V/A Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism In Vintage Music And Photography 1890-1950 (Dust-To-Digital) book + cd 34.00
Basically, just what the title says. A real nice package, as we'd expect from the Dust To Digital label.

V/A Take The Bird From The Birdman (Birdman) cd 6.98
Our fine feathered friend Dave Katznelson's Birdman label shows how they bring the rock with this budget sampler highlighting the best (and the rest) of their eclectic roster, which ranges from old timey blues to experimental noise. You've got the garage rock ass kickery of the Modey Lemon, the lewd electro-fuckery of PFFR, and the indie-synth-pop of The Cuts, plus the likes of the Twilight Singers, Paula Frazer, The Warlocks, Greg Ashley, Apes, Tom Recchion, and more. (All previously or soon to be released tracks of course, since it's a sampler.) Totally diverse and always more about what yanks Dave's crank than what's commercially viable. And that's a good thing. Take the Bird from the Birdman and check this out, for sure you're gonna find some stuff you like!
MPEG Stream: MODEY LEMON "Crows"
MPEG Stream: PFFR "Total Dicks"

V/A Take The Brain Train to the Third Eye: Bud Mathis' Sunset Strip 1963 - 1967 (Dionysus) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Take the Brain Train to the Third Eye. Oh...oh my... God...it's all so trippy. This compilation revolves around Bud Mathis, an ex prize fighter turned manager / songwriter / man about town / guy on the Sunset strip in the '60s. All of these songs are rare and/or previously unreleased songs that Mathis had a hand in during his career. Mathis's 'work' ranged from rock and roll to grungy garage to stripped down R+B, producing/recording Brain Train, Joint Effort, Wolfgang, The Fairviews, and more. Even his teenage son, Mike does a song, 'My Old Lady', which just happens to be the best song on the whole record. So rad! Just listen to the sound sample!! Authentic, unaltered recordings of rockin' garage. If you love '60s psych/rock and roll, check this out.
RealAudio clip: MIKE MATHIS "My Old Lady"
RealAudio clip: THE JOINT EFFORT "The Children"

V/A Tales from the Australian Underground - Singles 1976-1989 (Festival Mushroom) 2cd 23.00

V/A Tales From The Flip III: The Next Episode (Kinjal) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More Roc Raida (X-Men) & friends turntable tales.

V/A Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Hits (Flying Nun) 2cd 14.98
This new compilation from legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun, their first proper greatest hits collection, has been getting played like crazy in the store, and it makes sense, just check out the line up, a dizzying collection of some of the greatest jangle pop and noise rock and everything in between that New Zealand has had to offer over the last THIRTY years: tracks from The Clean, The Verlaines, The Chills, The Bats, Straightjacket Fits, Chris Knox, The Dead C, The Gordons, Bailter Space, The Pin Group, Tall Dwarfs, Snapper, the 3Ds, and so many more. From the early days of the label, to now, the label having recently been re-activated/re-invigorated. Nothing here is super rare, no lost B sides or unreleased gems, so folks well versed in NZ rock, with a record collection to prove it, might not have a need for this, UNLESS you were after pretty much the ultimate kick ass NZ underground rock Flying Nun mixtape, cuz then outside of compiling your own, you'd be hard pressed to do better than this. And for folks who might have missed out on Flying Nun the first time around, this collection is overflowing with new discoveries, and so many potential new favorite bands. All sides of the label is represented, most notably, that distinctive jangle pop side, which went on ti influence pretty much every indie rock outfit since. Whether it's The Clean's impossibly catchy keyboard driven lo-fi classic "Tally Ho!" (from which this comp takes its name), or the dreamy jangle of the Chills' "Heavenly Pop Hit", which couldn't have been more appropriately titled. There's the jangly bass driven sweet harmonied girl pop of Look Blue Go Purple, that sounds like it could easily be a new retro pop 7" on Slumberland, the dreamy strum and jangle of the Bats, the quirkly lo-fi home brewed weirdo pop of The Tall Dwarfs, and then there's "Outer Space" by the 3D's which sounds like the best song the Pixies never recorded, but then there's the other side of the label, the darker, heavier more experimental side, represented here by the Dead C (of course) with a sub 2 minute blast of murky, tape manipulated, noise drenched weirdness, and the Gordons, with their dirgey, almost doomy swagger, and seriously fierce guitar crunch, Bailter Space, arguable one of the loudest bands ever, their track here dreamy and darkly shoegazey, there's the scuzzy garage rock blues of Solid Gold Hell, the Joy Division-y new wave of The Pin Group, and let's not forget about Snapper, who are like some weird sci-fi space rock, garage pop hybrid, with hooks galore, and that's totally just a taste. Like all the best comps, Tally Ho! is perfect as it is, a killer mixtape, but also, a launching of point for avid listeners to track down records by all these bands and become as obsessed now with this stuff as some of us have been for years!
MPEG Stream: THE CLEAN "Tally Ho!"
MPEG Stream: THE VERLAINES "Death And The Maiden"
MPEG Stream: ABLE TASMANS "Fault In The Frog"
MPEG Stream: THE PIN GROUP "Ambivalence"
MPEG Stream: THE GORDONS "Machine Song"
MPEG Stream: SNAPPER "Buddy"

V/A Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau (Ghostly International) cd 14.98
Don't be fooled by the title, this new fancily book-packaged compilation actually leans much more heavily on electro sounds than disco. Sort of a melting together of the two genres with the former as the dominant. Tagged in the liner notes as the "new disco", "robot disco" or "Italo disco", this playful collection of current artists gives a solid nod of reverence to disco maestro Giorgio Moroder with all of its thumping'n'pulsating processed beats, squidgy electronics and a vocoder frenzy at almost every turn. Featuring new material ripe for the dancefloor from DMX Krew, Susumu Yokota, Adult. (a fun track if not one of their strongest), I-F, Solvent, Ectomorph, as well as Hong Kong Counterfeit (a hot-pink rump-shaker), Perspects, Lowfish and more.
RealAudio clip: ADULT "Nite Life"
RealAudio clip: ECTOMORPH "Lost Angles (Manyangles Version)"
RealAudio clip: HONG KONG COUNTERFEIT "Metal Disco Rmx"

V/A Tape Op (Tape Op) 2cd 14.98
Compilation of artists who've been featured in the pages of Tape Op magazine over the years and celebrating their various unique recording environments. Includes tracks (many exclusive to this comp) by: Elliott Smith, East River Pipe, Sue Garner & Rick Brown, Man or Astro-man?, Apples in Stereo, MK Ultra and more.

