V/A Africa Boogaloo: The Latinization Of West Africa (Honest Jon's) cd 17.98
The last Honest Jon's compilation we carried focussed on the roots of Congolese Rumba through a wave of Latin influence on the region from the thirties to the fifties. The latest Honest Jon's compilation, Africa Boogaloo, expands upon that concept by tracing Latin music's influential trajectory from the fifties to the seventies all along Africa's Western Coast from the Congo to Senegal.
Culled from rare recordings by both celebrated artists as well as the little known, this compilation focuses not so much on the single artist but the bigger dance bands like Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Orchestre OK Jazz, and one of the major stars of Afro-beat, Manu Dibango (here performing the title track with Le Grand Kalle and Don Gonzalo). Boogaloo being a hybrid style of soul, R&B, mambo and various other forms of Afro-Cuban music, it makes sense that not only would it be popular in Africa whose various indigenous musical styles inspired Latin music in the first place, but that it would proliferate further into modern fusions of various African musical forms. The constant cross-cultural influence is amazingly uncanny as well as delightfully infectious!
MPEG Stream: LE GRAND KALLE, DON GONZALO, MANU DIBANGO "Africa Boogaloo"
MPEG Stream: CHARLES LEMBE "Quiero Wapacha"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "On Verra Ca"

V/A Africa Boogaloo: The Latinization Of West Africa (Honest Jon's) 2lp 22.00
The last Honest Jon's compilation we carried focussed on the roots of Congolese Rumba through a wave of Latin influence on the region from the thirties to the fifties. The latest Honest Jon's compilation, Africa Boogaloo, expands upon that concept by tracing Latin music's influential trajectory from the fifties to the seventies all along Africa's Western Coast from the Congo to Senegal.
Culled from rare recordings by both celebrated artists as well as the little known, this compilation focuses not so much on the single artist but the bigger dance bands like Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Orchestre OK Jazz, and one of the major stars of Afro-beat, Manu Dibango (here performing the title track with Le Grand Kalle and Don Gonzalo). Boogaloo being a hybrid style of soul, R&B, mambo and various other forms of Afro-Cuban music, it makes sense that not only would it be popular in Africa whose various indigenous musical styles inspired Latin music in the first place, but that it would proliferate further into modern fusions of various African musical forms. The constant cross-cultural influence is amazingly uncanny as well as delightfully infectious!
MPEG Stream: LE GRAND KALLE, DON GONZALO, MANU DIBANGO "Africa Boogaloo"
MPEG Stream: CHARLES LEMBE "Quiero Wapacha"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "On Verra Ca"

V/A Africa Raps (Trikont) cd 16.98
When we first ordered this, we imagined it would be a compilation of rapping in African music, or more like the roots of modern rap in Africa, but instead this is a collection of some of the most popular contemporary rap groups in Africa, and it's pretty great. It's interesting to hear how the music, while obviously reminscent of American hip hop, incorporates all sorts of traditional African musics as well as modern music (especially Mbalax or African commercial pop), as well as rapping in French and Wolof and a heavy political/religious bent as 90 percent of African rappers are Muslim. As a simple hip hop compilation, this stands up pretty well. Fans of MC Solaar and the Le Flow hip hop collection from a few years back will love this. But as a musical and sociological document, complete with Trikont's excellent liner notes, this is essential.
RealAudio clip: BMG 44 "Xam"
RealAudio clip: POSITIVE BLACK SOUL "Boul Ma Mine"
RealAudio clip: TATA POUND "Badalia"
RealAudio clip: PEE FROISS "Jalgaty"

V/A Africafunk: Return to the Original Sounds of 1970s Funky Africa (Harmless) cd 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 Africafunk: The Original Sounds of 1970s Funky Africa (Harmless) cd 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 African Scream Contest (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
Samy Ben Redjeb, the man behind the Analog Africa label, allegedly went through some 3000 records before picking the 14 tracks that make up this amazing compilation of mid-'70s sounds from Benin and Togo - the two smaller countries that happen to be sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, two of the dominant cultural forces in African music at that time. As much as the music included on African Scream Contest shows the influence of those neighboring heavyweights, there are plenty of other elements coming into the mix. You can hear Afro-Cuban horn blasts and clave rhythms alongside samba grooves and James Brown funk. That you can hear blues and soul being filtered through highlife, Afrobeat, and even traditional choral music is one of the things that makes this period of African music so exciting: no one influence holds any more sway than any other, and the result is something totally unique that manages to be strangely familiar while sounding like nothing you've ever heard in your life.
Like the title says, this stuff is definitely raw - you can hear musicians who not only taught themselves how to play, but in doing so created their own culture, national identity and music. For every influence pulled from elsewhere in the world (be it US funk or Brazilian rhythms), there's something distinctly regional through which it gets filtered; for example, Benin is the birthplace of voodoo, and that must surely have been an influence on the sense of wild abandon and frenzy that this music manages to capture so perfectly. Simply put, this is heavy stuff!
The standard for these kinds of compilations has been set incredibly high by labels like Strut, Sound Way, Soul Jazz and the like, but if anything Analog Africa have raised the bar even higher. It took three years of research, crate digging, interviews and detective work to put this compilation together and it shows: this presentation of the music, liner notes and archival materials is meticulous, loving and borders on obsessive. This is an amazing collection of songs that once again shows the incredible depth of cultural output happening in Africa in the '60s and '70s. It's a great time to be a fan of these musics, and this stunning compilation shows us exactly why. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: GABO BROWN & ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO "It's A Vanity"
MPEG Stream: LOKONON ANDRE & LES VOLCANS "Mi Kple Dogbekpo"
MPEG Stream: LE SUPER BORGOU DE PARAKOU "Congolaise Benin Ye"

