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Recent Best Sellers
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LP + 7"
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WRWTFWW 017LTD
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Limited edition LP version. Includes 7" and extensive 24-page liner notes; Japanese obi; Sleeve with silver gilt printing. We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records present the first ever official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed and all around legendary science fiction anime film Ghost In The Shell (1995), adapted from Masamune Shirow's groundbreaking manga series of the same name. The haunting score is composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan's most celebrated soundtrack composers alongside Joe Hisaishi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work includes Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), Hong Kong films Seven Swords by Tsui Hark (2005) and Ip Man by Wilson Yip (2008), and countless others. Kawai's compositions see ancient harmonies and percussions uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook. For its iconic main theme "Making Of Cyborg", Kawai had a choir chant a wedding song in ancient Japanese following Bulgarian folk harmonies, setting the standard for a timeless and unparalleled soundtrack that admirably echoes the film's musings on the nature of humanity in a technologically advanced world. Ghost In The Shell is widely considered one of the best anime films of all time and its influence has been felt in the work of numerous movie directors, including James Cameron's Avatar (2009), the Wachowskis's The Matrix (1999), and Steven Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001). For fans of anime, manga, movie soundtracks, science fiction, ambient, folklore, Japan, Akira (1988), artificial intelligence, Midori Takada. Cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon), the album comes in two versions: a standard LP and a limited collector's edition which comes housed in a sleeve with silver gilt printing and includes the LP, a bonus 7", Japanese obi, and extensive 24-page liner notes.
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LP
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WRWTFWW 017LP
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We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records present the first ever official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed and all around legendary science fiction anime film Ghost In The Shell (1995), adapted from Masamune Shirow's groundbreaking manga series of the same name. The haunting score is composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan's most celebrated soundtrack composers alongside Joe Hisaishi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work includes Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), Hong Kong films Seven Swords by Tsui Hark (2005) and Ip Man by Wilson Yip (2008), and countless others. Kawai's compositions see ancient harmonies and percussions uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook. For its iconic main theme "Making Of Cyborg", Kawai had a choir chant a wedding song in ancient Japanese following Bulgarian folk harmonies, setting the standard for a timeless and unparalleled soundtrack that admirably echoes the film's musings on the nature of humanity in a technologically advanced world. Ghost In The Shell is widely considered one of the best anime films of all time and its influence has been felt in the work of numerous movie directors, including James Cameron's Avatar (2009), the Wachowskis's The Matrix (1999), and Steven Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001). For fans of anime, manga, movie soundtracks, science fiction, ambient, folklore, Japan, Akira (1988), artificial intelligence, Midori Takada. Cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon).
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2CD/BOOK
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SF 110CD
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Disques Ocora, a French label dedicated to capturing and publishing the sounds of folkloric culture from around the world, is held in the highest possible regard in the realms of professional and amateur ethnomusicology. Instigated in 1958 by Pierre Schaeffer, the founder of musique concrète, Disques Ocora's sterling reputation is largely built on composer and musicologist Charles Duvelle's pioneering field recordings, as well as his now-iconic photographs and graphic design. Charles Duvelle's work is indisputably one of the most important contributions to the human understanding of the rich biodiversity of our planet's music and language. In 1977, his field recordings from Benin were selected by Carl Sagan for inclusion on the Voyager Golden Records, which were carried into outer space by the Voyager spacecraft to stand as an example of humanity's highest musical expressions for the universe's unknown listeners. Sublime Frequencies' most ambitious project to date, this 296-page fine-art photography book comprises an exhaustive collection of Charles Duvelle's field photography from 1959 to 1978 (188 black-and-white and 58 color photographs), demonstrating that this master musicologist had an equally unerring eye for photography; Includes a photo index listing the details of each photograph. It also contains an exhaustive interview with Charles Duvelle by Hisham Mayet, detailing the history of the label and offering Duvelle's unique insights into the discipline of field recording (French and English facing text). The package includes two full-length CDs of archival recordings (some of which have never been published) selected, compiled, and fully annotated by Duvelle himself. Most of the tracks on CD one (Africa) are complete versions of truncated tracks from OOP Ocora LPs. CD two, which includes performances by Sohan Lal, Kheo Oudon, and Madurai Ramaswami Gautam, is focused on material from Asia (music from India and Laos), with two long tracks that have never been released (a third track is a complete unedited version). The material focuses on the five regions surveyed during his time with Ocora: West Africa, Central Africa, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, and SouthEast Asia. It includes "Disques Ocora / Charles Duvelle Discography, 1959-1974", a complete overview illustrated with 94 full-color album thumbnails, "The Prophet Collection, 1999-2004" a discography of Duvelle's post-Ocora label illustrated with 41 full-color album thumbnails, "Eastern Music in Black Africa", a 17-page report prepared by Charles Duvelle at the request of UNESCO (February 1970), and a review of the Ocora catalogues (1964-1973). In a tribute to Disques Ocora's exquisite design sensibility, the book is printed on 170 gsm Lumisilk matte art paper and bound in grey buckram with gold foil stamping on the cover and spine. The front cover includes a tipped-on glossy photograph by Charles Duvelle. Hardcover book; 10"x10"; 296 pages; 4.5 lbs. Produced and edited by Hisham Mayet.
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LP
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PAL 048LP
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LP version. For those not following Bill Orcutt's drift into increasingly ear-friendly orbits in his recent live sets, Bill Orcutt -- his first solo electric studio album -- shocks with its space and sensitivity. On this eponymous record, Orcutt mines the expansiveness and sustain possible on the electric guitar, letting notes spin out and decay at the edge of feedback. His pachinko-parlor pacing, marked by unraveling clockspring accelerandos crashing into unexpectedly suspended tones, is still in evidence. But here, his developing melodicism maps a near-contemplative mental realm, orbiting St. Joan-era Loren Connors more than the cascading treble clatter of his duo LPs with Chris Corsano and others. From the first notes of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman", there's a lucidity and slow-burning lyricism that make Orcutt's plunges into barbed-wire fingerpicking all the more striking. While no one's about to mistake Orcutt for Jim Hall, you could probably play this for your jazzbo friends (should you be unlucky enough to have them) without raising any eyebrows. Orcutt's track selection mirrors his obsession with American popular song in its most banal manifestations, as radically reimagined via acoustic guitar on a variety of releases, including 2013's exhaustive Twenty Five Songs 7" box set, and the Editions Mego album A History of Every One (EMEGO 173CD/LP, 2013). Many of the songs from those two releases are here -- but stretched into new arrangements that explore the upper regions of the guitar neck (hitherto unexplorable on his shakily-intonated acoustic Kay), and lighting up new corners of each arrangement with a sensitivity born from years of reinterpretation. The result is a languid, freeform drift through Orcutt's internal cosmos into galaxies unknown to their original interpreters -- and occasionally, Orcutt himself. Most striking is "White Christmas", its careening low-register melodies crashing into complex chords that transcend Orcutt's primitive four-string fretboard. Orcutt's original compositions are equally striking. One of them -- "The World Without Me" -- is unique to this album, and notable for its trebly flurry of Clapton-esque 12th-fret drizzle. "O Platitudes!" by contrast, spins ever-faster in the cadence of a hand-cranked music box, before grinding to a near halt, its higher-key electricity standing in for the moaning vocalizations on Orcutt's acoustic rendition as heard on his 2014 VDSQ LP. With its deep-space beauty, harmonic complexity, and dark dissonance, Bill Orcutt is a stunning landmark in Orcutt's form-destroying trajectory.
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2LP
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DDS 023LP
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From The Heart, It's A Start, A Work Of Art has its origins in early 2000, before Chain Reaction released the legendary Ship-Scope 12" (later released by Demdike Stare in 2015, DDS 014EP). Three of the tracks here are taken from an acetate cut at Dubplates & Mastering at that time, but which wouldn't see the light of day until now, including another batch of tracks taken from original masters. Only five copies of that acetate were ever made, so this is the first time any of these tracks are available for public consumption, and they rank among the finest and most distinctive in either the Chain Reaction or Shinichi Atobe's vaults. The material is effectively some of the Japanese producer's earliest work, showcasing the sort of tender, feminine pressure that would bubble up on the Ship-Scope EP and later be revealed in his new productions, Butterfly Effect (DDS 010CD) and World yet, for many reasons, they would lay sunk in his archive for the next 17 years. The tracks taken from that acetate are labeled "First Plate 1-3" and really are quite remarkable, having taken on so much character and added weight over the years that the incidental crackle of surface noise imbues proceedings with an added dimension that's hard to fathom. It basically sounds like a lost transmission making its way from Paul-Lincke-Ufer at the turn of the millennium to a new, completely changed world all these years later. The patina of crackle lends a mist-on-bare skin feeling akin to summer garden parties at Berghain in the stepping "First Plate 1", and gives a foggier sort of depth perception to the hydraulic, Maurizian heft of "First Plate 2", but it's the submerged euphoria of "First Plate 3" that hits the hardest; a heady, bittersweet reminder of days gone by. The other four tracks are crisply transferred from master tapes, relinquishing a sublime, impossible to categorize house variant that recalls everything from DJ Sprinkles to Ron Trent, yet with that weird, timeless production tick that by now has become something of a signature for this most distinctive and hard to categorize producer. Buoyant dub house and techno with lush, gaseous synths and keys. Remastered by Matt Colton from original tapes and worn actetates -- grit included; Limited copies.
