V/A Minima-List (List) cd 14.98
The "Minima-List" compilation of contemporary electronic minimalism could have easily fallen into the banalities of so many of the microsound compilations. Fortunately, the new French label List had enough sense to put together a collection that celebrates the diversity and experimentality of minimalism and not its homogeneity or hero worshipping propensities. While Komet, and Taylor Deupree are the 'big names' on this compilation, neither of their tracks reverse the aesthetic downward spirals indicative of their most recent work. Otomo Yoshihide appears with 8 minutes of brutally caustic sinewave manipulation, and Alan Licht adds a surprisingly nice track of delicate tremolo guitar tones. *0 and Richard Chartier offer only the extremes of the sonic spectrum for some tracks that near complete inaudibility. But it is the unknown factors that make this compilation so nice, with Matthieu Saladin providing sustained notes on an oboe (or some sort of reed) transformed into a statospheric eerie drone with a thick haze of tinny distortion, Sol smearing layers of whirring tone fuzz into an uncomfortable drone track, and Speakering and Fabriquedecouleurs both transforming guitar distortion that has been digitally fragmented into gritty bits 'n' bytes. It's a promising start for this label, hopefully they won't blow it down the line by trying to sound like every other microsound label.
RealAudio clip: FABRIQUEDECOULEURS "Ninjiski"
RealAudio clip: ALAN LICHT "Retrograde"

V/A Misery Loves Company (Ersatz Audio) cd 13.98
I think this marks the official end of the electro revival. When the usually stellar, true electro vets like Ersatz Audio start releasing diluted, pale imitations, it's a sad sad day. With labels like Ministry Of Sound capitalizing on the electronic pop genre (which by the way, is a much broader and fitting tag for a lot of the current hip sounds that are being lumped excessively and incorrectly under the genre "electro". Ladytron, The Faint, Le Tigre, Peaches and Fischerspooner are NOT electro!) with K-Tel style compilations like "This Is Tech-Pop", everyone is trying to get in on the money-making action. Releases from this label are always eagerly anticipated with high expectations, but everything on this (except possibly the DMX Krew track that jumps out of the pack, highly reminiscent of Devo here!) sounds tired and weak. There's no spark or sense of excitement. The normally irrepressible Gold Chains' contribution is titled "Could Care Less"... and it sounds like it (actually it sounds like he's gone all beat poet!). What the heck's goin' on!? The songs just drag, and even the Adult. track is wack! And, trust me, I really, really like Adult. A lot. Maybe I've become jaded, but I know my tolerance for repetitive electronic pop is higher than most here at AQ. Boo, Ersatz, boo. Very disappointing.
RealAudio clip: DMX KREW "Touch Me"
RealAudio clip: ADULT. "Paranoid Vision"
RealAudio clip: KITBUILDERS "Tell Me"
RealAudio clip: GOLD CHAINS (W/ ZEEK SHECK) "Could Care Less "

V/A Misery Loves Company (Ersatz Audio) 2lp 13.98
I think this marks the official end of the electro revival. When the usually stellar, true electro vets like Ersatz Audio start releasing diluted, pale imitations, it's a sad sad day. With labels like Ministry Of Sound capitalizing on the electronic pop genre (which by the way, is a much broader and fitting tag for a lot of the current hip sounds that are being lumped excessively and incorrectly under the genre "electro". Ladytron, The Faint, Le Tigre, Peaches and Fischerspooner are NOT electro!) with K-Tel style compilations like "This Is Tech-Pop", everyone is trying to get in on the money-making action. Releases from this label are always eagerly anticipated with high expectations, but everything on this (except possibly the DMX Krew track that jumps out of the pack, highly reminiscent of Devo here!) sounds tired and weak. There's no spark or sense of excitement. The normally irrepressible Gold Chains' contribution is titled "Could Care Less"... and it sounds like it (actually it sounds like he's gone all beat poet!). What the heck's goin' on!? The songs just drag, and even the Adult. track is wack! And, trust me, I really, really like Adult. A lot. Maybe I've become jaded, but I know my tolerance for repetitive electronic pop is higher than most here at AQ. Boo, Ersatz, boo. Very disappointing.

V/A Miss Kittin On The Road (Terminal M) cd 16.98
Miss Kittin, as huge as she has become in just the past few months, has decided to treat her salivating fans with a continuous mix of some of her favorite techno house tracks (and, of course, two tracks featuring herself -- a remix of Miss Kittin & The Hacker's "Frank Sinatra" and Felix Da Housecat's "Silver Screen Shower Scene"). Also featuring Plastikman, Plaid, Laurent Garnier, Sven Vath, DJ Rush, Vitalic, Umek, Heckmann, Killabite, Gary Martin, James Ruskin, Samuel L. Sessions, Makaton and Pink Elln. Nothing super exciting, but a good, fast paced house mix.

V/A Mission Two: Connecting Electronix Network (Nature) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! This is a brilliant compilation of a lot of electronica outfits which are pretty obscure... Only V/VM and D'Archangelo are the really familiar artists here. Nonetheless, the tracks (which are mostly Italian in origin) share a similarity to Skam's or Rephlex's output of nu-skool electro and warped electronica. As a result we've been tracking down singles from A Credible Eye Witness, Phoenecia, and Vendor Refill.

V/A Modular Systems (Eighteenth Street Lounge) cd 15.98
"Modular Systems" is the latest ESL compilation of trip hop from Thievery Corporation, Nicola Conte, Thunderball, Blue States, Ursula 1000, Desmond Williams, and a few other Thievery Corporation-like groups. This also features a few remixes from Thievery Corporation, was compiled by Thievery Corporation, and released on Thievery Corporation's label. For fans of Thievery Corporation.

V/A Modulations and Transformations 4 (Mille Plateaux) 3cd 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mille Plateaux's 4th in the series is a weighty collection, serving as an encyclopedia of minimalist electronica... From the clinical pulsing of Philus (aka Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic) and Thomas Brinkmann... to the neo-jazz for iMac users from Mouse on Mars and Blue Byte... and back to the theory laiden clicks of Achim Wollscheid and M.Behrens.
Also features Techno Animal, DJ Spooky, Kerosene, Pluramon, Ryoji Ikeda, Scanner, Thomas Koner, Panacea, Noto, Kim Kascone, Lithops, Gas, etc...

V/A Modulations and Transformations 4 (Mille Plateaux) 3lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mille Plateaux's 4th in the series is a weighty collection, serving as an encyclopedia of minimalist electronica... From the clinical pulsing of Philus (aka Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic) and Thomas Brinkmann... to the neo-jazz for iMac users from Mouse on Mars and Blue Byte... and back to the theory laiden clicks of Achim Wollscheid and M.Behrens.
Also features Techno Animal, DJ Spooky, Kerosene, Pluramon, Ryoji Ikeda, Scanner, Thomas Koner, Panacea, Noto, Kim Kascone, Lithops, Gas, etc...

