BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, THE: Dropping Bombs On The Sun (UFO Paycheck) 10" (AUK 039-10)
Dropping Bombs On The Sun (UFO Paycheck) is the third and final single from the forthcoming Brian Jonestown Massacre album, Don't Get Lost. "Dropping Bombs On The Sun (UFO Paycheck)" feature vocals by Tess Parks; This track - a mellow flow of strings and keyboards, with smoky vocals - gives an idea of the changing rhythms of the Brian Jonestown Massacre for the forthcoming album. "Geldenes Herz Menz" features Pete Fraser (The Pogues, New Young Pony Club) on saxophone. Dan Alliare (drums) and Ricky Maymi (guitar), from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, play on both tracks.
TOMIIE, SATOSHI: New Day Album Sampler #5 12" (AA 005EP)
Abstract Architecture present an EP of heavy dancefloor groovers. This EP features the previously unreleased version of "Nature Abstraite", with an amazing retake by Satoshi Tomiie himself. And on the flip side is a ten minutes journey of Brawther's "Forbidden Remix" showcasing his talent for the more minimal approach.
PopHop looks like a pirate, and what he launches from his music studio sounds like pirate ships. On board of these ships there's always a very colorful, exotic bunch of personalities. They are the multicultural characters of the original tracks from all corners of the world. Under the command of PopHop they sail straight towards the eye of the thunderstorm, which means the heart of the dancefloor. It's the place where he feels home. Little by little, PopHop accumulated so many remixes, edits and tracks that they fill a whole treasure chest. That's exactly what you get: A treasure chest full of dancefloor gold, and a string of pearls that is a mixed version of all these precious grooves. Features: Zigan Aldi, Sandeck, Il Civetto, Pulsar Trio, Timboletti, Ziski, Brummkreisel, Jan Ploetzlich, Kalletti Klub, JPattersson, Skazka Orchestra, Into Lala, Die Vogelperspektive and Stephan Zovsky.
Piezo's, aka Luca Mucci, keen ear and perhaps his day-job with a synthesizer manufacturer have lead him to carve out his niche mastery of unique frequency mixed with a very danceable rhythm section - bass & drum make up the foundations on both "Gattomatto" and "Cala", just how it should be on a disc that's designed for the club. The ink stamp on this disc gives the nudge towards a liking for Looney Tunes style and attitude, and you may even spot a couple of sneaky snippets if you pay attention. Crisp and functional in the very best way - drop it and watch things spin.
VA: Apparel Music Sixth Birthday 12" (APPAREL 001EP)
Apparel Music return with a various artists four-tracker. Voyeur's "Swinging For Theo", featuring Yelfris Valdés, kicks off with organic, brushed drums and a walking bass line set off to a tight, swaying rhythm. Ivano Tetelepta and Eugène Latumeten follow up with "Je Suis Reconnaissant" - a bass-heavy groove that lays soulful vocal samples over filtered piano chords and loose-limbed hat patterns. KiSk's "Just U" drives a crackly drum loop through distant, flexing synth tones. Istanbul's Kerem Akdag closes with "Friend". Akin to Henry Wu and Max Graef, "Friend" melds playful drum patterns with thick chord stabs and smooth vocal lines.
Aus Music present another solo EP from label mainstay Marquis Hawkes. The Berlin based artist's previous work has comprised fun, sample-heavy tracks designed with nothing but the dancefloor in mind. Sweet Temptation expands on this bringing melody, rhythm, and chords to the foreground. Jubilant, powerful vocal lines and stony drums are the core ingredients and their melding results in a collection of four tracks of varying moods and intensities. While "Burning Light" and "Sweet Temptation" pack a certain big-room punch, "Eivissa" and "Zapper Bluesky" carry depth and soul in a manner that recalls a classic and cherished Hawkes sound.
KILL DEVIL HILLS, THE: In On Under Near Water LP (BANG 102LP)
The Kill Devil Hills, one of Australia's best kept secrets, present their fourth album, In On Under Near Water. Coming from the isolated city of Perth, these musicians continue their growth and evolution, delivering the very finest and most intense music which takes the listener, with their unique stamp and signature, to the world of The Drones, The Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon, The Gun Club, and Johnny Cash. After the highly demanded reissue of their 2004 debut album Heathen Songs (BANG 017LP, 2016), here comes another magnificent musical work by these excellent and finest Australian musicians. 150 gram vinyl; Edition of 500.
BRODERICK & GABRIEL SALOMAN, PETER: Peter Broderick + Gabriel Saloman LP (BNSD 004LP)
2014 release. This first-time collaboration between Peter Broderick and Gabriel Saloman was commissioned by Beacon Sound in 2013. Each artist took the basic tracks they recorded together in Portland at Type Foundry Studio, and transformed them into their own songs according to their unique vision. Lucky fans in Portland and Berlin who have seen the duo perform live can attest to the combustible energy these two conjure together. Design by Bijan Berahimi; Cover painting by Jason Vance Dickason. Comes in a full-color inner sleeve; Edition of 350 (hand-numbered).
NORDENSTAM, STINA: The World Is Saved LP + 7" (BNSD 006LP)
2015 release. Beacon Sound present a the first vinyl reissue of Stina Nordenstam's The World Is Saved, originally released in 2004. Stina Nordenstam recorded six albums between 1991 and 2004, and in the ten years since the original release and critical acclaim of The World Is Saved, the famously reclusive Swedish musician has been quiet. The album found the gifted lyricist in top musical form, combining elements of electronic and acoustic music, pop, and even jazz into her own compelling universe. The songs, as the Guardian who awarded the album four out of five stars put it, "shiver with foreboding and uncertainty," and, "seem to be the sound of her tentative progress out of a dark place, disconcerted yet full of wonder." The album reaches a fragile apex in the title track, Nordenstam sings "I clashed with silence / I stumbled and fell / I blinked again, sure / This wasn't hell? / You had to look / In awe and surprise / Yet I'd found nothing / To life but my life / Pouring through me / The world is saved." Pitchfork, who awarded the album an 8.6 out of 10, said that there are "complex instrumental arrangements abound," and, "there are plenty of moments where wry humor and sobering truths flourish, but space and silence dominate." Ten years later, the album still sounds timeless and Nordenstam's melancholic observations of human nature and the complexities of modern life resonate deeply. This reissue includes an accompanying 7" featuring a remix of "Parliament Square" by The Knife as well as a track "Failure To Fly" not available on the original release. Full color inner sleeve; Edition of 500 (hand-numbered).
$16.39 UPC: 769791965058 ELECTRONIC
A1. Get On With Your Life
A2. Winter Killing
A3. On Falling
A4. Parliament Square
A5. I'm Staring Out The World
B1. From Cayman Islands With Love
B2. The Morning Belongs To The Night
B3. 125
B4. Butterfly
B5. The World Is Saved
B6. The End Of A Love Affair
Included 7":
A1. Parliament Square (The Knife Remix)
B1. Failing To Fly
2016 release. Rauelsson returns with his first release since 2013's critically-acclaimed Vora LP on Sonic Pieces. Ekō is a multimedia project comprised of a photography exhibition, accompanying music, and a website that ties everything together -- all inspired by Raúl Pastor Medall's 2012 and 2014 tours of Japan. This two-song 10" is the companion piece to the photo exhibition and website. Each copy includes two photo inserts (with liner notes and info on the reverse sides), a postcard, and a download card with full 20+ minute versions of the songs. Design by Bijan Berahimi. Edition of 300 (numbered).
2015 release. Desert Television is the debut collaborative album by French musician and artist Felicia Atkinson and Peter Broderick as La Nuit. La Nuit could be the story of a friendship, an exchange of gifts, or a kind of pacific oath. A few years of trust turned into one light, but essential, messy bubble of soap. One special day of summer 2014, a music is dreamed, thought, performed, carried like a little astronaut's mission by Peter and Felicia. Or it could be a special kind of chess game, a rendezvous between two knights meeting nobly to discuss the same invisible cause that we call music. Using the instruments (Rhodes, pump organ, synthesizers, nylon guitar, etc.) as their only tools, by the wonderful sea shore of Pacific City, the instruments were like good horses, carrying the vocabulary of the conversation. Imagination drains improvisation, and suddenly, in the middle of the notes, words, appear, you don't know from where, but they appear to shine and turn to little gems made of voices and whispers. "Desert Television's divine sound world of drone-infused ambient soundscapes, dub echoes, mesmeric spoken word passages, and compelling instrumentation (Rhodes, violin, voice, found sounds, percussion) unfolds a beguiling atmosphere and ethereal dimension from the opening ambient pulses of 'Feu Pale', to the gorgeous string arrangements of epic closing track, 'The Sun Is Folded in Eight'. 'Feu Pale''s drifting tones of Rhodes, guitar, harmonies and soft percussion meld wonderfully with the captivating spoken word passages of Atkinson evoking a seascape of forgotten dreams." --Fractured Air. Comes on red vinyl; jackets printed by Stumptown Printers; Design by Bijan Berahimi; Comes with a red-stapled booklet, The Raccoons Of Pacific City, by Atkinson; Cover photo by Felicia; Edition of 300.
$14.99 UPC: 769791965072 ELECTRONIC
A1. Feu Pale
A2. Road Snakes
A3. Blind Sights Of The Diamond
B1. The Blue Path
B2. The Sun Is Folded In Eight
2015 release. Second edition of Beacon Sound's cassette version of Colleen's 2003 debut album, initially released for Cassette Store Day 2015. Hand-numbered edition of 100. Black cassette shell. Fold-over box manufactured and printed by Stumptown Printers. "One of those rare, truly evocative abstract pieces of art where every observer takes away their own interpretation, and is left feeling a little more special about their experience as a result." --Pitchfork, 2004 (8.4)
$8.39 UPC: N/A ELECTRONIC
A1. Everyone Alive Wants Answers
A2. Ritournelle
A3. Carry-Cot
A4. Your Heart On Your Sleeve
A5. Goodbye Sunshine
A6. One Night And It's Gone
A7. Long Live Mice In The Metro
B1. I Was Deep In A Dream And I Didn't Know It
B2. Babies
B3. Sometimes On A Happy Cloud
B4. A Swimming Pool Down The Railway Track
B5. In The Train With No Lights
B6. Nice And Simple
2016 release. Experimental dub transmissions from Chambers, the duo of Gabriel Saloman and Michael Red in Vancouver. Gabriel was one half of seminal ambient noise group Yellow Swans and has released acclaimed solo and collaborative work on labels such as Miasmah, Shelter Press, and Beacon Sound. Michael Red is a longtime collaborator with Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq, is a founding member of Lighta! Sound and curator for the New Forms Festival, and also performs solo as Souns. Together they make, as Tiny Mix Tapes puts it, "skeletal yet riveting experimental dub," that will alternately bliss any listener out and rattle their bones. In their short life as a duo, they have shared stages with The Bug, Shackleton, and Kode 9. As Andrew Ryce of Pitchfork and Resident Advisor writes, "[their songs] are gently driven by heaving rhythms and thundering basslines, sounds which subsist in a gaseous atmosphere somewhere in the hinterlands between ambient and straightforward dub music." Fold-over box packaging by Stumptown Printers using recycled paper; Screen printing by The Make House; Includes download code; Edition of 100.
