Mos Def's landmark late 90s solo debut – a rock solid classic that stands up today as one of the best hip hop albums of its decade – and for all the dizzying creative highs and lows of his career to follow, it stands strongly among his best work ever. His preceding duo work with Talib Kweli as Black Star set a pretty high bar creatively, and stunningly, Mos manages to clear it. It's all the more impressive given the stylistic diversity, ranging from bed rock boom bap, to leftfield funk, to Bad Brains-inspired punk. Incredible stuff. Tracks include "Ms Fat Booty", "Hip Hop", "Know That" featuring Talib Kweli, "Mr Ni**a" featuring Q-Tip, "Mathematics", "Brooklyn", "Umi Says", "Do It Now" featuring Busta Rhymes, "Fear Not Of Man", "Habitat", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The first full-length from Mos Def and Talib Kweli together as Black Star – a benchmark moment in hip hop history, and one of the finest duo vocal hip hip records of the 90s – and one of the best ever on Rawkus! In hindsight, it's all the more rewarding given Talib Kweli's longevity in proud, mic skills centric hip hop and while highs and lows of Mos Def's work as the years rolled along – and it still stands as strong (then) underground hip hop that takes on the commercial leaning themes of the day and well beyond. Stand out cuts include "Definition" "Twice Inna Lifetime", "Children's Story", "Respiration" featuring Common Sense – and other tracks include "Brown Skin Lady", "Yo Yeah", "Thieves In The Night" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The first full-length from Mos Def and Talib Kweli together as Black Star – a benchmark moment in hip hop history, and one of the finest duo vocal hip hip records of the 90s – and one of the best ever on Rawkus! In hindsight, it's all the more rewarding given Talib Kweli's longevity in proud, mic skills centric hip hop and while highs and lows of Mos Def's work as the years rolled along – and it still stands as strong (then) underground hip hop that takes on the ghetto fabulous themes of the day and well beyond. Stand out cuts include "Definition" "Twice Inna Lifetime", "Children's Story" – the Slick Rick classic redone along the lines of Jeru's "One Day" – and "Respiration" featuring Common Sense – and other tracks include "Brown Skin Lady", "Yo Yeah", "Thieves In The Night", "Twice Inna Lifetime and more. 13 in all. LP, Vinyl record album

The first full-length from Mos Def and Talib Kweli together as Black Star – a benchmark moment in hip hop history, and one of the finest duo vocal hip hip records of the 90s – and one of the best ever on Rawkus! In hindsight, it's all the more rewarding given Talib Kweli's longevity in proud, mic skills centric hip hop and while highs and lows of Mos Def's work as the years rolled along – and it still stands as strong (then) underground hip hop that takes on the ghetto fabulous themes of the day and well beyond. Stand out cuts include "Definition" "Twice Inna Lifetime", "Children's Story" – the Slick Rick classic redone along the lines of Jeru's "One Day" – and "Respiration" featuring Common Sense – and other tracks include "Brown Skin Lady", "Yo Yeah", "Thieves In The Night", "Twice Inna Lifetime and more. 13 in all. LP, Vinyl record album

The return of Mr Mef & Funk Doc – 10 years on from the original Blackout LP – and it's a solid duo hip hop LP the likes of which we don't hear nearly enough of in the late 00s! It seems like Blackout! 2 has been in the works almost since the first LP had run its course, but if you haven't been on pins & needles in anticipation, their expert lyrical chemistry should glide you back into it pretty easily. Erick Sermon is back in as producer, as well as Pete Rock, Mathematics, Rockwilder and others – with some mid school love without going throwback, and it's great to hear this duo back in fine form on record. Titles include "I'm A Dope N**a", the tight single "A-Yo" feat Saukrates, "Dangerous Emcees", "Hey Zulu", "City Lights" feat Bun B, "Mrs International" feat Erick Sermon, "Four Minutes To Lockdown" feat Raekwon & Ghostface, "A Lil Bit" feat Malanie Rutherford, and more. CD