V/A Montreal Smoked Meat (Force Inc.) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hey Matmos, when was the last time you were in Montreal? Did you lose a powerbook there? It sure sounds like the kids in Montreal must have ransacked your gear taken all of the bits and pieces that didn't make it into "A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure" or "Quasi-Objects", and each done their best to build that 'lost' Matmos track of abstract techno counterpointed with disfigured vocal samples and compressed textural elements. I guess it depends on how you look at it, either mimicry is quite the compliment; or Akufen, Steve Beaupre, Orazio Fantini, Crackhaus, Jetone, Mitchell Akiyama, Jeff Milligan, Suna, Deadbeat, Mike Shannon, Mateo Murphy, and Eloi Brunelle all need a good spanking for their blatant plagiarism.
RealAudio clip: AKUFEN "Severed Finger Samba"
RealAudio clip: STEVE BEAUPRE "Multipass"

V/A Moonfog 2000: A Different Perspective (Moonfog) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Norway's most advanced "black metal" label has released a fairly amazing compilation here. Moonfog's incredibly elite roster contributes exclusive material: from the blackened thrash of Eibon (the supergroup containing members of Darkthrone, Mayhem, Necrophagia, Pantera/Viking Crown, and Satyricon making their recorded debut), to Dodheimsgard's mutation into the black metal techno of their new incarnation DHG, to the primitive country/punk black metal of legends Darkthrone (recorded at Necrohell Studios, otherwise known as their 4-track machine), to intense death/black brutality from Gehenna and Thorns, and more. 25 minutes on the cutting edge of Moonfog's vision. Absolutely essential to dedicated fans and adventurous newcomers (as well as the other way around), as this comp really runs the spectrum from classic raw stuff to sacrilegious trip-hop "black metal" 2000.
And, as a kind of bonus, you also get a second disc collecting popular cuts by Moonfog bands, compiled by users of The Moonfog Dungeon (i.e. website). They're all previously released tracks, so this can be regarded as a handy mix of some black metal faves.

V/A Morricone RMX (Cinesoundz / WEA) cd 17.98
It's a good thing none of the artists involved with this project are local to the Bay Area, cos I'd have to go buy a gun and shoot them for crimes against music. And not just any music, this is soundtrack music by the acknowledged genius Ennio Morricone, the one and only. Yes, Morricone sanctioned this project, but that doesn't mean it's going to turn out good -- it just means whoever put together the comp probably pestered the poor maestro to death. It is one thing to admire Morricone's music, and to realize that his moody instrumental tracks with dramatic melodies are perfect fodder for remixing. Certainly they are. But it is total fucking sacrilege to mess with Morricone's music, not to mention a really embarrassing ego trip to think one could improve upon it. And guess what, folks, not one of the artists here delivers. Most of them do the most predictable, pedestrian bullshit you've heard a thousand times before: [1] start off the track untreated, getting you in the mood, [2] 30 seconds into it, start the dumb thumping guaranteed to get yuppies jumping off their barstools, [3] pepper it with some dramatic breakbeats or bad scratching, etc. Perpetrators include Thievery Corp, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Terranova, Nightmares on Wax, Apollo 440, and more musicans, all of whom have lost whatever ounce of respect they might once have earned in my eyes. It's so dumb, and both you and I could've done a better job. We've heard a lot of electronic music that is this horrible, but mixing the unbelievable mediocrity heard here with the fact that it is an egregious misuse of Morrcone's music, and you have a recipe for nothing but my complete scorn.
We made a couple sound clips just for those of you with morbid curiousity.
RealAudio clip: TERRANOVA "For a Few Dollars More"
RealAudio clip: COPASETIC CON VIVI E SELDA "Here's To You"

V/A Motion: A Six Degrees Dance Collection (Six Degrees) cd 12.98
Boogie global techno style along with Bebel Gilberto, Banco De Gaia, King Britt, Romanthony, DJ Cam, and others.

V/A Motorlab #1 (Kitchen Motors / Bad Taste) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In 2000, the Icelandic arts collective Kitchen Motors began organizing a series of monthly events which featured commissioned collaborations between artists from differing backgrounds. The first production is dominated by the presence of two of Iceland's most prolific experimental / electronic outfits Stilluppsteypa (who originate from Iceland but now live in the Netherlands) and the Hafler Trio (whose sole member Andrew McKenzie has left his homeland of England for the odd Atlantic island). Stillupsteypa opens the album with a collaboration with Fluxus artist Magnus Palsson, whose monologue on banking, spiritualism, and alcohol runs amok through the Stilluppsteypa trio of powerbook digital crunch. Stillupsteypa have always had a far more bizarre and interesting take on digital errata than most of their contemporaries, and their sonic disruptions are more than welcome in comparison to the utopian purity found in the 12K / Raster ilk. Hilmar Jensson, Ulfar Haraldsson, Johann Johannsson, and the Caput Ensemble collaborated on an interesting idea of harnessing the microcurrents of the wind within a controlled improvisation for processed guitar, string ensemble, and electronics... sounding like a droning cross between Morton Feldman and Hermann Nitsch, if such a thing were possible. Hispirslausi Sextettinn offers a crawling piece of pipe fighting, and Andrew McKenzie, Curver, and the aforementioned Johannsson recreate Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting Alone In A Room" but with cel phones, shortwave, and datacrunching laptops to generate a cybernetically inhanced resonant frequency of a given room.
Altogether a conceptually rich compilation that has been executed to near perfection. Hopefully the first of many interesting things to come!
RealAudio clip: STILLUPPSTEYPA & MAGNUS PALSSON "Kort Kort Kredit"
RealAudio clip: CAPUT ENSEMBLE, ET AL. "Veltipunktur"
RealAudio clip: ANDREW MCKENZIE, ET. AL. "Telefonia"

