Subtitled: "The Sounds Of Blaxploitation". A compilation of thirteen funky tracks from (or, perhaps just "inspired by") classic '70s Blaxploitation flicks, a sure-fire seller if we've ever seen one. Actually, this disc is apparently a soundtrack itself, 'cause 'BaadAssssss Cinema' is in fact a new documentary about the genre -- we'll be interested to see it.
Here's the line-up: James Brown "People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul", Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes "Expansions", Roy Ayers "Coffy Is The Color", Curtis Mayfield "Pusherman", Graham Central Station "We Be's Gettin' Down", Isaac Hayes "Main Title 'Truck Turner'", Edwin Starr "Big Papa", WAR "Nappy Head (Theme From 'Ghetto Man')", William De Vaughn "Be Thankful For What You Got", B.T. Express "Express", The Blackbyrds "Cornbread", Gil Scott-Heron "The Bottle", and of course Earth Wind & Fire "Sweetback's Theme" ('cause they get documentary's title, and spelling, from Melvin Van Peeble's pioneering Blaxploitation film 'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song' -- one that's not really an exploitation film at all, but rather something much more radical than what the genre it spawned later became). Not a weak cut in the bunch. "Pusherman" (from Superfly) and some others will doubtless already be familiar, but others are a tad more obscure, making for a decent car-driving or party comp indeed.
Compilation of non-Morricone Italian soundtrack stuff that also rules. Composers include Bruno Nicolai, Francesco De Masi, Lallo Gori, others. Lp is 180-gram.
The soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film "O Brother Where Art Thou" was recorded before even a single frame of film was shot, so it really is a film that exists as (as Joel Coen puts it), "a valentine to the music." The brothers enlisted the help of T Bone Burnett and Gillian Welch to compile old recordings and also lots of new material recorded specially for the film. Includes the talents of bluegrass sweetheart Alison Kraus, Emmylou Harris, the Stanley Bros, the Fairfield Four, the Cox Family, etc. Yes, the songs that the band in the film (George Clooney, etc) performs are also here, and they ain't half bad. If you want a fine collection of old timey, bluegrass, and country music, go for it. (Also do get this if, like me, you're an Alison Kraus fan, as her rendition of "Down to the River to Pray" is sublime.)
This is the soundtrack/companion to AQ pal Jamie Metzger's brilliant song poem documentary Off The Charts just released on DVD and reviewed elsewhere on this list. The movie, in case you missed it or haven't checked out the review yet is funny, sad, poignant and amazing. So good. This compilation follows suit, compiling many song poem classics as well as tons of our favorites. This is definitely the best song poem compilation yet! For those of you who are new to song poems, there is a whole industry of musicians (and shysters of course) that would set your poem to music for a couple hundred bucks. Often promising fame and fortune. Well, listening to the results it's obvious why fame and fortune eluded most of these folks, but that doesn't mean these songs aren't brilliant, because they are definitely some of the weirdest most amazing songs we've ever heard. From the surreal sixties exotica of Human Breakdown Of Absurdity, to the eighties tinged bizarre tale of...well, um "Non-Violent Taekwando Troopers", to the all time classic "Blind Man's Penis", to the "best song ever" (as Andee and Allan like to call it) "Jimmy Carter Says Yes!" This stuff is just so totally remarkable and satisfying and absolutely genius! The best song-poem compilation yet.
Aaah, the wonder of advertising jingles! Cleverly, insidiously hooking the consumer through the ear. Love 'em or hate 'em, we've all caught ourselves pleasantly humming a tune only to realize it's for some junk food we'd never ever lay a hand on. Pizza on a
The subtitle says: "rare tracks from the best Italian '70s crime movie soundtracks". A *great* collection of music from these flicks, with lots of previously unreleased or unreleased on cd stuff by soundtrack composers Cipriani, Vasile, Bixio, and of
It seems there's a "Rough Guide" for practically every kind of music from every inch of the world. Sort of like those "Idiot's Guide To..." or "... For Dummies" books which I have to admit are pretty darn helpful and informative, if somewhat insultingly titled. Luckily this compilation series isn't as unfortunately named, but is however less in depth and fulfilling. Certainly it's doesn't proclaim to be more than just an introductory tutorial, but although key figures are included like Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan and Mohammed Rafi, it really barely skims the surface of this amazing genre. So if you're just looking for a basic sampler history lesson in Indian film music, this might do ya fine, but for those looking to delve a little deeper, don't wait another moment to check out the following titles: Doob Doob O'Rama Volumes 1 and 2, Vijaya Anand's Dance Raja Dance, Bollywood Funk, and The Best Of Asha Bhosle. Although these titles focus a lot more on the "golden age" of Bollywood than the more recent decades, they're much more thorough collections.
Wait a minute, it's subtitled "Alternative Rock for Cartoon Lovers: Make It a Part of Your Unbalanced Breakfast." And they want to *sell* records with that? I don't know. The only worthwhile piece on it, IMHO, is the Butthole's doing "Underdog," but whatever. I read all the Nancy Drew and Anne Of Green Gables books instead of watching cartoons and now must bravely face the holes in my popcult education. Other pieces people've been oohing & aahing over include Liz Phair (with Material Issue!) doing the Banana Splits theme, Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donnelly (Belly) covering "Josie & the Pussycats."
