V/A In Memoriam: Gilles Deleuze (Mille Plateaux) 2cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With Alec Empire, Oval, Jim O'Rourke, Scanner, DJ Spooky, Trans Am, Atom Heart, etc. German import in a nice matte slipcase.

V/A In Memoriam: Jhonn Balance (Fulldozer / Nocharizma) 2cd 16.98
Coil as a musical entity had such a profound affect on modern music, and on the majority of bands and artists we love and listen to every day. So when Jhonn Balance of Coil died after an accidental fall, underground musicians worldwide were stunned and heartbroken. And what better way to channel rage, and disappointment and sadness than through music. So thus we have In Memoriam, a sonic tribute and memorial to the memory and the musical legacy of Jhonn Balance.
The lineup is chock full of unknowns, but sonically most of them are definitely channeling the sprit of Coil and are pretty fantastic. Enough that it had a few of us wanting more from some of the groups. Some of the names are recognizable, and a few are definite AQ faves: Coh, Alec Empire, Alva Noto, Scanner, KK Null, Thighpaulsandra, Chris Connelly and Pomassl. But the rest, wow! Usually a comp with mostly unknowns bodes poorly for the quality of the collection, but somehow, most of these groups end up being really cool, and perfect in their own way, demonstrating their love and affection for Balance and Coil in their quite varied musical homages. And they hail from ALL over. Pretty amazing actually. The list had us pretty excited before we even got the discs in: The Threshold Houseboy's Choir (Thailand), Theodor Bastard (Russia), Kotra (Ukraine), Spies Boys (Russia), 2/5 BZ (Turkey), Biblioteka Prospero (Ukraine), Phillip Klingler (USA), EU (Russia), Darling Kandie (USA), Alexei Borisov (Russia), Schlammpeitziger (Germany), Goodiny & PCP (Russia), Brompton's Cocktail (Russia), Mystified (Sweden), hhtp (Belarus), Noises Of Russia & Olga Komok / Nikolay Rubanov (Russia), Kryptogen Rundfunk (Russia), A. Vorodeyev (Ukraine), Serge Tereshkine (Russia), Volga (Russia), I.L.I. (Russia) and M.R.F. / Elena Voynarovskaya (Ukraine)! Wow, heavy on the Eastern Europe for sure, which might have to do with the fact that this was released on a Russian label.
Regardless, eyes closed, this almost plays like an actual Coil album. Heavy on the electronics, lots of processed rhythms, strange voices, creepy soundscapes. Some are sort-of-covers, others are loose interpretations, while still others are original pieces of music, more in the spirit of Coil than emulating the actual sound. But for such a massive comp, the sound is surprisingly cohesive and flows wonderfully. Some of our favorite tracks: Alec Empire's stripped down fuzzed out beatscape. The dreamy otherworldly abstract folk of 2/5 BZ. The faux gamelan of Thailand's Threshold Houseboy's Choir. The murky new wave industrial of Biblioteka Prospero. The dreamy minimal glitchscape of EU. We could go on and on. Needless to say, it's all pretty dang great. Even the folks who don't actually dig Coil all that much have been liking a whole lot of this comp and playing it all the time!
Quite possibly essential listening for Coil freaks, but definitely a kick ass experimental electronic compilation worth checking out for folks into that sort of stuff!!
MPEG Stream: ALEC EMPIRE "Tribute To Coil (Short Version)"
MPEG Stream: KK NULL "Scatovator"
MPEG Stream: COH "No Balance"
MPEG Stream: ALVA NOTO "Odradek"

V/A In My Living Room (Kim Chee) cd 12.98
Featuring solo turns by members of Buffalo Tom, Helium, Karate, The Secret Stars, plus the Richard Davies band, Ida, and more.

V/A In Prison: Afroamerican Prison Music From Blues To Hip Hop (Trikont) cd 16.98
There is such a rich history of prison music in this country, with the roots of blues easily traced to the incarceration and slavery of African American, and with so much hurt, pain and suffering comes some of the most gripping, raw, and honest music ever made. This compilation collects all sorts of sounds created behind bars from old blues, R+B, soul and modern sounding hip-hop. From the direct and hard hitting blues of Fred McDowell to the righteous empowerment of Nina Simone, the thoughtful anger of 2 Pac to a surprisingly political and subversive soul number from The Temptations. Brand Nubian, James Russell, Dead Prez, Curtis Mayfield and The Last Poets are just a few others featured on this amazing compilation. As is the case with all Trikont releases there is an extensive and informative booklet with great essays including one on how the U.S. continues to be a prison state to this day. We can imagine this being in heavy rotation on the stereos of Spike Lee, Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky, and we can't stop listening to this ourselves. So smart, relevant and powerful!
MPEG Stream: THE TEMPTATIONS "Run Charlie Run"
MPEG Stream: JAMES RUSSELL "I Had Five Long Years"
MPEG Stream: DEAD PREZ "Behind Enemy Lines"
MPEG Stream: NINA SIMONE "Work Song"

V/A In the Beginning There Was Rhythm (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow. The London based Soul Jazz label does it again. They've already documented the global history of funk and soul in several astonishingly well-executed collections including the universally loved "100-500% Dynamite" series of Jamaican soul, rocksteady, and reggae; the Philadelphia Roots collection; the Nu Yorica albums; that ESG reissue, and even an Art Ensemble of Chicago album. Yet none of these albums has been as highly anticipated or so spot-on timely as this new one from Soul Jazz, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm."
This compilation succeeds in encapsulating that heady time between the years 1978 and 1982, when the "second wave" of British punk bands found inspiration in both the musical and political power of reggae. As the situationist propaganda of Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols spawned a global theater of anarchist shock tactics, even such right-wing idiots as the skinhead, white power, and neo-Nazi parties dared to embrace punk's celebration of chaos. Thus, those (mostly white) musicians within the punk movement who were *opposed* to such unsavory politics stood in solidarity both politically and aesthetically with their black brothers in Jamaica. Incited by the offbeat attack of The Clash and the huge dub bass production from Public Image Limited, the late '70s punk movement began a vast exploration into possibilities of bridging dance music with the revolutionary anthems of punk.
While neither The Clash nor PIL are included in this compilation, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" does collect some of the best tracks from the huge vaults of post-punk, many of which might have gone forgotten had it not been for this album! Even 20 years after their initial releases, the bands here -- including Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio, The Slits, This Heat, Human League and Throbbing Gristle -- still sound fresh, often melding choppy rhythms with angular slash-and-burn guitar, spit out vocals, rubbery bass, and nascent forms of electronica.
We'll say it again -- the music here is simply perfect -- the punk holds back dance music's tendency to get too mechanical 'n boring, while the dance elements impart melody and groove to the punk. Highlighting the compilation are A Certain Ratio's urgent amphetamine funk on "Shack Up" and "Knife Slits Water", melding the unlikely combination of Joy Division's grim urgency with a George Clinton funk arrrangement. Gang Of Four's "To Hell With Poverty" marks their transition from the agitated punk grooves found on their classic (but sometimes difficult to find) debut "Entertainment" into a smooth dancefloor-friendly attack punctuated by Marxist rhetoric. The Human League -- who are unfortunately best known for their chart topping new wave singles -- had incredibly adventurous beginnings on the often forgotten punk label Fast (also early home for The Mekons and Gang of Four). Their early offering "Being Boiled" is a primitive piece of spartan electronics loaded with theatrical tension and dark arpeggiations more expected from people like Coil and Throbbing Gristle (who contribute their perverse fascination with ABBA in the subversive aesthetics of "20 Jazz Funk Greats").
But, why is this compilation so short? Judging from how few people today remember or even have heard Section 25, Tunnelvision, DAF, or Fad Gadget, there's plenty more work for Soul Jazz to do in compiling more compilations of this sort! Not just recommended, this is *required* listening. Strongly recommended to any and all!
RealAudio clip: POP GROUP "She Is Beyond Good And Evil"
RealAudio clip: HUMAN LEAGUE "Being Boiled"
RealAudio clip: GANG OF FOUR "To Hell With Poverty"
RealAudio clip: A CERTAIN RATIO "Knive Slits Water"

