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

V/A Teenage Heaven: The Fifties Girl Group Phenomenon (El Records / Cherry Red) cd 16.98

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

V/A The B-Music Of Jean Rollin (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 16.98
Another Finders Keepers / B-Music treat here, folks! A collection of kooky, creepy, very cool music from the films (many of them about vampires, and many of THOSE about sexy lesbian vampires!) by French underground auteur Jean Rollin, circa 1968-1979. The late Rollin has been proclaimed the "father of European Horrortica". On the freaky fringes of free jazz and psych rock, the tracks found here are the perfect accompaniment to the director's sexy, surreal cinematic phantasmagorias. And unless we're much mistaken, we recognize one of the tracks here, Acanthus' theme to "Le Frisson Des Vampires", as having been surreptitiously covered in heavier fashion by drugged-out doomlords (and horrotica fans) Electric Wizard on their Witchcult Today album!
Another one of note is Pierre Raph's aptly-titled "Gilda & Gunshots", a track of consisting of excited percussion, jazzy bass and pretty trumpet, overlaid with whipcrack-like gun shots, girlish whimpers and cries. It could almost be some noir-jazz experiment by the Boredoms. What the heck was happening in the film scene this scored, we don't know...
We could go on describing this track by track, but there are 31 cuts in all on this disc! With great titles like "Abstract Procession", "Bizarre Cult 2", "Crotch Batterie", "Crimson Gates", and "Violent Library", these vary widely and weirdly, encompassing spooky theremin-like tones, chamber music drones, somber choirs, flute-laced grooves, melodic reveries, arrhythmic interludes, all sorts of stuff. It's a real cornucopia of suspenseful strangeness and freeform avant-rockin'. Composers/performers responsible include the aforementioned Acanthus and Pierre Raph, along with many more by Phillipe D'Aram, Yvon Gerault, Francois Tusques and others. Much of this is previously unreleased. And of course Finders Keepers provides plentiful, fully illustrated liner notes in the cd booklet.
By the way, we also have a couple copies each of the soundtracks to Rollin's films Requiem Por Un Vampire (1972, composed by Pierre Raph) and Fascination (1979, Phillipe D'Aram) on import 10" vinyl, reissued by Finders Keepers as well (key tracks from which appear on this cd collection, naturally).
MPEG Stream: ACANTHUS "Le Frisson Des Vampires"
MPEG Stream: PIERRE RAPH "Gilda & Gunshots"
MPEG Stream: ACANTHUS "La Chateau"
MPEG Stream: PIERRE RAPH "Jade Lake"
MPEG Stream: YVON GERAULT "Blue Quadrant"

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

V/A The Bottle Let Me Down (Bloodshot) cd 14.98
Those frisky, fine folks at Bloodshot Records sure aren't the kind to leave anybody out in the cold. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is this CHILDREN'S album! They've even enlisted the help of non-Bloodshoters like Neko Case's pal and fellow Corn Sister Carolyn Mark to join in the tykes' merriment. Much in the way of storytelling and singalongs abound. I know firsthand that while hanging out with your favorite baby, toddler or child, the music that they usually have, and sadly are programmed to like, sucks. It could drive a well-meaning mom or caregiver nuts! Disney and 'We Sing Silly Songs' and such. This release is a pleasant change in that it is fun for kids and easy to listen to for adults (psst... another choice pick in the kids' category is They Might Be Giants' "No!" from earlier this year). Robbie Fulks' "Godfrey" ("the sickly unemployed amateur children's magician"!) is worth the price in chuckles alone. Plus I think it is our duty as musically tasteful people to introduce our children to music that doesn't suck from early on. Right?
RealAudio clip: ROBBIE FULKS "Godfrey"
RealAudio clip: TRAILER BRIDE "Lullaby"

V/A The Brit Box: UK Indie, Shoegaze, And Brit-Pop Gems Of The Last Millennium (Rhino) 4cd box 65.00
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is for sure gonna be at the top of quite a few wish lists this holiday season!
The title is a bit of an overstatement. "Of The Last Millenium"?! Not quite, how 'bout "Of The Last Decade And A Half Of The Last Millenium"? Uh huh, that's more accurate. Anyways, nitpicking aside, this box set contains four cds packed with 78 songs total plus a big 80-page booklet! So many old favorite UK bands -- many of which had shamefully slipped through the cracks in our memory until now!
Disc One features The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Felt, Shop Assistants, Mighty Lemon Drops, The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, The Primitives, The Wonder Stuff, The Sone Roses, The Charlatans UK, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Inspiral Carpets, The Trash Can Sinatras, The La's, and The Sundays.
Disc Two has Ride, Pale Saints, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, The Telescopes, Chapterhouse, Catherine Wheel, Bleach, Curve, Five Thirty, Moose, The Family Cat, The Dylans, Thousand Yard Stare, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Birdland, Manic Street Preachers, and Teenage Fanclub.
Disc Three includes Suede, Swervedriver, Eugenius, Superstar, New Order, James, Nick Heyward, The Boo Radleys, Saint Etienne, Stereolab, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, These Animal Men, Mega City Four, Echobelly, Gene, Menswear, Supergrass, Cast, and Elastica.
Disc Four closes out the box with Dodgy, Ash, Sleeper, Marion, Kula Shaker, Ocean Colour Scene, Babybird, The Bluetones, Super Furry Animals, The Divine Comedy, Cornershop, Silver Sun (YAY!!!), Spiritualized, Mansun, Hurricane #1, The Verve, Rialto, Catatonia, Placebo, and Gay Dad!
Plus for those of you (and us!) who are geeks for special packaging gimmicks, the 6"x12" box comes tricked out with a little light that illuminates not only the telephone booth sign on the outside front of the box, but also a mini stadium stage inside. Yes, batteries are included!

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

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

V/A The DFA Remixes: Chapter One (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
Remix anthologies are almost always varied affairs. While one may like the re-mixer, one may not always like the artist being remixed or vice versa. Here the DFA Team offer up their takes on ten cuts from artists who exist outside of the DFA family, with predictably mixed results. The best cuts are from the artists whose sound already has an affinity to the DFA style of production (Metro Area, Radio 4), and the remixes of Chemical Brothers, Soulwax and Gorillaz offer some nice surprises. But even re-mixers sent from GOD can't ever make the Blues Explosion sound good, so why bother? All in all, this is a decent compilation that would have been better if there was more to sink our teeth into, but what is here is a nice appetizer that keeps us hungry for a more up-to-date main course. Hopefully we'll find that in Vol. II.
MPEG Stream: RADIO 4 "Dance to the Underground"
MPEG Stream: GORILLAZ "Dare"
MPEG Stream: METRO AREA "Orange Alert"

V/A The DFA Remixes: Chapter One (Astralwerks) lp 19.98
Remix anthologies are almost always varied affairs. While one may like the re-mixer, one may not always like the artist being remixed or vice versa. Here the DFA Team offer up their takes on ten cuts from artists who exist outside of the DFA family, with predictably mixed results. The best cuts are from the artists whose sound already has an affinity to the DFA style of production (Metro Area, Radio 4), and the remixes of Chemical Brothers, Soulwax and Gorillaz offer some nice surprises. But even re-mixers sent from GOD can't ever make the Blues Explosion sound good, so why bother? All in all, this is a decent compilation that would have been better if there was more to sink our teeth into, but what is here is a nice appetizer that keeps us hungry for a more up-to-date main course. Hopefully we'll find that in Vol. II.
MPEG Stream: RADIO 4 "Dance to the Underground"
MPEG Stream: GORILLAZ "Dare"
MPEG Stream: METRO AREA "Orange Alert"