A full length collabo from Nas & Damien "Jr Gong" Marley – who've worked together in the past on a track two – and overall it's a win that goes well beyond simple hip hop/dancehall fusion! The duo samples Mulatu, collaborate with K'Naan , Dennis Brown, Stephen Marley and others, and bring global dramatic sweep and and timeless funk to Distant Relatives that ends up working better as an eclectic whole than you may have suspected! Titles include "As We Enter", "Tribes At War" feat K'Naan, "Strong Will Continue", "Leaders" feat Stephen Marley, "Count Your Blessings", "Nah Mean", "Patience", "Africa Must Wake Up" feat K'Naan and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The massive third album from Run DMC – a set that was done at a time when the duo were totally at the top of their game – and broke out big to a much wider audience than the usual hip hop crowd! Part of the album's strength is its guitar-heavy sound on some of the grooves – produced by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons with a classic early Def Jam vibe, in the same manner that helped the Beastie Boys get their records in the hands of folks who'd never buy hip hop otherwise! And that sound comes to culmination on the album's hit collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of "Walk This Way". But apart from that rocker, most of the rest of the set also shows an increased complexity in both the lyricism of the pair, and the way Jam Master Jay serves up their beats – which makes for a stone classic all the way through, on tracks that include "Peter Piper", "It's Tricky", "My Adidas", "Proud To Be Black", "You Be Illin'", and "Walk This Way". Bonus tracks on this expanded edition include "My Adidas (acapella)", "Walk This Way (demo)", "Lord Of Lyrics (demo)", "Raising Hell Radio Tour Spot" and "Live At The Apollo Raw Vocal Commercial". CD

The massive third album from Run DMC – a set that was done at a time when the duo were totally at the top of their game – and broke out big to a much wider audience than the usual hip hop crowd! Part of the album's strength is its guitar-heavy sound on some of the grooves – produced by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons with a classic early Def Jam vibe, in the same manner that helped the Beastie Boys get their records in the hands of folks who'd never buy hip hop otherwise! And that sound comes to culmination on the album's hit collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of "Walk This Way". But apart from that rocker, most of the rest of the set also shows an increased complexity in both the lyricism of the pair, and the way Jam Master Jay serves up their beats – which makes for a stone classic all the way through, on tracks that include "Peter Piper", "It's Tricky", "My Adidas", "Proud To Be Black", "You Be Illin'", and "Walk This Way". Bonus tracks on this expanded edition include "My Adidas (acapella)", "Walk This Way (demo)", "Lord Of Lyrics (demo)", "Raising Hell Radio Tour Spot" and "Live At The Apollo Raw Vocal Commercial". CD

Roger Troutman gets the front cover and Booker T Jones is on the back – Issue #35 of the funk & soul crate diggers bible Wax Poetics! Wax Poetics is far and away the brightest beacon of publications covering jazz, funk, soul & hip hop and the dusty wax that holds it – equally focusing on rare, classics, and new leaders of the grooves – and this issue has long features on the cover artists, plus Willie & The Bumblebees, The Joe Cuba Sextet and others in the always excellent Re:Discovery section, UK funk duo Broken Keys, the Shaolin Soul of the El Michels Affair, benchmark hip hop gamer Lord Finesse, EZ Mike Simpson of the Dust Brothers, heavy rhyme maestro Def Jef and much much more – filled with vintage rare photos of all parties that tell the story, on top of the exceptional writing and interview skills of team Wax Poetics! Magazine

A great duet – Warren Smith on drums and Japanese reedman Hidefumi Toki on alto and soprano sax – just playing two long spare tracks on this direct-to-disc recording! Plays at 45rpm! LP, Vinyl record album

Club classics and a whole lot more – a massive package of work that contains most of the biggest Chic cuts from the glory days of the group, plus some surprisingly nice bits from later years too! All production here is by the team of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers – that groove-heavy duo who came up with lots of great rhythms and choppy guitar. 2CD set features 30 tracks in all – titles that include "Le Freak", "Savoir Faire", "Chic Cheer", "Dance Dance Dance", "Everybody Dance", "Good Times", "My Forbidden Lover", "What About Me", "My Feet Keep Dancing", "Chip Off The Old Block", "Rebels Are We", "Real People", "26", "Stage Fright", "Just Out Of Reach", "When You Love Someone", "Hangin", "Soup For One", "Your Love Is Cancelled", "Flash Back", "Chic Mystique", and "Your Love". CD

