[ aquarius records — Exotica Novelty ]

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Showing results 151 through 200 of 571.

Late seventies Nashville-inspired country record recorded in Sweden. In similar vein to his 1963 debut, Trouble Is A Lonesome Town. Equally sublime and goofy!

What's the last "nature sounds" disc we reviewed on our list? There was the cd-r of bat sounds we listed last time. But we'd had bats before. However, we can safely say that this is the first, and probably only recording we've ever heard... of dinosaurs!! Ok, obviously this isn't a "real" field recording. No time machines were involved. Or experimental genetic science out of a Michael Crichton novel. Nor are we being told any stories about how, through some improbable process, sound waves were frozen in amber millions of years ago, waiting to be decoded and heard by us today through the miracle of modern technology. Nope, this is fake fake fake. But it has the imprimatur of a real field recording, being brought to us by Jean-Luc Herelle, the recordist/naturalist responsible for the AQ fave Pastoral Bells, and others on the illustrious and Sittelle label, and the cover proclaims it a "scientific interpretation" (to the extent of relying on audio experiments done with fossils). Knowing that AQ customers go gaga for environmental sounds, the weirder the better, it probably won't take much to convince you all that a disc of Jurassic Soundscapes belongs in your collection. So here it is, the grunts and growls and splashings about of the DINOSAURS! Or, they could simply be scary monsters... or, birds with a pitch shifter. That's right, since we all know that modern day birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, Herelle has constructed these imagined dinosaur calls out of genuine field recordings of birds, digitally altered to sound like what he thinks (based on the best current scientific theory) these dinosaurs would have in fact sounded like. (Is there a commercially available "Dinosaur effect"? If so, death metal bands should investigate.) Herelle also made good use of recordings of various amphibians, who also have their dinosaur connections, insects and mammals too... The first of the four tracks on this disc is a 21+ minute number entitled "Moving Back To The Trias Period, To The Marine Environment Of Early Jurassic", between 230 and 200 million years BC. It starts of with watery drippings and what sound like backwards tape effects (!), soon joined by rumbling cries of eight meter long Plateosaurus, which is then scared off by the equally even more terrifying carnivorous Coelophysis! Apparently, there was tons of reverb in the Jurassic period. It's a bizarre listen, for sure. The electronic effects are obvious, but one soon suspends one's disbelief, and becomes absorbed in the rather eerie world that Herelle has cleverly conjured. The second track finds Herelle exploring a "Forest Of Giant Sequoyas Of The Later Jurassic", 170 million years BC. In the distance, *something* cries for a mate. And at one point, some sort of leathery winged flying reptile flaps by. Track three takes us to a "Swamp Forest Of The Cretaceous" (144 million years BC) for about half an hour. Scaly beasts moan and coo and moo and bellow. Our friends the Rutting Red Deers would possibly feel right at home conversing with the denizens of the Jurassic. And then as a finale, Herelle presents a "Time Slide Into Prehistory"... In the liner notes, Herelle explains his procedures for this project, and helps to detail for the mind's eye the scenes he has set, these aural dioramas if you will. Each track is provided with a narrative, of what creature is plodding, swimming or flying about, and why, making for this imaginative, varied "natural" symphony. While the label admits that some might find it hard to take this disc seriously, it does have solid educational basis, paleontologist-approved. This is definitely the closest you're gonna get to hearing the sounds of prehistory, the cries of the baby Iguanadon and of the mighty Tyrannosaurus, the growls of the Stegosaurus and the twitterings of the Archaeopteryx... who could pass that up? Recommended of course!

MPEG stream: Moving Back To The Trias Period, To The Marine Environment Of Early Jurassic
MPEG stream: Swamp Forest Of The Cretaceous

This is a reissue of a 1957 broadcast of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley's classic tale of future shock that launched countless sci-fi movie references from THX-1138 to Wall-E. Adapted for radio, narrated by the author with a score by Bernard Herrmann, this broadcast harkens back to the classic Orson Welles War of The Worlds radio era, while creating a chilling picture of the future that still rings true. What makes it most chilling is Herrmann's wonderful score which is featured by itself on the first 9 tracks. Consisting of harpsichords and glockenspiels, the score is light but impressionistically foreboding, reminding us a bit of the soundtrack to TV's The Prisoner, and other beautifully creepy scores of British horror movies. Brrrrrr!

MPEG stream: Track 4
MPEG stream: Track 6
MPEG stream: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Part 2

We knew John Hill as producer of the stunning folk funk lps of Susan Christie and Margo Guryan, but this concept record is where his producing genius is on full display: an epic electronic space jazz composition featuring Susan Christie, Jimmy Valerio, Gerry Mulligan and Walter Sear. Based on a poem by Ian Michaels called "I Am The Storm of Dawn" that suggests life on Earth originated on one of the six moons of Jupiter, Europa (the only other place in the solar system with water and ice), the 6 Moons of Jupiter features Susan Christie reciting the poem with Moogy electronic drones, cellos,� delayed flutes, and percussion. While we're not always huge fans of spoken word, somehow it works here, adding some serious tripped out drugginess to the already pretty far out proceedings.� According to the liner notes, this was the first part of a proposed 13 piece concept performance, with each piece written in a distinctly different style, somehow combining poetry, electronic technology, classical, jazz and of course 'space rock' (quotes required!) Not sure sure how that would have panned out had they stuck to the plan, especially since it seems that for this first volume they jammed all that stuff together, into one single awesomely mind melting sonic hodgepodge.� The tracks range from shimmery free jazzscapes, all abstract percussion and buzzing raga like drones, haunting and mysterious, to full on groovy keyboard drenched space-y garage jams, complete with fluttering flute, wheezing organs, creepy chanted vocals, and wailing psych leads, to strange off kilter chamber music, heavy with reverb and long lonesome tones, to pounding sixties style stomp, but all twisted up around jazzy horns, and jaunty Springtime shuffles, to haunting solo strings, dour melancholic melodies over buried soft buzz, to total acid wah guitars, laced with creepy pizzicato strings and warbly rubbery funhouse melodies. Mix in Christie's deadpan spoken word and this becomes a serious jazzy groovy musical mindfuck. And you know what that means. BUY IT!

