‘Twelve frenetic bursts of scrapyard detournement, meticulously stitched together with dubbed-out vocals and disjointed drum machines, at the limits of bedroom electronica and DIY. Originally released in 1982 on his own Record Sluts label, in a single run of five hundred copies. Recommended to fans of Suicide, 20 Jazz Funk Greats and early Cabaret Voltaire.’

The soundtrack to the French TV series adapting Henri de Monfreid’s account of his travels in the Middle East. The music for the first series in 1967 features various flutes and marine conches; for underwater settings a celesta or a crystal xylophone. For the later 1975 series, de Roubaix composed a new music score, mixing old and new sounds, his EMS VCS3 synthesizer subtly mixed with acoustic instruments.

‘J Spaceman recorded this strange record at his own Amazing Grace Studio in June 2005.
It’s hard to describe, but it contains elements of systems musics, with gamelan-like overtones. A perfect companion piece to the new Spiritualized LP.’

‘This second AG recording for Treader sees Charles Hayward passing the drumsticks to Rupert Clervaux. Together with Coxon’s simple and insistent guitar themes, the elegant drum-work underpins four extended group compositions, containing a surprising collision of sounds and influences, bringing together Pat Thomas from the Improv scene, Floating Points-collaborator Susumu Mukai, and Alexis Taylor’s mooger-foogered rhodes. Somehow it all crystallises perfectly. The clearest precedent for this engaging recording is Ege Bamyasi-era Can, but really it occupies a position all its own.’

A dreamily odd, Antillean blend of synths, flute and drum machines, featuring a children’s choir. Originally a tiny 1986 pressing in Guadeloupe, revived by the Diggers Digest crew.

Great New York latin soul LP from 1969, with Ricardo Marrero and Bobby Marin — check Barbara With The Kooky Eyes — plus unissued tracks by a supergroup including Tito Puente and Louie Ramirez.

Heavyweight dubs of DEB murder like Words Of The Father by Earl Cunningham, Warning by Desi Roots, Mop & Cry by Freddie McKay, Wood For My Fire by Black Uhuru, Slave Driver by Dennis Brown, Armed Robbery by Junior Delgado, Augustus Pablo doing over Swing Easy…

The trio of Roland P. Young, Aisha Khalil and Glenn Howell, recorded in 1975 at 1750 Arch, in Berkeley, California.

“There was a vibe in the air that we connected with,” recalls Young, “along with other kindred spirits world-wide. What appeared to be ‘experimental’ was reaching for sounds and emotions that were unfamiliar. We often performed at rallies in support of various causes: Black Liberation, Women’s Movement, Anti-War Movement, Gay Liberation. While the music came out of the Black Liberation struggle our ultimate goal was a blending of cultures.”

‘A fascinating glimpse of the trio in action. It testifies to the energy that Infinite Sound channelled into their music, but also to their imaginative breadth and expressive versatility… with Howell’s buoyantly springy and resilient bass taking on a strong pivotal role around which Young’s horns and Kahlil’s voice dance and spar and soar and play. Well-defined rhythms dissolve into textures; melodic shapes soften into shadings of timbre or flare into exuberant bursts of tonal colour. The music’s mood swings unpredictably from flamboyance to introspection; pacing shifts spontaneously from languor to urgency. Moments of musical allusiveness, sly quotation or stylistic reference, mutate into passages of wild inventiveness.’

Sweet rocksteady lovers, rather impassively worried about being apart for a while; plus the Supersonics’ slinky, tiptoe classic Our Man Flint (nodding to James Coburn’s piss-take of 007, just then arriving in Kingston cinemas).

‘Deben Bhattacharya (1921–2001) was a highly influential field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. He produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
‘Never before published, Paris To Calcutta features over four hours of music and is Deben’s impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India, collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road.
‘With four CDs of recordings, photographs, Deben’s original recording notes, musical transcriptions and more. An amazing glimpse into a time long gone and essential listening for anyone interested in folk and world music traditions.’