Legendary ethnomusicologist and field-recording pioneer, Hugh Tracey founded the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954. Today, ILAM preserves thousands of historical recordings and has become the greatest repository of African music in the world. Dust-to-Digital partner with ILAM to present Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music -- a compilation of newly-transferred and remastered recordings that Hugh Tracey made between 1950-1958. The recordings presented here were made in central and eastern Africa -- specifically, the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Kenya, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar (now Tanzania). The genre of music Tracey documented, and the focus of this double-CD and book is rumba and its variations -- Congolese rumba, dansi, and benga. The recordings, photographs and detailed liner notes included in this set provide a rich point of immersion into the mid-20th-century music of eastern and central Africa. Including 47 newly-transferred and remastered recordings that Hugh Tracey made in central and eastern Africa between 1950-1958, Listen All Around includes 84-page hardcover book and two CDs.

Listen All Around features Kalenga Antonance, Ilunga Patrice, Misomba Victor and Friends, Vijana wa Mbeya with Jim D. Gondwe, Henri Bembele and Orchestra Tinapa, Dar es Salaam Jazz Band, Lang Obiero, Joseph Eluka and Soldiers, Yemba Jean Batiste and Soldiers, Société Edemi de Stanleyville, Bakia Pierre, Morris Kalala, Tauni Mwenasasu and Friend, Coast Social Orchestra, Chemutoi Ketienya and Kipsigis Girls, Sunderland String Band, Lang Obiero, ORCLOS, Kimambo Brothers, ECO African Band, Norbert de Magaro, Ezekiel Kamenga and Luba Men, Mwenda Jean Bosco and Singers, Samuel Colon and Baninga Baye, Chipukizi Rumba, Vijana wa Mbeya, Merry Black Birds, Katanga Dance Orchestra, Salum's Brass Band with Salum Seliman, Chibanda Baudouin, Lake Victoria Band, and Kamwema Jean and His Friends.

LP version. OBI strip and resealable "Japanese-style" plastic sleeve. 145 gram vinyl; Gatefold jacket; Hand-numbered edition of 1000. Download card for WAV files of the album and bonus tracks from solo releases from Nyoni and his Born Free band. Contains booklet that presents an overview of the Zamrock scene, Nyoni's story, and the confluence of the Zimbabwean and Zambian rock scenes in the '70s. "The latest release in Now-Again's deluxe Reserve Edition series: the first ever anthology of Zamrock musician Mike Nyoni's funky, psych-rock and folkloric 1970s recordings spread over 2 CDs. Zambian guitarist and singer/songwriter Mike Nyoni's music is Zamrock only because he came of age during the country's rock revolution. His preferred wah-wah to fuzz guitar, James Brown to Jimi Hendrix. His 70s recordings -- often politically charged and ranging from despondent to exuberant -- are amongst the funkiest on the African continent. He was also one of the only Zamrock musicians to see his music contemporaneously issued in Europe. This anthology collates works from his three 70s LPs -- his first, with the Born Free band, and his two solo albums Kawalala and I Can't Understand You -- and presents a singular Zambian musician on par with celebrated artists Rikki Ililonga, Keith Mlevhu and Paul Ngozi. The package also features an extensive, photo-filled booklet contains an overview of the Zamrock scene and Nyoni's story."

"Currently deep into his 5th exceptionally active decade as an essential jazz artist, William Parker needs no introduction. However, one of the intrinsic aspects of his oeuvre that bears repeated mention is the vast range thereof. From era-defining statements of free music to soul-jazz organ quartet; from his seamless incorporation of indigenous folk forms to his exhilarating work for jazz orchestra; from the joyous accessibility of his Quartet to his nuanced scoring for dance and film. And this new work! A treasure box abounding with gems, Voices Fall From The Sky is an expansive 3CD Box Set comprising three distinct and complementary albums whose focus is on the voice: the singers, 17 of whom are featured herein -&- the songs, all composed (and produced) by William Parker. Half of the material are brand new recordings and half are Parker-curated selections of previously released material either long unavailable or presented in new form. Accompaniment on these 34 pieces ranges as widely as the voices, from duet to large ensemble. A multitude of approaches are employed: art song to operatic, pop sensibilities to gospel, heart-stopping ballads to dance numbers, silence to exuberance. The lyrical content expresses love of nature and its vital importance to a whole life, compassion, anti-oppression, anti-violence of any kind, praise of the creative spirit, and, Love. These themes are foundational in all of Parker's work; the forefront spotlight through a multitude of expressive voices makes them that much more salient. Album/CD1 features all-new work predominately recorded & mixed during December 2017 and January 2018. Featured singers: Timna Comedi - Morley Shanti Kamen - Amirtha Kidambi - Kyoko Kitamura - Bernardo Palombo - Omar Payano - Jean Carla Rodea - Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez - Fay Victor - Andrea Wolper. Accompanists: Karen Borca - Angelo Branford - Rob Brown - Gerald Cleaver - Jean Cook - Jason Kao Hwang - Masahiko Kono - William Parker - Dave Sewelson - Heru Shabaka-Ra - Steve Swell - Dario Acosta Teich - Eri Yamamoto. Album/CD2 is comprised of duets and focuses on three singers with whom Parker has had decades-long creative relationships with. Vintage recordings with Ellen Christi and Lisa Sokolov from the early 1990s which have been unavailable for far too long are here re-contextualized together with more recent work with Leena Conquest. Accompanists: Yuko Fujiyama - Cooper-Moore - William Parker - Eri Yamamoto. Album/CD3 presents the voice within large ensemble and features new iterations of previously released work together with a brand-new suite/recording entitled 'The Blinking of the Ear', performed by mezzo-soprano opera singer AnnMarie Sandy. The previously released work features the singers Ernie Odoom, Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay and Leena Conquest. Accompaniment is by four very different versions of the William Parker Orchestra, and his Double Quartet. The one exception is the brand-new suite, which features Eri Yamamoto: piano and Leonid Galaganov: drums, although how they and AnnMarie Sandy fill the silence is practically orchestral."

