Synth ambiences, acoustic landscapes, deep songwriting and subtle candombe percussions combine in most of the musical output released in Uruguay during the ’80s. A very unique sound was developed within the narrow boundaries of Montevideo, the country’s capital city, by just a small group of very talented artists. These sounds reverberated in singer-songwriting (Eduardo Darnauchans, Fernando Cabrera, Estela Magnone), jazz fusion approximations (Hugo Fattoruso’s La Escuelita), experimental music (Leo Maslíah, Hugo Jasa) and the work of musicians at the intersections of these worlds (Jaime Roos, Mariana Ingold).
In América Invertida, ethereal vocal arrangements and acoustic guitars cohabit with synthesizers and drum machines; Candombe and Latin…

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…American music form a fellowship with new wave and dream pop.

However, the overwhelming musical harvest produced by giant neighbours, Brazil and Argentina, shadowed any attempt for this scene to transcend beyond the local market. It’s only now, a few decades later, when some of those records have achieved cult status among a discreet group of collectors that try hard to get hold of those titles, pressed in only tiny numbers at the time. No wonder, the timeless beauty of these songs remains in full effect while retaining the uniqueness of a sound resulting from multiple cultural encounters on the streets of Montevideo.

This compilation, “América Invertida”, reveals part of this hidden world. It veers towards the most experimental side of Uruguayan singer-songwriting of the 80s, both from an acoustic and electronic point of view (with artists who moved between both universes) as well as towards instrumental fusion.

Compiled by Spanish DJ and collector Javi Bayo.

…Only two long-out-of-print compilations have ever emerged to profile Ireland’s rock roots, making this anthology doubly inviting. From the R&B/blues scene in Belfast to the late 1960s psychedelia of Dublin, People! Let’s Freak Out reveals a wider account of the beat scene, and its transition into psychedelia and blues rock. While Ireland has never been given equal acclaim to that of its neighboring England, it nevertheless produced some of the most iconic and influential bands of the period. As Van Morrison and Them were leaving Belfast for London, a slew of new hopefuls arrived to establish their own niche under the nose of the dominant showband scene. Compiled here, are 125 original recordings featuring various groups from Eire and…

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…Northern Ireland, some of whom went on to huge success in the 1970s. From Ian Whitcomb to Eire Apparent, The Bye-Laws to the Belfast Gypsies and Gentry to Sugar Shack, People! Let’s Freak Out is a fascinating account of Ireland’s more obscure and vibrant music scene of the 1960s. Spanning five discs with rare and previously unreleased recordings.

CD1
01 – The Wheels – Bad Little Woman.flac
02 – Gary Street – Let Me In.flac
03 – The Creatures – Hurtin’ All Over.flac
04 – Ian Whitcomb & Bluesville – Dance Again.flac
05 – The Mad Lads – I Can Tell.flac
06 – The Spectres – The Facts of Life.flac
07 – The Greenbeat – Just You Wait and See.flac
08 – The Wheels – Call My Name.flac
09 – Dickie Rock & The Miami Showband – Boys.flac
10 – The Royal Showband Waterford – Roll Over Beethoven.flac
11 – The Mad Lads – Answer Your Phone.flac
12 – The Alleykatz – The Friendly Undertaker.flac
13 – Ian Whitcomb & Bluesville – Boney Moroney.flac
14 – The Chessmen – The Fightin.flac
15 – The Debonaires – A Love of Our Own.flac
16 – The Banshees – I Got a Woman.flac
17 – Margo And The Marvettes – So Fine.flac
18 – Sean Fagan And The Pacific Showband – Do What I Want You To.flac
19 – The People – All Right.flac
20 – Joe Dolan And The Drifters Showband – When You Say I Love You.flac
21 – Just Five – I Will Have You.flac
22 – Ottilie Patterson – Baby Please Don’t Go.flac
23 – The Blue Ace – Land of Love.flac
24 – The Bats – On the Waterfront.flac
25 – The Luvin’ Kind – Answers Please.flac
26 – The People – I’m with You.flac
27 – Just Five – Well, Don’t That Beat Them All.flac

CD2
01 – The Blue Aces – That’s All Right.flac
02 – The Creatures – Someone Needs You.flac
03 – The Belfast Gypsies – People, Let’s Freak Out.flac
04 – Pan Pipers – Money And Love.flac
05 – The Movement – Something You Got.flac
06 – The Wheels – Gloria.flac
07 – The Bye-Laws – Deep Water.flac
08 – The Boomerangs – Upgraded.flac
09 – The Stellas – Fortune Teller.flac
10 – The Wheel-A-Ways – Don’t You Know.flac
11 – The Blue Aces – Tell Me What You’re Gonna Do.flac
12 – The Interns – Your One And Only Man.flac
13 – The Kingbees – My Little Red Book.flac
14 – The Banshees – Yes Indeed.flac
15 – The Creatures – Turn Out The Light.flac
16 – The Kingbees – I’m A Kingbee.flac
17 – Moses K & The Prophets – So Long.flac
18 – The Bats – Lovers Lie Sleeping.flac
19 – The Wheel-A-Ways – Bad Little Woman (USA Version).flac
20 – Ian Whitcomb & Bluesville – You Turn Me On (The Turn On Song).flac
21 – The Creatures – Love Is A Funny Little Game.flac
22 – The Deep Set – That’s The Way Life Goes.flac
23 – The Movement – Tell Her.flac
24 – The Wheels – Kicks.flac
25 – Gene And The Gents – C’mon Everybody.flac
26 – The Rising Sons – Just A Little While Longer.flac

CD3
01 – The Strangers – Mary, Mary.flac
02 – Hat And Tie – California Jazz Club U.S.A..flac
03 – The Finnavons – Mademoiselle Ninette.flac
04 – The Concords – Hello Memories.flac
05 – The Creatures – Looking At Tomorrow.flac
06 – Pan Pipers – Stop.flac
07 – Jon Ledingham – Love Is A Toy.flac
08 – The Boomerangs – Dream World.flac
09 – Joe Dolan And The Drifters – The Wrong Impression.flac
10 – The Carpetbaggers – The Flea Teacher.flac
11 – Wheels Of Time – 1984.flac
12 – Freaks Of Nature – Secret Police (AKA The Shadow Chasers).flac
13 – The Movement – Head For The Sun.flac
14 – Dreams – Baby I’m Your Man.flac
15 – The Real McCoy – I Get So Excited.flac
16 – The Belfast Gypsies – Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness).flac
17 – Terry And The Trixons – Cinnamon.flac
18 – The Gentry – Come And See.flac
19 – Derek & The Freshmen – Gone Away.flac
20 – The Universals – I Can’t Find You.flac
21 – The Creatures – It Must Be Love.flac
22 – The Strangers – Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow.flac
23 – Jon Ledingham – Thank You Mrs. Gilbert.flac
24 – The Trixons – Sunny Side Sam.flac
25 – The Arrivals – She’s About A Mover.flac
26 – The Gentry – Lonely, But Free.flac

CD4
01 – Dreams – Softly, Softly.flac
02 – The Strangers – Step Inside.flac
03 – The Jacobites – Choo, Choo Charlie.flac
04 – The Real McCoy – Quick Joey.flac
05 – The Deep Set – Spicks And Specks.flac
06 – Eire Apparent – Follow Me.flac
07 – Terry And The Trixons – Just Another Song.flac
08 – The Universals – Green Veined Orchid.flac
09 – The Real McCoy – Baby Go Home.flac
10 – Danny Hughes – Hi Ho Silver Lining.flac
11 – Butch Moore – A Good Thing Goin.flac
12 – Tina & The Mexicans – Just Hang On.flac
13 – Mellow Candle – Tea With The Sun.flac
14 – The Pattersons – Sing Me Sunshine.flac
15 – The Gentry – Sing Me A Sad Song.flac
16 – Gumm – Baby, We’ll Glide Into Love.flac
17 – Gary Street And The Fairways – Hold Me Closer.flac
18 – The Universals – Hey You.flac
19 – The Chessmen – Loving You.flac
20 – Peter Law & Sound Of The Pacific – My Jenny.flac
21 – The Footappers – My Girl.flac
22 – Granny’s Intentions – Hilda The Bilda.flac
23 – The Philosophers – I Believe.flac
24 – The Freshmen – Carpet Man.flac
25 – Dreams – A Boy Needs A Girl.flac
26 – The Movement – Mr. Man.flac
27 – Simon Scott – Smiling Faces.flac

CD5
01 – Granny’s Intentions – The Story Of David.flac
02 – Orange Machine – Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room.flac
03 – The Poets – Locked In A Room.flac
04 – Them – You Got Me Good.flac
05 – Gentry – Contact.flac
06 – Andwella’s Dream – Midday Sun.flac
07 – Orange Machine – Three Jolly Little Dwarfs.flac
08 – Granny’s Intentions – One Time Lovers.flac
09 – Skid Row – Saturday Morning Man.flac
10 – David McWilliams – Redundancy Blues.flac
11 – Them – Dirty Old Man.flac
12 – The Crypt – Jane.flac
13 – Sugar Shack – Morning Dew.flac
14 – Orange Machine – Real Live Permanent Dream.flac
15 – Granny’s Intentions – Julie Don’t Love Me Anymore.flac
16 – Andwella’s Dream – Shades Of Grey.flac
17 – Taxi – Counting Time My Way.flac
18 – The Freshmen – Who Else Can We Blame.flac
19 – Granny’s Intentions – Sandy’s On The Phone Again.flac
20 – Eire Apparent – Here I Go Again.flac
21 – Them – But It’s Alright.flac
22 – The Deep Set – Cinnamon Girl.flac
23 – Orange Machine – You Can All Join In.flac
24 – Eire Apparent – Rock ‘N’ Roll Band.flac
25 – Sugar Shack – Sunshine Of Your Love.flac
26 – The Crypt – Monday.flac
27 – Skid Row – New Places, Old Faces.flac

The English baroque sound of the late 60s and early 70s shunned guitar solos for string quartets and woodwind, drenched in summer-into-autumn melancholy, as heard on this collection of the genre’s finest moments.
When psychedelia had run its course in Britain, the predominant trend was to get hairier, heavier and more long-winded. Some reverted to the pure blues boom of the mid-60s, with Fleetwood Mac leading the way; some toughened up, forging the first wave of heavy metal; some loosened up, bringing jazz and folk into the equation and creating what would become known as progressive rock; others found solace in the rural sloth of the Band. Many musicians, however, were still hung up on the trappings of psychedelia’s homegrown…

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…strain, having found a musical home in its mournful evocations of Victoriana, its village green gentility, its nods to the pleasures of suburbia and its church bells softly chiming.

