MUSIC

Light in the Attic’s Pacific Breeze series has supplied the world’s growing legions of Japanese music fans with an expertly curated selection of the most sought-after City Pop recordings—the mesmerizing and nebulous genre of Japanese bubble-era music of the ‘70s-’80s that encompasses AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco. These familiar sounds are spun through the unique lens of optimistic, cosmopolitan fantasy colored by Japan’s affluence at the time. Much of the music has previously been nearly impossible to acquire outside of Japan and continues to captivate listeners with its unique blend of groove-laden escapism, even birthing wholly new genres such as Vaporwave. Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1975-1987 marks the latest chapter in the famed series and features holy grails plus under-the-radar rarities. The collection bursts at the seams to reveal some of the greatest Japanese tracks ever laid to tape, pushing towards the edge of City Pop to reveal glimmers of the next waves of styles to spring forth from the country’s creative minds. The appearance of Pizzicato Five hint at the emergence of Shibuya-kei while the influence of hip hop and electro as an emerging global trend are also evident here through the prevalence of heavier programmed drum beats on tracks such as “Heartbeat” by Miho Fujiwara. This volume of Pacific Breeze, like its predecessors, is a female-forward offering with many tracks being voiced by women who would become household names in Japan as actresses and pop idols. Their songs here subvert the norm and brim with an innovative spirit that shatters gender roles in favor of sonic transcendence. Techno-pop classics from Susan, Miharu Koshi and Chiemi Manabe sit alongside sublime funk from Atsuko Nina and Naomi Akimoto while Teresa Noda slides into the mix with a sultry reggae jam. The genre span is stretched wider with hypnotic jazz fusion by Parachute and Hiroyuki Namba, a synthesizer fantasy from Osamu Shoji, and magnetic pop by Makoto Matsushita and Chu Kosaka. Although not front and center, the visionary members of Yellow Magic Orchestra are still very present on Pacific Breeze 3, with Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi taking up producer and musician roles on many of these tracks. Pacific Breeze 3 serves up a captivating musical journey that adds an essential chapter to the iconic compilation series.

Explore the Duster universe on the far superior 45RPM format. This deluxe triple 7” box contains Duster’s first single—1997’s Transmission Flux (including “Stars Will Fall” & “Orbitron”), 1998’s Apex, Trance-Like (featuring “Four Hours”), plus Stratosphere’s painfully absent “Echo, Bravo” and the lost 2002 outtake “What You’re Doing To Me.” Housed in replica sleeves and placed in a sturdy two-piece box, Moods, Modes also contains a Duster-branded hanky for those who like to accessorize.

In the late 1970s, a peculiar sound began bubbling up from the land of 10,000 lakes. Buried beneath 50 solid inches of annual snow, Minneapolis made a Sound quite different than what the pop world foresaw. It issued forth as a slick, black, technologically advanced fusion, poised to storm the charts. Never known for sizable African-American populations, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in fact harbored a tight-knit community of musicians working feverishly through the late ’70s and early ’80s toward a radical manipulation of American dance music, coating futuristic funk with the glamorous sheen of guitar rock. Synthetic ebony and ivory met electricity, with sexed-up results sent shockingly across the pop heavens like violet lightning.

Anthony Naples, a New York producer / DJ and co-founder of , who has left behind a number of different works on numerous labels such as and , which he is also involved in managing, is exactly "deep house". Under the curation of DJ Python, a cult hero who sent out the original sound of "meets reggaeton" under the name of "deep reggaeton" and swirled the world into a whirlpool of enthusiasm, the rainy day "Air Texture" The latest work in the series is here. An ambitious compilation album created by two of Brooklyn's leading producers and music selectors who are leading the current electronic music community! In addition to their own collaborative songs, Huerco S., Parris, Aurora Halal, Organ Tapes, Nick León, DJ Trystero, Beta Librae, Waon P, downstairs J, Meitei, etc. It is full of great songs by gorgeous people who crossed the dance music to Experimental and post club area!

