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A massive batch of instrumentals from J Dilla – one that strongly transcends the wordless hip hop genre – and perhaps his rawest, and most adventurous listening experience yet! The loopy soul samples, rich synth/electronic shine, and thumping bass and soul beats that Dilla largely made his name on are laced throughout, but he also takes things a step into stranger territory – with spacey elements that buzz as much as they groove! The cuts never less than soulful and funky, and never steps into Madlib's brand of the weeded out style, either. We love how raw this all feels, too! It's easily identifiable as the work of Jay Dee, but at the same time wholly unpredictable! One of the better Stone's Throw hip hop efforts in a while – instrumental or vocal! 31 pieces in all: "Donuts (Intro & Outro)", "Workinonit", "Waves", "Light My Fire", "People", "Mash", "Airworks", "Lightworks", "Stepson Of The Clapper", "One Eleven", "Don't Cry", "Geek Down", "Thunder", "Gobstopper", "Walkinonit", "U-Love", "Last Donut Of The Night" and more. CD

Jazzy magic from the current Japanese underground – a hip group bubbling under, but with the same magic energy Jazztronik! Like Jazztronik, J's Bee blends together solid jazz roots and modern production – searching out some richly organic grooves that start slowly, build with spare keyboards and rhythms, and then take off to the skies with a really righteous sound. There's a bit of vocals on the set, but like Jazztronik, the group's equally well suited to working in an instrumental mode too. Tracks include "Eclipse", "Glow", "Naked", "Floating", "DB (Deep Blue)", and "Desert Skyline (Version 2)". CD

One of our favorite albums of all times – and a legendary testament to the greatness of the Chicago music scene in the late 60s! Melvin Jackson was the bassist in Eddie Harris' very successful group of the time – and his playing on Eddie's trippy and funky records for Atlantic is one of the factors that made them so great. Here, he's working with an acoustic bass, amplified with electronics like a Varitone sax – and this strange-sounding instrument is set up in a hip group that mixes Cadet funky studio players (Phil Upchurch, Morris Jennings, Jody Christian) with some of the brighter young players of the AACM (Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Leo Smith.) Jackson's bass is looped through all sorts of crazy effects, and the result is this amazing blend of avant garde playing and groovy rhythms that is beyond compare! The album includes great reworkings of two Eddie Harris funk tracks – "Bold and Black" and "Cold Duck Time" – plus monster originals like "Funky Doo", "Say What", "Dance Of The Dervish", and "Funky Skull (parts 1 & 2)". CD

One of our favorite albums of all time – and a legendary testament to the greatness of the Chicago music scene in the late 60s! Melvin Jackson was the bassist in Eddie Harris' very successful group of the time – and his playing on Eddie's trippy and funky records for Atlantic is one of the factors that made them so great. Here, he's working with an acoustic bass, amplified with electronics like a Varitone sax – and this strange-sounding instrument is set up in a hip group that mixes Cadet funky studio players (Phil Upchurch, Morris Jennings, Jody Christian) with some of the brighter young players of the AACM (Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Leo Smith.) Jackson's bass is looped through all sorts of crazy effects, and the result is this amazing blend of avant garde playing and groovy rhythms that is beyond compare! The album includes great reworkings of two Eddie Harris funk tracks – "Bold and Black" and "Cold Duck Time" – plus monster originals like "Funky Doo", "Say What", "Dance Of The Dervish", and "Funky Skull (parts 1 & 2)". LP, Vinyl record album

A really haunting bit of early electronics by Jean Michel Jarre – the soundtrack for the film Les Granges Brulees from the early 70s! The work here has a very different sound than Jarre's later music – not nearly so neat and tidy, with lots of rough edges, and shorter tunes that have a really kind of spooky, other-wordly feel. And yet despite these qualities, there's also a good degree of melody to the set – as the shorter tracks bubble forth with some great themes that sound even more enchanting in the analogue electronic mode. Titles include "L'Helicoptere", "La Chanson Des Granges Brulees", "Le Pays De Rose", "Theme De L'Argent", "Rose", "Les Granges Brulees", and "La Verite". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal session from 70s French synth maestro Jean-Michel Jarre – a great bit of electronics that was almost France's answer to Kraftwerk at the time! Jarre's style is a bit warmer and more focused on the melody – and the range of keyboards and synthesizers used create a rich tapestry of sound that almost has a soundtrack-y feel at the best moments. 7-inch, Vinyl record

Essential funk in a single set – three killer albums from James Brown's legendary backing group! First up is Food For Thought – the classic first album by The JBs – James Brown's Fred Wesley-led backing band, and the force behind most of his greatest records of the early 70s! The band are incredible at this point – sharper, harder, and funkier than just about any other combo around – and that includes all the thousands of groups in the funky 45 underground who were always trying to copy their sound, but never got things this right! Not only are the rhythms the stuff of legend – but the use of the instruments is far far above the norm – as can be heard on the mindblowing "The Grunt", which was sampled heavily by Public Enemy to great fame – and which features a saxophone solo that sounds more like a whistling tea kettle! The set collects some of the group's best early singles, and includes all of the short little funky cuts that made them a legend right out of the box – "Pass the Peas", "The Grunt", "These Are The JBs", "Hot Pants Road", "Wine Spot", "To My Brother", "Blessed Blackness", "Theme From King Heroin", "Escapism (parts 1 & 2), and "Gimme Some More" – all together here in one tight little album of massive funky hard beats and breaks! Doing It To Death is an incredible album – a landmark piece of funk that nobody should be without, funk fan or not! The album is the second to feature James Brown's famous backing combo of the early 70s – and unlike their first one, which was really more of a collection of singles, this album has the group playing hard, long, and loud, in the free funk improvisational mode that was James' real contribution to the music at the time. The tracks are all incredibly long, with James at the forefront, egging the band on with shouts and comments – but also letting them open up large instrumentally, playing in a mode that's as much jazz as it is funky soul. The whole thing's peppered with some nice shorter segues between tracks – but the long cuts are the winners, and are some of the best funk ever recorded! Titles include "Mo Peas", "Doing It To Death", "La Di Da La Di Day", "You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks & I'll Be Straight", and "Sucker". Last up is Damn Right I Am Somebody – quite possibly our favorite record by the JBs, ever! The set starts with a wonderful conversational bit – rapping and musing on the idea of "Damn Right, I Am Somebody" – showing the group in a political and righteous mode for the first time ever. The grooves then kick in – with the same heavy funk as on earlier records, but also a nice nod towards experimental production – from strange fade ups and fade downs, to stark time and rhythm changes, and even bits of electronics used to create some very cool moments in the grooves! The whole thing's as dead funky as can be, and is stuffed with insane classics like "Blow Your Head", "Same Beat", "Damn Right I am Somebody", "I'm Payin' Taxes, What am I Buyin'", and a great cover of Marvin Gaye's "You Sure Love to Ball"! CD

