V/A Analogue Eats Digital (www.misterministeck.com) 3" cd-r 14.98
Odd 3"cd-r compilation from Berlin-based misterministeck.com - a website run by artist Norbert Bayer, who makes pictures and objects using ministeck, a children's creativity game in which plastic pins are placed on a grid to create an image. Bayer utilizes this technique to actualize pixilated pop art recreations of images, most notably video game icons. This compilation features five exclusive tracks written in dedication to Mr. Ministeck (and in a low-bit video game style) by Berlin electro-pop artists Stereo Total, Frederick Schikowski (amazing electronic artist with releases on Irritant), Art Of Kissing (with Franz of Jeans Team!), Pinknoise and Neoangin. Each disc comes with its own ministeck recreation of icons from Pac-Man!
RealAudio clip: FREDERIK SCHIKOWSKI "Wie Wird Die Liebe Gesteckt"
RealAudio clip: STEREO TOTAL "Je Reve Encore De Toi"

V/A Ancient Lights and the Blackcore (Sub Rosa Utopian Diaries) cd 14.98
Scorn, Seefeel, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, even the Yanomami Shamans recorded by David Toop.

V/A And To The Disciples That Remain (Amish) cd 14.98
In celebration of their 11th year Amish records has released this comp filled with some names you know and some names you soon will from the murky wide world of the underground folk scene. A totally solid collection with not a loser in the bunch. From folks we've come to love like P.G. Six, Samara Lubelski, Dan Brown from Hall Of Fame, Helen Rush of Tower Recordings and totally stand out tracks from Oakley Hall and Bird Show. What's so nice about this comp is that while there is a connection in style and aesthetic between the artists they don't all sound alike and each brings their own slant to good old fashion american underground folk. Also nice to hear a collection like this that doesn't have some of the same names we're always used to hearing in this scene (Devendra, Sufjan, Joanna, etc) nothing against them, of course we love them but nice to remember there are many others doing wonderful things in that world.
MPEG Stream: BIRD SHOW "Filed On Water"
MPEG Stream: DAN BROWN "Good Old T. Rex or Constantine and Julian"
MPEG Stream: THEO ANGELL "Cannonball"

V/A Andergraun Vibrations!: Spanish Hard Psych And Beyond, 1970-1978 (Hundergrum Records) cd 24.00
Two words: Fuck Yeah!! Three more words: Fuzz fuzz fuzz. Another word: Word.
Oh okay, let's see, you probably want to know who's on this comp, like it matters, have you heard of any of these obscure bands? From A to X: Albert Band, All & Nothing, Ciclon, Expresion, Galaxia, Ibiza Sound, Madera De Cipres, The Matches, Modification, Pinonate, Shock, Skorpis (two cuts from them), Unidades, Rudy Ventura, and Xetxu. Fortunately, the 20-page cd booklet provides useful notes (in both English and Spanish) on all of 'em, plus full-color thumbnail repros of the original rare 45 rpm vinyl sleeve art. This is another excellent addition to the ongoing bounty of -sweet- Spanish psych/prog reissues we've seen lately, from Agamenon to Zarpa... "The Spanish Trip" (another cool comp) keeps on tripping! So what are -these- Andergraun Vibrations all about? Some of 'em groovy, some of 'em poppy, some of 'em melancholic, some of 'em heavy, some of 'em funky, some of 'em all of the above... there's disco horns and proto-metal both. Prog flutes and acid rock guitar. Dramatic vocals and garage scuzz. All sorts of retro coolness in other words. What Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils vol. III was to Sweden, this is to Spain. Oh and despite the date range of '70 to '78, twelve of the sixteen tracks are from '73 or before, and most of 'em sound even earlier (more '60s than '70s).
FYI: 'twas originally released on expensive import vinyl (in two volumes, out of print) with this cd comprising all of the 1st and about half of the 2nd volume.
MPEG Stream: CICLON "Mr. Mague"
MPEG Stream: GALAXIA "La Noticia"
MPEG Stream: SKORPIS "The Somnambulist"

V/A Andy Votel's Brazilika (Far Out) cd 17.98
One of our favorite mix makers, DJ Andy Votel. One of the most sparkling genres of music ever, Tropicalia. Can't go wrong with this one! Andy Votel is responsible for such AQ fave discs as Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word, Vertigo Mixed, Welsh Rare Beat, and the recent Well Hung (that killer comp of Hungarian funky fuzz rock we highlighted last list), among many others. Tropicalia? Well that's the late '60 Brazilian musical movement (with political and artistic dimensions as well) that melded psychedelia with Latin rhythms like bossa nova... chances are most AQ customers have some passing familiarity with it, probably having an Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso reissue or two or more in your collection.
Of those three biggies, only Mutantes appear hear on Votel's Brazilika mix, which should appeal to both Tropicalia fans and the simply curious as well. And of course Votel digs fairly deep to bring some definite obscurities into play, all from the vaults of the Brazilian Som Livre and RGE record labels. Some names: Os Brazoes, Tim Maia, Novos Baianos, Sidney Miller, Trio Soneca, Azimuth... Those familiar with his penchant for heavy, "hairy funk" on his previous mixes won't be surprised that this rocks fairly hard (and also jazzily), full of organ jamming and wah wah fuzz guitar, giving less of a look in to the breezier, more delicate and folky aspects of the Tropicalia sound. So it's not exactly a primer, but if you can untangle which part of each track is by what artist (Votel mashing several into each cut), it should whet your appetite and give you some clues for further reissue exploration. And be a surefire hit at your next party, of course.
MPEG Stream: NOVOS BAIANOS/TIM MAIA/TRIO SONECA "Baby Consuelo/Flores Beles/Funga Funga"
MPEG Stream: AZIMUTH "1974 / Periscopio"

V/A Angelfood Electronics Volumes 1 and 2 (Kake Mix) cd 12.98
Drone space-rock collection, two previously vinyl-only releases on one handy cd, with: Flowchart, Azusa Plane, Windy & Carl, Amp, Magnog, Hood and more... Too bad there's no colored vinyl to look at, but the music is still gorgeous.

V/A Angola 60's (1956-1970) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. Influenced by such elements as Congolese highlife and music from Brazil & the Caribbean, some of the musicians here have even worked with such Pan-African stars as Rochereau, Sam Mangwana and Franco. The Zairian style is evident here: lots of lush hollow body electric guitar with tons of reverb. And yet both the Portuguese & Caribbean influences are equally apparent in the melodic lines, and the language - all in Portuguese.

V/A Angola 70's (1972-1973) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Second in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. Influenced by such elements as Congolese highlife and music from Brazil & the Caribbean, some of the musicians here have even worked with such Pan-African stars as Rochereau, Sam Mangwana and Franco. The Zairian style is also evident here: lots of lush hollow body electric guitar with tons of reverb.

V/A Angola 70's (1974-1978) (Buda Musique) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Third in a new series from the same label that brought us the Ethiopiques compilations. So far, *this* installment might be the best of the bunch. Lovely, fun, '70s African pop.

