Various Artists Monster Zero Presents: Ye Olde Sampler, Vol.2 (2015)

Space Station Vol. 2 is a timeless selection of deep ambient music created for meditation and soul travel. One big step closer to the stars you may experience the ineffable beauty, euphoria and deep gratitude and love for the immense gift which is our mother planet. Make yourself ready for 90 minutes of warm and lightful floating through infinity and zero gravity.

Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond once again invites us to join him in the obscure pleasures of little-known pop, R&B, and jazz instrumental sides of the '60s and '70s with this collection. A number of the selections featured on Return of the Instro-Hipsters are so obscure that even Saloman isn't sure just who is responsible for them (though he offers some educated guesses on the artists behind such names as Sharks, Oliver Bone, and the Masked Phantom), but there are a good share of solid grooves and kicky melodies to be found here from a number of gifted little-knowns. If you went to the movies in the '70s, "Soul Thing" by Tony Newman will sound familiar, while flautist Harold McNair solos over a Dave Brubeck-influenced piano groove on "The Hipster," Jerry Allen demonstrates new uses for game calls on "Fuzzy Duck," Thunder Road's synthesized version of "Peter Gunn" beats Art of Noise's variation on the theme by more than 15 years, "The Brooke Bond Beat" by Cliff Adams may be the most swingin' tea commercial ever, and the Outer Limits serve up some tough, moody rock, appropriately titled "Black Boots".

Various Artists - The Hillbillies: They Tried To Rock, Vol. 2 (2014) {Bear Family BCD17406AH rec 1953-1958}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 286 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 162 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 100 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1953-58, 2014 Bear Family Records | BCD 17406 AH
Hillbillies / Rock & Roll / Country / Country Boogie / Rockabilly

The second volume of Bear Family's riotous 2014 series The Hillbillies: They Tried to Rock is every bit as good as its companion, possibly because it has many of the same players as the first disc. Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, George Jones, Johnny Horton, Webb Pierce, and Marvin Rainwater didn't cut just one jumping rock & roll single, they cut several and the best of these appear on this 31-track delight. Although there are a few exceptions here, nearly everything on this collection dates from 1956 through 1958, when it was still possible that rock & roll was just another dance fad and not a cultural revolution.