2016 release. Shadowland is the sixth album by Vancouver psyche-folk songwriter Ora Cogan. Co-produced by Trish Klein, Shadowland is a collection of haunting songs centered around Ora's voice and guitar that somehow manage to be both melancholic and radiant. The ensemble of some of Vancouver's finest musicians who support her on this album bring power, grace, and subtlety to the music without ever imposing. Far away yet close, warm yet cool, world-weary yet innocent, this is a collection of beguiling songs that will get under your skin and spin around in your head long after the stereo has been turned off. "Cogan's songs are beguiling enough to support a bare bones guitar and vocal approach, but here she has surrounded herself with a small group of sympathetic musicians. The full ensemble performances are inspired... Cogan's drawl evokes the tone of Karen Dalton and the technique of John Martyn." --The Wire Magazine. A special co-release with Vancouver's Hidden City Records. Edition of 500.
$13.79 UPC: 769791965089 ROCK
A1. Ground And Grave
A2. End Of Nowhere
A3. Ruler Of My Heart
A4. Repatterning
A5. From The Stars
B1. Disinformation
B2. Cool
B3. Too Long
B4. Move
B5. Into The Blue
B6. Hurts To Be Alone
2016 release. Beirut, Lebanon electronic artist and sound designer Munma's 2016 album Three Voices, originally released on vinyl by Ruptured (RPTD 012LP). "Cadavre Exquis" features Jad Atoui. "Beirut based composer Jawad Nawfal has produced one of this year's best electronic LPs in Three Voices... the titular three voices belong to a group of spoken word artists that Nawfal commissioned specifically for the piece before building sound beds round each recording... he's no stranger to working with the human voice, but he is especially respectful of the spoken word element of these tracks, turning in an impressive collection of stark, minimal, dubbed out frameworks." --The Quietus. Cassette Store Day 2016 release; Housed in a deluxe fold-over package manufactured by Stumptown Printers using recycled paper; Screen printing by The Make House; Updated design by James Casey for FISK based on original artwork by Maya Chami; Edition of 100.
JOHANNSSON, JOHANN: And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees Cassette (BNSD 020CS)
2016 release. Jóhann Jóhannsson's gorgeous 2009 album And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees, released on tape for Cassette Store Day 2016. Jóhannsson is the Icelandic composer and Golden Globe winner responsible for 2016's Arrival soundtrack as well as the upcoming score for Blade Runner 2049. Popmatters wrote this about the album in 2010, awarding it an eight out of ten, "Jóhannsson combines choral, orchestral and electronic elements with devastating effect to complement the tale of a creature struggling to survive the life-threatening consequences of a reckless indifference... some of the passages and evolving themes in his albums may be the musical equivalent of a series of Rothko canvases: capable of absorbing and reflecting one's emotional and spiritual concerns, and also of unearthing feelings and memories." Housed in a deluxe fold-over package manufactured by Stumptown Printers using recycled paper; Screen printing by The Make House; Updated design by James Casey for FISK; Edition of 100.
$8.39 UPC: N/A ELECTRONIC
A1. Theme
A2. City Building
A3. Entering The City
A4. The Flat
A5. Rainwater
A6. Siren Song
A7. Pods
B1. The Gift
B2. Dying City
B3. City Building (Alternate Version)
B4. Escape
B5. Inside The Pods
B6. End Theme
Klyne first caught everybody's attention with their critically acclaimed debut Paralyzed EP for Aesop Label (2016), as well as their rework of Disclosure's "Omen" featuring Sam Smith. Water Flow is their follow-up to the acclaimed Don't Stop; its stunning video was directed by acclaimed choreographer and film maker Holly Blakey and is nominated for a UK Music Video Award. The duo has supported Years & Years and label mate Christine And The Queens on tour.
$9.79 EAN: 5060421566795 ELECTRONIC
A1. Water Flow
A2. Wit U
B1. Don't Stop
B2. Lend Me Another Name
Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well-known for his works on ambient techno and arctic-themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. This expanded reissue comes as a two CD set: CD one is a remastered version of Substrata; CD two contains Biosphere's soundtrack to the Russian silent movie Man With A Movie Camera (1929), two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of Substrata, plus the commissioned work "Laika". Sebastien Crusener via Discogs.com: "Substrata by Biosphere is one of the all-time classic ambient albums, if not the all-time classic album. Chilling atmospheric tones with ambient samples of ice, snow, forests, Twin Peaks-samples and Russian radio broadcasts... Substrata is difficult to describe in words alone. This is one album that every ambient fan needs to hear, if not own. For my own part the album is never far from my stereo. From the initial drone of an aircraft high overhead to the rambling monologues of later tracks every minute sends a chill down your spine. Biosphere's work is often described as 'dark ambient' but to me this sounds too negative as every piece of music Geir Jenssen composed expresses so many different feelings and his albums are not simply a couple of 'drones' thrown together. Neither is Substrata. Substrata is inhabited by the vast spaces spreading across the artic region, endless nights and midnight sun, sub-zero temperatures and northern lights. This is a 60-minute long masterpiece that takes you on the most unique trip you'll ever have experienced. Never has a record been so intimate with nature, so close to the sounds, colours and smells of its environment. Jenssen emphasises the intensity of these elements by bringing them into his beat-less compositions, allowing them to take control of this new organic world. From time to time, more urban sounds come into the spectrum, when voice samples - from Twin Peaks f.e.- telling abstract stories (remember the vision of Dale Cooper?), or a melancholic guitar offering support to an unlikely song emerge, but always, these components get swallowed in by the magma-like ambience. The listener becomes a helpless witness of the beauty and cruelty of this CD."
PALMER, TRISTON: Stop Spreading Rumours CD (BSCD 004CD)
Triston Palmer, aka Triston Palma, was born in 1962 and grew up in Waltham Park, Kingston. Triston knew from a very early age that he was destined to become an entertainer and his first visit to a recording studio at the age of 16 was with Ossie Thomas. Their initial release was A Class Girls (1979), which was a hit in England, and Triston's subsequent releases on their Black Solidarity label laid the foundation for his rapid rise to dance super stardom. As the '80s progressed and dancehall began its inexorable rise to ubiquity, the popularity of Triston Palmer, who had nine songs in the Top Forty, was unstoppable. So sit back and enjoy this selection of killer tunes. "Favourite tunes... The tunes are like my children... There is a whole heap of them! I want to tell you this though... some of them I never released properly but A Class Girls through it was the first one me love that, the rhythm! I don't know how the song never hit in Jamaica but listening to it back now it's like you are branding the girls A and B so (perhaps) the girls weren't happy with it. But it was a good tune, wicked tune. Tony Chin wrote it, but it was Tony Chin and Chinna who taught me these things so I have to love those men forever." --Ossie Thomas. CD version includes four bonus tracks.
FORNO, CARLA DAL: You Know What It's Like LP (BLACKEST 015LP)
2017 repress. LP version. Carla dal Forno presents her debut solo album You Know What It's Like, following time in cult Melbourne group Mole House and an earlier association with Blackest Ever Black as a member of F ingers and Tarcar. Her voice is an extraordinary instrument: both disarmingly conversational and glacially detached. It has something of the bedsit urbanity of Anna Domino, Marine Girls, Antena, or Helen Johnstone - stoned and deadpan - but it can also summon a gothic intensity that Nico or Kendra Smith would approve of. This voice is the perfect embodiment of dal Forno's emotionally ambiguous songs: their lyrics rooted in the everyday, observing and exposing a series of uncomfortable truths. "Fast Moving Cars" and "What You Gonna Do Now?" weigh up claustrophobia against loneliness, inertia against acceleration, doubling-down versus taking-off; the title track acknowledges the provisional nature of love and "real" intimacy, then decides to brave it anyway. By the time the startlingly sparse "The Same Reply" arrives, the sense of dejection is absolute. The vocal-led pieces are interspersed with richly evocative instrumentals. Smothered in tape-hiss and reverb, the seasick synthesizer miniatures "Italian Cinema" and "Dragon Breath" channel the twilit DIY whimsy of Flaming Tunes and Call Back The Giants. The drum machine and bassline of "DB Rip" are pure Chicago house, but then its dark choral drones nod to Dalis Car's dreams of blood-spattered Cornwall stone. "Dry The Rain" drinks from a stream of moon-musick that runs through Coil, In Gowan Ring, Third Ear Band, even the Raincoats's Odyshape (1981).
GROUP DOUEH & CHEVEU: Dakhla Sahara Session CD (BORNBAD 092CD)
The random-access memory of an hourglass. On the one hand, there's Cheveu, the French three-member band, whose soundtrack has never ceased to question music codes by exceeding various genres and pushing back their limits. On the other hand, you have Group Doueh, a Sahrawi band from the Sahara desert (Dakhla). Their music spans across many styles and hammers tradition with unprecedented finds. In between both their remote musical universes dwells a sound clash. It embodies the meeting between two arts of living music day by day, two ways of transmitting, of enchanting the world or refusing to do so, of exploring the repertoire as well as tradition and creation, two visions of the collective - the list of reasons why these guys should have probably never met or could have failed to get along is quite extensive. This piece was recorded in two weeks in Dakhla in January 2016. The mere project seemed like a surreal challenge, something that was almost impossible to achieve and for which time was going to hold major importance. It brought about a telluric big bang, an atomic creation, a story of primitive energies setting the record straight in the whole world. That is, two radically different understandings of time. CD version comes in a digipak sleeve with a 36-page booklet.
FOOTSIE: King Original Vol 4 Sampler 12" (BD 022S-EP)
East London Grime pioneer, Footsie, continues his instrumental grime series, King Original, with an exclusive vinyl sampler from upcoming album, King Original Vol 4. This sampler contains in demand instrumentals used by some of the scenes most highly respected artists and DJs: "God Like" was used by D Double E; "Denim Black" was used by Casisdead. "Brake Light" was used by Wiley and Newham Generals; "Cyrillic", one of the scene's biggest new instrumentals, has been played by Slimzee, Spooky, Logan, Sir Spyro. The King Original series has been part of the scene's building blocks for years now.
VA: Sammlung: Elektronische Kassettenmusik, Dusseldorf 1982-1989 CD (BB 236CD)
Post-war apartments dominated the views of Düsseldorf in the early 1980s - cement slabs, the "art bunker" known as the Kunsthalle, and the elevated railway called "The Millipede". Yet reconstruction was in full swing - bank buildings on the "Kö" received postmodern interiors, the old town became stylishly retro-rustic, and advertising agencies displaced industrial companies. Music took all of this on. Punk was finished, but its pathos drifted through pubs and shared flats. At the same time, synthesizers, due to digital electronics, had become increasingly affordable. This music pushed ahead slightly in order to dock onto the electronic sounds of the 1970s krautrock. But most chose the detour via records by Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, or the more unfamiliar experimental sounds on the The Elephant Table Album compilation (1983). Cassettes from labels, like Klar! 80, were available on Aachener Straße. LPs, like those found at Pure Freude on Derendorfer Straße, were also available. This shop served as an umbrella for the disparate strands of the electronic side of post punk. Almost all artists on this compilation could be seen there. Perhaps that is why the encounter with "Electronic Cassette Music" seems like a glimpse into a mysterious parallel world. Indeed, everyone knew of each other, but often only as a name. Kurzschluss was Catherine Ledit's project. Where her threatening pads had an almost meditative character, Dirk Grützmann's Le Petit Mort drew listeners into virtually occult scenarios, not far from Current 93. Ledit and Grützmann later collaborated as the duo Temps Perdu?. Trance, as propagated by Chris & Cosey, could have been the inspiration behind the duo Wooden Barrows. Isolated searching found expression in forms of deviant sexuality - a leitmotif in those days. It's astonishing how subtly many of the pieces exemplify this movement. It's almost terrifying on the track by Strafe Für Rebellion when a voice whispers "the cashbox is empty" and a staccato rhythm replaces the ticking of a clock. Ralf Dörper, on his way to international success Propaganda, saw ADD preferring him trapped in a nightmare. The cassette generation did not bother crossing over to pop music. They were pioneers of a music which would develop into drone, ambient or hypnagogic. Features: Konrad Kraft, Deux Balaines Blanches, Ettlinger, Mentocome, Frigorex, Dino Oon, Pfad Der Tugend, Kurzschluss, Wooden Barrows, Le Petit Mort, Strafe Für Rebellion, Maria Zerfall, and ADD.