V/A Tard and Further'd (Siltbreeze) cd 13.98
Selected out-of-print and otherwise really hard-to-find tracks from the Siltbreeze 7" catalog as far back as 1989. Dead C, Alastair Galbraith, Terminals, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh, Halo of Flies, etc.

V/A Team Kitty-Yo (Kitty-Yo) 2cd 16.98
Okay, nevermind the birthday cake! Here's a double disc compilation to mark ten years for the German label Kitty-Yo! The mountain of exclusive and previously unreleased aural gifts is stacked 26 tracks high and included are ones from familiar faces Tarwater, Laub, Richard Davis, Gold Chains and Sue Cie, To Rococo Rot, Maximillian Hecker, Peaches and Gonzales, Jimi Tenor, and Louie Austen as well as less familiar ones Sex In Dallas And Biladoll, Taylor Savvy, Spyritual, Raz Ohara, Preed, Kante, Rhythm King And Her Friends Rechenzentrum, Litwinenko and Jay Haze.
MPEG Stream: TARWATER "Her Body Is Alive"
MPEG Stream: LOUIE AUSTEN "Danger (Feat. Shake)"

V/A Team Mint Volume 2! (Mint) cd 4.98
The New Pornographers, Duotang, Neko Case, I Am Spoonbender, Nardwuar The Human Serviette (and his combos Thee Goblins, Thee Skablins and of course, The Evaporators)... sound like an unusual gathering? Hmmm, not really. Y'see, they're all on Vancouver's Mint Records, and a sampling of their songs have been collected together - along with those of sweet-twang Tennessee Twin, hootenanny honey Carolyn Mark, The Corn Sisters (Carolyn and Neko), garage-fun The Smugglers, surfy instrumentalists Huevos Rancheros and punky pop upstarts New Town Animals and Operation Makeout - to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their Canadian homebase. This second volume of Team Mint highlights the good times from last five years (the first volume featured stuff from the first five). Note: all tracks previously released. An easy - and ultra-easy on the wallet - way to find out what the fuss is all about!
RealAudio clip: THEE SKABLINS "Two-By-Four-And-A-Half"
RealAudio clip: TENNESSEE TWIN "These Thoughts Are Occupied"
RealAudio clip: I AM SPOONBENDER "Replaced By Toys"
RealAudio clip: OPERATION MAKEOUT "You And Me Geometry"

V/A Team Yamaha (Muysic For Peoples) cd ep 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Aavikko and friends get together to pay tribute to their favorite instrument: the Yamaha PSS Home Organ! Five European bands are featured here: from Germany, Frederik Schikowski (PSS-680) and Jeans Team (PSS-560); from Finland, Aavikko (PSS-680); from Iceland, Apparat Organ Quartet (PSS-390, PSS-480 & PC-100!); and from Sweden, Pluxus (PS-300). The tracks on Team Yamaha demonstrate that having the newest, most expensive keyboard is not as important as having the talent to play it. Cheap, versitile and easy to use, the Yamaha PSS series of portable synths can be found the world over in almost every genre of music that comes in contact with electricity. The gamut here runs from the twisted video game theme music sounds of Aavikko's "My Yamaha" to the sentimental dance tune "Polynesia" by Apparat Organ Quartet. Pluxus is perhaps the most "produced" sounding of the septet with the glitch pop number "Slow Rock", while the uber primitive award is a two way split between Frederik Schikowski's "Kreissegmente", which sounds as though it was recorded using only his PSS-680, and fellow Germans Jeans Team, with their baroque 8-bit reggae number "Spagaluzzi" which features a coda referencing Ravel's Bolero. In closing we should add that we have literally a handful of these on CD and 7" and once these are gone, they're gone for good. So get them while they're hot.
MPEG Stream: FREDERIK SCHIKOWSKI "Kreissegmente"
MPEG Stream: APPARAT ORGAN QUARTET "Polynesia"

V/A Team Yamaha (Muysic For Peoples) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Aavikko and friends get together to pay tribute to their favorite instrument: the Yamaha PSS Home Organ! Five European bands are featured here: from Germany, Frederik Schikowski (PSS-680) and Jeans Team (PSS-560); from Finland, Aavikko (PSS-680); from Iceland, Apparat Organ Quartet (PSS-390, PSS-480 & PC-100!); and from Sweden, Pluxus (PS-300). The tracks on Team Yamaha demonstrate that having the newest, most expensive keyboard is not as important as having the talent to play it. Cheap, versitile and easy to use, the Yamaha PSS series of portable synths can be found the world over in almost every genre of music that comes in contact with electricity. The gamut here runs from the twisted video game theme music sounds of Aavikko's "My Yamaha" to the sentimental dance tune "Polynesia" by Apparat Organ Quartet. Pluxus is perhaps the most "produced" sounding of the septet with the glitch pop number "Slow Rock", while the uber primitive award is a two way split between Frederik Schikowski's "Kreissegmente", which sounds as though it was recorded using only his PSS-680, and fellow Germans Jeans Team, with their baroque 8-bit reggae number "Spagaluzzi" which features a coda referencing Ravel's Bolero. In closing we should add that we have literally a handful of these on CD and 7" and once these are gone, they're gone for good. So get them while they're hot.
MPEG Stream: FREDERIK SCHIKOWSKI "Kreissegmente"
MPEG Stream: APPARAT ORGAN QUARTET "Polynesia"

