V/A Grave Command: All Hallowed Hymns (Unseen Forces) picture disc 14.98
Not sure what the theme of this compilation is, but it hardly matters, cuz holy shit is it amazing. From the art to the nearly all exclusive tracks, from a weird array of outfits from weirdo Finnish black metal to kosmische synth wranglers! Might as well just give a run down track by track...
Ghoul are up first, but instead of their usual brand of metallic mayhem, offer up a creepy ominous pipe organ intro. Yep, just pipe organ, which leads directly into a track by late great eighties Portland true (Christian) metal band Xinr, whose track of Judas Priest style classic metal KILLS, replete with deranged laughter, and badass vox that are weird and warped but so good. Local Sabbath soundalikes Orchid deliver another dose of uncanny Ozzy era Sab worship, and as always, it's a dead ringer for the original, and thus, sounds amazing! Then our favorite fucked up weirdo black metal Finns, Ride For Revenge spew a filthy primitive caveman dirge metal pound, all practice space drums, crumbling distorted guitars, growled demonic vokills, and even when they crank it up to doubletime, it's still a woozy midtempo churn. The A side finishes off with Xander Harris, and some super rad, creepy Carpenter like soundtrack synthscapery, ominous and sinister, totally kick ass retro slasher flick score for sure!
The flipside starts off with Grave Violators, who we had never heard before, and who traffic in grinding blackened thrash, with some seriously unhinged vocals. The mighty Deceased are up next with some classic metal menace, brand new, but sounds like it could have been recorded back in the day. Occultation follow, and deliver what might be one of the best tracks here, a sprawling epic of witchy proggy female fronted doom, epic and haunting and heavy, definitely need to hear more! Up next, also new to us Venenum, who kick out some serious progged out metallic Voivodisms, with echo drenched vox and some twisted arrangements, and finally, Danava finish things off, and like Ghoul, forego their usual sounds and finish things off with the perfect outro, all creepy synth horror movie madness. So good. And perfect for Halloween listening.
And incredible packaged, garish cartoony cover art, which is also featured on the A side of the picture disc, the B side an even darker creepier drawing, and as things things usually are, quite limited, only 1000 copies.

V/A Gravity 37: Compilation Video Soundtrack (Gravity) cd 7.98
Soundtrack to the just released Gravity video. Gravity is the super influential, post punk San Diego record label that released records by Heroin, Clickitat Ikatowi, Mohinder and more almost single handedly creating a sound that is now simply known as that 'Gravity' sound. This soundtrack features AQ favorites Crom Tech, as well as Men's Recovery Project, Monorchid, Autumn Fog and the Makeup.

V/A Gravity Video 2 (Gravity) dvd 11.98
Pretty cool visual document of San Diego's Gravity records, featuring mostly bands who did time on Gravity back in the day and since have moved onto bigger and better things. The Locust huddle in a low ceilinged concrete bunker/sewer, tinted a puke-y shade of green and thrashing wildly. The Rapture who since have become the 'next big thing' sort of just look bored, playing in some random apartment looking like they'd rather be anywhere else. Tristeza -- who usually traffic in Tortoise-esque post rock -- explode with a frenzied free jazz, wild and spastic workout, with the video to match, chopped with hyper-quick edits, a sort of sixties, acid-fried visual freak out, After a few minutes the music and the video bliss out and return to much more familiar, and tranquil waters. Black Heart Procession perform a dark piano driven ballad, in a black and white, home movie style video, eyes to the floor, back to the camera, hats pulled low, all somber and evasive. The Men's Recovery Project is one of my two favorties on here, a massively dark and demented, outer space / dirty bathroom creepfest, like the movie Aliens, crossed with a snuff film, and a Roswell alien autopsy film, and directed by Stan Brakhage. So weird and so cool. My other favorite is the Sea Of Tombs video, a dreamy, colorful sampling of undersea life, jellyfish and eels and the like that are quickly tossed into a surreal kaliedoscope, tripped out and druggy, vivid and mesmerising, the screen is split and mirrored and all sorts of indescribable sea creatures melt and bleed into each other. So nice. A pretty good collection and a great reminder that Gravity really knows their shit, having picked up on all these bands years before the rest of us!

V/A Greasy Truckers Party (EMI) 3cd 38.00
Live Hawkwind festival jams 1972, alongside Man and
Brinsley Schwarz (and Magic Michael).

V/A Great Googa Mooga (Ace) cd 16.98
Last list we had the Great Googly Moo, a delightful compilation of nonsense novelty tunes from the early rock era, from the mid '50s thru the mid '60s. We mentioned it was the sequel to another comp, this one, Great Googa Mooga, released in 2003. Same idea, songs with wacky verbiage. Like it says on the cover: "These Words Don't Make No Sense!". And what words they are, here's a sampling from some of the song titles, all run together: ookey ook bip bop bip um bow bow bim bam ting ting boom scat voo-it voo-it du-bi-a-do oochie pachie mamo mamo boom pacha boom ooh poo pah doo yacka hoom boom ay la bah mama oom mow mow bama lama bama loo oo-ma-liddi loo-key doo-key!!! Plus of course you get, not only "Great Googa Mooga" (by Tom & Jerrio, 1965), but also "Good Googa Mooga" (by The Magic Tones, 1953). Little Richard appears here, also LaVern Baker, The Rivingtons, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Richard Berry, and plenty others, more obscure, that we hadn't really heard of before (except on the other comp, maybe). The Bobbettes, Billy Byrd & His Penguins, The Chips, Dolly Cooper, King Coleman... There's 27 tracks in total. Some more RnB, some more doo wop, some more surf. Great stuff, just like its sequel, loads of fun. Makes you wonder if these early rock n' rollers were inspired by the church meetings of snake handling holy rollers, the whole speaking-in-tongues thing, 'cause the vocals/lyrics here are positively glossolaliac! There's obviously some connection.
Comes complete with a thick cd booklet of detailed liner notes. Now we want more, hoping a third volume is in the works!
MPEG Stream: THE CHIPS "Rubber Biscuit"
MPEG Stream: GAMMA GOOCHEE HIMSELF "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee"
MPEG Stream: THE RIVINGTONS "Mama Oom Mow Mow (The Bird)"
MPEG Stream: CLAUDE MCLIN "Jambo"

