V/A Soul Sisters: The Sights And Sounds Of The African-American Underground (Black Beauty) cd 14.98
FYI: if you *don't* like naked ladies, you'll want to avoid perusal of this disc's booklet, which mostly consists of vintage full-color cheesecake shots of a bevy of well-endowed "soul sisters". But don't let that put you off... just forget for one second that this cd is billed as a collection of '70s African-American porno flick soundtracks. For one thing, it sure doesn't sound like the typical "boogie nights" retro-porn soundtrack. No cheesy throbbing synths or disco beats. No orgiastic moans even! Instead, what you get here is avant-groove jazz funk of an almost experimental, freeform nature. The vibe can be lively but not "sleazy"... bad-ass though. Very funky and full of nasty geetar and jamming Hammond organ.
To tell the truth, there's so very little documentation presented here that we can't say we're 100 percent convinced that this is what it says it is, instead of something perhaps made by some clever musicans today (like, maybe...Mushroom?) creating replica vintage avant-funk soundtrack for imaginary x-rated flicks... But supposedly these tapes were recently found in a studio in Oakland, where the recordings we're told took place circa 1972-75, and the musicans that get credited here were, it seems, operating under pseudonyms (for obvious reasons perhaps). The films are alluded to only in the track titles, but who knows if those cited are real (anyone seen "Chocolate Cherry"?). There's no dialogue or sound effects or anything, since this is the original, raw soundtrack music only, what later was to be utilized perhaps in edited form in the finished film. Puzzling. But no matter, this stuff IS great!
There's the aforementioned avant-funk that surely fits into the '70s blaxploitation aesthetic, but this funk is full of sizzling feedbacking guitar that is hard to square with scenes of, um, lovemaking. But actually a lot of this is in more of an introspective mood that the wah-funk stereotype. More laidback that about getting laid. A long portion of track five ("Music From 'Copper Cuties'") consists of variations on a pensively repeating, gentle piano figure, generating a mood far from you might expect to be "exposed" to in an ostensibly X-rated flick. And only the last track "Jam Back At The House" has vocals, they go with that cut's smokey groove but do serve to break the almost mysterious feel set by the preceeding tracks a little. Overall, this is way more amazing than we ever thought it would be. What we though might be kitschy and/or kookily amusing turned out to be downright fresh and intriguing.
Miles Davis had a track on his album Get Up With It entitled "Rated X" -- maybe he'd been checking out the cinema and was inspired by one of the films that used music like this? Definitely this comes close to what we'd imagine would be how that "big freak" would have scored a porno soundtrack!!
So, this is one for fans of those Deep Note porno soundtrack comps and maybe moreso for folks who simply dig weird and wonderful jazz/funk obscurities, which would seem to be a lot of people who hear it (and then buy it) when we've been playing it in the store!
MPEG Stream: "Some Jive Ass Wasting My Time"
MPEG Stream: "Music From 'Copper Cuties'"

