New Releases for March 2008

Index of New Releases for March 2008

GSF RECORDS

Artist:	SKULL SNAPS
Title:	Skull Snaps
Label:	GSF RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	GSF 1011LP

Exact repro vinyl edition, gatefold sleeve. "Skull Snaps is a legendary funk album that has long been shrouded in obscurity. The band recorded their self-titled debut and a handful of singles in 1973, and then vanished without a trace. In recent years, their vinyl has become ubiquitously sampled and highly collectible. The monstrous break that opens up their classic cut, 'It's A New Day,' furnished the beat for countless hip-hop hits of the mid-'90s (along with James Brown's 'Funky Drummer' and Sly & the Family Stone's 'Sing A Simple Song,' 'It's A New Day' contains the most sampled break in music history). More than just a treasure trove for the hip-hop community, though, Skull Snaps stands as a classic in pure funk and soul. The band's irresistible sound embraces the black vocal group sound of early '70s Temptations, Chi-Lites, and Dramatics, cut with an unmistakable originality. Every song is blessed with a gospel-soaked call and response dynamic that contrasts gritty lead vocals with the band's perfect harmonies."

GUERSSEN RECORDS (SPAIN)

Artist:	COOLEY-MUNSON
Title:	In Debt
Label:	GUERSSEN RECORDS (SPAIN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	GUESS 017CD

"Bill Cooley and Alan Munson were two friends in Santa Barbara, California, living their early 20s writing folk-rock songs for their pleasure. That was 1972, and they decided to put these songs into the studio, self-produce the album and press a tiny quantity of 500 pieces hoping it could help getting a contract with a major company. This never happened, as you would have guessed, and sure this fact helped making their sole album, In Debt, a major collectable item in the folk-rock and psychedelic rock listeners and collectors. Today, original copies of this record fetch quite interesting sums when changing hands in record fairs or internet auctions. Being a private pressing, you can easily imagine it's not a big production, but no care. This album has the right feel and you won't need anything else to make it one of your faves. All tracks are original compositions, and the style is very personal. It's folk-rock, but many tracks are quite psychedelic too, in their own way. But don't look close for influences, they will not come to mind that easily. Bill and Alan had their own psychedelic folk-rock style, and the raw, sometimes amateurish feel that these recordings have give the album the final distinctive touch. Never reissued before in any format, now here we come with a splendid reissue, with the collaboration of the guys. Remastered sound taken from the master tapes, CD version comes with booklet and outer slimcase. Alan Munson kept going the folk-rock way and released two solo albums during the '70s too, which we are also re-releasing along with In Debt."

Artist:	MUNSON, ALAN
Title:	First Light
Label:	GUERSSEN RECORDS (SPAIN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	GUESS 018CD

"And here's the last of the '70s works by our friend Munson! This one got released in 1979, again in small quantities, on the Parallax label in California. The First Light album doesn't easily fit into a music category box. The songs range from psych rock, to some fairly laidback folk-rock, and even a song with a country rock feel. Instruments played on the record include electric and acoustic guitars, electric bass and drums. Lead solos are all played on electric guitar; a 'clean' sound on the acoustic based songs and guitar effects were used on the psych rock songs. Strong lead vocals and background harmony vocals, all in all making another excellent album as result. Also one unreleased bonus track is added, all remastered from the original tapes. First time ever reissue as well, the CD comes with a booklet, and outer carton slimcase."

Artist:	MUNSON, ALAN
Title:	Good Morning World
Label:	GUERSSEN RECORDS (SPAIN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	GUESS 019CD

"Alan Munson, the songwriter of Cooley-Munson duo, continued the folk-rock way. It took him some time, but in 1975 he was ready for what is (for him, and for me too), his best '70s work. Incredibly, Good Morning World was only released in cassette, and in a limited run, so I bet no one of you has this yet! Under these circumstances, I'm so glad to put this out at last the way it should be (and also on CD, fine), and I'm sure you our beloved customers will appreciate this too! Good Morning World includes nine original, acoustic based songs with a mellow psych and folk rock sound across this album. Meaningful and understandable lyrics, delivered by 'close-up' lead vocals, and background harmony vocals. Instruments played on the album include 6 string acoustic guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, electric bass and percussion. Song arrangements include multiple guitar harmony lead solos and fills. CD version with nice booklet with the same info and notes, as well as the outer carton slimcase."