V/A Great Googly Moo (And More Undisputed Truths) (Ace) cd 16.98
The title says it all. This is a compilation of jumpin' and jivin' treats from the early years of rock n' roll, circa 1955-1965 or thereabouts, and the one thing they all have in common (besides rockin') are NONSENSE LYRICS... thus amongst the 24 tracks here you'll find such wonderful gibberish statements as "Tutti Frutti", "Woojamacooja", "Chop Chop Boom", "Bom Bom Lulu", "Yodee Yakee", "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee", "She Goes Oonka Chicka", "Shtiggy Boom", "From The Top Of Your Guggle (To The Bottom Of Your Zooch)" and more, including of course "Great Googley Moo". Some of this strange lingo represents onomatopoeic sound effects. Others, teen slang that was hip at the time. Or, just plain ol' silliness. And some, no doubt, are euphemistic stand ins for other words, often risque if you read between the lines.
Wow, what a great comp! Fun, fun stuff, this is rock and roll at its purest, it don't have to make sense, it just has to rock, and roll, and make those crazy kids dance!! And, we're pretty sure both Lewis Carroll and Dr. Seuss would approve.
The artists, most of 'em fairly obscure, nowadays anyway, include Little Richard (naturally), Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Spaniels (with the title track), The Kingsmen, The Tammys, The Premiers, The Astro-Jets, LaVern Baker, Gene & Eunice, Shirley Ellis, The Rivingtons, The Five Blobs, and many others. The thick, colorful, heavily illustrated cd booklet (24 pages) features super detailed notes on each song and artist, along with vintage photos and record label graphics. Really nicely done. Turns out this is actually a sequel to a previous Ace comp along the same lines, called Great Googa Mooga, so we'll have to get that one in soon too...
MPEG Stream: LARRY WILLIAMS "Hocus Pocus"
MPEG Stream: THE SPANIELS "Great Googley Moo"
MPEG Stream: THE BOSS-TONES "Mope-itty Mope"
MPEG Stream: THE BOBBETTES "Rock And Ree-Ah-Zole (The Teen-Age Talk)"

V/A Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (Tzadik) 2cd 21.00
Sure, Tzadik titles've been really spotty lately and it's getting to be hard to tell the good from the bad, but surprise: the label has totally hit the mark this time. Not only do Bacharach's standards cry out for reinterpretation, but this cd functions as a hearty sampler of downtown NYC scene as it stands today. Thus, while Bacharach's used to Dionne and the Carpenters paying tribute (and royalties), this is a weird and 90% wonderful collection of mostly twisted (but some lovely straightahead) covers of his songs, from Wayne Horvitz's *sublime* "Close To You" to Marc Ribot's signature guitarwork on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" to Medeski, Martin and Wood's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," which sounds like it was recorded underwater. Other contributors include Faith No More's Mike Patton, Shelley Hirsch, Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda with Sean Lennon, Dave Douglas, Zeena Parkins, Erik Friedlander, and Guy Klucsevek.

V/A Greece: The Great Octotonal Chant to the Virgin (Ocora) cd 14.98

V/A Greek-Oriental Rebetica: Songs & Dances In the Asia Minor Style (Arhoolie / Folklyric) cd 15.98

V/A Grime (Rephlex) cd 15.98
You know how it is with "next big things", everyone wants a piece of it, and where there were a few folks doing something new and weird, there are suddenly a hundred more trying to be new and weird in exactly the same way. It happened with Chapel Hill, it happened with Seattle. It happened with grunge. And now we've got grime. Grime is the new catch phrase for the scene/sound that spawned Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and a few others. Grime is basically two-step garage (pronounced GARE-ij), a simple and repetetive offshoot of drum and bass, with fuzzy synths, buzzing basslines, and occasionally tongue twisting toasting. We all loved the Dizzee Rascal record, and the recent ep from Wiley, so we had high hope for this sampler of new groups from the burgeoning UK grime scene. And while this comp does have its moments, it doesn't pack quite the same wallop as either of those two records. That's not to say it's not good, cuz it is. But part of the reason this doesn't hit quite as hard is that the tracks on here are mostly instrumental, and Dizzee and Riley added a whole lot to the sound, so without vocals, this stuff is is VERY repetItive and VERY simple. That said though, this shit is heavy and fuzzed out and is perfect for the dancefloor. And should definitely hit the spot for those of us who have been digging the retro sounds of Soundmurderer and Remarc lately and just can't get enough of any sort of big ol' distorted and speaker rattling jungle / drum 'n bass.
MPEG Stream: MARKONE "Stargate 92"
MPEG Stream: SLAUGHTER MOB "Dub Weapon"

V/A Grime 2 (Rephlex) cd 15.98
Ahhh, grime. The next big thing. The new sound that was supposedly gonna sweep the nation. But ummm, what happened? I mean, the UK grime scene did give us Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, but then nothing seemed to happen. Well, Rephlex haven't given up on grime, and neither have we. Grime 2 demonstrates yet again, that his grime stuff is pretty darn cool. Ostensibly some sort of variant of two step garage (pronounced gare-ij), itself a minimal variant of jungle, grime is about as simple as it gets. a bouncy, almost ragga rhythm, that lopps and loops endlessly, with fuzzy bass swells supplying a bit of melody, and random bits of sonic filligree, little bells, a clip from an old kung fu movie, a few extra rhythmic shuffles here and there. Good stuff, but very repetitive and relentless. So unless you're dancing, or chilling out, or are in the mood for some tranced out hypnotic rhythms, grime might be a little, um, uneventful for you. But for us, well, we're always in the mood for some tranced out rhythms and always on the lookout for some good chillout music. The cuts on Grime 2 are simple and mesmerizing, head nodding and hypnotic, and fall somewhere between the extended rhythmic workouts of Muslimgauze, the simple, spartan techno of Kompakt, and the minimal house of Chain Reaction, all with a bit of a ragga vibe. Sounds good to us.
MPEG Stream: KODE 9 "Swarm"
MPEG Stream: DIGITAL MYSTIKZ "Awake"

V/A Grime 2 (Rephlex) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ahhh, grime. The next big thing. The new sound that was supposedly gonna sweep the nation. But ummm, what happened? I mean, the UK grime scene did give us Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, but then nothing seemed to happen. Well, Rephlex haven't given up on grime, and neither have we. Grime 2 demonstrates yet again, that his grime stuff is pretty darn cool. Ostensibly some sort of variant of two step garage (pronounced gare-ij), itself a minimal variant of jungle, grime is about as simple as it gets. a bouncy, almost ragga rhythm, that lopps and loops endlessly, with fuzzy bass swells supplying a bit of melody, and random bits of sonic filligree, little bells, a clip from an old kung fu movie, a few extra rhythmic shuffles here and there. Good stuff, but very repetitive and relentless. So unless you're dancing, or chilling out, or are in the mood for some tranced out hypnotic rhythms, grime might be a little, um, uneventful for you. But for us, well, we're always in the mood for some tranced out rhythms and always on the lookout for some good chillout music. The cuts on Grime 2 are simple and mesmerizing, head nodding and hypnotic, and fall somewhere between the extended rhythmic workouts of Muslimgauze, the simple, spartan techno of Kompakt, and the minimal house of Chain Reaction, all with a bit of a ragga vibe. Sounds good to us.
MPEG Stream: KODE 9 "Swarm"
MPEG Stream: DIGITAL MYSTIKZ "Awake"

