Agartha: Personal Meditation Music is a 7 CD boxed set, originally released on cassette in 1986, at the height of New Age, as an aid for meditation and alignment. Bringing to mind 20th century composers like Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young, or even Brian Eno's Shutov Assembly, the time-stopping, enveloping, electronic music contained in this series sounds eerily modern, mysterious and moving. Characterized by deep analog drones, rising overtones, floating frequencies surfing on sine-waves and intervals with mystic modulation, this is truly moving, vibrational music. In Agartha, the individual notes of each Harmonic Triad proceed in a fashion that is neither improvisational nor chance-based, nor is it generative. Instead, the music flows outward as if being transmitted -- or channeled -- from a place outside human consciousness. There is a profound sense of cosmic depth expanding ever outward as the music fills the listener with waves of emotion, and a palpable somatic response is felt, although there are subtle differences with each unique Triad. Each disc is individually packaged in original replica sleeves and housed in a heavy-duty cardboard clamshell box. Digitized and remastered by Jessica Thompson. Liner notes include extensive instructions for use from the original text and an essay by library music scholar David Hollander. The original edition of Agartha: Personal Meditation Music, featured one-track, 30-minute track per tape repeated on both sides. Subsequent editions had unique Side B tracks on all but two of the seven volumes. Important Records have included all tracks in this boxed set. RIYL: Eliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Eleh, Duane Pitre, La Monte Young, Eno, Larajji, Iasos.

In Straight Up, Without Wings, Joe McPhee surveys sixty years in creative music. Starting with his trumpeter-father's influence and formative years in the U.S. Army, McPhee recounts experiences as a Black-hippy-cum-budding-musician based in upstate New York, perched at an ideal distance from Manhattan's free jazz demimonde of the 1960s and its loft scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, revealing never-told tales and reveling in the joys of noise, McPhee puts the influence of -- and encounters with -- Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Albert Ayler into the context of an independently-minded young player, ravenous for experience, dealing with the crucible of racism, seeking to break out beyond the bounds of a regional Hudson Valley scene that he knows like the back of his hand. The memoir draws forward through thrilling passages in Europe and across the United States, as McPhee gains momentum, as his music becomes the impetus for multiple record labels, as he collaborates with figures from Peter Brötzmann to Pauline Oliveros, and as he eventually goes on to inspire musicians far and wide. Written as an oral history, deftly conducted by Mike Faloon to preserve McPhee's unique narrative voice, Straight Up, Without Wings includes "reflections" by eight musicians from across the protagonist's rich history. Photography: Ziga Koritnik, Ken Brunton, John Corbett. First printing, edition of 1000. 166 pages. Dimensions: 8.5" x 6" x .5".

Pagan Psych-Folk Glam Vocal Sounds of the Italian Cinema is a superb collection of extremely obscure gems culled from a variety of forgotten films. Featuring mostly vocal tracks, these songs are dripping with that mid-1960s to mid-1970s exploratory nature of song-craft, from clever and majestic to the ridiculously absurd. Acoustic guitars laced with strings and subtle effects, haunting and moody lyrical tales, and epic ballads that rock -- all of them fitting together like an impossible puzzle that most music aficionados of this magical period never knew existed. Stretches of this compilation could accompany an imagined sequel to the Wicker Man film made in Italy! A mix of relatively unknown and legendary composers of the time are presented here in this incredible package, which has been lovingly assembled to provide the most pleasurable listening experience available. Legends such as Nico Fidenco, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, Piero Umiliani, and obscure combos like The Sorrows and The Rage Within are included among many other artists that combine to make Pagan Psych-Folk Glam Vocal Sounds of the Italian Cinema an instantly iconic release. Lavish full-color gate-fold jacket collage artwork with still shots from many of the films represented here. Limited edition pressing of 750 copies. Featuring Orchestra Cometa, Nico Fidenco, The Carrie Nations, The Sorrows, Augusto Martelli, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, Raoul Lovecchio, Cyan, Don Powell, Piero Umiliani, The Rage Within, Charles Cannon, Gene Roman, Shirley Hammer, Phil Chilton/Peter L. Smith, Zeudi Araya, Canary Jones, Melody, and Orchestra Di Rockford Kabine.

"The High Llamas' classic '90s output comes back to life on vinyl for the first time in over twenty years. The vibrant and colorful sweep of their remarkable six-album arc shines in new pressings of the original masters, which include the first-ever vinyl pressing for their debut album, Santa Barbara. The High Llamas were founded by Sean O'Hagan, Jon Fell, Marcus Holdaway, and Rob Allum. One year after the release of Hawaii, Cold And Bouncy delivered again, organically incorporating the glitch, dub and electronic inspirations burbling up from the underground into the Llamas signature sound. Respect here is due to co-producer Fulton Dingley's contributions as programmer, engineer and mixer. Without shifting away from their pop-rooted songwriting, Cold And Bouncy was also a grand example of the emerging electro-exotica of the late '90s."