Bureau B present part two of their Filmmusik double release. In 1975, Conrad Schnitzler recorded various pieces of music to accompany films which had yet to be made. Fittingly, he labelled this collection of songs Filmmusik. Only one of the tracks - "Gute Fahrt" ("Nice Journey") - would ultimately be paired with a film, now traceable on the internet for all to see. The music is included on Part 1 of Bureau B's Filmmusik double release (BB 244CD/LP, 2016), erroneously entitled "02/1980". Why the incorrect title? The tapes, which served as source material for the label's two Filmmusik releases, were copied onto two data carriers then mislabeled. To be precise, one label was accurate - Filmmusik 1975 A - but the other, Filmmusik 1980 B, was not. All the tracks had been created in the same year, so it should have read "1975 B". In the absence of actual song titles, Bureau B simply gave them numbers. Not knowing of the above mentioned film at the time, the label called the track "02/1980", when they should have called it "02/1975 B" or, as they would later discover, "Gute Fahrt". Shortly after, Bureau B released Filmmusik 1 and Jin Kawai, curator of the official Schnitzler website, contacted the label with the information. In 2009, whilst sorting through reels of film (some shot by Schnitzler himself) and music to upload to the site, Kawai was particularly drawn to one piece entitled "Gute Fahrt". Were there any more tracks like this? Schnitzler told him there were and sent Kawai all of the other recordings. One half of Filmmusik 2 comprises tracks from the 1975 series, the other half is a 23-minute piece with the title "Lichtpunkte und schwarze Zeichen". This music was actually written for a film in 1978. The label was delighted to find it in 2015 and enthusiastically searched the Schnitzler archives for more of the same. This led the Bureau B to the 1975 recordings and the rest is history.
LP version. Bureau B present part two of their Filmmusik double release. In 1975, Conrad Schnitzler recorded various pieces of music to accompany films which had yet to be made. Fittingly, he labelled this collection of songs Filmmusik. Only one of the tracks - "Gute Fahrt" ("Nice Journey") - would ultimately be paired with a film, now traceable on the internet for all to see. The music is included on Part 1 of Bureau B's Filmmusik double release (BB 244CD/LP, 2016), erroneously entitled "02/1980". Why the incorrect title? The tapes, which served as source material for the label's two Filmmusik releases, were copied onto two data carriers then mislabeled. To be precise, one label was accurate - Filmmusik 1975 A - but the other, Filmmusik 1980 B, was not. All the tracks had been created in the same year, so it should have read "1975 B". In the absence of actual song titles, Bureau B simply gave them numbers. Not knowing of the above mentioned film at the time, the label called the track "02/1980", when they should have called it "02/1975 B" or, as they would later discover, "Gute Fahrt". Shortly after, Bureau B released Filmmusik 1 and Jin Kawai, curator of the official Schnitzler website, contacted the label with the information. In 2009, whilst sorting through reels of film (some shot by Schnitzler himself) and music to upload to the site, Kawai was particularly drawn to one piece entitled "Gute Fahrt". Were there any more tracks like this? Schnitzler told him there were and sent Kawai all of the other recordings. One half of Filmmusik 2 comprises tracks from the 1975 series, the other half is a 23-minute piece with the title "Lichtpunkte und schwarze Zeichen". This music was actually written for a film in 1978. The label was delighted to find it in 2015 and enthusiastically searched the Schnitzler archives for more of the same. This led the Bureau B to the 1975 recordings and the rest is history.
VA: Magnetband: Experimenteller Elektronik-Underground DDR 1984-1989 CD (BB 253CD)
Inspired by punk and post punk, vibrant scenes dedicated to independent self-actualization by means of self-distributed cassettes - the cheapest and fastest medium - were developing on each side of the Cold War's confrontational line. Albeit, under quite different circumstances. While there was a DIY euphoria in the West, which would also have had ideological motives, subcultures in the East simply had no other means. Even the first act of replication meant moving into illegal territory, since every duplication had to be authorized by State authorities, just like anything else. The protagonists - musicians, painters, poets, filmmakers, performers - crossed genres and jumped back-and-forth between various styles. Disillusioned, and often ready to jump towards the West, these border crossers defined themselves rather somewhere between non- and anti-political, pursuing self-actualization strategies by means of an extended niche existence. They took refuge in the search for ways of creative self-assertion and communication, looking out in sensual despair, utilizing sounds of rage, linguistic wit and a passion for tinkering. Driven by ubiquitous boredom, equipped with plenty of time and free of economic restraints (or rather possibilities), labor was performed with no regard to the final product, hardly documented and almost never published. With the partial opening of State-controlled media and cultural sites accompanying the beginning agony of the State, conditions changed. Suddenly there was radio airplay of supposedly illegal cassettes and weird noise performed at Palast Der Republik. In the end, full albums by these "other bands" were released on the State-owned label AMIGA. The collapse following soon after relieved the activists remaining in the country who continually had to re-position themselves. Many took different roads, some leading to Rammstein, others to Raster-Noton or groups like To Rococo Rot and Tarwater. The artifacts from that era tell of a stance of refusal in practice. Between being excluded and self-exclusion, truly wayward sounds and means of expression were developed. Bert Papenfuß, Ronald Lippok, Bernd Jestram and Bo Kondren compiled two companion CDs accompanying the long sold-out Zonic special edition Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand. Magnetbanduntergrund DDR 1979-1990, released in 2006, of which the more experimental-electronic pieces are herewith available on the music market for the first time. Features: A. F. Moebius, Kriminelle Tanzkapelle, Heinz & Franz, Magdalene Keibel Combo, Choo Choo Flame, Stoffwechsel, Corp Cruid, Taymur Streng/Ornament & Verbrechen, Der Demokratische Konsum, Gesichter, Ihr Arschlöcher, Aponeuron, and Robert Linke.
LP version. Inspired by punk and post punk, vibrant scenes dedicated to independent self-actualization by means of self-distributed cassettes - the cheapest and fastest medium - were developing on each side of the Cold War's confrontational line. Albeit, under quite different circumstances. While there was a DIY euphoria in the West, which would also have had ideological motives, subcultures in the East simply had no other means. Even the first act of replication meant moving into illegal territory, since every duplication had to be authorized by State authorities, just like anything else. The protagonists - musicians, painters, poets, filmmakers, performers - crossed genres and jumped back-and-forth between various styles. Disillusioned, and often ready to jump towards the West, these border crossers defined themselves rather somewhere between non- and anti-political, pursuing self-actualization strategies by means of an extended niche existence. They took refuge in the search for ways of creative self-assertion and communication, looking out in sensual despair, utilizing sounds of rage, linguistic wit and a passion for tinkering. Driven by ubiquitous boredom, equipped with plenty of time and free of economic restraints (or rather possibilities), labor was performed with no regard to the final product, hardly documented and almost never published. With the partial opening of State-controlled media and cultural sites accompanying the beginning agony of the State, conditions changed. Suddenly there was radio airplay of supposedly illegal cassettes and weird noise performed at Palast Der Republik. In the end, full albums by these "other bands" were released on the State-owned label AMIGA. The collapse following soon after relieved the activists remaining in the country who continually had to re-position themselves. Many took different roads, some leading to Rammstein, others to Raster-Noton or groups like To Rococo Rot and Tarwater. The artifacts from that era tell of a stance of refusal in practice. Between being excluded and self-exclusion, truly wayward sounds and means of expression were developed. Bert Papenfuß, Ronald Lippok, Bernd Jestram and Bo Kondren compiled two companion CDs accompanying the long sold-out Zonic special edition Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand. Magnetbanduntergrund DDR 1979-1990, released in 2006, of which the more experimental-electronic pieces are herewith available on the music market for the first time. Features: A. F. Moebius, Kriminelle Tanzkapelle, Heinz & Franz, Magdalene Keibel Combo, Choo Choo Flame, Stoffwechsel, Corp Cruid, Taymur Streng/Ornament & Verbrechen, Der Demokratische Konsum, Gesichter, Ihr Arschlöcher, Aponeuron, and Robert Linke.
MACCHI, EGISTO: Biologia Animale e Vegetale 3LP BOX (CN3 101LP)
New lower pricing. Triple LP box set version. Cinedelic records present a reissue of one of Egisto Macchi's major works, Biologia Animale e Vegetale, produced by Renato Pent. Biologia Animale e Vegetale was recorded in Torino in 1976 and originally published as double LP. Egisto Macchi, often remembered as a member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, the historic Italian improvising collective (that also included Franco Evangelisti and Ennio Morricone, among others), was a major figure within the contemporary music field from the fifties to the eighties. The life path of Egisto Macchi seemed to be devoted to the multiplicity of aesthetic choices and musical expressions. While tracing his life and work, one notices an interesting duality based both on a very inclusive approach towards all kind of expressive needs and full control of the level of communication. A complex personality revealing the coherence of a man trying to connect elements usually kept separate; the inherent need for approaching different sources and the ability to be inspired by a wide range of intuitions. Macchi has explored and experimented in the field of sound and music without ever forgetting about his moral and civil engagement. His compositional work takes shape from the idea that music and arts should be able to create a symbiotic contact between the creator (composer) and the beneficiary (listener). All his work finds its origin in the need to integrate the sound language with the feeling of a new developing society. In fact music was just one factor in a more complex chain which included his humanistic and sociological engagement; a syncretic philosophical narrative and a symbolic tale revealing deep anthropological aspects. The 3LP box set is a limited edition of 600. The 3LP box set also comes as 180 gram vinyl and includes a download code.
Double LP version. Comes in a gatefold sleeve with a 12" booklet of unseen images and includes a download card. The entire Transparent recordings released for the first time, completely remastered from the unedited tapes. Zos Kia was formed by John Gosling (Mekon), John Balance (Coil) and Min - with guest Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle). Their one and only album, Transparent, was released on August 23rd, 1983 in a cassette only edition on the now defunct Austria label Nekrophile. They were the first released recordings of both Coil and Zos Kia. It was reissued years later by Coil (Threshold House/Eskaton). Includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks by Ake (pre-Zos Kia). The music on Transparent is genuinely unsettling and disturbing, with a more primal Industrial feel than the Coil album which followed; Scatology (1984). An essential insight into the very early work of these extraordinary artists and an undeniable link between Coil and Throbbing Gristle.