V/A African Scream Contest (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
FINALLY, this amazing comp is now available on vinyl!
Samy Ben Redjeb, the man behind the Analog Africa label, allegedly went through some 3000 records before picking the 14 tracks that make up this amazing compilation of mid-'70s sounds from Benin and Togo - the two smaller countries that happen to be sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, two of the dominant cultural forces in African music at that time. As much as the music included on African Scream Contest shows the influence of those neighboring heavyweights, there are plenty of other elements coming into the mix. You can hear Afro-Cuban horn blasts and clave rhythms alongside samba grooves and James Brown funk. That you can hear blues and soul being filtered through highlife, Afrobeat, and even traditional choral music is one of the things that makes this period of African music so exciting: no one influence holds any more sway than any other, and the result is something totally unique that manages to be strangely familiar while sounding like nothing you've ever heard in your life.
Like the title says, this stuff is definitely raw - you can hear musicians who not only taught themselves how to play, but in doing so created their own culture, national identity and music. For every influence pulled from elsewhere in the world (be it US funk or Brazilian rhythms), there's something distinctly regional through which it gets filtered; for example, Benin is the birthplace of voodoo, and that must surely have been an influence on the sense of wild abandon and frenzy that this music manages to capture so perfectly. Simply put, this is heavy stuff!
The standard for these kinds of compilations has been set incredibly high by labels like Strut, Sound Way, Soul Jazz and the like, but if anything Analog Africa have raised the bar even higher. It took three years of research, crate digging, interviews and detective work to put this compilation together and it shows: this presentation of the music, liner notes and archival materials is meticulous, loving and borders on obsessive. This is an amazing collection of songs that once again shows the incredible depth of cultural output happening in Africa in the '60s and '70s. It's a great time to be a fan of these musics, and this stunning compilation shows us exactly why. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: GABO BROWN & ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO "It's A Vanity"
MPEG Stream: LOKONON ANDRE & LES VOLCANS "Mi Kple Dogbekpo"
MPEG Stream: LE SUPER BORGOU DE PARAKOU "Congolaise Benin Ye"

V/A Afrika Underground (Counterpoint) cd 19.98
A collection that only begins to scratch the surface of the rarely heard of underground jazz scene in South Africa. Compiled by Jake Behnan, "Afrika Underground" covers "jazz funk & fusion" stuff from the mid-seventies to the early eighties, from the musicians who were instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Artists compiled: Movement in the City, Dick Khoza, Zacks Nkosi, Jabula, George Lee, Mike Makhalemele, Pacific Express, Harari and Lionel Pillay. You'll have to look elsewhere if you want to know if the anti-apartheid movement had its own version of Black Power free-jazz improv like in the USA, 'cause this is definitely on the electric, easy listening, funky side of things. "Rare groove" fans are probably fiending for the original vinyl of this stuff. Lively, danceable and fun despite the social and political circumstances under which this music was made.
RealAudio clip: MOVEMENT IN THE CITY "Lament"
RealAudio clip: DICK KHOZA "Chapita"
RealAudio clip: PACIFIC EXPRESS "The Way It Used To Be"

V/A Afro Baby - The Evolution Of The Afro-Sound In Nigeria 1970-79 (Soundway) cd 19.98
In addition to reissuing their Ghana Soundz collection, Sound Way has put together an additional 12 rare tracks of afro-beat from Nigeria. Included along with mainstays Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius are several lesser known (this side of the pond anyhoo) groups like The Mebusas, The Don Issac Ezekiel Combination, The Martins Brothers Dance Band and more. Like Ghana Soundz, this CD comes with a thick booklet of info, including artist bios, and album art repros.
MPEG Stream: THE MEBUSAS "Son of Mr. Bull Dog"
MPEG Stream: DR. VICTOR OLAIYA'S INTERNATIONAL ALL STARS "Omelebele"

V/A Afro Baby: The Evolution Of The Afro-Sound In Nigeria 1970-79 (Soundway) 2lp 21.00
NOW ON VINYL!
In addition to reissuing their Ghana Soundz collection, Sound Way has put together an additional 12 rare tracks of afro-beat from Nigeria. Included along with mainstays Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius are several lesser known (this side of the pond anyhoo) groups like The Mebusas, The Don Issac Ezekiel Combination, The Martins Brothers Dance Band and more. Comes with a thick booklet of info, including artist bios, and album art repros.
MPEG Stream: THE MEBUSAS "Son of Mr. Bull Dog"
MPEG Stream: DR. VICTOR OLAIYA'S INTERNATIONAL ALL STARS "Omelebele"

V/A Afro Cuba: Drums Of Cuba: Afro-Cuban Music From The Roots - Grupo Oba-Ilu (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00
There aren't many instruments that we would want to hear a whole record of. But drums are an exception. Drums seem to be the unifying instrument for all music lovers. Whether it's hip-hop, Japanese noise, krautrock, funk, afro-beat, etc. we all love hearing the drummer get wicked! There is something so mystical and powerful about the sound of drums that its no wonder that they have often been used as the main instrument in so many mystical & spiritual settings. Recorded by Soul Jazz in Cuba at the ICAIC studios these recordings demonstrate the African-influence on the drumming used in Cuban religious cults and ceremonies. Much like the amazing Voodoo Drums, and Spirits Of Life comps Soul Jazz put out a few years ago this is another great collection of frenzied drumming for a higher calling.
MPEG Stream: "Yuka"
MPEG Stream: "Guiro"
MPEG Stream: "Makuta"

V/A Afro Cuba: Drums Of Cuba: Afro-Cuban Music From The Roots - Grupo Oba-Ilu (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There aren't many instruments that we would want to hear a whole record of. But drums are an exception. Drums seem to be the unifying instrument for all music lovers. Whether it's hip-hop, Japanese noise, krautrock, funk, afro-beat, etc. we all love hearing the drummer get wicked! There is something so mystical and powerful about the sound of drums that its no wonder that they have often been used as the main instrument in so many mystical & spiritual settings. Recorded by Soul Jazz in Cuba at the ICAIC studios these recordings demonstrate the African-influence on the drumming used in Cuban religious cults and ceremonies. Much like the amazing Voodoo Drums, and Spirits Of Life comps Soul Jazz put out a few years ago this is another great collection of frenzied drumming for a higher calling.
MPEG Stream: "Yuka"
MPEG Stream: "Guiro"
MPEG Stream: "Makuta"

