[ aquarius records

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 1151 through 1200 of 1265.

Sixteen of the incredibly rare 7" tracks used by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist on their recent Brainfreeze performances. (It's just the tracks mind you, no mixing or scratching involved here.) This is a very strong collection. Incredible funk and raw soul and

Wow! Completely delightful soundtrack to the movie contains awesome reworkings of classic rock and roll: Edwin Starr's War performed by Bone Thugs'n'Harmony, Queen's Another One Bites the Dust remixed by Fugees' Wyclef Jean, Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield with additional vocals by Queen Latifah, The Pretenders' My City Was Gone with additional vocals by Kool Keith, Rush's Tom Sawyer remixed by AQ-fave Z-Trip, and more. It's really good!

Long out of print singles and other rarities from the now-famous Solesides crew, as Jeff Chang will tell you in the liner notes, started off spinning and mixing records in the unused other studio at UC Davis college radio station while Chang DJ'd legit in the other room. The boys (Lyrics Born, DJ Shadow, Lateef, etc) went on to form Latyrx, Blackalicious, and other outfits, are famous all over the world now, and as soon as it started to get less than fun, they dissolved the label (which now lives on as Quannum so it's all good). Contains some downright gems, including the totally out of print Shadow track from the DJ SHADOW/CHIEF XCEL Mo'Wax 12". See audioclip.

RealAudio clip: "Hardcore

Pretty damn solid compilation from the Rawkus label, intended to whet your appetite for forthcoming albums from most of the participants included here. Runs the gamut from straight up lyrical hip hop to 'slow jams' to... Zap Mama?! Yep. The entire thing is sequenced smoothly, with a coupla non-annoying skits scattered throughout. We all know how bad those clumsily put together comps can sound -- that's not the case here: Rawkus did a really great job making this thing flow. The impressive roster also includes Mos Def, Kool G Rap, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Jonell feat. Method Man, The Roots, Styles P. & Pharaohe Monch, many more. Highly recommended.

RealAudio clip: My Life
RealAudio clip: The Life

Third installment of Word Sound's notorious Subterranean Hits compilations. More fucked up hip hop than you can shake a corn dog at. If nothing else, the pre-pubescent antics of Hawd Gangkstuh Rappuh MCs Wid Ghatz track on this will have the snot running out of your nose and make you scream for more... Or less. Once again these freaks single handedly make this album worth its cost. But wait, there's more: you also get excellent tracks by Sensational, Scotty Hard, Spectre and more!

RealAudio clip: Simple Classic Elegance

Sequel to excellent first volume of Crooklyn's best...Spectre, Rob Swift, Sensational, the inimitable Hawd Gankstuh Rappuh Emsees Wid Ghatz, Prince Paul, others.

This low priced double disk set of Sugarhill Records' greats includes tracks from The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Trouble Funk, Spoonie Gee, Positive Force, Treacherous Three and more. It also comes with liner notes documenting the entire history of Sugarhill Records.

Underground hiphop comp with contributions from many of today's hipster heavy hitters: Company Flow, Aesop Rock, Buck 65, Dose One, Shingo2, Mr. Lif, Atmosphere, Aceyalone. For fans of all things Anticon, Def Jux, and underground hip hop in general.

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

SORRY. More Roc Raida (X-Men) & friends turntable tales.

Turntablists and electronica artists meet up on this new OM comp. DJs Z-Trip, J-Rocc, Disk, Craze, Curse, Apollo, Rob Swift, Vin Roc, Tomcat, and more cut up grooves by Howie B., Meat Beat Manifesto, Photek, Propellerheads, Wagon Christ, and others.

