V/A American Primitive (Revenant) 2lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36) (Revenant) cd 16.98

V/A American Primitive Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants (1897 - 1939) (Revenant) 2cd 33.00
The one real drawback with the AQ list and the website and the reviews, is that there are so many new records, more and more every week, that it makes it quite difficult to go back and try to review releases that for one reason or another never got listed. In the case of the first volume of Revenant's amazing American Primitive series, a collection of rare and lost pre war gospel music, covering the years from 1926-1936, it was originally released in 1997, way back when the AQ list was still in it's infancy we weren't quite so thorough as we try to be now! Which is a shame as that was probably one of the most gorgeous documents of gospel and blues we had ever heard. We kept planning to review and list it, eventually it went out of print (fear not though, it's due to be reissued soon).
Here we are eight years later, and volume two is finally here, bigger and better then the first in almost every way. It's sadly one of the very last releases compiled and assembled by John Fahey right before his death. Volume two is a double disc, with a HUGE booklet, with extensive liner notes on each track and each artist. Most fascinatingly, this American Primitive installment takes us even farther back, all the way back to 1897 in the case of the comp's earliest track. The rest of the tracks were recorded between 1926 and 1939. And as you might imagine, this is absolutely stunning, haunting, beautiful stuff. Emotional and heartfelt, haunting and otherworldly, some tracks cloaked in record static and murky mystery, some joyful and jaunty and crystal clear. An amazing glimpse into our musical past.
The liner notes constantly refer to this collection being full of ghosts and spirits and phantoms, and it really is, literally, each song is the legacy of a life, their loves, their spirituality, their legacy, but sonically as well, the whole compilation is a ghostly, long faded musical photograph of a time that once was, washed out, sepia toned, faded and browned around the edges, each track viewed through a broken old screen door, or a yellowed window pane, all of their musical hope and despair, a hundred plus years of life and death, love and loss, heaven and hell, audible in the rough patina of hiss and static and fuzz and buzz that lovingly wraps each note, every voice raised in praise, in a warm fuzzy, hazy cloak. Gorgeous and timeless rhythm and blues, folk and gospel, rich with the sort of sonic imperfections and recording inconsistancies we love so much, the sounds and textures modern musicians toil endlessly to recreate (think Basinski, Jeck, Saule, Tim Hecker). Essential for fans of all things Smithsonian Folkways, Yazoo, and Arhoolie, but also in its own unique way, a gorgeous fuzzy soundscape of rhythm and blues, like sitting in a snowbound cabin, around a roaring fire, with Philip Jeck and Christian Marclay, spinning old '78's on a vintage victrola. So so perfect!
MPEG Stream: HOMER QUINCY SMITH "I Want Jesus To Talk With Me"
MPEG Stream: WALTER TAYLOR "Deal Rag"
MPEG Stream: ELVIE THOMAS "Motherless Child Blues"
MPEG Stream: TOMMY SETTLERS AND HIS BLUES MOANER "Big Bed Bug (Bed Bug Blues)"

V/A American Song-Poem Anthology, The: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood And Brush (Bar/None) cd 16.98
Finally, a song-poem collection that might have a chance of staying in print for more than a month. And finally, a collection that -- while by no means definitive -- collects the best of all those that came before it: Beat of The Traps, Makers of Smooth Music, Human Breakdown of Absurdity, I'm Just the Other Woman and I Died Today. For those who missed out on these wonderful and screwed up collections, song-poems were vanity recordings (from the sixties and seventies) where any schmo with the dough could send in their original poems/lyrics and have them made into SONGS! Small advertisements in the back of music and entertainment magazines urged would-be songwriters that the music industry was in dire need of their inspired lyrics. For anywhere between $75 and $400, one could have their words set to music (all genres were covered) by professional studio musicians. Meanwhile, back at the recording studio, said musicians had to busy themselves on an economy of scale in order to make the venture profitable. Lyrics were given a cursory look, and snap judgements were made concerning tempo, meter, key, chords and melody. Apparently the musicians had but one take to get the song, and if a mistake was made it was just as likely to be left in. Considering what these musicians were up against, it's really impressive what they came up with -- quickly fitting awkwardly (to put it nicely and terribly, to be more accurate) written lyrics into a reasonable meter and still come up with some cool arrangements to boot. Since the companies recording the songs of these terrible lyricists were only concerned with the bottom line (i.e. getting paid), anything could happen. John Trubee's legendary "Blind Man's Penis" is a case in point. And while his words of wisdom were penned in jest, the other 27 tracks included with it on this disc were not. Written in all earnestness, subjects ranging from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter, duck eggs to Argentinian cowboys to green fingernails, these tracks are weirder and even funnier than Trubee's track. These singles have been the dreams of collectors for years and until the difficult to track down MSR collections came out several years back, to the rest us they were the stuff of legend. For those of you who have already picked up those MSR collections this one may be a bit redundant, but for all the rest this is certainly the best collection of song-poems to come on one disc. Highly recommended, and sure to be a hit when the upcoming PBS documentary on the Song-Poem industry airs! One wonders what the original "poets" would think of the unexpected popularity of their songs? Probably the person who wrote "Jimmy Carter Says Yes" was sure it would be a hit all along...
RealAudio clip: MARSHALL, GENE "Jimmy Carter Says "Yes""
RealAudio clip: JOY, BILL "How Long Are You Staying"
RealAudio clip: STEWART, CARA "Song of the Burmese Land"
RealAudio clip: KEARNEY, RAMSEY "Blind Man's Penis (Peace And Love)"

V/A American Yodelling 1911-1946 (Trikont) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're proud to be carrying the very hard to find German label Trikont, who have amassed an incredibly diverse selection of cds featuring music from all over the world. This EXCELLENT compilation is not at all campy; it's a seriously good collection of everyone from the Carter Family to Tampa Red, Roy Rogers, Bob Wills, Patsy Montana, Sons of the Pioneers, Bill Monroe, and Jimmie Rodgers.

V/A Americana Volume I: Vox Populi (Citizen Kafka Productions) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
True "Outsider Music" lovingly culled from the thousands upon thousands of bad records out there, and don't get us wrong, these are certainly very bad too, but bad in a good way. By Outsider Music we don't mean music made in the Great Outdoors, we mean music made on the fringes often without the support of any established label or industry behind it, music made by amateurs and weirdos and wannabes. You gotta love 'em. There's a brilliance to the energy and hard work and passion found in these tracks, which were compiled by Citizen Kafka for his WFMU radio show (Kafka works a lot with Pat Conte, better known as the legendary guy behind the Secret Museum of Mankind compilations.)
Contained herein: solo warblings courtesy Howard Finster (better known for his fantastic outsider art sculptures), multi-track tape manipulations sounding like early cartoon music a la Raymond Scott, singer songwriter fare performed in a van to an audience of one dog, amateur poems set to music by seasoned "pros", vanity songs played by hired orchestras, Beat poetry performed over psychedelic squiggles, hotel-bar bands playing Smokey Robinson, kids tunes, retarded young adults performing "This Little Light of Mine", music performed on the 1973 Comet (an instrument that has 400 notes per octave!), even a bonus track from electronic children's music pioneer Bruce Haack, himself the object of several recent reissues. 25 tracks in all, 71 minutes of either great listening or aural torture (it's up to you to decide.)
Lots of liner notes and pictures, just be aware that this is a cd-R (and given that, we are sorry about the excessive price of this disc, but it's based on what the compiler is charging us). This recording is for those of us folks who think The Shaggs are all that.
RealAudio clip: BOBBY BROWN "Macho Joe Medley"
RealAudio clip: SPECIALISTS "Groovin'"
RealAudio clip: EDITH BOXHILL AND STUDENTS "This Little Light of Mine"