Double LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Heldon's third album Third (It's Always Rock 'N' Roll), originally released on Disjuncta in 1975. Third album from the French space-rock electro combo masterminded by Richard Pinhas. Heldon's darkest work lays another stone in their sonic mosaic: synths, drones, fuzz, and trippy improvisations. There's something wicked happening on Heldon's third album It's Always Rock And Roll. Richard Pinhas's essential attack of searing guitar and space-bound synthesizer didn't change radically after the first two Heldon albums, 1974's Electronique Guerilla (BB 280CD/LP) and 1975's Allez-Teia (BB 281CD/LP). But there's dark energy coursing through this double album, a chilly aura that makes even the quietest pieces shiver with tension. "At this time, I tried to turn Heldon into a darker band," Pinhas admits. "But dark is not negative to me." The darkness of It's Always Rock And Roll is more about exploring what's hidden and overturning convention -- about diving beneath bright surfaces to find something more mysterious. If It's Always Rock And Roll stands up in Heldon's catalog, perhaps it's due to expansion -- both in the sense of big ideas and lengthy durations. Most tracks last over seven minutes, and two are side-covering epics. "I think the length of a track is part of the creation of the track," says Pinhas. "There are imperatives. You can do something very complex with a lot of events in four minutes, and then some other things need to be done very slowly. You have to do the length that it demands." "We recorded this after having met with Philip K. Dick in California for two days," recalls Pinhas. "It was such an event for a 23-year old; he was to me one of the last real prophets. We talked about Jung, we talked about a lot of things. Maybe this encounter gave birth to all of Heldon Third." So the sci-fi master spawned a dark audio creation to rival his own work. Like the Heldon albums that precede it, It's Always Rock And Roll is undoubtedly Pinhas' baby. But its depth-probing sounds earned it a godfather, too. 2018 remaster by Willem Makkee.

From the liner notes by Hans-Peter Schulz; Translation by Peter Gebert: "... SOLO II: Solo II is part of a group of works with the title Buch der Stille 1 ('Book of Silence 1'). This is a series of solo pieces for flute/oboe da cacchia (solo I), trombone/bassoon (solo II), organ (solo III), low string instrument (solo IV), and piano (solo V), all of which were developed from the same compositional idea; the series is a generalisation of disappearing musics, itself a composition for three winds, two strings and two pianos written between 1989 and 1991. The individual solo-compositions can be performed separately, as well as in all combinations simultaneously. After Jakob Ullman had met John Cage in person on the occasion of a Cage festival organised by the Deutschlandfunk in 1990, this encounter developed into a lengthy and intensive exchange of ideas which had considerable impact on the compositional process that Ullmann was concerned with at the time, specifically of soli I, II and III, finished in 1992. The pieces can therefore be rightly considered as a reflection and result of this exchange of ideas . . . MÜNTZERS STERN (MÜNTZER'S STAR): Between 2014 and 2016 Jakob Ullmann composed the orchestral work steine, feuer, sterne ('stones, fire, stars'). . . . One section among these is the section for a solo bassoon, which may be performed independently under the title 'Müntzers stern'. Thomas Müntzer, born around 1490, was a keen supporter of the Lutheran Reformation. . . . After the battle near Frankenhausen, Müntzer was captured, tortured and eventually beheaded. As a priest, he strove for the renewal of divine service and translated liturgical texts and hymns from Latin to German even before Luther. The title Müntzers stern refers to the Advent hymn Gott heil'ger Schöpfer aller Stern, a translation of the medieval hymn conditor alme siderum done by Müntzer as part of this work. Ullmann spread the melody of the hymn over the total duration of the composition in a very prolonged manner. In the course of this process, the six different tone pitches of the hymn, which are heard either being sung or as an emphasised partial within the bassoon's spectrum, are supplemented by another six tones, played ordinario on the bassoon, those still missing in the twelve-tone space, until the chromatic scale is completely filled in ..."

Far Out Recordings present a reissue of Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos's self-titled album, originally released in 1974. Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos was a band formed by prolific and multi-talented Brazilian comedians Chico Anysio and Arnaud Rodrigues. Satirizing Brazil's tropicalia movement in the 1970s, the duo took a friendly crack at the likes of Caetano Veloso and psychedelic rockers Novos Baianos, with their righteous tropicalista alter-egos "Baiano" and "Paulinho Boca de Profeta" poetically denouncing the dictatorship while simultaneously mocking those who took themselves too seriously. Jazz funk legends Azymuth play backing band with keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami also responsible for the arrangements on the album. Azymuth's free and funky psych sounds combine with accordion, harmonica, brass, and plenty of rural Brazilian rhythms, for a hugely varied album drawing on MPB, funk, and soulful samba rock. The album also features Orlandivo who co-wrote many of the songs, and renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer Durval Ferreira. 180 gram vinyl.