“(I have) two fantastic singles by The Particles...they are two of my most prized vinyl possessions” – Carrie Brownstein (Sleater Kinney) on NPR The Particles formed at the height of the punk movement in Sydney, Australia in 1977, and spent their early years hanging out with punk legends The Saints. But by their first recordings in 1979 they were something else entirely – pioneers of infectiously melodic, playfully subversive indie pop. They deserve to be held up alongside contemporaries such as Orange Juice or Television Personalities, and 1980s Bubblegum makes a strong case for this with the first overview of their sporadic recording career. Guitarist Peter Williams and vocalist Astrid Spielman were the core of the group, surviving numerous lineups until the band dissolved in the mid 80s. Other bandmates include members of Chapter DIY heroes The Cannanes and fondly-remembered indie pop band The Lighthouse Keepers. The Particles only released three seven inch EPs and a handful of compilation tracks, but their scant recorded work is laden with inventive, irresistible pop hits. After self-releasing two EPs Colour In (1980) and Advanced Colouring (1981), their final EP I Luv Trumpet (1983) was the second ever release on iconic Sydney label Waterfront Records. This makes The Particles unlikely labelmates with the likes of Nirvana, L7 and Henry Rollins, who all went on to release records via Waterfront in Australia in the 90s. On 1980s Bubblegum, Chapter Music presents every known recording by the Particles, including digital bonus tracks from the first ever Triple J Live At the Wireless session in 1983. The LP features extensive liner notes based on interviews with bandmembers. Sadly, Astrid Spielman passed away in 2015, but the sheer joyful magic of her and Peter’s music lives on with 1980s Bubblegum.

Ten years after our initial survey of Afro-Latin accented rhythm & blues from the mid-century, Jazzman proudly presents a fourth installment, packed with as many musical surprises as the first. With music plucked from an era spanning the late 1940s into the early 60s, Jukebox Mambo IV highlights yet again the unparalleled musical creativity of the post war era, and shows how the infusion of afro-latin rhythms was key to these revolutions. Lovingly and painstakingly researched and curated, the album boasts 23 tracks, many previously uncompiled, touching on jazz, blues, doo wop, calypso, rock & roll, gospel and more. Featuring individual track notes for every song along with some never seen before photographs of the artists, Jukebox Mambo Vol IV maintains the same high production values of each previous volume, and indeed the wider Jazzman catalogue.

Featuring amazing covers of tracks by artists such as Leon Ware, Mtume, Archie Bell, The Gap Band, Lowrell, Prince, Starvue, Bobby Caldwell & The Isley Brothers, there is not a filler in site, essentials all the way.

The project has taken almost 2 years with the help of many musicians, singers and producers from the scene. A special shout out goes to Peter 'Honeyvoice' Hunnigale for going the extra mile and doing many introductions.

After "Bristol Pirates" in '19, it's pirate radio all over again! From "Death Is Not The End", a great place to dig up antique music from all over the world, from pre-war blues to immigrant music and South American folklore, comes a super-impressive compilation of pirate radio commercials from the heyday of London stations between 1984 and 1993. Attack! This is a collection of about 10 years of pirate radio advertisements from the station, which is well known as a regular program on NTS Radio, and includes material provided by Simon Reynolds and the Pirate Radio Archive. "I find a recording of a pirate radio DJ set somewhere and listen to it whenever there's a commercial break. Most of the time, however, the people who recorded them stopped the tapes when the ads came on. It is truly a feat of hard digging, and the fact that most of the clubs, pubs, businesses, DJs, and promoters mentioned here no longer exist is a stiff antique... It is a historical documentary of the past, far from the present, and "the nostalgia associated with them has a certain It is a historical documentary about a past far removed from the present, and "the nostalgia surrounding them has a certain socio-historical significance" (Luke Owen, Death Is Not The End). This is a very valuable film that contains 40 air check scenes.

A selection of private press 45s featuring Nate Young, John Olson, Alex Moskos, Gretchen Gonzales, Aaron Dilloway & Raven Chacon. These collaborations between the core Wolf Eyes crew and friends was originally self-released as a series of super-limited 7” hand painted box sets, but now the core ‘hits’ have been compiled by Disciples for wider consumption. 

