V/A Fluorescent Tunnelvision (Submergence) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What first caught our attention about this international compilation of "space rock" bands was the presence of both utter AQ-faves Circle and equally fantastic (and Finnish) Circle-variant Ektroverde! Those band's tracks (both over nine minutes each, bookending disc one with heavy psych overload) are worth the price of admission alone, at least in the view of the Circle-obsessives here at AQ. And fortunately, the rest of this double cd comp is pretty great too. Unreleased material from the likes of Faust, Volcano the Bear, Subarachnoid Space (who win the award for worst song title with the punny "So Near And Yeti So Far"), F/i, Pseudo Buddha (who get the worst *band name* award), Djam Karet, Zelany Rahoho, Escapade, Tombstone Valentine, Oranj Climax, Quarkspace, Melodic Energy Commission, Tree Sign, 2012, and Mushroom. Yeah, you're thinking the same thing we were, "well some of those sound a bit dodgy, don't they?" However, we ended up being well pleased with most of the collection, which flows together in a very cosmic, krautrocky fashion. Spacey synths abound, of course, and the spirit of Hawkwind lives in the hearts of many of these bands, but variety there is too, from the weird sound collage provided by Faust, to the pseudo-Miles spacefunk of Mushroom, to the the dark string-drone of Volcano the Bear... Cool comp!

V/A Fluxus Anthology (Anthology) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've stocked this item before, aeons ago, but it seems to have had a difficult time staying in print. Technically it's still not in print, but Forced Exposure was swinging pickaxes around and unearthed a few more. They've dusted them off and we've taken a few off their hands. The disk itself is a document of the music (and "sound events") of a more recent art movement. Contributors include: Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, and many others. Edited by Maurizio Nannucci. Be forwarned that the vein that was struck was by no means a motherload, so if'n you missed this gem the first, second, or third times around and have a hankerin' for a hunk a fluxus, you best be pickin' one up asap.

V/A Fluxus Anthology (Zona) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've had this compilation on cd a few different times before but never on lp. As you may recall it went out of print, but then a few more were discovered a while back. Now it's available once again, only now on the long playing phonograph record format (we're still hoping that they'll work their way back to a 78 box set on this one.) The collection itself is a document of the music (and "sound events") of the Fluxus art movement. Contributors include: Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, and many others. Edited by Maurizio Nannucci. We're not sure what the continued availablity of this collection is in this format or any other, so unless you're hoping they'll get to wax cylinders you should pick this up sooner rather than later.

V/A Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware - Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers (Soul Jazz) 2cd 25.00
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
MPEG Stream: THE SEQUENCE "Simon Says"
MPEG Stream: TWO SISTERS "B-Boys Beware"
MPEG Stream: JJ FAD "You're Goin Down"
MPEG Stream: DIMPLES D. "Sucker DJs"
MPEG Stream: ROXANNE SHANTE "Bite This"
MPEG Stream: LADY D. "To The Beat"

V/A Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware - Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers - Volume 1 (Soul Jazz) 2lp 27.00
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
MPEG Stream: THE SEQUENCE "Simon Says"
MPEG Stream: TWO SISTERS "B-Boy's Beware"
MPEG Stream: JJ FAD "You're Going Down"

V/A Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware - Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers - Volume 2 (Soul Jazz) 2lp 27.00
Holy shit, this is what we've been waiting for! Soul Jazz comes correct with an essential collection of the fierce and fired up sounds of the early queens of hip-hop. This is basically everything we love about hip-hop, captured in one monstrous collection, perfectly reflecting out love of both old school hip hop and more specifically female MC's, proving one again that the ladies knew how to do it best!
Filled with sass, strength, humor and charged sexuality, these ladies weren't just trailblazers, they made songs that still sound so damn catchy and irresistible all these years later.
While a big shift happened for sure it's important to remember that hip-hop's origins were strongly connected to strong females and even queer spirit. Coming out of the disco and funk scenes of late '70s New York there was a whole generation of girls who grew up empowered to take the mic and take no prisoners as they did so. So many of those amazing women are on this collection. Roxanne Shante, Sweet Tee, Sequence, Cookie Crew, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah (yes, she once was way fierce!), MC Lyte, Dimples D, Missy Elliott, and way more. There are those of us who remember these tracks from back in the day and we're equally excited for a whole new generation to get blown away by the colorful energy in these sounds, kids who have grown up on MIA, Lil' Kim, Fannypack, and Yo Majesty will get to hear just where those sounds came from! While the early '80s was the heyday for these sounds, what makes Fly Girls such a cool collection is that it's a three decade retrospective which brings the best of the female MCs from the late '70s all the way to the early '90s. These tracks make us wanna dust off our old sneakers and head to the playground with nothing but a boombox, a piece of cardboard and some friends 'cause with these songs blasting that's all you need for an instant party!
MPEG Stream: DIMPLES D. "Sucker DJs"
MPEG Stream: ROXANNE SHANTE "Bite This"
MPEG Stream: LADY D. "To The Beat"

V/A Flying Nun 25 Years - Limited Edition Boxset (Flying Nun) 4cd / book / box 135.00

V/A Foglands (Deep Listenings) cd-r 12.98
Foglands is the follow up to the gorgeous and very well received compilation The Threshold Of Silence reviewed a while back, which featured a bunch of AQ faves: Aidan Baker, Troum, Paul Bradley and a bunch of others. A gorgeous collection of minimal dronemusick running the gamut from ominous Lustmordian darkness to glistening dreamlike ambience. Foglands is sonically similar, but features a lineup of groups for the most part unknown to us. Thankfully, all the bands involved are mining the same mysterious sonic soundworlds as our favorite soundmakers and dronelords.
There's the slightly ominous, almost new wave blisss out of Seren Ffordd's "Haze", the rich lustrous whir and cavernous shimmer of Darkened Soul's "Visu", Mathias Grassow offers up a sprawling expanse of hazy glimmering soft focus hum in the form of "Deeper Purity", Netherworld's "Frostnetter" is an reverb drenched percussive soundscape, Eastern tinged and rife with bits of feedback, and strange clanks and clangs, dreamSTATE deliver "Fogbound", a lengthy dreamy drift of soaring cinematic strings and soft swirling swells, Oophoi's "Outremer" is a super abstract, stark soundscape of whirring winds and almost static stretches of slow shifting hushed blur, and finally Thomas Weiss closes the proceedings with "Isolation", an appropriately isolationist sprawl of whispered melodies, deep throbbing low end, and gently swaying bits of chordal glimmer.
Fans of all things drone and ambient and dark ambient and black ambient and drifting and dreamlike, will definitely fall under the soporific spell of Foglands.
Packaged in an oversized full plastic sleeve, with an oversized card, full color image on one side and liner notes on the other.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, each disc hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: DARKENED SOUL "Visu"
MPEG Stream: OOPHOI "Outremer"

V/A Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol. 1 (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
We're pretty damn excited by Sun City Girls 33.3 percenter Alan Bishop's new Sublime Frequencies label. "Dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers" Sublime Frequencies is slipping on the shoes apparently discarded by such pioneering labels as Smithsonian Folkways, Nonesuch Explorer, et al. Unlike previous explorers in such unheard music, Sublime Frequencies is not restricted by academic or commercial purposes. The latter probably deserves a bit more explanation; for where much of the post-Explorer purveyors of "world music" shamelessly produce an endless slough of slick garbage that sounds like the crap you can hear on any U.S. top 40 radio station merely sung in another language (Christ, if I had a wooden nickel for every fuckin' starry eyed NPR music review extoling the uniqueness of some generic world music outfit that combines electronic music with traditional folk, yadda, yadda, yadda the world's forests would be clear cut by now) the recordings you'll hear presented by Sublime Frequencies come from the cracks in the pavement of the culture makers. Through field recordings (many made by Bishop himself in his travels), radio and shortwave broadcasts some of the most fucking great music and audio you've never heard has been culled together. Balls to fidelity, none of the artists here would be allowed within 10 miles of a Putamayo AR executive, this is the punk rock of field recordings!

