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

Denis Wise plays all instruments on this record – everything but the kitchen sink! Oh wait – the liner notes actually indicate that he does play a kitchen sink – and a garbage disposal too – but in ways that are completely changed, as he mixes them with sounds from a variety of guitars, keyboards, percussion, and various electronic instruments – all in this wild style that's surprisingly earthy and organic! At some level, the music is more a garage version of electro-acoustic modes from the academy – but at another, it's pure unbridled creation, with a sense of sonic joy that really comes through on the best numbers. Some songs are slightly tuneful, and there's maybe a bit of offbeat abstracted vocals here and there – on tunes that include "Balfazzar", "Light As Air", "Valhalla", "Machine Time Ship", "Love In Foam & Surf", "Andro", "Celes", and "Hedonic Rapture". LP, Vinyl record album

Volume 5 in the La Vie Electronique series from electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze – solo concert recordings from the mid 70s – 3 CDs of each with more than 70 minutes of music! Disc 1 includes "Berlin Schoeneberg" – featuring "Heftige Passage" and "Ruhige Passage" recorded at a Berlin radio concert in '76, plus the "Vie De Reve" performance, recorded at a French solo concert that year. Titles include "Le Retour Au Pays", "Et La Fete Continue", "Eteignez Les Limieres" and more. Disc 2 includes the "Nostalgic Echo" and Titanisch Tage" performances – recorded during solo concerts in '76. Includes "The Creation Of Eve", "Portrait Of Freud", "Autumn Sonata", "The Ran", "The Falling Angel" and more, plus the 15+ minute "For Barry Graves". Disc 3 features more solo concert performances from 1976 titled "The Poet" and The Oberhausen Tape" – with "Witness And Wait", "The Poet Of The Body" and "The Poet Of The Soul", plus "Quelle Idee De Peindre", "Et La Ple Lui Dit Merci", "Et Picasso Mange La Pomme" and more. (Rock, Out Sound) CD

One of THE electronic records of the 60s – an album so important, the Silver Apples took their name from the title – and a whole other generation of artists took strong inspiration from the electronic creations of Morton Subotnick! Before the set, much electronic music of this nature was a bit more academic, and often slightly cold – but Subotnick was able to bring things into a more organic, maybe more freewheeling style – using all sorts of cool analogue elements in ways that would run through Perry & Kingsley, Beaver & Krause, and even Stereolab! The work is billed as the "first original full-scale composition created expressly for the record medium" – a great testament to Subotnick's intentions for his creation, and a desire to get it more widely circulated than previous electronic recordings. LP, Vinyl record album

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this first volume include "Silhouettes (Vanishing Twin rmx)", "C'est Charles (Shungu rmx)", "Eyelids & Phosphenes (Aksak Maboul reconstruction)", "Hotel Suites (Carl Stone redesign)", "Un Caid (Spooky J rmx)", and "Retour Chez A (Kate NV rmx)". (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

If the "figures" in the title here sounds a bit familiar, it's because Figures was a great return to form for the legendary Aksak Maboul – a record that showed that their unusual mix of sounds and styles was alive and well into the 21st Century – used here as a platform for new creation by a hosts of artists and producers invited to the project by the group! These tracks aren't remixes, and are definitely "redrawn" in the spirit of the title – fresh music that moves between a variety of modes, but which often still retains the leaner feel of the group in their current incarnation. Titles on this second volume include "Un Caid (Hello Skinny rmx)", "Retour Chez A (Felix Kubin rmx)", "Fin (Stubbleman rmx)", "Anatomy Of A Dramuscule (Matias Aguayo interpretation)", "L'Adieu A L'Histoire (Tolouse Low Trax rmx)", and "Dramuscule (Ohh Luuu rmx)". (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully strange mix of electronics and sounds from around the planet – as Alain Pierre uses field recordings from Thailand and Mexico, then mixes them with these really special creations of his own! Some of the other recordings are presented almost whole, but with some augmentation in a subtle way – and these are then balanced by Alain Pierre's own work, which moves between the more moody, abstract quality of the sound library scene of the 70s, into territory that's maybe more familiar to ears trained on musique concrete! Titles include "Des Morts", "Funerailles Chez Les Hmongs", "Clown", "Fete Des Morts Chez Les Indiens", and "Cryogene". (Soundtracks, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Two amazing works from Belgian electronic genius Alain Pierre – both appearing in this form for the first time ever! Side one features 11 minutes of continuous music that Pierre created for the short film O Sidarta – music that mixes a range of electronics, keyboards, and acoustic percussion with studio effects and voice – all with a result that almost feels like some of the longer-form prog creations of the German scene of the time – although with qualities that are much more varied, less rock-based, and with occasional nods to the earlier generation of musique concrete! The flipside features the 17 minute "Notions De Physique Intererieure" – a work that uses a wide array of electric sources in a very short space – theremin, Arp sequencer, Telefunken echomixer, and more Arp, Kort, and Oberheim keyboards – all in this slow-building, wonderfully spacey sort of mode – almost hinting at some of the straighter fantasy soundtracks that Pierre would create in the mainstream – as the piece has the feel of a story in sound! (Soundtracks, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

The most ambitious album ever recorded by this legendary group – a combination of all the artistic forces that were then in play on their scene in Ljubljana – brought together in a mix of music, stage design, and larger performance! The set has all the deeper sounds of Laibach's previous material – taken into sophisticated territory that rivals the scope and ambition of early Soviet modernist creations! (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

A postwar sci fi soundtrack, but one that also marks a really important step in electronic music too – as the film features a whole host of amazing constructions from the duo of Louis and Bebe Barron! The pair built a lot of their own early instruments, and it sounds like they're using some theremin here too – all very primitive, but in the best way possible – as there's a stark quality to the analogue sounds here that still holds up all these many years later – every bit as great as creations to come from Tom Dissevelt, Kid Baltan, and all those other giants to come! tracks range from less than a minute to a few minutes each – and titles include "Flurry of Dust", "The Landing", "Invisible Monster Approaches", "Deceleration", "Battle With Invisible Monster", "The Homecoming", and "Ancient Krell Music". (Soundtracks, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Gentle genius from the legendary Moondog – a rare album recorded right around the same time as his mindblowing work for Prestige! The style here is very similar to those Prestige albums – very spare and rhythmic – often just using simple acoustic percussion alongside an instrument or two, such as flute, bass, or one of Moondog's own unusual creations! The sound is really otherworldly – at once both cosmic and earthy, with sounds that are light years ahead of most of Moondog's contemporaries. Titles include "Tree Frog", "Oasis", "Suite No 1", "Suite No 2", "Dragon's Teeth", "Rim Shot", and "Why Spend The Dark Night With You?" LP, Vinyl record album