The Maciunas Ensemble was founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1968 as a free improvisational music group that set out to realize the score "Music for Everyman" by Fluxus initiator George Maciunas, which they interpreted as allowing total freedom in the sounds being produced. In the mid-1980s, after a number of personnel changes, the group settled on the line-up of artists Paul Panhuysen and Mario van Horrik, musician Jan van Riet, and scientist Leon van Noorden, which remained stable until Panhuysen's death in 2015. The group met and played on a regular basis, usually improvising on instruments that were at hand and recording every session. Before playing the next session, the previous recording was listened to and discussed. In 1980, the Eindhoven art initiative Het Apollohuis, also the home of Panhuysen and his family, became their home base, a place that subsequently gained fame for being one of the first and longest-running venues for sound art and experimental music in Europe. In the recent years, the Maciunas Ensemble has begun to go through its vast archive of recordings and to select material for publication that remained unreleased so far. The first bundle of archival recordings, dating from 1968 to 1980, was released on an 11-CD set on Apollo Records in 2012. For their 50th anniversary in 2018, the second part of archival recordings is to be published, its first instalment being this LP on Edition Telemark comprising unreleased tracks recorded between 1982 and 2012. More archival material will be released in digital format by the ensemble. This LP allows a glimpse into the musical directions the Maciunas Ensemble has been undergoing during those 30 years. Side A features "Ice Cream Man" and "Toxic Metals", two repetitive, thundering tracks from the early 1980s played on guitar, piano, and cello, and heavily inspired by minimalist rock and post-punk music. Side B contains four shorter tracks: "Russolution" (1985), played on self-built aluminum monochords, "Stamples" (2002), employing sampled voices, and "ZENder" (2009) and "Dèdeboum" (2012), both improvised tracks on vocals and a number of instruments. Standard edition of 250; brown Kraftpak sleeve with printed inner sleeve and liner notes by Mark van de Voort and Werner Durand.

Hence is the third collaborative release from Oren Ambarchi and Jim O'Rourke, following on from Behold (EMEGO 176LP, 2015). Building on the refined combination of electronics and acoustic instrumentation found on their previous releases, Hence presents two side-long pieces combining synthesizers, heavily effected guitar tones, and tabla rhythms played by special guest Uzhaan. On the first side, an explosive opening chord sends out ripples of sparse, irregularly pulsing guitar and synthesizer tones, aleatorically changing in pitch and jumping around the stereo image. Combined with the tabla, which gradually builds in busyness throughout the side, the piece is like a dream collaboration between David Behrman and the Henry Kaiser of It's A Wonderful Life (1984), gradually overtaken in its second half by a swarm of lush live electronic sizzle. The second side begins in a similar area, combining tabla, shimmering Leslie cabinet guitar tones, and a wandering melodic line. Undergoing a series of subtle variations, this initial area eventually builds to a climax of twittering synthesized birdsong reminiscent of Alvin Curran's '70s work. As on the first side, Ambarchi and O'Rourke craft a piece that is both comforting and subtly strange, as the constantly shifting dynamics and changes of focus (which recall the flow of improvised music) refuse to allow the music to settle into any one moment for too long or to build in too linear a fashion. Combining influences from post-minimalism, the pioneers of live electronics, and eastern music into a unique sound world, Hence is a seductive work from two of the most singular sensibilities in contemporary music. Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Photos by Traianos Pakioufakis. Sleeve/type design by Stephen O'Malley.

Since the release of their album Wonderland (LOVE 105JC-CD/105LP, 2016), Demdike Stare have been recording material for this new double album Passion; an asymmetric re-imagining of UK club styles taking in frenzied drum trax, shortwave jungle, pinging dancehall and clipped, post-punk riddims. During this time they've been busy curating their DDS label (releases from Shinichi Atobe, Mica Levi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, and Equiknoxx, among others) and have been commissioned by both the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) and the surviving members of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza to mine and rework their archives. Enlisting visual artist Michael England (Autechre, Gescom, Leila), they've created a cinematic accompaniment for their collaborative live shows, resulting in the image which adorns this cover - a hybrid/composite portrait exploring/questioning the current use of software in creating hyper reality and the manipulation of the self. The accompanying film includes documentary footage filmed at a Voguing event in NYC, a Blackpool promenade and a Newark, New Jersey roller rink, the end result smudging the lines between live performance, documentary and sonic cinema. It's an idea that's echoed on Passion, continuing a process Demdike began on their Testpressing series of dismantling lines between analog and digital realms, between urban realism and fantasy, between experimental, pop and soundsystem cultures. An outlandish configuration of avant-garde and ultimately functional club weapons designed and honed for the weightiest bassbins, it's also their most direct and fucked up record to date -- a raucous, joyful 9-track smash that comes off like a night on a glamorous, neon-lit bender. Mastered by Matt Colton. RIYL: Errorsmith, Príncipe, Dem 2, Jon E Cash, Wiley, Joy Division, DJ Scud, Equiknoxx, Anthony 'Shake' Shakir, Bernard Parmegiani. High-gloss varnish sleeve.

LP version; Comes in a heavy, '60s style tip-on cover. Sparrow Nights is the first studio album from the furious duo of pedal steel player Heather Leigh and saxophone legend Peter Brötzmann. Their collaboration has quickly gained a well-earned reputation for their cutting-edge music and frenetic but sensuous playing. Recorded and mastered in Vienna by Martin Siewert. Features artwork by Brötzmann.

"There is complexity in simplicity, and Sparrow Nights is Brötzmann and Leigh's most enduring record to date. A series of emotionally rich and boldly elucidated tonal and timbral exchanges played like compositions on pedal steel and reeds, the tracks (released as a six-track LP and ten- track CD) are cold-forged minimalist blues motifs dragged from instrumental laments. After three years playing together Brötzmann and Leigh's connection and understanding is by now both cerebral and deeply invested in the physical and sensory possibilities of their combined sound, while retaining a melancholic distance. Within this duo there is fluidity - neither is the anchor - and these recordings sound with as much variety as the sea. At times Sparrow Nights carries the clarity and poeticism of still water and open horizon ("This Word Love"), and at others it contains the elemental and ferocious roar of white water breakers on black rocks ("This Time Around"). On their previous three live albums (Ears Are Filled With Wonder (TROST 147LP, 2016), Sex Tape (TROST 163CD, 2017), and Crowmoon (2018)), the duo have developed an intimate and intense language that manifests here as a focus on power and control, where figures blasted of unnecessary decoration are drawn from the shadows and smoke of collapse. The studio setting also allows Brötzmann to bring a broader range of reeds than in live scenarios: where previously he has played primarily tenor, clarinet and tarogato with Leigh, here he delivers the heat of alto and the low pressure of bass saxophone and clarinet. Brötzmann's duo with Leigh continues to trace a fresh new arc in his trajectory, and this release also falls at a time when Leigh releases Throne (EMEGO 257CD/LP), her most song-based record to date. Here as a studio duo they play a new-old blues for times of complexity, noise and chaos, continuing to redefine and re-sound possibilities for improvised music."--JLA.