After a series of mythic reissues, (Pole, Marie Et Les Garçons, etc.) Gonzaï Records confronts a French production legend: Bernard Estardy. The album Fragments D'une Empreinte Magnétique is a collection of 12 originals, rare and collectable songs, composed and recorded by the producer between 1966 and the year of his passing, 2006. If you don't know him by his real name, you might know him under the nickname: "The Giant". Whether you're aware of it or not you've certainly heard his music, leaving behind him over 1,500 songs, some of which have made history. Bernard Estardy started by playing in Parisian jazz clubs as a young pianist backing great acts such as Bill Coleman or Nancy Sinatra. After becoming an expert on the keys, his next adventure was playing the organ for Nino Ferrer and creating the riffs which are known today as classics. You've guessed it, behind the songs "Mirza" or "Les Cornichons"; it's Bernard. Nino Ferrer being like a volcano, always on the edge about to blow, Estardy co-founded the CBE Studio in 1969 -- one of Paris's legendary studios. There, the most popular songs and albums of the French repertoire were recorded from François Hardy's "Comment Te Dire Adieu" to Manset's "La Mort d'Orion", even Bert Jansch or Lee Hazlewood visited the studio. CBE has been the home of many great acts from Johnny Hallyday to Serge Gainsbourg, and one way or the another, the very man behind the mixing desk is responsible for more than 400 million record sales all over the world. Impressive, right? As a tinkerer of tunes for many others, he forgot to sell his own talent. He secretly recorded two albums and made more than a hundred instrumentals, all of which were kept in storage for years. Until now. His style? A mix of post-jerk, library music and cosmic disco. Fragments D'une Empreinte Magnétique reveals the story of his mysterious life: a collection of originals songs, some of them forgotten, but they all have the The Giant's signature sound.

Ectoplasm Girls' Nadine Byrne lures listeners into woozy mental states on Dreaming Remembering, her soundtrack to a short film of the same name, providing a solo follow-up to A Different Gesture: Collected Soundtracks 2011-2012 (2014), and her first outing since Ectoplasm Girls' New Feeling Come (2016), which were both issued by Joachim Nordwall's ever-adventurous iDEAL Recordings. One of three Stockholm-based Byrne sisters along with Tanya, her partner in Ectoplasm Girls, and Ambra, who has recently provided EG's live visuals, Nadine Byrne operates at the intersection of intuitive sonic and visual arts. Where Ectoplasm Girls tend to a bewitched sort of industrial experimentation, Nadine's personal work is defined in terms of its relative, mutable electronic sleight of hand, with vocals handled by the mysterious Sarah Kim. As the title connotes, Dreaming Remembering is about intimate reflection and the space between awareness and uncertainty of recollection. In that noumenal gooch, Nadine works an incredible freeform, uncluttered sound best resembling the illusive nature of dreams and their elusive memory. In her mind and out of her machines, they feel out a spectrum ranging from mirage-like vignettes like "Atlas" through to curdled proto-techno buzzes and grubby drone intonations with wickedly possessed vocals. Extracted from the visuals, they patently work well as a dissociated body of work in their own right, with a cumulative effect that mesmerizes and unsettles throughout the album, bringing you out at the other end in a way that feels like you've just walked out of a darkened cinema into dusk, with the strange effect of the preceding visuals and a story you can't untangle still lingering like a pleasurably strange mental fug that's hard to shake or decipher. Singular sound and vision somewhere between Laurie Anderson, James Ferraro, and Ryan Trecartin. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. Edition of 500.

Sote aims to devise an idealized fusion of the musical heritage and tradition of Iran with the forward-thinking vision which has propelled his storied career producing techno, hardcore, and computer music for labels like Warp, Ge-stell, Morphine, and Repitch. Now living in Tehran, his music has frequently grappled with the strict cultural restrictions imposed in his country over the past few decades, finding a space and setting to nurture new developments in experimental sound and performance. Working with Arash Bolouri, who plays the santour (Persian hammered dulcimer), and Behrouz Pashaei on the long-necked, four-string setar, Sote frames and responds to their traditional artistry. On occasions he directly manipulates the music emanating from their ancient instruments, cultivating, and thickening up a surreal and beautiful tonality plucked from their strings with a series of processing techniques, but mostly each track is a peaceful arrangement and partnership, Sote electro-acoustically augmenting their movements within his own cybernetic framework. Unusual color and complex microtonality found in the classical music of Iran. Blurts of noise, sour tones, and a vaguely technoid or dub-wise impression expose the inner rhythm and counterpoint embedded in this strummed music. Emotional, mathematical and polyrhythmic principles underpinning Persian music, the record reveals a dramatic blend of acoustic Persian instrumentation and contemporary electronics. Artwork by Ala Ebtekar.

