Black Truffle announce the first-ever vinyl reissue of Remko Scha's Guitar Mural 1 featuring The Machines, originally published as a rare cassette edition by Taal Beeld Geluid in 1982. A computational linguist by profession, Scha played an important role in the development of sound, installation, and digital art in the Netherlands from the late 1970s onward, co-founding the performance and exhibition space Het Appolohuis in Eindhoven in 1980. Alongside Paul Panhuysen and Jan Van Riet, Scha was a founding member of the radical improvisation group The Maciunas Ensemble, though he is best known for his work with mechanized electric guitars, documented on the legendary 1982 LP Machine Guitars. Guitar Mural 1 documents an installation of Scha's mechanical guitar ensemble The Machines held at a Groningen gallery space in 1982. Five electric guitars hang from the wall, their strings sounded by rotating rubber strings and a sabre saw controlled by a mechanical apparatus, as well as four ropes criss-crossing the five instruments on the wall. Once the mechanism was set up, Scha's only intervention was to vary the speed at which it operated. Where Machine Guitars presents short excerpts clearly distinguished by rhythmic and timbral variation, here we are confronted with four enormous side-long slabs of percussive string attack and the resulting clouds of harmonics. Variation is minimal across the duration of each side, making for a sculptural listening experience, as if you are patiently examining each facet of a static object. But significant variety exists between the four sides, each of which shows off a different facet of what The Machines were capable of. The first two excerpts feature open strings sounded at rapid tempos, dissolving the percussive attack into a continuous stream of sound reminiscent of Charlemagne Palestine's "strumming" technique. On the third side, the strings are partly muted and the tempo slightly lowered, resulting in layers of relentlessly chugging rhythm somewhere between an ensemble of hand drums and an early Velvet Underground bootleg. On the fourth side, havoc breaks loose in percussive waves of asynchronous repetition that bring Scha's sound world close to that of another pioneer experiment in musical mechanization, the Solar Music of Joe Jones. Guitar Mural 1 is an exhilarating document occupying a unique space between kinetic sculpture, hardcore minimalism and rock & roll. Deluxe gatefold sleeve accompanied by stunning visual documentation of the original installation, remastered audio and new liner notes from Alan Licht and Van Lagestein.

"In the beginning, there was just a box of tapes and 'Fate's Gentle Hand.' It was the autumn of 2010, and an anonymous figure known only as the Head Technician, an employee of Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services, found himself at an auction in the village of Coldred, pop. 110. He was on the hunt for tobacco pipes when he chanced across a trio of boxes listed in the auction catalog, which described their contents only as 'archived magnetic recordings.' The sole bidder, he won the lot, and upon receipt of his purchase took possession of an unspecified number of moldering cassettes and ¼" reel-to-reel tapes. The collection contained no identifying information save for a single phrase scrawled on each box: Black Mill Sessions. And so, armed with razors, eyedroppers, and a bevy of solid-state circuitry, the Head Technician sat down at his machines and got to work. Whether anyone believed it or not, this was the framing device surrounding Pye Corner Audio's Black Mill Tapes Volume I: Avant Shards, which took the mysterious tactics of artists like Boards of Canada and Burial and raised them exponentially . . . These were not compositions, we were told; they were tape transfers -- 'transcriptions' of an unknown author, slathered with hiss and thick with ambiguity. Some of the tapes displayed an unusual amount of degradation and ... an unsettling amount of background noise, whether electrical in nature, or otherwise,' wrote the Head Technician. 'I chose to edit around the worst of the unusual break-ups, but some still remain.' It was a good yarn, and the music was better still. Like his contemporaries Demdike Stare and Ghost Box, Pye Corner Audio seemed to be tapping into some hidden energy current, channeling spirits via electrical means. The pioneering transmissions of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop could be detected lurking within the music's staticky swirl; so could the ominous throb of John Carpenter's film soundtracks. Drones and flutes commingled with chugging machine beats; miasmic clouds of haunted tone alternated with death disco. It all sounded eerie, otherworldly, possibly occult -- yet also, in tracks like the glimmering 'We Have Visitors,' accented with a hint of mischief. Over the next few years, Martin Jenkins -- for that, after all, was the Head Technician's name -- would go on to release three more volumes of Black Mills Tapes. Among the dozens of releases he has put out since 2010, they remain among the most beloved in his catalog . . . Now, ten years after Avant Shards first appeared, Lapsus Records collects all four volumes along with a fifth disc of unreleased material..." --Philip Sherburne Color LPs; includes booklet.

WRWTFWW Records celebrate the 40-year anniversary of cult band Grauzone with the release of their definitive and comprehensive Limited 40 Years Anniversary Box Set. The release is packed with their complete discography, as well as a never-released-before live recording, an 80-page fanzine with an extensive biography written by Swiss music historian Lurker Grand, unseen archival material, and artist contributions, and a poster replica of an original concert flyer from 1980. Conceived, conceptualized and supervised by original band member Stephan Eicher, the box set includes the following exclusive content: Grauzone's self-titled album from 1981 reissued as a 180 gram, double-LP with nine additional tracks, amounting to the band's complete studio discography. Included are the classics "Eisbär", "FILM 2", "Raum", "Moskau", "Träume Mit Mir", "Der Weg Zu Zweit", and "Wütendes Glas (Maxi Version)", as well as the deep and unconventional album cuts that make Grauzone so unique. The double-LP is housed in a heavy gatefold sleeve, with liner notes by Lurker Grand, an insert with the original album's lyrics, and a special Xeroxed artwork imagined by Stephan Eicher. The box also includes Grauzone's Live LP, a recording of their April 12th 1980 concert at Gaskessel in their hometown of Bern, Switzerland, with a sleeve artwork by Stephan Eicher. Also includes is an 80-page fanzine containing the history of Grauzone written by Lurker Grand, never-seen images of the band and their collaborators and incredible snapshots of the late '70s/early '80s underground scene in Switzerland, as well as artist contributions by Christian Marclay, Genesis P-Orridge, Sylvie Fleury, John Armleder, Maurizio Cattelan, Gregor Hildebrandt and more, cementing Grauzone's art band with a punk attitude" ethos. Included as well is a 60x90 cm poster replica of Grauzone's Spex (Bern) concert flyer from October 25 1980. Absolutely all the elements included in this box set collection were photocopied by hand with a vintage Xerox machine before being printed, as wished by Stephan Eicher (who took care of photocopy duties for a good chunk of the material). A bold artistic choice, a nod to the DIY ways of the era this release represents, and drawing a parallel between the acts of reissuing and photocopying. Lid-off box.

