Really great small group work from tenorist Sal Nistico – a player who worked famously in larger ensembles, but who we especially love on a session like this! The album's got that strong, mature tone that Sal discovered in his later years, especially on overseas sessions – and the proceedings are easygoing at times, but also pick up a nice edge at others, really emphasizing the sometimes-overlooked depth that Nistico has in his music. The rest of the group features Rita Marcotulli on piano, Marco Fratini on bass, and Roberto Gatto on drums – and titles include a great reading of the Joe Henderson tune "Inner Urge", plus "Lush Life", "Empty Room", "The Hymn", and "I Should Care". CD

2 early 60s sessions by tenorist Sal Nistico – a great player who spent most of his life in bigger bands, but who also knew how to shine on small group settings like these! They sure got the title right on the CD, as Sal's playing tenor in groups that feature many heavyweights, and soul jazz heavyweights too, we might add! Players on the albums include Nat Adderley, Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Bob Cranshaw, and Walter Perkins – all of whom make Sal cook a lot more than usual, and who give the set an early 60s soul jazz groove that was typical of the best work coming out on the Jazzland label at the time. The set features 13 tracks from both albums – with titles that include "Shoutin", "Mamblue", "Seconds Anyone", "Cheryl", "Ariescene", "Comin On Up", "Down", and "Samicotico". CD omits the track "Just Friends", due to space limitations. CD

Fantastic small group work from tenorist Sal Nistico – and one of the few records that really finds a way to capture his genius! Sal got his start in the Woody Herman band of the 60s – and although a standout there, he really shines even more brightly here in a small group setting – with a sharp edge on his horn that maybe only comes through this well in a handful of his European recordings, especially for the Ego label. In the spirit of that imprint, the great trumpeter Ted Curson is on board – and Sal's tone is also balanced out nicely by some equally great work from Nick Brignola on baritone. The rest of the combo is equally great – with superb rhythm from Ronnie Mathews on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums – and titles include "Be My Love", "Blues For KD", "Bambu", "Fee Fi Fo Fum", and "Anthropology". LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue follow-up to Ken's last Word Jazz album for Dot – done for Nordine's own Snail Records label nearly 20 years after the last one! The style here is less "jazz" and more atmospheric than before – very much in the mode of Nordine's Word Jazz syndicated radio show from the 80s and 90s. The vocal tricks and sense of humor's still nicely in place, and if anything the experimental style of the record is pushed even more than before. Backings include Howard Levy on keyboards and Paul Wertico on drums – and side one is a suite of tracks on "The Seasons", while side two features "Other Stuff". Individual titles include "The Swami", "Feet Of Clay", "Charlie Bingbang", "What's So Funny", "Summer Madness", "Getting Ready", and "Winter Sketch". LP, Vinyl record album

The debut of Orleans – and a set that's got all the charms of the group's later work, but a more down to earth vibe as well! The instrumentation and presentation is great – as impeccable as you'd expect, but not nearly as polished – with maybe some of the more personal warmth that a group like America were displaying at the time – although with some slightly rootsier touches in the instrumentation at times. The balance is as good as the harmonies – and the whole thing's a great way of showing how later AOR evolved out of unique combinations like this. Titles include "Two Faced World", "Please Be There", "Turn Out The Light", "Mountain", "Wanderlust", "It All Comes Back Again", "Stoned", and "Ticonderoga Moon". CD

The music of Misha Panfilov just gets deeper and deeper with each new release – and here, he's light years away from the funk of his earlier sets, and much more in the realm of spiritual jazz! The set's got a vibe that's almost in the Carlos Nino side of the spectrum, but which also resonates strongly with Misha's amazing sense of sound – served up by a group that features Misha on guitars, keyboards, organs, harpsichord, ngoni, and a whole host of other elements – joined by the trumpet of Rafael Andrade, tenor of Francisco Aguilar, bass of Ricardo Dias, and drums of Francisco Coelho. Tunes are long and carry elements of Brazilian and other global styles – but often in a way that evokes cinematic modes too, although things are much deeper than any sort of easy soundtrack reference to such styles. The whole album's a masterpiece of beauty that we never would have expected from Panfilov a few years back – and titles include "Vertical", "Alegria Em Movimento", "Caleidoscpopio", "Domingo Magico" and "Para O Sol". LP, Vinyl record album

