**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
One of three brand new Mississippi titles we're listing this week, this one a lovely collection of Western Sahelian guitar music brought to us also in part by Sahel Sounds who also released the incredible Saharan Cellphones compilation and the Ali Ag Amoumine record. Laila Je T'aime is comprised of various field recordings mostly of solo guitarists and singers, but also some larger groups in different areas of the region such as Mauritania, Senegal and Mali. The intimate recording technique not only captures the beautifully soulful vocals and circularly lyrical fingerpicking style, but also the outdoor ambiance of desert life. It really feels like you're present at the moment these songs are being performed. What's also surprising is that while many of the songs recorded seem to have a timeless traditional quality as if meant to be handed down from previous generations, the very last song will be very familiar to western ears. It took us a second to realize what it was, thinking it was just a coincidentally similar melody, but then the vocals kick in with what turns out to be a really lovely rendition of "Message In a Bottle" by The Police! Gorgeous stuff!
Comes with a newsprint booklet insert, with color photos and extensive liner notes about artists, and the journey that resulted these recordings.
Finland's Lal Lal Lal label is one of those cottage industry imprints that's always got something interesting going on, regardless of who's paying attention, releasing a diverse selection of lo-fi hijinks from (mostly) fellow Finnish freaks such as Fricara Pacchu, Avarus, and Maniacs Dream, though they've got some international friends on the roster as well like Howlin' Magic and The Skaters. Apparently a bunch of their acts got together last year for a festival, making rare live appearances some of 'em, and to have something to special to sell at the fest they produced this limited edition compilation cassette, containing tracks from Semimuumio, Suohumala, Fricara Pacchu, Astral Social Club, and Pylon. That's four from Finland and one (ASC, aka Neil Campbell) from the UK.
Side 1 is the "danceable" side, perhaps (seriously, they get a groove on). It begins with the "emotional, adult-oriented beat" 'tronica of Semimuumio, a cheerfully synth-laden instrumental ditty, the synthwork getting wilder and more warped as the piece picks up its pace. Then Suohumala chimes in with another pleasant groover, incorporating classical-Casio sounds and a bit of a burbling reggae dub vibe. AQ fave Fricara Pacchu comes next, his track a stomping one with thick flanged-out riffs, all-instrumental like the ones before. Finally on side 1, Astral Social Club's style of cacophonic cut-up loops and beats and effects brings a chaotic throb to the proceedings. All very nice.
The cacophony continues on the second side, but in a more freeform fashion, with interesting abstract stuttering and staggered sounds, blips and bleeps and glitched out skree from Pylon, who gets the whole side for this somewhat noisier and much longer track than the others. It's pretty cool too.
This entertaining artifact comes in the form of an opaque white plastic cassette, with the J-card cover looking to us oddly very early '90s desktop publishing in its graphical execution. Sadly, Lal Lal Lal say they're winding things up label-wise so this may be one of their last ever releases...
EMI set up recording studios on the Pakastani border, the result is this Sufi hoe down.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Charnel's newest, adventureous compilation of underground Japanese sounds, some names perhaps familiar, some not. Noise, punk, psychedelia and beyond are represented here, some names: Melt-Banana, Shizuka, Amgsphont, Der Eisenrost, Wnico, Contagious Orgasm... Definitely worth checking out.
This barely even needs a review at this point, which at AQ customarily means a long and very extensive review will follow, but we're serious this time. We can barely keep anything on Mississippi Records in stock. This small Portland store turned reissue label has been releasing an amazing bunch of old timey gospel and blues comps, African comps, as well as some killer jazz. I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, Life Is A Problem, Lipa Kodi Ya City Council. All sold out in the blink of an eye. Mississippi have been gradually repressing those, as well as readying a whole 'nother batch of musical goodness. Elsewhere on this list you'll find the Washington Phillips lp, and then there's this here beauty of a comp, Last Kind Words, an amazing collection of old timey blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, a ton of rarities, not the usual blues suspects at all: Edward Clayborn, Isiah Nettles, The Anglin Brothers, Kid Prince Moore, Lulu Jackson, Louis McDaniels & Gid Smith, Sister O.M. Terrell, Robert Wilkins and a bunch more.
A couple of our favorite tracks are the title track by Geechie Wiley, her voice so lovely and raw, a gorgeous mournful melody, and a hook that is so catchy, all it takes is one play in the store, and we're all humming it all day, and "Catfish Blues" by Robert Petway, some raw stomping stripped down blues, with some amazing guitar playing, but it's the voice that does it, a raspy soulful croon, that sounds like it was crafted using whiskey, cigarettes and sandpaper, occasionally soaring to an almost falsetto, but just as smoothly slipping into super low growl.
As if the music weren't enough, and believe us IT IS, Last Kind Words also features original artwork, by aQ pal and bad ass artist Chris Johanson. Also includes a printed cardstock insert with the track info and very little else. As always SO RECOMMENDED. And as always, be prepared for us to sell out of these right quick. We'll do our best to restock as quickly as possible, assuming the label doesn't sell out too...
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Yep, Mississippi Records strikes again with another perfectly assembled compilation. Or more appropriately, they strike with a perfect cherry picked compilation of yet ANOTHER perfectly assembled compilation, as the eleven songs here represent highlights taken from Tompkins Square's massive 3cd set Fire In My Bones released back in 2007. So, in the event that you own that album already, you might not need this too, unless the vinyl format compells... But everyone else is advised to jump on board and embrace the gospel. Particularily if you'd rather have the 4 hours of that Fire In My Bones comp distilled down to two essential sides of vinyl.