Assembled from cassettes acquired by Alan Bishop through trade or purchase in 1989 while traveling through Sumatra, "Folk And Pop Sounds" contains some of the most obscure recordings of the three initial CD releases from Subliminal Frequencies. Located on the furthest Western edge of the Indonesian archipelago, Sumatra is big (as big as California) and widely unexplored in the audio realm in comparison with its neighboring islands to the East, Java and Bali. The disc begins with the Haba Haba Group in which a male singer is accompanied by flute, two alternating gongs and percussion and secondly by an unknown Sumatran Dangdut (crazy overdriven pop with a heavy Indian film music influence). The most immediately noticeable difference in these recordings from Sumatra to Bali & Java is the overt Arabic influence on the music. The Dangdut track even sounds similar to the music on a Somalian CD, "Jamiila" which we used to sell here years ago before it went out of print. As if to admonish us against generalizations, another later Dangdut track, with runaway farfisa organ, pleasant arppegiating electric guitar and female vocals sounds not dis-similar to the "keroncong" music of The Steps CD from Java released on Warn Defever's Time Stereo label. While the disc may begin innocently enough, the sequencing of the tracks seduces the listener into the strange world of Sumatran music. The very Arabic sounding Indang Pariaman which features a female singer who's melody line interweaves beautifully with end blown wooden flute and some more incredibly nutty buzzing electric keyboard (one can only imagine that the sound is intended to imitate a double reed instrument of old) is moved along by jovial electric bass and casio-rhythm. The combination of acoustic and archaic electric instruments is shamelessly wonderful. Later an orchestra of sorts, complete with violin, electric organ, bass, drums, female voice leads us down a fragrant path that's oddly reminiscent of a Sun City Girls track. Speaking of which, though this one technically isn't, there are a couple of tracks on here which indeed are songs covered by the Girls, can you figure out which ones? Along with the songs proper included here, there are some great excerpts from dramas. The first instance begins with sweet flute and what's supposed to be a rooster crowing, but emulated by what sounds like an old air raid siren played through a broken megaphone. A melodramatic dialogue ensues between a terribly afflicted female and a stoic male voice. needless to say, this one comes highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: HABA HABA GROUP "Sitogol #1"
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Piso Somalim #1"
MPEG Stream: PIMP RUBIAH "Sri Mersing"

V/A Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
This second volume of Sumatran music does not disapoint. Not at all. Different than the music of Java and Bali, the Arabic influence on Sumatran music is unmistakable. More than that though, Sumatran music seems to not only include a wide variety of influences from near and far, but seems to wear it on its sleeve. And yet, despite the insane amount of musical diversity, the Arabic thread runs strongly through every single track here. The 17 tracks on this disc feature some eight different genres of music from Sumatra. The Rabab Dangdut cuts tend to be like the country music of Sumatra. At least that's what the scratchy fiddle parts immediately sound like to a western ear. But melodies and the interaction between the vocals and fiddle are slightly reminiscent of Thai Mo Lam. Add on top of this some ska rhythm guitar, electric bass and drums and things start to get a little thick. The other styles are no less odd. The Orkes Gambus are all orchestral numbers with oud, huge sounding violin sections, electric organs and female vocals. In a blind listening test one might guess the origins as Syria or Egypt. The Tari Minang tracks are about as close to Java as you'll get here. Along with a small gamelan ensemble are Arabic double reeds, flutes and female vocals. Like the first volume, there's nary a dud on this one. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: SYAMSUDIN "Sigumendar"
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Unknown"
MPEG Stream: MUCHLIS/BERSAMA "Salam Pembukaan"

V/A Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word (Delay 68) cd 17.98
British DJ Andy Votel (also responsible for the mindblowing Vertigo Mixed set that we'll be reviewing as soon as we have enough!) has compiled this fantastic disc devoted to, as you might expect, some way cool "folk" music sounds from approx. three decades ago... he's selected tracks from acts that range from pagan UK acid folk to SoCal styled sunshine popsyke to would-be Joni Mitchell songstress stuff to far-out hippy jams. Even a Polish blues band. Some of this had unrealized commercial potential, other stuff was willfully experimental...all of it is mellow and pretty, sometimes melancholic, sometimes sunny and buoyant. The folksters found here are mostly pretty obscure and uncelebrated, though AQ customers are likely to be already familiar with, say, Brigitte Fontaine and Linda Perhacs. And there's a track from Spain's wonderfully stoned Musica Dispersa, whose reissued album we so recently reviewed.
Here's all the artists: Carol Batton, Kathy Smith, Sarofeen & Smoke, Brigitte Fontaine, Linda Perhacs, Breakout, Musica Dispersa, The Poppy Family, Wendy & Bonnie, Bonnie Koloc, Heaven & Earth, Erica Pomerace, Audience, The Roundtable, Sidan. Lots of lovely female voices, some menfolk too. As you'd expect, a lot of this is a wee bit twee -- some cuts are more our thing than others -- but it's a fine comp with no duds and lots of gentle gems. Votel provides enthusiastic and well-researched liner notes with info on each artist featured. Nicely done!
MPEG Stream: BREAKOUT "Warm Up My Lips"
MPEG Stream: SAROFEEN & SMOKE "It's Love"
MPEG Stream: THE POPPY FAMILY "Shadows On My Wall"

V/A Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word Vol. 2 (Delay 68) cd 17.98
It seems like we've been waiting forever for this, and finally it's here!! As you know we're big fans of Andy Votel's folk and prog comps as well as the Finders Keepers reissue series, and this collection does not disappoint. The first volume had all sorts of amazing songs from mostly bands we had never heard of, save for two or three exceptions. But with that and the help of Bob Stanley's stellar Acid Folk comps, Gathering In The Mushrooms, and An Early Morning Hush, as well as reissue labels Lion, Water and Sunbeam, our ears have been pricked up to rare folk ever since, so we are a bit ahead of the game in terms of making a whole lot of new discoveries here on this collection, which includes store favorites, Sibylle Baier, Pentangle, Turid, Susan Christie and Emmanuelle Parrenin. But there are plenty of surprises and wonderful inclusions such as the female Spanish/Dutch duo, Vainica Doble, the sitar-folk stylings of Paul Parrish, the Swedish prog-folk of Midsommar, the child sung lullabyes of Jan and Lorraine, Hawaii's These Trails, the Dutch commune folk of Elly & Rikkart, The Christian folk of Parchment and 11.59 and stalwart blues-folk heavyweight, Alexis Korner, among many others. So Awesome!!!
MPEG Stream: THESE TRAILS "Of Broken Links"
MPEG Stream: JAN AND LORRAINE "Number 33"
MPEG Stream: VAINICA DOBLE "Dime Felix"
MPEG Stream: PAUL PARRISH "Dialogue of Wind and Lover"

V/A Folk Music In Sweden (Caprice) 3cd 44.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three cd set of the earliest existing recordings of Swedish folk music - primarily solo fiddle, with occasional clarinet and dulcimer - recorded onto wax cylinders between 1913 and 1920. Includes a 39 page booklet with liner notes in Swedish and English along with archival photos.