The Mecánica Clásica project combines modified elements of early electronics, krautrock, ambient, minimalism, and fourth world music, generating an interplanetary space where enterprising guitar tones, lush synth sequencing and off-kilter percussion coalesce. Mar Interior the new album by Mecánica Clásica is a fusion of kosmische and fourth world music inspired by ancient Mediterranean culture. Loosely translated as "Inland Sea", Mar Interior is thematically centered on the history and legacy of the ancient civilizations that proliferated around the Mediterranean Sea. Augmented by environmental recordings, Mecánica Clásica renew the extensive topographies opened up by early pioneers like Craig Leon, Jon Hassell, Brian Eno and Cluster, in an immense vision of Spanish space ambient. On Mar Interior their work expands upon these influences, moving into a shimmering, hypnotic sound world which finds common ground with the likes of O Yuki Conjugate, K. Leimer, Roberto Musci and X.Y.R. Mastered by Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound).

Real Real World is the first collaborative effort from Nantes-based Australian drummer/percussionist Will Guthrie and Australian keyboardist/composer James Rushford. Primarily recorded in a fluid, spontaneous studio session in Nantes, with overdubs added later in Melbourne and Nantes, Real Real World presents five spacious, unhurried pieces that inhabit a unique sound world characterized by wheezing, half-voiced organ chords, chiming metal percussion, and eruptions of small sounds. Beginning with the eerily beautiful, shakuhachi-esque sound of Rushford performing on detuned portative organ, the opening title track is abruptly transformed by the entry of Guthrie's sizzling cymbals, deep gong strikes, and rustling hand percussion. On the epic "Lumbering", which occupies the majority of the record's first side, organ chords define a space in which a kaleidoscopic succession of amplified thuds, chiming bells, rustled and dragged objects, and abruptly silenced clusters advance and recede in an oneiric blur, eventually making way for a passage of Guthrie's virtuosic polyrhythms, itself unexpectedly overtaken by waves of melting fairground organ. The record reaches an energetic climax mid-way through the second side with the stunning "Slakes", where lugubrious chords in the organ's lowest register are joined by Guthrie's skittering rhythms, which somehow manage to call to mind both the most chaotic moments of Balinese Gamelan and the stochastic breakbeats of late-90s Autechre. On this piece, Guthrie and Rushford are joined by Melbourne saxophone maverick Scott McConnachie, who contributes an alto sax solo of burning precision, working with a single-minded palette of piercing long tones and wild intervallic leaps. Though it makes extensive use of overdubbing, Real Real World retains a strong sense of having been performed, rather than constructed: while at times the fleeting succession of events can recall electroacoustic music, its primarily acoustic nature and unhurried pace is also reminiscent of the music of AACM affiliates or Marion Brown's classic Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970). Immediately engaging while also hiding countless details in the folds of its polychrome fabric, Real Real World is a relaxed and joyous document of collaborative musical invention. Artwork by Patrizia Bach; Layout by Lasse Marhaug. Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Berlin.

Black Truffle offer up a rare serving of unheard works by legendary Swiss artist Anton Bruhin. Active as a visual artist, poet, and musician since the 1960s, Bruhin has created important work in forms as varied as concrete poetry and landscape painting, imbuing everything he does with wit, humility, and absurdist humor. A recognized master of the jew's harp (or Trümpi, as this ancient folk instrument is known in Swiss German), Bruhin's sound work also encompasses tape collage, sound poetry, and manipulated bird song. On Speech Poems/Fruity Music you are treated to 26 short pieces made between 2006 and 2008 using the audio software Fruity Loops. These pieces carry on Bruhin's long-running project of exploring the creative use and misuse of cheap, accessible technologies. In many of his analog works, Bruhin explored the possibilities of simple cassette equipment. He invented DIY approaches to layering sounds by using multiple tape machines, experimented with distortion and tape speed, or, in his classic Inout (1981) created a maniacally single-minded audio monument to the pause button. Like the computer pixel drawings the artist produced around the same time as these recordings, Speech Poems/Fruity Music extends this approach to consumer software, presenting two parallel sequences of works that make use of Fruity Loops' inbuilt synthetic instruments and its speech synthesis function. The instrumental works play like a twisted take on the aesthetics of 1980s video game soundtracks, using synthetic accordion and harpsichord sounds to realize jaunty little ditties that exploit their machine-realization by making use of improbable pitch-bends and humanly impossible tempos and articulations. Between these samples of Fruity Music, you are treated to the Speech Poems, a series of recitations by a lone computer-generated voice. Many of them are in fact songs, as the synthetic voice crudely and hilariously changes pitch as it moves through its fragmented syllables and odes to cream in coffee. Carrying on Bruhin's interest in the creative misuse of technology, many of the Speech Poems attempt to force Fruity Loops' voice synthesis, designed only to speak English, to speak German. By entering phonetic text into the program, Bruhin gets it to produce a passable German alphabet and a series of approximations to a proper pronunciation of his name. Hilarious while strangely austere, entertaining but bizarre, Speech Poems/Fruity Music is classic Anton Bruhin, arriving in a beautiful mosaic cover by the artist, with the text of the "abc für anglophone" on the back cover. Compiled by Marc Matter and Anton Bruhin. Mastered by Joe Talia.

Outside Ludlow / Desert Disco is the first major solo release from Australian performer-composer Sam Dunscombe, now based in Berlin after residing for the past decade in San Diego and Tokyo. A virtuoso clarinetist who has performed in composed and improvised settings with artists such as Klaus Lang and Taku Sugimoto, their practice also embraces computer music, lo-fi electronics and field recordings, in addition to their long-term commitment to archiving, studying and performing the work of Romanian spectralist composer Horatiu Radulescu. The two side-long pieces presented on this LP began from a chance encounter in a specific geographic location (documented in the photographs that grace the record's sleeve). Exploring California's Mojave Desert with a friend, Dunscombe made the unlikely discovery of a tangle of quarter-inch tape snared on a cactus. The digitized version of this tape, variously edited and processed, as well as Dunscombe's own transcription and embellished performance of some of its material on Hammond organ, makes up one of the main ingredients of the LP's first side. The other is a field recording of the area outside the ghost town of Ludlow, where the tape was found, where haunted silence is punctuated by freight trains and clusters of explosions from gold mines and the local marine corps. Far from any kind of documentary approach, the resulting composition reaches back to the smeared atmospherics and overdriven tape crunch of Hands To, Small Cruel Party or Joe Colley, before the Hammond organ rises up to cast a spectral shimmer reminiscent of 1960s tape music classics like Arne Nordheim's "Warszawa". On "Desert Disco" (its title perhaps a clue to the content of the mysterious tape), Dunscombe zeroes in on a single fragment of the tape, accompanying it with analog synthesis to craft an immersive work based on a single chord. Throughout the course of this work, the monolithic opening sonority gradually splits apart, revealing an infinity of rhythmically phasing lines that swarm like a cloud of insects and patter like falling rain, placing Dunscombe's piece in a lineage of patient electronic exploration that includes landmarks like Costin Miereanu's Derives and the contemporary work of Jim O'Rourke. Limited edition vinyl with images by Sam Dunscombe and design by Lasse Marhaug. Mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Berlin.

