Brilliant work from a Long Island group who are really known for just one famous single, but who also managed to cut a few other tracks at the time – all brought together here to make a long-overdue album for the group! "Valley Of Death" is the group's sole single – a great garage reworking of the poem "The Charge Of The Light Brigade", taken into really sinister territory – issued under the name of The Whatever, although the group also existed as The Raincoats and The Lookouts, both of who are featured here – alongside two very cool car dealership songs the group cut for Wolfinger Dodge! Titles include "The Valley Of Death", "More Than Fair", "Conscience", "Stranger", "No More Do I Dream", "You're Mine", "Away From You", and "Talking Out Of Turn" – plus two cool "Wolfinger Dodge" jingles, with surprisingly profane announcements! LP, Vinyl record album

A nice one from Badu – one with a depth of feeling and genuine soulful vibes that live up to its title, despite the fact that she records for one of the world's biggest media conglomerates! It's all about the vibe here. Erykah rolls her syllables, scats and emotes feelings more than an actual narrative in the strongest of these cuts. It's not that she's forgone lyrics, but it's all about the ambience, not radio sing-a-longs. She also dives head first into her organic soul and hip hop hybrid sound a little more sparingly, but still better than most who that followed her lead post-Baduizm. She channels Donald Byrd on the great "Think Twice", which is pretty indicative of the vibe as a whole. The groove is sorta mellow, but in a very tripped-out way, with deep organ washes and synth tones, scratchy soul guitar, and crisp organic beats. There's an appearance by Dead Prez on "Steady On The Grind", and a really sweet old school flavored remake of the great "Love Of My Life" track from the Brown Sugar soundtrack with Queen Latifah and Bahamadia, but for the most part Erykah is sweating soul on her own spiritual plane here. It's gonna take a little while to sink in, but this may be her best album (despite whatever naysaying BS you may read in mainstream reviews.) Tracks include "Bump It", the great single "Danger", "Woo", "Back In The Day" and "I Want You". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album in many years from this legendary studio project from On-U Sound and Adrian Sherwood – and one that makes us feel as if the passage of decades hasn't happened at all! Sherwood's production is still wonderful – and, if anything, maybe less showy, or more soulful, or less moody – just something that seems to let the work of the group come through with energy that's wonderfully warm and organic, while still resonating with plenty of touches that will make longtime label fans proud! Vocals are shared between Charlie Eskimo Fox and Mr Magoo, and the set also features guest appearances from Prince Far I and Daddy Freddy – on titles that include "That's More Like It" "Jubilee Clock", "Swiftly", "Stonebridge Warrior", "Crown Hill Road", "The People's Sound", and "Whatever It Takes". LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly the greatest soul band ever to come out of Milwaukee – and a tight little ensemble who've got a really great sound! The overall feel of their work is a bit hard to peg – as the group are equally great at mellow midtempo group numbers as they are at tighter, clubbier tunes that snap with a bit more of a horn-heavy sound – and throughout the record there's a really playful feel that shows that whatever the sound, whatever the setting, these guys just had a heck of a great time working with each other! That quality can be heard especially well on the title track "I Always Wanted To Be In The Band" – a great little number that's almost an updating of the TSU Tornadoes sound for the 70s – but the whole set's great, and other tracks move into some great super-dope production that we really love! Titles include "I Am A Lonely Man", "People", "Cool Days Are Out Of Style", "I Ain't Never Gonna Let You Go", and "Cash Money". LP, Vinyl record album