Ted Lucas, the sole published album by singer-songwriter and master guitarist Ted Lucas has achieved an almost mystical reputation amongst aficionados and collectors. Ted Lucas is a seamless marriage of moody odes and raga-style instrumentals regarded by many to be, simply put, the greatest private press folk/psych album ever recorded. Lucas was a fixture in the Detroit rock scene of the sixties and seventies. His first band, The Spike Drivers, relocated to San Francisco to become one of the very first true psych bands, the Motor City's answer to Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds. Following that band's collapse, Lucas returned to Detroit and paid bills doing session work with Motown. And there he recorded, in 1972, the demo for Warner Brothers which would become Ted Lucas, released in two private editions in 1975 and known informally to friends and family as "The OM Album", after Lucas' own label. The album was released with artwork by the legendary Stanley Mouse originally created for Jimi Hendrix. A troubled figure whose lack of commercial capitalization and general disgust with the music business fueled a tragic narrative of self-destruction and an untimely death at 53, Lucas nevertheless reflects a regal confidence on this album, both in terms of his Sandy Bull-level guitar workouts and his masterful songwriting, as reflected in covers by the Blind Boys of Alabama, Richard Buckner, Phil Cook, and Father John Misty. As singular as Skip Spence's Oar (1969), as liminal and uncanny as David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971), Ted Lucas is a collection of elevated and elegiac cosmic folk music, presented here in a newly re-mastered edition from the original tapes with high-quality tip-on sleeves and the original back cover art.

Arguably one of the most acclaimed and loved bands of the past 20 years, by both fans and their musical peers alike, The Beta Band formed in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1996. Innovative and singular, their unique musical and aesthetic approach to everything they did set them far apart from their musical contemporaries. Together for a relatively short period of time, the three albums and three EPs they released between 1996 and 2004 would nonetheless help define them as one of the most exciting and cherished bands of their generation. After a short hiatus the band gradually gravitated back into the studio and recruited noted UK producer Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, to oversee the process of Hot Shots II which was released in mid-2001. Notoriously the band had intended to release "Squares", which featured a sample from the Günter Kallmann Choir's 1970 version of Wallace Collection's "Daydream", as the lead single. However, after filming the music video and taking the single to radio it suddenly transpired that another single "Daydream In Blue" by I Monster featuring the sample from Günter Kallmann Choir recording was also to be released at the same time causing the band to release "Broke" instead. Touring extensively and supporting Radiohead in August 2002, they made No. 3 on Q magazine's list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". Standard double-LP version includes CD; gatefold sleeve with printed inner-sleeves.

Boomkat Editions presents a first vinyl edition of Akira Rabelais' sophomore album, Eisoptrophobia, a spellbinding, uniquely decayed rendering of solo piano pieces by Erik Satie and Bela Bartók. The 2001 release forms a poetic farewell to the 20th century and a bittersweet embrace of new technological possibility. It's required listening for lovers of The Caretaker's haunted ballroom elegies, Stephan Mathieu's electro-acoustic microphony, or indeed the original, classical pieces. First released in 2001 on CD by Ritornell, a sub-label of Mille Plateaux, Eisoptrophobia is an early iteration of Akira applying his Argeïphontes Lyre software to classical music, and opening a fascinating schism between the original object and his modern, subjective perspective in the process. This process would also generate rarified and haunting results on Akira's Spellewauerynsherde (BKEDIT 015LP, 2017). The original piano recordings of Satie and Bartók pieces were made at Wave Equation Studios in Hollywood, California, and subsequently transformed with Argeïphontes Lyre, Adobe After Effects, SoundHack, Peak, and Pro Tools with beautifully elusive results. The recognizable melodies here ring out in myriad new ways, sometimes fractured and indented by patinas of crackle that echo the original contours, while, at other times, they're smudged into mind-bending obfuscation or spectral, timbral things. They have the uncanny capacity to resemble exhumed artifacts, dug up after decades of decay, and riddled with potently psychedelic mycelium ready to spore on the listener's mind. In its unique process and disjointed effect, Eisoptrophobia is arguably an album without precedent, and one that never ceases to yield anything less than a deeply reflective, perhaps even transformative experience with keener ears. Lacquer cut at Dubplates + Mastering, Berlin. Photography by Jacqueline Roberts, design by Michael Worthington. Gatefold jacket.

LP version; includes 4-page booklet and download. Born Bad Records present Antilles Mechant Bateau, a compilation of percussion-based music from Guadeloupe. More properly, the subject of this collection is musicians drumming on percussion as a way of asserting their creolized identity. Songs that tell, in veiled terms, a different reality from that what which mainlanders were fed. Special cases, with cries of joy and laments accompanied by cadences, as an invitation to trance, all immersed in the Caribbean melting pot of rhythm. A symbol of Guadeloupe's struggle for independence, the prominently featured ka drum became the soundtrack of a new generation, who sped up the tempo in the '70s and definitely transplanted it to town, while the plantation economy (the original soil of the ka drum) was in crisis. From then on, the old tambouyés (drummers) finally were celebrated as they should be: Anzala, Carnot, Serge Dolor, Ti Seles, Robert Loyson, Arthème Boisban, Esnard Boisdur, and especially Velo (born Marcel Lollia), who nevertheless died in misery, in the street, in 1984. As in the United States, blues and ka music fought the same battle against centuries of oppression, of negation, before finding the path to possible redemption. Between them, the same language, that of the Creole spirits, flooded the great ocean. This is what this selection is about, and its good, inborn sense of humor shouldn't hide the implicit commentaries. Here, jazz instills an emancipating energy from established formats, giving these songs a musicality that rhymes with spirituality. From infernal cadences borrowing from the Latin rhythms of neighboring islands, to beguines with percussion-spiced tempos, to more laid-back -- nonetheless dark -- ballads, this compilation takes the listener back to the early hours of a movement of rebirth synonymous with recognition, a rejuvenation in which all the music of the Black Atlantic diaspora naturally intertwine, like a wave of sounds, of sense and blood, reminding us that an original culture emerged from the holds of those 'wicked boats', the trace of which remains starkly persistent in 2018. Also features: Mahy, Guy Conquete, Joseph Lacides, Tino Saint Val, Gabby Siarras, Casimir Letang, Manuela Pioche, Gerard Valton, Beaujour Et Ses Diables Du Rythme, and Josiane Saint Louis.