You Can See Your Own Way Out is the first collaborative record between Ilyas Ahmed (Geographic North, Immune, MIE Music) and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Shelter Press, Mexican Summer, Type). Long-time friends and satellites orbiting the same communities and scenes, You Can See's inception was never really a question of if, but when. Combining Ahmed's explorative guitar/synth-work and Cantu-Ledesma's field recording, sound processing and electronics, the result presents as a book of short stories or vignettes highlighting their individual strengths. At times evoking pastoral landscapes, others frayed edges of disintegrating photographs, there's always the suggestion of a forked path or a promised destination. Jonathan Sielaff guests on bass clarinet. Clear vinyl; includes download code; edition of 500.

Reissue of Jan Jelinek's 2003 collaboration with Triosk, first vinyl issue of this album in 18 years. A long-lost vinyl album is back in stock: 1+3+1 by Triosk meets Jan Jelinek, originally released in 2003 on ~scape, existed only as a digital download. Now the remastered album is available again on vinyl. Includes download code.

What the press said about 1+3+1 back in 2003:

"Hence the album's titled 1+3+1 --it's a reference to how it was made. Jan Jelinek sent us stuff, then we did stuff, then he added the final touches. He did a little bit more editing and production and mixed and mastered it in Berlin." --Interview with Laurence Pike, Jazzgroove

"1+3+1 is not minimalist jazz; it is loop-based jazz, influenced and produced by a minimalist composer, and then given to a jazz trio with post-rock tendencies." --Pitchfork

"On 'Theme from Trioskinek', a jaunty, up-tempo tune not unlike the Charlie Brown theme is dragged down by Jelinek's compressed sound effects, giving the impression of a runner training underwater, straining for grace with every step. If electric jazz had its Bitches Brew, it's only fitting that someone, someday, would give us Glitches Brew." --SFWeekly

"This music is a fascinating exploration of the shadowground between acoustic jazz and studio processing. It picks up a particular dialogue about improvised performance and postproduction initiated in the 1970s by Teo Macero and Miles Davis." --Jazzwise Magazine

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Far Out Recordings present a reissue of José Mauro's A Viagem Das Horas, originally released in 1976. For years it was believed that José Mauro was dead. Rumors on blogs and comment sections circulated that the mysterious Brazilian genius had either been killed in a road accident, or been "disappeared" by Brazil's military junta in the 1970s. But following Far Out's 2016 reissue of José Mauro's debut album Obnoxius (FARO 191CD/LP), the label heard word that José Mauro is in fact alive and well, living a quiet life on the outskirts of Rio. Far Out Recordings now present, with the blessing of the man himself, the long-awaited release of José Mauro's forgotten masterpiece A Viagem Das Horas, featuring three previously unreleased and unheard tracks from the original studio sessions. Recorded in 1970 at Odeon studios in Rio de Janeiro: the same time and place as all the music he ever recorded, José Mauro's A Viagem Das Horas wasn't released until six years later, when label owner and producer Roberto Quartin licensed the tracks to fellow Brazilian label Tapecar, who curiously released the album with several tracks already released on Obnoxius. Finally, over half a century on, A Viagem Das Horas will be released with three never before heard tracks, "Rua Dois", "Moenda" and "Variação Sobre Um Antigo Tema", as Mauro and Quartin had originally intended. Conceived under the gloom of Brazil's military authoritarianism, from which many artists had either fled or been exiled, José Mauro and his songwriting partner Ana Maria Bahiana, combined their shared interest in Candomblé -- a syncretism of traditional West African religions and Roman Catholicism -- with MPB, psychedelic folk and orchestral music. Expressing a spiritual response to the world they found themselves in, the result was a sacrosanct, post-tropical music of pure transcendence. With apparitional vocals and propulsive, open-tuning acoustic guitar, and Lindolfo Gaya's spine-tingling orchestrations soaring overhead, the music has the power to inspire in the listener an almost trance-like state of ecstasy.

"In one sense all collaborations and recordings thereof have a certain surprise factor. Any time two or more people get together to create something from nothing, the exact contours of the resulting experiment are likely to contain at least a few unknown elements. This notion is especially true when the people collaborating are coming from not obviously congruent places. And (at least to me) this makes Monocot a project that was guaranteed to toss a curve. Monocot is an improvising instrumental duo comprised of drummer Jayson Gerycz and guitarist Rosali Middleman. Jayson' work I know mostly from the Cleveland rock band, Cloud Nothings, and cool sessions with Matthew J Rolin and Tony Pasquarosa. Rosali's records on Siltbreeze and Scissor Tail are great, but they seemed more focused on songs more than anything else. They both do have great guitar on them, but that didn't seem like it was her main thing. Anyway, not having any idea what to expect, I was blown away by the music on Direction We Know. Jayson and Rosali met in Cleveland in 2018 when she was playing with Purling Hiss. They ran into each other a few more times and talked about the idea of doing some studio jamming. A session finally happened in the Fall of 2019 when Jayson was again in Philly, and as far as I know this sole date is the full accounting of Monocot's existence thus far. In this duo Rosali pulls out all the stops, and plays in a way she has only hinted at on earlier records. Flowing sheets of both psych and free-form rippery careen all over the place. Some parts remind me of Matt Valentine at his outer pinnacle, but the intensely lateral spread of Jayson's percussion has a way of making the roar seem a lot more contained and sensical than it otherwise might. And although it doesn't exactly sound like anything they've actually done, the tone here makes me remember bits I've heard by the Corsano/Chasny Duo that really pushed all my buttons. This Monocot session ran through night and into the morning. When it was over neither of the musicians remembered just what it was that they'd played. Which makes sense. Everything just happened without plans or rules to hem things in. Freedom can be a messy business, but when it's good it's truly liberating. And Direction We Know is real damn good. Let us hope Monocot reconnoiter sooner rather than later. Luckily for now, we have this album to bide the time. So do it." --Byron Coley, 2021

Terence Young became a famous director for bringing the first James Bond movie Dr. No to the screen in 1962. He directed two more James Bond films: From Russia With Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965). Young directed The Rover (L'avventuriero) in 1967. A costume drama after the 1923 novel by Joseph Conrad. The film was shot in and around Rome, Italy in late 1966. It is a colorful adventure set against the infamous Reign of Terror in the eighteenth-century France, starring Anthony Quinn and Rita Hayworth, who danced together 26 years earlier in the film Blood And Sand in 1941. Anthony Quinn plays the eighteenth-century pirate and deserter Peirol, running for the French, who was seduced by an innocent girl named Arlette, played by Rosanna Schiaffino. There were high expectations, but the film was not a great success as hoped. However, the best thing about the film is the fantastic score. Ennio Morriconewrote created a stunning main theme for the film that became a classic. The score is sometimes powerful and recalls the classical symphonic music at some points, but naturally it is completely original, written especially for the film. The main peculiarity is its diversity. Highlights are the Baroque music, as in "il Varo'", and suspense in "un Attimo di Tenerezza" and "Peirol Forza il Blocco" with the chorus I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. The score has it all, well conducted by Bruno Nicolaiand, this CD is a jewel in any collection. In 1967, a soundtrack LP was released in Italy on the limited non-commercial RCA SP series. This new CD version is re-mastered and you can hear the soloists Angelo Stefanatoon (violin) and Dino Asciolla (viola) as clear as never before.