A really unique project from the Serbian underground of the 80s – a record that mixes together global elements, electronics, and some other live instrumentation – all in a way that's as tuneful as it is experimental, and which has a nice sort of post-punk sense of freedom throughout! The music reminds us a lot of some of our favorite work from farther up on the European scene – particularly records on the Crammed label, as this set shares a similar sense of wider sensibilities coming into play with new technologies of the time, yet handled in a way that's very personal and poetic. The duo bring a bit of vocals to the record, but most of the music comes from the interplay between acoustic and electronic elements – on titles that include "Gitanes", "Gajeiro", "Rhinoceros II, "Sometimes At Nine", "In The Sky", and "Rumba Balcana". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning little record – and one that still chills us to the bone after all these years! The set's the first (and one of the few) from Joy Division – and really set a whole new standard for the post-punk underground – thanks partly to the group's brooding sense of darkness, but also to the brilliant production from Martin Hannett – who uses slight bits of electronics to augment the group's stark guitars and Ian Curtis' moody vocals. The whole thing's a classic – and titles include "Disorder", "She's Lost Control", "New Dawn Fades", "Interzone", and "I Remember Nothing". CD

A sweet Soweto group from the start of the 80s – one who have a nice current of funk in their mix, but who also serve up some well-crafted solos on both guitar and flute! The vocals are often warmly in that more familiar South African style of the period – but the record's nicely rougher around the edges than both the hits or some of the more electronic sets of the time – and the use of flute really makes things stand out on some tracks, with a warm, organic quality that really keeps things interesting – especially next to more standard keyboards. Titles include "Walking In The Jungle", "Rainbow Children", "Mafeteng", "African Sunset", "Sengiyesaba", "Happy To Be Me", and "Awundiva". CD

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One of the wildest sets ever recorded by Japanese guitarist Ryo Kawasaki – and that's saying a lot, given some of his other work! The vibe here is fusion, but with a definite 80s spacey twist that's hinted at by the cover – as Kawasaki handles most of the instruments himself, mixing his cool guitar lines with keyboards, rhythm patterns, and other elements – all in a wonderful wave of sound, almost similar to some of the Japanese electronic instrumental work of the time, but still very jazz-oriented overall! Titles include a nice reading of "Concierto De Aranjuez" – plus "Cancion Del Fuego Fatuo", "Introduction From Schelomo", "A Felicidade", "Marilyn", "Mercy Of The Dragon", "Hawaiian Caravan", and "Twilight Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool album from the Japanese scene of the 80s – one that's much more experimental and creative than some of the city pop material of the time – with a shifting style of music that really keeps things interesting! Ryuichi Sakamoto helped with the first track on the set, which also rounds out the end of side one – and there's definitely elements of the YMO-era electro pop on the record, but mixed with more instrumental material that partly echoes the ambient sounds of the era – but also with more experimental material that's sometimes playful, sometimes a bit dark – almost echoing some of the hipper New York downtown experiments of the Laurie Anderson generation. Koharu Kisaragi handles most of the work herself - through a variety of keyboards, samples, and electronics next to her vocals – but there's also some live percussion, piano, bells, and recorder on the record too. Titles include "Neo Plant" in two versions – plus "Paraffin", "Bon Voyage", and "Traumerei". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing work from Kool & The Gang – from a period when they were pushing past their tight early funky sound, into a super-dope mix of electronics and spacey jamming that is still pretty darn revolutionary today! Although you might think the album would be a bit disco by the date, it's not – and instead has the group moving more towards a style of cosmic righteousness that was undoubtedly influenced by the early work (and success) of Earth, Wind, & Fire. The album has a few live cuts - including an amazing 8 minute long live version of "Summer Madness", with an extended keyboard solo that's just great! Other titles include "Cosmic Energy", "Do It Right Now", "Universal Sound", and a remake of "Hollywood Swinging". CD

Amazing work from Kool & The Gang – from a period when they were pushing past their tight early funky sound, into a super-dope mix of electronics and spacey jamming that is still pretty darn revolutionary today! Although you might think the album would be a bit disco by the date, it's not – and instead has the group moving more towards a style of cosmic righteousness that was undoubtedly influenced by the early work (and success) of Earth, Wind, & Fire. The album has a few live cuts - including an amazing 8 minute long live version of "Summer Madness", with an extended keyboard solo that's just great! Other titles include "Cosmic Energy", "Do It Right Now", "Universal Sound", and a remake of "Hollywood Swinging". CD

Amazing sounds from Polish composer Andrzej Korzynski – penned for a legendary horror film from the early 80s! The movie goes way beyond typical grit and gore – with a surreal bent that's made it the stuff of much discussion over the years – and Korzynski's music definitely lives up to the spirit of the images on the screen – mixing 80s electronics with offbeat strings, odd percussion, and other compelling bits – often used in very short songs that shift often throughout the course of the album – easily making the record one of the most playful we've ever heard from Finders Keepers – yet also one of the darkest too! A few sweet keyboard melodies offset some of the spookiness in a nice way – and titles include "Helen Has Green Eyes", "Opetanie 1", "The Night The Screaming Stops", "Blue Ford B AZ6", "Heinrick's Demise", "Mark Looks In The Fridge", "What Is It", and "Closely Observed Anna". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking record from Kraftwerk – a set that unified the 70s worlds of analogue electronics and prog rock – yet somehow managed to set the scene for a whole new sound to come! The album's a treasure all the way through – slow-building, and with beautiful bubbling moments that have these surprisingly simple hooks – heard to best effect in the album's classic title cut "Autobahn" – but echoed nicely through the album's other longer tracks too – "Kometenmelodie 1 &2", "Mitternacht", and "Morgenspaziergang". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking record from Kraftwerk – a set that unified the 70s worlds of analogue electronics and prog rock – yet somehow managed to set the scene for a whole new sound to come! The album's a treasure all the way through – slow-building, and with beautiful bubbling moments that have these surprisingly simple hooks – heard to best effect in the album's classic title cut "Autobahn" – but echoed nicely through the album's other longer tracks too – "Kometenmelodie 1 &2", "Mitternacht", and "Morgenspaziergang". CD

It's definitely a computer world when you're inside the mind of Kraftwerk – the machine made man, given a wonderful showcase here for the new decade! The sound is maybe a bit leaner and even more electronic than before – with the introduction of some digital elements, and a mix of beats and keyboards that was already showing the nascent hip hop scene that the German quartet were still ahead of the pack when it came to grooves like this! Did these guys invent electro soul? Hearing a record like this it's hard not to think so – thanks to tracks that include "Computer Love", "Computer World", "Pocket Calculator", "Home Computer", "Numbers", and "It's More Fun To Compute". CD