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LP
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SR 105LP
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Reissue. Music taken from the soundtrack of the 1981 documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization by Penelope Spheeris about the LA punk scene at the end of the '70s and in the very early '80s. Features: Black Flag, Germs, Catholic Discipline, X, Circle Jerks, Alice Bag Band, and Fear. Replica edition; Edition of 500.
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LP
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VKM 58010LP
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Victory present a reissue of The Cosmic Jokers' Galactic Supermarket, originally released on Komische Musik in 1974. Julian Cope's review of the album on Head Heritage: "Starting with a heavy piano-drums groove like John Cale and Terry Riley's 'The Protégé' from their classic LP Church Of Anthrax, The Cosmic Jokers return to their trip with an un-cosmic dub beginning, melodicas and guitars spinning off all over the place. Gille Letmann says a couple of words before the breakdown into Clangerland, a place where goofy synthesizers call to each other over exquisite mellotrons and tinkling spacey grand piano. Again, it's just two huge tracks -- this time the ever shifting 'Kinder Des Als' and the title track 'Galactic Supermarket'. The female voices take a while to assimilate after the austerity of the first Cosmic Jokers LP, and the opening track wanders around for a while before ascending to its righteous groove. The women scream 'Schnell Schnell!' and the helicopter drums of Harald Grosskopf propel us once more into a hectic frantic major-chord trance out. It's the sheer unbalance that makes this record such a delight. At times, Klaus Schulze's synthesizer is so loud that it swamps everything in its path. The title track 'Galactic Supermarket' begins like one of Van Der Graaf Generator's greatest and most drawn out riffs. A slow 6/4 bass licks over ominous Pawn Hearts style shifting chords. Again, the piece is slow to begin, as though they are searching for harmony but each musician is confused and solitary. Manuel Göttsching freaks out in a fury of wah-guitar madness, forcing the others awake, but this really is a down-in-the-mouth scene and the whole Trip descends further and further until... an inevitable slow burning groove gets itself together and the scene whips itself up into a Shake Appeal Flip Out. The LP takes a little longer to get into than The Cosmic Jokers, but give it time and it's in your head forever. Those piercingly loud Klaus Schulze synthesizers which sound so bizarre the first time... You'll be waking up with them in your head, whistling them in the street, people will think you've lost your fucking mind. Right On."
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LP
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GBKS 1005LP
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A recording of a cult event: The Grateful Dead, live at the Fillmore Auditorium on November 19th, 1966. Recorded before their first album came out (1967), this record features three primeval versions of tunes from their debut record and eight goodies, standards and originals, that were not featured on any official studio and live recording up to 1970's Workingman's Dead. This recording brings you right there, on a magic night in November 1966, when psychedelic rock was still something fresh and exciting and the emerging hippie movement had not exploded yet. That came half a year later with the invasion of Haight-Ashbury. But these recordings are not only of historical importance, their musical value is amazing. The band smokes on stage throughout the performance. The sound is muggy for sure, but each instrument comes through as it should and the simmering duels of guitar and organ make your head swirl. This album will certainly make the young generation of '60s music aficionados go crazy. A new beautiful cover artwork and great overall sound quality restoration make this album a joyful experience. And be sure that something like this 17+ minute version of "In The Midnight Hour" will have rarely hit your turntable. The overall atmosphere is just haunting. Even their official Live/Dead album (1969) doesn't reach this intensity. The release is reminiscent of early Doors or Iron Butterfly live recordings. A band at it's prime with the world to gain and nothing to lose.
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LP
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ELJ 003LP
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Everland Jazz present a reissue of Pharoah Sanders's Izipho Zam (My Gifts), originally released in 1973. "Popular and increasingly in demand, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) falls into the 'rare' category among record collectors and is a gift to fans of master Pharoah Sanders. This demand is partially galvanized by the fact that 'Prince Of Peace' has become an inspirational mine to hip hop artists and is much loved by samplers. Izipho Zam is Pharoah Sander's third album, initially recorded in January 1969, it was originally released on the Strata-East label in 1973. On Izipho Zam, Sanders and his band take you on a journey into another world providing an amazing experience! Passionate, intense and free, Sanders saxophone especially, is exquisite, pouring out its soul telling a story of its own. Hailed by peers as the best tenor saxophonist in the world, Pharoah Sanders is a legend in jazz music. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of free jazz and is the mentor of jazz giant, saxophonist Robert Stewart. Born in 1940 into a musical family as Farell Sanders in Arkansas, he first played the clarinet before switching to tenor saxophone in high school. After high school, he moved to California to study music and art. In 1961, Sanders moved to New York where he often played gigs with a number of free jazz dignitaries including Billy Higgins, Sun Ra and Don Cherry. His name 'Pharoah' was given to him by Sun Ra, who was his bandleader then. It was during one of these gigs that he met John Coltrane who became his mentor. While playing with Coltrane, Sanders inevitably rose to prominence due to his very distinctive tenor saxophone sound." --Rachel Kinoti Licensed by Strata-East Recordings.
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LP
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TGT 431LP
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Repressed. The Great Thunder present a reissue of Mort Garson's Mother Earth's Plantasia, originally released in 1976. Garson is well known as one of the pioneers of electronic music in the late '60s and some may have heard of his contributions to quite a few pop hits back in the day when he wrote and conducted orchestral arrangements for a few popular artists. During the second half of the 1960s, Mort Garson and his sidekicks Paul Beaver and Jacques Wilson among others, discovered the newly invented synthesizer courtesy of Robert Moog and made it an integral part of the future pop music even before Wendy Carlos released Switched On Bach in 1968. Plantasia was recorded and released a few years past Garson's monumental works: The Zodiac's Cosmic Sounds (1967), The Wozard Of Iz's An Electronic Odyssey (1968), and Lucifer's Black Mass (1971). Plantasia, originally released in 1976, has been labeled "warm earth music for plants . . . and the people who love them." So you as the listener can imagine that this is a rather bright affair, far from the dark and seething atmosphere of the earlier electronic pieces. A shining diversity of stylistic devices used as the foundation for dreamy and colorful compositions, which works like a soundtrack for a non-existent movie. The warm, yet haunting Moog melodies can still create a rather sinister vibe in their most playful and surreal moments, similar to what you would expect from a mid-seventies horror flicks from Italy. It is a feeling that, despite everything seeming peaceful and relaxed on the surface, something utterly dire is about to rise up. These are certainly just a few passages and when Mort Garson and his mates move on from lush orchestral soul arrangements to something white men always consider to be tribal music of the North American natives, you will drift with them from one scene of your inner mind movie to the next. At this point in the seventies, the technical requirements had already been a bit better with new inventions such as electronic percussion which gets used here and there, conjuring memories of records by German electronic pioneers from the same era, such as Cluster, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream. And despite the twinkle-toed harmonies and big arrangements, which point at the big band music and orchestral pop Garson originated from, the whole work is futuristic and intriguing.
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LP
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BE 000LP
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Black Editions present the first vinyl reissue of Keiji Haino's stunning debut album Watashi Dake?, originally released in 1981. This first ever edition released outside of Japan features the artist's originally intended metallic gold and silver jacket artwork. Over the last fifty years few musicians or performers have created as monumental and uncompromising a body of work as that of Keiji Haino. Through a vast number of recordings and performances, Haino has staked out a ground all his own, creating a language of unparalleled intensity that defies any simple classification. For all this, his 1981 debut album Watashi Dake? has remained enigmatic. Originally released in a small edition by the legendary Pinakotheca label, the album was heard by only a select few in Japan and far fewer overseas. Original vinyl copies became impossibly rare and highly sought after the world over. Watashi Dake? presents a haunting vision -- stark vocals, whispered and screamed, punctuate dark silences. Intricate and sharp guitar figures interweave, repeat, and stretch, trance-like, emerging from dark recesses. Written and composed on the spot -- Haino's vision is one of deep spiritual depths that distantly evokes 1920s blues and medieval music -- yet is unlike anything ever committed to record before or since. Produced in close cooperation with Keiji Haino and legendary photographer Gin Satoh. Coupled with starkly minimal packaging, featuring the now iconic cover photographs by Gin Satoh, the album is a startling and fully realized artistic statement. Housed in custom printed deluxe Stoughton tip-on jackets, including black on black inserts, extras, and hand-colored finishes; Remastered by Elysian Masters and cut by Bernie Grundman Mastering; Pressed to high quality vinyl at RTI; Includes download code.