Hard to believe this is the fifth project together between Curren$y and Harry Fraud – and definitely a standalone project, despite what you might guess from the title! The album was originally supposed to be a deluxe take on Outrunners, but the duo are so quickly collaborative, they ended up creating a whole new work in the process – often with the kind of cool crispness of the previous record, but with fresh material throughout – and guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Trippie Redd, Styles P, and Larry Lune. Titles include "White Ashes", "Work Too Hard", "Vintage Haze", "180 Days", "Quicksand", "Kitt", "New On Mute", and "The Crow's Nest". CD

That's a cheesy 80s action shot on the cover, and the music within really carries through on that promise – from the starting cut "Black Inferno", which is a very groovy clubby sort of cut – to the more stark, keyboard-driven grooves from the brothers DeAngelis! The duo did plenty of great cop/crime work in the 70s – and hear they follow the more lean styles of their contemporaries in the early 80s – using lots of keyboards, basslines, and drum machine bits to make most of the music – kind of a John Carpenter mode, but a bit fuller and more groovy – definitely in keeping with the duo's legacy! There's two versions of "Black Inferno", one nice and long – plus 24 more instrumentals from the film. CD

That's a cheesy 80s action shot on the cover, and the music within really carries through on that promise – from the starting cut "Black Inferno", which is a very groovy clubby sort of cut – to the more stark, keyboard-driven grooves from the brothers DeAngelis! The duo did plenty of great cop/crime work in the 70s – and hear they follow the more lean styles of their contemporaries in the early 80s – using lots of keyboards, basslines, and drum machine bits to make most of the music – kind of a John Carpenter mode, but a bit fuller and more groovy – definitely in keeping with the duo's legacy! There's two versions of "Black Inferno", one nice and long – plus 24 more instrumentals from the film. LP, Vinyl record album

Lean later work from Philippe Doray and his anti-social associates – material that draws heavily on some of the cold wave electronics of the early part of the 80s, and which also has some of the playful presence of the German new wave too! The music is definitely out of time – very different than anything recorded in the French mainstream of the mid-80s – and delivered with a style that clearly knows the darker reaches of the sonic spectrum, but which never lingers there too long. Doray handles a variety of keyboards and synth, and since both straight and with a vocoder – alongside contributions from others on guitars, keyboards, saxes, and flute. Titles include "Flash Back", "Le Petit Geant", "Aurora Day (edit)", "Choc D'Amour", "Le Composant Compositeur", and "Secoue Le Flipeur". LP, Vinyl record album

Two albums from the duo of Neil Larsen & Buzz Feiten – back to back in a single set! First up is the self-titled Larsen Feiten Band – a fantastic bit of AOR – served up here by two musicians with a background in jazz, and a great way of harmonizing their vocals together! Larsen is Neil Larsen, who plays keyboards and sings – and Feiten is Buzz Feiten – guitarist and musical partner who helps make Neil sound even tighter and groovier here than on his solo records! The duo work with a core quintet, plus some added horn arrangements – in a style that's definitely in the hipper side of the AOR spectrum, which yields up plenty of rewarding listening all these many years later. Titles include "She's Not In Love", "Aztec Legend", "Make It", "Morning Star", "Over", "Danger Zone", and "Who'll Be The Fool Tonight". On Full Moon, the duo of Neil Larsen and Buzz Feiten sound mighty nice – Buzz on guitars and vocals, Neil on keyboards – stepping out with some added horns, tight arrangements, and a groove that takes the 70s AOR ethos into great territory for the 80s! The record's almost more of the sort you'd expect to hear in 1977 – no tinny production, no shift to drum machines for the rhythms – just rock-solid instrumentation from a really great group, tight songwriting, and catchy tunes that include "Twilight Moon", "Little Cowboys", "Standing In Line", "Hero's Welcome", "The Visitor", and "Phantom Of The Footlights". CD

The complete recordings of sessions that led to one of the greatest Sonny Rollins records ever – and a genre-defining record that really introduced the world to the concept of a tenor saxophone trio! Rollins is incredible here – really at his best and most adventurous, and almost light years ahead of his work from just a few short years before – working just with the drums of Elvin Jones and bass of Wilbur Ware for accompaniment – as he spins out these long solos that are full of all sorts of sharp modern edges! The lack of piano really makes for something different and fresh in the music – and with this record, Rollins created a format that so many others would take up in years to come. Note that the record also features a small bit of work with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – an equally great rhythm duo! This package features all the material recorded for the Village Vanguard album, plus lots more unissued at the time – titles that include "Night In Tunisia", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "Old Devil Moon", "Striver's Row", "Get Happy", "Four", "Woody N You", "All The Things You Are", "I Can't Get Started", and "I've Got You Under My Skin" – some in more than one version! LP, Vinyl record album