V/A Amplify (Erstwhile) box set 197.00
This is really gorgeous and it's taking a lot of self control to keep us from all taking one of these home. And as Christmas draws near, self control seems to matter less and less. Whether it's a gift for some music freak you love, or a sneaky gift for yourself amidst the rest of your shopping, you couldn't do much better than this. A super fancy, slip cased box set documenting the 2000 Erstwhile festival in Tokyo, put on annually by the label of the same name. Seven discs of some of the best improv/abstract/free jazz/noise you'll ever hear. Most of the recordings are from the actual festival, but two discs are from club shows around the actual festival, while one disc is a performance by an all-star guitar septet made up of Keith Rowe, Tetuzi Akiyama, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide, Burkhard Stangl and Taku Sugimoto and another is a studio recording by the duo of Günter Müller and Toshimaru Nakamura. Wow! There's also a DVD document of the festival by filmmaker Jonas Leddington and a huge booklet with photos and twenty essays! Ready to buy it now? Well here's the track listing:
CD 1 (outside festival shows): 1. Thomas Lehn/Toshimaru Nakamura, 2. Günter Müller/Tetuzi Akiyama/Nakamura, 3. Christof Kurzmann/Nakamura, 4. Lehn/Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto. CD 2 (studio sessions): Günter Müller/Toshimaru Nakamura-tint. CD 3 (festival): 1. Cosmos (Sachiko M/Ami Yoshida), 2. Keith Rowe/Lehn/Marcus Schmickler. CD 4 (festival): 1. Müller/Otomo Yoshihide, 2. Lehn/Schmickler. CD 5 (festival): 1. Burkhard Stangl/Kurzmann/Sugimoto, 2. Rowe/Nakamura. CD 6 (festival): 1. Stangl/Müller, 2. Nakamura/Sachiko. CD 7: (seven guitars): 1. seven guitarists: Rowe/Akiyama/Oren Ambarchi/Nakamura/Otomo/Stangl/Sugimoto (Cornelius Cardew-Treatise, pp. 82-84), 2. seven guitarists (improvisation).
Okay, how about now?!?!? C'mon...you know you want it. I sure do!! No sound samples cuz we're all still trying to fight the need to own this so we haven't even cracked one open yet!

V/A Amunition (Planet Mu) cd 10.98

V/A An Anthology Of Chinese Experimental Music (Sub Rosa) 4cd 34.00
We're always wary of electronic compilations, for some reason, not sure if it's just an oversight or if they are meant to be super academic, but there seems to be no attention to flow. No consideration of what it might be like as a listening experience. You'll have 3 or 4 super quiet drone tracks, then a screaming grinding wall of noise, then a whispery hushed drift. In some ways it makes it practically unlistenable. Not that those records aren't worth owning, but they require special listening, a track at a time, thus, the listener is not lulled into a droney hypnotic state before being blasted out of his or her headphones.
So we were even more wary of this massive FOUR disc collection of experimental music from China (as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia), we knew it would be amazing, and most definitely an incredible sampling of sounds, but the difference between that, and a well sequenced collection of songs is the difference between pulling a record out every once in a while, and listening to hours and hours of sounds and getting immersed and lost in the sounds. We're happy to report, that this collection, surprisingly, falls into the later category. The first disc alone is nearly perfect, an incredible collection of deep dronemusic, thick and textured and varied and mysterious, rich and layered and lush, dark and haunting, from thick rumbling buzz, to barely audible sine waves, muted thumps and abstract rhythms, post industrial soundscapes of tangled tones and warm washed out whirs, to glitchy skittery Raster-Noton style minimalism, to warm blissed out almost new age-y drift, to squiggly seas of shimmery tones and buried glitches, to super abstract, ultra spare electronic hum, to clouds of insectoid like buzz, to warm wall of sound thrum, there are moments where the sounds grow jagged and sharp, caustic and corrosive, but the whole disc flows like a composed, tripped out minimal glitch space drone record, and there are three more discs!
The other discs are similarly grouped so that the flow is as much a part of the sound as the individual songs, although the focus shifts, where the first disc was more droney, the second disc seems to be more songy. There's still plenty of glitch and hum, but there's lots of real instruments, some proper bands, lots of electronic skitter, some serious noise, and lost of sonic weirdness. And so it goes.
There's LOTS to get into here. We've listened to the first disc a whole bunch of times, the second one a handful, the 3rd and 4th once or twice, and we're still discovering and exploring, but we do find ourselves not just skipping song to song, but throwing this on, laying back, and listening to whole discs, which again is so rare for this sort of compilation. Really amazing stuff. Really recommended.
Packaged in a fancy full color fold out digipak, with a booklet and minimal liner notes.
MPEG Stream: LI CHIN SUNG (DICKSON DEE) "Somewhere"
MPEG Stream: ZENLU "Zen"
MPEG Stream: BIA TIAN "Wet"
MPEG Stream: CHEEWEI "Evening Has Arrived"

V/A An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music / First A-Chronology 1921-2001 (Sub Rosa) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sub Rosa, in claiming to present this compilation within the context that "history needs constant re-evaluation because, like music, history cannot be read as a fixed entity" has unfortunately released an anthology that offers no new insights or previously unknown factors in the inception of noise and electronic musics. Rather, the artists featured are the often-name dropped art stars used within institutional texts for the Whitney Biennial or Documenta to legitimize sound art or some connection between institutional forces and underground activity. A good number of the artists - like Luigi Russolo, Pierre Schaefer, Sonic Youth, Xenakis, Pauline Oliveros, Edgard Varese, John Cage, Ryoji Ikeda, and Einsturzende Neubauten - are undoubtedly important; but is it really necessary to sing their praises yet again? While there's certainly something to be said for introducing new audiences to a lot of the amazing music on this compilation, Sub Rosa should call a spade a spade and fess up to curating a K-Tel compilation for the avant-garde.

V/A An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music / First A-Chronology 1921-2001 (Sub Rosa) 3lp 41.00
NOW ON VINYL!
Sub Rosa, in claiming to present this compilation within the context that "history needs constant re-evaluation because, like music, history cannot be read as a fixed entity" has unfortunately released an anthology that offers no new insights or previously unknown factors in the inception of noise and electronic musics. Rather, the artists featured are the often-name dropped art stars used within institutional texts for the Whitney Biennial or Documenta to legitimize sound art or some connection between institutional forces and underground activity. A good number of the artists - like Luigi Russolo, Pierre Schaefer, Sonic Youth, Xenakis, Pauline Oliveros, Edgard Varese, John Cage, Ryoji Ikeda, and Einsturzende Neubauten - are undoubtedly important; but is it really necessary to sing their praises yet again? While there's certainly something to be said for introducing new audiences to a lot of the amazing music on this compilation, Sub Rosa should fess up to curating a sort of K-Tel compilation for the avant-garde. That said, this vinyl version probably will have some interesting utility for creative DJs!

V/A An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music: Fourth A-Chronology 1937-2005 Volume #4 (Sub Rosa) 2cd 16.98
The curators of the fourth volume of the seven part series of Anthologies of Noise & Electronic Music are correct when they point to the fact that the history of the avant-garde is a messy one with tangled connections between competing factions, ideologies, methods, and personalities. The Sub Rosa compilations are dotted with a who's who of the electro-acoustic avant-garde from the past century, tossed in with a smorgasborg of previously unknown (and often very interesting) artists as well as contemporary musicians who are well on their way to establishing themselves within the canons of the institutional avant-garde. Sub Rosa has gone out of its way to compile a collection to scramble one's notions of the taxonomic rhetoric that may influence the perception of any of the artists present; hence you'll find Les Rallizes Denudes (already you can tell this series is not very reverential of the academic definition of experimental electronics music, with the inclusion of this incendiary Japanese psych band) next to Vibracathedral Orchestra followed by one-time Blind Idiot God guitarist Andy Hawkins then Alvin Lucier. Sub Rosa boasts that more than 75 percent of the album is unreleased material, which is all the more impressive considering that the compilation features the likes of Gyorgy Ligetti, Oliver Messiaen, William S. Burroughs, Milan Knizak, Steve Reich, Halim el-Dabh, Jean-Claude Risset, Stephen Vitiello, Laurie Spiegel, and many others. To top it all off, it's surprisingly pleasing to listen to. What that says about the state of 'noise' music may be another question.
MPEG Stream: WANG CHANGCUN "Seafood"
MPEG Stream: LES RALLIZES DENUDES "Fucked Up and Naked"
MPEG Stream: HALIM EL-DABH "Wire Recorder"