Lots of jazziness here – including tight piano, snapping snare, and moody vibes – all served up in one of the best early soundtracks we've heard from Piero Piccioni! The core of the record features the original EP release of the film score – some of the most tight, tuneful numbers that really showcase Piccioni's jazz potential – but even the rich array of bonus tracks (29 extra tunes!) still mostly retain the jazzy flourish of the originals, and offer up some sweet instrumental variations that are mighty nice! The whole thing stands strongly next to some of the best French or American jazz soundtracks of the period – and this reissue adds in so much extra music, the CD runs for almost 80 minutes in length. CD

Hard driving early 70s psych rock from Argentinean combo Piel De Pueblo – with searing guitar grooving and a heavily rhythmic bottom end of bass and drums! The guitars here are really as driving as can be, but it's service of the thundering overall feel. The is equally extroverted, and since it's not sung in English we can't comment on the topical nature – but it's impassioned stuff from an aural standpoint. Nice stuff – with a sounds that range from garage fuzziness to post Hendrix heaviness. Titles include "Silencio Para Un Pueblo", "A Tierra En 998 Pedazos", "Jugando A Las Palabras", "Para Tener Un Poco Mas", "La Palida De Nacho", "Veni Amigo A La Zapada", "El Rockito De La Bufonada" – and it's about time we stocked an album with a song called "Sexo Galactico"!!! CD

A smoking killer from Latin trumpeter Bobby Quesada – recorded during the Latin soul era, with vocals from Luis Rodriguez – and titles that include "Ritmo Canga", "Boogaloo Jala Jala", "Pelu Y Pelao", "Guaguanco A Las Mamis", "Pollo Frisao", and "Sueltame Ya". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent session of exotica-tinged Latin jazz – put together by pianist Don Ralke, and featuring some great work from flute player Buddy Collette – in a spirit that's very similar to Collette's own classic Jazz Heat Bongo Beat album! The set's also got some great bongo work by Jack "Bongo" Burger – plus congas from Tom Wofford – and although both players aren't the most autentico of Latin percussionists from the west coast scene at the time, they've got a really evocative approach here that makes for a great little set. Colette's flute is wonderful too – really shading in some great tones and colors –a nd titles are all fresh originals that include "Afro Mambo Alegre", "Mgombo", "Pasion Calienta", "Bembe Negro", "Calypso Cubano", and "Afro Bop". LP, Vinyl record album

Three groovy 70s albums from Buddy Rich! Roar Of 74 is one of the funkiest Buddy Rich albums of the 70s – a mad screaming affair that's overflowing with great tunes! The band on the set is very full – with a heck of a lot of trumpets in the brass section, set next to searing sax work by the great Pat LaBarbera. But even better is the rhythm section – which grooves in a hard electric funk mode, thanks to guitar from Joe Beck, bass from Tony Levin, and some surprisingly smoking drums from Buddy himself! Tracks are all very nicely grooving – and titles include "Kilimanjaro Cookout", "Nuttville", "Senator Sam", "Waltz Of The Mushroom Hunters", and "Big Mac". Last Blues Album has a misleading title, as there's nothing "blues" about this set – as Buddy Rich is working with some of the best soul jazz players of the Groove Merchant label – on a set that's one of his few small combo albums from the 70s! The vibe is very relaxed and laidback, and even Buddy's tight drumming can't over-hype the sound. Tracks are longish and open – more in the Prestige jazz mode of the 60s than the usual funkier style of the Groove Merchant label – and the sextet features Jimmy McGriff on organ, George Freeman on guitar, Kenny Barron on electric piano, Illinois Jacquet on tenor, and Bob Cranshaw on bass. Titles include "Soft Winds", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "How Long", "Courage", and "Alright". Very Live At Buddy's Place is hard-swinging Buddy Rich from the prime early 70s years – not exactly an all-out funk affair, but still a great groover, with plenty of hip little big band numbers! The groove here is nice and lean – and Buddy and the group are working at Buddy's own club – hitting that trademark all-out Rich sound, but still leaving plenty of room for the soloists. The group's got some great soul jazz players – including Sonny Fortune on alto, Jack Wilkins on guitar, and Kenny Barron on piano – as well as some really smoking tenor work from Sal Nistico, who's always adaptable to a setting like this. The album's got a tasty version of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon", plus other nice tracks that include "Sierra Lonely", "Nica's Dream", "Billy's Bounce", "Cardin Blue" and "Jumpin At The Woodside". CD