V/A Spiritual Jazz (Jazzman / Now-Again) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This isn't quite what we expected, but it is amazing and beautiful and we can't stop listening to it in the store. So what were we expecting? Well, from the title, we thought this would be a compilation of some Impulse, Actuel, ESP, and Black Jazz label style majestic free jazz, a la John and Alice Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra, Don Cherry, Philip Cohran etc. And to some extent it is, but looking at the track listings, we hardly recognized any of the people or groups on here, except perhaps for Ronnie Boykins and Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band. Other folks like Mor Thiam, The Frank Derrick Total Experience, The Lightmen Plus One and Ndikho Xaba & The Natives among many others were completely new to us. And while at times the music here is majestic, it focuses less on the cerebral, higher minded forms of free jazz, and more on the burgeoning post-Coltrane musical underground that fostered from the communal spirit, personal reform and the celebration of African heritage prevalent in the African-American community following the civil-rights era. Culled from rare 45's, private press lps and obscure studio albums, seriously, this is some groovy shit! Sengalese percussionist and bandleader Mor Thiam's infectious "Ayo Ayo Nene (Blessing For The New Born Baby)" is definitely one of our picks for jam of the year! Other highlights include Bay area based, P.E Hewitt Jazz Ensemble (featured on the Record Store Day Comp, This LP Crashes Hard Drives!) and the funk groove of the Ohio Penitentiary 511 Jazz Ensemble, a group comprised of prison inmates. There are a great selection of tracks using unusual Asian and African instrumentation such as Diembe, Santur (a 72 stringed Iranian dulcimer like instrument), something called a Seaweed Horn, and of course mbiras, flutes, congas, vibes and horns aplenty. We've been getting a lot of awesome spiritual free jazz in the store lately from the recently reissued Don Cherry / Latif Khan collaboration (reviewed on this list as well, Record Of The Week in fact) and The Pyramids reissues (two of which are also reviewed elsewhere on this list) and this fits in quite nicely. So good!
MPEG Stream: LLOYD MILLER "Gol-E-Gandom"
MPEG Stream: MOR THIAM "Ayo Ayo Nene"
MPEG Stream: LEON GARDNER "Be There"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 2 : Esoteric, Modal, And Deep European Jazz 1960-78 (Jazzman) cd 17.98
We instantly fell in love with the first volume of this series which introduced us to many new-to-us obscure mystical jazz artists that have since become some of our all-time favorites: Lloyd Miller, P.E. Hewitt, and Mor Thiam to name a few. While that installment focussed on American based African Heritage communities that rose up after the civil rights era, this latest installment takes us to Europe and focuses on a more progressive form of deep jazz throughout Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, England, as well as Eastern European countries. This time around, we're a bit more familiar with some of the names, though there are plenty of folks new to us. Of course there is British jazzman Michael Garrick who recently passed away prior to this release. The reissue of Garrick's Moonscape on Trunk records from a few years back was one of our favorite jazz reissues, so it's nice there is an awesome previously unreleased track here. Finnish Jazz pianist Heikki Sarmonto who also had a reissue on Porter records offers up a deep tribute to Coltrane and Duke Ellington that is akin to going to church, albeit, a church in Finland. A lot of tracks including Raphael's "Archangelo" have a more reverent orchestral / choral vibe than the tracks on the first volume did, and most are not quite as overtly groovy either. Yet this fits in with the post-Coltrane developments in Jazz in Europe at the time, with artists mining new forms and directions and not merely trying to ape American jazz idioms. That's not to say there aren't any groovers here, Dutch group Hans Dulfer and Ritmo Natural bring the Latin-tinged hotness to the core with "Candy Clouds part 2". This is some seriously deep dope!
MPEG Stream: ERIC KLEINSCHUSTER SEXTETT "Communion"
MPEG Stream: MICHAEL GARRICK SEXTET "Temple Dancer"
MPEG Stream: HEIKKI SARMANTO "Duke And Trane"
MPEG Stream: HANS DULFER & RITMO NATURAL "Candy Clouds Part II"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 2 : Esoteric, Modal, And Deep European Jazz 1960-78 (Jazzman) 2lp 26.00
We instantly fell in love with the first volume of this series which introduced us to many new-to-us obscure mystical jazz artists that have since become some of our all-time favorites: Lloyd Miller, P.E. Hewitt, and Mor Thiam to name a few. While that installment focussed on American based African Heritage communities that rose up after the civil rights era, this latest installment takes us to Europe and focuses on a more progressive form of deep jazz throughout Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, England, as well as Eastern European countries. This time around, we're a bit more familiar with some of the names, though there are plenty of folks new to us. Of course there is British jazzman Michael Garrick who recently passed away prior to this release. The reissue of Garrick's Moonscape on Trunk records from a few years back was one of our favorite jazz reissues, so it's nice there is an awesome previously unreleased track here. Finnish Jazz pianist Heikki Sarmonto who also had a reissue on Porter records offers up a deep tribute to Coltrane and Duke Ellington that is akin to going to church, albeit, a church in Finland. A lot of tracks including Raphael's "Archangelo" have a more reverent orchestral / choral vibe than the tracks on the first volume did, and most are not quite as overtly groovy either. Yet this fits in with the post-Coltrane developments in Jazz in Europe at the time, with artists mining new forms and directions and not merely trying to ape American jazz idioms. That's not to say there aren't any groovers here, Dutch group Hans Dulfer and Ritmo Natural bring the Latin-tinged hotness to the core with "Candy Clouds part 2". This is some seriously deep dope!
MPEG Stream: ERIC KLEINSCHUSTER SEXTETT "Communion"
MPEG Stream: MICHAEL GARRICK SEXTET "Temple Dancer"
MPEG Stream: HEIKKI SARMANTO "Duke And Trane"
MPEG Stream: HANS DULFER & RITMO NATURAL "Candy Clouds Part II"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 3: Modal, Esoteric And Ethereal Jazz From The European Underground 1963-1972 (Jazzman) cd 17.98
For the third installment of Jazzman's great Spiritual Jazz series, the hardworking diggers of underground jazz decided to stay on the European tip spearheaded on the second volume instead of venturing off to some other exotic location. And it's a good thing too, because how can you capture all the diverse iterations of communal jazz across so many various borders, ethnic heritages and regional communities in just one volume? What separates the two volumes thematically is that this third volume swings a lot more than the more reverent liturgical second volume, focusing on individual expression, private press visionaries and unique hybrids of Latin, Slavic and Asian influences. Obscurities abound, most tracks previously un-reissued in any form, really one of the only names we were familiar with is Jef Gilson, whom who Jazzman introduced us to on a great compilation aptly titled The Best of Jef Gilson! The suave cafe jazz sound of Gilson is a great introduction into what is an eclectic and diverse selection of hypnotic modal jazz that is uplifting, entertaining and refreshingly energetic! Along with Gilson and Mangesdorf there are great pieces by Hermann Gehlen, Palle Mikkelborg & Radiojazzgruppen, Michel Roques, Babs Robert, That's Why, Binder Quintet, The Crescendo Quintet, Dusko Goykovic, Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet, Yoki Freund Sextet, Jan Allan Quintet, Dennis Wiley, Full Moon Ensemble, Louis Xavier, and Antithesis. Yes!
MPEG Stream: JEF GILSON "Unknown"
MPEG Stream: MICHEL ROQUES "Le Temps"
MPEG Stream: LOUIS XAVIER "Suite"
MPEG Stream: FULL MOON ENSEMBLE "Samba Miaou"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 3: Modal, Esoteric And Ethereal Jazz From The European Underground 1963-1972 (Jazzman) 2lp 26.00
For the third installment of Jazzman's great Spiritual Jazz series, the hardworking diggers of underground jazz decided to stay on the European tip spearheaded on the second volume instead of venturing off to some other exotic location. And it's a good thing too, because how can you capture all the diverse iterations of communal jazz across so many various borders, ethnic heritages and regional communities in just one volume? What separates the two volumes thematically is that this third volume swings a lot more than the more reverent liturgical second volume, focusing on individual expression, private press visionaries and unique hybrids of Latin, Slavic and Asian influences. Obscurities abound, most tracks previously un-reissued in any form, really one of the only names we were familiar with is Jef Gilson, whom who Jazzman introduced us to on a great compilation aptly titled The Best of Jef Gilson! The suave cafe jazz sound of Gilson is a great introduction into what is an eclectic and diverse selection of hypnotic modal jazz that is uplifting, entertaining and refreshingly energetic! Along with Gilson and Mangesdorf there are great pieces by Hermann Gehlen, Palle Mikkelborg & Radiojazzgruppen, Michel Roques, Babs Robert, That's Why, Binder Quintet, The Crescendo Quintet, Dusko Goykovic, Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet, Yoki Freund Sextet, Jan Allan Quintet, Dennis Wiley, Full Moon Ensemble, Louis Xavier, and Antithesis. Yes!
MPEG Stream: JEF GILSON "Unknown"
MPEG Stream: MICHEL ROQUES "Le Temps"
MPEG Stream: LOUIS XAVIER "Suite"
MPEG Stream: FULL MOON ENSEMBLE "Samba Miaou"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 4: Americans In Europe (Jazzman) 2cd 26.00
This would have easily been a contender for record of the week, if we got in enough in, so it will have to do as a highly recommended highlight. But let it be known that this latest volume of Spiritual Jazz is fast becoming our favorite of the series! We loved all the others of course and the first one was hard to beat, but they really brought out the big names and heavy hitters on this volume (Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Krzysztof Penderecki, Bobby Hutcherson, Hampton Hawes and Albert Ayler) and it's on two discs so lots of long form modal cosmic expansion is at the ready. The theme this time around is Americans in Europe and it documents a fertile period in the sixties and seventies where many American jazz musicians fed up with racism and decaying socio-economic conditions in the US found solace working in Europe on festival circuits and collaborating with great European jazz groups abroad in Denmark, France, Italy, UK and Germany, exploring new directions in sound. Many of these tracks are from rare recordings (some of them live), not released in America and are reissued here for the first time. Besides the big names, there are plenty of lesser known players like Billy Gault, Sahib Shihab, Frank Wright, Clarence Peters, Lee Konitz, Noah Howard and Grachan Moncur III. Beautifully packaged with lots of liner notes and record covers, this is some real deep and mind-expanding stuff! Like we said above, Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY HAWKSWORTH & HAMPTON HAWES "Jazz Rule"
MPEG Stream: SUN RA "Enlightenment"
MPEG Stream: BILLY GAULT "Mode For Trane"
MPEG Stream: FRANK WRIGHT SEXTET "T and W"
MPEG Stream: BOBBY HUTCHERSON - HAROLD LAND QUINTET "The Creators"