Clear, 180 gram vinyl; Edition of 500. Something Else is the first full-length offering from The Brian Jonestown Massacre in 2018. A self-titled full-length album is to follow in the fall of 2018. This is the 17th full-length release from the band, and the style is less experimental and returns to the traditional sound of the band. Recorded between 2017 and 2018, this nine-track album will please old and new fans alike. In 2017 the band did a brief tour of the US and Mexico City to support the band's 2017 album release, Don't Get Lost (AUK 040CD/LP), a relatively quiet year for the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

"Levitate is the Fall's 19th album originally released in 1997 on Artful Records. It has been out of print for a number of years now and is much sought after by fans. It's the last album to feature two long-time Fall members, drummer Karl Burns and bass player Steve Hanley (whose playing was once described by Smith as the defining element of the group's music). The album was initially going to be produced by Keir Stewart and Simon Spencer (who previously collaborated with Smith under the moniker D.O.S.E. on the 1995 single 'Plug Myself In'). Most of the recordings took place at Edwyn Collins' studio in West Hampstead. However, Stewart and Spencer soon fell out with Smith over payments and left after a week, taking most of the tapes with them. The only tracks from these sessions to make the album were '4½ Inch' (allegedly edited out of samples of a rehearsal recording), 'Spencer', later re-dubbed by Smith as 'Spencer Must Die', and 'The Quartet of Doc Shanley'. This re-issue has been re-mastered by long term Fall engineer Andy Pearce and features new sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea."

Diagonal whack out a demented début dosage from unknown operator Handy, who probes a queered zone between the bandy-legged funk of Cylob and the sound of Evol on a bender with SOPHIE. Each track says its piece in a pop-wise blatz of daftness at the recommended 45rpm, which becomes only sleazier, stickier at 33rpm, if the mood takes you. Up top, that results in the comically tart and ruddy juzz-fank spanking of "Oink" and the speedy elastic scramble of "Stretch", whilst underneath you'll catch the hyper-colored splash-back of "Spit" and the nutty Talk Box workout, "Dump".

"This production is a collaborative effort of Jakarta-based DIVISI62 and DISK (Berlin). It features 4 tracks by the constituents of DIVISI62. All artworks were delivered by DIVISI62, the covers were silkscreen-printed in Bandung, Indonesia and the inner sleeves are stamped in Berlin. The approach to rhythm and dramaturgy on all tracks is rather unique and original - and so are the samples used. DIVISI62 draws from the rich musical heritage of Indonesia in terms of rhythm and sound yet the producers are heavily influenced by global club culture and bass-music. This combination adds up for the most intriguing listening experience: Strange virtual spaces mixing with all-too-real ones, creating a hyperreal spatial feel in which musical structures unfold in a highly unpredictable and deeply entrancing way!"

In pursuit of hardcore techno ballistics and mutant metal alloys, The I Is Nothing marks five years of Samuel Kerridge releases on Regis' Downwards. Serpentine stinger "Silent Notes" is a roiling combo of EBM drums and divebombing Reese bass, while "Fascination Sustain" strips down to a scudding sort of electro-techno IDM pressure recalling Oberman Knocks or Bitstream's Adapta gear. Isis frontman Aaron Turner infects "Propagates Of Desire" with masochistic lyrics buried deep in Kerridge's matrix of recoiling EBM kicks and Stuka synth drones, then "Actuality Repeats" stretches out in a hollowed sphere of 150bpm electro and spectral gloom.

"The Chicago-based string genius Joshua Abrams first talked to us about the idea of this album a while back. It took a couple of years to get together, but in a way, it's cool that it's being released in 2018 -- the 50th anniversary of the recording of the first free bass solo LP, Barre Phillips' Journal Violone. Issued by Opus One in the U.S., Music Man in the UK (as Unaccompanied Barre), and Futura in France (as Basse Barre), Phillips' groundbreaking album was a gorgeous and gritty exploration of textures that are usually bound deep inside the creative flow of unit improvisation. Hearing these sonorities explored, at length, without extraneous gabble was revelatory, but not easy to replicate. I could only think of a dozen other LPs of the stuff that have been done in the intervening years (CDs don't count)*. But Abrams is undaunted by such shit. Anyone who has seen him play or listened to him on record knows he has an aggressively wide palette and a fearless drive to explore new regions of sound. The tones on Excavations 1 have a much gnarlier feel than many of the tones Joshua explores inside group dynamics. Almost more like some of the bassists associated with avant garde composition (Bertram Turetzky, Fernando Grillo, etc.), Abrams' work here is about pushing against accepted precepts of melody and rhythm, freeing the bass from its accepted role, and allowing it to scream for real." --Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 500.

* 1974, Alan Silva - Inner Song (Center of the World); 1974, Harry Miller - Children at Play (Ogun); 1975, Kent Carter - Beauvais Cathedral (Emanem); 1976, Henri Texier - Amir (Eurodisc); 1976 - Fernando Grillo - Fluvine (Cramps); 1977, Henry Texier - Varech (Eurodisc); 1978, Dave Holland - Emerald Tears (ECM); 1978, Brother Malachi Favors - Magoustos Natural & Spiritual (AECO); 1980, Roberto Miguel Miranda - The Creator's Musician (Nimbus West); 1985, Joëlle Léandre - ‎Sincerely (Plainisphare); 1986, Miroslav Vitous - Emergence (ECM); 1988, Klaus Koch - Basse Partout (Creative Works).

