A sound library tune that really lives up to its title – a De Wolfe library gem that pays tribute to Motown Records, but with a slightly different vibe too! Basil Kirchin's better known for offbeat and moody music – yet here, the tune is certainly a romping groove – but with some unusual fuzz guitar, and even a bit of harmonica used to evoke Little Stevie Wonder! The flipside is another De Wolfe track, but from a few years later – done in this bad-stepping 70s funk mode that feels like it's lifted right off some action soundtrack – cool vibes and fuzz guitar over a groove that also has a bit of conga at the bottom! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Two very groovy soundtracks from UK great Basil Kirchin – an artist who's sometimes known for darker, moodier music – but who serves up some great 60s work here! The first half of hte set features tunes from the spy film Assignment K – which Kirchin scores with styles that borrow a bit from Italian modes of the period, mixed with some of the more sensitive sounds of British scoring from a few years before – all wrapped up with a wonderful sense of sound that brings out the best of instruments that include piano, vibes, and saxes. Work for the film Strange Affair follows – which is maybe even more in that sense of texture and tone that marks some of the more complex sides of the Basil Kirchin spectrum – especially his way of taking familiar instruments and making them sound very strange and offbeat – often light woodwind elements mixed with a bit of guitar, the produced with these very hip effects! LP, Vinyl record album

The last album ever from Basil Kirchin – but a set that's every bit as creative and compelling as his best earlier work! Particles offers Kirchin in all of his best modes – the lyrical painter of wonderful landscapes in sound, the cartoonish creator of voices from instruments, and the darker experimentalist of noisier modes. Instrumentation here is often from woodwinds – bass clarinet, alto sax, and other horns – but there's also bits of electronics and tape too, although used with a very subtle, almost earthy sound. And although the music was recorded right towards the end of Basil's life, it's got a quality that resonates strongly with the older reissues done by Trunk – a great legacy offered up in these recent years after Kirchin's passing. Titles include "Tzuris Oy Vey", "Amundo", "The Dice Is Cast", "We Don't Care", "Rise & Revolt", "E + Me", "Bye Bye 1941", and "The Concept Suite – Secret Conversations Between Instruments". CD

The groovier side of the mod scene in 60s London – music that's not just rock, but which mixes together jazzy instrumentals, soulful stompers, and other wild sounds – all created by British groups who were bursting with new ideas at the time! The music is as bursting with color as the image on the front cover – and the collection is way different than other mod mixes on the market – with no American soul, less British blues, and plenty of unfamiliar cuts that makes the whole thing a treasure trove in groovy music from the English scene at the time! The package comes with a hefty booklet of notes, tracking the groups and the tunes – a stack of 93 great cuts, with work from Basil Kirchin, Mood Mosaic, The Troggs, Creation, London Studio Group, Kiki Dee, The End, Mike Cotton Sound, The Knack, Des James, Twinkle, Artwoods, Easybeats, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, Georgie Fame, Moon's Train, Richard Kent Style, Wynder K Frog, The Syn, Dana Gillespie, Miki Dallon, The Mickey Finn, Stan Butcher, Miss X, Mandy Rice-Davies, The Hi-Fis, Electric Banana, and dozens of others! CD

The new sound of the European scene at the end of the 70s – music that carries plenty of inspiration from post-punk modes, but which also carries forth some key elements of prog as well – all at a level that's quite a surprise if you only know more iconic material of the time! The artists here aren't all British or European, but the sound within definitely showcases the way that later electronic experiments of the 70s were thinning down in the work of underground UK and German labels – and also showing the way that the instrumental excesses of the earlier part of the decade were being packed down into more economical packages, but all without losing any sense of freshness or experimentation! The set takes its title from a song on the last Bowie Berlin album – a great reference for the music – and titles include "Tight As A Drum" by Thomas Leer, "Silent Command" by Cabaret Voltaire, "Theme For Great Cities" by Simple Minds, "White Car In Germany" by The Associates, "Nite Flights" by The Walker Brothers, "3,000,000 Synths" by Chaz Jankel, "Nightcrawler" by Patrick Cowley, "Riot In Lagos" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Silicon Chip" by Basil Kirchin, "Ode To Perfume" by Holger Czukay, "Do Weit So Gut" by Harald Grosskopft, "The Farther Away I Am" by Daryl Hall (with Robert Fripp), and "Patriarcat" by Areski & Brigitte Fontaine. CD

Blast off into space with The Cramps – with plenty of firepower here in a collection of unusual space-themed and space-sounding tunes from the glory days of the postwar recording industry! Some of the tunes have the raw, raunchy vibe of other material in this great series of Lux & Ivy compilations on Righteous – but others have maybe a moodier, spacier feel – as the work is pulled from a variety of sources that include modern jazz, avant electronics, exotica records, and some great space age pop releases! There's occasional snippets of dialogue from old sci fi films, which helps link the tunes – and titles include "Deep Night" by Frank Comstock, "Skin Tight" by Basil Kirchin, "Perpetual Motion" by Moondog, "Winds Of Sirius" by Les Baxter, "Waltz In Orbit" by Ray Cathode, "Astronic" by Jimmie Kaskell, "Robot Man" by Jamie Horton, "Ghost Satellite" by Bob & Jerry, "The Moon" by Ron Goodwin, "Full Moon" by Eden Ahbez, "Shock Treatment" by The Invaders, and "Ignition" by Tom Dissevelt. CD

The new sound of the European scene at the end of the 70s – music that carries plenty of inspiration from post-punk modes, but which also carries forth some key elements of prog as well – all at a level that's quite a surprise if you only know more iconic material of the time! The artists here aren't all British or European, but the sound within definitely showcases the way that later electronic experiments of the 70s were thinning down in the work of underground UK and German labels – and also showing the way that the instrumental excesses of the earlier part of the decade were being packed down into more economical packages, but all without losing any sense of freshness or experimentation! The set takes its title from a song on the last Bowie Berlin album – a great reference for the music – and titles include "Tight As A Drum" by Thomas Leer, "Silent Command" by Cabaret Voltaire, "Theme For Great Cities" by Simple Minds, "White Car In Germany" by The Associates, "Nite Flights" by The Walker Brothers, "3,000,000 Synths" by Chaz Jankel, "Nightcrawler" by Patrick Cowley, "Riot In Lagos" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Silicon Chip" by Basil Kirchin, "Ode To Perfume" by Holger Czukay, "Do Weit So Gut" by Harald Grosskopft, "The Farther Away I Am" by Daryl Hall (with Robert Fripp), and "Patriarcat" by Areski & Brigitte Fontaine. LP, Vinyl record album