Blue vinyl. Minyo Crusaders rework historic Japanese folk songs (min'yō) with Latin, African, Caribbean, and Asian rhythms for their debut album Echoes of Japan. Releases from Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, and Midori Takada have re-ignited global interest in Japanese music and Echoes of Japan marks the arrival of a big band like no other. "For Japanese people, min'yō is both the closest, and most distant, folk music," explains band-leader Katsumi Tanaka: "We may not feel it in our daily, urban lives, yet the melodies, the style of singing and the rhythm of the taiko drums are engrained in our DNA." Initially indifferent to min'yō, a tragic event in recent Japanese history set Tanaka on his current path: "Following the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, I reflected on my life, work and identity. A fan of world music, I began searching for Japanese roots music I could identify with. Discovering mid-late 20th century acts Hibari Misora, Chiemi Eri and the Tokyo Cuban Boys, I was captivated by their eccentric arrangements and how they mixed min'yō with Latin and jazz." Originally sung by fishermen ("Kushimoto Bushi"; "Mamurogawa Ondo"), coal miners ("Tanko Bushi") and sumo wrestlers ("Sumo Jinku"), these songs deal with topics such as the returning spirits of ancestors ("Hohai Bushi"), Japan's smallest bird ("Toichin Bushi"), and a bride's love for her husband's pockmarked face ("Otemoyan"). Minyo Crusaders are one of the most hyped acts on the Tokyo music scene that went national in 2018 through festivals such as Fuji Rock. The band features veterans of the Tokyo roots music scene such as bassist DADDY U (Ska Flames), keyboardist Moe (Kidlat), sax player Koichiro Osawa (Matt Sounds, J.J. Session), Yamauchi Stephan (J.J. Session), percussionist Mutsumi Kobayashi (Banda de la Mumbia), conga player Irochi (Cubatumb), and vocalist Meg (DJ collective Tokyo Sabroso). For fans of: Haruomi Hosono, Soundway Records, Analog Africa, Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band.

Psychedelic rock icons The Electric Prunes formed in Los Angeles in 1965 with a musical recipe rich in fuzz-toned guitars and oscillating sound effects. American garage bands from these years were rarely documented on live albums, making this recording a rare testimony of that era. After a US tour in the latter half of 1967, the band embarked on a European tour, their first and last tour of the continent, that would take them to the UK, France, Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden, performing at high-profile venues. The band's lineup is from their second album, Underground, released earlier that year: James Lowe (lead vocals), Mark Tulin (bass, organ, vocals), Ken Williams (lead guitar), Mike Gannon (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Quint (drums). They would also hook up with Brian Jones at the Speakeasy (London), meet The Beatles mixing Magical Mystery Tour and visit Hendrix's flat, share stage with Soft Machine in Amsterdam and recorded a TV show in Paris. Members of the audience would often disrupt the concerts with Vietnam war related shouts in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. On the final leg of the tour, The Electric Prunes' performance was recorded in Stockholm for broadcast on Swedish radio. They'd find out about the recording much later... The band here sports an explosive, noisy and wild sound, more in the vein of legendary early punk-rockers like MC5 than the psychedelic Californian landscapes some might expect. The line-up featured on this album would disband the following year after failing to complete the challenging arrangements David Axelrod had prepared for their new album. However, this album proves these guys were not just a studio-controlled group but seasoned psych rockers. Recorded by the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation at the Concert Hall in Stockholm in December 1967. Includes notes by Mark Tulin and James Lowe.

Optimo Music presents Janara the new album from Italy's José Manuel. The label always has our ears open for music that is unique, powerful and that can conjure up a ritualistic atmosphere, and this meistrerwerk did all that, and then some. Here is José on the album: "This album is a result of the necessity of exploring and opening my mind to new musical horizons, by testing the main traditional instrument of the Italian region Campania, whose name is 'Tammorra'. It is a big drum, which must not be confused with the typical tambourine, made from a wrap of wood shaped in a circle and covered with dried skin (almost always goatskin or sheepskin). This instrument was used during playful events, especially during rituals and ceremonies, such as the frequent devotional pilgrimages in honor of the Virgin Mary. By using this instrument, the sound, the rite and the magic could take possession of the mind and the body creating a perfect union. Also, the dancers, as if they were bitten by a tarantula and possessed by a strange evil, launched themselves to an uncontrolled dance by moving every part of their body. In addition to the Tammorra, I also inserted some texts, which have been written by some Neapolitan friends and interpreted with Neapolitans voices, in honor of the 'JANARA'. The Janara represents a popular belief of the Southern Italian regions, particularly of the Benevento area. The Janara is one of the many types of witches represented by folktales belonging to the rural tradition. The Janara was expert in medical herbs, which were also be used for her magical practices, such as the manufacturing of ointment. The ointment gave her the power to become incorporeal with the same nature as the wind. According to the tradition, in order to snatch the Janara it was necessary to grab her by the hair. It was also said that if anyone was able to capture the Janara during her incorporeal moment then Janara herself would offer protection to them and their family for seven generations, in exchange for her freedom. With this work I hope that the listener might get carried away by the spirit of this pagan and popular legend that can be still be considered as current. As a matter of fact, the folk tales speak of a probable comeback of the Janara, who after being burned at the stake seems to be thirsting for revenge for the evil suffered." Comes with insert.

Vampisoul present a first time vinyl reissue of Adalberto Cevasco's Pájaros Eléctricos, originally released in 1988. Few musicians can boast of having played with "the greatest" without some eyebrows to be raised. The bass of Adalberto Cevasco has been heard in multiple concerts and recording sessions of artists as diverse as the Spanish divas Rocío Jurado and Isabel Pantoja, tango genius Astor Piazzolla or the cream of the Argentine jazz scene -- from Pocho Lapouble, Gustavo Kerestezachi, Rubén López Furst or Andrés Boiarsky to the great Gato Barbieri. With the latter, as part of a dream band that included artists like Nana Vasconcelos as well as other Argentines such as Lapouble or Domingo Cura, he recorded two fundamental pieces in the Impulse! label catalog in sessions held in Argentina and Los Angeles and also toured across various countries. It is therefore out of question that Adalberto Cevasco belongs to that top-level league of musicians whose talent has also contributed to enhance those who accompany them. The history of this album begins with an encounter. Adalberto Cevasco joins Rodolfo Alchurrón's jazz-funk project Sanata y Clarificación as bassist and meets Litto Nebbia, who is invited to sing along. Some years on, when Nebbia's Melopea record company was developing, he would receive a cassette with a collection of demos recorded by Cevasco over the years. Some of the songs dated back to 1981 while others were made well into the decade and included such outstanding collaborations as that of the Uruguayan Rubén Rada, whom Adalberto Cevasco had met playing in a group of fusion candombe called Candonga. In addition to producing the complete album, Nebbia would also collaborate in a special way in one of the most outstanding tracks ("Reencuentros Nº2") by adding to Cevasco's fusion jazz some unexpected Brazilian flavors and electronic sounds that now, more than 30 years after the original release of the album, they still evoke a refreshing feel of modernity. As the Argentine press of the moment highlighted, it'd seem as if the influences received and developed by the bassist during his career as a freelance musician -- from post-Piazzolla tango to proyección folclórica (a movement of revision and modernization of the Argentinian musical roots) -- had been added to their superb rhythmic work in this album. Pájaros Eléctricos was never presented live and has remained as the only published work by Cevasco as a soloist since the date of its release. Includes insert with liner notes and previously unseen photos.

