V/A China: Lost Sounds of the Tao: Chinese Masters Of The Guqin In Historic Recordings (World Arbiter) cd 14.98
This longtime AQ favorite is finally available again!
Recorded in 1970 and '71 at his countryside home outside of Hong Kong, the elderly (but spry) Lo Ka Ping will captivate you here with his performances on the qin, a type of ancient Chinese seven-stringed zither with a soft, subdued sound. Confucius' favorite instrument, the sound and style of the qin in the hands of Lo Ka Ping really evokes both Buddhist music and the blues. In his sparse, soulful performance on these ten tracks (four of Ping's own composition and six traditional numbers) you'll hear echoes of the the likes of Son House and Blind Willie Johnson - you could almost imagine this is a lost backporch recording by an unknown gospelish slide guitarist, playing a mysterious, alien blues. Parallels to Indian classical music can be heard as well, to which there is a link to the qin tradition in fact as well as in spirit.
This cd is rounded out with a couple of older, crustier recordings circa 1946-48 by two other "Chinese Masters of the Guqin", Zheng Yingsun and Xu Yuan Bay, who alongside Lo Ka Ping make this a lovely, raw, spiritually resonant document indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Teals Descending On Level Sand"
MPEG Stream: "Meditaion In The Dead Of Night"

V/A Chine: Hommage a Chen Zhong (Ocora) cd 16.98

V/A Chinese Whispers (Sprawl) cd 16.98
Kind of like a game of extended global telephone, and featuring the talents of Mike Paradinas (aka Uziq), Bedouin Ascent, T Power, Sons of Silence, etc., this cd is the result of one artist sampling a Stereolab track and then sending the resulting mix to another artist, who similarly remixed it and sent the result to yet another remixer. Get it? Oh, and when Stereolab got back the track they remixed it once more for good measure, then put all the tracks into chronological order on one cd. Very drum'n'bass.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4 (PCP) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More than twenty years after the three first volumes, "Chocolate Soup for Diabetics" Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Perishers, Gary Walker, The Peasants among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good. The highlights on vol. 4, for me, are the fuzzy fucked up version of 'You Don't Love Me' by Gary Walker, and 'How Does It Feel' by The Perishers.
RealAudio clip: THE PERISHERS "How Does It Feel"
RealAudio clip: GARY WALKER "You Don't Love Me"

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4 (PCP) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More than twenty years after the three first volumes, "Chocolate Soup for Diabetics" Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Perishers, Gary Walker, The Peasants among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good. The highlights on vol. 4, for me, are the fuzzy fucked up version of 'You Don't Love Me' by Gary Walker, and 'How Does It Feel' by The Perishers.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5 (PCP) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More than twenty years after the first three volumes, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Ways and Means, The Magic Lanterns among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good.
RealAudio clip: MAGIC LANTERNS "I Stumbled"
RealAudio clip: THE TRANSATLANTICS "Don't Fight It"
RealAudio clip: THE WAYS AND MEANS "Breaking Up A Dream"

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5 (PCP) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More than twenty years after the first three volumes, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics Vol. 4 and 5 are finally released. Fourteen titles on each lp, twenty one on each disc. Totally great 1960's UK psych, groovy rock, and soul by The Transatlantics, The Ways and Means, The Magic Lanterns among others. Extensive liner notes for each song. Sooo good.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics Volume 1 (Relics) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Chocolate Soup For Diabetics is a series of compilations with a bunch of unknown psych / garage bands probably from the States... if any of these bands "made it" they would have ended up on the Nuggets box. But they didn't, so they're here. On this volume, the groups are The Voice, The Nuchez's, Tintern Abbey, One In A Million, The Misunderstood, Dantalian's Chariot, The Flies, The Fire, The Fresh Windows, Apple, and The Unexplained.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics Volume 2 (Relics) 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 second volume in the series of compilations entitled "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics." Again more '60s psych / garage bands with more of a UK Big Beat feel (early Kinks, Yardbirds, etc.). Again super limited. This line-up packs the most punch in the series with a selection of almost unknowns in Mike Stuart Span, Wimple Winch, Fleur De Lys, Craig, Apple, The Score, Winston's Fumbs, Him & The Others, Big Boy Pete, The Hush, The Tickle, Syn, State of Mickey & Tommy, and Paper Blitz Tissue.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics Volume 3 (Relics) 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 third volume from the "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics" psych / beat series concentrates on the UK sound from the mid-'60s. Of the three, this one is the most soulful and has the dodgiest 'mastering' which is quite noticeably riddled with surface noise, indicating that this was clearly mastered from vinyl... Anyway, volume 3's got tracks from The Accent, Felius Andromedia, Fleur De Lys, Graded Grains, Chapter Four, The Game, The Factory, Wimple Winch, Australian Playboys, The Poets, and The Smoke.

