A landmark album that is perhaps the single most influential beat source in hip hop! The record was the brainchild of bongo player Michael Viner – who also happened to be running the Pride subsidiary of MGM at the time. Viner's got a meeeeeean touch on the bongo, hitting it hard and funky like the best 70s conga players – and his approach to the instrument is kind of like a funky update of popular instrumental styles laid down on guitar by The Ventures or on moog by Hot Butter. This album features the classics "Apache" and "Bongo Rock" – both with monster funky breakdowns that showed up on a heck of a lot of hip hop records over the years – plus loads of other goodies like "Last Bongo In Belgium" and "Bongolia". Excellent stuff – and darn hard to find! (We can still remember how stunned we were when we found our first copy in a Canadian record store back in 1987 – and even then we had to pay plenty!) 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

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

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

Wonderfully sensitive sounds from this really unique group – an instrumental combo, but one who don't really play jazz – and who also avoid some of the more jamming indulgences of some of their prog contemporaries too! Part of the special blend in their sound is the way they can work with higher ideas, but not huge egos – really bringing their concepts down to a more personal level, with instrumentation that includes flutes, saxes, and pianos from Alain Bergeron – plus guitar and piano from Jerome Langlois, piano and percussion from Vincent Langlois, bass from Yves Leonard, and drums and percussion from Gilles Schetagne. The group also add in a few extra elements at times – vibes, trumpet, and even a bit of strings – and the set features the long suites "Les Aventures De Saxinette Et Clarophone" and "Les Porches De Notre Dame" – and the shorter "La Grosse Torche" and "Chromo". 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

One of the most electric sets we've ever heard from sound library genius Janko Nilovic – a set that has some spacey moments that live up to the title, mixed with others that have more of the funk that you'd know from his classics! The spacier bits have a variety of keyboards tripping out in a way that's spacious, but always tuneful – and those passages are balanced by cuts that kick up the drums, but still have lots of great keyboard lines too – mixed with wah-wah guitar, flute, and even a bit of trumpet! Production and instrumentation are maybe more late 70s than on Janko's soul-styled records from a few years before – but there's still a strong influence from jazz, and lots of great cop/crime sort of moments. Titles include "Ballad Pour Un Dauphin", "L'Or Noir", "Operation Cancer", "Le Grand Espoir", "Aventures Sous Marines", "La Longue Marche", "Water Colour", and "Operation Survie". LP, Vinyl record album