... LP, Vinyl record album

Includes remixes by William Orbit, Moby, Adrian Sherwood, John McEntire, and Thurston Moore. 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

... LP, Vinyl record album

As the notes say, "this album is a series of aural and spatial fantasies evoking the spirit of American patriotic music" – and the whole thing's recorded on electronic keyboards. Given that this one's on Takoma, you can guess the kind of hippy-dippy folksist influence it might have, which gives the electronic music tracks an even weirder edge. Maybe this is the kind of thing that Ives might have recorded, had he been alive in the 60s! With work by Byrd himself, plus Sousa, Cohan, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

The classic debut of Air – one of the fresher avant pop albums of the late 90s to say the least, and one of the best since then, too! Perhaps the greatest achievement here is how they deftly layer such broad influences of the preceding few decades – from soaring string film schools, to nascent electronic pop, to fusiony jazz keyboards and much in between and beyond – into a wholly original vibe all Air's own that's as breezy today as it was at the end of the 90s. Includes "La Femme D'Argent", the standout classic "Sexy Boy", "All I Need", "Kelly Watch The Stars", "Talisman". "Remember", "You Make It Easy", "Ce Matin La", "New Star In The Sky" and "Le Voyage De Penelope". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic sounds from Tim Blake – an artist who previously worked with Gong, and sometimes worked with Hawkwind – but who really came into his own on this legendary album of electronics! Tim works here on a self-constructed "crystal machine" – a bank of electronics that was often played in performance to front some trippy film installations (as shown on the cover) – which perfectly suited the stretched-out spacey style of his music! The vibe is maybe a bit like early Tangerine Dream, but with some of the warmer modes of the French electronic scene of the time – and titles include "Midnight", "Last Ride Of The Boogie Child", "Synthese Intemporal", and "Crystal Presence". LP, Vinyl record album

The brilliant consummation of Bowie's late 70s years in Berlin – a record that showed he could take the experiments in sound he was crafting with Brian Eno, and turn them back into the kind of creepily catchy rock tunes that first made him a legend! Eno's help on the record is still quite strong – heard very well in the record's use of odd electronics and exotic themes – of a sort that Eno would later explore on his own with David Byrne. But the real charm here is pure Bowie – with an unabashed flair for a dramatic lyric, a well-chosen use of a heavier guitar, and a sense of personality and poise that makes the record one of his most unified ever! Titles include "Red Sails", "Look Back In Anger", "Repetition", "Boys Keep Swinging", "Red Money", "Yassassin", and "DJ". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking collaboration between Brian Eno & David Byrne – recorded with a spare, stripped down love of electronics and found sound samples – in a mode that would have a huge influence on countless records to come! Part of the set resonates with the quirky grooves found in Byrne's early Talking Heads records – but the overall sound is much more stark than that work, and is characterized by key found vocals and odd ethnic bits that really set the tone for each new tune. Eno's influence is felt strongly in the simplicity of the tracks, and in the darkly resonant production modes – that classic Eno touch used here before it became a bit too trademark, in a way that could still make a record like this sound great, even when coming from major label sources! A key force in shaping countless genres to come in the next 25 years – with great tracks that include "America Is Waiting", 'Regiment", "The Jezebel Spirit", "Qu'ran", "Moonlight In Glory", "A Secret Life", "Come With Us", and "Mountain Of Needles". 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

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 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

A record that marks a very different chapter in the career of Bill Nelson than his initial rise to fame at the head of Be Bop Deluxe – a set that offers up a leaner take on the 70s styles of Nelson's music, and a sound that's decidedly aimed much more at the new wave generation! Bill was always a bit ahead of the pack in terms of production and instrumentation – and he definitely puts that work to use here, by retuning an earlier aesthetic in ways that are definitely at the forefront of UK electronic pop! Vocals are often processed, keyboards and guitars intertwine nicely, and titles include "Don't Touch Me I'm Electric", "Stop Go Stop", "Furniture Music", "Revolt Into Style", "The Atom Age", and "A Better Home In The Phantom Zone". LP, Vinyl record album