V/A An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music: Volume 5 (Sub Rosa) 2cd 19.98

V/A An Apple A Day (RPM) cd 16.98
A lot of us here at AQ have a huge weakspot for the breezy sounds of late 60's psych-pop. Those four guys in The Beatles were also pretty fond of those same sounds and under the umbrella of their Apple publishing and recording label (which was originally set up mostly as a tax shelter) they enlisted a mainstay of great songwriters like Pete Ham and Ron Griffiths (who would go on to form Badfinger), as well as Graham Lyle and Benny Gallagher, who churned out some totally tasty pop gems during this golden era. This collection gives some of their never before released songs a chance to finally be heard. The standout track on this disc comes from Mortimer, "People Who Are Different" which is a perfect sixties feel-good-be-weird-be-proud pop gem, the sort of song that had Kerry, Christine, Irwin and Scott all but putting flowers in their hair and dancing throughout the store. We have a sneaking suspicion that there are more than a few of you out there who will dig these groovy sounds as much as we do!
MPEG Stream: MORTIMER "People Who Are Different"
MPEG Stream: THE U (DON'T) KNOW WHO "An Apple A Day"
MPEG Stream: GALLAGHER & LYLE "Technicolor Dream"

V/A An England Story (Soul Jazz) 2cd 23.00
The folks who run Soul Jazz Records must have made the best mixtapes. Heck, what are we talking about, they STILL make the best mixtapes. Their whole label is essentially based on their mixtape skills. Every release, an incredible collection of tracks, from super obscure rarities, to instantly recognizable favorites, managing over the course of a disc or two, to encapsulate and represent perfectly a sound or a scene. It's like a college course on music history condensed into a handful of songs. Whether it's Brazilian post punk, classic reggae, New York noise, Afro-Cuban music, Big Apple Rappin', modern dubstep, Tropicalia, Chicago Soul, Soul Jazz can present a super concise history of whatever sound it is. In fact, we're beginning to think, they could pick ANYTHING and we'd be willing to check it out. Easy listening, boy bands, Reggaeton, top 40, singers who used to be Mousketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club. If anyone could turn that shit into something compelling and listenable, Soul Jazz could.
Thankfully, this latest comp focuses on something much closer to our music obsessed hearts. A history of MC culture in the UK, including all the various roots and offshoots, dancehall, hip hop, jungle, garage, grime, dubstep. Anyone who dug past Soul Jazz releases like the two Box Of Dub discs, Rumble In The Jungle, any of the various dancehall comps, it almost goes without saying that this too will be some essential listening. While we recognize lots of the artists, we hadn't heard a single track here, but we've already begun compiling a list of records to track down just based on the brief samplings offered up here.
The discs aren't really chronological, or divided by genre, instead, they are deftly arranged to demonstrate the inherent similarities, to allow the listener to hear dancehall butted up against some dubstep, some UK hip hop cozied up to some jungle, the various track so different, but often incorporating similar elements and obviously drawn from the same musical history.
Some favorites: Doctor & Davinche's "Gotta Man", a loping stuttery grime jam, with a weird shuffling rhythm, a killer string stab loop, and of course some amazing tongue twisting flows. The Indian flecked hip hop groove of "So U Want Morre?" from Ty & Roots Manuva, peppered with some muted tablas, little flurries of string shimmer, a looped Eastern vocal refrain. The classic ska-infused dancehall of Tenor Fly's "Bump And Grind", soulful horns, a fluttering falsetto hook, and TF's agile gruff and raspy toasting. Riko's "Ice Rink Riddim", a convoluted grime stutter, with pizzicato guitar notes, beats made out of smeared FX and trash can lids, makes us wonder why this guy isn't as hyped as Dizzee Rascal or Wiley. "Deep" by Jakes & TC, some sort of two step garage, with some awesome fuzzed out Justice style synths, super growly vocals, and a super bouncy beat.
There are a couple weaker tracks near the end of disc two, but by then, it hardly matters, the rest of the collection is just so awesome. Funky, fucked up, groovy, big beats, killer hooks, amazing rapping and toasting, and like we already mentioned, just like the best mix tapes, An England Story leaves you wanting to hear more from pretty much every artist here!
Like all Soul Jazz releases, impeccably packaged, jewel case housed in a full color slip cover, a HUGE booklet, with liner notes, photos, interviews and more!
MPEG Stream: DOCTOR & DAVINCHE "Gotta Man"
MPEG Stream: TENOR FLY "Bump And Grind"
MPEG Stream: RIKO "Ice Rink Riddim"
MPEG Stream: JAH SCREECHY "Walk And Skank"

V/A An England Story: Volume 1 (Soul Jazz) 2lp 23.00
The folks who run Soul Jazz Records must have made the best mixtapes. Heck, what are we talking about, they STILL make the best mixtapes. Their whole label is essnetially based on their mixtape skills. Every release, an incredible collection of tracks, from super obscure rarities, to instantly recognizable favorites, managing over the course of a disc or two, to encapsulate and represent perfectly a sound or a scene. It's like a college course on music history condensed into a handful of songs. Whether it's Brazilian post punk, classic reggae, New York noise, Afro-Cuban music, Big Apple Rappin', modern dubstep, Tropicalia, Chicago Soul, Soul Jazz can present a super concise history of whatever sound it is. In fact, we're beginning to think, they could pick ANYTHING and we'd be willing to check it out. Easy listening, boy bands, Reggaeton, top 40, singers who used to be Mousketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club. If anyone could turn that shit into something compelling and listenable, Soul Jazz could.
Thankfully, this latest comp focuses on something much closer to our music obsessed hearts. A history of MC culture in the UK, including all the various roots and offshoots, dancehall, hip hop, jungle, garage, grime, dubstep. Anyone who dug past Soul Jazz releases like the two Box Of Dub discs, Rumble In The Jungle, any of the various dancehall comps, it almost goes without saying that this too will be some essential listening. While we recognize lots of the artists, we hadn't heard a single track here, but we've already begun compiling a list of records to track down just based on the brief samplings offered up here.
The discs aren't really chronological, or divided by genre, instead, they are deftly arranged to demonstrate the inherent similarities, to allow the listener to hear dancehall butted up against some dubstep, some UK hip hop cozied up to some jungle, the various track so different, but often incorporating similar elements and obviously drawn from the same musical history.
Some favorites: Doctor & Davinche's "Gotta man", a loping stuttery grime jam, with a weird shuffling rhythm, a killer string stab loop, and of course some amazing tongue twisting flows. The Indian flecked hip hop groove of "So U Want Morre?" from Ty & Roots Manuva, peppered with some muted tablas, little flurries of string shimmer, a looped Eastern vocal refrain. The classic ska-infused dancehall of Tenor Fly's "Bump And Grind", soulful horns, a fluttering falsetto hook, and TF's agile gruff and raspy toasting. Riko's "Ice Rink Riddim", a convoluted grime stutter, with pizzicato guitar notes, beats made out of smeared FX and trash can lids, makes us wonder why this guy isn't as hyped as Dizzee Rascal or Wiley. "Deep" by Jakes & TC, some sort of two step garage, with some awesome fuzzed out Justice style synths, super growly vocals, and a super bouncy beat.
There are a couple weaker tracks near the end of disc two, but by then, it hardly matters, the rest of the collection is just so awesome. Funky, fucked up, groovy, big beats, killer hooks, amazing rapping and toasting, and like we already mentioned, just like the best mix tapes, An England Story leaves you wanting to hear more from pretty much every artist here!
Like all Soul Jazz releases, impeccably packaged, jewel case housed in a full color slip cover, a HUGE booklet, with liner notes, photos, interviews and more! Y'all went crazy for Sound Way's Nigeria Special compilation a few lists back, and we expect Nigeria Disco Funk Special -- the second installment in a 3-part series -- to be just as enticing a proposition. Whereas the first Nigeria Special was a sprawling collection of sounds and styles intended to show the sheer diversity of Nigeria's musical output in the early '70s, this volume is far more musically concise, consisting of mostly instrumental cuts that are heavily indebted to the American funk and disco being imported into Nigeria at the time.
This collection of deep funk, Afro-boogie and serious disco will transport you (and your booty) to the sweat-soaked discos of Lagos, where native sounds shimmy up next to imported grooves bringing the dancefloor to a fever pitch of go-go bells, funky drums, wah wah guitar, popping bass and blasting horns. This is tight, dirty funk being filtered through afrobeat and highlife.... the results are absolutely AMAZING!
Like all things from Sound Way, Nigeria Disco Funk Special comes with gorgeous packaging, extensive liner notes, archival photos and repros of original album artwork. Take your pick between a super slick digipak for the cd version and a gorgeous gatefold sleeve for the 2LP. This is heavy shit. Don't miss out!
MPEG Stream: DOCTOR & DAVINCHE "Gotta Man"
MPEG Stream: TENOR FLY "Bump And Grind"
MPEG Stream: RIKO "Ice Rink Riddim"
MPEG Stream: JAH SCREECHY "Walk And Skank"