As the advent of the singer-songwriter offered another possible avenue for these refuseniks, a new brand of pop was discernible – the English baroque sound. It made great use of string quartets, woodwind, and summer-into-autumn melancholy. This was a sound informed by the Zombies’ “Odessey And Oracle”, the weighty chamber pop of the Bee Gees and Scott Walker, with a contemporary dash of Crosby, Stills & Nash harmony; it would survive as a viable format until surprisingly late, with some tracks on this compilation nudging the mid-70s. The urtexts had all been Paul McCartney’s: the bereft strings of ‘Eleanor Rigby’; the buttoned-up, parlour arrangement of ‘For No One’; ‘Your Mother Should Know’’s sepia nostalgia and insistent piano; the entire acoustic corner of “The White Album”. Just add harpsichord and a cor anglais to the mix, and there it was.

The first “Tea & Symphony” collection was released in 2007 on the Sanctuary label. The first official compilation of its kind, it was partly inspired by the groundbreaking, European-based “Fading Yellow” series which, since the turn of the new century, had been feeding and informing pop-hungry 60s/70s fans looking for something a little more melodic than Comus or Leafhound. Unfortunately, the sudden demise of the record company meant “Tea & Symphony” hardly made it into the shops. This compilation has four tracks in common with its ancient ancestor.

To the delight of people who thought the mine was exhausted, previously undiscovered gems by artists such as Matthew Bones, Erasmus Chorum and Les Payne continue to be unearthed. Here are 23 of the genre’s finest moments. Make yourself a pot of tea, find yourself a comfy armchair, place a ginger cat on your lap, and sit back.

01. Ray Brooks – Pictures
02. The Honeybus – I Cant Let Maggie Go
03. Lea Nixon – Off to Find a New Land
04. Jon Plum – Alice
05. Bombadil – When the City Sleeps
06. Mike Batt – Fading Yellow
07. Colin Blunstone – Say You Dont Mind
08. Gordon Waller – The Seventh Hour
09. Erasmus Chorum – Mary Jane
10. Tandem – Shapes and Shadows
11. Nirvana – Please Believe Me
12. Vigrass And Osborne – Forever Autumn
13. Richard Henry – Oh Girl
14. Les Payne – Very Well
15. Sunchariot – Youre Lovely
16. Mike Sedgewick – Pollution Song
17. Bill Kenwright – Epitaph
18. Clifford T Ward – Coathanger
19. Christopher – The Race
20. David McIvor – Closing My Eyes
21. The Bliss – Lifetime
22. Matthew Bones – Two Sugars

Edward Kassner is not a familiar name to the average music fan, but they’re aware of his work if they know it or not. Kassner had a long and successful career in the music business: he was active in songwriting and music publishing as well as starting a number of independent record labels, and he was associated in various ways with a number of classic tunes. Kassner wrote “How Lucky You Are” for Vera Lynn, owned the publishing to Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” obtained the rights to standards like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and “You Made Me Love You,” was an early manager and publisher for the Kinks, and released ’60s rock and pop hits like Marcie Blane’s “Bobby’s Girl” and Ernie Maresca’s “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out).” While Kassner was…

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…more successful than most, he was typical of a certain type of music biz player of the ’50s and ’60s who set up shop in New York City’s Brill Building and was always on the lookout for the next trend and the next big single, conjuring his releases from the songwriting upwards.

New York Graffiti 1619-1750 Broadway: An Independent American Pop Story 1958-1968 is a four-disc set that covers ten years in the career of Edward Kassner, encompassing the songs he wrote and/or published and the various small labels (most notably President Records) that brought the music into the marketplace. His empire was willing to dabble in a bit of everything, and the set is a dizzying ride through doo wop, girl group sounds, rhythm & blues, early rock, soul, commercial folk, garage rock, and even a bit of soft psychedelia. There are a lot more obscurities and “bubbling under” tracks here than familiar hits, but given the scattergun approach of many small labels of the era, where the philosophy seemed to be “throw it at the wall and see what sticks,” this is certainly fitting. A large part of what makes this box so enjoyable is its celebration of the craft of record-making in the Brill Building era. This was a time when hit singles were put together from various component parts like cars, and most of what’s featured here are the Cadillacs of the field, bold and flashy and with the right amount of polish. The late ’60s would bring a greater autonomy to artists, but in the first rock & roll era, record men (and women) were honing an art form all their own. This set is a tribute to both the process and the result, and it’s a whole lot of fun, too.  — AMG

The compelling story of how a country music cottage industry transformed Bakersfield into the Country Music Capital of the West, sometimes called ‘Nashville West’, a serious challenge to Nashville’s commercial country dominance.
This first sprawling multi-disc anthology begins with 1940s field recordings of migrants, all the way through 1974, with profiles on each artist. Including a larger number of previously unreleased studio and live recordings, radio recordings and demos.
A treasure trove of Bakersfield history presenting country music stars Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, guitar hero Don Rich and dozens of artists like Ferlin Husky, Dallas Frazier, Jean Shepard, Wynn Stewart, Tommy Duncan, Red Simpson…

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…Kay Adams, Duck Curless, Joe Maphis, David Frizzell, The Gosdin Brothers, Clarence White a.m.o.
From hits to deep cuts to alternate takes to album tracks to live material, this set dives deeper into the Bakersfield Sound than ever before.Full-color illustrated 224-page hardcover book with a plethora of photos, many shown here for the first time, and track-by-track commentary. In depth analysis by Grammy-nominated Bakersfield Sound historian Scott B. Bomar. Foreword by Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett.

Buck Owens and Merle Haggard emerged from the dim lights, thick smoke and loud, loud music of Bakersfield, California’s thriving honky-tonk scene of the 1950s and ’60s and changed country music forever. But what is the ‘Bakersfield Sound?’ While twanging Telecasters and crying steel guitars come to mind, the music that emanated from Central California in that era reflected a variety of influences that was expressed in myriad ways.
”We represent the end results of all the years of country music in this town,” Haggard once remarked about the California city that served as home base for the two Country Music Hall of Fame inductees. But how did the musical world from which Buck and Merle emerged come to be? How were the twin pillars of the Bakersfield Sound shaped by the city’s larger musical community? Who were their influences, and what were the musical markers along their paths to success? In what ways did their achievements reshape the local scene from which they emerged?

This first sprawling multi-disc anthology of Bakersfield’s country music heritage begins with 1940s field recordings of migrants who fled the ravages of dust and economic depression in search of a better life in California. It traces the development of the music they brought with them all the way through 1974, the last full year Merle Haggard made his home in Bakersfield, the year of Buck Owens’ final Top 10 hit as a solo artist, and the year Bakersfield guitar hero Don Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Sometimes called ‘Nashville West,’ Bakersfield became hotbed that fostered the careers of Ferlin Husky, Herb Henson, Jimmy Thomason, Billy Barton, Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Talley, Tommy Collins, Dallas Frazier, Semie Moseley, Jean Shepard, The Farmer Boys, Wynn Stewart, Tommy Duncan, Billy Mize, Cliff Crofford, Bonnie Owens, Don Markham, Al Brumley, Tommy Dee, Jelly Sanders, Oscar Whittington, Johnny Barnett, Vancie Flowers, Bobby Durham, Bob Morris, Roy Nichols, Don Rich, Red Simpson, Kay Adams, Bobby Austin, Dick Curless, Joe & Rose Lee Maphis, Buddy Mize, Gary Paxton, The Gosdin Brothers, Ronnie Sessions, Gene Moles, Clarence White, Tony Booth, Freddie Hart, David Frizzell, and countless others.

Collected here are a diverse range of recordings that includes Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in a Bakersfield radio studio in the mid-1940s; previously unknown live recordings of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos at the very last of Buck’s legendary annual Toys for Tots shows before Don Rich’s death; unreleased recordings by Red Simpson, Billy Mize,Bonnie Owens, and Johnny Bond; radio broadcasts from the stage of the legendary Blackboard Café; and an early Bill Woods vanity record that predates any of his previously-known recorded output.

Rare recordings from early pioneers Tex Butler, Tex Marshall, and Ebb Pilling give a glimpse into the early days of the Bakersfield Sound while dozens of rare records from local labels of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s are collected together for the first time. Many of the selections presented here have never been reissued, and few have seen the light of day since their initial release. In some cases, only a handful of 78 or 45 RPM records were pressed, and the songs have been long forgotten until now. From songwriting legend Harlan Howard’s first recording for Tally Records to his then-wife Jan Howard’s first known demo recording in Lewis Talley’s Bakersfield studio to Barbara Mandrell’s very first solo recording on Mosrite Records to legendary bandleader Johnny Barnett’s only known single, this collection is a treasure trove of Bakersfield history. From hits to deep cuts to alternate takes to album tracks to live material, this set dives deeper into the Bakersfield Sound than ever before.