The Wild Classical Music Ensemble is a Belgian experimental rock band formed in 2007 by artists with mental disabilities within the social-artistic non-profit organization Wit.h in Kortrijk. Their unique sound is a blend of punk/rock riffs, fanatical rhythms and soaring flutes and fiery synths, over which gravitate multiple, multilingual voices that scratch harshly as much as they comfort. There's something very Belgian about this harshness and noisiness. During the Covid crisis, the disabled members of the Wild Classical Music Ensemble were undoubtedly subjected more than others to the harsh conditions of confinement, alone in their rooms. Damien Magnette was still able to visit them with sound equipment. This was one of their all-too-few windows onto the world. Forbidden to meet, let alone play together, the members of Wild were nevertheless able to compose songs in tandem with Damien. The tracks were then sent to musician friends -- Fabrice Gilbert, Ava Carrère, Wim Opbrouck, Shht, Arthur Satàn, Nathan Roche, and Julien ZLDR -- who added their artistic touch. Jean Lamoot and Carl Roosens joined the adventure, one as mixer, the other as video director. Leader Damien Magnette says: "For over a year, we were all confined. But what about when you're a mentally handicapped person? Well, it's very different from you and me. We have the right to choose, the luxury of deciding for ourselves what rules we want to follow or not. We have free will. They don't. This series of confined songs is dedicated to all the people who have gone through this crisis, deprived of their free will. We send them our thoughts, hugs and kisses full of true love!" The songs respond to a deep desire to look out for each other in adversity (the so obvious 'Comment ça va?' by Johan Geenens and Wim Opbrouck, or 'Waarom ben je boos' by Sébastien Faidherbe with Wim Decoene, the latter full of empathy). A sense of loneliness is logically present on the album ('Dat is mijn verdriet' by Linh Pham, a very real, very concrete and particularly touching poem, or 'Loneliness,' whose text was improvised by Wim), if not an understandable rage ('Je ne veux pas' and 'My Frustrations'). It worth noting that on "On reste heureux", Sébastien Faidherbe composed all the parts in one go, with an optimism that stands out from the anger expressed in his other songs.

LP version. Summer of love: they weren't around for the first, they've studied the second, and they're planning the next. Bryan's Magic Tears release their fourth album, Smoke and Mirrors, on Born Bad. The famed pupil-dilated Parisian shit-stirrers usually have a way of demolishing compositions in style when they go live. They'll have their work cut out for them with these new tracks bricked up in studio with Marc Portheau. Still a thing on previous records, 4AM (BORNBAD 108CD) and Vacuum Sealed (BORNBAD 146CD), their garage/noise legacy fades away, not denied though. Benjamin Dupont (guitar/vocals) collaborated with Lauriane Petit (bass/vocals) on four tracks, and recorded each instrument for this unabashed pop album. This confusing specimen will rave about fashionable shoegaze oldies while admitting a kink for All Saints. Aptly named, this new album pokes fun at stadium music while respecting its codes. Looks and sounds like Shaun Ryder had eaten Liam Gallagher, shamelessly churning out hits, leaning on a well-built wall of sound, held together by Raphaël Berrichon and Nicolas Boursier (guitars). The record heavily features that typical '90s shuffle beat, with which Bryan was already flirting, but they're an item now. Two-thirds of the tracks have that groove on. Lauriane and Benjamin offer matching vocal delivery, alternating rhythmic phrases crafted like riffs, and sweet dragging harmonies. This record offers a plump sound, tailor-made to spread arms, bob your head, and level the ground in festivals. Smoke and Mirrors ends with "Lady D," a clever dunce's essay on a rare subject. Went for the kill with acoustic guitar intro, strings on the chorus, warm heavy-hearted vocals, flanger on the drums when it's time to light the lighters, and put spoons on top. Because yes, it's still music to take drugs to make music to take drugs to listen to music.

A note from Alvin: "It has taken me over 50 years to write these words. Since my initial successes in the 1970s, many have urged me to 'release' unpublished works from the same period, pieces that featured the VCS3 synths or the amazing Serge (which I regret not having used enough) or pieces featuring soundscapes from my classic environmental composition style. For reasons of persistence and empathy, Lawrence English at Room 40 was the most persuasive; now, nearly three years after our agreement, a new publication composed with materials from that inceptive period has come to fruition. While I'm condemned to live evermore in the past, it is the future where I continue to put my remaining creative energies. Nonetheless, in the creation of these two 'new' works I did all I could to avoid sentimentalism or get buried by my own history and the musical riches of the late 20th Century. Relistening to these forgotten fragments of old tapes included inspiring and useful surprises."

Memphis-born saxophonist Frank Lowe with his muscular tenor sax voice shines along with Butch Morris' cornet and Amina Claudine Myers' piano on top of Wilber Morris (bass) and Tim Pleasant (drums) angular rhythms. Recorded in 1981.

Warehouse find, last copies; Double LP version. Kostas Soublis' productions under the Fluxion moniker helped define legendary Berlin imprint Chain Reaction, and with 1999's Vibrant Forms, the Greek producer released a milestone in the dub techno genre. Hazy and distant, there was still more than enough dancefloor push to propel Soublis into the (very short) list of genre legends, and make Vibrant Forms one of the very rare techno albums that works from beginning to end. Out of press for far too long, this new edition of Vibrant Forms has been remastered and will finally see the entire album released on vinyl for the first time. The most shocking thing hearing it almost 15 years after its original release, however, is how little it has dated. Soublis wisely avoided any cultural tropes, and the productions still sound fresh and deceptively alien. Through washes and waves of reverb and the faint thud of a kick drum, the all-analog productions contain a raw quality that is all too rare these days. Just head to the album's elegiac closing number "Opaque." Upbeat and propulsive, the track still maintains a deceptive calm, buoyed by swirling synthesizer washes and sizzling, tape-saturated percussion. This is the way dub techno should sound -- don't accept any imitations, Vibrant Forms is the real thing. Completely remastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy.