V/A Grind Bastards 2 - For The Grind Freaks (Grave / Grindfreaks) cd 14.98
Worth it for the first 51 seconds alone, a mind blowing blast of furious pop flecked grind, but heck, there's also a shit ton of blasting grinding heaviness to follow after that first minute of grindpop bliss...
What more do you need to know!?! It's a compilation called GRIND BASTARDS. Subtitled "For The Grind Freaks". Released on the label run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave. And check out the band list. Tons of killer groups, and a whole bunch new to us, almost all heavy and brutal and kick ass: Mortalized, Insect Warfare, Butcher ABC, Unholy Grave (of course), Exgreed, Disgust, Top Breeder, Motiveless, Gods Of Grind, Little Bastard, Red, 48, Gate, Spiral and more.
Plenty of downtuned chug, furious blasts, growled cookie monster grunts, wild hysterical shrieks, insane chaotic riffing, most songs clocking in at under two minutes, many of those under one, short sharp jagged blasts of grinding fury, with some songs super well produced and heavy as fuck, others blown out almost Japanoise sounding boombox blur, a handful of crusty D-beat pounding, super varied, but super cohesive, heavy as hell, should totally hit the spot for punk rockers and metalheads alike, as long as you like it ultra heavy, ultra sick and blazing fast. The biggest surprise for us, is probably the 51 second long Mortalized track, "Nailing Descartes To The Wall", which just might be the catchiest minute of grind we've ever heard. Similar to how Jon Chang's new bands incorporate eighties metal and crazy power metal hooks into impossible complex grind, Mortalized sound a little like Iron Maiden on 78, or maybe some super catchy 3 minute pop single spun as fast as it will go, the guitars raging and soaring, the hooks undeniable, even some leads, but that main melody has been stuck in our head nonstop. The only solution seems to be listening to that track over and over again. Which we're still doing. And it does seem to be working. We just. Can't. Ever. Stop.
Packaged in cool fold out punk rock sleeve style with each band getting their own little square for artwork and liner notes.
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Nailing Descartes To The Wall"
MPEG Stream: BUTCHER ABC "Crime Against Humanity"
MPEG Stream: INSECT WARFARE "Death Gate"
MPEG Stream: UNHOLY GRAVE "Marionette"

V/A Grind Bastards 3 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
With a title like Grind Bastards, you can safely assume that this comp is indeed directly targeted at you, the grind bastards. And we know there are some serious grind bastards among the aQ faithful. Anyone who has gone nuts in the past for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or Pig Destroyer, or Discordance Axis, or Last Days Of Humanity, we could go on and on and on, so yeah, dig a little deeper and discover a whole world of grind going on UNDER the underground. Grind Bastards collects some of the best Japanese grind from mostly bands you've never heard of, but NEED to.
Heavy, buzzing, blasting, frenzied, frenetic, pummeling, crushing, a dizzying swirl of metal riffage, furious blast beats, grunted cookie monster vocals, inhuman blackened shrieks, hooks all over the place, and some of the heaviest catchiest under a minute shit you'll ever hear.
Little Bastards, Magnicide, Mortalized, Butcher ABC, Cortecuellos, Brob, Mangirl, Fortitude, Bleeding Humanity, D.I.E., Kutsujoku, Deadly Spawn, Zagio Evha Dilegj and of course Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks released this (and who also run the amazing all black metal and grind and doom record store Grave in Japan). Dense and dizzyingly complex, next level heaviness for sure, fast and crusty enough for punk rockers, riffy and brutal enough for metalheads, and definitely a rad grind primer for the newbies.
BTW: We also have a few copies of Grind Bastards 2, which besides totally ruling as well, just so happens to feature one of our favorite grind jams ever, a 51 second grindpop gem by Mortalized (who have 2 songs here) covering pop punkers Propaghandi.
MPEG Stream: LITTLE BASTARDS "Lie, Deceive, Steal"
MPEG Stream: MAGNICIDE "Misery Of An Existence"
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Funeral Grind"
MPEG Stream: CORTECUELLOS "Don't Call Japanese Hardcore Japcore"
MPEG Stream: MANGIRL "Ghoul Gurumand"
MPEG Stream: UNHOLY GRAVE "Cruel Terror"

V/A Grind Bastards 4 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
Okay grind bastards, time for round 4, another awesome collection of some of the best grind that Japan, and the rest of the world, has to offer. But like on past installments, this is not the grind you know and love, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Last Days Of Humanity, Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki, Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, that's all mainstream by comparison, this is the grind underground, some names you might know, you might even have records by Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks is responsible for this mayhem, or Total Fucking Destruction, and then there's a bunch of bands you probably only know from past installments of Grind Bastards like Mortalized, Fortitude, Little Bastards, and in addition this time around a there's whole new crop of bands we'd never heard 'til now: Vulgaroyal Bloodhill, Zomba Green, Disgunder, Diborce, Ada Max, Black Ganion, and more more more.
This isn't really for dabblers though, this is sort of the grind version of grim, kvlt, true, the sounds here insane and ultra aggressive, over the top, a relentless assault on the senses, a crushing barrage of grinding buzzsaw riffage, blasting hyperspeed drumming, crazed vocals that yelp, howl, grunt, screech, the songs ultra proggy, a million parts and tempos crammed into the space of a minute or two, the sounds vary from blasts of blacknoise, to groovy almost classic metal, to white hot blasts of old school grind, to twisted effects drenched grinding avant metal freakouts, to galloping fastcore, to helping almost Melt-Banana sounding hypergrind, to epic war grind, to some almost poppy grind, some seriously gurgling goregrind, a few tracks get into 3 and 4 even 5 minutes, while others blow by in seconds, furious and frenzied and frantic and fantastically fucked up, this is some of the raddest, heaviest, most brutal and inventive grind you'll hear, anyone into fast and heavy, blasting brutality, this will kick your ass big time, and like past volumes, this would be a pretty epic grind primer, and like those volumes, this couldn't be more recommended.
Killer packaging too, a massive fold out punk rock poster, with each band getting their own little panel of liner notes...
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Hate Your World"
MPEG Stream: DISGUNDER "Ruminate / Incise"
MPEG Stream: ADA MAX "Electric Shock"
MPEG Stream: TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION "Battle Command In Future"
MPEG Stream: VULGAROYAL BLOODHILL "Quitar Las Tripas A Un Dios"
MPEG Stream: FORTITUDE "Cadaverous Faces"

V/A Grind Bastards 5 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
Once again, this one is for all the Grind Bastards out there, the fifth in this long running series of Japanese comps, collecting the best of (mostly) Japanese grind, released on the Grind Freaks label, run by legendary Japanese grinders Unholy Grave, who are present here, along with some other longtime faves: Mortalized, Agothocles and some others. But the best part of these comps is discovering all the weird ultra underground grind outfits you'd most likely not hear anywhere else: Red Ran Amber, Ada Max, Extreme Noise Destroyer, Hell And Hell, Easies, Fortitude, Midnight Resurrector, Naqro, Parasite and more!
Obviously, this comp is called Grind Bastards, on a label called Grind Freaks, so odds are if you made it this far you know what you're getting into, fast and furious, blasting, churning, chugging, GRINDing heaviness, frenzied beats, insane riffing, howled and screeched vox, total metallic chaos, blurry punk mayhem, short sharp blasts of super complex, downtuned intricate metallic grind. We're digging Red Ran Amber, who if all was fair would be getting the same love as say Wormrot, Pig Destroyer or any of the other grind outfits on Relapse, Mortalized offer up another minute long epic, further convincing us that they might have the potential to be our favorite grinders if they only had more material out and it was a lot easier to track down, Extreme Noise Destroyer offer up some sort of distortion drenched bit of acoustic guitar weirdness before launching into some serious downtuned devastation, the Easies spit out blasts of super blown out and in-the-red chaos, Brob offer up some seriously old school powerviolence fastcore grind, their sound thick and caustic, Parasite are almost straight up classic eighties metal, complete with super melodic harmonized guitar leads, while Naqro might be a new favorite, their super raw lo-fi sound impossibly dense and heavy, their sound swinging wildly from frantic grind to swinging almost groovy metallic churn, and Midnight Resurrector kick out the straight up hip hop, not sure if they're normally a grind band or they just have some grind cred (they do infuse their sound with some fat fuzzy bass, and some Hawd Gangstah style bellowed rapping). Already can't wait for volume six! Comes in a cool fold out punk rock poster style sleeve.
MPEG Stream: RED RAN AMBER "Demitri"
MPEG Stream: ADA MAX "Untitled"
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Asino Wa Ruia Itu"
MPEG Stream: EXTREME NOISE DESTROYER "Intro"
MPEG Stream: LITTLE BASTARDS "Last Ride"
MPEG Stream: BROB "SGR"