MPEG stream: Europa
MPEG stream: Amalthea
MPEG stream: Io

Who'd have thought we'd be so taken with an album that opens with a song about "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"? For that matter, who the heck would MAKE an album with a song called "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"?? Well, a 63 year old 'outsider' artist, Alabama's one of a kind Lonnie Holley, would, and did. This is it, and it's pretty special. We highlighted Holley's Dust-To-Digital debut last year, Just Before Music, which was not only Holley's first released recording but also Dust-To-Digital's first 'contemporary' release (as opposed to all their well-researched vintage reissues), and this is the equally fantastic follow-up. Apparently Just Before Music garnered him some fans, as two of the seven tracks here, including the lengthy & hypnotic 13+ minute "Other Side Of The Pulpit", find him collaborating on the music with Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound) and Cole Alexander (The Black Lips). At first, we were like, oh no, he doesn't need hipster indie rockers messing with his sound - but actually the music on those songs fits in perfectly with all the other tracks that he did all by himself, so no harm done, and probably a great experience for those guys. Holley's music, if you've heard the debut, you know is sparse and minimalist, with some thumb piano, some synth wash and warble (making us think of Tennessee's improv hillbillies the Shaking Ray Levis at times), and a bit of simple drum machine and other percussion. Reminds us a bit of some of the tracks on that Personal Space comp of electronic '70s soul. Often hypnotic and lovely, and an important part of Holley's unique sound, the electronics and instrumentation still take a back seat to his singing, the main event here, which we'd have to compare to an "outsider" Louis Armstrong when Holley belts it out, with lots of rough garrrrrrgle in his voice. His more gentle, mumbling moments are more akin to Arthur Russell, as we mentioned in our review of Just Before Music ("Holley's vocals, which come across as a shamanistic Arthur Russell as he sings a primitive-futuristic brew of blues mantras that twist into strange abstracted vocalization"). That's for sure true, and those vocalizations - sometimes multitracked, as on the very much mantric "Sun & Water" - when not utterly abstract, convey some wonderful lyrics, poetic and sometimes quite strange. That "Six Space Shuttles" song, one of the hardest to grok here, has something to do with the Queen's birthday (Queen Elizabeth II?) and how Holley wants to celebrate it by sending "expandable, transformable, solar adaptable" space shuttles the size of "the Hindenburg and the Titanic both put together" off into the universe, and when they come back "they can heal the air and fix the water", and wouldn't that be nice? Not sure if we quite get what he's sayin', but we're digging it a lot anyway. Other songs, however, are much more straightforward, like the aforementioned "Sun & Water", its title the main portion of its lyrics. What all his lyrics have in common is that Holley is "testifying", as he describes it in his brief liner notes. All his life, he says, he's been testifying, in both is visual art and now his music, testifying about his life, a life that almost ended before it really began, when he was dragged under a car as a small child and left in a coma for three months. His life and thoughts since, both happy and sad, is what he's Keeping A Record Of, in his art and music - that's where the title of this cd comes from. And we're so glad Holley has chosen to share his testimony with us, especially since so much of it is such a "joyful noise", as one short piece here, a conversation with members of his church, makes reference to.

MPEG stream: Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants
MPEG stream: Mind On
MPEG stream: Sun & Water

Latest from this Oakland tape label, who has been killing it recently, with the reissued synthscapes of Ron Berry, the grim, liturgical Black Legions black ambience of Moevot, the droned out buzzscapes of Bre'r, the grinding and gorgeously glitchy Starlite Coffins, the debut tape release of solo surf twang guitar from artist Rich Jacobs, sheesh, we can barely keep up, but it's been a blast trying. There's two more good 'uns from Sanity Muffin on this week's list, elsewhere you'll find some fantastic bay area new age from the eighties, and then there's this, the first we've heard from a mysterious outfit called Holy Family, which in fact is a duo half of which is none other than Lawrence English, and whose sound is settled uneasily right between the classic psychedelic minimalist drones of groups like the Taj Mahal Travellers, and the more noisy, blown out floor-core of modern synth/drone combos. Three sprawling slabs of minimal dronemusic trip out, thick sheets of pulsing, pulsating thrum, gristly and distorted, churning and blackened, but sort of blissed out and cosmic, the first track begins as a total zoner-drone drift before splintering into something a bit more atonal, sound like some lost Hermann Nitsch aktion recast into something a bit more blurry and abstract, a sky of bleating keening tones, smeared into lush chordal swells. So good. The relatively brief second track, begins as a barely there shimmer, a whispery low end creep, before blossoming into some seriously corrosive crumble and crunch, a weird stretched out upper register drone wreathed in swirls of superdistorted buzz, heady and hypnotic and seriously dense and heavy. Which leads directly into the 16 minute final track, a weird field of fractured, fragmented electronic melodies, delivered in sharp spurts, chopped and spread out, surrounded by wide open expanses of hum and thrum, laced with little soft swirls of effects, all above a sea of ever shifting textures, super laid back by comparison, a tranquil bit of buzzy, dreamy drift, that seems to smolder with some sinister shadowy undercurrent, one that always seems to threaten to overwhelm, but instead, just pulses ominously beneath the roiling soft noise shimmer above, when what finally overtakes the sound, is a sort of gristly static, that rises up in an insectoid cloud, before fading out into a hazy, hardly there hum... LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!! Individually tea-stained tape labels!

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Fifth in the series of archival releases from Lee Hazelwood Industries, this is the first reissue of the complete recordings of this storied pop-psych girl group, Honey Ltd, whose sole album goes for big bank these days on eBay, though it failed to chart upon its initial release. We first heard them on the Hazlewood 45 collection released for the Black Friday "Record Store Day" last year (there's still a copy of that in stock, btw). Four friends, two of them sisters from Detroit, fed on the Motown sound, never thought they would form a band, but after a college talent show where they silenced the room, they formed a a group called The Mama Cats and even performed with a young Bob Seger. Pretty soon with riots in Detroit, the girls hitchhiked to LA and landed an audition with Lee Hazlewood. Taken by their angelic four-part harmonies and fresh faces, he changes their name to Honey Ltd. and immediately got them in a studio with the Wrecking Crew. For a whirlwind year, they performed on all kind of TV shows and showcases, meanwhile never realizing the studio had released their record (they thought they were recording singles) and then the record failed to take off. Relatively unphased by the news, the band soldiered on and joined a USO sponsored tour with Bob Hope in Vietnam before moving on. One of the girls got married and the rest formed the country pop trio, Eve. Though Honey Ltd. were amazing singers and they had a great repertoire, the late sixties was not the best time for girl groups, and even if they touched on some current social themes (for example, the anti-war song "The Warrior"), the group were hardly countercultural. But they did have some really great songs, and incredible harmonies, plus the production is top notch! This remastered reissue includes comprehensive liner notes and interviews with all four members and never before seen photos. The vinyl version is 180 gram & includes a fold-out poster.