Jeff Mills's Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 initially came out in 1994 on Tresor Records. The eight titles on this album marked a turning point for Mills. It indicates a transition from the straightforward sound he had created through the early 1990s, into the different facets and sound palette he would develop through the remainder of the decade. It is a significant piece within Mills's oeuvre. This repress is a stamped and hand-numbered edition, limited to 1500.

LP version. Bureau B presents a reissue of Richard Pinhas's Chronolyse, originally released in 1978. Pinhas is one of the most important French electronic space-rock musicians. Following five albums with Heldon, his band, he released solo records from 1977 on. His transition to solo material gave the guitarist and synthesist an opportunity to work on material that was a little lighter and less constrained. Chronolyse was his second solo album. Following the previous year's Rhizosphere (BB 279CD/LP, 2018), 1978's Chronolyse was actually the first to be completed having been recorded two years prior. On four of its five tracks, Rhizosphere presents just the 25-year-old Pinhas and his synth alone together, a melding of man and machine that gradually becomes an expansive, outward-bound journey. Pinhas's simple approach spawned a galaxy of diverse sounds and ideas. Each track on Rhizosphere inhabits its own mini-universe sonically and emotionally. The range of moods traversed is stunning. Dedicated "to all S.F. freaks", Chronolyse takes its name from a work by the science fiction writer Michel Jeury. The individual track titles, as any sci-fi fan will clock, are inspired by the classic Frank Herbert novel Dune (1965). This led some listeners to assume that Chronolyse was some kind of scrupulous concept album based around Herbert's invented universe of interstellar feudal houses and giant sandworms. That's not quite accurate. While Pinhas remains a proud sci-fi freak, he's quick to distance the album's titles from the music contained therein. "I always name the titles of the tracks and albums when everything is finished," he says. "So there is no relationship between them and what is inside." The younger Pinhas had been inspired by guitar heroes such as Hendrix and Clapton. It was King Crimson's Robert Fripp who had prime impact on Heldon's mix of spiralling space-rock guitar and analog electronics. Indeed, Pinhas once said the three most important figures in the history of modern music were Richard Wagner, Béla Bartók, and Robert Fripp. At the time of Chronolyse's gestation, Pinhas had been listening to a lot of classical music. Bach, Scarlatti, and Wagner were key. So, too were the new wave of American minimalist composers, Philip Glass in particular. The final record of Heldon's 1974 to 1979 run of LPs would appear the year after Chronolyse; thereafter Pinhas would concentrate on projects under his own name. This vital release bridges the gap between these two phases of Pinhas' remarkable career.

LP version. Bureau B presents a reissue of Richard Pinhas's East West, originally issued in 1980. The fourth solo album by French spacerock mastermind Pinhas, East West was his first and only album to be released by a major label (CBS). Some say it is his most commercial but Pinhas doesn't see it that way. "Signing to CBS was a blessing. It gave me the tools for better production. At that time, some big companies were better and more honest than the so-called underground labels. Besides, I don't see any virtue in remaining underground. You try to do what's best for the music at each moment in your life. Always." reflects Pinhas. Even so, East West contained some surprises for those who were used to Heldon's extended jams or the sparse and moody atmosphere of Iceland (1979). East West's average track length is four minutes, indicating greater accessibility. It also has a David Bowie cover, although Pinhas naturally chose one of his more avant-garde moments, the foreboding "Sense Of Doubt" from Heroes. (1977). Despite having "gone solo", Pinhas remained a serial collaborator. The intense and frantic opener, "Houston 69: The Crash Landing (Part 1)", features his old Heldon colleagues Didier Batard, François Auger, and Patrick Gauthier. The robotic vocals were supplied by writer Norman Spinrad from whose novel, The Iron Dream (1972), Heldon had lifted their name. East West's synth-centric tracks resemble siblings to the groundbreaking work of Kraftwerk. Others, like the dreamy "XXXXX: La Ville Sans Nom" or longest track, "Paris: Beautiful May", showed Pinhas hadn't lost enthusiasm for fusing the revolutionary sound of the synthesizer with his impressive talents as a meditative and expressive guitarist. Certain songs evoke Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream but hold their own distinct flavor, anticipating much later ambient practitioners such as Mountains or Emeralds. Besides the relatively succinct running times, it's "New York: West Side" that takes most responsibility for East West having been categorized as Pinhas' "most commercial" work, another view which its maker defies. "I don't know why people say it's the most structured or commercial," he reflects. "I wanted to do this album in the way I did it. In terms of commerciality, I don't work with those kinds of concepts." East West hardly represents Pinhas' shift from abstract composer to pop artist but offers a sublime showcase for the diversity of Pinhas' powers, all delivered in handy bite-sized chunks.

Pivotal, peerless DJ/selector and Minimal Wave overse'er Veronica Vasicka serves her solo debut on Downwards with In Silhouette, a dank industrial-pop workout recorded in 2004 and now issued for the first time, backed with sick remixes by Regis, Paul Kendall, and Robert Hampson in his lesser-spotted Chasm alias. Penned on analog synth and four-track tape recorder in 2004, one year before Veronica established the Minimal Wave label, the ripped metal textures and spectral vocals of In Silhouette forms a rare snapshot of her daily, diaristic working practice.

2018 repress. Honest Jon's Records has prepared a series drawing on some of the earliest recordings in the EMI Hayes Archive -- recovered from more than 150,000 78s -- staggering music from Iraq, Turkey, Caucasia, Lebanon, Iran (including sides made in Old Street, London, in 1909), Egypt, and the Belgian Congo. This series opener presents the music of the West African underground of 1920s Britain, recorded at Hayes and released on the Zonophone label (which exported nearly all the records to West Africa). You can hear Caribbean influences here, the promise of highlife there, but Living Is Hard mostly disavows fusion and assimilation. And by contrast with antecedents in the history of black music in Britain -- minstrelsy and spirituals, for example, ragtime and jazz -- these recordings are unhitched from the protocols of a white listenership. These are startling, trenchant, elemental roots -- carrying troubled news home, along with signs of the new African nationalism -- and an enthralling glimpse of other lives, another time. Artists include: Oni Johnson, Isaac Jackson, Ben Simmons, Harry E. Quashie, Douglas Papafio, Prince Zulamkah, The West African Instrumental Quintet, The Ga Quartet, Domingo Justus, James Tucker, John Mugat, Kumasi Trio, James Thomas, Nicholas De Heer, George Williams Aingo and James Brown. Deluxe gatefold sleeve with large insert including Mark Ainley's liner notes plus photos, etc.