V/A In the Beginning There Was Rhythm (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.
Wow. The London based Soul Jazz label does it again. They've already documented the global history of funk and soul in several astonishingly well-executed collections including the universally loved "100-500% Dynamite" series of Jamaican soul, rocksteady, and reggae; the Philadelphia Roots collection; the Nu Yorica albums; that ESG reissue, and even an Art Ensemble of Chicago album. Yet none of these albums has been as highly anticipated or so spot-on timely as this new one from Soul Jazz, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm."
This compilation succeeds in encapsulating that heady time between the years 1978 and 1982, when the "second wave" of British punk bands found inspiration in both the musical and political power of reggae. As the situationist propaganda of Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols spawned a global theater of anarchist shock tactics, even such right-wing idiots as the skinhead, white power, and neo-Nazi parties dared to embrace punk's celebration of chaos. Thus, those (mostly white) musicians within the punk movement who were *opposed* to such unsavory politics stood in solidarity both politically and aesthetically with their black brothers in Jamaica. Incited by the offbeat attack of The Clash and the huge dub bass production from Public Image Limited, the late '70s punk movement began a vast exploration into possibilities of bridging dance music with the revolutionary anthems of punk.
While neither The Clash nor PIL are included in this compilation, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" does collect some of the best tracks from the huge vaults of post-punk, many of which might have gone forgotten had it not been for this album! Even 20 years after their initial releases, the bands here -- including Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio, The Slits, This Heat, Human League and Throbbing Gristle -- still sound fresh, often melding choppy rhythms with angular slash-and-burn guitar, spit out vocals, rubbery bass, and nascent forms of electronica.
We'll say it again -- the music here is simply perfect -- the punk holds back dance music's tendency to get too mechanical 'n boring, while the dance elements impart melody and groove to the punk. Highlighting the compilation are A Certain Ratio's urgent amphetamine funk on "Shack Up" and "Knife Slits Water", melding the unlikely combination of Joy Division's grim urgency with a George Clinton funk arrrangement. Gang Of Four's "To Hell With Poverty" marks their transition from the agitated punk grooves found on their classic debut "Entertainment" into a smooth dancefloor-friendly attack punctuated by Marxist rhetoric. The Human League -- who are unfortunately best known for their chart topping new wave singles -- had incredibly adventurous beginnings on the often forgotten punk label Fast (also early home for The Mekons and Gang of Four). Their early offering "Being Boiled" is a primitive piece of spartan electronics loaded with theatrical tension and dark arpeggiations more expected from people like Coil and Throbbing Gristle (who contribute their perverse fascination with ABBA in the subversive aesthetics of "20 Jazz Funk Greats").
But, why is this compilation so short? Judging from how few people today remember or even have heard Section 25, Tunnelvision, DAF, or Fad Gadget, there's plenty more work for Soul Jazz to do in compiling more compilations of this sort! Not just recommended, this is *required* listening. Strongly recommended to any and all!

V/A In, Demons In (Rocket / Invada) 10" 14.98
We thought these were gone forever, but we somehow managed to track down another batch of these psych rock beauties, but who knows if we'll get that lucky again, so don't blow it again...
HOLEEEEEE SHIT! You better tie down your speakers, strap on a helmet, put on some safety goggles and stand WAY back before you drop the needle on this. Three bands, doing super blown out fuzzed out needle in the red psychedelic space rock interpretations of, well, some psychedelic space rock.
The Heads take up a whole side with their rendition of Hawkwind's "Born To Go", and if you need anything more than the words "The Heads play Hawkwind" then there is something seriously wrong with you. It's almost exponential, like instead of Hawkwind filtered through the Heads, it becomes Hawkwind TIMES the Heads TIMES lots of drugs and TIMES about a million amplifiers. Super blown out acid fired drug drenched space rock nirvana!!!
And if you survive side one, side two will certainly do you in, Plastic Crimewave Sound starts it up with a smoking version of the Edgar Broughton Band's "Why Can't Somebody Love Me?" which is damn near as fierce as the Heads' track, needle pegged to the red, guitars set to stun, controls set for the heart of the sun, a furiously face-melting blast of outer space rock and roll. Finally, Lillydamwhite, who we had never heard before, cover the Pink Fairies' "Uncle Harry's Last Freakout" and while not as fierce as either of the two other tracks, is still pretty rocking with a super propulsive groove and killer riffs wrapped in spacey FX.
Total space rock overload and WE LOVE IT!!!
Comes in a cool Crimewave designed sleeve (designed to look like an old psychedelic flyer) with a bunch of printed inserts.
SUPER LIMITED. we only got a handful and we may not be able to get more...

V/A In-Kraut Vol.3 (Marina) cd 17.98
Achtung! Last chance to get with the In-Kraut, if you haven't already! This excellent series' third (and, sadly, final) volume offers up another twenty tracks of rare, super groovy dancefloor filling fodder from West Germany, circa 1967 to 1974, all of it pretty amazing and also amusing, in that it's generally waaay over the top and ultra-kitschy. In fact some of these tracks are so ridiculous, sooo deliberately go-go ga-ga "psychedelic" and "hip" and "groovy" that it's almost like they're parodies of these sort of swingin' sixties sounds, a la Austin Powers - who if he were German, would be getting down to exactly these sorts of swinging tunes.
If you're already an In-Kraut initiate you know what to expect: a mix of instrumentals and vocal numbers (speaking of vocal numbers, "Butterflies Never Cry" by Georgees is INSANE, utterly out of hand) done by big band-ish combos looking to wow the hipster denizens of Deutschland's discotheques back in the day. Which means this stuff is delightfully dated and far out at once, with fuzzy acid rock guitars slipped in alongside the funky beats, jazzy, zazzy horns, and lush orchestral maneuvers.
Other than the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra (whose "World Is Gone" is almost as disturbing as it is gleefully goofy and groovy) we don't really recognize too many of the artists here, except a few who also appeared on previous In-Kraut installments, most are totally unknown to us, yet awesome, which is a reason to buy a compilation like this. Some names: Daisy Clan, The Rainbow Orchestra, Inga, Ambros Seelos, Rolf Kuhn, Certain Lions & Tigers, Adam & Eve, Acid, Heinz Kiessling, The German Top Five, Memphis Black, Karl Schiller... and a bunch more. Just a few of the highlights include the Beatles composition "A Hard Day's Night" as performed by Katja Ebstein (which could have been a standout on that recent Easy Beatles collection), and a quite, uh, horny rendition of Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" done by Dieter Zimmermann (and band), in the tradition of the Deep Purple cover that appeared on vol. 2.
From pop-rock covers to original soundtrack themes, there's plenty of shuffling grooves and slinky instrumentals (Acid's "Hipguard" would thrill Christine 23 Onna) to make this the perfect lava-lamp / mirror-ball crossover collection. Ja, vol. 3 is as strong the first two, highly recommended. You can't listen to this and NOT be having fun!
And as usual with these In-Kraut comps, the cd booklet is packed with graphics and text pertaining to each track. It's quite clear that the compilers know their stuff!
MPEG Stream: DIETER ZIMMERMANN "Whole Lotta Love"
MPEG Stream: GEORGEES "Butterflies Never Cry"
MPEG Stream: ACID "Hipguard"

V/A In-Kraut Vol.3 (Marina) lp 19.98
Achtung! Last chance to get with the In-Kraut, if you haven't already! This excellent series' third (and, sadly, final) volume offers up another twenty tracks of rare, super groovy dancefloor filling fodder from West Germany, circa 1967 to 1974, all of it pretty amazing and also amusing, in that it's generally waaay over the top and ultra-kitschy. In fact some of these tracks are so ridiculous, sooo deliberately go-go ga-ga "psychedelic" and "hip" and "groovy" that it's almost like they're parodies of these sort of swingin' sixties sounds, a la Austin Powers - who if he were German, would be getting down to exactly these sorts of swinging tunes.
If you're already an In-Kraut initiate you know what to expect: a mix of instrumentals and vocal numbers (speaking of vocal numbers, "Butterflies Never Cry" by Georgees is INSANE, utterly out of hand) done by big band-ish combos looking to wow the hipster denizens of Deutschland's discotheques back in the day. Which means this stuff is delightfully dated and far out at once, with fuzzy acid rock guitars slipped in alongside the funky beats, jazzy, zazzy horns, and lush orchestral maneuvers.
Other than the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra (whose "World Is Gone" is almost as disturbing as it is gleefully goofy and groovy) we don't really recognize too many of the artists here, except a few who also appeared on previous In-Kraut installments, most are totally unknown to us, yet awesome, which is a reason to buy a compilation like this. Some names: Daisy Clan, The Rainbow Orchestra, Inga, Ambros Seelos, Rolf Kuhn, Certain Lions & Tigers, Adam & Eve, Acid, Heinz Kiessling, The German Top Five, Memphis Black, Karl Schiller... and a bunch more. Just a few of the highlights include the Beatles composition "A Hard Day's Night" as performed by Katja Ebstein (which could have been a standout on that recent Easy Beatles collection), and a quite, uh, horny rendition of Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" done by Dieter Zimmermann (and band), in the tradition of the Deep Purple cover that appeared on vol. 2.
From pop-rock covers to original soundtrack themes, there's plenty of shuffling grooves and slinky instrumentals (Acid's "Hipguard" would thrill Christine 23 Onna) to make this the perfect lava-lamp / mirror-ball crossover collection. Ja, vol. 3 is as strong the first two, highly recommended. You can't listen to this and NOT be having fun!
And as usual with these In-Kraut comps, the cd booklet is packed with graphics and text pertaining to each track. It's quite clear that the compilers know their stuff!
MPEG Stream: DIETER ZIMMERMANN "Whole Lotta Love"
MPEG Stream: GEORGEES "Butterflies Never Cry"
MPEG Stream: ACID "Hipguard"