The tracks here are of the variety that will make non-believers feel like they are missing out. It is important to note that Fire In My Bones was subtitled "Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel". Raw and other-worldly being perhaps the best descriptions for the sounds within. Naturally, the enormity of Fire In My Bones might be too much for some folks to handle, so Last Time Around gets a warm welcome here at aQuarius. These songs cover pretty wide sonic ground. You have tracks like opener "Get Back Satan" by Rev. Roger L. Worthy & His Sister Bonnie, where the siblings accompany each other vocally with a beautiful tremeloed electric guitar, reminding us of some of the material on Sonic Boom's recent Spacelines compilation. Isaiah Owens' "You Without Sin Cast The First Stone" offers up a nice contrast with slashing electric guitar that sounds slightly (not too much) and awesomely out of tune, while the vocals go from Son House styled growls to a wailing falsetto. Elsewhere we have Bishop McDaniel, whose "Rock Daniels" is a stomping rocker with a sound that manages to outsleaze many of today's garage rock hopefuls. The gang gospel vocals, of course, take things to levels of heavenly bliss that you just can't reach unless you BELIEVE. Awesome. Kicking off side B, Isaac Haney & The Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir's "At A Time Like This (Part One) is a slow organ led number that serves a beautiful comedown to Bishop Daniel's fire and brimstone. The legendary Precious Bryant makes an appearance here with "The Saints", her amazing clear vocals and cool country strummed guitar making this a standout among the standouts. The album closes with Theotis Taylor's rendition of "Swing Low", where plinky pianos and awesome crooned vocals appear to overpower and distort the microphones for that in-the-red sound that we all LOVE.
Mississippi-heads have no doubt already hit the "add to cart" button, and while this pristine collection is great for anyone even slightly interested in gospel music, the performances here are so passionate, energetic, and cool that they will likely win over people who had no idea what real gospel music sounds like. As always, this one gets our highest recommendation.
We're not sure why this record is titled as such, since it's straight up 1963-64 era early ska from genius producer Duke Reid (who often held his artists at gunpoint in the studio until they cut the tracks to his satisfaction). Most of the comp features the BRILLIANT, sunny day sax stylings of Tommy McCook and the Skatalites. Think easy tempo ska infused with American r&b/soul... Yes it is that good! Highly recommended. From Jet Set, the French reggae reissue label whose releases we plan to carry a lot more of.
Two more installments in Sublime Frequencies' ever expanding catalogue of amazing music from around the world. And by now we shouldn't have to tell you that pretty much every single release is a mind blower. But we will if need be. Any obsessive music freak owes it to themselves to check out and most likely own every single one of these. Some are beautiful and mysterious, some are strange and haunting, others are festive and jubilant, and a handful are truly truly strange. Wild and wonderful, perplexing but fantastically fun. And this one definitely falls into that category. Even before we get to the music, it's easy to tell this is gonna be a weird one, the cover is a wild swinging sixties party, with hot girls and guitars, giant dice, bongos, vests, sunglasses, suspended cubes made out of record jackets, the back of the disc features another swinging mod party and inexplicably a huge black and white image of Batman superimposed over the top. Inside it's hula girls in front of the Easter Island statues, a crazy cartoon of a big mouthed lady juggling numbers and a little kid hanging onto her arm, big ol' electric guitars, and on the disc, canaries in a cage, plus, c'mon! It's called Latinamericarpet!?
The music inside perfectly reflects the chaos and craziness on the sleeve. A selection of various lost Latin American psych lps from the sixties, but 'psych' here is VERY loosely defined. This sounds like the best DJ set you'll never hear, spinning awesome garage, fuzzed out psychrock, weird novelty records and everything in between. This is definitely the strangest disc in the series since those Radio discs of randomly captured radio broadcasts. As much as fans of weird world music, and strange found sounds will want this, so will folks who have been digging on all the crazy psych comps of late. This just might trump them all.
Here's a quick rundown of some of the sounds and songs here: super groovy fuzzy sixties garage psych, with slippery reverbed guitars and a killer groove, weird synths and organs playing along with chirping and singing birds, strange spoken word tracks with dark orchestral backing, Joe Meek-ish garage jams, instrumental but with a killer Eastern flair, rapid fire melodies and lots of conga drums, Mozart transformed into a groovy fuzzy jam, lush orchestral pop with crooned vocals, sound effects, sped up voices and spoken word, a yoga instructional record, with a gorgeous extended drone for you to practice along to, some super goofy, jaunty children's music, all playful melodies, wah guitars, and Muppets like vocals, lilting easy listening, all Lawrence Welk strings and lo-fi organs, killer warbly reverbed surfrock, with wailing sax and fuzzy organs, classical piano accompanied by what sounds like a small choir, a full on Bollywood style ballad, total Wipeout worship instrumental garage rock jam, groovy exotica, all marimbas and playful percussion, wild mariachi with accordion upright bass, and amazing vocal harmonies, murky muddy surf rock jam complete with a super long extended bad ass drum solo and it goes on and on and on. Every song a surprise, everyone catchy and wonderful in its own way, all woven into a perfect sonic travelogue through the swinging sixties in Latin America, lots of the songs separated by little snippets from novelty records, voices, and sounds, language instructions, snippets of songs, giving the whole thing a similar vibe as past 'Radio' installments in the Sublime Frequencies series, or like we mentioned before, the greatest, wildest DJ set ever.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Strangely antique, yet highly appealing, the Laton Compilation is a collection of hypnotechno from Vienna's unusual often irony laden school of electronica. With contributions Pomassl, Alois Huber, M. Soellner, Auralbino, Proof, A. Burger, and Fon, the compilation is surprisingly consistant in its sound, paralleling the monophunktraction of the Voigt brothers / Cologne sound but with more new wave sounds than deep house elements for something resembling early 90s Sheffield bleep techno (Tricky Disco, TGT, LFO, Altern 8).
