Thank You!

Soundscapes will be closing permanently on September 30th, 2021.

Open every day between Spetember 22nd-30th

We'd like to thank all of our loyal customers over the years, you have made it all worthwhile! The last 20 years have seen a golden age in access to the world's recorded music history both in physical media and online. We were happy to be a part of sharing our knowledge of some of that great music with you. We hope you enjoyed most of what we sold & recommended to you over the years and hope you will continue to seek out the music that matters.

In the meantime we'll be selling our remaining inventory, including thousands of play copies, many of which are rare and/or out-of-print, never to be seen again. Over the next few weeks the discounts will increase and the price of play copies will decrease. Here are the details:

New CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-ray, Books 60% off 15% off

Rare & out-of-print new CDs 60% off 50% off

Rare/Premium/Out-of-print play copies $4.99 $14.99

Other play copies $2.99 $8.99

Magazine back issues $1 $2/each or 10 for $5 $15

Adjusted Hours & Ticket Refunds

We will be resuming our closing sale beginning Friday, June 11. Our hours will be as follows:

Wednesday-Saturday 12pm-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

Open every day between September 22nd-30th

We will no longer be providing ticket refunds for tickets purchased from the shop, however, you will be able to obtain refunds directly from the promoters of the shows. Please refer to the top of your ticket to determine the promoter. Here is the contact info for the promoters:

Collective Concerts/Horseshoe Tavern Presents/Lee's Palace Presents: shows@collectiveconcerts.com
Embrace Presents: info@embracepresents.com
MRG Concerts: ticketing@themrggroup.com
Live Nation: infotoronto@livenation.com
Venus Fest: venusfesttoronto@gmail.com

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding.

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Wednesday
Aug182010

VA - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria

Just a few months after Soundway Records announced that the Nigeria Special series was coming to a close with the release of Nigeria Special Volume 2 and Nigeria Afrobeat Special, they've backtracked on that promise, sort of (not that any of us at the shop are disappointed!).

The World Ends continues on from that already-legendary series, though not in title, yet this could have easily been titled as the second volume to Nigeria Rock Special from a couple years back. That this one is a double CD (divided into two separate double-vinyl sets with bonus tracks for guaranteed deep grooves to shake floors with) adds to the question of why label boss Miles Cleret may have considered putting his Nigerian crates on ice. I, for one, am still hoping they will start focusing on single-artist collections and original album reissues. Until then, let’s dig into the music presented here, shall we?

Though virgin ears would never think of this as 'rock', Nigerian rock kept its African roots while happily taking in the sounds of Anglo-American youth culture, bringing the guitar to the fore at the expense of horns, which lessened in importance in the early '70s rock bands. The guitar increasingly became a lead instrument, in contrast to both the complex arpeggios of highlife rhythm patterns and the waka-waka comping role that the guitar played in Afrobeat. In post-Biafran War Nigeria, the youth were looking for something new, and this collection documents how young musicians sought a break from older modes associated with the past.

If you already have Nigeria Rock Special, you’ll have some idea of what to expect here, which, in Woodstock terms, is much more Santana and Sly Stone than, say, Canned Heat or Ten Years After—groove still rules here over heaviosity, hips and feet-shaking over headbanging. “Nwantinti/Die Die” by Ify Jerry Krusade opens with a Spector-esque teenbeat teaser before a drum comes in, sending the track into a much more rump-shaking direction. Many of the tracks here sung are in non-Pidjin English, and The Action 13, with their overt rock riffage replete with proto-Neil Hagerty near-free soloing, exemplify this.

I could keep going, but I’ll save it for the inevitable next installment of Nigerian music from the great people at Soundway. Trust me: there’ll be more to come.

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