V/A Incidental Amplifications (Room 40) cd 15.98

V/A Incursions In Illbient (Asphodel) cd 15.98
Sub Dub, DJ Spooky, Byzar, and We all plumbing the depths of the NYC "illbient" sound. We are happy to report the instore performance featured DJ Singe, otherwise known as Beth, spinning the most soul-satisfying jungle we've heard in a long time.

V/A Inde: Kobiyals, Fakirs & Bauls (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
This is a recording of an annual festival held in Bengal and the performances on this recording are mostly of solo voice and male choruses. What's odd is that, though made in May of 1999, the recording sounds as though someone stuck a microphone in a tin can, smothered that in a pillow and buried it underground (actually, that might have turned out better than this.) Makes me think that maybe whoever did this, didn't exactly have express permission of the participants. Disappointing.

V/A Indian Summer: A Sublime Mix of Spiritual Beats (Ministry of Sound) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What's one to do, after the Beauty Bar closes, or Tonic or whatever your local watering hole is, where us ugly people are not welcome? And you and your model junkie girlfriend need some music to make out to or nod off to. And she's really pretty 'exotic'. Well, then throw this puppy on. Faux Eastern chillout music from folks like Badmarsh and Shri, Jazzanova, Fun-Da-Mental, Fila Brazillia, Coldcut, Thievery Corporation, Leftfield, The Orb and tons more.

V/A Indiavision: Hindi Film Songs And Instrumentals (1966-1984) (Buda Musique) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK! This Record Of The Week from May went quick, and we've only just been able to get more...so if you missed it, here it is again:
The Western obsession with India's prolific film industry, and even more so the musical numbers that drive the narratives forward, has nearly reached its saturation point. The amount of "best of Bollywood" anthologies released to date seems to almost equal India's annual theatrical output. Which all just makes it that much harder for us when we want to tell you that Indiavision is quite assuredly the best collection of Bollywood music we've come accross. See, so much has come before that such a claim will be immediately written off as so much of the usual record reviewer hyperbole. So just hear us out. First of all, what is it that makes Indian film music so great? Well, one of the things most often cited by fans is the over-the-top arrangements on some of the better numbers. The really great film music composers like Kalyanji & Anandji and Laxmikant & Pyarelal are some of the most worldly specialists in all genres of music, integrating the talents of Ennio Morricone's Western period, entire western orchestras, regional Indian classical music, the newest in electronic developments and whatever fad happened to be big in the year which they were composing (Hawaiian slide guitar, psychedelic music, soul, funk, you name it). The greatest film scores manage to somehow meld all that together in a way that just begs for some kind of clever culinary analogy (which we will spare you from in this review).
What else makes a great Bollywood song? The vocalist(s). A good song can survive without a male vocalist; they're only needed in duets with the female lead. The female vocalists in Indian film music are the equivalent of lead guitarists in the golden age of American rock and roll, and their vocal chords have the same dynamics, presence and range as most amplified guitars. Singers like Asha Bhosle (India's shining star of singers), featured heavily on this collection (and all collections) have a way of disembodying their voices from their bodies. When Bhosle sings her voice cuts through the speakers like a scalpel. Half of this phenomenon is due to her amazing lungs, the other to the insane engineering skills of the producers who record these scores who choose to overload the microphone preamps and super-saturate the magnetic tape during the loudest passages resulting in an unholy natural compression of the signal. Second only to the likes of Lee Perry in his Black Ark period of the early seventies or dub master King Tubby, the production values of Indian film music is singularly twisted in their techniques. Like the aforementioned Jamaican demigods of the multi-track, the recordists here have an arsenal of reverb, echo and compression tools that -- while not as new as the gear used in Hollywood's recording studios -- are used to their absolute functional limit. All of those essential elements of Indian film music are represented on each and every song here. But unlike many earlier collections, which focus their range on a particular era, composer, or vocalist, Indiavision draws from a wide range of sources. The tracks included here date from as far back as 1966 on up to 1984, it includes such film score heavyweights as father S.D. and son R.D. Burman, Laxmikant & Pyarelal, Kalyanji & Anandji and Bappi Lahiri. The broad time spanned by the tracks makes this collection as a whole more varied and easy on the ears. There's also quite a good variety of both slow, sultry numbers and completely batty comical ones. Some, like the title music for "The Burning Train" (listed as an instrumental), which features gruff female vocals like those of Yma Sumac, or the "Cabaret Dance Music" from the film "Dharmatma" with its maniacal laughter are completely off the wall. Others, like "Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nandala" -- a deadly serious romantic number with crooned vocals by Lata Mangeshkar -- and "Come Closer" -- a mellow and sincere funk/soul song sung by Salma Agha -- are beautiful respites from the cornball antics which are more often the songs of choice for Bollywood anthologies. Comes with a 30 page, full color booklet with plentiful liner notes in both French and English. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: LATA MANGESHKAR / LAXMIKANT & PYARELAL "Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nandala"
MPEG Stream: KALYANJI & ANANDJI "Cabaret Dance Music"
MPEG Stream: SALMA AGHA / BAPPI LAHIRI "Come Closer"
MPEG Stream: R.D. BURMAN "Title Music from the film The Burning Train"

V/A Indonesian Guitars (Music of Indonesia 20) (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 16.98
Sometimes, in the midst of all the excitement we feel at the release of a new blippy cutting-edge electronica disc, or the next undiscovered indie-rock pop gem, we lose sight of the fact that much of the best music made has nothing to do with computers or hip scenes. Instead, it's made by musicians you've never heard of who are unlikely to ever grace the cover of The Wire or Magnet. Especially, musicians in the Third World, who have a contemporary, living, often innovative relationship with the musical traditions of their communities. People who do what they do with a great deal of feeli guitar music that we've ever celebrated on this AQ-list. We're all quite taken with it, and thus chose to make it Record of the Month. Indeed, the disc's final track, a song called "Fajar Di Atas Awan" written by Irwansyah Harahap, is assuredly the most gorgeous seven minutes of gentle guitar folk-drone and female vocals that we've been blessed to hear, ever.
The guitar, though rarely mentioned by ethnomusicologists, has been a part of Indonesian music ever since the Portuguese introduced it to the region back in the 16th century. Over the years it has made its way into various musical idioms and been paramount in the formation of others. At times used to imitate traditional instruments such as the Kecapi (a Sundanese zither), or, conversely, to play the bizarre, Indian film music styled electric pop of modern Dangdut (see Volume 2 in this series, "Indonesian Popular Music"), guitars (or "home-made instruments resembling guitars") have had a rich history in Indonesia. Featuring primarily solo guitar and vocal accompaniment from Sumatra, Java, Sumba, Timor and Sulawesi, this cd, with its very informative 32 page (!) booklet, is yet another testament to Yampolsky's dedication to documenting the multi-faceted musical world of Indonesia, in all its riches and wonder.
With twenty volumes in the series, we can't be too sad that this is the last, as it's certain that even picking up only this (a good start) and a few of the others would keep the adventurous music fan thrilled for a long while, and perhaps hook them on a whole new realm of sounds. The other two most recent installments are Volume 18, "Sulawesi: Festivals, Funerals, And Work", ranging from sorrowful flute pieces to drum and vocal based harvest celebrations, and Volume 19, "Music of Maluku: Halmahera, Buru, Kei", a variety of musics from the Molucca Islands, including music from a Sufi-derived ritual that involved men stabbing themselves with iron awls! Like the rest of the series, both too are recommended and are also 15.98 a piece.