V/A Chocolate Soup For Diabetics: 82 UK Psych Classics (Past & Present) 5cd 62.00
Psych reissues are a dime a dozen these days, no matter how you classify or organize the songs and groups, specific certain years, a particular sound, or scene, or whatever, there's no way to spin it, there's just too too too much. And plenty of those tracks, well, like lots of reissues, could very well have just remained undiscovered. It takes more than just cramming a bunch of tracks on a record and putting some cool psychedelic artwork on the front, it requires knowledge of the music, as well as a knack for making mixes. Some folks definitely have it. Andy Votel obviously, and of course Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond, who has been releasing killer reissue comps on the Psychic Circle label. And there's whoever put together these Chocolate Soup For Diabetics comps, which gathered up some of the coolest UK psych rock from the sixties, originally released only on lp, now finally available all gathered up into a single 5cd box. And holy shit, no matter how tired of this stuff you might be, if you're anything like us, this stuff will immediately get you excited again. Fuzzy, tripped out, super rocking, jangly, space-y and most definitely PSYCHEDELIC. A few bands we already dug like Tintern Abbey, The Misunderstood and Wimple Winch, but so many new (old) discoveries: The Voice, Nuchez's, The Fresh Windows, The Fire, Graded Grains, Felius Andromeda, The Syn, The Tickle, Dantalian's Chariot, odds are the psych obsessives out there are probably a bit more well versed in UK psych obscurities, but for the rest of us, this stuff is blowing us away.
Take the first track on the first disc, "The Train To Disaster" by The Voice, after a purloined sample of Arthur Brown's "God Of Hellfire" intro, the track explodes into a fuzzy, super distorted stomp, that sounds ridiculously heavy for the time, hooky and fuzzed out, catchy like crazy, and those guitars! Raw and fiery and fuzzy and bad ass. The next track by the weirdly named Nuchez's, begins all jangly, but quickly builds momentum, some proggy organ wrapped around the guitar chug, some moody crooning, woozy guitars, and then some awesomely distorted fuzzpsych leads, and the song is transformed into something that sounds more like the Monks. We could go track by track for sure, but you probably get the picture. 5 discs, 5+ hours of super rocking, fuzzy psychedelic garage rock bliss, from jangly and trippy to crunchy and heavy, we just can't stop listening to this stuff. Wow.
Comes in a nice full color box, each one machine numbered (LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES), each disc in it's own full color sleeve, and includes a massive booklet with tons of photos and liner notes...
MPEG Stream: THE VOICE "The Train To Disaster"
MPEG Stream: TINTERN ABBEY "Vacuum Cleaner"
MPEG Stream: THE MISUNDERSTOOD "Children Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: DANTALIAN'S CHARIOT "The Madman Running Through The Fields"

V/A Choubi Choubi! Folk & Pop Sounds From Iraq (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
RE-pressed and BACK in STOCK! Just when you thought you'd heard everything, in comes Sublime Frequencies to fill in the gaps you never thought existed. How many CDs of Iraqi pop do you have in your collection? Until now we certainly didn't have any, let alone anything remotely traditional from Iraq. For a country that's so important to our war mongering presidential administration it's perhaps a little surprising that more interest hasn't been piqued about the culture of Iraq. But then again, everyone but W seems to understand that the real reasons for plundering this nation wasn't to "liberate" anyone. In fact, W would probably rather that no one even pay attention to any of this music, which has the awkward fortune to have been produced almost entirely (with the exception of three early 70's tracks) during the reign of Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime ( tracks here range from 1980 on up to 2002!). In spite of his -- well deserved -- reputation as a cruel dictator, he was also an avid supporter of both education and the arts -- such are the complexities of life W would rather not acknowledge -- and for better or worse, kept the fabricated nation state as stable as it has ever been. Hussein promoted secular arts and music, starting cultural centers for both, and even dubbed singers the "eighth division" of the armed forces (his nation had seven military divisions) -- not to paint too rosy a picture of Donald Rumsfeld's former pal and business partner, who was also a sadistic tyrant after all. Compiled by Mark Gergis (I Remember Syria, Molam, Cambodian Cassette Archives), Choubi Choubi is a collection years in the making. Gergis scoured the earth for the source material on this disc, travelling through Syria, Europe and the Iraqi neighborhoods of Detroit, Michigan. The anthology starts off with a folk rock track from '70s Socialist singer Ja'afar Hassan, a song that could easily compete with the best psych tracks on Hava Narghile or Turkish Delights for the crown of Middle Eastern psych champ. But if you're expecting another psych compilation, you're going to be disappointed as Choubi Choubi is much more than that, way more. Most of the recordings on the album have no western instruments on them, nor hardly any western influence. These tracks rock out much harder with no electric instruments, but with huge string sections, pounding drums, and monstrous oud playing. Maybe it's also the super bluesy sounding (to the western ear) melodies, it's no wonder that it sounds so fresh and familiar to us. It really is weird, when I (Byram) first listened to this record I could have sworn there were more songs with electric guitars on it, but there aren't that many. It just sounds so fucking heavy, and rocks so hard that I remembered it as being a "rock" record. Really, really, really fucking great!
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Ahl Al Aqil"
MPEG Stream: BAWIN "Ya Binaya Goumi"
MPEG Stream: SADUN JABIR "Ashhad Biannak Hilou"

V/A Chrome Children (Stones Throw) lp 16.98

V/A Chronologi (12K / Instinct) 2cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Chronologi" is a self-congratulatory compilation from the Brooklyn experimental / electronica label 12K, celebrating their first four years of operation. 12K is run by Taylor Deupree, who is in many ways the American doppleganger of Carsten Nicolai and 12k is the American version of his Raster-Noton collective. Both artists' labels specialize in positioning ultra-minimalist clicks and stark-white absenses within a highly-reducted technotic skeleton; however, Deurpee's 12K is guilty of being party to the current oversaturation of electronic music compilations. The majority of the work found on "Chronologi" culled from the older out of print albums from 12K, feature tracks from Human Mesh Dance, Arc, Drum Komputer, Taylor Deupree, *0, Shuttle 3358, 0/R, Kim Cascone, Komet, Deurpee with Richard Chartier, and Deupree with Tetsu Inoue. This compilation is no better or no worse than the Mille Plateaux compilations "Modulations and Transformations" or "Clicks and Cuts," and just like those compilations "Cronologi" offers more of an overview than any insight into the incredible subtleties of this growing field of electronica.

V/A CIA Via UFO To Mercury (Atavistic) cd 13.98
Compilation of live tracks by Chicago's finest purveyors of what they're still calling "No Wave" or something: The Scissor Girls, Quintron, The Flying Luttenbachers, etc. Originally a very limited edition lp, now made available on cd for those who missed out the first time.