V/A Technicolor Hell (Malleable / Badmaster) cd 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
As we've mentioned in the past, we're a little wary of the noise. We love us some Merzbow now and again, some Hijokaidan of course, maybe some Masonna, New Blockaders sureÉ but pure noise, harsh noise, is an acquired taste we just haven't acquired yet.
But while Technicolor Hell is by definition a 'noise comp', it's a lot more than that. The sounds are varied and rife with fucked up rhythms, bizarre textures and a world of grinding grating roaring whirring sounds that are somehow both hard AND easy on the ears.
It makes sense that this wouldn't be your run of the mill noise record, as it comes by way of a Mr. Dave Smolen, whose last record we reviewed and dug heavily a while back (still got a few in stock), and who also played on the mind blowing Flittermice Of Eld disc, a single track, abstract not-quite-black-metal-not-quite-noise tribute / homage to the Darkthrone song ""As Flittermice as Satan's Spys", drawn from just a handful of notes from said song. What the fuck?!? But so awesome.
So Mr. Smolen's on here, and it's his label, and it's one of those comps where we pretty much don't recognize a single artist, but the names have us convinced before we even hear them that we'd have to love 'em: Cars Will Burn, Drums Like Machine Guns, Tweeter, Mincemeat Or Tenspeed, Sharks With WingsÉ
Yeah okay already, but what the hell does it sound like, you're thinking, well, obviously the simplest description would be, well, NOISY. But like we mentioned before, that's just the tip of the ruptured eardrum.
Mincemeat Or Tenspeed offer up their own sort of metal, but it's pulled apart and shattered into a million jagged pieces, the resulting skree sounds more like a crumbling wall of blown out distortion, wrapped in sheets of brittle feedback, but part way through, the track morphs into some creepy buzzing Goblin-esque synthscape. Smolen's track has Flittermice in the title, but if there's any Darkthrone in there we sure can't hear it. Instead it's a black sonic sky filled with streaks of ear piercing feedback and fireworks of grinding high end. Sharks With Wings is more traditional noise, channeling Masonna, a garbled vocal transmission caked in filthy FX and blown to bloody bits. Cars Will Burn weave a gorgeous little soundscape of downtuned grind, sine wave glitch, skittery static, all assembled into a strangely rhythmic jam. We had high hopes for Drums Like Machine Guns, c'mon, with a name like that? They don't disappoint, but they do surprise with a kind of lo-fi Atari Teenage Riot thing, pounding techno beats in a field of distortion and buzz, vocals hyper distorted and buried in the mix, almost like a synth squealing and shrieking above the din. Pretty dang cool. In fact this whole comp is pretty bad ass. Surprisingly (or not) we seem to be getting more and more noise in our diet lately, and quite frankly we're digging it big time. I guess it's about time we reconsidered our general position on noise musicÉ
Packaged in an oversized, eye popping color booklet, packed with liner notes, track info, color photos, diagrams and designs, a printed insert with the cd affixed to the last page. And probably pretty dang limitedÉ
MPEG Stream: MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED "Teammate's And Mandkind's Greatest Adventure"
MPEG Stream: DAVE SMOLEN "Divebombs And Flittermice Screams"
MPEG Stream: DRUMS LIKE MACHINE GUNS "Pay What You Owe"

V/A Tectonic Plates (Tectonic) 2cd 22.00

MPEG Stream: ARMOUR "Iron Man"
MPEG Stream: DJ PINCH & P DUTTY "War Dub"
MPEG Stream: M.R.K.1 "Slang"

V/A Tectonic Plates Volume 2 (Tectonic) 2cd 22.00

V/A Teen Dance Music From China And Malaysia (Thrift Score) cd 14.98
FINALLY RE-PRESSED after years of being out of print! An all time AQ favorite available again!
Fans of The Steps, Ho: Roady Music From Vietnam and fans of instrumental exotica weirdness take note. We are happy to have chanced upon this brand new collection of gems from the cracks of music history. According to the notes on the back of the case, the thrift-store-scouring curator of this collection was blessed with an extreme case of "right place at the right time" syndrome and spotted an entire collection of records from China and South East Asia which had been dropped off in grocery bags only an hour earlier. Wisely seizing the opportunity, our protagonist picked up every last one and took them home to sift through the motherlode at his leisure. The 18 tracks on this disc represent the best, by our guide's judgement, songs in the collection. The cuts are all instrumental (most vocals being mono-syllabic choruses -- read: "oohs" and "ahhs") with the exception of the The Chipmunks-meet-the-Ventures styled "Chella-La" by The Stylers and an off kilter rendition of Prince Buster's "Enjoy Yourself". The tracks range from the very western sounding to the more overtly Asian in melody and all of them are soaked in guitar -- both of the fuzzed out and spaciously reverb drenched variety -- oddball organs, drums, bongos, vibes, bass, etc... You get the idea. There are several tracks of popular film arrangements including For A Few Dollars More, a medley of James Bond Themes and a go-go version of Bridge Over The River Kwai. But there are plenty of less obvious sources quoted including a psychedelic mambo which even features a yelp Perez Prado would be proud to call his own, some very Martin Denny-esque arrangements, as well as some very Ventures or Shadows (depending which you feel more worthy of the credit) like numbers. This one comes highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: TACIT BLESSING "(indecipherable)"
RealAudio clip: STYLERS, THE "Chella-La"
RealAudio clip: STYLERS, THE "Themes From James Bond"

V/A Teenage - The Creation Of Youth 1911-1946 (Trikont) cd 24.00

V/A Teenbeat 2001 (TeenBeat) cd 5.98
Budget priced sampler with tracks by the usual gang of Teenbeat allstars: The Rondelles, hollAnd, Flin Flon, Aden, Mark Robinson, Phil Krauth and the like!

V/A Tektonics (OM) cd 16.98
Turntablists and electronica artists meet up on this new OM comp. DJs Z-Trip, J-Rocc, Disk, Craze, Curse, Apollo, Rob Swift, Vin Roc, Tomcat, and more cut up grooves by Howie B., Meat Beat Manifesto, Photek, Propellerheads, Wagon Christ, and others.

V/A Tell Tale Signs of Earworm (Earworm) 2cd 15.98
This 2 cd set documents a bunch of out of print singles and tracks that never made it onto singles for Earworm and includes a demo track by Jon & Dave (pre-Flying Saucer Attack rural psychedelia from Dave Pearce, the Neu! grooves of Avocar, Orange Alabaster Mushroom's garage variant of the Elephant 6 bunch, and tons of other cool things.

V/A Tell-All Records - Vol.1 (Tell-All ) cd 4.98
The new Bay Area label Tell-All Records have hit the ground running with a bunch of new releases from a bunch of new artists. Nicely varied but mostly keeping within the gentle, hazy realm -- evoking pastoral scenes or drifting about in outerspace or an abandoned old concert hall with a forgotten cobwebbed piano -- the label strikes a balance between ambient soundscapes and song-based music. This label sampler compilation, their first official release, clearly shows, it all fits together wonderfully. Twelve songs by Liam Singer (who is one of the young gents running the label), Peter Surla, 28 Degrees Taurus, St. Rosa, One Umbrella, Dave Zohrob, Kallikak Family, Keith Negley, and Carrier (whose dreamy Home Movies cd-r we carried a couple of years ago) for under five bucks!
Other releases from this label include a solo full length from Singer, Kallikak Family's May 23rd 2007 album and One Umbrella's 8-song cd Solve.
MPEG Stream: 28 DEGREES TAURUS "Red Skies"
MPEG Stream: CARRIER "New Year's"

V/A Tempa Allstars Vol. 4 (Tempa) lp 18.00

V/A Tempo Technik Teamwork (Staubgold) 2cd 13.98

V/A Ten Years of Noise Pop 1993-2002 (Amazing Grease Records) 2cd 17.98
This year's fest marks a decade of Noise Pop! And if the rumblings suggesting that this might've been the final one are true, this double cd succinctly encapsulates the music and spirit of Noise Pop. Featuring pop notables Spoon, Flaming Lips, Preston School Of Industry, Superchunk, and Guided By Voices, as well as NP stalwarts the Fastbacks (whose NP2002 performance was their final show ever!), Death Cab For Cutie, Beulah, Track Star and Oranger, not to mention the fresh faces of Mates Of States, Dealership, The Pattern, The Stratford 4, Call And Response, I Am Spoonbender and The Court & Spark, and Andee's old band P.E.E. 43 tracks in all! Please note some have been previously released, however an ample number are previously unreleased studio and live recordings.

