Mad music from the Nihilist Spasm Band – a group who really live up to their name from the very first moments of the record! The set begins with "Destroy The Nations" – a track that's meaner, nastier, and more mindbending than anything you'll ever hear from any of the wildest other acts of the late 60s – and the rest of the record really follows suit – with energy that's more late 70s noise than any of the hippie dippy politics of the time – much more of a precursor to Pere Ubu, and maybe the entire No Wave scene in New York! Guitar, drums, bass, theremin, and a surprising amount of kazoo collide with unbridled improvisatory energy – and titles include "Destroy The Nations", "Oh Brian Dibb", "Dog Face Man", "When In London Sleep At The York Hotel", and "Destroy The Nations Again". CD

That's London, Ontario – not London, England – which means that the group have an even more far-flung sound than you might expect! The album's a brilliant and overlooked gem from the Canadian scene of the 70s – really mindblowing music by a group who are equally great at grooving, and at taking things very far outside – mixing together modes that are sometimes highly rhythmic, other times very loose and freewheeling! We're really not familiar with any of the players from later projects at all – but they're clearly a very hip batch of younger musicians who come together and sparkle brilliantly for this rare set – with a mix of soprano and alto sax, wood flute, cello, piano, bass, funky drums, vibes, and even some other cool effects that really make the record a treat throughout! Titles include the funky gem "Destroy The Nihilist Picnic", plus much more outside material that includes "Time Is Of The Essence", "Edible Wallpaper", "Ron Martin Special With Mustard", "Spain Is For Old Ladies", and "Jazz Widow Waltz". LP, Vinyl record album

An unmitigated blast of punk, worthy of setting the stage for the American hard core movement! While punk rock had been firmly established by the time this album came out, no one was prepared for the next level that Black Flag would take things to with this brutal, nihilistic, stripped down assault on the status quo! A classic that will stand up for ages, wit fist in the air anthems like "Rise Above", "Six Pack", "What I See", "TV Party", "Police Story", "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie", "Thirsty & Miserable", "Depression", "Padded Cell", "Damaged I", "Damaged II", "Life Of Pain", "Room 103" and "No More". LP, Vinyl record album

The resurgence of one of the most groundbreaking periods in recent groove history – the almost-forgotten post-punk years in England, a time of incredible musical convergence! In the heady days of the early 80s – a time when much music was being lost under a gloss of big hair, tinny keyboards, and wispy vocals – a small underground of British musicians were bringing together bits of funk, punk, disco, reggae, and 70s electronica – crafting dark and funky little tunes the likes of which we've barely heard since! A number of these groups went onto do much larger (and weaker) recordings – but this package brilliantly documents the edgy brilliance at the beginning of the post punk years: a nihilistic horizon on the other end of punk – no longer angry, caustic, and shouting, on one hand with the wind knocked out of its apparent sails, on the other, slowly fomenting in secret places, coming up with music far more powerful than punk ever was. And for some strange reason, much of it was pretty darn funky – thanks to a heavy use of simple electric bass, scattershot (sometimes primitive) drum parts, and nice electronic touches, almost in an inverse to American electro. The music more than speaks for itself – and the set's as classic a batch of tunes from the time as we'd ever heard. Titles include "Shack Up" and "Knife Slits Water" by A Certain Ratio, "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" by The Slits, "20 Jazz Funk Greats" by Throbbing Gristle, "Vegas El Bandito" and "Coup" by 23 Skidoo, "She Is Beyond Good & Evil" by The Pop Group, "Being Boiled" by The Human League, "To Hell With Poverty" by Gang Of Four, and "24 Track Loop" by This Heat. LP, Vinyl record album

A great tribute to one of the most famous clubs on the UK scene of the mid 80s – a spot that was crucial to the shift from post-punk modes to new goth spirits – and which was a vital outlet for new strands of darker music that were stepping forth at the time! Later goth cliches might make you pause – but the sounds here are from a time when the music had a very special spot in the UK – kind of a sidestep from some of the more nihilistic modes of the punk generation, maybe finding a way to move forward while still foregrounding some of the darker moods that were undeniable at this spot in British history. Yet even without all that larger framing, the set list here is more than enough to tell the tale – as the set features work from Play Dead, Wasted Youth, Soft Cell, The Cult, Christian Death, Theater Of Hate, Specimen, The Birthday Party, Virgin Prunes, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, The Cramps, Killing Joke, Alien Sex Fiend, Sexbeat, Sisters Of Mercy, Xmal Deutschland, and Gene Loves Jezebel. 5CD set is MASSIVE – served up in a 12" LP-sized box, with an 80 page hardcover book that features all sorts of writings on the club, and over 100 photos from back in the day – all in support of a 90 track set list that includes lots more work from The Runaways, Velvet Underground, Marc & The Mambas, Let's Wreck Mother, Human League, The Glove, Flowerpot Men, Japan, The The, New Order, March Violets, Malaria, Joy Division, The Associates, PiL, Throbbing Gristle, and dozens of others. CD