V/A Japanese Traditional Music: Shamisen And Songs Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai 1941 (World Arbiter) cd 14.98
Fourth volume in World Arbiter's Traditional Japanese Music Series, this one focusing on the music of the shamisen, a three stringed Japanese style lute, an instrument that was integral to the development of Japanese music in the 17th century. There's much to be learned about the history of the instrument, and the various genres it helped bring about, and about this era in Japan, a particularly turbulent time, as well as the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, an organization formed to encourage cultural exchange between Japan and other countries, as well as helping preserve Japanese culture.
The sound though is what's really fantastic here, the sound of the shamisen no doubt familiar to anyone acquainted with traditional Japanese music, the notes plucked dreamily, the sound very much like a banjo, the melodies relaxed and slowly unfurling, moody and melancholic, here accompanied by fantastic and emotional vocal performances, these old recordings wreathed in a lush layer of crackle and hum, the overall effect not that far removed from listening to old timey American music, or early rural blues, even the mood of the music tends toward the lament, mournful and dreamy, some also accompanied by percussion, or fluttering flute, a few even sung by children.
Fantastic stuff, emotional, and intense, a sound both personal and intimate, but also inherently imbued with the tensions of the time, of life in the village and beyond, fans of Sublime Frequencies and other 'hip' world music labels, would do well to explore the World Arbiter label, whose releases are rife with musical riches.
MPEG Stream: "Ogie Bushi 1"
MPEG Stream: "Ogie Bushi 2"
MPEG Stream: "Hauta"
MPEG Stream: "Komori-Uta"

V/A Java-Java: Indonesia Screaming Fuzz (Nosmoke) cd 25.00
That's right, another Indonesian garage rock comp, but c'mon, how can you resist a record subtitled Indonesia Screaming Fuzz? One that promises "garage stomp, Indo-rock and beat surf"? You can't. Or at least we can't. Some of the names here will be familiar to long time readers of the aQ list. Groups whose albums have gotten the full on reissue treatment, like girl group Dara Puspita, and legendary Indo-garage rockers Koes Bersaudara (who show up again as Koes Plus), which should give you an idea of the sounds here, and while you might already own those tracks, odds are you probably don't have many jams from The Swallows, Females, Steps, Panber's, Mona Rita & The Kingstons, the Peels, Rolling Beats, Black Magic, Los Indonesios or Banjamin S. But we can promise, after listening to this you will wish you did.
The Swallows transform the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" into their own chunk of surfy garage-y hypno rock, Rolling Beats take sweet bubblegum pop and wreath it in a haze of serious guitar fuzz, the Peels do their best Stones (which means they basically just swipe a song and sort of cover it), with some twangy distorted guitars and some sweet vocal harmonies, Los Indonesios sound a bit like an Indonesian Monks, big twangy guitars, and booming echo drenched vox, Females mix classic Indonesian sounds with fuzzy garagey grooves, and introduce some dreamy vox and handclap, and Steps do some Ventures style surf rock, but with buzzy synths and some distinctly Eastern sounding melodies, and so it goes. It's a sound we just can't get enough of, groovy, fuzzy, surfy, jangly, the sound so distinctive, and even the 'covers' reimagine the originals in new and spectacularly groovy ways.
Needless to say (but we will anyway), fans of recent Record Of The Week Those Shocking, Shaking Days, will dig this big time, and if you liked other comps like Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 and Thai? Dai! - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground, or if you loved those Dara Puspita and Koes Bersaudara reissues and wanted more, well, here you go...
MPEG Stream: DARA PUSPITA "Beratmasja"
MPEG Stream: KOES BERSAUDARA "Poor Clown"
MPEG Stream: THE SWALLOWS "La Ngomber"
MPEG Stream: ROLLING BEATS "Sweeter Than You"
MPEG Stream: PATTIE BERSAUDARA "What Am I Supposed To Do"

V/A Java-Java: Indonesia Screaming Fuzz (Nosmoke) lp 32.00
That's right, another Indonesian garage rock comp, but c'mon, how can you resist a record subtitled Indonesia Screaming Fuzz? One that promises "garage stomp, Indo-rock and beat surf"? You can't. Or at least we can't. Some of the names here will be familiar to long time readers of the aQ list. Groups whose albums have gotten the full on reissue treatment, like girl group Dara Puspita, and legendary Indo-garage rockers Koes Bersaudara (who show up again as Koes Plus), which should give you an idea of the sounds here, and while you might already own those tracks, odds are you probably don't have many jams from The Swallows, Females, Steps, Panber's, Mona Rita & The Kingstons, the Peels, Rolling Beats, Black Magic, Los Indonesios or Banjamin S. But we can promise, after listening to this you will wish you did.
The Swallows transform the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" into their own chunk of surfy garage-y hypno rock, Rolling Beats take sweet bubblegum pop and wreath it in a haze of serious guitar fuzz, the Peels do their best Stones (which means they basically just swipe a song and sort of cover it), with some twangy distorted guitars and some sweet vocal harmonies, Los Indonesios sound a bit like an Indonesian Monks, big twangy guitars, and booming echo drenched vox, Females mix classic Indonesian sounds with fuzzy garagey grooves, and introduce some dreamy vox and handclap, and Steps do some Ventures style surf rock, but with buzzy synths and some distinctly Eastern sounding melodies, and so it goes. It's a sound we just can't get enough of, groovy, fuzzy, surfy, jangly, the sound so distinctive, and even the 'covers' reimagine the originals in new and spectacularly groovy ways.
Needless to say (but we will anyway), fans of recent Record Of The Week Those Shocking, Shaking Days, will dig this big time, and if you liked other comps like Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 and Thai? Dai! - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground, or if you loved those Dara Puspita and Koes Bersaudara reissues and wanted more, well, here you go...
MPEG Stream: DARA PUSPITA "Beratmasja"
MPEG Stream: KOES BERSAUDARA "Poor Clown"
MPEG Stream: THE SWALLOWS "La Ngomber"
MPEG Stream: ROLLING BEATS "Sweeter Than You"
MPEG Stream: PATTIE BERSAUDARA "What Am I Supposed To Do"

V/A Java: Court Gamelan (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
We just got the first batch of the Indonesia / South Pacific installment of Nonesuch's Explorer reissues, which total 12 in number. Ten of the discs are from either Java or Bali and just about each one features an entirely different form of gamelan. A Gamelan, as a cursory way of introduction, is an orchestra of primarily bronze (though bamboo gamelan are also common) percussion instruments -- metallophones, gongs, gong-chimes -- and drums. Quite often a gamelan will have a specific repertoire that it is exclusively built for the performance of, and certain ceremonial gamelan are limited to the performance of a single piece. On top of this, throughout Java and Bali there is an ever changing world of both village and court traditions which continue to defy definitions. These discs just in from Bali and Central & Western Java just scratch the surface of gamelan throughout Indonesia, but they're a fine introduction anyway.
The tracks on this disc were all recorded at the Paku Alaman palace in Yogyakarta under the direction of K.R.T. Wasitodipuro, who is the single most important musician/composer in Java and a veritable cultural treasure. The first thing those already familiar with Balinese gamelan will notice different in Javanese court gamelan is that it is much, for lack of a better word, mellower. Unlike the kinetic, explosive Gong Kebyar of Bali, Javanese court gamelan tends to move along at a much slower, even stately, pace. It is, in fact, at its slowest that a pieces opens up to its most complex and beautiful. The stratified layers of melodies can be absolutely stunning; each instrument, while performing its own unique part, is also completely subservient to the whole.
The album, originally released as "Javanese Court Gamelan", was recorded in 1971 by Robert Brown. An added aesthetic importance to central Javanese gamelan is the need for the sound from the various instruments to blend together in the performance space. The gamelan is located in a building called a Pendopo. The structure is basically a pyramid shaped vaulted ceiling with no walls, the architecture of which causes the sounds to be reflected back upon the gamelan like a parabolic dish. On this recording, which was recorded in the Pendopo at Paku Alaman, you can not only hear the blending of the instruments as they're meant to be heard, but also the sounds of birds chirping in the courtyard just outside. Nice.
RealAudio clip: JAVA: COURT GAMELAN "Gendhing Tedjanata"
RealAudio clip: JAVA: COURT GAMELAN "Gendhing Mandulpati"