V/A Afro Funk Explosion (Explosive Entertainment) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another collection of classic 70's afro-funk. Subtitled "Motherload From the Motherland", the 13 tracks here are certainly a goldmine of afro-funk. Some are in the vein of Fela Kuti, some are bizarre interpretations of the James Brown sound, and some are akin to the instrumental tracks you might find in a seventies film score. Featuring cuts by the likes of Manu Dibango, Matata, Dick Khoza, Assagai, and much more. All the tracks were mastered directly from vinyl sources, so along with the usual surface noise anomalies you get a couple songs where the lp's hole was punched off center and the track is a bit warbled. Rather charming, I think. The bad or, to be sure, truly sucky thing about this compilation is its complete lack of liner notes whatsoever -- you get a track listing and that's it. I'm not opposed to quasi-bootleg re-issues, but if someone's going to go through the trouble of archiving the tracks they should at least give a little background info as to their origin, maybe even some bios on the more obscure artists.
RealAudio clip: AFRO FUNK "Afro Funk"
RealAudio clip: ASSAGAI "Cocoa"
RealAudio clip: MFALME "Maku Penda"

V/A Afro Funk Explosion (Explosive Entertainment) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another collection of classic 70's afro-funk. Subtitled "Motherload From the Motherland", the 13 tracks here are certainly a goldmine of afro-funk. Some are in the vein of Fela Kuti, some are bizarre interpretations of the James Brown sound, and some are akin to the instrumental tracks you might find in a seventies film score. Featuring cuts by the likes of Manu Dibango, Matata, Dick Khoza, Assagai, and much more. All the tracks were mastered directly from vinyl sources, so along with the usual surface noise anomalies you get a couple songs where the lp's hole was punched off center and the track is a bit warbled. Rather charming, I think. The bad or, to be sure, truly sucky thing about this compilation is its complete lack of liner notes whatsoever -- you get a track listing and that's it. I'm not opposed to quasi-bootleg re-issues, but if someone's going to go through the trouble of archiving the tracks they should at least give a little background info as to their origin, maybe even some bios on the more obscure artists.

V/A Afro-Beat Airways (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
Now on vinyl!
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
MPEG Stream: K. FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "Me Yee Owu Den"
MPEG Stream: MARIJATA "Break Through"
MPEG Stream: ITADI "Live In Other World"
MPEG Stream: DE FRANK PROFESSIONALS "Afe Ato Yen Bio"

V/A Afro-Beat Airways: West African Shock Waves, Ghana and Togo 1972-1979 (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
Analog Africa does it again! The hardest working Afro-beat reissue label brings us another amazing comp of psych-tinged, long-lost Afro-beat, this time from Ghana and Togo recorded between 1972-1979. Raw, sultry, and totally ass-shaking, pretty much all of the tracks have never been released outside the region. Funky Latin rhythms, organ-driven psych, and cosmic soulful percussive trance-outs by 11 bands. Comes with amazing 44 page booklet with pictures and histories. Wow, deluxe package, incredible music. We can go on, but do we really need to? Analog Africa hasn't let us down yet. 100 percent Solid! Trust.
MPEG Stream: K. FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "Me Yee Owu Den"
MPEG Stream: MARIJATA "Break Through"
MPEG Stream: ITADI "Live In Other World"
MPEG Stream: DE FRANK PROFESSIONALS "Afe Ato Yen Bio"

V/A Afro-Rock Volume One (Kona) cd 16.98
Kona records presents a new collection of Afro-Soul and Funk tracks taken from the late sixties to the early seventies. 11 tracks from 11 groups that arose out of the Pan African identity movement in the 60's, hailing from Sierra Leone, Kenya, Zaire, Ghana and elsewhere. Super tight, ready to explode afro-funk tracks that will make your butt shake are what you can expect when you put this disc on. Though the comparisons to Fela Kuti are inevitable and maybe even appropriate, many of the artists here were contemporaries of Kuti and were as much a part of shaping the sound that became associated with Fela (there are plenty of classic afro beat horn sections, electric piano & organ solos and funky wah wah guitars here), but there are also tracks like Super Mambo 69's "Sweeper Soul" which takes a lot more cues from American soul and R&B than most, and the spaced out & psychedelic "Mabala" by the Yahoos which is unlike anything else. All in all this is quite a nifty collection, certainly one of the best compilations of Afro-rock/funk/soul/beat that we've heard in ages. Features a couple tracks, one previously unreleased and the other only ever before available on cassette. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: JINGO "Fever"
RealAudio clip: SUPER MAMBO 69 "Sweeper Soul"
RealAudio clip: YAHOOS "Mabala"

V/A After Dark (Italians Do It Better) cd 12.98
Chances are lots of us here at AQ are like you in that we can get a bit overly obsessed when we fall in love with something. Case in point: this mind melting electro-disco compilation from the new Troubleman Unlimited offshoot label Italians Do It Better. There are thousands of amazing records here in the store to listen to everyday yet we can't stop putting this on. Day after day and often multiple times during the day this always seems to find its way back to the cd player, making us feel like we're dancing on clouds, floating high in the sky, never to come down. Influenced by the best moments of early disco, Giorgio Moroder and the whole Italo-disco scene (of which the label name is a tip o' the hat to) this comp is a collection of tracks from 12"s, LP's and demos that have been pretty impossible to come by in these parts. Folks like Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, Professor Genius, and more have channeled their inner Moroder and captured that perfect late night dancing on air sensation after a long night of consumption and exertion, dancing your ass off, dressed to the nines and never wanting the party to end. Whether they're covering Kraftwerk or R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day (a legendary and sadly obscure project by DNA co-founder!) or creating their own songs that fit perfectly into this after dark wonderland, all these artists have totally dialed into a sound and style that we find so irresistible. Where electro-clash was cold and calculated, these sounds channeling a heartfelt love of vintage disco have a seductive and sensual quality that's been making lots of us swoon. So highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: CHROMATICS "Hands In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: GLASS CANDY "Computer Love"
MPEG Stream: MIRAG "Lady Operator"

