Browse by Label: BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)

Artist:	BERNING, DALE
Title:	The Horse Stories
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 007LP

Originally released in 2005. Dale Berning's The Horse Stories is the soundtrack to Going Places Sitting Down, a film by Hiraki Sawa, commissioned by the Hayward Gallery and Bloomberg London, for Waterloo Sunset, the Dan Graham Pavilion at the Hayward in November 2004. It is a piece about make-believe journeys to far-away places (at the tips of your fingers, between the cracks in the floor at your feet, on the edge and behind the door, right here where you are, close-by). For the soundtrack, Dale used the natural sounds of the country house and garden in which Sawa filmed -- water running in the upstairs bathroom, rainwater dripping on the stones outside the kitchen door, sparkling water in a glass on the table, the wind-chime, the clock, the record player and the sounds of music boxes being played: an intricate antique music-box with bells the shape of bees and a miniature hollow drum, and other simple music boxes, playing only one tune each, with tiny, naked metallic combs, drums and handles. At the core of all Dale Berning's sound-work lies a deep interest in ideas of aliveness, of space and the awareness of time passing... of breathing, being still and listening, with grace. Hand-numbered, limited edition pressing; 180 gram vinyl.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Free London
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$29.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 011LP

Originally released in 2006, featuring Rob Mullender, Wooden Spoon, Ladywoodsman, and The Eidetic Band -- each given one side of an LP. Free London is a split double LP (heavyweight vinyl), of four bands/musicians from London's improvised folk music scene. LP1: Wooden Spoon is seeking to create a music free from the influence of the contemporary world, to evoke some kind of state of pastoral introspection at once joyful and sad. Influenced by the Takoma school of guitar players, Popol Vuh and folk music from around the world. Rob Mullender presents some solo acoustic pieces that owe much to heroes of the English guitar in Jansch, Renbourn and others. Mullender also spent some time woodshedding with Davey Graham. His music is rife with delicate wonderings that edge towards a freer conception of folk music. LP2: Eidetic Band works throughout the different musical diagrams, those both fictional and unreal (the names of folk, noise, drone, jazz etc.) -- traditions which inform ways of feeling, playing and showing with sounds. They are interested in exploring each in neverending turn, feeling each sound more and more deeply. Ladyswoodsman is the London-based duo of Luke Garwood (aka Duke Garwood) and Paul May. Using a variety of different instruments from guitars and clarinets to all kinds of percussion in the creation of improvisations that ignite the imagination. Some of the tracks have a down-home folky feel, while others could find themselves happily nestling amongst the free jazz greats of the late '60s.

Artist:	MCPHERSON & TETUZI AKIYAMA, DONALD
Title:	Vinegar & Rum
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 012CD

Originally released in 2006. Recorded in New Zealand in 2004, this is the duo recording of New Zealand guitarist Donald McPherson and Japanese guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama. A beautiful meeting of two virtuoso acoustic guitarists, both thoroughly schooled in the vast world of improvising. Donald McPherson, a native New Zealander, has released a number of extremely limited lathe-cut folk records. Tetuzi Akiyama is often associated with the improvising community in Tokyo generated around Tokyo's Off Site venue. But Tetuzi's sound owes just as much to the country blues guitarists of the '30s. His sound has taken the blues form into a new world of minimalist improvisations. His loose playing side-steps the usual clichés of the guitar in both the free improv and traditional folk scenes. Tetuzi has a varied number of very different projects from free improvisations, working with musicians across the globe, to hard minimalist electric blues boogies. Vinegar & Rum finds Tetuzi and Donald playing melodic folk improvisations that grow and morph into compositions that upon each listening uncover some new layer of beauty. Both playing on acoustic guitar, they have a level of communication and understanding that allows a musical connection to grow and blossom into a full-length recording of delicate melodic mayhem. The CD is limited to 1000 copies, with two extra tracks that do not appear on the vinyl version.