2024 restock; 1998 release. Voted one of 1998's top 15 Records of the Year in Modern Composition by the writers and critics of The Wire, Trilogie de la Mort is a work in three parts for anolog Arp synthesizer. The first third of the work, Kyema, is inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead and invokes the six intermediate states that constitute the existential continuity of the being. Kailasha, the second chapter, is structured on an imaginary pilgrimage around Mt. Kailash, one of the most sacred mountains in the Himalayas. Koumé makes up the last part of the trilogy and emphasizes the transcendence of death.

"The last great rock LP from Nigeria's post-Civil War underground. Be Nice to the People was recorded in 1977 by Fela producer Odion Iruoje as he chased the runaway success of high school band Ofege. The Western world was in the throes of peace, love and flower power as Nigeria descended into civil war in 1967. The rock scene that developed during the following three years of bloodshed and destruction would come to heal the country, propagate the world-wide ideal of the modern Nigerian, and propel Fela to stardom after the conflict ended in 1970. The members of Question Mark were children when the Nigerian civil war ended and by the time they recorded their only album in 1977 they were college students, chasing rock n' roll dreams as Afro-beat turned to Afro-disco. Theirs is a fiery reminder of a once vibrant scene."

"Through the fog of our grief in the wake of the earth-shattering loss of our beloved angel stevie? we announce the release of Mope Grooves' fifth and final album, Box of Dark Roses. A 27 song, two-disc LP of songs that stevie prepared for release before she left. In addition to the music, stevie provided extensive liner notes to accompany the album. These are included with the album in the form of a zine, or as a digital PDF, respectively. Box Of Dark Roses is an LP where the same images repeat and repeat until you might have some idea of what roses have to do with armed struggle, trans autonomy, losing your house (again), angels, women political prisoners, violence returned to sender, suicided poets, refusing to recant, insisting on life, and how the revenge of twenty billion screaming ghost women could unmake the worst of all possible worlds. Performance by stevie (lowercase, no last name, she/her), cap (lowercase, no last name, they/them), Lee Butterfield (they/them), Penny Olives (she/her), Elias Williamson (they/them), Izzy Dupuis, Ana Díaz Sacco (she/they), Clinton O'Brien, Evan Mersky, Ana María Rodríguez (she/her), Ray Aggs (they/them), and Kyle Raquipiso." --Mope Groves

Debut collaborative album from Troth, the Nipaluna-based duo of Amelia Besseny and Cooper Bowman, and kindred spirit and legendary Mancunian free-form guitarist Jon Collin. A lavish dreamscape conjuring the dramatic beauty of uncharted mountains and streams, it documents both the crystallization of ideas first shared during an Australian encounter in early 2023 and years of mutual appreciation. Troth's sonic universe, a constellation of drifting atmospherics, bedroom pop impulse and modern classical motifs, is deeply intimate and never rushed. Recent sides Forget The Curse and Idle Easel and live performances supporting the likes of Maxine Funke and Treasury of Puppies have seen Besseny's soaring, celestial voice take center stage, delicately adorned with Bowman's synthesizer flourishes and homespun instrumentation. At their heart lies Bowman's tireless collaborative instinct: his decade-long involvement in the Australian underground and his countless musical outfits (including contemporary trio Th Blisks, with Besseny and Yuta Matsumura). Collin is perhaps best known for his playing, deconstructing and reconfiguring of the guitar and other stringed instruments, realized in solo works on his own Early Music and Winebox Press imprints, and collaborations on a trio of albums with Demdike Stare and live sessions with Sarah Hughes and Bill Nace. His unique style of playing, sometimes delicate, at other times frictional, refutes expectations of traditional instruments and fits perfectly within both Troth's ethos and their lush sonic mise-en-scène. The objects of devotion perhaps symbolize the group's devotion towards each other during their music-making process, and the fruits from which they are borne. The sacredness and ominousness of remote Tasmania is just as affecting, the interplay of Besseny's haunting vocal washes, Bowman's sparse instrumentation and Collin's ritualistic strum evoking the eeriness that lurks beneath the seemingly limitless Australian landscape.

Music To Varnish Owls By. Does Geoff Bastow have a claim for the best album title of all time? It's certainly up there. It's also one of the hardest to find library funk records. But don't let the eye-catching name fool you into thinking this isn't serious business. As a key member of Giorgio Moroder's team, the legendary Geoff Bastow shouldn't need any introduction. You'll be familiar with his singular brilliance as the brains behind the much-sampled boogie/disco classics "You Don't Like My Music (Hupendi Muziki Wangu?!)" and "Don't Stop," released by his group, K.I.D. But 1975's Music To Varnish Owls By is where it all began. It's packed with incredibly soulful, soothing music that -- despite being utilized a few times by Knxwledge -- remains still largely un-mined. So, beat-makers, get cracking. Born in 1949, Bastow was a Munich-based English songwriter and record producer. Originally working as a guitarist and pianist in dance bands around his home county of Yorkshire, he moved to London in the early 1970s and then Munich in around 1976. He was one of the main architects of the Munich disco sound of electronic innovator Giorgio Moroder and also released heaps of killer library records for legendary labels like Bruton, Impress, JW Music Library and the Munich-based Sonoton between the 1970s-2000s. Bastow died tragically young, in Berlin, Germany on 16 March 2007, at the age of just 57. But he left behind a truly incredible electronic music legacy. He deserves to be much better known and this reissue should bring him to a fair few more ears. As ever, the audio for Music To Varnish Owls By has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