V/A After Dark (Italians Do It Better) 3LP 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!
Chances are lots of us here at AQ are like you in that we can get a bit overly obsessed when we fall in love with something. Case in point: this mind melting electro-disco compilation from the new Troubleman Unlimited offshoot label Italians Do It Better. There are thousands of amazing records here in the store to listen to everyday yet we can't stop putting this on. Day after day and often multiple times during the day this always seems to find its way back to the cd player, making us feel like we're dancing on clouds, floating high in the sky, never to come down. Influenced by the best moments of early disco, Giorgio Moroder and the whole Italo-disco scene (of which the label name is a tip o' the hat to) this comp is a collection of tracks from 12"s, LP's and demos that have been pretty impossible to come by in these parts. Folks like Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, Professor Genius, and more have channeled their inner Moroder and captured that perfect late night dancing on air sensation after a long night of consumption and exertion, dancing your ass off, dressed to the nines and never wanting the party to end. Whether they're covering Kraftwerk or R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day (a legendary and sadly obscure project by DNA co-founder!) or creating their own songs that fit perfectly into this after dark wonderland, all these artists have totally dialed into a sound and style that we find so irresistible. Where electro-clash was cold and calculated, these sounds channeling a heartfelt love of vintage disco have a seductive and sensual quality that's been making lots of us swoon. So highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: CHROMATICS "Hands In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: GLASS CANDY "Computer Love"
MPEG Stream: MIRAG "Lady Operator"

V/A Aimer Et Perdre (To Love & To Lose) Songs, 1917-1934 (Tompkins Square) 2cd 28.00
It takes a lot more than just a killer collection of songs to make an amazing compilation, and leave it to Tompkins Square, generally no slouches in the comp curating department, to come up with this curiously themed focus on affairs of the heart, in particular, the strange corner of human nature the impels and compels us to pursue romance, and love, even when the relationship seems doomed from the outset. A base human instinct not to just to find love, but to often look for it in all the wrong places. And to commemorate those lost loves and tragic encounters in song.
These prewar tunes, include music from the Cajun bayous, the mountains of Eastern Europe, and rural America, focusing on various nationalities who emigrated to America, only to form super strong enclaves, with a mind to preserve their cultural heritage, one part of which was various traditions of courtship and marriage, traditions that were quite different from one nationality to the next. But as different as those traditions were, the emotions, the feelings of love and longing, of sorrow and hopefulness, are of course universal, and were again, immortalized in music, a music that is at once festive and celebratory, but often with a subtle underpinning of sadness, the sounds are a mix of European folk, country music, bluegrass and gypsy music, lots of fiddles and strings, emotive vocals, wild melodies, there's plenty of blues too, cuz if one thing we all know, love can give a person the blues something bad, so Dock Boggs and his banjo spin a tale of "False Hearted Lover Blues", the Stoneman Family mix some gospel vocals and some wheezing accordion into their sweet country twang, Emry Arthur laments the fact that "She Lied To me", and in between the blues are endless variations on string music, polkas, hoedowns, wedding dances, it's a heady mix, that's fun to listen to, even when the subject matter is heartbreak and misery.
There's no shortage of old timey comps, but this one is most definitely a gem, musically AND thematically.
Gorgeously packaged in an oversized soft cover book style sleeve, with a massive 60 page booklet, filled with rare photos, extensive liner notes, lyrical translation, and gorgeous original illustrations by Robert Crumb.
MPEG Stream: DOUGLAS BELLARD & KIRBY RILEY "Aimer Et Perdre (To Love And To Lose)"
MPEG Stream: HAPPY HAYSEEDS "Ladies Quadrille"
MPEG Stream: JOZEF BRANGEL & WIEJSKA ORKIESTRA "Oberek Z Migroda (Oberek From Migroda)"
MPEG Stream: UKRAINSKA ORCHESTRA PAWLA HUMENIUKA "Ukrainske Wesilla W Ameryci, Pt. 1 (Ukrainian Wedding In America, Pt. 1)"
MPEG Stream: DOCK BOGGS "False Hearted Lover Blues"