Hard-swinging Buddy Rich from the prime early 70s years – not exactly an all-out funk affair, but still a great groover, with plenty of hip little big band numbers! The groove here is nice and lean – and Buddy and the group are working at Buddy's own club – hitting that trademark all-out Rich sound, but still leaving plenty of room for the soloists. The group's got some great soul jazz players – including Sonny Fortune on alto, Jack Wilkins on guitar, and Kenny Barron on piano – as well as some really smoking tenor work from Sal Nistico, who's always adaptable to a setting like this. The album's got a tasty version of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon", plus other nice tracks that include "Sierra Lonely", "Nica's Dream", "Billy's Bounce", "Cardin Blue" and "Jumpin At The Woodside". LP, Vinyl record album

Not the same Maria Rita that rose to international fame in the past decade or so – but an earlier, much more obscure singer with a nicely rootsy vibe – one whose presence in the Brazilian music scene is maybe more welcome to our ears than her famous later namesake! The album came out at the end of the 80s, but has a sound that feels more like the experimental generation of MPB in the 70s – some moments that have the brashness of Gal Costa around her India album, other moments of gentleness that recall the sensitive soul of Joyce, and maybe a few slight touches of the deeper drama of Maria Bethania – and yet, like all of those artists, this Maria Rita is very much her own person – as can easily be heard by the lack of pop production or commercial efforts on this very unique album. Titles include "Cantico Brasileiro No 1", "Cancao Da Gaora", "Lamento Africano/Rictus", "A Cidade", "Melodia De Veludo", and "Trilhas". CD

Not the same Maria Rita that rose to international fame in the past decade or so – but an earlier, much more obscure singer with a nicely rootsy vibe – one whose presence in the Brazilian music scene is maybe more welcome to our ears than her famous later namesake! The album came out at the end of the 80s, but has a sound that feels more like the experimental generation of MPB in the 70s – some moments that have the brashness of Gal Costa around her India album, other moments of gentleness that recall the sensitive soul of Joyce, and maybe a few slight touches of the deeper drama of Maria Bethania – and yet, like all of those artists, this Maria Rita is very much her own person – as can easily be heard by the lack of pop production or commercial efforts on this very unique album. Titles include "Cantico Brasileiro No 1", "Cancao Da Gaora", "Lamento Africano/Rictus", "A Cidade", "Melodia De Veludo", and "Trilhas". LP, Vinyl record album

Not the same Maria Rita that rose to international fame in the past decade or so – but an earlier, much more obscure singer with a nicely rootsy vibe – one whose presence in the Brazilian music scene is maybe more welcome to our ears than her famous later namesake! The album came out at the end of the 80s, but has a sound that feels more like the experimental generation of MPB in the 70s – some moments that have the brashness of Gal Costa around her India album, other moments of gentleness that recall the sensitive soul of Joyce, and maybe a few slight touches of the deeper drama of Maria Bethania – and yet, like all of those artists, this Maria Rita is very much her own person – as can easily be heard by the lack of pop production or commercial efforts on this very unique album. Titles include "Cantico Brasileiro No 1", "Cancao Da Gaora", "Lamento Africano/Rictus", "A Cidade", "Melodia De Veludo", and "Trilhas". LP, Vinyl record album

A great follow-up to Claudio Roditi's Braziliance record – and like that set, a record that's filled with a similarly warm and breezy groove! There's a range of bossa and post-bossa elements at work in the mix, plus some slight Latin jazz touches too – and Roditi's horn sounds wonderful in the setting, really stretching out with these well-blown lines over work from a group that includes Romero Lubambo on guitar, Michael Dease on trombone, Helio Alves on piano, John Lee on bass, and Duduka Da Fonseca on drums. All songs are originals by Roditi – and titles include "Slow Fire", "Piccolo Blues", "A Dream For Kristen", "Blues For Ronni", "Vida Nova", "Winter Dreams", and "Spring Samba". CD