"A stunning 650-page hardcover illustrated book, featuring over 150 record collectors including A-Trak, Colleen Murphy, DāM FunK, Peanut Butter Wolf, Quantic, DJ Spinna, Kid Koala, Don Letts, Andy Votel, Shawn Lee, Mayer Hawthorne, and bass maestro Ron Carter. Renowned photographer and publisher Eilon Paz returns with Dust & Grooves: Further Adventures In Record Collecting, a sequel to his 2014 best-selling Dust & Grooves, highlighting over one hundred fifty of the world's most fascinating and accomplished vinyl collectors, bridging stunning images with extensive interviews, and revealing the motives and backstories behind the global record-collecting community. Ten years after the first book release, with vinyl's consistent surge in popularity, Further Adventures, spanning over 650 pages, digs deeper than its predecessor, underscoring gorgeous collections from astute, everyday enthusiasts to venerated DJs, musicians and producers. Veteran journalist and editor David Ma (Wax Poetics, NPR, Rolling Stone) handles the editorial end of this sequel, making Further Adventures a cultural leader in the field, expertly accentuating the world's unifying devotion to vinyl. Tailor-made for lovers of world-class photography, novice to expert collectors, and music obsessives alike."

"Moondog's jovial H'art Songs was the first release not to incorporate his name in the title, but the record that forever proved his genius. A rare vocal album recorded by Moondog when he was in his sixties, these ten art songs blur the boundaries between classical and pop music. Moondog called this series of art songs 'H'art songs' -- Hardin's art songs. The musical content is on a higher level than most popular music, but has an appeal to a wide range of tastes, from the pop to the classical listener. This collection of piano pop songs written and recorded in 1977 made Moondogs' stunningly eclectic discography even more chaotic musically, it also featured some of his most mesmerizing wordplay. Telling tales that can be interpreted as metaphors for how to live -- sometimes political, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes nature loving - they are always intriguingly poetic, and helped push this album to the very top of all Moondog's releases."

When pioneering no wave act Teenage Jesus and the Jerks inevitably split, vocalist/anti-guitarist Lydia Lunch launched a solo career that continues to the present with countless reinventions along the way. 2004 downtempo gem Smoke In The Shadows sees Lunch in west coast cinematic jazz mode, offset by hip-hop backbeats, Afro-Cuban rhythms and funk. Created by the team of Tommy Grenas and Len Del Rio of Anubian Lights, featuring guitarist Nels Cline and saxophonist Niels Van Hoorn from Legendary Pink Dots with special guest vocalist Carla Bozulich. It's the perfect foil for Lunch as Femme Fatale starring in her own B-movie, a film noir soundtrack that both threatens and seduces.

LP version. "Hip-hop legend Rakim is breaking new ground with his upcoming studio album, God's Network Rebirth, by flexing his skills both on the mic and behind the boards. Widely lauded as the best lyricist of all time, The God MC himself is blessing the culture with the next step in his historic career. This new album arrives nearly four decades after the release of his classic debut with Eric B., Paid In Full. Since then, he's continued to shape the landscape and culture of hip-hop, inspiring rising artists with his hype live shows and incredible studio albums. And while he's produced some of his previous work, this feels like new territory for the 18th Letter, whose production and scratching talents are nothing short of remarkable. You can tell he feels that level of praise when speaking about the genesis of the album. 'Having the ability to showcase my talents behind the boards coupled with the elite lyricism the world already knows and gives me infinite praise for alongside some of the best talents to ever do it is truly a blessing and for that I am humbled,' he said. Rakim is more than an official triple-threat as an artist, because he's also showing off skills as a curator. On this album's seven tracks, he enlists a who's-who of top hip-hop talent, including the dearly departed Nipsey Hussle, Fred the Godson, DMX, and Prodigy (of Mobb Deep). Rakim also linked with many of his contemporaries, such as Snoop Dogg, Method Man, KXNG Crooked, B.G., and Kool G. Rap, among others. The album's first single, 'Be Ill,' is the perfect introduction, as it pairs Rakim's raw rhymes and head-nodding production with slick guest features from Kurupt and Masta Killa. Elsewhere, Rakim slows it down for the soulful 'Love Is The Message,' which features Nipsey Hussle, Planet Asia, Louis King, Snoop Dogg, Sally Green, Kobe Honeycutt, and the LA Grand Choir. For fans of hip-hop, and especially of Rakim's storied discography, there is so much to love on this record. You can hear his hunger as an emcee and producer on every track, as well as his desire to collaborate with so many respected artists. Despite having decades in the game and many classics to his name, it feels like Rakim is just getting started."

Jonathan Bockelmann is a classical guitarist and composer based in Munich who first made waves in 2023 with his debut album Childish Mind (SQM 020CD). His entry into composing were arrangements he had made of pieces by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Some of these have been released digitally in three editions and are now available on vinyl for the first time. The record comes in high quality packaging with an embossed art print and features both some of Sakamoto's lesser-known works like the "Suite for Krug" as well as iconic pieces like "Bibo No Aozora."

