Brotzmann and rhythm section return with a live-in-the-studio recording. CD

... CD

Never-issued material from the legendary Pop Group – some of it intended for a second album, and produced by Dennis Bovell and the group together! Titles include "Don't Call Me Pain (first mix)", "Words Disobey Me (Dennis The Menace mix)", "We Are Time (ricochet)", "Snowgirl (take 3)", "Boys From Brazil (ridge reel 4)", "Thief Of Fire (bass addict)", "Don't Sell Your Dreams (a mix)", "Kiss The Baak", and "Blood Money (st)". LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued live set from this fantastic band – appearing here on vinyl for the first time ever! Mark Stewart and crew are every bit as raw and biting in a concert setting as in the studio – and the set's amazing in the way it conveys the strength of their sound, but without some of the studio touches that they used at the time. Titles include "Thief Of Fire", "Savage Sea", "Don't Call Me Pain", "Boys From Brazil", "Words Disobey Me", "We Are Time", and "Snowgirl". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A great introduction to the work of Telex – the very groovy Euro pop group started by keyboardist Marc Moulin after his early work in Placebo! The sound here is very different than that group – very catchy, very poppy, and upbeat with a ear towards helping the continental scene live past the years of disco – so much so that the electronic vibe of the set is also arguably a very strong influence on UK and Japanese electronic pop in years to come! Telex were always smarter than most, and had a great sense of humor and a way of sneaking politics into catchy little songs – as you'll hear on titles that include "Beautiful Li(f)e", "The Number One Song In Heaven", "The Beat Goes On/Off", "Moskow Diskow", "Eurovision", "Exercise Is Good For You", and "L'Amour Toujours". CD

A great introduction to the work of Telex – the very groovy Euro pop group started by keyboardist Marc Moulin after his early work in Placebo! The sound here is very different than that group – very catchy, very poppy, and upbeat with a ear towards helping the continental scene live past the years of disco – so much so that the electronic vibe of the set is also arguably a very strong influence on UK and Japanese electronic pop in years to come! Telex were always smarter than most, and had a great sense of humor and a way of sneaking politics into catchy little songs – as you'll hear on titles that include "Beautiful Li(f)e", "The Number One Song In Heaven", "The Beat Goes On/Off", "Moskow Diskow", "Eurovision", "Exercise Is Good For You", and "L'Amour Toujours". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Some very nice Kraftwerk covers on here. CD

A great addition to the 70s catalog of the legendary Can – a set of live recordings made in Stuttgart in 1975, all of which have the group working in this wonderfully long-jamming style! Tracks are long, and maybe even more proggy than the group's studio work of the time – an all-instrumental onslaught driven by the incredible drums of Jaki Leibezeit, with guitars from Michael Karoli, bass from Holger Czukay, and keyboards and electronics from Irmin Schmidt! Schmidt himself oversaw the entire release – and the way the tracks are put together is revelatory – a long-overdue look at the power the group had to offer in a concert setting – every bit as wonderful as their classic albums, but in a completely different way. CD

A great addition to the 70s catalog of the legendary Can – a set of live recordings made in Stuttgart in 1975, all of which have the group working in this wonderfully long-jamming style! Tracks are long, and maybe even more proggy than the group's studio work of the time – an all-instrumental onslaught driven by the incredible drums of Jaki Leibezeit, with guitars from Michael Karoli, bass from Holger Czukay, and keyboards and electronics from Irmin Schmidt! Schmidt himself oversaw the entire release – and the way the tracks are put together is revelatory – a long-overdue look at the power the group had to offer in a concert setting – every bit as wonderful as their classic albums, but in a completely different way. LP, Vinyl record album

A mindblowing classic from Can – a set that has the group just getting better with each new record – to a point where it's the early 70s, and they're already in territory that's completely their own! The set features long tracks that spin out beautifully – driven that that rhythmic drive that the group always had at their best – so different than some of their contemporaries who might have gotten stuck in a sonic corner and never found their way out – while Can was bursting forth with energy and imagination that has kept them still sounding amazing as the decades move on! The set's the last one with the mighty Damo Suzuki, but fortunately not the last with the incredible drums of Jaki Leibezeit – and titles include the 19 minute jam of "Bel Air" – plus "Future Days", "Spray", and "Moonshake". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Music from Oval, Brian Eno, Barbara Morgenstern, Throbbing Gristle, Raymond Scott, Autechre, New Order, Faust, NON, D, Bruce Haack, and more. CD