V/A Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow (Old Hat) cd 14.98
Old Hat seems to be picking up the slack from Yazoo these days when it comes to reissuing American roots music. On the last AQL we got the "Music From the Lost Provinces" disc, which was great, and now comes a pair of great discs showcasing black fiddle players from the 20's and 30's. For while the fiddle was a prominent instrument in black string bands way back when, it's been all but disassociated from blues and jazz in the present. So what happened to the violin's place in black string bands to relegate it from lead instrument at the turn of the 20th century, to being all but unused before the century was half way through? And why isn't the violin used more often in the blues today? Maybe it comes down to ergonomics; the lone singer with a guitar not only has an easier time with singing and playing, but certainly cuts a more striking pose with his ax than a fiddler. While it's generally agreed that guitarists were indeed more popular than fiddlers at the dawn of commercial recording, the editors of these discs argue that recording companies were extraordinarily biased towards recording guitarists for the sole interest of profits from record sales. So what's new? That might explain the blues, but what about jazz? At the birth of jazz during the 1920's there were more violinists in New Orleans' Storyville (according to the local registry of musicians and bands) than the now ubiquitous horn players. That, I suppose, can be chalked up to volume. A loud horn section will always have an edge playing to large audiences in an urban setting such as New Orleans. What Old Hat has collected here are some of the finest examples of fiddle players who were, by some thankful foresight, preserved for our edification and enjoyment. And for what is lacking in quantity of fiddle recordings available from this period is made up for in quality. The majority of tracks here were recorded between 1926 and 1935 (with one straggler taken from a 1948 session). The greatest thing about the music on these discs is that it's not "jazz" and it's not "blues" per-se either. Performers themselves took the liberty of calling their tunes "_________ (insert word here) blues" even when the tunes didn't follow the rigid parameters of the blues chord progression. This in the hopes of capitalizing on the increasing popularity of the new genre. The popular form of the day, ragtime, spawned both blues and jazz. Old Hat has done a fine job with both of these, as with all of their reissues, including excellent liner notes and historic photos. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: ABREW'S PORTUGUESE INSTRUMENTAL TRIO "Cabo Verdranos Peca Nove"
MPEG Stream: THE BLUE BOYS "Memphis Stomp"

V/A Fonotone Records : Frederick Maryland (Dust-To-Digital) 5cd+book 72.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From Dust To Digital, the label that brought us the absolutely breathtaking Goodbye Babylon collection of early gospel music comes this exhaustive collection of lost 78's released between 1956-1969 on Fonotone Records, the last 78-RPM record label in the land. None of these tracks has ever been available on cd before, but now, after years and years of extensive research, digging through old records, sifting through old photographs and tracking down musicians, we're finally able to hear these amazing recordings. 5 discs, 131 tracks of some of the most amazing and long unheard latter-day American Primitive music, bluegrass, blues, folk, country and more. Housed in a cigar box, this set includes five cds in full color printed sleeves, a massive 160 page book with photos, liner notes, notes on each track and each artist, seventeen full color postcards, three record label reproductions, a souvenir folder and a Fonotone bottle opener!
Most of the artists were new to us with the notable exception of Mr. John Fahey recording as Blind Thomas and as the Mississippi Swampers (with Mike Stewart) and of course Fonotone head honcho Joe Bussard. But that almost makes it cooler. So many unheard and unheard of artists. Fans of Goodbye Babylon, the American Primitive compilations, and American Folkways will most likely find this pretty darn essential!
MPEG Stream: JOE BUSSARD & OSCAR MYERS "Chinese Breakdown"
MPEG Stream: BLUE RIDGE PARTNERS "Carry Me Back To The Mountains"
MPEG Stream: LUCKY CHATMAN'S OZARK MOUNTAIN BOYS "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
MPEG Stream: LEE MOORE "Boweavil"
MPEG Stream: B. SAM FIRK "Old Country Rock"

V/A For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records (Bloodshot) 2cd 16.98
Oh Bloodshot how we love thee. You singlehandedly (okay, well maybe not SINGLEhandedly) convinced a nation of hipsters that it's okay to love country music. And that there was more to country music than Kenny Chesny or Toby Keith. And that maybe a quick peek at your parents records might prove that they weren't so square after all, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, David Allan Coe, Patsy Cline, George Jones. So we had a generation of punk rockers discover their inner twang and thus was born the so-called No Depression movement. Named for the first Uncle Tupelo record, which in turn owed everything but it's country punk sound to the Carter Family, this upstart generation of REAL young country grew and changed and became a gorgeously varied patchwork quilt of all the various strains of strum and twang. And Bloodshot was there to document it all. From the swampy Bliblical blues of Sixteen Horsepower, to the stomping punk-as-fuck broken bottle bluegrass of Split Lip Rayfield, to the rambunctious country power-pop of the Old 97's, to the mysterious darktwang of Richard Buckner to the psychpop country of My Morning Jacket and on and on. This comp reads like a who's who of the last 10 years of independent music, and is a testament to the vision of Bloodshot. Lots of rare and exclusive tracks from: Paul Burch & Ralph Stanley, Bobby Bare Jr., Andre Williams & The Sadies, the Meat Purveyors, the Bottle Rockets, Carla Bozulich, Minus 5, Nine Pound Hammer, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, Crooked Fingers, Mary Lou Lord, Jon Rauhouse, John Doe, Jennie & The Pinetops, Hanl Wiliiams III, The Court And Spark, Rex Hobart, the Waco Brothers and tons more. Comes with a big 'ol booklet of liner notes and amazing photos.
MPEG Stream: SIXTEEN HORSEPOWER "De-Railed"
MPEG Stream: OLD 97'S "I'd Be Lonesome"
MPEG Stream: SPLIT LIP RAYFIELD "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?"

V/A For A Few Dollars More (Trojan) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Interesting collection of tunes documenting the Jamaican music industry's fascination with Westerns, Spaghetti and otherwise. Starting in 1969 with Lee Perry's "Django Shoots First" (curiously not included on this collection, though seekers may pick this track up on the excellent "Upsetter Collection" disc which Aq regularly stocks), inspired from Sergio Corbucci's 1966 film Django. A battle ensued when Joe Gibbs (who Perry had worked for previously) released the track "Franco Nero" (named for the actor who played the hero in the film Django). This was the beginning of many a musical gunfight between producers on the island that would last into the seventies.

