One of those records that just makes us say "wow" right from the very first note – a perfect showcase for all musicians involved, and a really mighty meeting of the creative minds! We've really loved the strong return to form that Matthew Shipp has given us on piano in recent years – and of course, the basswork of William Parker is always tremendous – but they both somehow rise even more to the top alongside the drums of Gerald Cleaver and reeds of Daniel Carter – in a session that's wonderfully spiritual, very rhythmic, and often quite straight at times! There's a balance between the avant impulses of the players and the collective action of the group – almost recalling the loft jazz years, but more contemporarily righteous too – and this second volume features titles that include "Wordwide", "Mask Production", "Da Rest Is Story", and "Blinking Down". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's almost a back to basics effort for DJ Shadow, yet one that's also a strong step forward too – basic in that it's a record that's almost all instrumental, with no guests at all – but forward because it's got a leaner groove, and a style that shows just how far Shadow has moved past the more hip hop/turntablist style of his roots! There's almost a cinematic vibe to the music at times – a mode that fits the action adventure of the title, with plenty of cuts that would be right at home on classic soundtracks, especially of the 80s crime/cop/action style – served up with just the right sorts of beats, basslines, and keyboards to echo that era! Titles include "A Narrow Escape", "You Played Me", "Time & Space", "Forever Changed", "She's Evolving", "Reflecting Pool", "Free For All", "Ozone Scraper", and "Witches Vs Warlocks". LP, Vinyl record album

A wealth of rare funky 45 and album cuts – served up here in a selection that really lives up to the "rare soul" promise of the title! Some of these cuts are rare groove classics from back in the day – the big years when UK DJs first started playing older 70s cuts – and some of them are numbers that have been discovered in more recent years, showing that the field for rare soul collectors is always wide open, if you know where to dig! Titles include "Smooth Sailing" by Three Shades Of Soul, "Look What You've Done For Me" by Al Jarreau, "Every Day's A New Day" by Teresa Graves, "Take My Best Shot" by Liberation, "Be Your Man" by The Harmonics, "If We Don't" by 94 East with Prince, "You Put A Hurtin On Me" by Mary Mundy, "I'm Walking Away" by Gene Townsel, "I'm Crazy About You" by Brief Encounter, and "I Love You Pretty Baby" by Touch Of Class. LP, Vinyl record album

Heady sounds from Mushroom – a surprisingly long-running act who've been giving the world a great blend of funk and prog for decades! These guys hail from the Bay Area, and have clearly drunk deep of that location's legendary music scene – yet they also sometimes echo the soulful side of Can as well – spinning out long tracks with plenty of grooves, and lots of cool instrumental touches on flute, sax, vibes, and gongs! Matt Cunitz produced the record, and serves up some mighty cool keyboards – Fender Rhodes, Hammond, Clavinet, Moog, and more – on titles that include "Marc Moved To Buffalo", "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities", "Looking For Adventure", "One Ton Anvil", and "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful". LP, Vinyl record album

Images of flute, and some mighty cool keyboards too – a sweet sound library set that mixes the reed work of Joel Vandroogenbroeck with electric touches that create a killer sound that's not unlike some of the 70s soundtrack material by Sven Libaek! Joel's lead lines have the expressive feel of a jazz player, but they're mixed with these dreamy keys that stretch out in very cool ways – often a bit watery or organic, but never in any sort of a new agey mode! Instead, the record's almost like some of the best Chris Hinze work from a few years before – or, even better, the sort of thing you always hope for from Chris Hinze, but never seem to hear this well. Carole Muriel serves up some cool wordless vocals on a few numbers – and titles include "Hobbits", "Electronic Jungle", "Plaine Du Jura", "Magic Adventure", and "Magnetic Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

The first full length from MF Doom – a record that set the standard for underground hip hop to come! On this modern classic, Doom caps off the 90s with more jazzy soul in the beats, and some semblance of straightforward rhyme mastery from both Doom & his guests – taken to the outer limits! What really pushes this one into legendary status are how well he works with creaky comic adventure samples – using them as the genesis of Doom's metal face supervillain persona. Looking back, the set is clearly the building blocks for deeper insanity to come – but the sense of structure may well make it his best album ever! Includes "Doomsday", "Rhymes Like Dimes" feat Cucumber Slice, "The Finest" feat Tommy Gun, "Go With The Flow", "Tick Tick", "Hey!", "The Mic", "Dead Bent", "?" feat Kurious and much more – including all of the classic skits (yeah, we said it, classic skits, creative sci fi sample genius that are creative as the proper tracks) – with 19 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued live set from Japanese pianist Ryo Fukui – a tremendous player who was part of a special new generation of piano players in the 70s – very warm and fluid, but always with a sense of adventure too – in ways that make music like this very different than American work of the time! All tracks are nice and long, and Fukui begins the set with his classic "Mellow Dream" – spun out in an extended take with superb accompaniment from Satoshi Denpo on bass and Yoshinori Fukui on drums. As with so many of Ryo's recordings, the vibe here is far past a simple standard trio setting – as you'll hear on the group's inventive readings of titles that include "Mr PC", "Speak Low", "Body & Soul", and "Love For Sale". LP, Vinyl record album