V/A An England Story: Volume 2 (Soul Jazz) 2lp 23.00
The folks who run Soul Jazz Records must have made the best mixtapes. Heck, what are we talking about, they STILL make the best mixtapes. Their whole label is essnetially based on their mixtape skills. Every release, an incredible collection of tracks, from super obscure rarities, to instantly recognizable favorites, managing over the course of a disc or two, to encapsulate and represent perfectly a sound or a scene. It's like a college course on music history condensed into a handful of songs. Whether it's Brazilian post punk, classic reggae, New York noise, Afro-Cuban music, Big Apple Rappin', modern dubstep, Tropicalia, Chicago Soul, Soul Jazz can present a super concise history of whatever sound it is. In fact, we're beginning to think, they could pick ANYTHING and we'd be willing to check it out. Easy listening, boy bands, Reggaeton, top 40, singers who used to be Mousketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club. If anyone could turn that shit into something compelling and listenable, Soul Jazz could.
Thankfully, this latest comp focuses on something much closer to our music obsessed hearts. A history of MC culture in the UK, including all the various roots and offshoots, dancehall, hip hop, jungle, garage, grime, dubstep. Anyone who dug past Soul Jazz releases like the two Box Of Dub discs, Rumble In The Jungle, any of the various dancehall comps, it almost goes without saying that this too will be some essential listening. While we recognize lots of the artists, we hadn't heard a single track here, but we've already begun compiling a list of records to track down just based on the brief samplings offered up here.
The discs aren't really chronological, or divided by genre, instead, they are deftly arranged to demonstrate the inherent similarities, to allow the listener to hear dancehall butted up against some dubstep, some UK hip hop cozied up to some jungle, the various track so different, but often incorporating similar elements and obviously drawn from the same musical history.
Some favorites: Doctor & Davinche's "Gotta man", a loping stuttery grime jam, with a weird shuffling rhythm, a killer string stab loop, and of course some amazing tongue twisting flows. The Indian flecked hip hop groove of "So U Want Morre?" from Ty & Roots Manuva, peppered with some muted tablas, little flurries of string shimmer, a looped Eastern vocal refrain. The classic ska-infused dancehall of Tenor Fly's "Bump And Grind", soulful horns, a fluttering falsetto hook, and TF's agile gruff and raspy toasting. Riko's "Ice Rink Riddim", a convoluted grime stutter, with pizzicato guitar notes, beats made out of smeared FX and trash can lids, makes us wonder why this guy isn't as hyped as Dizzee Rascal or Wiley. "Deep" by Jakes & TC, some sort of two step garage, with some awesome fuzzed out Justice style synths, super growly vocals, and a super bouncy beat.
There are a couple weaker tracks near the end of disc two, but by then, it hardly matters, the rest of the collection is just so awesome. Funky, fucked up, groovy, big beats, killer hooks, amazing rapping and toasting, and like we already mentioned, just like the best mix tapes, An England Story leaves you wanting to hear more from pretty much every artist here!
Like all Soul Jazz releases, impeccably packaged, jewel case housed in a full color slip cover, a HUGE booklet, with liner notes, photos, interviews and more! Or if you're of the vinyl persuasion, it's also available as two separate double lps, twice the price, but that's a lot of vinyl!
MPEG Stream: DOCTOR & DAVINCHE "Gotta Man"
MPEG Stream: TENOR FLY "Bump And Grind"
MPEG Stream: RIKO "Ice Rink Riddim"
MPEG Stream: JAH SCREECHY "Walk And Skank"

V/A An Outbreak Of Twangin': Phantom Guitars Vol. 2 (Psychic Circle) cd 17.98
I'm no doctor, but I have heard of rockin' pneumonia and boogie woogie flu. But what if the symptoms are an outbreak of twangin'? Well if you've heard the popular Phantom Guitars comp, released last year on Psychic Circle, you'll know what to expect. This is in fact officially Phantom Guitars volume 2, another fab collection of early '60s electric guitar instrumentals in the style of The Shadows and The Ventures. 26 more tracks of vintage reverby twang n' strum n' stomp, compiled by Nick Saloman, of Bevis Frond (and now Psychic Circle) fame. So giddy up and get it, Phantom Guitars fans. The acts on here, mostly British, are as follows: Ahab & The Wailers, The Blackjacks, The Boys, Alan Caddy, The Cannons, The Cliffters, The Eagles (but not THE Eagles of course), Rob E.G., Gordon Franks Orchestra, Jim Gunner, Richard Harding, The Hearts, Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, Les Champions, Mandrake, Nero & The Gladiators, Judd Proctor, The Rapiers, The Ramblers, The Runestones, The Saints, The Saxons, The Sunspots, Teddy Vento & Dietrich Pregl, The Volcanos, Bert Weedon. More evocative perhaps are some of the track titles: "Train To Moscow", "Ghost Train", "Just For Chicks", "Husky Team", "The Phantom Stage", "Django", "Jezebel", "Desperado"... 'twas a simpler time, the swingin' sixties... There's a surfy sound going on here (a couple tracks reminded us of the Hawaii Five-O theme) and quite obviously a spaghetti western vibe too (the wordless background vocals on The Boys' version of "Polaris" seem fairly Morricone-ish, ferinstance). Sometimes moodily suspenseful, at other times energetically exotic, always groovy, and just plain fun stuff. Like the original volume of Phantom Guitar twangin', definitely cool and recommended!!
MPEG Stream: THE BOYS "Polaris"
MPEG Stream: JUDD PROCTOR "Clearway"
MPEG Stream: THE HEARTS "Black Eyes"

V/A An Uncommon Nature (Anomalous) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The current glut of mediocre compilations from the computer glitch faction of experimental music demands that the compiler of any collection should hold greater standards than, "I'm selling yet another compilation featuring Kid 606. Please buy my product." Simple curatorial questions such as: why these artists? Why these tracks? What is the thematic connection? What is to be learned from these juxtapositions of sound?, have clearly been forgotten and replaced by a rotating line-up of flavours of the month.
Thus, Anomalous should be commended first for not recycling the mimetic electro-glitch roster on their "An Uncommon Nature" and second for putting some thought into the production of the compilation. This vinyl only album documents discrete physical actions which address the age old dichotomy between humanity and nature. Erik Lanzillota -- the curator of this album and founder of Anomalous -- has for the most part succeeded in creating a near seamless aural flow between the long thin wire striations of Jonathan Coleclough and the muffled thunderstorm field recordings of David Knott. The one snag is the annoying nasal blurt from Agog, but the wonderous drones from Mirror and the rich texural rubbings form Jeph Jerman keep this compilation from sinking like so many others.