Artist:	ZECHARIA, ZADIK
Title:	Kurdish Melodies On Zorna
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 014CD

Zadik Zecharia's zorna playing is a powerful and relentless blast of beauty. The drone-like qualities that engulf both the listener and player are unyielding in their intensity from start to finish. The instrument, well-known in the Middle East, particularly in Kurdistan, Iraq and Turkey, is similar in sound and intensity to the Scottish bagpipes. Zadik takes few pauses for breath, but wildly plays a continuous flow of melody weaving around the dola drum that provides a pulsating rhythm. Zadik Zecharia was born in the Sharnash Village in Kurdistan and moved to Israel in 1950. Zadik has dedicated his whole life to playing the zorna -- a traditional, trumpet-like instrument (but longer and narrower), that has been identified with the Kurdish people. "There are two kinds of melodies: chopie and shechni. The chopie are the fast melodies, tunes for dancing with the high notes of the zorna. The dola drum always accompanies the zorna on chopie tunes. The shechni are slower melodies in the background, sad tunes that are usually played while the celebrators are sitting around the table. It reminds them of their Motherland, Kurdistan, and serves as an intro to the partying and dancing." --Tzadik Zecharia, Jerusalem 2005. First released on cassette in the 1980s, Bo' Weavil reissues this with a beautiful digipack designed sleeve. Limited to 550. With remixes by Gal Tushia and David Dradia.

Artist:	AKIYAMA, TETUZI
Title:	Pre-Existence
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 015LP

Originally released in 2006. Tetuzi Akiyama has been a major player on the free music/improv scene in Tokyo for over 20 years. Pre-Existence first came out on CD as a part of the great Wooden Guitar series from Locust. Akiyama's playing here is one of a minimalist approach, discovering and investigating the empty spaces between each note. He does not follow the Takoma guitar school style of finger-picking, but instead invokes a far more warped primitive country blues feel with a meditative quality. You never know where you are going to be led with his guitar, down roads rarely travelled. With his dense tapestry of sounds, Akiyama evokes emotions that at times are uncomfortable, but are of real beauty. Open your ears and let the music take you far, far out there.

Artist:	KRAUS/MEG BAIRD/HELENA ESPVALL, SHARRON
Title:	Leaves From Off the Tree
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 016CD

"Bo' Weavil is so excited to be releasing Leaves From Off The Tree: a three-way project of Sharron Kraus, Meg Baird (Espers) & Helena Espvall (Espers). This is a beautiful recording of traditional folk material, with the most stunning singing and arrangements of some of England and Appalachia's finest songs. 'The songs on this record were recorded after many an evening swapping songs (and beers!) in Fishtown, Philadelphia, where Sharron had moved from her native England, and Meg and Helena were already installed. Meg and Sharron both had traditional music backgrounds and would meet up and teach each other Appalachian and English ballads, and improvise harmonies and alternate melodies. At some point, Helena was invited along and her voice and cello added a rich new layer. We wanted to record the songs in a way that would capture the relaxed atmosphere of our gatherings, so we recorded all nine songs live in one afternoon.'" Last copies.

Artist:	BORN HELLER
Title:	Born Heller
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$29.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 017LP

Originally released in 2007. Limited LP version of this album, previously released on CD by Locust. Numbered edition of 550. Born Heller is the folk duo of Josephine Foster and Jason Ajemian. They beautifully capture the traditions of both American and English folk, with Josephine's hushed, fragile vocals accompanied by sparse melodic guitar lines and Jason's resonant bass sounds. Ajemian plays in groups like Triage, Dragons 1976, and with reedist Matt Bauder. Foster may be familiar to record buyers for her own solo recordings and with The Supposed, her psych-rock outlet. Born Heller is music that needs to be intently listened to -- on each listening, more and more is unearthed.

Artist:	WOODEN SPOON
Title:	The Folk Blues Guitar of Wooden Spoon
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 018CD

This is the debut full-length release by Wooden Spoon on Bo' Weavil. Wooden Spoon seeks to create a music free from the influence of the modern world, to evoke some kind of state of pastoral introspection at once joyful and sad. Influenced by the Takoma school of guitar players, Popol Vuh, and folk music from around the world, Wooden Spoon's methods are instinctive, and his music has a reality and honesty rare in these times.