V/A Industry Wannabes and Radio Anomalies (Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You'd never accuse Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God of having much artistic integrity, after the hilarious if tabloidish collections of "Celebrities at Their Worst." "Industry Wannabes and Radio Anomalies" is a far more cruel piece of humor than its predecesor... one that you feel really bad for laughing at. Yet, laugh you will. The best parts of this collection are culled from tapes sent with the greatest of sincerity to record labels by chemically imbalanced individuals whose desire to be a part of the music industry far surpasses anything they may be able to offer to the industry. One such individual is Mr. Paul Super Apple - a huge Keith Richards fan who sent a tape to Atlantic Records desperately pleading with Keith to produce his songs, which have much more in common with the ironic pathos of East River Pipe than the Rolling Stones. The most bizarre tape is from J & H Productions - a fictional holding company whose spokesman rambles through an excessive amount of legalese in hopes of booking "all of the stars" for the biggest venues in Cinncinati. Follow all of this with some incredulous prank phone calls from "The Cambodian Refugee Center" to some conservative asshole in Garden Grove who is as dimwitted as he is confrontational. The prank begins as the telemarketer from the Cambodian Refugee Center insists that the person on the other end of the phone has signed a contract to adopt a Cambodian baby. Of course he hasn't and the exchange rivals some of the Great Phone Calls by Gregg Turkington. Quite amazing.
RealAudio clip: "Cambodian Refugee Calls"
RealAudio clip: "Paul Super Apple"
RealAudio clip: "J & H Productions"

V/A Infernal Proteus: A Musical Herbal (Ajna) 4cd + book 41.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A massive 4 cd collection packaged beautifully in an oversized hardcover book from Stephen O'Malley's (Sunn, Burning Witch, etc...) Anja label. Featuring a who's who of underground expreimental ambient noise-icians, each doing a song about a different flower. Features: Circle, Amber Asylum, Alio Die, Ultra, Jonathan Coleclough, Troum, Steve Roden, Kawabata Makoto, Inade, Mnortham, Aube, Chaos As Shelter, Lotus Eaters and tons more. Absolutely gorgeous, looking and sounding. And of course quite limited.

V/A Infrasonic Waves (Ochre) 2cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In 1998, Ochre began a series of 7" compilations titled "Infrasonic Waves", which was centered on post / space rock and electronica. Among the many artists contributing were Magnetophone, Our Glassie Azoth, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Avrocar, and The Freed Unit. The first disc of this 2cd set compiles all of the series. Disc two is a collection of new and unreleased recordings by Charles Atlas, A.M.P. Studio, 90° South, and many, many more.

V/A Innature (Barge) cd 11.98
Pretty much all you gotta say about this one is EXCLUSIVE TWELVE MINUTE CIRCLE TRACK!!! Okay, so at least a handful of you already leapt wildly for the click-to-buy button and have already moved on. For the rest of you, this comp, the first release on Barge Recordings, has way more to offer than just one track (although it is a killer... more on that in a minute).
This is one of those compilations that is perfectly balanced between names you know and love, and bands you've never even heard of, but the good thing is, the tracks by the lesser known bands are just as good! You've got Finnish hypnorockers Circle but you've also got Polmo Polpo, Tim Hecker, Loren Connors, MGR, Geoff Mullen, sounds like an AQ dream compilation already. So the tracks by The Fun Years, the Kallikak Family, Bird Show and Animal Hospital are just gravy. But with a comp like this, the only real way to get a feel for it is to go track by track. Needless to say, if you dig Circle, and Tim Hecker and the rest of those, odds are you're gonna dig all of this.
The Fun Years offer up a lovely soundscape of warped melodies, delicate guitar strum and all sorts of staticky record crackle. Much more dreamy and melancholy than the band name might lead you to believe. Next up is the Kallikak Family, whose track is like a glitched up, chopped and screwed version of some classic Appalachian folk tune, steel string guitar, dreamy vocals, all crunched up and stuttered into strange rhythms and droney swirls. Cool! Then it's Bird Show, a Kranky Records outfit which should give you a rough idea, with muted thumb piano melodies, like some drugged out less festive Konono, underneath strummed guitars and haunting monotone vocals, creepy and super pretty. Polmo Polpo follow up with a grainy grinding dronescape constructed from what sounds like sine waves, bird calls, fragments of guitar buzz, shortwave radio and theremin. Tim Hecker is up next and does that thing he does so well, the blown out fuzzy soundscape, melodies and rhythms indistinct and buried under swirls of gauzy hiss and shimmery whir. So goddamned perfect. One of those tracks that should be hours long. Loren Connors follows Hecker's thick swath of sound with a much more spare and somber track, simple plaintive electric guitar, shimmering reverb, lots and lots of space, delicate and elegiac. Then we have Animal Hospital, who unfurl a thick Sunn 0)))-like guitar, a churning glacial throb, over a static field of cricket chirping high end. Like a more moody melodic Skullflower, or Godpeed tackling a track from Earth 2. But way prettier. Finally we get to the Circle track, which eschews there usually propulsive, almost metal, hypnotic krautrock style groove in favor of a weird ambient soundworld, of pulsing low end drones, caveman like grunts, bizarre muttered vocals, abstract guitars, lots of tinkling percussion, thick swirls of ambient sound. It almost sounds like the Orc obsessed soundscapes of Za Frumi, or a more Quest For Fire version of their live sound on the long out of print live Mountain lp. Either ay, essential for all you Circle nuts. Hot on Circle's Neanderthal heels is Geoff Mullen, who takes his stringed implements (guitar and banjo usually) and transforms them into a grinding corrosive battery of moans and groans and wails, of buzz and glitch and crunch, a clattery, keening industrial psychedelia, that manages to be harsh and caustic, as well as strangely pretty. And finally, MGR, 1/4 of the mighty Isis, who under the name Mustard Gas And Roses, weaves dreamy, darkly doomy, meanderingly melancholy abstract post rock dronescapes, lovely and mysterious, the track here is no exception, the main difference being a strange Morricone Spaghetti Western vibe, that gives the track a cool, cinematic deserty feel. So nice.
A killer comp for sure, and a whole mess of new bands we're gonna have to track down more music from!
Note: Be warned, it is quite difficult to get the disc out of the sleeve. The inner sleeve is just a little too big. Be careful removing it, best to open it all the way and push from the inside. A bit more work, but it's WELL worth it!
MPEG Stream: TIM HECKER "Dungeoneering"
MPEG Stream: CIRCLE "No Battle, No Fire"
MPEG Stream: GEOFF MULLEN "Gold Eyes"

V/A Input 64 (Lado) cd 15.98
This is the sort of thing that Andee tells us Lesser would subject him to while driving the van when he went on tour with A Minor Forest (to the point that Andee would volunteer to drive, no matter how tired he was, just to avoid hearing it). Retro techno Commodore 64 video game music! Here's a bunch of these classic '80s eight-bit electronic toons compiled onto one handy cd. Now you can slip this into your stereo and flashback to such games as Boulder Dash, Bubble Bobble, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Turbo Outrun, Crazy Comets, The Last Ninja Wilderness (??), The Baby of Can Guru (???), and others. Oh, and it's got Allan's favorite, "Theme from Arkanoid"!! Probably sure to drive you (or at least your housemates) insane after a while, but that's never a reason not to buy a record! Definitely fun, crazy stuff -- despite the limitations of the Commodore 64 it's amazing how varied and catchy these tracks can be. And who knows, if you're like us this is remarkably similar to, and/or better than, current "electronica" music you already listen to! Comes with a 24 page booklet giving a detailed history of music programming for the C64, including biographies of the composers whose work is found on this disc and who now might get the recognition they deserve!
RealAudio clip: MARTIN GALWAY "Crazy Comets Main Theme"
RealAudio clip: CHRIS HUELSBECK "Magnetic Fields IV (As Used In Yie Ar Kung-Fu)"
RealAudio clip: ROB HUBBARD "BMX Kidz Title Theme"