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2LP
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HAFTW 007LP
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2017 repress; Originally released in 2009. The third of the three 2LP editions in James Leyland Kirby's When We Parted My Heart Wanted To Die series. The synthetic luster of Memories Live Longer Than Dreams already appeared cracked and damaged the first time around, and in 2017 its phosphorescent glow remains a beacon of shelter for contemplation and secluded mind-drift, offering a surreal, nostalgic night-light to the gloomy and confused world it diagnosed and predicted nearly ten years ago. Written during James Leyland Kirby's forlorn purgatorial years spent in Berlin during the period which shaped the modern world as we know it -- a time when global financial institutions collapsed, YouTube's all-encompassing archive was beginning to spill over, and Facebook and Twitter were starting to enmesh the entire planet -- this final instalment finds Kirby channeling osmotically absorbed visions of the future, as spelt out by Vangelis, Lynch and Badalamenti, Eno, and Kirby's own The Caretaker alter ego, into a waking dream sequence of quietly anguished sound poems for the contemporary echo chamber, relinquishing a traversal of the hive mind's private fears and shared nightmares rendered in ghostly scrolls of synth noise and sweepingly emotive cinematic gestures. It effectively diagnoses a sort of cultural malaise that was perhaps embryonic in 2009, as the golden age of dance/pop form and optimism which resulted in radical acts such as V/Vm and the Ccru was now left shimmering in the rearview, with the momentous energy of its accumulated, independent scenes being diffused into institutions or calcifying into hyper commercialism, leaving little or no room for ambiguity, irony or subversively socialist thought within its increasingly binary wake; a wake which has now bifurcated into extreme left and right-leaning politics with a gulf of misunderstanding in between. Keening and reeling away his own thoughts on the matter in that inter-zone of negative space, Kirby draws on ever tightening coils of cultural feedback loops and the infidelity of memory to parse, process, and secrete a slow, plasmic ooze of melancholic musical form that perhaps best represents the feelings of our age; of our shared future occluded by an inglorious or illusive past that promised much, yet never paid up.
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LP
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VOCSON 155LP
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In 1974, Ileana Sonnabend commissioned Charlemagne Palestine to create a limited edition, double LP in conjunction with a performance to celebrate the opening of her new Soho gallery at 420 West Broadway. Charlemagne made several recording attempts, first at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where they had a Bösendorfer Imperial Piano in their theater. He recorded "Bösendorfer + Voice", "Voice Piece" as well as some Bösendorfer tests, with Mayo Thompson as producer and Kurt Munkacsi as sound engineer. These ecstatic Swarthmore recordings, recorded late at night in the big empty theater space, represented the original elements on which Charlemagne Palestine later created the piano pieces for Four Manifestations on Six Elements (ALGAMARS 004LP, MAGNE 008LP). For more than 40 years since these recordings were made, Palestine never went back to listen to them, but recently on re-listening to these Swarthmore recordings with Alga Marghen, he found several blissful, arpeggiated piano and falsetto voice studies which he feels now deserve to be heard. Included in the Alga Marghen VocSon series, this LP of two previously unreleased 1974 recordings finally see the light of day. Edition of 405.
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LP
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VAMPI 173LP
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"Though the modern style of New York Latin music known as salsa penetrated South America during the mid to late 1960s, and Colombia had its share of bands and recordings influenced by this new strain of Cuban-influenced urban Latin dance music, it wasn't until Medellín's Fruko Y Sus Tesos first hit the scene in the early 1970s that the genre began to really take off in a home-grown, domestic form. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, band-leader/bassist/producer Julio Ernesto Estrada (aka Fruko) would develop and tweak his own take on this sound, the arrangements becoming more complex and original over time. In 1968, Fruko personally experienced the burgeoning salsa scene on a tour with Los Corraleros de Majagual when they went to Caracas and New York, inspiring him to form the Tesos (local slang for tough guys who know it all and are on top of their game, bestowed upon the band by Fruko's lead trumpeter, Jorge Gaviria) in 1969. Tesura (from 1970) is Fruko Y Sus Tesos' debut record. It displays a diamond-in-the-rough simplicity born of the street, flaunting an uncompromising macho menace that is compelling in its focus and elemental integrity, heavily influenced by Willie Colón's gangster posturing in New York. As Fruko has said, when Tesura was first released Colombians were convinced it was in fact recorded by a Nuyorican group, so thoroughly did it break with previous Colombian tastes, which until then had been mostly for bambuco, tango, ranchera or cumbia. . . . From the severely separated audio channeling to the uncompromising rhythmic approach and ubiquitous sharp trumpet stabs in the style of Ricardo Ray and Ray Barretto, Tesura more than lives up to its title (slang for 'toughness'). Fruko is right out front, his giant electric bass positioned in the center. The emphasis is on allowing the musicians to flex their muscles and strut their stuff, with many purely instrumental sections in a descarga (jam session) style echoing the freedoms being explored by the previously mentioned New York heavyweights Ray, Colón and Barretto, as well as Eddie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, Louie Ramírez and Johnny Pacheco. . . . The vocalist for this record is Humberto 'Huango' Muriel (shown on the cover with the cigar and attack dog), who had been in Sexteto Miramar." --Pablo Yglesias, aka DJ Bongohead This first ever reissue is presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
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LP
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BEAT 066LP
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Alehop! and Beat Generation present a reissue of Performing Ferret Band's self-titled album, originally released in 1981. Hailing from Maidstone (Kent), Performing Ferret Band got together in 1978 and with their amateur take on music, they wrote a small but great chapter of the emergence born out of punk, when the proliferation of small labels and self-releases invaded the record shops and created a scene which developed one of the golden and most creative periods of music, despite the participants' technical limitations. Later based in Manchester and inspired by comedians such as Monty Python and musicians like Captain Beefheart, The Velvet Underground, or The Fall, the Ferrets developed a personal style very close to Television Personalities, Swell Maps, or The Desperate Bicycles, all bands of questionable virtuosity. That didn't stop the Ferrets from releasing two cassettes, a 7", and an LP during their short life until 1982. Their only LP, originally released in 1981 on the band's own Pig Production label as a 300-copies pressing, is reissued here in a limited edition. It's a compendium of absurdity, genius, humor, and that naive spirit which makes humanity more believable. Includes an insert with the band's story, photos, and memorabilia; Edition of 500.
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CD
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FABRIC 186CD
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Daphni (aka Caribou, aka Dan Snaith) presents the 93rd installment of FabricLive. FabricLive 93 marks Daphni's first mix CD and his first full body of work under the moniker since 2012's critically acclaimed Jiaolong album, and most recently Caribou's seminal standout 2014 album Our Love. This special FabricLive mix is composed of 23 original, unreleased Daphni tracks and four new Daphni edits, featuring tracks from Jamire Williams, Luther Davis Group, Pheeroan Ak Laff, and Container. "A lot of these tracks were recorded in situ in the mix itself," Snaith says. "I'd put one track in place and instead of searching through existing music to find the track to follow it, I'd just make an entirely new one. The tracks on here pull from very diverse ends of the spectrum of music that I like and make." Packaged in bespoke slipcase containing die-embossed tin.
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2CD
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LC 5001CD
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The Rolling Stones, live on BBC Radio, 1963-1965. "In view of the past increase of interest in rhythm & blues groups in Britain, an exceptionally good future is predicted for us by many people," Brian Jones wrote to the BBC in January 1963, requesting an audition. They turned him down, but soon changed their mind. Between that autumn and the summer of 1965, the Rolling Stones recorded numerous classic radio sessions for the BBC, which are presented here, digitally remastered, together with background notes and images. Features performances on Saturday Club, Blues In Rhythm, The Joe Loss Pop Show, Big Beat '64, Top Gear, Rhythm And Blues, Big Beat '65, and Yeh! Yeh!. Containing some of the most vital British R&B ever recorded, the set is an essential purchase for serious Stones fans.
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LP
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ZORN 046LP
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Aguirre Records present a reissue of Maggi Payne's challenging electronic album Crystal, originally released in 1986. Maggi Payne is an American composer, flutist, video artist, and co-director of the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College where she teaches recording engineering, composition, and electronic music. Her work involves electroacoustic, instrumental, and vocal works along with works involving visuals, including dancers outfitted with electroluminescent wire and videos she creates using images ranging from nature to the abstract. She has composed music for dance, theatre, and video. Crystal was first released in 1986 on the Lovely Music label. Home to experimental musicians such as Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Pauline Oliveros, and Alvin Lucier. On Crystal, flute, spoken voice, sonifications, and synthesizers are processed to create dense and massive structures. Maggi Payne's musical imagination is vivid: she is interested in the surreal, the inward, the micro, and the accumulation of physical and psychological tension. Periods of silence gently evolve into flowing drones of complex resonances. Oozing drones evolve into dense and powerful peaks of short duration. The compositions and sounds on Crystal have incredible depth, a profound logic and, though not "pretty", an irresistible beauty. 180 gram vinyl; Remastered and cut at 45rpm by Rashad Becker; Gatefold sleeve with liner notes by the artist; Artwork by Atelier Brenda.