First vinyl issue of these raw experimental dub collaborations between Muslimgauze and The Rootsman, written, recorded and mixed at the Third Eye Studio, Bradford, UK between 1997 and 1998. Originally released on CD by Russian label Aquarellist. Edition of 500.

Alkisah Remix is the album curated by Les Ateliers Claus and Kiosk radio (both based in Brussels) and is created with the stems of the Alkisah album by Indonesian duo Senyawa. Alkisah is co-released by a multitude of independent record labels from all over the globe each and to extend this collaboration Les Albums Claus decided to involve their musical family. Six artists were invited to tell Alkisah stories into different possibilities and produce unique speculative works. This remix LP brings a variety of musical genres and shines a different and surprising light on Senyawa's compositional works. Going from a musique-concrète approach, towards dub and dancefloor bangers highlighting the timelessness of Senyawa their music. Remixes are delivered by Sugai Ken, Celine Gillain, Sagat, Tolouse Low Trax, Dntel, Front de Cadeaux. Edition of 300.

Vampisoul present a reissue of Alfredo Linares Y Su Salsa Star' Mi Nuevo Ritmo, originally released in 1974. A nonstop salsa dura party album from start to finish, comparable with any of New York's finest like Ray Barretto and Willie Colón from the same era, but with its own unique swinging sound and bright, crisp, joyful vibe. There are plenty of straight up Cuban-roots based salsa tunes, plus some Latin jazz and Latin soul and a bolero. Trumpets, hand claps, loud cowbell, and vigorous vocals all make for a great listen and an even better dance experience. As the track "La Música Brava" proclaims: "Yo no quiero que pare la música brava!" (I don't want the badass music to stop!). The record is actually a patchwork of different recording sessions made in Peru and Colombia, featuring differing studio sound and musician lineups. Linares had just returned to his adopted home of Medellín from a period spent in Peru and was looking for a record deal. He had brought master tapes with four songs recorded in Lima and was shopping them around in the hopes of securing an album contract. Linares also cut some Colombian sessions which feature Roy "Tayrona" Betancourt as well as Henry Castro and Enrique Fabián. Unfortunately, neither Discos Fuentes nor Sonolux or Codiscos were interested. At that time, vinyl for making records was scarce and over-priced due to the petroleum crisis and hence the labels were reluctant to try out a new artist. "There was nothing to be done. The only company that had vinyl stock was INS. So, I did the business with them even though they didn't have a known name in Colombia. The strength of that album made them rather famous." The song "Mambo Rock" (with "Estricto Guaguancó" on the B side) came out on a 45rpm record in 1974, and, as Linares recounts it, "two months later the sale was at a very high level. So, partly out of gratitude, I started producing for them. It is from there that my other records and the AfroINS albums came." Unfortunately, the master tapes to the LP were lost or destroyed, as with all INS releases, so the best possible vinyl sources and audio restoration has been used for this deluxe reissue. Recommended by DJ Bongohead of Peace & Rhythm. Presented in its original artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

"Taarab is a music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya. It is influenced by the musical traditions of the African Great Lakes, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. In the early 1970s a new taarab emerged in the East African coastal cities of Mombasa and Tanga: In Mombasa, Matano Juma's Morning Star replaced strings with distorted organ sounds, amplified violin or clarinet; Zuhura Swaleh promoted an electrified tashkota as a major new sound in her band, digging deep in coastal ngoma rhythms and dances. Crossing the border from Kenya to Tanzania, in Tanga, Black Star Musical Club's electric guitars and dance music rhythms paved the way for a broader audience reception of taarab away from the coastal Swahili towns. Mombasa was at the forefront of taarab production from the 1960s to the 1990s, thanks in no small measure to the enterprising Mzuri record label. They would not just record and promote Mombasa based artists, but also invite groups from Tanzania like Black Star or Dar es Salaam's Egyptian Music Club. In the course of the 1970s records were displaced by the cassette and the initiative moved to Mbwana Radio Service in Mombasa's Old Town, soon the new center of taarab production and distribution. Taarab rose to new heights in the 1980s with the voices and hits by Malika and Golden Star's Mwanahela. With the economic and political crisis in Kenya in the early 1990s and the concurrent rise of Dar es Salaam as the new center of music production in East Africa, Mombasa began to fade from its position as the prime taarab center. The early 1990s saw the rise of so-called modern taarab, a new style based on drum machine rhythm, powerful sound systems, and a novel fashion of inciting and insulting lyrics. Nevertheless, the musical innovations of Matano, Zuhura and Black Star opened up new vistas early on; and Malika's and Golden Star's lyrics paved the way for what was to come in the 1990s. In recognition of this, taarabfrom the Mombasa -- Tanga era is now affectionately known as 'First Modern'."

"I've already been knocked out flat by the year's sure-to-be best reissue." --Peter Margasak

Rare recordings of beat/cut-up writers and artists William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Comprises the complete recording of Burroughs reading live in Liverpool in 1982, plus performances by Gysin of a selection of his permutated poems, as well as home recordings made by the pair in Paris in 1970. All recordings are taken from original tapes in The British Library collection. 180 gram vinyl.