V/A Spiritual Jazz Volume 4: Americans In Europe (Jazzman) 3lp 38.00
This would have easily been a contender for record of the week, if we got in enough in, so it will have to do as a highly recommended highlight. But let it be known that this latest volume of Spiritual Jazz is fast becoming our favorite of the series! We loved all the others of course and the first one was hard to beat, but they really brought out the big names and heavy hitters on this volume (Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Krzysztof Penderecki, Bobby Hutcherson, Hampton Hawes and Albert Ayler) and it's on two discs so lots of long form modal cosmic expansion is at the ready. The theme this time around is Americans in Europe and it documents a fertile period in the sixties and seventies where many American jazz musicians fed up with racism and decaying socio-economic conditions in the US found solace working in Europe on festival circuits and collaborating with great European jazz groups abroad in Denmark, France, Italy, UK and Germany, exploring new directions in sound. Many of these tracks are from rare recordings (some of them live), not released in America and are reissued here for the first time. Besides the big names, there are plenty of lesser known players like Billy Gault, Sahib Shihab, Frank Wright, Clarence Peters, Lee Konitz, Noah Howard and Grachan Moncur III. Beautifully packaged with lots of liner notes and record covers, this is some real deep and mind-expanding stuff! Like we said above, Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY HAWKSWORTH & HAMPTON HAWES "Jazz Rule"
MPEG Stream: SUN RA "Enlightenment"
MPEG Stream: BILLY GAULT "Mode For Trane"
MPEG Stream: FRANK WRIGHT SEXTET "T and W"
MPEG Stream: BOBBY HUTCHERSON - HAROLD LAND QUINTET "The Creators"

V/A Stand Up And Be Counted Vol. 2 (Harmless) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You know how everyone thinks they can be a DJ now, right? Maybe one of the unlooked-for benefits of this trend is that there are that many more people sifting through dusty ole record bins in dusty ole record stores worldwide, searching for the good breaks to sample and scratch. And perhaps that explains the sudden number of recent, very tasteful, well-done compilations that have graced the shelves here at Aquarius, comps filled with original source material utilized during or created for the breakbeat era's heyday (mid to late '70s). And hey, now that these amazing tracks are collected in one place on cd or vinyl, we can listen to them in the safety of our own living rooms -- instead of having to brave yuppies and cigarette smoke and $6 drinks to hear perfectly good tunes mangled by DJs of mediocre skills.
"Soul, funk, and jazz from a revolutionary era." '60s Black Power / freedom oriented tracks from the likes of The Watts Prophets, Nikki Giovanni, The Voices of East Harlem, James Brown and others.

V/A State of the Union 2.001 (Electronic Music Foundation) 3cd 35.00
This is the third installment in an ongoing series of compilations of experimental and avant garde artists, with its profits directed toward the National Coalition Against Censorship. Compiled by Elliot Sharp, the general concept here is to compose a track under one minute in duration. 171 artists are involved this time around, most of which are somehow involved with the Downtown NYC scene. Some of the more interesting artists this time around: Jonathan Bepler, Kato Hideki and Kazuhisa Uchihashi (both of Ground Zero and Altered States), Koji Asano, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Marianne Nowottny, Merzbow, Zbigniew Karkowski, Tape Beatles, Voice Crack, Zoot Horn Rollo (of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band!), Alfred Harth, Alvin Curran, Carl Stone, Foetus, John Duncan, Lloop, WE, White Out, Phill Niblock, Thomas Dimuzio, and so many more... A nice idea and a fine collection of new music. However, keep in mind that these tracks are sixty seconds or less in duration, and may not be indicative of the artists' usual output.

V/A Sun Ra Tribute (Rastascan) 2cd 15.98
David Greenberger, NRBQ, accordionstress Miss Murgatroid (who gets better with each new recording we hear from her), Elliot Sharp (a.k.a. E#), the Residents, Splatter Trio, the Graham Connah Group, the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, the Coctails with Ken Vandermark, Thurston Moore with Ezra La Plante, Eugene Chadbourne, and that's less than half the con-"tribut"-ors to this collection.

V/A That's What Friends Are For (Jazzman) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fab collection of rare, groovy tracks dug up and dusted off from back in the sixties/seventies heyday of such funky goodness. It's wide-ranging but carefully curated comp, chock full of soul, gospel, disco, soundtrack and library music of diverse geographic origin: Brazil, England, France, and the USA.... Included is Nina Simone's classic put-down "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter" but that's not the only highlight. Library disco diva Madeline Bell's title track is another. (By the way, in case you're wondering, "library music" is music recorded to be sold for commerical purposes, like in advertising, as opposed to music released to the public on its own.) We also were taken by French teen pinup France Gall's samba/jazz confection "Zozoi" also, and library music "mad scientist" Nino Nardini's "Poltergeist" too. Heck it's hard to pick favorites, all of these are definite DJ droolers. These cuts are all selections derived from the Jazzman label's series of 7" vinyl reissues, but handily enough for those of us who missed those collectables (or prefer the convenience of a cd) they've compiled some of the choicest tracks here. And we must give props to Jazzman for the well-researched linernotes complete with full-color photos, that's the way to do it!
MPEG Stream: FRANCE GALL "Zozoi"
MPEG Stream: NINA SIMONE "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter"

V/A The BYG Deal (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 15.98
For a lot of us, buying comps and reissues and stuff put out by Finders Keepers / B-Music is pretty much a no-brainer. These folks know their stuff. They can DJ for us anytime! So mentioning that The BYG Deal is the latest from 'em might be all we need to say, though dropping some names like Brigitte Fontaine, Jean-Claude Vannier, Daevid Allen & Gong, Giorgio Gomelsky, Robert Wyatt, Vangelis, Ame Son, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago couldn't hurt. Or perhaps a name like Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band - never heard of 'em before, no, but they've gotta be good, right!!? (And they are, their track "Floating" anyway being a blissful bit of la-la-la space psych ceremony).
What we have here is a collection of tracks released by France's BYG, a post '68 radical rock/jazz label that flourished 'til about 1974. We'd heard of 'em before mainly in conjunction with the famed BYG/Actuel series of African-American jazz releases, stuff by the Art Ensemble, Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, etc. But this disc demonstrates that BYG (which according to one graphic here stands for Beautiful Young Generation, though elsewhere we're told it's the initials of the three label owners) was as much about psychedelic pop rock and groovy "hairy funk" as it was about avant-garde free jazz... an awesome blend in our opinion, and blend they do, some of these tracks really hard to classify. Maybe it's the "Total Space Music" of which they speak. In any case, whatever discotheque played this stuff must have been REALLY hip and happenin'.
The music here is almost all super groovy, but often quite quirky too (take Gong's circusy nursery rhyme freakout "Hip Hypnotise You" for instance!), these various tracks loaded with flute, orgasmic female vocals, heavy psych guitar, and equally heavy prog organ (running wild alongside frenetically shuffling drums on Vangelis' "Stuffed Tomato", for example, among many standout spots here). From chanteuse Valerie Lagrange's ye-ye grooves to the poppy psychedelic stomp of Coeur Magique to Banana Moon's Beefheartian crunt, this is pretty far out and awesome.
Here's the complete lineup of artists appearing here: Alice (2 tracks), Francois Wertheimer, Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, Gong (3 tracks), Alan Jack, Couer Magique (2 tracks), Valerie Lagrange, Jacques Barsamian, Alpha Beta, Ame Son (2 tracks), Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Freedom, Vangelis, Paul Semana, Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band, Banana Moon, Joachim and Rolf Kuhn. Yep, the disc is crammed, 22 tracks, almost 80 minutes, and the thick cd booklet is equally full up with full color graphics and extensive liner notes, it's amazing the compilers could dig up so much info on this stuff, considering how obscure a lot of this is, but that's their biz!
There's a few tracks you could have run across elsewhere on other reissues, but most of 'em you haven't, that's for damn sure. For instance, the awesomely named track "Astral Abuse" from the rare 7" by Alpha Beta, a one-off Vangelis project. And there's plenty more from other collector's-only, never before on cd sources.
If you liked other B-music compilations like Andy Votel's Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, this ought to be right up your alley. Likewise if you enjoyed the two Pop Made In France comps we've listed, this is a bit like those (some of the same artists appear, in fact) but way weirder. And of course any fan of Jean-Pierre Massiera's strange productions is gonna find this of interest as well... in fact there's personnel connections to his Visitors project, and connections also to the likes of Magma and Aphrodite's Child for that matter.
Another keeper from Finders Keepers that's for sure, thankfully available domestically, complete with slipcover!
MPEG Stream: BRIGITTE FONTAINE AND ARESKI "Ca Va Faire Un Hit"
MPEG Stream: ALAN JACK CIVILIZATION "Ny Change Rien"
MPEG Stream: INTER-GROUPIE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ELASTIC BAND "Floating"
MPEG Stream: JOACHIM AND ROLF KUHN "Bloody Rockers"