V/A Motorlab #2 (Kitchen Motors / Bad Taste) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second installment from Kitchen Motor's series of cross-platform Icelandic collaborations takes a much more lively route than the previous collection of conceptual drone work featuring Stilluppsteypa and The Halfer Trio. The first collaborative effort is between Reykjavik's electronica darlings Mum and playwright Sjon. The script (all in Icelandic) is a monodrama about a housewife who longs for the intellectual prowess of an academic woman she sees on a tv chat show. Having forgotten all that she learned in school, she has to start from the beginning. If we understood Icelandic, we might offer more insight... yet it sounds promising to those who know the language. However, the Mum score is worthwhile, with more of their melancholic electronica following the Morr / Boards of Canada path, but with much more emphasis upon the richness of non-digital instrumentation (strings, xylophone, wurlitzer, moog, etc.). The Apparat Organ Quartet and TF3IRA offer the best work on this compilation, with the self-evident Quartet accompanying another quartet of shortwave radio enthusiasts. Thus, the latter pulled various hetreodynes, morse code transmissions, and random vocal elements from the airwave, while the organists (with one drummer) performed theatrical yet simple Morriconesque melodic passages. Altogether not dissimilar to a rough Sigur Ros (and thankfully without those horrible vocals). Allan's pick is, of course, the Big Band Brutal soundtracks for Huglekur Dagsson's splatter cartoons. Nicely counterpointing the Apparat Organ Quartet's keyboard sound, the Big Band Brutal's organs are heavy, caustic and sound as if they could be the Mr. Quintron score to a Tim Burton phantasmagoria. Altogether a great compilation!
RealAudio clip: MUM & SJON "She Introduces Herself"
RealAudio clip: APPARAT ORGAN QUARTET & TF3IRA "Ondula Nova"
RealAudio clip: BIG BAND BRUTAL "The Hamburger That I Ordered"

V/A Murder In The Company of The Vespertine (Vespertine) cd 16.98
"Mood music in a jugular vein" was the only description accompanying a list of bands: Air Wave, Bear, Bola, Cavil, Dakota Suite, Dynamite Cigar Co, I'm Sore, Lazarus Clamp, Lazerboy, M-Tec, Mus, Muma Sounds, Oneironaut, and Quigley. Without much else to go on, the clues gleaned from this odd little compilation lead to the conclusion that the compiler's motive was to create an atmosphere of moody sadness through a diverse group of sounds ranging from Boards of Canada-esque electronica to Mogwai-like heroin rock and piano driftscapes.

V/A Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 1 (Flogsta Danshall) cd 12.98
Yo droids! You wanna know what's been boomin' on Pluto lately? It's gotta be skweee. Y'know here at Aquarius we're always on the lookout for something new, the next big thing perhaps (though we're talking big 'round here, not necessarily elsewhere). Well we think we've found it! SKWEEE. Skweee? That's the self-proclaimed name for a new scene of electronic music in Scandinavia. It's basically Nordic b-boys doing DIY electro, and it's true, if they hadn't called it skweee but something less silly like, uh, "Scandi-funk" or "Vikinglectro", we might have not been as initially intrigued, though we did already have an interest in electro from Finland 'cause of that Sound Of Suomi comp we listed a while back. Something about "skweee" though just grabs us. You don't have to like bad puns to like skweee but it helps. Hey what are you doing this skweeekend? There's a skweee show Saturday skweeevening. Some of our favorite skweeejays will be spinning. Skweee you there!
We kind of randomly found out about it on the internet, listened in to some online samples on the "Nation of Skweee" webpage, and were hooked. Imagine a warped crossover between old school video game music and '90s hiphop instrumental tracks, that laidback Dr. Dre style funk as if hacked on a Commodore 64, programmed by Finnish and Norwegian kids trying to stave off the boredom and depression of long sunlight-deprived winters (as opposed to embracing it like their countryfolk into black metal would do). There's an obscure but active scene up in that part of the world skweeepin' it real with the support of a couple local labels, Harmonia and Flogsta Danshall, releasing the skweee on 7" and 12" singles. We did discover this one compact disc compilation that Flogsta Danshall put out, and figured we had to get it, it features a lot of the "stars" of skweee and obviously would be a good starting point for us, and any AQ customers who wanted to get turned on to skweee. And funnily enough, the guy from Flogsta Danshall had previously been to Aquarius on a trip to the USA, so he was himself excited that we wanted to stock some skweee in our shop!
Here's the artists: Mesak, Pavan, Rigas Den Andre, Beem, The Munchies, Randy Barracuda, Wizards of DOS, PJVM, Mangrove, Uday, Vakttornet, Daniel Savio, Maja Hedin, and Claws Costeau (great name!). Although each one's different, there's a definite "skweee ID" shared between 'em: elements like distorted squelching synthetic bass, computery bloops and bleeps, fractured funk beats, crazed dance logic, and what's either a playful sense of humor or just plain weirdness. Or both. Some tracks (say, Pavan) are a bit more uptight techno-rigid kraftwerkouts than others, which skweee like along with the looser, more fucked up cuts (like Randy Barracuda's which sounds like Inspector Gadget done Doug E. Fresh style or somethin').
The Museum Of Future Sound exhibits 14 trax, 54+ minutes of the finest in skweee, packaged in a thin, square, black plastic cd case, with simple, stark black & white cover graphics and a tracklisting on stickers affixed to the front and back. [2008 update: now it's in a cardboard sleeve, not plastic, a la vol. 2.] No further info is given about any of the contributors, unfortunately, so they stay mysterious... but they probably all have MySpace pages and would love to get visitors!
Next big thing? Could skweee. We'll skweee.
MPEG Stream: MESAK "Popkumm"
MPEG Stream: RANDY BARRACUDA "Rick James Is Dead"
MPEG Stream: CLAWS COSTEAU "The Franzzz Connection"

V/A Museum Of Future Sound Vol. 2 (Flogsta Danshall) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the time since we highlighted the original volume of Flogsta Danshall's Museum Of Future Sound (in the fall of '07), there have been literally hundreds if not thousands of records reviewed on our list. And while among those hundreds of records there have been a great many we really really liked, plenty of great music, the fact remains that NONE of it has been skweee.
And that just won't do. We need more skweee!!!
Thank god Flogsta Danshall has at last released "the next level" of the Museum Of Future Sound, volume two, 18 more tracks of pure skweee! Skweee, if you weren't paying attention back when we listed the first Museum Of Future Sound, is the cutting edge new Scandinavian electro-funk sound that's sweeping the globe. Well we maybe not quite sweeping. Or even skweeeping. But we're really into it, and heck it SHOULD be blowing up big, if we have anything to say about it.
Why do we love skweee so much? It's both atmospheric and groovy and sorta silly (it sometimes -sounds- silly plus there's all the skweee-punning potential), it's very DIY and has that video game chip-tune retro-ness that you know we'd think was cool. It's funky, goofy, pretty much always instrumental, full of Kraftwerkian melodies, ridiculous nasty crunching bass, and glitched-up hiphop rhythms, skweeeird broken-machine beats tailor made for your most skweeetarded robotic poppin' and lockin' dance moves. It's immediately recognizable, when someone here starts pumpin' the skweee on the stereo we all know what it is. And the whole MySpace-based, internet "nation of skweee" Nordic b-boy (skweee-boy?) community, small as it is, seems pretty cool. A whole little scene (skweeene?) of skweee-obsessiveness to get into.
Museum Of Future Sound vol. 2 is a good place to start (if you have vol. 1 you already know you want this, right??). There's cuts from a few vol. 1 superstars such as Mesak, Randy Barracuda, Claws Costeau, and Daniel Savio, plus tons more tracks introducing such skweee powers-to-be as Eero Johannes, Mrs Qaeda, Joxaren, Spartan Lover, Limonious, Wankers United, Rigas Den Andre, and more... some we already knew from our internet skweee-search, others totally new to us. All these museum exhibits are pretty fantastic!! Each with their own idiosyncracies (idiosyncraskweees?). Ok, stop! By the way, while the first volume came in a slim plastic case, this one is packaged in a cardstock sleeve with three skweee stickers as inserts.
MPEG Stream: RIGAS DEN ANDRE " I Am Crane"
MPEG Stream: LIMONIOUS "Swedish Pommak"
MPEG Stream: RANDY BARRACUDA "Shock The Plankton"

