... 7-inch, Vinyl record

With Orlando Valentini and Andreas Vollenweider on instrumentation and Rene Bardet reading the works of Heinrich Heine. LP, Vinyl record album

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A great batch of early work from Burt Bacharach – one of the first albums to be issued under his own name, and proof that Mr B was head and shoulders above most of the other arrangers and composers of his time! At some level, the style here is a bit more traditional than some of Burt's later work – with strings and vocal chorus used on many numbers – but the tight, focused, syncopated Bacharach groove is already very firmly on place – on a set of all original numbers, done as instrumentals with some really incredible production! Voices float next to tinkling piano, sweeping strings, and stepping rhythms that show that even when things are mellow, they can still be a bit funky – and the record easily takes 60s easy to a whole new level of maturity and sophistication. Titles include "Wives & Lovers", "Trains & Boats & Planes", "What's New Pussycat?", "The Last One To Be Loved", "Saturday Sunshine", "24 Hours From Tulsa", and "A House Is Not A Home". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

With Steve Jones and Paul Cook! 7-inch, Vinyl record

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Includes compositions by John Cage, Mark Osborn, Mark Andre, Toshio Hosokawa, Gerald Eckert and others. CD

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A totally wonderful little record – one that really lives up to the sci-fi party promised in its title – but with all the German 70s elements you'd guess from the cover! The quintet here is a supergroup of Krautrock giants – a lineup that includes Manuel Gottsching on guitar, Klaus Schulze on drums, Jurgen Dollase on keyboards and vocals, Harald Grosskopf on drums, and Dieter Dierks on bass – the last of whom produced the set with all sorts of electronics, effects, and other weird touches – at a level that maybe even blows away some of the 70s production of Conny Plank! Titles include "Der Herrscher", "Kinger Des Alls 1", "The Electronic Scene", "Planeten Sit In", "Interplay Of Forces", and "The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy". CD

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Features Rudi Mahall on reeds. CD

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Dig 80s electro pop? You'll find plenty to love here – as the set's a killer collection of tracks from a time when the UK scene was really exploding with new ideas and fresh music! The "radio" in the title is a reference to the fact that once-underground electronic acts were starting to get wider fame – tightening up their sound a bit, yet still sounding pretty darn great – never too poppy or overproduced, and with a quality that's pretty wonderful all these many years later! Most groups here are from the UK, but there's a few other European acts too – and the set moves between warmer coldwave to catchy electro tunes – in a selection of 56 titles, by artists who include Fad Gadget, Colourbox, Japan, Heaven 17, Thomas Leer, Communication, The Passage, Talk Talk, Thomas Dolby, Fiat Lux, New Order, Yello, Soft Cell', 'Blancmange, Poeme Electronique, OMD, Ultravox, Section 25, Endgames, Moebius, Zoo Boutique, Human League, Thick Pigeon, and many others! CD

A second entry in this very cool series, but one that's very different than the first – as the "driving" in the title means that most of these tracks have a very cool groove – kind of the darker side of new club music styles of the time, with maybe just a hint of the cold wave generation to come! Given how far back this material goes, the set shows just how much German experiments influenced the rise of UK electronic work in the post-punk generation of early Human League and Cabaret Voltaire – as there's a link here with some of the darker sounds on Rough Trade during that period, and much of the material serves as a great bridge between Krautrock of earlier days and the German new wave of the 80s. Electronics are in full effect, with plenty of keyboards and electric rhythms – and titles include "Fur Dich (bureau b edit)" by Thomas Singer, "Time Machine" by Adelbert Von Deyen, "Puls (bureau b edit)" by Gunter Schickert, "Juggernaut" by Faust, "Phonique" by Serge Blenner, "Subito" by Moebius & Beerbohm, "180" by Pyrolator, "Auf Engelsfugeln (bureau b edit)" by Deutsch Wertarbeit, "Eve On The Hill (bureau b edit)" by Harald Grosskopf, and "Bockwurst A La Maitresse" by Asmus Tietchens. LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

With selections by Jim Schwall, JEM, New Avenue, Rhythm Rockers, TUG, Psycho Gene & The Neons, Natty Scratch, PS, The Mudsharks, The Spoonbills, Hi Fi, and The Blue Collar Boys. LP, Vinyl record album