Wide ranging collection of French hip-hop, from Parisian gangstah rap to down-tempo slow jams. Featuring MC Solaar with Missy Elliott, Les Nubians, Assassin, Alliance Ethnik, Arsenik & RZA and much more. This is really great stuff. Certainly the best collection of French hip hop we've heard so far. Nice to know MC Solaar isn't going it alone.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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A "reply" by Bruce Russell of Corpus Hermeticum to his own compilation of New Zealand noise released in 1996. Hearing the aesthetic connections in the outside music styles of New Zealand and Norway, Bruce put together this compilation to promote his comrades in Norway. Featuring AQ-faves Kjetil D. Bransdal, Supersilent and a score of other cold, northern hemisphere noise makers. Like most comps, not 100% great, and we can't rate it as highly as the original New Zealand one, but it's certainly interesting. Check this out especially if you liked the first comp.
A mix by Susumu Yokota includes works by Pole, Four Tet, Rothko, Faultline, Rob Ellis, P'Tang and Susumu himself.
Score three in a row for the always amazing Analog Africa label! First African Scream Contest, then Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, and now Legends of Benin! Focusing on four composers, Gnonnas Pedro, Honore Avolonto, Antoine Dougbe, and El Rego from the small West African country Benin, recording between 1969 and 1981. All coming from different regional musical traditions but operating in the same fervent musical scene in Cotonou where the Orchestre Poly Rhythmo were also from, that group providing back-up on a couple of tracks here.
As with the other two Analog Africa compilations, this one also focuses on tight danceable grooves and rare afro-funk. Gnonnas Pedro was perhaps the most popular of the four, being a master of the style known as Agbadja, derived from early burial rituals focusing on three differently toned percussion instruments, Pedro modernized the sound to such a degree that the first track, the highly infectious "Dadje Von O Von Non" later became the anthem for the national football team. Honore Avolonto, a young tumba player from Togo, was the most prolific composer in Benin, writing songs for pretty much every group around. Amazingly, he had no band of his own, but would score a hit, tour with the band until the hit faded and then write another hit with some other band and be off. He eventually recorded an LP,which became Benin's biggest selling LP ever. El Rego, a boxer in his young life and a brothel owner later on, made one of the first recordings of Jerk music (as soul and funk music was so dubbed) in Benin. His tracks are the most Western influenced, often times singing in English. Antoine Dougbe, is the most obscure and his tracks are among the rarest finds. His style combined elements of Congolese Rhumba, High Life, and traditional Beninese rhythms into a form he called Afro-Cavacha, named after the fast rhythms of pop music from Zaire. Dougbe, often worked with the Orchestre Poly-Rhytmo, but it was often an uneasy relationship since Dougbe's father was a feared and powerful Voudon priest, and the band (most of them practicing Voudons) feared reprisals should they question Dougbe's arrangements and musical instruction. But undoubtedly this religious quality so pervasive in Benin is what created such intensely tight and dynamic music, hypnotic and bewitching and endlessly captivating. Pure Gold!
As some of you might know, last March, Tarantula Hill, the home-base and performance center of Baltimore's Nautical Almanac burned down in a fire. Luckily some of their friends in the wide world of the noise/experimental music scene have been coming to their rescue. This double-cd comp put out by Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace is a benefit for them with all proceeds going directly to Tarantula Hill. With folks like Aaron Dilloway, Chris Corsano, Burning Star Core and Mouthus you know there will be some serious havoc waiting for your ears. But there are some other folks like Jack Rose, The Haunting and Pengo to bring some more mesmerizing trance inducing sounds into the mix. Good noise for a good cause.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Yet another fantastic collection of Southeast Asian pop, funky and fuzzy, jangly and garagey, poppy and psychedelic. Let's A Go-Go definitely sounds like it could have ended up on Sublime Frequencies, but in spirit seems to fall closer to one of our favorite comps ever, Teen Dance Music From China And Malaysia, the focus here less cultural and anthropological, and more fun fun fun. There are several tracks from Dara Puspita, whose entire collected work was recently reissued on Sublime Frequencies, and which should give you a good idea of the sort of fuzzy garage pop you can expect here, but besides DP, there's not a single band here we've heard of, but they're all fantastic, Rita Chao, The Bes, Patrina, Hai Fei, The Dee-Tee's, The Crescendos, The Blue Beats, Rocky Teoh, Charlie And His Go-Go Boys, Lotus Liew, Orkes Tropicano... And of course there are a handful of covers, in keeping with Southeast Asia's obsession with Western pop music, the perfect examples being both Patrina's "One To Nine Walkin", and Charlie And His Go-Go Boys' "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", the first a cool reinterpretation of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", almost identical to the original, in arrangement at least, even with the change in title, the vocals a bit more playful and girlish, and there's the addition of a cool almost Christmasy sounding chiming guitar breakdown between every verse! And the second a wild sexy sixties instrumental version, with the vocals replaced by horns, a go-go jam true to the band's name for sure.