VA: Future Sounds Of Jazz Vol. 13 2CD (COMP 492CD)
Compost presents the 13th chapter of their highly acclaimed compilation series, Future Sounds Of Jazz. As usual, Future Sounds Of Jazz is compiled by Compost head honcho Michael Reinboth with a solid sense of left-field tracks, punchy floor-fillers, ghostly, cinematic, Balearic, frazzled, bitter-sweet and mind-shaking hybrid tunes. Several magazines voted Future Sounds Of Jazz as the one of the best compilation series of all time. With this series starting in 1995, the term "Future Jazz" became a genre landmark. The 13th volume includes some exclusives, sought-after tracks and previously unreleased tracks. The Van Hai track, remixed by Ripperton, is a perfect opener into a tranquil music venture - a sheer bliss tune. Montezumas Rache's "Wu Du Wu", which was only released on vinyl before, but it is difficult to find the original 12", is a freaky outstanding funk hybrid. Karim Sahraoui is here with a punchy Detroit-ish track, picked up from Derrick May's Transmat label. Acid Pauli delivers a brand new dubby Balearic remix, which he recently did for Matanza, a live band from Chile. Peter Kruder came up with something special - a warm breath in the open air tune, which drives listeners into a chilled wormhole. Beside new names and bigger names, like Tony Allen with a Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer remix, you'll find more lefties tracks from respected labels like Studio Barnhus, Innervisions, Lovemonk, Transmat, Mule, Tru Thoughts, Rebirth, and Ninja Tune, next to other exclusive deliveries by Manuel Tur. Also features: FaltyDL, Mr. Raoul K, Sona Diabate, Laolu, Gabriele Poso, Atjazz, Rancido, Kems, Marsmobil, Butch & C. Vogt, Chaos In The CBD, Axel Boman, MLiR, Tribilin Sounds, Lagerfeltz, Jonny Faith, and Bing Ji Ling.
After 2016's acclaimed debut album Laughter Drinks And Jiving Along and an invitation to the prolific Isle of Wight festival, HelloLisa present two exclusive tracks in their typical Mediterranean Brit pop style on this limited 7" single. HelloLisa introduce themselves: "We are a band, we are seven and we are friends, since 2005. We live in Collioure, the most beautiful little town on the Mediterranean sea." Linked to their record store of the same name in Perpignan in the deep South of France, Cougouyou Music focuses on the local scene in Northern and Southern Catalonia.
FONTAINE/MONSIEURDURAND, BRIGITTE: Lettre A Monsieur Le Chef De Gare De La Tour De Carol/Un Mauvais Champignon/La Nausee (extrait) 7" (COUGOUYOU 006EP)
Cougouyou Music present a limited 7" single Brigitte Fontaine's masterpiece "Lettre À Monsieur Le Chef De Gare De La Tour De Carol", originally released on her legendary album Comme À La Radio in 1969. Fontaine is not an artist from Perpignan/Catalonia, but this beautiful track about the station master of the train station Latour-de-Carol, 1200 meters high in the Pyrenees, is emblematic for this region in the South of France. Nothing is known about concrete music composer monsieuRdurand. Based in Perpignan, Durand presents two compositions and two surprises based on field recordings and found sounds.
$6.99 EAN: 4015698009927 ROCK
A1. Brigitte Fontaine - Lettre À Monsieur Le Chef De Gare De La Tour De Carol
B1. monsieuRdurand - Un Mauvais Champignon
B2. monsieuRdurand - La Nausée (Extrait)
2017 repress. Equiknoxx is one of the hottest, most innovative dancehall squads from Jamaica. Bird Sound Power is their debut collective show of strength, packing twelve avant, crooked riddims by core members Gavsborg and Time Cow, plus Bobby Blackbird and Kofi Knoxx, with vocals by Kemikal, Shanique Marie and J.O.E. (R.I.P). The set was parsed and pieced together by Jon K & Demdike Stare, and now thanks to link ups via Swing Ting's Balraj Samrai, it is issued on Demdike's DDS imprint, replete with Jon K's sleeve design. Easily identified by the squawking bird idents peppering their cuts, Equiknoxx productions have been big in the dance since Gavin Blair, aka Gavsborg, produced Busy Signal's billboard hit "Step Out" in 2005, followed by key instrumentals for Beenie Man, Aidonia, Masicka and T.O.K. - with many released on 7" through their Equiknoxx Musiq label, and some of which, such as Aidonia's "Negative", are included in this set. Bird Sound Power arguably marks up the most striking riddim album from Jamaica in 2016, weighted with the potential to open up perceptions of current dancehall thanks to the mad character and broad reference points of its producers, encompassing King Jammy's foundational digi-dub and Dave Kelly's Mad House sound as much as rugged New York hip-hop and the wigged-out, feminine pressure of Virginia Beach's Timbaland or The Neptunes. The oldest tune inside dates to 2009, but the rest are relatively recent dancehall mutations, including a number of exclusives produced in the last 12 months. Each one represents Equiknoxx's unique aspects, such as Jordan Chung's, aka Time Cow, brilliantly bizarre, layered arrangements of film samples, sawn-off hooks and digi-tight beats, whilst also a result of as their distinguished family vibe, Bird Sound Power exists in a paradox, contemporary but classic, and with as much potential to turn new heads onto current Jamaican sounds as Mowax's Now Thing set back in 2001. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. All on vinyl for the first time ever.
Limited restock, last copies. Up-Tight are a three-piece psych group based in Hamamatsu, Japan with a history dating back to 1992 has released around 10 records. Up-Tight's current line-up (2016) is original members T. Aoki (vocal & guitar) T. Ogata (bass) and T. Shirahata (drums). The ghosts of The Velvet Underground, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Amon Düül loom large over their personal feedback song-destruction universe. This LP is the first re-issue of their original CD-R-only release in Japan in 1999 in a very limited edition of 100 copies. It has been remastered in Berlin from original recordings and presented here in an edition of 300. Here is what David Keenan (Wire magazine) thought about this first CD-R released in 1999 : "Up-Tight are a noxious young trio from south Tokyo, all acolytes of the legendary Japanese psych group Les Rallizes Dénudés, who augment their sound with crushing, Sabbath-styled dynamics, earsplitting acid leads and beautiful Velvets-inspired ballads... Song structures are mostly kept loose, allowing for lots of noisy improvisation. Generally the album is anchored by heavy riffs. Just when you thought you'd got to grips with Tokyo's paradigm destroying psych scene, this one hits like a sucker punch." All songs are five to ten minutes long, varying from very melodic ballads to psychedelic journeys. The album ends with an epic track, "無題", which is an 18 minutes tour-de-force, that takes you to another dimension as if the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" would have a child with Acid Mothers Temple, while listening to Amon Düül under codeine. Up-Tight are from the generation that emerged with the madness of the Tokyo '90s and the P.S.F Records scene. Close to Acid Mothers Temple (the two bands recorded an album together), Up-Tight has a unique sound and is one of the most important underground reference in the Japan psychedelic scene.
In the midst of a busy year, full of wildly-varied accomplishments, David Lieske (aka Carsten Jost) presents Perishable Tactics, his first full-length album since 2001's You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows. Since his last full-length, he's kept busy curating countless releases on Dial, the label he co-runs with Peter "Lawrence" Kersten, which celebrated a 15 year anniversary with an all-encompassing various artists compilation, he has released a gallery-edition album of his black ambient collaboration Misanthrope CA with Robert Kulisek, Deathbridge (DIAL 037LP, 2016), and he launched a new magazine project (also with Kulisek) named after the speed of light (i.e. 299792458m/s). Out of all of the Dial house and techno artists, Carsten Jost has always represented the most precise brand of exquisitely doom-laden house, laced with equally strong doses of melancholy and beauty. On Perishable Tactics, Lieske runs through his distinctively stealthy, low-slung beat-"mospheres", leaning towards a decidedly low-lit and sultry space, but mixed with a fresh, gently arcing feeling of romance and possibly love. Tellingly, he's seen it fit to include 2007's "Love", originally from a 2007 split release with Efdemin. But while "Love" represents a yearning towards a place where love might reside, the remaining tracks seem to represent a place where love actually exists. This feeling is woven into his deep, medium tempo, Detroit-inflected house rhythms, accented with crystalline keys, disembodied voices at times, and gently soaring strings. While anger may be less in the forefront here it is important to notice that these tracks are ripe with the balance of joy and unease inherent in house. There is definitely a newfound languid nature here that feels particularly like a moment shared by two (perhaps many), but the atmosphere still remains decidedly pensive. "Ambush", with its strolling beat, moody, yet sweet chords and chilling atmosphere, which is eventually joined by thunder cracking a safe-distance away. Of course diehard fans will find satisfaction knowing that Lieske's delectable angst hasn't completely abated. The title track takes a disarmingly peaceful setting and rolls a heavy fog over it to herald a sure-to-arrive fate that awaits the listener. But with "Dawn Patrol", the whispering hi-hat and gently clanking rhythm, offset by rolling strings, marries the old and new Carsten Jost most successfully. Dense atmospheres, bookended by tracks by Misanthrope CA, make for a perfectly foreboding, elegant, and deliciously dark album by Carsten Jost.
The "icon of post-everything", Mike Cooper, returns to Discrepant with a recording of a live set recorded at the Controindicazioni Festival of Improvised Music in Rome in 2003. Originally released as a CDr via his Hipshot label. The music moves very slowly through four movements: "Reluctant Swimmer", "Movies Is Magic", "Virtual Swimmer", and "Dolphins". Praise from an unknown source: "Floating in out of the exotic ether and disappearing like smoke, engulfed in the alien hugeness of nature... a very elegant set by a visionary artist." Mike Cooper on the recording: "The first half is played on my old 1920s National tri-plate lap steel guitar and the second half on my Vietnamese electric lap steel. I also sing two songs along the way. 'Movies Is Magic' by Van Dyke Parks and 'Dolphins' by Fred Neil. It was the first time I had ever sung the last song." RIYL: Exotica, Andrew Pekler, Dolphins Into The Future.
$17.79 EAN: 5055869501187 ROCK
A1. Reluctant Swimmer / Movies is Magic
B1. Virtual Surfer / Dolphins
L/F/D/M squeezes off a volley of misshapen bangers and atonal wormholes in Music Without Discipline, making a mutant follow-up to his M Is a Shape LP (ELP 008LP, 2015) and Crocodiles in the Ceiling EP (ELP 019EP, 2016) for Alessio Natalizia (Not Waving) and Sam Willis's Ecstatic label. For his third solo LP proper as L/F/D/M, the London-based producer/artist/designer Richard Smith jams, layers, and hacks a clutch of new hardware toys, the Akai VX90 and Yamaha TX81Z in particular, into 11 variants of what is essentially a style of no wave or new beta techno. Pursuing his taste for unique, visceral and affective electronic tones into odder integers of the club, L/F/D/M establishes a jagged line that runs from original '80s industrialists thru Larry Heard's legendary Gherkin Jerks and the scenius of Downwards's brummie radge packets to a place right between the eyes of 2017. DJs and dancers will find full fat, wonky weapons ranging from the cranky-assed jacker "Dance, You Awful Cunt", through to a sludgy turn called "Birds", a super-tangy Chicago percolator "Texan Flower Girl", and the throaty acid gargle of "Living Without Gain". But it's the way in which Richard Smith is just as happy to follow his nose into sparkling vignettes such as "After R Version II" and "Ballet", and into the grubby pits of "Pinx" that really gives this record its shape and asserts its messed-up character. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering.
2017 repress. Klara Lewis' debut release presents an electronically-charged reconstruction of organic sound matter. Ten tracks featuring a wide variety of sonic material which is subjected to Lewis' unique approach to the sonic landscape. Field recordings, small sounds, samples, ambient pot holes, repetition, and giddy disorientation are all tactics deployed by Lewis. On entering these works we take a voyage through a series of audacious audio adventures, playful musical miniatures and choppy sonic seas. There is a human warmth to much of the material as Lewis expertly crafts musical matter from the living world. Ett is an exemplary investigation as Lewis reconfigures the sounds of life itself, from the delirious to the tender. A bold vision from a bright new talent. Recorded, sampled, edited, manipulated, mixed, produced, and arranged by Klara Lewis. Artwork by Dave Coppenhall.