The never-issued second set from this ultra-hip supergroup of the Krautrock generation – a set that was recorded right ever their amazing debut, but which was never issued at the time! If anything, this record is maybe even more of a cosmic exploration than the first – with fantastic electronics used in all these amazing ways – almost predicting the shift that would take place on the German scene in the big Sky Records years, from a time when artists like this learned that sometimes less is more – and more effective too! A few playful moments almost hit at the AtaTak new wave to come too – and titles include "Tarot", "Psi", "Tutenchanamun", "Leonardo", and "Cagliostro". CD

One of the most striking albums of the Krautrock generation – a project that has singer Gille Lettmann acting as Starmaiden – in a set of tracks that features contributions from a whole host of other contemporaries too! Klaus Schulze provides keyboards amidst all sorts of fuzzy guitar and offbeat production – and the tunes are shorter, and maybe more conventional in structure than other records of the scene at the time – but still given a very wild spin overall. Timothy Leary drops in at one point – maybe no surprise, given the trippiness of the record – and titles include "Right Hand Lover", "Lord Krishna", "Electronic Rock Zeitalter", "Meine Kosmische Musik", and "Power Drive". CD

The never-issued second set from this ultra-hip supergroup of the Krautrock generation – a set that was recorded right ever their amazing debut, but which was never issued at the time! If anything, this record is maybe even more of a cosmic exploration than the first – with fantastic electronics used in all these amazing ways – almost predicting the shift that would take place on the German scene in the big Sky Records years, from a time when artists like this learned that sometimes less is more – and more effective too! A few playful moments almost hit at the AtaTak new wave to come too – and titles include "Tarot", "Psi", "Tutenchanamun", "Leonardo", and "Cagliostro". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great project from singer David Walters – a set that tries to reimagine a 21st Century creole culture – linking diaspora roots into a new sort of groove, all with plenty of help on production from Bruno Patchworks! There's a warmth to most of these tracks that draws us in right away – and although some rhythms are clubby, the spirit here is different than earlier sort of projects along these lines by Osunlade or some of his contemporaries – as instead of the beats, the lyrics go first, and everything else follows – with Walters really setting a different tone for each track, as he moves between cultural roots and references, while Patchworks helps find the right focus with his instrumentation and production. The set features guest appearances from Seun Kuti and Ibrahim Maalouf – and titles include "Fo Bouger", "Bwe Dlo", "Manye", "Krye Mwen", "Mama", "Musik", "Pa Le", "Abo", "Soleil Kreyol", and "Mesi Bondye". LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic look at a scene we might never heard otherwise – served up here in a selection of cuts that have a really surprising vibe! Forget everything you know about Indonesian music, as the work here seems to draw most heavily from the European scene at the time – particularly some of the cooler grooves that were coming out of French clubs as things got a bit more playful and catchy after the disco years – and maybe with a dose of UK electro pop elements too! The work has a strong 80s vibe overall – and is different than you might expect from all three of the styles referenced in the title – maybe more of a hinterland past the bigger names on Virgin Records during the decade – catchy, well-produced, but a lot more interesting than chartbound material too. Titles include "Musik Kami" by Gito Rollies, "Waktu Kian Berarti" by Chaseiro, "Langkah Kemuka" by Andi MM, "Kenangan Asmara" by Grace Simon, "Denny" by Lidya Kandou, "Catatan Kisah" by Rafika Duri, "PHK" by Iwan Fals, and "Jakarta Kasmaran" by Denny Malik. CD

Nice one! Although Evidence and other labels have been reissuing lots of work from Ra's classic years, there's been a real dearth of material from the crucial early 70's period – when the band was hitting lots of strange grooves, and going way way out, farther than ever before. This essential 2 CD set reissues the rare MPS album It's After The End Of The World, and adds a lot of unreleased material that wasn't on the original album, but which was also recorded on the same date at the Donaueschigen Musik Festival in 1970. Plus, the package also contains a full set of live recordings from Berlin, recorded only a month after the MPS release, and never before released to the public! The whole set's chock full of rare Ra material, and it's packaged with a great set of notes to help you make it through the whole thing! CD