The accompanying 224 page book includes hundreds of photos, a foreword by Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett, in depth analysis by Grammy-nominated Bakersfield Sound historian Scott B. Bomar, profiles on each artist, and a track-by-track commentary that puts the sprawling 10 CD collection in context to illuminate the story of how a country music cottage industry transformed Bakersfield into the Country Music Capital of the West and ignited speculation that the city could become a serious challenge to Nashville’s commercial country dominance.

Disc: 1
1. Lloyd Stalcup – The Cotton Picker’s Song
2. Homer Pierce – Darlin’ Baby
3. Jack Bryant – Sunny Cal
4. Mary Sullivan – Sunny California
5. Wayne ‘Gene’ Dinwiddle – Home In The Government Camp
6. King Family – Get Along Down To Town
7. Lloyd Reading – Home In San Antone
8. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys – Opening Theme / Seven Come Eleven
9. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys – Get Along Home Cindy
10. Elwin Cross and his Arizona Wranglers – Back In Dear Old Oklahoma
11. The Maddox Brothers and Rose – Okie Boogie
12. Bob Manning (vocal: Billy Gray) – Reading Your Letter With Tears In My Eyes
13. Leon Payne – Lost Highway
14. Tex Marshall & Bill Woods – Hittin’ The Trail
15. Leo ‘Tex’ Butler – When The Leaves Come Tumbling Down
16. Bill Woods / Cliff Crofford – Have I Got A Chance With You
17. The Maddox Brothers and Rose – Water Baby Blues (Boogie)
18. Terry Preston – (A Pretty Woman Is A) Deadly Weapon
19. Terry Preston – I Want You So
20. Herb Henson – Funny Book
21. Jimmy Thomason – Honey Baby
22. Jimmy Thomason – Your Love Was Like The Weather
23. Ebb Pilling and his Ozark Squirrel Shooters – Ozark Polka
24. Bill Woods and his Orange Blossom Playboys with Hillbilly Barton – A Heart Break Ago
25. Fuzzy & Bonnie Owens – A Dear John Letter
26. Bill Woods & Rita Goodwin – Dear John
27. Billy Mize with Bill Woods and his Orange Blossom Playboys – Pusan
28. Ferlin Husky – Hank’s Song
29. Joe Maphis & Rose Lee – Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)
30. Jean Shepard; Ferlin Husky – A Dear John Letter

Disc: 2
1. Tommy Collins – You Better Not Do That
2. Dallas Frazier – Ain’t You Had No Bringin’ Up At All
3. Bud Hobbs – Louisiana Swing
4. Forest Lee & Clete Stewart – When I Hold You
5. Buck Owens – Down On The Corner Of Love
6. Dave Stogner with Al Brumley – Stepping Stones
7. Semie Moseley – When The Saints Go Marching In
8. Jean Shepard – Take Possession
9. The Farmer Boys – It Pays To Advertise
10. Wynn Stewart – Why Do I Love You So
11. Tommy Duncan – Crazy Mixed Up Kid
12. Johnny Taylor – Sad Sad Saturday Night
13. Wanda Jackson – I Gotta Know
14. Billy Mize – Who Will Buy The Wine
15. Al Coker with the Coker Family – Baby I Like Your Style
16. Louise Duncan – Wherever You Are
17. Sid Silver – Bumble Rumble
18. Andy Morris – I Need Her Love
19. Dusty Payne – I Want You
20. Fuzzy Owen – Your Every Thing (I Wish That She Could Be)
21. Bonnie Blue Bell – I Never Thought
22. Jan Howard – What Time Tomorrow
23. George Rich – Drivin’ Away My Blues
24. Bill Woods – Ask Me No Questions
25. Fuzzy Owen – Beware Of A Stranger
26. Skeets McDonald – Keep Her Off Your Mind
27. Dave Stogner – Yes Sir
28. Harlan Howard – Fun On The Freeway
29. Cliff Crofford – A Night For Love
30. The Farmer Boys – Someone To Love
31. Buck Owens – Come Back To Me

Disc: 3
1. Reuben Chapman with Coy Baker & His Band – I’m Sorry Too
2. Don Thompson with Coy Baker & His Band – Empty Days And Lonely Nights
3. Phil Brown – You’re A Luxury
4. Unknown, possibly Skeets McDonald – Steady Lovin’
5. Johnny Bond – I Like That Kind
6. Henry Sharp – Crazy Moon
7. Gene Martin with the Desert Stars – Pair Of Empty Arms
8. Herb Henson – You’al Come
9. Lewis Talley – Letters Have No Arms
10. Buck Owens – Second Fiddle
11. Billy and Cliff – When
12. Billy Mize – You Can’t Take Your Love Outta This Boy
13. Billy Kaundart – I Removed Your Ring
14. Larry Bryant – Keep Right On Tryin
15. Buck Owens – Tired Of Livin’
16. Joe Hall – Cold Hearted Woman
17. Rip Goodman and Marcia – If I Could Only Tell You
18. George Latta – Our Hearts
19. Buck Owens – Til These Dreams Come True
20. Billy and Cliff – Living Up To My Name
21. Don Markham & The Marksmen – Goose, Pt. 1
22. Bonnie Owens – Just For The Children’s Sake
23. Wally Lewis – My Baby Walks All Over Me
24. Wynn Stewart – Playboy
25. Al Brumley – Someone’s Gonna Get Hurt
26. Jackie Kelley – Door Of Temptation
27. Jelly Sanders – Fiddlin’ Country Style
28. Buck Owens & Rose Maddox – Loose Talk
29. Jimmy Patton – What Will I Do (With All These Memories)
30. Tommy Dee – Loving You (On Someone Elses’ Time)
31. Custer Bottoms & Jack and Jerry – Why Tell Me

Disc: 4
1. Buck Owens – King Of Fools
2. The Marksmen – Scratch
3. Jerry Cornelius and the Golden Eagles – It’s My Turn To Cry
4. Wayne Morris – I Can’t Stop Lovin’
5. Wayne Morris – I Pretend
6. Bill Woods – Truck Drivin’ Man
7. Billy Bledsoe – My Last Night In Town
8. Leon Hart – New Home Sweet Home
9. Kenny Hays – Crossing My Fingers
10. Kenny Hays – Foolish Notions
11. Georgia Lynn – On Your Wedding Day
12. Tommy Lewis – Go Where You Wanta Go
13. Vancie Flowers – Private Party
14. Buck Owens – There’s Gonna Come A Day
15. Anita Cross – Why Should I Cry Again
16. Bonnie Owens – Waggin’ Tongues
17. Rollie Weber – Painting The Town
18. Johnny Barnett – Second Fiddle
19. Johnny Barnett – Too Old To Hurt
20. Merle Haggard – Skid Row
21. Bill Meyers – Good-Bye Mr. Blues
22. Buck Owens – If You Ain’t Lovin’ You Ain’t Livin’
23. Bill Bledsoe – Tell Me Why
24. Bob Morris – Put Your Arms Around Him
25. Roy Nichols – Silver Bells
26. Buck Owens – Act Naturally (live)
27. Merle Haggard – Life In Prison
28. Bobby Durham – My Past Is Present
29. Bobby Durham – Queen Of Snob Hill
30. Vancie and Rita – Tears In My Beer
31. Rose Stassi – Out Of My Mind

Disc: 5
1. Buck Owens – Close Up The Honky Tonks
2. Merle Haggard & Bonnie Owens – Slowly But Surely
3. Bob Hortter – Working Overtime
4. Jim Witlock – S.O.S.
5. Buck Owens – Fallin’ For You
6. Merle Haggard – I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can (Capitol)
7. Tommy Duncan – I Wish I Hadn’t Called You
8. Jim Ward – Red Wine
9. Lewis Talley – More Wine, More Women, More Song
10. Merle Haggard & Bonnie Owens – I’ll Take A Chance
11. Don Rich & The Buckaroos – I’m Layin’ It On The Line
12. Buck Owens – There Never Was A Fool
13. Doyle Holly & The Buckaroos – After You Leave Me
14. Dee Mize (aka Buddy Mize) – Just Leave My World Alone
15. Billy Mize – Walking My Fool
16. Liz Anderson – (My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers
17. Tommy Collins – If You Can’t Bite Don’t Growl
18. Jeanie O’Neal – Alcohol And Tears
19. Bobby Durham – Home Is Where I Hang My Head
20. Red Simpson – Jeannie With The Light Brown Cadillac
21. Merle Haggard – Swinging Doors (alternate take)
22. Kay Adams – Roll Out The Red Carpet
23. Dick Curless & Kay Adams – Old Standby
24. Buck Owens – House Of Memories
25. Buck Owens – Tiger By the Tail (live at Carnegie Hall)
26. Vicki Lester – Fool Me Again
27. Ray Salter – The Bad Guy Gets The Girl
28. Billy Mize – Pappy Was A Clever Man
29. Jeanie O’Neal – Correspondence Course In Love