2LP, 180g white/grey vinyl, pantone printed sleeve, UV spot varnish. Includes download code with digital bonus tracks. In honor of its 25th anniversary, Tresor Records presents a white and grey vinyl edition of one of the most seminal albums in the label's catalog: Drexciya's Neptunes Lair. 2022 marked the 20th anniversary of the passing of James Stinson and the releases of the Transllusion and Shifted Phases albums. In recognition, the rightsholders, their families, and the label had commissioned Detroit-based contemporary artist Matthew Angelo Harrison to re-conceptualize the covers of Tresor's Drexciya-related catalogue. These editions were released sequentially, bimonthly, starting early-September 2022. The series started with Neptune's Lair, first released in 1999, and the "Hydro Doorways" single arriving shortly after, followed by Harnessed The Storm and Digital Tsunami. In the beginning of 2023, Transllusion was released. The series was completed by the long-awaited re-release of Shifted Phases. These records, individually and as a catalogue, represent some of the most crucial moments in the Tresor label history, with the sound and mythic world of Drexciya undoubtedly inspiring generations.

2024 repress. "Volume One is the debut album. It was the only album recorded with second guitarist Justin Marler, before he became an Orthodox monk. Volume One showcases a darker sound and stronger doom metal influence than Sleep's later work."

With Visitations and Revisitations, Matt Rogalsky continues lines of work that seem to inevitably revolve around explorations and honoring of place, people, and memory. Ambient, expansive and immersive, twelve new songs without words invite listeners on travels through spectral sound worlds. All the compositions combine elements of acoustic and electronic sound, where the electronic sound is often derived from underlying acoustic sources which often remain unheard while their liminal, spectral qualities are evoked in new ways. On this collection, two "Visitations" bracket ten "Revisitations." Each "Revisitation" identified by a letter is an investigation into the work of a composer or musician whose work has meant much to Rogalsky: "The 'Revisitations' all function as homage compositions, in an alphabetical series of 26, where each letter references a composer whose work has touched me, and whose sounds I have spectrally explored in a new response piece." The "Visitations" are different from the "Revisitations" in their referencing of intensely personal conditions: one derives from the resonances of a family upright piano which came from Rogalsky's maternal side, and one evokes experiences in movement, sound and community around the base of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain in Banff Alberta. The range of influences Rogalsky explores on Visitations and Revisitations span from musicians and poets in his local sphere, to internationally well-known contemporary and historical figures in music and sound. Some sources are revealed and others kept private as a guessing game for listeners. A number of the tracks on the album are based in recordings of live performances while others are purely studio compositions. Matt Rogalsky is based in Kingston/Katarokwi, in Ontario Canada where he runs the Sonic Arts Studio at Queen's University. He previously released a double CD album Memory Like Water on XI Records in 2006 (XI 131CD).

"While there has been plenty of precedent, regarding Alvarius B's fascination with the down and out of Anglo/American cultural refuse, That's How I Got To Memphis is certainly his most realized collection of paying homage to it. The fact that this whole album is a collection of covers that have invaded AB's current musical obsessions is testament to the timeless nature of the original artists songwriting prowess. Imagine Joe Meek coming back from the dead to produce a country western and northern album by a Saginaw miscreant fried up in the Orman botanical gardens of Cairo Egypt. That this album could be a perfect soundtrack to a Paul Lynch sequel to his portrait of failed ambition masterpiece The Hard Part Begins is irrelevant, because it stands alone as a sequel to another AB masterpiece, Baroque Primitiva. That this album also highlights actual OUTSIDER artists from the halcyon days of holy, rebellious, loner losers should give hope, cuz outsider these days means you don't have a gmail account or Meta colonized brain. That's How I Got To Memphis is a superb collection of songs about longing, love lost and found, curios picked up and dropped off, tragedy and hope, confusion and epiphany while stumbling around through back roads to nowhere." --HM

LP version. "Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her second solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr -- plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt's quartet -- the guitarist's name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar's possibilities. Along the way, from 2007 to 2023, Mendoza was writing these slow-burning, incandescent songs. The Circular Train is comprised solely of her single-tracked guitar playing and, on two songs, her corporeal singing. Her first solo LP of original material since relocating from California to New York City a decade ago, much of The Circular Train was honed amid pandemic years that clarified the virtues of slowing down. This expressive avant-rock is a definitive introduction to one of the most uncompromising and inquisitive visions in creative music. Mendoza's thrilling melange of free jazz, blues, noise, classical training, and blazing experimental rock'n'roll all coheres with ecstatic feedback, with picking and solos that crest with shimmer. Sometimes she sounds like a one-woman Sonic Youth with guttural and poised vocals that equally evoke Patti Smith and blues greats like Jessie Mae Hemphill.

Exact repro of original 1978 hardcore punk album from Sweden. Originally released by Swedish Polydor. Contains all the hits, including "Raggare Is A Bunch Of Motherfuckers," "Absolute Ruler," etc. Rude Kids were from Hagsätra, located in the periphery of Stockholm. They founded in 1977 and existed until 1984. They were the first Swedish punk band to release a record through a major record label.