V/A The BYG Deal (B-Music / Finders Keepers) 2lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON (IMPORT) VINYL!
For a lot of us, buying comps and reissues and stuff put out by Finders Keepers / B-Music is pretty much a no-brainer. These folks know their stuff. They can DJ for us anytime! So mentioning that The BYG Deal is the latest from 'em might be all we need to say, though dropping some names like Brigitte Fontaine, Jean-Claude Vannier, Daevid Allen & Gong, Giorgio Gomelsky, Robert Wyatt, Vangelis, Ame Son, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago couldn't hurt. Or perhaps a name like Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band - never heard of 'em before, no, but they've gotta be good, right!!? (And they are, their track "Floating" anyway being a blissful bit of la-la-la space psych ceremony).
What we have here is a collection of tracks released by France's BYG, a post '68 radical rock/jazz label that flourished 'til about 1974. We'd heard of 'em before mainly in conjunction with the famed BYG/Actuel series of African-American jazz releases, stuff by the Art Ensemble, Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, etc. But this disc demonstrates that BYG (which according to one graphic here stands for Beautiful Young Generation, though elsewhere we're told it's the initials of the three label owners) was as much about psychedelic pop rock and groovy "hairy funk" as it was about avant-garde free jazz... an awesome blend in our opinion, and blend they do, some of these tracks really hard to classify. Maybe it's the "Total Space Music" of which they speak. In any case, whatever discotheque played this stuff must have been REALLY hip and happenin'.
The music here is almost all super groovy, but often quite quirky too (take Gong's circusy nursery rhyme freakout "Hip Hypnotise You" for instance!), these various tracks loaded with flute, orgasmic female vocals, heavy psych guitar, and equally heavy prog organ (running wild alongside frenetically shuffling drums on Vangelis' "Stuffed Tomato", for example, among many standout spots here). From chanteuse Valerie Lagrange's ye-ye grooves to the poppy psychedelic stomp of Coeur Magique to Banana Moon's Beefheartian crunt, this is pretty far out and awesome.
Here's the complete lineup of artists appearing here: Alice (2 tracks), Francois Wertheimer, Brigitte Fontaine and Areski, Gong (3 tracks), Alan Jack, Couer Magique (2 tracks), Valerie Lagrange, Jacques Barsamian, Alpha Beta, Ame Son (2 tracks), Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Freedom, Vangelis, Paul Semana, Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band, Banana Moon, Joachim and Rolf Kuhn. Yep, the disc is crammed, 22 tracks, almost 80 minutes, and the thick cd booklet is equally full up with full color graphics and extensive liner notes, it's amazing the compilers could dig up so much info on this stuff, considering how obscure a lot of this is, but that's their biz!
There's a few tracks you could have run across elsewhere on other reissues, but most of 'em you haven't, that's for damn sure. For instance, the awesomely named track "Astral Abuse" from the rare 7" by Alpha Beta, a one-off Vangelis project. And there's plenty more from other collector's-only, never before on cd sources.
If you liked other B-music compilations like Andy Votel's Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, this ought to be right up your alley. Likewise if you enjoyed the two Pop Made In France comps we've listed, this is a bit like those (some of the same artists appear, in fact) but way weirder. And of course any fan of Jean-Pierre Massiera's strange productions is gonna find this of interest as well... in fact there's personnel connections to his Visitors project, and connections also to the likes of Magma and Aphrodite's Child for that matter.
Another keeper from Finders Keepers that's for sure!
MPEG Stream: BRIGITTE FONTAINE AND ARESKI "Ca Va Faire Un Hit"
MPEG Stream: ALAN JACK CIVILIZATION "Ny Change Rien"
MPEG Stream: INTER-GROUPIE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ELASTIC BAND "Floating"
MPEG Stream: JOACHIM AND ROLF KUHN "Bloody Rockers"

