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Tripped out electronics meet progressive rock jamming – all in a weird and wonderful film score from the early 70s! The record's one of the best by French experimentalist Philippe Besombes from the time – and it's got a style that sort of starts in the territory of Francois De Roubaix similar electronic work for film – but gets a lot darker and noisier right away! There's a textural depth here that's really great – almost a pre-industrial music exploration of sounds – but the work's also not that over-indulgent, either – and Besombes always has a great way of getting back to a tune, especially on the shorter tracks. Titles include "La Plage", "Rugby", "Ceremonie", "Hache 06", "La Ville", "Les Cosmonautes", "Tis A Song", "Boogimmick", and "PJF 261".

A mindblowing moment from the trio of Dieter Moebius, Hans Joachim Rodelius, and Konrad Schnitzler – an incredible studio exploration that initiated a rich generation of German experimentation! The trio are much harder and darker here than on any of their later recordings – especially solo sides – coming up with new sounds, powerful tones, and waves of sonic energy that never fail to amaze us, even after all these years! The original notes call the music the sound of the machine – which is definitely true, but in ways that are even more abstracted – and, dare we say, more powerfully resonant than any later work from the industrial generation. Each song spans a side of a record – and titles include "Kluster 1(Electric Music Und Texte)" and "Kluster 2 (Electric Music)".

Number five, and the Steve Miller Band is still going strong – working here with some great help from Area Code 615, who bring a slightly rootsy vibe to the set! That core Miller brilliance is still very firmly in place – and Steve's got an even sharper ear for writing songs this time around – working in more influences than before, and really finding his voice – or more appropriately, that great way his vocals can be filtered in with the production. Other guests include Ben Sidran and Nicky Hopkins – helping to reinstate the keyboard sound in the group – and titles include "Steve Miller's Midnight Tango", "Industrial Military Complex Hex", "Never Kill Another Man", "Going To The Country", and "Hot Chili".

Epic DJ Fontana (elvis presley's 50s-70s drummer) interview. The (pre-industrial) Wax Trax Records story – including the saga of the Jonny iii (Wax Trax house band). Czech prog-gods Plastic People Of the Universe interviewed. Little Richard is Jewish! 1950s country star Marvin Rainwater interviewed. The return, and self-destruction, of the Misfits. Flaming Lips interview. Don "Sugarcane" Harris obituary. Screaming Jay Hawkins obituary. David Lee Roth comix. 1960s psychedelic comic books explored. Interview with Gregg Gellar, master compilation producer, focusing on his "Sammy Davis Jr.-Yes I Can" box set, as well as the ins and outs of comp production. Plus Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Chuck Berry, rock & wrestling, comix and Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. as you've always imagined them!

Some of the darkest, most bracing music ever recorded by Throbbing Gristle – and a record that arguably captures the group at their best! The sounds here are virtually the blueprint for industrialism for years to come – loads of low-end sonic rumblings, with instrumentation distorted beyond any sense of recognition – yet used in ways that are often slightly tuneful, kind of sneaking in a sense of song through the back door – that odd combination that always made TG stand way ahead of most of their contemporary imitators! Genesis P is incredibly chilling, and the analogue electronics are breathtaking – and titles include the classic "Slug Bait", in a few different live iterations – plus "Maggot Death", "Industrial Introduction", and the soundtrack of the Coum film "After Cease To Exist". Still one of the all-time chilling classics!

Incredibly dark work from Igor Wakhevitch – and a record that seems to presage both industrial and goth music a decade ahead of its time! The album comes from a more serious, almost academic perspective – with echoes of the more creative electronic work of the late 60s, and some of the more trippy, more spiritual elements that informed the occult-based underground. Yet the combination here is something completely different in itself – almost like a Kenneth Anger soundtrack from the later years, or the subtext for a Coven album, or something even spookier! Things are still relatively abstract, as in Igor's other work – but there's also a much more devilish feel underneath, with echoes from the underworld that really darken the whole proceedings – as does the image of a swastika on the back.