V/A For the Dead in Space (Magic Eye) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Interpretation of the work of Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine. With such luminaries as Flying Saucer Attack, Ghost's Masaki Batoh, Damon and Naomi, Bevis Frond, Mourning Cloak, and Tom Rapp himself.

V/A For the Dead in Space (Magic Eye) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Interpretation of the work of Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine. With such luminaries as Flying Saucer Attack, Ghost's Masaki Batoh, Damon and Naomi, Bevis Frond, Mourning Cloak, and Tom Rapp himself.

V/A For The Dead In Space II + III (Secret Eye) 2cd 16.98
We're embarassed to say we were late in getting hip to the damaged druggy folk genius of Pearls Before Swine. But a recent spate of reissues, had us rushing back to catch up on all the stuff we missed. And apparently we were the only ones so sadly far behind the curve, as this Tom Rapp / Pearls Before Swine tribute, featuring loads of AQ favorites, is already on volume 2 and 3. Oh well, better late than never. So this double cd features a who's who of the underground indie free folk scene: Kemialliset Ystevat, The Olivetree (Glenn from Thuja, Blithe sons, etc...), Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Oren Ambarchi, Black Forest / Black Sea, Noxagt, Fursaxa, Alastair Galbraith, Dead Raven Choir and those are just the bands we're familiar with. There's a whole host of others including Marissa Nadler, Aquarium Poppers, Gentle Tasaday, Prydwyn, James Jackson Toth, Bevel, Ron Chelsvig, Cauldren, Mutter and a bunch more.
MPEG Stream: KEMIALLISET YSTEVAT "Suojelusenkeli"
MPEG Stream: BARDO POND "Uncle John"
MPEG Stream: OREN AMBARCHI "Sail Away"

V/A For the Masses (Polygram) cd 15.98
A collection of covers of Depeche Mode songs from The Cure, Monster Magnet, Meat Beat Manifesto, Rammstein, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.... But the two that take the cake are the brilliant interpretations by Hooverphonic ("Shake the Disease" a wistful noirish trip hop track that recalls Portishead) and Locust ("Master & Servant" smooth dark basslines that sounds more like Barry Adamson than the electronica shards normally constructed by Locust).

V/A For The Sick: A Tribute To Eyehategod (Emetic) 2cd 13.98
In the realms of extreme metal, few bands have had as much impact as NOLA doom sludge legends Eyehategod. Even if said impact is based solely on the number of bands who cite them as a musical influence (read: totally ripped off their sound). 
Do you think we'd have Cavity, Mistress, Floor, Dove, Monarch, Khanate, Goatsblood, Iron Monkey, Bongzilla, Khanate, Moho, Zoroaster, Graves At Sea, Shallow North Dakota, Sourvein, Crowbar, Dot [.], Fleshpress, Marzuraan, Toadliquor, Wellington, Weedeater, Ramesses, Electric Wizard or any of about a million other downtuned doom metal sludge bands without Eyehategod? Don't think so. 
So finally, Eyehategod get their due, in the form of, a two disc tribute album, For The Sick, a massive collection of sonic prayers from various worshippers at the throne of Eyehategod. Lots of the above mentioned bands, as well as loads of other heavy headz like Cable, Bowel, Alabama Thunderpussy, Deadbird, Kylesa, Brutal Truth, Byzantine, Raging Speedhorn, Total Fucking Destruction, Minsk, Lair Of The Minotaur, Bloody Panda, Mouth Of The Architect, Swarm Of The Lotus, Kill The Client and loads more!
Most folks will want to buy this already either because they LOVE Eyehategod, and need to own anything even peripherally related, want to hear their favorite EHG songs done by some of their other favorite EHG acolytes, or they love some or all of the bands involved. Probably for most of us it's all three. Two discs, over two hours, a veritable downtuned doomsludge orgy, guitars grind, low end throbs and buzzes, riffs are glacial and soul crushing, squealing serpentine feedback all over the place, vocals are spittle spewing glass gargling, throat shredding howls, every track a tarpit dirge with pummeling pounding drums, and that strange slowed down almost-groove that seems to lurk within every EHG song no matter how slow or blown out.
Hard not to recommend this. It's slow, heavy, crushing, and it's got some of the most amazing songs ever! "Sister Fucker", "White Nigger", "My Name Is God (I Hate You)", "Kill Your Boss" (What?! No "Hit A Girl"?!) Positive vibes, not. If somehow you've managed to miss out on Eyehategod, drop everything and run out and pick up Dopesick or In The Name Of Suffering or Take As Needed For Pain, and then once you're properly indoctrinated into the cult of EHG, come on back and pick this up. The rest of you sludge heads already know you need this...
MPEG Stream: DOT [.] "Man Is To Ignorant To Exist"
MPEG Stream: KYLESA "Left To Starve"
MPEG Stream: BRUTAL TRUTH "Sister Fucker"
MPEG Stream: BURIED AT SEA "White Nigger"

V/A Forcelab Edition: Composure (Force Lab / Force Inc) 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 disc is pretty much Force Inc's answer to Richie Hawtin's "DE9: Closer To the Edit", method-wise. Guest producer Algorithm was commissioned to create this album, using a series of digitized loops from Force Lab's catalog of singles as well as some unreleased .wav files. So, pretty much this is a technologically enhanced mix cd that retains the signature elements of the original artists but incorporates them into a qualitatively different structure (NB. It's all techno in the end, anyway). Matmos, Atom Heart, Alva Noto, Kit Clayton, Kid 606, Safety Scissors, Electric Birds, and dozens of others from the Force Inc roster pop up throughout the mix. Pleasant, but not as advanced as this album's premise would have you believe.
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"
RealAudio clip: "Track 13"

V/A Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974 (Now-Again) cd 17.98
As elemental to psychedelic music of the sixties and seventies as fuzz-fueled freakouts and surreal mystical lyricism, was the dirge! Those slow and heavy head-nodding anthems of bittersweet self-reflection often replete with powerful descending chord progressions and moody and soulful angst-laden vocal crooning.
The amazing folks at the Now-Again label (who usually focus on the funk side of the psychedelic equation) have assembled quite a tour-de-force with these rare heavy-hitters from around the globe, including long-time aQ favorites as well as plenty of new discoveries. Here's the line-up: Top Drawer (Kentucky), Sensational Saints (Cleveland, OH), East of Underground (USA via Germany), D.R. Hooker (New Haven, CT), Shin Jung Hyun & The Men (Korea), T. Zchiew & The Johnny (Thailand), The Strangers (Nigeria), Damon (Los Angeles, CA), Ellison (Montreal), Morly Grey (Cleveland, OH), Shadrack Chameleon (Dakota City, IA), Ofege (Nigeria), Ana Y Jaime (Columbia), Kourosh Yaghmaei (Iran), and Baby Grandmothers (Sweden)! Focusing not only on the rare, but also the rather unconventional modes of the ballad, this compilation doesn't just cover heavy psych territory, but also crosses currents with gospel, soul and downbeat international funk by obscure artists who sought after their own kind of sound. Just in time for those cold winter months, this is perfect fireside listening. In fact, it's the perfect, sad and beautiful companion to the energetic exuberance of that Psych Funk 101 compilation, we raved about a couple of lists ago. Meaning, it's a total must-have!
The cd comes with a beautiful booklet of album covers and notes about each band.
MPEG Stream: TOP DRAWER "Song of A Sinner"
MPEG Stream: D.R. HOOKER "Forge Your Own Chains"
MPEG Stream: THE STRANGERS "Two To Make A Pair"
MPEG Stream: DAMON "Don't You Feel Me"
MPEG Stream: MORLY GREY "Who Can I Say You Are?"