V/A Untitled (Public Guilt / Epicene Sound Systems / Underadar) 3cd box 15.98
A totally mind blowing collection of artists, representing the state of 'noise' today. 55 bands, 3 cds, totally elaborate over the top packaging, a project so epic it took three labels to make it happen, but now that it's done, it was so worth the wait. So utterly gorgeous. And while we'd be the first to admit that we were a bit scared by the idea of a triple cd noise compilation, the actual state of 'noise' is actually that much of it is quite beautiful, almost all of it is surprisingly listenable, and a lot of it is downright lovely. It's not just hissing jets of white noise these days. Textural and moody, rhythmic and abstract, it might be more fair to describe this as an experimental comp rather than a noise one, but to be fair, many of these tracks are noisy in their own way. And like any comp, it's the bands you know and love that suck you in: Burning Star Core, Guilty Connector, Dead Machines, Thurston Moore, Strotter Inst., Leslie Keffer, Earwicker, Destructo Swarmbots, Mike Shiflet, Hum Of The Druid, Sword Heaven, The Cherry Point, Herpes O Deluxe, Travis Ryan (from Cattle Decapitation), Panicsville, Gerritt & John Wiese, but what keeps you in, and earns repeat listens, is the chance to discover new weird music from bands you've never heard before: OP Rechts, Bet Hell, Josh Lay, Cotton Museum, Big China & Little Trouble, Forbes Graham, Small Life, Lovae, The Heirs Of Rockafeller, Perfect Teeth, Tonight Golden Curls, Black Meat, Door, Noveller, Jason Zeh, Teeth Collection, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, Skullcaster, Steve Bradley, Wether, Mermaids, Wet Hearts, Magicicada, Oblong Box, Aughra, Donna Parker, Robert Inhuman, Yellow Tears, 1thousand Holy Shards, Back From Iraq, Sick III Cell, Scutopus, Ben S. Jacobs, Blango, Decimation Blvd., Ultra//Vires, Darsombra, Subterrane. Phew. We've yet to make it through all three discs, but what we've heard so far is awesome. So much so that every time we listen to this, someone comes up to see what we're listening to, after almost every song. In fact just while this review was being written, Allan asked what was playing 3 or 4 times. The tracks are that varied, and that good. It might be a bit daunting to do a track by track description, just know that we've listened to almost the whole thing, and loved pretty much all of it, even the noisiest tracks. And it's incredibly well sequenced too, the tracks are matched and segue into each other as if it were and album proper, not a compilation. So good. Our faith in noise may have been restored!
And we haven't even discussed the packaging yet. A sturdy rectangular box with a removable lid, held together by a thick textured paper obi, gold metallic ink on red, inside, 4 thick cardstock inserts, each with unique red and gold art on one side, while on the other, one contains liner notes, the other three the track listings and band info, with the cds affixed to the center, and each cd is adorned with unique and different art. Wow. It truly is gorgeous looking, so much so that it's hard to believe it's only sixteen bucks. But we're not complaining. Not sure how limited this is, but something this nice and labor intensive, we're guessing they won't be around for long. Essential listening for lovers of modern music, noise and otherwise, and recommended especially for even the most noise-phobic among you...
MPEG Stream: BURNING STAR CORE "Let's Name Her Snow Cuz It's Snowy Outside"
MPEG Stream: AUGHRA "Francoj"
MPEG Stream: DESTRUCTO SWARMBOTS "I'll Love Three Of Them Barbarian Cremes"
MPEG Stream: STROTTER INST. "Treibjagd"
MPEG Stream: THURSTON MOORE "Dickraymakerz"

V/A Up & Down Club Sessions, Volume 2 (Prawn Song/Mammoth) cd 14.98
Featuring Josh Jones with Don Cherry, Charlie Hunter and more.

V/A Version Excursion: Soul, Funk & Jazz Covers of Quality & Distinction (Harmless) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You know how everyone thinks they can be a DJ now, right? Maybe one of the unlooked-for benefits of this trend is that there are that many more people sifting through dusty ole record bins in dusty ole record stores worldwide, searching for the good breaks to sample and scratch. And perhaps that explains the sudden number of recent, very tasteful, well-done compilations that have graced the shelves here at Aquarius, comps filled with original source material utilized during or created for the breakbeat era's heyday (mid to late '70s). And hey, now that these amazing tracks are collected in one place on cd or vinyl, we can listen to them in the safety of our own living rooms -- instead of having to brave yuppies and cigarette smoke and $6 drinks to hear perfectly good tunes mangled by DJs of mediocre skills.
The UK label Harmless collected a rowdy bunch of funkified covers here, from Dick Hyman doing "Give It Up or Turn it Loose" to a moaning diva version of "Light My Fire," the Staple Singers doing Stephen Stills, and of course one of the all time greatest covers ever -- Isaac Hayes' simmering twelve-minute rendition of Bacharach's "Walk On By" (which was recently sampled by Wu Tang Clan). Very extensive liner notes make reading and listening at the same time a great pleasure.
RealAudio clip: RAY BARRETTO "Pastime Paradise"
RealAudio clip: ISAAC HAYES "Walk On By"
RealAudio clip: RICHARD "GROOVE" HOMES & ERNIE WATTS "Come Together"

V/A Watch The Closing Doors Vol. 1 (Year Zero) 2cd 23.00
Kris Needs strikes again! If you've been keeping up for the past few months, you may have noticed the amazing Needs-curated Dirty Water compilations highlighting the (sometimes unlikely) inspirations for punk rock, including skronky free jazz, mid-'60s RnB mayhem, and glam, just to name a few. Needs steps up again with this impressive comp focusing on the evolution of the incredibly fertile, multicultural New York music world during the middle of the 20th century, which without question plays a major role in the city's undying allure. The years of focus here span from roughly 1945-59, and Needs, an Englishman who fell in love with NYC in the 1960s before finally landing there in 1983, is probably one of the most detail oriented compilers around. He knows how to tell a story with his compilations, rather than just putting together a bunch of songs. Like many, Needs associates NYC with its famous subway system and chose Duke Ellington's jaunty "Take The A Train" to get things started on disc 1. Other artists include legends like Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Louis Armstrong, Pete Seeger's Almanac Singers, Harry Belafonte, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis with Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, and John Cage, demonstrating the diverse array of styles and personalities that, not surprisingly, found themselves in the world's ultimate cultural hub.
Disc 2 (at least on the 2cd; the vinyl has a different track order, and fewer tracks, 25 vs. the 32 on the compact disc format) hints at things to come in the 1960s, with folk and blues giants like Josh White, Dave Van Ronk, and Sonny Terry sitting alongside Thelonious Monk, Big Maybelle, Raymond Scott, and Allen Ginsberg (reading Howl).
This compilation is clearly a labor of obsessive love and incredibly hard work. In the cd's uber-detailed, book-like liners (72 pages!), Needs notes how this represents one of the most difficult projects he has ever undertaken, and guess what? IT'S ONLY VOLUME 1!
MPEG Stream: COZY COLE "Bad"
MPEG Stream: DANNY TAYLOR "Coffee Daddy Blues"
MPEG Stream: NINA SIMONE "Little Girl Blue"
MPEG Stream: MILES DAVIS & GIL EVANS "Summertime"