The legendary first album from Kraftwerk – a groundbreaking set recorded when the group was more of a proggish outfit, and still yet to make their mark in the world of electronics! As with early work by Cluster, the instrumentation here is often from more conventional rock sources, but really abstracted through the production work of Connie Plank. Flute, violin, organ, and drums resonate with a new sort of intensity here – stretched out over long tracks and mixed up so that their sounds take on different shapes and textures. Album features 4 tracks in all – "Ruckzuck", "Stratovarius", "Megaherz", and "Vom Himmel Hoch". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredibly lovely record from Kraftwerk – fashioned along the same suite-like style as Radio Activity, and served up with some haunting and charming tunes throughout! The electronics are quite spare, yet very thoughtful – never a note out of place, as the quartet build their careful efforts together to create a tapestry of surprisingly warm sounds – using just a bit of vocals in really great ways, and almost prefacing a whole generation of UK and Euro pop to come – yet without any of their schmaltz! Titles include "Europe Endless", "Hall of Mirrors", "Abzung", "Franz Schubert", and "Showroom Dummies" – not to mention the awesome title track and electro break number "Metal On Metal". CD

One of the most haunting scores you'll ever hear for a vampire film – a soundtrack that's moody, open, and extremely evocative! Henryk Kuzniak uses a range of instruments and sounds here – sometimes more familiar elements like vibes, other times more abstracted with effects and electronics – not in a mainstream 80s horror way, but at times almost with echoes of some of the industrial experiments that were happening at the time! The whole thing is as evocative of the dark economic corners of Poland as it is the horror of a vampire taking its victim – and titles include "Zasdzki", "Tropicel", "Mgla", "Slady Zbrodni", "Wampir I Ofiary", and "Zmierzch Dnia". CD

Very experimental work from this loose Canadian collective of the late 60s – but a set that's filled with some surprisingly cool touches too! The album's almost more of a "happening" in the studio at times – with free-flowing energy between jazz musicians, rockers, poets, electronocists, and more experimentally sonic scientists – shifting styles quickly from track to track, but occasionally hitting some straighter, funkier moments that are totally great – almost a more tripped-out version of some of the French electronique work we love so much from the 60s – and a record that's mindblowingly beautiful in its sense of freedom and creativity. The whole thing's a sonic trip through incredibly fresh territory – never too overindulgent, and beautifully balanced both in sound and execution. Titles include "Ode A L'Affaire", "J'Ai Perdue 15 Cents Dans Le Nez Froid", "Finale", "Viens Danser Le OK La", "Agnus Dei", "Desafinado", "She's Leaving Home", and "Intermezzo". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool record from the European scene of the early 70s – a set that features rockish vocals and guitar, but also a heck of a lot of moog and other keyboards too – all of which makes for an album that's years ahead of its time! Sure, there had been plenty of moog pop instrumental records from the late 60s onward – and other groups would use the moog to spice up their songs – but Dan Lacksman's maybe one of the first to really use the world of analogue electronics so strongly next to catchy vocals and the kind of production that compresses the whole thing down together in a really great way – effortlessly bridging the generation of early Eno and Gary Numan – but with an offbeat wit that's all his own. Titles include "Monday Morning", "Happiness Is A Cold Beer", "Jet Set Woman", "Skylab", "Sunshine Is Gone", "Love You Every Day", "When We're Looking At The Barmaid", and "Sad Way". CD

A really cool record from the European scene of the early 70s – a set that features rockish vocals and guitar, but also a heck of a lot of moog and other keyboards too – all of which makes for an album that's years ahead of its time! Sure, there had been plenty of moog pop instrumental records from the late 60s onward – and other groups would use the moog to spice up their songs – but Dan Lacksman's maybe one of the first to really use the world of analogue electronics so strongly next to catchy vocals and the kind of production that compresses the whole thing down together in a really great way – effortlessly bridging the generation of early Eno and Gary Numan – but with an offbeat wit that's all his own. Titles include "Monday Morning", "Happiness Is A Cold Beer", "Jet Set Woman", "Skylab", "Sunshine Is Gone", "Love You Every Day", "When We're Looking At The Barmaid", and "Sad Way". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's definitely all woman – thanks to the sexy sounds of Monica Lassen on vocals! The singer works at a wordless level here – breezily scatting alongside these slinky, jazzy lines from The Sounds – a Japanese group who've clearly drunk deep from the well of bossa nova and European soundtrack influences of the 60s – and find a way to create their own small combo variation of those styles! The music has bits of organ, guitar, flute, and even what feels like electronics at points – and Monica's often more than content to step back, and let the group groove, then come in for a sigh, a moan, or a lighter vocalized passage. Titles are as sexy as the image on the cover – and include "Three Woman", "Love Touch", "Whimper", "Incitation", and "Happiness" – plus the long "Tie In/Double Bed/Enjoy Time". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, Cory Smythe on piano and quarter-tone keyboard, Sam Pluta on electronics, Zeena Parkins on electric harp, Adam Matlock on accordion, Josh Modney on violin, Robert Landfermann on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. CD

Scientist spins out on a dub-driven power boat – scanning the swamps to drive out the vampires and a host of other ghouls too – all while reinventing Jamaican music in the process! The record's filled with lots of cool electric elements – those weird production effects and electronic doodles that make the music of Scientist so revolutionary – especially when spun out over a still-familiar backdrop supplied by Roots Radics, with a core essence that's very much from the pre-digital world of Jamaican music. Rhythm tracks were done at Channel One, and Scientist mixed the set at King Tubbys – a host of dub mini-masterpieces that include "The Voodoo Curse", "Dance Of The Vampires", "Blood On His Lips", "Cry Of The Werewolf", "the Mummy's Shroud", "The Corpse Rises", "Night Of The Living Dead", "Your Teeth In My Neck", "Plague Of Zombies", and "Ghost Of Frankenstein". 2CD version features a full bonus record of vocal versions – by Wailing Souls, Wayne Jarrett, Johnny Osbourne, and Michael Prophet! CD

