Browse by Artist: MOONDOG

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Moondog
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	4M 175LP

180 gram vinyl. "Moondog's debut release, originally on the Prestige label, came out in 1956, long after he'd become a legendary New York City street performer. The blind Kansas native showcases his talent for the minimal and avant-garde here, with compositions driven by percussion and Japanese-inspired melodies, complimented by street sounds, recitations and animal noises. Bizarre even for today's standards, it's a wonder this was released over a half-century ago. A brilliant debut."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	More Moondog
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	4M 176LP

180 gram vinyl. "This is the second Moondog LP, originally released on Prestige in 1956. It continues the NYC street performer's exploration of minimalist composition and field recording, mixing percussion and sparse melodies with piano solos, street sounds and monologues. Surprisingly accessible despite it's avant-garde nature, bridging the gap between the familiar and the bizarre. Another all out masterwork from one of 20th century America's most unique minds."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The Story Of Moondog
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	4M 177LP

180 gram vinyl. "Originally released on Prestige in 1957, this is the third LP from NYC street performer and avant-garde/minimalist composer Moondog. Perhaps the least accessible of his early releases, this album is made up of percussive jams, usually on instruments of his own creation, street sounds, poetry and Far East melodies, despite opening with a swinging number that is, oddly, the most bizarre thing on the album. Another classic from Moondog reissued with its original Andy Warhol artwork."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Playing Moondog's Music
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 017EP

2011 repress of this 2004 reissue. Recorded in 1955, released on his own short-lived Moondog label. 4 tracks of manic saxophone and snare drum mayhem. You will not find an original of this anywhere. Blind from the age of 17, classically trained in music, Moondog aka Louis Hardin left the countryside in the late 1940s to busk on the streets of New York, playing percussion instruments of his own creation. He later became the darling of the NY arts and music set. He also recorded for Folkways, Woody Herman's Mars label, then Prestige and CBS.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Moondog And His Friends
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 024EP

2011 repress. 7 track 10" release, originally released by Epic! "Originally released in 1953 -- a fantastic collection of recordings from the eccentric genius that was Moondog. This mini-album features Moondog's pioneering techniques in tape overdubbing -- he harmonises with himself on voice, double bass and home-made drums. Touches of his classical music education are underpinned by his signature and irresistible Native American rhythms. Epic, prophetic, naive -- seriously lovable music. 10" vinyl only release." Tracks: "Dragon´s Teeth -- Voices of Spring," "Oasis," "Tree Frog -- Be a Hobo," "Instrumental Round - Double Bass Duo -- Why spend the dark night with you?," "Theme and Variations -- Rim Shots," "Suite No. 1," Suite No. 2"

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 018CD

Previously licensed to Astralwerks in the U.S., now re-released on its original label, Honest Jon's, with new and improved gatefold card wallet sleeve packaging. Poet, composer, street musician and cosmologist Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999) learned rhythm from American Indians and counterpoint from J.S. Bach. Many of his recordings feature instruments he built himself: trimba, yukh, tuji, oo. Sometimes you can hear in the background the streets of New York, where Moondog often slept. In addition, he was blind, due to an accident when he was 15. Sometime in the 1950s, fed up with being mistaken on the street for Christ (his regular busking spot was uptown on Sixth) Moondog put on a Viking costume, with spear and horned helmet; and he dressed like this until the late 1970s (by which time he was working with orchestras in Germany). Moondog's renown was extensive: Igor Stravinsky lobbied a judge on Moondog's behalf. Charlie Parker wanted to play with him, Julie Andrews DID play with him, and he was feted by the likes of Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, and Steve Reich. Andy Warhol's mother designed one of his covers, and Weegee took photographs of him (included in the booklet). Janis Joplin covered him, Mr. Scruff owes him badly, and Antony and the Johnsons covers his songs. This is the first retrospective of Moondog's music -- 36 tracks from 1949-1995, most of them exceptionally rare, all of them miraculous.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Elpmas
Label:	KOPF (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KD 123314CD