JAEGER/JIM O'ROURKE, KASSEL: Wakes on Cerulean LP (EMEGO 223LP)
Timely outing from two grand masters of exploratory electronics. Kassel Jaeger is the moniker of French musician François Bonnet who works at the GRM and has released a number of books including the highly regarded The Order Of Sounds: A Sonorous Archipelago, published by Urbanomic in 2016. Jim O'Rourke is known to most through his explorations of the song and shapes, the high and low, the east and south. Wakes On Cerulean is a joint adventure where process folds upon process and the operation of procedure remains unknown. Amongst a mysterious cloud of excited high frequencies, tiny whistles howl. Frog leaps in technique lay out a thrilling and uplifting journey that runs from the soothing, to ecstatic, and back to the buoyant again. Wakes On Cerulean is a staggering feast of the joys found in electronic process. It is a malleable bubble of hovering excitement, melody and joyous refrain.
LP version. The crossover between electronic music and classical composition has never been in more vibrant and dynamic health. Multifarious musician Emika explores this fertile ground on her ambitious new opus Melanfonie: her first orchestral composition, some four years in the making. While many rebel from their classical training never to return to it explicitly, Emika has always been attracted to the potential and freedoms offered by the symphony form. As well as taking inspiration from her electronic music background in composing the music itself, Emika also applied some of production and playback principles from that realm to create a piece whose every element has been carefully considered. Melanfonie is a romantic and lyrical piece, with universal themes of love and sadness, and huge beautiful melodies. It was performed by a 50 piece symphony orchestra and Emika employed a seating plan for the orchestra to make the recording sound more like a wide stereo pop album. Emika is on a quest to try and change what we mean when we talk about "classical music". For her, the magic of the "genre" is about the instruments themselves and more importantly the people who play them; not the restricting traditions and conventions of the classical world itself. Emika of Melanfonie: "I want to change the face of classical music and give it a more honest and real image. It is time we had something other than pomp and circumstance and avant-garde squeaks and pops." Personnel: Michaela Šrůmová - soprano; Prague Metropolitan Orchestra; Paul Batson - conductor.
Oikos is an experimental project formed in 2007 by Rafael Femiano and David San Martín. Initially conceived as a guitar improv experiment, the duo quickly evolved towards their cinematic signature sound and released their first record Ecotono on Utech Records in 2011. In 2012, San Martín moved to Moscow and Femiano continued Oikos as a solo act. Following Vigilia (2013), Femiano presents his second, solo Oikos LP, The Great Upheaval, co-released by Envelope Collective and Knockturne Records. The Great Upheaval is an imaginary soundtrack for every moment in history ravaged by violence and superstition. It is a collection of pieces projecting landscapes dusted by seizures and turmoils. Layered compositions are packed with electricity and analog walls, acoustic textures, drone strings and cinematic looped-movements. A sonic cathedral illuminated only by the fire that remains after battle and precedes the cult - a sonic miasma for each end of cycle.
2006 release. Far Out Recordings present the self-titled debut album from Democustico. Fusing Brazilian samba and folk with Indian vibes, London beats and the "phattest" global breaks and noises, Democustico is a contemporary world musical odyssey. Imagine Milton Nascimento jamming with The Thievery Corporation and you're on the right track. Whilst individual tracks combine many different styles - the bhangra and bossa of "Grito", folk and trip-hop of "Nunca Never" and '60s sitar-funk and samba of "Vaga-Lume", Democustico is much more than the sum of its parts. The different styles combine symbiotically to produce a coherent world musical fusion with Gabriela Geluda's mellifluous vocals joining the dots from Brazil to London via India. Democustico are Mauro Berman (bassist for famous Brazilian rap star Marcelo D2) and Gabriela Geluda (Azymuth/Mamond) as well as producer Roc Hunter. Mauro and Gabi are a carioca couple who met at college in Rio in 1987. They moved to London in 1996 where they met Joe at Far Out Recordings through Marcos Valle. Having heard Gabi sing, Joe knew just the person to feature on vocals on some tracks Roc Hunter had been working on. The results were "Brasil" - a hypnotic percussive vocal groove that featured keyboards from Mauro - turning Democustico into a trio. A follow up single "A Sereia" was recorded - keeping the Brazilian vibes strong the track also had a heavy Indian influence coming from the time Gabi had spent meditating in India. In 2001, Gabi and Mauro returned to Brazil and for the next four years a trans-national musical exchange began. Roc Hunter would send beats and loops from London to Mauro and Gabi to work on in Brazil - Mauro working on "noises, synths, MPCs, street vibes and bass" and Gabi working on melodies and harmony both in Rio and India. Gabi explains what each member of the band brought to the mix: "Mauro brought the wild side through wicked bass lines, keyboard sounds and unconventional arrangements of the songs, I brought the Indian/Brazilian flavor from my trips to India and love of classic Brazilian singers such as a Tom Jobim and Milton Nascimento whilst Roc Hunter brought an amazing collection of sounds from where we got a lot of inspiration." Features two reworks of "Grito" by Seiji.
$9.79 EAN: 5060088043233 WORLD
01. Summer Of Flora
02. Grito
03. Vaga-Lume
04. A Sereia
05. O Sonho
06. Rejoycing
07. Paz
08. Nunca Never
09. Pera
10. Brasil
11. A Viagem
12. Grito (Seiji's East-Mental Dub)
13. Grito (Seiji's East-Mental Vocal)
JOYCE & TUTTY MORENO: Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas CD (FARO 123CD)
2007 release. Far Out Recordings present Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas, the new album from Joyce, in collaboration with her husband Tutty Moreno. With Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas, Joyce and Tutty have turned to their samba-jazz roots to create an album that is influenced by the golden-era of bossa-nova and US jazz from the '60s. All tracks feature Joyce on vocals for a mix of high-octane samba-jazz and ethereal bossas with either full lyrics or samba-scats; the latter seeing Joyce hark back to classic tracks such as "Feminina". The album also contains a wonderful new version of the scat-anthem "Magica". Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas was produced by Joyce and Tutty themselves and marks a milestone - 30 years - of them working together. Tutty's dexterous percussive swing has underpinned Joyce's forays across Brazilian music over the last 30 years, creating one of the most prolific musical partnerships in jazz and Brazilian music. Joyce sheds a little light on the album: "Samba jazz is a style that grew popular among Rio's youth in the late '60s. It is a mix of bossa and jazz, and it's the music that nurtured our generation. Samba jazz has always been the base for everything that myself and Tutty have done; if you check some older compositions of mine, such as 'Feminina', written in 1977, that's pure samba-jazz, and on this CD we have brought this vibe to the fore again." Whilst Joyce's previous album Rio Bahia (2005) was a more "romantic and rootsy" affair, with Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas she returns to the music that she is best known and most loved for, with a pedigree of players she considers her dream team. Featured alongside Joyce and Tutty are Helio Alves on piano, Nailor Proveta on reeds, bassist Jorge Helder, Lula Galvão on guitar as well as guest appearances from Teco Cardoso (flute), Vittor Santos (trombone) and Jessé Sadoc (trumpet). Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas features a mix of five samba-jazz classics plus eight new Joyce compositions. Covers include a scorching version of Tenorio Jr's "Embalo", plus a sublime version of the Baden/Vinicius classic "Berimbau". There are also interpretations of "April Child", a fantastically uplifting version of "Devagar Com A Louca" composed by Luiz Reis and Haroldo Barbosa.
$9.79 EAN: 5060088041048 WORLD
01. Penalty
02. April Child
03. Embalo
04. Compositor
05. Shangri-La
06. Devagar Com A Louca
07. Feijao Com Arroz
08. Berimbau
09. Garoto
10. Sabe Quem?
11. Tema Pro Baden
12. Bodas De Vinil
13. Magica
2009 release. Clara Moreno's sixth album Miss Balanço is the second released in the UK by Far Out Recordings. The daughter of iconic Brazilian singer songwriter Joyce and composer Nelson Angelo Moreno, Clara's career began performing backing vocals in children's choirs for artists such as Milton Nascimento and Egberto Gismonti before moving to study music in Paris at the age of 18. Moreno returned to Brazil and in 1996 recorded her eponymous debut CD. With the release of her fourth album MorenaBossaNova (2004) she experimented with electronic music to create an album with a contemporary take on bossa nova. In 2007, Clara released her first album with Far Out Recordings in the UK Meu Samba Torto (FARO 115CD) and the stripped down tribute to her musical heritage drew wide critical acclaim from the British press. Miss Balanço is a full on rootsy samba record revitalized for the 21st century by the bold and beautiful Clara Moreno. A true carioca (daughter of Rio) born to make dancing music, Clara grew up immersed in Brazilian beats from samba to bossa nova, acid-jazz to psychedelia, folk to tropicalia. This "sambalanço" recording encompasses all while swinging with the samba spirit that runs deep through Clara - Miss Balanço for a contemporary Brazil. This is music in the image of its maker. Clara Moreno is a bold and beautiful character - as gripping to watch as she is compelling to listen to. As one of her many swirling tattoos declares "Paz Et Musica" ("Peace And Music") - it's what she and many Brazilians devote themselves to. This jubilant long-player infuses samba and bossa nova with African traditions and jazz instrumentation, celebrating samba's renaissance as the enduring rhythm of Brazilian life with a modern and unique twist. Miss Balanço features a stellar line-up of Brazilian musicians brought together by Clara and producer Joyce. Of the Sao Paulo Na Cena Studio sessions Clara says, "Everything was recorded live and during the recordings I shared amazing moments with great personalities of the MPB including John Donato, Joyce, Tutty Moreno and Orlando." Taking on Brazilian samba classics from legends Jorge Ben, Elza Soares, Joao Donato and Gilberto Gil, Moreno has created a record that not only does the originals justice but stands alone as a distinctive and significant global album.
$9.79 EAN: 5060006358623 WORLD
01. Deixa A Nega Gingar
02. Brincando De Samba
03. Bebete
04. Mestiço
05. Bruxaria
06. Pourquoi? (Nega Sem Sandalia)
07. Uala Ualalá
08. Que Besteira
09. Mais Valia Não Chorar
10. Vai Devagarinho
11. Tamanco No Samba
12. Jeito Bom De Sofrer
13. Balanço Zona Sul
14. Samba De Negro
2012 release. Dos Cafundos were founded 2002 in Rio de Janeiro. A dastardly loving concoction of Frank Zappa, John Zorn and Mr Bungle processed through a Burroughs-esque descent into musical madness. A post neo funk, prog-jazz, samba punk hybrid known as Dos Cafundós. Often frenetic, ever evolving, morphing through time signatures, moods and intensity Capitão Coração, the band's first full length release, represents a broadening of Far Out Recordings's sonic offerings showcasing the musical craftsmanship and diversity of Rio. Ten years percolating, distilling and honing a musical identity firmly rooted in the canon of sonic experimentation and hybridization, this album is far more than a mere collage of disparate genres competing for the listener's attention. Instead, a procession of musical movements flowing through the raw energy of ska and punk, the ferocious musicality of jazz and fusion, the cultural traditions of samba and folk, the rhythmic underpinnings of funk and metal culminates in a listening experience akin to a psychedelic opera of Brazilian proportions, a beating heart tale of the manic circadian rhythms of life. Previous dalliances down experimental avenues like Binario's funk-rock amalgam have showcased a label willing to extend beyond the boundaries of what is commonly conceived as the Far Out Recordings sound. Though often looking back over fifty years of the country's musical history, in modernity Brazil presents a diversity of musical offerings on par with that found in Capitão Coração. Produced together with Tomas Alem (son of Jamie Alem) at the legendary Musika Studios, where the label's own legacy started some 18 years ago, and mastered by Grammy award-winning Bob Katz at Digital Domain, Far Out Recordings is as pleased as Punch to unleash Dos Cafundos on the world. Dos Cafundos are: Leonardo Musse - bass, vocals and percussion; Pedro Dias Carneiro - guitar, vocals, flute and percussion; Conrado Kempers - guitar, violin, vocals and percussion; Uirá Bueno - drums, vocals and percussion.