The first full length from MF Doom – a record that set the standard for underground hip hop to come! On this modern classic, Doom caps off the 90s with more jazzy soul in the beats, and some semblance of straightforward rhyme mastery from both Doom & his guests – taken to the outer limits! What really pushes this one into legendary status are how well he works with creaky comic adventure samples – using them as the genesis of Doom's metal face supervillain persona. Looking back, the set is clearly the building blocks for deeper insanity to come – but the sense of structure may well make it his best album ever! Includes "Doomsday", "Rhymes Like Dimes" feat Cucumber Slice, "The Finest" feat Tommy Gun, "Go With The Flow", "Tick Tick", "Hey!", "The Mic", "Dead Bent", "?" feat Kurious and much more – including all of the classic skits (yeah, we said it, classic skits, creative sci fi sample genius that are creative as the proper tracks) – with 19 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

A really new adventure from the funky combo Calibro 35 – a set that's a step away from some of their more cinematic-inspired projects, and one that has the group really honing their skills as a tight funky group! The drums are heavier, guitars are fuzzier, and the whole thing really grooves with an even faster pace than before – still with the majesty they always brought to their work, but maybe more intimate as well. The drums alone are worth the price of admission – and titles include "Gunpowder", "Extraorinaire", "Bolero", "Novecento E Mille", "Milan Au 30eme Siecle", and "Dinamometro". LP, Vinyl record album

There's a vampire with a flute on the cover – and that image alone is more than enough to make us drop the needle on this rare Japanese gem from the 70s! And fortunately, the sound of the music is equally cool – funky fusion with some nicely spacey currents – almost a Mizell Brothers vibe at points, in the way elements can swirl around in the mix, and attain this wonderfully full power without ever sounding too commercial at all! There's definitely some of that flute on the record, but the keyboards are maybe even cooler – as is all the electric instrumentation, which comes together in a sublime way! Titles include "Gokumontou", "Kamen Butokai", "Yasuhakamura", "Kindaichi Kosuke No Theme", "Mitsukubitou", and "Meirosou No Sangeki". LP, Vinyl record album

Very different sounds than what you might expect from the title – not exotica at all, nor some of the more familiar Afro Funk material issued by the Africa Seven label – and instead a great range of tracks that really seems to defy genre or description! Some of the work here is by artists who've gotten a bit more attention in the 21st century, others are still quite obscure – and the music moves between jazzy groovers, spacey soul numbers, and other very offbeat modes – including one track that's a pretty great electric piano solo! Titles include "La Condition Masculine" by Francis Bebey, "Jungle Music" by Benis Cletin, "Distingue 1 (edit)" by Orchestre Lipua Lipua, "The Quest" by Afrocult Foundation, "I Got To Make It" by Aura, "I Don't Want No Body" by Akwassa, "Thanks & Praises" by BG & Fibre, and "Ramer Sans Rame" by Akofa Akoussah. LP, Vinyl record album

Current Rage were one of the more obscure groups to come out of the Athens, GA scene in the early 80s – but they've also got all the instantly creative energy that made that short-lived world of music every bit as exciting as some of the best New York sounds at the time! There's a nicely choppy approach to the rhythms going on here, and plenty of strong guitar play too – deft music that's somewhere in the territory of Pylon, and like that group, maybe a warmer US answer to British post-punk sounds of the same time. Titles include "Right Side Of The Brain", "Bitte Schoen", "Sweet Torture", "My Dog Sam", "Looking Through Gels", and "Scream In The Dark". Expanded version features bonus tracks that include "Adventures In America", "Punch A Clock", "The Theme", "Constant Hiss", and live tracks "My Dog Sam", "AF", "Tequila", and "The Book Pressed Flowers". LP, Vinyl record album