The whole record is like some super exotic sixties dance party, flutes flutter, drums shuffle, organs hum and wheeze, melodies twist and tangle, the sound definitely Asian, but also Western, from fuzzed out garage rockers, to cool garage-ified Asian folk, most of the vocalists are female, but the handful of males representing are pretty spectacular, the Dee-Tee's "Just Because" is a haunting minor key ballad, the Quests' "The Dancer" is total Beatles-esque jangle (definitely cobbled together from a handful of parts from various Beatles songs), there's a groovy version of "Wooly Bully", there's some sixties space aged garage a la the Telstars and so much more.
Totally wild and fun, and fuzzy and funky and so varied, a fantastic comp that will definitely appeal to Sublime Frequencies obsessives, Southeast Asian pop nerds, and anyone who bought Teen Dance Music From China And Malaysia, loved it to death but wanted more more more!
This is a pretty wicked sampler of artists on Lex records, an imprint of Warp that specialises in hip hop, and who brought us the totally amazing Boom Bip 'Seed To Sun' record a while back. Features selections from the first handful of Lex releases as well as exclusive tracks from a bunch of non-Lex folks. Tracks by Boom Bip, Sage Francis, Why?, Peaches, Edan, Tes, Supersoul, Madlib, Jaime Lidell and loads more. Once again packaged in a cool Lex Records-style embossed slip case, this time done up all graffitti style!
What better way to celebrate the birth of our country (we're writing this on July 4th) than with this fantastic compilation of spiritual jazz, civil rights anthems and protest speeches from Bob Thiele's independent jazz label, Flying Dutchman. Spanning the years 1969-1974, Thiele began the Flying Dutchman label after years running ABC's modern jazz imprint Impulse records, where he produced John Coltrane and introduced free jazz to a wider audience. After a petty dispute with that label involving Thiele's choice to produce and release Louis Armstrong's last big hit, "What A Wonderful World" (which Thiele co-wrote under a pseudonym), Thiele made the move to be independent of big record labels in order to be able to release records he thought needed to be heard. His biggest star on Flying Dutchman was Gil Scott-Heron, whose "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" sets the tone for this release. Marked by black power anthems, cosmic spirituality and spoken word pieces by Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, and Carl B. Stokes, the first elected black mayor of a large American city (Cleveland), Liberation Music speaks truth to power in incredible focus of one of the more exciting jazz labels of the sixties and seventies. For anyone who dug the Spiritual Jazz comps, this is essential!
Eleven pieces culled from Ira Glass' National Public Radio show, with contributions from David Sedaris, Dishwasher Pete, and more. Contains the unbelievable "Hands on a Hard Body" piece, about a 'deep-thinking' trailer trash competition to see who can win a shiny new truck by keeping their hands literally ON it for three days straight. Bonus: gorgeous artwork from Chris Ware, creator of the Acme Novelty Library.
We're pretty smitten with Mississippi Records. Not only are they a cool little record store in Portland Oregon, like AQ and OM and a handful of others, helping the neighborhood record store stay alive, they are also an amazing label, releasing remarkable vinyl only compilations, as well as a handful of limited release from underground musicians. In the past we listed the I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore 1927-1948 comp. Packed with lost old time blues (now sadly out of print), and the equally amazing Lipa Kodi Ya City Council collection that featured tons of rare African music, from high life to ju ju to pop to choral music...
And now we have the latest release from Mississippi, Life Is A Problem, which collects some totally mindblowing gospel rarities. A few we had heard of, like Utah Smith and Bishop Perry Tillis, but so many we had never heard or heard of before, and it's all fantastic. And so varied. Some tracks are classic gospel, all voices and handclaps, others are wild psychedelic freakouts, with slippery slide guitars and rambunctious percussion, still others are super soulful, some are sermons set to music, testifying over groovy guitars and warbly organs. The sound quality varies wildly too, from the crackly hiss of old 78s, the fiery and furious sound of blown out analog tapes, some are washed out and ethereal, others immediate and intense. But again, they're all fantastic, and wild and varied enough that even folks who aren't always into gospel, might dig this stuff for what it is, super creative, original, out there, personal and super inspired music, that transcends genre for sure.
Like all Mississippi releases, super nice handmade packaging. This one includes a printed insert featuring liner notes on each of the performers on the comp from Yeti Magazine's Mike McGonigal, as well as a bonus 7" featuring Bongo Joe Coleman doing "This Old World Is In Terrible Condition.
Obviously VERY recommended.
Short form review: Ridiculously awesome.
We mean, kind of a no-brainer here, you know you want this - the sequel to B-Music's indeed wonderful The Sound Of Wonder comp has arrived, and of course it's awesome. As the subtitle Plugged-In Sounds of Wonder at the Pakistani Picture House suggests, it's another 16 tracks of vintage "Lollywood" soundtrack gems, exotic pop produced by the Lahore film industry circa the '60s and '70s, taken from the vaults of EMI Pakistan; a spicy blend of impassioned vocals, fuzz guitars, analog synths, spacey effects, lush orchestration, and ethnic hand percussion, music that's just a bit rawer and if possible zanier than its Bollywood counterpart, though not too dissimilar...
