Browse by Label: ABATON BOOK COMPANY

Artist:	GIRLS, THE
Title:	Live at the Rathskeller: 5/17/79
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 007CD

"The Girls were there at the beginning. For a few short years, they were undoubtedly one of the most exciting and experimental bands performing in the Boston punk scene. Combining delirious live performances, raw sound and Duchampian art-world smarts, The Girls walked an aesthetic tightrope between pop music and sonic chaos. Those who actually saw them either loved them or hated them; their live performances offered no middle ground. During their brief existence, The Girls released only one recording, 'Jeffrey I Hear You'/'The Elephant Man', a 7" on Pere Ubu's Hearthan label. Twenty-five years after the fact, Abaton Book Company is pleased to present Live at the Rathskeller, one of the most essential missing links between late 70s punk and post-punk. It has been digitally remastered by Elliott Sharp. The album features an eight-panel folding insert that includes numerous unpublished photographs, a performance chronology and copious liner notes by Byron Coley.

Artist:	DAY, DEVORAH
Title:	Light Of Day
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 009CD

"Debut CD by avant jazz vocalist Devorah Day. Although Ms. Day is little known in the current jazz scene, her stature is undeniable to those who have seen her perform or heard the underground tapes in circulation. Her fans understand that this release should be seen as the most important jazz vocal album of the decade because Day is heir apparent to the fortunes set aside by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone and Jeanne Lee. With her highly unorthodox line up of voice, triple saxophone, and bass, Devorah Day has constructed a multi-layered yet minimalistic statement, a subtly hued tone poem. Her phrasing has few limitations as she chases her own tale by leaps and bounds through gray skies, toward greener pastures. Light of Day has much in common with classic titles produced by ESP-Disk', the adventurous 1960s avant-garde label that released two records by Day's accompanist, Marion Brown. Here Brown, the legendary saxophonist who played on John Coltrane's Ascension, gives his most transcendental performance in many a year." Says "released under license from ESP-DISK" on the back; recorded 10/28/99.

Artist:	VORONTSOVA, JULIA
Title:	From St. Petrsburg With Love
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 011CD

"The debut CD by Russian singer/songwriter Julia Vorontsova. 21-year-old Julia Vorontsova is the most recent link to the underground bards of the Soviet era. She sings melancholic ballads, all in her native tongue, with an otherworldly voice that is reminiscent of Brigitte Fontaine and Vashti Bunyan. Vorontsova's guitar alternates between minimal finger picking and a bouncier, more casual strumming. Her imaginative compositions run the gamut from truncated pop vignettes to somber elegies and are delivered, alternately, with exuberance and despair."

Artist:	SAHASRABUDDHE, VEENA
Title:	One Thousand Minds
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 012CD

"One of today's premiere Hindustani (i.e. North Indian) classical singers. Ms. Sahasrabuddhe has performed in Australia, North America, Europe, the Middle East and, of course, throughout India. She is known and respected for her directness and extraordinary intensity of performance. Her slow, lingering, non-defined vocal frequencies border on improvisation and demonstrate a total command of abilities. One Thousand Minds perfectly showcases Veena Sahasrabuddhe's unique yet classical approach to Hindustani music. She has over forty other recordings to her name, on such labels as HMV, BMG-Crescendo and Sony, but One Thousand Minds is her very first American release. This special edition is limited to 1000 numbered copies and includes a 20-page photo journal of Veena Sahasrabuddhe's musical history and a lyric sheet in Devanagari with English translations and phonetic spellings. These items are enclosed in sealed 5" audio-reel box with a full-color glossy cover."

Artist:	BORTZ & ELLIOTT SHARP, LAURI
Title:	A Modicum of Passion (The Opera)
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 013CD

"'In an America of the near future, or perhaps the recent past, where men can only wed others of their kind, and women are relegated the tasks of breeding and housekeeping, one happily married couple, Jakob Blythe and Tobias Folwen, have their bliss briefly interrupted.' Thus begins the tragic-comic opera A Modicum of Passion, based on the play by Lauri Bortz, with a musical score composed and conducted for string quartet by Elliott Sharp. This release features an all-star cast of vocalists: jazz sensation Devorah Day, punk prince Ben Miller, (x-Destroy All Monsters), R&B crooner Eric Mingus and indie rockette Joan Wasser, plus a fabulous four musicians -- Stephanie Griffin, Conrad Harris, Amy Kimball, Garo Yellin -- who are accomplished in all of these genres and more. A Modicum of Passion is a woeful tale of depraved indifference. In this microcosm, empathy is shattered by surrealistic time/space, and love fails to conquer much, if anything at all. The story unfolds in classic operatic format as Elliott Sharp's expressionism takes eerily beautiful twists and turns. This is Sharp at his most lyrical and gothic: the hummable melodies will no doubt surprise his ardent followers. But, loveliness aside, Lauri Bortz's darkly absurdist libretto has found its perfect musical match."

Artist:	WRIGHT, CORBI
Title:	All the Little Ways
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ABA 023CD

"The debut CD by Utah born, California raised singer/songwriter Corbi Wright. Whether performed on a 1926 Knabe grand piano or a 2006 Fender Telecaster, Corbi Wright's songs shimmer with a celestial glow. Otherworldly yet warm and immediate, this music contains such seemingly contrasting elements as the mellowness of '70s pop, the starkness of American plainsong, the quaint charm of ragtime and the plucky twang of country-western. Wright delivers her magic slight of hand through subtle, sophisticated lyrics self-accompanied almost effortlessly. Her simple chord progressions and pregnant pauses act as a melodic line to create the secondary sympathetic voices that haunt this album. There is a definite Laurel Canyon sound to All the Little Ways, though Wright's musical palette is rather contrary to that of her California singer/songwriter predecessors. This release will be of particular interest to fans of artists like Bridget St. John, Judee Sill, Dusty Springfield, Jackie DeShannon and Karen Carpenter."

Artist:	NOWOTTNY, MARIANNE
Title:	What Is She Doing?
Label:	ABATON BOOK COMPANY
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	ABA 026CD

"Ms. Nowottny came to the attention of New York avant garde music and art circles in 1998, at the age of sixteen, with the release of Afraid of Me, described as 'one of the most astonishing debuts ever' by New York Press. She has since released CDs on Camera Obscura, Foxy Digitalis, Barl Fire and Celestial Jars. With the desire to record an album that was, in her own words, 'as much Fleetwood Mac as Lil' Kim,' Nowottny set out to construct a homemade R&B/pop CD. The resulting What Is She Doing? is packed with primitive electro beats, low budget keyboards, spacey electronics and Nowottny's own inimitable voice. This long overdue update serves as a travelog of exotic themes, musical styles and textures adapted by the artist during her now decade-long career. What Is She Doing? was engineered by Mark Dagley (Pothole Skinny, Hi Sheriffs of Blue, Girls) and features Ben Miller (X-Destroy All Monsters, Third Border) on saxophone."

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