- never go out of style.
The Honest Jons label has lately been giving Dust to Digital a real run for its money, in terms of releasing those far flung old world global sounds that we have not been able to get enough of. After devouring the Victrola Favorites and Black Mirror comps on D2D, the gorgeous I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore LP on Mississippi records and Honest Jon's last foray into dislocation, Living is Hard, we couldn't help but get excited over Honest Jon's latest release of early twentieth century recordings from Baghdad. Pulled from the same EMI archives as the Living is Hard compilation, Give Me Love: The Brokenhearted of Baghdad gives a keenly focused view of the ethnically diverse musical output of Iraq when it was still a British mandated territory. Arab folk singers backed by Jewish dance bands, solo Kurdish violin excursions, nightclub bands with female singers who doubled as prostitutes, circular zorna improvisations on par with the most out-jazz out there. So unearthly,beautiful and emotionally urgent. For obvious reasons, this release couldn't be more timely, as continued forced occupancy in the region has created such intense division and strife that it's a wonder we'll see such beauty again. Heartbreaking!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
It's always tough to put together a tribute record. The work is made even tougher when the band is as amazing as the Kinks. Further complicated by the fact, in the case of this particular compilation, that at least half of these bands are just okay, a
Glitter-associated junkshop finds from the '70s.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A great double single with 4 exclusive tracks all from Glasgow with Mogwai (still the only band that has a right to fill My Bloody Valentine's shoes with the bleak melodic mope rock)... El Hombre Trajeado (if Tortoise were a Factory band... loose bass driven grooves and desolate keyboards)... Yummy Fur (an homage to the late 70's power punk from Fast Products i.e. Gang of Four, Mekons, Scars...)... and The Karelia (very nice bittersweet pop with laidback breakbeats worthy of Creation or Chemikal Underground)...
Yo, hippies! Holy crap, we've just got 3 copies of this fancy box set, which comprises a reissue (on two cds) of the triple LP set documenting performances at the legendary Glastonbury Fayre festival of 1971. Artists on cd one include Hawkwind, David Bowie, The Greatful Dead (a 24 minute "Dark Star...bury"), Marc Bolan, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwarz, Pete Townsend, and Skin Alley. Disc two is a doozy too with Daevid Allen & Gong (23 minutes from them), The Pink Fairies (famous renditions of "Do It" and "Uncle Harry's Last Freak-out", which Fairies fans probably have already) and last but not least, the Edgar Broughton Band (their freak anthem "Out Demons Out", 20 minutes long here). Wow. That blows Coachella or the Pitchfork Festival out of the water, don't it?
And then, there's also a DVD in this box, "Glastonbury Fayre - The Movie", featuring performance footage of Terry Reid, Fairport Convention, Family, Arthur Brown, Traffic, Melanie, and Quintessence. Haven't watched it yet but how could it not be cool? NTSC, region free.
The whole thing is packaged as a facsimile of sorts of the original, complete with inserts, poster, etc.
This recording may be viewed as either a joyful celebration of the ubiquitous nature of the instrument throughout the world by accordian lovers or an admonishment to those who hate it, to give up now: there is nowhere to hide. Much like the turntable of
It's nice to see a compilation that pays tribute to and includes stuff from hip hop's past, as well as showcasing the vanguard of the future. The newest offering from HipHopSlam, the label run by local hiphop mainstay Billy Jam (he also did the Shiggerfragger
Yay, repressed on vinyl, reggae fans rejoice... Here's our review from when we first listed this back in 2003:
From the label that helped put out the swell Darker Than Blue compilation comes a new, even more obscure collection of great tracks. Everything on this collection comes from the vaults of the Canadian label / recording studio Half Moon, sort of a Great White Northern version of Wackies and every bit as good. Lots of crispy, crunchy hi-hats and boomy-muffled bass surround the vocalists in a sandwich of audio love. There's a really nice rootsy reworking of Michigan & Smiley's "Nice Up The Dance" rhythm with some vocals by Johnny Osbourne. Along with Osbourne many Jamaican stars came to visit and record with the in house Super 8 Corporation band during the eighties. Included on this set are Joe Higgs, Stranger Cole, Leroy Sibbles as well as the home team's own vocalists. In addition to the vocal tracks there's some really sweet dubs on here to boot, fairly stripped down in style with a little added instrumentation here, a little more spring reverb and delay there - very tasteful. The recording quality is very reminiscent of Lee Perry's early Black Ark era stuff, cramming as much signal onto the magnetic tape as will saturate (just caint do that darn thing with that digital crap!) Quite nice, a great collection filled with rarities.
