Back catalogue: Psych/Garage Rock

Review: Masterful curator Paul Hillery returns with another essential instalment in this wonderful BBE series. Volume 3 continues his tradition of unearthing rare, high-quality tracks so it is a perfect companion to his Children of the Sun trilogy. This one spans funky folk, jazzy AOR, lo-fi dub and DIY folktronica and includes numerous gems like Sheila Chandra's ethereal vocals and Tim Green's euphoric grooves, a playful vibe from Gil De Ray on 'Something About Nothing' and plenty more besides. With extensive sleeve notes, this is a deep sonic journey that also cements the man behind it as an expert archivist.

Review: Eddie Piller Presents The Mod Top 40 revives the essence of '60s Mod music with a fresh twist. While many fans are familiar with the tracks, the story behind them is new and intriguing. Inspired by the Mod revival of the late 70s, Eddie delved into the original scene, guided by Randy Cozens, whose letters to music magazines in the pre-internet era led to the creation of the original Mod Top 100. Eddie's double vinyl set includes 40 essential r&b, soul, jazz and beat tracks plus personal picks for unavailable originals. This release honours Cozens' influence and offers a stylish, informative introduction to classic Mod sounds complete with new sleeve notes and track details.

Review: Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne fame are the diggers behind this new rock assemblage which pays tribute to mid-afternoon set times at lesser-known festivals from years gone (well, the 70s) such as Deeply Vale, Bickershaw, Krumlin, Weeley, and Plumpton. They were just as important to those who attended as the more celebrated likes of Glasto' and this collection shows the sounds were just as good, too. The sounds - from big names liek Deep Purple, Hawkwind and Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw to lesser known acts like Jonesy, will appeal to hippies and bikers alike with big riffs, funky drumming and some psyched-out sounds.

Review: Resurfacing from obscurity after 58 years in the Louis Wayne Moody Pictures vault, this unearthed soundtrack unveils a treasure trove of melancholic melodies, mournful guitars, and eerie echoes. It is another of the seemingly endless gems to come from the great folks at Number Uno and is laden with themes of abandonment, shattered dreams, and existential ponderings. The album, titled They Move in the Night, weaves a narrative of moral ambiguity and tearful farewells, set against the backdrop of lukewarm diner coffee and the relentless pursuit of society's shadows. Fascinating stuff.

Review: Just in time for the spooky season, the wonderful Numero has put together another of their famously good compilations. This one, Haunted Presence (which comes on lovely 'ghost power' silver vinyl) is packed with Halloween treats from across the label's vast span. It takes in ghoulish garage rock like Slim Martin's 'Haunted After Midnight', skeleton-rattling soul like Bambi Fodera's 'The Moon Turned To Blood' and some proto-metal mutations like Medusa's 'Unknown Fear' as well as haunting 60s rock like Angela Alexander & JD. Saddler's 'Don't Make Me Kill You' across 20 tracks that will enliven any seasonal get-together.

Review: Countdown Records was founded by Eddie Piller, Maxine Conroy and Terry Rawlings and captured the essence of the mid-80s Mod revival and New Wave scene while pushing acts like Makin' Time, The Prisoners and The Kick towards mainstream recognition. Despite its innovative approach, the label struggled due to the collapse of Stiff Records and the corporate dominance of the era. However, the label's influence lived on through Piller's Acid Jazz label and this compilation showcases the best of Countdown's legacy with plenty of classic tracks and rarities. It's presented with a stylish Modernist design that coincides with a book that delves deeper into its history.

Review: Calling a spade a spade and telling it like it is, the legendary Decca pans back over the archives to piece together a compilation that really takes us back to the very roots of the psyche scene and out into the glorious, technicolour, time-altering heyday of the movement. At a time when psychedelic sounds are having a big resurgence, it couldn't be better timed. This is way more than a cynical cash-in, though. Running through bands like the Small Faces, Moody Blues, Tintern Abbey and The Syn, many names here people either wouldn't associate with psyche today, or wouldn't have heard of unless they were very committed to diving into the deep annals of niche genres. Educational, and unarguably entertaining.

Review: A remarkably sleazy new compilation from the digger's delighter known as Greasy Mike, who has generously opened up his 'vinyl dungeon' for the purpose of letting us in on just a small slice of his wax "harem". Ah yes, the sensual and voluptuous pleasures of Middle-Eastern jazz on wax. Unmatched. The choice cuts on this comp, one of many from Mike, this time catalogue the works of Middle Eastern jazz unknowns, championing their work starting from the genre's inception.

Review: Master compilation maker Greasy Mike is back with a fourth volume of his characterful selections. This one once again is another action packed and full flavour array of wigged out rhythms and psyched out funk sounds. The label calls it "14 Frantic Flippers Fraught with Frivolous Fun-Filled Frolics" and the tunes sure do have big personalities, wild laughter, sleazy low slung grooves and big steamy horns. Names like Adolphus Bell & The Up Starts, The Fabulous Continentals and Bobby Bunny & The Jackrabbits feature amongst many more niche jazz-adjacent sounds from the 50s and 60s.

Review: US label Now Again follows up the success of its recent Forge Your Own Chains compilation with another, and this time one that has never before be available on vinyl like this. It features a fine selection of small run private presses that are all incredibly hard to find or long out of print. The bands behind the music range from legends of the krautrock scene to Turkish teenagers to Icelandic prog-rock outfits, prison funk ensembles and even the uncle of E-40. It's real, raw and full of plenty of visceral funk thrills made between 1970 and 1975 but suitable for all occasions.