John Lennon revisits the rock and roll canon after years of emotionally charged solo material – a move that was partially imposed by legal necessity, but got even more messed up from there – culminating a solid, set of pure Rock N Roll in '75! Includes sessions produced by Lennon in fall of '74, plus the 4 tracks that survived the '73 sessions with Spector. Includes "Be-Bop-A-Lula", "Stand By Me", "Rip It Up/Ready Teddy", "Ain't That A Shame", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Slippin' And Slidin'", "Peggy Sue", "Bony Moronie", "Just Because" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant and beautiful album from Damon Locks – even more powerful than his Where Future Unfolds album, and that's saying a heck of a lot! The record proclaims part of its mission in its title – and is maybe the first set we've heard to point the way forward creatively after the dark days of 2020 – reclaiming the future for the present, as Locks works with a stunning array of Chicago-based talent – including Angel Bat Dawid on clarinet, Ben LaMar Gay on cornet and melodica, Dana Hall on drums, and Arif Smith on percussion! There's no other instruments in the core of the combo – but Locks adds in plenty of electronics and sound samples, including both musical moments and all these many found voices which are woven through the record alongside vocals by a sextet of singers – a chorus who rise up and give the whole thing a heavenly vibe that's completely mindblowing! While so many others are doing a decent job of reworking a 70s jazz spirit, Damon's giving us the future to come – the kind of visionary work we always knew he was capable of, but which is now finally getting the chance to exist on record. Titles include "The People Vs The Rest Of Us", "Keep Your Mind Free", "Movement & You", "Now", and "The Body Is Electric". CD

An amazing record from Chicago musician/artist Damon Locks – maybe the album he's been waiting his entire life to make – and the first to really bring together the mighty sum of his many talents! The material was recorded live in performance at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory – at an event that also included a group of singers and dancers to augment the musical performance – in a setting that gives Damon's majestic vision the proper setting it really deserves! Locks himself moves between electronics and vocal performances – in a core instrumental group that's heavy on drums and percussion from Dana Hall, clarinets from Angel Bat Dawid, and more percussion from Arif Smith – making music that's even more beautiful when the singers come into the mix, and take the energy to the sky with a very cosmic, righteous vibe. Locks has given us a glimpse of his vision in artwork, music, and writings over the years – but this time around, it feels like we're seeing the full scope at once – with more power and meaning than ever before. Titles include "Solar Power", "Rebuild A Nation", "Which I Believe It Will", "The Colors That You Bring", "The Future", "From A Spark To A Fire", "Black Monument Theme", and "Sounds Like Now". CD

An amazing record from Chicago musician/artist Damon Locks – maybe the album he's been waiting his entire life to make – and the first to really bring together the mighty sum of his many talents! The material was recorded live in performance at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory – at an event that also included a group of singers and dancers to augment the musical performance – in a setting that gives Damon's majestic vision the proper setting it really deserves! Locks himself moves between electronics and vocal performances – in a core instrumental group that's heavy on drums and percussion from Dana Hall, clarinets from Angel Bat Dawid, and more percussion from Arif Smith – making music that's even more beautiful when the singers come into the mix, and take the energy to the sky with a very cosmic, righteous vibe. Locks has given us a glimpse of his vision in artwork, music, and writings over the years – but this time around, it feels like we're seeing the full scope at once – with more power and meaning than ever before. Titles include "Solar Power", "Rebuild A Nation", "Which I Believe It Will", "The Colors That You Bring", "The Future", "From A Spark To A Fire", "Black Monument Theme", and "Sounds Like Now". LP, Vinyl record album

Damon Locks and Rob Mazurek are no musical strangers to each other – their paths have crossed often on the Chicago and global scenes over many years of creative activity. Yet this project is also the first they've co-led, and it's an incredible document of how much both artists have grown in recent years – especially when they let their talents flow together on a project like this! At some level, the core of the work is the voice that both artists have discovered – Locks, his own more focused message and ability to find other voices to sample in with his own – Mazurek, a way of using his own voice more directly, in addition to his well-known work on trumpets and electronics. Both Rob and Damon are in the forefront here, criss-crossing electric and acoustic elements with voices live and sampled – mixed with guest voices from others, in a swirlingly creative project that not only lives up to the current legacy of International Anthem and the Chicago scene, but also advances it a few notches too. Titles include "Breeze Of Time", "New Future", "Yes", "The Sun Returns", "Future City", "Las Ninas Estan Escuchando", "Support The Youth", "10 Mins Past The Hour", and "Polaris Radio". CD

Damon Locks and Rob Mazurek are no musical strangers to each other – their paths have crossed often on the Chicago and global scenes over many years of creative activity. Yet this project is also the first they've co-led, and it's an incredible document of how much both artists have grown in recent years – especially when they let their talents flow together on a project like this! At some level, the core of the work is the voice that both artists have discovered – Locks, his own more focused message and ability to find other voices to sample in with his own – Mazurek, a way of using his own voice more directly, in addition to his well-known work on trumpets and electronics. Both Rob and Damon are in the forefront here, criss-crossing electric and acoustic elements with voices live and sampled – mixed with guest voices from others, in a swirlingly creative project that not only lives up to the current legacy of International Anthem and the Chicago scene, but also advances it a few notches too. Titles include "Breeze Of Time", "New Future", "Yes", "The Sun Returns", "Future City", "Las Ninas Estan Escuchando", "Support The Youth", "10 Mins Past The Hour", and "Polaris Radio". LP, Vinyl record album

Kai Fagaschinski on Clarinet and Klaus Filip on electronics. CD

A mindblowing bit of psych from the late 60s – and a record that has way more to offer than just the usual fuzzy guitar, thanks to key use of moog, theremin, and tape tricks! There's a really freaky feel to the record from the start – a quality that's hipper than most of the underground at the time, almost an ironic take on the usual – sometimes through thoughtful lyricism, other times via a more experimental music approach that almost hints at some 70s prog and post-prog styles – yet presented here in much shorter form, without any overindulgence at all! The record's one that really transcends its time – a compelling little set that offers plenty more than just its existence as a rare relic – and which actually features many tunes that would make perfect covers for the contemporary scene today. Titles include "That's Another Story", "Machines", "This Is It", "This May Be Goodbye", "It Comes On Anyhow", and "Sex & Violence". CD features bonus tracks – "Rose Coloured Glasses", "Love", ""Comic Strip", "Every Single Word", "Let The Boy Pretend", and "Have Mercy". CD

Rare material that was originally recorded in 1972 by organist Larry Young – some of his most outside material ever, and done with a bunch of young musicians who wail on all of these weird electronic instruments! The set's way wilder even than any of Young's albums that were issued at the time – including the classics with his group Fuel, or even his Lawrence of Newark album – and the album's got loads of wild, very noisy synth sounds and crazy percussion! The tunes come across as sheets and sheets of white noise – with Larry's organ going all over the place in freewheeling solos and groovy rhythm lines. Young plays Hammond, and other instrumentation includes Joe Gallivan on synth, percussion, drums, and steel guitar; Nicholas on guitar synth, ring modulator, hi-tension wires, wind, rain, and thunder (!); and Jimmy Molneiri on drums and percussion. Titles include "Love Cry", "Ancient Place"," Angels Wing", "Peace", and "Great Medicine Dance". LP, Vinyl record album

