Antique gamelan and other folk forms originally recorded on aluminum discs by Bruce Fahnestock and Sheridan Fahnestock on the Islands of Java, Bali & Sumatra in 1941. Hypnotizing. 
Turns out, Nina recorded excellent renditions of no less than three of this guy's songs- Dambala, Obeah Woman and 22nd Century. That was all the endorsement I needed, so I went and found his first three albums. They rule. 
These Disco Not Disco comps are chock full of 70s/80s oddball dance classics. You know- the stuff that young urban hipsters (cool not cool) have been jocking relentlessly for the past 8 years. Holocene/Rotture music, here in Portland. These singles are basically the prototype for everything DFA ever produced. I've decided to post them here since the first two are out of print. 
I love this album. With all the attention paid to Jorge Ben on various (Excellent) Tropicalia compilations , I just don't understand why this album hasn't gotten the reissue love that it deserves. On Africa Brasil, Ben's sound has evolved into a driving brand of melodic but heavy hitting 70s Brazilian funk & soul. The result is simply dynamite. 
Vini Reilly was the original pre-shoegaze guitar maestro on Factory Records in the early 80's. Download links at bottom.
Hi, my name is Wayne Cochran. In my younger days, I wrote a little song you might be familiar with; "Last Kiss".
Classic Syliphone Afro-pop from this rad all-female Guinean band. Recorded in 1983, when Les Amazones De Guinee performed their landmark Paris show. It became this; their debut album. 
This is a sweet vintage Asian/Eastern psych compilation. Limited edition vinyl release on Weltraum Disk.
We love us some Michael Hurley around our house. My 2 year old son Amos always points to Armchair Boogie, when he sees it lying around, and squeals "YESH!" (meaning, "play it. play it now!"). Lately, he seems to prefer side 2- or as we call it; "blue bird"- over side 1- which is, of course, "red bird". 
As Hurley has been gradually rediscovered over these past few years, Armchair Boogie has been the classic album most people have become acquainted with. This is likely due to the public's relative familiarity with his excellent songs from that record: The Werewolf, Sweedeeedee and Troubled Waters, which were all versioned on Cat Power's appropriately titled Covers Record back in 2000. Here's her positively mournful version of Sweedeedee. We're fairly partial to Be Kind to Me and Jocko's Lament, as well. I'm here to tell you, though: There's a whole lot more to classic Michael Hurley than that one album. Do yourself a favor and check out Long Journey, Hi-Fi Snock Uptown and Snockgrass. *BTW, I hear tell that Mississippi Records has plans to rerelease Hi-Fi Snock on vinyl sometime in the nearish future. I've been totally loving their recent Hurley rarities collection, Parsnip Snips. Good stuff.