It had to happen -- but too bad Atlantic felt the need to slap a cease-and-desist order on the indie label (can't recall its name) that had the idea first -- nonetheless this is a surprisingly good compilation, notable mostly for the Deluxx Folk Implosion's impersonation of a very whinyass Bill ("Yeah and *then* I hafta *hope* they make me into a *Law*") and Chavez! Yup, never thought I'd say that about Chavez but there you are: they contribute the liveliest, most creative track on the album, reminds us of "A Day in the Life."
Don't know if you had a chance to see this documentary about Scott Walker, but we highly recommend it! It has so much awesome footage of the Walker Brothers, his early and later solo career, plus it features the recluse himself, opening up about his long, varied, and eccentric life as he was prepping his last record, The Drift! This is not so much the soundtrack to the documentary as it's a companion tribute record to the enigmatic pop genius (at least we don't remember hearing these cover versions in the film!). On the surface, this can seem kind of bad, but it's actually much better than we thought, though definitely not as good as the originals, but then again, how could they be? There's an interesting mix of folks on here, a few that are new to us (Bee and Flower, Sally Norvell) but also ones that we like a lot such as Damon and Naomi, Saint Etienne, Dot Alison, Laurie Anderson, Ulrich Schnauss, Jarboe, and Peter Broderick. Though it gravitates towards lighter interpretations than we would have preferred, (only Jarboe attempts any song from the Drift) we have a feeling this was meant as an entry point for folks unfamiliar with Walker's wide ranging and sometimes difficult body of work.
Attention all fans of cheesy camp, kitsch, martial arts, blaxploitation, etc! Here's a humungous collection of movie trailers and music tracks from B-movies such as Thunderfist, Naughty Stewardesses, Black Gunn, The Gay Deceivers, Human Tornado, Fists Of Fury, Bare Knuckles, Switchblade Sister and oh yes, lest we forget... The Bummer! Music mostly takes a backseat to the highly entertaining announcements, and also despite the potency of the title, the saucy cover art (nude women with nipples blacked out by stars) and the proclamation on the traycard that this is "The Sexiest, Sleaziest & Most Soulful Motion Picture Collection Ever" and "Adults Only Erotic Soul", we should note that it's all pretty tame by today's standards... yet no less fun! A walloping forty-one tracks in all.
We've seen a lot of trippy, groovy compilations of soundtrack music from '60s and '70s Italian and German thriller and romance flicks, but now Crippled Dick provides a look at the world of French cinema orchestrations, and it's as sexy and swinging as you'd imagine. The booket provides notes on each track and full-color poster art, etc. There's many a lush, psychedelic, funky gem to be found on this disc! Nice. The cd has three extra tracks not on the vinyl.
FYI: if you *don't* like naked ladies, you'll want to avoid perusal of this disc's booklet, which mostly consists of vintage full-color cheesecake shots of a bevy of well-endowed "soul sisters". But don't let that put you off... just forget for one second that this cd is billed as a collection of '70s African-American porno flick soundtracks. For one thing, it sure doesn't sound like the typical "boogie nights" retro-porn soundtrack. No cheesy throbbing synths or disco beats. No orgiastic moans even! Instead, what you get here is avant-groove jazz funk of an almost experimental, freeform nature. The vibe can be lively but not "sleazy"... bad-ass though. Very funky and full of nasty geetar and jamming Hammond organ.
To tell the truth, there's so very little documentation presented here that we can't say we're 100 percent convinced that this is what it says it is, instead of something perhaps made by some clever musicans today creating replica vintage avant-funk soundtrack for imaginary x-rated flicks... though we should stress have no evidence of that at all, and we'd be mighty impressed if that was the case. Supposedly these tapes were recently found in a studio in Oakland, where the recordings we're told took place circa 1972-75, and the musicans that get credited here were, it seems, operating under pseudonyms (for obvious reasons perhaps). The films are alluded to only in the track titles, but who knows if those cited are real (anyone seen "Chocolate Cherry"?). There's no dialogue or sound effects or anything, since this is the original, raw soundtrack music only, what later was to be utilized perhaps in edited form in the finished film. Puzzling. But no matter, this stuff IS great!
There's the aforementioned avant-funk that surely fits into the '70s blaxploitation aesthetic, but this funk is full of sizzling feedbacking guitar that is hard to square with scenes of, um, lovemaking. But actually a lot of this is in more of an introspective mood that the wah-funk stereotype. More laidback that about getting laid. A long portion of track five ("Music From 'Copper Cuties'") consists of variations on a pensively repeating, gentle piano figure, generating a mood far from you might expect to be "exposed" to in an ostensibly X-rated flick. And only the last track "Jam Back At The House" has vocals, they go with that cut's smokey groove but do serve to break the almost mysterious feel set by the preceeding tracks a little. Overall, this is way more amazing than we ever thought it would be. What we though might be kitschy and/or kookily amusing turned out to be downright fresh and intriguing.
Miles Davis had a track on his album Get Up With It entitled "Rated X" -- maybe he'd been checking out the cinema and was inspired by one of the films that used music like this? Definitely this comes close to what we'd imagine would be how that "big freak" would have scored a porno soundtrack!!