V/A Java: Court Gamelan, Volume II (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
Originally released in 1977, the second volume of the (hopefully eventual) tetrad of Javanese Court Gamelan features music from the lesser of the two courts at Surakarta: the Mangkunegaran. Which is not to say that the court, or its musicians and dancers, lacked prestige. Of the two gamelan heard on this recording, one is not only considered to be the most beautiful in all of Java, but resides in the largest pendopo (pavilion in which gamelan is performed) on the island. While all gamelan are treated with the respect given a prince, the older of the two gamelan here Kyai Kanyut Mesem ("Sir Swept Away by a Smile") is exceptionally sacred (so sacred is one instrument that it is never even played). The music here is the height of refined Javanese court gamelan and the two long pieces which make up the meat of this disc are each stunning in their own ways. The 21 minute Gending Bonang Babar Layar is a piece often played to welcome important guests and on that is intended to set a "mood of distinguished silence" as much as "power and authority". Played entirely with what are generally the louder instruments and completely devoid of vocals, Babar Layar exudes an eerie austerity that is breath taking. The almost evil sounding main melody is slowly condensed and increases steadily in volume until the final section of the piece in which the pounding, heavy bronze melody instruments are brought into an elliptical, concentrated -- for lack of a better word -- summarization of what had been so delicately building up. For me (Byram), it's one of those songs that never fails to give me goose bumps. Unfortunately, space limitations prevent us from sampling enough to really do justice to the intensity of the suite as it progressively builds over its twenty minute duration. The other showcase on this disc is "Gending Ela-Ela Kalibeber" which takes the opposite approach sonically, with the softer instruments and vocals taking center stage and rendering the main melody almost inaudible. Also included are two shorter pieces, "Ketawang Puspawarna" and "Ayak-ayakan Kaloran". Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Gending Babar Layar [excerpt 1]"
MPEG Stream: "Gending Babar Layar [excerpt 2]"
MPEG Stream: "Gending Ela-ela Kalibeber"

V/A Java: Court Gamelan, Volume III (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
Like the first "Court Gamelan" disc, his collection of recordings comes from Yogyakarta, this time from the Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, the major court in Yogya. Originally the editor of the Court Gamelan series, Robert E. Brown, intended for their to be four albums altogether, with each disc representing one of the two courts of Yogya and and of Solo, but the fourth disc has yet to be released. This recording represents the Yogya style in its most "conservative" form as the greater court experienced much less influence from the Solonese style that the court at Paku Alaman (volume 1) did. The most striking difference between this and the previous is the very loud style of playing that is typical of classic Yogya gamelan. The tracks featured hear are divided into the pieces which feature the robust playing of the louder instruments -- large metallophones (bonang, demung and saron) -- and those that showcase the softer instruments -- rebab (two stringed fiddle), suling (flute), male and female singers, gender (metallophone with small, flat keys suspended with strings over resonators and played with padded mallets) and celampung (plucked zither). Basically the two forms are mutually exclusive given that the sheer volume of the combined loud instruments effectively drowns out any quieter instruments from being heard. The contrasting transitions between loud and soft sections can be stunning, as in "Gendhing Lung Gadhung". The piece begins with a raucous procession of loud instruments played so hard you can hear the keys buzzing as they vibrate against the pins that bind them to their wooden casings. Then, suddenly the loud instruments part like storm clouds to reveal the softer instruments and vocalists. The haunting melody sung by the vocal chorus of men and women is made eerier by the varying interpretations of their parts -- so that vocal entries and cadences are staggered. This disc presents a variety of traditional and ceremonial pieces associated specifically to this court and is appropriately book ended by a piece (Gendhing Prabu Mataram) which would accompany the sultan's entrance and one (Gendhing Tedhak Saking) for his departure. Also included a wonderful 26 minute suite (itself a reduction of a two hour event) for dance, Golek Lambangsari and two shorter pieces: "Gendhing Sumyar" and "Gendhing Rangu-rangu".
RealAudio clip: GAMELAN OF KRATON YOGYAKARTA "Gendhing Sumyar"
RealAudio clip: GAMELAN OF KRATON YOGYAKARTA "Gendhing Rangu-rangu"

V/A Java: The Jasmine Isle: Gamelan Music (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
Originally released in 1969, "The Jasmine Isle" is a collection of several short pieces for gamelan interspersed with one likewise brief piece of solo gender and two of solo gambang. Not the best in the series, this one is still interesting for its inclusion of the solo recordings from both the gender and gambang, which -- despite their being two of the more subtle and refined components within the gamelan are pretty much masked by the din of the other instruments on the other recordings of Javanese gamelan in this series. The Javanese gender, with its thin bronze keys suspended by strings over metal resonators and played with padded mallets, has a strikingly different sound than the Balinese variant. The attack of the sounding notes is so soft and the sustain so long that the instrument sounds almost like an early Italian pipe organ. Like the Balinese gender, the technique is very difficult and requires simultaneous playing and damping of the keys with the pads of both hands to reduce the overlapping of tones. The gambang is a wooden instrument much like a xylophone or marimba which is also played with a pair of padded mallets. On this recording, the two gambang pieces are solo variants of two pieces also played by the entire gamelan of this disc. The pieces for gamelan here are a mix of Sundanese (West Java), Solonese (Surakarta) and Yogyanese styles.
RealAudio clip: ANONYMOUS "Pangkur (solo gender)"
RealAudio clip: ANONYMOUS "Bendrong"
RealAudio clip: ANONYMOUS "Bendrong (solo gambang)"

V/A Jazzactuel (Charly / BYG / Actuel) 3cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK! We thought these Charly BYG/Actuel reissue cds were gone forever, but lo! here they are again. Dunno what's up, but get 'em while you can. This is one of the essentials in the series, a triple disc box set sampler which includes tracks from the other four BYG/Actuel reissues listed here (Sun Ra, Shepp, Don Cherry, and the Art Ensemble) as well as rare material by Sonny Sharrock, Musica Elettronica Viva, Gong (!), Alan Silva, Anthony Braxton, Burton Greene, Frank Wright, Andrew Cyrille, Dewey Redman, Steve Lacy, and more. Genuine lost free/psych jazz genius circa '69-'71, compiled & with notes by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley.