Maggi Payne on Crystal: "I create immersive environments, inviting listeners/participants to enter the sound and be carried with it, experiencing it from the inside out in intimate detail. The sounds are almost tactile, visible, tangible. A narrative of the imagination exists, allowing each person experiencing the work to thread their own paths through their mind's imagination and their body's physical engagement. Each sound slowly unfolds, revealing intricacies and complexity. Each grows and evolves like crystals forming under the microscope. . . . I visualize the sound as originating from, for instance, a point source below where one is standing, then it swirls outward and upward in an ever-expanding spiral until it disappears high over the listener's head, morphing as it travels. Spatialization is not imposed when mixing, but is instead created in the original recording by increasing the amplitude of the sound on one track then decreasing its amplitude as the identical frequency is matched on the next track while it is increasing its amplitude, dovetailing the tracks across the space. Using extensive multi-tracking, the spatialization is retained, architecting and sculpting the aural space so that multiple perspectives and trajectories coexist."
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LP
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OMSD 001LP
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Selva Discos present an official reissue of Maria Rita Stumpf's Brasileira, originally released in 1988. Brasileira has been on top of collectors and music lovers' wish lists since "Cântico Brasileiro Nº3 (Kamaiurá)" broke out and cast a spell worldwide. Lucky collectors can listen to the whole album -- with gems such as "Lamento Africano/Rictus" and "A Cidade" -- but it was clear that Brasileira is an oeuvre that more people should have access to. Selva Discos is a new label run by Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser (the DJ/production duo known as Selvagem) in partnership with JD Twitch's Optimo Music. Here's an extract from Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser's sleeve notes about the Brasileira and the label's launch: "We were aware of the originality and rarity of this album since we put our hands on a copy of the Brasileira LP a few years ago, but it took time to learn that Maria Rita from 'Kamaiurá', the track that carried us away as soon as we first heard it, was the same Maria Rita with whom one of us knew since childhood. To reissue Brasileira became a life mission. Also, it turned to be the seed that allowed Selva Discos to bloom." And another extract, taken from Maria Rita's recollection on the serendipity that triggered this reissue: "Many years passed until I got a call from a close friend saying that his son, whom I had known since childhood, was my fan. I found it funny... I was slowly returning to music after years of directing Antares, a company I created and that brought thousands of artists to Brazil. He was a DJ who played my songs at the Selvagem parties and as he said, did not know that I was me, the same Maria Rita who worked with his father. This was a plot twist, a movie thing." Maria Rita Stumpf is now the owner of Brazilian production company Antares Produções, responsible for bringing international artists, such as Philip Glass and Mikhail Baryshnikov, to Brazil for the past 30 years. After distancing herself from the music business since the original release of Brasileira, she's now back in the game. This reissue was overviewed by Maria Rita Stumpf; Remastered from DAT tape of the original release; Artwork updated by Brazilian design studio Colletivo; Features liner notes by Maria Rita.
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TRESOR 295CD
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First full-length in seventeen years from the Chain Reaction/Force Inc. legends. Ever since their initial singles were released in the mid-1990s and became international calling cards for the Chain Reaction label, the Porter Ricks duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig have represented that crucible point in which techno music leaked into new social environments and became the background music for cutting-edge cultural critique. Their submerged "scuba" sound, presented in dark tone colors and reverberating to infinity, is now instantly identifiable as one of the "soundmarks" of Berlin club culture. Just as importantly, it is still a palpable aftershock of a pre-millenial genre explosion that saw deep dub, shimmering post-rock, abstract hip-hop, and art-damaged noise all drinking from the same well of inspiration. For proof of Porter Ricks's enduring legacy, look no further than the fact that "dub techno" is now a stylistic movement that has expanded far beyond the confines of Berlin and the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction label alliance (where Mellwig's mastering skills also played a starring role). Lurid traces of Porter Ricks's aesthetic can now be found in the work of producers like Andy Stott and Miles Whittaker, showing the potential for the duo's unique "aquatic" techniques to be applied to a variety of different musical contexts. Their new LP on Tresor, Anguilla Electrica, may be their first full-length release in seventeen full years, but it radiates with confidence and with a clarity and intensity rarely seen in a world so over-saturated with communications noise. It's made clear at once that it's a continuation of a sonic ideal rather than a tribute to what has already been achieved: the duo is not idly sitting back while their newer acolytes do their talking for them. This new LP is well worth the wait and is a life-affirming one in an uncertain and perilous time, drowning out daily anxieties like a rush of incoming surf -- yet it is far more invigorating than relaxing. True to the Porter Ricks's tradition, it will be just as exciting hearing this music as it will be to experience what new cultural mutations it leaves in its wake.
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2LP
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TFR 003LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. Peaking Lights' fifth album, titled The Fifth State Of Consciousness, was produced in their Dreamfuzz studio over two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become known for. Sonically the album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive through foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window, as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of wonderment, and each time you play it, there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of psychedelic music, house, electronic, and reggae, each song manages to live its own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together. Produced by Aaron Coyes, the whole creative process was filled with nerdy gadgetry, playful experimentation, and deep alchemical soul searching for a musical medicine. Aaron describes Dreamfuzz as "a small junkyard with many happy mistakes." Using tape machines, writing melodies backwards then playing them in reverse, layering sound upon sound to create "pads", literally breaking electronics to get sounds, and a strict motto of "anything goes, pure creativity." Most sounds were run through Peaking Lights' 1976 16/8 Soundcraft Series Two mixing console (the same type of board used by Lee "Scratch" Perry at Black Ark, and at the infamous Cargo Studios where many of the early Factory Records bands were recorded) to add some "mojo". It's an album that is sure to be a creeper, even if you don't fall in love on the first date.
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LP
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ELJ 001LP
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Everland Jazz present a reissue of The Heath Brothers' Marchin' On!, originally released in 1976. "This obscure and difficult to find LP is the Heath Brothers' debut album and is considered to be their best. Marchin' On! is unquestionably a masterpiece and is a much sought-after album. With its wealth of riffs, it is much appreciated by samplers and has been sampled by various contemporary artists. It was originally released in 1976 on Strata-East, a label at the time co-owned by Stanley Cowell. The album flows fluidly, meticulously in a warm rich blend with the four part 'Smilin' Billy Suite' being a tour de force on its own. All suites have the same anchor in melody but each branches out to its own distinctive song varying from relaxed to light to dramatic and upbeat. The Heath Brothers was formed in 1975 by brothers Jimmy, Percy, Albert Heath and the much celebrated pianist Stanley Cowell in Philadelphia. The band continued later on with the brothers and alternate new members, with at one point the very talented 'Mtume' who is Jimmy Heath's son, joining." --Rachel Kinoti Licensed by Strata-East Recordings.
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LP+CD
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ASH 3054B-LP
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Phoenix Records present a reissue of Flower Travellin' Band's debut album Anywhere, originally released in 1970. Anywhere is the first album from the legendary Japanese rockers fronted by Yuya Uchida. Although an album consisting mainly of cover versions, Anywhere still exhibited many of the musical traits that were to come to the fore on the band's next release, the classic 1971 album Satori (ASH 3002CD/LP), an album of original material delivered with panache by the increasingly confident Uchida. An album made memorable by its risque cover as well as its ground-breaking approach to Western rock music. 180 gram grey color vinyl; Original LP artwork; Includes original Japanese insert; Includes CD.
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R 029LP
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Recital present the first-time vinyl issue of Loren Connors's Evangeline, originally released as a limited CD in 1998. Evangeline finds Connors working in a narrative structure. This album trails the story of Evangeline, the heroine of an epic-poem written in 1847. Loren's guitar tone follows the weary landscapes and mournful souls of the characters. Thematically, Evangeline falls in line with the other romantic Connors LPs Recital has published, Airs (2015) and Lullaby (2016), though with a defining arc in direction. Parallel guitar preludes begin this collection, leading to distant ballads in spheres of reverb. Suzanne Langille softly singing on the first track sets this album as a child's fable. As longing, clouded in dreams of loss and devotion. Includes an 8.5"x11" insert: a story written by Suzanne Langille based on the epic poem, Evangeline; Includes restored audio and new artwork by Loren Connors; Remastered for vinyl by Sean McCann; Edition of 500.
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5LP BOX/DVD
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DS 033LP
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Standard LP version. Includes five LPs, DVD, and book; Edition of 500. The year 2007 saw one of the most remarkable findings in the long treasure-hunting history of Die Schachtel: the complete set of recordings of the early manifestation (1967-1969) of one of the most legendary improv group of all time, the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. Rescued by the private archives of Walter Branchi, one of the original founding members -- alongside Franco Evangelisti, Ennio Morricone, Ivan Vandor, Roland Kayn, Egisto Macchi, Mario Bertoncini, and John Heineman -- the tapes were then restored in their entirety. Only a part of them were published in a CD-only boxset in an edition of 500, titled Azioni 1967-1969, which also featured a DVD with the original film Nuova Consonanza shot by Theo Gallher during the rehearsal and concert that the group held on March 19th and 20th, 1967, at the Galleria d'arte Moderna in Rome. Spanning from free-jazz to total abstract noise to wild electronic sounds, their music was -- and remains -- one of the most dynamic, original, and uncompromising expression of a period defined by intense experimentation and musical bravery, anticipating experiments to come in years following. Or, to put it simple, "They were utterly unique," as per the words that John Zorn, who expressively wrote for this edition. To mark the ten-year anniversary of its original release, Die Schachtel present Azioni/Reazioni 1967-1969, the complete cycle of improvisations -- which includes thirteen additional, never before published pieces -- taken from the original tapes. Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Available in three versions. All versions include a 64-page, sewn-bound, LP-size book in English and Italian, complete with essays, memories shared by the group, a new article by Valentina Bertolani exploring in detail the techniques of the group, a chronology, a collection of original reviews by Maurizio Farina, and a set of unpublished black-and-white photos of the group playing in Venice's Teatro Della Fenice in 1968, taken from the archives of the Venice Biennale. All versions also include a DVD (PAL 5.1 audio - region free) with the original film Nuova Consonanza shot by Theo Gallher.