V/A Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974 (Now-Again) 2lp 21.00
As elemental to psychedelic music of the sixties and seventies as fuzz-fueled freakouts and surreal mystical lyricism, was the dirge! Those slow and heavy head-nodding anthems of bittersweet self-reflection often replete with powerful descending chord progressions and moody and soulful angst-laden vocal crooning.
The amazing folks at the Now-Again label (who usually focus on the funk side of the psychedelic equation) have assembled quite a tour-de-force with these rare heavy-hitters from around the globe, including long-time aQ favorites as well as plenty of new discoveries. Here's the line-up: Top Drawer (Kentucky), Sensational Saints (Cleveland, OH), East of Underground (USA via Germany), D.R. Hooker (New Haven, CT), Shin Jung Hyun & The Men (Korea), T. Zchiew & The Johnny (Thailand), The Strangers (Nigeria), Damon (Los Angeles, CA), Ellison (Montreal), Morly Grey (Cleveland, OH), Shadrack Chameleon (Dakota City, IA), Ofege (Nigeria), Ana Y Jaime (Columbia), Kourosh Yaghmaei (Iran), and Baby Grandmothers (Sweden)! Focusing not only on the rare, but also the rather unconventional modes of the ballad, this compilation doesn't just cover heavy psych territory, but also crosses currents with gospel, soul and downbeat international funk by obscure artists who sought after their own kind of sound. Just in time for those cold winter months, this is perfect fireside listening. In fact, it's the perfect, sad and beautiful companion to the energetic exuberance of that Psych Funk 101 compilation, we raved about a couple of lists ago. Meaning, it's a total must-have!
The cd comes with a beautiful booklet of album covers and notes about each band.
MPEG Stream: TOP DRAWER "Song of A Sinner"
MPEG Stream: D.R. HOOKER "Forge Your OWn Chains"
MPEG Stream: THE STRANGERS "Two To Make A Pair"
MPEG Stream: DAMON "Don't You Feel Me"
MPEG Stream: MORLY GREY "Who Can I Say You Are?"

V/A Forgotten Sounds Of Tomorrow (Ersatz Audio) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You may recall a couple of AQ lists back (#114) we were raving about Adult., and named it one of the records of the week. Well, Adam Miller (one half of the Detroit duo and Ersatz Audio label mastermind) has many more electro gems up his lab coat sleeve and on his label. He shares a sampling of them with us on this dark, kinetic compilation which documents the music on Ersatz Audio from 1995-99. Included are a handful of tracks from each of his own projects LeCar, Adult. and Artificial Material, as well as notable cuts from Platex, Third Electric and G.D.Luxxe. Pulsating beats and thick synths prod your boogie mechanism as spartan synthetic voices seep through to the inner reaches of your ears.

V/A Fortune Cookies (Fortune) cd 8.98
A new San Francisco music compilation that totally runs the gamut style-wise. Comprised of tracks by 16 diverse artists including Twenty Minute Loop, Etienne De Rocher, John Vanderslice, and Ian Brennan.

V/A Four Years in 30 Seconds (Dirter Promotions) cd 16.98
Subtitled "A Collection of Music From Around the World", this compilation contains twenty-five tracks, all of which are 30 seconds apiece, from the likes of Faust, Skullflower's Stefan Jaworzyn, Merzbow, Incapacitants, Pickle Factory, Illusion of Safety, Nurse With Wound, Lee Ranaldo, and many others. We've had this on 10" vinyl before, but this is the first time it's been available on disc.

V/A Frannce (Ruralfaune) 3xcd-r 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A quick look at the listing of groups on this super limited triple cd-r collection of songs from France, or about France, or with some sort of French angle, should have most weird music fans freaking out bigtime. All exclusive tracks from tons of AQ faves, including: The Shitty Listener, Quetzolcoatl, Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood, Silvester Anfang, Heavy Winged, Tom Carter, The North Sea, Taiga Remains, Ashtray Navigations, Uton, The Futurians, Mike Tamburo, Tanakh, Black Forest Black Sea, Ben Reynolds, Volcano The Bear, 6majik9, CJA, The Stumps, Gregg Kowalsky, Fursaxa, Seht, Valerio Cosi, Fabi Orsi, Birds Of Delay, Bjerga / Iverson, Robert Horton and more more more. 3+ hours of strange and magical sounds from all over the world, but all centered around France. From the ultra lo-fi barely audible pop genius of The Shitty Listener, the gorgeous mournful steel string Appalachian folk of The North Sea, the washed out murky drift of Quetzolcoatl, some super spare solo electric guitar drift from Tom Carter, a bit of haunting high end tribal buzz from Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood, some gorgeous shuffle and twang, slither and creep from Silvester Anfang, an epic druggy slowburning NZ-style krautrockish jam from The Stumps, some whispered crystalline shimmer from Fursaxa and we could go on and on. Varied and expansive, from folk to drone to noise to pound to swirl to buzz to twang...
As with all RuralFaune stuff, meticulously packaged, each one hand assembled, three spray painted discs, rouge, blanc and bleu (the colors of the French flag), housed in a cool textured red and orange wallpaper cover, in a thick vinyl sleeve, with a sticker on the front. Inside is a huge fold out, 2 sided poster insert, with liner notes on one side and a painting on the other, as well as a bunch of other inserts, stickers, a tiny square of paper hand numbered and a "piece of blotting paper impregnated with red wine"!
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. We will NOT be able to get more...
MPEG Stream: THE SHITTY LISTENER "More Now Girl"
MPEG Stream: THE NORTH SEA "Le Dieu Cerf"
MPEG Stream: TOM CARTER "Reynardine"
MPEG Stream: QUETZOLCOATL "I Dive For Secrets In The Gorge Du Verdon"

V/A Freak On! (VHF) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock! This is another limited cd-r from the mighty VHF, and once again they do it up right. No chintzy photocopied, thrown together bullshit. This cd-r comes in a gorgeous cardboard gatefold with full color images (of a whimsical frog) pasted on the front and back. Once again VHF impresses with their attention to detail and quality! 'Freak On!' is a compilation commemorating a handful of live gigs in the UK featuring Sunroof!, Richard Youngs and the Vibracathedral Orchestra. Sunroof! starts it off with a shimmering, somehow melodic, throbbing space-drone epic, with ear melting high end and shakers and loose percussion over a relentless pulse, that when you listen really close, almost sounds like a RIFF! Youngs contributes ten minutes of sparse autoharp, gently bowed and plucked, letting space do the rest. The Vibracathedral Orchestra track is a gorgeous 20+ minute piece of warm slithering guitar, gentle feedback, and clatteing percussion, an ur-hippie jam, but only for those hippies that are way, way gone. Recorde live in 2000. And the disc closes with another Sunroof! track, a surprisingly melodic twenty minute dreamscape, with hiccupping major key stutter setting the foundation for tinkling chimes and chiming tinkles, with delicately plucked harmonics. Lush and epic and completely amazing. Another classic from VHF. And as with all good things, limited.
MPEG Stream: SUNROOF! "Pillow Made Of Stereo"
MPEG Stream: VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA "Live Glasgow July 28 2000"