V/A Input 64 (Lado) 2lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now in on LP! This is the sort of thing that Andee tells us Lesser would subject him to while driving the van when he went on tour with A Minor Forest (to the point that Andee would volunteer to drive, no matter how tired he was, just to avoid hearing it). Retro techno Commodore 64 video game music! Here's a bunch of these classic '80s eight-bit electronic toons compiled onto one handy cd. Now you can slip this into your stereo and flashback to such games as Boulder Dash, Bubble Bobble, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Turbo Outrun, Crazy Comets, The Last Ninja Wilderness (??), The Baby of Can Guru (???), and others. Oh, and it's got Allan's favorite, "Theme from Arkanoid"!! Probably sure to drive you (or at least your housemates) insane after a while, but that's never a reason not to buy a record! Definitely fun, crazy stuff -- despite the limitations of the Commodore 64 it's amazing how varied and catchy these tracks can be. And who knows, if you're like us this is remarkably similar to, and/or better than, current "electronica" music you already listen to! Comes with a 24 page booklet giving a detailed history of music programming for the C64, including biographies of the composers whose work is found on this disc and who now might get the recognition they deserve!
RealAudio clip: MARTIN GALWAY "Crazy Comets Main Theme"
RealAudio clip: CHRIS HUELSBECK "Magnetic Fields IV (As Used In Yie Ar Kung-Fu)"
RealAudio clip: ROB HUBBARD "BMX Kidz Title Theme"

V/A Inside Deep Note Vol. 2: Music Of 1970s Adult Cinema (Grammofonpladen) cd + dvd 16.98
Funny that there's such a renewed interest in cheesy seventies porn music. Especially considering that music in pornos always seemed to be some mediocre funk or soul, or sometimes super cheesy soundtracky fluff, and existed solely to fill out the sounds of a scene that would otherwise be nothing but grunts and groans and slapping skin. Not sure who decided that people looked (and sounded) better screwing to some totally innocuous R&B, but at some point it stuck, and thus porno music became a genre unto itself, immediately recognizable by its cloying melodies, boppy walking basslines, simple shuffling rhythms, silly synths and very un-funky funk. That said, these Deep Note collections have done a pretty great job of collecting the weirdest, and funniest, and thus the best the genre has to offer. None of these songs immediately evoke images of wild orgies or group sex or intimate lovefests, instead they mostly seem to evoke chase scenes, the credits of a sitcom, or background music for instructional videos. Which I suppose is what makes these so darn cool. Timeless in that totally dated way only porno music can be. But the real attraction here is the inclusion of a DVD, containing loads of the silliest scenes, weirdest dialogue, biggest... moustaches, Afros, and boobs, hairiest bods, unlikely locations and bad acting you will ever see! And prudes fear not! The editing has deftly left plenty up to the imagination, so the original X-rated clips have become a bit more R-rated!
MPEG Stream: "Theme From Sweet And Sticky"
MPEG Stream: "Crusin' Downtown"
MPEG Stream: "Can't Get Enough (Of That Hot Buttered Stuff)"

V/A Inside Deep Note: Music Of 1970's Adult Cinema (O.S.T. Grammofonpladen) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Second volume of classic porn soundtrack recordings following the successful "Deep Note" compilation we listed a year ago. Like the previous collection, this one comes interespersed with dialog from the films themselves. And while the sound quality of the music is much better (many of the previous album's tracks seemed to be dubbed straight from the VHS tapes), the variety in the music is less interesting. Given that there's not much information on the individual tracks, it's guess work as to when they were recorded. But it seems clear that these tracks come from a later period of porn films. The musicians, more accustomed to what's expected of them in the studio are less likely to experiment. Either that, or the producers just chose to pick a collection of tracks which better represent what one might expect to hear on a porn soundtrack: smooth, funky jams and a few jazzy numbers. Which is a bit of a disappointment. With this collection is included a glossy booklet with plenty of sexy film stills and liner notes entitled "Casting Room Capers of a Female X-Rated Movie Director (circa 1974)" in which a supposedly "female" porn director recounts her experiences casting her first film "Hot Rocks". Unfortunately, the producers of this disc forgot to credit her name at the end of the booklet and a search on google revealed no such film from the early 70's so we can't give you "her" name either. Any porn experts out there who might be able to enlighten us? Once again, this one's for fans of Vampyros Lesbos, Schulmaedchen Report and other sexy soundtracks.
MPEG Stream: ANONYMOUS "Slip It In"
MPEG Stream: ANONYMOUS "I Dig Your Vibe"

V/A Inside Deep Throat (Koch) cd 17.98

V/A Insights Of The Profane (Ma Kahru) cd 7.98
Awesome low price introduction to this new East Coast metal distributor / label. From primitive black metal to dark ambient, from Finland, Austria, Canada and the United States. Features: Abigor, Judas Iscariot, Baal, goatWAR, Darkness Enshroud, Ontario Blue, Myrmidon, Murderous Vision, Anapthergal, Azaghal, Subklinik, and Archaean Harmony.

V/A Insound Tour Support Collection Volume One (Insound) cd 12.98
Insound has been issuing one super-limited edition e.p. per month of indie bands on tour; this album collects one song off each release so far. With The Rapture, Letter E, Very Secretary, Ida, Har Mar Superstar, Bright Eyes, Chris Leo/Dalek/The Oktopus, Tristeza, John Vanderslice, The Faint, Vue, Camera Obscura, Kind Of Like Spitting, Soul Junk, Fuck, Son Ambulance, and The Shyness Clinic.

V/A Institute of Sonology 1959-69: Early Electronic Music (Sub Rosa) cd 15.98
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 at this Utrecht, Netherlands as a studio for electro-instrumental music and attached to the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Contains your standard academic tape and electronics fare for the period. Features pieces composed between 1959 and 1969 by composers connected with the institute. Features compositions by Dick Raaijmakers, Frits Weiland, Ton Bruynel, Konrad Boehmer, Gottfried Michael Koenig and Rainer Riehn. Includes nine pages of liner notes detailing the history of the institute and brief bios of the composers.
RealAudio clip: RAAIJMAKERS, DICK "Piano-forte"
RealAudio clip: BRUYNEL, TON "Freflexen"

V/A Instro-Hipsters A Go-Go (Psychic Circle) 5cd 62.00

V/A Interference: Supplemental Text I / Sampler I (self-released) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Interference is a nicely varied local compilation filled with text and sounds that run the mellow gamut from washy electronics to airy atmospheric folk. Nothing too raucous nor abrasive. Draws plenty of queries whenever it gets played in the store. Nice!

V/A International Sad Hits Volume 1: Altaic Language Group (20|20|20) cd 14.98
Wow, what an amazing compilation! Really, how could it be anything but awesome with a title like International Sad Hits?! We sure do love us some sad songs, the sadder the better. It's always fascinating to observe how different performers and composers around the world turn their sadness into sound. And in turn, how those sounds effect us as listeners.
This collection was assembled by Damon and Naomi -- a duo who certainly know a thing or two about sad songs. It features four artists whom D&N had heard while touring 'round the world. The duo have most certainly stumbled on some seriously lovely sad sounds, and now the rest of us can wallow in them too. Hailing from Turkey, Korea and Japan these artists echo a somber '60s folk aesthetic (a la Tim Buckley or Bob Dylan), or in fact are obscurities from the '60s themselves. Actually the Japanese contingent here (avant-folk veterans Kazuki Tomokawa and Kan Mikami, who also performs in Vajra with Keiji Haino) we at aQ and many of our customers are plenty familiar with and fond of already... Though they and the others (Turkey's Fikret Kizilok and Korea's Kim Doo Soo) may not be household names in the USA, and might only be known to a handful of adventurous music lovers, hopefully this comp will expose their amazing music to at least a few more lovers of melancholy folk!
Totally fascinating liner notes too, by Damon and Naomi as well as Allan Cummings. A gorgeous melancholy collection put together with much thought and love. So great!
MPEG Stream: FIKRET KIZILOK "Just As Long"
MPEG Stream: KIM DOO SOO "Mountain"
MPEG Stream: TOMOKAWA KAZUKI "What Is That Place"