Life Is Dance sure starts off with a bang, a Great Googly Moogly of a track called "Zambo Zambo" boasting crazy gruff vocals that will have you staring at your stereo. That one goes on for nearly nine minutes, really a wild ride full of curious, catchy sonic juxtapositions. And somehow this album's compilers keep up the "Urdu-groove" awesomeness from there on in. Many of the big names Lollywood history appear here, among 'em Sohail Rana and Nahid Akhtar.
As always with B-Music/Finders Keepers stuff, impeccably researched, lovingly presented, with informative liner notes and evocative graphics...
As much as we love Mississippi Records, and we DO love them, we're beginning to wonder why the Numero Group doesn't engender the same slavish devotion. If anything, they're like Mississippi with more money, fancier releases, maybe that's the problem, they're not punk enough, whatever it is, plenty of folks DO understand, and do worship at the altar of Numero Group, cuz it's no mystery as to what just might be the best reissue label going. And if the last 50+ releases didn't convince you, and this one STILL doesn't, we give up.
Light is a gorgeous and massive hardcover book / double lp combo, the book features photos by photographer Michael L. Abramson, who between the years 1975 to 1977 visited a handful of legendary blues bars on Chicago's South Side, not to capture the groups performing, but instead the folks in the crowd, and at the bar, and in the parking lot, and the results are amazing, 100+ photos available for the first time, of folks all dolled up and out on the town, drinking, dancing, socializing, the clothes are amazing, the hair is amazing, a fascinating snapshot of another side of Chicago's blues music scene, the side NOT on stage. The book is massive 12" x 12", with essays and a section of ephemera, and if that weren't enough, the book comes with a double lp featuring funky Chicago blues, just the sort of music the folks in these photos were grooving to live or playing on the jukebox. House in a super striking gatefold sleeve, also included is a little snapshot / catalog, a jukebox 7", printed inner sleeves, liner notes, photos of the 7" labels, ALL that housed in a super thick, boxlike slipcover/ Incredible. Visually, sonically, meticulously researched, perfectly assembled and presented, not sure where Numero Group can go next, but we're dying to find out.
Occasionally whilst reading AQ reviews (or elsewhere too of course), you may have run across a reference to something called the NWOBHM, a curious acronym that stands for "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal". Hopefully we explained what it meant! Or it was somewhat clear from context, describing the influences of such bands as Slough Feg, Early Man, or Circle at their most metal (who'd like be be called a "NWOFHM" band, actually...New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal, natch). The NWOBHM began around 1979, continuing into the early eighties, almost a reaction to and also a hybridization of both punk rock and '70s classic rock. Some famous NWOBHM acts include Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Venom, Angel Witch, Saxon... a varied bunch to be sure. And without the NWOBHM, we'd never have had Metallica, and thus thrash, and thus death metal, and thus black metal, etc. etc.... well maybe. Anyway, in case you're, say, a fan of Pharaoh Overlord's 4 album (another "NWOFHM" release), or into grim black metal, but would like a little history lesson about the real old school stuff, this NWOBHM stuff, we've got just the thing. A three-cd set, imported from England, celebrating the NWOBHM in all its (mostly obscure) glory. 56 tracks from such bands as Trespass, Raven, Bitches Sin, Blitzkreig, Persian Risk, Satan, Heavy Pettin, Silverwing, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Holocaust, Ethel The Frog, Savage, Warfare, Jaguar, Vardis, Fist, Quartz, Cloven Hoof, Tyson Dog, Praying Mantis... the biggest names are probably Venom, Diamond Head, Angel Witch, and Samson. And believe it or not there are plenty of entries here from bands that we'd never even heard of before as well (Hellanbach, She, Avenger, Aragorn, Crucifixion, Xero, Horsepower...)!! A lot of these bands didn't have long careers, but still managed a killer single or two, which is why comps like this are treasure-troves, a NWOBHM 'best of' composed of some album tracks, 7" cuts (so many great ones on the Neat Records label) and tracks from back-in-the-day comps like New Electric Warriors (1980) and Metal For Muthas (1980). So for NWOBHM fans old and new, this is a nice collection of headbanging, party hardy METAL -- catchy riffs, wailing vox, guitars guitars guitars. Comes with a 12 page booklet full of record sleeve art and liner notes on each act, packaged in a box with the cds in cardboard sleeves.
A comp featuring exclusive tracks by AQ faves like Circle, Jesu, and Stinking Lizaveta, among others?! Heck we'd want one even if it was a tribute album to, say, Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit. (Actually those sound like they'd almost be interesting in a sick sort of way.) This IS a tribute album, it's on the tribute-o-centric Dwell label after all, but the subject is much more acceptable: '60s psych legend Syd Barrett. And though we love early Pink Floyd and solo Syd too, none of us here are quite obsessed enough to expertly critique this comp's covers of Syd Barrett tunes from that side of things... but doubtless if that's the sort of detail you want, you can find some Internet chat page all aflame with commentary on the ins and outs and ups and downs of these bands' take on the music of Syd Barrett, who was most 'correct', and all. What we can tell you is, to our ears, this is a damn cool comp!