Wolf Eyes' history with collaboration goes back almost 26 years. From the first Wolf Eyes w/Spykes concert that led to Olson joining the band to Smegma, Braxton, Richard Pinhas, Merzbow, Marshall Allen, and many more. Wolf Eyes has continued expanding musical ideas through collaboration and Difficult Messages is the first compilation of this practice. 

Many of the bands on 'Difficult Messages' exist inside an assemblage of a mail art tradition. Most of the music was made remotely and this allowed for deeper exploration into styles that might have been too uncomfortable to attempt face to face. Short Hands finds Nate Young, and Alex Moskos exchanging bass and guitar fragments with Olson’s reeds and tones overtop sculpted into odd rock songs. Wolf Raven touches on harsh electronics and pushes forward into postmodern ideas of composition. Time Designers is a duo of Alex Moskos and Nate Young using hacked drum machines and a 'design' approach to organizing sound. U Eye finds Olson and Young alongside longtime collaborators Gretchen Gonzales and Aaron Dilloway for a scrape and tape session recorded by Warren Defever. Stare Case is Olson and Young in a non-Wolf duo. Perhaps the only 'rules following' project these two have EVER had. The collection of audio tracks could be looked at as an exquisite corpse: a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. With this method over thirty tracks and four hundred paintings were created. 

The long-awaited repress of the recording of the shōmyō of Gut Temple, which was a place for tantra (practice to realize enlightenment) from the prestigious French folk music label OCORA! !!
In the early 1970s, before hundreds of thousands of Tibetans were forced into exile, about 100 monks at Gut Temple went into exile in India. Originally, it is a shōmyō that seems not to be released to the outside world, but due to the sense of crisis that the tradition may be erased, they began to perform many guest performances and recordings abroad after that. .. This recording is the earliest live recording made in Paris in 1975.
The sound of bells, the ascetic Tibetan horn, the drums being beaten, the thick bass that you can't think of as a human being, and the overtones that make you feel cosmic are layered, but at first glance, it's a harsh sound world. As I listened to it as if I was meditating deeply, all the extra things gradually disappeared, and eventually it appeared as a harmony, and it was a ridiculous content that led to a kind of trance state! Immersion intensity and depth are different! !!
Of course, I would like people who listen to traditional recordings in various places and those who are exploring music to listen to it, but I also want people who like dark unbind / drone, industrial, etc. to listen to it once. .. With Japanese commentary

Disc 1
"Secret Rally" or "Secret Single" Tantra / Excerpt from the Abhisheka in the ritual of Yamantaka, where the wrath of the Bodhisattva Manjushri appears / Excerpt from the ritual of dedication, Rapune

Disc 2
Daikokuten / Golden Libation / Auspicious Prayer

Both a marketing firm and metaphysical mission, Valley of the Sun synthesized style and spirituality to produce an extensive catalog that at once defines and defies new age music. Founder Dick Sutphen worked with tireless devotion to spread a message he believed could change the world for the better. This 18-track overview of VOTS’ fertile 1977-1990 period includes music from Upper Astral, Robert Slap & Steve Powell, David Naegele, David Storrs, Steven Cooper, and Gloria Thomas, a 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes, J-card scans, and a hint of Sedona sand. Subliminal hypnosis likely.

The diminutive Peter Barclay was that guy in early ’90s Oakland, the eccentric with the most style, the most talent, the local magician. This self-taught musical wizard recorded at home and produced two barely-released albums, 1990’s dreamlike Acceptance and 1992’s synth pop What Kind Of World, winning over the few who heard them. But fame outside his small circle was not to be, and Barclay was lost in the late-’90s crest of the AIDS epidemic. Rediscovered for a new generation, this is queer music at its finest… Welcome to the world of Peter Barclay.

Inspired by the infinitely numbered harmonies transmitted by Vista, a benevolent being from a distant dimension, Iasos broke ground for a new age of electronic sound manipulation. His was pioneering work—done from a bohemian boat-slip home office—on some of the first commercially available synthesizers and, on stage, into the kaleidoscopic heart of psychedelic-era concert visuals. As life-affirming and attuned to spirit as Iasos' soul portraits were, prestigious psychology departments heard in them the tones humans hear at the precipice between life and death. Before ambient and New Age were so named and codified, the “Paradise Music” of Iasos (represented here by 13 selections transmitted between 1975 and 1985) brought Earth-transcriptions of a vast and galactic soundhealing to a planet much in need.