Review: If you're going to enlist artists to cover tracks by NEU!, then you best make sure they are of the caliber we see on this track list. The legendary, iconic, and groundbreaking West German krautrock group only gave us three albums, all in quick succession (Neu! in 1972, Neu! 2 the following year, and Neu!75 in 1975), but they made a huge impact in doing so. As such their output could only be retreated with similar aplomb. A quick look on the back of the sleeve here proves someone, somewhere has heeded those words. Yann Tiersen, The National, Fink and more all line up to pay tribute to, and attempt to redirect, the original material. The results range from the rousing chorus and propellant, celebratory rock of 'After Eight' in its They Hate Change Cover form, to the sublime, lo fi folktronica of '4+1=5' by Alexis Taylor.

Review: The Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Circulatory System, Elf Power, The Minders, Neutral Milk Hotel, of Montreal, and The Olivia Tremor Control. The list could go on, but our point will always be the same - whatever page you turn to first, the story of Elephant 6 is one of a sorely under-referenced musical universe of multi-genre music that's hard to move beyond once you find it. The 2022 documentary is testimony to that, and now the official soundtrack, featuring many of the loose collective's finest affiliates and associates, offers us a chance to take a broad selection home. And we really do mean broad. Lo fi garage rock, weirdo guitar, surf, rock 'n' roll, grunge, alt, leftfield and plenty more can be heard in this marvellous brew. A genuine delight from start to finish, this one's essential.

Review: Two-Piers is one of those very special imprints that has tasked itself with unearthing the kind of gems people who compile movie soundtracks only ever seem to be able to find. In the past, the label's compilations have focused on essay-worthy things like the evolution of French pop (1964-2019, no less), and but in this case the team turns its attention to a bonafide zeitgeist.

Calling everything here 'rare' would be overstating it - we have legendary household names in the form of Nina Simone, Willie Nelson, and Tim Buckley, to name but a few. But nothing here is an obvious choice, calling to mind a bygone age when you could still find yourself discovering new material by chart-toppers years after falling in love with them because access to everything was limited. Aligned by a feeling - late nights spent stargazing with equally obsessed musos - what's here is marvelously timeless.

Review: The world of garage psychedelic rock is a mad one and this deep dive into it is a thrilling ride indeed. It takes a look right at the start of the genre from the moment it exploded on the underground scene in the US and UK in the mid-60s right up until 2019 in the midst of its revival. This is the second instalment in the series after the Two-Piers label kicked it off with Pop Psychedelique (The Best of French Psychedelic Pop 1964-2019). All the key bands such as The Paragons, The Preachers, The Strangeloves, The Squires and The Monks are featured and make for a fine celebration of this unique genre.

Review: Platform 23 reunites once more with Vox Man Records to dig deep into their archives and shine a new light on. In the past they have done some mega well loved Alternative Funk compilations which got the label off to a fine start and now they dig into an array of cult cassette releases to bring us treasure from Audiologie N-4 - The Independant Psychedelic Trip and Audiologie 5 et 6 - Ethniques Urbaines. This is music from the avant-garde and post punk scenes that draws on wave, spoken word, dark dub and industrial for its eerie yet alluring charms, all with a real edge. Ethnic, idiosyncratic and psyched out, this is another great overview.

Review: Ghost Riders has been dubbed Efficient Space's latest narrative compilation, putting together 17 folk, Americana and psych-blues rarities to tell a Jarmuschian tale of heartache and loss. Releasing select songs from near-forgotten names like The Tempters, Dennis Harte and The Newports, the songs on this compilation seem to tell a tale of teary-eyed, shattered rock n' roll dreams - exclusively recalling the work of artists who, in the label's own words, were buoyed by grandiose dreams shortly before life got in the way. Recalling desolate filmic scenes like those found in Mystery Train or The Afterlight, we've got a distinct portrait of a depressed American midwest here.

Review: Le Kiosque D'orphie was located first at 7 Rue Gregoire de Tours, and then 20 Rue des Tournelles, Paris. Not a label, nor a publisher, the facility would allow people to press their own vinyl, often with very short runs - say, somewhere between 50 and 500 copies - and release an album to the world. If that sounds exciting today, when where pressing plants are overloaded, wait times are huge and costs so prohibitive small batches shouldn't apply, it was similarly revelatory back then. Led by Georges Batard, a Neumann tube engraver was used to produce original acetates which were then sent off to actual production factories, a process that often appealed to provincial and experimental composers. The process of diving into this overlooked but pivotal part of French electronic and popular music history began around 2018, and continued in earnest until 23 tracks were chosen to represent the breadth of work produced and the gamut of styles and sounds. Now, here they are.

Review: This movie from 1997 was, at the time, hailed as one of the greatest LGBT films of its era. That has not diminished in the years since and it is still much-loved flick that rightly solidified Wong Kar-wai's reputation and earned him Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. It's a classic that explores the sorrow of love-lost and identity struggles amidst Hong Kong's 1997 handover and the film's evocative soundtrack heightens the whole narrative. It features Caetano Veloso's 'Cucurrucucu Paloma' and Astor Piazzolla's 'Tango Apasionado' and perfectly underscores the emotional journey of lovers played by Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung, all set against the backdrop of Argentina. With handpicked live recordings, this beloved soundtrack remains a poignant complement to the film's exploration of heartbreak and self-discovery.