Heady, hypnotic, ominous, and hard-grooving early Can – a lost set that was recorded in the late 60s, but not actually released until the early 80s – and some of the earliest, brawniest Can jams from the Malcolm Mooney years! The record may not have the name-checking power as the other early Can albums, but it's still completely revelatory – and virtually the blueprint for the prog rock generation to come! Rhythms are driving and hypnotic (thanks, Jaki Liebezeit!) – and titles include "Butterfly", "PNOOM", "Nineteen Century Man", "Thief", "Man Named Joe", "Uphill" and "Little Star Of Bethlehem". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Do You Love Me", "Nobody's Baby Now", "I Let Love In", "Thirsty Dog", "Red Right Hand", "Jangling Jack", and "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore". CD

A seminal punk-funk classic from the end of the 70s – one that's as brilliantly abrasive and brashly fresh today as it was when it was released! The group are working here in equal parts dub, funk, and lots of scratchy guitars and heady bass – with a style that would later be picked up more strongly by On-U in the 80s, but which is executed here with a much clearer vision that's free of any of the cliches that would later overcome the genre. Even the politics are surprisingly pointed – and Paul Stewart's vocalizations of most of the tunes is really dead on the money! Titles include "Thief Of Fire", "Snowgirl", "Blood Money", "We Are Time", "Don't Sell Your Dreams", "Words Disobey Me", and "Don't Call Me Pain". CD2 features lots of bonus tracks – some from an unreleased album – including "She Is Beyond Good & Evil", "Kiss The Book", "Thief Of Fire (bass addict)", "Words Disobey Me (Dennis the Menace mix)", "Don't Sell Your Dreams (a mix)", "3:38", "Boys From Brazil (ridge reels)", and "Blood Money (slow thief)". CD3 is Y Live – an unreleased live set with 9 more tracks! 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

The first album from Tuxedomoon's European exile era! The sound of Desire follows heavily on the group's excellent Half-Mute set, but also picks up a bit more of a sense of song – trading some of the starker electronic moments for guitar and vocal passages that feature the edgey singing of Winston Tong. Things are quite spare overall, and surprisingly sentimental at times – more personal and less self-indulgent than work by most of the group's contemporaries, or than their own later records in Europe. Titles include "Victims Of The Dance", "Desire", "Again", "In The Name Of Talent", "Incubus", and "Holiday For Plywood". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Scientist, Lee Perry, the Dub Syndicate, Prince Far I, Pecker, Puls Der Zeit, Black Uhuru, Niney The Observer, Mute Beat, Roots Radics, Sanchez, and more. 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". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that comes on with the frenzy of an Ornette Coleman Quartet session – and one with a very similar lineup too – given that Nate Wooley is on trumpet, Chris Pitsiokos is on alto, Brandon Lopez is on bass, and Dre Hocevar is on drums! Yet the sound is freer, and bolder too – as the instruments flurry together in clusters, then burst out into incredible sonic territory as the set moves on – with moments that include Wooley blowing fast and tuneful with a mute, like some speed freak Miles Davis – or hitting these popping, punctuated sounds that are really unusual. The record's one that really keeps us on the edge of our seats – and furthers the sense of surprise that can make real jazz improvisation so special! CD

Features John Browne on bass, Harold Austin on drums, and George Rhodes on piano. LP, Vinyl record album

A split album – featuring work from Seattle up-and-comer AJ Suede, and longstanding resident artist Specswizard! There's a strong sense of history that runs through the AJ Suede titles – vintage soul snippets and historical recordings – laced together carefully to accompany AJ's down to earth lyrics on titles that include "Blood Cruzzins", "Democrazy Manifest", "The Plane", "Majora", and "Ten Times Plus". Things are a bit more lean on the Specswizard side – lots of fantastic soulful tones and textures, mixed together with a spare sound that never gets in the way of the muted voice that delivers the rhymes – some biting commentary on his city and scene – on titles that include "Floyd", "The President", "Legend", "Pirate Tax", "Another", and "Empty". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the moodiest albums we've ever heard from the Zamrock scene of the 70s – a record of slow-building tunes with a very personal vibe – all vocals and most instrumentation handled by Ricky Banda himself – in a style that's more intimate than other Zambian albums of the time! The style's not entirely folksy or singer/songwriter – but definitely stands in that territory in comparison to Zamrock group efforts of the time – psychedelic currents muted a bit, and focused in some slight instrumental elements, while the snakey progression of Ricky's vocals really carries the main weight of the record. Titles include "Let's Get Up Brothers", "Who's That Guy", "Yangu E Mwebaleya", "Away From Home", "I Believe The Man In The Sky", and "Mavuto". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more obscure Anthony Braxton albums of the first decade of the century – but also one that's completely well worth seeking out, as it's got this warm spirit of collaborative creation that takes us back to some of his best moments of the 70s and 80s! The record features duets with trumpeter John McDonough – a Braxton fanatic who's clearly a great partner for the saxophonist to spin out ideas – trumpet notes both muted and muted, mixing with Braxton's work on alto, baritone, sopranino, and soprano sax – each with a very different sense of interplay from track to track! The album features two long, very out numbers – "Improvisation" and "Composition 168 + (103)" – then moves into a sublime sonic exercise on "Massive Breath Attack", offers a surprising reading of "Hail To The Spirit Of Liberty", and also includes the tunes "Finnish Line" and "Schizoid". CD