V/A Intransitive Twenty-Three (Intransitive) 2cd 21.00
Howard Stelzer's press release for his compilation of improvisational, dronecore experimentalism entitled Intransitive Twenty-Three gushes about his love for compilations, harkening back to high school days of making mix tapes for friends. While I (Jim) certainly have a strong sense of nostalgia for the mix tapes of my youth, I do not always share Mr. Stelzer's love affair with 'the compilation' (in general though, not this one specifically). In many instances, compilations emerge as lackluster collections patchworked from tracks that didn't quite fit on an artist's latest album. There are obvious exceptions; and in every case, those exceptions are the result of the care that the compiler puts into what he or she chooses, where he or she places those selections, and what thematic constraints he or she demands from each of the artists. Accordingly, Intransitive Twenty-Three is one of those rare compilations that succeeds on all fronts.
When Stelzer began assembling this album, he asked that each of the artists record these tracks without the use of any digital devices. How they interpreted what "no digital devices" meant was up to them. Obviously, Stelzer was seeking a more tactile approach to sound making (as opposed to the potential for sterility that laptop jockies might revert to). He also hedged his bets by asking the cream of the crop including Jonathan Coleclough & Colin Potter, Francisco Lopez, Frans De Waard, Birchville Cat Motel, Giuseppe Ielasi, Atau Tanaka, nmperign, Alexandre St. Onge, the Animist Orchestra, and many others. Across the twenty two tracks, quiet passages, textural events, and field recordings make up the bulk of the content, with everything punctuated by periodic silences which divide all of the tracks and whisper that another interesting turn of haptic improvisation is around the corner. Another great album from Intransitive.
MPEG Stream: GUISEPPE IELASI "Two Chords"
MPEG Stream: OLIVIA BLOCK "Untitled Piece For Analog 4-Track Tapes"
MPEG Stream: JONATHAN COLECLOUGH & COLIN POTTER "Leaves On The Track"

V/A Inuit: Fifty-five Historical Recordings (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98
At last reissued, which is cool, 'cause we meant to write about this a few years ago but never did. This is a compilation of traditional Greenlandic music, mostly voices and drums. These songs in their multitude are shamanic or sad, heartfelt or humorous, providing an intimate sonic glimpse into a remote culture. Remote not just geographically but temporally as well, as these tracks were collected by ethnomusicologists over the past century, some taken from wax-cylinder recordings made as far back as 1905! Charm-songs, singing games, duel-songs, drum-dancing, and other unique Greenlandic folk forms are documented. At least one song here required the singer to put a stick crosswise in his mouth, to distort both his face and his voice, for play-acting purposes. Strange stuff indeed! Meanwhile, some other tracks with female vocals remind us, bizarrely enough, of indie rock sister act Cocorosie. The wealth of musical material here -- 55 tracks! -- is matched by the detailed 24 page cd booklet.
MPEG Stream: VIHELM KUITSE "Uaajeerneq-song"
MPEG Stream: JULIANE MOURITZEN "Qivttoq-song"

V/A Invaders (Kemado) cd 13.98
If you're into heavy rock, psych and metal the way we are, then just one glance at the tracklist for this new compilation should sell you on it without much trouble. Yep, there's a bunch of the heavies here, for sure. Witchcraft! Witch! Pelican! High On Fire! The Fucking Champs! The Sword! and a dozen others. And quite a few of these 18 tracks are previously unreleased, over fifty percent in fact. So not a bad dealio indeed, rockers. This focuses on current indie darlings and more obscure upandcomers as well -- including several from right here in San Francisco -- so chances are you'll hear from a favorite band or two and probably get into something new too. Though the cover art (swiped from an old Metal Massacre comp) seemingly promises old school '80s metal action, that's not really what this is about. We wouldn't even classify a lot of these bands as "metal", really. There's just as much stoner psych and post rock and prog and Melvinsy dirge punk, but it IS all on the heavy side. As far as retro inspiration goes, it's the '70s and Sabbath that get the most nods. Faves? Among the Sabbathy, we already love Sweden's Witchcraft (who contribute a live version of "Queen Of Bees") and Witch (a track from their awesome album) but were also stoked to hear Portland's Danava for the first time, so spacey and rollicking. Of course Dungen's song is great (flute!) and you can't argue with Comets On Fire's blown out psych-noise either. Or with the metallic Yessisms of Diamond Nights. We also dug the unreleased cut by SF's hard rockin' Night After Night quite a bit. Heck it's hard to pick stuff out, there's a lot of cool tracks on here, from a bunch of bands we (mostly) love or soon will...
Ok, here's the fairly drool-worthy list of bands found here (asterisks indicate that they're contributing previous unreleased material): Saviours, Danava*, Big Business*, Black Mountain*, The Sword*, Dungen, Witch, The Fucking Champs*, Torche, Pelican, High On Fire, Witchcraft*, Comets On Fire*, Diamond Nights*, Wolfmother, Night After Night*, Warhammer 48K, Parchman Farm*.
MPEG Stream: DANAVA "By The Mark"
MPEG Stream: NIGHT AFTER NIGHT "Backseat Astronaut"
MPEG Stream: BLACK MOUNTAIN "Behind The Fall"

V/A Invisible Pyramid, The (Last Visible Dog) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For the past few years now, we've been singing the praises of the Last Visible Dog catalog, which mostly consists of cd-r editions from the likes of Thuja, MCMS, Shizuka, Dead Raven Choir, and many other bands specializing in primitive electronics, droning lo-tech minimalism, or drugged-out psychedelic improvisation. Having recently made the jump to manufacturing real cds with their reissue of the Jewelled Antler project The Birdtree, Last Visible Dog now offers "The Invisible Pyramid" as a double-cd primer to their catalog, with *all exclusive* tracks from Thuja, Reynols, Charalambides, Omit, Birdtree, Fursaxa, Birchville Cat Motel, Karma (yet another Kawabata Makoto project!), Pelt, The Iditarod, Kemialliset Ystavat, SubArachnoid Space, Avarus, MCMS, Drona Parva, Karl Precoda & Mike Gangloff, Miminokoto, Pylon, Sandoz Lab Technicians, Black Forest / Black Sea, and Peter Wright. A wonderfully steady listen, "The Invisible Pyramid" fortunately doesn't suffer from the problems of most label comps, which are often filled with tracks not good enough to make it onto proper albums. Since all of these bands are SO prolific (just look to Birchville Cat Motel and the Jewelled Antler collective for evidence of the wealth of great recordings), getting great tracks couldn't have been that difficult a task for Last Visible Dog. The highlights include a massive four-part opus of space-fug from Reynols, the alienating electronic cryptography of Omit, the minimalist, sleepwalking strum of Fursaxa, and the wistful avant-folk of The Birdtree. Altogether, a wonderful compilation!
MPEG Stream: KARMA "1st.Sex"
MPEG Stream: FURSAXA "Chartreuse My Green"
MPEG Stream: THUJA "Ice Caves"

V/A Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box (Last Visible Dog) 6cd 42.00
This amazing comp has finally been re-pressed after going out of print way quicker than anyone expected. Not all that surprising really when you consider what a seriously extensive and massive slab of all things folky and noisy and free and underground this Invisible Pyramid set really is. So for those of you who missed out last time, here's another chance for ya!
Our review from the first time we listed this a few months back (note: we HAVE listened to this a bunch since then, but didn't feel like changing a perfectly good review):
We just got this in earlier this week, and well, what do you want already? A review?? It's SIX count 'em SIX CDS!!! We can't listen to all of this and review it, nor do we need to. C'mon, just buy it. You know you want one. How can you not?? There's SEVEN HOURS AND 36 MINUTES of music on here from pretty much EVERYBODY that you love from the international drone / psych / folk scene, from the US and NZ and Finland and Japan and lots of other places. Here's just a partial list: Birchville Cat Motel, Avarus, Bardo Pond, Black Forest/Black Sea, Doktor Kettu, Steven R. Smith, Fursaxa, Peter Wright, Urdog, Seht, Uton, Loren Chasse/Of, Renato Rinaldi, Miminokoto, Matt De Gennaro, Geoff Mullen, Flies Inside The Sun, Up-Tight, Es, Wolfmangler, My Cat Is An Alien, One Inch Of Shadow, Keijo, Ashtray Navigations, Ben Reynolds, and a half-a-dozen more. GEEZUS. All kinds of haunting textures, space rock excursions, and free improv splurge. Of course, we'd love to provide you a detailed, multi-paragraph review where we discuss each track in depth and mention all the highlights, describe the variety, etc. etc. But that's crazy. We wouldn't get this listed until next year if we did that. And you want this NOW don't you? So, suffice to say that this is an amazing follow-up to the excellent, out-of-print "Invisible Pyramid" 2cd comp released a few years back by LVD. This time compiler Chris Moon, inspired by the classic triple LP comp Harmony of the Spheres released by Drunken Fish in 1996, encouraged the contributors to give him more material or longer tracks, in the 12-18 minute range. Perhaps later he saw this as a foolhardy decision when he realized the comp was going to take up six whole cds. But he did it anyway, and we can thank Chris for doing this, 'cause of course, most of these artists are all about the extended track length experience. These aren't bands that write three minute pop songs (although, some artists do provide suites of shorter tracks rather than one long one). They want to let loose and DRONE. And what's the use of a drone that gets cut short after a couple minutes? Exactly. So this comp avoids that problem, and is really a bargain at the price for so much music! Includes an appropriately thick booklet with liner notes, track info, and dedications to various extinct species.
MPEG Stream: KULKIJA "Hamaran Humina"
MPEG Stream: FURSAXA "Guise Of The Eskimo Curlew"
MPEG Stream: SUNKEN "Steller's Sea Cow"
MPEG Stream: UP-TIGHT "Falling Into A Doze"

V/A Invisible Soundtracks Macro 3 (Leaf) cd 16.98
The third compilation of eclectic electronica and noirish post-rock, conceptually linked as all are productions to films that never existed (definitely taking cues from Brian Eno and Barry Adamson). Artists include Rothko, Freeform, Susuma Yokota, Rob Ellis (Spleen, PJ Harvey), 310, Bass Communion, and more!