In this collective creation directed by Erizonte well-known artists sharing ethics and aesthetics come together over the mysterious and disturbing drawings that appeared in some newspapers, books and magazines in the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, such as Hermano Lobo, Triunfo, or Cuadernos para el Diálogo, signed OPS -- later better known by the heteronym of El Roto. Musicians or sound artists, representatives of avant-garde music that emerged in the Spain of OPS, have composed a piece for this album on a given, recurring theme: repression, censorship, informative manipulation, induced or obligatory oblivion, the vices of clericalism, the horrors of war, imperialism, bad education or the lack thereof and gender violence. These are themes that coincide with those already undertaken by Goya in etchings, and of whom we can consider Andrés Rábago, the painter behind these two pseudonyms, as the legitimate heir, at least in this field. He himself has chosen the drawings that illustrate each of the covers corresponding to the individual editions of each piece as they appeared. The covers are all gathered here, along with a new cover. This album is part II of Erizonte's trilogy inspired by drawings in the media. After the first part, the "Suite Los Caprichos de Goya", where 19th century ideals of the Enlightenment can be seen through the etchings of Francisco de Goya, while this second album corresponds to the OPS cartoons, anti-Francoism and its environment, as it was when they appeared in newspapers and magazines, the media of the 20th century. The artist and the graphic medium for the third and last part, corresponding to this 21st century, is yet to be discovered... Features Mecánica Popular, La Fura Dels Baus, Macromassa, Pelayo Arrizabalaga, Eli Gras, Esplendor Geométrico, Mar Otra Vez, Jesús Alonso, Scud Hero, and Corcobado. Gatefold sleeve.

In 2006, the now defunct BaseLogic label released the first in a triad of EPs entitled Fixxy, produced by the enigmatic British artist Ed Chamberlain. These EPs left many electronic music lovers scratching their heads, having heard something genuinely different. It represented a new generation of IDM reminiscent of The Black Dog or Plaid, melancholic electro with a meticulous nuanced palate that immediately transformed Chamberlain into a revered figure. Fifteen years on Lapsus Records, as part of its Perennial series, will release Ed Chamberlain's superlative productions across 2x12", entitled 03/06. The lavish 12" double pack will feature a sizeable part of the Fixxy material, along with additional tracks created during the same period of time, 2003-2006, including "Zarathustra" and "Does Ape", the latter released on vinyl in 2008 by Madrid label Semantica. Remastered.

2021 repress. LP version with a 12-page full-color booklet with extensive notes and unseen photos. "With only six singles released between 1965 and 1966, and from an apparently remote place such as Lima, Peru, Los Saicos created a raw, wild and visceral sound, the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the garage rock that was coming out of the U.S. Northwest at the same time. Theirs is the same DNA shared by The Sonics, The Cramps and Black Lips. This release compiles all their recordings and tells their amazing story. This snarling maelstrom of nihilism was cut in Lima when the rest of the world was wetting itself over The Beatles, direct links to both The Stooges and The Cramps here and several more equally-enthralling combos. The latter spawned several generations of individuals who would dig deep to previously (mostly) unheard seams of music and other forms of culture that have since become part of the mainstream fabric. Another strong case of the same kind of happenstance to my mind is that which preceded the much-vaunted 'punk' explosion of the '70s." --Lindsay Hutton

The Works -- one of the most famous pieces by brilliant American composer Alvin Curran -- was not created by will and direct purpose but, as the composer himself states, as a "providential accident" which is to say quite organically. Combining piano and voice with found sound and a custom-built Serge modular synthesizer, The Works is a slowly developing piece where space and ambient tape are eventually overtaken by raga-esque chanting and frenetic piano playing, where synthesizer washes become full-on workouts all leading to a coda where the listener is "finally carried off on the wheels of the Berlin U-Bahn." Curran -- whose initial training and musical education was as a pianist -- had been living in Roma, Italy, in the mid-70s returning to his roots and performing regularly in cocktail lounges on Via Veneto. It was this return to piano and vocals that became the genesis for The Works. In relearning the piano, a five-note "motive" took hold. Added to this was "a recording I had made of our 14 year old dachshund Caspar just before he died. It was, in fact, a love song which he persisted in singing all day after meeting a lovely bitch in heat in Piazza Navona. This I knew would be the beginning of the piece." As the piece expands further the listener will hear "cows munching grass, the Rome-Florence express train, a horse-fly caught against a window pane, my footsteps approaching a Roman fountain and later going up the steps of my old studio, cicadas, an Amsterdam calliope, a tin can being kicked, and a series of sounds from La Serra di Lerici." Though The Works has been performed in many incarnations over the years, it's this performance -- captured on February 24, 1980, and originally released that same year by the short-lived Italian avant-garde label Fore -- that is the definitive version, and one of the finest recordings ever made by the celebrated composer.

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; gatefold sleeve; includes eight-page lyric booklet; includes download code. Originally released 2013 on Second Language label. "Breaking a six-year-long discographical silence, my fourth album after 2007's Les Ondes Silencieuses, and the first one I made in my newly-adopted town of San Sebastián, Spain, during the epically rainy winter of 2012! My first time singing, playing percussion, and introducing the treble viola da gamba that became the key instrument on Captain of None! Also featured are my bass viola da gamba, classical guitar, clarinet, toy gamelan and piano. The track I produced last, 'Breaking Up the Earth', paved the way for Captain of None in terms of production." --Colleen. Composed, interpreted, recorded, mixed, and produced by Cécile Schott. Mastering by Antony Ryan at Red Red Paw. Artwork by Iker Spozio.

LP version. Rone & Friends has the musical color of Rone's friendships, of his crushes for a few additional less expected guest voices, but also inevitably of his own personality. The new collaborative album includes voices by Georgia, Yael Naim, Casper Clausen (Efterklang), Flavien Berger, Jenny Beth, Dominique A, and many others. In the social isolation of 2020, Rone felt the need to come closer to his artist friends and to reshuffle his creations with their voices as the new beating heart. This collection, entitled Rone & Friends, has the musical color of Rone's friendships, of his crushes for a few additional less expected guest voices, but also inevitably of his own personality. The collaborative album is based on an electronic backdrop of previously unreleased titles, alternative versions of Room With A View or his first feature film soundtrack La Nuit Venue. First of all, there's this title from his "buddy", the science-fiction author Alain Damasio, which Rone has had on his hard drive for a while: a slightly erotic pastiche to Serge Gainsbourg entitled "un". Rone unearthed a deep and pastoral version of "Human" where the voice of Efterklang singer Casper Clausen seems to take on the accents of Matt Berninger of The National. The artist reactivated the aborted collaboration projects with his close circle and spontaneously collected a big handful of titles. To these first "kind-hearted" reactions, came three female collaborations with the English singer and multi-instrumentalist Georgia, the Iranian Roya Arab (seminal voice of the "Londinium" of the group Archive) and a rising figure of the ambient scene, Malibu, with whom Rone had always hoped to work. It is a kind of pressure cooker of spicy and very diverse musical personalities that gives a fresh and offbeat appeal to Rone's music. Dominique A's lyrical skills rubs shoulders with the surrealist and psychedelic poetry of Flavien Berger. The vitamin-packed pop of Georgia is followed by the ethereal contemplations of Yael Naim. Jenny Beth from Savages even turns her post-punk attitude into French desireless-ness. Nods to American rock merge with '90s trip-hop in a mix of genres that is bubbling, fun, but never disconcerting. The visual identity of the project was created by the illustrator and cartoonist Coco and continues, in its own way, the work initiated by Michel Gondry on the imaginary city of Mirapolis. Also features Odezenne, Laura Etchegoyhen, Mood, Camélia Jordana, and Mélissa Laveaux.