The complete recordings of sessions that led to one of the greatest Sonny Rollins records ever – and a genre-defining record that really introduced the world to the concept of a tenor saxophone trio! Rollins is incredible here – really at his best and most adventurous, and almost light years ahead of his work from just a few short years before – working just with the drums of Elvin Jones and bass of Wilbur Ware for accompaniment – as he spins out these long solos that are full of all sorts of sharp modern edges! The lack of piano really makes for something different and fresh in the music – and with this record, Rollins created a format that so many others would take up in years to come. Note that the record also features a small bit of work with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – an equally great rhythm duo! This package features all the material recorded for the Village Vanguard album, plus lots more unissued at the time – titles that include "Night In Tunisia", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "Old Devil Moon", "Striver's Row", "Get Happy", "Four", "Woody N You", "All The Things You Are", "I Can't Get Started", and "I've Got You Under My Skin" – some in more than one version! CD

A set that's not entirely funky, but maybe not that far off either – as the whole thing features unreleased material that was recorded by Zappa in the studio after Hot Rats – including some nicely jamming cuts that really have the group letting loose in maybe a more spontaneous, organic sort of way! All that Zappa sharpness is still present in the instrumentation, but things are maybe a bit more soulful – which seems a strange word to use, but definitely fits at times – as the hip group features performances from Sugarcane Harris, as well as drums from Aynsley Dunbar! Titles include "Basement Jam", "I'm A Rollin Stone", "Tommy/Vincent Duo 1", "Funky Nothingness", "Work With Me Annie/Annie Had A Baby", "Khaki Sack", "Twinkle Tits", "Chunga's Revenge (basement version)", and "Tommy/Vincent Duo 2". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's not entirely funky, but maybe not that far off either – as the whole thing features unreleased material that was recorded by Zappa in the studio after Hot Rats – including some nicely jamming cuts that really have the group letting loose in maybe a more spontaneous, organic sort of way! All that Zappa sharpness is still present in the instrumentation, but things are maybe a bit more soulful – which seems a strange word to use, but definitely fits at times – as the hip group features performances from Sugarcane Harris, as well as drums from Aynsley Dunbar! Titles include "Basement Jam", "I'm A Rollin Stone", "Tommy/Vincent Duo 1", "Funky Nothingness", "Work With Me Annie/Annie Had A Baby", "Khaki Sack", "Twinkle Tits", "Chunga's Revenge (basement version)", and "Tommy/Vincent Duo 2". 3CD set is overflowing with great material – CDs 2 and 3 feature session masters and bonus tracks from the Zappa/Hot Rats 70 recordings – 14 more rare tracks! CD

An assortment of collaborative improvisations – Duck Baker on guitar, and a range of top-flight musicians on the variety of different selections – work recorded over the past few decades, in spaces that includes clubs, homes, and studios around the world! Baker has always been a very versatile player – his albums always have such a different feel, it's often hard to say that there's one sort of style that defines his playing. And that versatility really shows up here – as you'll hear Duck in a series of duets with Michael Moore on alto, Mark Dresser on bass, Derek Bailey on guitar, Steve Beresford on piano, John Butcher on tenor, and Roswell Rudd on trombone – plus a trio with Alex Ward on clarinet and Joe Williamson on bass – and a quartet with Ward on clarinet, John Edwards on bass, and Steve Noble on drums. Titles include "Indie Pen Dance", "Duo For 225 Strings", "Pope Slark", "Signing Off", "The Missing Chandler", and "East River Delta Blues". CD

One of the most unusual projects we've ever heard from the legendary Joao Donato – not the bossa jazz of his roots, but instead a fresh new groove created with his son Donatinho! The music is heavy on keyboards, and definitely has the 80s vibe promised by the cover – with the younger member of the duo handling keyboards from that generation, and singing with a bit of electric crackle in his voice – while the older Donato brings in all his classic charms, and creates a great sense of counterpoint in the process! The whole thing's nicely funky – sweet 80s electro overall – but Joao's presence also gives the whole thing a lot more depth, and it's clear from their duo moments that the pair really have a lot of warmth in their hearts for each other. Titles include a remake of "Quem E Quem", plus "Luz Negra", "Clima De Paquera", "De Toda Maneira", "Lei Do Amor", "Interstellar", and "Vamos Sair A Francesca". CD