From the label that helped put out the swell "Darker Than Blue" reggae/soul compilation, comes a new, even more obscure collection of great tracks. Everything on this collection comes from the vaults of the Canadian label / recording studio Half Moon, sort of a Great White Northern version of Wackies and every bit as good. Lots of crispy, crunchy hi-hats and boomy-muffled bass surround the vocalists in a sandwich of audio love. There's a really nice rootsy reworking of Michigan & Smiley's "Nice Up The Dance" rhythm with some vocals by Johnny Osbourne. Along with Osbourne many Jamaican stars came to visit and record with the in house Super 8 Corporation band during the eighties. Included on this set are Joe Higgs, Stranger Cole, Leroy Sibbles as well as the home team's own vocalists. In addition to the vocal tracks there's some really sweet dubs on here to boot, fairly stripped down in style with a little added instrumentation here, a little more spring reverb and delay there -- very tasteful. The recording quality is very reminiscent of Lee Perry's early Black Ark era stuff, cramming as much signal onto the magnetic tape as will saturate (just caint do that darn thing with that digital crap!) Quite nice. Comes packaged in a nicely printed cardboard box. Our only regret with this release is that they shot the wad on the outer sleeve and neglected to include any liner notes, not even a cover for the actual CD case within. But we can't bitch too much, it's a great collection filled with rarities.
Are you ready to get down with the Go-Go? This exuberant, infectious, very dancable musical subgenre, a highly percussive, party-hardy species of funk, comes from the very specific geographic locale of Washington, DC and its environs, and never really took off anywhere else (though, DC's biggest Go-Go bands did tour in England and Europe with some success). Those include Experience Unlimited (aka E.U.) and Trouble Funk, both featured here on this fairly comprehensive Go-Go compilation, expertly put together by DJ/digger/producer/compiler Joey Negro (aka David Lee, he's a white guy, from the UK, one place outside of DC where Go-Go got a lot of love, for a while).
For those whose lives have yet to be enlived by exposure to Go-Go music, it's kinda like a primal, extreme version of funk, with proto-hiphop elements as well, characterized by the non-stop, syncopated Go-Go beat, implemented with a plethora of percussion, a lot of it rototoms and congas and cowbells (the next time someone yells "More cowbell!", play 'em some Go-Go, they'll love it!). Along with the percussion, there's gonna be fat synths and funky bass lines. Go-Go vocalists were often more like Jamaican toasters or MCs, their job to hype up the crowd, with repetitve call-and-response chants, not unlike old school rap� we were amused to hear the Davis Pinckney Project's "You Can Dance (If You Want To)", with lyrics apparently borrowed "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats! Though, some of the Go-Go tracks included here go for more soulful vox, as with C.J.'s Uptown Crew's "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and Expression's "Release Disco". With its roots in funk, other genres like jazz, RnB, hiphop, disco, and even punk, all got Go-Go-ified.
This comp is a suitably sprawling double disc collection of Go-Go essentials and obscurities. It's got 3 tracks from E.U., a couple from Go-Go pioneer Chuck Brown (and his Soul Searchers), also of course a track from Go-Go greats Trouble Funk (doing "Get Down With Your Get Down"). Other artists include Rare Essence, AM-FM, Donald Banks, Familiar Faces, Jackie Boy & Nature's Creation, Code Red, Jim Bennett & His Bumpin' Crew, Backlash, Little Benny & The Masters, and a few more� ok, there's no Junkyard Band or Mass Extinction, but we can't complain, as this does definitely include plenty of rarities that Joey Negro and pals spent a long time digging up. All in all, there's two dozen bumpin' tracks here all from Go-Go's heyday in the late '70s / early-to-mid '80s - with the exception of the final cut on disc two, by latter day Go-Go act Dr. Funk Skunk, which was recorded in 2004 and proves that Go-Go music is still going strong in the 21st century.