V/A Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache) 3cd 15.98
What really needs to be said about this collection? Vintage Peel Sessions (songs recorded live in the BBC studios to later be broadcast live on John Peel's legendary radio show) by some of the most legendary, and influential grind bands EVER. As well as some not exactly grind bands, and some rad obscure (to many) lesser knowns. C'mon, Napalm Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Godflesh, Extreme Noise Terror, Heresy, Unseen Terror, Intense Degree... the names alone should have most heavy music freeks frothing at the mouth, granted much of this stuff has been available before, but much of it has NOT. And for $16!!??
The first three Napalm tracks here: "The Kill", "Prison Without Walls" and "Dead" are quite literally, the most perfect 57 seconds in extreme music history. We first heard those tracks on a John Zorn radio show, and immediately set out to track them down, and that whole Napalm Peel Session totally trumps (to these ears) anything else they've ever done, to this day, so furious and frantic, the recording so hot and in-the-red, seriously still possibly the most extreme sounding music we've heard. The Napalm tracks here include Peel Sessions from '87, '88 and '90. And if you don't have any or all of 'em, they're worth the price of admission alone. Then there's Extreme Noise Terror, whose sound is way more crusty and punk, bordering on grind, but still totally and fantastically punk rock. The Carcass sessions were definitely available at some point, but these too, if you've yet to hear them, they will SLAY you, crushing and heavily reverbed, fierce and totally sloppy, but so goddamn good. And Bolt Thrower, no one can fuck with Bolt Thrower, and they totally shine on their Peel Session, thrashing and crusty and blown out and totally untouchable. Godflesh pops up for a few songs too, and of course those rule too, especially the Peel version of "Like Rats" which somehow sounds even meaner and heavier.
And then there's the more obscure stuff, 38 tracks of wild, thrashing grinding metallic punk crust from Intense Degree, Unseen Terror, and Heresy, all of which are pretty excellent, ID kick out some fierce skate punk slop, UT are a downtuned grunting blast beat terror, and Heresy start out all goofy and poppy with "Flowers (In Concrete)" before launching into a flurry of off kilter chaotic grind.
Killer slipcovered packaging with tons of vintage photos, liner notes, and a lengthy interview with Mick Harris (Napalm Death / Extreme Noise Terror / Unseen Terror)...
MPEG Stream: NAPALM DEATH "The Kill"
MPEG Stream: NAPALM DEATH "Prison Without Walls"
MPEG Stream: NAPALM DEATH "Dead"
MPEG Stream: GODFLESH "Like Rats"
MPEG Stream: UNSEEN TERROR "Incompatible"
MPEG Stream: UNSEEN TERROR "Burned Beyond Recognition"
MPEG Stream: HERESY "Flowers (In Concrete)"
MPEG Stream: HERESY "Belief"
MPEG Stream: INTENSE DEGREE "Hangin' On"
MPEG Stream: INTENSE DEGREE "Vagrants"

V/A GRLZ, Women Ahead Of Their Time (Crippled Dick) cd 16.98
If there's something you haven't been getting enough of lately, it's angular female-fronted post-punk from the late 70s/early 80s! If you don't already own the Slits b-side track cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", get this cd now! It could be the only reason to buy this cd, except there are other tracks on here that are just as fist poundingly angularishly toe tappingly awesome -- if not MORESO!!
Maximum Joy's "Stretch", Dorothy's "Softness", Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business", Jajaja's Blondie-esque vocals over trainwreckish spazzmatic bass, ahh!! I'm freaking out. The only weak point might be the jazzy Neneh Cherryesque tone of Rip, Rig and Panic.
So note bene: this is by all means NOT "the current trend" in musical consumerism, HOWEVER, it's an incredibly concise and concentrated comp consisting of totally mind-boggling music. And nevermind the politics, dudes. It's fucking great music!!
MPEG Stream: JAJAJA "Katz Rap"
MPEG Stream: SLITS "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 1: La Confiserie Magique (Lion Productions / Get On Down) cd 16.98
Any pop lover knows that when it comes to suave and sassy pop perfection, you can't beat France in the '60s and early '70s. With this collection the focus is put on the Parisian pop-psych scene, and what's really refreshing about this compilation is that it's not just filled with the usual suspects. So many names we weren't familiar with giving us such irresistible gems, and enough fuzz and weird elements on lots of the tracks to keep things interesting and not just saccharine sweet. Infusing elements of West Coast pop, the mod scene, and funked out burners, these are sounds that are just pretty impossible not to get swept up by. Filled with decadence and charm from folks like Cristal, Elisa, Les Hamsters (best name ever?!), Les Rover, Pax Quartet, and tons more.
No need to stress about what to throw on the next time you have people over for a little party, as all you will have to do is blast this, and watch as feet start tapping, and drinks start spilling, and everyone starts smiling!
MPEG Stream: LE COEUR "Bye, Bye City"
MPEG Stream: CRISTAL "Les Yeux Fermes (Eyes Closed)"
MPEG Stream: LES PARISIENNES "Un Rayon De Soleil Est Entre Dans Mon Lit (A Ray Of Sun Is Here In My Bed)"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 1: La Confiserie Magique (Lion Productions / Martyrs Of Pop) 2lp 17.98
Now here on swank vinyl too!
Any pop lover knows that when it comes to suave and sassy pop perfection, you can't beat France in the '60s and early '70s. With this collection the focus is put on the Parisian pop-psych scene, and what's really refreshing about this compilation is that it's not just filled with the usual suspects. So many names we weren't familiar with giving us such irresistible gems, and enough fuzz and weird elements on lots of the tracks to keep things interesting and not just saccharine sweet. Infusing elements of West Coast pop, the mod scene, and funked out burners, these are sounds that are just pretty impossible not to get swept up by. Filled with decadence and charm from folks like Cristal, Elisa, Les Hamsters (best name ever?!), Les Rover, Pax Quartet, and tons more.
No need to stress about what to throw on the next time you have people over for a little party, as all you will have to do is blast this, and watch as feet start tapping, and drinks start spilling, and everyone starts smiling!
MPEG Stream: LE COEUR "Bye, Bye City"
MPEG Stream: CRISTAL "Les Yeux Fermes (Eyes Closed)"
MPEG Stream: LES PARISIENNES "Un Rayon De Soleil Est Entre Dans Mon Lit (A Ray Of Sun Is Here In My Bed)"