V/A Animals of Africa: Sounds of the Jungle, Plain & Bush (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
We're pretty damn excited about Nonesuch's decision to reissue the entire Explorer Series on CD. The series was spearheaded by Nonesuch chief Teresa Sterne who ran the label from 1965 to 1975 (when she was canned by Warner bean counters who had just acquired the label and its parent Elektra.) Sterne earned her stripes through her championing of modern American composers Edgard Varese, Elliott Carter, George Crumb and Scott Joplin. The Explorer Series was another undertaking entirely, and was the first time anything close to a thorough collection of recordings of world music had been attempted for commercial release. Dating as far back as 1966, with David Lewiston's recording of Balinese "kecak" chant, the entire series is nearly 100 discs in total! Broken up into 8 regions there are recordings from Africa, Indonesia/South Pacific, Tibet/Kashmir, Latin America/Caribbean, East Asia, Central Asia, Europe and India. Quite and undertaking. All the discs include the original liner notes that were included with the LPs so, as the editor warns at the beginning of each booklet: "general cultural perceptions or specific factual information may have occurred since then." Each release comes with a handsome outer sleeve, the liner notes are accompanied by nice black & white photographs and though the lengths of the CDs are generally between 30 & 40 minutes, the nice price fairly makes up for it.
More fuckin' weird animal sounds? Fuck Yeah!!! You must have noticed by now that we here at Aquarius go a little nuts when we get a good recording of some animals kicking out the hella mad squeals, growls, hoots, clicks and snorts. And when their sounds are unlike anything we're likely to hear on a walk through the Marin headlands or in Tilden Park, we get pretty excited. What's more, many of the animals on this collection -- for those who haven't heard them before -- sound nothing like what one's intuition would suggest. For instance, who would think that the rhinoceros, weighing in at 2000 pounds and capable of goring any one of us like a twinkie with its horn, would have a larger vocabulary than a series of menacing snorts? But au contraire, the rhino -- as captured here -- has, in its mating call, one of the cutest inquisitive mewls you'll likely ever hear. It sounds almost like it's on the phone giving positive reinforcement to the hippopotamus on the other end complaining about the way the lion has been acting of late. Or how about the Hyrax, a small East African mammal about the size of a rabbit (and a distant relative of the elephant of all things), that makes a loud growling noise not unlike someone trying to start a chainsaw. But that's not all, you get the Vervet monkey with its complex vocabulary announcing to all its mates that a leopard is on the prowl. And not to seem biased towards the primates' side of the story, the producers also included the leopard's growling complaints about the monkeys' behavior. And that's just the beginning! You also get Zebras (they sound a lot more like coyotes or dogs than horses), Wildebeest (think frogs), Lion (say no more), Hyena (god, hyenas are freaks! no matter how many times you hear them, they never lose their charm), Wild-Dog (someone scrubbing a plate glass window clean with a gerbil), Silver-Backed Jackal (parrot?), Elephant (elephant), and last -- but certainly not least -- the hippopotamus (on the other end of the line with the rhino.) Originally released by Nonesuch as part of their Explorer series in 1973, it'd take the most tenacious DJ to find a copy of this on vinyl so pick it up on disc today. Absolutely essential!
RealAudio clip: "Hyrax"
RealAudio clip: "Rhinoceros"
RealAudio clip: "Hyena"

V/A Another Kind Of Language (And / OAR) 2cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Despite the oversized package and the dedication to the amazing Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, this is not a DVD. Rather this is a collection of sound artists and archivists who were comissioned to create a piece inspired by the work of Tarkovsky. The majority of the artists in question have composed their pieces as an homage to Tarkovsky's slow, but revelatory pacing of the narrative. The atmospheres of the sublime, the psychologically horrific, and the melancholic -- which all run through Tarkovsky's work -- speak boldly with Another Kind of Language as thick dronescapes molded from various field recordings of rain, wind, and surf. There isn't anything overt about this comp that screams out "TARKOVSKY!" with no obvious samples or quotations to be found within; rather, this is a humble dronological tribute to the Russian filmmaker's amazing sensibilities. The contributing artists run the gamut, from familiar AQ faves Mnortham, John Hudak and Kiyoshi Mizutani, to lesser-knowns/unknowns Jon Tulchin, Yannick Dauby, Dale Lloyd, , Rsudin, V.V., Madali Babin, Duul_Drv, Josh Russell, Philip Pietruschka, Sawako, and Logoplasm.
MPEG Stream: MNORTHAM "When Inaccessible"
MPEG Stream: JON TULCHIN "Mnemonic Cartography"

V/A Anthology 1: Come Organisation Archives 1979-81 (Susan Lawly) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Come Organisation was the brainchild of Whitehouse's William Bennett, whose notions of punk rock veered far from the comparatively palatable sounds of The Sex Pistols or The Damned. Where the Rotten / McLaren axis made a very calaculated attack on mainstream culture through Situationist ideals, Bennett's notion of punk was a transgression that exposed all of the desires of the id. The more vulgar and more obscene, the better as far as Bennett was concerned. In attempting to claim this space, Bennett delved deep into the realms of ultra-violent pornography, screaming cruel tales of misogyny. This double cd documents the very early tales of Bennett and his numerous productions in and with Come, Whitehouse (his most infamous creation), Nurse With Wound, and The Sodality.
Come was a gritty punk band that Bennett formed after a brief stint in Essential Logic, if I'm not mistaken. With warbling synth attacks, pounding drum, and slashing three chord guitar churns, Come sounded much closer to the muddled art-rock of Snakefinger than his more decidedly punk compatriots Warsaw or Suicide. Whitehouse does exactly what every other Whitehouse track does: emit incredibly painful high frequencies and Bennett's megaphone yell of his, um, lyrics. The Nurse With Wound track features Jimbo 'Foetus' Thirwell in the construction of a wild display of dozens of tape machines going awry much like early Merzbow. Bennett also included his 'official' mix of the Nurse With Wound / Whitehouse collaborative album "150 Murderous Passions" - which sounds just like Whitehouse, and pales in comparison to the 'unofficial' mix that Stapleton released on United Dairies. The compilation concludes with a very strange field recording made in the Bradford Red Light District: something conceptually very disturbing, but in actuality just sounding like a guy walking down a busy street with a tape deck in his pocket.
All of Bennett's productions have been meant to offend, or at least provoke, and this one is certainly no different.

V/A Anthology 2: Come Organisation Archives 1981-1982 (Susan Lawly) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Along with Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records, William Bennett's Come Organisation was one of the seminal publishing entities for transgressive British art in the late '70s and early '80s, mostly for his own projects Come and Whitehouse, but also a few other recordings from Maurizio Bianchi (recording under the Leibstandarte SS MB moniker), Sutcliffe Jurgend, 150 Murderous Passions (a collaboration between Bennett and Nurse With Wound), and probably some other projects that have eluded my research (if anybody has a discography from Come Organisation, please let me know!). While the Come Organisation is no longer active, Bennett has founded Susan Lawly to continue publishing Whitehouse material. This document is the second collection of material from the Come Organisation vaults, comprised of the last Come album "I'm Jack," highlights from the conceptually based compilation "Fur Ilse Koch," and a two tracks from Bianchi's "Weltanschauung" album.
For the Come album "I'm Jack," Bennett had worked with Foetus' Jim Thirwell to create two very odd pieces of primitive anti-punk. On one track Bennett took up the drums, with Thirlwell on guitar, electronics, and vocal duties; and the other track found the two switching yet performing similar pieces. Starting off with the sludgy guitar feedback that has since become the staple for bands like Earth, the Melvins, and Harvey Milk, Come sporadically drop in unstructured double kick drum beats before unleashing a belligerent feedback / synth noise.
Ilse Koch was the wife of the commandant at the Buchenwald concentration camp during Nazi era Germany, and had developed an unsavory fashion aesthetic of furnishing her lampshades with the skin from dead prisoners. Obviously the material from the Come Organisation compilation that is dedicated to her is certainly not for the squeamish. The anonymously produced tracks from Musique Concrete and Etat Brut both employ similar methods of media appropriation into bizarre collages with lots of Jim Jones references. But it is the Nurse With Wound track "Fashioned To A Device Behind A Tree" that is the highlight to both "Fur Ilse Koch" and "Anthology 2" on which a little German girl pleads for her father accompanied by an ever intensifying psychoacoustically irritating high frequency drone. Very creepy. The MB tracks are also quite impressive, with his signature aesthetic of sinister electronic dirges that are continuously collapsing under the weight of an existential gloom.
Bennett indicated in the liner notes the possibility of reissuing "Fur Ilse Koch" at a later date, pretty much all that is missing from that compilation and these highlights are the shock tactic insertions of Nazi speeches, Manson gibberish, and the Japanese Imperial War anthem. The tracks featured here do well enough to frighten and horrify without such obvious references.
RealAudio clip: NURSE WITH WOUND "Fashioned To A Device Behind A Tree"
RealAudio clip: COME "President, Your Prick's Stiff"
RealAudio clip: LEIBSTANDARTE SS MB "Endoradiaion"