Disc: 6
1. Bobby Austin – Apartment #9
2. Buck Owens – Open Up Your Heart
3. Dick Curless – A Good Job Huntin’ And Fishin’
4. Gary Paxton – Goin’ Thru The Motions
5. Red Simpson – I’m Actin’ Like My Old Self Again
6. Kay Adams – Little Pink Mack
7. Doyle Holly – The Dumb Thing
8. Merle Haggard – Someone Told My Story
9. Red Simpson – Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves
10. Barbara Mandrell – Queen For A Day
11. Ronnie Sessions – I Guess You’re Finally Satisfied
12. Merle Haggard – Mixed Up Mess Of A Heart
13. Joe and Rose Lee Maphis – A Lifetime Of Love
14. Del and Sue Smart – I’m So Mad At Me
15. Merle Haggard – Drink Up And Be Somebody
16. Wayne Wilson & Don Rich with The Buckaroos – You’ll Never Miss The Water (Til The Well Runs Dry)
17. Bob Morris – The First Thing I Think Of
18. Faye Hardin – Only The Strong Can Survive
19. Merle Haggard – You Don’t Have Very Far To Go
20. Bobby Austin – I’m Not Looking For An Angel
21. The Buckaroos – Chicken Pickin’
22. Doyle Holly & The Buckaroos – A Foolish Notion
23. Merle Haggard – I Made The Prison Band
24. Oscar Whittington – 50 Year Waltz
25. Del and Sue Smart – Love That Just Won’t Stop
26. The Gosdin Brothers – Hangin’ On
27. Suzi Arden – Who Do You Go To
28. Ronnie Sessions – There Never Was A Fool
29. Merle Haggard – Where Does The Good Times Go
30. Joe Maphis – Pickin’ And Guitin’
31. Rose Lee Maphis – Country Girl Courtship
32. Wayne Wilson – I’d Rather Be Hurt By You

Disc: 7
1. Buck Owens – The Heartaches Have Just Started
2. Gene Moles – Fingerlickin’
3. Al Brumley – I’m Goin’ Crazy
4. Bill Handy with Jelly Sanders Combo – Don’t Leave Me Cryin’
5. Leo Stephens – Walking In My Sleep Crying Over You
6. Tom Rose – It’s Over
7. Buck Owens and Buddy Alan – Let The World Keep On A Turnin’
8. Merle Haggard – Too Many Bridges To Cross Over
9. Dean Sanford – Too Young To Grow Old Over You
10. Tommy Wiggins – Calling All Lovers
11. Larry Daniels & The Buckshots – Buckshot
12. Bonnie Owens – Lead Me On
13. Leon Copeland – I’m Out Of My Mind
14. Clarence White – Buckaroo
15. The Sanland Brothers – Vaccination For The Blues
16. Red Simpson – You Put My World Back Together
17. The Strangers (Merle Haggrad) – Hammin’ It Up
18. Bob Ross – Lucy Clowers
19. Ronnie Sessions – (I Used To Live) The Life Of Riley
20. Barbara Cheatwood – Married Man
21. Billy Mize – Make It Rain
22. Cliff Crofford – Mention My Name
23. Buck Owens – Sam’s Place (live in London)
24. Merle Haggard – California Cottonfields
25. Rodney Lay – Not Going Back To Jackson
26. Glenda Blackwell – I Want To Live In Your House
27. Tom Tall – Pitty Pitty Patter
28. Judy Hall – My Old Used To Be
29. Ira Allen – Love Is Me
30. Faye Hardin – Mistakes I’ve Made
31. Harold Cox & The Sooners – Pumpkin Center
32. Jerry Dallas – Tears Of Joy (Are A-Croppin’ Out On Me)
33. Stan Farlow – Devil River

Disc: 8
1. Merle Haggard – Mama Tried (live in Muskogee)
2. The Strangers – Stealin’ Corn
3. Truitt Cunningham – Forgive And Forget
4. Buck Owens & Susan Raye – Cryin’ Time
5. Buck Owens – Bring Back My Peace Of Mind
6. The Sanland Brothers – Cowboy Convention
7. Don Rich & The Buckaroos – Guitar Pickin’ Man
8. Don Rich – Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was On The Right)
9. Buddy Alan (Sohn von Buck & Bonnie Owens) – A Whole Lot Of Somethin’
10. Merle Haggard – I’m A Good Loser
11. Bobby Wayne – California On My Mind
12. Buck Owens – Reno Lament
13. The Hagers – Your Tender Loving Care
14. Henry Sharpe – There Is No Easy Way
15. Lewis Talley – Because You Can’t Be Mine
16. Mike Beagles – She Don’t Care Now
17. Dave Price – Night Life Is My Weakness
18. Merle Haggard – Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)
19. Sharon Haley – Heartbreak Mountain
20. Mayf Nutter – Never Ending Song Of Love
21. Tony Booth – Cinderella
22. Red Simpson – I’m A Truck
23. Johnny Campbell – Mr. Conscience
24. Vancie Flowers – How Dark Is My Journey
25. Merle Haggard – Bring It On Down To My House
26. Kenni Huskey – Number One Heel
27. Merle Haggard – I’m Tired Of Your Understanding Ways
28. Kenny Vernon – I Bought The Shoes (That Just Walked Out On Me)

Disc: 9
1. Buck Owens – Arms Full Of Empty
2. Susan Raye – Love Sure Feels Good In My Heart
3. Homer Joy – Streets Of Bakersfield
4. Merle Haggard – I Know An Ending When It Comes
5. Buck Owens – Something’s Wrong
6. Doyle Singer & The Buckaroos – Young Widow Brown
7. Tide Cartwright – Cheater’s Ground
8. Blackjack Duran – I Laid Back Down
9. Arlo Guthrie – This Troubled Mind Of Mine
10. Merle Haggard – The Emptiest Arms In The World
11. Kenny Johnson with the Country Mile – Beer Drinkers Of America Unite
12. Buck Owens & Susan Raye – Sweethearts In Heaven
13. Laurel Lee – Mountain Of Fortune And Fame
14. Red Simpson – Bill Woods From Bakersfield
15. Thad Tillotson – Good Ole Country Sound
16. Freddie Hart – If You Can’t Feel It (It Ain’t There)
17. Carlyle Graham – Foolish Man
18. Kay Austin – The Lord Rested On Sunday
19. Cliff Crofford – Every Time I Hear The Fiddle Play
20. Merle Haggard – Holding Things Together
21. David Frizzell – I’m The Bartender’s Best Friend
22. Lawanda Lindsey – I Ain’t Hangin’ Round
23. Toby Keeney – Going Back To Oklahoma
24. Walt Pascoe – That Little Glass Of Milk
25. Roger Spanke – Betty Jane
26. Sandy Thomas – Antique In My Closet
27. Dennis Payne – Do You Believe In Me
28. Debi Hawkins – Teach Me How To Love
29. Merle Haggard – Mirrors Don’t Lie
30. Tony Booth – A Different Kind Of Sad

Disc: 10
1. Buck Owens – Y’all Come / Tall Dark Stranger (live at Toys for Tots)
2. Tony Booth – Lonesome 7-7203 (live at Toys for Tots show)
3. Buddy Alan – Fishin’ on the Mississippi (live at Toys for Tots show)
4. Susan Raye – L.A. International Airport (live at Toys for Tots)
5. Buck Owens, the Buckaroos and OMAC artists – Johnny B. Goode (live at Toys for Tots)
6. Bonnie Owens – Number One Heel (take 14)
7. Vancie & Rita – Strange
8. Vancie & Rita – Tears In My Beer
9. Billy Mize – Misery
10. Billy Mize – The Name Of The Game Is Heartaches
11. Red Simpson – I’d Be A Good Time Charlie
12. Red Simpson – Fit For A King
13. Johnny Barnett – Which One Is To Blame
14. Junior Stonebarger with Jelly Sanders Band – Release Me
15. Fuzzy Owen with Bill Woods’ Band – My Ears Should Burn (When Fools Are Talked About)
16. Bill Woods with Don Rich – Truck Driving Man
17. Tommy Collins – Be Serious Ann
18. Joe & Rose Lee Maphis – Christmas Time’s A Comin’
19. Lewis Talley – Blue Christmas
20. Louise Lovett – Lonely Christmas Call

One of the more salient aspects of this release has to do with how comfortably this collection of contemporary music from Armenia sits alongside musical traditions of other countries. While its material is deeply rooted in the cultural soil of its homeland, Modulation Necklace suggests that its composers have been influenced as much by the music of non-Armenian artists as that originating within its own fertile borders. The result is a satisfying and at times illuminating recording whose pieces draw from multiple traditions, Armenian of course mostly. It’s a bit telling, however, that the album was recorded at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music and that the bios for two of the composers, Artashes Kartalyan and Ashot Kartalyan, indicate they’re…

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…Los Angeles-based.

Credited as the project’s Executive Producer and Artistic Director, violinist Movses Pogossian midwifed Modulation Necklace into being. On the nearly eighty-minute release, six works by five composers are performed: Artur Avanesov’s represented by two works, while the Kartalyans, Michel Petrossian, and Ashot Zohrabyan each have a single piece performed. Arrangements extend from solo—Avanesov playing piano on selections from his Feux Follets cycle—to duo, trio, quartet, and quintet groupings. Pogossian himself appears on only one selection, but as the project’s prime mover his presence looms large.

Scored for piano quintet, Avanesov’s Quasi harena maris (“Like the Land of the Sea”) begins the set on a sombre note, the tone perhaps attributable in part to its source of inspiration: a heavy passage from The Book of Job. Microtonality creeps into the writing before things take a particularly expressive turn, the music fluctuating between emotional extremes until the composer’s piano instates measured calm. If the elements seem to take on a somewhat conversational form, it might be because the composer treats the string quartet as a choir “chanting” the Biblical text and the pianist as a “protagonist” whose playing eventually turns improvisational. Regardless, the work’s constantly evolving design makes for a gripping twelve minutes. Like the opener, Zohrabyan’s Novelette starts with strings alone, plaintive lines woven between the violin, viola, and cello, and also shares with Quasi harena maris a predilection for expressive outpourings. Avanesov again appears on piano, though the larger focus is on strings, Antonio Lysy’s cello in particular. He guides the others through the thorniest of thickets until the baton’s handed to violinist Varty Manouelian, who caps the fifteen-minute performance with a supplicating, high-register solo.