After branching off from The Royal Jesters in the mid-'60s, Dimas Garza attempted a solo career and reinvented himself as Dimas III. Dimas recorded three singles on the Jesters' own Clown label - all tracked at Abie Epstein's studio off General McMullen in San Antonio, TX. The first was "So Funny" b/w "I Won't Love You Again," which are almost impossible-to-find records. Garza never did manage to break beyond the Bexar County limits but left a rich legacy of recordings behind for lowrider enthusiasts and obsessed collectors alike.

Killer compilation of rare R&B 45-s featuring wild and crazy guitarists. First volume of this series.

Elle Andrews & Jon K’s MAL imprint racks up a heavy cross-section of dancehall and downbeat-adjacent styles and patterns by friends and fam, clad in artwork by Yoshi Yubai of the legendary Re Search publications and featuring exclusive cuts from Equiknoxx’ Bobby Blackbird, Joe Cotch, Herron, DJ Ojo, Malvern Brume and more. First of two parts! ’Pressure’ is MAL’s rude resistance to an increasingly tense socio-political climate. Finding strength in collaboration, it organises a phalanx of contemporary club pioneers, programmers, dynamos and disruptors under a clarion call to dance away our worries. Shoulder-to-shoulder, Equiknoxx’s Bobby Blackbird does aerobic mystic dancehall beside the dread tang of London ringleader Joe Cotch, and Manchester g Herron squashes beatdown into acid dub squirm next to Malvern Brume’s haunted warehouse steppers, each intersecting a mutual, autonomous zone of interest oblivious to borders. Bobby Blackbird’s ‘Shanique is 5 Mins Away’ firmly roots the session in naturally mutant Jamaican disciplines key to the label, which delineates most explicitly between the darkside 2-step echo chamber ricochet of DJ Ojo’s ‘Grape Storming’ and Grischerr & Jules’ cranky heave in ‘Jettison’, and the more abstract dubwise suspension of ‘Night Ascent’ by Zaheer Gulamhusein (Xvarr/Waswaas) as The Sigil Oblique. Crudely distorted echoes of nyabinghi and talking drum rituals feature in Malvern Brume’s ‘Ebb’, a brilliantly unexpected follow-up to the supine grog of his ‘Body Traffic’ LP, while closer to the label’s spiritual home in Manchester, Herron keeps it strictly stripped on the brittle, dread acid dub of ‘Reducer’, and Greek/Manc hero Duster Valentine supplies the dadaist antidote to an intensifying hypernormality of logic with the sardonic vignette ‘Cloonies’ that keeps the session open-ended and all of us on tenterhooks for Vol.2.

During the 60's and early 70's, Singapore had one of most vibrant and interesting music scenes in Asia and even the world, and this compilation presents undeniable proof of it. Focusing exclusively on the female presence on the scene (be it as solo singers, backed by other bands or as band leaders) "Singapore Nuggets. The Ladies", presents such and amazing collection of songs many will be shocked by the sheer genius of this ladies.
 
Ranging from Naive Pop to Fuzzed out Garage (and more!) all within the confines of Pop Yeh Yeh, the fresh, colorful, local sound of 60's Singapore in which western influences, Chinese, Arabic and Indian sounds were mixed by the locals to create a wonderfully idiosyncratic style. A must!

Before the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, unleashing a horrifying genocide, Cambodia had one of the most vibrant and exciting music scenes in Asia. With a mixture of traditional Khmer music and a myriad of western genres (from French and latin music, to rock-and-roll , rhythm-and-blues, surf, psychedelia, soul and many more) the few pre 75 Cambodian recordings that survived -most of them were destroyed- are enough to make anyone with a taste for good music shocked by the amazing quality of the sounds created during those golden years.
 
Gathered in this amazing album are some of the most talented and unique musicians from that amazing era with an explosive collection of tracks sure to blow the mind of the listener. A celebration of some of the best music ever made.