We know lots of you probably had that early years of Hip-Hop torch reignited by the recent Soul Jazz Big Apple Rappin' comp. If you're anything like us you totally loved the feel good sounds on that collection but still wanted more from that era, but maybe with a bit of a weirder edge. Which makes this two disc collection of the Celluloid label's early hip-hop roster so appealing. Celluloid was the label founded by a former co-owner of BYG, a label known and adored by most avant/free-jazz lovers. With Bill Laswell on board as one of their talent scouts they built a roster of hip-hop artists with feet and beats crossing all lines and genres. Futura 2000 hooking up with The Clash. John Lydon alongside Afrika Bambaataa. Nods to early graffiti culture, some raps in French, and beats that will make you wanna bust out your old breakdancing moves.

MPEG stream: Escapades Of Futura 2000
MPEG stream: Change The Beat
MPEG stream: Crazy Cuts

A lot of the makers of today's sweet indie-pop and a lot of the crate-digging DJs and producers of contemporary hip hop both seem to share an appreciation for the late '60s familial singing groop known as the Free Design, if this compilation is anything to go by -- featuring as it does the likes of Madlib, Super Furry Animals, Caribou, Styrofoam, Peanut Butter Wolf, Mellow, and many others (including members of Mars Volta and Belle & Sebastian) all giving props to these soft pop cult faves. A sweet tooth for this sort of stuff is universal, I guess. The Free Design's beautiful harmonies, lush orchestration, and dayglo lyrical content have lead us to describe 'em before as being like "The Carpenters on ecstasy, or a less cynical Stereolab unplugged." And guess what? One track on this tribute indeed features Stereolab teamed up with The High Llamas. Bringing together all the tracks from the three-part series of vinyl 12" remix eps released earlier this year by Light In The Attic, some of the cuts here are remixes, others are re-interpretations (covers), and some are not quite classifiable hybrids. They say Redesigns, some might say plunderings. You'll hear snippets of actual Free Design tracks, as well as bits that we don't think have anything to do with the Free Design at all (like, why does track seven consist of a sample of dialogue from the zombies-on-motorcycles movie Psychomania??). It's all over the place stylistically, from the rapping of Murs on the Danger Mouse's track to vocalist Sarah Shannon and Styrofoam's great pop-electronica version of "I Found Love" (our favorite Free Design song, by the way) to the scratch attack of Kid Koala to the psychedelia mined by Nobody...but through it all shines the sunshiney pop of the four members of the Dedrick family that made up the Free Design -- sometimes brightly, sometimes casting shadows.

MPEG stream: I Found Love
MPEG stream: An Elegy

The successful music-education-in-urban-schools benefit compilation "Funky Precedent" from a few years back has spawned a follow-up. Again it's focused on hiphop and turntablism, but Vol.2 specifically concentrates on Bay Area artists: Rasco, Live

We haven't seen the movie yet, but it looks AWESOME! Check out the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7l3okIqnCg Holy shit, kinda like the movie the Wu-Tang Clan were always meant to make, or the movie version of the best Wu-Tang jams, or something, regardless, the movie's gonna rule, and the soundtrack is pretty bad ass as well, worth it pretty much for Wu-Tang Clan and Kool G Rap's "Rivers Of Blood" with it's haunting Morricone via traditional Japanese folk music opening, RZA's spoken word and then when the track kicks in, BAM, weirdly modulated almost metal guitar crunch, super distorted horn bleats, the whole crew fiercely flowing, a killer chorus complete with fight sounds and wailing funk soul horns. The other new Wu-Tang jam "Six Directions Of Boxing" is another good one, cool old school fuzz funk samples, psychedelic organs, and again the whole Clan in fine form, the only thing missing is O.D.B., R.I.P. The rest of the soundtrack ain't too shabby either, various Wu-Tang-ers doing their own thing, teaming up with a pretty excellent selection of guests, Ghostface Killah, M.O.P and Pharoah Monche kill it, as do Raekwon, Pusha T and friends, Ghostface and Wiz Khalifa definitely deliver the hit, the brooding, melancholic "I Go Hard", a swoonsome string heavy production courtesy of the RZA, of course. And there's still plenty more good stuff, the Killa Sin jam is pretty fierce, and Kanye does his Kanye thing over a sweet RZA jam, and while there are a few tracks that aren't terrible, but we could do without (The Black Keys, Corinne Bailey Rae), dig the seriously fucked up, sinister buzz-drenched creep of RZA & Flatbush Zombies' "Just Blowin' In The Wind", which channels the horrorcore of the Gravediggaz. So good. Wanna see the movie more than ever now!