"Our last Big Blood release was the idiosyncratic Ant Farm, Colleen and Caleb's collaboration with the late composer Elliott Schwartz, which presented music designed for a museum installation. With Operate Spaceship Earth Properly, Big Blood return to the vast universe of strangeness they explore inside their own skin. Now fully incorporating the vocals and guitar of their daughter Quinnisa (previously a 'secret weapon' unveiled mostly at live shows, as the Dictators once did with Handsome Dick Manitoba), Big Blood sound nutsier and wilder than ever. Spaceship Earth is a massively psychedelic investigation of science fiction, science fact and the mythic spot where they reconcile. Specifically referring to the work of writers such as Octavia Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin and Buckminster Fuller, the music mixes the thunder of riff-thuggery with vocals beamed in from planet Comus and beat-slaps equally indebted to the Purple Revolutionary and the Neue Deutsche Welle. The combination is head-spinning and gloriously original but will be immediately identifiable as Big Blood by anyone who knows the band's music. I mean, it's so freaking strange and so freaking Maine, who else could it be?" --Byron Coley, 2018

Deep TR-808 bass meets pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices, and futurist visions. AMMAR 808 was the sonic mastermind behind the Tunisian sensation: Bargou 08. On his debut release, Maghreb United, featuring the singers Mehdi Nassouli (Morocco), Sofiane Saidi (Algeria), and Cheb Hassen Tej (Tunisia), he connects the two to offer a radical, electronic reinvention of ancient North African music. AMMAR 808 started the project in 2017, after working with the lauded Bargou 08, searching for something to link the sense of what has been with what will be. "I'm trying to weave threads from folklore and mythology into futurism. And I'm not necessarily projecting a positive image; from all we can see, things aren't going in the right direction. What I hope is that it will raise an alarm." Yet there's also plenty of hope here. With singers from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, songs from the Targ, Gnawa, and Raï histories, and a TR-808 alongside a distorted gumbri (Nassouli), gasba flute, and zokra bagpipes (Lassaed Bougalmi), this is an album that reaches out to encompass the entire Maghreb area of North Africa. "In the past the Maghreb was one huge region, yet very diverse within its borders. But today, the world keeps every person separated. The album isn't so much about a united Maghrebi region, but how we can connect while observing our differences -- our differences are also our connection -- and using them to unify as humans." The choice of songs was also very deliberate for AMMAR 808, with nine of the ten cuts taken from the deep tradition. The idea for Maghreb United (which is also the name for the album's performing group) has long been burning in AMMAR 808, but it burst into flame after the musician and producer met all the singers on his regular trips in the region, before returning home to start building the tracks. The deep, rumbling growl of the gumbri, the dry, airy tenderness of the gasba, and the softly slithering zokra give a powerful North African root to the music, a thread that spins back through centuries. And the singers burn with fire and grace and passion.

Double LP version. "The Legendary Pink Dots' classic Shadow Weaver is now presented in a 2018 Remastered & Expanded version. Reflecting the Dots moving away from their electronic-based origin, organic instruments knit rich yet fragile tapestry throughout. Still as vital & relevant as band's primary influences -- Can, Faust, Neu & Meddle-era Pink Floyd, Shadow Weaver shows the bands mastery of psychedelic sound designs."

"Audiophile reissue, transferred directly from Axelrod's original EQ'ed master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster. Axelrod's debut, and a '60s masterpiece. Celebrated as psychedelic, the birth of jazz-fusion, the harbinger of hip-hop, Song of Innocence is a hybrid that no one, not even Axelrod himself, could describe. Grounded by Wrecking Crew vets Earl Palmer and Carol Kaye's funk, torn between the juxtaposition of musical elements, put at ease, Axelrod's sweeping arrangements, which utilize brass and strings in a way that no one of his era did. It's both violent and sublime. This is the first Now-Again issue in a series of reissues centered around Axelrod's Capitol Trilogy -- Song of Innocence, Songs of Experience and Earth Rot -- which will see release through 2018. Contains oversized, 32-page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos."

"When Ruff Draft saw its initial release in 2003, J Dilla possessed production skills on par with anyone in hip-hop -- technically and creatively. 'At the top of his game,' says longtime friend and collaborator, Karriem Riggins. After years of building while modestly deferring to others of both greater and lesser notoriety, Dilla finally completed the first solo endeavor on his own label, entirely on his own terms. The significance of such an autonomous success often gets overlooked, and partly accounts for why Ruff Draft is one of the lesser-referenced entries in Dilla's oeuvre. 'It's a mysterious little project,' says his mother, Maureen Yancey. 'But out of his entire career, that was the happiest time.' Prior to recording the EP, Dilla found himself at a crossroads. Estranged from his label, MCA, and separated from the mother of his youngest daughter, frustration abounded both personally and professionally. Dilla spent parts of 2002 and 2003 working on an album for MCA that featured his rapping over contributions from other producers with whom he had connected and whose music he respected. At the time, he was known primarily for his beats, yet reviled for his MCing by most anyone not from his hometown of Detroit. The project was to be an intentional freak of the industry. The project would go on to spur his collaborative album with Madlib, Jaylib, and would first showcase the template that he would take to his greatest heights with 2006's Donuts. The Stones Throw reissue of Ruff Draft from 2008 featured remixes of the songs from the album, done without Dilla's involvement. This version of the album takes Dilla's recently discovered mixes of the album and restores his vision for the project."