Need to blow your mind? This is definitely the record to do it – one of the weirdest instrumental albums we've heard from the 60s – and a very messed-up batch of psychedelic tracks that use strange echoey techniques to create a fake "electronic" sound! Most of the cuts have heavy guitars in the lead, produced in a way that really distorts them, and which moves them through an echo chamber to create lots of feedback and lots of strange vibrations. Other tracks seem to use more electronics – although it might be conventional instrumentation, made weird via studio trickery – all with some very spacey sound. The drums are heavy enough, but the main groove is the guitar sound – and it's pretty darn wild! Titles include "Asbury Tripper", "Lunar Sea", "Prism On Prism", "Shadows Of Vibrate", "Mindblower", and "Zenquake". LP, Vinyl record album

A set of free improvised duets that are so fierce, they've been kept from the public for decades – finally seeing the light of day in this long-overdue package! Percussionist/electronicist Paul Lytton is a player known to many, and known for his always-incredible ear for sonic intensity – yet we've maybe never heard him this intense before, working alongside guitarist Erhard Hirt, a player with an approach to his instrument that's unlike anyone else in the free jazz universe at the time! Hirt often plays with a great sense of noise – not as bombastically as Sonny Sharrock, or as rock-influenced as some of the others – but almost as if he's using his electric guitar as the gateway to some darker universe, opening a passage that Lytton dives in to follow very quickly with some especially great electronics. Even the percussion has this electrified spark – and titles include "Orbod", "The Sensitive Stickler", "Don't Wait Too Long", "Deder", "Clip", and "175". CD

Striking sounds from Michel Magne – an artist who's best known for his groovy soundtracks of the 60s – but who steps out here with a rare experimental set from the late 50s! The style is very much in keeping with the most compelling of the postwar generation in France – as Magne mixes together electronic and acoustic sounds with amazing power – modes that are sometimes as spacious as Pierre Henry, other times as sonically powerful as Xenakis – yet always very much Michel's own unique musical vision! Instrumentation includes some great cymbalum, plus piano, violin, vibes, and percussion – as well as some amzing vocalizations from Jaqueline Dano and Christiane Legrand. Titles include "Memoire D'Un Trou", "Self Service", "Concertino Triple", "Meta Mecanique Saccadee", "Larmes En Sol Pleureur", and "Pointes De Feu Amorties Au Dolsal". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of work from this legendary group – one who blended jungle percussion with very cool electronics – all in a funky 70s mode! The set includes three tracks from the verrrrry hard to find fourth album – "Jungle Juice", "Man from Takoradi", and "Manhunter" – as well as cuts from all three of the other albums. LP, Vinyl record album

A laidback set of funky instrumentals served up by a combo who mix up organ, guitar, bass, and drums – plus nice use of percussion in all the right moments, which underscores the slight exotica bent they hint at in the title! There's also some slight but great use of electronics – little synth bits that come in as a nice surprise – and give some of these tunes a sinister undercurrent – especially as some of the instrumentation seems informed by soundtrack moments too. Titles include "Skyclad & Summer Moon", "Watching Mr Chubbs", "For K & R", "Flowers For An Elephant's Graveyard", and "Soul Pagan". CD

Mark Mantel on percussion and electronics. CD

One of the weirdest Italian soundtracks you're ever likely to hear – mad music from the 70s, originally written for a demonic religious performance! Stefano Marcucci has roots in the psych scene, but also recorded the set in the Sound Workshop of Piero Umiliani – and the work has just the sort of mix of fuzz and electronics you'd expect from that pedigree – some really way out analogue electronic elements at times, mixed with more familiar song structures and some chorus vocals – often set to a psych funk groove that reminds us of some of the grooviest French arrangers at the end of the 60s, such as Michel Colombier and Jean Claude Vannier. The chorus vocals are especially offbeat – as they sound like they're going to be sweet, but feel more satanic in the end – and titles include "Pange Lingua", "Inferno", "Coro Dei Penitenti", "Allejua", "Rendete Grazi", "Gli Occhi Di Tutti", and "Roma Nobilis". LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing sounds from Gino Marinacci – a 70s Italian jazz flute player, and one who's got a vibe that's very different than most of his American contemporaries! Gino really likes to go for a cool compressed tone on his instrument – often creating these warm waves of sound that are balanced by the arrangements in a great way – sometimes paired with additional flute from Alfio Gagliani, as both artists shift between variations on the instrument – in a lineup that has electric piano and organ from Antonello Vannucchi, soprano and alto from Quarto Maroni, tenor from Livio Cervellieri and Sal Genovese, and some especially great work from the legendary trombonist Dino Piana – whose own sense of compression is a great balance with the flutes! The instrumentation also includes electric bass and guitar, which with the keyboards make for a great 70s vibe – a sound that's very soulful, but with qualities that are nicely different from American work on labels like CTI. Titles include "Life", "Guardrail", "Space", "Atom Flowers", "Walking Moon", "Actors Flute Studio", "Meeing", and "Sonatina In Beat". CD

Excellent underground disco with a groovy French touch! The cover's a bit campy, but the record's got plenty of nice keyboard work, and offsets the coldness of the keys with some soaring strings and warm basslines. The standout cut is "Disco Circus", a 14 minute romp that's pretty darn great, and which has electronics that are a lot weirder than you'd expect. The other two tracks are "Ite Missa Est" and "Before It Gets Dark", both pretty nice too. LP, Vinyl record album

A really deep dig into the Japanese scene of the 90s – a unique discography that brings together key records in a variety of different styles – from tuneful to noisy, soulful to electronic! The book's a more contemporary variation of the sort of Japanese discographies we normally stock for jazz and soul music – and like those, it's got listings for titles with a full color reproduction of the cover, some details in English, and more text in Japanese. The feel is a bit like flipping through the record racks in Tokyo – where you can understand the context and the nature of the records, even if you can't understand the language. The book features sections on a wide range of styles – including Japanese house, Japanese hip hop, club jazz, Japanese dub, techno, Japanese lounge, J Rock, avant noise, alternative, and even sections on labels like Crue-L and Sokkyo. There's shorter features along the way – all in Japanese – and the book is softcover, full color, and almost 200 pages. Book

Back in the 70s, there were plenty of records that mixed together the Japanese shamisen with more contemporary sounds – but of them all, this set might well be one of the wildest – as it features two side-long tracks that mix the acoustic strings of the ancient instrument with a mix of moogy electronics and keyboards! Konae Imato handles the shamisen in a very classic style – with lots of raspy touches along the three strings – while Masashi Komatsubara delivers all these different sounds from the moog – sometimes very abstract, sometimes tuneful, sometimes very experimental – all of which makes for a wonderful sense of variety throughout the record! Hideki Matsutake (aka Logic System) was part of the album's creation too – and the record features the long tracks "Journey To Edo" and "The City Of Edo". LP, Vinyl record album