V/A Anthology of American Folk Music, Edited By Harry Smith (Smithsonian Folkways) 6cd 95.00

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.
RealAudio clip: SEXUAL HARRASSMENT "If I Gave You a Party"
RealAudio clip: KONK "Love Attack"

V/A Anti NY (Gomma) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Subtitled "Rare Music from the Early 80ies New York Underground", this is a really good collection of no wave / stark electro funk material from a variety of notable sources. There's an early Jim Jarmusch (the filmmaker) track, and one from Gray, the band formed by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The absolute high point is Sexual Harrassment's "If I Gave You a Party", which is from 1983 and is odd paleface electro, stripped down and sort of stiff in a funny way, like the Flying Lizards, and this song alone is worth the price of the disc! Speaking of Flying Lizards, that band's Vivien Goldman contributes a song here, produced by John Lydon and Keith Levene. And Konk's "Love Attack" is prime post-punk disco with a heavy Latin rhythmic vibe; its quality reminds me of the Arthur Russell tracks from that other esteemed early '80s punk / no wave / disco compilation Disco Not Disco.
Contributing selected remixes are Psychonauts, Funkstorung, and Syrup (people from Poets of Rhythm and Beanfield) etc, but they're forgettable for the most part (the Funkstorung is good); the original tracks are the prime attraction here.

V/A Anticon Giga Single (Anticon) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Low priced compilation produced by Oakland's Anticon collective of hip hop artists. 17 tracks from the likes of Anticon, Sole, Dose, and much more.
RealAudio clip: BRANDON "Pedestrian For Vessel"
RealAudio clip: SAGE FRANCIS "Inherited Scars"

V/A Anticon Label Sampler 1999-2004 (Anticon) cd 7.98
For those of you who somehow missed the Anticon boat, and maybe even for those of you who need to fill said boat with every release and extra track you can get your hands on, here's a massive 33 track sampler from the Anticon label, funny, funky, idiosyncratic, bizarre and musically adventurous, home of the off kilter indie hip hop of Sole, Themselves, Odd Nosdam, Alias, Why?, Restiform Bodies and loads more. This comp has it all old tracks, new tracks, soon to be released tracks and of course, some UNRELEASED tracks. 33 tracks mixed seamlessly into one big ol chunk by Odd Nosdam, featuring all of the above folks as well as Passage, Sage Francis, Deep Puddle Dynamics, Controller 7, Dosh and Jel. All for a measly seven bucks. Nice!
MPEG Stream: THEMSELVES "Dark Sky Demo"
MPEG Stream: PASSAGE "Poem To The Hospital"
MPEG Stream: THEMSELVES "Good People Check (Hrvatski Remix)"

V/A Antitrade (Touch) cd 15.98
"In the northern hemisphere from the southwest, a wind that blows steadily in the opposite direction to the trade-wind" reads the definition to the 'antitrade' on the disc itself. Aside from this oddly placed text, there are very little clues to the reading of this baffling pseudo-concept record from Ash International (R.I.P.). Collecting fragments of disembodied voices, VLF radio noise, and field recordings of fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day, the artists on this compilation manifest an aural purity of simple drones to assimilate the disparate noises in a surprisingly cohesive whole. It is a little hard to believe that this is a compilation as Bruce Gilbert (Wire), S.E.T.I. (aka Andrew Lagowski), Disinformation, Hazard (who I believe recorded as Morthound on Cold Meat Industries many moons ago), Lief Elggren (Ghost Orchid), Aer, and hhh contribute on this album. An excellent piece from the click and drone school.

V/A April (Box) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Welcome to the Frans De Waard show starring Frans De Waard! 5 of the 7 tracks on this compilation feature Mr. De Waard in various guises as the "borrowed" project Freiband covering a King Crimson song, as the ambient drone guitar project Shifts, in the ultra-minimal techno / microsound project Goem, and in the musique concrete ensemble Kapotte Musiek. Roel Meelkop (who works with De Waard in Goem and Kapotte Muziek) contributes a solo track of minimalist scraping. The last track throws off the symmetry of the Frans De Waard connection with a duet between Boston's Jason Talbot and Howard Stelzer on turntables and tape constructions. Limited to 300 CD-Rs.
RealAudio clip: GOEM "Braun Mix"
RealAudio clip: ROEL MEELKOP "Fuzzy"
RealAudio clip: FREIBAND "Dream Illusion"

V/A Aquarius Rock (Pressure Sounds) cd 17.98
What, you don't remember when our store was located on Constant Spring Road in Kingston, Jamaica? Awww, there's just no pulling the wool over y'all's eyes. You do know that Allan's initials are JAH though don't you? It is kind of a eerie co-incidence that. Honestly, Aquarius -- the Jamaican variant -- was a record store, recording studio and record label founded and run by Herman Chin-Loy, a Jamaican of Chinese and African descent. Along with having one of the hottest record shops in Kingston (picking the right name is crucial of course) he holds the claim to fame of releasing the very first dub record, Aquarius Dub and of being the man to introduce the world to Augustus Pablo and his magical melodica. Included here are 24 classic tracks -- vocal and dubs -- from Herman's vaults such as Augustus Pablo's "Aquarius Rock" and "Iggy Iggy", and cuts from Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis, Dennis AlCapone and more. It's a nice collection, the only downside being that there's an awful lot of rhythm recycling throughout. Comes with a nice full color booklet with a bio on Chin-Loy and his Aquarius enterprise.
MPEG Stream: AUGUSTUS PABLO & HERMAN "Aquarius Rock"
MPEG Stream: DENNIS ALCAPONE "Sabata"

V/A Archipelago: Islands (Foundry) 6cd 40.00
Embracing the decentralized nature of artists working in isolation outside of the club circuit and disconnected from the current rhetoric of Raster-Noton glitch worship or Mille Plateaux micro-house, the musicians on "Archipelago" have attempted to forge a community that exists out of the cooperative spirit, rather than by commodifying yet another posse of knob twiddlers. That said, the 6 mini 3" CDs which make up this compilation hold a tentative common thread in supporting the ambient techno which dominated the Bay Area some five years ago with the flourishing of labels like Reflective and Silent.
Rhomb's disc (disc one) opens the proceedings with subterranean drips, trippy electric tones, sparse rhythmic clicks, and lots of space to drive home a mysterious cosmology. Csero's (disc two) glitch-music with static irradiating the pointillist bleeps and blips sounds sort of like a composition made from a broken nintendo game-boy. Seofon (disc three) offers a dodgy amount of hippy space music laced with electronic tribal rhythms very much like the recent work from Brian Eno or Bill Laswell. Thermal's (disc four) ambient techno noodles around a very Pete Namlook analogue synth line and some downtempo rhythms. The biggest break from the San Francisco ambient sound comes from Dean Santomieri (disc five) who has produced a grizzled piece of spartan media cut-ups and industrially-minded musique concrete. eM (disc six) completes the series by mutating clipped speak-and-spell tones into erratically forming ambient passages. Nice.