Rather playful by comparison is Petrossian’s A Fiery Flame, a Flaming Fire, which draws on Armenian folkloric music and the traditional song “Kars.” Conceived also as a meditation on the mercurial, multi-faceted nature of identity (Petrossian himself is Aremenian by birth, Russian by education, and French by culture), the piece shifts between contrasting moods and textures, violin, cello, and piano constantly engaged in rapid transitions for the full eleven minutes. Incorporating texts by Vahan Tekeyan, Artashes Kartalyan’s Tekeyan Triptych is an album high point, in part due to the stellar vocalizing of mezzo-soprano Danielle Segen. Accompanied by string quartet, she imbues the gracefully flowing “Es Siretsi (I Have Loved)” with a lyrical tenderness befitting words dealing with passionate love. Complementing it nicely are “Papaq (A Wish)” and “Hashvehardar (A Summary),” the former a gentle waltz and the latter a sober reflection by the poet on his own life with its many peaks and valleys.

The album’s final two pieces part company with the others in presenting first a five-part suite for saxophone and percussion and secondly seven solo piano selections composed and performed by Avanesov. Contrasts abound in Ashot Kartalyan’s Suite for Saxophone and Percussion, from the combination of sinuous soprano saxophone (Katisse Buckingham) and rambunctious drumming (Dustin Donahue) in the opening movement to the gentle, ballad-styled musings of sax and vibraphone in the fourth. A serpentine intermingling of soprano and marimba colours the second, whereas a regulated pulse drives the third, marimba and woodwind here engaging in something groove-centered before a dreamier central section. In another surprise, the final movement’s rollicking feel owes more to jazz than anything remotely classical.

Avanesov’s solo piano collection Feux Follets contains approximately seventy works, seven of which appear here. Diverse in mood, tempo, and dynamics, they’re concise statements, with only one pushing past the two-minute mark. In appearing alone, the artistry of Avanesov’s playing is especially evident, whether it be voicing tenderness or executing rapid runs. Brevity shouldn’t be equated with superficiality either: the pieces hold up under scrutiny as material of substance, the composer referencing Luciano Berio in one (“Let It Be Forgotten”) and medieval French song (“Quand l’aubespine fleurit”), Baroque harpsichord music (“Gespenstertanz”), and Armenian folksong (“Mon cœur reste brûlé”) elsewhere.

Modulation Necklace offers a wonderful entry-point for curious listeners eager to familiarize themselves with the work of living Armenian composers, but, as mentioned, said listeners might be surprised to discover how accessible their music is and how comfortable it sounds alongside non-Armenian classical works. Think of it as a most satisfying and wide-ranging primer. — Textura

Journalist, broadcaster and DJ Steve Lamacq has curated a new ‘various artists’ 4CD deluxe set called Lost Alternatives, that pulls together tracks from the 1990’s UK indie scene.
The music in this set represents the “evolution of guitar music through the nineties” as told not by the big hits but by Evening Session cult favourites, limited edition singles and by some bands who simply never made it. Artists include the likes of Northside, Curve, Kitchens of Distinction, Voodoo Queens, Drugstore, Northern Uproar and Llama Farmers. There is also a peppering of slightly bigger names like Suede, Ride, The Charlatans, The Auteurs and Elastica.
…Most alternative music lived underground. It made a lot of noise, but no-one in the mainstream could hear it… The nineties would see it go so much further than many of us expected. It wasn’t just the popularity of alternative music which would change; the music was constantly reinventing itself too, sucking in influences from…

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…different genres and different eras.

And that brings us to this compilation…Create a compilation which tries to dig a little deeper; which attempts to give another side of the nineties, which wasn’t Cool Britannia, Laddism, and Blur Vs Oasis. What’s here represents, at least one version, of the evolution of guitar music through the nineties, as told, not by the big hits, but by the limited edition singles, The Evening Session cult favourites and the bands who maybe never made it, but in some cases never wanted to anyway. “ — Steve Lamacq – extract from sleeve notes.

CD1
1 Ride – Chelsea Girl
2 The Charlatans – Indian Rope
3 Northside – Shall We Take a Trip?
4 Flowered Up – It’s On
5 New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big
6 Slowdive – Catch the Breeze
7 Curve – Ten Little Girls
8 Kitchens Of Distinction – Prize
9 Pale Saints – Throwing Back the Apple
10 Family Cat – Place with a Name
11 Senseless Things – Is It Too Late?
12 Mega City Four – Words That Say
13 Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows
14 Silverfish – Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal
15 Daisy Chainsaw – Love Your Money
16 Voodoo Queens – Supermodel Superficial
17 Cornershop – Waterlogged

CD2
1 S*M*A*S*H – Real Surreal
2 These Animal Men – Speeed King
3 Blessed Ethel – Rat
4 Suede – The Drowners
5 The Auteurs – Showgirl
6 Elastica – Stutter
7 Sleeper – Alice in Vain
8 Tiny Monroe – VHF 855V
9 Whiteout – Starrclub
10 China Drum – Wuthering Heights
11 Snuff – Caught in Session
12 60Ft Dolls – Happy Shopper
13 Salad – Drink the Elixir
14 Drugstore – Solitary Party Groover
15 Ash – Uncle Pat
16 Northern Uproar – Rollercoaster
17 Perfume – Lover
18 Mansun – Take It Easy Chicken
19 Bluetones – Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?

CD3
1 Bis – School Disco
2 Travis – All I Want to Do Is Rock
3 Catatonia – Sweet Catatonia
4 Marion – Violent Men
5 Audioweb – Sleeper
6 Rialto – Monday Morning 5:19
7 Tiger – Race
8 Strangelove – Greatest Show On Earth
9 Animals That Swim – Pink Carnations
10 Linoleum – Dissent
11 Scarfo – Alkaline
12 Kenickie – Come Out 2nite
13 Helen Love – Does Your Heart Go Boom
14 Jocasta – Go
15 Livingstone – Good Intentions
16 Geneva – No-One Speaks
17 Whipping Boy – When Were Young
18 Earl Brutus – Life’s Too Long

CD4
1 Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend
2 Mogwai – New Paths to Helicon Part 1
3 Idlewild – Satan Polaroid
4 Symposium – The Answer to Why I Hate You
5 3 Colours Red – This Is My Hollywood
6 The Delgados – Pull the Wires from the Wall
7 The Beta Band – Dry the Rain
8 The Hitchers – Strachan
9 Wubble U – Bit Like You
10 Ten Benson – The Claw
11 Clinic – I.P.C. Subeditors Dictate Our Youth
12 Cay – Better Than Myself
13 Cable – Freeze the Atlantic
14 Seafood – This Is Not an Exit
15 Llama Farmers – Paper Eyes
16 Ultrasound – Stay Young
17 Morgan – Miss Parker (The Dust Brothers Mix)

The only label financed from the proceeds of bagging groceries, Renfro Records operated at the fringe of the Los Angeles music business.
“There was so much talent around in those days,” founder Anthony Renfro said. “Everyone could sing and they were literally singing on the street corners. Twenty dollars for drink or weed would get them into a studio at the click of the fingers.”
Those clicks resulted in heavenly northern soul sides from Morris Chestnut, The Attractions, and Carl Henderson, alongside dreamy girl group pop from The Sequins, The Stunners, and Tender Loving Care. The label’s ten-year run is captured in its near-entirety across three virtual “discs,” sorted by tempo for talcum enthusiasts and steppers alike. — Numero Group

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1. The Sequins – That Boy [02:25]
2. Morris Chestnut – Too Darn Soulful [02:33]
3. Carl Henderson – See What You’ve Done [03:02]
4. The Sequins – A Case of Love [02:21]
5. Buddy McKnight – Everytime (Pt. 1) [02:15]
6. The Stunners – Without You [02:20]
7. The Sequins – He’s a Flirt [02:20]
8. Brothers Young – What’s Your Game [02:35]
9. Luke Day – Love Line [03:45]
10. Ronald Saunders – The Skate (Pt. 2) [02:22]
11. The Attractions – Destination You [02:57]
12. Little Tony & the Hawks – Sweet Little Girl [01:44]
13. Carl Henderson – That Girl [02:26]
14. Bobby Wisdom – Handwriting On the Wall [02:19]
15. Sam Cox – Life Is Love [02:22]
16. Tender Loving Care – My World Is Falling [03:02]
17. Carl Henderson – Gotta Keep On Movin’ [02:10]
18. The Attractions – Why Shouldn’t a Man Cry [02:51]
19. The Stunners – Nobody But Me [02:57]
20. Carl Henderson – Everybody’s Talking [02:10]
21. Viola Edwards – Love Me Baby [03:01]
22. Morris Chestnut – You Don’t Love Me Anymore [02:03]
23. Carl Henderson – I’m Scheming [02:03]
24. Little Tony & the Hawks – Don’t Try to Fight It [02:34]
25. Carl Henderson – Please Stop Laughing at Me [02:54]
26. The Attractions – That Girl Is Mine [02:39]
27. John Westly – Just Believe [02:38]
28. The Sequins – You’re All I Need [02:49]
29. Anthony Renfro – This Is Our Moment of Love [02:20]
30. Sam Cox – Destination [02:43]
31. Helen Moore – The Run Around [02:49]
32. Little Tony & the Hawks – The Tears [02:38]
33. Helen Moore – Get Away Blues [02:19]
34. The Attractions – New Girl in the Neighborhood [03:07]
35. Little Tony & the Hawks – My Little Girl [02:28]
36. Carl Henderson – You’re All I Need [02:50]

…The second compilation on Danish DJ and creative director Courtesy’s label Kulør, Kulør 006 showcases the work of local producers and musicians from her hometown, Copenhagen. The first, Kulør 001, was a snapshot of the city’s “fast techno” scene, which has more in common with trance motifs and rave aesthetics than it does Berlin’s minimal take on the Detroit sound. Courtesy used to co-run another label, Ectotherm, that centered on this particular facet of Copenhagen dance music, but it wound down in 2018. She started Kulør the same year with the intention of exploring a wider sonic palette, which is where Kulør 006 steps in. Kulør, she explained in an interview, is “like a living organism that can grow and morph into things that…

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…I can’t even imagine now.”

