Bungalow started with the Sushi 3003 compilation, which introduced Japanese club pop to European audiences. They then featured artists from their own land (Germany) on the RO 3003 comp. There was a sequel to the Japanese comp called Sushi 4004. Now Bungalow have turned their attention to the European pop musicians with an "openess and big interest in new, strange and foreign music developments, next to the interest in exploring their own roots". Contained are artists from France (Katerine, Valerie Lemercier , Bertrand Burgalat, Ollano), Spain (Chop Suey, Astrud, Le Mans ), Sweden (Eggstone , Club 8 , Komeda ), Germany (Dauerfisch), Russia (Andrei Zueff), Greece (The Crooner), Austria (Shy), Finland (Super), Italy (Valvola), Norway (Euro Boys), and The Netherlands (Arling & Cameron). This comp is another sign that Bungalow has it's eyes on the now. A few of these songs may already be familiar to you (those of Eggstone, Valerie Lemercier, Club 8, The Crooner, Arling & Cameron, and maybe a couple more), but Bungalow discs are making it to this shore inexpensively, and this comp is more than worth it for the new or unavailable songs, and just for the nice feel of the group of songs placed together in one easy place.

Pretty strong call out for the Detroit rockin' soul sound as practiced by perfection by The Detroit Cobras, who haven't put out anything since their super excellent "Mink Rat or Rabbit" full length early in '98. Two guys, two girls, both songs female vocals. The A-side is a go-go corker sung by the bassist, while the 60's motown-ish cover is sung by the organist. They have also JUST put out a full length on Sympathy, which I am pretty excited to hear!

I had been reading about this for the longest time on the Exotica list. It is a 23 song compilation with the theme of songs using harpsichords. The participants are from far and wide: DC's The Make Up, Berlin's Stereo Total, the ubiquitous Momus, Valvola - described by some as Italys Stereolab, Norways Remington Super 60 and Micromars (who had a great 7" on Motorway), Germanys Die Moulinettes, Scotlands Electroscope and the Secret Goldfish, California's Volume all Stars, London's Cinerama (The Wedding Present's David Gedhge) and The Barry Gemsco Experience (a band including Monochrome Set / Scarlets Well founder Bid), plus Count Indigo and lastly Astro Black Stereo. A very strong set of tunes, never veering into the Addams Family sound that Lurch played for us so blankly each episode. I heard traces of Roy Budd's Get Carter (my favorite record using harpsichord) soundtrack in a few instances here, but basically everyone just did their own thing and happened to utilize a harpsichord while doing so.

Triple CD set which almost chronilogically traces the breakthrough rare pieces of early electronic music in a unique format (more obvious pieces alongside extreme rarities, in a listenable and logical way). Many of the pieces are edited, as the originals are quite long, but the edits are loving and performed by people who understand the works, not just choose the busiest section of each work in question. I became aware of this CD set after reading about it in The Wire. I add it to the WZBC NCP playlist in homage to Arthur Fenno, the DJ who does 'Librium Detox' each Tuesday form 7-10 PM. He specializes in musique concrete, and has taught me an appreciation for some of these artists. I've watched his commitment to the sound as he has gathered original LPs from his trip to Paris, trips to Other Music, and from his trips to ebay as well. I will miss Arthur as he is ending his show at WZBC to concentrate on Law School. This 3 CD set will hold at least a tiny bit of the music Arthur brought to WZBC for all to enjoy anytime we wish for years to come, as the pieces gathered herein are entirely timeless in their appeal.

As my love of the band Saint Etienne mounted last year, I learned of their fan club, which put out occasional fan club only releases which became coveted by Saint Etienne fans, used to the bands practice of releasing stuff and not revisiting it later on wider distributed releases. Stereolab has released three collections of thier singles (the most recent being 'Aluminum Tunes'), but Saint Etienne fans know that thier band allows their obscure gems to fade into obscurity awaiting discovery by the persistent and resourceful. Just before Christmas I joined the saint Etienne fan club as I had heard of the highly anticipated XMas 99 fan club release. I didn't receive the disc until April (!), by which time I was sure I had sent a twenty spot for nothing. Lo and behold, the 'Built On Sand' CD finally arrived, albeit months after talk about it died out of the fanclub email list. Still feeling the sting of the experience, I haven't really spent any time with this release, but offer up a CDR of it for the enjoyment of any other fans who might do a show at WZBC, and for our listening audience who would be able to hear songs not available on any other release.