Repressed; LP version. Tip-on gatefold sleeve; Includes liner notes. Craig Smith was an extraordinarily gifted songwriter and musician who seemed poised for a successful career in the 1960s music business until his life was derailed by drugs and schizophrenia. In 1969 clean-cut, charismatic Craig Smith became Maitreya Kali, a dark, disturbed psychedelic Messiah figure with a black widow spider tattooed on his third eye. He laid out his strange vision on a self-released double-album Apache/Inca (1972), which would become a sought-after artifact of the psychedelic era. Success came easily for Craig Smith. In 1963, right out of high school he became a cast member of the popular Andy Williams TV show as one of the Good Time Singers, a wholesome folk ensemble that recorded for Capitol Records. Next he landed one of the lead parts in a new TV show, The Happeners, about a Greenwich Village folk group. But when the TV pilot was not picked up, he set out on his own musical path with the folk-rock duo Chris & Craig and then the more psychedelic Penny Arkade, produced and managed by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. Throughout this period Smith was constantly writing songs, some of which were recorded by other artists, including the Monkees ("Salesman"), Andy Williams ("Holly", "Christmas Holiday"), the Robbs ("Rapid Transit"), and Glen Campbell ("Country Girl"). But soon afterwards, his life took a dark, terrifying turn. Turning to LSD and Eastern mysticism he journeyed through Asia along the hippie trail where he was brutally attacked, raped, and left for dead. He was never the same again. As Maitreya Kali, he self-released the now legendary Apache and Inca albums in 1972 before disappearing into the shadows. He spent much of the 1970s in prison or in mental institutions before eventually drifting into homelessness on the streets of Hollywood. He died in his sleeping bag in North Hollywood Park in March 2012. Craig's older brother Gary contacted Stax with a trove of unreleased music. The best of those songs are presented on Love Is Our Existence. Professionally recorded in Los Angeles studios between 1966 and 1971, these previously unheard songs reveal a singer and songwriter of breathtaking depth and talent. Remastered from acetate discs and master tapes.

Double LP version, edition of 500, gatefold sleeve. Manana presents their third release, an album collaboration between the UK's Soundspecies and Ache Meyi, based in Santiago de Cuba, a groundbreaking fusion of Cuban folkloric music and electronics. The project was born in April 2016 in Santiago, in the balmy weeks leading up to Manana Festival and is the culmination of two chaotic weeks of rehearsals at the Casa Del Danzon and two sessions at the legendary Egrem studios. "Ache Meyi" can be translated into "Ache" ("power" or "blessings" in the Yoruba language) and "Meyi" ("double" or "twin" or "twice") and the band have their very own power twins, Hector and Rafael. Hector is the senior, patriarchal figurehead of the group alongside his apprentices Alieke and Rafael. Two female singers, Alina and Maire, complete the line-up. The band's identity is rooted in an interlocking web of Afro-Haitian rhythms like bembe, vodu, gaga, and merengue, absorbing these folkloric traditions from the neighborhoods in which they grew up. Soundspecies are brothers Henry and Olly Keen, a producer/DJ duo from Dorset who explore the connections between the rhythms of traditional folkloric percussive music and the sounds and forms of electronic dance music. Integrating electronics and melodies initially proved hard. "We were struggling to respond to the frenetic, seemingly impenetrable web of rhythmic sounds, and the singers' sense of tonality was quite free, jumping from one key to an unrelated one within songs," recalls Olly. However, at the legendary Siboney Egrem Studios in Santiago, they began separating the instruments, breaking the music down into textures and patterns and trying new directions with the sound. At a later session, Ache Meyi then jammed with kick and snare sounds on the MPC, playing to bembe rhythms recorded during the first session. Olly continues, "With a virtuoso like Hector, who has dedicated his whole life to his art, it could have been a challenge for us to suggest respectfully that he does it differently but he was the most open-hearted, patient and positive man. The show at the Manana festival was a euphoric experience for us. We wanted the album to capture and distil some of the energy from that night." RIYL: Carl Craig, Fourtet, Ondatropica.

Monster Melodies present Kundalini, an unreleased live recording of Hamsa. This French band with Richard Raux (ex-Magma) at his best in 1976 play an incredible and unique music, groovy, powerful, between funk and spiritual jazz, drawing on roots in African and Indian rhythms. Raux was born in Périgueux in 1945, but would never forget his Creole origins, his family having come from Madagascar. In his early years, Raux was introduced to ethnic music, Django Reinhardt, Brassens, and most importantly the jazz of Coltrane, Dolphy and, Monk. Richard studied at Paris' Ecole Normale, and frequently played at the Chat Qui Pèche in order to measure himself against other horn players. It was there that he met the bassist Jean François Catoire, who played in two groups with the distinction of having Christian Vander as drummer. When Vander formed Magma in 1969, Richard was staggered by the energy of the new group. He shared Vander's fascination for Coltrane, he was hired to replace departing saxophonist René Garber. After 12 months of intense work, Richard took part in the recording of Magma's first album for Philips, before leaving the band. While Magma had taught him a lot about composition, he was exhausted by having to play note-perfect renditions of un-notated music on stage, with no room for improvisation. The first Hamsa record was released in 1975 on Fiesta, a small Belgian label that specialized in African music. Raux composed all of the tracks and was accompanied by Patrice Raux and John Faure on guitar, Jano Padovani and Jean Louis Besson on drums, Albi Cullaz on bass, and Alain Pistre on percussion. Following that, Hamsa was snapped up by singer Jacques Higelin as his backing group, but the relationship ended in conflict when Higelin prohibited the musicians from playing any solos at all. Richard had discovered free jazz through Frank Wright, and collaborated with the Celestial Communication Orchestra directed by Alan Silva, but left mid-concert, exasperated by being forced to "play the same segment twenty times before playing the music backwards". Into the '70s and '80s Richard toured as a soloist, and collaborated with Charlie Haden, Jacques Thollot, Mal Waldron, among others. He also formed The Richard Raux Quartet, who recorded the album Under The Magnolias (1995) was formed with the desire to return to more orthodox jazz, showing the diversity of his approach.

Double LP version; gatefold sleeve. DJ Jazzy Jeff's M3 is a memoir, love story, how-to manual and manifesto all in one. As a renowned DJ and producer, DJ Jazzy Jeff's career spans decades, genres, and generations. M3 is a reflection of that existence and his "declaration of independence". In the final installment of his Magnificent series, DJ Jazzy Jeff celebrates unhindered creativity. While staying true to his b-boy roots with classic boom bap drums, Jeff infuses a myriad of sounds that have influenced his production work over the years. The result is a cohesive mix of hip-hop, R&B, funk, jazz and house. For M3, DJ Jazzy Jeff brings extraordinary artists together to present a multigenerational perspective on life, love, the current state of society, and the music industry. The Trinity, comprised of Grammy and Oscar award-winning MC Rhymefest, Philadelphia MC Dayne Jordan, and multi-talented artist Uhmeer, serves as M3's primary storytellers. With three distinct styles, the trio is a group with an unprecedented flow and magical delivery. The Trinity lays bare the foundations of real hip-hop with tracks including "The Beginning", "Scars", and "Where You At." Things lighten up with feel-good tune "Skater's Paradise", and a tribute to womankind, "Stronger Than Me". And M3 wouldn't be complete without a few soulful voices. Singer/songwriter Aaron Camper provides his sultry sound to "Midnight Escapade" and "The Way We Cool", while Maimouna Youssef lends her soulful harmony to "Child of God," and Masego adds his signature trap-jazz flair to "2Step." For DJ Jazzy Jeff, M3 represents creative freedom and a feeling of empowerment that he hopes will "inspire fellow artists to maintain their independence and take charge of their own destiny".