"Bernd Witthuser and Walter Westrupp have been active in the German folk scene since the 1960s. After Witthuser had co-organized the Essener Songtage (feat. The Mothers of Invention, Amon Düül, Guru Guru etc.) in 1968, the two musicians joined forces in June 1969 to a folk duo with psychedelic impact. (The duo can be counted on the very popular genre of acid folk then, where bands such like The Incredible String Band, Fresh Maggots, Syd Barrett and Tea & Symphony belonged to). First they called themselves W & W's Pop Cabaret, in 1970 they changed their name to Witthuser & Westrupp. The duo existed from 1969 to 1973, lived and worked together and also worked in sessions by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser at this time, which appeared on several albums under the band name Cosmic Jokers. The third and most successful LP Der Jesuspilz - Musik vom Evangelium was produced in August 1971 in the wake of the Jesus movement. It was based on the book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Marco Allegro. The basic idea for this LP was to reinterpret the Bible. Thus, the 'Brosel' (engl. crumb) was declared the essence of life, and Jesus addresses his disciples as 'boys'. Biblical texts were musically translated and interpreted by Witthuser & Westrupp. The world premiere of 'Der Jesuspilz' took place on 25.11.1971 in the apostle church in Essen. The media response was huge, so that the duo then appeared in over a hundred churches in Germany and at German television. The songs on this album were recorded at the public rehearsal in the JZ (Youth Center) Essen a few days before the first church performance. A true historical sound document! Unfortunately, Bernd Witthüser could not live the release of this record, he died in August 2017!"

2018 repress; Double LP version. DJ-friendly edition. Harmonies is the new long-player from underground super-producer Lord Echo. Hotly anticipated for years by his growing entourage of fans, the new album solidifies his already distinctive mutations of reggae and rock steady with disco, African soul, techno, and spiritual jazz. In other words, the Lord has returned from the wilderness with a bounty for his followers.

In the late '80s, a now legendary LP by the name of Forbidden City Dogfood was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. What few folks knew was that Forbidden City Dogfood was actually less than half of the compilation made by Cramps frontman Lux Interior. Here, for the very first time, the entire recording is now available. Fully complete and weighing in at well over an hour of crazy, whacky sounds from the Maestro of Mad himself. Remastered from the original source, these obscure rockabilly, surf, and R&B tracks will wow you now as they did then -- interspersed with B-movie trailer clips and wigged-out voice-overs, you just know it's better than good! Features J Buck & The Blazers, The Kingpins, Florence Pepper, Jack Costanzo, Rick McGuire, Homer Denison Jr., Rod McKuen, The Dynamos, The Phantoms, The Sliders, Wes Dakus & The Rebels, The Rivingtons, The Sparkles, The Merced Blue Notes, Grady O'Neal, Andre Williams, The Crystals, Kenny Henkle's Friends, The Invictas, Buddy Miller, and J.J. Jackson. 2x10" in an edition of 1,000.

LP version. Includes full-size insert and download code; Edition of 400. Tal present the first reissue of Konrad Kraft's Arctica, originally released on cassette on SDV Tonträger in 1987 in a handmade edition of about 50 copies. Pioneering production from the Düsseldorf mid '80s electronic underground world. Transferred for the first ever time from the original cassette to vinyl and CD. Konrad Kraft (Detlef Funder) is one of the still overlooked producers of Düsseldorf's fertile electronic music scene. Reduced to its essential musical elements, Arctica certainly contains some of the most uncategorizable and bewildering pieces of mid-eighties electronic music. Set between the areas of post punk and early techno, the album undulates between analog as well as digital instrumentation. After Konrad Kraft's appearance on the enthusiastically received compilation Sammlung: Elektronische Kassettenmusik, Dusseldorf 1982-1989 (BB 236CD/LP, 2017). Cassettes were the medium of choice for self-produced recordings at the time. At the time of the Arctica sessions, the newly set up SDV studio consisted of a Tascam 38, an eight-track tape recorder, and only a handful of synthesizers such as a Roland JX3P and a Korg Monopoly. The style of Konrad Kraft's productions displayed (ever since and up until today), a strong adherence to an idea of continual self-creation and a quality of wanting to be responsible for one's own identity. Even three decades after its recording, Arctica still evokes images of an expedition into an edgy cold place which has strange wonders, polar lights, structures of ice and innumerable worlds and creatures in store. Konrad Kraft (who today runs Paraschall mastering studios): "In the early '70s I got a transistor radio as a gift and immediately fell in love with the shortwaves. So many different sounds that was truly fascinating. I can imagine that nowadays as music is endlessly compressed to fit into mobile phones and as music on the radio sounds dreadfully the same, there might be a renewed interest by a young generation in discovering electronic sounds. I can listen to Arctica much better now than when it originally came out, because there is a distance which allows me to approach the recordings on a more neutral plane . . . Arctica seems to sound even more contemporary today than it did in 1987."