V/A Watch The Closing Doors Vol. 1 (Year Zero) 2lp 23.00
Kris Needs strikes again! If you've been keeping up for the past few months, you may have noticed the amazing Needs-curated Dirty Water compilations highlighting the (sometimes unlikely) inspirations for punk rock, including skronky free jazz, mid-'60s RnB mayhem, and glam, just to name a few. Needs steps up again with this impressive comp focusing on the evolution of the incredibly fertile, multicultural New York music world during the middle of the 20th century, which without question plays a major role in the city's undying allure. The years of focus here span from roughly 1945-59, and Needs, an Englishman who fell in love with NYC in the 1960s before finally landing there in 1983, is probably one of the most detail oriented compilers around. He knows how to tell a story with his compilations, rather than just putting together a bunch of songs. Like many, Needs associates NYC with its famous subway system and chose Duke Ellington's jaunty "Take The A Train" to get things started on disc 1. Other artists include legends like Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Louis Armstrong, Pete Seeger's Almanac Singers, Harry Belafonte, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis with Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, and John Cage, demonstrating the diverse array of styles and personalities that, not surprisingly, found themselves in the world's ultimate cultural hub.
Disc 2 (at least on the 2cd; the vinyl has a different track order, and fewer tracks, 25 vs. the 32 on the compact disc format) hints at things to come in the 1960s, with folk and blues giants like Josh White, Dave Van Ronk, and Sonny Terry sitting alongside Thelonious Monk, Big Maybelle, Raymond Scott, and Allen Ginsberg (reading Howl).
This compilation is clearly a labor of obsessive love and incredibly hard work. In the cd's uber-detailed, book-like liners (72 pages!), Needs notes how this represents one of the most difficult projects he has ever undertaken, and guess what? IT'S ONLY VOLUME 1!
MPEG Stream: COZY COLE "Bad"
MPEG Stream: DANNY TAYLOR "Coffee Daddy Blues"
MPEG Stream: NINA SIMONE "Little Girl Blue"
MPEG Stream: MILES DAVIS & GIL EVANS "Summertime"

V/A Welcome To The Party (Jazzman) cd 17.98

V/A Wildflowers 5: Jazz Loft Sessions (Knit Classics) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Wildflowers: The New York Jazz Loft Sessions, Complete (Knit Classics) 3cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

VAN BERGEN / PRINS / FENNESZ Dawn (Grob) cd 15.98
Yet another electronic improvisation featuring Christian Fennesz, which are becoming as banal and commonplace as "electronica compilations featuring Kid 606". "Dawn" was recorded in Berlin in November, 2000 with Fennesz performing with Peter Van Bergen on saxophone and electronics and Gert-Jan Prins on FM modulations and electronics.
RealAudio clip: "Dawn"

VAN HOVE, FRED Complete Vogel Recordings (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 18.98

VANDER, CHRISTIAN To Love (Seventh) cd 16.98
Magma's Christian Vander (with his wife, vocalist Stella Vander) and others.

VANDER, CHRISTIAN QUARTET Au Sunset (Seventh) cd 16.98
More Coltrane-worship from Magma's Christian Vander and co.

VANDER, CHRISTIAN TRIO 65! (Seventh) cd 16.98
More inspired jazz, Coltrane 1965 style, from Magma's Mr. Vander.

VANDER, CHRISTIAN TRIO Jour Apres Jour (Seventh) cd 16.98
Impulse! style jazz from Magma's Vander. Includes a version of Coltrane's "Like Sonny".

VANDERMARK FIVE Single Piece Flow (Atavistic) cd 13.98
Chicago reedsman Ken V. is about as far from Kenny G. as you can get.

VELEBNY, KAREL SHQ (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98
The first thing you notice about this ESP reissue is the amazing cover photo, featuring the artist, with a sort of Hitler moustache, sunglasses and sideburns, in a hospital bed after hitting a tree in his car. The poor soul in the bed is Karel Velebny, one of the most prominent composers in Czech, who when invited to record for ESP was asked by label head Bernard Stollmann to "Take it as far out as you can". So far so good.
And while the record itself isn't really THAT far out, it is a pretty fantastic chunk of flute flecked free jazz, light on the skronk, heavy on bop and mood and texture. The opener, "The Uhu Sleeps Only During The Day" starts out all hushed and atmospheric, mostly vibes and fluttery flute, rubbery bass, lots of space, the instruments drifting in space, a wild flute freakout ushers in the band, and away we go, the drums shuffle and skitter, the flute ships wildly over the top, the bass and piano all tangled up, the vibes anchoring the whole track. The second track "Joachim Is Our Friend" is another cool groove, lots of vibes, Velebny handles both vibes and sax (as well as occasional clarinet), a whole lot more sax this time around, some cool stretches of just drums and vibes, with a sort of far out exotica feel, and a super tripped out bass solo.
"Beetles On The Head" begins with some cool saxophone harmonies, before slipping once again into some serious post Bird bop, the sound is wildly melodic, dense and complex, with a serious groove. In "Waldi On The Castle Steps", Velebny and his crew channel the spirit of Ornette Coleman, banging out a super dynamic, and ultra rhythmic workout, culminating in a bad ass drum solo. And finally, the record closer, "Andulko Safarova" finishes off with a somber elegiac drift, all long tones and notes, lots of moaning low end, strange harmonics, until the instruments drop out, leaving a cacophony of creaks and croaks, which gives way to what sounds like detuned guitar, until the flute begins a flight of fancy over deep low droning tones, creating woozy harmonies beneath a brief haunting spoken outro. Very strange for sure, and pretty far out after all.
MPEG Stream: "The Uhu Sleeps Only During The Day"
MPEG Stream: "Joachim Is Our Friend"
MPEG Stream: "Andulko Safarova"

VHF Extracts (Erstwhile) cd 16.98
Free jazz improv trio featuring Britishers Simon Fell on double bass, Simon Vincent on drums (and tone generator), and Graham Halliwell on alto sax & percussion. Some may know Fell from his role in the out-jazz-skronk combo Descension. But with VHF, Fell and cohorts are not nearly as ferocious, forgoing extreme volume and noise for a quieter, more sombre sound that contains much detail and tension. Slow rumbling bass, mournful sax, sparse drum-hits...moody.

VIDYA (PRASANT RADHAKRISHNAN) s/t (Lotus Music) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Ascent"
MPEG Stream: "Attachment"
MPEG Stream: "Paavanaguru"

