Nothing pop about this groovy little record – save, perhaps, for the fact that it's been sampled by a number of hip hoppers over the years – because the set's one of the greatest ever from the legendary Janko Nilovic – a real masterpiece of complex grooves and offbeat instrumentation! The album goes way past the usual sound library funk – as Janko brings in so many different sounds and styles throughout – using flute, tympani, oboe, 12 string guitar, and other unusual instruments with a very freewheeling set of grooves! The whole thing's great – a true tribute to the master at his best – and titles include "Atoma", "Trumpet Sketches", "Sacha Pacha", "Essai Pop Art", "Blow Down", "Psycho Sound", and "Ballet Dans L'Espace". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest albums ever from Janko Nilovic – a rare sound library session, but one that bristles with fantastic energy right from the start – and which maybe has a jazzier, fuller sense of sound that makes the whole thing feel more like an early 70s MPS label funk classic than you might expect! Janko's always great, but he really knocks it out of the park with this one – using driving percussion under larger arrangements that explode with color – on tunes that also resonate with some our favorite European funky film scores of the period too! The whole thing's fantastic – not a filler track at all – and titles include "Xenos Comos", "Giant Locomotion", "Black On A White Ground", "The Savage Rose" and "Mouvements Aquatiles". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the funkiest records ever cut by studio jazz genius Janko Nilovic! This set definitely earns the "soul" in the title – as Janko blends his usual mad mix of studio sounds with some heavier 70s elements – including a fair bit of fuzzy guitar, funky beats, and some nice horn fills. About half the tracks on the album benefit from this sort of approach – kind of a cross between blacksploitation soundtrack scoring and the tighter instrumental moods of work by The Duke of Burlington. The other half is more in Janko's usual bag – nicely groovy jazz numbers, some with a slinky 70s edge! Titles include "Hippocampus", "Open Country", "Crazy Enterprise", "Drug Song", "Soul Impressions", "Man Of Genius", "Push Push", and "Family Tree". LP, Vinyl record album

Not a record from America, but instead one of the standout gems from the legendary Montparnasse 2000 sound library series in the 70s – filled with funky grooves from the madman Janko Nilovic! The set's got Nilovic really working at his best – still quite jazzy at the core, but bringing in all these cool little twists and turns – including trumpet with wah wah effects, Fender Rhodes lines, and even some moog and wordless vocals – all used in a great blend of electric and acoustic elements to make for some very offbeat grooves! Very different from more straightforward sound library work – with titles that include "Gipsy Rock", "Samba Amigo", "Machine Gun", "Super America", "Mister Woua Woua", and "Blue Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

A really rare slice of work from the funky genius Janko Nilovic – not the sound library grooves which have gained him fame over the decades – but instead a batch of rare cuts from his own short-lived record label, which he formed in 1968 with soul singer Davy Jones! Nilovic and Jones wrote all the tunes on the set, and they're presented by a variety of different artists – but have a unified feel that certainly comes from the strong instrumentation provided by Janko! The tunes are in a mix of mod 60s styles – some soul, some Hammond-heavy groovers, and some with a more expansive vibe that's almost a psychedelic take on the spirit of French pop during the period. The set features every a and b-side of the six singles issued by the label – plus four more bonus remixes – and titles include "Voodoo Juju Obsession (parts 1 & 2)" by K Ptyacunthapuserectus, "Lover's Summer Song" and "Moon Man" by Bobby Cannon, "Restless Gringo" and "The Lost & The Lonely" by Spiritus M, "Groovy Kinda Samba" and "The Juju Is The Thing" by Abra K Dabra, "Treasure Lee" and "Voodoo Juju" by Killer Steen, and "Tinka Bell" and "There's A Little Old Lady" by Tinka Bell. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest projects ever from funky sound library genius Janko Nilovic – and one of his most-sampled records too! The albums maybe even more offbeat than some of Janko's previous projects – as it features a studio group, named Mad Unity, with a very heavy lineup of keyboards next to some tight bass, drums, percussion, and even a bit of trumpet! There's maybe a bit more unity to the record, given the ensemble instrumental approach – and there's female singers at a few spots, who deepen the soulful vibe of the set. The real appeal, though, is Janko's mad keyboards – which almost hit Marc Moulin/Placebo level, in the way that they can bring all these weird spacey touches to the grooves. Titles include "Funky Tramway", "Flemish Suite", "Sitting Bull", "Gipsy Funk", "Atomium 82", "Disconnected Song", "Little Butcher's Street", "Fish Market", and "Underground Party". LP, Vinyl record album

Cosmos Giants, served up by some funky giants too – a tight trio that features legendary sound library wizard Janko Nilovic, JJ Whitfield of the Poets Of Rhythm (and many other projects too), and Igor Zhukovsky of the Soul Surfers too – all united as a funky supergroup for this fantastic sert of instrumental grooves! Janko plays keyboards and Fender Rhodes, Igor plays drums and percussion, and JJ handles guitar, bass, and keyboards – all in a mad mix of grooves that also features a bit of guest bansuri from Goncalo Mortagua! The music is a funky focus of the energy of all three artists, while also coming up with something new, and slightly exotic too – on titles that include "Location", "Wind From Mount Everest", "Inner Space", "Starfall", "Lost Temple", "Night Dreams", "Etheor", and "Stuck In The Void". LP, Vinyl record album