That's a mess of vintage analog electronics on the cover, and there's plenty of that inside the record as well – as Eleven76 come across with all sorts of cool classic 70s styles that move between soundtrack funk and some leaner, more cosmic cuts for the clubs! The album's definitely trying to evoke a classic sound library style – but as with some of the hipper European electronic artists back in the day, these guys also have their ears tuned towards crossover fame in a world where moogy electronics can get some spins in the discos – a blend that makes for a mighty wonderful little album that definitely lives up to the promise of its cover! Titles include "Duosynchronic", "Canyon Chase", "Wolf At The Door", "Knock Out", "Minister", "Step Off The Ledge", and "Kreuzer Weight". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest Sonny Rollins records ever – and a genre-defining record that really introduced the world to the concept of a tenor saxophone trio! Rollins is incredible here – really at his best and most adventurous, and almost light years ahead of his work from just a few short years before – working just with the drums of Elvin Jones and bass of Wilbur Ware for accompaniment – as he spins out these long solos that are full of all sorts of sharp modern edges! The lack of piano really makes for something different and fresh in the music – and with this record, Rollins created a format that so many others would take up in years to come. Titles include "Softly As In A Morning Sunset", "Sonny Moon For Two", and "Striver's Row". Note that the record also features a small bit of work with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – an equally great rhythm duo! CD

A really fantastic showcase for the Chicago-raised Otis Spann – a musician who'd already had plenty of recordings under his belt by the time of this session, but definitely gets a different sort of exposure here – thanks to the unique presentation of the Candid Records label! Candid mostly recorded modern jazz, and had a very open ear to getting the best out of their musicians – which they definitely do here with Spann's piano, set up in spare duo formation next to the guitar of the equally great and important Robert Lockwood. Both players sing on the record, alternating vocals from track to track in a set of all-original material – with titles that include "Worried Life Blues", "Great Northern Stomp", "Otis In The Dark", "The Hard Way", "Take A Little Walk With Me", and "Beat Up Team". LP, Vinyl record album

There's nothing drone-like about this album at all – as the set's a soaring bit of space rock from the French scene of the 70s – served up with lots of keyboards and electronics from leader Jean Philippe Goude, who uses a variety of different musicians and instruments from track to track! The set's one of those cool French records that offered up a way to compress some of the excesses of prog in the second half of the 70s, but all without losing the best energy either – shorter tracks that still manage to journey to the stars – sometimes with vocals, but which are always secondary to the deft instrumentation of the tunes. The whole thing's a beautiful lost treasure, ever issued in the US – with titles that include "Les Saturnales", "Sicilienne", "Machine", "Coma", "Duo", "Cantiliene", "Dies Irae", and Tintinnabulum". CD includes a bonus track: "Trio De Mini-Moogs". CD

The complete recordings of sessions that led to one of the greatest Sonny Rollins records ever – and a genre-defining record that really introduced the world to the concept of a tenor saxophone trio! Rollins is incredible here – really at his best and most adventurous, and almost light years ahead of his work from just a few short years before – working just with the drums of Elvin Jones and bass of Wilbur Ware for accompaniment – as he spins out these long solos that are full of all sorts of sharp modern edges! The lack of piano really makes for something different and fresh in the music – and with this record, Rollins created a format that so many others would take up in years to come. Note that the record also features a small bit of work with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – an equally great rhythm duo! This package features all the material recorded for the Village Vanguard album, plus lots more unissued at the time – titles that include "Night In Tunisia", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "Old Devil Moon", "Striver's Row", "Get Happy", "Four", "Woody N You", "All The Things You Are", "I Can't Get Started", and "I've Got You Under My Skin" – some in more than one version! CD

One of the greatest Sonny Rollins records ever – and a genre-defining record that really introduced the world to the concept of a tenor saxophone trio! Rollins is incredible here – really at his best and most adventurous, and almost light years ahead of his work from just a few short years before – working just with the drums of Elvin Jones and bass of Wilbur Ware for accompaniment – as he spins out these long solos that are full of all sorts of sharp modern edges! The lack of piano really makes for something different and fresh in the music – and with this record, Rollins created a format that so many others would take up in years to come. Note that the record also features a small bit of work with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – an equally great rhythm duo! Titles on this second volume include "Night In Tunisia", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (alt)", and "What Is This Thing Called Love". CD