While tributes are often quick-buck cash-ins full of no-name acts, this one's good for several reasons, excellent songs to start with, with an equally excellent selection of bands doing the tributizing, several big-time AQ faves among 'em as we said: Circle! Jesu! Stinking Lizaveta! Unearthly Trance! freakin' Pentagram!! The compilers seem to have asked bands that lurk at the swirling vortex of heaviness/psychedelia/metal/prog and persuaded some of the best to put on the paisley and do their best Syd impressions.
Here's the full lineup: Kosmos (featuring Away from Voivod), Kylesa, Intronaut, Stinking Lizaveta, Jarboe (from the Swans), Pentagram, Giant Squid, Yakuza, Jesu, Unearthly Trance, Dredg, Circle, and Zodiak. Some do their Syd HEAVY, whereas others lighten up their usual sound. Intronaut definitely display some pop talent, and Stinking Lizaveta, normally all-instrumental, surprise with an excellent vocal rendition of "Matilda Mother" - but at about 1:48 into the song their true Stinking Liz identity comes to the fore, as they turn on the searing, psychedelic guitar soloing and bass-heavy groove. Lumbering cuts from Kylesa ("Interstellar Overdrive") and Zodiak ("See Emily Play") are true to form. Amidst this lineup, Jarboe's track, a version of "Late Night" (also recently covered by Belong on their Colorloss LP) is a bit of left turn, as it's all about her whispery vocals (nice, NOT annoying as sometimes we find her) and not so much about guitar like so many of the others here.
Some other random observations regarding a few of these tracks: Ancient doom metallers Pentagram, the oddest entry only 'cause it's so hard to believe they really exist in this time and place, stick close to the original of "Flaming", Bobby Liebling singing in his weird old man voice, but with an affected British accent (or maybe it's just how he often sounds a bit like Ozzy anyway). Giant Squid do a Syd song called "Octopus", natch, and make us want to check 'em out as we sorta slept on their album. Yakuza's intense version of "Lucifer Sam" really makes us think of Voivod - except Voivod, known for their Floyd covers, never did this particular one. Speaking of Voivoid, who here gets "Astronomy Domine"? Dredg, with a sparkling rendition. Jesu brings loads of shoegazing slo-mo fuzz and echoing vocals to their take on "Chapter 24", just as you might expect. And Circle's version of "Rats" is -very- Circle sounding, in their sorta folky-mode (a la their Forest album) with Mika Ratto's acid-gobbling vocals not at all out of place.
So, listen for yourself, this is one of those rare tributes you could probably enjoy either as a fan of the bands on it (as many of you are) and/or as a fan of the subject of the tribute. We imagine a Floyd freak could wind up getting into some cool new music as a result of this comp, and likewise it'll probably turn on some Jesu fans, or whatever, to the wonders Syd Barrett's melodic, acid visions.
And it's a "legitimate" tribute, in the sense that Syd Barrett and his Pink Floyd colleagues really were one of the crucial '60s artists to pioneer and make possible the wide range of weird, spaced out music we all love today, of which the bands on this comp are all good examples.
It could be said that the concept behind 'Lily Of The Valley' is the interpretation of love located deep within the sound cards of a handful of ProTools-driving laptops. Translation: guys who don't know how to talk to girls. Anyway, the concept is pretty much an immaterial aside to this compilation presented by the acclaimed label Schematic who are known for some exquisite replications of the Autechre-style IDM electronica skitter, and this compilation is no exception to the Schematic rule. The featured engineers/Romeos are Richie Devine, Phoenicia, Delarosa & Asora, Jake Mandell, Takeshi Muto, Jeswa, 09, and Gliese.
Limited to 600 copies (website says 700, they've probably got 3000), tracks featured here can also be found on the Tigerbeat6 Inc. 2cd compilation (save for a sneaky bonus Kid 606 track). This miniature, fuck-withable vinyl edition features D84 (aka Bevin Blechdom), Dwayne Sodahberk, com.a, Nut'n'Honey, Kevin Blechdom, Fossil and the aforementioned Kid (two tracks here).
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Third in the "Insound Tour Support" series of budget cds, this collection features mainly (only?) side-projects from members of June of 44 including Doug Scharin's H.I.M., Jeff Mueller solo, and Fred Erskine's Dueling Hearts...
Live performances culled from memorable KZSU hip hop shows -- Fugees, Wu-Tang, Redman, Bustah Rhymes, OC, more...
Itchin' for some totally trashy garage rawk? Look no further! A total labor of love, this compilation record has been in the works since it was recorded back in '89 at the Purple Onion here in SF. The man behind it is Tom Guido, whose entertaining typewritten story of the entire process fills practically every inch of the record's fold-out photocopied sleeve... old snapshots of the shows fill up the rest. Seven obscure live tracks from the infamous Mummies, Gaping Wounds (featuring He Who Cannot Be Named of the Dwarves), Wild Breed, Carnaby Street Lamp Post, Driving Wheels, Pussy Hounds and Vanilla Whores. Ultra raw and super lo-fi with plenty of shrieks and howls. Limited pressing of 777.