V/A Music For Listening To (Bubble Core) cd 13.98
Nice comp featuring Him, Mice Parade, Rex (two tracks from an out-of-print 7"!), and the fabulous Matmos, among others.

V/A Music For Plants (PerfectlfOn) 2cd 23.00

V/A Musique Non Stop: A Tribute To Kraftwerk (EMI, Japan) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japanese artists cover their favorite Kraftwerk tunes. Participants include Melt Banana, Zeni Geva, Buffalo Daughter and a bunch of others we're not familiar with, but who seem to be part of the Japanese avant-pop electronica scene. The whole thing is great, absolutely recommended.

V/A My Malady (Mental Monkey) cd 12.98
Managed to get a few more of these back in!
Compilations are all about the concept. Come up with a good concept, and a good compilation is sure to follow. So how can you go wrong with a bunch of noisy bands, rock and otherwise, penning odes to their favorite sicknesses?! You can't. And if you make sure the list of contributors includes lots of AQ favorites, like Bomb 20, the Bran Flakes, the Evolution Control Committee, V/VM, and Deerhoof and maybe throw in some tUMULt bands like Burmese, Iran, 7000 Dying Rats and Berkowitz Lake And Dahmer and you've got it made. Songs about Gonorrhea, Gingivitis, Tinnitus, Priapism, Arthritis, Rickets, Gangrene, Alzheimers and more with sounds ranging from full on noise attacks, to silly cut up collages, to crushing ultrathick drones, to digital glitch-crunch, to dreamy lullabies. Sickness has never sounded so good.
MPEG Stream: DEERHOOF "Weak In The Knees"
MPEG Stream: IRAN "A Little Girl In A Car"
MPEG Stream: BERKOWITZ LAKE AND DAHMER "Gangrene"

V/A Nanoloop 1.0 (Disco Bruit) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A collection of tracks produced utilizing Nanoloop, a realtime synthesizer and sequencer for the Nintendo Game Boy developed by Oliver Wittchow at HfbK in Hamburg. Given the limited capabilities inherent in a 4-bit sound chip found on portable game modules, the results are quite impressive and undoubtedly fun (some even downright unbearable given the microtonal capabilities). Many artists in the past have used midi-rigged Game Boys as synthesizers in composition, these are among the first to use the newly developed sound editing cartridge. Artists involved include creator Oliver Wittchow himself, Keith Fullerton Whitman as Hrvatski *and* ASCIII, Merzbow, Agf/Dlay (Vladislav Delay & Antye Greie Fuchs), Stock Hausen & Walkman, Blectum From Blechdom, Pita, Felix Kubin, Dat Politics, Scratch Pet Land, Pyrolator (ex Der Plan!), Ostinato and Bruno & Michel Are Smiling! On the wonderfully cool Hamburg-based Disco Bruit label.
RealAudio clip: ASCIII "401K"
RealAudio clip: BLECTUM FROM BLECHDOM "Burbanked"
RealAudio clip: STOCK, HAUSEN & WALKMAN "Pillion Passenger"

V/A Neonbeats (Klanggalerie) 2cd 25.00
Were there any New Wave and/or Post-Punk bands from Liechtenstein? If there were, there will surely be a comp documenting the scene soon enough, as plenty of choice tracks have been unearthed from throughout Europe and North America care of numerous compilations that have been released in recent years - The Minimal Wave Tapes, So Young But So Cold, BIPPP, Cold Waves + Minimal Electronics, New Deutsch, and pretty much everything through Vinyl-On-Demand. So, here's Klanggalerie's anthology of the Austrian scene throughout the early to mid '80s (plus some current acts who are striking a retrogarde pose), proving that there's plenty of music between the era of Falco and the era of Christian Fennesz.
Admittedly, very few of the artists on this comp have crossed our paths, making this quite an excellent discovery. Of those, we do know, there's the masterful proto-techno artist Monoton making an appearance as does the cold wave outfit Zyx. Perhaps the most surprising find is the first band from Peter Rehberg, who fronted a sludgey, pig-fuck band with the brilliant / terrible name of Peterlicker. Over two discs, Neonbeats touches on anything and everything that tangentially came in contact with new wave and post-punk, making the comp more of an cross-section of the entire underground scene, but the selection is pretty great in spite of the diverse genre hopping of all the bands.
Much of the work here draws inspiration from the NDW sound, with darkened electronics over cheap drum machines topped with heavily theatrical vocals. Zyx's low slung bassline and monotone vocals provide an appropriately sinister mood to their skeletal, stalking electronics, with similar tracks produced in equal aplomb by Molin & Jox and Red.Chamber. Plastix and Squishy Squid add punchy punk backbeats to stripped down 3-chord tunes laced with minimal electronics. A band with a name taken from a Neubauten / Fad Gadget single - Collapsing New People - offer a charmingly spunky Trio / Young Marble Giants inspired number that belies the origins of their name. You'll also find a few No New York / 99 Records references as well, with the muscular funk-punk sax leads from Pas Paravant. And yes, Peterlicker. Rehberg's band existed for less than six months in 1989, and it seems that he's re-started the band, which is pretty fucking brutal with a Swans inspired heavy guitar plod and growling vokills. Admittedly, this sticks out quite a bit from the rest of the comp, but it's a pretty awesome track!
MPEG Stream: ZYX "What Do You Live For"
MPEG Stream: PLASTIX "Konsumier Mich"
MPEG Stream: RED.CHAMBER "Grain"
MPEG Stream: ASSTART "Forced To Dance"
MPEG Stream: MONOTON "E-Song"