An album inspired by the legendary John Coltrane album Live At The Village Vanguard Again – but a set that takes off in very individual directions, thanks to the spirit of the players! The group's led by pianist Jamie Saft – who's drawing strong energy from Alice Coltrane on the record – especially in the way he effortlessly lays out these dark lines that have a calming presence amidst the more ferocious horn work from Joe McPhee on alto and tenor – that balance that both Mr and Mrs Coltrane could share at their best. Joe Morris provides some of the rounded, most soulful bass we've heard in years – and drums are by Charles Downs, who easily leaps between free moments and bolder rhythmic progressions. Titles include "Beyond Days", "Simplicity Of Man", "Leaves Of Certain", and "A Backward King". CD

That's Betico Salas on the cover – a hell of a trumpet player, and one who really sets the tone for this rare album from the Peruvian scene! The record's very much in the best small combo mode of the New York scene of the time, but also has some unique South American touches too – some of which come from the vocal phrasing of singer Benny Del Solar, others from the always-cool piano work of Alfredo Linares – an artist we love on his own records, and who really adds plenty here too. The production is nice and raw, and titles include "Mambo Jazz", "Ritmo De Amor", "El Arbol", "La Renga", "Que Le Digo A Mi Mujer", "Asi Nama", and "La Chola". LP, Vinyl record album

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A record of free-thinking jazz – recorded by a trio from Chicago, featuring drummer Paul Wertico, reedman Rich Corpolongo, and bassist Doug Loftstrom. There's a frenetic, choppy sound here that at one level seems to take off from European fusion groups of the 70s – yet also point the way towards the later Chicago experiments of the NRG Ensemble, and some of the better improvisations to emerge in the Vandermark years (and if we had to be honest, we'd say that this one has much more the quality level of the Okka Disk era than the overdone modes of the NRG years.) Many tunes are quite subtle, and along with the core instrumentation of the trio, players also bring in a lot of added percussion and effects. Titles include "Flutter Wings", "Bird Dirge", "Chinese New Year", "No Survivors", and "March Of The Schnatskis". LP, Vinyl record album

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Guitarist Sebastiao Tapajos really sounds wonderful here – playing in a spare setting, but a lively one too – thanks to work from percussionist Pedro Dos Santos, who plays a wide variety of instruments that really keep things groovy! There's a feel here that's a bit like some of Baden Powell's small combo records – kind of a post-bossa approach, with more complexity in the guitar work – and a groove that never stops being interesting – thanks to Pedro's work on tamborin, berimbau, tumbadora, and a host of other instruments too. Includes "Estudio No 1", "Despedida De Mangueira", "Encuentro Marcado", "Cantico Del Agua", "Himalaya", "Santarem", "Sorongaio", "Solfeggeto", "Cajita De Musica", "Munganga", "Primavera" and "Solo De Bambu". CD features bonus tracks – "Primavera/Favela", "Samba Em Preludio/Despedida De Mangueira", "Munganga", "Todo E Moda", and "Sorongaio". CD

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A really great setting for the guitar of Mary Halvorson – one that reminds us what a versatile player she's become over the years – an artist whose way of inflecting strings and reaching for new colors really continues to amaze us with each new album! There's a very rhythmic pulse to the record – as Michael Formanek provides bass and Tomas Fujiwara plays drums – with the former also bringing in a bit of electronics, while the latter handles vibes – although both rarely diverge too much from the core, which really allows Halvorson to fly throughout. Titles include "Survival Fetish", "Song For Mr Humphries", "Capsicum Annuum", "Should Be Cool", "Brutality & Beauty", and "Swirling Lives". CD