Another lost musical treasure unearthed by the Everland-YU imprint! Seven years have passed since this material landed in our hands and we counted the days since we could give it the justice it deserves. Fully licensed and remastered from original master tapes, this chronologically arranged LP is a collection of previously unreleased radio recordings all of which have one thing in common: the unmistakably original musical ideas and vocal performances of Marin Škrgatić (1950-2014). Marin was a Croatian prog-rock pioneer, who as a result of a series of unfortunate circumstances, did not receive much recognition in the dawn of the Yugoslavian prog-rock era. In their prime, his groups were an active and well-acknowledged underground phenomenon, filling stadiums and music halls all over Yugoslavia. This material represents some of the first attempts to record complex progressive rock arrangements in Yugoslavia – sourcing heavily from local folk music, jazz, and classical influences. Interestingly enough, most of the songs presented here were dismissed as being too progressive at that time - by the largest Yugoslavian record company Jugoton. This gatefold LP includes thus far unpublished photos and detailed liner notes about the evolution of Marin’s groups resulting from interviews with former band members with whom we’ve uncovered some of the mysteries of Yugo-prog-rock’s annals.

Disco divas, Funky queens and Glam ladies in 70's and early 80's Taiwan! Due to its extremely complex history, Taiwan in the 70s saw the creation of some incredibly special music in which the sounds coming at the moment from the west collided with the special sensitivity of Taiwanese musicians, creating a delicious mixture you’ll need to hear to believe. "Taiwan Disco" shines a light on the music created by Taiwanese women during those years (70s and early 80s) to present a mind-blowing collection of songs with sounds ranging from wild Funk to apace Glam, exotic Disco or fuzzed out Soul. Here’s the ticket to some crazy Taiwan nights, get those dancing shoes ready, it’s time to shake it!

Síntomas de techno : Ondas electrónicas subterráneas desde Perú (1985​-​1991) Symptoms of techno: Underground electronic waves from Peru (1985-1991) This compilation presents for the first time various underground techno groups and projects that emerged in Lima in the mid-1980s. Projects such as Disidentes, Paisaje Electrónico, T de Cobre, Meine Katze Und Ich, El Sueño de Alí, Cuerpos del Deseo, Círculo Interior, Ensamble and Reacción were responsible for introducing styles such as techno-pop, EBM, industrial and minimal synth in Peru. Coinciding with the explosion of punk in Lima and the appearance of the so-called Rock Subterráneo [underground rock], these techno groups shared the same DIY spirit, performing in many punk concerts and even creating their own fanzines, and, above all, opening a space for other types of sonic experiences. Meine Katze Und Ich, El Sueño de Alí and Paisaje Electrónico were also the parallel projects of the members of Narcosis, the iconic punk band, one of the founders of Rock Subterráneo. Disidentes and T de Cobre brought extreme sounds to local electronics: viscerality, mechanical rhythms and the use of Casiotones or synthesizers, which resulted in an atypical sound that, in turn, portrayed a critical time in Peru, and which has made them an unavoidable reference for any historical account of techno and industrial music in Latin America. The title of this compilation is inspired by the name of a concert held in Lima in 1991, considered to be the first techno concert to have taken place in Peru. Even though not all intervening groups were doing techno at that time, they did share the fact that they all used keyboards. Four of them, however (Cuerpos del Deseo, Ensamble, Círculo Interior and Reacción), were in fact affiliated to an electronic sound (techno-pop, EBM). The concert was a sign of the diversification of musical styles in Lima's alternative scene, and in particular of the emergence of a micro scene, for which the concert Síntomas de techno [Symptoms of Techno] represented an important step towards the development of a local culture of electronic music during the 90s. Many of the recordings included here are extracted from demos with limited circulation, practically impossible to find. Other tracks are unpublished pieces which come from the private archives of the artists themselves. The compilation has been made by Luis Alvarado and is part of the Essential Sounds Collection, with which Buh Records is making available a vast archive of avant-garde Peruvian music. This compilation is published in vinyl format in a limited edition of 300 copies, with extensive information and visual documentation. Mastered by Alberto Cendra. Art by René Sánchez. Cover photography by Rogelio Martell. This project was awarded with funding from the Economic Stimuli program of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture.