V/A New Deutsch (International Gigolo) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Several months back, a copy or two of this compilation of early '80s Germany new wave / post-punk / proto-electronica came in the shop with little or no fanfare. Yet each time I attempted to play this disc, somebody would immediately come up to the counter to ask two questions: "What is this?" followed by "Can I buy it?" Needless to say, the album must have done very well all across the globe, as it has only been recently that we've been able to get a hold of enough of these to list. With the notable exception of DAF, Der Plan, and Pyrolator, we've never come across any of these bands, much less heard of them. For the most part, this catalogue of terminally obscure groups have produced some exceptional tracks of synth-based, noir pop. Occasionally playful, but often seriously sterile, these songs often revolve around the Kraftwerk / Cluster axis of a futuristic synthesis of state of the art technology (well for 1980 with primitive sequencers and drum machines) and sci-fi leaning metaphors. Along with those aforementioned groups, New Deutsch features Weltklang, Neon, Grauzone, Gleitzeit, No More, Stratis, Christof Glowalla, Eiskalte Engel, Za Za, Keine Ahnung, Die Gesunden, Fehlfarfen, Blingaenger, and Die Hornissen.
Certainly for fans of Adult., I Am Spoonbender, Gary Numan, etc.
MPEG Stream: NEON "Neon"
MPEG Stream: GRAUZONE "Film 2"
MPEG Stream: DER PLAN "Commerce Exterieur Mondial Sentimentale"
MPEG Stream: ECHOWEST "Engelstuer"

V/A New Forms (Raster-Noton) 2cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Contemporary Electronic Music in the Context of Art" with Disinformation, Scanner, Thomas Brinkmann, Richie Hawtin, Kim Cascone, Goem, Ryoji Ikeda + Noto, Byetone, Pan Sonic, Signal, Coh, Pomassl, Marc Behrens, Francisco Lopez, General Magic, and a few others. In a cool, but ridiculously cumbersome folding package with the cd nipples attatched perilously to the paper.

V/A Night Owls 01 (Deluxe) cd 13.98
While this is certainly a pleasant compilation from the dependable electronica label Deluxe, the wide range of artists represented unfortunately turn in uniformly similar pieces. Not to generalize too much, but most all of the tracks sit somewhere between Boards of Canada-style melancholy chord progressions and Mego-worthy precise clicks, glitches and pops. Very nice, listenable, and enjoyable, but if everyone's doing it, is it that *remarkable*? I know the point of it is that the comp has a theme (night owls, night music, relaxing stuff), but if you hadn't told me it was a collection of various artists, I woulda thought it was just one artist, and somehow that realization is a bit of a bummer. With Chessie, Esa, Ruoho, Parts:Places (Mike Martinez of Electric Birds and Jon Santos), Llips, etc.
RealAudio clip: ASPIC "Mr. Ouik"

V/A Night Owls 2 (Deluxe) cd 13.98
Second volume of delicate, spacious electronics and minimal glitch funk from Deluxe, featuring Electric Birds, Bizz Circuits, Sagan, Pan American, Soft Pink Truth (Drew Daniel of Matmos), Warmdesk, Jetone, Emisor and Daniel Gardner.
RealAudio clip: SOFT PINK TRUTH "Adeusz"
RealAudio clip: BIZZ CIRCUITS "Dubbing In Gaza"

V/A No More Rock N Roll (Make Some Noise / Spiky) cd 15.98
Great collection of the current crop of electropunk mash up artists, in the post Digital Hardcore vein. Fourteen previously released tracks from Kid 606, Atari Teenage Riot, DJ Scud, Cobra Killer, Bomb 20, Kid Spatula, 2nd Gen, Aphasic, Hellfish & Producer and more!
RealAudio clip: DJ SCUD "Mash Up The Place"
RealAudio clip: ATARI TEENAGE RIOT "Digital Hardcore"
RealAudio clip: BOMB 20 "Blood Money"

V/A Noise vs. Subversive Computing (Computationally Infeasible) usb stick 21.00
We kind of always wondered why more people didn't do a release like this sooner. Not a cd or an lp or a tape, but a little mini usb drive, packed with sights and sounds, for this particular releases much more appropriate as it's a collaborative project, in which Noise / Experimental Artists go head to head with Subversive Technologists aka Computer Hackers. Ten from each group were asked to contribute a piece of work, which could be anything, music, sound art, images, text, a video, even software, anything that could be converted to binary! The musicians had the theme of "Subversive Computing" while the hackers had "Noise" as theirs. A pretty rad concept for sure, and the result is pretty cool. Most of the songs are in FLAC form, so you'll have to have the appropriate decoder installed. Most of the bands were new to us, although some familiar names popped up: Sarah's Charity, Francisco, Lopez, Family Battle Snake, the sounds are all over the map, from drone to glitch to 8-bit to, well, you get the drift, it's a strange comp, but definitely cool.
Then there's the subversive computing portion, which is super interesting, but for the Luddites it might be hard to figure out what to do, and / or what the various programs do. From hiding information in noise music, sample generating software (we think), producing transcripts of random audio, generating a rainbow of sound out of the colors of noise, bitmapped chaos, a poem about noise, a video depicting the visual representation of noise, software that uses hacking to create art, a project that creates awareness of the controversial and incomprehensible privacy policies on the net, and more!
Definitely need to spend some time at home, listening, and reading, and exploring, all of these digital goodies are housed in a cool, printed mini usb drive, with a strap, so you can wear it around your neck!
Noise freaks, weirdo sound obsessives, computer nerds, and everyone in between, should definitely check this out!!