V/A Analogue Eats Digital (www.misterministeck.com) 3" cd-r 14.98
Odd 3"cd-r compilation from Berlin-based misterministeck.com - a website run by artist Norbert Bayer, who makes pictures and objects using ministeck, a children's creativity game in which plastic pins are placed on a grid to create an image. Bayer utilizes this technique to actualize pixilated pop art recreations of images, most notably video game icons. This compilation features five exclusive tracks written in dedication to Mr. Ministeck (and in a low-bit video game style) by Berlin electro-pop artists Stereo Total, Frederick Schikowski (amazing electronic artist with releases on Irritant), Art Of Kissing (with Franz of Jeans Team!), Pinknoise and Neoangin. Each disc comes with its own ministeck recreation of icons from Pac-Man!
RealAudio clip: FREDERIK SCHIKOWSKI "Wie Wird Die Liebe Gesteckt"
RealAudio clip: STEREO TOTAL "Je Reve Encore De Toi"

V/A Anatolia Rocks: A Musical Trip Through Turkey 1968-83 (World Wide Productions) lp 25.00
We haven't had a good Turkish psych compilation in some time and while this covers some pretty familiar ground, there's plenty of stuff new to us to recommend it. Don't let the time range of the music create any doubts, the bulk of this is from 1968-1976 with one song from 1977 (Edip Akbayram & Dostlar) and one from 1983 (Fikret Kizilok, doing a smoky ballad that sounds older than most material on here). Three of the tracks are reissued here for the first time. While there are key hits from Selda, Erkin Koray, Mustafa Ozkent and 3 Hur-el that have been on numerous other releases, the tracks by Baris Manco, Esin Afsar, Umit Tokcan, Nurcan Opel, Galatasaray Lisesi, and Cem Karaca Ve Apslar are all unfamiliar to us, mostly taken from rare 45's and soundtrack records. Lots of heavy rock groove, surfy lounge beat, and smoky soulfulness to make this a highly worthwhile collection for DJs and unusual psych connoisseurs. Just ignore the subpar cover art! On Red Vinyl!
(This was also released as an outrageously expensive cd-r, we passed on those, but figured it was worth it on vinyl.)

V/A Ancient Lights and the Blackcore (Sub Rosa Utopian Diaries) cd 14.98
Scorn, Seefeel, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, even the Yanomami Shamans recorded by David Toop.

V/A And To The Disciples That Remain (Amish) cd 14.98
In celebration of their 11th year Amish records has released this comp filled with some names you know and some names you soon will from the murky wide world of the underground folk scene. A totally solid collection with not a loser in the bunch. From folks we've come to love like P.G. Six, Samara Lubelski, Dan Brown from Hall Of Fame, Helen Rush of Tower Recordings and totally stand out tracks from Oakley Hall and Bird Show. What's so nice about this comp is that while there is a connection in style and aesthetic between the artists they don't all sound alike and each brings their own slant to good old fashion american underground folk. Also nice to hear a collection like this that doesn't have some of the same names we're always used to hearing in this scene (Devendra, Sufjan, Joanna, etc) nothing against them, of course we love them but nice to remember there are many others doing wonderful things in that world.
MPEG Stream: BIRD SHOW "Filed On Water"
MPEG Stream: DAN BROWN "Good Old T. Rex or Constantine and Julian"
MPEG Stream: THEO ANGELL "Cannonball"

V/A Andergraun Vibrations!: Spanish Hard Psych And Beyond, 1970-1978 (Hundergrum Records) cd 24.00
Two words: Fuck Yeah!! Three more words: Fuzz fuzz fuzz. Another word: Word.
Oh okay, let's see, you probably want to know who's on this comp, like it matters, have you heard of any of these obscure bands? From A to X: Albert Band, All & Nothing, Ciclon, Expresion, Galaxia, Ibiza Sound, Madera De Cipres, The Matches, Modification, Pinonate, Shock, Skorpis (two cuts from them), Unidades, Rudy Ventura, and Xetxu. Fortunately, the 20-page cd booklet provides useful notes (in both English and Spanish) on all of 'em, plus full-color thumbnail repros of the original rare 45 rpm vinyl sleeve art. This is another excellent addition to the ongoing bounty of -sweet- Spanish psych/prog reissues we've seen lately, from Agamenon to Zarpa... "The Spanish Trip" (another cool comp) keeps on tripping! So what are -these- Andergraun Vibrations all about? Some of 'em groovy, some of 'em poppy, some of 'em melancholic, some of 'em heavy, some of 'em funky, some of 'em all of the above... there's disco horns and proto-metal both. Prog flutes and acid rock guitar. Dramatic vocals and garage scuzz. All sorts of retro coolness in other words. What Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils vol. III was to Sweden, this is to Spain. Oh and despite the date range of '70 to '78, twelve of the sixteen tracks are from '73 or before, and most of 'em sound even earlier (more '60s than '70s).
FYI: 'twas originally released on expensive import vinyl (in two volumes, out of print) with this cd comprising all of the 1st and about half of the 2nd volume.
MPEG Stream: CICLON "Mr. Mague"
MPEG Stream: GALAXIA "La Noticia"
MPEG Stream: SKORPIS "The Somnambulist"

V/A Andy Votel's Brazilika (Far Out) cd 17.98
One of our favorite mix makers, DJ Andy Votel. One of the most sparkling genres of music ever, Tropicalia. Can't go wrong with this one! Andy Votel is responsible for such AQ fave discs as Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word, Vertigo Mixed, Welsh Rare Beat, and the recent Well Hung (that killer comp of Hungarian funky fuzz rock we highlighted last list), among many others. Tropicalia? Well that's the late '60 Brazilian musical movement (with political and artistic dimensions as well) that melded psychedelia with Latin rhythms like bossa nova... chances are most AQ customers have some passing familiarity with it, probably having an Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso reissue or two or more in your collection.
Of those three biggies, only Mutantes appear hear on Votel's Brazilika mix, which should appeal to both Tropicalia fans and the simply curious as well. And of course Votel digs fairly deep to bring some definite obscurities into play, all from the vaults of the Brazilian Som Livre and RGE record labels. Some names: Os Brazoes, Tim Maia, Novos Baianos, Sidney Miller, Trio Soneca, Azimuth... Those familiar with his penchant for heavy, "hairy funk" on his previous mixes won't be surprised that this rocks fairly hard (and also jazzily), full of organ jamming and wah wah fuzz guitar, giving less of a look in to the breezier, more delicate and folky aspects of the Tropicalia sound. So it's not exactly a primer, but if you can untangle which part of each track is by what artist (Votel mashing several into each cut), it should whet your appetite and give you some clues for further reissue exploration. And be a surefire hit at your next party, of course.
MPEG Stream: NOVOS BAIANOS/TIM MAIA/TRIO SONECA "Baby Consuelo/Flores Beles/Funga Funga"
MPEG Stream: AZIMUTH "1974 / Periscopio"

V/A Angelfood Electronics Volumes 1 and 2 (Kake Mix) cd 12.98
Drone space-rock collection, two previously vinyl-only releases on one handy cd, with: Flowchart, Azusa Plane, Windy & Carl, Amp, Magnog, Hood and more... Too bad there's no colored vinyl to look at, but the music is still gorgeous.

V/A Angola 60's (1956-1970) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. Influenced by such elements as Congolese highlife and music from Brazil & the Caribbean, some of the musicians here have even worked with such Pan-African stars as Rochereau, Sam Mangwana and Franco. The Zairian style is evident here: lots of lush hollow body electric guitar with tons of reverb. And yet both the Portuguese & Caribbean influences are equally apparent in the melodic lines, and the language - all in Portuguese.

V/A Angola 70's (1972-1973) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Second in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. Influenced by such elements as Congolese highlife and music from Brazil & the Caribbean, some of the musicians here have even worked with such Pan-African stars as Rochereau, Sam Mangwana and Franco. The Zairian style is also evident here: lots of lush hollow body electric guitar with tons of reverb.

V/A Angola 70's (1974-1978) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Third in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. So far, *this* installment might be the best of the bunch. Lovely, fun, '70s African pop.