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2LP
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FAITBACK 001LP
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Faitiche presents a long-lost vinyl album. Since 2003, Jan Jelinek's Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, originally released in 2001 on ~scape, existed only as a download. Now the album is available again on vinyl, as a double LP with two bonus tracks, "Moiré (Guitar & Horns)" and "Poren", B-sides from Tendency EP (2000).
"Don't be misled by the title, though for there isn't a finger-snapping rhythm bebop lead anywhere on the album. Instead, Jelinek chooses to explore the visual effect moiré - two shifting patterns creating an implied third dimension - in the audio realm." --Alternative Press
"The title acts as explanation for the studio technique that provided the basis for this album, snippets of other people's arrangements deconstructed through a sampler into loops and then splashed onto an audio canvas." --ATM
"Jelinek's sound evolved out of his dislike for (and inability to play) keyboards." --RPM
"Jelinek has abstracted his sources beyond recognition, looping his millisecond samples into flickering patterns of sonic moiré laid atop a dub techno framework. . . . Jelinek might as well have sampled a horn player's hissing intake of breath - it would have been 'jazz' enough for his purposes." --The Wire
"It's a perfect inversion of conventional music, a sonic negative. Everything that would typically be foreground is moved back or pushed off the screen altogether, and the flecks of sonic debris that would normally be covered by other sounds are left to carry the melody and rhythm." --Pitchfork
"All you need to know is that these onomatopoeic non-specific songs . . . are warm, paradisiacal creations." --NME
"Listen carefully and you'll hear textures slowly unfolding and mutating. Presuming you've not fallen asleep of course." --iDJ
"At times, it's all a bit dripping tap Japanese water torture; so sedentary it drowns in its own motionlessness" --DJ
"Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records is a genuine modern classic whose re-release is anything but a cynical mortgage repayment exercise. Consider this a second chance, then pretend you had it all along." --Boomkat
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2LP
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ET 628-07LP
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When Terry Fox went from San Francisco to Europe in 1972, he discovered the great pavement labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. It consists of 11 concentric rings with 552 steps and 34 turns leading to the center. The discovery of the labyrinth became a revelation to him: He saw it as a metaphor for his own life, the numbers of rings and turns corresponding to cycles of health and sickness he had undergone. Thus, he decided to base all of his works until 1978 on the labyrinth. These include two major sound works, one of which -- The Labyrinth Scored For The Purrs Of 11 Cats -- was later released on cassette (1989) and LP (2009), while the other has remained unreleased so far. 552 Steps Through 11 Pairs Of Strings was a performance made in Fox's loft in San Francisco on August 14, 1976, starting at 10pm and lasting four-and-a-half hours. He stretched 11 pairs of piano wires of 11 different thicknesses across the floor and attached them to turnbuckles at each end, which he then hooked to eye-screws in the wooden floor. Each of the piano wire pairs were passed over a wooden bridge at both ends. over a wooden bridge at both ends. He played this instrument with a soft mallet in one hand and a score in the other. The score was a 34-foot string tied with 552 knots. Each knot represented a step in the labyrinth with the 34 turns indicated by either a piece of wire in a knot (a move to the next longer pair of wires) or a rubber band around a knot (a move to the next shorter pair). The audience was in the dark loft of the floor below. Alan Scarritt describes the performance in the liner notes: "We were all mesmerized by the beauty of the piece and lost in its grace. Around midnight a light rain began to fall outside the windows completing the piece's perfection. He played for another two hours or so. It also happened to be my birthday. It was the best birthday I ever had." This double LP includes four selections from the performance. Comes in a gatefold sleeve with a reproduction of the score, a photograph and a drawing of the instrument, and the invitation card to the performance; Texts by Terry Fox and Alan Scarritt; Edition of 300.
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LP
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GR 029LP
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In this series, Grosso! Recordings bring in some of the names of the Latin bands based in New York between the '40s and early '60s and other recordings done in Cuba by Orquestas or Conjuntos likes Félix Chappottín, José Curbelo, and La Playa Sextet that were a big influence for Latinos in New York. Think musicians of the stature of Eddie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaría, Noro Morales, Francisco Aguabella, Cal Tjader, or Machito. "Mamey Colorao", a well-known composition by Peruchin Justíz, is the album title of third volume from the Afro-Cuban Roots Of Boogaloo compilation series by Grosso! Recordings, performed by Tito Puente and later covered on a more electric version by Ocho. Side A opens out a variety of more traditional Cuban numbers such as "No Tiene Telaraña" by José Curbelo's Orquesta, "El Baile Suavito", a heavy duty tune performed by Orquesta Aragón, and a very well-known cha-cha-chá "Rico Vacilón" written by Rosendo Ruíz Quevedo on the inimitable voice of Machito & his Afrocubans. "Garbage Man's Chachachá (La Basura)" by La Playa Sextet highlights an electric guitar sound that anticipates the fusion of the traditional and the new sounds that would lead into the 'Boogaloo' and 'Salsa'. A couple of montunos round off the A side, "Quimbombó" from Félix Chappotín Orchestra with the legendary Miguelito Cuní and "Bolita" with a double entendre of Bimbi and his Trío Oriental. Noro Morales opens the B side with "Vitamina", a traditional mambo followed by "Palo Mayombe", a pachanga rhythm with the distinctive Afro-sound of Mongo Santamaria. An exquisite version of "El Gavilán" is performed by Eddie Palmieri on piano with an outstanding brass section that would years later identify the Fania All Stars' sound. The last three tracks bring about a turning point on the concept of the album: "Wachi Wara" by Dizzy Gillespie in a Latin jazz vein performed by the always modern and elegant Cal Tjader, a version of "Titoro", by Tito Puente, with a Brazilian vibe at times interpreted by vibraphonist Bobby Montez and concluding, Francisco Aguabella with "Shirley's Guaguanco", a jazzy tune with a traditional guaguancó rhythm and sound on the congas and bongo with a final coro reminiscent of the very Cuban "rumba de solar".
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2LP
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AALP 083LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve with 20-page booklet; 140 gram vinyl. The Pop Makossa adventure started in 2009, when Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb first travelled to Cameroon to make an initial assessment of the country's musical situation. He returned with enough tracks for an explosive compilation highlighting the period when funk and disco sounds began to infiltrate the makossa style popular throughout Cameroon. From the very beginning, there were several mysteries hanging over Pop Makossa. It was not until DJ and music producer Déni Shain was dispatched to Cameroon to finalize the project, license the songs, scan photographs, and interview the artists that some of the biggest question marks began to disappear. His journey from the port city of Douala to the capital of Yaoundé brought him in contact with the lives and stories of many of the musicians who had shaped the sound of Cameroon's dance music in its most fertile decade. The beat that holds everything together has its origins in the rhythms of the Sawa people: ambassey, bolobo, assiko and essewé, a traditional funeral dance. But it wasn't until these rhythms arrived in the cities of Cameroon and collided with merengue, high-life, Congolese rumba, and, later, funk and disco, that modern makossa was born. Makossa managed to unify the whole of Cameroon, and it was successful in part because it was so adaptable. Some of the greatest makossa hits incorporated the electrifying guitars and tight grooves of funk, while others were laced with cosmic flourishes made possible by the advent of the synthesizer. However much came down to the bass; and from the rubbery hustle underpinning Mystic Djim's "Yaoundé Girls" to the luminous liquid disco lines which propel Pasteur Lappé's "Sekele Movement", Pop Makossa demonstrates why Cameroonian bass players are some of the most revered in the world. "Pop Makossa Invasion", an obscure tune recorded for Radio Buea makes its debut here and joins the pantheon of extraordinary songs that plugged Cameroon's makossa style into the modern world. Also features: Dream Stars, Mystic Djim & The Spirits, Bill Loko, Eko, Olinga Gaston, Emmanuel Kahe et Jeanette Kemogne, Nkodo Si-Tony, Bernard Ntone, Pat' Ndoye, and Clément Djimogne.