V/A Jazzactuel (Get Back) 6lp 46.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A vinyl version of that amazing 3 cd compilation we listed a while back. While there is some debate as to why this even exists (and more specifically why resources are being put toward an expensive vinyl version of this compilation when they should really be releasing all of these records individually) it's still a pretty awesome collection of still impossible to get free and avant jazz.
Here's what we said about the cd version:
"We thought these Charly BYG/Actuel reissue cds were gone forever, but lo! here they are again. Dunno what's up, but get 'em while you can. This is one of the essentials in the series, a sampler which includes tracks from the other four BYG/Actuel reissues we also listed: Sun Ra, Shepp, Don Cherry, and the Art Ensemble, as well as rare material by Sonny Sharrock, Musica Elettronica Viva, Gong (!), Alan Silva, Anthony Braxton, Burton Greene, Frank Wright, Andrew Cyrille, Dewey Redman, Steve Lacy, and more. Genuine lost free/psych jazz genius circa '69-'71, compiled & with notes by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley."
Really nice packaging. Gorgeous heavy sleeves and thick 180 gram virgin vinyl!

V/A Jeff Recordings (Crippled) cd 17.98
Alright, you might be wondering who the heck is Jeff? Jeff Mangum? No. AQ's own Jeff Yarbrough? Nope. The man in question is German sound engineer Gerhard Nieckau. Yes, that's right his proper name isn't even Jeff. It's his nickname. Ah, such confusion!
Anyways, Nieckau is noted as being the resolutely no-frills engineer behind Bossa 70 - capturing their jazz and bossanova sounds all raw and vibrant - but his musical pursuits extended far beyond that. He travelled extensively throughout Africa, Peru and Trinidad exploring and recording the regions' music. This compilation, subtitled 'Rough Beats From Peru & Trinidad 1972 - 1976', features superb eclectic recordings drawn from his personal collection from those excursions. Funk, jazz, calypso, afrobeat? It's all here and then some! Immensely powerful, inspiring music, and highly danceable too. Kudos once again to Crippled Disc for continuing their crusade to unearth the wondrously diverse sounds from around the globe.
RealAudio clip: ANDRE TANKER "Carapachaima"
RealAudio clip: GAY FLAMINGOES STEELBAND "Black Man's Cry"

V/A Jim Dickson Field Recordings : Delta Experimental Project vol. 3 (Birdman) cd 14.98
Here's a refreshing collection of blues recordings produced by legendary keyboardist Jim Dickinson. It often seems that the best recordings of the blues and country come to us from crusty, decaying 78's lovingly cared for by obsessive collectors. Partly it's because the performers in the infancy of these genres had a certain amount of genuine inspiration, in contrast to the 1000th time someone plays the same blues progression with the now time worn cliche about being wronged by one's significant other. Another part of the equation is the circumstance under which the recordings were made. What someone plays, in one take, in their home or at their local bar than when surrounded by engineers and studio musicians and rehearsing a take 20 times before committing it to tape. Enter the Delta Experimental Project. For the first time, in what seems ages, a collection of recordings of great blues musicians recorded on the fly with -- in most cases -- minimal recording equipment and no second chances. Performers stop in mid refrain to talk about something that crossed their minds, or break out laughing (in earnest). In many tracks you can hear kids playing in the background, traffic rumbling and sundry other ambient noises usually aeseptically removed from studio recordings. Twelve great tracks ranging from barrel-house piano, gospel, fife and drum and more from the likes of Sleepy John Estes, Otha Turner, Mose Vinson, Johnnny Woods, Alec Teal & Butter Biscuit.
MPEG Stream: ESTES, SLEEPY JOHN "Broke And Hungry"
MPEG Stream: VINSON, MOSE "Barrel House Blues / Cryin' Won't Make Me Stay"

V/A Joe Meek's Groups - Crawdaddy Simone (RPM) cd 16.98
Besides being a totally astounding 'out-there' music maker himself, Joe Meek was also quite a whip-smart producer back in the '60s. This compilation gathers together the proof in the toe-tappin', finger-snappin' pudding. It dusts off twenty peppy, poppy cuts from long-gone (but now happily not forgotten) combos such as The Syndicats (check out their terrific organ-laden "What To Do"), The Puppets (there's a mean snarky boy vocal performance on Leiber & Stoller's "Poison Ivy"), Tony Dangerfield & The Thrills, The Blue Rondos and Bobby Rio & The Revelles. Includes lengthy liner notes and lots of photos of the bands' members and memorabilia from back in the day.
MPEG Stream: SYNDICATS, THE "What To Do"
MPEG Stream: PUPPETS, THE "Poison Ivy"

V/A John Barleycorn Reborn: Dark Britannica (Cold Spring) 2cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's really nothing 'freak folky' going on in this British folk compilation. The music here is all pretty traditional. And thus pretty fantastic. Think Incredible String Band, Steeleye Span, Comus, Richard Thompson (and Fairport Convention), Trees, C.O.B., Shirley Collins, or the Wickerman Soundtrack (there's actually a song called 'Wicker Man' by The Story). As much as we love us some freak folk, none of that stuff would exist it it weren't for the above mentioned bands.
And the groups included on this comp, whose focus here is the fairly abstract 'dark folk', do a pretty amazing job of sifting through the various strains of classic British folk, and offering up their own subtle interpretations. And again, nothing shocking or even that experimental, just a new generation of musicians, paying tribute to the music that they grew up on, and that informed the music they make now. A handful of AQ faves are present, the Story, Far Black Furlong, Alphane Moon, Sharron Kraus, Martyn Bates, as are the A Lords, the Kitchen Cynics, Sol Invictus, and tons and tons of bands we had never heard of: The Horses Of The Gods, The Triple Tree, Pumajaw, English Heretic, The Anvil, Electronic Voice Phenomenon, The Purple Minds Of Lazeron, Quickthorn, Sand Snowman, Stormcrow, While Angels Watch, Xenis Emputae Traveling Band, Drohne and we could go on and on.
Two discs of glorious, classic sounding 'dark folk.' From lilting shanties, to tense ominous dirges, to brooding apocalyptic folk, to buzzing ragas, to dreamy lullabyes, fluttering flutes, fiddles and bongos, steel string guitars and an incredible array of vocal styles, male and female, raspy and weathered, wispy and dreamlike, mournful and melancholy, soft and breathy, dark doleful melodies, rich harmonies, weaving a gorgeous landscape of a lost sonic Britannica.
Amazing liner notes too, text on the source of the title, an introduction and explanation to the compilation, various short pieces on folk music and the history of folk music from a handful of the artists on the comp, concerning their songs, their groups and their musical journeys, lyrics, reproductions of old woodcuts and more. So fantastic. And absolutely essential listening for fans of freak folk, dark folk and seventies British folkmusic.
MPEG Stream: THE STORY "The Wicker Man"
MPEG Stream: SOL INVICTUS "To Kill All Kings"
MPEG Stream: ANVIL "John Barleycorn Must Die"
MPEG Stream: MARTYN BATES "The Resurrection Apprentice"

V/A John Peel And Sheila: The Pig's Big 78s - Beginner's Guide (Trikont) cd 16.98
Did you know that late, great BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel's wife Sheila was also known as "The Pig"? We didn't know that... presumably it was an affectionate term of endearment, or described her appetite for old timey 78 rpm records, of which she and Peel had a large collection. This disc compiles a selection of John and Shelia's favorites in a "Beginner's Guide", featuring all sorts of fun, scratchy old treasures, 23 cuts in all, from piano rags to delta blues to music hall numbers, just anything interesting that Peel and The Pig discovered on vintage 78s. Amusing and charming to say the least!
There's old fashioned novelty bits like Albert Whelan's "My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" and Ronnie Ronalde's "The Yodelling Whistler"... Then there's velvety vocal harmony, jumpin' jazz, dry comedy, and early rock n' roll too. And even a song in Cantonese by artists unknown. And lots more besides -- it's a mix as eclectic as it is interesting. But it all kinda goes together in some crazy way, a nice tribute to the shared taste in music (and humor) of The Pig and her famous husband. Such a shame he's no longer with us, and her. She provides extensive liner notes, by the way. We love how we can count on Trikont for cool stuff like this!
MPEG Stream: PEANUTS WILSON "Cast Iron Arm"
MPEG Stream: THE THREE GINX "On A Steamer Coming Over"
MPEG Stream: FREDDIE DOSH "Impressions Part 1 & 2"