V/A Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy (Shout Factory) cd 15.98
It may not be super obvious from the aQ website, but we've long been champions of Mark Mulcahy, whose band Miracle Legion was and is an all time favorite. All of the Miracle Legion records went out of print long before the aQ list, so we never got a chance to gush adoringly. We also became a bit obsessed with Mulcahy's post Miracle Legion outfit Polaris, who performed the bad ass themes song to the late great kids show Pete And Pete. We have however, highlighted at least two of Mulcahy's solo records, the last of which, In Pursuit Of Your Happiness, still gets played all the time. And features some utterly perfect pop, emotional, clever, jangly and so so catchy.
Apparently we're not alone, judging from this star studded comp, a tribute not just to the amazing songs of Mulcahy, but to his late wife, who passed away last year. The outpouring of musical emotion and support is truly moving, and the redone versions are uniformly fantastic, with some fairly faithful renditions, and some seriously out there takes.
This record is getting TONS of press, mostly due to the inclusion of a Thom Yorke track, and it is great, skittery rhythms, distorted electric guitar, super strange percussion, and some super intense emotional vocals, kind of like a more punk rock, lo-fi take on one of his Eraser tracks. Well worth the price of admission for sure. But that's just the first track. Other bands taking on Mulcahy's genius originals include The National, Dinosaur Jr, Frank Black, Vic Chesnutt, Rocket From The Tombs (whose version is SO twisted, but so great!), Michael Stipe, Mercury Rev, Juliana Hatfield, and on and on. It plays out like a killer classic nineties college rock mix, anchored by Mulcahy's awesome songs. Hopefully it'll get the world to finally discover what an amazing and way under appreciated songwriter Mulcahy really is, and just maybe it'll convince someone somewhere to get all of those Miracle Legion records reissued!
The only bummer about this release is that there's another 20+ songs, not on the cd proper, only available electronically (from iTunes), which is ironic, since Miracle Legion and Mulcahy on his own were embraced by indie record stores first and foremost, who sort of get the shaft as do fans who if they want all of the songs have to shell out another $20 for the bonus tracks, but the download only tracks include jams from AC Newman, Buffalo Tom, Dumptruck, Syd Straw, Laura Veirs, and others. They should have just made it a double cd, but what can you do, worth it either way, and if you like what you hear, you'll probably end up trying to track down every Mulcahy thing ever, and rightfully so...
MPEG Stream: THOM YORKE "All For The Best"
MPEG Stream: DINOSAUR JR "The Backyard"
MPEG Stream: VIC CHESNUTT "Little Man"
MPEG Stream: ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS "In Pursuit Of Your Happiness"

V/A Circuit Breaks Volume 1 (Bulk Recordings) cd 12.98
Breakbeats created by the getting-more-famous-every-day, all-around-nice-guy Automator (of Dr. Octagon) for your programming/DJ pleasure.

V/A Classic Bluegrass (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 12.98
Smithsonian Folkways gets their chance to put a final word on the post-O Brother bluegrass sampler mania that has been in effect for over a year now and you might recall the sour review we gave to Rounder's entry into this arena a few lists ago. But SF, unlike Rounder, has not only put together a collection of classics, but has priced their disc quite a bit more competitively. Then again, if any label was going to put together a collection of classic bluegrass, S.F. would be it. Having released the first full length LP of bluegrass music way back in 1956, Folkways has a mighty powerful back catalog of both well known and obscure bluegrass tracks. 'Classic Bluegrass' not only contains some of the more well known artists within the genre, including founder Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Doc Watson, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, but also many important lesser known (outside of bluegrass circles) artists like The Johnson Mountain Boys, Red Allen, Snuffy Jenkins, The Country Gentlemen and a lot more. More significantly, S.F. has steered away from making this a collection of the most popular bluegrass tunes ever recorded, so you needn't worry about having yet another version of "Man of Constant Sorrow" in your juke box. Like all S.F. reissues, this collection is done right in the documentation department as well with 31 pages of notes on the individual tracks, a history of Folkways records, and suggested further reading / listening. The only thing I could find wrong with this collection was a typo concerning Bill Monroe's passing, which is incorrectly listed as 1993 instead of 1996.
RealAudio clip: ALLEN, RED & THE KENTUCKIANS "Live And Let Live"
RealAudio clip: WATSON, DOC "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town"
RealAudio clip: MONROE, BILL & HIS BLUEGRASS BOYS "Get Up John"

V/A Classic Blues Artwork From The 1920's 2011 Calendar (Blues Images) calendar + cd 17.98
There's been no shortage of amazing blues reissues recently, especially on vinyl (and especially via the Monk label), Blind Blake, Dock Boggs, Ishman Bracey, Sleepy John Estes, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Furry Lewis, Blind Wille McTell, Charley Patton, Charlie Poole, but weirdly, we never really paid much attention to these classic blues cd / calendar combos, even though at least one of us has had one hanging in our house for the last couple years, they're actually really cool. The cd is an amazing collection of classic blues, featuring some of the above mentioned artists, classic tracks from Charley Patton, Ma Rainey, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi Sheiks and others, including a handful of ultra rarities (remastered from the only surviving copies) from Tommy Johnson, Furry Lewis, Jaybird Coleman and Charley Patton! And even cooler is the calendar, which features original artwork for each of the 12 tracks, early advertisements, record sleeves, old flyers, as well as quotes and liner notes related to each record and its artwork, and the calendar is of course marked with various blues related dates, births and deaths of all the greats, in fact, even if for some reason you didn't want to use it as a calendar, it's pretty fun just to read through and check out all the illustrations, it's almost like having a proper lp sized set of liner notes for the cd! And we should mention one of our new (old) favorite song titles: "Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus"!

V/A Classic Blues Artwork From The 1920's 2013 Calendar (Blues Images) calendar+cd 17.98
Another killer calendar of classic blues artwork from original early twentieth century blues records. It's a series of calendars that as we mentioned in a review of a past year's calendar, some of us at aQ have hung on our kitchen walls for years now, and once you check one of these out, you'll understand why. Like the years before, 2013's installment is another doozy with some crazy, over the top artwork and loads of blues nerd trivia. Just check out the calendar's cover, "The Devil & God Meet At Church"!! And inside, "Pig Meat Blues", "Snatch It Back Blues", "Police Dog Blues" and more! Each month has lots of info about each release, as well as significant blues birthdays and other relevant dates, not to mention biographies, rare photos and death dates. And to top it all off, as always, there's also a cd, with the songs featured each month, as well as NINE bonus tracks, from folks like Charley Patton, Blind Blake, Memphis Minnie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Buddie Boy Hawkins, Ardelle Bragg and more!

