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'The Ru-Jac Records Story' Is Like Some Alternate-Universe Stax/Volt Compilation

The obscure soul of Charm City: a new four-volume retrospective of Baltimore's Ru-Jac Records provides a goldmine of long-forgotten R&B recordings previously unknown to anyone but the most hardcore of soul aficionados.

Music

Various Artists: Andina: The Sound of the Peruvian Andes

Vintage music from the Peruvian Andes makes for a lively compilation, although it loses something in the translation from past to present.

Music

Various Artists: To the Outside of Everything: A Story of UK Post Punk 1977 - 1981

This definitive, five-CD anthology is a challenging and enlightening listen, a triumph of curatorship that provides near-encyclopedic insight into this important chapter of UK popular music history.

Music

Various Artists: Oté Maloya - The Birth of Electric Maloya on Reunion Island 1975-1986

Strut Records delivers the best of vintage African music yet again, this time straight from Réunion Island.

Music

Various Artists: Day of the Dead

Aaron and Bryce Dessner have masterfully assembled a dizzying array of contemporary artists to reinterpret the songs of the Grateful Dead.

Music

Various Artists: Here Lies Love

The production makes you shake your head as well as your booty as ever single word is articulated with clarity, cadence, and a purpose.

Music

Various Artists: Marula's Shade: the ImprovED Album

These are talented amateurs trying to match professional production values without the luxuries of a big budget and uninterrupted oceans of recording time.

Music

Various Artists: Full Body Workout Vol. Nine

As a potential workout mix, the compilation probably wouldn’t be bad, and as a soundtrack to sex, it’d be a little aggressive.

Music

Various Artists: Dual Form

Stones Throw and Leaving Records team up for one of the most unique and experimental albums in recent memory. But do the fiercely independent artists found within have what it takes to hang with the big boys?

Music

Various Artists: Strange Passion

You know that a rarities collection is digging deep when the most famous band featured is the Virgin Prunes.

Music

Various Artists: This One's For Him, A Tribute to Guy Clark

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Clark’s songs are high quality enough for just about anybody to perform and sound good.

Music

Various Artists: Golden Beirut: New Sounds From Lebanon

An eclectic and oddly put-together mixtape from an eclectic region, Golden Beirut is a very good cross-section of certain musical trends that are occurring in contemporary Lebanon.

Liam McManus

Music

Various Artists: Those Shocking, Shaking Days

This compilation is a vibrant celebration of rebellious sound displaying the glut of funky, resonant music coming out of Indonesia during the fertile and tense '70s.

Music

Various Artists: Imaginational Anthems Vol. 4: New Possibilities

The fourth volume of Tompkins Square's excellent Imaginational Anthems series shines the light on some of the brighest folk guitarists in the UK and US.

Music

Various Artists: G.I. Disco

The music belongs to the technology of the time. It is filled with funky, bass-heavy synthesizer sounds, electronic drum beats, and scratchy rhythm guitar lines. Like the fashions of the period, there’s a flashy cheesiness to it.

Music

Various Artists: Bloody War, Songs 1924-1939

Be forewarned: This is old-timey music remastered from scratchy recordings. Its historic value outweighs audio fidelity. But that doesn’t mean the performers lack talent as players, singers, and songwriters.

Music

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