V/A Terrastock Six (Secret Eye) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Secret Eye Label who hosted the latest Terrastock music festival in Providence RI this past April have put together this compilation of 11 exclusive tracks from some of the festivals highlighted acts such as Bardo Pond, Kinski, and the Magic Carpathians including many Secret Eye bands (surprise, surprise). While this compilation showcases some of the best acts of the neo-psych scene, from the overdriven space rock of Paik and Major Stars, and the abstracted shambolic noise of Avarus and The Spacious Mind, to the far flung folk of P.G Six and Fursaxa, it fails to completely convey the musical and generational diversity that is part of the festival's huge appeal. Revival acts such as Bridget St. John and Pearls before Swine are not included, while the psych-pop of Green Pajamas, the punk noise of Lightning Bolt and the acoustic traditions of Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, and Marissa Nadler are unrepresented. But that might be a lot to ask for from a single disc. So it's best not to look at this compilation as a cohesive festival document, but rather as a good solid dose of spacey psych majesty. Limited to 500 copies.
MPEG Stream: FURSAXA "Water Moon"
MPEG Stream: THE SPACIOUS MIND "Learning City People to Walk In the Woods Quietly"
MPEG Stream: KINSKI "Festival Short Circuit"

V/A Tetragramaton: Submerge (Ion) cd 15.98
Bill Laswell masterminded this meeting of jazz and jungle, with a cast including DJ Spooky, Material, DJ Soul Slinger, Graham Haynes, and Byard Lancaster.

V/A Teutonik Disaster (A Munk Production) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After the giggles subsided over the cover art (which features a photo of a shadowy warrior figure with a drawn-in red rose in his teeth), we settled in for the no-wave and electro action. This is the real deal from the late '70s and early '80s, folks. None of that watered down replication that's been tagged 'electro' these days. However, the catch of Teutonik Disaster is that this music was not coming from the New York scene back in the day, but instead from the depths of Germany. Much of this may sound silly and absurd today, and taken in their historical context many are... absurd and silly! But many are also so far ahead of the pack, groundbreaking even. It's a fun'n'eclectic mix of tracks scattered with funky basslines, saxophone skronk, gluey detuned analog synth lines, programmed beats, plus spoken, barked, grunted and moaned vocals. Some tracks are clunky and strange like "Je t'air" by Reifenstahl which is punctuated by a "La Bamba" guitar lick. Others like Schwarze Bewegung's Traumfrau" are like a ska-tinged herky jerky comrade of Von Lmo and James Chance (psst, no-wave fans! be sure to check out the brand new James Chance box set too!). And others like Carmen's "Schlaraffenland" are just a real good time. Very entertaining!
RealAudio clip: "Schlaraffenland"
RealAudio clip: "Traumfrau"

V/A Teutonik Disaster Zwei (Vol.2) (Gomma) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume Two of this "German New Wave, Punk & Funk 1977-82" (according to the comp's subtitle - although you might wanna add electro and no-wave to that description too) is in every way just as much of an entertaining gem as the first. Thick, arpeggiations bound and bend as though they're being played on rubber keyboards. Odd, pinched vocals bark out spoken/sung lyrics in German and English. Saxophones jump in to join the synthesizers in their squelch-fest. Regimented programmed rhythms keep everyone in line. Some songs are definitely more... um, cheezy than others - both in composition and instrumentation, but that only adds to the lively diverse party scene. A super fun sonic document!
MPEG Stream: "Part Of You"
MPEG Stream: "Frauenkorper"

V/A Texas Bohemia (Trikont) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're not sure just when we got this Trikont compilation in, but somehow it slipped under our radar and never got listed. That oversight will be redressed presently. For this collection Trikont has assembled an impressive collection of recordings of Bohemians, Moravians and Germans living in South Central Texas playing the music they love most: Polkas, Waltzes and Schottisches. Many of the recordings (dating from 1970 to 1993) were made live at festivals -- Oktoberfests and otherwise -- but there are some commercially released (but not widely) singles as well. Having never been a huge fan of polkas, I was pleasantly surprized to find myself really enjoying this cd. Part of it is the live, location recorded aspect of it -- I think that the performance of polka bands live at a country fair or a VFW hall has a certain sense of immediacy to it which gets lost when they get locked in a studio. And you can really hear the surroundings on many of these recordings, including the people in the audience (though never obtrusive.) My favorite track on the album has to be a version of "Edelweiss" as performed by the Tuba Meisters -- it's so plaintive as to almost make you forget that you're hearing a track from the Sound of Music. The cd comes with a 21 page booklet, but unless you know German (Trikont chose not to have a translation on this one) you won't benefit from much more than the included photos.
RealAudio clip: TUBA MEISTERS "Edelweiss"
RealAudio clip: VRAZELS & MAJEKS & BOBBY JONES CZECH BAND "Corn Cockle Polka"
RealAudio clip: BROSCH, HENRY ORCHESTRA "Wooden Heart"

V/A Texas Funk (Jazzman) cd 16.98
Great comp of rare funk tracks from Texas (naturally). DJ Shadow contributes to the liner notes.