V/A Now Thing: 15 Dancehall Instrumentals (MoWax) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally got this sucker in the trusty aluminum format for all y'all so here's the description we gave the vinyl back in list 124 along with some real audio samples:
Seems like it's been ages since we've got anything in on MoWax. I guess I haven't been paying much attention to them of late, their second volume of sleepy bedroom trip hop Headz bombed so bad, I thought that was the end of them. So it's a bit odd to be seeing their name attached to a collection of version tracks representing the most popular dancehall ragga rhythms to come out of Jamaica in recent years. 15 tracks of hard ragga beats, a wee but o' hybrid drum n' bass, stripped of vocals for your deejaying pleasure. Features "Grass Cyaat" (Richard Browne), "Bada Bada" (Ward 21), "WWW.Com" (Annex Productions) and much more. Take your favorite a capella track and slap it on top and voila! instant dancehall classic! A must for any aspiring deejay. But the best thing by far is the ultra-randy cover art. It's not so much the front cover, which features a rated-x-school-house-rock image of a booty shaking chorus line, but the back cover which has a super close up drawing of a hot pants hottie replete with camel toe, droplets, and vapor trails. I kid you not, quite stimula... er, disturbing.
RealAudio clip: SLY & LENKY "Now Thing"
RealAudio clip: BROWNE, RICHARD "Grass Cyaat"
RealAudio clip: WARD 21 "Bada Bada"

V/A Now Thing: 15 Dancehall Instrumentals (MoWax) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Seems like it's been ages since we've got anything in on MoWax. I guess I haven't been paying much attention to them of late, their second volume of sleepy bedroom trip hop Headz bombed so bad, I thought that was the end of them. So it's a bit odd to be seeing their name attached to a collection of version tracks representing the most popular dancehall ragga rhythms to come out of Jamaica in recent years. 15 tracks of hard ragga beats, a wee but o' hybrid drum n' bass, stripped of vocals for your deejaying pleasure. Features "Grass Cyaat" (Richard Browne), "Bada Bada" (Ward 21), "WWW.Com" (Annex Productions) and much more. Take your favorite a capella track and slap it on top and voila! instant dancehall classic! A must for any aspiring deejay. But the best thing by far is the ultra-randy cover art. It's not so much the front cover, which features a rated-x-school-house-rock image of a booty shaking chorus line, but the back cover which has a super close up drawing of a hot pants hottie replete with camel toe, droplets, and vapor trails. I kid you not, quite stimula... er, disturbing.

V/A Oacis (Raster-NotonNoton) cd + book 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Oacis" -- an acronym for "Optics Acoustics Calculated In Seconds" -- documents the progress of the German collective Raster / Noton, which has been busily constructing works of utopian minimalism over the past five years. Raster / Noton rigorously applies the motto "less is more" to not only their post-techno productions, but also their intrinsically simple design aesthetic. This was exemplified by 1999's "20 to 2000 series," in which simple magnets connected a series of 12 clam shell cd cases to form what could be a model for a nanotechnist coil of energy distribution. This spindly construction perfectly housed the series's electronic minimalism, constructed out of the all mighty trio of digital synthesis -- the click, the ping, and the boom.
"Oacis" is a 100 page book with lots of articles expounding on the label's digital purity (including a rather poetic piece by The Wire's Rob Young), lots of live 'action' shots of Carsten Nicolai and Frank Bretschneider staring intently at their laptops, and of course an ultra-clean design. And in addition to all this lovely stuff to look at and to read, the accompanying cd is one of the best things to yet emerge from Raster.

V/A Ocean of Sound (Virgin U.K.) 2cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Released to accompany the (fantastic) David Toop book of the same name: Aphex Twin, ("Sextant"-era) Herbie Hancock, long-missing-in-action My Bloody Valentine, John Cage, Satie, Les Baxter (R.I.P.), Beach Boys, Miles Davis, Zorn, Debussy, Sun Ra, plus bearded seals and howler monkeys and much more. Meticulously paced with an eye to flow and variety -- a stylistically broader compilation probably has never existed.

V/A OHM+: The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music: 1948-1980 Special Edition (Ellipsis Arts) 3cd + dvd 42.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN PRINT! And now augmented with an additional dvd disc!! We just got these in so we haven't been able to watch the DVD yet, but it contains over two hours of rare never before seen performances, interviews, animation and experimental video!
This box (sans the DVD) was originally released five years ago and hasn't been available for some time now. Here's what we said about the audio portion of this, previously:
Following hot on the heels of the Early Modulations compilation from a while back, the OHM box takes the same general idea; a brief and cursory overview of the whole of experimental electronic music, and attempts to give it a little more depth. And it does, to a certain degree. But such a massive undertaking could fill 10 cds, or 20. So what we have here, is 3 cds, 42 tracks, from a who's who of electronic music in the last 32 years: Clara Rockmore, Oliver Messien, John Cage, Edgard Varese, Stockhausen, La Monte Young, Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Terry Riley, David Tudor, Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Raymond Scott, Brian Eno, Robert Ashley, Bernard Parmegiani and a bunch more. A pretty great assortment, for sure, and definitely the best 20th century/avant electronica primer to come along. The only frustration is that a great number of the pieces are edits, often 5 or 6 minutes from a 20 or 30 minute piece, rendering some slow building gradual shifting works a bit limp. But other than that, this OHM compilation is pretty excellent, packaged impeccably in a triple digipak, housed in a cool silkscreened transparent slipcase, with a fairly well researched book and some spot on musical choices. Definitely a great place to start.

V/A OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980 (Ellipsis Arts) 3cd 34.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following hot on the heels of the Early Modulations compilation from a while back, the Ohm box, takes the same general idea; a brief and cursory overview of the whole of experimental electronic music, and attempts to give it a little more depth. And it does, to a certain degree. But such a massive undertaking could fill 10 cds, or 20. So what we have here, is 3 cds, 42 tracks, from a who's who of electronic muisic in the last 32 years: Clara Rockmore, Oliver Messien, John Cage, Edgard Varese, Stockhausen, La Monte Young, Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Terry Riley, David Tudor, Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Raymond Scott, Brian Eno, Robert Ashley, Bernard Parmegiani and a bunch more. A pretty great assortment, for sure, and definitely the best 20th century/avant electronica primer to come along. The only frustration is that a great number of the pieces are edits, often 5 or 6 minutes from a 20 or 30 minute piece, rendering some slow building gradual shifting works a bit limp. But other than that, the Ohm compilation is pretty excellent, packaged impeccably in a triple digipak, housed in a cool silkscreened transparent slipcase, with a fairly well researched book and some spot on musical choices. Definitely a great place to start.

V/A Om Lounge 4 (Om) cd 16.98
Fourth in popular series. With Beanfield, People Under The Stairs, J Boogie's Subtronic Science, King Kooba, more. 13 tracks.

V/A One Word One Sound (Intermedium) cd 14.98
Right from the beginning, this compilation starts off on the wrong foot. The foundation of the record is a shaky one, attempting to find semiotic connections between electronic music as a form of alchemy and the transmutation of language within the context of literary modernism. The curators provided the artists with a 'one word poem' and a sound involving a piece of paper. The artists were given permission to "create the maximum scope for the individual creation of the pieces by using minimal set elements." Yup, that's true, but that doesn't amount to an interesting listening experience. Pretty much this is only for completists / fetishists of Sparks (doing easily the worst track of their once glorious career), Alexander Hacke, Merzbow, FX Randomiz, Loopspool, Chrislo, Kid 606, Zentralflughafen, Pita, and Lesser... or for those masochists who really really really like reading grant applications.