Master craftsman James Welburn's new LP, Sleeper in the Void, marks the 50th Miasmah release. The six years after his monumental debut have bred six tracks, Welburn brings to fruition with the help of past co-conspirators from the Norwegian underground scene -- Tomas Järmyr (Motorpsycho, Zu, Barchan), Hilde Marie Holsen (Hubro Records), and vocal artist Juliana Venter (W/V, Phil Winter). On Sleeper in the Void, Welburn expands the domain of his sound, unveiling surprises until the very end of the album's 36-minute playtime. While the character of the record is unmistakably his own, the tracks veer into many different territories, including a banging foray to the dancefloor. The LP begins slowly with "Raze", where Järmyr's ritualistic cymbals introduce layers of Welburn's signature sculpted bass drones and noise, building into a heart-wrenching epic of a track. This is perhaps the closest we ever get to Hold (MIA 031CD/LP, 2015), Welburn's previous album. Falling from Time immediately surprises with its subdued mechanical techno beat, stark and cold as a glacier. Welburn's texture-work is the star of the show, creating curious nooks and crannies of drone adorned with eerie melodies straight out of oblivion. This sense of wonder shines through to the album's title track as well, where Welburn and Järmyr build another patient, echoing, and deeply cinematic piece, the drum patterns slowly shifting around a metallic hum that evokes the vision of church bells, ringing out under tons of seawater. Sleeper in the Void feels like a story in two parts, rising lethargically, but with gargantuan power. The second begins with the momentous "In And Out Of Blue", where Juliana Venter's disembodied, spectral dirge takes center stage among the furious drums and bassy riffs, reaching a full crescendo with seconds to go. Parallel marks a release -- Hilde Marie Holsen's nostalgic soundscapes, pristine as glass, meeting the distant thunder of Welburn's strings on the horizon. And finally, "Fast Moon" ends the record in a most surprising way -- a tribal industrialized banger, complete with vile distorted beats and every other spice in demand on a blackened dancefloor. Welburn's Sleeper in the Void is a generous shapeshifter. Every inch of its soundwave breathes emotion and imagery -- an invitation to take a dive and linger. Includes download code; edition of 300.

Following in the footsteps of the pathbreaking Minna Miteru (MORR 168CD/LP, 2020) compilation of Japanese indie music, Morr Music and Alien Transistor have again joined forces to release The Fruit Of Errata, a compilation introducing the world to the intimate DIY pop of yumbo. Led by songwriter, pianist, and occasional vocalist Koji Shibuya, the Japanese band has released four albums since forming in 1998. This compilation draws from those albums, and some ancillary releases, to uncover a biographical narrative of yumbo, showing how Shibuya's songwriting, and the group's limber, sensitive playing, has developed over the decades. It also places them squarely within a tradition of home-spun but ambitious Japanese pop that takes in Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Tenniscoats, Nagisa Ni Te, Yuzo Iwata, Kazumi Nikaido, and more. There's the playful seriousness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Tori Kudo here, but also the flexibility of freely improvised music. You can also hear Shibuya's fondness for Mayo Thompson and The Red Crayola in both the idiosyncrasies of the writing and the egalitarian looseness of the playing. The great achievement of yumbo and Shibuya, though, is translating all of this into beautiful, unpredictable pop songs. There's a gorgeous soul-inflected lilt to "A House"; the swaying brass on "Storm"; the nakedness of "The Sweetest Mass" slightly reminiscent of Carla Bley's more pop-focused writing. Throughout, Shibuya renders pop a deeply personal experience; you can hear musings here on friendship, family, intimacy, the complexity of relationships, mortality, and imbalances of power. These musings are also shadowed by real-life events: the effects and impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 are captured in songs like "Umbrella People" from Onibi. Throughout the performances on The Fruit Of Errata, Shibuya and the group play with tenderness; they also often draw on other players to flesh out the music even further, two such guests being the aforementioned Tori Kudo (on "Umbrella People") and Olympia, Washington's LAKE (on "The Devil Song"). Community-minded and generous in approach, the writing of Shibuya and the music of yumbo is never less than lovely, and The Fruit Of Errata is a welcome introduction to their world. Open and gentle, confident and generous, these pop songs are filled with charm and spirit. CD version comes with 28-page booklet; edition of 500.

Munster Records present a first time vinyl reissue of Toti Soler's self-titled second album, originally released in 1973. Toti Soler's second album, together with Sabicas, Smash from 1971-72, and the recording Paco de Lucía made with jazzman Pedro Iturralde, were seminal in creating flamenco fusion, a blend that has travelled far. Soler's syncretism between Hispalis and the Catalan Mediterranean, another form of fusion, was released perhaps paradoxically by Edigsa, the label that the guitarist worked with the most, the founding spirit of which was to safeguard the local language, Catalan. In 1972, the ancient call of flamenco took Soler to Andalusia, where he studied under the renowned guitarist Diego del Gastor. When he returned to Barcelona, he commenced a long parallel chapter as acoustic accompanist for the singer-songwriter Ovidi Montllor from Alcoy, leaving rock and the electric guitar behind. However, watts and rock still pulse through in his second LP (self-titled but also referred to as El Gat Blanc), 1973, but play a minor role. Spanish guitar and flamenco metonymies flourish on this theoretically transitional instrumental work, which would become one the most popular of his discography. The arid but magnetic notes of the first track on the album, "Sardana Flamenca" delve deeper into the subconscious, which Soler recorded on his own with his Spanish guitar, except the electric pieces where members of the band OM helped out. The synthesis that works in "Sardana Flamenca" is aromatic, hypnotic, luminescent. The song formed a quadtych with the following three tracks: "El Gat Blanc", "Tristenge", and "Guisela"; ablutions in flamenco waters, scented with folk-blues salts. "Taj Mahal" is a tribute to his friend and fellow musician, where drums make a timid appearance, demonstrating Soler's success on this project. "D'una Manera Silenciosa" is a delightful flamenco adaptation of "In A Silent Way". "Balada En Sol" returns to Spanish guitar, making an inspiring crossing from the Catalan coast in Maresme to the bay of San Francisco. "Sevilla", the longest track, became, the second most popular song on the album after "Sardana Flamenca". It was a scintillating freak meeting of Smash and Hot Rats, and the last recording for OM, with hefty improvisation and torrents of wah-wah. The final track, "Estudi" returned to acoustic territory, mixing Andalusi blues with a warm Californian glow. Several generations have already discovered in this album one of the key works to understand many of the things that happened later in Catalan and Spanish pop. Includes an insert with notes and a rare Toti Soler photo.