Rob Mazurek has always been more of a multi-instrumentalist instead of just a cornet player – but on this amazing solo set, he really pushes the boundaries even further – by taking up a huge host of different elements and different sounds! That soaring, spacious horn is still in the lead – a legacy that Rob seems to have inherited from 70s Miles Davis, but taken to even trippier territory – but the record also features flute, electronics, maracas, and bells – as well as weird objects like books, boxes, and apples! Mazurek uses a bit of distortion at times, which really helps unlike things resonate together – and the set's easily some of his most personal, evocative music to date. Titles include "Toward New Light", "Quiet The Thunder Bells", "The Breath Of Life You Gave To Me", "You Were Born With Sun In Your Eyes", and "Toward Enlightenment". CD

An incredible solo record from Rob Mazurek – a wonderful change from some of his larger group and collaborative projects – even though we love those a heck of a lot too! This set's a great reminder of the core improvisational genius that Rob's always had, but which sometimes is overshadowed by the group activity on his other records. Here, Mazurek blows cornet alone, and also plays both standard and prepared piano – and colors things with just a dash of his great electronics – often used in more sparing and subtle ways than some of his group efforts. A really beautiful set from a musician who continues to reward us over the years – with titles that include "Twombly At New Church", "Gazing Through Walls", "King Of Rome", and "Sweet Life In Disrepair". CD

Ever-adventurous composer, arranger and coronet player Rob Mazurek teams up with similarly creative wanderer Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang, Josh Abrams Natural Information Society and more)! Alien Flower Sutra finds the duo and their guest players crafting a pretty awesome mix of interstellar psych-jazz-folk with vocals and guitar – with lots of fuzzier, jazzier instrumental passages. Very cool stuff on International Anthem, which has quickly become one of Chicago's best indie labels for free thinking creative output! Mazurek handles the electronic treatments, synths and coronet, with Kelly's lyrics, voice and guitars, and accompanied by Guilherme Granado, Carlos Issam Thomas Rohrer and Brittany Mazurek. Includes "Back To The Ocean, Back To The Sea", "Android Love Cry", "Blackout", "Bright Nights Havoc", "I Untied My Wrists", "Of Time Wasted", "Remember Nothing", "Embryo Genesis", "We Are One" and "Overture Towards The Beginning Of The End Of Time". CD

One of the most ambitious albums ever from Rob Mazurek – and a set that really continues the legacy of community building and world healing that's become such an important part of his music! Rob's a player who was great at the start – a hell of a trumpeter, and a great experimentalist with electronics – but in recent years, he's matured to become a real messenger for the farther, future reaches of jazz – with an energy that makes a collaborative project like this come off in a way that might never have occurred in the hands of any other musician! Mazurek is at the head – director, composer, arranger, and instrumentalist too – and the large lineup is filled with heavyweights from the Chicago scene that Rob helped shape over the past few decades – plus others as well – players who include Damon Locks on voice and electronics, Nicole Mitchell on flutes, Tomeka Reid on cello, Joel Ross on vibes, Jaimi Branch on trumpet, Jeff Parker on guitar, Ingebrigit Haker Flate on bass, and Chad Taylor, John Herndon, and Mikel Patrick Avery on a variety of drums and percussion. There's a richness here that tops other Exploding Star Orchestra performances – and more of a focus, too – so that the whole thing comes together as even more than the sum of its mighty parts, as one of the best International Anthem releases to date. Titles include "Galaxy 1000", "Parable Of Inclusion", "Autumn Pleiades", "Minerals Bionic Stereo", "Dimensional Stardust", "Abstract Dark Energy", and "The Careening Prism Within". CD

One of the most ambitious albums ever from Rob Mazurek – and a set that really continues the legacy of community building and world healing that's become such an important part of his music! Rob's a player who was great at the start – a hell of a trumpeter, and a great experimentalist with electronics – but in recent years, he's matured to become a real messenger for the farther, future reaches of jazz – with an energy that makes a collaborative project like this come off in a way that might never have occurred in the hands of any other musician! Mazurek is at the head – director, composer, arranger, and instrumentalist too – and the large lineup is filled with heavyweights from the Chicago scene that Rob helped shape over the past few decades – plus others as well – players who include Damon Locks on voice and electronics, Nicole Mitchell on flutes, Tomeka Reid on cello, Joel Ross on vibes, Jaimi Branch on trumpet, Jeff Parker on guitar, Ingebrigit Haker Flate on bass, and Chad Taylor, John Herndon, and Mikel Patrick Avery on a variety of drums and percussion. There's a richness here that tops other Exploding Star Orchestra performances – and more of a focus, too – so that the whole thing comes together as even more than the sum of its mighty parts, as one of the best International Anthem releases to date. Titles include "Galaxy 1000", "Parable Of Inclusion", "Autumn Pleiades", "Minerals Bionic Stereo", "Dimensional Stardust", "Abstract Dark Energy", and "The Careening Prism Within". LP, Vinyl record album

The most cosmically expansive and exciting work yet from composer/coronet player Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra – dedicated to Amiri Baraka, and infused with the righteous, poetic spirit of Baraka's work with Sun Ra! The Exploding Star players include some Chicago underground heroes and heroines of longstanding brilliance, including flautist Nicole Mitchell, guitarist Jeff Parker, drummers John Herndon and Chad Taylor, bassist Matthew Lux, and Damon Locks on electronics and with some subtly righteous spoken word – along with Mazurek's Sao Paolo Underground cohorts Mauricio Takara and Guilherme Grandando, and last but not least, pianist Angelica Sanchez – all of whom have ample space to shine. Galactic Parables Vol 1 is a 2 disc set, one featuring the compositions as performed in Sardinia, and a second CD of their performances at the Chicago Cultural Center, which is a smart approach, given the improvisational nature of the material. There's plenty of space for the players to explore, and the differing performances are no doubt colored and shaded in different ways by different environments. Amazing stuff! Titles include "Free Agents Of Sound", "Make Way To The City", "The Arc Of Slavery #72", "Helmets Of Our Poisonous Thoughts #16", "Collections Of Time" and "Awaken The World #41". CD