V/A Texas Metal Archives Vol. 1 (Brainticket / Metal Rising ) cd 14.98
Wow, is this ever cool! We kinda took a chance on ordering one in, 'cause what do we know about '80s underground metal from down in Texas? Well now we know it RULES. At least, the stuff they picked to put on this cool comp sure does. So, we ordered a bunch more copies to share with y'all. 15 tracks here from 13 bands, recorded circa 1983-1987. When metal was at its zenith, really, 'cause this stuff is so killer yet so obscure - by underground, we mean, really underground. All this stuff is from self-released demo tapes, none of these bands ever got past the demo stage to get signed or make a "real" album. So, unless you're an '80s metalhead from Texas (with a good memory), or perhaps someone who was fanatically into the tape trading scene back then, you've never heard of these bands, ever.
Thus, there's no Pantera on here - though some of these tracks were recorded at the Pantera dudes' dad's studio, and one of the bands features a guy who sang for Pantera before Phil Anselmo joined 'em. Here's the lineup: Battalion, Sentinel, Valkyrie, Death Tripper, Necrovore, Baron Steele, Warlock, Heavens Force, Wicked Angel, Forced Entry, Scythian Oath, Morbid Termination, and Rotting Corpse.
You're really not metal if that list of names doesn't sound cool to you, just the names themselves, so totally typically metal aren't they??
While each band is in fact different, you can pretty much say it's all galloping old school heavy metal action, with tons of raging youthful energy, displaying then-current influences from England, Germany, and the Bay Area, some bands more melodic than others (Baron Steele and Wicked Angel ferinstance), most of 'em in the edgier thrash and speed metal style of the day, often pushing the envelope of speed and technique, and taste! Some tracks get even more extreme, witness the protogrindpunk of Death Tripper, and the early black/death belchings of Necrovore. Vocally, while there's some punkish hardcore growls here and there (courtesy of the latter two bands mentioned, mainly), most of these acts go for clean, high pitched screaming vocals, some of 'em really over the top. Countering that, the frontman of Forced Entry (the one who had the Pantera gig, briefly) has a sneering Dave Mustaine-like voice. And by the way, if you're an Absu fan, it's interesting to guess if any of these bands were an immediate (local) influence on 'em growing up, we'd imagine some might have been, we can kind of hear it.
Sound-wise, this is all pretty decent for 20+ year old demos, really. This is metal, nothin' wrong with a little distortion! The typically lo-fi production of a track like Scythian Oath's "Shadow Of The Torturer" is actually kinda cool, the way it's kind of fucked up, it almost gets weirdly psychedelic, the mixing strangely schizophrenically "active", elements fading in and out, up and down. (If you've heard that Wicked Witch record on EM, imagine them playing metal instead of funk!). Other tracks aren't necessarily so bizarre. Raw, yes, but that's nothing to complain about.
The thick, full color cd booklet contains super detailed liner notes, plenty of graphics, photos, old fliers, logos, etc. Our favorite pic has got to be the one of Morbid Termination, their singer posing in his stage regalia, modified football shoulder pads with spikes sticking out, very homemade looking gear indeed! And there's a lot of super detailed liner notes, written by compiler John Perez (Brainticket label owner and Solitude Aeturnus guitarist), who knows his '80s Texas metal for sure, having been a part of the scene back then himself. Very obviously this whole thing is a labor of love, and the packaging reflects that. Similar, really, to that excellent Swedish Death Metal collection we highlighted recently.
Heck we're not counting on selling a ton of these, but it would be cool if we did, just 'cause it you really do dig metal, we absolutely know you'll get a kick out of this! Looking forward to volume 2!! (And wondering if Texas was so special, or were there bands this rad in the places we grew up, too?)
MPEG Stream: MORBID TERMINATION "Metal Child"
MPEG Stream: FORCED ENTRY "Stacked Deck"
MPEG Stream: DEATH TRIPPER "Canis Major"

V/A Thai Beat A Go Go Volume 3 (Subliminal Sounds) lp 28.00
Now on vinyl!! Here's some of what we said when we reviewed the compact disc version, though as before the programming of the cd and vinyl versions differ somewhat, but even if the track list isn't quite the same (the cd had 5 more songs), the general thrust of the following review still stands:
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best - though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock, but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a '70s Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well!

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 1 (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the label that brought us Dungen, Parson Sound and Abner Jay comes a crazy collection of Thai Go-Go. We're still reeling from the double whammy of the two volume Cambodian Rocks releases and the excellent Cambodian Cassette Archives and now this. Though to be fair to the latter, this release might not necessarily cater to all the same fans. The music here is more likely to appeal to fans of obscure 60's pop and garage than say, fans of off kilter pop influenced Thai music. In fact, much of what's on this disc would be difficult to place within any particular country, let alone region of the world through listening alone. Apparently the musicians here were first and foremost concerned with reproducing an accurate replica (there are many overt copies included here) of popular American music of the day. This was, after all, during the Vietnam war and plenty of American servicemen were stationed in Thailand and American music was being broadcast far and wide for their benefit. That said, there are still plenty of great rocking vocal and instrumental tracks here and a few nutty renditions of classics. Of note is The Son Of P.M.'s version of the "James Bond Theme", which gets a little spicing up with Thai drums and The Cat's "Meow" or Louise Kennedy's "Poo Yai Lee", either of which would have been an excellent addition to the Ultra Chicks compilations. There's also a version of Hank Williams' "Kaw Liga" with augmented Native American drumming and a super upbeat bridge, and Johnny Guitar's "Klongyao", probably the best representation of Thai-Western pop hybrid on the collection. Definitely stick this one out to the end when you pick it up though, as it seems heavily weighted with the best tracks in the second half.
MPEG Stream: THE VIKING BAND "Phom Rak Khoon Tching Tching"
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY'S GUITAR "Klongyao"
MPEG Stream: PAIBOON "Yom Pha Barn Norn Pahwaa"

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 1 (Subliminal Sounds) lp 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This all-time AQ favorite is finally available on vinyl! Weirdly, it omits a few cuts from the cd version, but adds two that were NOT on the cd as well.
From the label that brought us Dungen, Parson Sound and Abner Jay comes a crazy collection of Thai Go-Go. We're still reeling from the double whammy of the two volume Cambodian Rocks releases and the excellent Cambodian Cassette Archives and now this. Though to be fair to the latter, this release might not necessarily cater to all the same fans. The music here is more likely to appeal to fans of obscure 60's pop and garage than say, fans of off kilter pop influenced Thai music. In fact, much of what's on this disc would be difficult to place within any particular country, let alone region of the world through listening alone. Apparently the musicians here were first and foremost concerned with reproducing an accurate replica (there are many overt copies included here) of popular American music of the day. This was, after all, during the Vietnam war and plenty of American servicemen were stationed in Thailand and American music was being broadcast far and wide for their benefit. That said, there are still plenty of great rocking vocal and instrumental tracks here and a few nutty renditions of classics. Of note is The Son Of P.M.'s version of the "James Bond Theme", which gets a little spicing up with Thai drums.
MPEG Stream: THE VIKING BAND "Phom Rak Khoon Tching Tching"
MPEG Stream: PAIBOON "Yom Pha Barn Norn Pahwaa"