V/A One2Two (Intermedium) 2cd 14.98
"One2Two" is a double CD compilation of material from the first 12 Intermedium releases, plus a couple of unreleased tracks, featuring Hans Platzgumer, Samuel Beckett, Console and Thomas Meinecke, Philip Jeck, Guenther Koch, Ammer and Console, Walter Ruttmann (DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid Remix), Daniel Kluge and Edouard Stork, Thomas Harlan, Move D and Thomas Meinecke, Loopspool, Chrislo, and more. If you love German spoken text liberally sprinkled amidst abstract electronica, boy have we got a compilation for you.

V/A Ongaku 80: Alternative Waves From Japan (Hiruko) lp 25.00
We've been trying to list this for ages now (we listed its predecessor, the Ongaku 70 comp, late last year), but our distributor kept running out, and then eventually it sold out totally and went out of print. Well, it's finally repressed and available again, but who knows for how long, so grab a copy before they're gone, cuz this stuff is so good, and so crazy, some of the coolest and weirdest minimal electronic and no wave music we've ever heard, and most of the groups were totally unknown to us. Sure there's Phew and Riuchi Sakamoto and Tako, but then there's also Daisuck & Prostitute, Gunjogacrayon, Lizard and so many more. For those of you who remember that awesome So Young So Cold compilation of seventies and eighties cold/new wave music from France, well, imagine an even more warped and whatthefuck Japanese version and you've got Ongaku 80.
The sounds here are so varied and so all over the map, there's no way to really describe it as a whole, so might as well go track by track. EP-4 starts things off with "Robothood Process", which is in fact quite robotic, sounding a little like Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" at 16rpm, a funky bassline, little flurries of percussion, a weird machinelike voice, streaks of feedback, tolling bells, all wrapped into ramshackle groove. Sakamoto's "Riot In Lagos" takes the new wavey prog of Yellow Magic Orchestra (Sakamoto's group), and pulls it apart into something more robotic, unwinding long streaks of dubby rhythms, and a stuttery almost hip-hop groove, wreathed in all manner of beeps and bloops and synth blurts. "Modern Beat" by Lizard might be one of our favorites, a militaristic beat, some spidery guitar melodies, buried crooned vocals, lilting melodies, but over the top super loud dubbed out drums and a thick super distorted low end buzz, that erupts every once in a while like a squelchy rib cage rattling pppppthhhh, not to mention some squiggly Bollywood melodies. Portray Heads offer up "Elaborate Dummy", which is a killer slab of futuristic electro-punk with sweet crooned girl vox over the top, pulsing and pulsating synthscapes that should have fans of Zombi, Umberto and all the rest flipping their lids. Gunjogacrayon channel early P.I.L. and the Slits for a noisy chunk of super rhythmic punkfunk, wreathed in all sorts of effects and guitar scrabble and garbled wild vox.
Flip the record over, and things start off with "Urahara" by Phew, a weird bit of stiff robotic funk, with cold sung/spoken female vox over theremin like melodies and an almost Kraftwerk like arrangement. Tako's "Funk Of The Hostage" is indeed funky, bit a sort of sinister soundtracky funk that slithers and swaggers, a creepy bit of stuttery broody psychedelic spacefunk, with processed vocal garble and shards of squealing feedback and fractured melodies, as well as flurries of atonal piano, and bursts of distorted yelps and swirling FX. The awesomely named Daisuck & Prostitute almost sound like they could be some sort of proto-Ruins project, progged out scrabbly lurching grooviness, peppered with horn bleats and strangled guitar squiggles, all beneath dramatic vox, the song slipping from frenetic skitter, to grooving post punk. Shinobu's "Earth" is another track that sounds like a mutated version of HH's "Rockit", this time pelted with all manner of spaced out swirl and stuttering swoosh, a collage of sliced and diced sonic fragments raining down on a mesmerizing sci-fi synth groove, with some bizarre bellowed vox. And finally, PTA's finish things off with their epic "Woo-Guy After Dark", which weds post punk guitar jangle to tribal percussion, swoonsome synth swells to sweetly crooned female vocals, a slow build to something that more resembles a lost Bollywood soundtrack or some strange Southeast Asian cassette reissued on Sublime Frequencies, the song slipping from dense and percussive to swirly and ethereal and back again, all the while super rhythmic and hypnotic.
Phew! So good, and so awesomely crazy and over the top! So totally recommended. We definitely can't say how long these copies will last, or if we can get more once they're gone, so better probably to not risk it. You have been warned!
MPEG Stream: EP-4 "Robothood Process"
MPEG Stream: RIUCHI SAKAMOTO "Riot In Lagos"
MPEG Stream: LIZARD "Modern Beat"
MPEG Stream: PORTRAY HEADS "Elaborate Dummy"
MPEG Stream: DAISUCK & PROSTITUTE "Ziggurat Witch-Hunt"

V/A Open Source Code (Source ) cd 14.98
Where many of the 'Readers Digest' collections of electronica are generic codifications of style (as is the case with so many of the Mille Plateaux compilations), "Open Source Code" works in concentrating less on the 'who's hot' model of curation and more on collecting tracks that are well grounded in the fundamentals of techno. Good, well crafted techno always gives the appearance of effortlessness, and the majority of the tracks here display that effortlessness by emphasizing the minimalist bent for techno with only a few hic-cups of the overwrought conceptualization that has plagued the current 'click-hop' strain of electronica. "Open Source Code" is a presentation from Source Records and Ableton Software (whose Live program was used to construct the recent Scion mix of the Basic Channel back catalogue); and features some very polite cuts of minimal club techno from Akufen, Jan Jelinek, S.E. Berlin (aka Sun Electric), Robert Lippok (from Tarwater and To Rococo Rot), Bton, Sutekh, Thomas Brinkmann, Smyglyssna, Move D, Alex Cortex, Monolake, and Studio Pankow.
RealAudio clip: AKUFEN "Synthaxis 2"
RealAudio clip: S.E. BERLIN "Toninas"
RealAudio clip: THOMAS BRINKMANN "Monoklick"

V/A Open Up And Say...@<%_|^[!] (Tigerbeat6) cd 4.98
Tigerbeat6 offer up a stunningly eclectic compilation to make your head spin, and with a price tag that won't make your wallet whimper! Two dozen tracks ranging from the hi-tech to the lo-tech, the sophisticated to the positively nerdy. Starring DJ Rupture, Stars As Eyes, The Bug, Com.a, Numbers, Cex, Total Shutdown, Electric Company, The Rip-Off Artist, Crack We Are Rock, Knifehandchop, Nudge, Terminal 11, Nathan Michel, Caro, Dwayne Sodahberk, Max Tundra, Original Hamster, Zeigenbock Kopf and of course Kid 606.
MPEG Stream: DJ RUPTURE "Bonechip"
MPEG Stream: COM.A "Bitches From Outerspace"