Another Sutro Park vinyl release of some authentic down home blues, a set recorded in 1971 at a moonshine shack in rural Tennessee, apparently never before released. Featured artists include Lattie "The Wolf" Murrell and William Floyd Davis, along with their host, the anonymous bootlegger!! And a bunch of other unknown folks, customers who came for the bootlegger's illegal liquor and stayed to add their voices to the night's impromptu festivities, fortunately recorded for posterity by interested 'white folks' (young Swedish blues documentarian Bengt Olsson). Tracks include such blues standards as "Spoonful" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", with a few also specifically alluding to drinkin' and booze. So grab a can, bottle or jug of whatever's yer poison and kick back with this archival time capsule of a damn good time being had on a Saturday night in '71.
Includes entertaining liner notes on the sleeve that also help to bring the scene to life, as does Cameron Forsley's cover drawing, though the music sez it all anyway.
Two disc set documenting live performances by Sutekh, Khan, Senking, Thomas Brinkmann, Kit Clayton, Monolake and Noto among many others.
Compilation of live performances of touring bands at Chico's 'The Blue Room.' Includes such AQ faves as Stinking Lizaveta, Burning Airlines, Richard Buckner and Edith Frost.
Living Is Hard. Indeed. Truer words were never spoken. The plight of Africans in Britain in the beginning of the twentieth century, was indeed one of hardship and strife, of persecution and destitution of unspeakable violence and unfettered racism. And the songs on Living Is Hard perfectly capture the spirit of the time. The anger and resentment, but also the hope and happiness, the frustration of constant harassment and the dreams of something better.
As the liner notes mention, these songs were a "disruptive late entry into the history of black music in Britain", a music that owes very little to any white listenership. A hybrid of African spirituals, blues and plantation songs, with hints of Carribean music, bits of highlife, mostly vocal, with minimal instrumentation, managing to be simultaneously complex and musically dense, but also simple and heartfelt.
A few tracks are immediately recognizable as a sort of highlife blues, simple acoustic guitar and seemingly celebratory vocals, but much of the music on Living Is Hard, is truly unique, unlike anything we've ever heard, even as fans of wondrous and mysterious world musics, there are strange acapella tracks, where the rhythms are created from grunts and mumbles, the main vocal line, strangled and guttural, peppered with occasional percussion, some tracks have a Western folk vibe, even hinting at some Morricone-ish twang, others sounds a bit like doo wop, rich harmonies and gorgeous hummed melodies, but most of the tracks here are just vocal and percussion, chanting, crooning, call and response, voices sometimes rough and raw, sometimes smooth and silky, the rhythms backing them up ranging from simple and spare to dense and tribal, so varied and moving and simply wonderful.
As with all Honest Jons releases, Living Is Hard is gorgeously packaged, with a thick book of liner notes, lots of photos, translations of the lyrics and more.
We've been DYING for this. In pretty much every review of a grime or dubstep record, we lament the lack of decent releases, at least in the US. But for the last couple years, Portland based dubstep label Lo Dubs, has been (not so) quietly releasing 12" after 12" of crushing, bass heavy, dancefloor destroying modern dubstep from a whole new crop of dubsteppers. We managed to get a handful of each of the 12"s, never really enough to review, but the wait was worth it, now ALL of those 12"s are compiled on this here double cd. One disc mixed, the other a collection of all the 12"s, both completely kick ass.
Very few of the names are recognizable, unless you're already a little dubstep obsessed, well, except Nadja, more on that in a second, but half the names here are becoming fast favorites, South3rn, Starkey, Pacheko, all have taken the dubstep template and cranked it up, added their own style. This isn't nearly as laid back as a lot of dubstep, this stuff is hard, the beats dense and heavy, the atmospheres ominous, lots of buzz and rumble, plenty of lo-fi grit, the vibe is almost more like old school raga jungle, but all wrapped around that unmistakable dubstep stutter.
And yeah Nadja / Aidan Baker completists, there is indeed a Nadja dubstep remix here, perpetrated by the legendary Vex'd, however, the original is barely recognizable, all the crush and buzz of the original is buried beneath Vex'd's brutal beat, sick synth swells, and all sorts of grinds and beeps, the end result is just as intense and brutal as a Nadja track, but rendered in electronics and beats. Awesome. But then, pretty much every track here is a killer, from dubbed out reggae, to robotic electro, to skeletal groove, super raw synthed out basslines wrapped around jagged dubbed out beats, alien effects, Jamaican style toasting, tons of buzz and weird skittery groove, anyone who has been digging dubstep at all NEEDS this. If you loved Milanese, Burial, Venetian Snares, the Box Of Dub comps, then this is for you...
We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few!
The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals.
Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either...
"All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.
This new Numero Group comp and we assume new series of comps, is like the inversion of the Eccentric Soul series in that instead of a small regional record label head honing in on a key stable of talent, this is about a custom studio that invited its local community to record their own songs and music. Felton Williams started his Double U Studio in Ecorse, Michigan, a small suburb downriver from Detroit in 1967 (it lasted until 1981). With a knack for home built electronics and instruments, his studio was open to anyone who wanted to cut a record, and with Motown changing the course of soul music just upriver, he had a lot of takers. But unlike other custom record presses, Williams would own the publishing rights and release the records on a series of labels, Revival, Compose, Cass and Solid Rock, acting as a kind of Alan Lomax figure in hopes of recording vital regional talent for cultural prosperity. Luckily, Williams had a nearby pool of talent in his local church and the bulk and the best parts of this comp focuses on the amazing gospel soul sounds that came out of this studio. Though there's also soul, funk, jazz and even some garage rock cuts too, it's the gospel cuts that are worth the price of admission and anyone who's been digging the Mississippi Record gospel comps, should look here too, because there are some monster jams from Shirley Ann Lee, Bobby Cook and The Explosions and the beautifully named Deliverance Echoes. Can I get an Amen!