VILLALOBOS, RICARDO / MAX LODERBAUER Re: ECM (ECM) 2cd 36.00
We've long been fans of minimal techno maven Ricardo Villalobos, his records spare and skeletal, rhythmic and repetitive, the sort of electronic music we find utterly mesmerizing and totally irresistible. In addition to that, Villalobos does not shy away from strange sonic experiments, and is thus no stranger to odd samples, considering he made a whole record out of sounds borrowed from French prog legends Magma, so this new record really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, nor should we have been surprised by just HOW great it turned out, but it was, and we were, which should speak to just how incredible this strange sonic experiment truly is. Villalobos teamed up with Max Loderbauer and created this sprawling double disc which is essentially a minimal techno mash up of modern classical and European jazz, with all the sounds culled from various releases on the legendary ECM label, which include, most excitingly for us, Arvo Part, but also loads of ECM stalwarts like Bennie Maupin, Paul Giger, John Abercrombie, Christian Wallumrod, Alexander Knaifel, Miroslav Vitous, Louis Sclavis, Wolfert Brederode, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani and Paul Motian. Never heard of any/most of those, it hardly matters, as the duo of Villalobos and Loderbauer stretch out the sounds of the originals into spare rhythmic minimalism, looping and layering, adding subtle bits of rumble and crunch, deep pulses and abstract shimmer, fields of glitch and muted crunch, but to our ears, it sounds like very little was added to the mix, and much of the magic came from deftly manipulating the originals. The techno element is really negligible here, the sound is much more abstract avant jazz, or hushed minimal drift, in fact, the sound is so unique it's quite difficult to really describe simply. The sound actually reminds us quite a bit of Aussie free jazz minimalists The Necks, the same sort of subtle shifting sonic palette and the gradual evolution of sound. Opener "Reblop" is a hushed super spare bit of solo piano, wreathed in clouds of occasional cymbal shimmer, and some melodic harp, the notes on the piano wreathed in reverb, the cymbal shimmer strangely distorted, the wide open spaces peppered with soft synthy streaks and bloopy squelches, which often mirror the melody, it's really strangely pretty, but also subtly alien. "Recat" is about as close as things here get to techno, which is not that close, but the original brushed snare rhythm is looped into a clipped minimal electronic flecked skitter, that rhythm delicately processed and gradually transformed while all around it pianos and strings unfurl melodies that become gnarled and softly distorted into new shapes, the result a sort of warped lo-fi kraut-jazz. "Resvete" is super spare and spaced out, cymbal shimmer and angelic female vocals, Villalobos and Loderbauer's contributions so subtle, that barring a few glitchy bits, it's difficult to tell how different this version is than the original, quite we're guessing, but it's so deftly transformed, that it's not hard to imagine this as just some strange slab of experimental European jazz. And the tracks that sample Arvo Part, manage to make magical music even moreso, taking Part's lush liturgical drift and making it even more washed out and ethereal, mysterious and dreamlike.
One of our favorite tracks is "Reannounce", which is very tribal, almost African sounding, hypnotic rhythms, and processed chant like vocals, underpinned by some throat singing like buzz, and some wild almost free sounding percussion, "Recurrence" too with its lazy drumming, and slo-mo late night smokey slowed down jazz feel, the whir of the trumpet buzz turned into a muted drone, the sound almost like the music is melting. "Rebird" finds the duo building what sounds like an imagined field recording, underscored by delicate, slightly warped piano, and a barely there rhythm, while "Retikhiy" sounds like some sort of alien world music, or some reimagined forest folk transformed into looped electronic minimalism. We could really go track by track, every song here is mysterious and magical, the rare sort of record that transcends it's genre, it's hard imagine anyone into adventurous music not loving this. It's jazz, it's classical, it's electronic, it's plunderphonics, but it's also none of those, the sound truly more than its constituent parts. The extensive liner notes go into great detail about the creation of this collection of songs, explaining that the duo did not have access to the original tracks, so had to use the records themselves, and thus chose tracks where rhythms and instruments were isolated in the composition, in addition, gaps and pauses and record noise, as well as the natural room sound were also sound sources, with much of this improvised live, with the intention of "combining the functionality of reduced electronic structures with the living textures of ECM productions", with the most important thing being "to harmonize these two worlds, without them aspiring to mutually deactivate each other, to keep both - the organic and the electronic - in balance." So great, definite contender for record of the year, jazz, electronic, classical or otherwise!
MPEG Stream: "Reannounce"
MPEG Stream: "Reblop"
MPEG Stream: "Recat"
MPEG Stream: "Recurrence"

VON SCHLIPPENBACH, ALEXANDER The Living Music (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Atavistic's Unheard Music Series of obscure but amazing free jazz reissues (overseen by Chicago jazz musician and critic John Corbett) strikes again with this release from German pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach and a squad of kick ass European improvisors including sax legend-to-be Peter Brotzmann, Dutch drummer extraordinare Han Bennink, trombonist Paul Rutherford, and others, including Manfred Schoof, on cornet, flugelhorn, bass, clarinet, etc. Engineer Conny Plank (later famed for his krautrock productions) put "The Living Music" to tape in April 1969, and it was originally issued on LP by both Schlippenbach's own Quasar label and then by FMP. Three-quarters of an hour of "living music" indeed: it's music full of breath, action, beauty, pulsing blood. Moody, melodic piano runs, percussive dances betwixt the drums and the horns, kinda noir-ish, sleepy interludes, and (of course!) hardcore, full-on, skree-filled blow-outs: this is the energetic free improv that you'd expect from the early days of the FMP scene. A good 'un, you jazz cats take note.
RealAudio clip: "The Living Music"
RealAudio clip: "Into The Staggerin'"

VON SCHLIPPENBACH, ALEXANDER The Living Music (FMP / Cien Fuegos) lp 32.00
Newly reissued on vinyl! A free music classic starring German pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach and a squad of kick ass European improvisors including sax legend-to-be Peter Brotzmann, Dutch drummer extraordinare Han Bennink, trombonist Paul Rutherford, and others, including Manfred Schoof, on cornet, flugelhorn, bass, clarinet, etc. We reviewed this a while back when the cd version (now out of print) came out as part of the Atavistic Unheard Music Series of obscure but amazing free jazz reissues, and it's nice to have it here again, now on vinyl.
Engineer Conny Plank (later famed for his krautrock productions) put The Living Music to tape in April 1969, and it was originally issued on lp by both Schlippenbach's own Quasar label and then by FMP. Three-quarters of an hour of "living music" indeed: it's music full of breath, action, beauty, pulsing blood. Moody, melodic piano runs, percussive dances betwixt the drums and the horns, kinda noir-ish, sleepy interludes, and (of course!) hardcore, full-on, skree-filled blow-outs: this is the energetic free improv that you'd expect from the early days of the FMP scene. A good 'un, you jazz cats take note.

WALDRON, MAL & STEVE LACY Mal Waldron With The Steve Lacy Quintet (America) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!

WALL, JOHN Constructions I-IV (Utterpsalm) cd 21.00
John Wall's "Constructions" are highly digitized collages of sonic fragments culled from the jazz-themed improvizations from John Edwards' double bass and Mark Sanders' spartan drum kit skitter within a sea of spliced samples originating from Xenakis, Ryoji Ikeda, Evan Parker, Penderecki, Beautyon, Luigi Nono, and Put Put (amongst others). Beautifully packaged in a cloth-bound book.

WALTER, WEASEL / FRED LONBERG-HOLM / JIM O'ROURKE Tribute To Masayuki Takayanagi (Grob) cd 16.98
Three notorious Chicago musicians, led by Flying Luttenbachers drummer Weasel Walter (also of Hatewave, Lake of Dracula, To Live And Shave In LA, etc. infamy), decide to record their tribute to the late legendary Japanese free jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayangi. Dunno if Masayuji would entirely have enjoyed this, as while his music was definitely noisy (noisier than what's on here, sometimes!) there was also a beauty and restraint that's not explored on this disc. Nor would we imagine that such song titles as "Endless Corridor Of Roasted Babies", "Give Me head 'Til You're Dead", or "Slitted Tit" would appeal to him. And the Masayuki Takayanagi connection/concept here seems to have become secondary to a black metal derived aesthetic, anyway: the three musicians are pictured in corpsepaint, with evil-sounding stage names (Jim O'Rourke is dubbed "Lycanthrovampyr"), and the last track, "Triumph of Death", is a Weasel semi-ambient solo piece that sounds more influenced by Burzum than Mr. Takayanagi. Regardless, fans of over-the-top drums/cello/guitar skree (or "infernal improvised music", as these guys put it) should dig this immensely. After the first 30 minutes of "For Jojo/Freebasing Styrofoam" some will be exhausted, but that's a mere warm-up for the rest of the disc. The back-cover motto "play loud and die" sums it up.