"Born Lee Bradley Conley, the revered blues musician Big Bill Broonzy first picked up performing at the early age of 10, playing a violin made from a cigar box. He switched from fiddle to guitar in the 1920s, after returning from a two-year World War Two service in Europe, and immediately leaving his home in Arkansas for Chicago, sensing opportunity. From there, Broonzy immediately set to work establishing himself, performing at various parties and social gatherings. Throughout the late 20s and into the 1930s, Broonzy's fortunes gradually increased as word spread of his talents. During this time he recorded numerous singles for classic blues labels like Paramount, Gennett, Champion, and Vocalion, and began to regularly perform in Chicago's South Side venues. Broonzy was one of the few classic bluesmen to record with a full band, but he particularly defined himself from his peers through the remarkable range and power to his singing voice, which served him well as blues started to give way to the earliest incarnations of R&B music. Big Bill Broonzy also set himself apart from his contemporaries into the 1940s. Many of the progenitor bluesmen of the time had given up music during the Great Depression, but Broonzy persisted, and continued to evolve his sound beyond traditional country blues. During this time, Broonzy would record one of his best-known singles, 'Key To The Highway', (a blues standard which would also be covered by Little Walter, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones) and set the stage for a new wave of blues performers, and later rock and rollers, by being among the first of his genre to introduce electric instrumentation into his act. The 1950s were a banner year for traditional folk and country blues, where renewed interest in the styles led to new audiences in England and America. As numerous classic bluesmen began to come out of retirement to perform, Broonzy was already several steps ahead, having found success as part of a touring folk revue, and was featured alongside legendary folk singers such as Pete Seeger and Brownie McGhee. He continued to perform across folk and jazz clubs earning critical praise and standing ovations up to his death in 1958, having left behind an indelible blues legacy that inspired a wealth of legends, from Muddy Waters to Eric Clapton to Jerry Garcia."

"One of Treader's most requested recordings sees the great UK free saxophonist Evan Parker on soprano and tenor saxophones, duetting with European birdsong. A fitting tribute to his friend, the celebrated soprano saxophone player Steve Lacy, who died in the year of its initial release."

Echocord launches the sub-label Echo Echo with the Dream Observer EP from Grad_U. The release opens with "Jacob's Dream", fifteen minutes of subtly modulating synth glitches, ethereal synth drones, sweeping atmospherics, and dubby echoes, creating a hypnotic, ever-unfolding composition. "Observing The Night Sky" then follows on the flip side with thunderous kick drums, rumbling low-end pulses, wandering dub chords, and bubbling glitches all subtly nuanced throughout the tracks ten-minute duration.

"Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a new re-mastered and expanded edition of the legendary album First Utterance by Comus. Released in February 1971 on Pye Records' progressive rock label Dawn, First Utterance was a darkly stunning masterpiece by Comus, a group who arguably defy being classified in any genre. Too dark, loud and eccentric to be folk, but too unconventional to be classified as a rock band, the influence of Comus' work extended far beyond their short life. Mikael Akerfeldt of Swedish band Opeth was so enamored with the band that he named Opeth's 1998 album My Arms, Your Hearse from the lyrics of the Comus song 'Drip, Drip'. Featuring a line-up of Glen Goring (6-string Acoustic Guitar, 12 string Acoustic Guitar, Slide & Electric Guitar, Hand Drums & Vocals), Andy Hellaby (Bass), Colin Pearson (Violin & Viola), Roger Wooton (Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals) Rob Young (Flute, Oboe & Hand Drums) and Bobbie Watson (Vocals, Percussion), Comus were regular performers at David Bowie's Arts Lab in Beckenham, Kent in 1969. Earning a reputation on the UK college and university live music circuit, Comus signed to Dawn Records in 1970, releasing the album First Utterance and the 'Diana' maxi single in 1971 before falling apart. Their 1971 album later attained a significant cult following and is regarded as one of the most interesting and influential releases on the Dawn label. This expanded and re-mastered reissue includes four bonus tracks taken from the 'Diana' maxi-single, along with the song 'All the Colours of Darkness', recorded during the First Utterance sessions. The booklet restores the original album artwork and features an essay by Malcolm Dome and interviews with band members."

Far Out Recordings present a reissue of Azambuja & Cia's self-titled album, originally released in 1975. In 1975, the prolific and multi-talented Brazilian comedians Chico Anysio and Arnaud Rodrigues recorded an album based on the protagonist of one of their most celebrated TV series. Sporting a dodgy moustache and an equally troubling haircut, Carioca conman Paulo Maurício Azambuja (played by Anysio) would flog his own mother's leg if he could, and his ever-ridiculous scams are inevitably always destined to fail. This soundtrack/musical reimagining of the series combines jazz-funk with samba soul and MPB, with the help of cult Brazilian trio Azymuth, keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami, who arranged the album alongside renowned conductor and composer Jose Menezes, elevates the groovy odd-ball sound to another dimension, with his set up including Fender Rhodes, Arp Strings, Arp Omni, Clavinet, and Hammond organ. Remaining Azymuth members Ivan Conti (drums) and Alex Malheiros (bass) provide the signature Azymuth foundation, and saxophone prodigy Victor Assis Brasil and legendary multi-instrumentalist producer Durval Ferreira also feature. As well as its distinctly comedic character, what makes the music so special is the coming together of traditional samba roots, and Azymuth's ahead-of-its-time psychedelic funk influence. Each side ends with a comedy monolog, complete with live audience laughter, but before that you get seven tracks of weird and wonderfully emotive Brazilian groove music. 180 gram vinyl.