V/A Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 12.98
Smithsonian continues their semi-low price sampler series with this collection of blues recordings from the label. Like the others in this series, this is a good introduction to the label's prolific catalog and includes tracks dating back to the forties and fifties and even includes a few more recent recordings. This collection brings together Delta, St. Louis, Southwest, and Chicago blues from such notables as: Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, Son House, Reverend Gary Davis, Lightnin' Hopkins, Elizabeth Cotten, Champion Jack Dupree, Etta Baker, Roosevelt Sykes and much more. Includes extensive liner notes with bios on the performers as well as pertinent discographical information to facilitate the urge to delve deeper into the catalog.
MPEG Stream: BIG BILL BROONZY "Mule-Ridin' Blues"
MPEG Stream: ELIZABETH COTTEN "Vastapol"

V/A Classic Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 12.98
This is the fifth such anthology of American roots music we've gotten in from Smithsonian Folkways (the previous being Classic Bluegrass, Mountain Songs, Blues and Old-Time music). Like the others, it is nicely priced, comes well documented and serves as a great introduction to American "folk" music. I know that can be a thorny term, but here it's used to describe the folksong revival here in the States that spanned some twenty years from the 40's through the 60's (and was oh so well parodied in A Mighty Wind). Included on this collection are both the rural artists who influenced the revival and many of the urban ones who were inspired by them. There are tracks here from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, Doc Watson, Burl Ives, Phil Ochs, Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy and more.
MPEG Stream: LEAD BELLY "Rock Island Line"
MPEG Stream: BURL IVES "Wayfairing Stranger"
MPEG Stream: ELIZABETH COTTEN "Freight Train"

V/A Classic Mountain Songs (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 12.98
On the heels of their nicely priced sampler of Classic Bluegrass comes this collection of recordings of songs from the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Bluegrass and folk musicians can all trace their influences back to the music of the Appalachian mountains and many of these genre's greats came from here. There's a good variety of styles represented here from the rough hewn rendition of "Omie Wise" by fiddle player and singer Doug Walin to the silky virtuosic guitar playing of Doc Watson and his son Merle on "Southbound". There's also the stunningly beautiful hymn singing of the Indian Bottom Association, Defeated Creek Church singing "I Am A Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow". It's that kind of choir singing that will just pierce your soul through the pores of your skin. Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard -- the grand dammes of bluegrass -- sing Coal Miner Blues, and much more. This compilation has it all, from grizzled old retired miners singing creepy archaic modal tunes to jazz and blues influenced slick flat-pickers. All the tracks, like every Smithsonian Folkways release, are dutifully annotated with well written notes and include catalog numbers for the original Folkways releases, should you wish to delve further.
RealAudio clip: OLD REGULAR BAPTISTS "I Am A Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow"
RealAudio clip: DOC & MERLE WATSON "Southbound"
RealAudio clip: PETE STEELE "Coal Creek March"

V/A Classic Old-Time Music (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 12.98
The fourth volume in SF's mid-priced "Classic" series. This time the label takes on the loosely connected genre of "Old Time" music. It's important here to stress the word *genre*, because while the moniker of Old Time can be applied to any number of early American string bands and solo musicians who's myriad styles and repertoires eventually found their way into the more recent genres of country, bluegrass, blues and folk -- as in the folk revival, it also can be applied to modern musicians who play in the old time style, like much of the musicians of the folk revival did in the sixties and still do to this day. Included on this disc are tracks (recorded between 1958 and 1998) both by the original artists who served as inspiration such as Doc Boggs, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, Roscoe Holcomb, Maybelle & Sara Carter, Doc Watson, Sam & Kirk McGee, Wade Ward, Etta Baker and Gordon Tanner (a.k.a. Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers) and the artists who most directly championed their music like The Iron Mountain String Band, The New Lost City Ramblers, Mike Seeger, The Old Reliable String Band, The Spare Change Boys and more.
MPEG Stream: LEE SEXTON "Pretty Polly"
MPEG Stream: ANDY CAHAN, LISA ORNSTEIN & LAURA FISHELDER "Ship In the Clouds"

V/A Clicks & Cuts (Mille Plateaux) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following the awesome 'Modulations & Transformations' compilations, Mille Plateaux presents yet another veritable encyclopedia of electronica minimalism. A nice addendum to the 20' to 2000 series, 'Clicks & Cuts' features a handful of electronica technicians recontextualizing digital residue into a variety of melodic & rhythmic structures. While only a few of the tracks are exclusive to the compilation, it's still quite a handy collection. The artists include Wolfgang Voigt's All moniker, Thomas Brinkmann (recording under his dead sister's name and sampling Blixa Bargeld), Pan Sonic, Kit Clayton, Vladislav Delay, Goem, Pole, Panacea, Kid 606, Stillupsteypa, and more!

V/A Clicks & Cuts 2 (Mille Plateaux) 3cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Jeff wins the endurance award for listening to all three discs back to back. The second volume of this appropriately titled compilation of miminal electronic technicians. With tracks from Kid 606, Vladislav Delay, SND, Frank Brettschneider, Thomas Brinkmann, Swayzak, Kit Clayton, Pan Sonic, Matmos and many more.