Four hands, and plenty of power – a stunning set of improvisations between these two longtime avant greats – and a set that may well be one of the boldest we've heard from either player in years! Maybe it's the quality that the Trost label seems to get from musicians, or maybe it's just a special fire that's burning as Aki Takase meets with Alexander Von Schlippenbach – but whatever the case, the record explodes with these incredibly inventive attacks on the piano – energy on the keys that's simply mindblowing, at a level that definitely lives up to Schlippenbach's strongest recordings, and which has us opening up our ears to Takase all over again! Titles include "Stoneblock 2", "Blade", "Apple Of Dischord", "Jumping Jack", "N Dance", "Nearly Yours", "Allegro Agitato", and "Exit O". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest albums from the legendary Peruvian scene at the start of the 70s – served up by a group who've got a Bay Area reference in their name, and who definitely work with a mix of Latin and psychedelic elements that echo that scene – but with a special sort of vibe that's all their own! Some moments on the record have that perfect pop production and presentation that we love from their contemporaries We All Together – yet other points echo more of the older sound of Mag Records, and the way the label could cook up some really heavy Latin groovers to rival the best of New York. Yet the trippier sounds of the psych generation are what really make the record great – clearly a Santana inspiration, but taken in new directions too – on titles that include "Sungaligali", "Sweet Whatever", "Happy", "Something Going", "Telegraph Avenue", and "Sometimes In Winter". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that picks up on a very particular strand of Japanese music in the 70s – and one that's maybe not even fully described with all the evocative words in the title! The sounds here are leaner and more open than work you'd know from the city pop years – but also not like Japanese rock of the late 60s, and maybe not even like some of the bigger names of the 70s who crossed over to American audiences. Instead, the whole package is very creative and inventive – certainly with currents of psych and soul, but often moving into territories that really defy easy categorization – as if these Japanese artists feel free to pick and choose whatever they want to put in the mix! The sound is great, and the album is a treasure trove of discoveries – with sounds that include "Aoi Galasu Dama Blue Glass Ball" by Yoshiko Sai, "Have You Smoked Gauloise" by Hiroshi Kamayatsu, "Jikan Wo Koero Go Beyond Time" by Tadashi Goino Group, "Omae You" by Jun Fukamachi, and "Hachigatsu No Inshow Augusts Impression" by Momotaro Pink. LP, Vinyl record album

It's hard to stop the Blastfighter when he's got music like this to back him up – an assortment of sounds served up by Fabio Frizzi – in a style that uses some of the instrumentation of his better-known horror work, but in a very different way! The buzzword here is "action" – and the best cuts have a throbbing rhythm driven by drum machines, and washes of 80s keyboards over the top – then guitars, basslines, and whatever touches are needed to move things forward – with an occasional rest on a cut that's a bit more mellow, but never sleepy at all! If you dig 80s action scores, you'll find plenty to love here – and there's a lean, compact vibe that gives the whole record a very unified feel. LP, Vinyl record album

Only the second album from Gypsy, but one that really has the group opening up their wings to soar – especially on the longer tunes that really feature some nicely freewheeling interplay between organ and guitar! Yet even on the shorter cuts, the sound between the two is great too – driven on by some rhythms that feature very tasty use of congas, in a way that might draw some slight comparison to Santana, although these guys maybe have some more mid-American elements in the mix too, almost a dash of light Allman Brothers at times! Whatever the comparisons, though, the whole thing is great – a really under-discovered gem that deserves to be in the bigger pantheon of the time – with cuts that include "Here In The Garden", "Blind Man", "Reach Out Your Hand", "Around You", and "As Far As You Can See". LP, Vinyl record album

The final album in the too-short legacy left behind by the legendary Aaliyah – a singer who was taken from us all too soon! As with Sade, there was always a bit of a gap between Aaliyah's albums – and that space really shows just how much she'd grown musically in just a few short years – here really stepping past her teenaged debut, and maturing into the sort of female force that would have dominated R&B for years to come! That maturity really comes through in some of the album's more neo soul-styled moments – part of that growing generation that the singer helped foster – and in addition to production from Timbaland, the set's got even deeper work from Seats and Rapture, and Bud'da. The confidence within must have been a great message to R Kelly that strong people can grow past his influence easily – expressed on tunes that include "What If", "Try Again", "Read Between The Line", "U Got Nerve", "I Refuse", "It's Whatever", "We Need A Resolution", "Never No More", and "More Than A Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful set of ragas on the rudra veena – a sitar-like instrument, but one that has a deeper sound overall, and an additional resonator on the bottom – all of which makes for a really wonderful sound throughout! The album's billed as the first recording of a female musician on the instrument, yet whatever the gender, the sound here is completely sublime –very spare, without any percussion at all – and with moments that move between more familiar Indian music sounds to sections that have a really resonant minimalism – almost in the territory of the enigmatic sun harp by Laraaji! The set features two long performances over 40 minutes in length – the selections "Todi" and "Bhairavi". LP, Vinyl record album