It's all pretty awesome, one big Go-Go party, so it's hard to pick highlights, but E.U.'s nearly ten minute "Somebody's Ringing That Doorbell (Express Yourself)" with its cameo vocal parodies of celebrities like Howard Cosell and Richard Pryor is definitely one of 'em. The more obscure Osiris's even longer jam "War (On The Bull Shit!) is another standout. Also we gotta mention the track "DC Groove", from white boy new wave punkers the Static Disruptors, an example of Go-Go's popularity in the harDCore scene (Minor Threat played shows with Trouble Funk!).
This labor of love includes extensive liner notes, with info on each Go-Go artist featured. From which we learned that there exists a Go-Go themed movie made in the '80s, a thriller called Good To Go starring Art Garfunkel, beleive it or not! Gotta track that down�
This double 7" is not brand new, but it came with a batch of new stuff we finally got from Kraak, one of our favorite labels. Not sure what this double 7" is exactly, a label sampler maybe, we have a vague recollection of it commemorating a tour with all these bands, regardless, it's a pretty jam packed comp, with lots of aQ faves, the A side is outsider psych folk one man band Amen Dunes, with a track from his recently released Ethio Songs single, which finds him covering obscure Ethiopian pop songs, and it's the perfect combination, the original melodies and lyrics (sounds like he's actually singing the lyrics) still in tact, but the overall sound a bit more ramshackle and reverby, another one of those instances, where we sort of wish it wasn't a cover, and there was just a band that sounded like this all the time. Still, super awesome. The flipside starts out with Warm Climate, who we had never heard before, and whose sound is a sort of feedback drenched post punk, all low slung basslines, tribal drumming, and childlike vox, very rhythmic and propulsive, definitely into hearing more. The second track comes from long time aQ fave Ignatz, a glorious slab of lo-fi bedrooom folk, all detuned guitars and Dylan like vocal drawl, and spidery melodies over muted strum.
The second single starts out with another aQ fave Marisa Anderson, who played an instore here not too long back, and whose track here is a stunner, a fantastic slab of distorted electric guitar blues, lots of slippery slide and Appalachian fingerpicking, so good. Up next is Nathan Bowles, who offers up a short blast of old timey bluegrass stomp, and finally, the whole D side is given over to Bridget Hayden, who weaves a gorgeously minimal sprawl of gauzy Grouper-ish drift, hazy effected vocals over brittle lo-fi guitar strum, all druggy and washed out, softly psychedelic and dreamy.
Fairly limited we'd presume, housed in a swank heavy full color gatefold sleeve!
Goin' Down Slow is a small but super satisfying sampling of modern day free folk cd-r artists who are doing strange and wonderful things with acoustic guitars. It's not just strum and pick and twang anymore, although we do love us some of that too. Instead, these visionaries transform the simple acoustic guitar into strange shapes and wondrous sounds. As with a lot of these comps, there's an exciting collection of known names and favorites, but an even more exciting assortment of folks totally new to us.
Some of the favorites include Tom Carter (from Charalambides), who takes his guitar and stretches it into a slowly slithering raga like buzz, local boy Robert Horton, who offers up a tangled cacophony of detuned strum and damaged jangle, Finnish troubador Keijo who unfurls a very exotic sounding folk jam that is equal parts old scratchy blues and some exotic snake charmer music, Armpit who take a simple strum and a mumbled vocal, and wrap them in thick swaths of distorted electric guitar and dense spacerock FX, The North Sea, who offer up the most straight ahead piece, a dreamy rambling melancholy Appalachia, as well as Sindre Bjerga and Mike Tamburo. The new names here: Andy And Michael Futreal, Don Bosco, Amigo Result, Ville Moskiitto, Stephen Lewis and Mark Dagley offer up their own varied takes on the steel string, from dark and languorous bluesy buzz, to super abstract sine wave wrapped shimmer and strum, to murky percussive fingerpicked tangle to gorgeously languid near ambient folk drift and beyond.
Another amazing collection of guitarists on the periphery, and a beautiful introduction to some new names we definitely want to hear more from.
Packaged in hand painted sleeves, with two printed inserts.
SUPER LIMITED!!! ONLY 80 COPIES PRESSED!! We got about 20, but those are sure to be gone in no time so act fast.