V/A Animals of Africa: Sounds of the Jungle, Plain & Bush (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
We're pretty damn excited about Nonesuch's decision to reissue the entire Explorer Series on CD. The series was spearheaded by Nonesuch chief Teresa Sterne who ran the label from 1965 to 1975 (when she was canned by Warner bean counters who had just acquired the label and its parent Elektra.) Sterne earned her stripes through her championing of modern American composers Edgard Varese, Elliott Carter, George Crumb and Scott Joplin. The Explorer Series was another undertaking entirely, and was the first time anything close to a thorough collection of recordings of world music had been attempted for commercial release. Dating as far back as 1966, with David Lewiston's recording of Balinese "kecak" chant, the entire series is nearly 100 discs in total! Broken up into 8 regions there are recordings from Africa, Indonesia/South Pacific, Tibet/Kashmir, Latin America/Caribbean, East Asia, Central Asia, Europe and India. Quite and undertaking. All the discs include the original liner notes that were included with the LPs so, as the editor warns at the beginning of each booklet: "general cultural perceptions or specific factual information may have occurred since then." Each release comes with a handsome outer sleeve, the liner notes are accompanied by nice black & white photographs and though the lengths of the CDs are generally between 30 & 40 minutes, the nice price fairly makes up for it.
More fuckin' weird animal sounds? Fuck Yeah!!! You must have noticed by now that we here at Aquarius go a little nuts when we get a good recording of some animals kicking out the hella mad squeals, growls, hoots, clicks and snorts. And when their sounds are unlike anything we're likely to hear on a walk through the Marin headlands or in Tilden Park, we get pretty excited. What's more, many of the animals on this collection -- for those who haven't heard them before -- sound nothing like what one's intuition would suggest. For instance, who would think that the rhinoceros, weighing in at 2000 pounds and capable of goring any one of us like a twinkie with its horn, would have a larger vocabulary than a series of menacing snorts? But au contraire, the rhino -- as captured here -- has, in its mating call, one of the cutest inquisitive mewls you'll likely ever hear. It sounds almost like it's on the phone giving positive reinforcement to the hippopotamus on the other end complaining about the way the lion has been acting of late. Or how about the Hyrax, a small East African mammal about the size of a rabbit (and a distant relative of the elephant of all things), that makes a loud growling noise not unlike someone trying to start a chainsaw. But that's not all, you get the Vervet monkey with its complex vocabulary announcing to all its mates that a leopard is on the prowl. And not to seem biased towards the primates' side of the story, the producers also included the leopard's growling complaints about the monkeys' behavior. And that's just the beginning! You also get Zebras (they sound a lot more like coyotes or dogs than horses), Wildebeest (think frogs), Lion (say no more), Hyena (god, hyenas are freaks! no matter how many times you hear them, they never lose their charm), Wild-Dog (someone scrubbing a plate glass window clean with a gerbil), Silver-Backed Jackal (parrot?), Elephant (elephant), and last -- but certainly not least -- the hippopotamus (on the other end of the line with the rhino.) Originally released by Nonesuch as part of their Explorer series in 1973, it'd take the most tenacious DJ to find a copy of this on vinyl so pick it up on disc today. Absolutely essential!
RealAudio clip: "Hyrax"
RealAudio clip: "Rhinoceros"
RealAudio clip: "Hyena"

V/A Another Kind Of Language (And / OAR) 2cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Despite the oversized package and the dedication to the amazing Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, this is not a DVD. Rather this is a collection of sound artists and archivists who were comissioned to create a piece inspired by the work of Tarkovsky. The majority of the artists in question have composed their pieces as an homage to Tarkovsky's slow, but revelatory pacing of the narrative. The atmospheres of the sublime, the psychologically horrific, and the melancholic -- which all run through Tarkovsky's work -- speak boldly with Another Kind of Language as thick dronescapes molded from various field recordings of rain, wind, and surf. There isn't anything overt about this comp that screams out "TARKOVSKY!" with no obvious samples or quotations to be found within; rather, this is a humble dronological tribute to the Russian filmmaker's amazing sensibilities. The contributing artists run the gamut, from familiar AQ faves Mnortham, John Hudak and Kiyoshi Mizutani, to lesser-knowns/unknowns Jon Tulchin, Yannick Dauby, Dale Lloyd, , Rsudin, V.V., Madali Babin, Duul_Drv, Josh Russell, Philip Pietruschka, Sawako, and Logoplasm.
MPEG Stream: MNORTHAM "When Inaccessible"
MPEG Stream: JON TULCHIN "Mnemonic Cartography"

V/A Anthology 1: Come Organisation Archives 1979-81 (Susan Lawly) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Come Organisation was the brainchild of Whitehouse's William Bennett, whose notions of punk rock veered far from the comparatively palatable sounds of The Sex Pistols or The Damned. Where the Rotten / McLaren axis made a very calaculated attack on mainstream culture through Situationist ideals, Bennett's notion of punk was a transgression that exposed all of the desires of the id. The more vulgar and more obscene, the better as far as Bennett was concerned. In attempting to claim this space, Bennett delved deep into the realms of ultra-violent pornography, screaming cruel tales of misogyny. This double cd documents the very early tales of Bennett and his numerous productions in and with Come, Whitehouse (his most infamous creation), Nurse With Wound, and The Sodality.
Come was a gritty punk band that Bennett formed after a brief stint in Essential Logic, if I'm not mistaken. With warbling synth attacks, pounding drum, and slashing three chord guitar churns, Come sounded much closer to the muddled art-rock of Snakefinger than his more decidedly punk compatriots Warsaw or Suicide. Whitehouse does exactly what every other Whitehouse track does: emit incredibly painful high frequencies and Bennett's megaphone yell of his, um, lyrics. The Nurse With Wound track features Jimbo 'Foetus' Thirwell in the construction of a wild display of dozens of tape machines going awry much like early Merzbow. Bennett also included his 'official' mix of the Nurse With Wound / Whitehouse collaborative album "150 Murderous Passions" - which sounds just like Whitehouse, and pales in comparison to the 'unofficial' mix that Stapleton released on United Dairies. The compilation concludes with a very strange field recording made in the Bradford Red Light District: something conceptually very disturbing, but in actuality just sounding like a guy walking down a busy street with a tape deck in his pocket.
All of Bennett's productions have been meant to offend, or at least provoke, and this one is certainly no different.

V/A Anthology 2: Come Organisation Archives 1981-1982 (Susan Lawly) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Along with Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records, William Bennett's Come Organisation was one of the seminal publishing entities for transgressive British art in the late '70s and early '80s, mostly for his own projects Come and Whitehouse, but also a few other recordings from Maurizio Bianchi (recording under the Leibstandarte SS MB moniker), Sutcliffe Jurgend, 150 Murderous Passions (a collaboration between Bennett and Nurse With Wound), and probably some other projects that have eluded my research (if anybody has a discography from Come Organisation, please let me know!). While the Come Organisation is no longer active, Bennett has founded Susan Lawly to continue publishing Whitehouse material. This document is the second collection of material from the Come Organisation vaults, comprised of the last Come album "I'm Jack," highlights from the conceptually based compilation "Fur Ilse Koch," and a two tracks from Bianchi's "Weltanschauung" album.
For the Come album "I'm Jack," Bennett had worked with Foetus' Jim Thirwell to create two very odd pieces of primitive anti-punk. On one track Bennett took up the drums, with Thirlwell on guitar, electronics, and vocal duties; and the other track found the two switching yet performing similar pieces. Starting off with the sludgy guitar feedback that has since become the staple for bands like Earth, the Melvins, and Harvey Milk, Come sporadically drop in unstructured double kick drum beats before unleashing a belligerent feedback / synth noise.
Ilse Koch was the wife of the commandant at the Buchenwald concentration camp during Nazi era Germany, and had developed an unsavory fashion aesthetic of furnishing her lampshades with the skin from dead prisoners. Obviously the material from the Come Organisation compilation that is dedicated to her is certainly not for the squeamish. The anonymously produced tracks from Musique Concrete and Etat Brut both employ similar methods of media appropriation into bizarre collages with lots of Jim Jones references. But it is the Nurse With Wound track "Fashioned To A Device Behind A Tree" that is the highlight to both "Fur Ilse Koch" and "Anthology 2" on which a little German girl pleads for her father accompanied by an ever intensifying psychoacoustically irritating high frequency drone. Very creepy. The MB tracks are also quite impressive, with his signature aesthetic of sinister electronic dirges that are continuously collapsing under the weight of an existential gloom.
Bennett indicated in the liner notes the possibility of reissuing "Fur Ilse Koch" at a later date, pretty much all that is missing from that compilation and these highlights are the shock tactic insertions of Nazi speeches, Manson gibberish, and the Japanese Imperial War anthem. The tracks featured here do well enough to frighten and horrify without such obvious references.
RealAudio clip: NURSE WITH WOUND "Fashioned To A Device Behind A Tree"
RealAudio clip: COME "President, Your Prick's Stiff"
RealAudio clip: LEIBSTANDARTE SS MB "Endoradiaion"