MPEG stream: The Warrior
MPEG stream: Silk 'n Honey
MPEG stream: For Your Mind
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We can always count on local reissue label Companion Records to foster the kind of rare hidden musical gem that perhaps won't appeal to everyone, but will get a select group of enthusiasts very excited over the discovery of someone's sincerely unique, but oftentimes misguided musical vision. Companion's specialty has always been cd reissues of vintage private press vanity releases, such as the Luie Luie, Charlie Tweddle, Marc Mundy, and New Creation records, and for their first foray into vinyl, have given us two quite amazing but very different musical visionaries: the spirited orchestral lounge stylings of Michael Farneti (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and the latent stoner mope-psych of Stan Hubbs. Released in collaboration with Gloriette Records (Nite Jewel, Ariel Pink, and Puro Instinct), Stan Hubbs' 1982 recording Crystal is more out of its time than ahead of it. Recorded in his rural Sonoma County living room, it seems like the band almost can't decide if they're latent hippie stoner boogie-folk, eighties shred-guitar rock or progressively disaffected mope wave, which makes for an unusually intriguing sound that is hard to pin down. Hubb's vocals sometimes sung in a near monotone with female singer Kriss O'Neil can sound as much like a downer Fleetwood Mac as it can resemble some of today's gloomy pop found in Beach Fossils or Crystal Ships. But it's Larry Doyle's kitchen sink electric guitar approach that makes it really out of sync in an amazing way. Using lots of psychedelic effects and sounding like he's eager to show off his shredding licks to anyone who comes along, Doyle shows just barely enough restraint not to overstep the hazy vibe the singers and keyboards are laying down. Imagine if Simply Saucer did a cover of America's "Tin Man", and you'll sort of get the idea. But this is regionalism at its best, taking lots of big musical ideas from different popular styles and making something completely home-brewed, a bit oft-kilter and super genuine. Limited to 500 copies, comes with a full reproduction of the 16 page booklet of lyrics and drawings that came with the original release. Hot Damn!

MPEG stream: Joe and Gina
MPEG stream: Let's Go On Back To Camp
MPEG stream: Golden Rose
MPEG stream: Seems Like It's A Rich Man's World

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Reissue of this 60's classic of the (duh) Moog synth pop exotica genre so popular with today's youth. Nicely packaged with plenty of liner notes. "The Topless Dancers of Corfu" beckon...

We've been huge fans of the Greek born new-ager Iasos since discovering his 1975 masterpiece, Inter-Dimensional Music through EM Records' 2006 reissue. That record had us totally rethinking our understanding of new age music and helped give us a whole new love for the genre. While that record has been reissued a few times since, the rest of Iasos' material been harder to find, so it's nice to get this overview of hisseventies output, nicely released by the fine folks at the Numero Group. For those concerned, there are 5 tracks here from Inter-Dimensional Music, but 8 others that are totally new to us, and for anyone familiar or new to the gossamer vibes of Iasos, this is a great collection, and a perfect introduction. Most all of this music was created on a houseboat in Marin, where Iasos conducted musical experiments with tape reversal, electronic processing of acoustic instruments (phase-shifted flutes and harp strings) and the first commercially available synthesizers. He believes he was transcribing music from Vista, a benevolent music-maker from a distant dimension, and in doing so essentially created a new genre of music. There is even evidence of a psychology paper from 1989 that states that Iasos' music bears a striking resemblance to the sounds people hear in near-death experiences. It is indeed heavenly music! This release features never before seen photos and extensive liner notes, detailing Iasos musical process and history. So great!

MPEG stream: Rainbow Canyon
MPEG stream: Blue Fire Realms
MPEG stream: Siren Shallows
MPEG stream: The Winds of Olympus

It's rather funny that with cassette tapes becoming popular again that we now see classic New Age albums getting reissued in the same format that they were originally released. We got a handful of this new cassette reissue of New Age Icon Iasos' 1986 release Elixir. Subtitled, A Visionary Gateway to Celestial Realms, it certainly is a dramatic mix of the symphonic and electronic with deep vortex swooshes, angelic cascades and mind-expanding synth drones. Heavenly!

MPEG stream: Elixer (excerpts)

New age. Pretty much the ultimate diss when you want to put down someone's musical taste. Or harsh on some band, or record. Tough to think of a more purely musical putdown. Sellout? Maybe. Poser? Definitely, but not necessarily musical. But New Age. Oof. Moms and Grandmas listen to new age. Yanni ferchrissakes! And with all the ambient music we love so much here at AQ, we're extra conscious of negative New Age connotations, cuz it's always a fine line between shimmery droney dreaminess and whooshy New Age schmaltz. But c'mon, trust us, trust the folks at EM Records, and take our word that if you're only ever gonna buy one unabashed actual New Age album (and Andee hasn't already forced you to get some George Winston or Kitaro), then this should absolutely be the one. Iasos was born in Greece and moved to America when he was 4, began playing piano at 8, then flute at 10. In the late sixties, he began to hear a 'new' music in his head and moved to California to try and realize this "heavenly music". And finally in 1975, he did it! Iasos 'invented' new age music with the release of 1975's Inter-Dimensional Music Through IASOS, which has now been reissued by the fine folks at EM, and has stood the test of time pretty darn well. It's all here, tinkling piano, swooshing synthesizers, running water sounds, bird calls, maudlin melodies, fluttering flutes, crickets chirping, lots of nature sounds, thunderstorms, strange sound effects, gentle keening drones, whirling sonic washes and sweet swirls of soft focus sound. Even the song titles: "The Bubble Massage", "Rainbow Canyon", "Crystal Petals", "Clouds Prayer", Libra Sunrise." Yep, this is definitely New Age, there's no two ways about it, but if you can look past that 'stigma', this record is actually quite beautiful. And mysterious. And delicately lovely. It has lots of elements that plenty of AQ faves share, strange production, lots of fuzzy airy drones, plenty of insect sounds, bird calls, all wrapped into sweet expanses of dreamy sound. In fact if we listed this as some super limited cd-r on some upstart microlabel in Tasmania, and it had some murky forest photo on the cover, we'd sell tons, and no one would be the wiser. It's easy to forget that the modern crop of drifting ambient experimentalists owe quite a bit to new age pioneers. And let's not forget about all the pretty cool bands who either WERE new age, became new age, or incorporated elements of new age into their sound: Popol Vuh, Ashra, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Deuter, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Vangelis. But Inter-Dimensional Music, regardless of pedigree, or genre classification, is just a dang good record. A little cheesy in places maybe but so what, hasn't stopped us from listening to this practically every day!! Like all EM releases, the packaging is amazing. But the Iasos has a truly striking cover, even by the already impossibly high EM Records standards. Metallic gold embossed printing on glossy white paper. the cover image a man's torso, emerging from a cloud, arm upraised holding a flute, which is being struck by lightning. Some of you may recognize the image as it was stolen for a record cover many years back by Canadian noiserock guitarmy Superconductor. And of course there's also gold and white obi, as well as a massive booklet full of liner notes (all in Japanese, sorry) and loads of photos. As with all EM releases, SO RECOMMENDED!!!!