A killer set from a group that may well be the most perfectly realized version of the Exploding Star concept from Rob Mazurek – one who've got some fantastic parts that come together here in a wonderfully visionary record! Rob's still in the lead on trumpets and electronics – but the group really resonates from some key contributions from Damon Locks on voice and more electronics – at a level that has him rising to that long-overdue role of stardom, which seems to give the whole group an even greater source of focus and energy. Jeff Parker lays down some wicked guitar, Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn are fantastic on Wurlitzer electric pianos and moog – and the great Nicole Mitchell is on flute and a bit of vocals. There's a sense of majesty here that Mazurek has never had before – and the album is maybe one of the most crowning achievements in his long and very storied career. Titles include "Future Shaman", "Shape Shifter", "White River", "Dream Sleeper", and "Black River". LP, Vinyl record album

A really mesmerizing performance from a completely fantastic version of Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra – a smaller unit, and one that seems to bring even more focus to Rob's incredible musical vision of the past decade or so! Mazurek has grown tremendously as a player in the 21st Century, and matured into a role as a generous leader who really seems to bring out the best in the musicians he works with – in this case an all-star lineup that features Tomeka Reid on cello and electronics, Angelica Sanchez on Wurlitzer electric piano, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, Chad Taylor on drums, and Damon Locks on voice, electronics, and text. Locks and Mazurek have an especially strong rapport – especially as Rob vocalizes a bit too – and the performance takes all the spiritual expressions of previous Exploding Star records, refines them down with a new focus, then sends them soaring to the skies! The album features two long tracks – "Equations Of Love In Prismatic Waves Of Color" and "Driftless". CD

Paul McCartney has left Wings behind for this record – but in their place he's come up with a wonderful new approach – serving up all the instruments himself, as he did on the first album titled Paul McCartney – but also using more electronics than before, which makes for some wonderfully moody moments! The songwriting is great – every bit as strong as the 70s years, without some of Paul's later 80s fluff – and the change in instrumentation really makes for some beautifully haunting moments. The set includes "Waterfalls" – one of our favorite tracks ever by Paul – and other titles include the hit "Coming Up", the groovy "Temporary Secretary", and the tracks "Darkroom", "Summer Day's Song", "On The Way", "Nobody Knows", "Bogey Music", and "Frozen Jap". Deluxe edition includes two CDs of additional tracks and a DVD enclosed in a numbered hardbound book. CD

The first-ever solo album from Doug McCombs – the well-known bassist with a huge legacy that includes work in Eleventh Dream Day and Tortoise – finally getting a chance to shine in the spotlight on his own! The vibe here is more like Doug's work in Brokeback, but even more open and improvised – as McCombs plays guitar and bass on the record, on long tracks that feature some guest instrumentation at points – electronics from Sam Prekop and drums from John Convertino on "Two To Coolness" – and drums and keyboards from James Elkington on "To Whose Falls Shallows". The album's remaining long song, "Green Crown's Step", is solo McCombs. CD

The first-ever solo album from Doug McCombs – the well-known bassist with a huge legacy that includes work in Eleventh Dream Day and Tortoise – finally getting a chance to shine in the spotlight on his own! The vibe here is more like Doug's work in Brokeback, but even more open and improvised – as McCombs plays guitar and bass on the record, on long tracks that feature some guest instrumentation at points – electronics from Sam Prekop and drums from John Convertino on "Two To Coolness" – and drums and keyboards from James Elkington on "To Whose Falls Shallows". The album's remaining long song, "Green Crown's Step", is solo McCombs. LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the most majestic album that Makaya McCraven has recorded to date – and that's really saying a lot, given the power of his music on previous records! This time around, the group is large, and the performance is more organic than some of the more mixed/produced sessions that Makaya has given us – and great as those records have been, there's a sense of power here that really places McCraven strongly in the Chicago legacy of the 20th Century – a jazz spectrum that includes Eddie Harris, Ramsey Lewis, Charles Stepney, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, and so many other musical giants! The mix of instrumentation is almost like some Chess/Cadet session from the end of the 60s – but Makaya still adds in some samples and electronics next to his acoustic work on percussion, drums, and a variety of other instruments – next to Jeff Parker on guitar, Brandee Younger on harp, Joel Ross on vibes, Marquis Hill on trumpet, and Junius Paul on bass – all tremendous players and strong leaders in their own right – working here to make a special sort of magic with McCraven. There's other voices on the set too – more violins, cello, alto, tenor, piano, and other sounds – on titles that include "So Ubuji", "Seventh String", "This Place That Place", "The Fours", "Dream Another", "High Fives", "The Knew Untitled", and "In These Times". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever set of duets between Joe McPhee and Fred Lonberg-Holm – two players who've improvised often in other settings on the Chicago scene over the years – but who somehow never had the time to take off like this on their own! Fred's working at his highest level of sonic intensity here – both on cello and on electronics – and McPhee continues to blow us away as the years go on – opening up here on tenor in ways that maybe make even his early classics seem tame by comparison – showing a tremendous understanding of his instrument and all its many sonic possibilities, and in ways that aren't just about pure power, but about an honest, open, human sort of sympathy that fits the situation. the album features three long tracks, all improvised – "That Time", "This Time", and "Next Time". CD

A really nice side project from the excellent Mourning A BLKstar collective – spare sounds with a different vibe than the work of the larger group, but which comes across with an equally righteous sound overall! LaToya Kent handles the vocals, and the backings are often very spare – electronics, tapes, beats, and touches of guitar and keyboards – creating a much moodier soundscape, and one that almost shows a darker future than the larger group have given us in their music. Titles include "Crawl On Yer Belly", "Burns", "Sugamilk", "Git Ready", "Portabelly", "Dirt", "Gimlet", and "The Current History Of Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

Weird and wild sounds from contemporary Bogota – music that's got a very old school quality at its core, yet which also mixes in plenty of experimentation with the rhythms! Think of this as an old Colombian record with analogue electronics and sound samples – or some other-worldly sounds from the left side of the Peruvian scene – still with plenty of Latin elements at the core, especially in the grooves – but done with some really cool keyboards, tape tricks, and other nice bits! Titles include "Fiesta", "Guarach UFO", "Desesperanza", "Salsa Caliente", and "Salsa Del Zombie". CD

Mic Geronimo's first LP, a little less crossover with a harder sound than his later efforts. The Beatminerz & Buckwild handled production on about half of the album. Royal Flush, OC & the Lost Boyz show up here and there, too. Includes "Lifecheck", "Wherever You Are", "Sh*t's Real", "Time To Build" & "Masta IC". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity: Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". This huge 2CD version offers up the most overwhelming batch of music we've ever seen from the movie and the recording sessions – 16 tracks from the film, 11 more alternate tracks, and then 25 more bonus cuts in all! CD