V/A Anthology of American Folk Music, Edited By Harry Smith (Smithsonian Folkways) 6cd 95.00

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.
RealAudio clip: SEXUAL HARRASSMENT "If I Gave You a Party"
RealAudio clip: KONK "Love Attack"

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.

V/A Anticon Giga Single (Anticon) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Low priced compilation produced by Oakland's Anticon collective of hip hop artists. 17 tracks from the likes of Anticon, Sole, Dose, and much more.
RealAudio clip: BRANDON "Pedestrian For Vessel"
RealAudio clip: SAGE FRANCIS "Inherited Scars"

V/A Anticon Label Sampler 1999-2004 (Anticon) cd 7.98
For those of you who somehow missed the Anticon boat, and maybe even for those of you who need to fill said boat with every release and extra track you can get your hands on, here's a massive 33 track sampler from the Anticon label, funny, funky, idiosyncratic, bizarre and musically adventurous, home of the off kilter indie hip hop of Sole, Themselves, Odd Nosdam, Alias, Why?, Restiform Bodies and loads more. This comp has it all old tracks, new tracks, soon to be released tracks and of course, some UNRELEASED tracks. 33 tracks mixed seamlessly into one big ol chunk by Odd Nosdam, featuring all of the above folks as well as Passage, Sage Francis, Deep Puddle Dynamics, Controller 7, Dosh and Jel. All for a measly seven bucks. Nice!
MPEG Stream: THEMSELVES "Dark Sky Demo"
MPEG Stream: PASSAGE "Poem To The Hospital"
MPEG Stream: THEMSELVES "Good People Check (Hrvatski Remix)"

V/A Antitrade (Touch) cd 15.98
"In the northern hemisphere from the southwest, a wind that blows steadily in the opposite direction to the trade-wind" reads the definition to the 'antitrade' on the disc itself. Aside from this oddly placed text, there are very little clues to the reading of this baffling pseudo-concept record from Ash International (R.I.P.). Collecting fragments of disembodied voices, VLF radio noise, and field recordings of fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day, the artists on this compilation manifest an aural purity of simple drones to assimilate the disparate noises in a surprisingly cohesive whole. It is a little hard to believe that this is a compilation as Bruce Gilbert (Wire), S.E.T.I. (aka Andrew Lagowski), Disinformation, Hazard (who I believe recorded as Morthound on Cold Meat Industries many moons ago), Lief Elggren (Ghost Orchid), Aer, and hhh contribute on this album. An excellent piece from the click and drone school.

V/A April (Box) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Welcome to the Frans De Waard show starring Frans De Waard! 5 of the 7 tracks on this compilation feature Mr. De Waard in various guises as the "borrowed" project Freiband covering a King Crimson song, as the ambient drone guitar project Shifts, in the ultra-minimal techno / microsound project Goem, and in the musique concrete ensemble Kapotte Musiek. Roel Meelkop (who works with De Waard in Goem and Kapotte Muziek) contributes a solo track of minimalist scraping. The last track throws off the symmetry of the Frans De Waard connection with a duet between Boston's Jason Talbot and Howard Stelzer on turntables and tape constructions. Limited to 300 CD-Rs.
RealAudio clip: GOEM "Braun Mix"
RealAudio clip: ROEL MEELKOP "Fuzzy"
RealAudio clip: FREIBAND "Dream Illusion"

V/A Aquarius Rock (Pressure Sounds) cd 17.98
What, you don't remember when our store was located on Constant Spring Road in Kingston, Jamaica? Awww, there's just no pulling the wool over y'all's eyes. You do know that Allan's initials are JAH though don't you? It is kind of a eerie co-incidence that. Honestly, Aquarius -- the Jamaican variant -- was a record store, recording studio and record label founded and run by Herman Chin-Loy, a Jamaican of Chinese and African descent. Along with having one of the hottest record shops in Kingston (picking the right name is crucial of course) he holds the claim to fame of releasing the very first dub record, Aquarius Dub and of being the man to introduce the world to Augustus Pablo and his magical melodica. Included here are 24 classic tracks -- vocal and dubs -- from Herman's vaults such as Augustus Pablo's "Aquarius Rock" and "Iggy Iggy", and cuts from Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis, Dennis AlCapone and more. It's a nice collection, the only downside being that there's an awful lot of rhythm recycling throughout. Comes with a nice full color booklet with a bio on Chin-Loy and his Aquarius enterprise.
MPEG Stream: AUGUSTUS PABLO & HERMAN "Aquarius Rock"
MPEG Stream: DENNIS ALCAPONE "Sabata"

V/A Archipelago: Islands (Foundry) 6cd 40.00
Embracing the decentralized nature of artists working in isolation outside of the club circuit and disconnected from the current rhetoric of Raster-Noton glitch worship or Mille Plateaux micro-house, the musicians on "Archipelago" have attempted to forge a community that exists out of the cooperative spirit, rather than by commodifying yet another posse of knob twiddlers. That said, the 6 mini 3" CDs which make up this compilation hold a tentative common thread in supporting the ambient techno which dominated the Bay Area some five years ago with the flourishing of labels like Reflective and Silent.
Rhomb's disc (disc one) opens the proceedings with subterranean drips, trippy electric tones, sparse rhythmic clicks, and lots of space to drive home a mysterious cosmology. Csero's (disc two) glitch-music with static irradiating the pointillist bleeps and blips sounds sort of like a composition made from a broken nintendo game-boy. Seofon (disc three) offers a dodgy amount of hippy space music laced with electronic tribal rhythms very much like the recent work from Brian Eno or Bill Laswell. Thermal's (disc four) ambient techno noodles around a very Pete Namlook analogue synth line and some downtempo rhythms. The biggest break from the San Francisco ambient sound comes from Dean Santomieri (disc five) who has produced a grizzled piece of spartan media cut-ups and industrially-minded musique concrete. eM (disc six) completes the series by mutating clipped speak-and-spell tones into erratically forming ambient passages. Nice.