MPEG stream: Rivers Of Blood
MPEG stream: Six Directions Of Boxing
MPEG stream: Just Blowin' In The Wind
MPEG stream: I Go Hard

Hmmm... Connecticut. Known for its (I'd rather kill myself than drive through its) never-ending stretch of I-95, shitty cities and incredibly concentrated wealth. How would we have known that hip hop from CT circa '79 to '83 was so good?! Well that's where this new comp produced by Stones Throw's Egon comes in, to educate us. The old school rap jams on here are nostalgia-inducing classics even if you've never heard 'em before. One we had heard, and will forever love, is Pookey Blow's "Get Up (And Go To School)", but the selections from the likes of The Chillie 3 MCs, Rappermatical 5, Mr. Magic, Starchild and the 2nd Showdown Crew, The Outlaw Four, and others also have all the kitschy humor, casual cool, positive pride and self-assurance that makes these rare tracks just as awesome as any more famous hits of the time outta NYC. Could be considered even more so, with some sympathy points for having hailed from CT!

MPEG stream: 2001 Kazoo's
MPEG stream: Get Up (And Go To School)

Record Store Day alert! Here's a 2013 RSD release that we thankfully managed to get enough copies of to list... Please don't ask us to pronounce Theppabutr, but do ask us why this is so awesome - though the best answer is: just listen to it! International vinyl diggers, seeking out vintage grooves in far flung parts of the world, have made Molam music from Thailand into something that's now definitely a 'thing' in our world music section - we've had some other great Molam collections on the Sublime Freqencies label, for instance, so of course it's exciting to hear from 'The Man Behind The Molam Sound', Theppabutr Satirodchompu, responsible for the production work on the 17 tracks collected here from a variety of Molam artists. It's Molam of the modern variety (modern circa 1972-1975 that is, in this case), a form of electrified vocal music from Northeast Thailand that combines traditional folk melodies and ethnic instrumentation with electric guitars and electronic keyboards. Great stuff, all of it, lively and rhythmic, emotive and ear-wormy. Even though we don't understand a word, it's still immediately captivating. We love the keening singers and warbly organs, groovy beats and exotic vibes. If you haven't yet given Molam and closely related genre Luk Thung a try, this would be a great place to start. Seventies Molam like this is mighty fine stuff, up there with those 'Ethiopiques' recordings and certain Jamaican reggae of the same vintage, though we'd imagine the vocal stylings here might work for some folks and not so much for others. This limited vinyl version is a Record Store Day 2013 release - there is also a (presumably less-limited) non-RSD compact disc edition too, that we'll be stocking and will list next time, but we wanted to get this RSD vinyl listed now before they were gone! Especially since the double vinyl includes two bonus tracks not found on the cd version - as well as a 12"x14" poster, and download card for mp3s of all the tracks. Gatefold sleeve in faux woodgrain wrapper, liner notes, foldout poster inside.

MPEG stream: Siang Toey Jak Jai
MPEG stream: Sao Isan Lam Khaen
MPEG stream: Saksiam Dearn Glon
MPEG stream: Kor Hai Rak Jing

MPEG stream: Dangerous
MPEG stream: Here We Come
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This here dvd is a cool compilation from the Tino Corp. featuring videos by Ben Stokes, Davy Force!, Mission Control and Eric Koziol for tracks by DJ Shadow, Meat Beat Manifesto, Jack Dangers, D.H.S. (Dimensional Holophonic Sound), Afrunk, Davy Force!, DJ Radar, Enitokwa and Tino himself! Also includes bonus material in the form of a Tino Live segment shot at various 2000-2003 shows as well as four additional videos and more.