$9.79 EAN: 5060211500855 WORLD
01. Coriza
02. Disse Me Disse
03. Tupráca
04. Carniça (O Barão Da Birosca)
05. Carranca
06. Um-Bérum-Bérum
07. Capitão Coração (Part I)
08. Capitão Coração (Part II)
09. Capitão Coração (Part III)
10. Capitão Coração (Part IV)
11. Capitão Coração (Part V)
FRIENDS FROM RIO: Friends From Rio Project 2014 LP (FARO 180LP)
LP version. 2014 release. In keeping with the very ethos of Far Out Recordings, The Friends From Rio project cements the bonds originally welded by a young Joe Davis, when he set off to Rio, in search of the mysterious sounds of Brazil. Coming from the heart and soul of Rio de Janeiro, Project 2014 features some of the most accomplished legends of Rio's musical underground, including Alex Malheiros, Hyldon, Aleh Ferreira, Robertinho Silva, Sabrina Malheiros and a host of other Far Out Recordings favorites. Consisting of all original material (with the exception of a blistering version of Jorge Ben's timeless "Mas Que Nada"), this is a reunion of old friends and that's exactly how it sounds. Every track is in some way reminiscent of the kind of music Joe Davis and friends were playing on the underground club scene in London, back at the time of the first Rio project. While principally a Brazilian record, lofty disco synths and funk basslines take tracks "So Resta A Porta","Veneno" and "Fogo No Chao" beneath the lights of a spinning mirror ball, while samba batucadas and fiery brass sections keep "Casino Bangu" and Hyldon and Alex Malheiros's fantastically funky "Leite De Pedra", decidedly under the Rio sun. The album also explores deeper territory with "Batucada Bidu" providing an instrumental stint of intense, driven samba percussion, while Robertinho Silva's solo on "Japa" is deep and intriguing Brazilian jazz music at its finest. Nostalgia balanced with vitality is inherent throughout, punctuated by the artwork, which is based on the bottle cap of the '60s/'70s Brahma Guarana. Yet while the album is something of a reunion, finally managing to work with renowned Brazilian artists Hyldon, Aleh Ferreira and others, it was an opportunity Far Out Recordings could not pass up on. It's a collaborations with legends like these, with the flare of Azymuth's Alex Malheiros, the direction of label boss Joe Davis and the production of Daniel Maunick that make the Friends From Rio project, the truly special record it is, just like the two Rio projects before it. Also features: Carlos Dafé, Suonho, Denise Pinaud, Ivan Matheus, Banda Utopia, Agnaldo Kantor, Joao Coutinho.
"The Believers were, in many ways, the flagship band of the Apostasy Recordings empire. Their roots were in the Hampshire College-based experimental outfit, Son Of Earth - Flesh in Bone Trio (generally shortened to Son Of Earth), via Matt Krefting and John Shaw. Also on board were Anna Klein (player with many woefully under-documented ensembles) and Jessi Swenson, Esq. (who was associated with various Scott Foust projects, and would go on to 50 Foot Women). But much of this other work was abstract weirdo-ism. The Believers were, more or less, a rock band, and they kinda fucking ruled. They recorded an album for Ben Chasny's planned label almost a decade ago, but the release never ended up happening, and the Believers split into their component parts not long afterwards. But our memories of their throbbing presence and carefully planned wardrobe choices would overwhelm us some nights, and we'd find ourselves startled awake, covered with sweat, thinking we had missed several important boats by not documenting their passage in the proper way. In the intervening years, the four Believers have gone off to different pastimes. Some are related to music, some are not. And it took some wheedling on our parts, but we finally got this live LP out of them. And it cooks. One side was recorded in '04 at the old Flywheel in Easthampton, and provides a rather clear portrait of their sweetly thuggish pop dynamism. The flip was recorded at the same venue in '06, with guest squeedle provided by Conrad Capistran and Joshua Burkett (aka Tarp). Although we often think of Tarp's sound as retiring, here it is aggressive. And it adds a strangely perfect width to the droogly and angular lurch of their inventions. A beautiful album. Long overdue." --Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 400.
MILSTEIN & THURSTON MOORE, PHIL X: Songs We Taught the Lord Volume One LP (FTR 288LP)
"As I recall, the idea seemed pretty reasonable at the time. It was late 1996. I'd met Fahey a couple of years earlier, and partly as an outgrowth of that meeting he had decided he wanted to meet and play with 'noise musicians.' This resulted in a lot of music that made his olden fans weep, but who was I to argue with The Great Koonaklaster? Anyway, it was late '96 and Fahey wanted to play some gigs on the east coast. He also wanted Thurston to be on the bill with him, and so Mr. Moore asked me for suggestions about who might be cool to duet with. We ruled out a lot of people for various reasons, then had a flash about asking the great Pep Lester (aka Phil Milstein). Although best known as a writer and designer, Phil had also done lots of music in various configurations, and I was hoping he'd deign to play the musical saw he had started practicing a few years earlier. Phil had other ideas, though, mostly revolving around the tape creations and loops he'd been doing with Thalia Zedek's band, Uzi, in the mid '80s. Thankfully, he also agreed to play some saw, and you will hear some of that instrument's beautiful tones floating around the tape jabber and guitar circularity that makes up much of this record's basis. This show was recorded on the first night of Fahey's East coast jaunt, at the Iron Morse Music Hall in Northampton MA. The audience was primed for transcendental waterfalls, and didn't seem too delighted by Phil and Thurston's opening set, but fuck 'em. Fahey was enthralled. And when we pulled the tapes out to listen to for the first time in many a year, we were all pretty chuffed about how nuts and timeless the music sounded. Although the second night's sound was previously issued by Chris Corsano's Hot Cars Warp Records label, this is the first issue for this fantastic set. Roll yourself a fatty and swing!" --Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 400.
MILSTEIN & THURSTON MOORE, PHIL X: Songs We Taught the Lord Volume Two LP (FTR 289LP)
"This album reissues the final recording (thus far) of the Milstein/Moore duo. It was originally released in 1997 by Chris Corsano's Hot Cars Warp Records label. Chris had a choice of this tape -- recorded December 4, 1996 at the Middle East in Cambridge MA -- or the one from the previous night at the Iron Horse in Northampton (FTR 288LP). He chose this one, and the first volume was scheduled to appear on the Ecstatic Yod label. Why it never happened, who knows? Not me! The set was recorded opening for guitarist John Fahey, shortly after a horrible accident in Harvard Square, which involved Fahey's belt breaking in the middle of Brattle St. and having his pants drop to his ankles as a result. Unable to bend enough to reach his feet, it fell upon one of the opening musicians to lend a hand. And I feel as though the incredible sense of horror involved in that process infuses this concert. Thurston's guitar was quite unhinged that night, and Phil's gabble of tape-voices had a relentless edge that seems designed to induce claustrophobic reactions. It is a bravura performance by any measure, and surely one of the wildest collaborations Thurston had been involved in up to that time. Listening now, I can only hope these two do more work together in the 21st century. We could all certainly use it. Remastered from original source tapes, this new edition of the album is best heard loud. Who cares what the neighbors think? They're probably fascists anyway." --Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 400.
Double LP version. Edition of 700 (numbered). Esplendor Geometrico, the cult band based in Madrid and Rome, influential industrial pioneers of pulsating, hypnotic and tribal rhythms since 1980, present their new album: Fluida Mekaniko. Since their previous album Ultraphoon (GR 2130 CD/LP, 2013), Esplendor Geométrico have performed more frequently than ever and in different countries and festivals (2016 marked their first time in the US and Russia). Meanwhile, a documentary feature film about the group launched in Madrid, Geometría del Esplendor, directed by a renowned Spanish director within the avant-garde cinema, José Ramón da Cruz. The film has just been premiered at the prestigious In-Edit festival in Barcelona, receiving an honorary award. Fluida Mekaniko was recorded during 2016 and contains 12 new tracks that, although they continue the line developed since Pulsión (2009), reference their most harsh and noisy sound of the '90s. Industrial neo-tribalism, where mechanical rhythms hypnotize, like mantras, inducing a trance - it highlights, already a distinctive feature of Esplendor Geometrico, the inclusion of voices and sonorities of African, Arab, and Asian music.
ODEKO: Digital Botanics/Construct Conduct 12" (GOB 021EP)
Deeply idiosyncratic, Odeko's sound references a variety of themes without ever feeling bound by any and on "Digital Botanics", he takes this bright, one-of-a-kind sound design to new heights. Subtle trap patterns provide the foil for gloopy, toy-like melodies to glide over the top, spiked by short bursts of growling, industrial noise. On "Construct Conduct", Odeko offers his take on euphoric, '80s-inspired synth music - only prepped for the future - with pulsating, heady grooves and spiraling, acid-y melodies nodding to a growing reputation that he is quietly becoming one of the UK's most exciting young sound designers.
DESMADRADOS SOLDADOS DE VENTURA: The Grand Celestial Purge 4LP BOX (ROWF 067LP)
The eighth Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura album, The Grand Celestial Purge, is a three-hour, four LP box set of psychedelic musings on the departed musicians of 2016. Produced by Richard Formby and recorded at a converted church in Leeds, this is DSDV's most melodious and spacious album to date. You can hear clear nods to The Grateful Dead throughout as well as fragments of Can, Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin's Love Devotion Surrender (1973) and even Tim Buckley's Blue Afternoon (1969) band. Drowned in tape echo and with a Wally Heider-style snap to the drum sound, the recording has all the traits of a classic Formby production. Gone is much of the blur of guitars that shrouded the band's previous albums in cacophony; Whilst still present here and there, it's been replaced with a somewhat virtuoso level of interplay that smacks of a bygone, pre-ironic era in rock music where sincerity, dedication to the craft of improvisation, and the desire to transcend the mundane via heightened, sustained hive-mind mentality was all that mattered. Personnel: David Birchall - guitar; Andrew Cheetham - drums; Richard Formby - synths; Dylan Hughes - guitar; Nick Mitchell - guitar, bass; Dom Tanner - guitar; Otto Willberg - bass.
$73.20 EAN: 5060366784339 ROCK
A1. Defixiones (22:29)
B1. Hogback Shingles (21:11)
C1. Red-Eared Sliders (14:06)
C2. Old & Out The Way (11:58)
D1. Upward Spiral (19:52)
E1. Black Rain (15:44)
E2. Iluvia Radiactiva (7:52)
F1. Moonlight Mind (23:33)
G1. Voces Mysticae (19:21)
H1. The Last Gasp (12:52)
Got Kinda Lost Records present an expanded, first-time reissue of Cromwell's At The Gallop, originally released in 1975. Self-released in 1975 by the Drumcondra, Dublin-based Cromwell, At The Gallop is a blistering, heavy, loud n' lascivious ten-track offering (thirteen in this expanded edition) of proto-metal infused street rock n' roll from a time when Ireland was still under the sway of conservative showbands, quasi-religious, sentimental pop pap and traditional Irish music. Despite their cultural struggles, Cromwell crafted a creative and compact catalog - five fuzzed n' ferocious 45s and this foot-long - led by co-vocalist/bassist Michael Kiely's come-hither coo and fey Jagger pose n' preen, the in-the-pocket drumming of Derek Dawson and minor-guitar hero moves of Patrick Brady, exercising taste, talent and towering mountains of fuzz n' fury as comfortably as greasy '70s raunch and rural modes. At The Gallop is a rare, little-heard classic in the pub/fried rock n' roll/proto-punk terrain. RIYL: Teenage Head, Flamingo-era Flamin' Groovies, Mott The Hoople, '70s Rolling Stones, pre-punk American street rock, and the Bonehead Crunchers series. Includes three bonus tracks from the group's rare singles; Includes an insert featuring rare photos and in-depth liner notes by Jeremy Cargill (Got Kinda Lost Records, Ugly Things Magazine).
