Rolling amazing new COMPILATIONS thread (any genre)

Yeah i know it's all playlists these days but i'm still a sucker for a good comp, either as a celebration of a particular scene or as an entry point into it, or merely as a way of obtaining those elusive tracks that you've been dying to own for ages. Or maybe as more of an insight into the compiler, or as a journey in itself a la a good dj mix album?

What new comps have you been enjoying? What were your favourites of 2024?

this one has been ruling my world recently:

Nigeria Special Volume 3: Electronic Innovation Meets Culture And Tradition 1978-93
https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nigeria-special-volume-3-electronic-innovation-meets-culture-and-tradition-1978-93

It's crazy how many good comps Soundway put out, and all beautifully packaged too. As per the title, this one focuses on the creeping spread of electronics in Nigerian music in the 80s. Am particularly loving the unstoppable drum machines on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZZTSYyjqd0
Chimex G. Udensity And His Afrikan Band - Okpoko Na Azo Eze

and i already knew this beautiful tune but the dub version that they included on this comp is something else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ExQEeS2mb0
Sonny Okosun - Highlife (Dub Version)

Good thread idea!

Thanks for the heads-up on Nigeria Special Vol. 3--I was working in a record store back when the first few Soundway 'Special' comps came out, but am now much more out of the loop. That Ayo Manuel dub on there also sounds great IMO--v. in line with that early '80s NYC dub-disco on Easy Street/Prelude remixed by Francois K/L. Levan/T. Humphries, or even early Laswell/Material:
https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/track/do-good-dub

The one comp that stuck out to me recently is Leaving Records' Staying fundraiser set--not to be overly bean-counting about it, but I end up liking 38 of the 98(!) tracks on it, which given its scale is not a bad batting avg IMO (plus, the cause it supports is a no-brainer):

https://staying.bandcamp.com/album/staying-leaving-records-aid-to-artists-impacted-by-the-los-angeles-wildfires

Good thread idea Nick! I get quite a few of these for exactly the reasons you mention, and I'm a sucker for sleeve notes and essays about the scenes in question that you often get with a well put-together compliation.

A few I have been enjoying from 2024:

Weird Scenes From The Hangout (Psychedelic & Freakbeat Dancefloor Anthems 1967-1982) https://two-piers.bandcamp.com/album/weird-scenes-from-the-hangout-psychedelic-freakbeat-dancefloor-anthems-1967-1982 (Richard Norris of The Grid compiles favourites from his early 80s Liverpool club night)

Down To The Sea & Back - Volume Tres: The Continuing Journey of the Balearic Beat. Compiled By Balearic Mike & Kelvin Andrews https://downtotheseaandback.bandcamp.com/album/down-to-the-sea-back-volume-tres-the-continuing-journey-of-the-balearic-beat-compiled-by-balearic-mike-kelvin-andrews (Balearica is the perfect compilation fodder)

Once Again We Are The Children Of The Sun compiled by Paul Hillery https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/once-again-we-are-the-children-of-the-sun-compiled-by-paul-hillery (more Balearica!)

Some older ones I've picked up recently:

Suburban Annihalation (The California Hardcore Explosion From The City To The Beach: 1978-1983) https://two-piers.bandcamp.com/album/suburban-annihalation-the-california-hardcore-explosion-from-the-city-to-the-beach-1978-1983

Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987 https://strumandthrum.bandcamp.com/album/strum-thrum-the-american-jangle-underground-1983-1987

Welcome To Paradise Vol. II: Italian Dream House 89-93 https://safetrip.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-paradise-89-93-vol-2

Boca's 50 Rap 45's @ 50: https://boca45.bigcartel.com/product/boca-s-50-rap-45-s-50

I recently listened to this Ace Records compilation, Fantastic Voyage: New Sounds for the European Canon 1977-1981, which got me to listen to Simple Minds' early albums for the first time ever.