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

SORRY. A solid introduction for all those who have only seen the hip-hop approach to wax tricks. This covers almost every other conceivable area of turntablist sound-art from Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Merzbow, Crawling With Tarts, Erik M, Extasis, Frank Schulte, George Budd, L?K?O, Martin Tetreault, Massimo Simonini, Mood Man, PFN, Rik Rue, Takeshi Fumimoto, and Tsunoda Tsuguto.

A really nice cd version of the four vinyl Turntables by the Bay comps. This contains most but not all of the tracks from that series, along with really detailed liner notes, contact info for the DJs, etc. With tracks from star turntablists Q-Bert and other

RealAudio clip: Quest Represent
RealAudio clip: Invasion of the Octobots

FYI: This cd is subtitled "A DJ Mix Of Indie Rock And Hip Hop That's All Whirlwind Heat And Flash. By Matt Loomis And Aye Jay. Hosted By Fred Armisen Of SNL". Whoa, heat and flash... and Fred?! Who can resist that combo? If you're one of the few who require more cajoling, we can tell you that this mix disc comes from those folks who brought you the Indie Rock Connect The Dots Book as well as the Gangsta Rap Coloring Book. Here's a rundown of the artists whose material Loomis encorporated into his mash-ups. match-ups and scratch-ups: Steve Albini, Elliott Smith, Charizma, Peanut Butter Wolf, The Roots, Violent Femmes, Jeru The Damaja, Jay-Z, David Cross, Sonic Youth, Dead Prez, Pavement, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Newcleus, The Rapture, Christopher Walken, !!!, Sir Mix A Lot, Har Mar Superstar, Beat Happening, Modest Mouse, DJ Shadow, Flaming Lips, Fog and MF Doom. As you can see music worlds collide in this mix -- the indie hipsters and the hiphopsters. Many of the combos here may be more cause for head scratchin' than vinyl scratchin'! Seven tracks plus a not so "hidden" track for only six buckeroos. Nice.

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Having greatly enjoyed the Rapid Transit compilation and the full length releases from While, Sluta Leta and Push Button Objects, I rejoiced at the sight of a new Chocolate Industries label compilation. Alas, while I know there are folks out there who'll like this, I have to admit it's not doing much for me. There are standout pieces from adventurous hip hoppers such as El-P and RJD2, Aesop Rock, Mos Def & Diverse, Aesop Rock, Souls of Mischief, and especially the mysterious, excellent Themselves, who cackle their verses in a way that must be heard to be believed. But the pieces in between these tracks are basically electronica filler, especially Prefuse-73's bland, jazzy groove that sounds like the trendy sort of mood music your local Urban Outfitters likes to play. Other disappointments include a Tortoise throwaway and stuff from Miho Hatori (Gorillaz, Cibo Matto), DJ Food, etc. Sigh. Get this for the smart hip hop (there's certainly enough here to make it worth it) and program out the stuff in between.

RealAudio clip: True Confessions
RealAudio clip: Thisboutthecitytoo
RealAudio clip: C.T.A.

Hard to believe it's been five years since Mark Herlihy and Mark Wasserman started the now-legendary Future Primitive Soundsession series, the good time turntablist and DJ parties that basically catapulted the West Coast DJ breakbeat scene to international stature. The parties are, of course, still happening, and this cd, the fifth in the Future Primitive Recordings series, winningly replicates the feel-good bright 'n upbeat nature of the parties themselves. Good job! Features everyone from the amazing Z-Trip to Rob Swift, DJ Disk, Romanowski, Faust and Shortee, plus a short segment from the infamous 7-11 Slurpee set of all 45s performed by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. If you've never heard the fabulous Z-Trip/Radar and Cut Chemist/Shortkut Future Primitive discs, get those too.