V/A Groove Club Vol. 2: Cambodia Rock Spectacular! (Lion Productions / Get On Down) 2lp 17.98
Can there ever really be enough Cambodian Rock?
Don't answer that yet. Because while this double lp compilation does feature the stars of the genre featured on other Cambodian rock comps: Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea, and Pan Ron, it also has plenty of others including the heavy psych groove of the Thra Kha Band who have two amazing tracks that are totally worth the price of admission. Plus it's a double vinyl gatefold with copious liner notes about the amazing music and tragic legacy of many of the music's star figures. Rarely does music seem so truly hauntological. Sunny, fun, and grooving on the surface, but layered over tragic notions of the political brutality that would come later. We've covered that history in plenty of previous reviews, so we won't go down that rabbit hole here, but this is a worthy selection of psych rock and garage gems, that didn't immediately sound like the others. So if you're new to Cambodian rock from the sixties and seventies, or would like a really well put together compilation on vinyl, now's your chance!

V/A Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodian Rock Intensified! (Lion / Get On Down) cd 19.98

V/A Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodian Rock Intensified! (Lion / Get On Down) 2lp 17.98

V/A Group Flex II: Son Of Flex (Castle Face) 6xflexi 7" 29.00
We made the last Group Flex flexi-disc book thing Record Of The Week back in 2011, and for good reason, visually and design wise it was about the coolest thing we'd ever seen, a cool little book, where each page was a fricking record, and you just put the whole book down on the turntable and let it spin! Besides how goddamn cool it was as an object, it also featured exclusive tracks from some of our favorite outfits: Thee Oh Sees, Blasted Canyons, Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin.
So a few months back we got word from Oh Sees mainman / Castleface head honcho John Dwyer that there was another installment of Group Flex brewing, and it was gonna be even better than the first. And true to his word, when it showed up, we were sorta blown away. This time around, the book is entirely transparent, with crazy, surreal, psychedelic artwork on the various pages, so when the book is closed, the multiple pages, and strange shapes and creatures, form a sort of 3D visual, little Strawberry men with guns, weird demons holding maces, a creepy scribbly purple mountain, tree-cats, bloody brick walls, snake headed skull doctors all woven into a dizzying tableau that sort of reflects the warped music within. Once again, plenty of faves: Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, The Mallard, Sic Alps, White Fence, Mikal Cronin, The Fresh & Onlys, Kelly Stoltz, Blasted Canyons, as well as a few surprises: Burnt Ones, Warm Soda, Running. And like the first installment, anyone into ANY of these groups is basically gonna need this. Warm Soda might be the biggest surprise of the bunch, their track "Lost For Words" definitely has us hankering for more, a super catchy lo-fi power pop, that sounds like some strange mix of Guided By Voices and the Shoes. Thee Oh Sees deliver a cool broody, fuzzed out garage pop dirge, spare and swaggery. Ty Segall's "Fucked Up Motherfucker" is a super distorted blast of howl and pound laced with plenty of horns and sax bleat, while Mikal Cronin's "King" is all druggy, droned out organ, and drifting acoustic guitar strum, washed out and gloriously woozy.
The Mallard are all lo-fi jangle and crunch, while Running prove themselves to be another new band to look out for, one that most definitely fits in with the rest of the Castle Face crew, sounding like The Oh Sees' snotty little siblings. The Fresh & Onlys drift through some laid back, softly psychedelic classic pop, Kelly Stoltz's "Double Exposure" sounds like some lost slab of seventies/eighties new wave power pop, and White Fence gets even further out, super spaced out, tripped out, space pop weirdness, lots of FX and crumbling distortion, echo drenched vox, and warped production, and somehow in there, some crazy catchy melodies.
Former Record Of The Weekers Blasted Canyons kick out the jams on a short sharp burst of warm, blown out fuzz drenched jangle pop, before Sic Alps do the same, infusing the same sort of garage-y pound, with some expansive psychedelic classic pop-isms, before Burnt Ones finish things off with a super trippy chunk of processed guitar chug and swirling psych pop, crazy catchy, and like Warm Soda, has us wanting more more more!
As you might imagine, CRAZY LIMITED! The whole thing comes in a thick, screen printed PVC sleeve, also clear, adding to the 3D-ness, includes a download code for all the tracks, as well as instructions for playing and care of your Son Of Flex flexi-disc book. Each one unique, everyone slightly different. So cool. And so absolutely recommended.
MPEG Stream: WARM SODA "Lost For Words"
MPEG Stream: THEE OH SEES "Always Flying"
MPEG Stream: TY SEGALL "Fucked Up Motherfucker"
MPEG Stream: MIKAL CRONIN "King"
MPEG Stream: BURNT ONES "Strawberry Tomb"

V/A Guilt By Association (Engine Room) cd 15.98
It's inevitable! Every few years someone gets a wild'n'craaazy idea for one of these kinds of guilty pleasures compilations. Non-commercial artists covering commercial artists how fun/sick/hilarious is that?! Very. As per the time honored tradition there's some complete song renovations (Banhart's interpretation of Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger"), genre switcheroos (Luna gives Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" the lounge croon treatment, Superchunk totally unsouls and unsexes the Destiny's Child hit "Say My Name"), and all-out silliness (Petra Haden's girlish a cappella version of Journey "Don't Stop Believin'") and Mike Watt's strange, loose bowelled and toothless take on Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You"). A totally mixed bag of coverers and coverees, other artists doing the covering include Will Oldham, Mark Mulcahy, The Concretes, Jim O'Rourke, Money Mark, Mooney Suzuki, and Geoff Farina. Other artists being covered include Shania Twain, Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, Take That, Fall Out Boy, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Cher, Eddie Money, and System Of A Down. Fun stuff.
MPEG Stream: SUPERCHUNK "Say My Name"
MPEG Stream: BANHART, DEVENDRA "Don't Look Back In Anger"
MPEG Stream: WATT, MIKE "Burnin' For You"

V/A Guitar Mood 2 (INST) lp 10.98

V/A Guitar Songs: Tanzania, Zaire, and Zambia (Original Music) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"More enchanting acoustic-guitar recordings by both adults and children. The recordings by children include blind school students playing home made instruments, and a hell-for-leather cut for high pitched vocals and 'tomato-can banjo'" - John Storm Roberts / Original Music.

V/A Guitar Unlimited (Alchemy) cd 21.00
This is the first in Alchemy's "Guitar" compilations and features tracks by Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, ROVO), Jojo Hiroshige (Hijokaidan), Sisho, and Kyoichi Tokuyama (Auschwitz).