Those Bob Stanley Ace CD comps are so solid--have picked up 3 or 4 of them so far, incl. Cafe Exil, the precursor to Fantastic Voyage (https://acerecords.co.uk/cafe-exil-new-adventures-in-european-music-1972-1980-1)

Incident at a Free Festival is by them & also great https://www.acerecords.co.uk/incident-at-a-free-festival-1, like that Finders Keepers Man Chest Hair one from a while back

there are some really great cuts on this comp of Finnish electro obscurities:

https://coldblowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bonus-beats-rare-unreleased-finnish-electro-1990-2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkQzUXR23w
Dr Robotnik - Own Commands

Orchestra Guacamole—a collaboration between the late Mika Vainio and Darude producer Jaakko Salovaara

had no idea about that those two had worked together and it sorta blew my mind

this is sounding great :)

really loving this compilation of “visionary” tape music from california. kinda like “i am the center”’s weirder little brother

https://goatytapes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-coast-some-visionary-music-from-california-1980-1992

holy shit at the comp NickB posted. Eppi Fanio puts me in the mind of great later day Can. But all i've listened to basically RULES

Motel California. From the Numero Group. Spectacular 70s obscurities they describe as Cosmic American Music. Not a bad song on the entire thing. Compulsively listenable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV747Z0JZ24

this is so ace

https://fundamentalfrequencies.bandcamp.com/album/telepathic-fish-trawling-the-early-90s-ambient-underground

The first-ever illustrated compendium recounting the seminal underground South London ambient party that surfaced at the axis through which the likes of Ninja Tune, Warp and Rising High flowed. Telepathic Fish shared fertile waters with Megatripolis and The Big Chill, moving the early 90s London back room chill-out space into the kaleidoscopic spotlight.

Documenting the sights and sounds of South London’s seminal Telepathic Fish ambient parties. Hosted by Chantal Passamonte (aka Mira Calix - RIP), David Vallade, Mario Aguera and Kevin Foakes (aka DJ Food) - collectively named Openmind. With the help of Mixmaster Morris (The Irresistible Force) and Matt Black (Coldcut), they put on some of the earliest chill out events in London.

Charles Bals' comps are always terrific and I can't stop playing this new one he put together for Smiling C, Neon Castle

https://smilingc.bandcamp.com/album/neon-castle

Neon Castle hones in on a fleeting sub-genre of early to mid-’80s female fronted ambient folk. For a brief moment, glistening slide guitar, ethereal voices, fretless bass, drum machines and satin sounds all intertwined, conjuring a sound at once familiar and otherworldly—pop structures laced with strange visions. Some songs sway with the warmth of open ranch-land—originating from the same myths Stevie Nicks devoted herself to; others are shrouded with candlelit mysticism, crafted with the very staff Kate Bush might have wielded. Together, these pieces reveal a singular tapestry.

Compiled by Charles Bals—now in his third collaboration with Smiling C—Neon Castle affirms his rare gift for storytelling through sound. Each track unfolds like a scene from an imagined film: castles glowing with noble gas, kingdoms awash in purple haze, wild horses roaming free, hair cascading to the waist. The collection sketches a realm both new and 'upon a time', a world where fantasy takes shape through music. With Neon Castle, attentive listening becomes narrative.

the Judie Tzuke song that got left off the streaming version is amazing btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgwLsunnKs

that looks awesome. i love that black rain comp of folk rock from lasy year on smiling c. and the kevin mccormick/david horridge stuff is beautiful guitar stuff in the realm of the durutti column/maurice deebank.

i've probably listened to dj sundae's 'mirrors' more than anything else this year so far - if you enjoyed the time is away 'searchlight moonbeam' comp this is very much in that same vein. more info here:

‘Mirrors' was commissioned as the soundscape for an exhibition of archival photographs and work from Richard Baron and Realf Heygate that reflects on the hundred-year history of Lille's Établissement Public de Santé Mentale (EPSM) - a public health institution specialised in the management of mental disorders. It's supposed to take in the hospital's evolution from an asylum in 1825 to a centre that provides more dialled in care in the modern age. What could have so easily been a heavy handed set of reverb-drenched soundscapes and hauntological mothballs is instead an examination of what made classic compilations like Les Disques Du Crépuscule's 'From Brussels With Love' such perennial gemstones. Sundae prioritises context and feeling over everything, opening his set with Robert Haigh's heartbreaking solo piano jaunt 'Impromptu' - a dazzlingly clever private press moodpiece from the artist best known as Omni Trio, from long before he defined an era with 'Renegade Snares'.