A massive tribute to the music of Neu – set with three classic albums, and an exclusive double-length batch of mixes and covers too! First up is the self-titled Neu – maybe not the earliest record in the Krautrock generation, but a set that certainly set a new sort of standard after it was released! The group mix together slow-building rhythms and plenty of fuzz – all recorded by the great Conny Plank, who has a way of blending the songs and all their many elements – instrumentation put together by ex-Kraftwerk members Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother – who mostly use guitars, bass, and drums – but end up turning them into something completely different with the help of Plank! Some of the tracks are quite long, and really take a great path to find their way forward – very different than Can or Cluster, at least from an outside perspective – but equally classic. Titles include "Hallogallo", "Sonderangerbot", "Im Gluck", "Negativland", "Weissensee", and "Lieber Honig". Neu 2 follows, and continues their trademark pulsating rhythms and raw Teutonic energy – essential listening not only for its titanic importance to the minimalist rock to come – but for it's impeccable hard driving hypnotic genius that has yet to be topped by any of the followers. The album starts off with the longer piece "Fur Immer", while the rest of the album is made up of mostly shorter segments, including "Spitzenqualitat", "Super 16", "Cassetto" and "Hallo Excentrico!". Next is Neu 75 – the third album in a legendary run from Krautrock pioneers Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger – one that uses two different drummers next to the duo's fantastic spare blend of keyboards, guitar, and electronics! The sound is still nice and lean, and every bit as revolutionary as on their first two records – and the whole thing is a masterpiece in blending waves of sonic energy and pulsating rhythms! Titles include "Isi", "See Land", "Leb Wohl", "Hero", "E-Musik", and "After Eight". The set also features the two-part Tribute album – hardly the usual tribute project – as a number of tracks are remixes of the originals, blended with other very unusual takes and original material! Titles include "Im Gluck" (National rmx)", "Weissensee (Fink version)", "Negativland (Idles negative space rework)", "After Eight (They Hate Change cover)", "Lieber Honig (Yann Tiersen rmx)", "Super (Mogwai rmx)", and "Hallogallo (Stephen Morris & Gabe Gurnsey rmx)". CD

Great tracks from the early years of the synthesizer in British music – or at least the early years of the form in mainstream styles – and not some of the colder, more academic modes of the past! Yet the music also mostly predates the big Brit electro pop explosion that would come right after some of these tracks – including work recorded by some of the artists in this collection, who are featured at a time when they were more lo-fi, homegrown, and experimental! Right at a time when the guitar was being reborn in British punk, artists like these took that inspiration and moved in another direction – in styles that are heavy on keyboards, but very different than in the generation of Fender Rhodes, moog, and Arp. The whole thing was put together by Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley, who've given us other fantastic sets on Ace – and titles include "An Evening In The Ray" by Care, "WXJL Tonight" by Human League, "A Map Of You" by New Musik, "Jean Walks In Fresh Field" by China Crisis, "Grey Skies" by Turquoise Days, "Feather Bed" by Trevor Bastow, "Tiny Children" by Teardrop Explodes, "Unless" by Pale Fountains, "Youth" by Soft Cell, "Tidal Flow" by Illustration, "Direct Lines" by Electronic Circus, "Christiana" by Paul Haig, and "October Love Song" by Chris & Cosey. CD

Recorded live at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and Musikhusit Aarhus in Copenhagen –with Kenny Barron, Ray Drummond, and Ben Riley! CD

A really amazing project from Mats Gustafsson – and one that's a great reminder of his ability to create music in so many different and incredible ways! This time around, Mats acts as the conductor – at the head of NyMusik Trondheim and Avant Art Ensemble – both larger groups who mix together acoustic instrumentation with electronics, but all in these very spare, often subtle ways that hardly make you aware of their size at all. There are moments of full-on sonic activity, but much of the proceedings focus on smaller sounds and more focused expressions – served up with solo work from Anders Nyqvist on trumpets, Colin Stetson on amplified bass sax, Hedvig Mollestad on tuba, Jerome Noetinger on revox tape machines, and Dieb 13 on turntables – next to other work on cello, violin, prepared piano, accordion, and guitar. Titles include "Mirrors 1", "Echoes 1", "Shadows 2", "Outro", "Intro", and "Reflection". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful sounds from Michael Rother – moving into even more atmospheric territory here than on the third Neu album, and recording in the studio of Conny Plank with a completely sublime sound overall! The feel of the record is a bit like his Sky Records contemporaries – mellow, moody, and very spacious – a way of pulling out key instrumental elements, and really giving them focus with a lot of space between the notes – so that they have a great deal of power, but in a really subtle way. The set's all instrumental, with guitar and keyboards making most of the key sonic energy – in a set of 12 tracks that are all just numbered, not named! LP, Vinyl record album