V/A Johnny Cash : Roots & Branches (Hip-O) cd 15.98
One of the things that made Johnny Cash such an amazing musician was his rich knowledge, appreciation and endless curiosity about music. This compilation traces his roots and in many ways it kind of feels like a mix tape Johnny would have made you if you were one of his friends. There is a common thread of strong story telling that Cash was always attracted to. Simplicity with soul. This collection brings together country legends like Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb. The sounds of a young and so totally charismatic Roy Orbison, the powerful gospel singing of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, his would-be sister-in-law Anita Carter, Kris Kristofferson (who was a janitor at Columbia's Nashville studio's when he first met Johnny). The liner notes do a nice job of explaining the connection and influence of each track on Cash and his music. A really solid collection of old time songs that still sound totally fresh and raw.
MPEG Stream: SISTER ROSETTA THARPE "There Are Strange Things Happenin' Every Day"
MPEG Stream: ROY ORBISON "You're My Baby"
MPEG Stream: ANITA CARTER "Love's Ring Of Fire"

V/A Join The Queercorps (Queercorps) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The debut release from Matt Wobensmith's (ex-Outpunk) new label! Digital Hardcore-style dancepunk featuring unlikely teamups: Christoph de Babalon and Team Dresch, Jack Acid & Chris Polaris, Kento Oiwa (of Olympia's ICU) with Behead the Prophet, and 680x0 with the Mukilteo Fairies. We are happy to see the punk and extreme e-music worlds teaming up, and to think it was yesterday that the "Maximum R&R" guys were buying the Atari Teenage Riot single from us... Queercorps is leading the way.

V/A Joint Ventures (NINEBar) cd 17.98
Compilation from trustworthy labels featuring Cujo, Amon Tobin (on no less than 6 tracks), Sureshot, Funki Porcini...

V/A Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller (Trojan) cd 14.98
Jonny Greenwood has always been our favorite Radiohead member. Sure maybe Thom Yorke is a genius, but Greenwood is the unsung hero, his guitars and sound manipulations transforming Radiohead from run of the mill alternative rock band to one of the more innovative and captivating bands of the last decade. His solo score to the film Bodysong a few years ago showed the wide range of his music making abilities as well and was one of the first hints at his love of reggae with its subtle moments of glitched out dub electronics. Somehow, someway Trojan Records got in touch and decided to let him crack their vaults and put together a collection of his favorite tracks from their deep well of reggae gems. We gotta say he did some mighty fine selecting as this ranks as one of the nicer vintage reggae/dub collections we've had in the store in quite a while. With everyone from Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Delroy Wilson, Marcia Griffiths, The Heptones, Scotty, Scientist, and more...
This does a great job at scratching the surface of how much amazing music came out of Jamaica during the fertile era of the 70's. While it might just be clever marketing to put his name on this as all he did was pick out the songs, if it turns on some Radiohead devotees to the richness of reggae's finest then we have no problem with that at all.
MPEG Stream: MARCIA AITKEN "I'm Still In Love"
MPEG Stream: SCOTTY "Clean Race"
MPEG Stream: SCIENTIST & JAMMY & THE ROOTS RADICS "Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker"

V/A Ju-Jikan: Ten Hours Of Sound From Japan (23five) 2cd 21.00
Last year, local educational sound-arts organization 23five and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art co-presented a ten hour listening event/installation documenting the past 50 years of Japanese experimental music entitled "Ju-Jikan" (which translates as '10 hours' in Japanese). Curators Atau Tanaka, Ryoji Ikeda, and Shunichiro Okada described it not as a comprehensive taxonomy of Japanese experimentation, but simply sought "to trace the complex web of sonic style that constitutes the current Japenese musical landscape." Tanaka, who wrote the liner notes for the program, further explained that the curatorial choices were also guided by how the West perceives Japan and how Japan considers its own representation towards the West.
This double cd compiles elements selected from that ten hour listening event at SFMOMA (the full ten hours would have required mp3 encoding and much in the way of complicated licensing arrangements!), focusing upon the more contemporary elements of experimental Japanese music. These sounds draw their connections through the recombinant power of electronic synthesis and the juxtaposition of disparate styles; which together have become a standard if elusively-defined musical vocabulary for Japanese music. "Ju-Jikan" features physically challenging noise from Merzbow, Masonna, Hanatarash (Eye from the Boredoms), Pain Jerk, and Tetsuo Furudate; 'anti-academic' reactionary modes of Yasunao Tone and Yuji Takahashi; purist minimalism of tonal austerity from Ryoji Ikeda, Otomo Yoshihide, and Nerve Net Noise; and delicate electrodrone work from Kazuo Uehara, Tamami Tono, and Kozo Inada. A really important collection indeed. We're told some tracks are previously released, some not, but it's hard to tell which -- chances are you'd have to be a really geeked-out collector to have many of these already, and even in that case you'd still want this for the rest. The cd booklet gives Tanaka's detailed notes on all styles covered, a graphic timeline of Japanese experimental sound genres, and a program for the full ten-hour event so you can see what you missed.
RealAudio clip: YASUNAO TONE "Trio For A Flute Player"
RealAudio clip: KOZO INADA "d[0]"
RealAudio clip: OTOMO YOSHIHIDE "Composition For Two Guitars"
RealAudio clip: HANATARASH "77up"
RealAudio clip: TETSUO FURUDATE "Der Geist"