MPEG stream: Libra Sunshine
MPEG stream: Formentera Sunset Clouds
MPEG stream: Lueena Coast
MPEG stream: Rainbow Canyon

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Some of you are probably hip to the Pinky Violence films of early seventies Japan, especially with a handful or recently reissued DVD's, an eye popping, mind blowing combination of not so subtle eroticism, extreme ultraviolence and over the top ACTION! The twist, being that the brutalizers tended to be bad ass Japanese women, cat fighting, beating the crap out of men, always seeming to be clad in boots and with their shirts 'accidentally' torn open to reveal their breasts. Which miraculously never kept them from kicking still more ass! What's not to love? Sort of in concert with the movies, a whole genre of erotic music was spawned, Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular music, sexed up as it were with chanteuse like crooning, but most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion. And at the time, 1971 (THAT seemingly perfect musical year!) this was indeed pretty dang racy and risque. The sound is a blend of soft core soundtrack music, groove jazz, playful exotica, a little Spaghetti Western, with Herb Alpert horns, fluttering jazz flutes, Spanish guitars, smokey sax, hip shaking rhythms, marimbas and xylophones, very moody and dreamy sometimes, wild and playful at others, but always with Reiko's sexy croon, and of course her very convincing sounds of passion, including an unexpected bout of spanking at one point (!) accompanied by the proper breathless exhalations of pain/pleasure. Wow! Wild and fun and sexy, but so so strange. Highly recommended for sure. Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, saucy nude photos of Reiko on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese! ULTRA LIMITED!!! This is the fourth and final pressing, after the first three sold out in no time at all. Limited to only 500 copies, this is already sold out and we only got a handful, the last 15 or so from the label, so you know what that means...

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This sexy sultry silly slab of seventies Japanese exotica, now on vinyl! Some of you are probably hip to the Pinky Violence films of early seventies Japan, especially with a handful of recently reissued dvd's, an eye popping, mind blowing combination of not so subtle eroticism, extreme ultraviolence and over the top ACTION! The twist, being that the brutalizers tended to be bad ass Japanese women, cat fighting, beating the crap out of men, always seeming to be clad in boots and with their shirts 'accidentally' torn open to reveal their breasts. Which miraculously never kept them from kicking still more ass! What's not to love? Sort of in concert with the movies, a whole genre of erotic music was spawned, Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular music, sexed up as it were with chanteuse like crooning, but most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion. And at the time, 1971 (THAT seemingly perfect musical year!) this was indeed pretty dang racy and risque. The sound is a blend of soft core soundtrack music, groove jazz, playful exotica, a little Spaghetti Western, with Herb Alpert horns, fluttering jazz flutes, Spanish guitars, smokey sax, hip shaking rhythms, marimbas and xylophones, very moody and dreamy sometimes, wild and playful at others, but always with Reiko's sexy croon, and of course her very convincing sounds of passion, including an unexpected bout of spanking at one point (!) accompanied by the proper breathless exhalations of pain/pleasure. Wow! Wild and fun and sexy, but so so strange. Highly recommended for sure.

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The Maestro strikes again! You should already know prolific South Indian film score composer Maestro Ilaiyaraaja and his "Electronic Pop Sound" from a couple Finders Keepers compilations we've highlighted: his own Solla Solla, and also the one featuring singer K.S. Chithra, with music by the Maestro. If you thought those two discs were over the top and irresistible, just get a load of this new one! (And even if you missed those, well, you probably have an idea of what we're talking about, if you've been exposed to any Bollywood/Kollywood/Lollywood craziness, as represented by other recent collections like Bollywood Bloodbath and Life Is Dance.) Compared to those other Ilaiyaraaja's, this is similar, but with perhaps even more "video-game-iness" in the goofily orchestrated mix. It's VERY '80s electro synth sounding, and groovy too, as the subtitle promises. There's a big kitsch/cheese factor no doubt, but that's a big part of this genre's charms, really! Plus, this shit's tight, every element - electronic beats and sweet vocals and synthesized string sections and ethnic instruments and startling sound FX - in its place, everything and everybody dancing to the tunes of the Maestro. Hott stuff. 16 tracks, 65 minutes, you'll be grinning gleefully the whole time. And you gotta love the cover, right? Icing on the cake of this swank trifold digipak, which includes a 30 page booklet with info on each of the films from which music was taken.

MPEG stream: Thangamana Raasa
MPEG stream: Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam
MPEG stream: Punnagai Mannan

Here's another Record Store Day find for you! The Invisible Hands is one of the new projects for the Sun City Girls' Alan Bishop, here working with a cadre of Egyptian musicians to produced a decidedly less volatile sound than what we are used to from Bishop in either the Sun City Girls or his solo project Alvarius B. All of the material found on this super limited 7" comes from the Alan Bishop songbook, with the medley on the A side of "Insect Dilemma / Disallowed" culled from the legendary 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda album by the Sun City Girls and the self-titled 2lp from Alvarius B respectively. The B side is a cover of a Moroccan folk song entitled "Lili Twil", but those who know the SCG back catalogue will recognize the tune as "Cruel & Thin" also from 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda, but with Bishop reconfiguring the words into neological gobbledigook. Musically, this follows what Bishop arranged for the Invisible Hands album released earlier in 2013, with straightforward rhythm sections straddling the desert blues ethos and American indie-rock songsmithery, with the lead guitars buzzing with Arabic intonations and fanciful flourishes. The cover of "Lili Twil" is sung by Aya Hemeda, whose languid vocals do recall the beautiful folk melodies that Selda recorded back in the '70s. To top it all off, when you buy an Invisible Hands 7", you will be automatically entered in a contest to win either an Invisible Hands banner or an Invisible Hands throw pillow, both of which feature crudely painted Egyptian imagery of minstrels and cats eviscerating chickens.

