This is the story of a sleepy Navy town that became the unlikely gathering point for some of the most innovative, unclassifiable American artists of their time. The late '60s arrival of Harry Partch - hobo composer, iconoclast and inventor of instruments such as the Harmonic Canon and Quadrangularis Reversum - jump started a revolution that was as much social as it was musical, drawing on the occult, self-realization and radical political movements of '70s Southern California.

The 2023 book, "Alien Territory: Radical, Experimental and Irrelevant Music in 1970s San Diego" (Bill Perrine), presents the story; in this collection are the sounds. Sonic Meditations, compositional linguistics, microtonality, invented instruments, cutting edge electronics, underwater synthesizers, Tibetan throat singing, environmental sound and pure noise were their tools.

In an attempt to slightly smooth out the listener experience and add some structure on to a decade of far-reaching experimentation, each disc is devoted to a particular musical style, strategy or genre. These are useful but admittedly porous distinctions that the artists themselves may or may not recognise. All tracks (apart from 3) in this set are previously unreleased.

Features: Diamanda Galás, Warren Burt With Pauline Oliveros + Reinhard Berg, Robert Turman, Harry Partch, David Dunn, Warren Burt, Ernie Morgan, Allen Strange, Citizen's Band, Joseph Julian, KIVA, Dary John Mizelle, Joji Yuasa, Alexina Louie, Kenneth Gaburo, Peter Gordon feat Kathy Acker, and Dary John Mizelle + David Gamper + Robert MacDougall + Frank McCarty.

Comes in a clamshell boxset with each disc in its own card sleeve, and a booklet of photos and essays.