V/A Irreplaceable Hand: A Benefit CD For Dax Pierson (Pink Bandana) cd 15.98
Back in February 2005, the eccentric, Anticon hip-hop outfit Subtle was on Interstate 80 in Iowa while touring the mid-west, when their van hit black ice and flipped over several times. The band members emerged from the wreckage bruised but unharmed, except for one: Dax Pierson had broken his neck. Since then, Dax has undergone extensive physical therapy; and while his insurance has covered his medical expenses (hooray for small businesses who give their employees health benefits!), there's plenty which his health insurance does not cover. As a result, there has been an international campaign to aid in Dax's recovery. Dax is a man who has touched many people's lives, inspiring them not only with his incredible musical talents but also with his generosity and jovial nature. For those who have lived in the Bay Area, tribute concerts for Dax have been occurring regularly throughout the spring and summer of 2005 often spear-headed by Anticon itself but also by many of the Dax's co-workers at Amoeba Records in Berkeley; and this compilation continues in these efforts. Curated by Amoeba's Andy Way and Jim Kaiser, the Irreplaceable Hand may speak more to their affinity for the oddball things that float through their experimental section, but this nonetheless speaks to the numerous people whose hearts have opened for Dax. Nurse With Wound, Matmos, Odd Nosdam, irr. app. (ext.), High Volture (aka Bruce Anderson of MX-80), Moe! Staiano, and Petit Mal are some of those who have contributed to the Irreplaceable Hand. A.C. Way opens the album with a track of nightmarish ambience with Lustmordian overtones and a persistently unnerving squiggle. High Volture quickly changes gears with a splatter of post-Derek Bailey improv. The always impressive irr. app. (ext.) offers a piece of bowed metal dissonance and drone bristling with post-surrealist aural fragments. Matmos' quirky collage of re-engineered vocal samples and Moe! Staiano's all-fists on the organ keyboard stand out as moments of comic relief against the rather dark atmosphere that this comp. As one could image, the highlight of the album is the Nurse With Wound track, as Stapleton moves from ominous drones similar to those heard on the Angry Eelectric Finger sessions and slowly introduces a pretty groovy breakbeat, perhaps an indication of how a NWW hip-hop record might sound.
Of course we can't resist mentioning that there's of picture of Dax shot by Matt Waldron of irr. app. (ext.) while the two where shopping here at Aquarius! For information about Dax and his progress, please check out www.daxpierson.com.
MPEG Stream: NURSE WITH WOUND "Moaner Whisper Drums"
MPEG Stream: IRR. APP. (EXT.) "Knit, Semble, Straighten and Mend"
MPEG Stream: ODD NOSDAM "Perfectly Pink Path"

V/A Irritant Number Nine (Irritant) cd 13.98
Another electronic music compilation featuring the usual suspects (and hometown favorites) Kid 606 and Lesser, plus Christoph de Babalon, Pisstank, Knifehandchop, and a dozen others. A loud, abrasive, and, well, *irritating* (like the label proudly proclaims) collection of willfully adolescent noisy power electronics. Fun.
RealAudio clip: KNIFEHANDCHOP "What?Subjunctification?"
RealAudio clip: NOMEX "Irritant"

V/A ISAN: Folk and Pop Music of Northeast Thailand (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another amazing document in the Sun City Girls' Sublime Frequencies int'l field recordings series of cds and DVDs. This is the third DVD in the series, this time focusing on Northeast Thailand, known to the Thai as Isan. Beautifully filmed and dizzingly colorful, we are first treated to a festival celebrating the birth of civilization in Isan, featuring lots of pomp and even a little magic, including an intense segment where live rabbits and chickens are hurled into the air and then caught and chased once again. Also there is an amazing segment that looks like it takes place in a school gym, featuring colorful traditional dancers backed up by guitar and xylophone, and later a very sultry performance in a gentleman's club (sonically quite remiscent of the Cambodian Rocks Southeast Asian take on Western pop music). Probably the most amazing segments are the solo performances on the Khaen, which is a set of pipes, two rows set together, with the performer covering and uncovering sound holes and producing some of the most amazing sounds you'll ever hear.

V/A Ischemic Folks (Schematic) cd 15.98
With a Designer's Republic deconstruction of archetectural symbols and texts as the cover art, this compilation has all of the trappings of looking like it should be on Warp. Musically, the aesthetics of the American label Schematic do not stray very far from the triumverate of the UK intelligensia of electronica: Warp, Skam, and Rephlex. 70's sci-fi / horror score ambience, post-electro breakbeats, and the non-household name factor of Phoenicia, Push Button Objects (who did just have a single for Skam), Richard Devine, Gliese, Metic, and David Kristian make this compilation quite an attractive collection.

V/A Ischemic Strokes #1 (Schematic) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First of three internal remix eps of Schematic artists by Schematic artists. While comparisons to Autechre's fractured electro crunch are inevitable, Freeform, Richie Devine, Takeshi Muto, and Phonecia add noirish horns to digital skitter, along with occasional 4/4 stomps, and odd reconstructed future jazz that could have originally found their way onto Herbie Hancock's Sextant.

V/A Isn't It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets (Verse Press) book / cd 19.95
Never been much for poetry, but this one was tough to resist. First you've got a big ol' book of poetry, most of it actually quite good, from young American poets, and all about love, as the title and subtitle suggest. Very few names were familiar, David Berman of the Silver Jews and Jeff Tweedy being the only two we immediately recognized, but then again we're not exactly plugged into the poetry scene, hip and young or otherwise. So besides a pretty cool book of poetry you've got a cd with exclusive tracks from VIC CHESNUTT, COCOROSIE, DOUNG MARTSCH (Bulit To Spill), MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC COMPANY (Songs:Ohia), NINA NASTASIA, RICHARD BUCKNER, RAY'S VAST BASEMENT, SILVER JEWS, MARK MULCAHY (Miracle Legion), JENNY TOOMEY, NANANG TATANG, NEW RADIANT STORM KING and more!!
MPEG Stream: VIC CHESNUTT "In my Way, Yes"
MPEG Stream: DOUG MARTSCH "Loving Pauper"
MPEG Stream: RICHARD BUCKNER "The Ocean Cliff Clearing (Live)"

V/A Isophlux Records 1995-2000 (Isophlux) cd 14.98
This historical document collects a handful of the sporadically released singles from the US based Isophlux label, which for better or for worse completely mirrors the tastes of the IDM on-line gossip/news list. The most curious thing about the Isophlux sound is that the latest singles have the most primitive sound, as if they are doing their best to mimic the early disjonted techno of Plaid or Global Communications, rather than the contemporary digital glitch manipulation which has been so prevalent. Still Autechrist/Aphex-ish algorithmic sequences and post-electro breaks dominate the IDM discourse for Isophlux. This compilation features tracks from Shad T. Scott, Greg Chin, L'Usine, Lexancaulpt, etc.