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CD
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AACD 083CD
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The Pop Makossa adventure started in 2009, when Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb first travelled to Cameroon to make an initial assessment of the country's musical situation. He returned with enough tracks for an explosive compilation highlighting the period when funk and disco sounds began to infiltrate the makossa style popular throughout Cameroon. From the very beginning, there were several mysteries hanging over Pop Makossa. It was not until DJ and music producer Déni Shain was dispatched to Cameroon to finalize the project, license the songs, scan photographs, and interview the artists that some of the biggest question marks began to disappear. His journey from the port city of Douala to the capital of Yaoundé brought him in contact with the lives and stories of many of the musicians who had shaped the sound of Cameroon's dance music in its most fertile decade. The beat that holds everything together has its origins in the rhythms of the Sawa people: ambassey, bolobo, assiko and essewé, a traditional funeral dance. But it wasn't until these rhythms arrived in the cities of Cameroon and collided with merengue, high-life, Congolese rumba, and, later, funk and disco, that modern makossa was born. Makossa managed to unify the whole of Cameroon, and it was successful in part because it was so adaptable. Some of the greatest makossa hits incorporated the electrifying guitars and tight grooves of funk, while others were laced with cosmic flourishes made possible by the advent of the synthesizer. However much came down to the bass; and from the rubbery hustle underpinning Mystic Djim's "Yaoundé Girls" to the luminous liquid disco lines which propel Pasteur Lappé's "Sekele Movement", Pop Makossa demonstrates why Cameroonian bass players are some of the most revered in the world. "Pop Makossa Invasion", an obscure tune recorded for Radio Buea makes its debut here and joins the pantheon of extraordinary songs that plugged Cameroon's makossa style into the modern world. Also features: Dream Stars, Mystic Djim & The Spirits, Bill Loko, Eko, Olinga Gaston, Emmanuel Kahe et Jeanette Kemogne, Nkodo Si-Tony, Bernard Ntone, Pat' Ndoye, and Clément Djimogne. CD version includes a 44-page booklet.
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Book
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GF 77006BK
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Goodfellas present Buy Or Die! Ralph Records Artworks 1972-2015, the first ever book of its kind on the history of the artwork of The Residents and their label Ralph Records. The life of Ralph Records and The Residents has always been cloaked in obscure mysteries, woven by the anonymous Cryptic Corporation, around which many luminaries have revolved; painters, graphic artists, cartoonists, musicians, film-makers, and writers. All have been channeled together by a powerful creative synergy that helped champion a new, mercurial and thoroughly multi-faceted artifact. Buy Or Die!, for the very first time, brings together a collection of images that represented the sounds of Ralph from 1972 to the present. A historical journey that traces the path of one of the most innovative record labels of the last fifty years. A collection of original, rare, and remarkable images drawn from record covers, fan catalogs, posters, and a wide variety of promotional material, demonstrating the technological and stylistic adaptations undergone through the arc of half a century. 400-page color book in English and Italian.
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CD
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PAL 048CD
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For those not following Bill Orcutt's drift into increasingly ear-friendly orbits in his recent live sets, Bill Orcutt -- his first solo electric studio album -- shocks with its space and sensitivity. On this eponymous record, Orcutt mines the expansiveness and sustain possible on the electric guitar, letting notes spin out and decay at the edge of feedback. His pachinko-parlor pacing, marked by unraveling clockspring accelerandos crashing into unexpectedly suspended tones, is still in evidence. But here, his developing melodicism maps a near-contemplative mental realm, orbiting St. Joan-era Loren Connors more than the cascading treble clatter of his duo LPs with Chris Corsano and others. From the first notes of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman", there's a lucidity and slow-burning lyricism that make Orcutt's plunges into barbed-wire fingerpicking all the more striking. While no one's about to mistake Orcutt for Jim Hall, you could probably play this for your jazzbo friends (should you be unlucky enough to have them) without raising any eyebrows. Orcutt's track selection mirrors his obsession with American popular song in its most banal manifestations, as radically reimagined via acoustic guitar on a variety of releases, including 2013's exhaustive Twenty Five Songs 7" box set, and the Editions Mego album A History of Every One (EMEGO 173CD/LP, 2013). Many of the songs from those two releases are here -- but stretched into new arrangements that explore the upper regions of the guitar neck (hitherto unexplorable on his shakily-intonated acoustic Kay), and lighting up new corners of each arrangement with a sensitivity born from years of reinterpretation. The result is a languid, freeform drift through Orcutt's internal cosmos into galaxies unknown to their original interpreters -- and occasionally, Orcutt himself. Most striking is "White Christmas", its careening low-register melodies crashing into complex chords that transcend Orcutt's primitive four-string fretboard. Orcutt's original compositions are equally striking. One of them -- "The World Without Me" -- is unique to this album, and notable for its trebly flurry of Clapton-esque 12th-fret drizzle. "O Platitudes!" by contrast, spins ever-faster in the cadence of a hand-cranked music box, before grinding to a near halt, its higher-key electricity standing in for the moaning vocalizations on Orcutt's acoustic rendition as heard on his 2014 VDSQ LP. With its deep-space beauty, harmonic complexity, and dark dissonance, Bill Orcutt is a stunning landmark in Orcutt's form-destroying trajectory.
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2LP
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AALP 063LP
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2017 repress. Double vinyl version, in deluxe gatefold sleeve and printed inner sleeves which replicate all of the liner notes from the CD version booklet. Same 14 tracks as the CD. The mission of Analog Africa is clear: searching in dusty warehouses for forgotten music to keep it alive. All tracks have been officially licensed, usually from the artists who label-head Samy Ben Redjeb also met with for detailed research. Like most modern music in French-speaking West African countries, the music of Benin and Togo was influenced by a few main musical currents: Cuban, Congolese and local traditional music, as well as Chanson Française. Additionally, the geographical location of Benin and Togo -- sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria -- exposed Beninese and Togolese musicians to highlife music. The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin's modern music. Benin is the birth place of Vodun (or, as it is known in the West, Voodoo), and some of the rhythms used during traditional rituals -- sakpata, sato, agbadja, tchenkoumé and many others -- were fused to soul and Latin music as early as the mid-'60s and later to funk. That fusion is the essence of this compilation. There are countless stories to be discovered in the extremely well-researched booklet and the music is truly mind-blowing. So delve into the forgotten raw and psychedelic Afro sounds from '70s Benin and Togo and experience the African Scream Contest.
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LP
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SR 401LP
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Sub Rosa present a reissue of Univers Zero's second album Heresie, originally released in 1979. 2010 remixed version (Cuneiform Records). A classic of chamber rock music, featuring heavy use of dissonance and dark, brooding, and extremely complex melodies. Comes on limited edition orange and gold vinyl; Includes insert; 380 gram sleeve.
"This music on this LP might have little to do with rock, and might also be a massive downer, but the quality of the writing and playing is extremely high. Michel Berckmans' solo work on oboe and bassoon work is magnificent, and Patrick Hanappier's string playing (violin and viola) also demonstrates the precision of a trained classical musician, along with demonic avant-garde scraping and howling on 'Jack The Ripper.' Best of all, Univers Zero never cheapens the effect of the music with any of the stock cartoon licks which are associated with the gothic genre today. Group members sound deadly serious about what they're doing, which might call their sanity into question, but which makes for an incredibly powerful listening experience. In fact, Heresie is a stunning one-of-a-kind item that has never been duplicated by anyone -- including Univers Zero." --William Tilland, AllMusic
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LP
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SK 004LP
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From the metal chimes of the gamelan, to the Burmese harp, passing through the Chinese Hu Ch'in, a traditional and ancient chordophone-bowed lute, Early Traditional Instruments In Asia is a sheer historical document that represents some of the most ancient instruments known to mankind. 45rpm audiophile vinyl; Limited edition of 300.
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LP
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SK 003LP
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The Spirit Of Indonesia is a newly curated collection of traditional tunes from various regions and ethnic groups of the South East Asian archipelago. These historic live recordings are as "first-take" as it gets, conveying the true soul and spirit of this wonderful region, through discrete pieces coming from very different heritages. 45rpm audiophile vinyl; Limited edition of 300.
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2LP
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AALP 068LP
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2017 repress; Deluxe gatefold 2LP version, featuring 2 extra tracks not included on the CD. Includes a poster and full-color innersleeves replicating the complete notes from the CD version. Organ-driven Afro-beat, cosmic Afro-funk and raw, psychedelic boogie -- just some of the flavors to be found on this highly danceable compilation by Samy Ben Redjeb, founder of Analog Africa. No effort has been spared! To document these irresistible tracks and the music scene from the '70s, Samy crisscrossed the lengths of Ghana and Togo in search of the producers and artists -- or their relatives. In the process, he recorded a dozen interviews, scanned 90 pictures and transferred 120 master tapes. Afro-Beat Airways showcases an amazing diversity of local rhythms spiced with Afro-American funk, soul and jazz. Samy Ben Redjeb, in his own words: "While some light has been cast on the Ghanaian music scene of the 1970s, Togolese music is relatively obscure and badly documented. However, we are working on this! In fact, we've already made a start, with our previous Analog Africa compilation African Scream Contest which showcased 3 Togolese artists. Afro-Beat Airways presents two more -- Orchestre Abass and Cos-Ber-Zam. While the first band developed into one of the country's best, to such an extent that none other than Fela Kuti once offered them a contract to play at his Afro-Spot night club (which later became The Shrine), the second artist was a one-hit wonder. "Né Noya" was a monster hit in Togo, but it is to-date the only release by this obscure artist. The reason why I decided to include these Togolese tracks on this compilation is that they were all recorded in Ghana and thus they worked well in the mix." These tracks have been hiding for 30 years, and, as you will hear, these are modern African sounds created to stand the test of time. Afro-Beat Airways is like a time capsule, and promises to take you on a fascinating musical journey through West Africa's vintage Afro sounds.