V/A Archiv 1.1 (Asphodel) cd 13.98
Originally released as a bonus cd for subscribers to the Wire magazine, this sampler is a perfect introduction to the super clinical, ultra minimal Raster-Noton sound featuring a who's who of the avant / minimalist / techno / experimental world: William Basinski, Signal, Senking, Bytone, Komet Noto, M. Akiyama, Pixel and more. Also worth picking up if you're already into this stuff as some of the tracks here are out of print, rare or previously unreleased. A gorgeously bleak, sometimes lush world of clicks and beeps and whirs and drones and crackle and whir and hum and rumble. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: 0 (NULL) "Mikro Makro"
MPEG Stream: SENKING "Stand"
MPEG Stream: BYETONE "Oacis"

V/A Arktinen Hysteria: Suomi-Avantgarden Esipuutarhureita (Love Records) cd 14.98
When our Andee was away on his vacation to Finland last year he got turned on to this compilation of early ('60s/'70s) Finnish experimental music. It also has been getting a good deal of airplay on our favorite radio station, New Jersey's wonderful WFMU (www.wfmu.org, tune in!). So, now we're real happy to have finally gotten this in stock, and felt it deserved Record Of The Week status for several reasons: it's Finnish, it's fucked, and it's also of historical import. Mainly, though, it's just fucked. In that fun way we at AQ totally dig. Sure, "Arktien Hysteria" (translation: Arctic Hysteria, if you couldn't guess) is all experimental and avantgarde but definitely not super serious -- heck, it starts out with a veritable symphony of burps, and one of the best artists on here is known as The Sperm. These tracks tend to feature (one or more of the following): early "sampling" cut-ups, druggy proto-punk psychedelic rock freedom, free jazz noise, groovy oddball electronics n' drone, conceptual flux, and vocal derangement. Arktien hysteria indeed! The freakouts on here should prove that none of the art-punk noiseniks of today can make a noise that hasn't been made already. Such as the turkey gobbling style sax and maniacal percussion of Jouni Kesti & Seppo I. Laine's "Analysis of Revolution".
Not that it's all zany hijinks, there's abstract soundscape stuff on here too, some of it really dark and weird. Quite a few home-built instruments/machines/synths feature here, along with tape loops galore. Thougth some folks make do though with just sheer frenzied performance gusto. All tracks were taken, we believe, from rare LPs originially released circa 1967-1970 by the legendary Finnish label Love Records. Actually, one cut even dates from as far back as 1961. The cd booklet's got photos and (thankfully) some liner notes in English, though there's more text in Finnish, oh well.
Pan sonic and Circle and Keuhkot and Kemialliset Ystavat and all the rest of Finland's current avant/underground scene start to make a lot more sense when you hear what their aunts and uncles were up to a few decades back, makin' noise at live happenings, or constructing tracks in primitive DIY studios built in their sauna huts. Damn, what a cool compilation. Insane, and arguably essential.
MPEG Stream: BLUES SECTION "Shivers Of Pleasure"
MPEG Stream: JUKKA RUOHOMAKI "Mika Aika On"
MPEG Stream: JOUNI KESTI & SEPPO I. LIANE "Vallankumouksen Analyysi"
MPEG Stream: THE SPERM "3rd Erection"

V/A Art Of Field Recordings Vol 1 (Dust-To-Digital) 4-cd box 68.00
Dust To Digital is the new Smithsonian Folkways, every one of their releases fantastically complete, meticulously researched, gorgeously presented, often in a way that has you digging music you might have assumed you wouldn't otherwise.
In the past they've given us the Goodbye, Babylon collection of gospel music, packed in a silkscreened wooden box and snuggled up next to clumps of raw cotton, the Fonotone Records collection, old time bluegrass, blues and folk, housed in a cigar box, with a hardcover book and a bottle opener, the I Belong To This Band compilation of Sacred Harp Recordings, and now this, The Art Of Field Recordings, a 4 disc set, culled from 5 years of field recording, collected by archivists Art and Margo Rosenbaum, and collecting all manner of musical Americana, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, country, gospel, spirituals, religious hymns, ballads and almost anything they stumbled across.
If you LOVE Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music set, and have been hankering for more, this will absolutely hit the spot. Or if you always think about buying the Harry Smith box for someone and wish they didn't already have it so you could, well here's the answer to your problem. The recordings are amazing, super intimate and personal, many of them a cappella, lots of them including the various bits of conversation that took place before and after, making it feel like you were sitting right there on the porch. The discs are separated onto four discs, each with a particular focus, instrumental and dance, blues, religious, and one disc that is a sort of sampling of all of the above and more, even including some Mexican folk, a German traditional, and other songs that maybe didn't fit perfectly into those genres.
Includes a massive book, with a huge essay and tons of notes on every song and each performer.
The packaging is a little strange, maybe not up to the D2D standards we're used to. A super nice thick box, housing a big perfect bound book, but the cds are in paper sleeves, and laid on corresponding colored squares, separated only by a weird little foam 't' adhered to the bottom of the box. But it hardly matters as the music inside is so completely fantastic. Recommended bug time. And pretty much the ideal gift for your blues/folk/country obsessed loved ones (especially the ones who own and love the Harry Smith anthology)!

V/A Aryan Asshole Recorcds Compilation (Aryan Asshole) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What would you expect from a label called Aryan Asshole run by one of the guys from Wolf Eyes and a pal? Big loud ugly noise right? Well, that's exactly what you get on this compilation, Aryan Asshole Compilation Vol. 1. A collection of out of print tracks (previously released as super limited lathe cuts) from Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway of Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, Burning Star Core, Hive Mind, Religious Knives (half of Double Leopards), Damion Romero as well as Bloodyminded, Graveyards, The Moonlanding, Failing Lights, Charlie Draheim and Raven Strain.
The sound runs the noise rock gamut: primitive Whitehouse shriek with ear piercing sinewaves and squealing feedback with shouted megaphone vocals, clouds of high end skree, kitchen sink clatter and blown out electronic glitch and gzzzt, full on detuned distorted metal guitar riffage, tweaked and twisted, skipping and pitchshifted into some hiccupping plunderphonic metalstorm, super spare ambience, Jandek-ish guitar, random room clatter, footsteps, chairs sliding against the floor, plink plonk percussion all space-y and abstract, rumbling SUNNO)))-like dirges but way more malevolent and lo-fi, crumbling electronic buzz and splatter and... well, you get the idea.
A pretty killer comp of modern noise (rock) of the meaner and weirder and more fucked up persuasion. The cover art features reproductions of all the long out of print square shaped lathe cut picture discs gathered within! Cool.