V/A It Came from Memphis Vol. 2 (Birdman) cd 13.98
This comp was recorded by a variety of artists from 1950 to the present. The music ranges from traditional blues to mid 60's soul pop to the rad blues rock that made bands like The Gories, The White Stripes, Demolition Doll Rods, and Black Top what they are. Some songs even sound a bit like the Cramps. If you love garage, the drunk fucked up bluesy kind you should hear this. Some of the tracks have a low fi hiss and crackle, giving it an old, rare record feel, but could bug some audiophiles. 17 tracks, varying in quality and style, some of it was cheesy but on the whole very nice. Being that blues/garage is so big nowadays, this old Memphis stuff should be heard and acknowledged.
RealAudio clip: MOLOCH "Smokestack Lightning"
RealAudio clip: SELVIDGE, SID "By Your Side"

V/A It's A Team Mint Xmas Vol. 2! (Mint) cd 13.98
It's a Mint Records family gathering of holiday sorts! This disc includes the five songs by Carolyn Mark, Duotang, David Carswell (who along with New Pornographer John Collins co-runs JC/DC Recording Studios) & Megan Barnes, the Evaporators and their offshoot Thee Snowglobe-lins originally released on the Team Mint Xmas Vol. 1 compilation that came out four years ago on 7" vinyl only. Adding to the festivities are eight more songs by country folks, diverse popsters and instrumental combos galore -- Ms Carolyn Mark (yes, she appears again!), Tennessee Twin, John Guliak (covering a Commander Cody song), the positively dreamy Young And Sexy, garage rawk party kings the Smugglers, the newwave-twangin' Buttless Chaps (covering a Johnny Cash song), the Ramblin' Ambassadors (members formerly of Huevos Rancheros), and Atomic 7 (ex-Shadowy Man From A Shadowy Planet Brian Connelly).
Plus a bunch of the Vancouver based members of the abovementioned groups got together with members of Beans, Maow, The Gay and The Organ and beat the Brits to the punch with their new rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" There's even a video clip included on the cd. But we wonder... being Canadian and all, why didn't they remake the Canadian counterpart from back then "Tears Are Not Enough"? Y'know the one with Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Burton Cummings! Note: Keeping with the spirit of the original project, $3 from each cd sold will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which was established by the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
MPEG Stream: YOUNG AND SEXY "Santa Claus Likes Rich Kids Better"
MPEG Stream: MINT AID "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

V/A IVG Vol 1 (Born Bad) cd 15.98
A friend of ours is a Canadian MC who often introduces himself with the line, "I'm quite popular in France... a country renown for its terrible taste in music." With that in mind, it's unsurprising that the treasures found on this latest compilation of French minimal/cold/new-wave and post-punk from the fine folks at Born Bad Records in gay Pareee never found much favor in their homeland the first time around, as a country immersed in accordions and Edith Piaf may not have known what to do with Warm Joe's synth-bleep-infused, art-damaged, poppity punk skronk ferinstance.
If you've been following the slow but steady trickle of French reissue compilations that we've been fawning over for the past year here at aQ HQ like So Young But So Cold, BIPPP, and Les Jeunes Gens Moderne (that one coming soon on an expanded double cd by the way!), you'll be pretty familiar with the basic formula for many of the tracks: primitive beat box drums pushed to their limits + fuzzed out guitar + synths that provide everything from squidgy bass to massively hooky lead lines to disco lasers to de rigeur blips, bloops and bleeps + vocals that manage to sing, scream, coo, croon and yowl all at once = insanely melodic, freaked out french synth-punk that hybridizes everything good about early electro, new wave, disco, punk, pop and even chansons francais. So yeah, if you liked any or all of those other comps then save yourself the trouble of reading any further and just buy this already. It rules.
Not convinced? Ok, fair enough. What if we told you that IVG not only digs as deep as if not deeper than the other comps (honestly, when a track you've never heard by Ruth is the most familiar thing on the tracklist, then you know that you're in for some serious obscurities...), but it also pushes the weirdo factor up exponentially? For starters, Dead Heat have a baby laying down vocals on their contribution, "Damnee Petite Sophie" and every single part of Crise de Nerf's over-caffeinated fuzz freak out, "Rock A La Tele," honestly sounds like it's about to explode spectacularly. Toss in some alternate reality soundtrack work by Stabat stable, not one BUT TWO soundscape-y tone poems by Theatre Commercial, and a song by Ruth that sounds frighteningly like Dr. Know from Bad Brains jamming with Sonic Youth and you know you are headed somewhere fantastic. Seriously, mes amis: up the volume, up the speed, up the fuzz, up the fucked up French punks. ALLONS Y!
MPEG Stream: RUTH "Mon Pote (Version Courte)"
MPEG Stream: SPOTCH FORCEY "Frustre"
MPEG Stream: CRISE DE NEUF "Rock A La Tele"

V/A Jack Ruby Presents: The Black Foundation (Heart Beat) cd 14.98
Though he was most known for being the producer behind Justin Hinds & The Dominos and Burning Spear, Jack Ruby was quite a prolific roots reggae producer throughout the seventies and eighties. This compilation features a sampling of some of his best, including: Burning Spear, Big Youth, The Black Disciples, The Heptones, Justin Hinds & The Domninos, and more -- plus a large amount of unrealeased tracks.

V/A Jalan Jalan: Street Atmospheres And Music In The Heart Of Java (self-released) cd-r 9.98
Having travelled to Indonesia in 2008, the sound artist Jesse Paul Miller (who also does time as a member of the Factums and has dabbled on the recordings of A Frames, Climax Golden Twins, and the Sun City Girls) collected a wealth of amazing recordings of the various street musicians throughout Java. Given his proximity to Sublime Frequencies, we can't help wonder why this didn't get released through that increasingly venerable label. No matter, Miller offers a great mix of folk musics that express the vast cultural patchwork of Javanese music beyond the principle exports of gamelan and dangdut. That said, one of the first tracks that Miller presents is from a trio of street musicians on a homemade gamelan offering a spirited rhythmic backdrop for a trained monkey who was delighting a group of squealing children. Another track features a krontjong troupe serenading passengers at the train station with a double timed acoustic guitar strum set to a rather maudlin croon. One of the highlights of the album comes from another island Lompok, which is home to an ensemble called Sakhabad, who present an urgent folk number that could easily be one of those acoustic guitar tracks that the Sun City Girls would have appropriated on 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda. The vocalist even sounds a lot like Alan Bishop crossed with Jello Biafra (this is meant in the best possible way, mind you!). Miller concludes the album with a lengthy series of Islamic calls to worship, one from the break of dawn and another from the end of the day. There's only 50 of these in circulation, and they certainly won't last long.
MPEG Stream: "Topang Monyet, Solo"
MPEG Stream: "Krontjong Troupe, Solo"
MPEG Stream: "Sakhabad, Mataram, Lombok"

V/A Jamaica Funk: Original Jamaican Funk & Soul 45's (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00
Unless you are one lucky cool cat there is a pretty good chance you don't have any of the great Jamaican 45's from 1972-1978 on this amazing comp. All here on cd for the very first time. As the title suggests, this comp focuses on the awesome infusions of soul and funk into the Jamaican sound. This movement was of course heavily influenced by the trend in the US at the time, a glorious funk and soul explosion, but make no mistake, these tracks still retain the classic reggae/dub feel that Jamaica was beginning to export to the rest of the world on great labels like Capo, Jaywax and our long lost Jamaican twin Aquarius (who also had a rad looking record store in Jamaica at the time).
Covers of folks like Earth Wind & Fire, Betty Wright and The JB's as well as original soul cookers from folks like The Heptones, Lee Pery and Cedric Brooks. As always the impeccable packaging by Soul Jazz makes this comp a total treat, with photos of the original 7" covers and super informative liner notes. Really nice!
MPEG Stream: JAH LLOYD "Lama"
MPEG Stream: AUGUSTUS PABLO "Lightning Chap Version"
MPEG Stream: THE CHOSEN FEW "I Love The Way You Love Me"

V/A Jamaica Funk: Original Jamaican Funk & Soul 45's (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00
Unless you are one lucky cool cat there is a pretty good chance you don't have any of the great Jamaican 45's from 1972-1978 on this amazing comp. All here on cd for the very first time. As the title suggests, this comp focuses on the awesome infusions of soul and funk into the Jamaican sound. This movement was of course heavily influenced by the trend in the US at the time, a glorious funk and soul explosion, but make no mistake, these tracks still retain the classic reggae/dub feel that Jamaica was beginning to export to the rest of the world on great labels like Capo, Jaywax and our long lost Jamaican twin Aquarius (who also had a rad looking record store in Jamaica at the time).
Covers of folks like Earth Wind & Fire, Betty Wright and The JB's as well as original soul cookers from folks like The Heptones, Lee Pery and Cedric Brooks. As always the impeccable packaging by Soul Jazz makes this comp a total treat, with photos of the original 7" covers and super informative liner notes. Really nice!
MPEG Stream: JAH LLOYD "The Lama"
MPEG Stream: AUGUSTUS PABLO "Lightning Chap Version"
MPEG Stream: THE CHOSEN FEW "I Love The Way You Love Me"