Glaswegian musician, producer, DJ and curator Rebecca Vasmant announces her debut LP With Love, From Glasgow, showcasing the breadth of the incredible jazz talent the city has to offer. Having made a name for herself with a residency at Sub Club, Rebecca took the lead in curating the first live Jazz showcases at the venue, also running a popular record fair with the venerable venue and a spot on BBC Radio Scotland and Worldwide FM. Rebecca also airs this facet of her irrepressible musical passion at key events like Worldwide Festival Sete, Glasgow Jazz Festival, EFG London Jazz Festival, Jazz Cafe London, Kasheme Zurich, Brilliant Corners, Casper Montenegro, and the BalticSoul Weekender, and a new residency at Ronnie Scott's as part of the "Panro" collective. While promoting and touring in over 22 countries constantly over the last five years, Rebecca has honed her craft on production projects which feature world class musicians from The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and more, her talents are not only in spinning records, but in composing, producing and performing. Though known for its rich musical heritage, Glasgow is not a city perhaps synonymous with jazz. However, on With Love, From Glasgow this is all about to change, as Rebecca and her cohort of hand-picked musicians set out to change people's opinions. Rebecca explains: "There is such crazy wealth of talent in this city of Glasgow and I wanted to make an album that helped to demonstrate this and which captures my own love and passion for deep and spiritual music. This album highlights just some of the exciting things that are happening here in Scotland and it's been a real honor and pleasure working with the hugely talented musicians who came together to collaborate in such a free and beautiful way. During the time spent working on this music an amazing family formed, something for which I am so grateful." Also features Nadya Albertsson, Harry Weir, Emilie Boyd, and Paix. RIYL: Matthew Halsall, Greg Foat Group, Andrew Wasylyk, Floating Points, Amanda Whiting.

2021 restock; LP version. Comes in a Stoughton "Tip-On" jacket; Includes printed inner sleeves. Palto Flats and We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records present the highly-anticipated reissue of Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's sought after and timeless ambient/minimal album Through The Looking Glass, originally released in 1983 by RCA Japan. Considered a holy grail of Japanese music by many, Through The Looking Glass is Midori Takada's first solo endeavor, a captivating four-song suite capturing her deep quests into traditional African and Asian percussive language and exploring contemplative ambient sounds with an admirably precise use of marimba. The result is alternatively ethereal and vibrant, always precise and mesmerizing, and makes for an atmospheric masterpiece and an unparalleled sonic and spiritual experience. Midori Takada is a composer, multi-percussionist, and theater artist renowned in Japanese vanguard circles. Midori has released two solo albums: Through The Looking Glass and Tree Of Life (1999) and wrote music for Tadashi Suzuki's theater plays. Her hypnotic, minimalist music is based in the concept of coherence between sound and the human body. She performs solo on marimba and other percussion instruments. She debuted on the scene of Berlin Philharmonic, performing with the RIAS Symphonie-Orchester Berlin just after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1974. She continued her career with solo concerts in Japan and abroad. In the 1980s, Midori began to explore the traditional music of Asia and Africa. Her fascination resulted in joint projects with Kakraba Lobi from Ghana, Lamine Konte from Senegal, Farafina Band from Burkina Faso, and Korean musicians: zither player Chi Seong-Ja, flute player Won-Il, and saxophone player Kang Tae-Hwan. She also led Mkwaju Ensemble's innovative percussion project and still performs with free-jazz band Ton-Klami with Kang Tae-Hwan and jazz pianist Masahiko Satoh. Takada's compositions have a remarkable way of affecting the imagination. Her minimalist, contemplative music is filled with the concept of infinity and reminds us of a moon voyage, falling stars, a journey into the ocean, or a walk in the garden. The trans melodies, initially simple, begin to loop and splinter, their rhythm breaking and thickening, slowly drawing the listener into another reality. This fully licensed reissue comes with extensive liner notes.

The Norweigan wunderking of demented psychedelic song(de)struction is back with a fantastic collection of new songs. Gaute Granli is a one-man band, taking a complete stranger with thirsty ears by the nose, to leave him/her/them behind, confused and hungry for more recognizable hope. There's a constant form of recognition running through these eight stretched songs, these strange flirts with folk music you think you already know, vocals that don't sound like they consist of words one knows and pop parts that are destroyed with a loop peddler. Although everything magically works, and made into a song structure of sorts, a melancholic -- almost religious air of desperation sits uncomfortably on top of all these songs like a frog that already got licked on its back twice in one morning. Includes insert and download code; edition of 300.

Back in 2019, Ravioli Me Away debuted their hyper-surreal operatic work The View From Behind The Futuristic Rose Tellis across the UK, including two sold-out shows in London. Difficult to contain, and wound-up with a truant's sense of narrative, it presented a wondrous cacophony of erupting media and performances patched together with wit and existential alarm. A suite of songs circling themes of aspiration and the everyday run through the opera, and these were released in parallel by Wysing Polyphonic, one of the commissioning institutions. A selection of these songs were then reinterpreted and reshaped into forms that befit a club setting, debuting at Supernormal festival in the same year. Entitled Naughty Cool, Alter now presents these collective club reworkings by H.M.S. RMA for the first time on vinyl and digital formats. Uplifting and delightfully crooked throughout, the tracks are shuffled together and stitched as a "DJ mix." In six segments of vocal-led missives and soft drops, the sunniest hooks of early Chicago house are recalled, all cross-pollinated with the collective rhythms and tones of the UK's rave subconscious. A freeform, DIY rowdiness lurks around every corner, equally evoking punk's flings with disco. The familiar sound and presence of Ravioli Me Away's Alice Theobald, Rosie Ridgway, and Sian Dorrer aren't lost in the edits and adaptations, and they come backed-up with Tom Hirst (Design A Wave), opera singer and artist Siobhan Mooney, and Dean Rodney Jnr (The Fish Police), all of whom took part in the original opera itself. Naughty Cool was engineered by John Hannon at No Recording Studios and mixed and mastered by Amir Shoat in London. This record is dedicated to the memory of Donna Lynas.

The next release in Lapsus Records "Perennial" series is from veteran producer Lee Norris, also known as Metamatics, the pseudonym under which he has spent more than two decades creating melodic IDM and sophisticated electro. Norris is an artist who warrants his cult following with an extensive catalog and countless monikers, including his main work as Metamatics and alternative projects Norken, Nacht Plank, Ishqamatic, and Autumn Of Communion. This unflagging artist with an enviable track record behind him has released material on labels such as Delsin, Hydrogen Dukebox, Dot, Numbers and Clear, as well as running his own record labels Neo Ouija, ...txt, XTT Recordings and Nagual. His seminal EP series 01, 02, 03, and 04 was originally released between 1997 and 1998 on the now defunct but influential Clear label. Compiled as A Metamatics Production, the tracks breathed fresh air into the global IDM scene and were comprised of crystal-clear futuristic sounds, flirting with complex and funky drum & bass that carried both UK and Detroit influences, a true masterpiece. More than twenty years since its original release in 1997, Lapsus Records present the British producer's original debut album A Metamatics Production, released in full and on vinyl for the first time. Silver "blob" in yellow vinyl; remastered; includes limited edition insert.