So, this is one for fans of those Deep Note porno soundtrack comps and maybe moreso for folks who simply dig weird and wonderful jazz/funk obscurities, which would seem to be a lot of people who hear it (and then buy it) when we've been playing it in the store!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Totally cool remixes from the likes of Doctor Rockit, Dr. Israel, Alec Empire, Witchman, Two Lone Swordsmen, DJ Wally, Spectre, etc. Sideburn is a subsidiary of Crippled Dick Hot Wax, and boy do those guys have good taste in electronic music.
As is stated on the back of this cd, this compilation features "original works and modern treatments of legendary recordings performed by today's top artists" for the video game Stubbs The Zombie.
Totally retro, totally future, totally now! Not that this collection isn't chockful of pop goodies, but noticeably absent are a few formerly omnipresent, like-minded compilation stalwarts Man Or Astro-man?, Apples In Stereo or They Might Be Giants. Participants include The Flaming Lips, The Raveonettes, The Walkmen, Ben Kweller, Cake, Phantom Planet, and Death Cab For Cutie. In the zombie spirit of bringing something back to life, these artists attempt to breathe new life into these vintage (albeit far from lifeless) songs. Some stick pretty close to the originals, while others venture out into their own (outer)space. The former is exemplified by Ben Gibbard and Co.'s cover of "Earth Angel". Anticipated to be one of the highlights, it's definitely pleasant, but surprisingly by-the-books. Ah well, if you're seeking the latter, you'll definitely find it on many of the others. Really, by the time we reached Rogue Wave's dreamy cover of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" we noted that the songs were more juicily infused with the artists' own personal touches. Highly entertaining!
The lowdown on this disc is pretty simple: it's a collection of original radio spots for over fifty different classic (and not-so-classic) '70s blaxploitation flicks. Pretty much all of 'em feature a smooth-talking baritone dude talking up the movie's titular hero or heroine backed by snippets of dialogue, machine gun fire, and all kinds of scorching funk/soul soundtrack music. It actually sounds like the same guy doing the voiceover on about 90 percent of these! You get promo clips for the likes of Black Caesar, Trouble Man, J.D.'s Revenge, Truck Turner, Blacula, Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde, Ghetto Freaks, Sheeba Baby, Black Belt Jones, Trick Baby, Slaughter's Big Rip Off, Shaft, Coffy, The Mack, etc., etc.
Rudy Ray Moore's "Human Tornado" rap is certainly a highlight, though all the teasers about mean super-chicks and jive hustlers are pretty entertaining -- for sure they'll get you running to your local video store hoping their blaxploitation section (if they've got one) is well-stocked. Kitschy and way over-the-top. Here are a few examples:
"She's six foot two inches of black beauty. She handles a car like a gun. She handles a gun like a man. And she handles a man like like Cleopatra. Cleopatra Jones!"
"Coffy. The baddest one chick hit squad that ever hit town... Coffy. She's got a body men would die for. And lately, a lot of them have."
"He drives the most expensive car because second best never enters his mind. He'll bet a hundred thousand dollars on the turn of a card because he don't believe in losing. And he's about to take on a small army with TNT -- he means, 'taint nothin' to it. [explosion] There's only one stud who could rip off New York, ruin Rome and stay alive to run a number in Africa. That Superfly dude is back, black, and beautiful."
On cd and vinyl (cool for the djs!).
On this double cd you'll find the scores to six *entire* classic WB cartoons (including "What's Opera, Doc?"), in addition to tracks taken from hundreds of others. Every imaginable genre is represented: 19th century art songs, nationalistic tunes from the
Another Finders Keepers / B-Music treat here, folks! A collection of kooky, creepy, very cool music from the films (many of them about vampires, and many of THOSE about sexy lesbian vampires!) by French underground auteur Jean Rollin, circa 1968-1979. The late Rollin has been proclaimed the "father of European Horrortica". On the freaky fringes of free jazz and psych rock, the tracks found here are the perfect accompaniment to the director's sexy, surreal cinematic phantasmagorias. And unless we're much mistaken, we recognize one of the tracks here, Acanthus' theme to "Le Frisson Des Vampires", as having been surreptitiously covered in heavier fashion by drugged-out doomlords (and horrotica fans) Electric Wizard on their Witchcult Today album!
Another one of note is Pierre Raph's aptly-titled "Gilda & Gunshots", a track of consisting of excited percussion, jazzy bass and pretty trumpet, overlaid with whipcrack-like gun shots, girlish whimpers and cries. It could almost be some noir-jazz experiment by the Boredoms. What the heck was happening in the film scene this scored, we don't know...
We could go on describing this track by track, but there are 31 cuts in all on this disc! With great titles like "Abstract Procession", "Bizarre Cult 2", "Crotch Batterie", "Crimson Gates", and "Violent Library", these vary widely and weirdly, encompassing spooky theremin-like tones, chamber music drones, somber choirs, flute-laced grooves, melodic reveries, arrhythmic interludes, all sorts of stuff. It's a real cornucopia of suspenseful strangeness and freeform avant-rockin'. Composers/performers responsible include the aforementioned Acanthus and Pierre Raph, along with many more by Phillipe D'Aram, Yvon Gerault, Francois Tusques and others. Much of this is previously unreleased. And of course Finders Keepers provides plentiful, fully illustrated liner notes in the cd booklet.