Let yourself go with the overwhelming musical output of Argentina’s very own Melopea Discos, in a selection of songs that explore fusion with an air of mystery and a side of exquisite sensitivity across 11 carefully curated leftfield synth pop, experimental folk and ambient tracks. “Viento Sur” has been compiled by Argentine DJs and collectors Bárbara Salazar and Alejandro Cohen (dublab) based in Buenos Aires and Los Angeles respectively. Most of the songs are reissued here for the first time and many of them were previously unavailable on vinyl. Includes a 4-page insert with liner notes and photos. Remastered sound.

The 2004 masterpiece of the dream project Rhythm & Sound by Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald, who summoned legendary reggae singers to the present age. A compilation of 10-inch singles, Berlin's deepest meditative dub masterpiece with bottomless and deeply reverberating inorganic tracks and withered vocals of successive famous singers such as Cornell Campbell, Tikiman, and Love Joys. A classic album with so deep content that it still doesn't fade at all.

Before I’m gone I’d like to see us turn the corner and give up being spoilers of the land . . . In 1975 Wallace ‘Wally’ Smith Broecker published a paper that popularised the term ‘global warming’ and against a backdrop of change and environmental uncertainty, a musical concept album was commissioned. ‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ - is a musical exploration of our place within the cycle of living things. All compositions were specially commissioned for the album and blended with natural sounds recorded in the wild – lending the entire project a conceptual air that still feels fresh today. The journey begins with the sun rising in the atmospheric haze of 'Dawn' - a track composed by new-age innovator Iasos. Gospel singer Walter Hawkins soon drops in with the soulful but ever so funky 'Metropolis' backed by a heavy array of session musicians with Patrick Gleeson, Ed Bogas and Tom Salisbury all adding their own misty magic to the album. David Riordan is the sorcerer conjuring up many of the compositions and also takes vocal duties on the evocative 'Mountain' and the climatic 'Before I'm Gone'. ‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ was born when environmentalist Emily DeSpain Polk assembled a group of California residents to participate in a groundbreaking conservationist project. Christening the group SWAP (Small Wilderness Area Preservation) Emily needed funds and began a project to produce a promotional nature based music album. To acquire the financial backing Emily would need to source a musician of some calibre. Contacting Cliff Branch from ‘Warehouse Sound Co.’ she was told the man she was looking for was David Riordan. David Riordan had been around the music business for several years, first with The Yankee Dollar, then Sugarloaf and then Sweet Pain, he saw huge success with the single 'Green Eyed Lady'. David had worked on Cliff Branch’s 'Warehouse Sound Co. & Friends' albums and then released his solo album, 'Medicine Wheel'. But bored of touring he made the move to more concept-driven albums. First with ‘Christmas in San Francisco’ and then, in quick succession, 'Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land'. Riordan, along with Peter Scott, a music producer friend in San Francisco, began piecing together an idea for the album. They brought in Ed Bogas to do string arrangements and Tom Salisbury to conduct. David had also asked his friend Patrick Gleeson if he knew of any R&B/Gospel singers in the Bay Area, and they soon added gospel singer Walter Hawkins into the mix. Other than the track ‘Metropolis’, which was recorded in LA, the rest of ‘Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land’ was recorded and mixed by Richard Beggs at the San Francisco studio of Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was filming ‘Apocalypse Now’ at the same time – so in between studio sessions, the musicians were able to view the seemingly never-ending film rushes arriving from the Philippines. Eventually, the record produced by David Riordan and Peter Scott drifted onto the radar of vinyl obsessives and selectors as several of its key tracks began popping up on mixtapes and sales lists. It wasn’t long before this privately pressed, art-funded masterpiece became something of a holy grail for collectors. At long last, a re-issue of this masterpiece is now available on EBALUNGA!!! Records. Paul Hillery - May 2022 Paul is a heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one, who’s handpicked compilation albums have been released on the labels BBE and RE:WARM - he is also the curator at Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours