Back catalogue: Library/Archive

Review: Measured Mile is a new 7" label run by regular Ace consultant and confidante Bob Stanley. The plan is to release DJ-friendly 45s that are either very rare or previously unavailable on seven-inch. On this new one come two pieces from esteemed library musicians - the well known pairing of Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett, and Dave Richmond. 'Name Of The Game' is a slow instrumental blues piece with beats ready to be plundered for hip-hop beats that once soundtracked a 1970s aftershave ad, while Richmond's 'Confunktion' is a motivational builder-upper with drums and organs aplenty.

Review: Library musician Giuliano Sorgini originally wrote music for films, TV and documentaries, and between 1974 and 1976 he laid the foundations for this jungly rhythmic opus. Then in 1975, meandering through a series of animal calls and wild forested textures, a series of entrancing rhythmic pieces emerged from the dark. The collectors' favourite Africa Oscura is now reissued via Four Flies, and is the impeccable album from which these two choice, mix-worthy cuts come.

Review: Flour Flies embarks on a new series of releases entitled Italian Library Songbook where contemporary artists put their spin on great soundtracks of theist. First to add their own new reinterpretations are Neapolitan producer pAd and London singer-songwriter Jessica Duncan. They tackle Alessandro Alessandroni's 'Philadelphia' and turn out something brilliantly soulful: 'Do You Wanna Get Close' is a lush and club ready sound that is backed with the glorious original on the flip side. This is a promising start to what is sure to be a much loved series.

Review: Anyone getting approval from Ill Considered has got to be worth a pop, dip and spin. In the cradle of one of the UK's leading exponents of improvised, modernist jazz funk, Leroy Duncann comes correct with a new hand-stamped 7" weighted down by some seriously heavy grooves. "Too Late" is an instrumental beast with a tough drop on the one and ample dynamic shifts to keep your ears attentive to the sound. "Tough Love" on the flip is a tight affair too, worming its way through some deadly key shifts and a hefty dose of psych-rock to keep things freaky and far from formal.

Review: A long awaited, bumper six album pack of music and voice assembled by Delia Derbyshire of Radiophonic Workshop fame, and broadcast on four shows between January 1964 and September 1965, collectively known as Inventions for Radio. These experimental, longform shows were conceived by playwright Barry Bermange and were made up of the voices of callers-in, speaking on four themes: dreams, the existence of God, life after death and ageing. The participatory nature of these shows deviated massively from the radio status quo of the time, and the participants were selected to eschew the standard received drawl of most 60s radio presenters.
The music and editing was done by Derbyshire, whose avant garde sonic settings lend the audio an enigmatic, spectral quality. Although she was not credited for her contribution, nor were the broadcasts available commercially, they still developed a cult following. Silva Screen now presents the four broadcasts in their entirety, each on a separate LP, with two LPs of bonus material, and a booklet of detailed notes by producer Mark Ayres and David Butler of the Delia Derbyshire Archive. An elusive and essential landmark of 20th century sound collage.
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Review: A new spate of Tele Music library classics reissues from the 70s houses this one from 1976. Once more, legendary composer and drummer Pierre Alain Dahan hears his timely work reissued - this time in collaboration with his eternal guitar colleague Slim Pezin, a many-timed collaborator with Dahan. Contrasting to Dahan's many more experimental works, such as the prototypical 'Rhythmiques' album (which is far more out-there, almost primordial-sounding) 'Neo Rhythmiques' is an absolute killer of scorching, uptempo jazzy soul-funk, demonstrating what humanity as whole has achieved since, by harnessing said rhythmic primordium for its own funky ends.

Review: The man behind the Death Is Not The End label and archival NTS radio show got plenty of people talking earlier in the year when he presented the music on this record on the airwaves. It is a brilliantly authentic document of a very special time in the history of British music culture. Pirate radio was the voice of the underground, the mixing pot for the musical sounds and scenes of the time with their famous phone-ins, shout-outs and adverts all adding to the atmosphere of each broadcast. Relive it now as often as you like with this brilliantly assembled collection.

Review: All Bad Boy & All Good Girl is a fascinating mixtape, first released in 2022, documenting the few and rare radio broadcasts that propagated a now-elusive, but decade-long, Mancunian form of street soul. Lasting from at least the mid-1980s to the mid 1990s, this exciting ream of 'extracts', here on the vinyl version coming as a playlist of nine, transports us right back to this scratchy, no-holds-barred chuggers' sound. Featuring DIY cassette recordings of bands such as Broadway, Stereo Dan and Soul Control playing live at dances and blues parties in south & central Manchester from 1988 through to 1996, Death Is Not The End do a stellar job as ever of compiling the most exquisite forgotten tracks in the style, as though they'd been beamed into the present through a trans-temporal airwave. Packed with the radio phase distortion, hiss, vocal and SFX interjections, dub sirens and delay-outs, this is much more than just a functional soulful soundclash.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The man behind the Death Is Not The End label and archival NTS radio show got plenty of people talking earlier in the year when he presented the music on this record on the airwaves. It is a brilliantly authentic document of a very special time in the history of British music culture. Pirate radio was the voice of the underground, the mixing pot for the musical sounds and scenes of the time with their famous phone-ins, shout-outs and adverts all adding to the atmosphere of each broadcast. Relive it now as often as you like with this brilliantly assembled collection.