By the way, we also have a couple copies each of the soundtracks to Rollin's films Requiem Por Un Vampire (1972, composed by Pierre Raph) and Fascination (1979, Phillipe D'Aram) on import 10" vinyl, reissued by Finders Keepers as well (key tracks from which appear on this cd collection, naturally).
Music from '60s German thriller cinema based on the books of Edgar Wallace. Peter Thomas is on here, and others of his swingin' ilk.
Ecstasy Of Gold, besides being the name of an iconic Ennio Morricone track from the legendary Italian Western, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, is also the name of this incredible series of compilations, five volumes in all, this being part two, collecting classic and rare tracks from Italian Westerns. Sure, Morricone is probably the most well known, but like on the first volume, you'll find more amazing music here from some of the lesser known composers, some we knew and already love, like Bruno Nicolai Francesco De Masi, Alessandro Alessandroni, Riz Ortolani, Piero Umiliani, but plenty of unknown to us before now: Stelvio Cipriani, Vasco Vassil Kojucharov, Carlos Pes, Nico Fidenco, Marcello Giambini, Armando Sciascia, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis and loads more. But really, you don't need to know the names to dig this stuff. It's wild and psychedelic, twangy and atmospheric, all dramatic vocals, dusky guitars, exotic percussion, fluttering woodwinds, mariachi horns, groovy wah wah fuzzguitar, orchestral swells, playful xylophones, jawharp, loads of sound effects, explosions and gunshots, even some futuristic sound electronics, and yeah, of course, even some whistling. Haunting and cinematic one second, dark and brooding the next, slipping easily from jazzy and jaunty, to strident and tense, some tracks lush and orchestral, others fuzzy and psychedelic, and others ambient and atmospheric, we're digging this as much as the first volume, and like that one, it's got us wanting to track down more music from all of these folks, as well as a hankering to check out some of these films...
LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!! Like the first volume, housed in a super swank eye popping gatefold jacket adorned with more classic images from Italian Westerns, film stills, poster art and more.
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"Ecstasy Of Gold" is one of THEE most iconic songs from perhaps the most famous Italian western ever, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, and was written by none other than Ennio Morricone. And it's pretty much everything you want in a song like that, booming percussion, haunting melodies, reverby twang, galloping rhythms, swirling strings, horns, gorgeous almost operatic vocals, the sound epic and majestic and so dramatic. The only thing missing is that whistling we've come to associate with Italian Westerns (and Morricone in particular), and while Morricone might be the best known of the many composers who scored classic seventies Italian Westerns, there are plenty of others who were making music just as compelling. So while this compilation is in fact named for a Morricone track, you won't find any Morricone here, instead, a bunch of lesser known composers, some we were familiar with: Bruno Nicolai, Francesco De Masi, Alessandro Alessandroni, Piero Umiliani, while others not so much: Gianni Ferrio,, Marcello Giombini, Luis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Nora Orlandi, Nico Fidenco, but well know or obscure, the sounds here will be instantly recognizable to fans of Italian spaghetti westerns, fuzzed out surf guitar, sinister laughter, plenty of twang, woozy psychedelic exotica, tolling bells, deep dramatic vocals, mournful trumpets, acoustic guitars, barroom piano, rattlesnake percussion, hazy spectral female vocals, swirling strings, whirring organs, and yeah, some whistling of course, plus plenty of strange sound effects, like guns being fired, plus snippets of dialogue, all woven into that dusky, twangy classic Italian western sound, that will hopefully have you searching out more from some (or all) of the composers here, and heading down to your local video store to rent some of the crazy amazing flicks these tracks come from.
LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!!! Packaged in a super swank gatefold with awesome images from classic Italian Westerns, stills from films, and paintings from movie posters. So cool!
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Here's volume three in the five part Ecstasy Of Gold series of lps collecting some of the best, and lesser known, tracks from Italian Westerns. As many of you probably already know, the title comes from an Ennio Morricone track, and Morricone is no doubt the godfather of Italian Western soundtracks, but there are so many other incredible composers and musicians responsible for some of the most iconic movie music of that era. Lots of the folks represented on the first two volumes show up here too, with different tracks, there are again, plenty of big time aQ faves: Bruno Nicolai, Piero Umiliani, Francesco De Masi, Lallo Gori, Alessandro Alessandroni, some of which we already knew, but NOT for their Italian Western soundtracks! Plus again, lots of new names, folks we hadn't heard before this series: Luis Bacalov, Nora Orlandi, Michele Lacerenza, Angelo Lavagnino, Robby Poiteven and a bunch more. And again, all of the fantastic variations of Italian movie music are represented here, fluttering flute, fuzzed out psych guitar, deep dramatic vocals, lots of twang and galloping rhythms, moody ambience, soaring orchestral arrangements, Flamenco guitars, wild drumming, whirring organs, strings galore, mournful trumpets, harmonica galore, tolling bells, martial snares, plenty of sound effects and so much more. Like the other comps, this just makes us want more more more. More music from all these artists, another installment in the series, and most of all, we wanna do nothing but watch crazy Italian Westerns!!!!!!!