V/A Asian Flashback: Underground Music From Asia (PSF) cd 16.98
Since 1991, Japanese label PSF has brought us six volumes in their essential underground psych-rock-noise-improv sampler series Tokyo Flashback. Now they've released a new compilation that's similarly cool, but broadens its geographic scope to include artists from Korea and China as well as Japan, most of whom we'd never been exposed to before. Some of the only familiar folks appear on the very first track, a live-in-Tokyo "improvised trio showdown" featuring Chinese guitarist Li Jianhong (of the noise band D!O!D!O!D! who have a disc out on PSF, and who also had his own awesome solo cd on aRCHIVE recently) teamed up with free jazz drummer Shoji Hano and High Rise guitarist Narita Munehiro, both from Japan. That's an amped-up freakout as you might expect. There's also a noisy D!O!D!O!D! track on here too, but beyond those, it's all new names to us. From Korea: Mustangs, Kim Young Jin, Amature Amplifier, and Soonie. From China: Mafeisan, Xiao He, Li Daiguo. From Japan: Kiyasu Orchestra, Sato Yukie, Yoshiteru Koga Jizo. Also there's a boy-girl Japanese-Korean project called 10, whose track "U-A-U" is a hissing, droning, throbbing backdrop to bizarre vocal expression.
All the tracks are interesting, it's an eclectic mix of experimental/underground styles, from full-on noise chaos to mellow, minimal acoustic guitar balladry, all sorts of stuff... ferinstance the energetic squawk of Kiyasu Orchestra's psychedelic free jazz exotica sits side-by-side here with the Mustangs' sixties style garage psych rock. And perhaps most surprisingly, there's even a dreamy, indie-folk cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" by Korean chanteuse Soonie at the very end of the disc.
The booklet boasts brief liner notes about each contributor, in four languages (English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese). Let's hope that this Asian Flashback is just the start of another series! PSF's antidote to all the mass market J-pop, K-pop, and HK-pop karaoke blandness out there.
MPEG Stream: MUSTANGS "Sativa"
MPEG Stream: XIAO HE "Bird And Water"
MPEG Stream: 10 "U-A-U"
MPEG Stream: SATO YUKI "Solo Improvisation"

V/A Asian Takeaways (Normal/QDK) cd 14.98
Despite the excruciatingly stupid title (why oh why must the food metaphors constantly arise, as if white people are so ignorant of Asian culture that the only thing they know about it is egg foo young and sweet and sour sauce -- aaaaaaauuuugh) title, this is an enjoyable compilation of kitschy east-meets-west Asian pop tunes from the '60s and '70s. Most of the tracks feature female vocalists, mostly with groovy, slinky lounge-rock backing, some with cinematic strings, others with boogie guitar, or bombastic horns... It's all very fun and cheesy and sometimes freaky (but not freaky like "Cambodian Rocks" so don't be hoping for something *that* cool). If you liked any of QDK's other unusual "world music" comps like the two Doob Doob O'Rama volumes of Bollywood tunes and the excellent Love, Peace & Poetry series of psych obscurities, you should check this out. Could have done with some liner notes, though! C'mon, we're only given artists, titles, and countries of origin for these tracks -- no dates, and no further info. It's frustrating -- we want to hear more (about and from) Chang Siao Ying, for one. An essay from the compiler would be nice, at the very least. Still, if it means anything to you, what we know is that the songs are performed by the following: Jing Ting (Hong Kong), Yoon Il-loh (Korea), Chung-ae Ahn (Korea), Yao Su-Yong (Malaysia), Chang Loo (Malaysia), Chang Siao Ying (Singapore), Che-Hong Beck (Korea), Thu Su Yung (Hong Kong), Yiu Peng (Hong Kong), Wang-Li (Singapore) and Shung Sister (Korea).
RealAudio clip: CHANG SIAO YING "Come Back To Me"
RealAudio clip: YAO SU-YONG "Good Bye In Spring"

V/A Asian Takeaways (Normal/QDK) lp 16.98
Despite the excruciatingly stupid title (why oh why must the food metaphors constantly arise, as if white people are so ignorant of Asian culture that the only thing they know about it is egg foo young and sweet and sour sauce -- aaaaaaauuuugh), this is an enjoyable compilation of kitschy east-meets-west Asian pop tunes from the '60s and '70s. Most of the tracks feature female vocalists, mostly with groovy, slinky lounge-rock backing, some with cinematic strings, others with boogie guitar, or bombastic horns... It's all very fun and cheesy and sometimes freaky (but not freaky like "Cambodian Rocks" so don't be hoping for something *that* cool). If you liked any of QDK's other unusual "world music" comps like the two Doob Doob O'Rama volumes of Bollywood tunes and the excellent Love, Peace & Poetry series of psych obscurities, you should check this out. Could have done with some liner notes, though! C'mon, we're only given artists, titles, and countries of origin for these tracks -- no dates, and no further info. It's frustrating -- we want to hear more (about and from) Chang Siao Ying, for one. An essay from the compiler would be nice, at the very least. Still, if it means anything to you, what we know is that the songs are performed by the following: Jing Ting (Hong Kong), Yoon Il-loh (Korea), Chung-ae Ahn (Korea), Yao Su-Yong (Malaysia), Chang Loo (Malaysia), Chang Siao Ying (Singapore), Che-Hong Beck (Korea), Thu Su Yung (Hong Kong), Yiu Peng (Hong Kong), Wang-Li (Singapore) and Shung Sister (Korea).

V/A Asian Travels (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
"Asian Travels" documents current strains of optimistic globalism as musical hybrids of the West's downtempo electronica and the East's rich traditions of vocal melodies. Ambient trance, drum & bass, and trip hop all appear in their most basic club-friendly forms alongside Pakistani & Indian vocals, melodic lines, and sitar drones. Featuring Fila Brazillia, Nursrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook, Banco De Gaia, Shankar, Euphoria, Cheb i Sabbah, Fun Da Mental, and more. Ethno-music for the honky.

V/A Asmat Dream (New Music Indonesia, Vol. 1: Sunda) (Lyrichord) cd 15.98
Compilation of modern compositions by Sundanese (Western Java) composers, and utilizing a wide variety of instrumentation: from gamelan, traditional Indonesian instruments, western instruments, electronics and tape. A South Eat Asian version of Ussachevsky. Excellent!

V/A Assassins of Silence: Hundred Watt Violence (Ceres) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Previously lp-only Hawkwind tribute compilation! The songs of Dave Brock, Robert Calvert, Nik Turner and Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster ("Master of the Universe," "Orgone Accumulator," "Psychedelic Warlords," etc.) performed by todays top space/drug/BlackJack bands: Monoshock, F/i, Brainbombs, The Mike Gunn, Temple of Bon Matin, Liquorball, and many more.

