Birdman Records

     "Bring us your wacky, bring us your funky, bring us your demented..." That said, Birdman Records opened its doors for business in 1995. Like its namesake, a fabled hero who wandered the earth giving lucky birds to those deemed worthy, Birdman Records seeks to better the lives of its listeners with music. Thus, the label has become home to an eclectic array of Truth vibrations from all corners of the planet. The legendary Boredoms have found a home at Birdman as have Los Angeles Free Music Society's Tom Recchion, Tom Waits collaborator Ralph Carney, and 93-year-old Mississippi drum and fife bluesman Otha Turner. Former Pogues frontman Shane McGowan and former Tarnation frontwoman Paula Frazer have both entered the Birdman fold. In addition to these artists, Birdman offers a rainbowed-out array of reissues, horror movie soundtracks, and compilations -- all designed to keep the ideas of the Birdman flowing like water from the rock that Moses hit with the stick (ah, and it kept him from reaching the promised land, too).

Badar Ali Khan
Vocalist Badar Ali Khan holds the crown to the Qawwali music throne, passed down from his deceased cousin Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Don't miss the opportunity to hear this unique and exquisite brand of traditional Sufi music.

Lost In Qawwali III - 2001


Beck
Unless you've been living in a hole in the ground for the past few years, you've already heard the genre-hopping, mind-altering sounds of the Andy Warhol of the 21st century. But have you ever heard him sound like this?

Kill The Moonlight Soundtrack
Sounds Eclectic
One Foot In The Grave - 1994
More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander 'Skip' Spence - 1999
Sea Change - 2002


Boredoms
The Boredoms have been not so quietly leading the underground rock movement in Japan for the last 14 years with their unique mixture of noise, punk, psychedelia, and utter chaos.

Super Ae


Paula Frazer
Paula Frazer no longer records under the name Tarnation, but she continues to craft the same incomparably engaging and gorgeous country-flavored rock music. Her songwriting captures the essence of an endless, timeless, mythological America, while simultaneously striking a remarkably intimate and personal tone.

Indoor Universe - 2001


Thee Headcoats
The best-known project of the prolific and legendary British performer/poet/provocateur Billy Childish, Thee Headcoats are a glorious riot of messy rock and roll that mixes up the blues, garage, and punk.

Knights of the Baskervilles - 1996


Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Even if you don't recognize Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's name, you've probably heard his music in countless film scores and compilations. He's the Pakistani master of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Experience the power of his one-of-a-kind voice.

The Final Moment - 2001


Mark Lanegan
In recent years, Mark Lanegan seems to have become better known for his husky, rootsy solo work than that "grunge" band he fronts (in case you've forgotten, it's the Screaming Trees). His reverberant almost-folk songs are just the thing for late night lonely spells with just a bottle of whiskey to keep you company.

More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander 'Skip' Spence - 1999


Gene Moore
If you have a taste for the creepy, the spine-tingling, the nightmarishly bizarre, then you're going to love Gene Moore's bone-chilling organ music, which was the soundtrack to the 1962 cult horror flick, Carnival of Souls.

Carnival of Souls - 1998


Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Since spending the '70s as perhaps the biggest rock star on the planet with a little band called Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant has become an accomplished solo artist whose work has ranged from R&B inflected hard rock in the Zeppelin vein to melodic pop to more experimental fare.

More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander 'Skip' Spence - 1999


Tom Recchion
Tom Recchion constructs bizarre avant-experimental exotica that sounds like Martin Denny reinterpreted by an orchestra of robots with damaged wiring. Fascinating and enthralling.

Chaotica - 1996


Otha Turner and the Afrossippi Allstars
This is a different kind of Trance: instead of electronically produced beats, Othar Turner relies on the hypnotizing effects of the drum and fife, melding African rhythms and American traditions into beautiful, hypnotic music that is powerful in a way that amplified electric guitars can not be.

It Came From Memphis Vol. 2
From Senegal to Senatobia - 1999


Tom Waits
That tough old cuss Tom Waits. The years keep going by and -- incredible as it seems -- that famous voice keeps getting gravellier, the characters that populate the desolate landscapes of his songs keep getting seedier, and the songs themselves just keep on getting weirder. You gotta love the wacky old curmudgeon.

More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander 'Skip' Spence - 1999