V/A The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two (Astralwerks) cd 15.98
The second edition of DFA remixes improves upon the first by delving into less obvious rhythm and dance territories. Increasing the atmospheres rather than cowbell-driven propulsion, DFA's reworking of Goldfrapp, UNKLE, Tiga, N.E.R.D. and Nine Inch Nails, among others are often more expansive and symphonic, at times extending passages and compositions to almost 14 minutes in length. This is an excellent dose of dance tunes for the mind as well as the body. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: HOT CHIP "Colours"
MPEG Stream: NINE INCH NAILS "The Hand That Feeds"
MPEG Stream: GOLDFRAPP "Slide In"

V/A The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two (Astralwerks) lp 14.98
The second edition of DFA remixes improves upon the first by delving into less obvious rhythm and dance territories. Increasing the atmospheres rather than cowbell-driven propulsion, DFA's reworking of Goldfrapp, UNKLE, Tiga, N.E.R.D. and Nine Inch Nails, among others are often more expansive and symphonic, at times extending passages and compositions to almost 14 minutes in length. This is an excellent dose of dance tuneage for the mind as well as the body. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: HOT CHIP "Colours"
MPEG Stream: NINE INCH NAILS "The Hand That Feeds"
MPEG Stream: GOLDFRAPP "Slide In"

V/A The Electric Asylum Asylum Volume 3 (Past & Present) cd 17.98
Those crazies at Past & Present are gonna have to add a whole new wing to their Electric Asylum, we're up to volume 3! More late '60s, early '70s "Rare British Acid Freakrock" from 20 obscure acts, these are they: Renegade, Primitive Man, Sensations, Puzzle, Barracuda, Grumbleweeds, Boneshaker, Barron Knights, Dynasty, M.A.S.K., Shakane, Wheels, Spode, 1984, Greg Robbins, Things Fall Apart, Roger Ruskin Spear, Don Crown, Zebedee, and Amazon Trust. Never heard of most of 'em before, probably won't hear of 'em again, but we're enjoying the one-off treats (some fun bubblegum, some grooving glam, some trippy prog pop) found here, now. And we'll be humming along with some of these for a while. One we did know was Primitive Man, whose outrageous "Animal Love" appeared on another cool comp, Neurotic Reactions, a few years back.
Another worth the price of admission highlight has to be "Little Girl" by a band called 1984, a remarkably jaunty number, upbeat and energetic and so very catchy, the bright and bouncy qualities of which contrast with the lyrics, the singer smugly telling off some girl who wronged him. And somehow also this song is replete with heavy psych guitar. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Likewise with the rest of the stuff on the disc, really! On the other hand, there's the super gruff voice used on the maniacal "Drop Out" by one Roger Ruskin Spear, that was probably a novelty back in the era it was recorded, though unwittingly a precursor to the likes of Killdozer!
The pseudo-occultic, proto-proto-metal percentage is down somewhat compared to the previous 2 volumes, but this still rocks, and the delightful kitsch quotient hasn't changed at all. Fuzzy, goofy, good times.
Like the other Electric Asylums, the cd booklet contains info on each track, as much as the compiler (who calls himself "Psychomania", so you know where his head's at) could dig up anyway, which actually often enough is more than you thought you'd ever want to know. Nicely done, with plenty of colorful original sleeve/label graphics illustrating the thick booklet.
MPEG Stream: 1984 "Little Girl"
MPEG Stream: GREG ROBBINS "Virginia Creeper"
MPEG Stream: THINGS FALL APART "Bye Bye My Rose"

V/A The Electric Asylum Asylum: Volume 4 (Past & Present) cd 17.98
The folks at P&P know they've got a good thing going with this Electric Asylum series; appropriately monikered compiler The Psychomaniac keeps coming up with winners. In the grand tradition, here's Volume 4, and it's a relatively hard 'n heavy one, subtitled "Rock Hard British Freakrock", as if they knew that Vol. 3, fun as it was, didn't entirely deliver the dunt rock we crave. Well Vol. 4, as befits that unintentional Sabbath reference, is a lot more tough, less bubblegummy... and that even includes the band on here called Bubbles! (Whose badass glammy proto-punk strut "Zap n' Cat" reminds us of Ronno or maybe even Hard Stuff). Oh yeah, this Electric Asylum is again populated with some goofy names, most of whom we'd never heard of before. Here's the full line up: Hector, Slowload, Rog and Pip, Wolfrilla, Incredible Hog, Smoke, Spunky Spider, Ning, Quiet World, Henry Turtle, Bear Brothers, Hard Horse, Mustard, Tuesday, Godson, Bubbles, Sunshine Kid, Clutch, Jackal, and Sundance. 20 tracks in all, mostly taken from one-off, 45 rpm single only releases from flash in the pan bands we're lucky to get to hear at all, most never made an album and did just one or two 7"s... Actually, the only bands we really knew was Incredible Hog (whose entire album is great), and Wolfrilla (a fave from Vol. 2).
Coming from circa 1970-75, a lot of this can be summed up as a bit Sabbath, a bit Slade, platform boots in each camp. Though, each individual band often seems to emulate other, specific, better known acts. Like, Godson sound kinda the Rolling Stones, Hard Horse are a lot like Nazareth, and Incredible Hog come closest to Led Zep... while Ning's "Machine" is somehow part Steppenwolf, part Gary Glitter. And then there's Smoke's "That's What I Want", which is almost like The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night" re-written with a "Sweet Leaf" fixation.
While we're not all that surprised that nobody here really ever "made it", that doesn't mean their attempts to do so are without merit! Not if you like lotsa fuzz 'n distortion, acid guitar soloing, and grunting wailing vox! Get yer fix of obscure '70s proto-metal groovy rockin' pop here.
The booklet contains the usual detailed-as-they-can-be trainspotting liner notes on each and every track (from which we learn useful minutiae such as that Sundance featured original Judas Priest drummer Alan Moore, ferinstance) plus full color sleeve/label graphics and vintage b&w photos... too bad about the crap cover art though.
If they can keep digging up records like these, we'll keep digging these comps! After this, we halfway expect P&P to jump ahead a few years to the late '70s / early '80s and bring us the killer NWOBHM rarities comp we know ol' Psychomaniac has got in him too...
MPEG Stream: HECTOR "Lady"
MPEG Stream: ROG AND PIP "Warlord"
MPEG Stream: SMOKE "That's What I Want"
MPEG Stream: SUNDANCE "Eagles"

V/A The Electric Asylum Volume 2: Rare British Acid Freakrock (Past & Present) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's back to the Electric Asylum for more of their specialized shock (and schlock?) treatment! A follow up to the excellent first volume, compiling more "bubblegum Black Sabbath" (our term) songs, a lot of 'em one-off singles, examples of obscure psychedelic-pop-prog from England, circa 1969-1974. We knew this one would be good just from the tracklist. Not that we'd heard of most of the bands, they just had cool names, evocative of the sort of eccentric, druggy, creepy-kitsch we loved about volume one: Wolfrilla! Humbug! Iron Cross! Lost Dog! Cats Eyes! Buster Jangles Flying Mattress! (Ok, so maybe that last one's not cool, but it's funny.) The bands we HAD heard of include Steamhammer, whose recently reissued album Speech is an AQ fave. And there's not one, but another two cuts by the female-fronted (Janis-ish) J.C. Heavy who appeared on the first Electric Asylum. Choc's here again too. Furthermore this includes the excellent Wishbone Ash-alike "Falling" by Iron Maiden - not THE Iron Maiden, but an earlier band of the same name, who also appeared with this same track on the proto-metal comp Downer Rock Genocide we listed last year.
There's 20 tracks here, lots of fuzzed out "freakrock" to pick favorites from. Humbug's track "Ebeneezer" (natch) is a good heavy groover. J.C. Heavy's "Mr. Deal" is all about their "pusher man". Steamhammer's "Windmill" is super flute-y, with a bit of a Doors vibe too. Gentry's "Attempted Contact" is a fine one for freaky swirling organ and occult seance themes. We could go on... but you'll find your own wilted flower power faves amongst the many charming efforts of hippie-glam "heaviness" committed to this asylum, bands who thought themselves possible alternate universe versions of the likes of Cream, Iron Butterfly, The Who, Steppenwolf, and/or the aforementioned Black Sabbath...
The illustrated cd booklet includes, extensive notes on each band/track, except for the most mysterious ones, often explaining the whys and wherefores of how each group of hopefuls never quite "made it" in the end, though some individuals from among these promising and/or peculiar acts went on to success in other outfits.
MPEG Stream: CATS EYES "The Wizard"
MPEG Stream: THE MONTANAS "Doctor Nero"
MPEG Stream: WOLFRILLA "Song For Jimmi"
MPEG Stream: IRON CROSS "All Of The Time"

V/A The Electric Asylum Volume 5: Rare British Freakrock (Past & Present ) cd 17.98
So, all good things must come to an end. Volume 5 of The Electric Asylum series is reputed to be the last, turning the lunatics loose. Uh-oh. For your next dose of musical electro-shock therapy you'll have to look elsewhere (maybe P&P's new series, curated as many if not all of these were by "The Psychomaniac", Psych Bites?).
Perhaps this is the last 'cause there seems to be a bit of bottom of the barrel scraping going on. A cover of "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin"? Really? Though, really, everything here has its charms, especially if you're in the mood for some obscure '70s glam. And there are a few quite solid surprises. We'd described earlier outings in this series as specializing in "Bubblegum Black Sabbath" bands. Well, ok, nothing was ever all that Black Sabbathy, but there was a kitschy occult vibe to some of the selections early on, certainly some heavy fuzz as well. Freakrock indeed. But this one definitely leans towards the Bubblegum, goofy more than freaky, which is fun too of course, but maybe not what we were hoping for after the relatively hard rock action of the previous volume, number 4.
As with all Electric Asylum entries, again with more silly names: Colonel Bagshot, Biggles, Squeek, Whistle, Mustard, Baby, Boston Boppers, Dunno... among others. 20 tracks in all by 19 artists. That's on account of them including both sides of the sole '74 single by singer Tracey Dean, a studio project produced by Giorgio Moroder, so that's pretty cool. Definitely one of the standouts here due to the catchy combo of Dean's weird wavery voice (kinda like the guy from Family) and the odd electronics of the production. Another neat one is Iron Horse covering "The Obeah Man", a voodoo-psych number originally by the amazing Exuma. And getting fully glam, the Jets' "Yeah!" is aptly named. So, Vol. 5 not the best in the series, mind you, the most hit and miss, but still not without some glammy, grin inducing gems and jams.
Includes excruciatingly detailed notes on each track in the thick cd booklet, with full color sleeve and label graphics reproduced. Nice. Too bad the cover art is another crappy CG job, dunno why they don't realize that doesn't jibe with the '70s aesthetic of what's been dug up here.
MPEG Stream: TRACEY DEAN "Boy On The Ball"
MPEG Stream: JETS "Yeah!"
MPEG Stream: MUSTARD "Good Time Comin"

V/A The Electric Asylum: Rare British Acid Freakrock Volume 1 (Past & Present) cd 17.98
We've been lucky lately with all the cool comps of reissued fuzzed out vintage rock that have been coming our way, particularly including quite a few from the Psychic Circle label, discs like A Visit To The Spaceship Factory, Cosmarama and White Lace And Strange. Folks (like us) into late '60s/early '70s intersection of psych-pop, prog, and proto-metal have been very very happy with those. This one's not on Psychic Circle, but might as well be. It immediately piqued our attention with its subtitle, "Rare British Acid Freakrock". We weren't disappointed. This is freakrock indeed, from the wild synth soloing on Asylum's "Suzy's Back" to the demented drama of Monsoon's awesomely overwrought "Night Of The Fly". And as for rare, well we'd only heard of two of these acts before, Atomic Rooster and Steel Mill (whose "Get On The Line" is heavy, hairy funk by way of the Beatles, in the vocal dep't). Meanwhile the obscure likes of J.C. Heavy, Legs, Iron Horse, Galahad, Choc, Grumbleweeds, Satisfaction, Mighty 'Em, Puzzle, Renegade, and all the other none-hit wonders here are welcome discoveries. And this is only volume one, bring on volume two!
At its heaviest, The Electric Asylum offers up we might term "Bubblegum Black Sabbath". Doomy and druggy, but also poppy and groovy. Lumbering fuzz riffs and soaring female backing vocals abound (you'll find both on Rainbow Family's "Travellin' Lady"). Elsewhere, there's some kitschy horns, badass drum breaks, and lots of wah wah guitar... More than a few of these tracks, like Iron Horse's "Magic Love" and Galahad's "Rocket Summer", would have fit in nicely on Psychic Circle's recent Blitzing The Ballroom collection of glam rock rave ups, being hard rockers with handclaps and "hey!"s. There's 20 tracks total, a colorful cornucopia of catchy craziness that we're definitely digging.
MPEG Stream: ASYLUM "Suzy's Back"
MPEG Stream: RAINBOW FAMILY "Travellin' Lady"
MPEG Stream: J.C. HEAVY "Is This Really Me"
MPEG Stream: STEEL MILL "Get On The Line"

V/A The Found Tapes: A Compilation Of Minimal Wave From North America '81-'87 (Minimal Wave) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Found Tapes is the second compilation published by Minimal Wave, the NYC label dedicated to reclaiming the hidden treasures from '80s of synth punk, new wave electronic experiments, and well... minimal wave. The first compilation of European rarities is currently out of print; but, Minimal Wave's collection from North America is available for the time being. The Found Tapes opens with a punchy synth punk number from Futurisk who hailed from Florida, claiming to be the first electro-punk band from the South. Ohama (from Alberta, Canada) are next, taking plenty of cues from Severed Heads. Iron Curtain were from Southern California, specializing on dark hypnotic grooves, ghostly vocals, and tumbling drum machine patterns. Deo Toy was a bedroom electronics project between the husband and wife team of Bill and Diana Owens, with very little information beyond this concisely rendered synth pop number. Mark Lane's "Who's Really Listening" had achieved some critical success in the early '80s, and it's easy to see why given the prescient similarities to Model 500's "No Ufo" as well as Gary Newman at his best. Dark, sinister monophunk is what the Philly ensemble Crash Course In Science offer for their "Flying Turns" track. Supposedly, they had recorded a single for Rough Trade, but that can't be confirmed. Dark Day is one of the uncelebrated triumphs of the post No Wave scene, as this was the project from R.L. Crutchfield formerly of DNA. Simple yet terminally bleak synth melodies and his clinically detached vocals were the basis for Dark Day, and made a huge impact some 20 years later on the Chromatics who covered his early single "Hands In The Dark." Dark Day present "Danger / Dancer" for "The Found Tapes" compilation with equal aplomb. Craig Sibley's another mystery man from the '80s, but did offer a charmingly dark synth number that's not too far from Ministry's loved and hated album With Sympathy. Tara Cross's "Tempus Fugit" from the album of the same name is a brilliantly primitive electro-funk that parallels the darkened sounds of Pink Industry or early Chris & Cosey. And finally, we have Experimental Products who had enjoyed a reissue campaign thanks to Vinyl On Demand. They qualified themselves as a garage band who picked up analog synths instead of guitars, although their cover of Brian Eno's "Another Green World" is sublimely not a garage punk track. Rather, an elegant redux closing out an excellent compilation!

V/A The Good Old Days Are Gone (20 Sided) cd 5.98

V/A The Hidden Tapes (Minimal Wave) cd 19.98
Lost Tapes, then Found Tapes, and now Hidden Tapes. As good as many of the reissues that Minimal Wave has released, it's their compilations that really shine. Here, those obscurant new wave / post punk obsessives offer a great collection of urgent synth blorp from all over the world and all dating from the early '80s. Very few of these tracks had much in the way of distribution or fanfare whatsoever, and that makes the discovery all the better. There's only a couple of the acts that we had any familiarity with, and we're probably not alone in that assessment. The opening number by SS-Say is one of the tracks we had heard, being featured on the cd reissue of the Pesteg Dreg album, as both bands were led by the Danish synth-mastermind Martin Hall. "Care" is a megawatt anthem of oversaturated synth lines and Euro-pop danceability that lusts after the New Order production of Blue Monday with more cocaine and dark theatricality tossed in for good measure. Every thing else on the compilation is considerably more understated in terms of production quality (and following the branding of 'minimal wave' all the more), with high caliber tracks offered on the Normal / Human League anxious bleep from the Yugoslavian project Oskarova Fobija and the insistent synth-chanting of Danton's Voice. The British duo Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips take up a friendlier version of early SPK / Nocturnal Emissions monophunk sequencing with transistor radio vocals and speed-simulating circuitry. Things turn toward the ultra-minimal side with the bittersweet melodicism of The Fast Set and Reserve's proto-Italo disco number, sporting an icy vocal detachment that would make Johnny Jewel jealous. The cd features two bonus tracks not on the vinyl including Gary Allen's weird science sequencing and goofy lyricism that looks to Devo and Oingo Boingo. Another tip of the hat goes to Minimal Wave for this one!
MPEG Stream: SS-SAY "Care"
MPEG Stream: DANTON'S VOICE "I Hear The Bells"
MPEG Stream: ROBERT LAWRENCE + MARK PHILLIPS "Computer Bank"
MPEG Stream: RESERVE "Destination Pour L'Inconnu"

V/A The Hidden Tapes (Minimal Wave) lp 26.00
Now here on vinyl too, we know you want it!!
Lost Tapes, then Found Tapes, and now Hidden Tapes. As good as many of the reissues that Minimal Wave has released, it's their compilations that really shine. Here, those obscurant new wave / post punk obsessives offer a great collection of urgent synth blorp from all over the world and all dating from the early '80s. Very few of these tracks had much in the way of distribution or fanfare whatsoever, and that makes the discovery all the better. There's only a couple of the acts that we had any familiarity with, and we're probably not alone in that assessment. The opening number by SS-Say is one of the tracks we had heard, being featured on the CD reissue of the Pesteg Dreg album, as both bands were led by the Danish synth-mastermind Martin Hall. "Care" is a mega-watt anthem of oversaturated synth lines and euro-pop danceability that lusts after the New Order production of Blue Monday with more cocaine and dark theatricality tossed in for good measure. Every thing else on the compilation is considerably more understated in terms of production quality (and following the branding of 'minimal wave' all the more), with high caliber tracks offered on the Normal / Human League anxious bleep from the Yugoslavian project Oskarova Fobija and the insistent synth-chanting of Danton's Voice. The British duo Robert Lawrence and Mark Phillips take up a friendlier version of early SPK / Nocturnal Emissions monophunk sequencing with transitor radio vocals and speed-simulating circuitry. Things turn toward the ultra-minimal side with the bittersweet melodicism of The Fast Set and Reserve's proto-italo disco number, sporting an icy vocal detachment that would make Johnny Jewel jealous. The CD features two bonus tracks not on the vinyl including Gary Allen's weird science sequencing and goofy lyricism that looks to Devo and Oingo Boingo. Another tip of the hat goes to Minimal Wave for this one!
MPEG Stream: SS-SAY "Care"
MPEG Stream: DANTON'S VOICE "I Hear The Bells"
MPEG Stream: ROBERT LAWRENCE + MARK PHILLIPS "Computer Bank"
MPEG Stream: RESERVE "Destination Pour L'Inconnu"

V/A The In-Kraut (Marina) cd 16.98
Subtitled: "Hip shaking grooves from Germany 1966-1974". Hence the "kraut" in the title -- nothing to do with the "krautrock" of Can/Faust/Amon Duul/etc., though. Nope, this very entertaining collection of twenty obscure cuts culled from rare soundtracks, singles, and library music sources is all about swingin' stuff for lounge pad hipsters, with a Teutonic twist. It starts off with the Marlene Dietrichish "From Here On It Got Rough" by Hildergard Knef, which could be a campy cabaret classic, and then ventures on into red light district funk, stoned jungle soul, and big band psychedelia, a lot of it performed by middle aged German jazz and pop musicans cashing in on the younger generation's trends. The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra even does a cool cover of "Jumpin' Jack Flash", believe it or not (never thought I'd really enjoy hearing that particular song again so much). And there's definitely a spirit of the age, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor on display, from Kuno & The Marihuana Brass's "Marihuana Mantra" to Vivi Bach and Dietmar Schonherr's "Molotow Coctail Party". And (applause, please) the compilers have provided a cd booklet full of detailed notes on each track, full color cover pictures of the original records, and bad puns like the title ("kraut-pleasers").
MPEG Stream: HEIDI BRUHL "Berlin"
MPEG Stream: VIVI VACH & DIETMAR SCHONHERR "Molotow Coctail Party"

V/A The In-Kraut Vol. II (Marina) cd 16.98
The In-Kraut, the delightful sassy compilation of German '60s jazzy lounge pop music that we got almost exactly one year ago today got played like crazy around here! What a treat! And while its follow-up The In-Kraut Vol. II seems a bit more subdued in mood, it looks likes it too is gonna keep our toes a-tapping for a long long while. As we mentioned in the review of the first volume, despite the "Kraut" in the title, you should definitely not expect anything remotely resembling "Krautrock". You will not find anything by Can, Kraftwerk nor Faust, but you will find ultra shimmy shakin' tracks by the likes of Hazy Osterwald Jet Set, Charly Antolini's Power Dozen, The Inner Space (wait, that band actually IS Can, before they called themselves Can!), Joy & The Hit Kids and many more! Oh yes, and the swingin'est, big-band version of Deep Purple's "Black Night" we've ever heard!! Hot stuff!
MPEG Stream: BLADIN, CHRISTER "Wildkatze"
MPEG Stream: STRASSER, HUGO "Black Night"
MPEG Stream: HAZY OSTERWALD JET SET "Swinging London"

V/A The In-Kraut Vol. II (Marina) 2lp 17.98
The In-Kraut, the delightful sassy compilation of German '60s jazzy lounge pop music that we got almost exactly one year ago today got played like crazy around here! What a treat! And while its follow-up The In-Kraut Vol. II seems a bit more subdued in mood, it looks likes it too is gonna keep our toes a-tapping for a long long while. As we mentioned in the review of the first volume, despite the "Kraut" in the title, you should definitely not expect anything remotely resembling "Krautrock". You will not find anything by Can, Kraftwerk nor Faust, but you will find ultra shimmy shakin' tracks by the likes of Hazy Osterwald Jet Set, Charly Antolini's Power Dozen, The Inner Space (wait, that band actually IS Can, before they called themselves Can!), Joy & The Hit Kids and many more! Oh yes, and the swingin'est, big-band version of Deep Purple's "Black Night" we've ever heard!! Hot stuff!
MPEG Stream: BLADIN, CHRISTER "Wildkatze"
MPEG Stream: STRASSER, HUGO "Black Night"
MPEG Stream: HAZY OSTERWALD JET SET "Swinging London"

V/A The Jewelled Antler Library (Porter) 4cd box 61.00
Oh wow. It's here, though not for long. You may have seen it announced on our blog or elsewhere, and really should have preordered one... we've already sold most of the copies we got (which was a lot, as many as we could afford, really). But at the moment we still have, like, a dozen. And possibly will be able to restock a few again next week, though we don't know that for sure. The label only pressed 1000 copies, and we know they're going fast. So perhaps listing it here is just for posterity's sake.
So, what's all the excitement about you ask? If you're a fan of San Francisco's acclaimed Jewelled Antler collective of psychedelic/drone/improv/nature folks you should know, some years back (2003), they decided to release a series of 3" cd-r eps, once a month or so, with entries from JA regulars like Thuja, likeminded folks such as Dead Raven Choir and Antony Milton, and also odd, one-off quirky projects like Loren Chasse's frog-sounds disc dubbed Green Laughter. The idea was to release stuff that stood alone in twenty-minute doses and didn't need to be padded out to full-cd length. These cute lil' 3"s proved quite popular here at AQ, and of course are now long, long out of print like all Jewelled Antler cd-rs. Apparently a set will put you back about $100-120 on eBay nowadays, or until recently anyway... Well there'd been talk for some years now of these wonderful eps getting reissued on cd, in a box set or something, and lo it has finally come to pass thanks to the enthusiasm (and deep pockets) of Porter Records.
The Jewelled Antler Library box contains 4 discs in cardboard sleeves, Books One to Four, comprising all 12 original entries in the approximately-monthly 3" cd-r ep series plus some extra bonus material! 59 tracks, four hours and forty minutes in all. It breaks down like this... Book One: Loren Chasse/Tomes/The Ivytree/Hala Strana, Book Two: Dead Raven Choir/The Famous Boating Party/Uton, Book Three: Claypipe/The Muons/Thuja, Book Four: Fursaxa/Kemialliset Ystavat/The Ways Of God To Man. And interspersed between each of the thirteen volumes are twelve "Footpath" tracks of brand new field recordings by Loren Chasse, up-close-and-personal documents of rain and wind and other evocative textural cracklings and rustlings from the natural environment. The box also contains individual, full-color cards with the cover art and credits from each ep.
We reviewed all of them when they originally came out (or almost all of 'em, not sure what happened to the last few). Waste not, want not, so what follows is a conglomeration of our reviews of each library installment, slightly edited for clarity and to eliminate redundancies. Note how several of the entries in the series may have been the very first time we'd heard from a particular artist, such as Finland's Uton for instance, now well known to us and AQ customers...
Volume 1: Frogs!!! Can AQ-customers resist frog recordings? We think not. Certainly we can't. Green Laughter is primarily frog field recordings made and edited by Loren Chasse (Thuja, Id Battery, Of, Blithe Sons, etc.). It's twenty minutes of the call of the wild (featuring frogs, cicadas, and perhaps birds), starting off as a fairly straight documentary and then blending into a computer-processed drone-wash constructed by Chasse from his original recordings. It's like wandering in a dense creature-inhabited forest back East somewhere in the summertime, your ears overwhelmed by the natural sounds, you getting dizzy and almost passing out, the ribbitting and chirping and buzzing and tweeting taking over your mind. But it eventually dissolves back into a blissful background ambience. Real nice. And many of the sounds on here that sound insect-like or electronic Loren assures us are in fact frogs. It's nature's electronic music, the sound of a laptop computer overwhelmed by heat and long grasses and the green laughter. Just the thing for when I (Allan) get homesick for Pennsylvania.
Volume 2 is the debut recording from a group called Tomes, who are, as it turns out, basically Jewelled Antler flagship group Thuja (Rob Reger, Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, absent Steven R. Smith), letting themselves get a little bit louder and noisier than they usually do in Thuja, harking back a bit to precursor band Mirza in fact. Probably the main reason this wasn't put out as a Thuja release is because Tomes' title and artwork are in fact the Jewelled Antler collective's knowing nod to a black metal aesthetic (which has fascinated Glenn particularly of late). But while intended as a tribute of sorts to black metal, the psychedelic drone music found here only holds subtle echoes of dark Nordic woodlands and burning churches. The twenty minutes of abstract heavy improv of The Dreadful Gift is darn good stuff regardless of the tangential conceptual framework. With noisy phantoms clanking chains, groaning drones, tell-tale heartbeats and and distorted freeform guitar feedback, this does achieve a dark n' dirgey but beautiful atmosphere. Too beautiful perhaps to leave the black metal hordes quaking in their corpsepaint, it still could be a Jewelled Antler Halloween soundtrack of sorts - I wonder why didn't they wait 'til the October Library installment for this? Definitely recommended.
Volume 3 comes from The Ivytree, a solo project of one of the Jewelled Antler's chief protagonists, Glenn Donaldson (who can also be found in Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, The Birdtree, etc). Donaldson has publicly announced an affinity for creating different monikers to accompany the innumerable variations of his musical productions, so The Ivytree may be just one in a number of upcoming 'tree' projects from Donaldson. Certainly this 18 minute ep has a lot in common with his previous 'tree disc, The Birdtree album, which garnered high praise from us. Centered around a plaintive, elliptical finger-picking guitar technique which renders every note full of melancholia, The Sun Is The Lamp weaves in and out of harmonium drones, field recordings of birds, and Donaldson's evocative vocals. As strong as the best Richard Youngs projects that might be the closest comparison we can make, this is another fantastic recording from Jewelled Antler!
Volume 4 is by Thuja's Steven R. Smith, who has taken up the Hala Strana moniker for his Eastern European-folk music inspired meditations. Karst continues down the path of his previous Jewelled Antler production Kohl, with a more ramshackle production for his dense acoustic arrangements for guitar and scratchy violin, which often hints at Eastern European timbres but as played by Nikki Sudden. In fact two of Smith's tracks are versions of traditional Polish and Romanian folk songs. Often beginning with a clutter of loose sounds, Smith coaxes his orchestrations into melancholic melodies and has smothered everything with an unusual patina of crunchy vinyl static, giving these 18 minutes a distinctly antiquated feel. A great entry in a great series...
Volume 5 is by Dead Raven Choir, the Texas-by-way-of-Poland based folk/improv one man project that the Jewelled Antler powers-that-be seem to be totally in love with of late - this was their 3rd DRC release of 2003! As with his previous Jewelled Antler cd-rs, DRC here conjures up some eccentric vocal theatrics and sparse, haunted acoustic guitar playing, like some sort of Eastern European Jandek. And his black metal obsession with wolves continues in the title here as well. Scarily beautiful, with atmospheric piano and unknown other sounds providing a hissing soundscape for his vocal, all three tracks here featuring macabre poetry by Paul Verlaine.
Volume 6 is something a bit different, yet familiar too to Jewelled Antler aficionados. It features the Blithe Sons (Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, both also of Thuja and much else besides) joined by Eleanor Harwood on vocals. This trio's music is totally inspired by '70s art rock ensemble Slapp Happy, it's actually an intentional tribute of sorts. Eleanor is the heart of this, and we must say that for an untrained vocalist in an improvised setting, she's very impressive! Singing lyrics taken from a book of Kenneth Patchen poetry that was near to hand, "The Famous Boating Party", she totally inhabits the Dagmar Krause role, her vocals all wonderfully warbly and birdlike and lovely. She reminds us of Bjork at times too, no bad thing! Backing her up/leading her on, Glenn strums melodically on his 6 & 12 string guitars and adds comforting keyboard coloration, while Loren's "percussion & noises" both provide a steady beat and contribute the usual detailed, natural Jewelled Antler ambiance. It's very hazy and folky and fairytale like, a summer's afternoon encapsulated in a magical music box. Maybe not to everyone's taste (Slapp Happy certainly isn't either) but for some this will be a highlight in the Library series.
Volume 7 is also from outside the immediate ranks of Thuja and company. Although they've had a couple of cd-r releases popping up from tiny labels around the globe, this was our introduction to Uton. This anonymous, acoustic-noise-drone band hails from Finland, although they seem far more at home within the New Zealand community of Birchville Cat Motel, Anthony Milton, and Handful of Dust. Zwuiji is a bit more grating than most entries in the Jewelled Antler Library series, which typically opiate themselves with hazy improvised psychedelia and obtuse folk renderings. Rather Uton revels in mistreating their electric gear in order to fill up the audio spectrum with buzzing drones that swarm out of their amplifiers like angry wasps. Scratchy violins and atonally shifting wind instruments hover behind these gritty walls of vibrating feedback which comes across more as a misaligned engine block rattling all of those tones inside your head than as a typical trick with a couple of effects boxes. Certainly the fans of cd-r labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon or PseudoArcana will like this.
Volume 8 hails from New Zealand's Claypipe. It seems Jewelled Antler have found some kindred souls Down Under, no not Gandalf and Frodo but in this case Antony Milton (who runs a cd-r label himself, Pseudoarcana) and Clayton Noone (C.J.A., Armpit) who together are known as Claypipe. Repetition and drone and field recording grit coexist with lovely acoustic guitar - it's real nice. With wistful, earnest vocals, some distorted and layered, this is neither indie-pop nor environmental ambient, but a hybrid that totally fits with Jewelled Antler 'groups' like the Blithe Sons and Child Readers, while possessing that special New Zealand magic we all adore. Seven tracks, 20 minutes, and you're left wishing it were longer.
Volume 9 is a disc from SF's Muons, not a Jewelled Antler band per se, but in those guys' orbit. There's five songs here, just under twenty minutes of fragile, psychedelic folk recorded live, where they really shine. Inspired by traditional British folk music, but made soooo minimal and spacey that they've been called the "Bernhard Gunter of space-folk", the Muons make forlorn lullabys for adults. For this performance, the Muons were just the duo of Greg Bianchini and Rickey Reneau. Greg, who has played with Jewelled Antler acts Franciscan Hobbies, Thuja and Blithe Sons, is an gifted instrument maker, and on this recording plays a home-built 14-string electric lute as well as sings. Rickey plays an electric dulcimer, probably also built by Greg. Greg's languid strumming and melancholic vocals seem to drift out of the smoke and mist of another era, and could be from a lost UK psych-folk comp, although this is so slow and sad and desolate that no hippy could have made it - they'd be too bummed out. We're also reminded of some Galaxie 500, or old NZ stuff like the Chills. Certainly this is a bit different than much else in the Library series - it's got to be the most 'composed' set of songs found on any of these 3" discs. But we think JA fans will like it, a lot. It has a 'flowers in the rain' vibe that's just lovely. And the loveliness extends to the paintings Greg did for the 3" cover. Very nice.
Volume 10 is from Thuja. With the series getting close to the end, it's about time for these guys to finally make an appearance (unless you count the almost-Thuja entry by black metal inspired alter ego Tomes). 20 or so minutes, 2 tracks. Again, the Thujans (Loren Chasse, Rob Reger, Steven R. Smith, and Glenn Donaldson) make some of the most beautiful and mysterious abstract instrumental improv we've heard. All we're told is that Fable was "recorded at night in the Garden of Kains, August 30, 2003". There could have been weird old hippies sitting in, or magical woodland beasts (of the past), or academic dronologists gone a bit strange on natural pharmacueticals...but probably it was just Thuja, and their music is conjuring these imaginary visitors not the other way around.
All those above reviews from our archives get us up to book/disc four, volumes 11, 12, and the previously unheard by us quasi-volume 13 in the Library series. We'll briefly describe 'em here (as if you needed us to...):
Volume 11 is from Fursaxa, and consists of one haunting track, "Harbinger of Spring". Nearly 18 minutes of wordless vocal drone, tumbling tribal drums, and other mysterious atmospheres. Good music for the next time you're trapped inside a Wicker Man.
Volume 12 comes from Finnish freaky forest folks Kemialliset Ystavat, who always seemed like Jewelled Antler soulmates. Five tracks here of their moody, magical improvs. Primitive, krauty jams we love.
And then the "bonus" Volume 13 is by Jewelled Antler act Ways Of God To Man (Christine Boepple, Kerry McLaughlin, Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson). It was originally released in a very limited edition on a NZ cd-r label in 2004. Despite featuring 2 former AQ employees, we never even got any... Three tracks ("Nothing", "Everything", and "Anything") of dark psychedelic throb and abstract, distorted melodic murk, over 28 minutes total. It sounds to us like Jewelled Antler's tribute to Ya Ho Wa 13! Even if you already have the other 12 volumes of the library on the original 3"s cd-rs, and getting them again on the more durable medium of actual compact disc isn't a compelling enough reason to buy this box, we'd imagine that getting to hear the Ways Of God To Man could sweeten the deal considerably.
All right, considering we KNOW we're gonna run out of these right away, this review is quite long enough! Just one more paragraph to go...
Need we say, pretty darn recommended. But do we have any complaints? Well, musically, not really, of course some volumes will appeal more that others but that's the deal, and you can't get 'em individually anymore anyway. Also, just in terms of physical production, any ambitious, unique project like this is bound to have a few flaws. Will the metallic foil debossing of the Jewelled Antler logo on the box top IS quite handsome, the box itself is a bit of a disappointment. It just a bit flimsier than we were expecting ("heavy chip board stock" it's not), apparently due to the difficulty of debossing on heavier cardboard. Also it's bigger than it needs to be, leaving empty space inside for the cds and cards to rattle around. Had each one been stuffed (in true Jewelled Antler style) with twigs and moss and suchlike, that would have solved the problem, unfortunately that probably proved to be impractical, but you could do it yourself once you get this! There's also just a couple of proofing errors we noticed, nothing serious (Hala Strana got left off the back of the box, alas) but it's still too bad. However, the overall presentation is still pretty nice and of course it's the music that matters. So, that said, we can only reiterate: pretty darn recommended!
MPEG Stream: TOMES "The Dreadful Gift, Part 1"
MPEG Stream: THE IVYTREE "White Sun"
MPEG Stream: HALA STRANA "Karst"
MPEG Stream: WAYS OF GOD TO MAN "Nothing"

V/A The Joe South Tribute Record (Jackpine Social Club) cd 14.98
Wondering who is Joe South? Some of us here were too. Born Joe Souter, he was the songwriter behind a remarkable number of those AM radio favorites about which you might've found yourself thinkin' "who wrote that?" Now are ya wondering which songs? Oh you know 'em alright! "Hush" (as recorded by Deep Purple), "Rose Garden" (as sung by Lynn Anderson, y'know "I beg your pardon, I never promised you a..."), "Down In The Boondocks" (as sung by Billy Joe Royal), "Games People Play" (as sung by the man himself) and the list goes on. Kelly Hogan, Kelley Stoltz, Persephone's Bees, Chris Von Sneidern, Chuck Prophet, Ron Silva & The New Believers, Jesse DeNatale, Tom Heyman, Stephanie Finch, Ted Roddy, Paul Cebar and Otis Clay have all paid their respects to South and the broad, indelible mark he made on American popular music of the '60s and '70s by performing their renditions of twelve of his songs (many of them very faithful to the original). Since a bunch of the songs were conveniently recorded in the same studio here in SF, folks ended up playing on each others' songs quite a bit. This lends a consistency as well as a warm family gathering feel to the compilation. Also joining in to play a few bars are Mark Greenberg (ex-Coctails) and Marc Capelle (American Music Club).
MPEG Stream: VON SNEIDERN, CHRIS "Hush"
MPEG Stream: PERSEPHONE'S BEES "Games People Play"

V/A The Little Band EP (PRS) 7" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A few months back we raved about the Primitive Calculators anthology which came out on Chapter Music. Thanks to that review, we were contacted by Denise Hilton who had been one of the electronic wizards in that seminal Australian synth punk and had some rare singles that she was willing to part with. I'm not sure why this is called "The Little Band" EP, as it doesn't say that anywhere on this super-rare 7," but supposedly that's the title. Anyway each of the four bands -- Too Fat To Fit Through The Door, Morpions, The Take, and Ronnie & The Rhythm Boys -- are side projects of the Primitive Calculators. whose synth-punk / no-wave axis of Suicide meets DNA is present in some, way, shape or form on all of the tracks. This is especially true on the Ronnie and The Rhythm Boys electrically shrill version of "Hey Joe," but The Take offers something a bit closer to Young Marble Giants with their delicately constructed number of perfect punk-pop. This is actually an original pressing from back in 1979 (with reconstructed covers since the originals succumbed to mold), and it's unlikely that we'll get any more copies.

V/A The Midnite Sound Of The Milky Way (Big Beat) cd 16.98
We reviewed the Dean Carter disc a few lists back, a killer collection of super twisted rockabilly and garage rock, ultra distorted, tons of weird effects, super rocking and far out, especially for the time. We sold a ton, and still can't seem to stop listening to it. In the liner notes, they kept mentioning a comp called The Midnite Sound Of The Milky Way, a collection of singles from the label that Dean Carter called home, and we figured if it was even half as weird as the Carter disc, we had to have it, and guess what, it totally is.
This one is not new either, a few years old in fact, but somehow we missed out both on the Carter, and the Milky Way, so we figured maybe some of you did too. More twisted garage rock, weirdo rockabilly, some proto-doom (really!) and some stuff that we're not exactly sure how to describe. One name keeps popping up all over this disc, with NINE tracks, and that's Kookie Cook, who just so happened to be a member of Dean Carter's band, and judging from these tracks, had much to do with that twisted sound. "Workin' Man" is a total classic, with a killer main riff, a bunch of whistling, some weirdly delivered sung spoken vocals, lots of "HEY!"s, some awesome drumming, and a screaming lead that lasts all of two seconds. Woah. "Don't Lie" is a slithery twisted swampy bit of blues, with frenzied howled vox, and some strange female back ups. "Revenge" is a total reverbed surf jam, with some more super strange vocals, frenzied and maniacal, all over some shimmery twang, and some seriously pounding drums. "Misery" and "I Feel Alright" are classic fifties sounding rockabilly blues jams, with bad ass guitar wrangling, all super distorted and tangled. "Ooby Dooby" is another fifties style groover, with lots of nonsense lyrics, and some really weird female back up vox, and finally, "Drums" begins with Cook shouting "Drums! Baby!" and then two minutes of wild drum freakout and occasional shouts. So good. We hope this guy has a lost album somewhere. Cook also contributes two tracks with his band the Satalites, one of which sounds a little like the Benny Hill theme mixed with surf rock, while the other is a weird slow jam, all wild manic laughing, and weird horns and 'whoop!'s in the background. And that's just Cook's tracks (which are more than enough reason to buy this), there's also the mysterious 12th Knight, whose "Death Row" is total fuzz drenched proto-doom, like Sabbath played on shitty little amps, so grim and weirdly heavy, and there's a bunch of other groups, The Cobras, Dave Marten, Four A While, George Jacks, Jack Johnson, The Grapes Of Wrath and Willie & The Travelaires, all of them cool, although not as weird or far out as Cook or as heavy and haunting as 12th Knight. Such a killer comp. Anyone who dug the Dean Carter, or just loves lost outsider gems from the sixties, this is definitely well worth checking out!
MPEG Stream: KOOKIE COOK "Workin' Man"
MPEG Stream: KOOKIE COOK "Space Race"
MPEG Stream: KOOKIE COOK "I Feel Alright"
MPEG Stream: KOOKIE COOK "Drums"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume 1 (Stones Throw / Minimal Wave) cd 14.98
Ooooh, so awesome! If you're familiar with Minimal Wave already, or if you're not, this is the thing to get.
The Minimal Wave label and website have been tremendous resources for discovering the hidden gems of synth punk, cold wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, and any of the darker strains of new wave that all blossomed throughout the early to mid '80s. While the label has released full album reissues (vinyl-only) from a number of forgotten men and women of the trade, the two comps that Minimal Wave has issued over the years - the Lost Tapes (documenting European artists) and the Found Tapes (culling from North America) - were absolutely stunning, without a dud amongst the many collected tracks. Unfortunately, those two comps were quite expensive and quite hard to come by. So when Minimal Wave and Stones Throw came together to release this comp, our initial reaction (and that of a few others walking in the shop) was that this compilation fused those Lost & Found Tapes together. Well, we were wrong as this highlights not only some of the best tracks from those compilations, but also the best tracks from the Minimal Wave reissue library, plus a few rare gems not readily available anywhere else.
The Belgian outfit Linear Movement (which later morphed into A Split Second) opens the compilation with a very cold dance number of disaffectedly cold Italo-disco rhythms and female vocals that would fit in with any given Johnny Jewel production for Italians Do It Better (e.g. Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire, etc.). Crash Course In Science's "Flying Turns" re-emerged first on the Found Tapes and then on the totally awesome Vinyl On Demand anthology; and is an immediately catchy if darkly unique number of dot-dot-dash electro and spiky rhythms closer in spirit to the Units or Nervous Gender. Oppenheimer Analysis reprises a very Gary Numanoid track from their eponymous record which Minimal Wave reissued a while back. The Mark Lane track "Who's Really Listening" is another insistent proto-techno number of synthetic micro-blips driving handclap drum rhythms and Lane's Ultravox-ish vocals. Tara Cross was one of the few women tinkering around with electronics, and produced some beguiling arrhythmic structures with staccato synth punches and her drawn out vocal ambience. Turquoise Days may have been the only New Wave export of the Channel Islands, pulling out some jangling dissonance from their guitars to match the Modern English synth melodies. Minimal Wave reprises the Lost Tapes with a great track from Bene Gesserit, a project of bleakly alienated progressive electronics from Alain Neff who ran the Insane Music label. The Esplendor Geometrico track is curiously playful for a project that centered so much on dangerously mechanoid industrial grinding. Das Ding's "Reassurance Ritual" was designed for the dancefloor with a constant revolution of drum machine programming around tightly wound synth melody repetitions. Cryptic theatrics from the Martin Dupont ensemble appear on "Just Because" sounding a lot like a Fad Gadget B-side. And if the Deux track "Game & Performance" sounds familiar, it's because you've heard it on the BIPPP compilation which Ed Banger re-released a while back. The compilation is fleshed out with the best death disco groove that Das Kabinette ever mustered on their single "The Cabinet" which did come out on a Minimal Wave lp a while back.
Fantastic!!!!!
FYI there IS a vinyl version of this comp too, but of our various suppliers only one got copies, and they were shorted, so we only got a tiny tiny handful, not enough to list (by the time you read this, they'll probably be gone, but you can always ask). Hopefully though we'll get more somehow in the near future...
MPEG Stream: CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE "Flying Turns"
MPEG Stream: MARK LANE "Who's Really Listening"
MPEG Stream: DAS DING "Reassurance Ritual"
MPEG Stream: DAS KABINETTE "The Cabinet"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume 1 (Stones Throw) 2lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yay, also at last we have a bunch (well, maybe not for long) of this recent Record Of The Week on vinyl!!
Ooooh, so awesome! If you're familiar with Minimal Wave already, or if you're not, this is the thing to get.
The Minimal Wave label and website have been tremendous resources for discovering the hidden gems of synth punk, cold wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, and any of the darker strains of new wave that all blossomed throughout the early to mid '80s. While the label has released full album reissues (vinyl-only) from a number of forgotten men and women of the trade, the two comps that Minimal Wave has issued over the years - the Lost Tapes (documenting European artists) and the Found Tapes (culling from North America) - were absolutely stunning, without a dud amongst the many collected tracks. Unfortunately, those two comps were quite expensive and quite hard to come by. So when Minimal Wave and Stones Throw came together to release this comp, our initial reaction (and that of a few others walking in the shop) was that this compilation fused those Lost & Found Tapes together. Well, we were wrong as this highlights not only some of the best tracks from those compilations, but also the best tracks from the Minimal Wave reissue library, plus a few rare gems not readily available anywhere else.
The Belgian outfit Linear Movement (which later morphed into A Split Second) opens the compilation with a very cold dance number of disaffectedly cold Italo-disco rhythms and female vocals that would fit in with any given Johnny Jewel production for Italians Do It Better (e.g. Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire, etc.). Crash Course In Science's "Flying Turns" re-emerged first on the Found Tapes and then on the totally awesome Vinyl On Demand anthology; and is an immediately catchy if darkly unique number of dot-dot-dash electro and spiky rhythms closer in spirit to the Units or Nervous Gender. Oppenheimer Analysis reprises a very Gary Numanoid track from their eponymous record which Minimal Wave reissued a while back. The Mark Lane track "Who's Really Listening" is another insistent proto-techno number of synthetic micro-blips driving handclap drum rhythms and Lane's Ultravox-ish vocals. Tara Cross was one of the few women tinkering around with electronics, and produced some beguiling arrhythmic structures with staccato synth punches and her drawn out vocal ambience. Turquoise Days may have been the only New Wave export of the Channel Islands, pulling out some jangling dissonance from their guitars to match the Modern English synth melodies. Minimal Wave reprises the Lost Tapes with a great track from Bene Gesserit, a project of bleakly alienated progressive electronics from Alain Neff who ran the Insane Music label. The Esplendor Geometrico track is curiously playful for a project that centered so much on dangerously mechanoid industrial grinding. Das Ding's "Reassurance Ritual" was designed for the dancefloor with a constant revolution of drum machine programming around tightly wound synth melody repetitions. Cryptic theatrics from the Martin Dupont ensemble appear on "Just Because" sounding a lot like a Fad Gadget B-side. And if the Deux track "Game & Performance" sounds familiar, it's because you've heard it on the BIPPP compilation which Ed Banger re-released a while back. The compilation is fleshed out with the best death disco groove that Das Kabinette ever mustered on their single "The Cabinet" which did come out on a Minimal Wave lp a while back.
Fantastic!!!!!
MPEG Stream: CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE "Flying Turns"
MPEG Stream: MARK LANE "Who's Really Listening"
MPEG Stream: DAS DING "Reassurance Ritual"
MPEG Stream: DAS KABINETTE "The Cabinet"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two (Stones Throw / Minimal Wave) cd 13.98
By now, the term 'minimal wave' has become synonymous with a particular thread of somewhat dystopian and certainly DIY electronic pop whose origins land somewhere between 1978 and 1984. Back then, all of this music was probably lumped under the new wave or post-punk or maybe even industrial category; but thanks to Veronica Vasicka's label, a new taxonomy has stuck, and more than a handful of archivist labels following suit, including the exceptionally well curated Dark Entries alongside Vasicka's Minimal Wave.
Here, we have the second co-release between Minimal Wave and Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw, collecting very rare tracks from very obscure 'minimal wave' acts mostly from that aforementioned time period. The only artist on this compilation with something of cultural cache would be Felix Kubin, whose contribution here is a cover of the jittery Germanic punk number "Japan Japan" by Abwarts, turning the frenzied pogo guitars and drums into Devo-esque electronic squeak and double-timed drum machination. Of course, Kubin adds his signature blankly-serious silliness to the reworking which dated back even to this track from 1985. Lesser known acts include Subject (with Belgian electronic maverick Alain Neffe providing the backing track to the impressively infectious guitar riff and motorik chug), Ruins (not to be confused with the Japanese group, this Italian act takes after the mid-'80s Factory Records dark discotheque productions a la Section 25) and Das Ding (a Dutch project of buzzing synth workouts who we only discovered through a full album reissued by Minimal Wave). Other total obscurities include the crooning melodrama of Class Info, the terse arpeggio of Hard Corps, and the contemporary production of Geneva Jacuzzi making a cheap electro-tango that harks back to the chimerical publications from 99 Records. It all makes for another fine piece of archival curation from Minimal Wave!
MPEG Stream: IN TRANCE 95 "Presidente"
MPEG Stream: SUBJECT "What Happened To You?"
MPEG Stream: RUINS "Fire"
MPEG Stream: FELIX KUBIN "Japan Japan"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two (Stones Throw / Minimal Wave) lp 21.00
Also on vinyl!!
By now, the term 'minimal wave' has become synonymous with a particular thread of somewhat dystopian and certainly DIY electronic pop whose origins land somewhere between 1978 and 1984. Back then, all of this music was probably lumped under the new wave or post-punk or maybe even industrial category; but thanks to Veronica Vasicka's label, a new taxonomy has stuck, and more than a handful of archivist labels following suit, including the exceptionally well curated Dark Entries alongside Vasicka's Minimal Wave.
Here, we have the second co-release between Minimal Wave and Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw, collecting very rare tracks from very obscure 'minimal wave' acts mostly from that aforementioned time period. The only artist on this compilation with something of cultural cache would be Felix Kubin, whose contribution here is a cover of the jittery Germanic punk number "Japan Japan" by Abwarts, turning the frenzied pogo guitars and drums into Devo-esque electronic squeak and double-timed drum machination. Of course, Kubin adds his signature blankly-serious silliness to the reworking which dated back even to this track from 1985. Lesser known acts include Subject (with Belgian electronic maverick Alain Neffe providing the backing track to the impressively infectious guitar riff and motorik chug), Ruins (not to be confused with the Japanese group, this Italian act takes after the mid-'80s Factory Records dark discotheque productions a la Section 25) and Das Ding (a Dutch project of buzzing synth workouts who we only discovered through a full album reissued by Minimal Wave). Other total obscurities include the crooning melodrama of Class Info, the terse arpeggio of Hard Corps, and the contemporary production of Geneva Jacuzzi making a cheap electro-tango that harks back to the chimerical publications from 99 Records. It all makes for another fine piece of archival curation from Minimal Wave!
MPEG Stream: IN TRANCE 95 "Presidente"
MPEG Stream: SUBJECT "What Happened To You?"
MPEG Stream: RUINS "Fire"
MPEG Stream: FELIX KUBIN "Japan Japan"