A really rare slice of work from the funky genius Janko Nilovic – not the sound library grooves which have gained him fame over the decades – but instead a batch of rare cuts from his own short-lived record label, which he formed in 1968 with soul singer Davy Jones! Nilovic and Jones wrote all the tunes on the set, and they're presented by a variety of different artists – but have a unified feel that certainly comes from the strong instrumentation provided by Janko! The tunes are in a mix of mod 60s styles – some soul, some Hammond-heavy groovers, and some with a more expansive vibe that's almost a psychedelic take on the spirit of French pop during the period. The set features every a and b-side of the six singles issued by the label – plus four more bonus remixes – and titles include "Voodoo Juju Obsession (parts 1 & 2)" by K Ptyacunthapuserectus, "Lover's Summer Song" and "Moon Man" by Bobby Cannon, "Restless Gringo" and "The Lost & The Lonely" by Spiritus M, "Groovy Kinda Samba" and "The Juju Is The Thing" by Abra K Dabra, "Treasure Lee" and "Voodoo Juju" by Killer Steen, and "Tinka Bell" and "There's A Little Old Lady" by Tinka Bell. LP, Vinyl record album

A great pairing of funky talents old and new – 70s sound library legend Janko Nilovic on keyboards, and the totally hip Soul Surfers combo on rhythms – providing these great backdrops for some surprisingly wonderful work on organ, piano, and Rhodes from Janko! We'll confess, we didn't know what to expect – we love Janko's old records, but we're sure about recent material – but the album's a killer, and has all the sharp sense of rhythm and flair for the unusual electric bit that made the classic material so wonderful! The set was recorded in both Paris and Novgorod – and titles include "Sweet Path", "Maze Of Sounds", "It Never Ends", "Say It Softly", "Prelude", and "Wavy". LP, Vinyl record album

Great grooves galore – a sweet selection of tracks from the late 60s onwards, none of which were made available to the public at the time! The French Tele Music company was one of those secret sound library labels – recording top shelf tracks during the 70s, but then only passing them along to TV, radio, and film producers – for possible use in later projects! This meant that there was a rich array of wonderful sounds that never made it to records that the public could buy in stores – and the result is a collection like this, which is overflowing with killer grooves that you're not likely to have in your record collection at all. Styles range from funky jazz to clubby grooves, with plenty of soundtrack-styled funk numbers in the mix – and titles include "Gang Train" by Bernard Estardy, "West Coast Drive" by Pierre Alain Dahan & Mat Camison, "Mitsuko" by Jean Jacques Debout, "Percussionissimo" by Hervey Roy, "Suspense Time" by Michel Gonet, "Meteor One" by Sauveur Mallia, "Pop Percussions" by Janko Nilovic, "Rocket 2" by Bernard Lubat, and "Les Copans De La Basse" by Guy Pedersen. 26 tracks in all – selected by Lord Funk & DJ LC! LP, Vinyl record album

A treasure trove of rare and unissued soundtrack gems from the French scene of the 70s – work from some of the best composers at the time, but most of which we'd never heard before! There's a great current of funk running through this music – but in ways that are more complex and subtle than all-out action material – really showing that great French film love of a gentle melody, while also using basslines and occasional beats to make things groove in a great way! The production modes here are fantastic – mindblowing modes that do a lot of weird things with the instrumentation – on titles that include "Theme De Simon" by Francis Lai, "Le Dernier Des Mauvais Jours" by Christophe, "The Organization" by Gilbert Becaud & Christian Gaubert, "La Vie Sentimentale" by Alain Gouraguer, "Mouvements Aquatiles" by Janko Nilovic, "L'Agonie (inst)" by Jacky Chalard & Gilbert Deflez, "Menuet Spatial" by Vladimir Cosma, "Sweet Mary" by Andre Popp, and "Prophets (inst)" by Michel Magne. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic look at the European sound library scene of the 60s and 70s – one that goes way past some of the simpler cover art books that have been around over the years – to offer up details on individual labels, histories of the music, and a great look at key musicians as well! Don't get us wrong, there's plenty of album covers here too – the book is heavy, with full color pages throughout – but author David Hollander really takes his subject matter seriously, and does a great job of providing historical detail on many important sound libraries big and small – including KPM, Conroy, Peer, Amphonic, Montparnasse 2000, Flipper, Cam, Omicron, Sonoton, and many more. In case you're not hip – sound libraries were companies that had their own studios, and let musicians make music on their own – which they would often then lease for use in films, TV, and commercials. Overseas, the libraries were filled with jazz, funk, and soundtrack musicians – which meant that the music was always unusual and surprisingly creative, even if it wasn't issued on commercial records. The book features bits on Klaus Weiss, Delia Derbyshire, Janko Nilovic, Jean Jacques Perry, Piero Umiliani, Daniela Casa, Keith Mansfield, Alan Hawkshaw, Madeline Bell, Alan Tew, Sven Libaek, and many other sound library artists – finally giving them their due! Over 300 pages, with lots of images throughout – including some great TV and cinema references too. Book