A really great setting for the guitar of Mary Halvorson – one that reminds us what a versatile player she's become over the years – an artist whose way of inflecting strings and reaching for new colors really continues to amaze us with each new album! There's a very rhythmic pulse to the record – as Michael Formanek provides bass and Tomas Fujiwara plays drums – with the former also bringing in a bit of electronics, while the latter handles vibes – although both rarely diverge too much from the core, which really allows Halvorson to fly throughout. Titles include "Survival Fetish", "Song For Mr Humphries", "Capsicum Annuum", "Should Be Cool", "Brutality & Beauty", and "Swirling Lives". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweetly slow-building soundtrack from maestro Armando Trovajoli – filled with water strings, light woodwinds, and some really dreamy sounds! The set's not as all-out groove oriented as some of Trovajoli's other late 60s work, but it more than makes up for that with a spacious sensibility that has the instrumentation kind of floating in the air – hung from clouds with tiny little threads, just blowing along in the breeze with an almost effortless sort of quality! The tunes flow nicely one into the other – with no grand themes, save for a few slightly more grooving moments – and Edda Dell'Orso manages to sneak in a few light vocal performances – but again, in a relatively spare and subtle way. Titles include "Come Quando Perche", "Presa Nella Rete", "Paula", "Onde Sulla Riva", "Una Notte Particolare", and "Disperazione Di Un Ricordo". CD

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Great arrangements by Charlie Palmieri and Joe Cain – and titles that include "Buscar", "Acompaname", "Vive La Realidad", "Seguire Mi Viaje", "Una Mentira Piadosa", and "Cuando Te Fuiste De Mi". LP, Vinyl record album

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A holy grail! This is one of Marcos Valle's best-ever albums – and it's certainly the one to best realize the larger scope he was heading for in the years after the bossa – that sublime mix of jazz and more expansive arrangements – a perfect fit for the growing sophistication of Valle's songwriting. The record is fantastic – done with a sweeping sound that still leaves us breathless after all these years – and put together with an approach to composition that is virtually indescribable. There's a huge amount of influences running through here, and the album is proof that Valle was one of Brazil's richest talents, never ceasing to perfect and transform his craft – even long after he could have rested on the laurels of his success! Tracks include "Democustico", "Revolucao Organica", "Vento Sul", "Paisagem De Mariana", and "Pista O2". LP, Vinyl record album

The intensity of this group keeps on growing with each release – and this one is a blinding array of influences, tributes, and incredibly tight musicianship. The recording differs from earlier ones in that it's got a strongly pronounced guitar, played by Jeb Bishop, who also doubles on trombone. Vandermark is flawless, as usual, and his reed work alone is worth the price of admission. And with tracks dedicated to the likes of Glen Spearmann, Jack Montrose, Frank Rosolino, John Carter, and Curtis Counce – how could you miss? CD

Sarah Vaughan is working here with the Count Basie orchestra – but in a way that's still relatively relaxed, and very much in keeping with her best modes of the Pablo years! There's less of the Basie bombast than you might expect on the record – and the group, arranged and conducted by Sam Nestico, leave plenty of room for Vaughan to step out in that warmly flowing vocal style that characterized her best later albums. Most numbers build slowly – with Sarah's vocals leading the cues, and the band glowing in the background to color things in before taking off – and titles include "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues", "Just Friends", "Ill Wind", "If You Could See Me Now", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Indian Summer", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

Sarah Vaughan is working here with the Count Basie orchestra – but in a way that's still relatively relaxed, and very much in keeping with her best modes of the Pablo years! There's less of the Basie bombast than you might expect on the record – and the group, arranged and conducted by Sam Nestico, leave plenty of room for Vaughan to step out in that warmly flowing vocal style that characterized her best later albums. Most numbers build slowly – with Sarah's vocals leading the cues, and the band glowing in the background to color things in before taking off – and titles include "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues", "Just Friends", "Ill Wind", "If You Could See Me Now", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Indian Summer", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

Excellent small group work from Sadao Watanabe – easily one of the best Japanese reed players of the past 50 years – still sounding great here on a recent acoustic session! Watanabe plays alto throughout – a definite preferred horn of late – and stretches out in these expressive solos in the company of Gerald Clayton on piano, Ben Williams on bass, and Jonathan Blake on drums – a combo who step out with lots of warm sympathy on a set of tracks that's all original material by Watanabe! Sadao's tunes have a feel that's quite poetic, yet still also swinging too – a balance carried out in a wonderfully subtle way on tunes that include "I Miss You When I Think Of You", "Gemmation", "Vamos Juntos", "Simpatico", and "Warm Days Ahead". CD