We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few!
The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals.
Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either...
"All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.
For the second edition of their Local Customs series, The Numero Group dig deep into the heart of Beaumont, Texas and uncover a regional archive of dusty, sunscorched sounds from Lowland Studios. Operating from the late sixties to the early seventies and barely surviving even in the best of times, the studio recorded a wide range of local flavor from a tight knit scene of bands for small independent labels. The 22 tracks here fall into primarily three groups: Heavy southern-fried boogie rock, Crosby Stills and Nash-ish folk, and nascent Yacht Rock, even though we're sure no one here had a yacht to rock out on. While some tracks on here aren't necessarily our cup of tea, it's hard not to get caught up in the music when the Numero Group has done such an amazing job of documenting the history of this scene, with thorough liner notes, a family tree of players and bands and lots of cool photos. A really fancy package.
We like the boogie stuff best, especially the bands Boot Hill and D.O.A. (and they look awesome too!). But then there's the final song by Donald Thomas called "Black Night Is Calling Me Home" with its too-high-in-the-mix vocalised guitar riff, a real hoot! Some of us here gonna get this just for that. We're sure anyone into classic rock from 1970-77 featuring dudes with long hair and mustaches singing about their ladies (think Molly Hatchet, Little Feat, Audience, CSN, BTO, Ten Wheel Drive, etc.) will probably find lots to like here. Though all we could think about while listening to this is: MORE COWBELL!!!!!
We knew we could count on Numero Group for an especially cool Record Store Day release. This year, it's another volume in Numero's Local Customs series. They delved into the vaults of Cleveland, Ohio pressing plant Boddie, a place where local acts took their tunes for private pressings from the late '60s through the mid '80s, and turned up some amazing gems indeed. And the even better news is, that while it's a limited release, we still have a few!
The rare tracks here, by such unknown artists as Jus' Us, Los Nombres, Slippery When Wet (not a Bon Jovi cover band!), Bill Spoon, The Defaulters, The Harmonics, The Donations, Love For Dollars And Cents, Hot Chocolate, The Basement, Wicked Lester (not, we're pretty sure, the KISS-related Wicked Lester), and more, tend mostly towards steamy soul, raw funk and smooth disco, yet there's lots of surprises. Wicked Lester's fuzzed out, uptempo garage grunt is one of those highlights for us, along with Russell Potter's solo steel string guitar stylings, in a Fahey/Takoma mode. The indie pop plod of Donald Eckert's druggily dismal "Play It Slow" would be another one. Oh, and the dour electronic new wave beats of Berlin West. But never fear, there's plenty of sunshiney soul to pep things up throughout. In fact, even a song called "Soul and Sunshine" by the wonderfully named Harvey & The Phenomenals.
Rather extravagantly, Numero released this on not only cd and lp, but also cassette tape! Each differently, and appropriately titled (Burned, Pressed, and Dubbed, respectively). You get 17 tracks on the cd and cassette, 18 on the double vinyl, which also comes with a 18"x24" poster. We have only a tiny handful of the cassettes left, and not really that many more of the other two formats, either...
"All formats have the same liner notes and discography (font sizes vary)." Those liner notes are quite interesting, all about Boddie though, not the artists. And the discography (everything Boddie ever pressed/burned/dubbed, pretty much) is very, very long.
"Locations Volume One" is the first in a series from the Chain Tape Collective, a global community of field recordings artists who actively explore the indigenous sounds around them and apply any number of compositional techniques to those field recordings. I've never heard of any of these artists before, except for San Francisco's Matt Davignon, who has been responsible for some interesting experimental music events throughout the Bay Area and had coordinated the release of this album. The end results are far from the purist field recordings of Chris Watson or Douglas Quin; rather, all of the artists revel in digital tricknology which punctuates the various recordings of water, rain, geese, crickets, etc. Thus, it's not uncommon to hear bursts of crowd noise, or obvious varispeed manipulation, or erratic, Mego-like digital mulching, or mechanical concrete loops. In the liner notes, each artist offers his thoughts and insights into the contexts of the recordings and all the gear that went into making the pieces.
MPEG Download: PETR DOLAK "In The Shade of Jan Hus" [/audio/petrdolakintheshade.mp3]
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
17 tracks from South American stoner rock bands, including Buffalo and Los Natas.
Inspired by his plentiful good times spent down in Sydney, Australia, DJ Tom Thump has compiled a double cd mix of twenty two tracks. One disc is appropriately titled 'Get Up', and the other 'Get Down'. Included are tracks by Playgroup, Chicken Lips, Frankie Knuckles, Cordovan, Makossa & Megablast, Julius Papp & Charles Spencer, Hideo Kobayashi & Pheeko Dubfunk, Chuck Love, Loopwreckas, Salvo, Shrift, and many more. You don't need to travel abroad to put this mix to good use as your own late night soundtrack to some randy loose'n'lively action.