If that description could peel itself off this page and make a home inside your ears, it might sound a lot like Minais B’s delightfully eccentric “To Levende Væsener” (or in translation, “Two Living Beings”). Seesawing synthesized strings make way for a chorus of digital mouth sounds that land somewhere between the croak of a frog and the yap of a small dog. While sonically distinct, they tickle the senses in a not dissimilar way to a particularly squelchy acid line. Purists like to paint electronic music as a wholly serious endeavor, but wise practitioners know that a spot of ludicrousness can light up a dance floor like nothing else.

The sense of humor that Varnrable wields on “Cold Bright Hard Light” is dry to the point of brittle, but just as effective. Filtering post-punk energy through sharp synths, the artist narrates a desire to escape to the countryside, anticipating a cold welcome, before deadpanning the quintessential millennial stance: “Thank god for good Wi-Fi connection, right?”

Laughter’s the best medicine, they say, but tears also clear a path for healing. Interestingly, the only two artists on Kulør 006 who also appeared on the hedonistic first compilation—Schacke and IBON—are also the ones who dig deepest into the comedown zone. Schacke spells it out with “The End of Ecstasy,” a subdued looping melody that feels in conversation with “Smokebelch II (Beatless Mix)” by Sabres of Paradise, an association I’m perhaps more sensitive to given Andrew Weatherall’s recent passing. Where “Smokebelch II” is tinged with joy, “The End of Ecstasy” has a curled-up and contemplative energy, characterized instead by burnt textures and feelings alike. IBON’s contribution, a watercolor synth track called “Sorgpad,” also exists in the lonely hours that stretch out between the last record of the night and the relief of a new day. Eschewing melody, IBON uses incremental shifts in tone and timbre to tell a story that seasoned ravers will recognize.

There’s plenty more for curious ears to explore, and it is nothing if not surprising. On the vinyl version, the A-side has a scrapbook pop moment with Sofie Birch’s “Look,” which recalls the sweetly scruffy production of London in the early 2010s (think early Sampha, Micachu, and Kwes), and a slice of polyrhythmic heaven in Astrid Sonne’s “Swirl,” which performs an endless build without losing traction. Over on side B, “Never Rest” by Lyra Valenza traverses ambient, industrial, and trance territories, while “Dares Soar” by X & Yde combines spoken word, slabs of bass, and squiggly sax. And that’s not even everything! Kulør 006 is a thrilling peek inside the multidimensional mindspace of this network of Copenhagen artists that counts Courtesy at its heart. — Pitchfork

Soul Jazz apply keen ears to the ingenious era of UK rave, hardcore and jungle and its unprecedented stylistic shifts of the early ‘90s with a haul of seminal, obscure and killer cuts.
Archivists of the most crucial Black and Latin music, Soul Jazz know what they’re on about, and rack up some proper knowledge here from a unique phase of UK music when ragga and nutty rave styles collided and accelerated to produce one of the UK’s most distinctive, enduring genres.
Following the emergence of digi-dub dancehall and the house phenomenon of the late ‘80s, the 2nd generation offspring of Caribbean migrants pushed those styles to breaking point, and then some, in the early ‘90s, ramping the tempos, going ruthlessly heavy on the subs,…

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…and chopping up amen breaks in a mean advance of rugged US hip hop UK fast-rap.

These innovations were the result of a tight feedback loop of influence between dancers and DJs, who effectively egged each other to greater ecstasies (perhaps amped by some pills and powders), and producers followed suit with tracks that sounded ever more like two or three tunes being mixed by a DJ at +6 on the decks.

The 12 tracks of ‘Black Riot’ are all a result of this innovative rush of form and function, and range from the nutty jazziness of DJ SS’ 1994 ace ‘The Smoker’s Rhythm’, to the foundational hardcore pressure of ‘Durban Poison’ by Babylon Timewarp, Leviticus’ all-time burner ‘Burial (Lovers Rock Mix)’, and Trip’s darkcore ’93 glyder ‘The Snowball’, alongside absolute murder in DJ Krome & Mr. Time’s lighter tune ‘Ganja Man’, plus more experimental obscurities in the nano-tight edits of ‘Way Of Life’ by New Vision, and overlooked but deadly rude ragga bleep rave by Nu Jacks. — boomkat

Hearing the deep gospel arcana gathered on No Other Love: Midwest Gospel (1965-1978) feels a little like receiving a transmission from a distant star. But the raw humanity in every second of this lovingly curated compilation is still vital.
Compilation producer Ramona Stout was a professional crate-digger in Chicago when she uncovered the mega-rare ’60s and ’70s Midwestern gospel singles collected here, and her expertise shows. Mostly self-released micro-pressings, these aren’t the kind of records you can just grab from eBay or Discogs — you’ve got to get your hands dirty. And if you want to gather information about them you’ve got to do some serious detective work — which Stout also did.
For the most part, this isn’t clap-shout,…

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…good-time gospel. There’s an almost grim determination that comes through on many of the tracks—the kind that comes from inner-city African-American communities dealing with the struggles of daily life. After all, what’s gospel music about, if not transcending earthly adversity by keeping a divine purpose in mind? Rev. H.H. Harrington’s “Black Pride,” which sounds as much like a DIY post-punk obscurity as a gospel tune, goes so far as to detail the social issues of the place and time; those tribulations are the subtext throughout the record.

The minor-key modes of many tunes add an almost ominous quality, whether it’s the Wondering Gails’ “The Number,” with its haunted organ and New Orleans funeral-stroll pace; The Georgia Brooks Singers’ stark, stern warning to sinners on “You Can’t Make It;” or the downright creepy vibe of Joanne & Sonny’s venture into the great beyond on “Journey.”

Sometimes, the feel is straight-up funky (The Messiahs of Glory’s title track, for example), but frequently it’s lo-fi and ultra-minimal. Christopher King did a magical job remastering these tunes from the original 45s, making beyond-rough source material eminently listenable without sacrificing its unvarnished appeal. And when those testifying voices cry out, baked in half-century-old reverb, that gloriously ghostly quality becomes all the more palpable. — daily.bandcamp.com

It positively reflects on Peter Van Zandt Lane’s (b. 1985) identity as a composer that New Cartography sounds as cohesive as it does, considering that each of its four pieces was performed by a different ensemble. Concentrating on his chamber output between 2015 and 2019, New Cartography could be seen as a personal mapping of his style across a fifty-three-minute presentation. While his areas of composing interest encompass electroacoustic music and material for wind and dance ensembles, the works on this release are chamber-styled settings realized by groupings of three musicians (Subaerial Collective), four (Atlanta Chamber Players), six (MOD[ular] Ensemble), and, for the conductor-led Chamber Symphony, fourteen (Equilibirum Ensemble).

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The release thus offers a compact yet still comprehensive portrait of Lane, who’s also a composition faculty member at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music in Athens, Georgia.

Onomatopoeic in design, the framing works, /ping/ and /chatter/, also incorporate electronics though subtly, their emphasis largely on woodwind (clarinet, saxophone, bassoon), trombone, piano, contrabass, and percussion timbres. A dimension common to all four pieces, however, has to do with mechanization, with the music at times involving kinetic motion and interlocking rhythms; the second, Piano Quartet: The Longitude Problem, even draws for inspiration from eighteenth-century navigation and John Harrison’s invention of the marine chronometer.

When /ping/ introduces the album with a flourish reminiscent of Louis Andriessen, it’s not the only time a connection’s suggested between Lane and the Dutch composer. The agitated piano and saxophone patterns powering rapidly through /ping/ could have come from any number of Andriessen compositions, for example—which shouldn’t be interpreted to mean Lane’s music is derivative but merely to highlight a commonality shared with another composer. Like that of his Dutch counterpart, Lane’s material is rigorously worked out, meticulously designed, and panoramic in orchestral colour, even when the number of players involved is modest as it is in this instance.

Performed exquisitely by the Atlanta Chamber Players, Piano Quartet: The Longitude Problem features pianist Elizabeth Pridgen and string players Helen Kim (violin), Catherine Lynn (viola), and Brad Ritchie (cello) navigating through three intricate movements. The multi-part design allows for a broad range of moods and dynamics, such that the restrained lyricism of the opening “Ded reckoning” gives way to the chronometric flow of “Harrison’s timekeepers” and the cross-currents that energize “New cartography.” There’s a rustic, time-honoured quality to the material that’s in keeping with the location where the piece was composed: Aaron Copland’s historic home, during a time when Lane was composer-in-residence.

The sound world naturally expands for Chamber Symphony when its four movements are essayed by the Boston-based Equilibrium Ensemble under Matt Sharrock’s direction. Three woodwinds, three horns, four strings, two percussionists, and a contrabassist execute the material with circumspect attention to Lane’s ambitious score. Whether it’s the boisterousness of the dance-driven third movement or the creeping ambiance of the fourth, the musicians meet the challenges of the material impressively. If /ping/ evokes Andriessen, the symphony at times plays like a concentrated, single-work distillation of twentieth-century composition. In the opening movement, for example, dissonant passages hint at a Second Viennese School influence; again, however, Lane’s music might contain an echo of that movement, but he’s clearly no serialist. It would be more accurate to say that having studied and perhaps absorbed the styles of his predecessors, some of that naturally emerges in his own expression. Also helping to ground the work in the twentieth century is its all-acoustic presentation.