Maybe the most fantastic record to date from the hands of Adrian Younge – a project done in collaboration with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and one that features guest appearances from some of the musical giants who first inspired Dusty Groove many years Back! The core energy of the set comes from Younge and Muhammad – who are in a similar funky soul groove as their previous Midnight Hour recording serving up a blend of jazz and soul in a mode that clearly draws a lot of 70s inspiration, but which also has this very fresh, contemporary energy too. Yet there's also a strong difference here once each of the guests step into the mix – a stellar lineup that features alto from Gary Bartz, Fender Rhodes from Marcos Valle and Joao Donato, flute from Brian Jackson, drums from Ivan Mamao Conti, and Hammond B3 from the great Doug Carn – all players who really up the jazz ante for the record, and make the whole thing sound even deeper than most of Younge's other recordings. Titles include "Distant Mode", "Nancy Wilson, "Down Deep", "Apocaliptico", "Jazz Is Dead", "Hey Lover", "Nao Saia Da Praca", and "Conexao". CD

A fantastic combination of funky grooves – the studio talents of Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and the Brazilian-tinged fusion of the legendary Azymuth! The jazzy trio are in great form here – tunes that are lean, and which really offer up all the best aspects that the group brought to their music back in the late 70s and early 80s – spun with a slightly different format by the lineup of Alex Malheiros on bass, Ivan Mamao Conti on drums, and Linklon Kiko Contentino on Fender Rhodes and keyboards – but handled perfectly by Adrian and Ali in the studio – with just the right sort of sound to avoid some of the slicker production that the group had on some of their other American recordings from years back. All tunes are new originals – and titles include "Pulando Corda", "Friendship Samba", "Apocolyptico", "Cat Jump", "Fall Afternoon", "Ao Redor Do Samba", and "Sumare". CD

A groundbreaking album, put together by Zorn and a group of downtown New York hipsters, as a fitting hommage to the genius of Ennio Morricone! The track list sticks to mostly the bigger known numbers, and the album's got a darkness that we'd actually say was a bit out of place, considering the choice of tracks – but the groups formed by Zorn do a pretty good job of breathing new life into some of the tracks, and the album was a key moment in the recognition of Morricone as one of the century's greatest composers. Players include Robert Quine, Tim Berne, Arto Lindsay, Jim Staley, Bill Frisell, Christian Marclay, Anton Fier, and even Big John Patton. Titles include "Erotico", "Once Upon A Time In The West", "Giu La Testa", "Battle Of Algiers", and "The Big Gundown". CD

Hard to believe it's been 20 years since the Far Out label first started making wonderful music – because their sounds are always so ahead of their time, it's as if they're still coming to us from the future! This wonderful 2CD set perfectly sums up all that's great about Far Out – their longstanding commitment to Brazilian music, their London-based ear for new styles of expression, and their way of reaching out to the globe with a vision that's continued to captivate listeners around the world for the past two decades! CD 1 features key Far Out cuts – including "Meu Samba Torto" by Clara Moreno, "Escape" by Marcos Valle, "Samba Da Silvia" by Joyce, "Brisa Mar" by Sabrina Malheiros, "Aos Pes Do Redentor" by Banda Black Rio with Caetano Veloso, "Ups & Downs" by Kirk Degiorgio, "Vagalume" by Democustico, and "Agua" by Nina & Chris. CD 2 features a huge mix of 27 tracks all handled by Spiritual South – including 11 numbers that appear here for the first time ever! CD

A completely different side of Colombian music than you'd know from Discos Fuentes and some of the other mainstream outlets from that scene – as the tracks here are all from the contemporary underground, and represent a really rich flowering of creative grooves and soulful modes! In truth, most of this work might hail from any hip spot in the global underground – save for the fact that the lyrics are often in Spanish, and many tunes have some slight reference to older musical modes – sometimes an acoustic element mixed in with more electronic instrumentation, sometimes a more direct reference! The quality of the tracks is wonderful – a really strong surprise to our ears, as we never would have discovered this music otherwise – and it represents a really great alternative so some of the more staid, often boring attempts to create a global fusion of elements in the mainstream. Titles include "Cada Paso" by Liannia, "Cumbia Lobina (ext mix)" by Dragao featuring Nidia Gongora, "Aquazero" by Systema Solar featuring Pedro Ramaya, "Oyele" by Jimena Angel, "Cuando Canto Grito" by Cerrero featuring Lucia Pulido, "El Leopardo" by El Leopardo, "Mujer Divina" by Salsangroove, "Gualayo" by Radio Rebelde Soundsystem, "La Negra Y El Fantasma" by Bareto, "Nunca Termina" by David Caneva Akle, "Manana Sera" by Ruzto, and "De Donde Vengo Yo" by Los Transatlanticos featuring Pilar Matarola. CD