V/A Ain't It Hard! (Sundazed) cd 19.98

V/A Air Texture Volume I (Air Texture) 2cd 22.00
Everyone has a specific music they're especially fond of. And sure we're all pretty omnivorous when it comes to the music we love, but there's always that one sound or style you find yourself returning to again and again, that one thing on your iPod that gets played over and over like crazy, around here, folks tend to be partial to jangly pop, blackened metal, abstract noise, seventies proto metal, field recordings, sixties psych, Warped Tour emo metal, techno, or dubstep, among other things. But one thing everything here can agree on, is the importance of 'sleeping' music. Those blissed out sounds that are perfect for late nights, for that moment when your consciousness begins to drift, where for a moment, you get just a glimpse of the other side, before the curtain parts and your incorporeal self slips past, and doesn't return until the next morning. The soundtrack for that crossover is also very personal, some folks listen to buzzing black metal to drift off, others the mesmerizing thump of minimal techno, but there is a certain strain of ambient music that everyone here is equally enamored of. Minimal techno label Kompakt has coined the phrase Pop Ambient for this strain of electronic music, one that is not so much standard ambient music, or even new age, but more an electronica/techno with the beats removed, leaving just the ethereal ephemera, that at one time was a backdrop for the beats, but sans rhythms, those sounds become the focus, and are loosed from any sort of proper structure, allowed to flow and drift, to swirl and shimmer, this new music that is indeed ambient, and perhaps even a little new agey, but is ultimately something much more evocative and experimental, songs and sounds that acts as mysterious soundtracks for sleep, music that simultaneously serves as background ambience, but can also invoke active listening, allowing the listener to immerse themselves in the sound, to travel sonically to these otherworlds, to explore, and to get gloriously lost.
This double disc collects some of the current crop of ambient alchemists, a handful who are already aQ faves including Leyland Kirby, Klimek, Biosphere, Oneohtrix Point Never, Atlas Sound, Wolfgang Voigt, Markus Guentner, and Maps And Diagrams (whose cd on Time Released sound we reviewed recently), but even more that are brand new discoveries, all of whom are poised to become new favorites for sure, and pretty much instantly, this comp became out go-to late night listening collection.
The first disc is heavier on the new discoveries, opening up with a track by Orla Wren, who weaves a glitchy stretch of crystalline skitter, that reminds us a bit of Oval, all warm and liquid, hushed and delicate, but which soon blossoms into a lush thick swirl of layered buzz and softly swirling shimmer, laced with chiming melodies, and hazy bell like tones, one track in, and we already find ourselves wanting to hear more, which happens again minutes later when Rafael Anton Irisarri's track begins, a warm, swirling cinematic thrum, a very Caretaker-sounding sprawl of murky muddy strings, of looped string section shimmer, all blurred into something hazy and drifty, wreathed in soft hiss and warm record crackle, looped and lovely and hauntingly mesmerizing. The oddly named Let's Go Outside continue with their own brand of dreamy drift, a blissed out dreamdrone raga of metallic buzz and lush layered loveliness. Bvdub (aka Brock Van Wey, one of the curators of this collection) offers his own bit of looped and layered swirl, all effected steel strings, a sort of folky flutter smeared into lush string like swells, the lengthy track peppered with epic majestic bursts of heaving high end buzz, again all blurred into something more more ethereal, and so it goes, this is one of those rare comps, that not only plays like a proper album, but that doesn't slip up once, every single track here is gorgeous, and is woven deftly into the sonic fabric of the whole.
The second disc is where most of the more familiar names can be found, many of those Pop Ambient veterans, Klimek (who even released a record called Music To Fall Asleep), starts things off with a field recording flecked slow burn drone, very darkly dramatic and ethereal, which leads directly into a track by Andrew Thomas (the other curator of this collection), his number a moody chunk of shimmery slowcore, all twangy Earth-like guitars over a hushed hazy backdrop of warm strings and glistening analog crackle, sounding almost like a Pop Ambient Barn Owl. Oneohtrix delivers some very minimal and dreamy celestial kosmische, while Biosphere weaves a gorgeous bit of orchestral thrum, all deep swirling strings, pizzicato melodies and mysterious percussion, while Markus Guenter finally introduces a beat, a murky minimal pulse, beneath another gorgeous sprawl of glistening droned out shimmer, and again, so it goes for the rest of the second disc as well.
ANYone who loves the Pop Ambient series will flip for this, as will fans of all things darkly dreamy, be it minimal electronica, abstract krautdrone, cinematic ambience or anywhere in between.
MPEG Stream: RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI "Flowstone"
MPEG Stream: LET'S GO OUTSIDE "Hold Still Without Me"
MPEG Stream: BVDUB "Tried So Hard"
MPEG Stream: KLIMEK "Ice Storm (Prelude To A Fratricide)"
MPEG Stream: ANDREW THOMAS "Black Sky Bright Sun"
MPEG Stream: LEYLAND KIRBY "Departure"

V/A Air Texture Volume II (Air Texture) 2cd 22.00
We made the first Air Texture compilation our Record Of The Week, back in November of 2011, a fantastic, and fantastically blissed out collection of ambient soundscapery from some of our favorite audio alchemists, running the gamut from dreamy Pop Ambience to abstract ethereal drone music, from modern classical minimalism to hushed softly psychedelic shimmer, and the many many variations in between. This is the second volume in what now appears to be an ongoing series, and once again features a lineup that reads as if it was curated by someone at aQ, as well as featuring a number of artists who contributed to the first compilation. Most folks will probably just need a list of the folks involved: Brian McBride of Stars Of The Lid, Loscil, Pan American, Mitchell Akiyama, Bvdub, Kyle Bobby Dunn, Simon Scott, Lawrence English, Marcus Fjellstrom, Rafael Anton Irisarri and loads more. And like the best compilations, it doesn't feel like a compilation, it plays like an album proper, or perhaps the perfect mix tape for late night chill out / drift off.
Brian McBride starts things off with a track that does not sound that far removed from recent Stars Of The Lid, huge sweeping swells of lush chordal shimmer and swoonsome strings, orchestral and symphonic and achingly majestic, dappled with pointilist piano and soft focus swirls, that blossom into radiant expanses of prismatic gauzy drift. Marcus Fischer weaves muted rhythms into a swirling sea of guitar twang and distant melodies, the sound washed out and rainswept, Loscil unfurls billows of blurred electronics, darkly dynamic, sounding like a slightly more sinister Oval, while Chris Herbert lays out a super minimal sprawl of softly staticky hiss and ephemeral thrum.
We could go track by track, but the great thing is how all the songs share attributes that weave all of these disparate pieces together, while each track remaining wholly unique, the listener is carried along by this constantly subtly shifting collection of sounds, lost utterly within each, the songs bleeding into one another, offering a bit of sonic familiarity, before revealing something unique to that track, a constant voyage of sonic discovery, which rewards close listening, but is equally effective as background ambience. Music that conforms to its surroundings like some strange sonic fog, hovering and drifting weightlessly in the distance, becoming something else entirely as we draw closer, and lose ourselves within.
Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff. And most definitely the perfect soundtrack for late nights, lost afternoons, rainy days, deep black nights, and drifting into oblivion.
MPEG Stream: BRIAN MCBRIDE "At A Loss"
MPEG Stream: MARCUS FISCHER "A Fifth Season"
MPEG Stream: LOSCIL "Else"
MPEG Stream: CHRIS HERBERT "Naimina"

V/A Al-Jabr (Ash International R.I.P.) cd 14.98
Another 'remix' album of the processed electromagnetic radio waves released by Disinformation (the first was the Antiphony 2cd). The central analogy of these 'remixes' by Evan Parker, Jim O'Rourke, Lawrence Casserley, Mechos, Tactile, Simon Fisher Turner, and T:unk Systems is of an underground publication by 9th Century mathmetician Abu Ja'Far Muhammad Ibn Musa, who proposed the ideas of mathematical fractions to the rest of the world. Conceptually the remixes stand as 'surgical reunifications' in which broadcast data noise are transformed into pulsing drones and electrical melodies. The stand out contribution is clearly the Evan Parker remix in which is staccato blurts of multi tracked saxophone work brilliantly next to the noxious hypnosis of Disinformation's original.