With this new release, local underground hiphop/turntablist label Hip Hop Slam goes to war -- against the war, that is. Subtitled Emcee Dubya vs. DJs of Mass Destruction, this anti-war comp takes a plunderphonic approach at the expense of our respected (ha) President and his invasion of Iraq. Contributors include Public Enemy (with a mix of their track "Son of a Bush"), Cat Five, Mr. Lif, Shingo2, Tino Corp, Azeem, and many others, some (like DJ Saddam and DJ Sars) with explictly topical monikers. There's even the inclusion of a track by Steinski & Mass Media, the pioneer of the "political cut-and-paste" electronic music genre whose work inspired so many of these folks. This kind of audio activism can only be applauded, getting out the message that not all Americans are so gung-ho on the Bush regime's program. Bring the noise, fight the power, c'mon. Proceeds from the sale of this not-for-profit project benefit a variety of peace orgs.

MPEG stream: Happy Ramadan Osama bin Laden
MPEG stream: Dubya (Commander In Chief)

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

SORRY.

Though from the cover this looks like it's a Saddam Hussein album (he wrote novels, he probably recorded albums too), it's actually a Iraq/Al Qaeda themed compliation from of all-instrumental destruction and dubbed-out devastation from the WordSound crew: there's tracks from Sensational, Mentol Nomad, DJ Klos, and a whole entire SIDE from AQ-fave Spectre. Track titles include "Saddam's Stargate", "Dirty Bomb", "Shock & Awe" and "So Damn Insane". Vinyl-only. We won't have these for long, so please nobody tell the UN inspectors!

Fifteen exclusive tracks from the hip hop underground from Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Truth Enola & De La Soul, L Swift, Pharaohe Monch, Mr. Complex, J Live, Big Kwam, Invisible Mics, and more!

Their second compilation of rare tracks, remixes, b-sides and collaborative efforts and it's actually pretty great. Lots of tracks let some lower tier Wu Tang-ers get to show their stuff as well as a bunch of strange pairings with folks like Jon Spencer, DJ Spooky, and Gang Starr, Redman, D'Angelo.

Okay, I totally lamed out and forgot to go see this movie, argh! Judging from the soundtrack, the film (a feature documentary about scratching) must be amazing, although I'm not sure if any of the tracks here were actually in it -- this album is billed as I find some of the purely turntablist albums a bit much to take in one sitting, and so might you, but this album is so well put together, perfectly sequenced, and refreshingly varied in terms of DJ scratching styles, that I really enjoyed the listen. If you've never bought a turntablist record before, this is a great place to start. And people who've already got turntablist wax in their collections should give it a go too. Recommended. RealAudio clip: HERBIE HANCOCK, WITH MIXMASTER MIKE, GRANDMASTER DXT, ROB SWIFT, QBERT, BABU, FAUST & SHORTEE "Rockit 2.002" [/audio/scratchherbiehancock.rm]

RealAudio clip: Turntable Transformer

I have to say as the resident hip hop head around these parts, I have been less than impressed with MF Doom in any of his incarnations since his Zev Love X days in the godlike KMD. I know to most of you this will seem like some serious blasphemy, but KMD was a tough act to follow, and all the post-KMD records had elements of genius definitely, but still just sort of missed the mark. MF Doom, MF Grimm, King Geedorah all sounded great, but just didn't connect the way they could have. Happy to report that MF Doom's Viktor Vaughn connects in a big way. Deep and dark, and dense. Funky and funny. Hard and brutal and venomous. Creepy minor key loops over simple funky beats, smoothed out soulful hip hop joints, loping funked up crunch, weirdly glitchy skitter, and VV's wickedly biting flow, smooth and nimble, clever and raw.