A fantastic CD collection – one that brings together all five volumes of Stereolab's Switched On albums in one set – a huge collection of unusual material and rare singles! On the original Switched On record, moog, fuzz, and farfisa have never sounded so great together – and although these guys drank deep of the well of 60s pop magic before making this modern-day classic – they also come off sounding pretty darn original on their own! When this gem of a record first hit the world, it was as if all of us were hearing music from the cosmos for years, but could never find a way to make it part of our everyday lives. Then along come Tim Gane, Laetitia Sadier, and crew – and completely change the world for the better! An album that no home should be without – with titles that include "Contact", "Super-Electric", "Doubt", "Brittle", "Au Grand Jour", "The Way Will Be Opening", and "Changer". Refried Ectoplasm is the second in the holy trinity of "switched on" albums from Stereolab – a set that collects together all the unusual recordings and other side bits the group were doing in the early years of their career – standing strong as a testament to their non-stop efforts to forever push the boundaries of electric fuzzy pop! The vocals Laetitia Sadier are completely sublime – almost a bridge between the darker modes of the previous pop generation and all the new ideas of the world to come – when the rest of rock music would finally catch up to these guys, and realize that the best path to the future is through the past! Titles include "Farfisa", "John Cage Bubblegum", "Tempter", "Exploding Head Movie", "French Disko", "Harmonium", "Revox", "Mountain", and "Sadistic". By the time of Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Vol 3) – it had only been a few years since the previous Switched On set, but Stereolab had already created so much musical magic, they needed a double-length record to keep the whole thing intact! The sound here is somehow getting even more dreamy and wonderful – definitely showing their work with the mighty Sean O'Hagan, and also really opening up into all the many musical ideas that Tim Gane was picking up from his never-ending search for unusual records! The 60s swirl through time and space, and make the future sound even better than we could have imagined it – while the Channel is drained, and England and France become one in a genius marriage of pure pop modes. Titles include "The Extension Trip", "How To Play Your Internal Organs Overnight", "Space Moment", "Iron Man", "The Long Hair Of Death", "One Note Samba/Surfboard", "Percolations", "1000 Miles An Hour", "Klang Tone", and a great take on the theme to "Get Carter". Switched On 4 is full of fantastic sounds from Stereolab – an assortment of rare singles and other unusual recordings that were mostly issued on their own Duophonic label, and which are far more obscure than their bigger label albums during the same period! Even though Stereolab gave the world some undeniable classics in the late 90s and early 00s, they were also working endlessly, and seemed to record more than they could ever fit on a full length set – which resulted in all the cool singles, limited releases, and other material included here – not dusty tapes pulled from the archives, but beautiful work that often returns the group to all the space age charms of their first few records! The package is huge – 25 tracks in all, of varying length – and titles include "Barok Plastik", "Calimero", "Fried Monkey Eggs (voc)", "Solar Throw Away", "Variation One", "Monkey Jelly", "Explosante Fixe", "Jump Drive Shut Out", "The Super-It", "L'Exotisme Interieur", "Pandora's Box Of Worms", "Retrograde Mirror Form", "Nomus E Phusis", "I Feel The Air Of Another Planet", "Outer Bongolia", and "Intervals". Includes tracks from Duophonic 45s, Underground Is Coming EP, Moog, First Of The Microbe Hunters, and work from compilations, unreleased tracks, and even a collaboration with Brigitte Fontaine! Switched On 5 is maybe the coolest entry so far in this really wonderful series – a set that's overflowing with rare and unusual work from Stereolab – most of it done at a time when the group were riding high on a major label, but still managed to issued a huge amount of music on their own, and work in a variety of collaborative settings too! One of our favorite is their work with Nurse With Wound, and tracks from that partnership begin this set – which then moves into rare singles, work with artists, compilation contributions, and plenty more – all with the usual Stereolab charm, but often with a nicely different vibe too! Titles include "Simple Headphone Mind", "Symbolic Logic Of Now", "Magne Music", "Forensic Itch", "Spool Of Collusion", "Robot Riot", "Trippin With The Birds", "Cybele's Reverie (live)", "Nth Degrees, "Refractions In The Plastic Pulse (Autechre Feebate mix)", and "Plastic Mile (original version)". CD