Imposing a neat structural design to the album, /chatter/ mirrors /ping/ in spirit if not in design. Still, as performed by Subaerial Collective (Lane on bassoon with contrabassist Emily Koh and pianist Adrian Childs), /chatter/ revisits the interlocking rhythmic style of the opener, with the closing piece distancing itself from /ping/ in featuring bassoon more prominently in its arrangement.

It’s telling that Lane chose New Cartography as both the title of the album and the third movement in the Piano Quartet; in emphasizing it twice over, he accentuates his desire to explore new paths and directions, without wholly severing ties to the long-established traditions set in place by his forebears. Lane’s sensibility is very much oriented towards the future, but the material on the release also amplifies his connection to classical music’s foundations.

The Pacific North West and the English North West are damp, mossy, riddled with steep, unexpected valleys, dotted with abandoned mills, and frequently cloaked in mist. Most of the year you’d be wise to wear waterproofs. David Lynch set Twin Peaks in the former; it’s not a great leap to imagine it being re-cast and set in the latter. As for the soundtrack? Well, that’s what this album is about.
Charlatans singer Tim Burgess and Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley have known each for three decades now. Aside from a shared love of Factory Records and the Fall, they both consider Twin Peaks to be the greatest TV show ever. They also share a love of cafes, but Tim has gone the extra mile and set up the Tim Peaks Diner, a huge draw at festivals, combining tea, coffee and music.

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This, then, is a soundtrack for the Tim Peaks Diner after dusk – put a couple of quid in the jukebox and the plangent guitars of Durutti Column, Dean McPhee and Galaxie 500 colour the air. Included here are rare recordings on Factory Records (Stockholm Monsters, the Royal Family and The Poor), and groups that appeared in the wake of the Fall (Blue Orchids, the Fates); from South Wales there are minimal miniatures by Young Marble Giants and the Gist, as well as Gwenno’s ice crystal electronica. Not that the music needs to originate from Britain at all – there are tracks here from Sweden (El Perro Del Mar), New Zealand (the Chills) and the US, too (Chastity Belt).

Compiled by Tim Burgess and Bob Stanley, this is the soundtrack to the Tim Peaks Diner after the sun’s gone down, and it contains some of the most beautiful and atmospheric independent music made in the last 40 years.

1. Young Marble Giants – Choci Loni (02:25)
2. The Chills – House with a Hundred Rooms (03:14)
3. Durutti Column – Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone) (03:46)
4. The Gist – Yanks (02:13)
5. Gwenno – Hunros (A Dream) (02:30)
6. The Clientele – I Had to Say This (03:30)
7. The Royal Family & The Poor – I Love You (Restrained in a Moment) (03:54)
8. ISAN – Betty’s Lament (05:08)
9. Jane Weaver – Slow Motion (05:05)
10. Echo & The Bunnymen – Fuel (04:01)
11. Galaxie 500 – Flowers (04:27)
12. Gnac – The Broken Fall (04:03)
13. Birdie – Blue Dress (03:55)
14. El Perro Del Mar – Dog (02:59)
15. Stockholm Monsters – Fairy Tales (Demo Version) (04:06)
16. Chastity Belt – Different Now (03:47)
17. Blue Orchids – A Year with No Head (02:34)
18. Bracken – Ten Years (04:06)
19. The Fates – Sheila – She Beats in My Heart (06:53)
20. Dean McPhee – Sky Burial (03:47)

01. Funkadelic – Cosmic Slop
02. Betty Davis – Walkin Up the Road
03. Ike & Tina Turner – You Got What You Wanted
04. Lightnin’ Rod – Doriella Du Fontaine (feat. Jimi Hendrix)
05. Pure Hell – Lame Brain
06. Death – Politicians in My Eyes
07. Shuggie Otis – Ice Cold Daydream
08. Love – Young & Able (Good & Evil)
09. Swamp Dogg – Family Pain
10. Sir Stanley – I Believe
11. Leon’s Creation – This Is the Beginning
12. Musi-O-Tunya – Musi-O-Tunya
13. Mdou Moctar – Tarhatazed
14. Stone Coal White – Stone Coal White
15. The Last Poets – For the Millions

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MOJO April 2020 [#317]

When Seattle-based recording engineer Kearney Barton died in 2012, the 80 year-old studio veteran had spent the past 50 years recording the cream of the Seattle music scene through the decades. The Fleetwoods, Quincy Jones, The Wailers, The Sonics, The Ventures, Ann Wilson (Heart), The Frantics, The Kingsmen, and Dave Lewis to name a few. Barton also captured Seattle’s vibrant 1960s-70s R&B and soul scene, including Black On White Affair and Soul Swingers, among others, as documented in Light in the Attic’s Wheedle’s Groove series. In his later years Barton’s old school reputation drew in contemporary bands like Young Fresh Fellows, The Smugglers, The Minus 5, and The A-Bones into his studio. Essentially, when a local unknown band wanted to make a demo tape,…

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…or record their debut album, or perhaps someone just wanted to capture their uncle playing banjo or their kid sister’s first songs, they’d go to Barton’s studio.

There were 7,000 reel-to-reel tapes piled up in Barton’s house at the time of his passing. The University of Washington carefully cataloged these tapes, and former Sub Pop employee Dan Trager (who had learned the art of recording from Kearney years earlier as a student) began listening and taking notes. With input from a team drawn from the university and Light in the Attic, Dan compiled a shortlist of essential tracks that would form the basis of this compilation.

Kearney Barton: Architect of the Northwest Sound is a comprehensive document of Seattle in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. It is also a testament to Barton’s life-long dedication to the art of recording. It includes long out of print recordings originally released by local labels such as Jerden, Topaz, Piccadilly, and Etiquette Records. It covers a wide range of genres: sitar and balalaika players, gospel church choirs, unknown garage bands, steel drums, obscure soul artists and teenage a cappella singers. There’s also some familiar names here: Sonics, Wailers, a young pre-Heart Ann Wilson, Larry Coryell making his first ever studio recordings with Chuck Mahaffay, the Hudson Brothers long before they were on TV.

“However diverse, there is a commonality that stands out among his recordings: hardcore analog fidelity,” says University of Washington archivist John Vallier. “It sounds like you are in the room with the drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. The mix is minimum. It’s a raw, sonic reality, even if the band is poppy and jangly. It’s an honest sound that doesn’t sugarcoat what’s being performed. That’s Kearney, too.” — lightintheattic.net

The cosmic and Afro scenes emerged in Northern Italy through the late ’70s and ’80s. Daniele Baldelli and Claudio ‘Mozart’ Rispoli helped cultivate a sound in the aftermath of disco’s peak that was trippy by design. It rolled at slower tempos across kosmische, obscure funk, psychedelic rock and bargain-bin synth pop. The duo began DJing together in the mid-’70s with a residency at Italy’s Baia Degli Angeli club, before Baldelli moved on to Cosmic, a club at Lake Garda that gave Baldelli’s style its name. Beppe Loda was taking a similar approach to mixing records in his hometown, Manerbio, before landing a key residency at Typhoon, creating what he coined the “Afro” sound. Taken together, these styles are now referred to as either “Afro cosmic” or “cosmic disco.”

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This new compilation from Antinote and Dizonord, compiled by Ygal Ohayon, surveys the early ’90s, well after the cosmic Afro sound’s peak years, by which time Austrian and German holidaymakers, inspired by these wrong-speed curveballs, fostered likeminded scenes in Innsbruck and Munich. It’s a deep, undulating sound that ran alongside the rise of trance, which is unsurprising given the genres’ respective roots. The music journalist and DJ Dave Mothersole’s piece on the origins of Goa trance echoes what was happening in the Afro cosmic scene in the ’80s—DJs mining synth pop B-sides and freaky dub mixes with a mystical aura.

The tracks on Studiolo are somewhat obscure. Take DJ Fred, DJ Otti & Jay Pee’s 96 BPM thumper “Indien Summer,” originally released in 1994 and itself a cover of Max Werner’s 1981 ethno-pop oddity “Indian Summer.” The original was a cosmic disco classic played at 45 RPM instead of 33, but here the Munich production team pitched it up even further. The chipmunk vocals are an inevitable side effect but were also intrinsic to the cosmic method, as Baldelli has explained. The synthetic didgeridoo drone, brash horns and choppy vocal stutters aren’t tasteful, but there’s also something charming about their disregard for sophistication.

This style of club music is riddled with cheesy bits—lots of pan pipes above all else—but the best tracks on Studiolo, like Fred and Boran DJ’s “Cosmic Patch (Lazy’gal Edit),” transcend these pitfalls. Mamukata’s melancholic “Tantawina” is even more intoxicating, with its swirling vocals, pulsing arpeggios and patient, dreamy pads. It’s trance in all but name, the primary difference being an element of restraint that secures the music’s hypnotic effect. Baldelli features on Virtual Roots’ “Sonar (Virtual Version),” a 1993 track that demonstrates how to go maximal while still being seductive.