Review: The brilliant Death Is Not The End has always done a great job of digging into niche scenes and serving up great albums that document them. Here the label presents a mixtape-style collection featuring live recordings from London's Notting Hill Carnival, spanning 1984 to 1988. Originally aired on NTS Radio in August 2018, this release marks a milestone in their 10th-anniversary series and it now comes on cassette. Highlights include sounds from renowned systems like Jamdown Rockers, Saxon, Java Nuclear Power, Killerwatt Turbotronic, Stereograph, Sir Coxsone, and Volcano Express. The audio, meticulously curated by the Who Cork The Dance crew, features contributions from Jayman, Ruff House, Keimo, Omar, Gee Wizz and Jah Humble.

Review: Death Is Not The End is one of those cult favourite labels that works hard so you don't have to. It deals in left of centre sounds from Armenian blues to jungle pirate adverts. Pure Wicked Tune: Rare Groove Blues Dances & House Parties 1985-1992 is a collection of gorgeous lo-fi soul sounds and heart-swelling disco-adjacent jams. Plenty of them come with some characterful mic work from various selectors over the top and they all add up to a real time warp that takes you back to this period in inescapably feelgood fashion.

Review: Talk about a time capsule. While the obvious nostalgists out there scour and share their cassette eight packs, desperately converting the mixes they contain to digital files before the inevitable unspooling renders the original recordings obsolete, here comes Death Is Not The End - a record label that lends its name to (well, hosts) a show on NTS Radio - with the ultimate trip back to a time many weren't lucky enough to live through.

As the name suggests, this is literally a collection of no less than 40 radio adverts that appeared at some point or other on London's once-plentiful pirate radio stations between 1984 and 1993. Many are poor quality in terms of production, a good number use samples from some of the biggest dance tracks of the day, loads namecheck some legends of the UK rave scene, and every single one would be loads of fun to drop into a mix or use as a sample for productions. Not that we're recommending doing anything without license.

Review: Demeters Dottrar, comprised of Ida Skibsted Cramer, Charlott Malmenholt, and Astrid Oster Mortensen, presents their debut album, Sondag I Spejlet, inspired by the sounds of 90s lo-fi experimental bedroom music and bold text-sound compositions that draws direction from the cassette underground scene. Recorded mainly in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg, the album's eight tracks offer a trip into a parallel universe, characterised by delicate instrumentation and recurrent sounds of rain, serving as a percussive backbone. Singing in both Swedish and Danish, the trio creates an atmosphere of brutal intimacy reminiscent of Deux Filles, while musically evoking the spirit of Un, early Charalambides, and Dadamah. Sondag I Spejlet stands as a daring debut, offering listeners a beautiful, strange, and other-worldly experience unlike anything heard before.

Review: Delia Derbyshire has rightly been getting the props she deserves in recent times, albeit many years after they were due. Best known for the pioneering work she did with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she is in no uncertain terms one of the most innovative electronic musicians of the last century. Her album The Dream was written in the 19060s and is the result of being asked by British playwright Barry Bermange to create music for four of his radio plays. Fantome Phonographique reissue it now in all its rather desolate and eerie glory with subtle drones, spoken words and mystic motifs making it an intriguing listen.

Review: An LP which features music by originally recorded in 1969 by BBC Radiophonic Workshop members such as the late Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson and the American born composer David Vorhaus: who later formed as the experimental electronic band White Noise. It was released by the Standard Music Library label, set up in 1968 by Bucks Music and London Weekend Television who also supplied production music for use in TV, commercials, radio and film. Many of these tracks were also used in the 1960's cult TV show 'The Tomorrow People' and each one has a short description of the music after the track title. Derbyshire and Hodgson assumed pseudonyms in the credits: Li de la Russe & Nikki St. George respectively. Two of the tracks are co-written by the pair, who also worked together on Unit Delta Plus: an organisation and studio project which was extensively involved in the promotion and exploration of electronic music at the time. Legendary stuff!