V/A Juche (DPRK / KimIlSung) cd 14.98
Another amazing and mysterious and confusional release from the alwasy awesome Tesco distribution, source of so many things dark and militaristic and folky and blackened and indsutrial, and noisy and fucking amazing, definitely one of the outifts keeping modern industrial and post industrial music alive and kicking. They've brought us Der Blutharsch, Death In June, Anenzephalia, and now JUCHE. A compilation of modern industrial artists, weighing in on North Korea (!). What is Juche? Well Wikipedia describes it like this:
"The Juche Idea is the official state ideology and state-sponsored religion of North Korea and the political system based on it. The doctrine is a component part of Kimilsungism, the North Korean term for Kim Il-sung's family regime. The core principle of the Juche ideology since the 1970s has been that "man is the master of everything and decides everything". Juche literally means "main body" or "subject"; it has also been translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" and the "spirit of self-reliance"."
Removed from the context of actual, totalitarian politics, Juche sounds kinda cool. Intense, brutal, simple. And certainly like some sort of industrial music manifesto. So it makes sense that these bands would have something to say about it. What exactly is up to you to decipher. From the music and the extensive art and text in the accompanying booklet. But for now we'll concern ourselves with the musicÉ
We were mostly excited by a brand new unreleased track from aQ faves Anenzephalia, whose past records were rife with the sort of intense, bleak, grim, blackened dronescapes we can never get enough of. The track here is still grim and dark, but more rhythmic, a crackling lo-fi glitchscape, a skeletal rhythm crafted from squelches and pops spread out over the drift below, a garbled alien melody, equal parts sine-wave and damaged sonar ping, eventually joined by a wavery insect like blackbuzz, and some distorted disembodied vocals, a looped snippet from a speech of some sort, the whole track subtly harrowing, and weirdly hypnotic.
The Turbund Sturmwerk track is super creepy as well, a whispery shimmer of ambience, a strange looped vocal whir in the background, sweeping swell of distant distortion, soft smears of hiss, all beneath an urgent voice, an emotional speech of some sort, the song shifting gears part way through and morphing into a swirling dirge, of crumbling downtuned chords, throbbing low end buzz and extremely panned bursts of fuzz and hiss. The Grey Wolves offer up another chunk of grinding ambient creep, a rough, gritty textured wash of processed synths and strange looped distortion, melodies rendered in shards of feedback and fractured effects, a voice buried in the mix, urgent and ominous, peppered with bits of Bush, and some tangled blurred rhythms.
Operation Cleansweep weigh in with a sinister stretch of drawn out tones, layered caustic rumbles, whirring machinelike drones, mysterious percussive thumps and creaks, all smeared into a dense throbbing buzz. The strangest track is probably Militia's, beginning with some spoken word, that slips into singing, in the background a slow building looped chunk of glimmering ambience. Soon an hypnotic looped synth melody swoops in, pulled from some lost Phillip Glass piece, accompanied by junkyard drums, all very mesmerizing and repetitive, a bit like gamelan, or some Steve Reich piece. A haunting slab of alien industrial world music.
The rest of the tracks are just as weird and cool, dark and drone-y, Con-Dom, Genocide Organ, Ex-Order. In fact, much of this comp seems to fall more in line with experimental drone music, than traditional 'industrial' music, some of it reminding us of mellower more blissed out Prurient, with processed vocals, all manner of rumbling, pulsing low end, plenty of buzz and blurred murk, all of it dark and mysterious and fucking awesome.
Packaged in an oversized A5 red textured cardstock booklet, the text and symbols on the cover letter pressed in embossed metallic gold, inside a full color booklet, with lyrics, images, photos, each band with their own page. And as it says on the back cover "Limited Edition of 15,000,000 copies", so better get yours nowÉ
MPEG Stream: TURBUND STURMWERK "Reunification"
MPEG Stream: MILITIA "A Kite Of Glass In A Blood Red Sky"
MPEG Stream: ANENZEPHALIA "Work For NK"

V/A Jukebox Buddha (Staubgold) cd 15.98
FM3's Buddha Machine should need no introduction to the avid customers of Aquarius Records; but for the sake of those who are not in the know, a Buddha Machine is a small handheld device which broadcasts a handful of chanting loops typically to be used for Buddhist meditation in various parts of China and South East Asia. When the Chinese electronica duo FM3 seized on the idea of fusing their own dreamy ambient loops within the framework of a Buddha Machine, it proved to be a huge success... well at least through a shop like Aquarius. FM3's Buddha Machine is a perfectly encapsulated device for these delicate and suitably plastic tones. So perfect is the FM3 Buddha Machine that the necessity for a remix album is highly suspect. Yet, Staubgold has decided to commission 15 tracks from across the gamut of adventurous music requesting that the Buddha Machine be used in someway shape or form. Even though such abrasive iconoclasts as Blixa Bargeld and SUNNO))) are present on the Jukebox Buddha, the listening experience is a mostly lighthearted affair of pixel-smeared tone float and daydream haziness. Es, Sun City Girls, Thomas Felhmann, Robert Henke, Mapstation, Gudrun Gut, Alog, Minit, Wang Fan, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Adrian Sherwood / Doug Wimbish, and Aki Onda also contribute to the mix. Really cool.
MPEG Stream: ES "3 Tieta Valojen Taa"
MPEG Stream: SUNN O))) "BP//Simple"

V/A Jump Back : A Tribute To James Brown (Le Smoke Disques) cd 14.98

V/A Just About Now (V2_Archief) cd 16.98
"Tracks from the sound exhibition, organized by Roel Meelkop..." Contributions from Franz de Waard, Carsten Nicolai, Ryoji Ikeda, Peter Duimelinks, Francisco Lopez and Meelkop himself. Ultraminimal electronic music.

V/A Kalimantan Strings (Music of Indonesia 13) (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 16.98

V/A Karl Rove: Courage And Concequence (Seismic.Wave) lp 14.98

V/A Keats Rides A Harley (Warning Label) cd 14.98
Not sure where we were when this came out originally. Actually, the oldest of us here were around 11 years old, so we were still a few years away from discovering the joys of punk rock. But holy shit this comp is amazing. Originally released in 1981 on the Urinals' label, Keats Rides A Harley was a brief glimpse into the burgeoing Southern California (and Arizona) punk scene, featuring a handful of soon to be huge punk rock legends, many still sort of feeling out their sounds, all of them super raw and intense. Features the original comp, remastered, with Gun Club, the Leaving Trains, Meat Puppets, Earwigs, 100 Flowers, Human Hands, Tunneltones, S Squad and Toxic Shock. This cd reissue includes nine bonus tracks, an extra song from each of the above bands, as well as the way rare 5 track Happy Squid label sampler, featuring tracks from the Urinals, Danny And The Doorknobs, Arrow Book Club, Vidiots and Phil Bedel. Also includes super detailed liner notes, and an extensive history of each group.
MPEG Stream: GUN CLUB "Devil In The Woods"
MPEG Stream: MEAT PUPPETS "H-Elenore"
MPEG Stream: THE LEAVING TRAINS "Virginia City"
MPEG Stream: URINALS "U"

V/A Keep Left: A Benefit For David Barsamian, Vol. 1 (Ace Fu) cd 14.98
Benefit compilation for Alternative Radio, an independent, non-profit production service which provides weekly one-hour public affairs programs for radio stations around the globe. Featuring an all-star cast of artists, including Negativland, Kronos Quartet, Olivia Tremor Control, Windy & Carl, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Friends of Dean Martinez, Pere Ubu, Built to Spill, and more. Also includes liner notes by Howard Zinn.

V/A Kekkonen - Anarchy In The UKK (267 Lattajjaa) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A while back we reviewed an amazing collection of politically charged sound art from Finnish artist/musician J.O. Mallander. An amazing selection of Phillip Jeck style, turntable manipulations and weird warbly sonic cut-ups. Two of the most effective and creepy pieces in that collection were "1962" and "1968" which featured the reading of the votes in the very controversial Finnish presidential election, won by Urho Kalevo Kekkonen, who would remain president for 25 years! The tracks themselves were a creepy montone reading of "Kekkonen.....Kekkonen....Kekkonen....Kekkonen.....Kekkonen...." on and on and on, until it becomes some strange word-drone. So this here comp features a bunch of Finnish underground musicians and artists doing their own versions / remixes of that infamous "Kekkonen" recording. We don't really recognize ANY of the bands (except Robert Horton, who is NOT Finnish), but we're led to believe it's a who's who of AQ faves under different names. What does it sound like? Somehow, each track retains the spirit, if not the sound of the original, some, take the repeated "Kekkonen" and chop it up rearranging it into drone-y smears, hiccupping rhtyhms or hissy fuzzy soundscapes. Or offer there own strange spoken versons of the name Kekkonen. Others whip out wild punk rock jams with shouted 'Kekkonen's over the top. Still others craft weird vocal based techno, haunting ambient soundscapes, with the Kekkonen stretched into wooshy whirring warbles, bizarre robot funk, far out vocal collages, murky abstract drones. Amazing what can be done with just a Kekkonen and some delay pedals. Really cool stuff. Not just sonically either. It's pretty cool to observe a whole other generation embracing and exploring their nation's history, and in their own way making just as stron a statement as Mallander did over 30 years ago.
Limited to 120 copies, we only got a handful (pretty sure they are already out of print) so as always act fast. Each one in an individually painted sleeve!
MPEG Stream: LORSSON "19??"
MPEG Stream: ! AND THE HYSTERIAANS "Kekkone"
MPEG Stream: MIXER "Kekkonen"
MPEG Stream: MUSTI LAITON "Kekkone"

V/A Kentucky Mountain Music (Yazoo) 7cd boxset 79.00
Yazoo finally gets around to releasing boxsets with this lulu of a collection of classic tracks from Kentucky. This is pretty much as definitive as it gets, totaling 167 recordings from the 1920's and 30's and all from the humble bluegrass state. Banjo picking, fiddle playing, church choruses and more. This is essentially the two cd "Mountain Music of Kentucky" set on Smithsonian Folkways blown up to epic proportions. Includes a 32 page booklet with historical photos.