V/A Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A complete about face for volume 2 in the Folk And Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) series of discs. Remember that first one? The manic weirdness was unlike anything we'd heard, nor anything we've heard since. So it's striking that volume 2 is a disc we can at least put in terms we know. What's perhaps most ironic is that the recordings on Guitars Of The Golden Triangle come from a territory of Burma that, while roughly the size of New York State, has been almost completely un-explored by outsiders (Burmese or otherwise). The Golden Triangle (its proper name is the Shan State of Burma) is little known outside its own country, but it is the territory of smugglers, seperatist rebels and some extraordinary opium production. Since it is forbidden for foreigners to visit the Shan State, it's no surprise that its flourishing cottage industry of a music scene would be completely unknown to outsiders. How Mr. Bishop got these tracks is anyone's guess, but as we've seen before the Sublime Frequencies folks have their ways with picking up ripe fruit that others walk straight past. The 21 tracks here, recorded during the early seventies, range between heavy fuzzed out psych -- like something much more likely to have come out in the late sixties -- to sugary crooning pop -- much more akin to its decade. Little is known of most of the artists: for instance the most well represented here -- Saing Saing Maw -- is only known to have been a truck driver originally (shades of Elvis anyone?) and after striking his music career apparently returned to truck driving.
MPEG Stream: SAING SAING MAW "Than Shin Ley Ye Khan"
MPEG Stream: LASHIO THEIN AUNG "You Got What You Got"

V/A GUMMO original soundtrack (London) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Soundtrack to Harmony "Kids" Korine's controversial film "Gummo", featuring much in the way of underground black/noise/death/doom metal sounds, some of them previously unreleased. Some names: Spazz, Absu, Bathory, Burzum, Eyehategod, Brujeria, Sleep, Destroy All Monsters, Namanax and more. Oh yeah, AQ-pal and CMJ metal scribe Ian Christe's Dark Noerd (black metal breakbeat band) appears, and Ian's smart musical aesthetic basically sets the tone for the whole collection. Now the question is, will "Gummo" do for any of these bands what "Kids" did for the Folk Implosion?

V/A Hacienda Classics (Virgin) 3cd 36.00
Thanks in part to the movie "24 Hour Party People" there's been quite a revival in the last few years in curisoity about and reflections of the Manchester party/music scene of the late '80s/'90s. The center of all this dancing, drugging, and going on and on till the break of dawn was none other then the Nightculb Hacienda founded by New Order's Peter Hook. It was within the Hacienda's walls that much of the debauchery, indulgence, and fun/wasted times went down. This 3-disc box set put together by Hook himself compiles the sounds that were blaring out the speakers during its heyday. 808 State, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Jaydee, Eric B & Rakim, Candi Staton and of course New Order are just some the groups found on this here collection. For those of you who have been craving th sights and sounds and tastes more tastes of that wonderfully wicked Manchester club-scene then this is a party in a box for you. Sorry no purple pills included.
MPEG Stream: NEW ORDER "Ruined In A Day"
MPEG Stream: 808 STATE "Pacific State"
MPEG Stream: ERIC B. & RAKIM "Juice (instrumental)"

V/A Halana #4 magazine+cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Halana v.1,n.3 magazine+cd 7.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Worthwhile reading in a nicely designed format. Amiri Barka, John Fahey, David Grubbs, Bernhard Gunter, Alan Licht, Charlemagne Palestine, Motoharu Yoshizawa. CD includes tracks by all these guys. One of our favorite magazines.

V/A Hall Of Mirrors (Emperor Jones) 2cd 13.98
Anyone, ANYONE, who likes their psych all spaced-out and sludgy, with guitars and (especially) effects in full, uh, effect will definitely want to wash their earholes with this excellent new space-rock comp. Compiler Mason Jones (whom you might know as the ex-guitarist of SubArachnoid Space, currently in project called Numinous) knows his stuff and has pulled together tracks from a stellar international cast of rockers who like to freak-out, drone-on, and/or toke-up. Here's who's here: Kinski, Circle, Gravitar, Overhang Party, Tarantula Hawk, Up-Tight, Vocokesh, DMBQ, Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple, Yeti, ST-37, Escapade, Rubble, Abunai!, SubArachnoid Space, Numinous, Farflung, Primordial Undermind, Fuzzhead, Speaker/Cranker, and Transpacific! Whew. As you can see, with Mason in charge, of course the Japanese contingent is well-represented.
The tracks on here are mostly live recordings, and, as far as we can tell, all otherwise unreleased (with the exception of the Tarantula Hawk one, which is an edit from their now-out-of-print Live At KFJC cd-r). Pretty much a killer comp, ranging as it does from the groove of Circle to the grind of Gravitar, with some bands doin' stuff closer to stoner rawk, others more on the bliss-drone side of things. Now, I might have tried to put the more rockin' cuts towards the front end of the discs, to avoid disturbing the slumber of those of us who like to doze off listening to the more blissful stuff (or maybe left off one or two cuts) but that's just me. Overall, Hall Of Mirrors is fully droned, stoned, and ET-phoned. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: KINSKI "Teen Center"
MPEG Stream: OVERHANG PARTY "Le Fantome De La Liberte (edit)"

V/A Halleluwah: Festival Of Enthused Arts - Sept. 1-2, 2006 Disjecta, Portland (Yeti) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get another handful of these super limited lps, so act fast:
Super limited vinyl document of the Halleluwah Festival Of Enthused Arts that took place in September 1-2 of this year curated by the same folks who do the killer yeti magazine.
Two sides, one quiet, one loud, a bunch of instantly recognizable names, as well as a bunch of unknowns (at least to us) all of it pretty dang amazing, so much so that we were kicking ourselves for missing the festival.
The quiet side features folk legend Michael Hurley, folk legend Vashti Bunyan and Tara Jane O'Neil, as well as White Rainbow, Holysons and Alela Diane. The sound leans mostly toward subtle twang, simple strum, and dreamlike croon, but there are some moments of blissy foggy ambient murmur and some fuzzy murky psychedelic blues.
The loud side features Deerhoof, Sir Richard Bishop and Valet (whose cd-r we raved about a few lists back) as well as three weirdly named ensembles: Nudity, Romancing and Yacht. The loud side veers all over the place, from weird psychrock tribal freakouts to blown out angular indie rock buzz to damaged minimal punk rock bounce to fuzzy psychedelic heavy riffed rock jams.
The packaging is just as impressive, a thick, plain white sleeve through which are visible strange looking inserts, each printed on super thick semi transparent cloudy plastic, the loud side is red on white with an illustration by Kevin Arrow, the quiet side is white on black, and features an amazing illustration by Unica Zurn, the partner of Hans Bellmer! Wow!!

V/A Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From the WEA Vaults (Rhino) cd 34.00

V/A Hand/Eye (Hand/Eye) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This isn't brand new, but we just managed to get a bunch, and if this isn't just about the perfect compilation for you free-folk, psychedelic, new weird America fans we don't know what is. The track listing should be enough to convince you: Acid Mothers Temple, Kemialliset Ystavat, Amps For Christ, Greg Weeks, Pelt, Martyn Bates, Currituck County, Fursaxa, Dead Raven Choir, Alasdair Roberts, Stone Breath, the Iditarod, Mason Jones, and more!m
MPEG Stream: AMPS FOR CHRIST "False Night On The Road"
MPEG Stream: GREG WEEKS "Night Must Fall"
MPEG Stream: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "Le Satyre"

V/A Hanged Man Vol. 1 (Hanged Man) cassette 4.98
This is the debut release from a new Seattle label, specializing in their own murky darkly psychedelic brand of doom / folk / drone / noise, a sampler of various artists on the label as well as likeminded noisemakers from the area, with a few familiar names (Megabats, Demian Johnston and Inh Halentropy), but way more unfamiliar ones (Kristian Garrard, Karnak Temples, Josh Medina, Them,There, Nightjar, Sokai Stiljed, Thunder:Grey:Pilgrim), all of them contributing this sprawling chunk of droning blackness, strange industrial ambience and looped psychedelic mesmer, all the sonically disparate tracks woven into a collection that works almost as well as an album proper. The familiar names first: abstract avant atmospheric (sort of) black metal weirdo Inh Halentropy lays down some John Carpenter style seventies soundtrack wooziness, all muddy and murky, programmed beats and sci-fi swirl over brooding rumbles, and theremin-like high end melodies, a gorgeous creepily atmospheric chunk of lo-fi faux soundtrackery, while Megabats offer up dense swirls of kosmische synth drift, and glimmering ambient dreamdrug haze, all super blissed out and trippy, and noisenik Demian Johnston delivers some blunted blurred soft-noise, all cavernous and industrial, thick swaths of blurred crumble and greyed out crunch, all smeared into slowly undulating blackened dronemusic. The rest of the tape follows suit, super abstract creaking and crumbling mutates into gauzy almost Pop Ambient loopscaping, thick whirring melodies emerge from slow churning sheets of whirring synths and echoe-y shimmer, delicate acoustic guitars drift amidst sitar like buzz, plaintive vocal harmonies and warm lustrous chordal swells, bleak black rumbles roil ominously through clouds of ominous low end thrum, metallic ragas seem to slowly melt into oozing blackened dronefolk, and finally wild tangles of clipped vocals and shards of melody are stretched out, then layered and looped into a druggy dizzy psych-out. Killer stuff for sure, and odds are pretty dang limited as well...

V/A Harafin So - Bollywood Inspired Film Music From Hausa Nigeria (Little Axe / Mississippi) cd 14.98
When we think of Bollywood, our minds instantly go to the golden era of Indian film music from the '60s and '70s, with classical sitars and tampuras set to thriller and noir themes and exotic pop, often forgetting that Bollywood has of course never stopped making films, and the film music has continually changed with the times. Even with the discovery of other flourishing filmmaking centers such as Lollywood in Pakistan and the Tamil-speaking Kollywood of South India bringing in the influences of synthesizers and eighties pop, we still weren't prepared for the amazing modern sounds of another fertile film and soundtrack music scene, this time located a continent away in Kano, the capital city of Nigeria - thus their thriving movie industry is called Kannywood. This compilation, brought to us by the folks at Sahel Sounds and Mississippi Records who have previously brought us those Music From Saharan Cellphone comps, is a great introduction to the sounds of popular film music made by the dominant Hausa culture of Nigeria from the past few years.
Bollywood music became more popular outside of India as the industry moved from films to television and the music began to be heard on the radio. While the Muslim culture of the Hausa people frowned on Hindi cinema, they began to see the advantages of taking the medium of music and film and crafting their own cultural take on the genre, often lifting the music and plotlines wholesale into their own language and cultural tropes. The music, in the beginning was played with traditional instruments, but the invention of the Yamaha PSR keyboard and the switch from video to digital has increased production into thousands of movies and songs of strangely charming and fluorescent dance pop.
For anyone who loved the strange hybrid of new wave dance pop of that Shangaan Shake compilation, or the Saharan Cellphone comps, this compilation carries the same global hybrid of tradition and new technology with most of the music utilizing digital synthesizers and auto-tuned vocals (mostly to imitate the high pitch of Indian Bollywood singers) that emphasizes the exotic side of global pop but yet remains so insanely catchy and infectious.
MPEG Stream: FATI NIGER "Girma Girma"
MPEG Stream: SANI DANJA "Muna Cikin Sanyi"
MPEG Stream: KARAMIN LILISCO "Fashion"

V/A Harafin So - Bollywood Inspired Film Music From Hausa Nigeria (Little Axe / Mississippi) lp 16.98
When we think of Bollywood, our minds instantly go to the golden era of Indian film music from the '60s and '70s, with classical sitars and tampuras set to thriller and noir themes and exotic pop, often forgetting that Bollywood has of course never stopped making films, and the film music has continually changed with the times. Even with the discovery of other flourishing filmmaking centers such as Lollywood in Pakistan and the Tamil-speaking Kollywood of South India bringing in the influences of synthesizers and eighties pop, we still weren't prepared for the amazing modern sounds of another fertile film and soundtrack music scene, this time located a continent away in Kano, the capital city of Nigeria - thus their thriving movie industry is called Kannywood. This compilation, brought to us by the folks at Sahel Sounds and Mississippi Records who have previously brought us those Music From Saharan Cellphone comps, is a great introduction to the sounds of popular film music made by the dominant Hausa culture of Nigeria from the past few years.
Bollywood music became more popular outside of India as the industry moved from films to television and the music began to be heard on the radio. While the Muslim culture of the Hausa people frowned on Hindi cinema, they began to see the advantages of taking the medium of music and film and crafting their own cultural take on the genre, often lifting the music and plotlines wholesale into their own language and cultural tropes. The music, in the beginning was played with traditional instruments, but the invention of the Yamaha PSR keyboard and the switch from video to digital has increased production into thousands of movies and songs of strangely charming and fluorescent dance pop.
For anyone who loved the strange hybrid of new wave dance pop of that Shangaan Shake compilation, or the Saharan Cellphone comps, this compilation carries the same global hybrid of tradition and new technology with most of the music utilizing digital synthesizers and auto-tuned vocals (mostly to imitate the high pitch of Indian Bollywood singers) that emphasizes the exotic side of global pop but yet remains so insanely catchy and infectious.
MPEG Stream: FATI NIGER "Girma Girma"
MPEG Stream: SANI DANJA "Muna Cikin Sanyi"
MPEG Stream: KARAMIN LILISCO "Fashion"

V/A Hard-Headed Woman: A Celebration Of Wanda Jackson (Bloodshot) cd 13.98
Who kicks ass? The true rockin' country maverick Wanda Jackson, that's who!!! And what could be a more fitting tribute than to assemble 21 covers of her songs performed by a crowd of fiery ladies (and some fellers too) cut from the same cloth? The compilation kicks off with a visit from Canada's country sweetheart Ms Carolyn Mark dishin' out a suitably rousing version of one of Jackson's trademark songs "Hot Dog, That Made Him Mad", and the good times just keep on rollin' from there. Also dropping by to tip their hat are many familiar faces from the past and present Bloodshot Records stable as well as some new faces: Neko Case (delivering a rollicking rendition of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" with Jon Rauhouse and Joey Burns), Robbie Fulks, Trailer Bride (who completely transform one of Jackson's other musical calling cards "Fujiyama Mama" into a druggy, delirious dirge), Kelly Hogan (aah, as dreamy as ever!), Rosie Flores, Wayne Hancock, Laura Cantrell, Bottle Rockets with Sheri Hurst, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Nora O'Connor, Candye Kane, Anna Fermin & The Trigger Gospel, Kristi Rose, The Cornell Hurd Band, Jane Baxter Miller, Kim Lenz, Asylum Street Spankers, Gina Lee & The Brisket Boys, Jesse Dayton, and The Ranch Girls & The Ragtime Wranglers (from the Netherlands). Another fine compilation from the Bloodshot ranch.
MPEG Stream: MARK, CAROLYN "Hot Dog, That Made Him Mad"
MPEG Stream: TRAILER BRIDE "Fujiyama Mama"