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Torbjorn Zetterberg has always been a hell of a bassist – but in recent years, he really seems to be exploding as a greater jazz visionary – working with a group like this in a range of explosive new ideas we never would have expected just a few years ago! The music is often incredibly dense – Zetterberg's bass in the lineup, but also part of a rich array of sounds from Susana Santos Silva on trumpet, Mats Aleklint on trombone, Jonas Kullhammar on tenor and alto, Alberto Pinto on clarinet and baritone, Jon Falt on drums, Alexander Zethson on Hammond and Fender Rhodes, and Lars Skoglund on drums – mostly players that have worked together often over the years, and who beautifully interpret the stunning arrangements and compositions by Zetterberg. There's definitely plenty of outside moments on the record, but as with much Moserobie material, things also swing at times too – a balance between freedom and structure that matches the balance between group and individual on the album. Titles include "Drommusik", "Meningen Med Vad", "Oraklet I Finnaker", "Plingplongpiano", and "Nytt Hopp Over Atlanten". CD

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An album that's quite unlike anything else we've ever heard from this great European reedman – a set that seems to have Per Texas Johansson working in deeper tones, richer colors, and a bolder sense of music than before – more focus on the overall sound of the group, yet still with plenty of improvisations from individual members! There's often a strong bottom to the record – sublime work on bass from Petter Eldh, who's one of the secret heroes of the date – and who also seems to inspire bolder piano work from Johan Graden too – in a lineup that also features Mattias Stahl on vibes, Konrad Agnas on drums, Josefin Runsteen on viola and violin, and Johan Linstrom on pedal steel. Yet the real master of color here is Johansson – who blows oboe, bass clarinet, tenor, and other reed instruments – opening up with a sense of majesty that we're not sure we've ever heard before! Titles include "Var Ar Musiken", "Sent I Livet", "Mardrommen", "Dem Sista Isen", "Det Meningslosa", and "Stor Radila". CD

An album that's quite unlike anything else we've ever heard from this great European reedman – a set that seems to have Per Texas Johansson working in deeper tones, richer colors, and a bolder sense of music than before – more focus on the overall sound of the group, yet still with plenty of improvisations from individual members! There's often a strong bottom to the record – sublime work on bass from Petter Eldh, who's one of the secret heroes of the date – and who also seems to inspire bolder piano work from Johan Graden too – in a lineup that also features Mattias Stahl on vibes, Konrad Agnas on drums, Josefin Runsteen on viola and violin, and Johan Linstrom on pedal steel. Yet the real master of color here is Johansson – who blows oboe, bass clarinet, tenor, and other reed instruments – opening up with a sense of majesty that we're not sure we've ever heard before! Titles include "Var Ar Musiken", "Sent I Livet", "Mardrommen", "Dem Sista Isen", "Det Meningslosa", and "Stor Radila". LP, Vinyl record album

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... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The great Dollar Brand is a wonderful pianist, no matter what the setting – but he seems especially great when in collaboration with other contemporary giants – which is definitely the case here in a superb live performance with trumpeter Don Cherry from the early 70s! As you'll guess from he cover, Don's in the throes of his globally expansive style on the performance – and there's this majesty to the music that's really wonderful – sounds that are organic, yet which quickly grow from little sprouts to a powerful force in spiritual music – with Brand on additional flute, alongside Johnny Dyani on bass and Nana Vasconcelos on berimbau and percussion. All players vocalize slightly at points, and the set spins out with a great sense of spontaneous imagination and creativity – on titles that include "Kalahari", "Blues For America", "The Pilgrim", "Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro", "Cherry", and "Waya Wa Egoli". LP, Vinyl record album