V/A Freakbitchlickfly (Violent Turd) cd 10.98
Now available on CD, but probably not for long! Unauthorized remixes of Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On" by Kid 606, Kevin Blechdom, Max Tundra, Posterboys of the Apocalypse, Mortal & Chemist and Kid 666 (uh, Kid 606 again). Sure to go out of print quickly, if not destroyed by Miss E and Elektra's lawyers first. The Kid's "Take The Piss On" humorously plunders in the melody of A-Ha's "Take On Me".
RealAudio clip: KID 666 "Take The Piss On"
RealAudio clip: KID 606 "I Got Mine"
RealAudio clip: KEVIN BLECHDOM "She's A Bitchhole"

V/A Freakbitchlickfly (Violent Turd) lp 10.98
Unauthorized remixes of Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On" by Kid 606, Kevin Blechdom, Max Tundra, Posterboys of the Apocalypse, Mortal & Chemist and Kid 666 (uh, Kid 606 again). Sure to go out of print quickly, if not destroyed by Miss E and Elektra's lawyers first. The Kid's "Take The Piss On" humorously plunders in the melody of A-Ha's "Take On Me".

V/A FreakOff (Harmless) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A followup to the recent Broasted or Fried compilation released on the dependable UK label Harmless, FreakOff again collects "Latin breakbeats, basslines, and boogaloo" recorded from 1963 to '73, made predominantly by Puerto Rican Hispanics living in NYC, where the boogaloo sound found flower. Historic and important; uplifting and energizing. With Pete Rodriguez, Eddie Palmieri, Joe Bataan, Tito Puente, etc.
RealAudio clip: ISMAEL QUINONES "Control"

V/A Free Mumia Abu-Jamal 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On October 29, 2000, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the appeal of Mumia Abu-Jamal who, unjustly convicted of murdering a policeman, has been on death row for 18 years. This means the governor of Pennsylvania can sign the execution order at any time. The case against Mumia is completely fucked, if you hadn't already heard. Four witnesses said they saw someone else shoot the cop and flee the scene; two witnesses at the trial came forward and said they'd been forced by the police to lie under oath; the obviously-biased judge that has overseen his case from the beginning has sentenced twice as many people to death than any other judge in the country; the list of travesties goes on and on.
If Mumia's life has ever depended on a public, international outcry of support, it's right now more than ever. So this benefit cd is one form of that: an impressive, internationally assembled roster of musicians all contributing tracks, most of them exclusive and composed specifically for and about Mumia. It's really, really excellent music -- a scintillating survey of utterly contemporary grooves -- from wailing reggae to downtempo triphop, righteous and fiery hiphop, dub, and jungle. Contributors include Roni Size, Primal Scream (with Augustus Pablo), Asian Dub Foundation, Fun-Da-Mental, Third Eye Foundation, Zion Train, Smith & Mighty, the Rootsman, Chumbawumba, and so many more.
Double cd with fat booklet containing details of the case, quotes from the Declaration of Independence, Martin Luther King Jr, Rage Against the Machine, Amnesty International, and Mumia himself. And fascinating sections on the Black Panthers, the fucked up US prison system, other political victims like the Rosenbergs and Leonard Peltier, tons of contact and web-related info, and more.
See here for more Amnesty International's detailed and complete report.
RealAudio clip: ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION "Digital Underclass"
RealAudio clip: GUNSHOT + TRIBAL CLASH + HUNTKILLBURY FINN "Minus 10"
RealAudio clip: FUN-DA-MENTAL "Furious"
RealAudio clip: PRIMAL SCREAM (+ AUGUSTUS PABLO) "Star"

V/A Free The West Memphis 3 (Koch) cd 15.98
Benefit compilation for Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols & Jessie Misskelley, otherwise known as the "West Memphis 3". In 1993 the three men, then teenagers, were tried and convicted for murder (Damien is currently awaiting lethal injection). The case is pretty heart rendingly laid out in the documentary "Paradise Lost", and if you haven't seen it I recommend it. According to the liner notes, the three "liked the kind of music that's on this CD." Though the producers and artists' hearts are in the right place with this comp, I think that these aren't the satanic rock and roll bands that the town was so upset over, and I don't know that the kids had even heard of Steve Earle, Rocket From The Crypt, Tom Waits, Supersuckers, Kelley Deal, Mark Lanegan, L7, John Doe, Murder City Devils or even Nashville Pussy. But they and more artists appear here to assist in their legal fund, and we applaud that. The tracks are all exclusive to this album and quite a few are covers, of the sort of stuff that Damien & Co. probably did listen to: Kelley Deal performs a Pantera song ("Fucking Hostile"--next to the Carnival In Coal version of this, our favorite Pantera cover ever), Murder City Devils play the Misfits ("She"), Zeke does Iron Maiden ("Wrathchild"), Nashville Pussy busts out some AC/DC ("Highway To Hell") and much more.

V/A Freedom Is Wings: Remembering Tom Cora (Tzadik) 2cd 21.00

V/A Freedom Rhythm & Sound: Revolutionary Jazz & The Civil Rights Movement 1963-82 (Soul Jazz) 2cd 25.00
Another incredible collection from Soul Jazz, this one focusing on jazz from the sixties, seventies and early eighties and how that music, and the lives of the performers intersected with the civil rights movement.
As jazz developed and radicalized in the sixties, African American artists began to rebel against the stereotypical image and role of the jazz musician, reimagining their music, the sounds, looking to Africa for inspiration, turning their back in the mainstream, and approaching their music more as art than entertainment, resulting in some of the most revolutionary music made in America, and producing all manner of musical hybrids as well as all sorts of musical and cultural organizations. The booklet is super informative, and will most likely have you wanting to read and learn more. And the music here perfectly captures all the energy, confusion, turmoil, pain, suffering, anger, despair, sadness, hopefulness and joy of the era. Lots of familiar faces: Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Joe McPhee, Gato Barbieri, Philip Cohran, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Joe Henderson, but also tons of amazing groups we'd never heard before. And the sounds are all over the map, straight up post bop jazz, wild skronky free jazz, groovy Shaft style jazz funk jams, wah wah guitars, soulful vox, intense tribal drum workouts, smokey late night grooves, some spoken word, some jazz almost verging on dub, lots of African influences for sure, in the instrumentation, the chant like vocals, the arrangements, some amazing flute action, some seriously intense and unique sounds and songs, and we're now on the hunt for records by most of the artists we heard here for the first time, which is always the sign of a great compilation, and this is most certainly a great compilation.
Gorgeous packaging, with a massive booklet packed with tons of photos and extensive liner notes... a great companion to the rad coffee table book of album cover art Soul Jazz also released under this title, reviewed last list.
MPEG Stream: OLIVER LAKE / NTU "Africa"
MPEG Stream: STEVE COLSON & THE UNITY TROUPE "Lateen"
MPEG Stream: JOE HENDERSON "Foregone Conclusion"
MPEG Stream: PHEEROAN AK LAFF "3 In 1"
MPEG Stream: RALPH THOMAS "Big Spliff"