V/A Alan Lomax In Haiti 1936-1937 - Recordings For The Library Of Congress (Harte Recordings) 10cd box / 2 x book / map 134.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This long in the works collection finally sees the light of day. The long lost Haiti recordings, gathered by the legendary Alan Lomax, who made these recordings over the span of about a year, from 1936 until 1937, when he and his wife were documenting music and rituals for the Library Of Congress. Recorded direct to aluminum disc (a total of over 500 discs), these recordings had been unheard by the public, ever since. The original recordings have been painstakingly restored, and they sound fantastic, most of the noise stripped away, without losing any of the music, and if anything, according to the compilers, the music sounds even better now, and closer to the sounds Lomax was actually hearing when he originally recorded these.
It's a pretty overwhelming collection, that invites hours and hours of listening, which we think most folks will happily offer, once they get just a glimpse of the sounds within, from street musicians, to children's songs, far out jazz to dreamy vocal music, classical piano to angelic torch songs, voudou worship to big band, just check out the samples for a little taste, an incredible collection of sounds, which have gone almost completely unheard for the last 70 years!!
Anyone into field recordings, and world music, if you dig the Sublime Frequencies series, the Yaala Yaala series, the Ethiopiques series, this music is amazing, another long overdue glimpse of a people and place, and their music, and that music says so much about the time, the life in Haiti, the politics, and how the rest of the world felt about Haiti, you can hear the influences of various musics from all over the world, the music here is more than just music, it's a sonic exploration of a time and a place, and the sounds are so evocative, they almost transport the listener body and soul. Fantastic!!
The box is gorgeous too, a linen covered hard box, printed on the cover, with a faux Haitian stamp, as if Lomax had mailed this box to you personally for safekeeping. Inside the cover is a pocket containing a reproduction of Lomax's Haiti journal, filled with reproductions of his actual notes, observations, drawings, photos and diagrams. The liner notes are housed in a gorgeous hardcover book, all the songs and artists, photos, lyrics, everything. The cds themselves are housed in another little linen covered miniature hardcover book, with printed paper pockets inside, just like a miniature version of the sleeves that old 78s were stored in. Then there's a reproduction of Lomax's Haiti site map, complete with his scrawled notes, and finally, a few photos, as if whoever sent the box, decided to include some snapshots. And all the various books can be removed with the ribbons attached to the inside of the box. Stunning. There's also some film footage, and there's just so much more.
Needless to say, so so so recommended!!!
MPEG Stream: SURPRISE JAZZ "Mesi Papa Vincent"
MPEG Stream: ZORA NEALE HURSTON "Bama Bama"
MPEG Stream: LES ASSASSINS "Se Konnen, Yo Pa Konnen Ou"
MPEG Stream: STUDENTS OF L'ECOLE NORMAL "Deye Mon-la, ann prale we"
MPEG Stream: LOUIS FORVILICE & GROUP OF HAITIAN MEN "A la trois ans dans la prison"
MPEG Stream: SOSYETE DJOUBA "Viv o, m rele gouvene"

V/A Alchemism (Alchemy) 2cd 30.00

V/A Alchemism (Alchemy) dvd 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK!
Now this is a freakin' treat for all Japanophile music fans like ourselves!! Osaka's Alchemy label, home to so much great Japanese noise, punk, and psychedelic music over the years, has gone and put out a DVD collection for your enjoyment. It's pretty much all live stuff (with the notable exception of a strange MTV-style music video clip for a track from label boss's Jojo Hiroshige's most recent solo album!!) recorded at gigs dating all the way back to the '80s, up to this past year, depending on the band in question. So this covers a pretty good selection from the Alchemy label roster, new and old. Here's the line-up, in part: Masonna, Doodles, Up-Tight, Christine 23 Onna, Ultra Bide, Omoide Hatoba, Sekiri, The Genbaku Onanies, Angel'In Heavy Syrup, Subvert Blaze, Hoburakin, Hijokaidan, S.O.B. Kaidan, Incapacitants, and more... Something for everyone.
Highlights for us include the intense fuzz guitar psych dealt out by Up-Tight, the hippy metal of Subvert Blaze, the absurd noise-fest of Hijokaidan's 25th anniversary performance, the wonderful delicate psych-pop of all-girl duo Doodles, and the guitar-smashing, cymbal-chucking noise trance tantrum of the infamous S.O.B Kaidan performance (noise mongers Hijokaidan joining forces with the ledgendary Japanese thrash-metal outfit S.O.B. in 1989). And special mention must be made of Christine 23 Onna's punked-out, super-distorted '60s psych groove assault, which culminates with Maso Yamazaki jumping on, and knocking over his synthesizer before taking a dive into the crowd!
Since we'd guess that only a few AQ-customers have been lucky enough to attend very many shows at clubs like Osaka's Eggplant or the Shinjuku Loft in Tokyo over the past two decades, this is even more essential if you're at all a fan of this scene... 117 minutes, NTSC, all regions.

V/A Algebra Spaghetti (Siesta) cd 15.98
A children's fantasy pop album produced by Richard Preston and Louis Phillipe, whose sophisticated production surrounds playful songs about bears, tigers, candy floss, orange marmalade, and sunshine... that at times sounds like the Raincoats, or possibly the Brady Bunch.