Health present their first vinyl outing in the form of Supergod - a brand new project from experimental beats producer Bambooman and Legendary UK MC King Kashmere. Although Bambooman and King Kashmere have crossed paths over the years, this is their first fully formed output together, consisting of six tracks that have steadily materialized and naturally evolved into a truly unique colliding of worlds. Bambooman navigates us through audible portals and wormholes of unknown futures, made from alien textures, wonky structures and grey matter grooves, whilst King Kashmere acts as a metamorphic tour guide.
$12.99 EAN: 5055300392091 ELECTRONIC
01. Expecto
02. Hollywood Zombie Sexcult
03. Monsters (Skit)
04. Egor
05. Friends (Skit)
06. Everyone Is Dead
07. Egor (Alt Version)
Wolf Eyes' Nate Young's Regression series has provided some of the most compelling dread-electronics spewed out by the North American underground in years, with instalments released by Demdike Stare's DDS label and Aaron Dilloway's Hanson, as well as NNA Tapes and others. It all began back in 2009 with this first volume issued by Joachim Nordwall's Ideal label, an incredible set that's now being released on vinyl here for the first time ever. Young is one of those artists whose output is instantly recognizable, his take on primitive electronics is both innovative and unnerving, and in recent years has really dominated the stylistic direction pursued by Wolf Eyes. It's a kind of creaky, bare-boned deconstruction of classic horror scoring jolted by noise and industrial motifs, sounding somewhere between Demdike Stare's early work, John Carpenter, and Mica Levi's by-now-classic soundtrack to Under The Skin (2014). You could neither classify Regression as a noise record nor an ambient one, instead the synth dissections and tape treatments more closely reference early electronic music. "Trapped" offers little of the claustrophobia suggested by its title, although the continual woody knocking sounds and filthy oscillations do engender a sense of unease, while "Dread" brings to mind the Desmond Briscoe soundtrack to Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape (1972). "Under The Skin" returns to the more esoteric, intangible sound designs that characterized the album's opening, writhing around in a spluttering, tactile fashion that's at once sonically rather beautiful but deeply sinister, modulating through grisly synthesizer gestures while more textural, percussive sounds flood through dub-style tape delays. Young has an uncanny ability to make sonic extremes sound incredibly seductive, and this volume is perhaps the most engrossing exposition of that unique ability. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering. Edition of 500.
VA: This Time Will Be Different - The Sweet Soul Of Philadelphia: 1968-1982 LP (IS 6801LP)
LP version. This Time Will Be Different - The Sweet Soul Of Philadelphia: 1968-1982 is the first part in Interstate Records' regional soul series. This Time Will Be Different documents the emerging Philly soul sound, as influenced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, but with a focus on more obscure artists and releases. Features writing, arrangement, and production by Jerry Ross, Norman Harris, Thom Bell and Linda Creed, and Bobby Martin, with appearances by Bunny Sigler, Billy Hill (The Essex), and more. Features: The Invitations, Lou Curtin, Festivals, Choice Of Colors, Broadway Express, The Futures, Phyllis Smith, The Courtships, Paradise, J. Kelly & The Premiers, The Geminiles, The Mello Moods, The Epsilons, The Blue Notes, and The Elegant's.
VA: This Love Is For Real - The Sweet Soul Of Chicago: 1968-1981 LP (IS 6802LP)
LP version. This Love Is For Real - The Sweet Soul Of Chicago: 1968-1981 is the second part in Interstate Records' regional soul series. This Love Is For Real documents the Chicago sound, as popularized by Curtis Mayfield, The Chi-Lites or Impressions, but with a focus on more obscure artists and releases. Features writing, arrangement, and production by Leroy Hutson, Willie Henderson, Eugene Record, with appearances by Otil Leavill, Charles Jackson, and more. Features: Essence, Marzette Griffith, Harlem Meat Company, Magnum Force, Billy & The Bloodknots, The Lost Generation, The Stimulators, Hands Of Time, Chocolate Sunday, Bruce Thompson, The Vegas, The Ledgends, The Independents, The Cheers, Little Ben Norfleet, The Lovelites, and Windy City.
LP version. 2017 repress; originally released in 2003. Tapper Zukie (born David Sinclair, 1955, Kingston, Jamaica) actually cut his first record in England, after being sent there at age 17. He was breaking from his troublesome past that found him running with the rough crowd on the streets of Kingston. Upon his arrival in sunny Ladbroke Grove, producer Bunny Lee called him up on stage at a local dance to sing a tune. Impressed with the results, fellow producer Larry Lawrence got the young Tappa in the studio the very next day and cut "Jump and Twist." This led to Zukie's acclaimed 1973 debut album, Man Ah Warrior (KSCD 058CD/KSLP 058LP), but he remained somewhat disillusioned and homesick and he returned to Jamaica shortly after recording the LP. Dub Em Zukie (Rare Dubs 1976-1979) collects some great lost treasures and alternate cuts from some of Tappa's better-known releases from the period after his debut.
$11.79 EAN: 5036848002055 WORLD
01. Natty Princess Dub
02. Ballistic Dub
03. Dub To The West
04. Bagga Wire Dub
05. Give Me Dub
06. Get Ready Fi Dub
07. Dub Slave
08. Throw Me Dub
09. Dub Next Door
10. Natty Dread Dub
11. Converstaion Dub
12. Black Understanding
VA: Jukebox Jam!: Blues And Rhythm Revue 2LP (JMAN 045LP)
2017 repress on vinyl. 2LP version. Includes a fold-out booklet inside and a free color Jukebox Jam poster. Jazzman presents a whole load of raucous, rollicking and rambunctious '50s/'60s RnB bangers, blues boppers, jukebox faves and rompin', stompin' RnB dancers. The Jukebox Jam club night began in Summer 2007 as a monthly celebration of the authentic U.S. rhythm & blues of yesteryear. Two years later, the club's founder Liam Large linked up with Jazzman to release high-quality, short-run 7" singles of the often obscure R&B music which the club continues to thrive on. Jazzman had already carved a niche for itself with the label's many soul, funk n' jazz 45s, but here was the opportunity to work a new furrow in vintage Black American music, turning an already clued-up and tuned-in client base of hipsters, diggers and full-on record nerds onto the seemingly endless charms of rockin' blues, greasy RnB, jump blues and popcorn. Just as the Jukebox Jam club itself saw a fair few copycat enterprises spring forward in its wake, the label itself has been similarly influential in shaping the tastes of those who were yet to be introduced to the vast RnB reservoir, as well as sharpening and widening the palettes of the more journeyed enthusiast. This is due largely to the careful selection and programming of releases. Not merely picking the records with the most obvious crowd potential, the Jukebox Jam releases have often traded liberally in the unexpected and the unique. This album is the first full-length volume in the series. Founder and DJ Liam Large pulls together some selections from the 45 series and adds a further 8 songs. It's a set which manages to be both diverse and yet totally coherent in spectrum.
Following their much-acclaimed surprise, self-titled debut album Vermont (KOMP 114CD/KOM 293LP) from 2014, Motor City Drum Ensemble's Danilo Plessow and Innervisions's Marcus Worgull reunite for more synth daydreaming on the suitably titled II. The new outing continues where the first full-length left off, strolling further down the luminous and undulating path that the duo turned into, influenced in equal measures by kosmische, krautrock, minimal wave and synth soundtracks. This latest batch of instrumental cuts opens with the strictly Balearic vibe of "Norderney", a softly swinging, light-footed recording with a keen sense for structure. Featuring a guest performance from Robbert Van Der Bildt (aka Kaap) on guitar, it's a telling starting point for the album that - similar to Vermont's self-titled debut - successfully navigates between economic, careful studio arrangements and playful, incidental exploration further pushing into jam session territory. Van Der Bildt's guitar returns on the plucky, curious "Ufer", where Vermont showcase a renewed sense for jazz-like improvisation - same as on the cuts "Dschuna", "Chanang" and "Wenik", which also include contributions from Dermot O'Mahony and Tadhg Murphy on strings. Still, Vermont's synth contraptions remain the album's main attraction, with the extensive array of gear encompassing an entire panopticon of analog bling - from Arp Oddysey and Moog Prodigy to Fender Rhodes, Juno and Prophet - list-studying gear heads will find lots to drool upon. Consequently, tracks like "Chemtrails", "Unruh" or "Gebirge" err on the machine side of things, expertly interweaving arpeggiated sequences for maximum atmospheric effect. Foreboding, slightly menacing synth motives as on "Skorbut" or "Chemtrails" are perfectly balanced with the casual ambient of "Hallo Von Der Anderen Seite" and the nostalgic warmth of "Demut" - while the gentle push of the masterful "Ki-Bou" even carries a whiff of classic deep house, linking the Vermont project to Plessow and Worgull's main careers as dancefloor movers and shakers. Continually intriguing, immersive and texturally rich, each one of Vermont's new pieces betray the experience, precision and determination of the producers involved - while opening up Worgull and Plessow's vocabulary for patient experimentation and subtle discoveries. A musical treat for synth aficionados - and everyone else.
Ladies & Gentlemen present Phonique's fourth full length album Green Supreme. Phonique, the Berlin-based award-winning producer and label owner, reigns as one of Europe's most in-demand and renowned house DJs. His career first exploded in 2004 with club anthems like "The Red Dress" and "For the Time Being" his first album Identification (DES 009CD, 2004) earned him global recognition. Phonique's three critically-praised albums attest to his evolving, diverse influences, deep knowledge of house music, and masterful intuition to serve the dancefloor. He has now produced his fourth anticipated album Green Supreme. Phonique continues to draw huge crowds, invitations to perform around the world, and collaborations with artists around Europe, South America and beyond. To date, Phonique has amassed a discography of more than 500 original tracks and remixes as well as three previous studio albums for acclaimed labels such as Dessous Recordings, Poker Flat Recordings, Crosstown Rebels, Systematic, Souvenir and of course his own label Ladies & Gentlemen, a collection which includes some runaway successes. Green Supreme is a collection of seven remarkable songs from one of the scene's most revered producers. The album features vocals by Antonia Vai, Stee Downes, Richard Davis, Ian Whitelaw, and Alexander East. The album has been co-produced by Phonique's long-time studio partner Alex Krüger, aka Tigerskin. Comes as green vinyl; Hand-numbered; Includes download code.