Peverelist re-masters and re-issues a lead track from his debut Jarvik Mindstate (2009) on Punch Drunk alongside a newly unearthed and previously unreleased track from 2008. A leading protagonist of a nascent, more techno-indebted sound in the dubstep era, alongside peers such as Martyn, 2562, and Appleblim, Peverelist released a series of tracks that helped shape and define that scene. "Bluez" fuses melancholic Detroit-style synths with the dub-wise aesthetics of the UK underground. Peverelist has since explored these themes further with his pioneering Livity Sound label. This release revisits the roots of his sound a decade on.

LP version; includes printed inners and download. Of all the Cyrils born in the city of Calvin (Geneva) at the dawn of the '80s, these two were bound to find each other. Two Cyrils like two dizygotic souls whose contingencies have brought their meeting forward. Cyril Cyril. A liberated hydra, born in this city of diplomats where Borges duplicated his rejuvenated ego in The Other (1972). A muezzin without borders, Cyril Yeterian came to the disheveled world through Mama Rosin, a three-piece that stirred the ghosts of the rogue bayou, the clammy Mardi Gras of some electric Louisiana. Soon, the world fell in love with their flair. The BBC celebrated them, Jon Spencer produced them, records proliferated. And then in 2017, the honeymoon period passed; Cyril was alone. Within the same space-time, Cyril Bondi hit the road: Diatribes, La Tène, Insub Meta Orchestra, the most adventurous projects of the Geneva scene all included this percussionist in search of unheard beats. He soon found an accomplice for musical prospecting, another Cyril in tune with his rebellious instinct. A guitarist and an accordionist, Cyril Y. took on the banjo, adding effect pedals to it to turn it into a puny bouzouki, an epic bağlama or a krar. Cyril B. cobbled some cannibal drum kit together, with massive jingle bells and tropical nut shells embedded in his marching bass drum. For Cyril Cyril, music is a way of the world, a joyful decentration offering new keys to comprehend chaos. The point here has nothing to do with some globalized country excursion nor some gluten-free exoticism. Apart from tracing back the family pathway of some Lebanese dialect, Yeterian chants rhapsodies in French, the merciless terms of which say it all about coming insurrections. Certaines Ruines is thus a wordy lampoon of hoaxers, of neo-post-everything killjoys. Cyril Cyril know the superior power of suggestion, of temperance, of happy sobriety. A single word, a single cry can say a lot, as long as it is soulful. The sound of a duo reduced to its simplest expression: rhythm, a riff, a voice can bear within itself an infinitely luxuriant musical organism. Cyril Cyril, so real, so rich.

African Princess is a set of Linval Thompson's Channel One recordings from 1974-6. Musicians include Robbie Shakespeare, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Tony Chin, Ossie Hibbert, Augustus Pablo, Tommy McCook, and more. "Bunny Lee's 'flying cymbal' production dominates the session and consequently the listener might recognize several of these cuts from dub compilations on Blood & Fire. Generally speaking, though, this is not a dub record. Only the last song on each side is followed by a dub version. These are straight-ahead rockers with no frills and, depending on the pressing, rather muddy production. It is also worth mentioning that 'Money Money' and 'Blood Gonna Run,' among others, find Robbie Shakespeare at his slippery and infectious best. Serious basslines throughout." --AllMusic Guide.

Formed by prominent German electro producer Boysnoize and French film director/electro producer Mr. Oizo (aka Quentin Dupieux), Handbraekes comes back with a brand EP, the third one since the mysterious episodic collaboration started in 2012. Blending Boyznoize's electro mastery with Mr. Oizo's peculiar touch, #3 will undoubtedly both startle minds and make bodies dance, creating disco riots in clubs and festivals around the world.

3AM Spares is a new collection of Australian EDM compiled Andras and Instant Peterson that encompasses the darker sounds and later nights of the 1990s and beyond. Following on from forerunner compilation Midnite Spares, this release draws from local 12" releases, CD-Rs and the archives of community radio station 3RRR FM to make a diverse and pumping scene audible once more. No longer confined to beer barns and back rooms, this generation of producers, DJs, clubbers, and ravers embraced a new culture of machine-metaphor and chemical love. Future Sound Of Melbourne's "Resist The Beat" embodies a time when the country's youth united with juggernaut stamina, partying beyond the long arm of the law. Restored from the original DATs, this debut 12" incited label offers from Jeff Mills, Frank De Wulf, and Carl Cox. Released by the likes of Clan Analogue, Creative Vibes, Volition, DanceNet, Juice and Psy-Harmonics, this era's material has evaded sufficient digital documentation until now. Often these bedroom experiments existed solely for compilation inclusions, a plausible scenario for the mysterious Inner Harmony. In the case of Tetrphnm, Jeremy Dower's glacial sub-bass was digitized from the only known CD-R. Third Eye, the impressive evolution of industrial legend Ollie Olsen, finds common ground with "I Will Go", a hypnotic concoction by Adrenalentil and Jandy Rainbow. The most unique take on this new wave of dance music comes from Turrbal-Gubbi Gubbi woman Maroochy Barambah, using the sound palette of tribal house to highlight the broadening ways that identity and culture were being negotiated and manifested within club music. Artificial's Sobriquet remix bends one of the most looped samples of all time to fit a wired new generation's interrogation of that thing called disco. Her playfulness is mirrored in Blimp's frisky garage house, recalling Paul Johnson, while Ian Eccles-Smith's borrowing is comparatively more discrete on the chillout sampledelic collage "The Slaughtering Eye". Andy Rantzen returns to Efficient Space in two incarnations: as half of ambient alias Screensaver, and in collaboration with General Electrik on "Leather Lover:, a cocked and loaded glimpse at the bottom end of Oxford street, originally recorded for the Club Kooky compilation Gay In The Life: Adventures In The Queer Underground (2000). Reinventing himself as Hypnoblob, fellow Sydney Oz-Wave artist Ian Andrews also gives us his pneumatic-drill-step "Deep Down". Includes download.