Artist:	AMBARCHI, OREN
Title:	Lost Like A Star
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$29.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 019LP

Originally released in 2007. Limited edition vinyl by the great Australian experimental guitarist, Oren Ambarchi. A Touch label recording artist, Oren has been making music since 1986, creating sounds from the guitar that one would not expect to hear. On this LP, two long tracks reside one per side, starting from minimal, low-frequency sounds to ever-growing drones of manipulated guitars... staggeringly beautiful! Limited to 650 hand-numbered copies.

Artist:	BRIGGS, ANNE
Title:	Sing A Song For You
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$29.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 020LP

Deluxe LP version of the Fledg'ling CD from 1996. Fleeting, volatile, flighty, breathless: a flash of sunlight in the glade. Anne Briggs' pure, unmistakable voice and her too-short career summon the same images in the mind. A voice like a gentle tremor, as fragile and timeless as a dandelion clock. Her recordings are few and all the more precious for it. When these 1973 sessions finally saw the sunshine back in 1996, they were greeted with joy; joy mixed with astonishment that they should have been consigned to obscurity in the first place. Sure, her work with Ragged Robin may have displeased the purists of the time. Sure, Anne Briggs was unhappy with her voice, heavily pregnant with new life and on her way to a Scottish retreat. But for something so beautiful as these songs to be casually put aside... and they are beautiful. Sunshine and time: flitting snatches of melody heard floating across the meadow on some impossible summer's day. Songs that are as ancient as the bones of the hills -- yet half are Anne's own compositions. The distillation of a unique talent let fly like a butterfly from the hand.

Artist:	TIGHT MEAT DUO
Title:	Vanishing Fist
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 022CD

Like all the great visionary thinkers of our time, from Iggy Pop to Arthur Doyle, David Keenan and Alex Neilson are autodidactic polymaths devolving advanced thought back to punk-primitive motion. Judging by the music heard on Vanishing Fist, their first salvo under the name Tight Meat Duo, these twentysomething/thirtysomething Glaswegian deviants are prime examples of the dictum that the new wave of free musicians act on impulse. They've studied and immersed themselves in some of the most life-affirming vibrations of all time, those silhouettes, shadows and forecasts of tomorrow disguised as free jazz, as Sun Ra almost put it; sensed this essence flooding their synapses, rewiring their DNA, messing with the id so inherited 3D vision becomes implanted Third Eye cosmology; and now they're getting in on the action. Mini-gatefold LP sleeve.

Artist:	WILKINSON/JOHN EDWARDS/STEVE NOBLE, ALAN
Title:	Obliquity
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 023CD

Originally released in 2007, Obliquity is a free jazz record, if you'll forgive the use of such a hoary, old-fashioned phrase. Its scorching, heads-down momentum, rhythm and drive, places it in direct line of descent from the fierce originators of the genre: Ayler, Sanders, Graves, and Frank Wright. It also swings. At times it dances. Obliquity is a free jazz record through the prism of the improvisational movement in Europe, though. This is no attempt at polite revivalism or looking back/up to the 1960s. Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble are producing new, vital music of and for now. John Edwards pins down the trio with precision and energy -- his tremendous internal rhythm on display to full effect throughout. Alan Wilkinson is a ferocious improviser, probably best known for membership in the demon Hession/Wilkinson/Fell trio. Obliquity features full-spectrum Wilkinson: flat-out, take-no-prisoners saxophonication, squeals, coughs, sustained improvisational experimentation, and East London tribal chanting. Steve Noble is an upright drummer with a surgeon's accuracy, his crisp percussion work has accompanied dancers, funksters, poets and tuba players. But he's not played better than here: great power allied with grace, a subtle touch and solid time -- the drumming drives the music on to real heights.

Artist:	HOWARD, NOAH
Title:	The Black Ark
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 024LP

Originally released on Freedom Recordings, 1969. Numbered vinyl edition of 1000 and another superior piece of documentation from Bo' Weavil. The Black Ark is one of the most sought-after underground free jazz releases of all time. This record simply is THE BOMB -- a perfect combination of Noah Howard's soulful compositions and playing, infused with plenty of sweet/sour/in/out forms and shapes from the incredible line-up assembled for this release. Plus we get to experience Arthur Doyle's outrageous debut on a recording session, increasing the playing and feeling to an intense level throughout. Other players include Norris Jones (bass), Juma (congas), Mohammed Ali (drums), Earl Cross (trumpet), and more.