V/A Archiv 1.1 (Asphodel) cd 13.98
Originally released as a bonus cd for subscribers to the Wire magazine, this sampler is a perfect introduction to the super clinical, ultra minimal Raster-Noton sound featuring a who's who of the avant / minimalist / techno / experimental world: William Basinski, Signal, Senking, Bytone, Komet Noto, M. Akiyama, Pixel and more. Also worth picking up if you're already into this stuff as some of the tracks here are out of print, rare or previously unreleased. A gorgeously bleak, sometimes lush world of clicks and beeps and whirs and drones and crackle and whir and hum and rumble. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: 0 (NULL) "Mikro Makro"
MPEG Stream: SENKING "Stand"
MPEG Stream: BYETONE "Oacis"

V/A Arktinen Hysteria: Suomi-Avantgarden Esipuutarhureita (Love Records) cd 14.98
When our Andee was away on his vacation to Finland last year he got turned on to this compilation of early ('60s/'70s) Finnish experimental music. It also has been getting a good deal of airplay on our favorite radio station, New Jersey's wonderful WFMU (www.wfmu.org, tune in!). So, now we're real happy to have finally gotten this in stock, and felt it deserved Record Of The Week status for several reasons: it's Finnish, it's fucked, and it's also of historical import. Mainly, though, it's just fucked. In that fun way we at AQ totally dig. Sure, "Arktien Hysteria" (translation: Arctic Hysteria, if you couldn't guess) is all experimental and avantgarde but definitely not super serious -- heck, it starts out with a veritable symphony of burps, and one of the best artists on here is known as The Sperm. These tracks tend to feature (one or more of the following): early "sampling" cut-ups, druggy proto-punk psychedelic rock freedom, free jazz noise, groovy oddball electronics n' drone, conceptual flux, and vocal derangement. Arktien hysteria indeed! The freakouts on here should prove that none of the art-punk noiseniks of today can make a noise that hasn't been made already. Such as the turkey gobbling style sax and maniacal percussion of Jouni Kesti & Seppo I. Laine's "Analysis of Revolution".
Not that it's all zany hijinks, there's abstract soundscape stuff on here too, some of it really dark and weird. Quite a few home-built instruments/machines/synths feature here, along with tape loops galore. Thougth some folks make do though with just sheer frenzied performance gusto. All tracks were taken, we believe, from rare LPs originially released circa 1967-1970 by the legendary Finnish label Love Records. Actually, one cut even dates from as far back as 1961. The cd booklet's got photos and (thankfully) some liner notes in English, though there's more text in Finnish, oh well.
Pan sonic and Circle and Keuhkot and Kemialliset Ystavat and all the rest of Finland's current avant/underground scene start to make a lot more sense when you hear what their aunts and uncles were up to a few decades back, makin' noise at live happenings, or constructing tracks in primitive DIY studios built in their sauna huts. Damn, what a cool compilation. Insane, and arguably essential.
MPEG Stream: BLUES SECTION "Shivers Of Pleasure"
MPEG Stream: JUKKA RUOHOMAKI "Mika Aika On"
MPEG Stream: JOUNI KESTI & SEPPO I. LIANE "Vallankumouksen Analyysi"
MPEG Stream: THE SPERM "3rd Erection"

V/A Art Of Field Recording (Sampler Disc) (Dust To Digital) cd 15.98

V/A Art Of Field Recording Volume II (Dust-To-Digital) 4cd-box 68.00

V/A Art Of Field Recordings Vol 1 (Dust-To-Digital) 4cd box 68.00
Dust To Digital is the new Smithsonian Folkways, every one of their releases fantastically complete, meticulously researched, gorgeously presented, often in a way that has you digging music you might have assumed you wouldn't otherwise.
In the past they've given us the Goodbye, Babylon collection of gospel music, packed in a silkscreened wooden box and snuggled up next to clumps of raw cotton, the Fonotone Records collection, old time bluegrass, blues and folk, housed in a cigar box, with a hardcover book and a bottle opener, the I Belong To This Band compilation of Sacred Harp Recordings, and now this, The Art Of Field Recordings, a 4 disc set, culled from 5 years of field recording, collected by archivists Art and Margo Rosenbaum, and collecting all manner of musical Americana, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, country, gospel, spirituals, religious hymns, ballads and almost anything they stumbled across.
If you LOVE Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music set, and have been hankering for more, this will absolutely hit the spot. Or if you always think about buying the Harry Smith box for someone and wish they didn't already have it so you could, well here's the answer to your problem. The recordings are amazing, super intimate and personal, many of them a cappella, lots of them including the various bits of conversation that took place before and after, making it feel like you were sitting right there on the porch. The discs are separated onto four discs, each with a particular focus, instrumental and dance, blues, religious, and one disc that is a sort of sampling of all of the above and more, even including some Mexican folk, a German traditional, and other songs that maybe didn't fit perfectly into those genres.
Includes a massive book, with a huge essay and tons of notes on every song and each performer.
The packaging is a little strange, maybe not up to the D2D standards we're used to. A super nice thick box, housing a big perfect bound book, but the cds are in paper sleeves, and laid on corresponding colored squares, separated only by a weird little foam 't' adhered to the bottom of the box. But it hardly matters as the music inside is so completely fantastic. Recommended bug time. And pretty much the ideal gift for your blues/folk/country obsessed loved ones (especially the ones who own and love the Harry Smith anthology)!

V/A Aryan Asshole Recorcds Compilation (Aryan Asshole) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What would you expect from a label called Aryan Asshole run by one of the guys from Wolf Eyes and a pal? Big loud ugly noise right? Well, that's exactly what you get on this compilation, Aryan Asshole Compilation Vol. 1. A collection of out of print tracks (previously released as super limited lathe cuts) from Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway of Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, Burning Star Core, Hive Mind, Religious Knives (half of Double Leopards), Damion Romero as well as Bloodyminded, Graveyards, The Moonlanding, Failing Lights, Charlie Draheim and Raven Strain.
The sound runs the noise rock gamut: primitive Whitehouse shriek with ear piercing sinewaves and squealing feedback with shouted megaphone vocals, clouds of high end skree, kitchen sink clatter and blown out electronic glitch and gzzzt, full on detuned distorted metal guitar riffage, tweaked and twisted, skipping and pitchshifted into some hiccupping plunderphonic metalstorm, super spare ambience, Jandek-ish guitar, random room clatter, footsteps, chairs sliding against the floor, plink plonk percussion all space-y and abstract, rumbling SUNNO)))-like dirges but way more malevolent and lo-fi, crumbling electronic buzz and splatter and... well, you get the idea.
A pretty killer comp of modern noise (rock) of the meaner and weirder and more fucked up persuasion. The cover art features reproductions of all the long out of print square shaped lathe cut picture discs gathered within! Cool.

V/A Aryan Asshole Records Compilation Vol.2 (Aryan Asshole) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Asian Flashback: Underground Music From Asia (PSF) cd 16.98
Since 1991, Japanese label PSF has brought us six volumes in their essential underground psych-rock-noise-improv sampler series Tokyo Flashback. Now they've released a new compilation that's similarly cool, but broadens its geographic scope to include artists from Korea and China as well as Japan, most of whom we'd never been exposed to before. Some of the only familiar folks appear on the very first track, a live-in-Tokyo "improvised trio showdown" featuring Chinese guitarist Li Jianhong (of the noise band D!O!D!O!D! who have a disc out on PSF, and who also had his own awesome solo cd on aRCHIVE recently) teamed up with free jazz drummer Shoji Hano and High Rise guitarist Narita Munehiro, both from Japan. That's an amped-up freakout as you might expect. There's also a noisy D!O!D!O!D! track on here too, but beyond those, it's all new names to us. From Korea: Mustangs, Kim Young Jin, Amature Amplifier, and Soonie. From China: Mafeisan, Xiao He, Li Daiguo. From Japan: Kiyasu Orchestra, Sato Yukie, Yoshiteru Koga Jizo. Also there's a boy-girl Japanese-Korean project called 10, whose track "U-A-U" is a hissing, droning, throbbing backdrop to bizarre vocal expression.
All the tracks are interesting, it's an eclectic mix of experimental/underground styles, from full-on noise chaos to mellow, minimal acoustic guitar balladry, all sorts of stuff... ferinstance the energetic squawk of Kiyasu Orchestra's psychedelic free jazz exotica sits side-by-side here with the Mustangs' sixties style garage psych rock. And perhaps most surprisingly, there's even a dreamy, indie-folk cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" by Korean chanteuse Soonie at the very end of the disc.
The booklet boasts brief liner notes about each contributor, in four languages (English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese). Let's hope that this Asian Flashback is just the start of another series! PSF's antidote to all the mass market J-pop, K-pop, and HK-pop karaoke blandness out there.
MPEG Stream: MUSTANGS "Sativa"
MPEG Stream: XIAO HE "Bird And Water"
MPEG Stream: 10 "U-A-U"
MPEG Stream: SATO YUKI "Solo Improvisation"