V/A Clicks & Cuts 3 (Mille Plateaux) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"The muse was in the mistakes," reads the press release for the third installment in Mille Plateaux's compendium of contemporary, glitched electronica; however, it has to be said that these "mistakes" -- hard disc rewrite errors, pinprick glitches, microsonic tears, etc. -- have come to define stylistic conceits of a very clean, posh deviation from the standard templates of techno, electro, and occasionally hip hop. True, there has been enough of an stylistic acceleration since the second Clicks & Cuts compilation from 2001 to warrant a new cross-section of glitched electronica; yet the trajectory has steered towards an ironic, self-reflexive position of pop iconography, complete with favoritism towards gimmicky hooks, disposable R&B vocals, and lite rhythms. Mille Plateaux claims that this sound follows Deleuzian models as a "bastard offspring of capitalist output." This may be true, but why does its current form sound more like the commonplace output of capitalism rather than its subversive antithesis (which is what Mille Plateaux has always implied about its purpose)?
Nevertheless, the music -- if you can conveniently overlook the potential conceptual dilemmas -- is quite enjoyable and pleasant. As stated above, it reflects the genres of techno, electro, and hip hop through the glitch. Artists include SND, Frank Bretschneider, Andreas Tilliander, MRI, Bizz.Circuits, Claudia Bonarelli, Geeez 'N' Gosh, Alva Noto, Rob Acid, Luomo, Antonelli Electr., Mikael Stavšstrand, Swayzak, Donnacha Costello & David Donohoe, Rechenzentrum, AGF, Tim Hecker, Dat Politics, Boris Polonski, Robin Judge, Ekkehard Ehlers, and Pomassl. Sometimes, you run the risk of ruining your own art by mashing together conceptual agendas and formal techniques that don't exactly fit.
RealAudio clip: MRI "Painkiller"
RealAudio clip: CLAUDIA BONARELLI "Disarm The Police"

V/A Clicks & Cuts 3 (Mille Plateaux) 3lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"The muse was in the mistakes," reads the press release for the third installment in Mille Plateaux's compendium of contemporary, glitched electronica; however, it has to be said that these "mistakes" -- hard disc rewrite errors, pinprick glitches, microsonic tears, etc. -- have come to define stylistic conceits of a very clean, posh deviation from the standard templates of techno, electro, and occasionally hip hop. True, there has been enough of an stylistic acceleration since the second Clicks & Cuts compilation from 2001 to warrant a new cross-section of glitched electronica; yet the trajectory has steered towards an ironic, self-reflexive position of pop iconography, complete with favoritism towards gimmicky hooks, disposable R&B vocals, and lite rhythms. Mille Plateaux claims that this sound follows Deleuzian models as a "bastard offspring of capitalist output." This may be true, but why does its current form sound more like the commonplace output of capitalism rather than its subversive antithesis (which is what Mille Plateaux has always implied about its purpose)?
Nevertheless, the music -- if you can conveniently overlook the potential conceptual dilemmas -- is quite enjoyable and pleasant. As stated above, it reflects the genres of techno, electro, and hip hop through the glitch. Artists include SND, Frank Bretschneider, Andreas Tilliander, MRI, Bizz.Circuits, Claudia Bonarelli, Geeez 'N' Gosh, Alva Noto, Rob Acid, Luomo, Antonelli Electr., Mikael Stavšstrand, Swayzak, Donnacha Costello & David Donohoe, Rechenzentrum, AGF, Tim Hecker, Dat Politics, Boris Polonski, Robin Judge, Ekkehard Ehlers, and Pomassl. Sometimes, you run the risk of ruining your own art by mashing together conceptual agendas and formal techniques that don't exactly fit.

V/A Clicks & Cuts 4 (Mille Plateaux Media) cd 22.00

V/A Clit Stop (Swezlex Recordings) cd 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Collection of recordings made live at San Francisco's Clit Stop. 38 tracks from such notables as: Kit Clayton, Three Day Stubble, No Neck Blues Band, Deerhoof, Zeek Sheck, Rubber O Cement With Karla Lavay, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, and much more.

V/A Clocktower Classics (Abraham / Clocktower) lp 14.98

V/A Clocktower Dub (Clocktower) cd 13.98
Another nice dub collection mixed under the auspices of His Royal Majesty King Tubby and featuring musicians Sly & Robbie along with Aston Barrett, Carlton Barret, Carlton Davis, and Tony Chin. The original vocalists (Jr Byles, Augustus Pablo are all cut up nicely with classic fader and tape delay / spring reverb action.

V/A Cloud Cuckooland (Finders Keepers) cd 14.98
Even if we weren't already aware that the early '70s output of the German record label Kuckuck was pretty darn cool, being a significant part of the whole incredible krautrock thing, we'd be eager to hear this new compilation, following as it does B-Music's other recent celebrations of labels like BYG in France (The BYG Deal comp) and Belter in Spain (the Absolute Belter comp), all of 'em awesome. This well-researched collection, part of the B-Music / Finders Keepers "krautsider music" series, is a tribute to the vision and dedication of the Kuckuck label's founder, Eckart Rahn (about whom several fascinating pages of the text and photo filled cd booklet are devoted). Presented with distinctive graphic style, Kuckuck's always adventurous and ever eclectic roster made records ranging from progressive pop to acid folk to out there kosmische electronics, in other words krautrock at its finest.
There's nine bands represented across the 20 tracks here. You get, among others, the heavy blues rock of Armageddon, the proto-New Age bliss of AQ fave Deuter, Antiteater's soundtracks to Rainer Werner Fassbinder films, the brilliant minimalist hypnorock of Out Of Focus (another AQ fave), the Moog synthesizer experimentation of American composer Sam Spence, and proggy pop pioneers Ihre Kinder (plus various spinoffs), and more. Of the several artists we hadn't ever heard before, Sam Spence was particularly intriguing, especially since the liner notes explain that his Moogs were paid for by the National Football League, for whom he made film soundtracks! We'd be curious to hear more of his Kuckuck recordings based on the two tracks from him included here, which sound something like a more tripped out Perrey and/or Kingsley.
Dunno why they didn't include some Murphy Blend, too, but it's a fine comp anyhow! Any Finders Keepers follower or krautrock fancier should be keen on this. Can't go too wrong with Kuckuck.
MPEG Stream: SAM SPENCE "Water World"
MPEG Stream: DEUTER "Der Turm"
MPEG Stream: IHRE KINDER "The Dice"