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 2 (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hot on the heels of the first volume, Subliminal Sounds has released this second collection of Thai garage beat pop go-go madness. And we have to say it's better than the first. Much better (and cheaper too). Like the first volume the tracks here are all distinct replicas of popular music from the Occident of the late sixties. Some notable covers include the King's "All Shook Up", Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna". What makes this collection stand out for us though is both the inclusion of a wider range of severely demented production aesthetics and a great deal more songs that, vocally, sound more Thai. The album starts off with a bang to Viparat Piengsuwan's "YoK YoK" with chipper explosive vocals that could only come from Thailand. So cute it'll make you barf. Not skipping a beat we're led into Surapon's "Ding Dong", which sounds like a seriously fucked up deconstruction of the "Surfing Bird". A little later Waipot Petsuwan's "Mia Chaa" throws a monkey wrench into our expectations with a dreamy ellyptical vocal line -- that sounds reminiscent of Mo Lam -- over an otherwise standard garage beat tune, instantly transforming it into a classic. Then, of course, there's some demented production like excessive reverb in the oddest places and a strange Thai version of the Chipmonks that'll have you spitting your lunch out your nose. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: VIPARAT PIENGSUWAN "Yok Yok (Jump)"
MPEG Stream: WAIPOT PETSUWAN "Mia Chaa (My Darling)"
MPEG Stream: SURAPON ALIAS THE FOX "Nang Maew Pee (The Ghost of Catwoman)"

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 2 (Subliminal Sounds) lp 28.00
This is a bit confusing, like the lp version of volume 1, this lp has the same title as the cd version yet has a decidedly different tracklisting. Needless to say, if you've dug these comps, and wished for a vinyl version, this is definitely worth picking up, and if you're a vinyl fanatic, and have never checked out any of the Thai Beat A Go-Go series, boy are you in for a treat.
Hot on the heels of the first volume, Subliminal Sounds has released this second collection of Thai garage beat pop go-go madness. And we have to say it might be even better than the first. Like the first volume the tracks here are all distinct replicas of popular music from the Occident of the late sixties, including lots of covers (like The Beatles' "Lady Madonna"). But what makes this collection stand out for us is both the inclusion of a wider range of severely demented production aesthetics and a great deal more songs that, vocally, sound more Thai. The album starts off with a bang courtesy of Viparat Piengsuwan's "YoK YoK" with chipper explosive vocals that could only come from Thailand. So cute it'll make you barf. We're soon led into Surapon's "Ding Dong", which sounds like a seriously fucked up deconstruction of the "Surfing Bird". All the tracks are fantastic and freaked out.
The songs sure, but of course, there's the demented production too, like excessive reverb in the oddest places and a strange Thai version of the Chipmunks vocals that'll have you spitting your milk out your nose. Highly recommended!

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 3 (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's beginning to appear as though Subliminal Sounds' well of amazing undiscovered Thai Beat music might be bottomless! We were a bit surprised when they managed to pull off a second excellent collection of Thai bubblegum psych tunes from yesteryear, but now a *third*?? "Is it just as good", you ask? Well, heck yeah, it is! It doesn't seem as though they culled the best for the first, or even the second, collection. This third volume may in fact be the best -- though it's hard to choose. This one has about the same ratio of purely weird and inimitably Thai "pop" to off-kilter covers of your favorites from the golden era of rock (including "Hang On Sloopy" and another Elvis number "Heartbreak Hotel"), but add into that mix a great deal of seventies funk & disco and even some Santana-esque rock, all with a Thai twist and lots of fun. But the real gems on this collection are two tracks -- "Thai Boxing" and "Siamese Boxing" -- by Jiraphand Ong-Ard which nearly bookend the anthology and completely fill their own void of strange rock. Both tracks pay homage to Muay Thai boxing and raam muay -- the traditional music that accompanies boxing events. The music of raam muay features a Thai reed instrument that sounds like a kazoo run through a Marshall amp. Both the tracks use this music as an odd bridge mixed in to them -- almost arbitrarily -- in such a way that they sound bi-polar. In addition to all the cool music on this collection is album's cover, which looks as though it were taken from a 70's Thai B-grade horror film. A "scary" looking dude in blue slacks, red sweater, and dracula fangs is lightly held back (or is he dancing with?) two sexy Thai girls wearing matching green skirts and white knee high boots. WOW! is our reaction to that, and the whole disc as well!
MPEG Stream: JIRAPHAND ONG-ARD "Thai Boxing"
MPEG Stream: SUPAPHORN "Lua Chan See"
MPEG Stream: FLASH "Where Is the Love?"

V/A Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
Another killer installment in the Sublime Frequencies series of wondrous and fantastical musics from around the world, and although we've probably proclaimed this about past volumes, this just may be the best one yet. The hardest thing about enjoying strange musics from other lands, though, is realizing that the music only seems strange to us. And with that realization comes a responsibility, c'mon, the pop music popular in the US must seem just as strange to folks in other countries, Avril Lavigne, Britney, every singer from American Idol, or how about Weird Al? So you sort of have to take into account that knowing the language, and growing up listening to the various popular musics of a region, would probably help to contextualize the strange hybridized pop music that we love to listen to and that is such a cornerstone of this series. Imagine how different it would be listening to a band like Circle if you understood Finnish. Might not seem so crazy. But that's part of the joy, it does sound crazy, and wild and weird, and wonderful, and there's certainly nothing wrong with being fascinated by seeming strangeness of the music, or enjoying the lyrics as just another instrument since we don't speak the language, and digging the seemingly bizarre juxtapositions, as long as we respect the heritage and the makers of this music that gives us such pleasure. And we do.
And holy crap does this latest installment give us all kinds of pleasure. It -is- wild, an awesomely confusional mix of Molam, Bollywood, Ethiopian groove, funk, soul, American pop and surf rock, all tangled up into amazing shapes, and peppered with killer hooks, amazing vocalists, bizarre production techniques, but most of all amazing amazing songs. The sort of songs that get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming to yourself, wondering if it was something you heard on the radio or something that was playing in some store you were just in, then realizing it was actually some seventies Thai pop song!
We knew this collection was going to be amazing before we even got to the music. Past installments in this series focusing on Thai music were already among our favorites, the photos are awesome, and check out some of these song titles: "There Are Many Handsome Men Out There", "You Should Die By Bullets", "Drinking Whiskey Until I'm Blurred", "Look Whose Underwear Is Showing", "Monthly Wife", "Uncle Dee Is A Drunk"...
And the music is just as fun and funky, crazy and catchy. A killer collection of Thai disco classics, music from Thai films, a bunch of stone cold pop gems, some unknown, some by Thai superstars, and a totally tweaked version of "The Night Chicago Died".
Some of our favorites are "Dance Of The Ngeo" by Johnny Guitar, a bad ass surf guitar jam, that begins with some strange trash can percussion, that surfaces again and again throughout, as well as some awesome fuzz organ, all making it sound like the coolest weirdest track Joe Meek never recorded, "You Should Die By Bullets" by Chailai Chaiyata & Sawanee Patana, a super funky slab of tripped out Bollywood style disco, with some truly damaged alien synths, and some amazing vocals, "We Both Think We're The Best" by Sangthong Seesai, a seasick, slithery groove, all blown out percussion, fuzzy organ, really grimey and groovy and sultry sounding, "Long Time No See" by Generation, a badass Barney Miller wah guitar groove, strutting and sexy, with a super strange totally blown out cymbal that gives the track a really strange shimmer, "Wise Old Man" by Gawao Siangthong, a funky horn flecked funk workout, that almost sounds like the Thai version of an Ethiopian Grooves track, there's even a weird breakdown in the middle of the song, where the two vocalists joke and banter, before launching right back into the song, "Title Theme from Live From The Rocket Festival" by Chalermpon Malakum, a space age seventies sitcom soundtrack groove, with weird warbly synths, funky horns, and a killer psychedelic guitar solo, and maybe our favorite (although it's practically impossible to choose), "Papaya Salad Merchant, by Onuma Singsiri, a slow burning shuffle, moody and brooding, with super sultry vocals, a wicked Morricone-ish Spaghetti Western twang guitar, some subtle waka waka rhythms, and a main melody to die for.
It's hard to describe any of these tracks without the word 'groove', as the above would seem to demonstrate, and that's because almost all of these tracks are indeed groovy, full of funky horns, wah wah guitars, bouncy bass lines, wild percussion, wicked drumming, and an incredible array of vocals and vocalists... but even the tracks that aren't inherently groovy, still seem to groove somehow... and even though we picked our favorites above, the more we listen, the more -every- song here is becoming one of our favorites... so so great!
Unlike a lot of other titles in this series where the sources were dubbed tapes or unlabeled recordings or radio broadcasts, each track here is credited to the performer (and hopefully, we assume, the performers will see some of the profits this time around?), each with it's original Thai title and translated English title, as well as what album the song is taken from, and there are liner notes from Sublime Frequencies head honcho (and Sun City Girl) Alan Bishop and frequent SF contributor Mark Gergis.
MPEG Stream: BUPPAH SAICHOL "Roob Lor Thom Pai"
MPEG Stream: ONUMA SINGSIRI "Mae Kha Som Tum"
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY GUITAR "Fawn Ngeo"
MPEG Stream: CHALAI CHAIYATA & SAWANEE PATANA "Kwuan Tai Duew Luk Puen"