The Swedish musical oddities never cease to amaze us, whether it be the hermetic psych of Joakim Skogsberg or the voodoo heaviness of Goat, Swedish musicians always seem to extremely commit to whatever thematic conceit informs their musical output. When we first got this release by Ixtahuele, we thought it was indeed a reissue of some obscure pagan exotica record from the fifties, but a closer look at the photo of the blonde lads on the back cover decked out in forties tuxes, one wearing a fez, just seemed a tad too modern and lo and behold, we realized Ixtahhuele is indeed a modern ensemble mining the sounds of Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter and Martin Denny! Using classic exotica instrumentation, of you know, marimbas, piano, stand-up bass, and all sorts of exotic percussion: bongos, gongs, taiko drums and cymbals, this group does a pretty stellar job of performing original classic sounding music without trying to put a modern spin on the sound. Instead of overdoing the hipster tropes of tiki bars and island girls, the band does its best to get to the heart of the alluring spell-binding qualities of true exotica: ritual dances, evil flora, island fever, stone relics and sun gods, the music oceanic and dreamy, beautifully hypnotic and sometimes fraught with an uncertain sense of danger, mystery and intrigue. Nice!

MPEG stream: Black Sand
MPEG stream: Dengue Fever

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Well, it would be nice to see as well as hear what's documented here, but it's still pretty interesting... this Harry Partch-ish music was part of a audio-visual Planetarium show, and was originally released on LP by Folkways in 1959.

Nine, yes nine, compact discs of Jandek ticklin' the ivories, and as always, Corwood Industries keeps this package at a very reasonable price. We probably don't need to go too much into the Jandek mythology, but we will mention that it is becoming clearer that Jandek is a self-aware artist and one who has a fair amount of knowledge of the world in which he exists. As is the case on albums like Blue Corpse and One Foot In The North, he can trade in the brutalism of atonal folk-strum for a rare declaration of urgent directness which still drips with utter sorrow. So when it comes to the piano, don't worry he doesn't just aimlessly plink and plonk around the piano for these nine discs (almost 700 minutes of music!). Just as he is very aware of the blues tradition when it comes to the guitar, he folds in the idioms of Satie's wallpaper music and Chopin's nocturnes within his own Jandekian vision. These meanderings are often pastoral and hypnotic; but occasionally, he gets into a manic, atonal frenzy that is maybe more what you might expect from a Jandek solo piano outing. What more do you want to know? It's 9 fucking CDs, NINE!! Of Jandek! JANDEK!!!

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SORRY.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

We've been fans of Jobriath (nee Bruce Wayne Campbell) for a while now. Back in the '70s, he was billed as the world's first openly gay pop star. Or, rather, would-be pop star, as his career was a commercial failure, though he's now a cult figure (tragically, he died in 1983, a victim of AIDS). Glammy and campy (no shit), Jobriath, who was a classically trained pianist and singer, had a pop persona that was part David Bowie, part Elton John, part Mick Jagger, maybe a little Alice Cooper too. He made complicated, cabaret-ready Rundgren-esque pop, with plenty of keyboard chops, and no little drama. He really should have been huge, but it didn't happen. Too much hype, or homophobia, who knows? His two major label flops, released in '73 and '74 on Elektra, and reissued a few years ago, are again currently both out of print. But, now there's this, for fans and other potentially interested parties. An archival collection of rare, previously unreleased Jobriath music, recorded in '71 prior to those two records! As The River Flows is certainly less produced than those later, big-budget albums, but aren't completely rough demos either. It does contain early versions of two songs that later appeared on his official debut, "Inside" and his anthem "I'maman", in more stripped-down arrangements, alongside a whole bunch of Jobraith compositions never heard before, enough to really make this constitute a "lost" Jobriath album. There's a street-level vibe to this, what with frantic opener "Amazing Dope Tales" for instance - the sordid side of NYC in the '70s definitely being Jobriath's milieu. He's got a band and backup singers here, but naturally his voice and keyboard playing take center stage. Sometimes with melancholic piano balladry a la Elton John, sometimes with honkytonk glee, Jobriath getting all Jerry Lee Lewis on us. But no matter what, regardless of style, these songs have got that special Jobriath edge to 'em, his performance one of both pathos and panache. Fans should be excited about this, of course, but since his other albums are out of print, it's also the only available entree to his oeuvre for noobs, too, who should be commended for taking the plunge. Includes lyrics, credits, and photos, but there's unfortunately no liner notes, nothing about the story behind these recordings, which would have been cool, oh well, though otherwise it's a nicely done package.

MPEG stream: Amazing Dope Tales
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This would have certainly been a great fit on our last in-between list of amazing Christian-themed oddities. Otis G. Johnson might be known to some who dug the Personal Space compilation of electronic soul from 1974-1984 we listed a while back. Johnson's track "Time To Go Home" suitably ended that release with a quietly funky, but intensely devotional hymn urging us to prepare for Heaven. Performed on Hammond organ with repetitive riffs and a rudimentary rhythm machine, Johnson's vocals emitting a hushed and mumbled gospel cry turned inward, repeating in a soulful mantra that "It's time". That song was of course from this lone 1978 private press record nicely reissued on the Numero Group label and it has to be one of the most minimal gospel records we've ever heard. In fact, it's almost the opposite of gospel, as its restrained devoutness is so personal and intimate that it seems antithetical to gospel music's more well-associated louder, boisterous display. Reminding us of a rare combination of Zomes' plaintive melodic loops and the soulful economy of Timmy Thomas, the Memphis organist and singer whose biggest hit was "Why Can't We Live Together". Johnson's skeletal organ funk has a distinct charm for being a late night religious listen, filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, and whispering soft and sweet amens in your ear.

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SORRY.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Finally back in print, everyone's favorite redneck/the south will rise again/bad taste/crime spree/joy ride through the dusty back roads of Texas with Mr. Jon Wayne riding shotgun and spouting an endless stream of obsceneties, epithets, and words of wisdom. All to the strains of out of tune, stumbling, drunken, fucked up barroom country. Depressing and absolutely hilarious. Offensive and totally essential. Brilliant and completely dumb.