Review: Ukraine-born Maya Deren isn't your typical musician for label owner. She was, in fact, one of the most interesting film makers throughout the 40s and 50s, expanding the Western hemisphere's knowledge and appreciation for 'creole' sounds. Aside from the long line of visual arts, she did release one mythical record, back in 1954, on the infamous Elektra label. Voices Of Haiti is now a digger's choice, and a relic of library music, which has possibly shaped much of the 'outernational' fascination that has shaped the sound of imprints like Honest Jon's, Strut, Sounds Of The Universe etc. Recorded in villages and towns across Haiti, this magical LP is a deep and explorative foray into the deepest and most visceral sounds of the Caribbean, and we have been truly blessed with this timely reissue. Unmissable.

Review: The Fascinating World Of Electronic Music is one of those obscure but much loved and fetishized albums that we vinyl collectors fawn over. Dutch electronic music pioneers Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan wrote it back in 1959 and mixed jazz ideas with experimental electronic production and laid down a template for the sounds that would go on to define high profile shows like Dr Who, which was written by the great Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. David Bowie was a big fan of this record while DJ Premier and David Holmes have pillaged it for samples. Newly remastered for this reissue, it is well worth diving deep into once more.

Review: DJ Muggs brings his latest instrumental hip-hop tinkerings to Madlib and Egon's Invazion Music Library Series, which allows the two beatmaking legends' friends the opportunity to experiment with the form in whichever way they choose. Taking after the mood and feel of library music pieces, Silver Cloud adds to the many additions to the label to pay homage to the Piero Umilianis and Alan Hawkshaws of yore, albeit through a hip-hop lens. From 'No Time' to 'Calm Down' to 'Fast Arp', Muggs takes a functional approach to beatsmithing, crafting everything from tempo-synced, two-tone moody piano expositions to full-blown lo-fi whackers.

Review: Japan's revered DJ Muro has put together his first ever compilation for BBE. Diggers Dozen is a real gem with 12 tracks of Japanese jazz-funk and Latin-jazz goodness that fuse traditional instrumental with traditional melodies. These tunes were originally made for the 70s for Nippon Columbia by legendary composers of the time such as Kiyoshi Yamaya, Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Toshiyuki Miyama and more. Finding these cuts on their original pressings is rare and expensive so don't sleep on this real collector's essential.

Review: Japan's revered DJ Muro has put together his first ever compilation for BBE and this version comes on CD, with cassette and vinyl versions also available on Juno. Diggers Dozen is a real gem with 12 tracks of Japanese jazz-funk and Latin-jazz goodness that fuse traditional instrumental with traditional melodies. These tunes were originally made for the 70s for Nippon Columbia by legendary composers of the time such as Kiyoshi Yamaya, Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Toshiyuki Miyama and more. Finding these cuts on their original pressings is rare and expensive so don't sleep on this real collector's essential.

Review: Demon Records presents the complete narrated TV soundtrack of Doctor Who: The Crusade on double 140g green and yellow translucent vinyl. This release offers fans the chance to experience the classic 1965 story, with William Russell providing linking narration. Set in 12th Century Palestine, the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions find themselves in the midst of a conflict between English Crusaders and Saracen forces led by Saladin. When Barbara is captured during a Saracen ambush, the group encounters historical figures such as King Richard the Lionheart, played by Julian Glover. Though only two of the original four episodes survive, this vinyl edition captures the full audio experience, bringing the adventure to life once again. The release includes beautifully illustrated sleeves with Radio Times-style billings for each episode, offering a nostalgic touch.

Review: "Space Songs" was an album in the "Ballads For The Age of Science" or "Singing Science" series of scientific music for children from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Songs were written by Hy Zaret (lyrics) and Lou Singer (music). Space Songs was released in 1959 by Hy Zaret's label Motivation Records (a division of Argosy Music Corp.) and was performed by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans.

Review: When it comes to library music, we most often think of Italy, but France too has its own vast treasure trove of incidental and easy-listening jazz sounds. Here 23 of the most classic have been pulled together by Lord Funk and DJ L.C. on a second volume for Tele Music. There are tons of obscure tunes, rarities and mythic sounds from the worlds of funk, Latin, jazz and electronic across four sides of superlative vinyl. From the playful jazz-funk of Herve Roy's 'Repetition Echo' to the loose-limbed percussive workout and squelchy synth wonkiness of Sauveur Mallia's 'All The Bass' this is a perfect soundtrack for many an occasion.

Review: This is exactly the sort of record that collectors fawn over. A collection of mid century jingles will always get us hot under the collar with the prospect of how they could be worked into some next level mix that we never actually get around to putting together, Still, don't let that put you off collecting potential source material because this is a great listen on its own - it has perfect 60s sounds, joyous skits, natty melodic hooks and big swing band sounds all overflowing with positivity and hope. Both platters are very pretty and these sodas were used on ads for everything from pils to pudding.