MPEG stream: Vaudeville Villain
MPEG stream: Raedawn

Joint number two from the venomous villain Viktor Vaughn, aka MF Doom, King Geedorah, and way back when, Zev Love X from the legendary KMD. Of all the different incarantions, his Viktor Vaughn persona is easily the most effective, both lyrically AND musically. A dark and delirious ride through some weird sepia toned musical Metropolis, a sonic comic book land where Viktor Vaughn rules with an iron mic, from his island hideout, where he spits rhymes packed with head scratching non-sequiters and ultra clever turns of phrase delivered in a slurry, super relaxed drawl over some of the most weirdly original hip hop scapes ever. Damaged ambience woven from stuttery samples of old movie clips, shimmering strings, blues guitar licks, skipping records, fuzzy synths, dramatically soaring string sections, distant drones, hiccupping horns, head nodding loops, all over stuttering, almost un-funky, glitched out beats. At its root, this is a classic hip hop record, but VV (or one of his evil musical henchmen) is obviously into all sorts of avant abstract music, as every element of this record is slightly skewed and beautifully damaged, whether it be through super experimental production, unlikely beats more minimal techno than old skool hip hop, or dizzyingly plunderphonic soundscapes. Kool Keith guests on one track too!

MPEG stream: Back End
MPEG stream: Doper Skiller feat. Kool Keith

We weren't at all sure what to expect from this, the debut from a punk rocker turned Madlib acolyte, with a handful of lo-tech gear, a drum machine and a sampler, although he apparently has a live band, but just check out that first sample below, it's like Portishead crossed with This Heat, but with a weird sort of post punk vibe, the lurching looped rhythm, the woozy groove, those echo drenched laid back vox, everything hazy and blurry, the song peppered with some mysterious industrial clatter and hiss, as if this was some sort of surreptitious jam happening at some subterranean construction site, it's pretty insanely appealing, and although influenced by and rooted in hip hop, the vibe is way more punk. The rest of the tracks too, it's as if he was trying to make a punk record but decided to do it usually just a sampler and a drum machine, which is pretty much what he did, but the results are pretty bad ass, the songs simple, most with just two parts, slipping from verse to chorus to verse again, but it gives the tracks a sort of minimal repetitive trancelike quality, a sort of Velvet Underground feel, albeit rendered in crunchy distorted guitars and looped breakbeats. Some of the tracks even sound all cold wave-y, with deep dramatic vox over pounding Teutonic beats and wrapped in clouds of noise and skree. "Crash Course" almost sounds like it could be a 7" on Wierd or Sacred Bones, or even some unearthed eighties dancepunk jam reissued on Dark Entries. Killer stuff, really hope there's a full length on the horizon, cuz we're spinning this ep to death!

MPEG stream: Sacrifice
MPEG stream: Man With A Plan

Boy do we love Grime!! But we're getting a bit frustrated at the relative dearth of grime stateside. We can only listen to our Dizzee Rascal and Wiley records so many times. Plus to be honest, as much as we dig those, we're sort of hankering for something a little more, well, you know, grime-y! Overseas, you got Kano, Lethal Bizzle, Lady Sovereign, More Fire Crew and loads more but it's taken forever for any of their records to make it over here. But in the meantime, we've got the debut from the Virus Syndicate, courtesy of Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label. And it's a corker. The thing with grime is, well, it's sort of like drum and bass, you just gotta love the sound. We can't get enough of the super distorted classic ragga drum and bass. So much so that we could listen to that shit forever. And we're beginning to feel the same way about grime. It's sort of like hip hop sure, but the rhythm is this super repetitive, slurry, stuttering beat, a very clumsy funk, over and over, every song has the same general head nodding shuffle, with grimy fuzz synth bass lines, and then maddening, tongue twisting flow over the whole thing. Virus Syndicate take that formula and give it their own twist. Big fat beats, throbbing and hiccuping, haunting stabs of operatic vocals, fuzzed out synths, burbling booming system bass, all rocking that instantly recognizable grime rhythm, while the Syndicate spit bizarre marble mouthed rhymes, talking trash, a wildly confusional flow, catchy and soulful, occasionally slipping into some almost Jamaican style toasting. So fucking awesome. Also boasts some truly and brilliantly atrocious cover art (continued inside the cd booklet with a Virus Syndicate comic!).

MPEG stream: Slow Down
MPEG stream: Major List MCs

MPEG stream: Break 'Em Off
MPEG stream: Everybody Know Me
MPEG stream: Get Your Paper

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

SORRY. A subsidiary of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz Dirt Style imprint, this is beats and breaks for DJs only.