Artist:	KRAUS & FRIENDS, SHARRON
Title:	Right Wantonly A-Mumming
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 025CD

Subtitled: A Collection of Seasonal Songs and Celebrations. Solo album by this UK folksinger who has recorded with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall. Has been compared to Karen Dalton, Shirley Collins, Judy Dyble, etc. These songs were written over the course of a year, starting at midsummer 2005. Sharron's aim was to create songs that could be sung to celebrate the seasons and mark the turning points of the year; songs with choruses that were easy to pick up and that would sit comfortably alongside traditional wassailing songs, carols and May songs. As Kraus herself explains, "Each song was written in its season: at midsummer I awoke at dawn, climbed a hill and looked out over Oxfordshire and imagined the battle between summer and winter; at midwinter I made holly wreaths, wrapped up warm and went for brisk wintery walks and then huddled in a warm pub with my favorite traditional singers, sang 'To Shorten Winter's Sadness' for the first time and was rewarded with a rousing chorus. Following and marking the seasons was important to rural communities whose lives depended on a good harvest. I believe that it's just as important for us to do the same: to rejoice when spring comes each year; to be thankful for 'good harvests,' whatever form they take; to confront death and the return of winter, and to take comfort in each other's company through the cold months. I hope that these songs will be sung by folk singers in sessions and folk clubs, around bonfires at midsummer gatherings, by choirs, and by ramblers and anyone who takes joy in nature." The singers and musicians joining Sharron on this record are all connected through the Oxford folk scene. Ian Giles, Claire Lloyd and Graham Metcalfe sang together as Folly Bridge and Ian and Graham now sing with Ian Woods as GMW. John Spiers and Jon Boden started playing together while Jon was living in Oxford. Since he relocated to Yorkshire, he and Fay are frequent visitors. "I like this CD very much. And I loved 'Wake Up Sleepers,' and 'The Wedding Song' in particular. Sharron has a great voice -- it's very strong and clear and with a hard edge that is both beautiful and compelling to listen to.' --Shirley Collins, 2007

Artist:	SCOTT, TOM JAMES
Title:	Red Deer
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 026CD

Debut solo recording by Tom James Scott, a young classically-trained guitarist, and a mainstay of the improvising collective, CYRK. Tom's influences stretch far and wide, touching upon aspects of traditional music, improvisation, vocal music (solo and choral), composition, and field recording, to name but a few. These 5 slices of acoustic alchemy are well-formed compositions for acoustic guitar, where the wealth of folk guitar has been distilled through a minimalist mindset to create some of the most beautiful elemental melodic lines that take the listener on a journey of meditative contemplation. Hard card mini-gatefold sleeve limited to 500 copies.

Artist:	BROTZMANN/WILKINSON QUARTET
Title:	One Night In Burmantofts
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 027CD

A long overdue meeting of two of the titans of the saxophone. Alan Wilkinson (alto, baritone & voice) and Peter Brötzmann (clarinet, tarogato & tenor) together with Willi Kellers (drums) and Simon H. Fell (bass) blow up one hell of a storm. The individuals on this recording consciously commit, putting themselves "out there," over the edge. The energy and electricity generated by saxophonists Wilkinson and Brötzmann, is a result of their fearless approach to the precipice and their willingness to stare, unblinking, into the abyss. And yet while this music (free jazz, improv, call it what you will) exists at the boundary of our cultural existence, it echoes the sounds first identified as jazz, back at the birth pangs of the modern age. It is the commitment to a collective sound devoid of ego with the fearless individual that makes this music extraordinary and provides moments of almost spiritual communion.