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LP
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CLPMR 003LP
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The Paris-based Collapsing Market label unveil a gem of found art with Tschashm-e-Del: a radio play recorded in Iran sometime during the '60s by Morteza Hannaneh, co-founder of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra with Parvis Mahmoud, and the grandfather of Collapsing Market co-owner Cyrus Goberville, who discovered the recording on a tape at his home. Without definitive records to go from, Tschashm-e-Del was presumably recorded in the '60s (certainly pre-revolution) and quite possibly broadcast on Radio Tehran. Now restored from the original reels, it reveals a gorgeous and important suite of music set to a Ghazal -- an ancient Arabic ode, or poetic expression of the pain and beauty of love, loss or separation -- written by Hatef Esfehani, who was a famous Iranian poet of the 18th century. The ghazal deals with the founding principles of Sufism and monotheism through a love story between Hatef and a Christian girl, with Morteza Hannaneh's musical arrangement matching the specific rhyming structure of its ancient classical form, itself rooted in tradition stretching back to at least the 10th century, whilst also incorporating string elements of western orchestration relating to Hannaneh's background in composing for cinema. It's the kind of music you might expect to turn up on a Folkways or Dead-Cert release. It's presented with artwork made by Thomas Jeppe, a noted artist familiar with Persian culture; the sleeve image depicts the Ashura procession. Edition of 500.
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LP
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BLUME 007LP
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Blume present the first vinyl reissue of Jocy De Oliveira's legendary debut Estorias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acusticos e Eletronicos, reissued for the first time since its original release in 1981. Defined by a body of singular music spanning seven decades, within the histories and continuing legacies of avant-garde practice, she is without equivalent. Her debut album Estórias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos resonates through a shimmering body of organized sound, unveiling truths lingering in the shadows, the sins suffered by the Latin American avant-garde, with the actualities of its astounding heights. Oliveira began her career as a concert pianist. She left Brazil at young age to study in America and Europe, before being recruited by major orchestras across both continents, working under Stravinsky, and having pieces written for her and premiering of works by Berio, Xenakis, Santoro, Cage, and Manuel Enriquez. During the early 1960s, Oliveira shifted her efforts toward composition. She embarked on a process of folding organized sounds across nearly every context it could inhabit, blurring the lines between performance and composition, and incorporating diverse media well beyond the world of sound. In 1961, within a collaborative theater work written with Luciano Berio, Berio Apague Meu Spot Light, she instigated the first performance of electronic music staged in Brazil. Released in 1981, during the last years of her country's military dictatorship, Estórias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos was met by controversy before quickly sinking from view, heard by almost no one beyond Brazil's borders. Among the most astounding realizations of electroacoustic process ever recorded, it is a series of sonic stories for voice, and acoustic and electronic instruments: prepared piano, violin, percussion, synthesizers, electric celesta, etc. The album's singularity, culture, humanity, and introspection cannot be displaced; like its composer, Estórias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos is Brazilian. Its draws on a diverse range of the country's music and percussion traditions, as well as Indian raga structures, and Japanese Shōmyō singing, inspired in part by the sounds of immigrant communities within São Paulo, the city where Oliveira grew up. A landmark classic from the '70s Brazilian electronic music scene. To quote Keith Fullerton Whitman, this is the "lost Tropicalia/psych/free-vocal/ring-modulator freakout/jam hybrid that you've only dreamt about!" Comes in a full-color cover with a printed inner sleeve housing a Nagaoka anti-static record sleeve; Includes original insert that functions as Obi; Red-colored vinyl.
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LP
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RM 484LP
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Mike Cooper's output of the past half century has been described as "post-everything". It's a fitting phrase really when you consider he has been at the beating heart of so many critical musical moments; from the development of the blues touring circuit in the UK, through the growth of the folk scene and into the explosion of free improvisation that came to define a generation of UK musicians. Amidst it all, working at stitching these disparate forms into some kind of de-territorialized zone, was Mike Cooper. It's fitting that he explores the notion of journey on his latest full-length edition. Even more fitting that he examines the vessels that carry us on journeys. With Raft, Cooper charts his interests in ambient exotica and collides it with his research into various South Pacific musical traditions. The record extends his palette considerably, stretching away from the hypnagogic flows of his master piece Rayon Hula (2004), into a more oceanic setting. "Raft 21 - Guayaquil To Tully", for example, sets out a lilting rise and fall of harmony which erupts with spluttering electronics. Specifically inspired by Vital Alsar and William Wills, sailors who undertook some of the 20th century's most impressive solo voyages, Raft reflects upon the determination of the solo traveler. In a musical sense, Mike Cooper's work of recent years has very much reflected a determined solo traveler work ethic. In his commitment to travel alone, he has developed a range of strategies that he works against as a means of surprising himself and uncovering unfamiliar sonic relations. This approach has proved an incredibly fertile pursuit for Cooper, arguably producing some of his most affecting and engaging works, his Room40 albums Fratello Mare (RM 462LP, 2015) and White Shadows Of The South Seas (RM 454CD, 2013) amongst them. Raft is a vital record that sets its sights beyond the horizons of convention and in doing so reveals a perspective that is only available to lifelong voyagers such as Mike Cooper. From Mike: "Raft is my tribute to William Willis, Vita Alsar, Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, Louis Becke, Adolph Plate, Jacques Brel, FW Murnau and to all sailors, scribblers and drifters everywhere."
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2LP
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SEPTIC 002LP
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"Unapologetically ambitious, complex, staggeringly powerful music, simultaneously haunting and moving. A collaborator of Jandek and Michael Rother, amongst others, Anika spins a surreal tale of longing and fate, with a quasi-religious delivery in deadpan counterpoint to its account of lust and fury, domination and submission. Shackleton's vivid, detailed sound-world is an inimitable blend of his own devotional and trance styles -- lingeringly melodic, sometimes atonal, with odd, overlain time signatures, and a general, imperious disregard for conventional song-making."
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LP
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SME 038LP
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Sonor Music Editions present a reissue Drammatico, originally released in the early '70s. An absolute Italian library holy grail and maybe the most desired item of the genre, originally released on Panda Records. This totally insane library album conceived by maestro Alessandro Alessandroni and Giuliano Sorgini, under their pseudonyms Braen and Raskovich respectively, is surely their highest point of collaboration. This is a concept album where the music is just out-of-this-world and way ahead of its time, nothing is quite comparable. War-themed and dramatic music, ranging from the most evil electronics to dark fuzz distortions and huge hip hop beats, all driven by a mental, psychedelic madness. A record coming from hell -- an unbelievable session remastered from the original master tapes. Enjoy the trip! Remastered from the original Panda Records master tape; Exclusive liner notes by Marsellus Wallace; Revised by Alfonso Carrillo (RendezVous, LA); Edition of 500.
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LP
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BANG 107LP
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In My Room features the unreleased recordings of what would have been the very last album of The Gun Club. Recorded in the very last period of the band, between 1991 and 1993, the studio recordings that Jeffrey Lee Pierce did with The Gun Club, with maximum quality and excellence of sound and presentation. What Jeffrey Lee Pierce exposes here is the highest vocal and guitar performing, from sounds are reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix and Television, to truly intimate heartbreaking blues, going through soul and rock. Includes covers from The Who, Wilson Pickett, and more. A dream come true for all Jeffrey Lee Pierce/The Gun Club fans all over the world - absolutely necessary. Comes in a deluxe gatefold jacket; Includes lyrics; 150 gram vinyl; Edition of 500.
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LP
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BLUME 005LP
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Blume present a reissue of Bruce Nauman's Soundtrack From First Violin Film, originally released in 1969. Since the mid-1960s, Nauman has laid the groundwork -- in thought, context, practice, and materiality -- for nearly every fine-artist that has followed in his wake. Even those who do not directly draw on the ground he gained, must contended with a world in his image. Initially issued by Tanglewood Press in 1969 -- a component of the art multiples edition 7 Objects/69 (also including David Bradshaw, Eva Hesse, Stephen Kaltenbach, Alan Saret, Richard Serra, and Keith Sonnier) -- Soundtrack From First Violin Film is a crucial element in Nauman's diverse the canon of contributions; It bridges the emerging practices of performance, video, and sound. Blume's release -- along with the Die Schachtel's 2016 reissue (DSART 013LP) -- marks the first time this seminal work has been available to a broader audience, making it a historic event. Soundtrack From First Violin Film, while resembling music, is one of the earliest gestures of sound art as it has come to be understood. It falls within Nauman's larger body of solitary actions and performances. In 1968, the artist moved briefly to New York, occupying Jasper Johns's then vacant studio in the Hamptons, beginning to build the body of work for his first solo show at Leo Castelli Gallery, documenting them in what became the very first works of video art. Within the larger body of effort, emerged a series of works featuring him playing the violin. It is from this world, that the LP Soundtrack From First Violin Film, with its disembodied sounds, grew. Nauman's violin works, as they exist in the world, are only distant cousins of performance and compositions. They are objects, doubling the signifiers of music and the body back upon themselves. Rather seeking entirely new and liberated sonic realms, they employ conceptual practice, instrument, and rhythm to strike direct confrontation. They could be understood as a conceptual inversion of recordings by John Cage or of musique concrète. Rather than seeking to utilize non-instrumental sources to create music, Nauman used instrumental sounds and references to make something which is not music at all, highlighting the dimensional possibilities of meaning, and the elasticity of language. Comes in full-color cover with printed inner sleeve housing a Nagaoka anti-static record sleeve; Includes an original insert that functions as Obi; Yellow-colored vinyl; Edition of 300.