Originally released in 1991, Moondog's Elpmas is a landmark late-period work by the legendary composer. After a prolonged period of silence while living in Germany, Louis Thomas Hardin (aka Moondog) returned to America in 1989 to partake in a highly-praised performance at the 10th New Music America Festival, sharing the program with John Zorn and Butch Morris. Although returning to his home in Oer-Erkenschwick, Germany shortly after the performance, the sudden attention and renewal of interest in his work prompted Moondog, then in his late-70s, to record new material. Elpmas is the stunning result of a revitalized legend still at the peak of his vitality and innovation. On Elpmas, Moondog uses a sampler for the very first time, complementing his compositions with field recordings, and explaining, "The sampler is ideal for my kind of music, which is mostly contrapuntal, specifically canonic." The percolating marimba patterns on opening track "Wind River Powow" recalls the type of pure, luscious tone-studies that once deemed Moondog "the founder of minimalism" by Philip Glass and Steve Reich, but Elpmas is a varied, thematic work, epic in scope and dedicated to the aboriginal peoples of the world. "Westward Ho!" is an 8-part canon depicting the western migration from Europe to the New World, and features guest musicians Götz Alsmann and Andi Toma (Mouse On Mars). "Suite Equestria" is the most energizing piece on the album, its intricate marimba pattern carried to epic heights by the incursion of a valiant male chorus. Elpmas also introduces Moondog's "Overtone Continuum," an ambitious compositional system in which a 4-part male chorus is overdubbed 12 times, resulting in the disorienting 144-voice experiment "The Message." The album ends with "Cosmic Meditation," a 24-minute expanse of hazy warmth and melancholic, Eno-esque ambience intended to suggest the rising and falling waves of the Siderial Sea. As Moondog concludes in the liner notes, "Its unworldly sound brings one close to the essence of things, to the 'peace that passeth all understanding.'"

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	A New Sound Of An Old Instrument
Label:	KOPF (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KD 133017CD

Originally released in 1979 by Kopf and reissued in 1999. By the time A New Sound Of An Old Instrument was released, Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) had made his home in Germany for 5 years, and decided to compose this suite of pieces in honor of "The King Of Instruments," the pipe organ. "The organ has not been called the 'King of Instruments' for nothing, because of all instruments, it has the widest range of possibilities, lending itself to any mood or style. In suffering the organ to emit secular and even profane music, namely dance music, I do not find it out of place, since I am fully aware of the organ's pagan beginnings, the pipes of Pan." Playing upon this notion, Moondog matches several of these organ pieces with shakers and other forms of knocking percussion which lends an organic feel to what is traditionally thought of as a formal, unbendable instrument. On the contrary, Moondog emphasizes the percussive and contrapuntal/staccato tones the organ is capable of producing, rather than drones, although those are also used here to provide a background for what does feel like decidedly vernal, lilting, woodland pipes. He also explains in the liner notes his "logrundrs," a canonical method of counterpoint. A New Sound Of An Old Instrument is a true Moondog oddity, but his mastery of illustrating the neverending nature of patterns in melodic tone and sequence are especially prominent here, focused as it is on one instrument. Organs played by Fritz Storfinger and Wolfgang Schwering. Package includes liner notes written by Louis T. Hardin himself.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	In Europe
Label:	KOPF (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KD 330140CD

Originally released by Kopf in 1977, and reissued in 1999, Moondog In Europe was visionary composer Louis Thomas Hardin's (aka Moondog) first release after moving to Germany. Perhaps reflecting the historicity of his new environment, this album is more structured and formal than most of his previous releases; however, his layered song-cycles are just as circular and experimental, and still backed by a fair amount of tribal percussion. There are moments of whimsy, as on "In Vienna," with its bouncing, music-box like celesta, or on "Viking I," also reflected with a snappy celesta melody, but there are also moments of parlor-room somberness, as on the string arrangements for "Romance In G" or the last 20+ minutes of the album, which is comprised exclusively of extremely heavy pipe-organ suites. Moondog In Europe, though less playful than other of his albums, displays Moondog's virtuosity as a classical composer, with elegantly stylized pieces that see Moondog embracing a grandiosity he hadn't approached previously.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	H'Art Songs
Label:	KOPF (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KD 330160CD

This is Kopf Records' 1999 CD reissue of Moondog's H'art Songs, originally released in Germany in 1978. In 1974, New York City's famous "Viking Of Sixth Avenue" travelled to Europe to produce a concert of his works with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. Afterwards, Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999), who once told an interviewer that he considered himself a "European in exile," felt compelled to stay on the continent in order to realize the imagined European identity he invoked with his clothing and music. Moondog felt culturally and artistically closer to Europe and it was here where he spent the rest of his life, developing some of the most unique and surprising, if not lesser known developments in his vast body of work. H'art Songs is one anomaly in the composer's output during this period, as each of the songs are considerably traditional in form with a sing-song, almost pop-oriented mentality. All the songs consist of Moondog singing to minimal, catchy piano accompaniments and occasional percussion. Moondog sings with a quavering sincerity in his voice that recalls Robert Wyatt while the pathos and humor in the lyrics to songs like "Enough About Human Rights" ("What about hog rights?/What about frog rights?") and "I'm Just A Hop Head" ("...and so I'll be, till I'm dead/I started hopping when first I hopped into bed") suggests the innocent despair of Daniel Johnston. The simplicity in these songs, however, is misleading, as the repetitive melodies are blessed with subtle chord structures that gradually take on an epic, even otherworldly, feel. This singular quirkiness and radiant uniqueness in approach makes this music distinctly Moondog. Highly accessible yet criminally overlooked, H'Art Songs' music reveals a fascinating stage in Moondog's artistic development, blessed with the understated beauty that makes his work so timeless.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Snaketime Series
Label:	MOONDOG RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	MOONDOG 001LP