V/A Freedom Rhythm & Sound: Revolutionary Jazz & The Civil Rights Movement 1963-82 Volume One (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL! This is part one...
Another incredible collection from Soul Jazz, this one focusing on jazz from the sixties, seventies and early eighties and how that music, and the lives of the performers intersected with the civil rights movement.
As jazz developed and radicalized in the sixties, African American artists began to rebel against the stereotypical image and role of the jazz musician, reimagining their music, the sounds, looking to Africa for inspiration, turning their back in the mainstream, and approaching their music more as art than entertainment, resulting in some of the most revolutionary music made in America, and producing all manner of musical hybrids as well as all sorts of musical and cultural organizations. The booklet is super informative, and will most likely have you wanting to read and learn more. And the music here perfectly captures all the energy, confusion, turmoil, pain, suffering, anger, despair, sadness, hopefulness and joy of the era. Lots of familiar faces: Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Joe McPhee, Gato Barbieri, Philip Cohran, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Joe Henderson, but also tons of amazing groups we'd never heard before. And the sounds are all over the map, straight up post bop jazz, wild skronky free jazz, groovy Shaft style jazz funk jams, wah wah guitars, soulful vox, intense tribal drum workouts, smokey late night grooves, some spoken word, some jazz almost verging on dub, lots of African influences for sure, in the instrumentation, the chant like vocals, the arrangements, some amazing flute action, some seriously intense and unique sounds and songs, and we're now on the hunt for records by most of the artists we heard here for the first time, which is always the sign of a great compilation, and this is most certainly a great compilation.
MPEG Stream: OLIVER LAKE / NTU "Africa"
MPEG Stream: STEVE COLSON & THE UNITY TROUPE "Lateen"
MPEG Stream: JOE HENDERSON "Foregone Conclusion"
MPEG Stream: PHEEROAN AK LAFF "3 In 1"
MPEG Stream: RALPH THOMAS "Big Spliff"

V/A Freedom Rhythm & Sound: Revolutionary Jazz & The Civil Rights Movement 1963-82 Volume Two (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL! This is part two...
Another incredible collection from Soul Jazz, this one focusing on jazz from the sixties, seventies and early eighties and how that music, and the lives of the performers intersected with the civil rights movement.
As jazz developed and radicalized in the sixties, African American artists began to rebel against the stereotypical image and role of the jazz musician, reimagining their music, the sounds, looking to Africa for inspiration, turning their back in the mainstream, and approaching their music more as art than entertainment, resulting in some of the most revolutionary music made in America, and producing all manner of musical hybrids as well as all sorts of musical and cultural organizations. The booklet is super informative, and will most likely have you wanting to read and learn more. And the music here perfectly captures all the energy, confusion, turmoil, pain, suffering, anger, despair, sadness, hopefulness and joy of the era. Lots of familiar faces: Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Joe McPhee, Gato Barbieri, Philip Cohran, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Joe Henderson, but also tons of amazing groups we'd never heard before. And the sounds are all over the map, straight up post bop jazz, wild skronky free jazz, groovy Shaft style jazz funk jams, wah wah guitars, soulful vox, intense tribal drum workouts, smokey late night grooves, some spoken word, some jazz almost verging on dub, lots of African influences for sure, in the instrumentation, the chant like vocals, the arrangements, some amazing flute action, some seriously intense and unique sounds and songs, and we're now on the hunt for records by most of the artists we heard here for the first time, which is always the sign of a great compilation, and this is most certainly a great compilation.
MPEG Stream: OLIVER LAKE / NTU "Africa"
MPEG Stream: STEVE COLSON & THE UNITY TROUPE "Lateen"
MPEG Stream: JOE HENDERSON "Foregone Conclusion"
MPEG Stream: PHEEROAN AK LAFF "3 In 1"
MPEG Stream: RALPH THOMAS "Big Spliff"

V/A Freestyle Files Special Edition: Underground Sounds of America (Studio K7) cd 15.98
New all-American installment in this electronica compilation series, with contributions from Yankees like Tipsy, DJ Spooky, Sub Dub, DJ Wally, Thievery Corporation and others. Studio K7, by the way, is Kruder and Dorfmeister's new domestic imprint, so it's all stuff they like.

V/A Freestyle Files Volume 4: Cracker's Delight (StudioK7) 2cd 17.98
Another in the series featuring Tipsy, Kreidler, Andrea Parker, Pan Sonic and Alan Vega, Ryuichi Sakamoto and many more.

V/A Frequencies [HZ] (Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Frequencies [HZ]" is a musical compendium of an exhibition of sound art curated by the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, and acts as a Readers Digest / K-Tel anthology of the "who's who" in the current global community of experimental / noise / minimal / glitch music. Here, you get 28 two-minute tracks from a ton of artists including Achim Wollscheid, Marc Behrens, Alva Noto, Christophe Charles, C.M. von Hausswolff, Cyclo, Ekkehard Ehlers, Errorsmith, Farmers Manual, Frank Bretschneider, Hecker, Mainpal Inv., Marcus Schmickler, Merzbow, Monolake, Opiate, Pan Sonic, Pita, Pomassl, Random Industries, Richard Chartier, Ryoji Ikeda, Senking, SND, Steinbrüchel, Stephan Mathieu, Thomas Koner, and Ultra-Red. Limited to 1000 copies, and packaged in an artful styrofoam package designed by Carsten Nicolai.
MPEG Stream: EKKEHARD EHLERS "Neulich"
MPEG Stream: PAN SONIC "Over Puilo"

V/A Frequent Flyer Havana (Kinky Sweet) 2cd 17.98
Another double disc jetsetter extravaganza compiled by the one and only DJ Tom Thump. This one is infused with the influences of Latin and African sounds and features a mix of familiar faces and newcomers -- Ocote Soul Sounds as remixed by Thievery Corporation, Romanowski, Aloe Blacc, John Beltran, Patato Valdes, Do featuring Omar Sosa and Greg Landau, Bobi Cespedes, Dtek, Zeb, 4Hero with Hector Calderon, Osunlade, Combo Moderna with Gerardo Frisina, Fort Knox Five with Mo'Horizons and many more!
MPEG Stream: MARZEBIAN "Let It Ride"
MPEG Stream: SNOWBOY "Oya Ye Ye"

V/A Fresh Fruit (Lo Recordings) cd 6.98
Brand new Lo Records compilation, this time for an unbelievably low price of $6.98. Exclusive tracks from the likes of Kid 606, The Remote Viewer, Hrvatski (excellent track), Rothko, Ceefax, and much more. At 21 tracks in length, the price is right.