Some of the darkest music ever recorded by the quirky German pop group Der Plan – their soundtrack for the 1982 film Die Letzte Rache, recorded in a series of short and quirky little tunes! The sound here is similar to Dar Plan's other albums of the time, but perhaps a bit bleaker at times – with traces of post-industrial instrumentation littered alongside more playful and upbeat numbers. The group's sense of humor is still very firmly in place, but it's also got a lot more bite than usual – as does their overall work with electronics, which seems to have advanced incredibly by this point – able to stretch between the abstractions of Jon Appleton and the directed messages of Bruce Haack. And despite the fact that many of the tunes are extremely short, they're also extremely memorable as well – playful little experiments in soundshapes and tone that have stood the test of time extremely well! Titles include "Oh Oh Oh", "Ich Bin Es", "Zur Alten Dschunke", "Die Wuste", "Junger Mann", "Fruchte Radio Special", "Older Nicht", and "Das Ende". CD also features 6 bonus tracks from the film Grottenolm!

Some of the darkest music ever recorded by the quirky German pop group Der Plan – their soundtrack for the 1982 film Die Letzte Rache, recorded in a series of short and quirky little tunes! The sound here is similar to Dar Plan's other albums of the time, but perhaps a bit bleaker at times – with traces of post-industrial instrumentation littered alongside more playful and upbeat numbers. The group's sense of humor is still very firmly in place, but it's also got a lot more bite than usual – as does their overall work with electronics, which seems to have advanced incredibly by this point – able to stretch between the abstractions of Jon Appleton and the directed messages of Bruce Haack. And despite the fact that many of the tunes are extremely short, they're also extremely memorable as well – playful little experiments in soundshapes and tone that have stood the test of time extremely well! Titles include "Oh Oh Oh", "Ich Bin Es", "Zur Alten Dschunke", "Die Wuste", "Junger Mann", "Fruchte Radio Special", "Older Nicht", and "Das Ende". CD also features 6 bonus tracks from the film Grottenolm!

Important work from European electronic genius Bernard Parmegiani – an artist who works here in a relatively academic setting, but also manages to hit with the power of the industrial generation to come! Parmegiani really has a way with noisy sounds – and although some moments here are spare and spacey, others have this bold texture that draws a real link between the earlier work of Iannis Xenakis and some of the more homegrown sounds later artists. The album features two important longform works – "L'Oeil Ecoute (The Eye Is Listening)" and "Dedans Dehors (Inside Outside)" – on heavy vinyl, with notes in English and French!

Amazing keyboards from Igor Wakevitch – very dark and moody, and with sounds and textures that seem to echo the industrial generation growing up at the same time – but which Igor's music definitely precedes! Wakevitch is a real obscurity – an artist whose influence is only being felt all these many years later, but who has the ability to create striking sounds that rival or beat some of his more flamboyant contemporaries – especially those on the London scene. This album is a second collaboration with dancer Carolyn Carlson, and like the first, it's way more than any dance project you might expect – very textural and electronic, with sounds that are very abstracted from their sources! Titles include "Nagual", "The Smile Of The Wolf On The Bench", "Never Poem For The Other", "In The Nagual's Time", "Spenta Aramati", "Cinderalla", and "Sets".

A masterpiece mixture of sound effects and loungey orchestration! Wild stuff featuring "found objects" from a surplus store – like saws, whistles, sirens, and other junk – plus the great arrangements of one of Capitol's best bandleaders. (In case you're not familiar with Jack Fascinato, he worked on all of Tennessee Ernie Ford's best records.) The sound is very groovy, and very "pre-industrial". Titles include "An Old Saw", "Latin Hardware", "Adios Castanets", "Oily Boid", and "Sweepy Time".

Funky electronic sound library genius from Bruno Spoerri – a Swiss 70s composer who cut some incredible work for obscure industrial sources! Bruno's music is heavy on analogue electronics – sometimes used sparely and spacily, but other times in a very rhythmic fashion that's strongly in keeping with the machines, products, and processes his tunes were used to promote! And apart from one great reissue 45 years back on Jazzman, most of Bruno's work has never been heard (at least consciously) by a larger audience – and this excellent LP marks the first time that most of these tunes have ever been made available to the public at large! As with other titles on the Finders Keepers label, there's a mania here that runs through the entire set – a "something's different" sort of feel that really makes the record an instant treasure – yet one with enough of a groove to also appeal to those who dug the funk on Bruno's Jazzman 45! Titles include "Lilith Singing In The Dark", "Soft Art Theme", "Lilith The Dance", "Les Electroniciens", "Oederlin", "Gluckskugel Title", "Drillin", "Lilith On The Way" and "Wer Gwunnt".