V/A Kenya Dry: Before Benga 1 (Original Music) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The music on this CD was originally combined with "The Nairobi Sound", but with the addition of more material, it became neccessary to split the recordings into the acoustic CD and the electric CD. Though the recordings are all acoustic, that is about all that they have in common. There are quite a few pieces that straddle the lobe of 'modern' and 'traditional' songs, including the beautifully eerie "Chemirocha" - a tribute to Jimmy Rodgers.

V/A Kerestina (Original Music) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Intensely quirky, deceptively simple 1950's acoustic guitar songs from Southern Mozambique. An eerie, raw sound which is linked to South African Shangaan music.

V/A Kicks (Brudenell Social Club) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
WE HAVE VERY FEW OF THESE (SIX TO BE EXACT) AND WE CAN'T GET MORE SO ACT FAST.
This is a great compilation of modern electronica/experimental/free rock/ambient/bliss-out weirdness that was only available for 2 days at the Brudnell Social Club in Leeds UK to coincide with two days of music. Features AQ faves Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra and Birchville Cat Motel as well as lesser known but equally appealing noisemakers Toss, Benjamin Franklin and Kohn.
MPEG Stream: SUNROOF! "Spring Comes Early To The Commune"
MPEG Stream: VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA "I Want My Kicks"

V/A Kids (London/Polygram) cd 14.98
Soundtrack to the Larry Clark film. Includes some of the very best work Lou Barlow and John Davis have ever done, we say! Very rhythmic, groove-oriented, lots of Silver Apples and Satie samples. New songs from Folk Implosion (Lou and John), Deluxx Folk Imposion (Lou, John, plus Bob Fay and the guitarist from Cheater Slicks), and hip hop outfit Lo-Down. Previously released songs from Daniel Johnston and Slint. I am happy to report that as of 9/95, the major label appeared to be treating the Deluxx Folk Implosion well, going so far as to supply them with unlimited room service at that year's CMJ show. The lobster chili was both decadent and delicious. Thank you, corporate giant.

V/A Kill Rock Stars Video Fanzine III (Kill Rock Stars) dvd 13.98
The Kill Rock Stars and 5RC labels bring you the third installment (first in five years) of their video fanzine, now in the DVD format. That means there's a heckuva lotta stuff on here. You get music videos from the likes of Amps For Christ (which we really liked), the Decemberists, Men's Recovery Project (who also provide a "making of" documentary short that's even more entertaining and weird than their video), Stereo Total, Deerhoof, Gravy Train!!!, Kleenex/LiLiPUT, Mecca Normal, Xiu Xiu, Hella (a cute and clever puppet animation), and others. Then there's live clips from Born Against (hardcore!), The Gossip, Quix*o*tic, Sleater-Kinney, a very enegetic Unwound, and others as well. Plus other stuff, like the clip from Sadie Shaw and Sarah Reed's Charm movie. Something for everyone.

V/A Killed By Absurdity Vol. 1 (Failed Pilot Productions) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've had a bit of a debate here about the ethics of this compilation of "found songs" but it can't be denied that it's a hilarious listen. Found on the glorious internet as mp3's posted by their unfortunate creators, now committed to vinyl (without their knowledge or consent) for the enjoyment of those who like laughing at bad music. All the stuff on here is funny in both the funny-ha-ha and funny-weird senses. If "The Beat Of The Traps" was once your thing, this is the Y2K world wide web version. Complete with snide Seymour Glass-style speculative liner notes exquisitely describing each track. A sample: "_Spaz Monkey_ 'I've Gone Insane' -- More so that the previous 'finds,' I believe this one to be very sincere...a very sincere show of uncensored stupidity. The 'cold war' nature of the lyrics suggest that it may have been recorded sometime during the 80's, or maybe this guy has been in his parent's basement since Red Dawn premiered on daytime cable." Beats surfing the net yourself for such gems. Six tracks, white vinyl.

V/A Killed By Hardcore (Yuppie Edition) (Redrum) cd 14.98
This is so good. Wow. Never been much for hardcore. In fact as a teen, I skipped the punk rock stage entirely, jumping from top 40 right into heavy metal. Eventually I backtracked and discovered tons of amazing punk rock. But man, had I known when I was making the switch, that there was stuff like this out there....
This stuff sounds so fresh even now, and is so aggressive and mean and boiling over with utter fury. These songs say as much about teen rebellion and the disaffected youth as it does about the time period ('80-'85). Definitely a better reminder of the Reagan years than the stuff we've been hearing about him lately (man, was he ever lucky to die during an election year!). Anyway, this is a really amazing comp, especially considering that out of 23 bands we had only heard of one! And that band's from Finland! This stuff is so heavy and mean, it even out-brutalizes lots of black metal we've heard. Wild thrashing drumming, simple skull bashing riffing, shouting and screeching vocals, throbbing basslines, and lyrics that are pissed Pissed PISSED! Some of the bands: Urban Waste, Gasmask, Terveet Kadeet, Ultraviolent, No Pigs, Capital Scum, Genetic Control, the Left, Nihilistics -- hell, even the names sound pissed! Allan and Andee have been surprising everyone lately by playing this incessantly!
MPEG Stream: URBAN WASTE "Public Opinion"
MPEG Stream: GASMASK "Koruse"
MPEG Stream: TERVEET KADEET "Utopia "
MPEG Stream: SOUND OF DISASTER "Moral"

V/A Killing Melody: Instrumental Music From Japanese Pinky Violence Movies (Ethbo) lp 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Lots of folks probably have no idea what Pinky Violence movies are, but avid readers of the aQ list, might have scene (or hopefully bought!) several records by a local turntablist called DJ Female Convict Scorpion, whose name is in fact borrowed from one of the more famous Pinky Violence series of films.
In the late sixties, traditional gangster movies in Japan were replaced with "Pinky Violence" movies, which embraced nudity and violence and bondage, women in prison, women gangs, who often fought topless, low brow, lowest common denominator, maybe, but many of the films infused the sex and violence with plenty of subtle social and political critiques, and as you might imagine, they caught on, and became a sensation. Often psych rock bands like the Jacks or the Flowers were tapped for music, but just as often, a small cadre of composers created the strange sonic hybrids that were the soundtrack to some of the most over the top films you'll ever see.
From Western style Morricone soundtrack music, all strings and whistles, haunting and ominous, to sultry smoky jazz, groovy fuzz funk, and full on psychedelic garage rock, the sounds here are all over the map. In some ways this could have easily been an installment in Sublime Frequencies' ever expanding catalog of world musics, so varied and catchy and wildly exotic. Jazzy drums underpin fluttery flutes, crunchy fuzz guitar all tangled up with woozy porno funk, sexy sax, wah wah guitars, soaring strings, Eastern melodies, all wound into groovy cinematic funk jazz, xylophones and marimbas, horn sections, strange sound effects, wild drumming, it's hard to imagine how this stuff hasn't been sampled to death by DJ's. super funky, but WAY out there and psychedelic, sometimes dark, but more often jubilant and unhinged and FUN.
Super extensive liner notes, with a history of the genre, the soundtracks, the composers, and of course the starlets, and besides simply being a killer collection of funky soulful cinematic sounds, hopefully it'll get some folks out there to track down some of these amazing movies...