V/A Friends and Lovers: Songs of Bread (Badman) cd 13.98
If you think you don't know Bread's music, think again. It might just be that you don't know the name of the artist behind that old tune you know and love so well. Many of Bread's songs have become so much a part of the day-to-day (let alone Musak'd ad nauseum), that song credits are seldom mentioned.
Who doesn't know the '70s tear-jerkers "If", "The Goodbye Girl", "Everything I Own", "Make It With You" or the puzzlingly titled "Baby, I'm A Want You" by this band? Do you remember, as Cup does, that there was even a non-Muppet puppet performance set to that song on the Muppet Show!? Well, it seems there's plenty of other folks who have a fond Bread memory or two or three too. '70s nostalgia is here with a -- albeit gentle -- vengeance, and Bread were definitely a soft rock staple of that decade. Sure those songs that we heard on AM radio back then were as vanilla as can be, but you have to admit the popcraft is still the sweetest something to behold. Main songwriter David Gates skillfully captured the weepy lows of love lost or unrequited. Oh so much yearning and heartache! This tribute kicks off with Josh Rouse doin' his best Gates impersonation on "It Doesn't Matter To Me". Following him are much less faithful but still very respectful covers performed by Kings Of Convenience's Erland Oye ("Friends & Lovers"), Call And Response ("Baby, I'm A Want You"), Oranger ("Make It With You"), Paula Frazer ("Everything I Own"), The Moore Brothers ("Look At Me"), Parchman Farm's Eric Shea with Bart Davenport ("Goodbye Girl"), Mojave 3's Rachel Goswell ("If"), Emily Sparks ("Too Much Love"), Cake ("The Guitar Man"), Holy Sons ("The Last Time"), Dambuilders' Dave Derby ("I Use The Soap"), and the Posies fellas Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow doin' one song each on his own ("Games Of Magic" and "Down On My Knees" respectively). If you're too young to have experienced these songs firsthand, you might still wanna give this comp a listen 'cause it offers shining examples of fine pop artists present coming together with fine pop songs past.
MPEG Stream: FRAZER, PAULA "Everything I Own"
MPEG Stream: SHEA, ERIC & BART DAVENPORT "The Goodbye Girl"

V/A Frisco Freakout I (10-11-08) (self-released) cassette 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The annual all-day Frisco Freakout psychedelic festival has happened on two occasions so far, most recently earlier this month and also back in October of '08. Perhaps you were there! You shoulda been, it was a great show, both years. Co-sponsored by KUSF radio, Arthur Magazine, and yours truly Aquarius Records, and organized in part by Ripley from Wooden Shjips, the Frisco Freakout benefits Creativity Explored, a worthy cause right here in the Mission, where developmentally challenged adults get to express themselves artistically (and make amazing art they do!).
This year at the festival, there was a limited edition compilation cassette for sale featuring a selection of live performances recorded at the first Freakout. We scored a few copies - and are selling 'em for what we paid for 'em, $5 each, all of which goes to Creativity Explored. They only made 100 tapes and we of course just have a handful, when they're gone they're gone, so first come first served, and sorry if you don't get one.
There's songs here from Crystal Antlers, Art Lessing, Wooden Shjips, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Ascended Master, The Bad Trips, Greg Ashley, Sequin Trails, and Earthless (who's track is an excerpt 'cause of course an entire Earthless jam would have probably filled a whole side of this tape!).

V/A Frisco Styles (Deitch Projects) 2cd 13.98
You know that guy with the Grizzly Adams beard you're always seeing skating down Valencia 'n dumpster diving outside Ti Couz? That would be the world famous artist that AQ knows as nice Mr Chris Johansson, who has single handedly released this double disc set featuring almost 50 of his favorite Bay Area rockscene bands (many of the tracks live). Everyone from Coachwhips to Caesura, Touched By a Janitor, Vetiver, Mr and Mrs Evil, Tarentel, Veronica Lipgloss, Trackstar, Total Shutdown, Quails, Troll, Erase Errata, A Tension, Tussle, Virginia Dare, Zmrzlina, Aislers Set, Tommy Guerrero, Crack W.A.R., Sonny Smith, Zeigenbock Kopf, Deep Throats, and so many more.
As with most comps meant to survey a local scene, this is a mixed bag, but there's tons more good stuff here than bad, and it's a real good way to taste what the local scene has to offer if you're not one of those folks that goes out to hear live music all the time. An exciting listen.
Double disc foldout digipack features artwork by local artists Jo Jackson, Chris Corales, Tony Cox, Dave Schubert, many more, but not, as far as I can tell, any of Johansson's stuff.
MPEG Stream: COACHWHIPS "Prisoner 119"
MPEG Stream: AISLERS SET "Emotional Levy"
MPEG Stream: MR AND MRS EVIL "Ballad of Big Lurch"

V/A From Brussels With Love (LTM) cd 19.98
A remastered reissue of this compilation of word and sound from 1980! The title might be From Brussels With Love -- the city where the original release's label Les Disques Crepuscule was based -- but the contributions are by artists from well beyond that city's limits drawing from comrades in Manchester and London (many from the Factory Records camp). It features many wellknowns, soon to be wellknowns and certainly more obscure artists from back in the day: John Foxx, Thomas Dolby, Repetition, Harold Budd, Durutti Column, Martin Hannett, Michael Nyman, Phill Niblock, Richard Jobson, Bill Nelson, Kevin Hewick, New Order, Radio Romance, Gavin Bryars, Der Plan, B.C. Gilbert and Graham Lewis. Along with the music are included two interview clips with Jeanne Moreau and Brian Eno. The latter is layered with Niblock's gently droning "Third Trombone". Although it does come with a 20 page booklet, unfortunately this new cd version doesn't come with any special packaging unlike the original cassette release which purportedly came in a PVC jacket with a badge and booklet. A very cool and incredibly varied historical document.
MPEG Stream: NYMAN, MICHAEL "A Walk Through H"
MPEG Stream: DURUTTI COLUMN "Piece For A Ideal"

V/A From Dubplate To Download (Greensleeves) 2cd 19.98

V/A From Koenji To Eternity (Inoxia) cd 17.98
Finally back in stock!
BORIS BORIS BORIS BORIS BORIS. Okay. Just wanted to get the attention of all you freaks who can't get enough of Japan's mighty Boris (and we know there's a lot of you, since we can't seem to keep any Boris in stock for more than two seconds!!) And since this compilation features an unreleased Boris track we knew you'd want to have it. Lucky for us, the rest of the bands are pretty great too. Korean Buddhist God spit out a noisy Boredoms meets the Unsane ungodly racket. Gaji play a sort of lo-fi, stripped down Shellac-ish sort of rhythmic rock with wailing far away female vocals. Two tracks by Konk + Null (that's right, KK Null from Zeni Geva): one a crushing hyper distorted grind, and one a sort of tribal spiritual with industrial blurts. Three tracks by OAC, who play a sort of sped up, spazzed out, super nosiy almost-pop punk. Two tracks by the awesomely titled Mustard Maturbation, who lurch along heavily, in a Jesus Lizard-ish bass-heavy groove. One fairly straight ahead rock track from Kirihito. And of course Boris, who do a weird half ambient industrial whirr / found sound snippet collage, half pounding metallic noise rock, like the Stooges on PCP. This came out a few years ago, but it seems like lots of folks missed it first time around, so don't make the same mistake this time!!
MPEG Stream: BORIS "Vacuuum"
MPEG Stream: KONK + NULL "Godzilla"
MPEG Stream: KOREAN BUDDHIST GOD "Big Oriental Muff"
MPEG Stream: MUSTARD MASTURBATION "Present"