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SORRY. Classic mid-century comedy recordings by bandleader Spike Jones and his outrageous orchestra, the super-wacky City Slickers. Pop music mangled in the worst way, with lots of the proto-avantgarde percussive effects for which his stuff was famous. 20 track collection, including "All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)".

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SORRY. Once you realize this amazing single is totally acapella, the title finally makes sense! Jud Jud do stunningly perfect straight-edge punk/grindcore/emo -- except that every cymbal crash, every wail of guitar feedback, every single note is done acapella! Must be heard to be believed! This is their second single. Now if only they would do a covers album...

A self-taught musician with a keen understanding of electronic circuits, F.C. Judd published the first of 11 books on the nascent field of electronic music in 1954. This was a few years before the BBC founded its Radiophonic Workshop, and documentation exists that Judd and the Workshop's Daphne Oram were in communication with each other. That said, Judd might have counted amongst the hundreds of amateur enthusiasts who tinkered in garages, basements, attics, and sheds throughout the UK (and beyond for that matter!); but his anonymity was not for a lack of trying, as he did publish those 11 books, founded the Amateur Tape Recording magazine (with a run from 1959-1967), and funded a couple of record labels, all in the pursuit of disseminating experimental tape music to a wider audience. Many of those singles did get bundled by Studio G for library use (and subsequently, one of those tracks made it onto the G-Spots compilation from the Studio G archives, curated by Trunk Records), and Judd did create the electronic sound design for the children's sci-fi puppet show Space Patrol in 1963. Judd's late '50s / early '60s studio featured various oscillators, tape decks, and filters alongside a primitive drum machine and an experimental synthesizer, both of his own design; and he rendered an eerie array of vibrations and electronic plonk, coupled with a rough-cut / hand-spun approach to tape edits and loops. Judd varied from the spookily abstract paralleling (and predating) the sound design from the Forbidden Planet and Dr. Who soundtracks; and some delightfully playful electronic poptunes looking forward to Joe Meek's gleeful electronics as The Blue Men. Interspersed throughout the electronics and tape experiments, Judd offers up his own thoughts on the tracks themselves with a dry sense of humor tossing about explanatory definitions of basic musique concrete techniques and various electronic circuits. A fantastic and compelling document of the earliest and nearly forgotten pioneers of British electronic music, to which Judd himself said it best: "Musique Concrete is fascinating!"

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One would usually never align The Beach Boys with early freak folk, but then this strange and lovely oddity suddenly emerges out of nowhere and all kinds of links can be made. Stephen John Kalinich was (and still is) a poet and songwriter who with the help of Lindsey Buckingham in a project called Zarathurstra and Thelibus cut a demo of "Leaves of Grass" inspired by the Walt Whitman poem. Moving to LA in the mid-sixties, he met the Wilson brothers and based on the strength of the demo was signed as the first artist on their newly formed Brother Records imprint. He co-wrote songs mainly with Dennis such as "Little Bird" and "Be Still" from the Friends album (one of our Beach Boys favorites) as well as songs from the recently reissued "Pacific Ocean Blue". "A World Of Peace Must Come" was to be his debut release. Recorded by Brian Wilson at Brian's house in 1969, the tapes were immediately lost and never heard from since... until now. The production is not what you might expect from Brian Wilson, instead these are beautiful lo-fi recordings of beat-like impressionistic poetry and song, backed by simple arrangements of acoustic guitars, field recordings and tablas, with bits of dialogue between Brian and Stephen interspersed. One can't help but be reminded of the Jewelled Antler collective's foresty acoustics when listening to tracks like "The Deer, The Elk, The Raven". Or the gentle spoken word psych of Bobby Brown. Like Eden Ahbez was to Nat King Cole, Kalinich was a strange visionary figure in the Wilson's lives, and this is a fascinating document of their relationship, and an interesting curio of The Beach Boys in their peak era. Now if someone would only reissue that American Spring album........

MPEG stream: The Deer, The Elk, The Raven
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For songs like "Borscht Riders In The Sky" and "Yiddish Mule Train" look no further than this compilation of the best of the one and only Mickey Katz, "The King of Klezmer Comedy," who (obviously) specialized in comedic parodies of popular tunes back in the '50s. And of course you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy these songs. You may also remember Katz as the fella that inspired trumpeter Don Byron's popular tribute album a few years ago.

Funny, before we even knew about this, we were wondering just the other day if Andy Kaufman had ever made a comedy album? Seems like every comedian in the seventies had them. Though we didn't imagine any of them to be quite like this. Kaufman was not your typical stand-up guy anyway, so his more famous bits such as, the Foreign Man (which he developed into the TV character Latke for the show Taxi), the Mighty Mouse and Elvis record player bits, and the like, wouldn't translate to a pure audio format as they had necessary visual components and punchlines. But between 1977 and 1979, he recorded 82 hours of material on a new hand held micro cassette tape recorder he bought for himself seemingly documenting bits and sketches in hopes of eventually releasing a comedy record. But this was also a time that marked a turning point in Kaufman's comedic trajectory from the wide-eyed surreal innocence of his early material, into a much darker antagonistic form of humor most noted by his abusive taunts to get women to wrestle him and the creation of his most unlikeable character, Tony Clifton, an audience abusing lounge singer that would sometimes be played by Kaufman's brother or partner in crime Bob Zmuda, as an on-going prank to suggest Kaufman and Clifton were actually separate people. So these recordings definitely showcase Kaufman's more assholic tendencies and the bits are never really "ha-ha" funny as much as they are "cringingly uncomfortable" funny. Often recording prostitutes or girlfriends after they had sex and plying them for details, for instance, or yelling at a cop for a traffic ticket he received while trying to convince his grandmother that the car was driving itself. "Andy, turn that *&*%& tape recorder off!!!!!" is heard often. There are moments where he's actually trying to make comedy bits (often introduced with an annoying narrator for some reason), like "Sleep Comedy" which is only supposed to be played for sleeping people, but there are very few of these, which tells us that he was much more interested in making people uncomfortable with the tape recorder, than he was in making them laugh. Still, for folks who like prank call tapes, the Dion MacGregor dream recordings or Judson Fountain radio dramas, this is pretty hilarious!!