Bill Withers ("Ain't No Sunshine") is the cover star on this latest installment of Wax Poetics, the magazine of hip-hop, jazz, funk, & soul for those of us who appreciate all that good old music (and how it factors in to all the cool new stuff we're hearing). The art and design of how that music was packaged back in the day is also celebrated by Wax Poetics, with tons of vintage photos and album graphics reproduced. Besides the cover story on Bill Withers, stuff in this issue ranges from a colorfully-illustrated article about Blaxploitation cinema lobby cards to an interview with Cut Chemist to a look back at Herbie Mann's career to a really cool feature on "mom's record collection" -- a bunch of well known producers like Peanut Butter Wolf, Hank Shocklee, and Prince Paul, talking about the records they heard their mothers playing when they were kids! Always a good read, and visually appealing as well.

Bobby Byrd, Devin the Dude, Barrington Levy, the Osaka Monaurail, a look back at Kurtis Blow's 1979 single "Christmas Rappin'" (not just a novelty, but a historical milestone)... All that and more is to be found in the 138 colorful pages of this new issue of the wonderful Wax Poetics, essential reading material for all fans of cool old (and new) hiphop, jazz, funk and soul!

Sly Stone makes the cover (did he really have to wait 'til issue 32?), and inside there's the usual profusely and colorfully photo-illustrated, deep-digging stuff about the likes of Jean Grae, Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince, Jimmy Cliff, Large Professor, Houston rappers HSID, and even South Korean B-boys! Among other things. In case you didn't know already, or figure it out from that run-down, Wax Poetics is THE magazine of cool hiphop/soul/funk/reggae/jazz hipness old and new, for vinyl fetishists and general groove-hounds, and as usual this issue is a must-read if you're at all into that stuff, and why the heck wouldn't you be?!

Yo, it's the "Philly Issue". Soul masters Gamble & Huff on the cover. ?uestlove from the Roots. Radio DJ Sonny Hopson. Vibraphonist Vincent Montana Jr., and the whole Philly jazz scene back in the day. The Stylistics. And plenty more!! (But wait, where's Schooly D?) As usual, this magazine of all things groovy (jazz, funk, hiphop, soul, disco...) and worth diggin' delves deep with extensive interviews and colorful pictures.

It's the special "Africa" issue of this rad journal devoted to jazz, funk, soul, and hiphop grooves past and present. Hence, Fela Kuti on the cover. Inside, you'll also find pieces on Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, Pax Nicholas, Rail Band, Orchestra Baobab, Tony Allen, and plenty more. As always, the magazine is packed with colorful photos of vintage record sleeves, and plenty of enthused writing about the music from other knowledgeable musicians/DJs/collectors...

Special RnB issue. 2 different covers, Barry White or Gil Scott-Heron. Back covers too, D'Angelo or Erykah Badu. Inside, all those folks, plus plenty more, including "An Oral History Of The Wah-Wah Pedal".

The colorful magazine covering all the rad sides of soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop and beyond is back with another classy issue. This time out War and Syl Johnson each get one of the covers. Inside tons of awesome stuff including features on The Budos Band, DJ Muggs, Melvin Davis, Claus Ogerman, Johnny Colon, and Al Kooper. As well as awesome articles on the minimoog, photographer Lyle Owerko's obsession with boomboxes, and our always favorite "re: discovery" section where the best rare groove albums get the page & attention they so totally deserve. As always another smoking issue of Wax Poetics!

More good readin'. And lookin'. At pictures. It's another thick (112 page) issue of this soul, funk, jazz, hiphop, anything groovy goes magazine, packed with vintage color and b&w photos and album art to make collectors drool. This issue: pieces on Earth Wind & Fire, Ramsey Lewis, Bobby Womack, Lamont Dozier, Solomon Burke, Billy Ocean, Dennis Coffey, and more.

[ aquarius records — Hiphop ]