Causa Sui's Free Ride is finally back in print after being sold out for more than a decade! The original single-LP version, released in 2007 on Elektrohasch, has been selling for ridiculous prices on Discogs and eBay. Even the CDs are sought-after collectors' items, almost impossible to find, until now. Imagine a tidal wave sweeping up from the 1960s through the 1970s, then cresting in the 1990s before finally crashing on the shore of the present; that's what Free Ride sounds like. This is the "heavy psych" album of the Causa Sui catalog, one out of only two albums they recorded with a lead singer,and the most direct-sounding collection of tracks the band has done to date. The sonic experimentation and curious song structures that also define later Causa Sui records are there (just listen to those echo-treated flutes in "Passing Breeze"), but what really ties this record together is an unashamed appreciation of the grand rock tradition of the previous four decades. One can literally feel how the young lads had been absorbing endless amounts of Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Mudhoney, Black Sabbath, and Kyuss before cooking up these seven tracks. There's no shortage of killer riffs and Bonham-esque grooves. The culmination is the epic breathtaking acid-rock finale that takes up the entire second disc: the 15-minute "Newborn Road" and the 20-minute extended live version of the band's signature track "El Paraiso", captured in front of a mesmerized crowd at Roadburn on the very day Free Ride was released. It's impossible not feel swept away by the Hendrixian glory of these two cuts, as they fly from tranquil noodlings to the most thunderous peaks. This is the kind of album where one dropa the needle and rides it all the way to the end, as if overwhelmed by an awesome natural force. Includes 20-minute bonus track recorded live at the Roadburn Festival in 2007. Remastered by Jonas Munk.

"Creative Healing is a new Massachusetts combo mixing the folks from Hollow Deck (Andy Allen and Mia Friedman) with three old pals who also passed through the Ran Blake Paddle Tunnel at NE Conservatory (Katie McShane, Jesse Heasly and Nick Neuberg). The results are, as the old men say, a real gas. Although it's not a constant, there are moments throughout this album where the swonky collision of sax, guitar and drums puts me in mind of several classic versions of Beefheart's Magic Band. Nothing along those lines in the vocal department (which are often delivered as casually as they might be by MX-80's Rich Stim), but some of the harmonic threads are definitely of a Vliet-ian ilk. But there's more horn and overt jazzliness here, and also a dual tendency towards straighter and skronkier passages that would be outside the Magic Band's realm. The female vocals, when they appear, lend an edge of sophisto-mystery. It's not entirely unlike the way Dagmar Krause's parts worked during the later days of Henry Cow. As you've probably gathered from the references, this is art rock played at a very high level. There's no real nostalgia in it, however, the essential whatsis of their music is fully contemporary, and has lots of mechanical detailing that places it squarely in the post-post-hardcore stream. But it's also rooted in the great eternal gush of progressive music is all its many guises. And if that makes it seem like there's a little bit of everything here, well so be it. RIYL anything anywhere between RWA, Slapp Happy and Men & Volts." --Byron Coley, 2018. Edition of 250.

The London-based Afro-dub ensemble Fofoulah have followed-up their debut album Fofoulah (GB 017 CD/LP, 2014) with a more shape-shifting and adventurous recording. Slippery sabar beats, dystopian electronics, and echoing, shamanic chants ratchet up both the dub quotient and the dramatic tension. Creating a sound-world that is both earthy and urban, futurist and rooted - their new album Daega Rek (The Truth) is brought into focus by the rhythms and vocals of Gambian sabar drummer Kaw Secka and the vivid production of keyboardist/saxophonist Tom Challenger. After the release of Fofoulah, the band played extensively in the U.K. and Europe where every concert would see Secka rise to the microphone with his tama (a talking drum) and rap over the last song, cueing rhythmic patterns for the group to play in unison. It was decided to take this exploratory part of the shows forward into the next realm. The concept that emerged for the Daega Rek involved combining recordings of drums and percussion with improvisatory vocalizations and a production aesthetic that pushed the band's collective sound in a much more electronic and dub-based direction. The resultant tracks were shaped by Challenger in his studio, fusing the new rhythm sessions with a variety of manipulated, previous recordings of the band, while also adding an array of synthesizers. Secka then came in to lay down vocals and it was these contributions that went on to define the final songs. Every song has a different meaning, or message, all of them sung in Wolof, a language central to coastal West African countries such as The Gambia and Senegal. Secka's lyrics explore a myriad of topics -- "Njite" for example, focuses on the importance of leadership, and all that it entails; "Seye" (Marriage) explores the nature of human connection; and the title track sets its lens on truth and the riddles of reality. The rhythmic propulsion of the initial recordings made by drummer Dave Smith and Secka at Real World, melds with a backdrop of shifting sonic colors; Johnny Brierley's melodic bass lines underpin the patterns of Phil Stevenson's guitar which intersect with Challenger's keyboards and Secka's incantations. The emphasis on sonic structure and the identity of the material showcases its influences - traditional sabar drumming meeting glitchy electronics and dub textures blending with elements of footwork and drum and bass. Fofoulah remind us that sonic and human experiences combine, resonate and land where they will.

Cosmin TRG is back on his white label operation, Sportiv. "Brixtonstrasse" explores an imaginary buffer zone between the urban angst of London's pirate transmissions and the warehouse logic of Berlin's post-Iron Curtain freedom and energy explosion. In line with the label's semiotics, "Gloria" is named after the rather unsuccessful third league football club from Cosmin's home town. It's a high octane tribal workout with fuzzy chords, in the vein of '90s luminaries like Sterac, bringing back hints of the era's unbridled energy and enthusiasm.

Volume 7 and 8 in this amazing series of slow grinding R&B/soul/exotica tunes as they are being played in a club in Melbourne/Australia. "Around midnight on the last Saturday of every month, an assemblage of juiceheads, grifters, kittens, dandies and derelicts gather in a dimly-lit, smoke-filled room and dance together real slow. These are some of the records we dance to... Thanks to all the flute players and backing singers of yore for flavouring these old records up just like we like them." --Richie1250, Melbourne, 2018. Compilation and liner notes by Slow Grind Fever mastermind, Richie1250. Features Bob And Lucille, The Ravons, Kip Tyler, Ferlin Husky, Louis Armstrong, Johnnie Morisette, Jack Hammer, Bing Day, Big Jack, Jack Costanzo, Peggy King, Dr. Horse, Frank Minion, The Swinging Tigers, Johnnie Ray, Rudy Moore, The Chestnuts, Frances Faye, Marilyn Brown, The Ideals, La Mont Anthony, Earl Haynes, Eddie Cash, Allen Page, The Chas Mcdevitt Skiffle Group, Nancy Whiskey, Debby Moore, Eddie Cooley, and Percy Mayfield.