MPEG stream: Andy and His Grandmother Go For A Drive
MPEG stream: Andy Loves His Tape Recorder
MPEG stream: Andy Goes To The Movies
MPEG stream: Sleep Comedy
MPEG stream: Hookers

It's ben a wild, weird and sexy ride through the strange world of sixties and seventies Japanese sonic erotica (serotica?) courtesy of the fine folks at Japan's Tiliqua label. And it isn't over yet! We were led to believe that number five, recently reviewed right here, the amazing and bizarre Girlfriend - Baby Doll by Petite M'Amie would be the last, but no, we were just resting, catching our breath, recharging as it were, and now it's time to plunge right back in... What the heck are we talking about? It's Tiliqua's Erotic Oriental Sunshine series of Japanese erotic music from the sixties and seventies chronicling the criminally under-documented sounds of Iroke Kayoyoku, a sort of loungy exotica, equal parts Les Baxter and Ennio Morricone, a bastardized version of a more popular Asian music of the time, a funky, groovy, soulful soundtrack music, but sexed up with chanteuse like crooning, and most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, very playful and silly and sexy. The first five volumes were all fantastic, fun and funny and funky and far out, and unfortunately now all out of print, discs from Japanese sexy action heroine Ike Reiko, Japanese "Play Girl" Kuwabara Yukiko, seventies bondage / S&M queen Naomi Tani, legendary porn actress Taguchi Kumi, and most recently what could quite possibly be the first Iroke disc (and thus the rarest), from sexy Lolita, Petite M'Amie, aka Mari Keiko. We also considered Keiko's contribution to the series to be the strangest by far, and while it was pretty weird, it sounds downright tame when compared to this, the latest in the series, Kokotsu/ Ecstasy by Masami Kuwahara & The Exotic Sounds, originally released in 1970, but practically forgotten and lost until now. Unlike the other titles in the series, this one is not the recording of a particular vixen, instead, it's the work of composer and arranger (and future husband of Ike Reiko, Masami Kuwahara, who was responsible for many of the Iroke recordings, including Reiko's and this one right here. A Latin, late night Tiki mamba exotica lounge jazz mash up... The opening track sets the tone, smoldering and sultry, with moaning late night muted trumpet, marimba and jungle drums, a sweaty sweltering vibe, with lots of Les Baxter like sonic filigree, while as is the style of Iroke, a lusty lady giggles and and coos, moans and groans, as if she is alternately being pleasured, tickled or spanked. In fact after a brief burst of furious congas and horns beneath the sounds of what definitely sounds like actual love making, comes the creepy third track, all fluttering flutes and tribal percussion, wherein another lady gets slapped or spanked, and squeals and squeaks appreciatively. You can even hear the man's grunts, his exertion and passion evident as he sexily slaps his woman, ummm, okay. Well, it was a different time, but that one definitely sounds more freaky than sexy, but the music, ohhh man, gorgeous flutes, and a minor key full moon marimba melody, the perfect soundtrack for a night of masochistic fun. Then the next track, things are off again, the drums wild and frenzied, the females rapid breathing and sounds of passion mirroring the intensity of the music. The whole record sort of swings back and forth, from languid late night crawls, all warm and humid and romantic, to blown out blasts of intense sexy freaked out flesh and frenzy. Might be the first record in the series that is less 'gimmick' and more music, with every track steering well clear of the sort of Lawrence Welk meets Morricone smooth jazz of the other discs in the series and offering up some seriously bad ass Latin lounge-y exotica. The final track, another of the slow sultry numbers, peters out, leaving one of the ladies to moan passionately, obviously in the throes of post coital bliss, seemingly as exhausted as we are from these nearly forty minutes of sexy sonics... Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, extra saucy nude photos of Kawahara on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese including an interview with the lady herself! ULTRA LIMITED!!! Like most of the others in this series, this one is a one time only limited pressing of only 1000 copies, and is already pretty much sold out. There's a good chance once these are gone we will be unable to get more...

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Genius or madman? Both? Neither? It's going to be tough to decide as you delve into Ecstasy (sic) To Frenzy by Rodd Keith, the second Keith release in Tzadik's "Lunatic Fringe" series. Unreleased and unknown until now, Keith's studio epic "Shome Howe Jehovason Plays" takes up the bulk of this disc. There's two versions presented, each over a half-hour in length, the second playing in reverse. It's sheer lunacy from a man best known for his for-hire song-poem compositions like "Beat Of The Traps" (which, along with the title track and "Little Rug Bug" appear here as boni, although they also were included on The American Song-Poem Anthology released last year by Bar/None, so you might already have them.) However crazed and wonderful those examples of Keith's commercial songcraft are, they won't prepare you for "Shome Howe Jehovason Plays". His "cool cat" persona flies out the window, replaced with something altogether more alien. Wandering organ and maddening Vince Guaraldi Peanuts piano meets wordless, backwards Magmoid vocal babble. If you told me this was some Fluxus piece, or an Italian avant-garde prog experiment gone wrong, I'd believe it. We're not sure what Keith was thinking back when he recorded this opus (we don't know when that was exactly, but he died in 1974), but we do find it weirdly enjoyable. Outsider art for sure, completely cracked in fact. It certainly goes to prove that Rodd Keith was the right guy to tackle all those crazy poems folks sent in to have set to music, he was obviously feeling where they came from!

MPEG stream: Shome Howe Jehovason Plays (version one)
MPEG stream: Beat Of The Traps

Soundtrack inspired by early comic strip. Wacky!

Awesome new group from the Bay Area who channel international psych of years past to create some totally engaging and undeniably fun sounds. We're lucky to have so many amazing bands and musicians in San Francisco and we're even luckier that many of them are customers of ours. So it's always cool to see what lots of our favorite music makers in town are listening to and checking out when they swing by the store. And not that we've been spying but every time Max Balaoin (one of the master minds of Khi Darag) has come into the store over the last couple years it was hard not to notice how fast he'd make a beeline to the '70s Turkish Psychedelia section, as well as always seemingly after left of center sounds from across the globe circa late '60s and '70s. With a band that features folks from groups like Rube Wadell, Rupa & The April Fishes, Charming Hostess, Lord Loves A Working Man and even the SF Mime Troupe, these extremely talented musicians have taken those international psych sounds from years past and brought in their own elements of surf rock, klezmer, and soundtracks to create music that is pretty impossible not to move to. Much like Dengue Fever they use their influences from the past with total respect and love and it comes out in the sounds that they create. They also have a bit of a suspenseful undertone to their aesthetic which makes us think this is exactly the kind of band Mike Patton or John Zorn would want playing at their wedding with a dancefloor of weirdos having the time of their life. So fun!