Carrying on a string of stunning archival releases from major figures of Indian classical tradition (including releases from members of the Dagar family and Amelia Cuni), Black Truffle presents an unheard recording from tabla master Kamalesh Maitra (1924-2005). For over fifty years, Maitra devoted himself to the rare tabla tarang, a set of between ten and sixteen hand drums tuned to the notes of the raga to be performed. While the tabla tarang has its origins in the late 19th century, Maitra was the first to recognize its potential as a solo concert instrument, using the set of tuned drums to perform full-length raags. Seated behind a semi-circular array of drums, Maitra produced stunning waves of melodic improvisation enlivened with the rhythmic invention of a master percussionist. Across his career, Maitra performed in ensembles led by Ravi Shankar, collaborated with George Harrison, and led his own East-West fusion group, the Ragatala Ensemble. However, it is in the solo setting that his remarkable artistry and the otherworldly timbral qualities of the tabla tarang are most strikingly on display. Recorded during the same 1985 Berlin sessions that produced Maitra's self-released solo LP Tabla Tarang: Ragas on Drums, on Raag Kirwani on Tabla Tarang listeners are treated to Maitra stretching out for over forty minutes on the late-night Raag Kirwani, accompanied by Laura Patchen on tabla and Mila Morgenstern and Marina Kitsos on tanpura. The performance begins with the traditional free-floating exposition section, where Maitra's spacious melodic improvisation at times almost resembles a plucked string instrument (like the sarod, which Maitra also played). For the listener unaccustomed to the tabla tarang, the sound of these microtonally inflected melodic patterns played on drums has a magic quality. As Maitra begins to imply the rhythmic cycles more strongly, Patchen joins on tabla, beginning half an hour of rhythmic-melodic exploration, where virtuosity sits side by side with delicacy and meditative attention. Accompanied by beautiful archival images and extensive liner notes from Laura Patchen, for many listeners Raag Kirwani on Tabla Tarang will be the perfect introduction to the magical world of Kamalesh Maitra, released to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the master musician's birth.

2024 repress! "Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet, is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA's Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts from 10+ hours of vivid two-track recordings made between 2019 & 2021 by Bryce Gonzales, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy is a darkly glowing séance of an album, brimming over with the hypnotic, the melodic, & patience & grace in its own beautiful strangeness. Room-tone, electric fields, environment, ceiling echo, live recording, Mondays, Los Angeles. Jeff Parker's first double album & first live album, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy belongs in the lineage of such canonical live double albums recorded on the West Coast as Lee Morgan's Live at the Lighthouse, Miles Davis' In Person Friday & Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco & Black Beauty, & John Coltrane's Live in Seattle. While the IVtet sometimes plays standards &, including on this recording, original compositions, it is as previously stated largely a free improv group -- just not in the genre meaning of the term. The music is more free composition than free improvisation, more blending than discordant. It's tensile, yet spacious & relaxed. Clearly all four musicians have spent significant time in the planetary system known as jazz, but relationships to other musics, across many scenes & eras -- dub & Dilla, primary source psychedelia, ambient & drone -- suffuse the proceedings. Listening to playbacks Parker remarked, humorously & not, 'we sound like the Byrds' (to certain ears, the Clarence White-era Byrds, who really stretched it). A fundamental of all great ensembles, whether basketball teams or bands, is the ability of each member to move fluidly & fluently in & out of lead & supportive roles. Building on the communicative pathways they've established in Parker's -- The New Breed -- project, Parker & Johnson maintain a constant dialogue of lead & support. Their sampled & looped phrases move continuously thru the music, layered & alive, adding depth & texture & pattern, evoking birds in formation, sea creatures drifting below the photic zone. Or, the two musicians simulate those processes by entwining their terse, clear-lined playing in real-time. The stop/start flow of Bellerose, too, simulates the sampler, recalling drum parts in Parker's beat-driven projects. Mostly Bellerose's animated phraseologies deliver the inimitable instantaneous feel of live creative drumming. The range of tonal colors he conjures from his extremely vintage battery of drums & shakers -- as distinctive a sonic signature as we have in contemporary acoustic drumming -- bring almost folkloric qualities to the aesthetic currency of the IVtet's language. A wonderful revelation in this band is the playing of Anna Butterss. The strength, judiciousness & humility with which she navigates the bass position both ground & lift upward the egalitarian group sound. As the IVtet's grooves flow & clip, loop & repeat, the ensemble elements reconfigure, a terrarium of musical cultivation growing under controlled variables, a tight experiment of harmony & intuition, deep focus & freedom. For all its varied sonic personality, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy scans immediately & unmistakably as music coming from Jeff Parker's unique sound world. Generous in spirit, trenchant & disciplined in execution, Parker's music has an earned respect for itself & for its place in history that transmutes through the musical event into the listener. Many moods & shapes of heart & mind will find utility & hope in a music that combines the autonomy & the community we collectively long to see take hold in our world, in substance & in staying power. On the personal tip, this was always my favorite gig to hit, a lifeline of the eremite records Santa Barbara years. Mondays southbound on the 101, driving away from tasks & screens & illness, an hour later ordering a double tequila neat at the bar with the band three feet away, knowing i was in good hands, knowing it would be back around on another Monday. To encounter life at scales beyond the human body is the collective dance of music & the beholding of its beauty, together." --Michael Ehlers & Zac Brenner Pressed on premium audiophile-quality 140 gram vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing from Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio lacquers. Mastered by Joe Lizzi, Triple Point Records, Queens, NY.

"All time dub classic, Dub Landing, originally released by Starlight Records in 1981. Now matched with a second disc of original vocal versions of the Linval Thompson productions. The two-disc set includes previously unreleased tracks from Junior Reid, Ranking, and Billy Boyo. Classic reggae, recorded at Channel One, produced by Linval Thompson and mixed by Scientist and Prince Jammy. The album features newly created cover art by renowned illustrator Tony McDermott."

