Further Perspectives & Distortion: An Encyclopedia Of British Experimental & Avant Garde Music 1976-1984 CD

As the title suggests, this vast, triple-CD box set from Cherry Red is an attempt to chronicle one of the most productive periods in the history of British experimental and avant-garde music: the years between the rise of punk in 1976 and the unofficial end of the post-punk era in 1984. It does a rather good job of it if truth be told, with the unnamed curators offering a brilliant mixture of guitar-based noise, trippy early electronica, weirdo ambient, dubbed-out jazz, spoken word oddness and clanking industrial music. There are plenty of big names present - Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV, Test Department, Robert Fripp, 23 Skidoo, Clock DVA etc - alongside lesser-celebrated experimental heroes.