V/A Asthmatic Worm (Mobile) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This nice comp of electronic tracks that feature the accordion and/or melodica turns out to be a good idea! Although the pieces have all been previously-released on the participating musicians' solo albums (except for the Dntel track), that fact has worked in the comp's favor, because it made it possible for the compilers to choose only tracks they love and which work with the other choices. (As opposed to too many comps that are spotty bad listening, their raison d'etre being to impress people with a hip roster of participants rather then come up with good listening, grrr.) As you would expect, the melodica and accordion are both very easy to play; beginners can elicit lovely sounds from them immediately, so it makes perfect sense that the laptop jockeys, who can't exactly play anything but their computers or samplers, would turn to these simple acoustic instruments. Many of the songs are ultra simple and yes, everyone could do it, but as the liner notes convey, the artists will be the first to admit it... There's dub lite, some Parisian-cafe-style downtempo, layers and layers of treated acoustic sounds -- very few heavy beats, high speed workouts, or showing off. While I could've used a few more challenging tracks (the most succesful ones here being pieces like Doctor Rockit's which is layered and cut up so much that it would be impossible to play live), the mood is consistent throughout and the sequencing is perfect. With Dntel, Doctor Rockit, Mum, Markus Nikolai, Gonzales, The Gotan Project, Burnt Friedman & Jaki Leibezeit, and a few more. A nice record that rewards careful listening while working quite well as easy listening (but not "easy listening"... er...)
RealAudio clip: DOCTOR ROCKIT "Cafe de Flore"
RealAudio clip: MUM "I'm 9 Today"
RealAudio clip: DNTEL "Your Hill"

V/A Asthmatic Worm (Mobile) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This nice comp of electronic tracks that feature the accordion and/or melodica turns out to be a good idea! Although the pieces have all been previously-released on the participating musicians' solo albums (except for the Dntel track), that fact has worked in the comp's favor, because it made it possible for the compilers to choose only tracks they love and which work with the other choices. (As opposed to too many comps that are spotty bad listening, their raison d'etre being to impress people with a hip roster of participants rather then come up with good listening, grrr.) As you would expect, the melodica and accordion are both very easy to play; beginners can elicit lovely sounds from them immediately, so it makes perfect sense that the laptop jockeys, who can't exactly play anything but their computers or samplers, would turn to these simple acoustic instruments. Many of the songs are ultra simple and yes, everyone could do it, but as the liner notes convey, the artists will be the first to admit it... There's dub lite, some Parisian-cafe-style downtempo, layers and layers of treated acoustic sounds -- very few heavy beats, high speed workouts, or showing off. While I could've used a few more challenging tracks (the most succesful ones here being pieces like Doctor Rockit's which is layered and cut up so much that it would be impossible to play live), the mood is consistent throughout and the sequencing is perfect. With Dntel, Doctor Rockit, Mum, Markus Nikolai, Gonzales, The Gotan Project, Burnt Friedman & Jaki Leibezeit, and a few more. A nice record that rewards careful listening while working quite well as easy listening (but not "easy listening"... er...)

V/A At The Crossroads: A Benefit For Homeless Youth (Three Ring Records) cd 16.98
Here's a bunch of really good music compiled for a really good cause by the really good-hearted folks at Three Ring Records! Ten dollars from the sale of each cd goes towards the Bay Area non-profit organization At The Crossroads which provides aid and care to homeless youths. This compilation cd featured twenty two tracks most of which are previously unreleased and/or rare including ones by Calexico, Rogue Wave, Creeper Lagoon, Bettie Serveert, Elephone, Rykarda Parasol, Scrabbel, Boyskout and Pink Mountaintops. Non-exclusives were contributed by The Faint, Minmae, Frankel, The Lonelyhearts, The Ebb And Flow, Ral Partha Vogelbacher, Two Seconds, D.W. Holiday, Thee More Shallows, Tom Thumb, The Harbours, The Scattered Pages and Scissors For Lefty.
MPEG Stream: CALEXICO "All The Pretty Horses"
MPEG Stream: ROGUE WAVE "Basketball"

V/A Atomic Platters (Bear Family) 5cd+1dvd box 195.00
Holy crap! This is just about the most amazing box set we've ever seen! The second we heard about it, we knew it was going to be good, but we weren't prepared for just HOW GOOD. Not sure how many of you are familiar with Bear Family Records, but they're a German label who specialize in super elaborate, incredibly detailed and well researched releases, especially box sets, running the gamut from the women of Sun Records to the Everly Brothers to Ernest Tubb to Perez Prado to Flatt And Scruggs and on and on. Always very expensive and often hard to get, but once you lay your eyes and ears on one of their releases you realize it was worth all the trouble and worth every penny. And never was it truer than with Atomic Platters. This years in the works set is a five cd, DVD, hardcover book, box set collecting "Cold War Music From The Golden Age Of Homeland Security", 5 plus hours of fifties and sixties, rock and roll, R&B and soul, either warning us of the dangers of Communism and the impending atomic war, or more playfully using the A bomb and Uranium and Communism as metaphors for love and romance and partying ("You Hit Me Baby Like An Atom Bomb", "Atomic Baby", "Fujiyama Mama", "Uranium Rock", etc.). Scattered throughout are loads of civl defense spots, most appallingly naive and utterly ridiculous, there's Groucho Marx explaining that we have a good chance of surviving an atomic war, Art Linkletter warning us to not use the phone in case of an atomic attack, and lots of other misguided warnings and advice from Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Fred MacMurray, Tom Lehrer, Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Don Pardo, Johnny Cash, Boris Karloff and lots more, as well as tons of bizarre civil defense dramatizations and creepy little Leave It To Beaver style vignettes. Then there's the music, lots of favorites you've heard on other comps, but an amazing amount or material you've never heard (and probably never thought you'd hear) anywhere as well as totally obscure tracks from some not so obscure artists. Some of the more recognizable folks: Roy Acuff, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, Bo Diddley, Dexter Gordon, The Louvin Brothers, Carl Perkins, Bing Crosby, Bill Haley, Doris Day, Hank Williams and more, but the lure is definitely the hundred or so other tracks, all catchy or bizarre or both, from a wild cast of one hit wonders.
As if that weren't enough, there is also a disc containing two full length spoken word records released in 1961, If The Bomb Falls and The Complacent Americans, both ridiculous and paranoid, laughable and goofy, but also sort of sad and creepy. Wow. Then there's the DVD which contains 9 short films, over two hours of educational films, teaching us about Communism, the impending Atomic War, and the infamous "Duck And Cover" method of surviving an atomic bomb attack (and we're fairly sure that the narrator of one of the films is none other than Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and the singer of the "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch"). Finally, there is the book, a massive 11" x 12" hard cover tome, chock full of illustrations, liner notes, photos, and a full page description with pictures and all sorts of extra info for every track in the box. Unbelievable. This is absolutely essential for all lovers of strange sounds and weird music as well as being perfect for history buffs too. And as it's that gift giving season, we can't possibly imagine a more perfect and amazing gift! WOW!
These are a bit too expensive to keeep a bunch in stock, but if you want one let us know and we'll be getting as many as we need next week!
MPEG Stream: GROUCHO MARX "Civil Defense Spot: Excellent Chances"
MPEG Stream: SLIM GAILLARD QUARTETTE "Atomic Cocktail"
MPEG Stream: FAY SIMMONS "You Hit Me Baby Like An Atomic Bomb"
MPEG Stream: BOB HOPE "Civil Defense Spot: Pattern Of Survival"
MPEG Stream: THE BUCHANAN BROTHERS "Atomic Power"
MPEG Stream: UNKNOWN "Take The Step (Grandma's Pantry)"

V/A Attack Gold Vol. 1 (Attack) cd 17.98
A really nice collection of vintage roots, dub and reggae produced by the oh so smooth Bunny 'Striker' Lee. With his studio band, The Aggrovators at his beck and call, he recorded some of the best and brightest artists in the 70's reggae scene at King Tubby's legendary studio. With folks like Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, etc, you can be assured this is a really solid collection with a cohesive sound and mood thanks to Lee's stellar production. Most of these tracks had only ever been available on 10" vinyl before finally making it to cd (and lp!)...
MPEG Stream: HORACE ANDY "This World"
MPEG Stream: LINVAL THOMPSON "Wicked Babylon"
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY CLARKE "Ride On"