LP version. Studio Mule present a re-recording of Motohiko Hamase's Remiscence, originally issued in 1986. Remiscence scores a decent prize at online vinyl-selling platforms and it is worth every penny! It's a perfect "refuge from nasty reality", as the glorious British 20jazzfunkgreats blog once said. And it comes from a man that knows his trade: bass playing. An artisan on his instrument, Hamase also wrote many theoretical books in his more than four decades-long career. In the 1970's Hamase was no stranger to Tokyo's vibrant jazz scene. Together with jazz pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and jazz-rock guitarist Kazumi Watanabe, he played in the Isao Suzuki sextet and was part of their landmark jazz-funk album Ako's Dream (1976). In the following years, he also played on records like Mikio Masuda's Latin-funk-jazz gem Moon Stone (1978) or Japanese female jazz singer, actress, and essayist Minami Yasuda's last album Moritato (1978). In the early 1980s, his work shifted from pure jazz to electronic and ambient spheres and he started to compose his own music around his deeply emotional bass playing. From 1985 to 1993, Hamase released five solo albums. Just recently Studio Mule issued his first one, Intaglio (STUDIOMUL 008CD/LP, 2018), in a new recording that sounds as stunning as the original release from 1986. Reminiscence is his second work for the celebrated defunct Japanese New Age record label Shi Zen, follows in a fresh shape on Studio Mule. As does the original, it features deeply touching moments of sheer pristine perfection and distributes Hamase's inner emotional landscape with a bewitching bass performance. A soothing beauty of an album, it reflects Hamase's search for spaces of melancholy, a rhizome of soundscapes that capture, settle and sound elusive while simultaneously being awe-inspiring. As with Intaglio, the 66-year-old artist gathered again some befriended musicians, rented a studio, staged his gear and recorded most of the original Reminiscence material anew, while keeping the moving musical story arc of the original album alive in a fresh wrapping. The result is a dazzling, blue mood seething, a strongly hypnotic long-player, full of personality and hybrid ambient electronic jazz spheres that open doors to unheard sound universes and that perfectly work for all those stress-relieved souls that love the disclosure of the mind and seek for a "refuge from nasty reality".

Double LP version. Celebrating 30 years since their first release, foundation-laying forefathers Smith & Mighty release Ashley Road Sessions. This one-off double label partnership between Pinch's Tectonic and Peverelist's Punch Drunk is an endeavor in homage to their Bristol neighbors, whom they hold in high regard. Says Pinch: "Smith & Mighty are true pioneers in music whom I've found deeply inspirational on many levels. Tracks like 'Closer', 'U Dub', and 'Same' are some of my all-time favorites. To be putting out these unreleased gems is such an exciting project for both me and Tom. We both took a great deal of influence from Smith & Mighty, especially from Bass Is Maternal (1995), the album and era from which most of this compilation's source material originates." Smith & Mighty are integral to the story of Bristol music, but the duo are accountable not only as key proponents of that local sound, but also for propagating a wider array of urban and electronic music to this day. Despite being inextricably linked to the South West England sound, Ashley Road Sessions proffers an array of styles, the breadth and spectrum of which might surprise. Breakbeat, hardcore, Balearica and acid house all feature as prominently as do the dub, reggae, hip-hop beats and soul with which they're most commonly associated. "Smith & Mighty's lack of genre tribalism and melting pot approach certainly influenced how I make music", comments Peverelist. Especially timely in light of the recent breakbeat and jungle revival, this document feels both historical and relevant, with classic hip-hop samples, crisp breakbeats and Gat Décor bass of opener "Always Be There (Step Up)" sounding remarkably current. Airborne dub fx float around heavy beats on the sparse pulse of "Stalagnate", which wouldn't seem out of place on Bokeh Versions, sounding both vintage and current. "Morning Light" surely soundtracked the end of long rave nights, straddling funky hardcore breaks, emotive melody, sub bass and heartening Balearic optimism. The deft break chopping of "Film Score" shows they could do deep jungle as well, contrasting with "Higher Than Tempo", a cerebral slow IDM trance dance. "Dub Song" seamlessly blends hardcore, jungle and steppers with a smooth liquidity, whilst frenetic sixteenths, hard snares and purring bass drive the skeletal head-snapper "Through A Dark Cloud". Percussion and drum machines meet melodic chords on "Leaving Pt 1 & 2", which exemplifies the plaintive, melancholy British bass, later made famous by Massive Attack.

WRWTFWW Records announces the highly anticipated official reissue of holy grail album MKWAJU by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's MKWAJU Ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon) and a digipack CD. Originally recorded in February and March 1981 and released by fabled Japanese avant-garde label Better Days (home of Ryuichi Sakamato's debut album, Yasuaki Shimizu's Kakashi (1982), Colored Music's self-titled LP (WRWTFWW 024CD/LP, 2018) and many more) MKWAJU is the fruit of the collaboration between Takada's crew and world-famous composer/musical director Joe Hisaishi, the man behind most of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime soundtracks and over 100 other films scores, including Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine (1993), Hana-Bi (1997), and Kikujiro (1999). The ensemble's transcendental wonder is, in fact, the first-ever Midori Takada album and the first-ever Joe Hisaishi-produced album: historic. Led by Midori Takada on marimba, gong, vibraphone, and tom tom, MKWAJU is an inventive and riveting take on Eastern and Western minimalist traditions, African rhythms, and early electronica. Drawing from its jazz-rooted polyrhythmic improvisations in the most inventive ways, the album covers a wide spectrum of sounds, from colorful dance floor-ready percussion pieces that stand somewhere between proto-techno and experimental synth-pop, to cinematic ambient landscapes and ethereal drone delicacies. The feverishly sought-after full-length is a stepping-stone in Midori Takada's career and an all-around pioneering album. Alongside Takada and Hisaishi (who not only produced the album but also played synthesizers), personnel on MKWAJU includes famed Japanese musicians Yoji Sadanari and Hideki Matsutake of KI-Motion (WRWTFWW 026CD/LP, 2018) fame, Junko Arase (heard on Satoshi Ashikawa's legendary Still Way - Wave Notation 2(1982)), and Pecker (whose stacked resume boasts collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jun Fukamachi). CD in digipack with sticker.