V/A Cloud Cuckooland (Finders Keepers) 2lp 27.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
Even if we weren't already aware that the early '70s output of the German record label Kuckuck was pretty darn cool, being a significant part of the whole incredible krautrock thing, we'd be eager to hear this new compilation, following as it does B-Music's other recent celebrations of labels like BYG in France (The BYG Deal comp) and Belter in Spain (the Absolute Belter comp), all of 'em awesome. This well-researched collection, part of the B-Music / Finders Keepers "krautsider music" series, is a tribute to the vision and dedication of the Kuckuck label's founder, Eckart Rahn (about whom several fascinating pages of the text and photo filled cd booklet are devoted). Presented with distinctive graphic style, Kuckuck's always adventurous and ever eclectic roster made records ranging from progressive pop to acid folk to out there kosmische electronics, in other words krautrock at its finest.
There's nine bands represented across the 20 tracks here. You get, among others, the heavy blues rock of Armageddon, the proto-New Age bliss of AQ fave Deuter, Antiteater's soundtracks to Rainer Werner Fassbinder films, the brilliant minimalist hypnorock of Out Of Focus (another AQ fave), the Moog synthesizer experimentation of American composer Sam Spence, and proggy pop pioneers Ihre Kinder (plus various spinoffs), and more. Of the several artists we hadn't ever heard before, Sam Spence was particularly intriguing, especially since the liner notes explain that his Moogs were paid for by the National Football League, for whom he made film soundtracks! We'd be curious to hear more of his Kuckuck recordings based on the two tracks from him included here, which sound something like a more tripped out Perrey and/or Kingsley.
Dunno why they didn't include some Murphy Blend, too, but it's a fine comp anyhow! Any Finders Keepers follower or krautrock fancier should be keen on this. Can't go too wrong with Kuckuck.
MPEG Stream: SAM SPENCE "Water World"
MPEG Stream: DEUTER "Der Turm"
MPEG Stream: IHRE KINDER "The Dice"

V/A Clouds Carved The Mountains (self-released) 2 x cd-r 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Better act fast on this one, super limited, as in ONLY SEVENTY COPIES, and it's a pretty killer sampling of some of the best SF bands around, all exclusive tracks, from a bunch of our favorites, and a whole bunch of bands we'd never heard of before.
Barn Owl, Lucky Dragons, Tussle, Pale Hoarse, Ascended Master, Snowblink, Drumz and so many more. Two discs, nearly 2 hours, of spaced out drone, groovy abstract rhythms, dark swilring ambience, woozy drum machine driven lo-fi pop, pounding low slung post rock, and lots of stops in between.
All of the tracks were recorded live in the Fall of 2007, during Drew Bennett's collaborative Clouds Carved The Mountains Installation / Sound Series at the Triple Base Gallery, here in SF.
Beaufiul hand assembled and hand silkscreened cover, with a printed insert, of the seventy copies we only got a handful, so grab one quick before they're gone...
MPEG Stream: BARN OWL "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: TUSSLE "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: ASCENDED MASTER "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: DRUMZ "Untitled"

V/A Club Africa 2 (Strut) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another stunning collection of mid-'70s Afrofunk, culled from well-loved albums to impossibly rare 7"s and lost treasures. Raw, fiery, melodic, sheer exuberance in sound! From such countries as Lagos, Cameroun, Guadeloupe, South Africa, Nigeria. From famous musicians such as Hugh Masekela (his track is one of the most gorgeous pieces of sunshine I've ever heard), Roy Ayers (who toured with Fela for a spell), and the legendary percussionist Babatunde Olatunji, to lesser knowns such as Letta Mbulu (who caterwauled that amazing opener "What is Wrong with Groovin'" on the equally excellent "Ouelele" comp) and Max B. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: MAX B "Bananaticoco"
RealAudio clip: HUGH MASEKELA "A Long Ways from Home"
RealAudio clip: LETTA MBULU "Mahlalela"

V/A Coast II Coast (Ozone Music) cd 16.98
North American compilation features contributions from Cannibal Ox, Them (featuring Dose One of cLOUDDEAD), Obscure Disorder (featuring Non-Phixion), Youngblood Brass Band (with Talib Kweli), MC Paul Barman (produced by Prince Paul!), bonus beats from turntable wiz A-Trak, and many more.

V/A Cocktail Event (Staalplaat) cd 17.98
Something tells me that the Dutch experimental geniuses at Staalplaat wants this to be deemed an exotic album to be placed next to Martin Denny and Joe Meek. Well the first track - an odd big band arrangement of The KLF's "What Time Is Love" - may very well fit the bill, but the rest of the album features the Fluxus vocalizations of Jaap Blonk, the Icelandic minimalist weirdness from Stillupsteypa, the scraping noise of CoC Casper & Daniel Menche, and the digital bleeps of Pita & Mika Vainio (Mego / Sahko).

V/A Colapsus (Sound-Ink.) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Colapsus (Sound-Ink.) 2lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities: 19 (Stones Throw / Now-Again) cd 15.98
Man, this is some gritty '70s funk. Or should I say gritt-ay? Really, the grit to the tracks is from the remastering transfer of these old songs but in spite of it, they're all totally listenable cause they are so so SO good. I mean, THESE ARE PURE FUNK SONGS: no cheese, no glamour, just amazing songwriting, awesome musicianship, great ideas, tons of soul, and just full-on soul n' funk jammin'. F'ing awesome! Contains rare and never-before-heard tracks by many artists including Carleen and The Groovers, Kashmere Stage Band, Soul Seven and Ebony Rhythm Band (their track "Drugs Ain't Cool" from their Soul Heart Transplant disc recently reissued by Now-Again), all of which were remastered from old 45's and aging master tapes. Packaged with a pretty extensive 28 page archival booklet, and the cd features a handful of bonus tracks. Now, we have to say that the first time we heard this it didn't make such a huge impression, but after a few listens we realized that this was a seriously amazing compilation of PURE funk and funky soul songs. We can't stress enough how awesome these tracks are. Give it a few listens and you'll see what we mean.
MPEG Stream: LIL' LAVAIR AND THE FABULOUS JADES "Cold Heat"
MPEG Stream: AMNESTY "Free Your Mind"
MPEG Stream: DAYTON SIDEWINDERS "Slipping Into Darkness"