Ten tracks, all killer cuts from one of our favorite female soul groups of the 90s – one of the first who really found a way to bring the right sort of hip hop influence into their grooves! The set begins with their huge hits "Hold On" and "Lies" – and follows through with other gems that include "Don't Go", "My Lovin", "Giving Him Something He Can Feel", "Free Your Mind", "Too Gone Too Long", "Don't Let Go Love", "Give It UP Turn It Loose", and "Whatever". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that will definitely freak your friends – and might also freak any fan of Rod McKuen too, as it's a real surprise that the mainstream pop poet was involved in such an unusual session! The real maestro here, though, is Heins Hoffman-Richter – who works with plenty of weird electronics and tape delay to create one of the darkest, headiest albums of electronic music from the period – sounds that take on some of the avant tones of more academic electronics, yet which have a much more focused, organic quality – maybe a bit like the really weird sounds in the Kenneth Anger film Invocation Of My Demon Brother, mixed with tape effects from the world of Jon Appleton! Whatever the reference, though, the whole thing is pretty darn unique – the spookiest of spooky electronic records – with titles that include "Gidget Gets In Trouble", "Send Out The Clowns", "Milkshake", and "This Is My Beloved's Chamber". LP, Vinyl record album

Soul singer Ruby Johnson never recorded a full album back in the day – and this set nicely corrects that fact, by bringing together some of her rare singles as a wonderful ten track album! Ruby's got a richness that's in the best southern soul mode of the time – a voice that would fit easily right next to the best Chess material by Etta James, but occasionally giving a slight uptown pitch in the backings – maybe a bit like Maxine Brown at moments too! Yet whatever the case, Johnson's a wonderfully expressive singer – and really knocks it out of the park on this set of heartbreaking gems – titles that include "No No No", "If I Ever Needed Love", "It's Not That Easy", "I'll Run Your Heart Away", "Let Me Apologize", "I'd Better Check Myself", "Come To Me My Darling", and "How Strong Is My Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost side of work from 70s funk powerhouse Mainstream Records – a company best known for its jazz albums of the early 70s, but one that also cut some great soul and club material too! Most of the work here came out only as singles, and wasn't nearly as well-circulated as the albums on Mainstream – and much of it was much more underground too, from a time when funk groups were picking up the pace a bit for the new styles of dance on the scene – yet still nicely far from the more slickly produced disco that would top the charts at the end of the 70s! Most tracks appear here on vinyl for the first time since the 70s – and titles include the unissued "Disco Man (parts 1 & 2)" by Three Ounces Of Love – plus "Get Down Get Down" by South Side Coalition, "Music Is Fun To Me" by The Grand Jury, "We've Got To Get Together" by Chocolate Syrup, "Gonna Have A Good Time" by Crystal Image, "Nothing Between Us" by Electric Ladies, "Whatever's Your Sign You've Got To Be Mine" by Prophecy, "Hundred Pounds Of Pain" by Lenny Welch, and "No Rebate On Love" by The Dramatics. LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool bit of blue-eyed soul from Chuck Senrick – recorded in the hinterlands of Michigan in the late 70s, but with a timeless vibe that's made the set ripe for rediscovery all these many years later! Chuck uses acoustic guitar, electric piano, and some spare drum machine lines – which puts part of the sonic quality of the record in the territory of Timmy Thomas or Shuggie Otis, save for the fact that Senrick's got these jazzy inflections in his vocals, but with particular phrasing – almost Kenny Rankin meets Cat Stevens, although such a tag might be too specific to highlight Chuck's particular charms! Whatever the case, the album's a gem – way better than its obscure status might make you think – with titles that include "Celebration Lover", "Kids", "The Duke Is Gone", "Drop A Dime", "Wedding Trilogy", "Downtown", "Gray Days", and "Dreamin". LP, Vinyl record album