Weeed's debut for Important Records, titled This, has an expansive musical vision and an astonishingly mature sound from a young band. Despite their relatively young ages Weeed has been together for ten years -- a fact made apparent by the fluidity and unity of their sound. Labels such as stoner/psych/jam/alt/krautrock fall short as the band draws from a deeper pool of inspiration including gnawa, traditional folk, jazz, minimalist orchestras, overtone singing, and much more. This is the product of both a desire to make such influences more apparent as well as a desire to explore the boundaries of the members' abilities to connect with each other; to become, in essence, one mind. Though the skeleton of the album was written during practices, the dynamics and fullness of each song were often reconnoitered and spawned through the improvisations which occurred during live settings and tours. The idea was discovery through the act of being present, and This was the result. Sonically, This is an outgrowth of their last release, Meta (2017), which saw the band beginning to experiment with ambient and vocal looping, flutes, synthesizers. Those explorations are present here, as is the notable (and permanent) addition of a second drummer, which is defined through the mixtures of tight syncopations and pulsing polyrhythms present in these songs. Recorded and produced at Bear Creek studio in Woodinville, WA, This marks a shift in sound that will only lead to further exploration into new musical territory.

"These guys have a chemistry that allows them to oscillate between highly structured rock songs and psychedelic free-form jams without and inhibitions." --More Fuzz

"The search for Seattle's freakiest psych-rock band may be over." --Dave Segal, The Stranger

Double LP version. Martyn releases the new album Voids, his first for Ostgut Ton. Over the course of 2017, Dutch-born, Washington D.C.-based producer Martyn had undergone a metamorphosis -- one that began with a medical emergency and has dovetailed into personal musical transformation. Having narrowly avoided death after suffering a heart attack, Martyn reentered his studio and began a process of reassessing the elements that drive him to make music: sampling, unpredictability, melancholy, sci-fi, polyrhythms, texture, ecstatic moments, Detroit, interlocking percussion and bass. However, the initial spark to start producing again came through his experience listening to Max Roach's 1979 ensemble percussion album M'Boom. In his own words: "That was the first record I listened to in my studio after coming out of the hospital. It's a project where he works with a slew of top-notch percussionists and drummers and rotates them for every composition . . . I could hear so much space in the music, something I had never noticed before; almost like a 3D experience, with the most striking aspect being the emptiness between the players." Over the next eight months Martyn would go on to write Voids, his first LP for Ostgut Ton and in a few other ways markedly different than previous records; it features no guest appearances or collaborations and at nine tracks, is musically stripped down to the essentials. It's also a highly personal take on forging new paths forward in genres where the Berghain/Panorama Bar resident has long been known for his production wizardry and innovation: post-dubstep and UK garage. Voids is roughly split between these musical foundations, recontextualized with elements of Nyabinghi, drum 'n' bass, and gqom to form snarling, bass-driven hybrids. In contrast to his GL Outtakes (2017), Voids is also an attempt to work through personal trauma and loss, including the passing of close friend and fellow producer Marcus Intalex, aka Trevino, to whom the track "Manchester" is dedicated. The sound of Voids is big and unapologetically rough around the edges. It is music as therapy, drawing on the healing elements of music past, but is far from retrospective. Indeed, Martyn is no stranger to electronic futurism, as his numerous solo productions for Ostgut Ton, Dolly, Hyperdub, Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune, Warp, and his own 3024 label (with visual collaborator Jeroen Erosie) have shown. On Voids, however, these futuristic sonic qualities coalesce into something darker, more biographical and untethered from expectations.

Patrick Holland, AKA Project Pablo, and Montrealer Francis Latreille offer their second 12" as Jump Source.

LP version. Blues-rooted jazz from various hard-driving combos directed by Charles Mingus, one of the most powerful modern jazz masters, caught here at his '50s and early '60s creative peak. Includes selections from Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956), Blues And Roots (1959), Ah Um (1959), Oh Yeah (1961), and Mingus Dinasty (1959).

LP version. Radiation Roots present a reissue of Tetrack's Trouble, originally released in 1983. Roots harmony trio Tetrack formed in the Mountain View area of east Kingston in the early 1970s, borrowing the name from a local sound system (which had taken the moniker in reference to the Tetrarchy established by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the third century). Although Paul Mangaroo was the primary lead singer, Carlton Hines wrote most of their material and was the real figurehead of the group; Hines and Dave Harvey were typically employed as backing vocalists, but each also sang lead. A mutual friend introduced them to the visionary producer Augustus Pablo, leading to impressive debut recordings at Lee Perry's Black Ark and the stunning debut LP, Let's Get Started (1978). Despite the album's widespread acclaim, the lack of ready finance and slow pace at Pablo's Rockers stable led the group to shift base to Gussie Clarke's Music Works in 1983, with Hines also being employed as a songwriter for other artists there. The resultant album Trouble was cut for Gussie with Sly And Robbie, the engineer Soljie, and a range of other stellar players, including guitarist Willie Lindo, the material issued in extended "disco mix" format, to make the most of its captivating rhythms; British and Japanese editions complimented its initial Jamaican release.

Selva Discos kick off a new series of singles with a rare native Brazilian chant adapted by Marlui Miranda backed with a dancefloor friendly Joutro Mundo mix. The haunting, beautiful melody of "Tchori Tchori" couldn't get a better companion than the exquisite musical palette of Uakti, the great Brazilian instrumental groups who appeared alongside Maria Rita on Brasileira (OMSD 001LP). It's never been on a vinyl record before. On the B side, Brazilian DJ and producer Joutro Mundo (Jonas Rocha's alias), takes you on a journey reworking Marlui's groove with subtlety, extending the chant and adding just the right elements.