Like the first two volumes (which are already out of print), this is LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!! And housed in a super swank eye popping gatefold jacket adorned with classic images from Italian Westerns, film stills, poster art and more. The gatefold image in particular is super striking, a bloody woman draped over what we can only assume is a dead man, sprawled in the dirt, in some dusty village, so crazy looking it has us wanting to track down whatever movie it's from!
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Hot on the heels of the third volume, comes number 4, the second to last installment in this amazing 5 volume series collecting some of the most essential Italian Spaghetti Western soundtrack music, and at this point, we're not sure what else to say without repeating ourselves. Fans of the first three, we're guessing you'll probably want this one too. But for those who are only discovering this series now, odds are everybody knows Ennio Morricone, and his iconic Italian Western soundtracks (in fact the title of the series is a Morricone tune!), and while he may be the most famous, he was far from the only one, folks like Bruno Nicolai, Gianni Ferrio, Francesco De Masi, Marcello Giombini, Luis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi, Nico Fidenco, Piero Umiliani and lots more (all represented here), were making equally stunning music for these amazing films. And here (and on previous volumes), you can get a taste of what they were whipping up: deep dramatic crooned vocals, swoonsome strings, lots of dusky twang, fluttery flutes, wild percussion, wheezing organs, some tracks jazzy and progged out, rife with wah and fuzz guitars, others brooding and minimal, haunting and balladic, and still others, sun baked and dusty, Mariachi trumpets over steel string strum, lots of sound effects too, super varied, and in places super psychedelic, this might be the weirdest and most varied of the bunch, and thus is as essential as the first three for sure - if not even more so!
Like the previous volumes, part 4 comes housed in a full color gatefold sleeve, adorned with various images from classic Italian Westerns as well as artwork from classic Spaghetti Western posters, and again, LIMITED TO 750 COPIES!!!
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The fifth in this ongoing series of limited double lps collecting some of the best songs from classic Italian Westerns. Named for Ennio Morricone's iconic song from the Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Ecstasy Of Gold gathers up some equally iconic tracks, as well as plenty of rare and mostly unheard gems, the list of artists should have Italo-Western soundtrack nerds freaking out: Bruno Nicolai, Nico Fidenco, Francesco De Masi, Lusi Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi and a bunch more. And like the past volumes, the tracks here are overflowing with dramatic crooned vocals, swoonsome strings, plenty of twang, galloping rhythms, fluttering woodwinds, flamenco guitars, wild percussion, a sound most folks are probably familiar with, but a bunch of songs and artists they might not be. And just like after digging into the other volumes, our list of must-see Italian Westerns just keeps getting longer and longer. Top of the list now is Matalo from 1970, the track here from Mario Migliardi sounds like some lost heavy psych gem, or some modern retro-psych outfit, like something you'd here on Rise Above or Cardinal Fuzz, the vocalist a dead ringer for the guy from Redd Kross (themselves genus sixties psych revivalists), with fuzzy, almost metallic riffing, and some seriously psychedelic shred, definitely need to see that movie, and hear the rest of the soundtrack. And the rest of this collection, while not all as fuzzy or psychedelic, is some seriously primo Italo soundtrack gold for sure!
Packaged in a super swank full color gatefold sleeve, adorned with bad ass illustrations from vintage Italian Western movie posters, as well as iconic images from the films themselves. LIMITED TO 750 COPIES. No download.
Rarely has something showed up in the store that so many of us have wanted so badly, so instantly. An incredible TEN DISC boxset, accompanied by a huge book, tracing the history of Bollywood music, from its beginnings in the 1930s, to the present. All its influences represented, from classical to rock and jazz, new age, disco, hip hop, featuring so many legendary Bollywood vocalists including Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt, Sonu Niigaam, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi and tons more. 168 tracks total! We haven't actually opened one up yet, but odds are we're all gonna end up buying one, $99 for ten discs and a book, hard to beat, and judging from the tracklisting and the artists included, it's bound to be incredible, just figured we would get it up on the list/site sooner rather than later, and give aQ listers first crack at scoring one of these amazing collections!
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!
Yay! It's been awhile since we've had a new Finder's Keepers release, and this one is amazing!
By now we're all too familiar with the Eastern cinematic pop splendor and sitar funk of Bollywood. But what about Lollywood? Yes, just to the north in Pakistan, the city of Lahore had their own cottage film industry. Perhaps not as well known outside Pakistan, Lollywood was highly profitable in the seventies and eighties, housing a unique music division with its own equivalent of Bollywood's R.D. Burman and Asha Bhole in M. Ashraf and his female collaborator, Nahid Akhtar. With the help of EMI, Pakistani musicians were able to create ambitious music in a world class studio, using far-out instrumentation like Moogs and other synthesizers, accordions, surf-guitars, and tons of traditional hand percussion instruments instead of a proper drum set. It's definitely a far more electric and electronic pop sound , than what we're used to hearing in classic Bollywood music. Having an almost retro-futurist bent in its explosive collision of Eastern and Western musical touchstones: Freak-Beat and Surf Rock meets Space-Age Moog Pop and Urdu Groove! Originally released on 7" mini-lps (a curious marketing scheme was to release one soundtrack on 3 separate 7"s!), this is the first time these wild and delightful cinematic obscurities have been collected. Let's hope more get discovered. This IS the Sound of Wonder!