Some devotees of cosmic disco have sneered at the sound’s second wave. Bill Brewster once said that “the modern version of Afro sound is bloody awful. Terrible world music dressed in drippy hippy nonsense.” One could point to “Indien Summer” as an example of this, or the lead on Zendy’s 1991 wobbler “Zymotic (Plastic Version),” which teeters on the edge of silliness. Stefan Egger’s schlocky “Cosmic Esmeralda,” meanwhile, is simply naff. Tracks like these may bemuse. But at its best, the music here is capable of offering spellbinding dance floor experiences. — residentadvisor.net

Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have compiled a new various artists compilation, The Tears of Technology, that celebrates a period in the early 1980s when “scruffy synth duos from the provinces broke through and took over British pop.” The collection blends some big names (Simple Minds, The Human League, OMD) with plenty of obscurities (Turquoise Days, Electronic Circus and Illustration) and some pioneers (John Foxx, Thomas Leer).
At the turn of the ’80s, a new generation of musicians appeared who saw synthesisers not as dehumanizing machines but as musical instruments that could be coaxed into creating modern, beautiful and decidedly emotional music. It was almost as if the musicians were intentionally creating this music to prove the doubters wrong.

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Compiled by Saint Etienne‘s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, “The Tears of Technology” celebrates this brief period when scruffy synth duos from the provinces broke through and took over British pop. Like mellotrons before them, synths could project a strange and deep emotion; listen to OMD’s ‘Sealand’, or the Human League’s ‘WXJL Tonight’, and it was clear that something in the wiring had an inherent melancholy.

In the 60s and 70s, the synthesiser had mostly been regarded as either a novelty or a threat. Tomorrow’s World warned us that the cold, heartless synth would soon make orchestras redundant. But by 1980, Korgs, Moogs and Rolands were becoming affordable for all, and post-punk had created a safe place for new groups to experiment with these new toys.

The influence of Kraftwerk – who had made a landmark appearance on Tomorrow’s World in 1975 – is all over this collection. Big names rub shoulders with obscurities by Turquoise Days, Electronic Circus and Illustration, all highly prized recordings among ‘cold wave’ and ‘minimal synth’ afficionados. There are pioneers like John Foxx and Thomas Leer, alongside unexpected synth sadness from Simple Minds and the Teardrop Explodes.

“The Tears of Technology” celebrates an era of electronic melancholia, synthesized intimacies and insights – even Tomorrow’s World didn’t see that coming.

1. China Crisis – Jean Walks in Fresh Fields [01:46]
2. Turquoise Days – Grey Skies [04:16]
3. Simple Minds – Real to Real [02:48]
4. Illustration – Tidal Flow [03:50]
5. Care – An Evening in the Ray [02:47]
6. Soft Cell – Youth [03:13]
7. John Foxx – Europe After the Rain [03:57]
8. Patrik Fitzgerald – Personal Loss [02:50]
9. Eyeless in Gaza – Lights of April [02:17]
10. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Sealand [07:40]
11. Thomas Leer – Private Plane [03:57]
12. The Electronic Circus – Direct Lines [03:49]
13. The Pale Fountains – Unless [04:36]
14. Chris & Cosey – October (Love Song) [03:50]
15. New Musik – A Map of You [03:46]
16. The Human League – WXJL Tonight [04:33]
17. Paul Haig – Christiana [03:35]
18. The Teardrop Explodes – Tiny Children [03:47]
19. Oppenheimer Analysis – Behind the Shades [05:54]
20. Trevor Bastow – Feather Bed [02:59]

Interactions: A Guide to Swiss Underground Experimental Music is a double compilation curated by Luis Alvarado and published by Buh Records, which brings together 27 works by more than 30 artists from the current experimental music scene in Switzerland, in a variety of sounds, ranging from free improvisation, ambient and industrial music, to synthesizer music, sound collage and more, which gives an account of an intense activity of the Swiss underground that runs through cities such as Zürich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Biel, Chiasso and Lucerne.
…Alvarado spent the past few years exploring the Swiss experimental music scene. A brief research stay in Switzerland enabled him to forge numerous contacts and exchange ideas and…

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…experiences in collaboration with Swiss music practitioners.

Luis Alvarado on the Swiss scene in this genre: “I knew the Swiss scene a bit. As I began to deepen my exploration I realized that it was a very large and very special scene because of its cultural diversity, which is something that also defines us in Peru. I like that there is a lot of radicalism, and a great interest in noise music and free improvisation music. There are many pioneer artists in Switzerland, but at the same time, I feel that it is all very eclectic. Artists sometimes work in different musical styles and this is a great virtue.”

Matthias Orsett and Maxi Fischer of the Décalé label assembled this charming cabinet of curiosities in concert with Les Disques Bongo Joe.
Both labels focus on careful crate-digging, and here they’ve chosen to exhume and compile rarities from the Swiss experimental, post-punk, and electronic scenes of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, that fertile time when more affordable commercially available synthesizers transformed home studios across the world.
These artists all did remarkably different things with the tools they had at hand. There’s disorienting (yet a little jazzy) new age from Bells of Kyoto, which could be relaxing elevator music if it wasn’t constantly lurching about in syncopation, with elements appearing and…

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…disappearing in the mix as if the track was fading into and out of view. There’s catchy minimal wave with peculiar baby-voiced spoken-word verse from Carol Rich, and delightfully dated, molasses-slow synth-pop with orchestra hits and hilariously compressed slap bass from Air Project. Sky Bird, who sadly passed away while this project was being put together, offers an ominous, conspiratorial vocal over deceptively simple piano chording, MIDI horn blasts, searing, barely-there guitar and choppy drum machine. Kulu Hatah Mamnua’s track has a ritual patter to its percussion and wordless chanting, and folk tradition in its strings; Peter Philippe Weiss’ “Subway” is half-’80s disco pop, half-terrifying internal monologue. Each track feels like its own little world, and yet as a compilation, it makes a remarkable amount of sense—gentle oddballs working with a sense of possibility, without a real desire for mainstream understanding. Optimal conditions for experimental art. — daily.bandcamp.com

The journalist Matt Anniss’ obsessive documenting of bleep and bass, a niche sub-genre of ’90s techno, has done much to enhance the music’s profile. In simple terms, bleep was the result of a collision between US house and techno, Caribbean soundsystem culture and the industrial heritage of northern England. The early releases from LFO, Nightmares On Wax, Forgemasters and Sweet Exorcist — all via Warp Records — remain the best-known bleep bangers. But as Anniss demonstrated in his exhaustive book, Join the Future: Bleep Techno & The Birth of British Bass Music, the movement was more widespread than a handful of hits. It foreshadowed the evolution of UK dance music through hardcore into jungle and beyond.
After the book, it’s fitting that a compilation…

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…should emerge. Given the book’s contrarian approach, designed to counteract London-centric narratives surrounding the growth of UK dance music culture, it’s not surprising to see an alternative vision of bleep presented in the selections. There are no big anthems here—LFO’s “LFO,” Sweet Exorcist’s “Testone” or Forgemaster’s “Track With No Name,” for example. Instead, there are obscure dubplate lifts, deep remixes and low-key club smashers from the producers who were in the cut-and-thrust of this sound at its peak.

Bleep embodied the experimental spirit of late ’80s and early ’90s electronic music. You can hear producers using the technology with naïve aplomb—there’s Original Clique madly triggering samples on “Come To Papa” or 100 Hz cutting up kung-fu chants on “LFO (Subsonic Mix).” On occasions, there are bizarre juxtapositions, erratic arrangements and sentimental diversions. But the music’s raw basic elements and sub-heavy sonics made the music eternally cool. Bleep and bass has a weighty moodiness that still holds up more than 30 years on.

One of the cofounders of Warp Records, Robert Gordon, is intrinsic to the bleep story. He was the studio visionary behind Forgemasters (with Winston Hazel and Sean Maher) with production and engineering credits for many of the style’s early hits. Gordon mastered this compilation, which in some cases involved working from vinyl rips where original masters couldn’t be sourced. In dance music’s early records, there is often a disappointingly large gap between stellar ideas and their presentation in the mastering quality. The sound Gordon achieves across Join the Future, however, is brilliant. A warm, cohesive hum resounds around the low-end without dulling the bite of those crisp, dry snares or pealing bleeps.

The moodiest cuts shine. Demonik’s “Labyrinthe” still soars, but the emphasis is on eerie string pads and the ominous throb of the heavily submerged bass. The DJ Martin and DJ Homes “Primordial Jungle” mix of Man Machine’s “Animal” is an outstanding, fiercely reduced rhythm track with malevolent bass hits and a sprinkling of wildlife sound FX. (The haunting pad hints at Martin’s involvement in the early LFO tracks.) The minimalist breakbeat funk of Nightmares On Wax’s B2 obscurity “21st Kong” sounds shockingly fresh.

Alfanso’s “Dub Feels Nice (Version 4)” makes the clearest link to bleep’s soundsystem roots—it has been a treasured dubplate for Sheffield DJs like Hazel for years. For pure atom-rearranging bliss, though, the Jive Turkey remix of Cabaret Voltaire’s “Easy Life” takes the prize. The handiwork of Gordon and Mark Brydon (who later cofounded Moloko), the Jive Turkey remix was named after a key Sheffield party helmed by Hazel and DJ Parrot that incubated bleep and bass. A naggingly simple bleep hook, furious percussive loops, jacking drums and ascendant synth chords are but some of the energies that collide in this perfect dance track.

Join the Future isn’t a bleep primer. The compilation sidesteps canonical tracks for an unrepentantly headsy selection. That only adds to its value. Though many tracks here are available at accessible prices on the second-hand market, they’ve never sounded as strong as they do here. More importantly, the compilation brings into sharp focus the relevance of bleep in UK dance music history. It was a seismic progression in electronic music that established a new bassweight paradigm that would manifest in hardcore, jungle, garage and onwards. Having emerged from a deceptively simple premise, bleep and bass became the most vital, original and fun dance music of the era. — residentadvisor.net