V/A All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0 (ATP Recordings) cd 16.98
Curated by Tortoise & Foundation, All Tomorrow's Parties - a music and film happening - took place this year April 6th through 8th in East Sussex. This compilation documents the gathering of musical allsorts that included Yo La Tengo, Boards of Canada, Calexico, Black Heart Procession, Autechre, Broadcast, and Tortoise.

V/A All Tomorrow's Parties 1.1 (ATP Recordings) cd 14.98
Audio document of the too frequent 'All Tomorrow's Parties' festival, a huge rock and roll gathering, 'curated' by different indie rock royalty each time. This most recent compilation/festival (overseen by Sonic Youth and scheduled to take place in March 2002) is by far the best, especially compared to Tortoise's tepid selections last time, and the upcoming ATP, where the list of artists reads more like the guestlist of an Albini backyard barbecue than a list of bands constituting a worthwhile festival. Sonic Youth managed to pick a few old standbys while getting some truly 'out' shit that most Sonic Youth/Pavement/Tortoise fans might not have heard (I mean hell, there's even some rap!!). Unreleased/rare tracks by Sonic Youth (obviously), Unwound, Cat Power, Stereolab, Stephen Malkmus, Papa M as well as the Dead C, Bardo Pond, Kevin Drumm, Cannibal Ox, and the Boredoms (a track Windy thinks is worth the price alone, since Boredoms fans are used to paying $30 for a 15 minute ep, so $15 bucks for one song isn't so bad!). All in all a pretty cool collection.
RealAudio clip: STEREOLAB "Old Lungs"
RealAudio clip: CANNIBAL OX "Pidgeon"
RealAudio clip: BOREDOMS "Super Now"
RealAudio clip: DEAD C "Load Segment"

V/A All Tomorrow's Parties 2.0 (ATP Recordings) cd 14.98
Steve Albini/Shellac is the chosen artist to curate the next All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the U.K., and so here's the requisite compilation cd. Their bands of choice are Shellac (doh!), Mission of Burma, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nina Nastasia, Threnody Ensemble, Do Make Say Think, Rachel's and the Fall among others. The second track by Mission Of Burma is the best. Misson Of Burma are such a great band and I hope all kinds of indie rockers are introduced to them via this comp. Other than that I found it mellow and uneventful. Sounds more like a big pat on the back/reacharound for Albini's 'buddies' than an actual 'wow, what a cool compilation'. The Sonic Youth one was better...but it's hard to have respect for any of the ATP "curators" when none of 'em have yet invited Stinking Lizaveta to play!! [sez Allan]
Postscript: in 2004, Albini did!
RealAudio clip: BONNIE PRINCE BILLY "Early Morning Melody"
RealAudio clip: MISSION OF BURMA "Trem Two"

V/A All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0: Autechre Curated (ATP Recordings) 2cd 15.98
This comp bring together two discs worth of artists who appeared at the Autechre-curated All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0 festival in the UK earlier in April. Featuring unreleased tracks from Masters of Illusion, Push Button Objects, Jim O'Rourke, San Francisco's own O.S.T., Dr. Dooom, Anthony Shake Shakir, Mark Broom, Disjecta, Autechre, Earth (that's right, an unreleased Earth track!), Bola, Pita, Baby Ford and Hecker as well as tracks by Public Enemy, Gescom, Made, Stasis, and BFC.
MPEG Stream: EARTH "Dissolution III"
MPEG Stream: BOLA "Magnasushi"

V/A All Tomorrow's Parties 3.1 (ATP) cd 15.98
This volume of the All Tomorrow's Parties compilation series was curated by the gent behind the cartoon phenomenon for which many of us here at AQ have a particular soft spot! Yup, Matt Groening not only took the compiling reins for Version 3.1., but he also provided a fine illustration of Sonic Youth for the cover. We're sure you're also already well acquainted with his work as well as that of the musical folks he invited: the abovementioned Thurston & co. ("Simpson's Theme"), The Stooges ("Fun House"), The Magic Band ("Dropout Boogie"), Spoon ("The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine"), The Shins ("Young Pilgrims"), Modest Mouse ("Bukowski"), Elliott Smith ("Pictures Of Me"), Daniel Johnston ("Syrup Of Tears"), American Analog Set ("Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home"), Electrelane ("The Valleys"), and Jackie-O Motherfucker ("Drake Hotel"). Oh yeah, and they don't mention it on the digipak's track listing, but there's also a Deerhoof track too!
MPEG Stream: SONIC YOUTH "Simpson's Theme"
MPEG Stream: JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER "Drake Hotel"

V/A Alpha Motherfuckers (Hopeless) cd 13.98
Are you ready for some darkness? 'Cause here's a tribute to Norway's kings of darkness -- no we don't mean Emperor or Dimmu Borgir or any other black metallers, we mean those bastard spawn of the MC5 and the Village People, the one and only none-too-PC-punks Turbonegro! Tributes don't usually rate too high with us, but this is better than most, even if half of the 26 bands on here are Norwegian outfits uknown to us. The other half? More familiar names like Queens of the Stone Age, Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy, Therapy?, Dwarves (of course!), Ratos De Porao, Zeke (doing the always-controversial tune "Midnight NAMBLA"), and more. Making the unlikely Tom-of-Finland-meets-Tom-G.-Warrior connection, maybe the highlight for us here is the version of "I Got Erection" by Norway's best black metal band, Satyricon! (Why isn't there a band that sounds like this track all the time, a hybrid of grim guitar metal and hooky pop?) This is a fun comp, with Turbonegro's twisted high-octane Alice Cooper-inspired pop punkrock songwriting amply celebrated on such tracks as "Rock Against Ass", "Rendezvous With Anus", "Bad Mongo", "Hobbit Motherfuckers", "He's a Grungewhore" (a jazzy version of that by Motorpsycho offering some respite from the pogoing, fistshaking rock of much of the rest of this album). Another leftfield twist is Toby Dammit's percussion/sound effects laden non-rock version of "Prince of the Rodeo" that closes the disc. Despite being a covers comp, this may be one of the best rock records of the year so far...certainly it's the most tongue-in-cheek homoerotically rockin' one!
RealAudio clip: MARYSLIM "No Beast So Fierce"
RealAudio clip: SATYRICON "I Got Erection"
RealAudio clip: ADZ "Good Head"
RealAudio clip: GRIFFIN "Bad Mongo"

V/A Altered States of America (Lo Recordings) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Features solely American artists messing with your tired notions of what electronica can be. Ranges from murky and dark to threateningly heavy. With AQ-store favorites Matmos and Lesser, plus David Kristian, Chessie, Solvent, 8 Frozen Modules, and Space Wurm.

