2008 is the 10th anniversary of the extremely excellent 'jazz and beyond' label Cryptogramophone. To celebrate they've thrown themselves (and all of us too!) a great party with this release. For an amazing price - the same price or less than a typical...

“When rock music from Germany gained international recognition under the label "krautrock" in the 1970s, it was far more than a mind-expanding phenomenon. In basements, youth centers, and improvised studios, a vibrant scene emerged-shaped by fearless curiosity and a strong will to transcend traditional musical structures. Some bands produced only a single recording; others became experimental platforms for established musicians or transient fixtures in local underground milieus. What united them was a...

Curated by guitarist Henry Kaiser, 156 Strings is his personal selection of acoustic guitarists "who sound like themselves and have something special to say." The 19 guitarists here are both well known & unknown: Duck Baker, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Rao...

“It's been three years since Jazzman's A New Life alerted jazz heads to the existence of an unknown world of British jazz private pressings and indie obscurities. Back for a second round, compilers Francis Gooding and Duncan Brooker have dug deep into the archives to assemble another ground-breaking collection of Brit jazz anomalies and outliers from the 1970s and 1980s. A New Life, Vol. II picks up the story where A New Life left off, searching out overlooked jazz gems from across the length and...

A reprint of an early lp dedicated to the electronic and electro-acoustic modern composers of TODAY! An early classic of the genre and still excellent listening TODAY!...

"A 2CD collection of music from '70s Senegal. More than any other country in West Africa, Senegal has been strongly influenced by Cuban music coming to Dakar through Cuban sailors. Widely broadcast, the Afro-Cuban repertoire stands at the bottom of...

“I grew up in the US South during this fertile musical period in the 1960s, but I was too young at the time to have known about any of these bands, much less having heard this music. All these years later, it's a joy to catch up with these "great lost Southern popsike" tracks. To sum up the sound even more creatively, the liner notes call this compilation a "trip into the obscure backwaters of Southern popsike, blues-infused garage and bubblegum soul." Throw in a bit of sunshine pop and you have...

This mid-priced sampler has tracks from CDs released between1985-2000.

"Amplified: New Music Meets Rock, 1981–1986 is the third release in a series of CDs compiled from The Kitchen’s archive that documents historic concert recordings at The Kitchen from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. While the first two releases, New M...

“Apala Groups in Nigeria 1964-69’ is the first ever collection of Apala music to be released outside of Nigeria. The album focusses on a wide selection of recordings made in Nigeria in the 1960s, a time when Apala music was at the height of its popularity.
Apala is a deeply rhythmical, hypnotic and powerful musical style that combines the striking nasal-style vocals and traditions of Islamic music, the Agidigbo (thumb piano), and the equally powerful drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques...

"Underground Welcome to Volume 2 of Astral Daze where we once again dip into the vaults of classic South African rock and pop , seeking out long lost psychedelic gems for your edification and earthly delight . Volume 2 finds the listener tripping the...

“A wonderful, 100-side survey of the tiny bluegrass and country labels that sprung up around the early '50s, including material from the Blue Ridge, Kentucky, Folk Star, Mutual, Twin City, Colonia and Excellent labels! And among the artists: Jim Eanes & His Shenandoah Mountain Boys, the Church Brothers and Their Blue Ridge Ramblers, Bill Clifton & His Dixie Mountain Boys and more.”

“This CD has a song with my late father's recording in the early 1950's that could not be found anywhere else!” ...

A unique & truly fabulous disc of world music featuring various Indonesian artists & composers from the Batak area in North Sumatra. Performed on rebabs, flutes, oboes, shawms, gongs, & many drums. [New Albion]

Kavus Torabi (Cardiacs, Guapo, Knifeworld and the man behind the Believers Roast label) put on a one day festival featuring many of the best of London's modern progressive/unusual rock bands. All tracks here are not available elsewhere and this is a...

This is a fabulous compilation of swing jazz and big and small band blues & boogie, from 1936-1945, presented to highlight how this music blended with other American music and influenced and partially led to rock 'n' roll.
If you dig this sort of thing, this is nearly 80' of historic and fabulous sounds!

"Nearly 80 minutes of vintage music recorded between 1935 and 1945 and featuring some of the great names of jazz, blues and boogie woogie. The quality of the sound is generally good, given...

Previously unreleased R&B from Muddy Waters (1958) Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee (1958), Louis Jordan (1962) and more recorded live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England.

"This second volume of rare and previously unissued live...

"9 CDs featuring the best of the European Jazz scene in 1970; 10 hours with the complete music from all three festival concerts; 32-page booklet with brilliant concert pictures - previously unseen!"
Disc 1:
German Jazz Festival Big Band - Introduction
German Jazz Festival Big Band - Intoxication
German Jazz Festival Big Band - Jazzminers Dance In Frankfurt
German Jazz Festival Big Band - Palazzo Blue
Dave Pike Set - Attack Of The Green Misers
Dave Pike Set - Turn Around, M

“This superbly remastered and presented 4 CD box set presents both classic and rare and collectible slide guitar blues from some of the best ever.
From early legends like Tampa Red, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton through to electric blues guitar icons like J.B. Hutto and Homesick James and finally the modern blues guys - Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Louisiana Red.”

“This music is taken from transcription discs, usually pressed in quantities of 100, and used for broadcast in various countries in the mid/late '60s. The discs were then supposed to be destroyed, but many weren't. The accent is on British Beat music with a healthy dollop of pop music mixed in. Every group has a very short interview with Brian Mathews along with songs performed and recorded in the Paris Theater, a studio on Bond Street, or the Playhouse Theater for use on transcription discs...

Historically and sociologically fascinating and the large book tells the whole story, as best it can be reconstructed. Conditionally recommended...

I only went to CBGB’s once, but I saw Doctor Nerve, the amazing, unrecorded ZoZobra and Peter Gordon. Lots went on in those beer soaked walls…

“In December 1973 Hilly Kristal changed the name of his roots music bar from Hilly's on the Bowery to CBGB and altered his musical policy to hire mostly rock bands.
He was indifferent to many of them ("No one is going to like you guys, but I'll have you back," he told Joey Ramone), blissfully unaware of how important his scruffy little club....

A colection of original composition by some important post-minimalist composersCarl Stone (Kamiya Bar - excerpts)Ben Neill (678 Streams)Mikel Rouse (Autorequiem)Kyle Gann (Ghost Town)Nicolas Collins (Devils Music)[Felmay/New Tone]

"After having explored the music of the Mediterranean, in particular that of the Balcan region, in its first two volumes, Circo Inferno Cabaret, promoted by Santarcangelo dei Teatri, dedicates its third volume to a particular notion of electronic music...

"Keystone works from the various streams of musique concrete, electronic music, soundscape, electroacoustics and plunderphonics - including two masterworks from Eastern Europe, a territory traditionally overlooked in collections of this medium.
This is the classic collection of Contemporary, Concrete, Tapeworked and Processed works - and an indispensable survey of a crucial field:
It comprises: John Oswald's 'Parade', a complex work drawn and extended from Satie's celebrated ballet composition...