V/A Harder Shade Of Black (Pressure Sounds) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: AUGUSTUS PABLO "One Thousand Swords"
MPEG Stream: SANTIC ALL STARS "Hell Boat"
MPEG Stream: HORACE ANDY "Problems"
MPEG Stream: I ROY "Yamaha Ride"

V/A Harder Shade Of Black (Pressure Sounds) lp 14.98

V/A Harmika Yab-Yum: Folk Sounds From Nepal (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
By now maybe you have (or like some of us, maybe you haven't) had enough of the South East Asian pop, folk, field recordings from Sublime Frequencies. Courtesy of Robert Millis (Climax Golden Twins cohort and curator of the Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums cd) Harmika Yab-Yum takes us on an audio journey through underserved territory. Nestled, nay sandwiched between the geographical and cultural giants of China and India, Nepal's greatest fame lies in its hosting the tallest mountain on our fair planet. It's also the only "official Hindu state in the world" according to the CIA Factbook. On Harmika Yab-Yum Millis elegantly weaves together recordings he made (apparently in 1996) of radio broadcasts, street musicians, religious cermonies, and sermons. About half of the tracks in fact are from radio, though no disc jockey banter is included, which -- whether intentional or not -- gives the recordings an even more of a feel of being totally detached from the influence of the occidental world. By and large the greatest influence on the music here is from India. Tabla percussion, flutes, pump organs, sitars, violins and drones, drones, drones make up the bulk of the instrumentation and to the untrained ear, certainly sound like the dulcet tones of Indian music. The disc starts off with a bang with a track taken from the radio which sounds like feral chanting by some crazed lunatic accompanied by drumming. This is followed by an abrupt segue into a street sermon broadcast over a distant sounding bullhorn, flutes and people talking can be heard over the sermon. For the larger part, such abrupt transitions are not the norm on Harmika Yab-Yum and the grainy, modulating songs recorded off of the airwaves blend nicely with the gritty sounds of daily life on the streets from the clanging bells of a pony train passing by to, chanting monks on Krishna day, to a snake charmer with double reed to the crashing of bands, miscellaneous percussion and other noises for a wedding procession. Very nice.
MPEG Stream: "Radio Nepal 1 / Street Sermon"
MPEG Stream: "Pony Train / Radio Nepal 3"
MPEG Stream: "Radio Nepal 7"

V/A Harmonia Family Album (Harmonia) 2lp 36.00

V/A Harmony of the Spheres (Drunken Fish) 2cd 17.98
From Revolver Distribution's blurb: "Originally released by Drunken Fish in November of 1996 as a specially designed triple-LP boxset produced in an edition of 3,000 (which quickly sold out its one and only pressing and has remained unavailable since). Featured are six exclusive, extended tracks (none of which is less than eighteen minutes in length) from this generation's spacerock elite: Bardo Pond, Flying Saucer Attack, Jessamine, Roy Montgomery, Loren Mazzacane-Connors and the Charalambides. Includes a lovely eight-panel foldout booklet. Standup for spacerock, because artrock is dead."

V/A Harpsichord 2000 (9:PM - Indigo) cd 14.98
Who doesn't get a wee bit wistful at the stringy, tinkly sound of the harpsichord? Well, here's 23 songs graced by the presence of the lovely harpsichord. The music of artists such as StereoTotal and Momus welcomes this instrument warmly into its fold. And yes, ever the fellow to throw in a witty bonus, Momus includes his ode to Jeff Koons. Other artists include The Make-Up, The Secret Goldfish, and Cinerama. Decidedly baroque, lounge-y, playful, and fun.

V/A Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 (Revenant) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Revenant has once again done a swank job of a reissue. Originally only available on double CD, Revenant has now just reissued the collection in a tri-fold double LP set. Smithsonian Folkways' influential "Anthology of American Folk Music" was a massive three volume set compiled by the eccentric artist and archivist Harry Smith. Originally released in 1952 and reissued on CD in 1997, it stands as a pioneering look into the earliest recordings of awe-inspiring folk music of the '20s and '30s. This fourth volume of the series had been collected around the same time, but had never been released until 2000. Like the CD version, this double LP set is lavishly packaged. It includes a 20 page booklet, a poster and the LPs come pressed on clear vinyl. Like the original Folkways Anthology, this smaller collection features the work of some of our country's most important musical figures from the turn of the 20th century including Lead Belly, The Carter Family, Robert Johnson, The Monroe Brothers, Uncle Dave Macon, the Memphis Jug Band, and many more. It also features in depth narratives on Smith and his work from Greil Marcus, Ed Sanders, John Cohen, Dick Spottswood, and Fahey. Simply outstanding.
MPEG Stream: JOE WILLIAMS' WASHBOARD BLUES SINGERS "Baby Please Don't Go"
MPEG Stream: UNCLE DAVE MACON "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train"

V/A Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 (Revenant) 2cd + book 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Smithsonian / Folkways' influential "Anthology of American Folk Music" was a massive three volume set compiled by the eccentric artist and archivist Harry Smith. Originally released in 1952 and reissued on CD in 1997, it stands as a pioneering look into the earliest recordings of awe-inspiring folk music of the '20s and '30s. However, a fourth volume of the series had been collected around the same time, but had never been released until John Fahey's Revenant label uncovered this gem. Packaged lavishly in a 96 page hardbound book, this double CD set features the work of Lead Belly, The Carter Family, Robert Johnson, Uncle Dave Macon, the Memphis Jug Band, and many more. It also features in depth narratives on Smith and his work from Greil Marcus, Ed Sanders, John Cohen, Dick Spottswood, and Fahey. Simply outstanding.
RealAudio clip: BUKKA WHITE "Parchman Farm Blues"

V/A Hasabe (Mississippi / Change) lp 15.98
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Ethiopiques alert, too! Have yourself a hot sultry soul dance party this weekend, with some of the best vintage Ethio soul from the Golden era of Ethiopian music! Largely culled from the great Ethiopiques series, this vinyl compilation features crucial '70s tracks by Mahmoud Ahmed, Lemma Demissew, Tlahoun Gessesse, Sefu Yohannes, Bahta Gebre Heywet, Teshome Meteku, and Alemeyahu Eshete, all never reissued on vinyl before. All killer, no filler! What more can we say, other than this rules!
MPEG Stream: METEKU, TESHOME "Hasabe"