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LP
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BORNBAD 096LP
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LP version. Printed inner sleeve. In 1966, a new pulse spread like wildfire on the sidewalks of Spanish Harlem and local radio waves. Like no music genre ever before, boogaloo brought together African Americans and Latinos. As the ultimate musical syncretism of popular genres in the Barrio, boogaloo is often described as "the first Nuyorican music". A revolutionary hurricane was then blowing on Amerika: in the trail of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords Organization, minorities were gathering in the streets to reclaim their rights from the establishment. Boogaloo was the soundtrack of a social revolution overtaking the country, before it got overshadowed by salsa. Boogaloo's energy seduced young people from different backgrounds, well beyond the borders of the USA, and especially in the Caribbean cradle land. From Fort-de-France to Pointe-à-Pitre, old biguines and mazurkas from West Indian orchestras strong of a bloodline of virtuosos, from father-to-son, became outdated by those modern beats. On Fred Aucagos's "Ti Man'zelle", there's a subtle mix of imports from the mainland, the USA, and the neighboring islands. Musicians dabbled with boogaloo, coming up with rather unorthodox interpretations. This is precisely what gives this compilation its singularity. It incorporates influences from the African continent thanks to the Rico Jazz (an adaptation of "Si Tu Bois Beaucoup" of the Congolese rumba orchestra O.K. Jazz). It rubs elbows with the "Jerk Vidé" of a David Martial before he turned in a doudouiste cliché. With the cheeky humor of the Guyanese Dany Play ("Mais Tu Sais"), the perkiness of Joby Valente ("Disk La Rayé" with Camille Soprann on sax), the listener (re)discovers classics published on two historic Guadeloupean labels: Aux Ondes of producer Raymond Célini, and Disque Debs, whose boss Henri Debs can be heard on "Ou Pas Z'ami En Moins". "Ou Qué Di Moin" from Monsieur X is a Creole funk pamphlet, neither Latin, nor festive, and not strictly boogaloo for that matter. The Nuyorican rhythm is a tiny fraction of what the West Indies orchestras were playing, as they often incorporated biguine and Haitian kopi elements. Assisted by Jean-Baptiste Guillot, Julien Achard spent over three years compiling this best of the Creole boogaloo. Also features: Maurice Alcindor, Gabby Siarras, Les Bois Sirop, Le Ry-Co Jazz, and Les Vickings. LP version comes with a printed inner sleeve with liner notes in English and French.
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LP
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BANG 110LP
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Turn of the century rarities recorded by Redd Kross in Hollywood between 1981 and 2007. Hot Issue is a compilation that was self-released by the band and sold out immediately, becoming a collector item which reaches insane prices in the second hand market. Top quality recordings that focus on the band's most explosive creativity period in the '90s. Created to be a complete play experience with unreleased and rare tracks compiled from the Jeff McDonald archives. A total must for all Redd Kross fans around the world. Comes on 150 gram grey vinyl; Edition of 600.
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LP
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VAMPI 177LP
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"Lisandro Meza (born in 1939) is one of Colombia's most talented all around musical giants, still going strong today. Equally adept at playing musical instruments (accordion, piano, guitar, bass, gaita) as he is at composition and singing, Meza has recorded just about every type of Colombian genre as well as his own decidedly Colombian versions of salsa, Afrobeat, funk and disco . . . In 1961 Meza joined Los Corraleros de Majagual under the leadership of Manuel Cervantes . . . Perhaps taking a page from bandleaders like Benny Moré, Cortijo and Kako, Meza decided to name this new band his Combo Gigante -- indicating a compact unit but with a big sound, inspired by Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New York orchestras of the time. Meza's outfit was augmented by two additional vocalists, Lucho Gómez and Lucho Peñate, who had a good feel for the New York sound. Unlike many budding salsa bands at the time, for the first record Salsita Mami (released 14 September 1970), Meza's arrangements put the saxophone out front on several songs. The band also features the tambourine, a major addition to New York Latin music during the boogaloo craze, with plenty of space for the piano, timbales, and brass to stretch out on the largely improvised montunos. If one listens to Fruko Y Sus Tesos from this same time period, a similar uncompromisingly hard sound is apparent, especially with the bass and prominent cowbell, as well as swaggering, ominous melodies and a certain odd funkiness inspired by the coastal rhythms of the indigenous cumbia and porro. . . . There are no Meza originals here, but the cover tunes are inspiringly done: check out the fiery version of Joey Pastrana's 'Cha Ca Boom' or the fun 'A Romper El Coco' -- called 'El Coco' here, made famous originally by Benny Moré with Pérez Prado; plus there's 'Soy Dichoso', which was a smash for Tommy Olivencia and Chamaco Ramírez in 1967, a version of Milton Zapata's 'Milton's Jala Jala' (called 'Arrebata' here) and the Celia Cruz and La Sonora Matancera anthem from 1961 'Sabroso Guaguancó'; not to mention 'Cuca La Loca' -- a hit for Willie Rosario and his vocalist Adalberto Santiago in 1968." --Pablo Yglesias (DJ Bongohead) Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
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2CD
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TFR 003CD
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Peaking Lights' fifth album, titled The Fifth State Of Consciousness, was produced in their Dreamfuzz studio over two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become known for. Sonically the album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive through foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window, as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of wonderment, and each time you play it, there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of psychedelic music, house, electronic, and reggae, each song manages to live its own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together. Produced by Aaron Coyes, the whole creative process was filled with nerdy gadgetry, playful experimentation, and deep alchemical soul searching for a musical medicine. Aaron describes Dreamfuzz as "a small junkyard with many happy mistakes." Using tape machines, writing melodies backwards then playing them in reverse, layering sound upon sound to create "pads", literally breaking electronics to get sounds, and a strict motto of "anything goes, pure creativity." Most sounds were run through Peaking Lights' 1976 16/8 Soundcraft Series Two mixing console (the same type of board used by Lee "Scratch" Perry at Black Ark, and at the infamous Cargo Studios where many of the early Factory Records bands were recorded) to add some "mojo". It's an album that is sure to be a creeper, even if you don't fall in love on the first date.
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LP
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BS 034LP
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Black Sweat Records present an expanded reissue of Telaio Magnetico's Live 75, including unreleased tracks from the super group's only tour in 1975. Telaio Magnetico was composed of Franco Battiato, Lino Capra Vaccina, Juri Camisasca, Mino Di Martino, Roberto Mazza, and Terra Di Benedetto. In the mid '70s, the Italian underground scene seemed to mature an existential priority of yearning toward a new psychological universe, with a firm idea to colonize an uncharted space of a necessary and infinite path of spiritual redemption. In this context, the short experience of Telaio Magnetico was born from the confluence of the Battiato's experimental efforts, in works such as Sulle Corde Di Aries (1973), Clic (1974), and M.elle Le "Gladiator" (1975), and the Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale's new esoteric electronics. A mosaic of metamorphic sounds and frequencies of unfamiliar constellations, the music of Telaio is an imaginary trimurti of "energy-cosmos-mind". Synths and Lowrey organs draw sidereal labyrinths and landscapes, scanned to infinity by a harmonic percussions arsenal. Whispering and radical improved vocals are lost as delusional fugues in centrifugal vortices and, at the same time, seem to offer a compendium of religious chants which evoke Tibetan choruses, Indian pujas or the Gregorian tradition. Reemerging sometimes as Sufi cadences and relaxations, or pastoral-tribal elements on which the chamber carpet of oboe blows like Arabs, Egyptians, or Moroccans pifferos. That traced is not only a galactic river, but also a Mediterranean circumnavigation: a unique creative moment that, in addition to the references with the German kosmische music and British space-rock, seems to be perfumed by the influence of Gurdjieffian mystic and even had roots in the minimalist drones of Terry Riley and La Monte Young, also drawing parallels to the contemporary research of authors such as Alvin Curran and the following explorations of Futuro Antico.
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PIC. DISC
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DOP 8018LP
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Doxy present a picture disc reissue of Thirty Weeks in 1963, originally released by the label in 2014. Deluxe picture disc LP documenting the first days of Beatlemania. Through 30 weeks, from February 11 to September 12, the best band of all-time is captured here in the days before their American invasion. Presented here on a limited edition picture disc.
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