One of our favorite-ever Miles Davis albums – and a groundbreaking soundtrack that forever changed the way that jazz music was used in film! According to legend, the sounds here were recorded by Miles on a hot Paris night – late in the studio, after a live performance – in a very intimate setting that had he and the combo creating these little poetic passages along with the action in the film! In addition to sublime and moody muted trumpet from Miles – the small group also features tremendous tenor work from the great Barney Wilen – a French modernist who's at the height of his powers – and beautiful bass from Pierre Michelot, whose rich tones really frame the whole proceedings. The rest of the group features bop pianist Rene Urtreger and American drummer Kenny Clarke – but the real charm comes from the interplay between Wilen, Davis, and Michelo. Titles include "Florence Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "L'Assassinat De Carla", "Diner Au Motel", "Evasion De Julien", "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "Le Petit Bal", "Au Bar Du Petit Bac" and "Sur L'Autoroute". This CD version restores the original 10 track lineup of the soundtrack, without any additional material. CD

One of our favorite-ever Miles Davis albums – and a groundbreaking soundtrack that forever changed the way that jazz music was used in film! According to legend, the sounds here were recorded by Miles on a hot Paris night – late in the studio, after a live performance – in a very intimate setting that had he and the combo creating these little poetic passages along with the action in the film! In addition to sublime and moody muted trumpet from Miles – the small group also features tremendous tenor work from the great Barney Wilen – a French modernist who's at the height of his powers – and beautiful bass from Pierre Michelot, whose rich tones really frame the whole proceedings. The rest of the group features bop pianist Rene Urtreger and American drummer Kenny Clarke – but the real charm comes from the interplay between Wilen, Davis, and Michelo. Titles include "Florence Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "L'Assassinat De Carla", "Diner Au Motel", "Evasion De Julien", "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "Le Petit Bal", "Au Bar Du Petit Bac" and "Sur L'Autoroute". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite-ever Miles Davis albums – and a groundbreaking soundtrack that forever changed the way that jazz music was used in film! According to legend, the sounds here were recorded by Miles on a hot Paris night – late in the studio, after a live performance – in a very intimate setting that had he and the combo creating these little poetic passages along with the action in the film! In addition to sublime and moody muted trumpet from Miles – the small group also features tremendous tenor work from the great Barney Wilen – a French modernist who's at the height of his powers – and beautiful bass from Pierre Michelot, whose rich tones really frame the whole proceedings. The rest of the group features bop pianist Rene Urtreger and American drummer Kenny Clarke – but the real charm comes from the interplay between Wilen, Davis, and Michelo. Titles include "Florence Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "L'Assassinat De Carla", "Diner Au Motel", "Evasion De Julien", "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "Le Petit Bal", "Au Bar Du Petit Bac" and "Sur L'Autoroute". This amazing 3LP version features one never-issued track – "L'Interrogatoire De Julien" – plus 16 more tracks from the sessions for the recordings, and a booklet of notes! LP, Vinyl record album

Moody magic from Miles Davis and Gil Evans – one of the pair's most perfectly poised albums together, and a set with a slight bossa nova undercurrent! Evans' shimmering horn patterns are in fine form here – complicated, but never in cold and too-modern ways – just the right sort of backdrop for Miles' muted solo work – blow with a great sense of space and care throughout! There's almost a soundtrack sort of depth to the record, but the solos still keep the jazz element nicely in focus – and titles include "Summer Night", "Wait Till You See Her", "Aos Pes Da Cruz", "Song #1", "Song #2", "Corcovado", and "Once Upon A Summertime". CD also features the great bonus track "The Time Of The Barracudas" – a 12 minute tune that wasn't on the original album! CD