Following a fallow 2023, a rejuvenated Growing Bin return to your turntable with this sublime collaborative LP from Gosha Martynov & Natasha Sinyakova. On their first foray into the physical, the duo expand the spectral ambience and medicated breaks of their earlier work with lithe touches of organic jazz and Cafe Del Mar cool, creating a complex assemblage of dreamy downbeat and emotive electronica that's entirely easy on the ears. Opener "Pozhaluysta" seduces with smart syncopation and beguiling melody, its flute and fretwork finding ample space to slip around Natasha's voice, equal parts Cocteau operatics and jazz-club coquette, in an expression of a want beyond words. The mood shifting "Osvobodi Menia" sees the solemn, snaking sound of a sampled duduk drift into an optimism of airy pads and escapist mantra, suspended in reverb until the end of time. "Ya Tebia Zhdala" began life as a break-led experiment, gradually evolving into a romantic and naive sketch rich with splashes of piano and dynamic chorus pads. Naturalist hymn "O Dereve" weaves a dark and intimate tale from the point of view of a veteran tree as its buzzsaw guitar loops blossom into multilayered vocals full of emotion. Awash with sonar sweeps, sumptuous pads and rolling subs, the titular "Imena Rek" channels post-rave bliss into the hypnagogic anthem the contemporary IDM-ographic have been searching for. Infectious hooks and spaced-out pads ride the breakbeat rhythm for a dreamy experimental pop banger from another planet. The somber sway of "Rany," filtered through the fog of a broken cassette recorder, trance djembe and unpredictable bass tones rivals the finest Motion Ward or In:dex releases for crepuscular charm, while "Smeshno" sees serrated drones sink into a slinking rhythm, playing counterpoint to the tender chords and yearning vocals. "Iskra" closes out the chiasmus with a return to the organic experience of the opener, the flute and acoustic guitar augmented with nuanced hand percussion and a music box refrain. Listening to this album is like a midnight walk through an ancient forest -- an experience which both scares and tempts you at the same time. From touching damp moss to feeling the thick fog with your body and watching mushrooms glow in the dark, Imena Rek guides you through the terrain. Flawlessly arranged and executed, this LP alludes to a long lineage of innovative downbeat, feels absolutely essential in the present and pushes the trip hop revivalists towards a fascinating future.

Repressed on LP. Born Herman Poole Blount in Alabama during 1914, Sun Ra first emerged on the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. One of the great avant-garde composers of his generation -- leading the way on piano, organ, and (eventually) synthesizer -- beginning in the mid-1950s and lasting until his death in 1993, led the Arkestra, a band through which a near countless number of important artists passed and collaborated with, and many remained for the duration of their careers, notably Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, and June Tyson. Known for their wild costumes and theatrics, Ra's eccentric image and claims that he was from Saturn was deeply political, imagining an alternate social order, history, and future for African Americans that rests as a pioneering force in the Afro-Futurist movement. Recorded live at Teatro Giulio Cesare on March 28, 1980, comprising an astounding 27 compositions, including the highly celebrated "Astro Black," "Mr. Mystery," "Romance of Two Planets," "Space Is the Place," "We Travel the Spaceways," and "Calling Planet Earth," over six vinyl sides. High among the greatest live gigs by the Arkestra captured on tape, carefully mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio, Live in Rome 1980 is a near perfect snapshot of the band's versatility and range, including many of their most notably and famous songs, as well as striking renditions of the Horace Henderson penned Benny Goodman number "Big John's Special," Fletcher Henderson's "Yeah Man!," and "Limehouse Blues," displaying Ra's willingness to address and rework the entire, diverse history of jazz in a single go. Heard in its totality, perhaps what makes Live in Rome 1980 most striking is the way in which the concert plays out. Roughly the first half encounters the band locked in some of the most out-there, free jazz fire that can be imagined, weaving a startling sense of interplay and furious energy into a brilliant tapestry of writhing sonority, the likes of which were only really achieved by this band. The second half, with only moments of exception that return to the furious energy of the first, is a very different affair, easy toward the vocal standards, led by June Tyson's vocals and the joyous collective chanting of the band, for which they have become so widely celebrated, threading the sounds of off-kilter big band swing with heavy grooves and imagines of outer space.

Edition of 300 copies. Gold foil printed sleeve. Includes 12-page booklet and two leporello inserts printed on translucent paper. On the centenary of the birth of Luigi Nono, the Maurice Quartet -- Georgia Privitera (violin), Laura Bertolino (violin), Francesco Vernero (viola), and Aline Privitera (cello) -- reinterprets the composition for string quartet by the Venetian composer: Fragmente: Stille, An Diotima, dedicated to LaSalle Quartet on the occasion of the thirtieth Beethovenfest in Bonn, in 1980. The driving force of inspiration must have been Beethoven, understood as a radical innovator of the conventions of his time. This same definition was attributed to Nono after composing this work, so much so that the critics of the time spoke of the "turning point work." An extreme chamber music work, at the same time private and political, which Nono himself summarized as follows: "I have not changed at all. Even tenderness, the private has its collective, political side. Therefore my String Quartet is not the expression of a new retrospective line in me, but rather my current position of experimentation: I want the great, rebellious affirmation with the minimum means." The edition includes a set of evocative photographs of the Giudecca in Venice -- which follow the aesthetics of the fragment -- realized by Sophie-Anne Herin and a precious musicological contribution by Francesca Scigliuzzo. The Maurice Quartet -- active for more than twenty years in the field of experimentation between contemporary music, electronics and multimedia -- joins the numerous homages that the world of music pays to Nono one hundred years after his birth with a recording work of great philological and interpretative relevance, aimed at capturing the most intimate and feverish side of one of the most significant composers of the last century.