"Started as the so-called 'Krautrock Guerrilla' in 2012, six years later the Berlin combo Camera are releasing their fourth full-length album, Emotional Detox. Customarily associated with the likes of NEU! and La Düsseldorf it is time to allow Camera to break free of the krautrock tradition. For fans of nominative determinism, there can be few more apposite appelations than Michael Drummer. He is the catalyst, linking everything together as he crosses the soundscape of everything captured on Camera. The band's moniker Camera, meanwhile, is an altogether more capricious calling card. Emotional Detox is the fourth full-length album by Camera, now a quintet, following two albums as a trio and one as a duo. The line-up here comprises Steffen Kahles, Drummer, Michel Collet, Andreas Miranda and Timm Brockmann, all based in Berlin. Drummer is the only constant through all four phases. Brockmann, who left the group in 2014, returns to the fold. He and Franz Bargmann, who left Camera the year before him, released the duo album Licht (BB 269 CD/LP), a celebration of keys, guitars and effects which, at times, emulated the ferocious potential of Camera. By the time Kahles joined the band, Brockmann had already departed, so the new ensemble adds another twist in bringing together two keyboard players from different Camera phases for the first time. The Brockmann-Drummer reunion, meanwhile, completes a circle tracing back to early Camera experiences shared in 2010/11, playing on the streets of Berlin. Paradoxically, the new Camera line-up sharpens the group's focus. With Drummer not so much joining the dots as hammering them home with a nail gun, the stronger framework allows even greater freedom for the musicians to express and align their disparate creative interests. The soundscape here assumes the quality of a cinematic loop, like watching the same film over and over, yet discovering new things each time it plays. The motorik origins of the band on their debut Radiate! (BB 116 CD/LP, 2012) eventually gave way to the playfulness on Phantom of Liberty (BB 235CD/LP, 2016). A spirit of experimentation still abounds on the new LP, but there's also evidence that the group have taken a step towards something more pop. The reference points are still there, but Emotional Detox is not dependent on them, encouraging us to disregard these multiple distractions." --Harry Calvino

Down At Dawn presents a reissue of Indeed!, the debut album by genius trumpeter Lee Morgan, originally released in 1957. Recorded in 1956 at the very young age of 18, Indeed! is the result of a fine hard bop session featuring compositions by Benny Golson, Donald Byrd, Horace Silver and with Morgan leading his own band. The quintet features alto sax player Clarence Sharpe and a solid rhythm section with Horace Silver (piano) Wilbur Ware (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums).

"MC5 (Motor City Five), the legendary Detroit band. Their first single (included here) was released in 1967. In 1968 they played the infamous Democratic Convention that turned into a police riot, and they went on to be the 'Official White Panther Party Band'. Their manager John Sinclair became a hippie martyr, after being jailed for 10 years for 2 joints, inspiring John Lennon's '10 For 2' song. Thrown off their first label Electra, they signed to Atlantic for 2 more albums but only achieved underground success. Now greatly revered as one of the seminal rock'n'roll bands and a huge inspiration for punk. Thunder Express documents their first and last studio work 0- six tracks recorded in France in 1972 at Studio Castle Herouville for a TV show; and 4 tracks from their first two singles from '66 & '68. The title track is unavailable elsewhere. Includes 12-page booklet with notes and interview from 1970, along with the White Panther Party '10-Point Program'."

The story begins in the city of Bordeaux in 1964. Captivated by Hank Marvin's guitar-playing, Jean Pierre Daran teaches himself to play Shadows tunes, working out their intricacies by the unusual method of slowing 45RPM singles down to 33RPM. Jean Pierre joins forces with Yvan Blanl?il, Jean Jacques Pouget, and Serge Blachère to form the band Les Franglais. In 1971, a new musical project takes shape when Jean Pierre and Yvan form Lucie Dans le Ciel with three other students: Francis Ferrer, Christian Lassalle, and André Lesgouarres. The music is influenced by '60s beat and Frank Zappa's freakiness. After playing some local gigs, Lucie Dans le Ciel score the support for Magma, when they went through Bordeaux in April '72. At that show, Christian Vander and his band were won over by the madness of the Bordelais musicians, who closed their set with a big battle of cream pie. A friendship grows, and contact is established between Magma's professional musicians and the Bordeaux amateurs. However, Yvan Blanloeil is now more excited by theatre than by music, and he quickly sucks the life out of Lucie Dans le Ciel by wanting to restrict it to providing musical accompaniment to theater shows. The other musicians, no longer feeling that they are expressing themselves, don't hide their dissatisfaction. Yvan continued his theater career alone. In the meantime the musicians around Jean Pierre Daran formed a new group: Amélie la Sèche. As none of the musicians can read music, everything is worked out through discussion; the strong sense of unity this creates yields a number of highly-collaborative musical sketches recorded on a Teac 3300 reel-to-reel recorder. On these recordings Jean Pierre creates his own universe on the guitar, and Christian Lassalle, Francis Ferrer, André Lesgouarres, and new bass-player Jean Pierre Alcaïne add their own contributions. After clarinetist and saxophonist Christian Faure joins, Amélie la Sèche play a number of concerts, but never outside the Bordeaux area. The band's most creative period begins in July '74, while the group (now renamed Xalph) is rehearsing in a house in Pondaurat, a small village in the Gironde. Recordings of accomplished pieces of "dense music full of rhythmic and harmonic twists and turns" are made by the group, with the bass overdubbed onto a reel-to-reel Sony and the ever-present Teac 3300. Clear vinyl; Includes poster and insert; Edition of 1000 (numbered).

Aperture is a sister-brother duo combining the multiple disciplines of poet/artist Elisabetta Porcinai and producer Emanuele Porcinai. Together they produce elegantly brooding songs and intoxicating spoken word, written via free associative methods. Their debut album Threads is the culmination of some full decade gradually conjoining Emanuele's musical practice with Elisabetta's spoken word and poetry (previously only deployed in conjunction with her work as a visual artist). It sees the duo drift into fertile new sonic ground, somewhere between the emotional intensity of performance art and fringe electronic music at its most expressionistic. Threads is an exploration of aural intimacy, with domestic sound sources forming a vital element of the album's musical bedrock. Rhythms built from footfalls and table-tapping sit comfortably alongside lush synthesizers, wistful pianos, and ambient washes, all backing up Elisabetta's penetrating spoken words. The musical and verbal halves of Aperture play with free association and improvisation alike, crafting a slow burning, yet visceral sound. Moments of almost naive beauty, such as the lullabye-esque "Atmen" ("to breathe"), are buoyed by the menace and drama of more solemn tracks, such as the stirring opener, "In These Awkward Voids." A true collaboration, some of Threads was entirely shaped around Elisabetta's poetry and texts. Other pieces are almost entirely instrumental and acoustic nature, stemming from Emanuele's initial sonic outputs. Despite the superficial differences between their practices though, Aperture brings the siblings' commonalities into focus. At its core, the project explores spatial and environmental perception. The duo process myriad organic sounds and everyday objects into unrecognizably synthetic new realms, while electronic source material has often been humanized often out of recognition. The collision of the organic and artificial behind Elisabetta's rapt otherworldly poetry acts a gateway, blurring the boundaries between physical and virtual into a unique nebula of emotion. Both born in Florence, Emanuele (born 1991) now splits his time between Manchester and Berlin, while Elisabetta similarly lives between both Milan and Berlin. Also known for his solo project WSR, Emanuele has previously focused his musical experimentation on exploring possibilities arising from using self-built tactile string instruments as sound sources for his adventurous productions. As an artist, Elisabetta (1987) has an interdisciplinary background, exploring a broad spectrum of practices including photography, painting, video and installation art, and poetry.