V/A Attack Gold Vol. 1 (Attack) 2lp 17.98
A really nice collection of vintage roots, dub and reggae produced by the oh so smooth Bunny 'Striker' Lee. With his studio band, The Aggrovators at his beck and call, he recorded some of the best and brightest artists in the 70's reggae scene at King Tubby's legendary studio. With folks like Horace Andy, Linval Thompson, Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, etc, you can be assured this is a really solid collection with a cohesive sound and mood thanks to Lee's stellar production. Most of these tracks had only ever been available on 10" vinyl before finally making it to cd (and lp!)...
MPEG Stream: HORACE ANDY "This World"
MPEG Stream: LINVAL THOMPSON "Wicked Babylon"
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY CLARKE "Ride On"

V/A Attitude (Tigerbeat6) lp 14.98
Finally! The excellent, now out-of-print 3" cd gets the vinyl treatment it fully deserves. Fourteen artists pay "tribute" to the notorious gangsta crew from straight outta Compton. NWA get the Plunderphonics treatment from Kid 606, Lesser (with a ridiculous version of "Fat Girl on my Jock"!), Matmos, Hrvatski, Cex, Pimmon, Pisstank, Dat Politics, Christoph de Babalon, V/VM, Team Doyobi, Electric Company, Din S.T. and Pure! Manic and ridiculous and really really great. If you missed out on the cd, here's your chance!

V/A Attitude (Tigerbeat6) 3"cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The ubiquitous Kid 606 rounded up some like-minded electronic terrorists to contribute to this little 3" cd compilation, a tribute to NWA! Digital fuckery meets gangsta rap, as Cube, Dre, Eazy, et. al. are "covered" here by the likes of Hrvatski, Lesser (with a ridiculous version of 'Fat Girl on my Jock'), Dat Politics, Matmos, Pimmon, V/VM, Christophe de Babalon, and Kid 606 himself, among others... Manic and ridiculous and really really great.

V/A Audiolounge (Intermedium Records) cd 16.98
The "Audiolounge" was held in the foyer of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts as a deliberate attempt to avoid a concert hall or club experience. Instead, this night-long event was a combination of a hands-on workshop and audio / visual installation. This double CD audio document features musical selections from Robert Lippok (from To Rococo Rot), Console & Andreas Ammer (regular collaborator with F.M. Einheit), Robert Merdzo & Bulent Kullukcu, and Kalle Laar & Georg Zeitblom. Lippok begins his set with quiet digital clickery, that MicroHouse synth pad swoosh (without the rhythms), a plaintive piano sample, and a run-out vinyl groove popping incessantly. All of these sound elements gradually converge into a steady rhythmic loop that morphs into a leftfield electronic breakbeat sounding much like Lippok's contributions in To Rococo Rot. Andreas Ammer and Console combined an archival recording of Martin Heidegger speaking over downtempo post-New Wave / semi-Aphex electro beats. Robert Merdzo and Bulent Kullukcu set down big, yet ever-shifting German techno beats and media samples. And finally, Kalle Laar and Georg Zeitblom accurated titled their contribution to the evening 'hypersound concrete.' All and all, this is a pretty interesting record.

V/A Avalon Blues: A Tribute To The Music Of Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard) cd 14.98
Tributors include Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Earle, Victoria Williams, John Hiatt, Gillian Welch, Peter Case (who produced this collection), and others...

V/A Axiom Dub: Mysteries of Creation (Axiom) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bill Laswell brings together the likes of Sly & Robbie, Material, Mad Professor, Dub Syndicate, New Kingdom, Techno Animal, DJ Spooky and a bunch of other dub/ambient innovators on these 2 discs.

V/A Azadi!: A Benefit Compilation For RAWA (Fire Museum / Electro Motive) 2cd 14.98
Longtime supporter of the rights of Afghani women, AQ-customer Steven Tobin has produced benefit shows and now this double disc benefit cd -- and what a comp it is. The musical choices are all over the genre map yet it works nicely as a sit-down listen, and it will certainly introduce you to many groups you've never heard. Includes experimental indie rock (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Deerhoof, Zmrzlina, The Intima), ethnicky female vocal theatrics (D'yara, Charming Hostess, Jou Jou, Samsara), avant electronics (Blevin Blectum, Bran, Planetsize, Zeek Sheck), quirky weirdness as only East Bay bands can do it (Spezza Rotto, Charming Hostess, Faun Fables, Mono Pause), world-class improvisers (Dave Slusser, Saadet Turkoz, Miya Masaoka), underground hip hop (DeepDickCollective), and much more. All proceeds benefit RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, an organization founded in 1977. Pick this up, feel great about it, and get a genuinely good listen to boot.
MPEG Stream: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR "George Bush Cut Up While Talking"
MPEG Stream: THE INTIMA "The New Savage"
MPEG Stream: DEERHOOF "Bring Down the Nutritious Pigs"

V/A Azagas and Archibogs (Original Music) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nigerian dance band highlife with a wild edged jauntiness and a go-for-the-jugular instinct for mixing local rhythms and melodies with jazz tinged horn solos and Congo-influenced guitar work.

V/A B9 Bis: Belgian Cold Wave 1979-1983 (LTM) cd 22.00
B9 Bis was a label compilation from Sandwich Records, a Brussels' based post-punk and new wave imprint that mirrored itself after the Rough Trade model of running an underground label through an underground record shop. This compilation originally came out in 1980, showcasing what Belgium had to offer the world in the way of melding oblique electronics and moody theatrics to the post-punk ethos, which had already been established by the likes of Joy Division, Devo, and Magazine. Unfortunately, export sales for the label were never terribly strong and the label folded, despite the fact that the Belgian scene later exploded out of the electronic body music spurned on by Antler Subway throughout the decade.
What's found on the compilation is a solid cross section of the contemporary sound of 1980: slashing punk guitars, lumbering basslines, angular art-rock tunes, and tinkering with new-fangled synthesizers and sequencers. The influences of the aforementioned bands are worn proudly on the sleeves of many of these bands with admirable results. The standouts from the original comp include the pre-Front 242 project Prosthese with a cold burst of Klaus Schulze electronics, the jangle power pop of Digital Dance, and the bleak Joy Divisionisms of Satin Wall.
LTM have flushed out a full cds worth of material with a bunch of ancillary projects also from Belgium at that time including an early Front 242 track, an early b-side from the overlooked Siglo XX, and the Factory Records endorsed The Names. A very good investigation into a forgotten chapter of post-punk.
MPEG Stream: PROSTHESE "Tumeurs"
MPEG Stream: DIGITAL DANCE "Human Zoo"
MPEG Stream: SIGLO XX "Individuality"