James Francies may not have the purest form of jazz going on here – but man, has he got something to say! The pianist leaps into the fray with an amazing sense of energy – single notes cascading alongside fuller chords and tones – as Francies plays both acoustic piano and keyboards, driven on strongly by the work of Burnis Travis on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums – a pair who are every bit as dynamic as James! There's a full musical vision here that's very much in keeping with the hippest artists on contemporary Blue Note – and no surprise, the record features guest appearances from Joel Ross on vibes and Immanuel Wilkins on tenor. There's a bit of vocals on the set – often muted and layered in the mix – save for a few lead lines from Bilal, Elliott Skinner, and Peyton. Titles include a genre-setting remake of "My Favorite Things" – plus "Levitate", "Transfiguration", "Rose Water", "Melting", "713", "Where We Stand", "Freedman's Town", "Eyes Wide Shut", and "Still Here". CD

You might know Jowe Head from his work in Swell Maps and Television Personalities – and this rare solo set has the best hallmarks of his work in either group – some of the amazing sonic experiments of the Swell Maps, mixed with the wit that Jowe brought to his music in TVP! The tunes have an unusual quality – that muted experimentalism that marked the Glass Records label during its short 80s run – almost a legacy inherited from the earliest days of Rough Trade, at a time when that label was going big on the charts – leaving a true indie like Glass to put out overlooked genius like this. Titles include "Carrot & Cane", "Son Of Tar Baby", "Cooling Fins", "Some Other Day", "February", "Chad Valley", "Nearest Faraway Place", and "Snake Eggs". LP, Vinyl record album

A really obscure set from the tiny scene in Uruguay at the start of the 90s – a sweet batch of electronic instrumentals from Hugo Jasa, who works here in a mode that's more like Japanese electric music of the 80s than anything you might expect from South America! There's plenty of drum machine rhythms and keyboard lines – and although vocals do appear at times, they're usually pretty processed, and not the main focus here – as other instrumentation really takes over, and includes some cool muted trumpet too. Titles include "Homo Sapiens", "Peregrino", "Estados De Animo", "Sobrevolando", "Tapiz Montevideando", and "Kabumba". LP, Vinyl record album

The core trio here steps out on their own at first, and are then augmented by work from the Lithuanian Young Composers Orchestra – an added quartet who really bring an intensity to the performance! Well, maybe that intensity is already there – but slightly muted – as the guitar of Juozas Milasius, piano of Tomas Kutavicius, and drums of Dalis Naujokaitis come together with a very spacious, open sense of understanding. Yet when the others come in – Vytas Labutis on saxes, and the other three on voice, plus all on cymbals, clapping, and "trampling" – there's a ferocity to the record that's undeniable. Titles include "Sailor's Nightmare", "Play Me", "Reflection Nebula", and "String Walker". LP, Vinyl record album

Two very unusual works by the always-enigmatic Van Dyke Parks – both of them variations on older compositions from the middle of the 19th Century! "Old Black Joe" is a famous tune by Stephen Foster – but Parks' version here features this avant take on upright piano, mixed with odd-tuned guitar lines, muted vocals, and all these other strange sonic elements that actually make the whole thing feel like Christian Marclay is playing with the sound on a stack of vintage 78s! The whole thing makes for an unusual refraction of the sense of American history we often love in Van Dyke's music – given a slightly straighter spin on the flipside, which is a beautiful piano/violin/mandolin take on "Souvenir De La Havane", penned by Louis Gottschalk! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A very heady set of contemporary psych – music that's as trippy as it is meditative – and which almost feels like some sort of collaboration between Iasos and Spacemen 3! There's vocals on the record, but they're very muted – and most of the focus is on longform guitar lines, mixed with some really nice flute – and occasional bits of sitar, which are a nice surprise, and really help flavor the sound with the flute! Plastic Crimewave is in the group, and the whole thing's got a vibe that's similar to some of his recent project – on an album that features four long songs – "Celestial Omen", "Tragique Mechanique", "Machine D", and "Pendlewitches". LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy, moddish, magnificent and sunny girl pop from The Land Of The Rising Sun – pummeling drums, jumping arrangements and groovy vocals from the mid-to-late 60s Japanese scene! This is fantastic stuff, any kitch or novelty appeal you might be expecting is kind of muted by the exceptional quality and excellent performances – but it is flat out fun! As the title states, strains of pop, beat & bossa – plus mod & psychedelic fuzz – and the vocals girl group vocals are bright, rocking, playful or sultry or innocent depending on the groove! 25 tracks in all: "Black Room by Jun Mayuzumi, Sharock No 1" by Mie Nakao, "Nagisa No Tenshi" by Mieko Hirota, "Hatsu Koi No Letter" by Miki Obata, "Bazazz Tengoku" by The Cupids, "Aeba Suki Suki" by Margaret With Bunnys, "Nukui Aitsu" by Mika Nohira, "Kiiro No Sekai" by J Girls and more. CD

