Wow. This looks pretty grandiose. I know 4 tracks but i'm downloading now. Thanks Chris. Praise for the cover design too.

Love the international feel here. Track 14 looks plenty interesting... can't wait to give this mix a listen tomorrow while at work.

Fascinating selections, Se±or Gnome. What kind of album is "Vain Erudite and Stupid"?

Rockin' all Over The World! Can't wait to hear the 9-14 stretch..

Too bad about the exhibition, the music looks inspired.

Looks awesome, and I mean that from both a tracklisting and aesthetic point of view, with the detail and the cover and the HTML-ness and the hey-hey-hey. The middle section (10 - 14) looks especially intriguing so I'm really looking forward to giving this one a listen!

Really great stuff Chris. Love the MystFre Des Voix Bulgares through Beatles stretch especially (and Yellow Swans through Pandit Bhattacharya and Lounge Lizards through Yat-Kha).

And, to answer the question that plagues me at night: I do remember rock 'n roll radio...

A woolly affair here 'gnome! You're an exhibitionist!

Good question.
As per Aquarius Records, where this was purchased (in person!!!), "...a sort of "best of" anthology selected and compiled by the band themselves, featuring 22 tracks spread over two compact discs, spanning their career to date... this 2cd is just what I needed: a primer of sorts on this sometimes confusional, confounding, and obscure-but-important band. And as far as reviewing goes, what's to review? THIS SHIT IS ESSENTIAL! End of story. It's an ideal introduction for newbies and even the most dedicated Dead C fanatic will want it as well. Even if you've collected every last rare tape or vinyl track from these guys it's still nice to have a few of 'em on cd.
You'll hear how The Dead C trio of Michael Morley, Robbie Yeats, and Bruce Russell blazed their own unique path through the down under underbelly of indie-rock experimentation, pushing the boundaries of (between?) noise and rock in their New Zealand laboratory. True originals, appreciated at first only by a hardy few (themselves, mainly, as well as the likes of Sonic Youth). Their deliberately lo-fi, song-subverting, willfully 'wrong' music-making was and is perhaps an acquired taste. We'd venture to guess though that at this point, few regular AQ customers would have less than positive reactions to The Dead C's seasick lurchings, to their sounds of droning flybys from UFOs made out of straw, and feedback stomp and damaged thrash. No complaints about caustic liquids somehow coursing through guitar strings, amps, and ears. Thumb up to their hazy hints of melodies, buried beneath solid static storms of guitar distortion, or their moments of quietly emotive indie-pop prettiness in the NZ tradition, left to rust and decay.
The tracks are arranged chronologically, from "Max Harris" off their 1988 Flying Nun album DR503 starting off the first disc, to the track "Truth" taken from The Damned released in 2003 that ends the second disc....The tracks selected comprise both some "greatest hits" (things we'd have picked too, for sure) and some total rarities from long-deleted cassettes and limited vinyl-only releases...
The thick cd booklet contains essays, in ascending order of non-fictional detail, from Seymour Glass of Bananafish mag, Tom Lax of Siltbreeze, and Nick Cain of Opprobrium fanzine. And there's track-by-track commentary from Bruce Russell as well, adding to the "primer" value of this release. It may be true that this band's stuff takes a while to "get". Years maybe. But this crash course gives a great head start.
The blurb sticker on the front of this proclaims The Dead C as "the GREATEST noise/drone rock band of all time" and we really might not have any argument with that at all! It goes on to suggest that fans of Wolf Eyes, SUNNO))), Lightning Bolt and Growing would/should dig The Dead C quite heavily. Probably true as well. The implication being, though, that fans of those bands wouldn't have heard of The Dead C before. Perhaps -- and if that's the case, and that's you, you definitely should check this out!!! We'd probably go on to say that as much as we enjoy all those bands, The Dead C is much closer to our hearts for sure...

I have no idea at all what is going on here (give a drunk a chance!) . . . . I am very much looking forward to giving this a listen - thanks for the link.

Me & brother Gobi aare cut from the same cloth here. Tome to check things out!

Half-cut, gents? (sorry) I am just so excited about listening to this that I might have to go and have a cup of tea to calm down. Like Salman1, I shall be listening at work tomorrow. Wholly impressive.

No doubt another excellent issue from the ever excellent musicgnome. I salute you - I'm presuming the apostrophe on Cosma's is a typo.

Ahh...fixed.

It's a muicgnome mix, there are no boundaries. I am embiggened. I concur, after a fashion, most of my favourite art exhibitions are the ones I didn't see.

For some reason my out dateded comp will not let me play this mix thought I would love to hear it (Windows ME). But, this looks crispy tasty.

Another good one. I know some bands on this mix.

Great mix gnome, just listened to the first half, very dark and noisy, just as I like it!

been listening to this one in fits and starts these past few days. finally heard it from start to finish today at work. very nice! it's all so dreamy and unusual that when the Beatles finally make an appearance, they seem like nothing but a guilty pleasure! some favorites include M. Ward, Burial, The Bulgarian...Choir, Lounge Lizards and Yat-Kha. also like The Cousins; thought maybe the date on that one was a typo until I heard that old-time crackle. looking forward to more of your collections.

no no, it is cosma not cosmas ;)...still a great lookin' mix with or without the s.

Oh, I give up...I can't type worth a shit.But, really, when you know Vladimir Cosma like I do, what's a little "s" added here and there?