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity: Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderfully jazzy work from Micatone – a rich album filled with lots of lovely twists and turns, all of them coming off with a level of care and class that we wouldn't expect! The group's core is the instrumental combo – very heavy acoustic bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, vibes, and other jazzy sample bits – and some of the best tracks on the set feature vocals by singer Lisa Bassenge – singing in English, with a very accented tone, on moody and smokey tunes that really stand out from the usual retro jazz diva mode. The instrumental tunes are equally nice – a mixture of electronic club jazz and more classic elements – standing up quite well on their own with a depth of construction and solid instrumentation. Titles include "Plastic Bags & Magazines", "Sit Beside Me", "Another Road", "Sweet Child", "To The Sound", "Mon Coeur", and "Quiet Boy". CD

Very gripping music for this early 70s Italian TV thriller – scored with a wonderfully offbeat style by Mario Migliardi! Some tracks are sweet and breezy, while others are extremely dark – some of the darkest we've heard in Italian film score work of the time! These cuts have some very unique orchestrations – and often echo a 20th century classical mode at points, sometimes with a bit of electronics – but in ways that are quite different from the atonal 70s sounds of Morricone – much more dramatic, and filled with sharp notes and fast changes – instrumentation that bursts out with an almost improvisational quality at points. The mellower tracks stand out even more strongly than usual amidst this avant instrumentation – but they only underscore the overall darkness of the soundtrack by their presence. Edda Dell'Orso and I Cantori Moderni do a bit of singing on the record – but most cuts are instrumental, and the reissue features a total of 24 tracks in all. CD

A masterpiece from the legendary SF rocker Steve Miller – and a perfect summation of the years of blues, soul, funk, and rock he'd been soaking up in the Bay Area scene – served up here with an edge that's still very firmly in place! Miller was already plenty great before this set, but somehow the record really pushes Steve into perfection territory he'd never hit before – able to cross over big with a few key tracks, but still have this sharpness in his guitar work and sense of charm that never seem to die! The album crossed over instantly with the massive cut "Fly Like An Eagle" – already great on its own, but supported here with the massive "Space Intro", which adds an extra minute of cool electronics to the tune – and other great cuts include the amazing funky rocker "Take The Money & Run", which has a break that never gets old – plus the hit "Rock N Me", and the cuts "The Window", "Wild Mountain Honey", "Sweet Maree", "Blue Odyssey", "Mercury Blues", and "Dance Dance Dance". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most ambitious sets we've heard from Nicole Mitchell – a really unique mixing of modes that features a core Chicago group coming into play with the Arche New Music Ensemble! The initial group features Nicole on flute, vocals, and electronics – with Mwata Boden on baritone and bass clarinet, David Boykin on tenor, and Renee Baker on violin – all set against the larger backdrop of Arche – which features eleven musicians led by Rafal Zapala on electronics and percussion, on piano, trumpet, cello, viola, clarinet, trombone, oboe, and more! Mitchell's still at the heart of the performance – as the tracks are all her own compositions, and she conducts the proceedings as well – with this wonderful mode that's almost a blend of AACM energy with some of the more orchestrated improvisations of the European scene. The bulk of the record features the long "Arc Of O" piece – followed by a smoking rendition of Mitchell's great "Afrika Rising", a much more freewheeling and spiritual number! CD

Beautiful solo electronics from Moebius – an album recorded in the early 80s, but with a really timeless feel that takes it far from so many other electric sets of this vintage! There's still very much a spacious sound going on here – similar to the Cluster projects with Roedelius – warmly melodic, and very understated – every bit that picture perfect approach to analogue electronics that Kraftwerk first brought into the scene, and which guys like Moebius perfected even more with records like this! Titles include "Nervos", "B 36", "Immerhin", "Sinister", "Furbo", "Etwas", and "Transport". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the darker records to ever come out under the Moebius name – a set done in collaboration with legendary soundman Conny Plank and Mani Neumeir of Guru Guru – all key German talents of the 70s, ready to take on the new decade and beat them at their own game! There's lots of cold wave and post punk energy going on here – electronics that are more aggressive and sharp-edged than some of the earlier music that Moebius recorded – almost as if he knew all along that he could twist things a bit more heavily, which he definitely does here – on cuts that include "Speed Display", "Load", "Pitch Control", All Repro", "Search Zero", and "Recall". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet little set that definitely earns its "antico e moderno" title – as it seems to effortlessly blend together musical modes from a variety of different eras, but all with an ultra hip Italian sound library style! Some cuts have these really wonderful electronics, but of the funkiest sort – almost post-Perry Kingsley in the way fuzzy moog lines and tight rhythms come together – then balanced by some older musical modes on more acoustic instrumentation and reeds, although even these numbers have a nicely playful vibe that you wouldn't expect! Overall, there's probably a lot more "moderno" than "antico" – especially as the set moves on – and the whole thing's got more than enough sweet keyboard and analogue electronics to please any fan of groovy sound library sets. Titles include "Iceland March", "Quiz Elettronico", "Elaborazione Automatica", "Gibellina", "Iceland Bossa", "Emigrazione", and "Mondo Miceneo". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent set of smooth funky fusion tunes cut by Brazilian trumpeter Marcio Montarroyos – done in a style that's partly like some of Freddie Hubbard's albums of the sort, but which also has a mixture of Brazilian percussion and electronic touches – similar to early 80s work by Azymuth! The blend of styles is a great one – making things darker than you'd think for an album on Columbia a the time, and creating a nice juxtaposition between the earthy and the smooth that really keeps things fresh! Titles include "Christina", "Samba Solstice", "Sky Dive", "Ocean Dance", and "Aruanda". LP, Vinyl record album

A great album that's probably our favorite one by this modern Brazilian singer! The album's a double-length set, split into live and studio songs – all produced by Arto Lindsay and Monte, with a great blend of styles that keeps all the tracks super-fresh. The record features a version of the Tropicalia "Panis et Circensis", plus "Bem Leve", "Cerebro Eletronico", "Chuva No Brejo", "Blanco", "Ainda Lembro", and "Give Me Love". Nice packaging, too! CD

Warmly mellow work from Marisa Monte – a record that's issued in conjunction with her samba-styled Universo Ao Meu Redor album, but which has a sound that's much more in keeping with her Memorias Cronicas E Declaracoes set from a few years back! The backings here are often mellow and laidback – bits of keyboards and guitar that snake lazily alongside Monte's beautiful vocals – which themselves sparkle and glow with qualities that are far better than we remember from before. Production here is nicely subdued and almost invisible at times – but there's clearly enough magic going on in the studio to make Marisa sound this great, especially in comparison to most of her earlier work. Titles include "Levante", "Aquela", "Garanio", "Quem Foi", "Infinito Particular", "Vilarejo", "Ate Parece", and "Pernambucobucolismo". LP, Vinyl record album