V/A Babcotte, Sudbury And Eaton: The English School Of Funerary Origin (The Guild Of Funerary Violinists) cd-r 12.98
Another glorious glimpse back at the long lost art of the Funerary Violin. A genre all but forgotten and lost, some say quashed by the Catholic Church, a gorgeous mournful body of work, solo violin pieces to be performed at funerals, sad and sorrowful, minor key and miserable, dense with dark emotions, perfectly transporting the listener back to an nineteenth century funeral, the procession, the mourners clad in black... Very beautiful and evocative. But it's not just the music, it's the tangled history of the players and the personalities, the musicians and the composers and the patrons responsible for much of the music. Oh, and the fact that it's all made up.
That's right, these amazing scratchy wax cylinder recordings of simple melancholy violin pieces, and the text accompanying them have all been fabricated. Although sometimes it's tough to tell when hearing the genuinely creepy, crackly and realistically old timey sounding music, and reading the extensive tales of the composers and their tragic lives. Maybe it is all real? Who are we to say? Just because there is only one person in the entire world who knows everything, anything actually, about the mysterious Guild Of Funerary Violinists. And the fact that none of the performers or composers are mentioned anywhere, recorded, written, anecdotal, except within the pages of the book, the liner notes and the website of the genre's discoverer (perhaps creator).
But like we mentioned in a past review of another Funerary disc, who cares? The music is dark and mysterious, emotional and creepy, and the text is fascinating, impossibly well researched considering none of it is real, and totally fun to read.
This disc (supposedly) collects the work of three of the most important figures in the English School Of Funerary Violin. Babcotte, Sudbury and Eaton. All of these recording recovered from the extensive collection of Funerary relics kept by Gunter II, Prince of Schwatzburg-Sonderhausen, who in addition to the wax cylinders heard here, also counted among his prized possessions, the coffins of Goethe and Heine, as well as the death mask of Beethoven. The first Babcotte track here is thought to be performed by Gunter, himself an accomplished violinist, however the rest, the legendary "Funerary Suite # 4", due to their sound and performance are considered to be the work of Wilhelm Kleinbach (whose disc we reviewed a list or two back). The Eaton piece, a slow mournful, sometimes atonal dirge, is performed by the composer himself, captured on wax cylinder in 1913. And the final piece, "The Erroneous Dirge Of George Babcotte is performed and recorded by Maria Rotaru in 1975, a young Romanian violinist who tried to pass the work off as her own composition. When the truth came out, Rotaru disappeared mysteriously, and it was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union that this piece resurfaced. Or so we're told...
Even without the fantastical backstory, the music is worth the price of admission. Each piece is wonderfully crafted and beautifully performed, all solo violin, keening mournfully, minor key melodies drifting dreamily in some, the scrape and sawing of the bow constructing miserablist dirges in others, all except the more recent bathed in a thick cloak of crackle and static, giving it that Jeck / Hecker fuzzy-blurry-dreamy vibe we can never seem to get enough of. The fact that this music is set amidst such a dense and complex, passionate world of intrigue and mystery, love and death, only makes it that much more exciting. And the fact that every single bit of it is made up, well, as far as we're concerned that just seals the deal.
Recommended!
MPEG Stream: PRINCE GUNTER II "The Erroneous Dirge Of George Babcotte"
MPEG Stream: WILHELM KLEINBACH "Funerary Suite No. 4 - March"
MPEG Stream: WILHELM KLEINBACH "Funerary Suite No. 4 - Introduction And March"
MPEG Stream: WILHELM KLEINBACH "Funerary Suite No. 4 - Dream"

V/A Back Roads To Cold Mountain (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 16.98
First it was O Brother Where Art Thou, and now it's Cold Mountain. Everyone's gone nuts for American roots music. Ever on the lookout to educate and titilate (and I'm sure capitilizing on the moment to make a little dough recycling their vast vault of recordings) when some blockbuster movie comes out and gets a hair in everyone's butt, Smithsonian Folkways has done their best to put out this collection of classic Appalachian music by the very folks who are descended from those that fought and died in the Civil War playing the very songs that have been passed down from generation to generation. And there's a few generations of music on here, the individual tracks coming from as far back as 1927 and as recently as 2002. There's a lot of familiar names on here like Roscoe Holcomb, the Sacred Harp Singers, Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers and Doc Watson as well as plenty of lesser known artists. There's a lot here: Hollers, fife & drum tunes, church choirs and gospels, old time tunes, bluegrass, blues and more. Along with five previously unreleased tracks (including a great holler from T.J. Chesser) Smithsonian Folkways has included the requisite fat book of liner notes and biographical information. Nice.
MPEG Stream: BILL CORNETT "Look Down That Lonesome Road"
MPEG Stream: JOE PATTERSON "Fox Race"
MPEG Stream: E.C. AND ORNA BALL "Angel Band"

V/A Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
You may or may not have already been graced by Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" yet. If not, may we recommend you run out and buy it immediately (from AQ, even!) Tis a truly beautiful collection of songs penned and recorded by Springsteen in 1981, literally in his bedroom with an acoustic guitar and a four track. Replete with stark songs sketching out unforgettable characters filled with despair, loneliness, and an aching to do the right thing. It's fucking amazing, despite whether or not you like, say, all that "Born in the USA" business that came later, you simply cannot remain unmoved by "Nebraska". Utterly classic and essential.
Now, if I had never heard Nebraska before, I'da prob'ly regarded this here tribute record as a decent collection of impeccably-written songs performed by folks who obviously have total reverence for the material. But, since I've loved Springsteen's "Nebraska" for years, it's a little hard for any of these versions to live up to the originals. A couple of the renditions are even a bit horrifying, especially Hank Williams III's honky tonkin' take on "Atlantic City", a song Springsteen performed to perfection and which REALLY shouldn't be messed with. Nonetheless, most of the performances on Badlands are purty all right, including those by Ani diFranco, Aimee Mann, Son Volt, Dar Williams, Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Cash, and Damien Jurado.
RealAudio clip: HANK III "Atlantic City"
RealAudio clip: ANI DIFRANCO "Used Cars"

V/A Bali: Gamelan & Kecak (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
This disc, originally released in 1989, is sort of a sequel to the "Golden Rain" and "Music From the Morning of the World" titles. This one, also recorded by David Lewiston, was made on his first return to Bali in over 20 years. The changes that the island had undergone since his previous visit were somewhat of a shock (rampant tourism, noisy motorbikes everywhere, urban chaos) to Lewiston, who had previously been able to set up and record without so much as a thought to extraneous noise. This time round Lewiston rented out a local friend's art gallery and adjoining badminton court for most of these sessions in order to overcome the noise issue. And, for better or worse, he even went so far as to have the musicians rearrange their instruments in order to get a better stereo recording. What is really nice about this recording, hi-fidelity aside, is that it is a nice broad overview of some of the gamelan styles (and non-gamelan to boot) in Bali. The first track is a 12 minute recording of the opening parade of the Bali Arts Festival in 1987. Everyone loves a parade, and this one is no exception. You get to hear six different ensembles as they march past the recordist. This is followed by another recording of Gong Kebyar (that's the recording that required all the rearranging of the instruments), a recording of Balinese jew's-harp, and a really bizarre recording played on reedy instruments made from palm bark accompanied by percussion. Also included is a recording of gamelan salunding, which is an ancient Balinese gamelan made of iron. It sounds completely different than any other Balinese gamelan (almost like an ill-tuned gamelan), partly due to its being made of iron, but it's also a rather small ensemble with some of the most beautiful melodies in Balinese gamelan. The award for most eerie track has to go to Sadh Budaya Gamelan Gong Suling performing a piece for Semar Pegulingan entirely on flutes (with the addition of a few rhythmic instruments for structural purposes.) There's also an excerpt of Gender Wayang, which is the musical accompaniment to shadow play in Bali (see also the full disc also just reissued of this.) Plus another brief excerpt of Kecak and closed with one more Kebyar track. All on one disc!
RealAudio clip: GENGGONG BATUR SARI, BATUAN "Lagu Kodok"
RealAudio clip: GAMELAN SALUNDING, TENGANAN "Gending Sekar Gadung"
RealAudio clip: SADHA BUDAYA GAMELAN GONG SULING "Tabuh Teluh"