"One of the most revered, reviled and talked about records in all Australian music history, I'm Stranded by The Saints finally gets the vinyl box set treatment. A joint collaboration between In The Red, Universal Music Australia, and spearheaded by Feel Presents and Saints founder Ed Kuepper, the deluxe edition of I'm Stranded features four vinyl LPs covering all the band's studio and live recordings from 1976 thru 1977 and includes: the iconic debut album remastered for vinyl for the first time in over forty years; A five-song live performance from Paddington Town Hall Sydney 3/4/1977, appearing on vinyl for the first time; A full live performance from the Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival, London November 1977, appearing on vinyl for the first time; All three tracks from the 1977 This Perfect Day 12-inch single and all four tracks from the 1977 1-2-3-4 double 7-inch single; The previously unreleased 1976 demo mix of the full I'm Stranded album. In addition to all that vinyl, the set also features a twenty-eight page 12"x12" photo essay of the band covering their origins from 1973 through the end of'77, an authorized band history, an 8"x10" 1976 promo photo, and a I'm Stranded sticker."

Restocked! Triple LP version. Kompakt presents, finally, a reissue of the first, self-titled GAS album. Originally released on electronica imprint Mille Plateaux back in 1996, it's been unavailable in its original form ever since -- the version of GAS included in 2008's Nah Und Fern box featured several different tracks. Here, however, GAS is restored in all its glory, the debut full-length from Wolfgang Voigt's most enigmatic, quixotic project. There had, of course, been signs of what was to come. Back in 1995, Voigt essayed the first Gas release, a slender, yet remarkable four-track EP, Modern. Its center label featured a reduced symbol -- an overhead or lamp light, switched on, its glow radiating outwards in four bold black lines -- a perfect representation of the tight, stylized ambient electronic pop contained on that 12". A few curious compilation tracks were floating around, too, for Mille Plateaux's Modulation & Transformation and Electric Ladyland series. If you were attentive enough, you could tell something was up. But nothing quite prepared listeners for the languorous, effervescing loops and regular-like-clockwork beats that Voigt folded together on GAS. Its six long tracks, all untitled, neither begin nor end but hazily fade into earshot, vibrate majestically in your cochlea for fifteen-or-so minutes -- some a bit shorter, some longer -- and then meander away, reading the mise-en-scène for the next example of Voigt's drift and dream logic to unfold. The material is referential in the most distant way, and you can sense only the most evanescent of ghostly presences, haunting these six compositions. GAS feels, also, like a more pliable hint at what's to come, as the GAS concept really solidified on its successor, 1997's Zauberberg, and reach its apotheosis on Königsforst and Pop. Those three albums share a very similar palette -- blurred, hazy samples, often of classical music, stacked and cross-thatched across a muted 4/4 thud. GAS, then, is an outlier of sorts: it's more expansive in its remit, lighter in its mood, perhaps more fleet of foot. This, of course, is part of its charm. In clearing space for Voigt, by preparing the terrain, GAS sits both at the edge of the forest, and at the verge of an expansive, wide-eyed future; one where GAS would become truly eternal. Text by Jonathan Dale.

Previously unreleased live recording from the Ranta archives. The creative duo of Michael Ranta and Takehisa Kosugi performed many times in the 1970s and 1980s. In this outstanding performance, recorded at the Japanese Culture Institute in Cologne in 1987, the application of an advanced multi delay system, independently utilized by both players, plays a central role. The smartly treated cyclic tapestry of the delay system (modulated, transformed, harmonized) injects additional dimensions to the highly coordinated improvisation with voice, percussion, violin and electronics, creating interactive "composition-like" textures being Multiple Musics.

Aguaturbia (1970) is an essential album to understand the construction of Chilean rock. This very influential album is raw and dynamic, featuring heavy rhythms, distortion, and exceptional phased female vocals reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane. It comprises original compositions and electrifying renditions of songs brought to fame by the likes of Tommy James & The Shondells, The Beatles, and, of course, Jefferson Airplane elevating these classics to new heights of intensity and rhythmic allure. Aguaturbia's debut album was originally released in 1970 and showcases one of South America's most significant psychedelic bands from the late '60s and early '70s. Their influence in their native Chile -- and beyond -- was groundbreaking. It was played live in 1969 on three tracks, and it became an icon of transgression due to its unbridled musical aesthetics and cover art that -- for the time of its irruption -- meant a clear defiance of the conservative logics lived in Chile, which saw in the nudity of the cover a challenge to morality and good manners. The album is raw and dynamic, featuring heavy rhythms, distortion, and exceptional phased female vocals reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane. Guitarist Carlos Corales shines and when he played solos at the gigs, the effect on the audience was silence and euphoria at the same time, they couldn't believe what they heard. Everything was done with a professional attitude. In fact, Carlos Corales (guitar) and Willy Cavada (drums) were both professional musicians who had made a previous career in rock and roll bands. The LP showcases breathtaking moments, like Willy Cavada's masterful drum solo in "Ah Ah Ah Ay" captured flawlessly in a single take. Dive into the sensual psychedelic journey of "Erotica," where Denise's alluring vocals dance harmoniously with Carlos' electrifying guitar. Plus, don't miss their thrilling renditions of "Somebody to Love" and "Crimson and Clover" -- each track elevating classics to new heights of intensity and rhythmic allure. This album is more than music; it's an invitation to experience sheer auditory bliss!