V/A The Monks by The Goblins, Graves Brothers Deluxe & Kelly Stoltz (Discos Electro-Harmonix) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We got positively giddy when we saw that The Goblins were on this Monks tribute record, but we soon found out that they were not Thee Goblins from Vancouver - the jawdropping spectacle lead by Nardwuar The Human Serviette (interviewer extraordinaire and leader of The Evaporators who actually do an appropriately blistering, bizarre cover of The Monks' "Higgle-ly Piggle-ly"). Despite the liner notes (written by The Monks' Eddie Shaw!) describing these versions as bringing "30 year old music into the 21st century", they're really much more controlled, faithful renditions courtesy of The Goblins, The Cuckoos, The Graves Brothers and Kelley Stoltz.
Of course, the wonder of The Monks was their absolute raging fearlessness especially taking into consideration the time in which they existed... 1966! Five GIs stationed in Germany formed this strange strange band. They shaved the tops of their heads monk-style, worn long black robes, and thumped out the most amazing primal rock. Vocals were howled, yelped and ranted. Lyrics were filled with bile and dark wit. Everything was completely untethered, so truly punk, badass and one-of-a-kind! That said, it seems kinda odd to cover them - either attempting to recapture the songs' raw energy or to completely rework them - 'cause there was so much more to The Monks than the songs.

V/A The Psychedelic Experience (Subliminal Sounds) cd 19.98