V/A Or Some Computer Music 2 (Or) cd 15.98
Or Records' second compilation of computer music finds its definition of computer music in the late '60s and early '70s, when huge mainframe computers were neccessary to calculate not quite random but sequentially diffuse algorithms for the making of computer music. Thus, this compilation reflects an anachronistic view of what futuristic music is supposed to sound like, conjuring numerous references to Subotnik, Parmegiani, and even Xenakis. Yet strangely enough, as some of the tracks begin in this mindset, the artists (in particular Phoenecia and Atau Tanaka) snap back into the contemporary discourse of technotic rhythms and abstract breakbeats forming structures around the originally formless sound. As one of the slight variations from the norm, Alberto de Campo - director of the Center for Research in Electronic Art and Technology - offers a Thomas Koner like construction of bells and cymbals and digitized drone, but with plenty of whirls and whistles hailing from the academic, rather than empathic camps of drone music. Jim O'Rourke's digression from his academic squiggle is a strange acoustic strum with a breathy woman singing a bit too high for her range. Farmer's Manual splutters granular synthetic chunks of sound amongst layered pure tones, with the rhythmic elements presenting themselves as a grittier permutation of the Raster/Noton glitch.

V/A Orbitones: Spoon Harps & Bellowphones: Experimental Musical Instruments (Ellipsis Art) cd+book 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A follow-up to "Gravikords Whirligigs and Pyrophones", this book (written again by Bart Hopkin with an introduction by Robert Moog) and cd compilation (with Aphex Twin, Tom Waits, John Cage, Stomp, Lou Harrison...) is another celebration of the creative spirit of instrument invention.

V/A Osmosis (Leaf) cd 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A budget collection of Leaf's upcoming releases of mostly fourth world electronica with Hindi and Japanese percussive elements filtering into abstract beatz and straight up UK techno. With Richard Thomas, 310, Eardrum, Four Tet (1/3 of Fridge), Beige, A Small Good Thing (aka O Yuki Conjugate), Gripper, Sons of Silence, Gorodisch, and Susumo Yakata, whose hypercheesed send up of Fat Boy Slim (making his claim as the 'funk soul brother' sound even more Caucasian) was long over due.

V/A Outcaste Presents The First Five Years (Outcaste) cd 16.98
It's hard to believe the British Asian dance label Outcaste has been around only five years. Their club nights in London are legendary, and they've translated that into half a dozen albums so far. Here's a compilation mixing previously available and unavailable tracks from such artists Nitin Sawhney, Up + Bustle and Out, Ananda Shankar, and Dave Pike (remixed by Badmarsh and Shri). Fans of Outcaste's "Untouchable Outcaste Beats", tabla 'n' beats, and Talvin Singh will appreciate.

V/A Output 64: Delete All Data - Input 64 Remixed 2/X (Enduro) 12" 9.98
Second vinyl accompaniment to the Output 64 remix compilation cd. Features tracks found on said disc by Raumagent Alpha (an extended version) and Computerjockeys as well as two unreleased cuts by The Bikini Machine and Cut Out (an excellent version of the brilliant "Arkanoid").

V/A Output 64: Delete All Data - Input 64 Remixed 3/X (Enduro) cd 16.98
As the title states, these are remixes of material from the Input 64 compilation. All utilize the sounds of the Commodore 64 computer game system. Some are fluffily entertaining, others considerably less so. Look closely and you just might spot a Chick on Speed, Add N To (X) or Stereo Total member along with the likes of Ovuca and an appearance by Jean-Jacques Perrey.

V/A Panatone: Warm - Compiled By DJ Tom Thump (Cosmic Flux Musiq) cd 14.98
This 2001 compilation is the impressive debut in the recorded realm of Bay Area clubland kingpin DJ Tom Thump. If you dig downtempo, soul and house sounds, you're probably already very familiar with Tom Thump. For those of you who aren't, rest assured he's a gent you can trust as a purveyor of the smooth funky, jazzy good times! This skillfully mixed compilation will carry you deep into the night in fab style.

V/A Patty Duke Fanzine #6: Love To Patty (Top Quality Rock & Roll) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The king of the Patty Duke fan club has just gotta be Mike Dereniewski of Detroit, MI. He's the man behind this musical mammoth ode to Ms Duke. His Patty Duke Fanzine has evolved over the last decade from a traditional cut'n'paste paper zine to one that included a 7" compilation with bands covering Patty songs to its current and final state, this double cd compilation. Talk about goin' out with a bang! Likewise, Mike D's musical periscope has stretched out beyond his early ultra pop focus, discovering and sharing sounds of all shapes and sizes from around the globe. Mind you, a big part of his record collection is still clearly reserved for the sweet sounds of girl groups.
These two cds collect together tunes from past Patty Duke Fanzine releases and a whole lot more. You get an astounding fifty four tracks of music and almost as many dialogue snippits of Patty Duke from her tv shows and movies! Allow us to give you a mere sampling of the artists included: Asobi Seksu, Gore Gore Girls, His Name Is Alive, Jessica Bailiff, Kevin Blechdom, Mark Robinson, Rose Melberg, Slumber Party, Stereo Total, V/VM, and Windy & Carl. Wow!
MPEG Stream: ASOBI SEKSU "All Through The Day"
MPEG Stream: MELBERG, ROSE "I Love How You Love Me"

V/A Paws Across America 2002 Tour (Tigerbeat6) cd 10.98
Ironic posturing. Dorky electronics. Sneering No Wave anti-grooves. Wack beats. Dumb raps. Cheap thrills. Yup, it's marketing genius from Tigerbeat 6 and they're commemorating the first full North American tour for Numbers, Cex, and Stars As Eyes with this label compilation. Along with the chopped art-rock angularity of the Numbers, Cex's perposterously juvenile hip-hop, and Stars As Eyes' majestic yet art-schooled IDM, "Paws Across America" features a smattering of DSP workouts, grimy disco, and abused Rotterdam 'ardcore from Original Hamster, Electric Company, Knifehandchop, Nudge, Nathan Michel, Uprock, and that enigmatic German duo Zeigenbock Kopf. Tigerbeat claims that this compilation is all new and exclusive; however, the Knifehandchop track did appear on "TKO From Tokyo" 12."
RealAudio clip: ZIEGENBOCK KOPF "Sex With A Man"