We snap into the present with an out-of-time cut from Aberdeen-based singer-songwriter Alan Davidson, aka Kitchen Cynics; 'Spiderwebs', a sticky ooze of psyche-y synths, echoed Scottish DIY folk and Laurel Canyon organs. Veteran outsider Christina Carter picks up the thread from here with 'Quiet Nights', a sedate, skeletally beguiling track from 2008's 'Masque Femine', a low-key CDr from the peak "New Weird America" era. Even the Yo La Tengo selection is a few footsteps from the well-trodden path: 'By Two's' is a groggy and uncharacteristically dubby organ-led experiment that appeared on 2009's mostly overlooked 'Popular Songs' and hooks neatly into Sundae’s mystical tapestry, serving as the glue between Brian Reitzell's heaving 'Ozu Choral’, Mark Clifford and Mira Calix's lysergic 'You and I’, and HTRK's stripped-to-the-bone 'Death Is a Dream'. There's plenty of deeper-than-deep cuts here too, from Headfall's Bark Psychosis-indebted instrumental 'Places I Went Because of You' and 'Presume Too Far' from Roy Montgomery's short-lived Dissolve project, to the nine-minute 'Brace', a neo-new age fantasy from the incredible Lucy Duncombe.

oh oops, link: https://boomkat.com/products/mirrors-compiled-by-dj-sundae

yeah this is gorgeous! i also very much enjoy the sky girl comp from a few years ago, similar vibes to this and searchlight moonbeam, and also put together by dj sundae, with julien dechery

if anyone has any recommendations for similar comps i would very much appreciate them!

last year’s “Going back to sleep…” on A Colourful Storm also fits the bill https://acolourfulstorm.bandcamp.com/album/going-back-to-sleep

and like that boomkat review notes, those crepuscule comps from the 80s feel like the blueprint for these kinds of collections - i have this one:

https://www.discogs.com/release/8582753-Various-The-Rough-With-The-Smooth-Crépuscule-Collection-3

thanks, i've not heard those! there's a comp called from brussels with love on crepuscule that i really like

and i really like a colourful storm too, i got a wee tape from them called soon i'll run out of air that looks to be quite similar :)

You may find a fair amount of overlap on this compilation, if you're not familiar with it:

https://www.acerecords.co.uk/tim-burgess-bob-stanley-present-tim-peaks-songs-for-a-late-night-diner

many xps to donna - that looks good, Masque Femine rules as does early Robert Haigh

Oh, cool thread idea!!!!

I’ll bring this over from the Bandcamp thread

Don’t know where else to post this but holy shit, on first listen it’s an early contender for album of the year

https://seawindofbattery.bandcamp.com/album/the-perilous-fight-vol-2-we-the-people

― Clever Message Board User Name (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, February 22, 2026 11:06 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

my favourite of the year so far

https://wisdomteethuk.bandcamp.com/album/nagoyaka-na-kaze-quiet-wind

"nagoyaka na kaze / 和やかな風 - (quiet wind): a collection of forward-thinking electronic experiments sourced from central Japan - co-curated by Nagoya artist abentis for Facta & K-LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint.

The project profiles a close-knit community of music makers operating in and around the Japanese city of Nagoya: one of the country’s most populous and industrial cities, but one all too often overlooked in terms of its cultural significance."

^^this is really good, thanks for the tip!

Something for the wee hours

https://leperwitch.bandcamp.com/album/volunteer-state-of-chaos-tennessee-women-nonbinary-noise-comp-vol-1

Picked up the Soul Jazz Junglist! compilation
https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/junglist-
https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/reissue-of-the-week/ragga-jungle-review/
Fantastic after listening to half of it, needs to be played LOUD

Also got this Steve Mason of the Beta Band comp which looks like a good combination of (to me) the familiar and the completely unknown:
https://two-piers.bandcamp.com/album/steve-mason-presents-the-romance-of-unknowing

I probably have 90% of this stuff on CD already but the Demon electroclash comp is glorious. Five discs of classics.

https://www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/catalogue/releases/when-the-2000s-clashed-machine-music-for-a-new-millennium-5cd/

that does look rad, love Ellen Allien

one of my earliest "heard about it from ILM" tips

wow that looks amazing

That compilation makes me feel ancient, it's a snapshot of the sound of clubbing when I turned 18. I wish the extended/original mixes of certain tracks were on it though.

https://www.discogs.com/release/34060756-Various-Strobes-In-Space-Indie-Sleaze-Nu-Rave-Future-Disco-2000-2009-

we spoke about this on an electroclash thread recently, definite companion piece with a bit of crossover

Those are some very well-curated comps of music I have no interest in revisiting