V/A Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities: 1968-1974 Vol. 1 (Stones Throw / Now-Again) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Man, this is some gritty '70s funk. Or should I say gritt-ay? Really, the grit to the tracks is from the remastering transfer of these old songs but in spite of it, they're all totally listenable 'cause they are so so SO good. I mean, THESE ARE PURE FUNK SONGS: no cheese, no glamour, just amazing songwriting, awesome musicianship, great ideas, tons of soul, and just full-on soul n' funk jammin'. F'ing awesome! Contains rare and never-before-heard tracks by many artists including Carleen and The Groovers, Kashmere Stage Band, Soul Seven and Ebony Rhythm Band (their track "Drugs Ain't Cool" from their Soul Heart Transplant disc recently reissued by Now-Again), all of which were remastered from old 45's and aging master tapes. Packaged with a pretty extensive 28 page archival booklet. Now, we have to say that the first time we heard this it didn't make such a huge impression, but after a few listens we realized that this was a seriously amazing compilation of PURE funk and funky soul songs. We can't stress enough how awesome these tracks are. Give it a few listens and you'll see what we mean.
MPEG Stream: LIL' LAVAIR AND THE FABULOUS JADES "Cold Heat"
MPEG Stream: AMNESTY "Free Your Mind"
MPEG Stream: DAYTON SIDEWINDERS "Slipping Into Darkness"

V/A Cold Krush Cuts (Ninja Tune) 2cd 16.98
Remixes of upteen million Ninja Tunes by (on the first disc) Coldcut & DJ Food, and (on the second disc) DJ Krush. Funki Porcini, DJ Vadim, London Funk Allstars, The Herbaliser, Luke Vibert, etc. etc. etc. rock these two continuous sixty minute mixes...a two hour breakbeat bonanza.

V/A Cold Waves + Minimal Electronics : Volume One (Angular Recordings) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As we promised, when we made the vinyl format of this a Record Of The Week a couple lists back, it would soon also available on compact disc too, and here it is, again getting to be a Record Of The Week! Here's what we said about it before, so now those of you who are turntable-impaired can grab this too:
First off, anyone who bought the Minimal Wave Tapes compilation, another recent aQ Record Of The Week, is most definitely gonna want this too, another killer collection of, like the title says, Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics, a perfect part two, or companion, and fear not, the only overlap is one single band, who do appear on both comps, but with different tracks, so this is essentially an all new (old) collection of vintage coldwave dark synth sonics, which, if you're anything like us, and we're beginning to think you are, you can't get enough of.
It's pretty strange how cold / dark / new / synth wave have made such a huge comeback, bands like the Cure, Depeche Mode, Human League, Front 242, Soft Cell, are now cited as huge influences on a new breed of dark synth driven combos. Also funny considering something similar happened 8 or 9 years ago, when a rash of bands were exploring similar territory: Adult., The Faint, Fischerspooner, Erase Errata, etc. But music is definitely cyclical, and as a new generation discovers the treasures of the past, they start bands mining that past, and revist that past via reissues. The most recent issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian offers a mini primer on the difference between the various waves: darkwave was early industrial and goth rock, cold wave the French version of darkwave (as we first discovered on the amazing So Young But So Cold comp), Synth wave was like cold wave but more sparse and moody, and new wave, well everyone should know what that is by now.
Lately, it seems most folks make little distinction between the various waves, instead lumping them all together as cold wave, or minimal wave or whatever, since regardless of the variations, they definitely all share a similar sound and vibe, and speaking for ourselves at least, it's a sound we dig big time. But then most of us never really stopped digging that stuff to begin with. Lots of former goths here for sure. And every time we discovered a band exploring the sounds we dug so much back in the day, we went way out of our way to gush about them big time, like one of our 2009 Records Of The Week, from Soror Dolorosa, a black metal side project that sounded like some lost Joy Division jam, or rare cold wave antiquity, and more recently records by groups like Blank Dogs, who may not have grown up listening to this music, but if they didn't then must have had a super hip older brother.
But as was demonstrated on the Minimal Wave collection, there were tons of bands outside of the obvious above mentioned references, who were just as cool, if not cooler, the underground of a scene that for a while was very mainstream, on the Minimal Waves comp, it was Crash Course In Science, Tara Cross, Das Kabinette, Ohama, Das Ding, Martin Dupont, Deux, Bene Gessert, Turquoise Days, and others, a few of the more wave-informed folks here knew many of those bands, but to the rest of us, it was a revelation. So much amazing music, so many new groups. On this Cold Waves collection, it's Absolute Body Control, Ruth, The Neon Judgement, Stereo, The Vyllies, Days Of Sorrow, Land Of Giants, End Of Data, Eleven Pond, Ausgang Verboten, Nine Circles and more more more. And like before, a few groups we're familiar with, but a whole bunch of mysterious new names, all of which contribute killer tracks, and most definitely have us hankering for more from all of them.
The obvious ones, Ruth of course, a long time aQ favorite, whose track here also appeared on the out of print So Young But So Cold, sort of Kraftwerk meets Gary Numan, Linear Movement, who also had a track on the Minimal Wave comp, whose track here is awesome, catchy and swirly, with super hypnotic synth melodies and awesome vocals, groovy bass and that clipped new wave drum machine rhythm, Absolute Body Control, who recently received the deluxe Vinyl On Demand boxset treatment, with some awesomely gothy gloom pop, in fact, this collection sounds WAY poppier than the Minimal Wave collection, so much so, that almost all of these bands sound like they should have been right up there with Depeche Mode and the Human League.
Needless to say, this is another fantastic comp, with some incredible songs, and already has us hankering for volume 2!
MPEG Stream: ELEVEN POND "Watching Trees"
MPEG Stream: AUSGANG VERBOTEN "Consumer"
MPEG Stream: OTO "Anyway"
MPEG Stream: THE STEREO "Somewhere In The Night"