Groovy, moddish, magnificent and sunny girl pop from The Land Of The Rising Sun – pummeling drums, jumping arrangements and groovy vocals from the mid-to-late 60s Japanese scene! This is fantastic stuff, any kitch or novelty appeal you might be expecting is kind of muted by the exceptional quality and excellent performances – but it is flat out fun! As the title states, strains of pop, beat & bossa – plus mod & psychedelic fuzz – and the vocals girl group vocals are bright, rocking, playful or sultry or innocent depending on the groove! 25 tracks in all: "Black Room by Jun Mayuzumi, Sharock No 1" by Mie Nakao, "Nagisa No Tenshi" by Mieko Hirota, "Hatsu Koi No Letter" by Miki Obata, "Bazazz Tengoku" by The Cupids, "Aeba Suki Suki" by Margaret With Bunnys, "Nukui Aitsu" by Mika Nohira, "Kiiro No Sekai" by J Girls and more. LP, Vinyl record album

An extremely soulful session from European trumpeter Dusko Goykovich – recorded in the US with a lineup that can't miss! The core rhythm trio features Tommy Flanagan on piano, Eddie Gomez on bass, and Mickey Roker on drums – and the great Jimmy Heath joins Dusko on the frontline for about half the album, blowing soulfully on tenor with the same kind of creative introspectivity we've come to expect from his own albums! A few tunes feature Goykovich in that bright muted style that he's used a fair bit in recent years, while others have him opening up with a deeper tone. Titles include "Blues Valse", "Teamwork Song", "Inga", "Soul Connection", "Adriatica", and "NYC". CD

Don't think "disco" as in the New York scene at Studio 54 – as these cuts are much deeper and dubbier – served up under the supervision of Bunny Lee by studio maestros Barnabas and Pat Kelly! Instrumentation is by the Aggrovators, but the magic comes equally from the production effects as it does from the massive rhythms by the group – as all the elements are filtered out in space, and criss-cross back and forth in this wonderful way – never too sloppy or experimental, but definitely tripping out with the groove! Vocals are muted when they do make an appearance – and titles include "The Aggrovators Special Dub", "Money In My Pocket Dub", "Portobello Special Dub", "Super Rockers Dub", "The Bomb Dub", "The Killer Dub", and "The Dub Specialist". LP, Vinyl record album

A real standout in the Bill Evans catalog for Riverside – and that's saying a lot, given how important all of his Riverside albums are! The session's a rare quintet outing for Evans – one that breaks the mode of the usual trio format by adding in Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Jim Hall on guitar – alongside rhythm players Percy Heath on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums – already a unique enough match for Evans' talents. In a way, the record's one of those sessions that Riverside would sometimes do – pairing a key new voice as a leader with others in an all-star group – but in another way, it's also a return to the sound that first brought Evans' to a wider audience in the 1957 and 1958 years – when he was working in non-trio groups with more famous players – adding his unique piano stylings to their (then) better-known solo modes. The pairing of Evans and Hall has been beautifully documented on other records – and sounds equally great here – but the real treat is Freddie Hubbard's horn, which often lays back on most of the tracks, then bursts in with a brashness that really ignites some of the tunes! He's playing a bit muted here, trying to go for that Miles/Evans combination from the late 50s – but that's plenty ok with us, as we love those records a lot. Titles include "When You Wish Upon A Star", "You & The Night & The Music", "I'll Never Smile again", "You Go To My Head" and the Evans original, "Interplay". LP, Vinyl record album

The title's no lie, as the set's one of the most intimate albums we've ever heard from trumpeter Jeremy Pelt – a set that features his well-shaped lines in a trio with George Cables on piano and Peter Washington on bass! The drum-less format is really wonderful, and Pelt really takes advantage of the open space to open up his gentler, more introspective side – blowing notes both muted and full, with a sense of balance and grace that takes us back to old school trumpet ballad albums – although none of them ever had the more open, relaxed approach that makes this one so nice! Titles include "Then I'll Be Tired Of You", "Always On My Mind", "Ebony Moonbeams", and "Love Is Simple". CD