V/A King Diamond Tribute (Necropolis) cd 14.98
A diverse spectrum of bands herein interpret the compositions of one of modern metal music's leading lights, the Danish singer, rock conceptualist, and Satanic philosopher King Diamond. Several Scandinavian black metallers who owe so much to the King (and his facepaint) such as Ancient and Dark Funeral participate, as do deathsters like In Aeteurnum, Usurper, and local boys Exhumed. 80's style power metallers Dentiny's End even make an appearance but aside from them KD's trademark multi-ocatave vocals generally get the black metal rasp or death grunt treatment. A fun collection but no match for the real thing.

V/A King Tubby Meets The Reggae Masters (Jet Star) cd 16.98
Though the first word to come to ones head when mentioning the name King Tubby is "dub", you won't find a single track of it here. "King Tubby Meets the Reggae Masters" is a collection of tracks unearthed from his archives after King Tubby passed away in 1989. Half of the tracks on the album were produced by King Tubby and the rest were produced by such luminaries as Striker Lee and Blackbeard who, after laying down the tracks at studios such as Randy's, Channel One and elsewhere, would mix them at King Tubby's -- hence their being reposited in his archives. Rare tracks by Bob Marley & the Wailers (pre-Island Records), Black Uhuru, Barrington Levy, Dennis Brown, Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Freddie McKay and more.
RealAudio clip: THOMPSON, LINVAL "Feed the Children"
RealAudio clip: MARLEY, BOB & THE WAILERS "Mr Chatter Box"

V/A Kingdom of Elgaland / Vargaland 1992 - 2002 (Ash International) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On March 14, 1992, Leif Elggren and CM von Hausswolff proclaimed the existence of the Kingdom of Elgaland / Vargaland, by annexing and occupying all of the border areas between all the countries of the earth, all of the areas up to a width of 10 nautical miles existing outside all countries territorial waters, and the mental / perceptive territories including, but not limited to the Hypnagogic State, the Escapist Territory, and the Virtual Room. Elggren and von Hausswolff have even gone so far as to issue passports to their citizens, draft a constitution, and design any number of governmental signifiers (currency, stamps, a national flag, and even a national anthem). This Kingdom is obviously not striving to attain any political presence within the world's power market, but is interested in channelling the metaphysical principles from Joseph Beuys in this investigation of how utterances of power are communicated from one individual to another.
During the past decade, hundreds of people have become citizens of Elgaland / Vargaland, and this album is a sort of who's who of the Kingdom's citizenship, featuring Mika Vainio, BJ Nilsen (Hazard), Ulf Bilting, Ryoji Ikeda, John Duncan, Mats Gustafsson, Chris Watson, People Like Us, Jim O'Rourke, Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert (Wire), Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi, and many more. The 48 tracks on this double disc set offer an incredibly wide range of interpretations of the Kingdom: some quite silly, others very ominous; some do relate to the Kingdom of Elgaland / Vargaland, others don't. As a result it's not the most cohesive of albums, but both Allan and Jim fully support the Kingdom of Elgaland / Vargaland. So there.
RealAudio clip: JIM O'ROURKE "When I First Saw Phauss..."
RealAudio clip: KENT TANKRED "Information"
RealAudio clip: B.J. NILSEN "State Of Emergency"
RealAudio clip: PEOPLE LIKE US "National Humm"

V/A Klangbad: First Steps (Klangbad) cd 7.98
Faust's Hans Joachim Irmler compiled this collection of tracks from what might (might!) be termed modern-day krautrock bands -- even if they're not all strictly from Germany -- which includes not one but two tracks from Finnish AQ faves Circle, along with contributions from Faust, Irmler himself, Ole Lukkoye, Kangaroo Moon, Audiac, Nista Nije Nista, Adriano Lanzi & Omar Sodano, S/T, and (most bizarrely), indie hip-hoppers Dalek! Now, we have to confess that aside from a few obvious ones, we're not really familar with this line-up of artists. But of course, that's the whole point of the compilation, to introduce Faust's Klangbad label's roster. Most of which seems oriented towards the experimental, spacey, dark, droney, and repetitive. Even the Dalek track (which you'll also find on his Ipecac album) here fits in with that description. But you'll find some cuts are poppier, some are jazzier. Although we didn't care terribly much for the electronic trip-pop of Audiac, or the clubby lounge-electronica-rap-prog of Kangaroo Moon, this has the advantage of being a compilation, so those unfortunately cheesy cuts are soon superceded by more interesting ones, like the abstract jazzy soundscapes of Nista Niji Nista or Irmler's droning "Museum". Oye Lukkoye ends the album with the nine-minute "White Stone (Net Doma)", kind of an ethnic/beat epic in the mode of the Magic Carpathians. So, while not 100 percent great, this succeeds at being a cheap, diverse sampler, whetting our appetite for (at least some) further Klangbad releases. And Circle-fiends will of course be happy with the ten minutes of exclusive Circle music found here!
RealAudio clip: CIRCLE "Scotch"
RealAudio clip: DALEK "Spiritual Healing"
RealAudio clip: ADRIANO LANZI & OMAR SODANO "Emancipazione"
RealAudio clip: FAUST "I can, U 2?"

V/A Knitting On The Roof (Knitting Factory Records/JAM) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes, it's "The Fiddler On The Roof" as interpreted by an interesting selection Knitting Factory friends. The Magnetic Fields do "If I Were A Rich Man," Negativland does "Tevye's Dream", The Residents do "Matchmaker"...you get the idea. Definitely a fun concept.
(Although whether this has a deeper meaning in the context of the downtown NYC new Jewish music movement I don't know). KF's Michael Dorf says "the inspiration for this project came from a combination of humor and commercialism." Other participants include David S. Ware, Uri Caine, Eugene Chadbourne, Elliott Sharp, Come, Hasidic New Wave, The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Naftule's Dream, Jill Sobule, and the Paradox Trio.

V/A Knormalities V.3 Posthumorites (DKM) 7" 5.98

V/A Knowing We Was Right From Da Start (555) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A collection of out-of-print and/or hard-to-find a-sides from the back catalogue of 555 Recordings of Leeds (run by Stewart Anderson of Boyracer / Steward fame). Tracks by the Aislers Set, Hood, Kid 606, Boyracer, Empress, Steward, The Remote Viewer, The Famous Boyfriend, and much more. 23 tracks total!