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It's been ages since we last heard from turntablist Kid Koala, who by now is most definitely not a kid anymore, but whose early records were huge hits around aQ, heck, he even did an instore way back when that was incredible! Those Kid Koala records were/are fantastically fun, funky collaged mash ups of unlikely pop culture ephemera, deftly juggled into beats and grooves, and easily some of the most playful hip hop / turntablism we'd ever heard. One of Kid Koala's 'trademarks', was when he would play solos on the turntables, one turntable spinning some old blues record, while he would scratch out a crazy trumpet solo on the other, transforming this classic blues sound into something warped and woozy. So it only makes sense, that he would do a whole album of blues jams, and like those moments on past records and live shows, the result is pretty amazing. The samples seemingly all classic blues tracks, but all jumbled up, looped and layered. Even the simplest grooves, stutter and shimmy, the speeds constantly changing, the pitch too, sometimes mixing in some wild hip hop scratching, but more often, subtly manipulating the music, adding extra beats, wrapping layers of bass buzz around bluesy grooves, the best moments of course where he manipulates single elements, a vocal line that suddenly gets all tangled up, a warped wild croon, blasts of chaotic drum freakout, manipulated solos, woozy and warbly, it's really exactly what you'd want an all blues hip hop DJ set to sound like, that is if you had ever actually thought of someone making a hip hop DJ blues set, but it works, and is incredible. Some of the tracks sound almost untouched, and only close listening reveals the subtle manipulations at play, others are all twisted up, some of the best moments though are the most subtle, like when things stripped way down, and slowed to a drowsy drag, infusing slo-mo blues dirges with subtle sonic flourishes, adding texture, rhythmic alterations, we almost wish the whole record had been made up of those dark moody drifts, haunting and totally gorgeous. The packaging is totally over the top, with an actual cut out turntable you can build yourself, as well as a little mini flexi disc 'battle record'!!!

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Second album from these amazing kids, students at unique program at L.A.'s Widney High School where disabled students are taught about music and helped to write and sing their own songs. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes really sad and sometimes just completely bizarre. On Mike Patton's Ipecac label.

Unlike the space-age Moog pop confections of Gershon "Perrey &" Kingsley's wonderful Music To Moog By (reviewed last list), this simultaneously reissued album was seemingly a more serious proposition, recorded at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1970. At the time, a live, four-Moog performance was considered rather astonishing. But with Robert Moog building the instruments and Kingsley training the musicians, they pulled it off. The weird-sound-effects side of the synthesizer is definitely explored, providing an appropriate backing for some rather bizarre vocal parts including readings of poetry written by kids on subjects such as "The Brain" and "War". The overall effect is kinda new-music psychedelic, and there's a drummer and bassist present so they can fully rock out on occasion. Furthermore, Kingley's Quartet doesn't neglect to switch-on some (contemporary) classics: you get covers of "Sounds of Silence" and "Eleanor Rigby", the latter getting a super groovy treatment. Pretty cool, and quite kitschy despite the classical concert-hall, high-culture setting.

MPEG stream: In The Beginning
MPEG stream: Eleanor Rigby

Reboot Stereophonic is a new label with a mission to rescue from flea-market obscurity rare recordings that take Jewish identity into some surprising musical directions. What better, then, than this for one of their first releases? God Is A Moog is a double disc compiling the religious-themed compositions of Moog maestro Gershon Kingsley, of Perrey-Kingsley and "Pop Corn" fame. File under: Exotica/New Age/Judaism. And Rock Opera. Subtitled "The Electronic Prayers Of Gershon Kingsley", this mostly features music recorded circa 1968-1974, much of it never before released. Disc one starts with a five-song suite called "Maven On The Moog", featuring cantor Harold Orbach singing Yiddish traditional folk songs accompanied by Kingsley's space-age synth. Then it gets more far-out sound-wise with "The Jewish Experience" parts 1-5. As this collection progresses, you'll also hear wise words from the Torah gravely intoned over bleepy-bloopy Moog backing, a track with a Bruce Haack-style computerized voice ("I Have A Little Brain", made on Kingley's Macintosh in 1999) as well as much in the way of over-the-top rock opera a la Hair or Godspell, which is simultaneously the best and worst stuff here, perhaps. Kingsley's Moog-laden rock opera efforts ("Shabbat For Today" and "The Fifth Cup") are to be found on the second disc, which has got the most groove and weirdness and inadvertent laffs of the two. Some of these songs are just SOOOO kitschy and, well, let's just be honest: bad. Not the music so much, but some of the lyrics and singing are really terrible (though of course very well-meant). But it's in that so bad it's good, or well not good but darn funny category. Wait 'til you hear the song about the extinct dinosaurs, or the one about the ten plagues. Maybe the word we should use isn't terrible, it's awesome. Awesomely absurd. And sincere, you've gotta give it that. Moog for Moog's sake fans might prefer disc one (and/or yearn for an instrumental version of all of this), but anyone into unfettered goofball expressions of spiritual feeling, and Vietnam-era pop-prog silliness should be quite entertained by these tracks. Complete with its interesting and informative liner notes, this whole thing is definitely a cool and unusual addition to the discography of Moog-related recordings!

MPEG stream: The Jewish Experience Part 5
MPEG stream: L'cho Adonoy
MPEG stream: 1984 - One, One Is One

'60s Moog-pop pioneer Gershon Kingsley, of Perrey and Kingsley fame, made some fab music without partner Jean-Jacques Perrey as well -- such as his hit single "Pop Corn" which you'll find on this at-long-last reissued edition of Kingsley's 1969 masterpiece, the incredibly FUN album Music To Moog By. Along with snazzy originals like "Pop Corn" and energetic album-opener "Hey, Hey", Kingsley also gives the Moog instrumental treatment to Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" and both "Nowhere Man" and "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles. He also sneaks in some Beethoven too, and takes writing credit for a manic version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"! Sometimes his Moog sounds like a church organ, other times like the whip-whip-wap of a hip hop dj's turntable. It's a frothy, hip, pop-psychedelic space age 'electronica' album all right. Released the year man landed on the moon, you can imagine it spinning on the Apollo 11 hi-fi, had the astronauts been partying up there. Wonderful stuff.

MPEG stream: Hey, Hey
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