V/A Cold Waves + Minimal Electronics : Volume One (Angular Recordings) 2lp 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First off, anyone who bought the Minimal Wave Tapes compilation, another recent aQ Record Of The Week, is most definitely gonna want this too, another killer collection of, like the title says, Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics, a perfect part two, or companion, and fear not, the only overlap is one single band, who do appear on both comps, but with different tracks, so this is essentially an all new (old) collection of vintage coldwave dark synth sonics, which, if you're anything like us, and we're beginning to think you are, you can't get enough of.
It's pretty strange how cold / dark / new / synth wave have made such a huge comeback, bands like the Cure, Depeche Mode, Human League, Front 242, Soft Cell, are now cited as huge influences on a new breed of dark synth driven combos. Also funny considering something similar happened 8 or 9 years ago, when a rash of bands were exploring similar territory: Adult., The Faint, Fischerspooner, Erase Errata, etc. But music is definitely cyclical, and as a new generation discovers the treasures of the past, they start bands mining that past, and revist that past via reissues. The most recent issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian offers a mini primer on the difference between the various waves: darkwave was early industrial and goth rock, cold wave the French version of darkwave (as we first discovered on the amazing So Young But So Cold comp), Synth wave was like cold wave but more sparse and moody, and new wave, well everyone should know what that is by now.
Lately, it seems most folks make little distinction between the various waves, instead lumping them all together as cold wave, or minimal wave or whatever, since regardless of the variations, they definitely all share a similar sound and vibe, and speaking for ourselves at least, it's a sound we dig big time. But then most of us never really stopped digging that stuff to begin with. Lots of former goths here for sure. And every time we discovered a band exploring the sounds we dug so much back in the day, we went way out of our way to gush about them big time, like one of our 2009 Records Of The Week, from Soror Dolorosa, a black metal side project that sounded like some lost Joy Division jam, or rare cold wave antiquity, and more recently records by groups like Blank Dogs, who may not have grown up listening to this music, but if they didn't then must have had a super hip older brother.
But as was demonstrated on the Minimal Wave collection, there were tons of bands outside of the obvious above mentioned references, who were just as cool, if not cooler, the underground of a scene that for a while was very mainstream, on the Minimal Waves comp, it was Crash Course In Science, Tara Cross, Das Kabinette, Ohama, Das Ding, Martin Dupont, Deux, Bene Gessert, Turquoise Days, and others, a few of the more wave-informed folks here knew many of those bands, but to the rest of us, it was a revelation. So much amazing music, so many new groups. On this Cold Waves collection, it's Absolute Body Control, Ruth, The Neon Judgement, Stereo, The Vyllies, Days Of Sorrow, Land Of Giants, End Of Data, Eleven Pond, Ausgang Verboten, Nine Circles and more more more. And like before, a few groups we're familiar with, but a whole bunch of mysterious new names, all of which contribute killer tracks, and most definitely have us hankering for more from all of them.
The obvious ones, Ruth of course, a long time aQ favorite, whose track here also appeared on the out of print So Young But So Cold, sort of Kraftwerk meets Gary Numan, Linear Movement, who also had a track on the Minimal Wave comp, whose track here is awesome, catchy and swirly, with super hypnotic synth melodies and awesome vocals, groovy bass and that clipped new wave drum machine rhythm, Absolute Body Control, who recently received the deluxe Vinyl On Demand boxset treatment, with some awesomely gothy gloom pop, in fact, this collection sounds WAY poppier than the Minimal Wave collection, so much so, that almost all of these bands sound like they should have been right up there with Depeche Mode and the Human League.
Needless to say, this is another fantastic comp, with some incredible songs, and already has us hankering for volume 2!
Nice thick gatefold sleeve, tons of liner notes, and pix, also comes with a download card. CD coming soon too...

V/A Collaborations (Lo) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume two in the Lo recordings series (the amazing "United Mutations" was vol. 3). This equally fab comp features strange, adventurous, and largely successful collaborations between Luke Vibert, David Toop, Bedouin Ascent, Scanner, Luger, Funci Porcini, Pere Ubu's David Thomas, and more.

V/A Collision Course (P.I.A.S. ) cd 17.98
'Collision Course' is an awesome compendium of the confrontational hip-hop/electronica linking Public Enemy and Alec Empire in both militant posturing and penchant for noise. A good portion of the tracks are exclusive to compilation and include some of our favorite damaged beatmongers such as Sensational, Fever, Ice, Anti-Pop Consortium, DJ Scud / Nomex, Patric C, Bomb 20, and more! Compiled by Kevin Martin (Ice, God, Techno Animal, etc.) who is also responsible for the Macro Dub Infection series as well as the amazing Isolationist compilationn from a few years back.

V/A Colombia! The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes. The Powerhouse Of Colombian Music 1960-76 (Soundway) cd 17.98
An exciting anthology of clasic cuts from the Disco Fuentes label which was essentially the Motown records of Columbia. Hot and rare dance, soul and salsa tunes from the sixties and seventies will keep you burning that midnight oil for a good long time.

V/A Colonel Jeffrey Pumpernickle (Off Records) cd 13.98
A concept album/compilation, trying to be some kind of co-op Sgt. Pepper's for the current indie-rock generation or something (its success in this endeavor is of course questionable, and some of the bands have certainly not contributed their absolute best songs). Participants, and they are an illustrious lot, include (the first two being highlights): Grandaddy, Black Heart Procession, Guided By Voices, Macha, Howe Gelb, Quasi, Stephen Malkmus, The Minders, Sentridoh, Mary Timony, and others. Oh, and then there's the artwork and text, by a bunch of equally-famous folks: Adrian Tomine, Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge, Richard Meltzer, etc. It's really an all-star affair!
RealAudio clip: BLACK HEART PROCESSION "One Hand Tore the Side"
RealAudio clip: GRANDADDY "L.F.O."

V/A Columbia - Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973 (New World) cd 15.98
"The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was the first electronic music center to be established within the U.S. This selection, drawn from those seminal years from 1959 - 1973, is an excellent overview of the wide variations in musical style and aesthetic that was encouraged by the center's guiding spirit Vladimir Ussachevsky." With breathless electronic experiments by Bulent Arel, Charles Doage, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Ingram Marshall, Daria Semegen, and Alice Shields.