V/A Kompakt 100 (Kompakt) cd 17.98
To celebrate their 100th release, Kompakt had 21 artists pick their favorite record from the first 99 Kompakt releases and remix it. So thus we have Kompakt 100, 21 of your favorite Kompakt classics remixed by a handful of your favorite Kompakt artists. Remixers include: The Orb, DJ Koze, the Modernist, Ulf Lohmann, Reinhard Voigt, Jurgen Paape, Markus Guentner, Dettinger, Kaito and more. To dig this collection you definitely have to like all facets of the Kompakt sound. Folks looking for a smooth, dreamy pop ambient compilation will definitely be blown out of the water by the beat heavy tracks, and beat headz might be bored by the swooshy ambient numbers, but those of you who like chocolate in your peanut butter, won't mind verring from four on the floor house, to wheezy, fuzzy ambience and back again. An amazing document of one of the best (and most important) electronic labels around.
MPEG Stream: THE ORB "Ulf Lohman - Because Before"
MPEG Stream: THOMAS / MAYER "Ulf Lohman - Because"

V/A Kompakt Total 10 (Kompakt) 3lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL! Another killer collection of Kompakt techno, and while we may tend to lean toward the Pop Ambient side of the Kompakt roster, no label has done more to wear down our resistance to techno than the mighty Kompakt, so much so, that we now find ourselves looking forward to these Total comps nearly as much as the Pop Ambient comps.
And once again, Kompakt comes through with, a killer collection of artists, and tracks, expertly sequenced into over two hours of minimal techno bliss.
Just have a look at the names and you'll know what you're in for: Dj Koze, Justus Kohncke, Gui Boratto, Matias Aguayo, The Field, Burger/Voigt, Reinhard Voigt, Jurgen Paape and loads more, and along with the usal tight clipped, late night dancefloor grooves there are plenty of surprises. How about DJ Koze's "40 Love", with a rhythm track built around the sounds of a tennis match, including the crowds disappointed "Awwwww"s when someone misses a shot, birds chirping, squeaking shoes, grunts, all woven into a woozy bit of warm throb and skitter. Then there's Coma's awesomely murky midnight pusle and shimmer, and Jonas Bering's super fuzzed out synth jam that definitely reminds us of Justice or Daft Punk, and Matias Aguayo's sunshiney techno pop jam, that almost sounds like Phoenix or something, the warped and tweaked tropical wooziness of the Pachanga Boys and the circusy soundtrack weirdness of Jurgen Paape's oompah jam "Ofterschwang", and in between, plenty of that classic Kompakt sound that we can never seem to get enough of.
If you've got 1-9, you obviously need 10, and if you've yet to dip your toes into the Kompakt pool, this is as good a place to start as any...
MPEG Stream: JONAS BERING "Who Is Who"
MPEG Stream: DJ KOZE "40 Love"
MPEG Stream: ADA "Lovestoned"
MPEG Stream: SAM TAYLOR-WOOD "I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Gui Boratto Mix)"

V/A Kompakt Total 5 (Kompakt) cd 16.98

V/A Kompilation (Kranky) 2cd 5.98
Super low price compilation from one of the best labels going these days. Two discs, 21 tracks, many of them unreleased, some from forthcoming releases from the elite Kranky stable: Stars Of The Lid, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Pan-American, Greg Davis, Christina Carter, Growing, Dead Texan, Loscil, Charalambides, Out Hud and more!
MPEG Stream: STARS OF THE LID "Even If You're Never Awake"
MPEG Stream: GROWING "Primitive Associations/Great Mass Above "

V/A Konkani Songs: Music From Goa - Made In Bombay (Trikont) cd 17.98
It's been a while since we've heard from the Trikont label, and we've missed them. In the past, they've brought us some all time aQ faves, the Flashbacks series, Africa Raps, so many amazing compilations: Beyond Istanbul, Doom & Gloom, Creative Outlaws, In Prison, Dope & Glory and of course Ho! Roady Music From Vietnam. Always impeccably curated, with extensive liner notes, tons of photos, and an in-depth history of the music and the performers.
Konkani Songs is a fantastic addition, Music from India, a sort of Indian light and folk music, ballads, big band jazz, torch songs, festive folky dance numbers, all with a hint of Bollywood, as well as plenty of other influences, Western soundtrack music, Morricone, fifties and sixties European pop, but all so distinctly and uniquely Indian.
Anyone into the Sublime Frequencies series will definitely want to grab one of these, sounds both familiar and foreign, far out and classic, groovy Eastern melodies intertwine with Klezmer like accordions, soaring dramatic strings, chiming bells, wild percussion, the sounds slipping from calypso to mariachi, Bollywood to cheesy pop, groovy funk to organ driven sort-of-country, rad groovy surfy garage to dark tango-y waltzes, the sound is uniformly warm and fuzzy, that gorgeous washed out old recording sound. But it's the vocalists that seal the deal, from deep baritones, to sweet songbird croons, some hushed and intimate, some intense and expressive, sometimes a perfect match for the music backing it up, sometimes brilliantly at odds, we've only just begun to dig into the liner notes, there's much to learn about Onkani songs, but based on the songs alone, this could be one of our favorite comps of the year so far.
MPEG Stream: ALFRED ROSE "Munglurkar"
MPEG Stream: LORNA "Lisboa"
MPEG Stream: ROBIN VAZ, CECILIA MACHADO & CHORUS "Staram Gaddiwalla"
MPEG Stream: HENRY D'SOUZA & HELEN D'CRUZ "Cathrina"
MPEG Stream: BAB PETER "Mog Boom Boom Boom"

V/A Konstantin Raudive: The Voices of the dead (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98
For those who recall the now out-of-print "The Ghost Orchid" cd collection of EVP -- "Electronic Voice Phenomenon", the mysterious manifestations of unknown voices breaking through radio transmissions, presumed to be voices of the dead -- Konstantin Raudive may be a familiar name. His contributions to that recording (originally paired as a 7" with his legendary book from the mid '70s entitled "Breakthrough") were some of the most hyperbolic and grandiose, claiming that in his research he had contacted numerous recently deceased friends, as well as historical figures like Winston Churchill! Since "The Ghost Orchid" and the follow-up collection drawn from from fellow researcher Friedrich JurgensonFriedrich Jurgenson's EVP recordings have been very difficult to track down in recent months, we thought that this new release of recordings from the archives of Raudive (and his collegue Gerhard Stempnik) would make for an acceptable substitute. Well, it might have been, if it weren't for all of the extraneous, some might say unneccesary, tracks found here: remixes of Raudive's recordings, tracks inspired by Raudive's recordings, and tracks that got onto this album just because they were by DJ Spooky. (DJ Spooky? Get it? These are ghosts. Haha.) At least the folks at Sub Rosa had enough sense to program all of the actual Raudive recordings as the odd numbered tracks with the remixes and so forth being the even numbered ones. So at least you can program your CD player if you wish to avoid the pieces by DJ Spooky, Brett Dean, Scanner, Calla, Lee Ranaldo, David Toop, CM von Hausswolff, Random Inc. and others. Not to say that these remixes are bad (some are pretty cool, total X-Files electronica), but how can you hope to compete with the raw ghost transmissions themselves? Truly voices of the dead or not, they're still creepy radio-noise recordings with German-language lectures to introduce 'em, full of mystery and terror and dense sonic textures. Imagine an occult Conet Project. We're purists, I guess, and would have liked the tracks by the modern-day artists to have appeared on a seperate release from the archival EVP material. But others we're sure won't be bothered at all, and enjoy (and be haunted by) the whole package.
RealAudio clip: KONSTANTIN RAUDIVE "Here Is Konstantin Raudive"
RealAudio clip: KONSTANTIN RAUDIVE "Radio Stimme"
RealAudio clip: SCANNER "Palae Fore Memoire"
RealAudio clip: CALLA "Raudive Track"