Exact rpro of the very rare original Moondog label version of one of the earliest Moondog LPs (soon after reissued on Prestige as the self-titled Moondog LP; both versions were released in 1956). Same music as the commonly available Prestige edition, but this has the original half-moon line-art cover that will enhance your mantleplace so much more. Originally recorded in New York City, 1956. From the Prestige liner notes: "Sometimes Moondog the enigma defeats an unprejudiced view of his music. But, if we ignore the cloak of seeming inscrutability and concentrate on the music, the experience can be astonishing. Moondog possesses an admirable virtue; he perceives music everywhere in life. The collection of vignettes contained in this album are fully realized attempts to integrate music and sound. Music and life's sounds are inseparable to Moondog. Thus, the complete 'Lullaby' contains the cry of the baby; a string duo appears comfortably at home in a 'Frog Bog' setting; a New York 'Street Scene' includes (American-Indian inspired) drum solos, the wisdom of a Far-Eastern philosopher, and the strident blowing of a police whistle commencing the flow of traffic. A vast amount of the world's music is part of Moondog's working vocabulary. This reservoir of material serves his eclectic approach to composition. Moondog chooses deftly amongst all of music to elicit his surprising couplings. A pair of violins bowing a Bach-influenced counterpoint might be heard over a rhythmic pattern of Cuban drumming. The ability to find unexpectedly complementary areas of music is an essential ingredient in these miniature portraits of life's many parts. The countless hours spent by Moondog on the streets of New York provides a constant stream of material for this great silent observer. Moondog's music is what he has found in the world in which he lives. Through him we can view the world in a more perfect form." --Robert S. Altshuler.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The German Years 1977-1999
Label:	ROOF MUSIC (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	RD 2433221CD

Originally released by Roof Music in 2004, this is a 2CD compilation of recordings from the last 20 years of visionary composer Louis Thomas Hardin's (aka Moondog) life, when he lived in Germany and composed, arguably, perhaps the most vibrant and eclectic music in his whole canon. CD1 is comprised of studio recordings from 1977-1999 -- songs for pipe organ, chamber ensemble, piano and voice, string quartet, saxophone, etc., and CD2 is an exceptional recording of his last live performance from Arles, France, recorded a month before his death. Featuring pianist Dominique Ponty, who plays 34 of his pieces for piano. Includes a 44-page booklet of photos, notes, essays, interviews, lyrics, and more, housed in a deluxe hard cardboard package.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Remixed No. 1
Label:	ROOF MUSIC (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	RD 2445220CD

Originally released in 2004 on Roof Records, Remixed No. 1 features three reworkings of classic tracks by visionary composer/poet Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin). The first track is a full-on funk/groove reinterpretation of "Dog Trot" by Christian Becker, the second track as envisioned by Mr. Scruff, "Get A Move On," uses the instantly-recognizable, circular cycle of strings and sax of "Bird's Lament" to shore up a straight dance beat, and the last track by Afrobob, "The Return Of The Reimemonster" features gruff, heavy rapping by Ferris MC to the faint accompaniment of the reeds and strings theme of "Minisym I."

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Rare Material
Label:	ROOF MUSIC (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	RD 2633272CD

Released in 2006, this double CD collection compiles an expansive body of songs from throughout Moondog's vast and eclectic body of work. For almost 50 years, Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999) impressed and influenced artists such as Benny Goodman, Leonard Bernstein, The Beatles, Charlie Parker, Igor Stravinsky, Frank Zappa, and others. Fascinated by the canon form as well as composing principles of tonality and counterpoint, Moondog's music always existed between the classical and the jazz world without ever belonging to any of them. He has composed over 80 symphonies, numerous chamber works, over 300 madrigals, as well as scores for brass bands, string orchestras, and organ pieces. While most of the material Moondog recorded is documented in great detail, there are also many recordings that, despite their artistic importance, were only available for a very short period of time. Rare Material is a collection of that material and reveals a remarkable musical spectrum. It extends from rather minimalist works of the early '50s, to arrangements for string quartet of the '80s, to opulent orchestrated big-band productions of the '90s. Reissued here on CD for the very first time are four tracks from Bracelli, released on Kakaphone in 1986, and two tracks from Instrumental Music, released on Musical Heritage Society in 1978. This collection comes with a detailed 24-page booklet that includes notes from Moondog about each of the tracks, excerpts from his biographical poetic impressions, and a chronology of his life. This is a lovingly compiled selection of music that provides an expansive, widescreen portrait of one of America's most compelling and unique composers.

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