The incredible debut from Pearls Before Swine – a group who were a bit late to the New York folk party of the 60s – but at a level that really helped them evolve past the rest of their scene! The album's sometimes a bit overlooked – as it came out on the mostly-jazz ESP label – but it's a mindblowing treasure from the year of 1967, and one of the most forward-thinking albums of the time! The group begin with folk constructions, but really take off quickly with some trippier elements too – especially when they mix organ, vibes, or electronics with more familiar guitar and mandolin. Singer Tom Rapp maybe has a slight touch of Dylan in his approach, but he's already up there as his own man – and we love Rapp so much, we'd place him in the same heady territory as Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, or Leonard Cohen – all of whose work is a good match for the energy here. There's a wonderfully dark quality to this album that gives it a timeless feel – strains of avant instrumentation underneath the gentler sound of Rapp's voice, and an undying sadness that's matched by the feel of songs like "Another Time", "Playmate", "Drop Out", "Ballad To An Amber Lady", "Miss Morse", "I Shall Not Care", and "Morning Song". LP, Vinyl record album

Lots of eerie electronics! LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal sounds from The Residents – a record that's purportedly inspired by the ceremonial music of the Eskimo – but it's very a much a Residents album, and one that follows their own absurdist adventuresome impulses! There's often this cold, drifting wave of sound in the background that's as chilly as you'd expect – and on top of the sound effects and all around trippy electronic atmosphere, they're supposedly playing instruments made of the guts and bones of arctic wildlife! Titles include "The Walrus Hunt", "Birth", "Arctic Hysteria", "The Angry Angakok", "A Spirit Steals A Child", and "The Festival Of Death". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked electronic gem from the Factory Records scene – the third album by Section 25, done in a style that's completely different than the group's other work! The sound here is extremely stripped-down – very much in the mode of New Order's first few singles, with a love of electric beats and keys, turned towards simple Brit pop themes done with nice hints of darkness. There's almost a post-Kraftwerk sound to the whole thing – like filtering "Computer Love" and "Tour De France" into catchier, more upbeat territory – yet without losing any of their quality or charm. And as a whole, the album works wonderfully – sliding from one track to the next, and making for an incredibly held-together set that was rare for the time. Tracks include "The Process", "Looking From A Hilltop", "Reflection", "Prepare To Live", "Program For Light", "Desert Beneath The Blade", and "Inspiration". LP, Vinyl record album

Consciousness-stretching grooves from Tonto's Expanding Head Band – one of the earliest avant electronic rock records we can think of – and certainly one of coolest of the early 70s! Zero Time is way ahead of the curve when it comes to instrumental electronics – with a sort of pulsing progressive sound that's like the best stuff by Tangerine Dream – and with a cool bubbling feel to it. Tracks include "Cybernaut", "Jetsex", "Timewhys", "Riversong", and "Aurora". Very groovy, very moogy, and a nice bit of tripped out electronic atmosphere! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully weird record from the mighty Mason Williams – a set that's filled with lots of cool little surprises at each new twist and turn – yet which also comes across with a really solid, tuneful feel overall! The album's got a bit of folk, a bit of moog, and a bit of kitsch – but has a way of serving it all up with the kind of warmth and wit we love so much in that unique late 60s Warner Brothers moment – the same sort of vibe you might get from Van Dyke Parks or Harpers Bizarre at their best. Some tunes have Mason Williams singing these beautifully poetic lyrics straight, while others evoke the playful feel of his appearances on the Smothers Brothers Show – but things are really balanced throughout, and give the record that sense of discovery we hardly ever find in albums these days. Titles include a new version of "Baroque A Nova" from Mason's first album, the cool electronic "Generatah Oscillatah" instrumental, the groovy "Last Great Waltz", a "One Minute Commercial", and a wild remake of "Cinderella Rockefella" – plus "Saturday Night At The World", "$13 Stella", and "Whistle Hear". LP, Vinyl record album

Certainly a more pop-based effort than some of Yello's previous albums, but still a great little record – filled with playful electronics and a really unique sense of rhythm and groove! Even at the height of their fame, Yello never abandoned the spare analogue-heavy styles that made their early work so great – and for this set, they've almost kind of expanded that sound with a range of European and historical influences that make for a more widely fleshed-out version of their genius. Titles include "Goldrush", "Santiago", "Hawaiian Chance", "La Habanera", "The Rhythm Divine", "Moon On Ice", and "St Senor The Hairy Grill". LP, Vinyl record album