Soundtrack to the film. Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, Blur, New Order, Lou Reed, Pulp, Elastica etc. All the hotties!
It's pretty exciting when two super geek interests collide, creating a pants-wettingly overwhelming geek fantasy come true. And lord know it's a rare occurance. In fact it almost never happens. Imagine Dungeons and Dragons and comic books, or robot wars and pro wrestling, or Star Wars conventions and science fair. Well friends, we have two words for you: Klingon metal! Yes that's right Star Trek meets heavy metal and we couldn't be happier. This is the soundtrack to Trekkies 2, the sequel to the massively funny Trekkies, chronicling the not so normal lives of various Trekkers (as they prefer to be called). The first Trekkies was amazing, and the second is no different. In fact, it might even be better, in that not only does it explore Trekkers all over the world, it explores the weird world of Star Trek rock! Inexplicably centered in the apparently very Trekkie town of San Jose, the "trek rock" scene is quite vibrant and well, really weird. There's the snotty punk rock of No Kill I, there's the new wave-y Warp 11, some truly demented trekkie folkies, and of course the Klingon metal of Stovokor. Stovokor definitely steal the show. Not only are they a great band, a sort of growling death metal meets Gwar, they are also incredibly funny and self effacing in the film, and their costumes are completely kick ass! The soundtrack is packed with soundbites from the film that will definitely have you running out to rent both parts one and two, and the Stovokor tracks most definitely kick some serious Klingon ass. So until we are able to track down a Stovokor full length (which trust us, we are already woprking on), this will have to hold you over.
An almost note-by-note, word-by-word, clap-by-clap re-enactment of the soundtrack to Robert Altman's 1975 masterpiece 'Nashville'. If you're a fan of the movie, then you'll know exactly what this is all about! Paying tribute to this film's music is Ms Carolyn
The Britain-based pan-Asian label Outcaste releases the third in its series documenting Indian film soundtrack songs from the country's incredibly prolific Bollywood industry. (The first two being Bollywood Breaks and Bollywood Funk.) The songs, called "filmi", found here are some of the biggest hits spanning 1969 thru the '90s. As the liner notes point out, that means there's no
Outcaste continues with their impressive Bollywood film music, or "filmi", series with a second volume of songs culled from India's ultra-prolific industry. This collection spans the greatest historical range of the industry yet, including tracks from as early as 1949 and as recent as 2001. Though, on first listen, it seemed a less successful collection than the previous installment -- all the newest songs included at the beginning of the disc -- it really began to grow on me with each listen. The newer tracks, as saturated with factory synth presets as they are, are still amazing arrangements. It's interesting to see how the industry, its composers, arrangers, studio engineers, etc. have developed over the years, continually innovating and throwing in elements from every possible musical genre worldwide. Be it the completely wacked out "Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin" from the film Sholay (1975) with its potpourri of analog synth, banjo-ukulele, harmonica, strings, bolero style horn, fuzzed out guitar and then some. Or how about "Zindagi Ek Safar" from the film Andaz (1971) with its crazy yodelling vocals. All the greatest singers and composers are included here, which leads me to the one small complaint I have about this collection: once again there's a bit of overlap. You'd think that, given the immense number of songs to choose from in such a productive industry, a resourceful label such as Outcaste could find a couple of songs that weren't so recently released on another relatively high profile collection. I speak of two tracks included here by Ahsa Bhosle -- "Chura Liya" and "O Mera Sona" -- that were also on the "Best of Asha Bhosle" anthology released by Manteca last year. For what it's worth, Manteca seemed to get a hold of a cleaner copy of "Chura Liya" for their collection, but I hope this doesn't turn too many people away from this disc.
So do we... but we're scared to listen to this tribute, it's got Celine Dion AND Metallica AND Bruce Springsteen on it! (amongst others.)
The third and final (?) installment of soundtrack music from East Germany's notorious Indianerfilmen. The film genre was popular in the sixties through the seventies and consisted of the basic American Western film turned upside down -- with the Native Americans as the heroes battling the evil colonial Europeans. Great concept, albeit surreal execution since all the actors in these films were German (in dark makeup) and the terrain is all Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland. **As an aside, local AQ customers can now rent these films on video (with subtitles) across the street from us at Lost Weekend Video. Everyone else should bug their local video store to pick them up, if just for kicks.** Musically, "Wigwam, Cowboys, Roter Kreis" is the most successful collection in the series. The bulk of the tracks here are taken from four films, the scores for which are all equally off kilter in their influences. The score for the film Tecumseh sounds akin to Isaac Hayes' Shaft but augmented by faux-native flutes and motifs. Then there's the bizarre Apachen which boldly attempts a "Latin" feel with it's marimba, flute, trumpet trios backed by orchestra, percussion and even wah-wah guitar. The odd jaw-harp percussion duet "Todesrennen" from the film Blutsbruder is without compare. And, of course, no Indianerfilmen collection would be complete without at least one Morricone homage, and included on this disc are a few tracks from the film Severino which lifts the theme to Once Upon A Time In The West with only the slightest in melodic adjustments. As a bonus there are a few vocal songs including an alternate version of "Love Your Brother" (which was featured on the first Wigwam collection) and a couple other Gram Parsons-on-the-Eastern-bloc cuts. Liner notes covering the composers and the film genre in general are included in both German and English.