HAND/EYE

Artist:	CROW TONGUE
Title:	Ghost:Eye:Seeker
Label:	HAND/EYE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	H/E 034CD

"Crow Tongue's first full-length finds them summoning distant howls from the fog of night. Fingerpicked strings & Eastern instruments recall CT's musical heritage (the acid-folk of Stone Breath), but here they are layered with primitive homemade instruments, circuit-bent electronics & mantric drones. 'Ghost Eye Gaze' opens the album with a 5-part drone-raga, improvised to back a shamanic chant, pushing from free-folk to free-noise & back again. 'Seeker' follows in 2 parts with bass dulcimer & tablas leading into an electric swarmandal excursion. The album closes with 'Candle, Corpse, and Bell' where Crow Tongue shows their dub influence with guimbri & tabla-machine slowly spinning through the echochamber."

HANSON RECORDS

Artist:	DILLOWAY & C. SPENCER YEH, AARON
Title:	The Squid
Label:	HANSON RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	HN 166CD

"Dilloway & Yeh recorded live to 4-track cassette in the summer 2006 in Ann Arbor, MI. Yeh on violin, Dilloway on tape loops of Yeh's violin. Originally released on LP, this digipak CD version includes a bonus track collage of the 3 tracks from the duo's out-of-print False Speech cassette." "Collaboration from Dilloway of Wolf Eyes et al and C Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core, etc. Dilloway uses tape loops, tape delay, bowed tape and vocals and Yeh uses violin, voice and electronics. Recorded in 2006 in Ann Arbor, MI The Squid has a heavy Takehisa Kosugi/Taj Mahal Travellers feel, with a headier, more expansive psychedelic brainwave style than is usually associated with Dilloway. Yeh's violin flutters on phased waves of F/X while Dilloway lets off tiny looped depth-charges, exploding Yeh's elegiac drones with chattering, circular vocals, unidentifiable noise scree and long corridors of breath." --David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue

HARTHOUSE (GERMANY)

Artist:	DALESSANDRO, BILLY
Title:	Soulchaser
Label:	HARTHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	HHMA 018EP

"After having published more than 20 EPs and two full length albums, Billy Dalessandro arrived at the first league of worldwide respected producers. His third album, Into The Atom, can be seen as a milestone of the Chicago-based musician's history. He publishes a mixture of Chicago style funk and deep minimal electronic style. Here are 3 gems born out of his virtuosity you can't miss. A1: 'Soulchaser' Undercover Mix -- highly addictive and percussive, slightly forward-oriented track with great spheres. 'Great' has to be written with triple 'e' because it uses a dramatic element which pokes out of the deep and tricky basement. Playful effects and intelligent beat programming sum up to a really special atmosphere -- somewhere between -- but precise as hell!"

HERZBLUT (GERMANY)

HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)

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

Repressed! "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 & music set. He also recorded for Folkways, Woody Herman's Mars label, then Prestige and CBS." CD of this was previously issued in 2003 by Moondog's Corner.

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

Repressed! 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:	SON PALENQUE
Title:	Samba/El Lobo/Aguata
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 043EP

The last of Honest Jon's Tony Allen series, presenting the legendary Afro-Colombian band from San Basilio de Palenque -- three new recordings curated by Lucas Silva and mixed by Moritz von Oswald -- a delirious brew of highlife, chalupa, Afrobeat and champeta. "Samba" is a homage to Nigerian musical heroes, and the burning horns are arranged by Colombian maestro Ramon Benitez. "El Lobo" tells the story of a wolf lost in the Palenque bush and "Aguata" -- played in the tambora rhythm -- is about rain.

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Artist:	MASSEYEFF, NICOLAS
Title:	Deva
Label:	HERZBLUT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HERZ 008EP

Artist:	VA
Title:	Fuji Ouija
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 042EP