Artist:	JOYNES, C
Title:	God Feeds The Ravens
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 028CD

C Joynes' God Feeds The Ravens is part of Bo' Weavil's Wooden Weavil series. English acoustic guitarist C Joynes uses a heavy, thumb-led finger-picking technique that harks back to traditional country blues and early ragtime; however, he uses this technique to explore alternative melodic traditions: the English folk-tune; North and West African music; elements of classical Indian music; proto-minimalist and impressionist musics from the European classical tradition. His approach to the recording and compositional process contains a subtle and unassuming experimentation, at times including collaged fragments, field recordings, processing, en-plein-air recordings, and cut-and-paste. The version of "Since I Lay My Burden Down" incorporates variations on lyrics and vocal lines drawn from a different song entirely. He has a penchant for reworking over-familiar pieces and stripping them of their kitsch and cliché, presenting them afresh, such as with "Christmas Medley," the arrangement of "A Night In Tunisia," and the gospel-based "And When The Sun Begins To Shine." Joynes' music is instinctive, well-researched, placid, and evokes a certain simplicity and naiveté.

Artist:	BASHO, ROBBIE
Title:	Bonn Ist Supreme
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 029CD

Subtitled: Live at the Kulturforum, Bonn, Germany, November 24, 1980. Another in the Wooden Weavil series, this time an unreleased live Robbie Basho recording from Germany in 1980. Robbie Basho was one of the great pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in the U.S., along with Leo Kottke and John Fahey in the 1960s. This program appears to have been recorded in one go. Robbie scatters his Americana numbers throughout, beginning with "Redwood Ramble," and ending with "California Raga." This date finds Robbie in fine fettle, his playing sharpened by the intensity of touring, his mood seems ebullient, at times (as on "Fandango") he comes off like John Lee Hooker's sun-kissed cousin, stomping furiously along to his playing. There is sweetness to his material, yes, but this is not, as Jack Rose put it, "music for wineries." There is the galloping muscularity of Basho's playing, coupled with the sheer hugeness of his sound; the fearless employment of dissonance as part of his musical make-up; a love for the unexpected chord change. Robbie was a voracious and uncompromising player. Basho's singing was as integral to who he was as his guitar playing, and when he opened his mouth, he filled the room with sound. Say what you like about his lyrics, no one can accuse Basho of dilettantism, of dabbling, or of trying something on merely for effect. Whatever bag he was in, he was in all the way. Liner notes from Glenn Jones and Stephen Basho-Junghans, and beautifully remastered by Glenn Jones.

Artist:	N.E.W.
Title:	Deadeye Tricksters
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 030CD

Steve Noble (drums/percussion), John Edwards (bass) and Alex Ward (electric guitar) are N.E.W.. Deadeye Tricksters incorporates language, ritual, myth, and laughter. Play is at the heart of the interaction of these great players. From the opening riff, with Ward's scattergun guitar fizzing around Noble's detonations, the game is on. It's often the element of play in improvised music that prepares the ears for its more profound moments. The skittering of drum and bass gives way, suddenly, to a sonic shriek, a blast that leaves the listener metaphorically pressed against the wall. There are few musical experiences that move from the titillating to the terrifying in such a short space of time. Noble, Edwards, and Ward are experts at the improv game, tooled up, as they are, with sharp musical wits, adroit techniques and almost uncanny powers of perception.

Artist:	FOSTER, JOSEPHINE
Title:	This Coming Gladness
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 031CD

This is Colorado-based Josephine Foster's (Born Heller, The Supposed) debut release for Bo Weavil Recordings, and her third full-length album. This Coming Gladness is the highly-awaited follow-up to 2006's A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing on Locust. This Coming Gladness is transcendental fin de sičcle songs from one of the great unsung voices and songwriters of our modern times. Josephine Foster unites rarely united royal realms: self-penned operatic art songs cast in freely-rendered blues with electric guitars and drums beating the path along with harp and piano flourishes. She has a voice that was trained for opera, but creaks like ancient mountain folk floating out from a dusty Victrola. She surpasses any "weird-folk" labelling through the sheer timelessness of her songcraft -- making baroque balladry sound new yet remembered from some not-too distant shared American past. Joining her on this recording is electric guitarist Victor Herrero and drummer Alex Nielson.

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Artist:	MULLENDER, ROB
Title:	Human Resources
Label:	BO WEAVIL RECORDINGS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WEAVIL 021CD