WALTER, WEASEL / KEVIN DRUMM / FRED LONBERG-HOLM Eruption (Grob) cd 15.98
Hrmm. What d'you think you're gonna get if you put these three Chicagoan (or ex-Chicagoan in the case of Flying Luttenbachers drummer Weasel Walter, who has relocated to San Francisco) noisenik/improv types together and call it Eruption? Yes that's right, hecka noisy claptrap! Weasel's drums spasticate all over the 40 short tracks on this hour-long album, while Drumm's electric guitar, synth, tapes, pedals, and other electronic appliances get equally excited. Sawing away alongside those two maniacs, the cello of Lonberg-Holm adds a contrasting touch of 'classical' class, when you can hear it amid the blasts of near-white noise distortion and frenzied drum pummel. Basically the avant-garde version of grindcore (with song titles in the typical grindcore wise-ass/gross-out vein). Eruption is one of those over-the-top improv exercises sure to annoy most folks, except for the select few who live for this stuff. Definitely NOT easy listening. But those with a high threshold of noise enjoyment will indeed enjoy this threshing...I did!
MPEG Stream: "Blood - Saliva Sprinkler"
MPEG Stream: "Blood - Fluid-Filled Lung Sack"

WARE, DAVID S. Renunciation (Aum Fiedelity) cd 14.98

WARE, DAVID S. QUARTET Corridors & Parallels (Aum Fidelity) cd 14.98
And now for something slightly different...this, the umpteenth (13th, to be precise) album from the always killer David S. Ware Quartet is a bit of a departure, in that it incorporates an electronic element into their free blowing jazz. Pianist extraordinaire Matthew Shipp is now *keyboardist* Matthew Shipp, as he delves into synthesizer sounds for the first recorded time ever, and (we could be wrong) some of Guillermo E. Brown's percussion sounds electronic as well... But don't worry, saxophonist Ware and uberbassist William Parker don't amp up their instruments or anything though, so it's not a totally plugged in performance. But the combination of Ware's usual impassioned playing and the additional sound textures of Shipp's synth (as well as other twists, like the juxtaposition of jaunty Afro-Carribean rhythms and electronic sci-fi atmospheres!) make for the most surprising and exciting Ware record we've heard in a while.
RealAudio clip: "Jazz Fi-Sci"
RealAudio clip: "Corridors & Parallels"
RealAudio clip: "Somewhere"
RealAudio clip: "Mother May You Rest In Bliss"

WARE, DAVID S., QUARTET Dao (Homestead) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
His 4th album. The stellar players: Matthew Shipp, Whit Dickey, William Parker.

WARE, DAVID S., QUARTET Wisdom Of Certainty (Aum Fidelity) cd 12.98
Great new one from saxophonist Ware and his stellar quartet: Matt Shipp, William Parker, Susie Ibarra. This quartet's last two records were on the now-defunct Homestead label, the ex-head of which just said to heck with indie rock and started up Aum Fidelity to concentrate on the free jazz (there's also a new double cd out with William Parker as leader) -- more power to him.

WATERS, PATTY Love Songs (Jazz Focus) cd 16.98
A new album from ESP-Disc vocalist legend Patty Waters (recently interviewed in Halana magazine)! Accompanied by pianist Jessica Williams, we get Waters' lovely voice interpreting songs by Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Eden Ahbez, Duke Ellington and others. Despite the atrocious digipak cover graphics, a wonderful album.

WATERS, PATTY Sings (ESP-Disk/Calibre) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Re-issue of the legendary 1965 debut from innovative (read:kooky?) and highly-influential avant garde vocalist Patty Waters. Dark and jazzy and pretty creepy.

WATERS, PATTY Sings (Get Back) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Several ESP-Disc classics have been re-pressed onto 180-gram vinyl by some nice Italians, whoo-ooo! A great early 70's Sun Ra cosmic keyboard/spacefunk concert, *the* essential Patty Waters avant-jazz-vocal platter (with "Black Is the Color Of My True Loves Hair"), a freaky underground scene sound collage document (with the likes of the VU and Allen Ginsberg), and an all-star free jazz soundtrack from '65 with Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Gary Peacock, and Sunny Murray! And, as the now-deleted cd reissues of these are becoming harder and harder to come by, just in time.

WATERS, PATTY The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings (ESP-Disk) cd 17.98

WATTS, MARZETTE s/t (ESP / Aretina) cd 14.98
Another in the recent spate of ESP reissues and easily my favorite of the bunch. Recorded in 1966 and featuring a large ensemble (8 players) on flute, clarinet, cornet, trombone, vibes as well as the mighty Sonny Sharrock on guitar. Much more laid back and a bit less skronky than a lot of stuff on ESP, Watts favors rich mid-range runs instead of Ayler-ish squeals and weaves a dense wash of melodies, rhythms and riffs with wild vibes, dueling horns, shuffling percussion and Sharrock's unmistakably wild, muted guitar runs. Completely hypnotic and amazing!
RealAudio clip: "Backdrop For Urban Revolution"

WATTS, MARZETTE s/t (ESP / Get Back) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another in the recent spate of ESP reissues and easily my favorite of the bunch. Recorded in 1966 and featuring a large ensemble (8 players) on flute, clarinet, cornet, trombone, vibes as well as the mighty Sonny Sharrock on guitar. Much more laid back and a bit less skronky than a lot of stuff on ESP, Watts favors rich mid-range runs instead of Ayler-ish squeals and weaves a dense wash of melodies, rhythms and riffs with wild vibes, dueling horns, shuffling percussion and Sharrock's unmistakably wild, muted guitar runs. Completely hypnotic and amazing!

WAX POETICS #16 Apr/May 2006 magazine 7.99
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Bill Withers ("Ain't No Sunshine") is the cover star on this latest installment of Wax Poetics, the magazine of hip-hop, jazz, funk, & soul for those of us who appreciate all that good old music (and how it factors in to all the cool new stuff we're hearing). The art and design of how that music was packaged back in the day is also celebrated by Wax Poetics, with tons of vintage photos and album graphics reproduced. Besides the cover story on Bill Withers, stuff in this issue ranges from a colorfully-illustrated article about Blaxploitation cinema lobby cards to an interview with Cut Chemist to a look back at Herbie Mann's career to a really cool feature on "mom's record collection" -- a bunch of well known producers like Peanut Butter Wolf, Hank Shocklee, and Prince Paul, talking about the records they heard their mothers playing when they were kids! Always a good read, and visually appealing as well.