Wigwam, Weste(r)n, Weisse Wolfe is the second volume of "Indianerfilmen" music from Germany. Those who missed out on the first volume (now out of print?), "Indianerfilmen" is a genre of films that were popular in the East German Republic in the sixties and
Now here's a nice idea for a tribute, and so lovingly executed to boot. Berkeley resident Filippo Salvadori so loved the cult film Two Lane Blacktop that he had always searched out the soundtrack to this "definitive road movie", only to find one had never been released. So this man of gumption put together his own, commissioning brand new songs from Sonic Youth (gorgeous, echoey soundscape), Will Oldham & Alan Licht, Calexico, Alvarius B, Steffan Basho Junghans, Mark Eitzel & Marc Capelle (doing a totally outta left field throbbing electronic thing), Giant Sand, Charalambides, Roy Montgomery (avec drum machine!) and more. He also got busy licensing previously released tracks from classic solo guitarist Sandy Bull, Village Voice crit faves Wilco, high lonesome Roscoe Holcomb, Leadbelly, and Cat Power (doing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction").
The only low point is the Oldham / Licht track which is weighed down with a sadly unevocative spoken narrative. But the rest of this comp is quite good -- ranging from dusty instrumentals to walls of gentle noise.
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]
Yo, people!! One word: NECKS!!! Whoops, we could have easily overlooked this, a soundtrack to some foreign film we'd never heard of, but thankfully we did happen to notice the artists involved (which, to make sure YOU don't miss this, we've noted above). One of our all time faves, Australian drone-jazz trio The Necks, happens to appear here, track one "Transparent Roads" is theirs, the title track, and it's over 28 minutes long! So, right there, your money's worth, the rest of the disc could be considered a bonus. And a very worthy bonus, considering it includes diverse contributions from a bunch of interestin' artists in their own right, namely David Grubbs, Mira Calix, Mute Socialite, and O-Type. Quite a varied, even unlikely group, we're curious how they all happened to be invited to make music for this project, which was an Italian art film apparently about a bus trip through the Brazilian countryside, a "cinevoyage" visiting both the land and people. The film's director, Augusto Contento, certainly avoided using the obvious - Brazilian music - though a few of the tracks here do give a nod to such, Mute Socalite's song for instance titled "Samba Outlaw".
First, though, The Necks. Their track is, as any fan might guess, glorious. It's a quite Alice Coltrane-ish sounding Necks set, glittering cosmic jazz hypnosis. If you've heard The Necks, you won't be surprised - though the instrumental textures of "Transparent Roads" differ somewhat from their most recent album Silverwater. Skittering drums, repeating, brief piano melodies, and what sounds more like an electric guitar than their usual stand-up bass, all locked into impossibly precise yet organic sounding pulsations, surging, cyclic, building building building. With subtle complexities, incredible control, The Necks are truly masters of their art. Hard to imagine that they use the entirety of his piece on the soundtrack, that would be a bus trip through otherworldly realms, leaving Brazil, however beautiful and fascinating, far behind. Whew!!
A tough act to follow. After that, what? David Grubbs (Gastr Del Sol, Bastro) is up next, his ten and a half minute solo electric guitar track "To Know A Veil" acting as a palate cleanser, sparse with simple clangorous chords ringing out, abstract scrabbling filling the spaces, or not, drones forming in both memory and reality, it's pretty powerful, like a no wave SUNNO))) perhaps. So that plus The Necks, and good grief, this is worth buying twice, already.
Then Warp's Mira Calix contributes "I Carry You In My Heart", a moody pitter patter percussion piece, over twelve minutes long, quite nice (it kinda goes with another release on this particular week's list, the Fairlights Mallets And Bamboo mix of '80s Japanese avant-bliss). That's followed by the Bay Area's own avant-weirdos Mute Socialite, who really begin to echo or suggest some sort of Tropicalia vibe, however abstract. Their rather groovy "Samba Outlaw" (5:23) turns this disc into the sort of dance party to which you'd invite the Sun City Girls... Another good one. And then finally, there's former MX-80'ers O-Type (featuring guitarist Bruce Anderson) offering up an amazing 23 minute finale to the soundtrack, "Shadowgram" giving The Necks a run for their money in fact, in terms of making repetitive, mesmeric music that actually reminds us a lot of Circle (a tropical Circle?), with shuffling rhythms and nervous textures that makes you wonder just where this Brazilian bus ride is going to end up, or if you want to find out.
So, buy this for The Necks for sure, but stay for the rest and you will be extra pleased. Again, we've never seen the movie and are quite curious, just to see how it could live up to its own soundtrack, which rules!!! More Italians should make movies in Brazil and have soundtracks commissioned for release on German label Staubgold, based on how well this turned out...
Well, that just does it, doesn't it?! In case their existing catalog, which includes reissues of Selda, Jean-Claude Vannier, Yamasuki Singers, Mustafa Ozkent and Bruno Spoerri, didn't already do it, the Finders Keepers label's decision to release the soundtrack of this awesome early '70s Czech New Wave film (one of Cup's faves) totally confirms that they rule... or at least confirms that they share our taste in music and movies!