The Great Revivers are especially great here – really building off the sort of energy we love on their funky 45s, as they serve up great goods over the course of this full length album! There's a slight psychedelic edge to the music – not as tripped-out as a Malcolm Catto production might be, but with occasional fuzz in just the right places – both on guitars, and keyboard lines – the latter of which sound especially great with a bit of distortion! Drums are nice and heavy, and really great at slow funk steppers – on titles that include "The Worst", "Adventures Begin", "Taiga", "Seek & Destroy", "Russian Steps", "Evil's Nest", "From Darkness To Light", "Estrellas", and "Cowboy's Walk". LP, Vinyl record album

Formative Madlib beatcraft – music made by 'Lib from 1990-2000 – crafted into a tight full length album that feels as fresh as ever! History Of The Loop Digga features funky hip hop instrumentals made at a time when he was producing underground beat tapes for himself and the Crate Diggas Palace crew of MCs. Raw Madlib hip hop beats from the early days with spackled with bits of vocals from Madlib & his Quasimoto alter ego, Declaime and others, plus mad vocal samples. At the core, it's excellent leftfield hip hop productions that aptly predicts for the unbridled genius to come, mixed in 2010 and feeling very much of the here and now. 34 shortish tracks on the 2LP version for more than an hour of modern vintage Madlib. Titles include "Static Invazion", "Stakeout", "Rapper X Radio", "Last Day's Music", "Nothing For Nothing", "Live From Outer Space", "Further Adventures Of Walkman Flavor", "Real Days" "CDP Assassins" (Pts 1-6) and a slew of untitled episodes. LP, Vinyl record album

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks on this first volume include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", and "The Realm Of Lightning". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally fresh take on French sounds of the late 60s – served up here with a sound that's as revolutionary as the image on the cover! This isn't the dreamy strings of familiar Paris in the Spring – but instead, the sound of change that happened in and around 1968 – as a whole new generation of younger French musicians, singers, artists, and intellectuals were really making themselves known in bold new ways! You'll recognize a few names here – like Serge Gainsbourg or Brigitte Fontaine – but the collection goes way beyond those bigger names, and features loads of obscure artists from the scene that will be a real revelation. The collection was done by the same Saint Etienne team that gave us the excellent English Weather and Songs For The Carnegie Deli compilations on Ace – and titles include "L'Elu" by Ilous & Decuyper, "La Metaphore" by Jacques Dutronc, "Looking For You" by Nin Ferrer, "Chanson D'Un Jour D'Hiver" by Cortex, "Couleurs" by Leonie, "Leslie Simone" by William Sheller, "Litanies" by Triangle, "Baleines" by Francois De Roubaix, "Lileth" by Leonie, "Ystor" by Ys, "Chanson Pour Que Tu M'Aimes U Peu" by France Gall, "Le Victime" by Karl Heinz Schafer, "Les Adventures Extraordinaires D'Un Ballet De Banque" by Bernard Lavilliers, "Helicoptere" by Mireille Darc, "Les Garde Violent Au Secours Du Roi (alt version)" by Jean Claude Vannier, and "La Chanson D'Helene" by Romy Schneider & Michel Piccoli. LP, Vinyl record album

A masterclass in early rap from Sugar Hill Records – touchstone classics that thumped dancefloors from the early days to today, inspired the scene's kings and queens to follow, and helped pave the way for the sounds and styles to come! Bookended by the long versions of the good-natured party rocking namesake Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel equally iconic "White Lines (Don't Do It)", the rest of the tracks really find the sweet spot between always welcome familiarity and underappreciated gems – and it's great to have them all in a top notch package! Includes The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (single version), "That's the Joint" by Funky 4 Plus One, " Break Dance-Electric Boogie" (single) by West Street Mob, "Funk You Up (Long Version)" by The Sequence and more, LP, Vinyl record album

Current Rage were one of the more obscure groups to come out of the Athens, GA scene in the early 80s – but they've also got all the instantly creative energy that made that short-lived world of music every bit as exciting as some of the best New York sounds at the time! There's a nicely choppy approach to the rhythms going on here, and plenty of strong guitar play too – deft music that's somewhere in the territory of Pylon, and like that group, maybe a warmer US answer to British post-punk sounds of the same time. Titles include "Right Side Of The Brain", "Bitte Schoen", "Sweet Torture", "My Dog Sam", "Looking Through Gels", and "Scream In The Dark". Expanded version features bonus tracks that include "Adventures In America", "Punch A Clock", "The Theme", "Constant Hiss (demo)", and live tracks "My Dog Sam", "AF", "Tequila", and "The Book Pressed Flowers". LP, Vinyl record album