Properly curated compilations is a great way of discovering new music and opening new world to add to your future collection without breaking the bank and in 2018, independent labels are going the extra mile in digging deep to find gold. Here are 3 essential LPs of various genres that should be on your radar spanning genres and the globe, from Japan to Belgium and beyond.
Henshin – Japanese Anime TV Rare Grooves
The second volume paying tribute to Japanese cinematic grooves and this time going deep into the sound of anime with it’s serious grooves and compositions. When it comes to scores and themes, Japanese anime utilized the finest musicians around that made music that could be understood and enjoyed outside of the visuals themselves which is why so many of the series had full length LPs.
Something Weird’s Greatest Hits
When it comes to B-movies and obscure films, Something Weird has been preserving these lost and under the radar movies that were only shown in limited theater screenings back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and never made their way to formats. With one of the largest archives of 35mm film reels in the world which also feature some of the best music in the world, it was a no brainer to source some of that music for a compilation LP. Broken up into genres including Psychedelic Hippie Freak Out, Rock O Rama Go Go, Deliriously Demented Ditties, and Sleazy Swinging Sounds and features some of the best composers including a few of our favorites from the Library scene.
Discophilia Belgica – Next Door Disco & Local Space Music From Belgium 1975-1987
Pulling from their weird and obscure Disco bag with a solid mix of funk and pop, soul and disco, Discophilia Belgia keeps things rather funky for the dance floor with an eclectic mix. Some of this maybe a hard sell on American dance floors but shows just how wide spread disco was during that period and what worked elsewhere in the world. Definitely for the DJ that’s adventurous enough to take chances and work more than just the norm in their sets.