Kick ass early work from the great Tom Ze – recorded in the beginning of the Tropicalia years, but with a style that shows Ze sitting on the fence between rock/pop and some of his madder later work! The style's still pretty hard to describe, and listening to the music, you can hear how much of an influence Ze must have had on the styles of Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes – whose work from 1969 is echoed in many of the songs on the album. There's lots of weird organ, arranged in kind of a swirling psychedelic way that reminds us of songs from the early Mutantes album, or from the Tropicalia Ou Panis et Circensis album from 1968. Ze wrote all the tracks, and titles include "Sabor De Burrice", "Camelo", "Gloria", "Curso Intesivo De Boas Maneiras", "Parque Industrial", and "Profissao De Ladrao". A great cover, and a rare rare relic!

Kick ass early work from the great Tom Ze – recorded in the beginning of the Tropicalia years, but with a style that shows Ze sitting on the fence between rock/pop and some of his madder later work! The style's still pretty hard to describe, and listening to the music, you can hear how much of an influence Ze must have had on the styles of Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes – whose work from 1969 is echoed in many of the songs on the album. There's lots of weird organ, arranged in kind of a swirling psychedelic way that reminds us of songs from the early Mutantes album, or from the Tropicalia Ou Panis et Circensis album from 1968. Ze wrote all the tracks, and titles include "Sabor De Burrice", "Camelo", "Gloria", "Curso Intesivo De Boas Maneiras", "Parque Industrial", and "Profissao De Ladrao". A great cover, and a rare rare relic!

Pretty amazing sounds from this experimental Norwegian composer! Side one of the record features the groundbreaking "Nova" – a piece originally composed for a multi-media installation in 1972, with a message on the way we were destroying our planet! The dark sounds come from tape loops, changing slowly – installed as large speakers in a space with stringed panels, tires, and paper – all set to music that has an eerie, pre-industrial sort of feel. Next is "Omgivelser" – another environmentally-related piece – and with an equally electronic style – almost somewhere between early musique concrete, and later industrial sounds of the late 70s underground. Last is "Keiserens Nye Slips" – more electronic, in a less abstract way – with these beautiful melodic moments that almost glisten and glimmer like electric rain drops!

Percussion and effects – wrapped up together beautifully in this rare Italian sound library set! The album's got a groove that's exactly what you'd expect from the title – acoustic percussion mixes with electronics that are sometimes spare and stark, sometimes production effects, and sometimes smoother keyboards that have a bit more of a jazz-based approach. There's a pretty dark feel to most of the record – a style that's almost a cross between Italian horror scoring and some of the industrial work that was coming out of the north of England at the time – and some of the best numbers here get really noisy, and use simple but effective production techniques to abstract the sound. Titles include "Sprint", "Apocalisse", "Reflection", "Violenza", "Riverberazioni", "Black Beat", "Ritmo Giallo", and "Compulsion".

One of the most striking Morricone soundtracks we've heard from the early 70s – a really dark little score that's filled with harsh tones and cool electronic effects! The film itself deals with the hardship of life in an Italian factory – and Morricone's music is filled with machine-like moments – stark, stiff rhythms that stamp out in repetition – cold electronic sounds that are without any soul – and a few softer, gentler moments that offer just a bit of relief – then quickly bring you back to the realm of the industrial! The soundtrack is proof that the maestro was always working at the height of his creative powers – setting his music apart from the rest of his contemporaries. Bruno Nicolai gets a nod too – as he directed the orchestra – and titles include "Il Sogno", "Metamorfosi", "La Classe Operaia Va In Paradiso", "Alienazione", "Inventario", and "Sinfonia Dell'Ottimista".