V/A Am I Black Enough For You? Jamaican Songs Of Freedom 1970-79 (Trojan) cd 14.98

V/A Amaterasu (Fractal) 2cd 32.00
From mind-expanding psych drone to extended folk meditations to (opium-)poppy songcraft, "Amaterasu" is all you need for at least a few evenings, nights, and/or mornings of audio-induced bliss. Subtitled, somewhat misleadingly, "A Musical Panorama of Japan", this compilation is hardly an overview of everything from Taiko drumming to J-pop. Not at all. Rather, it's a collection of stuff from the psych-pop-folk-drone underground in Japan, in keeping with Fractal's previous releases of Japanese origin like Acid Mothers Temple -- and many AMT-types appear here as you might expect! It's a really fine collection indeed, well worth the 32 bucks to anyone enamored, as we are, of the retro-psych scene that's currently so vibrant in Japan, as previously documented by PSF's Tokyo Flashback compilation series for instance. There's sixteen tracks in total here, many of them pushing ten minutes in length, and thus spread over two discs. The fragile melodicism of Mineko Itakura (of Angel 'In Heavy Syrup abd Slap Happy Humphrey), singing solo backed only by her own acoustic guitar, is for us the gorgeous highlight of disc 1, though there's plenty else on here quite worthy as well: Overhang Party, Mitsuru Tabata, Space Machine, Makoto Kawabata, Seiji Nagai (ex-Taj Mahal Travellers), and Kengo Iuchi. Disc two is also packed with cosmic-calibre talent, featuring Chie Mukai, Masayoshi Urabe, Kousokuya, Totsuzen Danball, Miminokoto, Jun Kuriyama, Naoaki Miyamoto, and more Mineko Itakura (yay!). Almost everything is exclusive to this compilation, which comes complete with English language liner notes by the knowledgable Alan Cummings, who explains the concept behind the compilation -- Amaterasu is the Shinto sun-goddess, and her mythology was the inspiration for these songs. Quite recommended.
MPEG Stream: ATSUSHI TSUYAMA "Confession of the Sun (Taiyo-Zange)"
MPEG Stream: MINEKO ITAKURA "Heart Of The Flower"

V/A American Breakbeat (Klangkrieg) 2cd 17.98
US and Canadian electronica artists compiled, including a few of our favorites: Matmos, Lesser, Kit Clayton, Hrvatski, Sutekh, Jake Mandell, David Kristian, Blitter, Lexanculpt, Rook Vallade, Timeblind, and Kid 606 (of course!), to name a few. A primer.

V/A American Breakbeat Rebuilt (Klangkrieg) 2cd 17.98
A compilation of remixes of a compilation (American Breakbeat, duh) that was kind of a throwaway to begin with. Steer clear unless you absolutely must own everything by Kid 606, Lesser, Matmos, Hrvatski, Sutekh, Electric Birds, Cex and the like as remixed by Panacea, Pimmon, Rosy Parlane, Com.A, Sonic Dragoglo, Andreas Tilliander, Noize Creator, Slepcy, et al. Kinda uneventful overall, though the Hrvatski track on the original release was very pretty, and the remix here by New Zealander Rosy Parlane is quite nice as well.

V/A American Hardcore: The History Of American Punk Rock 1980-1989 (Sony Classics) cd 14.98
For those of you out there who somehow "missed punk rock" the first time around (it was pretty cool sez the old guys...) here's a pretty decent companion / compilation / soundtrack to the Steven Blush book-turned film recently released by Sony Pictures. We've yet to see it, but it looks amazing. How could it not be? Interviews with tons of hardcore legends as well as tons of insane and rare live footage.
This is the perfect 'mix-tape' of classic tracks from movie and the golden age of punk rock: Black Flag, Flipper, Bad Brains, Negative Approach, Void, etc.
Makes a great gift for all those young-uns whose punk pedigree doesn't stretch much father back than Good Charlotte or My Chemical Romance. Wouldn't be a Warped tour without these guys and all their blood, sweat and beers...
Anyone for some "mosh" potatoes with your turkey while you skank around the 'ol X-mas tree anyone?
(All blame for that last line goes to mailorder-underling Jason. He has been punished.)
MPEG Stream: BLACK FLAG "Nervous Breakdown"
MPEG Stream: VOID "Who Are You? / Time To Die"
MPEG Stream: NEGATIVE APPROACH "Friend Or Foe"

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 GŸnter MŸller 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. GŸnter MŸller/Tetuzi Akiyama/Nakamura, 3. Christof Kurzmann/Nakamura, 4. Lehn/Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto. CD 2 (studio sessions): GŸnter MŸller/Toshimaru Nakamura-tint. CD 3 (festival): 1. Cosmos (Sachiko M/Ami Yoshida), 2. Keith Rowe/Lehn/Marcus Schmickler. CD 4 (festival): 1. MŸller/Otomo Yoshihide, 2. Lehn/Schmickler. CD 5 (festival): 1. Burkhard Stangl/Kurzmann/Sugimoto, 2. Rowe/Nakamura. CD 6 (festival): 1. Stangl/MŸller, 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.