V/A Thai? Dai! - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 16.98
Another fantastic collection of far out seventies South East Asian grooves, from rock to garage to surf music, once again HEAVILY influenced by American and European music of the time, although this time we do in fact mean HEAVILY, as this collection features various hard rocking jams from Asia, recorded in the seventies, all songs and sounds that lean toward the heavy, the psychedelic, the metallic even, with lots of fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, distorted horns, throbbing basslines, not to mention some wholesale borrowing from popular rock songs of the time, all given a distinctly Asian sonic makeover, mixing traditional folk vocals with thick super distorted guitar crunch, or wrapping wild psychedelic guitar freakouts around funky grooves and more traditional sounding vox.
This strange hybrid is probably best exemplified by the killer opener, Sroeng Santi's "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng", which essentially swipes that oh so iconic riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", without doing much to it at all, but then mixes it with a dark slithery low slung verse, all broody and fuzzy and a little bit sinister, with those totally irresistible Thai vocals, which as we've mentioned before, most of us heard for the first time via the Butthole Surfers' track "Kuntz", in fact, "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng" sorta sounds like an "Iron Man" / "Kuntz" mash up, and it RULES.
Then there's Jalwal, Annie & Geerasak's "Klug Tum La", which is essentially a Thai version of Chicago's "25 or 6 To 4", that immediately recognizable riff, SERIOUSLY fuzzy and crunchy, and then the horns, fantastically atonal and harsh, adding a strange vibe, as do the sweet crooned female vox, which occasionally slip into a powerful witchy howl, there's also a seriously fierce, super distorted psychedelic guitar solo.
Another one of our favorites is Teungjai Bunpraruksa's "Kanong Krung" which is just crazy and over the top and so good, pounding and fuzzy and groovy, with wild horns, twangy guitars, frantic drumming, a fat fuzzy main riff, super strange girl gang vocals, all distorted and often erupting into wails and screams, a total free for all party anthem for sure.
A lot of the tracks here are not necessarily super heavy, but they all share a certain something, whether it's a bit of fuzzy guitar, or some wild chaotic drumming, or some psychedelic guitar leads, and the sounds do vary dramatically, with many on first listen sounding like they could have come from any of the other recent Thai and Asian comps from Sublime Frequencies or Subliminal Sounds, whether it's twang flecked Morricone-esque moodiness, or Ventures like surfiness, or groovy fuzzy exotica, but spend a little time with each song, and no matter how traditional they sound at first, before you know it, some fuzzy riff or tangle of psychedelic guitar, or burst of skronking horns, or flurry of tribal drums will surface, and the song is transformed into something else. And we do mean SOMETHING ELSE!
Includes a booklet with photos, and liner notes, with more details about the history of the music, as well as the artists and the songs.
MPEG Stream: SROENG SANTI "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng"
MPEG Stream: PLEARN PROMDAN "Ruk Kum Samong"
MPEG Stream: RUNG PETCHBURI "Pai Joi"
MPEG Stream: SROENG SANTI "Nam Mun Pang"
MPEG Stream: TEUNGJAI BUNPRARUKSA "Kanong Krung"