Now, we all know that a soundtrack can be an integral, transformative power in a film, no question, but when one can stand alone sans visuals it takes on a whole 'nother life. Needless to say, we're not talking about those recent lazily compiled nostalgia-button pushing collections of familiar pop songs. Seventies films and their soundtracks were a breed all their own. Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders is a perfect example.
A mesmerizing motif-heavy procession of flutes, tinkling bells, harpsichord, organ, and vocal interludes, Lubos Fiser's soundtrack contributes to the establishment and intensification of the nightmare / dream atmospheres of Jaromil Jires' film. At once lulling and unsettling, recurring timorous prepubescent choral incantations are startled by ominous organ exclamations. On its own, the melange of the carnivalesque, music box-y and chamber drones totally captures a distinctly haunting, pixie-dusted delirium.
Sound good? If so, you need this now, and of course see the film as soon as possible (it was recently released on dvd)! Definitely for those who were spellbound by the soundtracks to The Wicker Man (the original movie and not the recent Nicholas Cage remake!) or Suspiria. Yes, three very different works, but all equally affecting. Absolutely recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Yeah! Back in print and we're thrilled about that. The new reissue has 3 bonus tracks on cd and 5 bonus tracks on the oh so nice double gatefold vinyl edition. Even if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing any of the over 150 Jess Franco's 'horrotica' films from which these songs come from that shouldn't stop you from jumping into this delicious offering of red light sleazy cheesy psych-light instrumental treats. Composed by Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab in 1969 these songs ooze with a playful sexuality that you have to be pretty lifeless not to enjoy. The packaging is exquisite as well with amazing stills from the Franco films and really nice text that gives a background of where these sounds and his films were coming from. Next time you have some people over to your place, turn down the lights, light some candles, put this on the stereo and who knows where the night might take you!
Finally, a remastered vinyl reissue of the Blade Runner score sees the light of day. It's funny that most people know the music of Chariots Of Fire far more than they know the actual movie, but with Vangelis's other big soundtrack, for an undoubtedly more famous film, the original score has been somewhat difficult to secure. It did not get an official release until 1994, 12 years after the film debuted, and over the years multiple versions have become available that either added to or subtracted from the original material. The movie itself has multiple versions, and with the 1992 Director's Cut arguably becoming the definitive version of the film, the Vangelis score finally became available as well, a version so intertwined with the film that it also includes snippets of dialogue from this futuristic noir masterpiece. The score, a mix of mystical exotica, dark electronic minimalism and sadly romantic themes, is marked by heavy electronic treatments and classical instrumentation evoking a hazy twilight dreaminess and melancholic longing that serves the film exquisitely. Easily a touchstone for a lot of modern day synth-worshippers, get this score on vinyl while you can, as it is already out of print awaiting a repress apparently. Like all limited things, eventually "all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain" (sorry, we had to fit that line in here somewhere!).
The long unavailable solo soundtrack debut of Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (aka Vangelis) finally gets an official reissue. The soundtrack to this obscure 1970 French film directed by Henry Chapier (so obscure that the only info IMDB has on it is this eight minute opening sequence found here: http://www.ina.fr/video/VDD08000001/sex-power-video.html), has only seen previous release as a bootleg cd-r and it has been rumored that Vangelis himself has suppressed many attempts to reissue it. Sex-Power, starring a young Jane Birkin, is similar to Zabriskie Point in that it seems to be a desert quest for meaning by young beautiful intellectuals giving up on society for more earthly concerns like walking in the desert naked, and apparently having lots of sex... But regardless of the arty tone of the film, in our book, you can't go wrong with the music of early seventies Vangelis. Early Vangelis recordings are often marked by exotic instrumentation (tribal percussion, water gongs, flutes, and ethnic string instruments) as well as piano, early synthesizer and ethereal female vocal choruses. Like Morricone's majestic early soundtrack work, Sex-Power has a strange free-folk mystery of lilting passages and beguiling pensive mystical soundscapes. It was recorded the same year Vangelis's prog band Aphrodite's Child released their final album, the legendary 666.
Recommended for fans of the soundtrack work of Jean-Claude Vannier, Lubos Fiser, and Alain Goraguer, and of course very limited!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Melodramatic orchestrations by deep-voiced mystery man Scott Walker scored for the film "Pola X" by Leos Carax. Includes original tracks from Smog and Sonic Youth.
Not actually recordings by Edgar Wallce, but recordings from the cult thrillers based on his stories. The music on this disk is from such notable film music composers as Peter Thomas, Martin Bottcher and Nora Orlandi.
Another vinyl reissue of a fantastic Bruce Lee movie, quite similar to the soundtrack for 'Fist of Fury'. Starts off with a moody epic, all swelling strings ala Morricone, but this time, the song is peppered with Bruce Lee's grunts and squeaks and howls. Pretty weird. And then the rest of the soundtrack is just entire scenes from the movie, dialogue, fights and everything. Totally great, and another must have for DJs.
Soundtrack to the classic Sci-Fi flick Westworld, composed by Fred Karlin.