A really unusual document of the legendary scene around CBGB's on the lower east side – one that gets at the great range of music that passed through the doors of the clubs, in addition to some of the better known punk acts who helped form its legend! The music here runs the gamut from seminal new wave to bar rock – and the choice of cuts is interesting, most likely culled together from acts who didn't have any sort of record label contract at the time. Titles include "Head Over Heels", "Slash" and "All For The Love Of Rock And Roll" by the Tuff Darts; "Operetico", "AVM" and "Poe" by the Shirts; "Cadillac Moon", "Change It Comes" and "Let Me Dream If I Want To" by Mink Deville; "Over, Under, Sideways, Down" and "I'm Really Not this Way" by Manster, "We Deliver" by the Miamis, "I Need A Million" and "It Feels Alright Tonight" by the Laughing Dogs, "Romance" by Sun, and "Everybody's Depraved" by Stuart's Hammer. LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from one of the most important labels of the past few years – the groundbreaking Far Out imprint, known for its unique style of blending Brazilian and London grooves! The set features tracks from Far Out's oft-deleted singles series – hard to find 12" releases that often get only short release, and disappear much more quickly than the rest of the label's catalog. If you've missed some of these gems, or if you're like us, and sometimes prefer to put on a full album and save yourself flipping wax, the set's a great way to catch up – and probably introduce yourself to loads of great new music. Titles include "Khameleon" and "Second Future" by Difusion, "Ponteio" by Da Lata, "Colours" by Big Bang, "Smile" by Nature's Plan, "Strike Hard" by Trouble Man, "Brazil (Brazilian reprise)" by Democustico, "Faca De Conta (Roni Size rmx)" by Azymuth, "E Ruim/The Samba (4 Hero rmx)" by Grupo Batuque, and "Banzo Theme" by Banzo. CD

A really deep dive into the world of electrified Peruvian music – one that's put together not only with a killer collection of tracks, but also some really detailed notes that expand on this wonderfully unique hybrid of styles! Rhythms are often in the territory of cumbia from slightly farther north in the South American scene, but given all sorts of rootsier percussion touches – then mixed with electric guitar and thin keyboards, of the sort that you'd normally expect to hear on a 60s surf record – yet reworked here with a uniquely tropical vibe! The approach is often more instrumental than vocal, but you'll hear plenty of voices on the set too – sometimes just calling out to urge on the instrumentalists in the combos – on titles that include "La Hamaca" by Los Cisnes, "Humo En La Selva" by Los Invasores De Progreso, "Selva Virgen" by Los Zheros, "Descarga Royal" by Los Royals De Pucallpa, "Baila Bonito" by Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, "El Pasito De Miriam" by Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja, "La Palmerita" by Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto, and "Recordando Aguaytia" by Sonido Verde De Moybamba. CD

A really deep dive into the world of electrified Peruvian music – one that's put together not only with a killer collection of tracks, but also some really detailed notes that expand on this wonderfully unique hybrid of styles! Rhythms are often in the territory of cumbia from slightly farther north in the South American scene, but given all sorts of rootsier percussion touches – then mixed with electric guitar and thin keyboards, of the sort that you'd normally expect to hear on a 60s surf record – yet reworked here with a uniquely tropical vibe! The approach is often more instrumental than vocal, but you'll hear plenty of voices on the set too – sometimes just calling out to urge on the instrumentalists in the combos – on titles that include "La Hamaca" by Los Cisnes, "Humo En La Selva" by Los Invasores De Progreso, "Selva Virgen" by Los Zheros, "Descarga Royal" by Los Royals De Pucallpa, "Baila Bonito" by Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, "El Pasito De Miriam" by Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja, "La Palmerita" by Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto, and "Recordando Aguaytia" by Sonido Verde De Moybamba. LP, Vinyl record album