V/A Thai? Dai! - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground (Finders Keepers) lp 24.00
Now available on vinyl!
Another fantastic collection of far out seventies South East Asian grooves, from rock to garage to surf music, once again HEAVILY influenced by American and European music of the time, although this time we do in fact mean HEAVILY, as this collection features various hard rocking jams from Asia, recorded in the seventies, all songs and sounds that lean toward the heavy, the psychedelic, the metallic even, with lots of fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, distorted horns, throbbing basslines, not to mention some wholesale borrowing from popular rock songs of the time, all given a distinctly Asian sonic makeover, mixing traditional folk vocals with thick super distorted guitar crunch, or wrapping wild psychedelic guitar freakouts around funky grooves and more traditional sounding vox.
This strange hybrid is probably best exemplified by the killer opener, Sroeng Santi's "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng", which essentially swipes that oh so iconic riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", without doing much to it at all, but then mixes it with a dark slithery low slung verse, all broody and fuzzy and a little bit sinister, with those totally irresistible Thai vocals, which as we've mentioned before, most of us heard for the first time via the Butthole Surfers' track "Kuntz", in fact, "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng" sorta sounds like an "Iron Man" / "Kuntz" mash up, and it RULES.
Then there's Jalwal, Annie & Geerasak's "Klug Tum La", which is essentially a Thai version of Chicago's "25 or 6 To 4", that immediately recognizable riff, SERIOUSLY fuzzy and crunchy, and then the horns, fantastically atonal and harsh, adding a strange vibe, as do the sweet crooned female vox, which occasionally slip into a powerful witchy howl, there's also a seriously fierce, super distorted psychedelic guitar solo.
Another one of our favorites is Teungjai Bunpraruksa's "Kanong Krung" which is just crazy and over the top and so good, pounding and fuzzy and groovy, with wild horns, twangy guitars, frantic drumming, a fat fuzzy main riff, super strange girl gang vocals, all distorted and often erupting into wails and screams, a total free for all party anthem for sure.
A lot of the tracks here are not necessarily super heavy, but they all share a certain something, whether it's a bit of fuzzy guitar, or some wild chaotic drumming, or some psychedelic guitar leads, and the sounds do vary dramatically, with many on first listen sounding like they could have come from any of the other recent Thai and Asian comps from Sublime Frequencies or Subliminal Sounds, whether it's twang flecked Morricone-esque moodiness, or Ventures like surfiness, or groovy fuzzy exotica, but spend a little time with each song, and no matter how traditional they sound at first, before you know it, some fuzzy riff or tangle of psychedelic guitar, or burst of skronking horns, or flurry of tribal drums will surface, and the song is transformed into something else. And we do mean SOMETHING ELSE!
MPEG Stream: SROENG SANTI "Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng"
MPEG Stream: PLEARN PROMDAN "Ruk Kum Samong"
MPEG Stream: RUNG PETCHBURI "Pai Joi"
MPEG Stream: SROENG SANTI "Nam Mun Pang"
MPEG Stream: TEUNGJAI BUNPRARUKSA "Kanong Krung"

V/A Thank You For Being You (Electric Honey) cd 14.98
Awwwwww, snuggle up kiddies! Here's a compilation of Scottish indie pop and rock from Scottish indie labels (Electric Honey, Pema, Postcard Circa 1980, Fence, Chemikal Underground, Codex / Pop Aural, Domino / Geographic, Shoeshine, and Creeping Bent. Mostly jingle jangle sweetness comin' from the old faves like The Pastels, Belle And Sebastian, The Delgados, Teenage Fanclub and Future Pilot A.K.A., but Josef K, How To Swim and The Nectarine No. 9 add a teeny bit of edginess and variety to this soft argyle and cardigan wearin' set. A delightful trip down a tartan pop memory lane.
MPEG Stream: DELGADOS, THE "Monica Webster"
MPEG Stream: HOW TO SWIM "Logical Man"

V/A Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story (Big Beat) 2cd 29.00

V/A Thankful (Temporary Residence) cd 11.98
Initially a very post-rock focused indie label, Temporary Residence has branched out over the years to become quite a mighty eclectic entity. This compilation literally picks right up from where the label's 2004's Thank You compilation left off. It features brand spankin' new, previously unreleased tracks by almost every artist that Temporary Residence has signed since Thank You was released. Present and accounted for: Eluvium, Caroline, Lazarus, Cex & Nice Nice, The Ladies, Sleeping People, By The End Of Tonight, The Drift, Mono and Anomoanon.
MPEG Stream: CAROLINE "Wonderlust"
MPEG Stream: LADIES. THE "Trapped In The Hobbit"
MPEG Stream: DRIFT, THE "Secret Waters"

V/A That Driving Beat (Psychic Circle) 5cd 62.00

V/A That's All Folks: Cartoon Songs From Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes (Rhino / Warner Bros.) 2cd 34.00
On this double cd you'll find the scores to six *entire* classic WB cartoons (including "What's Opera, Doc?"), in addition to tracks taken from hundreds of others. Every imaginable genre is represented: 19th century art songs, nationalistic tunes from the United States and abroad, vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley songs, jazz, songs from musical theater and film, swing, gospel, country, folk, hillbilly, and countless more. All the Warner Bros cartoon composers are featured here -- Frank Marsales, Bernard Brown, Milt Franklyn, and more than anyone else the great Carl Stalling! As I listen to these cds I'm struck with an eerie deja vu feeling by these sickeningly happy songs. Most of us are familiar with these songs and voices but when you stop to listen to the music without the animation you realize these people were musical geniuses doing some really weird shit!

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 American Song-Poem Christmas -- Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four? (Bar/None) cd 14.98
Fire up your Christmas spirits early with this sackful of seasonal song-poems! For those unfamiliar with the phenomena, here's a quick summary that we wrote a whiles back... Back in the '60s and '70s, song-poems were vanity recordings where any schmo with the dough could send in their original poems / lyrics and have them made into songs! For anywhere between $75 and $400, one could have their words set to music by professional studio musicians, often recorded in one take. Indeed, some were poignant, some were bizarre, and some were downright brilliant. Heck, that's no surprise, after all these were professional players! If that's piqued your interest, definitely check out the recent dvd documentary Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story and its soundtrack cd as well as the excellent compilation The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood And Brush. Okay, got all that? Now wouldn't you love a collection of song-poems all about Santa and Christmas, Christmas, Christmas performed by the likes of dapper gent Rodd Keith (aka Rodd Rogers) and the lovely ladies of The Sisterhood among others? Well, yearn no further 'cause Bar/None Records have made it a reality with song-poems like "Santa Came On A Nuclear Missile", "Randy, The Lil' Elf", "Christmas Time Philosophy", and "Santa Claus Goes Modern".
MPEG Stream: THE SISTERHOOD "The Rocking Disco Santa Claus"
MPEG Stream: RANDALL REED WITH THE FORERUNNERS "The Peppermint Stick Man"

V/A The Bay Bridged, Volume 1 (The Bay Bridged) cd 9.98
For those unfamiliar with The Bay Bridged, it's a bountiful website dedicated to Bay Area independent music (podcast, blogs, videos, show reviews, concert calendar, you name it!). Now they've released a bountiful compilation featuring a mix of previously released and unreleased tracks by eleven of the fine bands they covered -- Tartufi, Social Studies, Love Is Chemicals, Finest Dearest, The Lonely Hearts, The Dont's, Peloton, Tempo No Tempo, Or The Whale, and The Dodo's.
MPEG Stream: FINEST DEAREST "Making A Sound 2"
MPEG Stream: TARTUFI "Mourning's Wake"

V/A The Best of Edgar Wallace (All Score Media) cd 16.98
Music from '60s German thriller cinema based on the books of Edgar Wallace. Peter Thomas is on here, and others of his swingin' ilk.