Mental Experience present the first ever reissue of Requiem's For A World After, originally released in 1981. Dark, progressive, synth ambient meets Berlin-School sounds on this obscure kraut album, which "tells the story of a world annihilation through nuclear war." For A World After is full of delayed psychedelic electric guitar, effects, cold drum machines, waves of analog keyboards (Korg MS20, Casiotone 201, Crumar DS-2, Jupiter-4), and cosmic atmosphere. George Speckert is a conceptual electronic composer based in Hannover, but of North American origin. Working as a music teacher in Germany in the '70s, he started to write and produce music in his spare time, inspired by the European rock and electronic scenes of the time (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre, Emerson Lake & Palmer, etc.) He met another American expat, David Cassidy, who ran a small record label/studio - that's when Requiem started to take form. A chance meeting with a terrific guitar player named Massimo Grandi, led to Massimo adding some amazing electric guitar to the album. After six months, For A World After was released in a privately-pressed edition of 1000 on the small, Daviton label. RIYL: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler, Moebius, Popol Vuh, Metronic Underground, Rüdiger Lorenz, Michael Bundt, Wolfgang Bock, Michael Hoenig, Rolf Trostel, Pina. Master tape sound; Insert with liner notes and photos.
Six years after his last album on Miasmah, Schattenspieler (MIA 013CD/LP, 2010), it's great to find Marcus Fjellström resurrected after several long years spent composing his audio-visual opera Boris Christ. Born out of shattered dreams and an obscured vision of the future, Skelektikon is a delirious yet lucid exploration of the farthest and most conflicted reaches of the heart, teeming with confusion, passion, and ghostly shadows. Being no conventional composer in any way, Marcus stumbles further down his musical domain of detuned orchestral (re-)arrangements and pain-inducing synth passages, arriving at a most unique and personal result. Where Schattenspieler gave way to noir filled alleyways, Skelektikon fills them with paranoia. It's the sound of limbo, of dancing amoebas, of deviant skeletons, nostalgia, and futurism, or quite possibly none of that. Inhabited by the bizarre and the beautiful, Marcus's music is a blurred yet encouraging representation of how you can never trust your own feelings - or eyes and ears for that matter. And yet, you can't shake the idea that the truth is to be found somewhere within this alien language, as delivered to us through the speakers. After the listener opens their eyes after the final track has dissipated, they shouldn't be surprised to find someone or something there, staring at us, in silent and unsettling knowledge. CD version comes in a digipak sleeve; Edition of 350.
Erik K Skodvin returns with a focused album under his Svarte Greiner moniker, releasing two twenty-minute cinematic compositions, continuing where he left off with Black Tie (MIA 023CD, 2013). "The Marble" patiently sets the tone with a slow moving wall of strings underlaid by a warped bass line. A feeling of weightlessness covers the ground while empty space surrounds the listener in an embracing yet uneasy way. It's a gloomy territory with an unexpected extent of grace to encounter. Time gradually illuminates several stages of light and dark before revealing a desolate wasteland filled with electric organisms. "Garden" strikes heavily with rattling string hits and low bass waves quivering through your skull, transforming the scenery into a fallow that is staring right back at you. This could easily be the soundtrack to a nightmarish sleeplessness if it wasn't for carefully scattered comfort zones to be found in unknown territory - what appears to be violent at first soon reveals sheer reflective beauty. However, it is patience and repeated listening that liberate the aspired altered state of consciousness. Originally composed for Marit Følstad's installation art, Moss Garden more than ever consolidates Erik Skodvin's individual idea of soundscape. His approach can be interpreted as an embodiment of the word "Terrific" amelioration: Developing from "Terrifying" over "Intense" to its modern understanding in a little more than two centuries, Svarte Greiner reenacts this metamorphosis within a single recording. CD version of Svarte Greiner's 2016 album, previously only available on vinyl (MIA 037LP); Comes in a digipak sleeve; Includes a download code; Edition of 400.
Formed in Boston in the late '70s from the ashes of the legendary DMZ, Lyres are one of the truly essential garage bands -- and the seven 7"s (and CD) contained in this boxed set clearly prove why. Featuring 16 tracks spanning 1979 to 1991, they're loaded with sound, attitude, and a way of making music not found around too often. This set includes the contents of Lyres' never-unreleased first acetate, recorded live and pressed by the band only two weeks after their first rehearsal. Their amazing debut 7" on Sounds Interesting Records is presented with facsimile artwork, as are a string of magnificent tracks the band recorded during the 1980s for Boston's Ace of Hearts Records, run by Rick Harte, who also produced the recordings. Tracks such as "Buried Alive," "Help You Ann," "I Really Want You Right Now," "She Pays The Rent," "Not Looking Back," and other staples of the 1980s rock and roll scene show the band (and its varying line-ups) at the top of their game. Includes 20-page booklet with photos and liner notes by Lyres organist and vocalist Jeff Conolly. Limited edition of 700.
On Albrecht La'Brooy's Emissary EP, the Melbourne duo's live approach to programming and arrangement can be heard as the tracks ebb and flow effortlessly. In "Tempelhof", sub swells and a throbbing kick accompany delicate leads and lightly touched drums. "Hinterhof" pulses and sways with lively percussion, crystalline bells, euphoric strings and softly-spoken melodies. "U-Bahn / S-Bahn" begins with glistening top lines and panoramic chords over a growling bass and a steady groove. As the journey rolls on from the underground into open-air window-gazing territory, the piece takes an ambient, beatless turn.
Acid Pauli is a name synonymous with certain aesthetic towards electronic music culture - both a part of the unhooked generation of that grew up experiencing his revelatory sets at places like Bar 25 and Fusion, and yet deeply rooted in musicality and adventurousness. BLD, the second full-length album from Martin Gretschmann, aka Acid Pauli, builds on his already impressive back catalog which spans back to 2005, and includes a debut album released on Nicolas Jaar's Clown And Sunset. Over the course of the eight tracks, Gretschmann explores some of the many facets that have made him one of the most trusted artists in his field. Released on his own label Ouïe, which he runs with Nico Stojan, the album is the perfect expression of the imprint's commitment to diverse, exciting sounds, freed of the conventions of traditional club music. The album covers a number of moods and emotions, from dystopian carnivalesque vibes to moments of high intensity, through to deep melancholia and synth-laden ambience. Gretschmann's well-documented love of the sampler shines throughout - tracks are textured and colored with different hues from his extensive sound palette, whether it's a part of his more psychedelic moments, or concentrated on his innate knowledge of dancefloor dynamics. As such, BLD sits together as a complete piece of music - to be relished just as much by blissed out home listeners as the left-field dancers. Includes a download code.
$16.39 EAN: 4250382433392 ELECTRONIC
A1. Abbebe
A2. Baris
A3. Ayam
A4. Majid
B1. Amadou
B2. Joan
B3. René
B4. Jorge
OLIVEROS, PAULINE: Electronic Works 1965-1966 CD (PD 004CD)
Restocked. "1 Of IV" and "Big Mother Is Watching You" were both made in the summer of 1966 at the University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio. "1 Of IV" was previously released in 1967, on Odyssey, alongside works by 2 other young composers - "Come out" by Steve Reich and "Night music" by Richard Maxfield. "Big Mother..." is a previously unreleased piece. The 3rd (and final) piece on this compilation was made at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1965 and was first released in 1977 on the compilation New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media, released on 1750 Arch Records. The 3 pieces on this CD are all live experiments, which at the simplest level use either an array of oscillators and filters, a mixer and one spool of tape feeding a series of (variously set up) stereo tape machines. Long delay lines, pile ups of noise and rich sonorities are the stuff of this music. The third piece also uses samples taken from Pucini's Madame Butterfly. All 3 pieces on this CD are not included on the 12 CD boxset of early electronic music by Oliveros, released by Important Records.
The works on Anthropological Constants straddle a fence between field recording and experimental composition. The intention of each piece is to lead the listener astray in their environment by firstly identifying cues or references, and then slowly transforming the cues without replacing them. In the words of one listener, the presence of "constantly changing soundscapes . . . of unfathomable origin, which act like some kind of travelogue of . . . your own memories," defines the intent behind these works. The original tracks that make up this LP were the first computer-based compositions (originally made between 1996 and 2001), derived from methods employed in live group performances during the late 1980s, which used the same techniques for transporting the audience from the known to the unknown, from the public to the private, or the external to the internal, by capturing and feeding back the listening space via chains of controlled processing. This isn't an attempt to separate the individual from the group listening experience but to try to demonstrate a method by which the individual listener is co-opted into a group experience of a space, via the removal of any specific meanings or cues in favor of potentials derived from the deconstruction of memory. First the environment must be un-learned, un-mediated, détourned. To some extent, these experiments are also psychedelic, in the sense that they aim at revealing something personal to each listener, which is also ever-present in the wider human experience of the surroundings. In that respect the work aims at that silence called "black noise": a purely human silence beyond that normally envisaged. A silence in which you can almost hear your own brain-ear mechanism scanning for references with which to define the dimensions of the space you are occupying. This vinyl edition was cut at SST and pressed at Optimal in a numbered edition of 500 and comes with an insert and download code.
"Fire ! Fire ! Dance with me." Permanent Vacation's first release in 2017 comes from the Marvin & Guy. They recorded four blissful tracks of fresh, twisted, and tingled creepy disco wave and eternal Route 66 flavor. The two cowboys want to give you the opportunity to dream and dance in the same intense way. "Despierta (Tus Sentidos)" features Mexico's hottest Zombies In Miami on the mic.
BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE: Dolores 2LP (PIAS 39214221LP)
Pias present a vinyl reissue of Dolores, the 2008 album by Germany's doom jazz cult band, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, the slowest band on earth. The vinyl of Dolores was not available for a long-time and is now back in full glory as a double LP edition in a gatefold sleeve. Personnel: Robin Rodenberg - bass; Thorsten Benning - drums; Morten Gass - organ, vocoder, synthesizer, bass; Christoph Clöser - piano (Fender Rhodes), vibraphone, saxophone (tenor and baritone). Recorded and engineered by Christoph Clöser and Morton Gass; Mixed and mastered by Marcus Schmickler and Bohren & The Club Of Gore; Produced by Bohren & The Club Of Gore; Recorded and engineered at Dark Victory Studios Cologne and Mülheim/Ruhr, Germany. Artwork by Melanie Höner (drawing) and Jörg Follert (typography).
Basmala is the debut album by the American world music and ambient soul production of Basmala. The album maintains a hip-hop base and ambient or minimal atmospheric sound, which is the unique signature of Basmala. Features: Mikial and Mumblz Medina. "That direction is spacey -- though not necessarily in the way you might expect. Basmala at times takes his cues from the hard bop of Charles Mingus, bouncing even his slowest beats at an acute angle. 'RNR' finds him folding sampled bleats into a pleated rhythm while a spectral piano haunts the air above. Later, 'Just Us' ,which features rapper Mumblz Medina, finds him working on Dâm-Funk's game. And while there's certainly more than a little of RJD2 and DJ Shadow's DNA coursing through the tracks, there's a slight minimalist pulse at Basmala's heart, too, and a dedication to following the drift of a song's élan that it shares with the spiritual jazz of the late '60s." --Flood Magazine "Basmala has a vision of the future, one informed not by his social experience at large, but by the inventor's call that exists in his head. Formerly known as Hasan Atiq, the artist now referred to as Basmala donned the title in order to demarcate a new direction of electronic hip hop. The self-titled debut is a progressive offering of afro-futurism that bonds in brotherhood with Anti-Pop Consortium and the black fusion jazz funk of the 1970s. Basmala brings an attitude to his debut that places him in the periphery of Brainfeeder's progressive methods, expanding the movement beyond one collective and into the social strata of black music." --Impose Magazine "While Basmala may be a new name to many, the man behind the alias, Hasan Atiq (who is formerly known as Autolect) has produced forward-thinking beats on a string of strong albums from the mid to late '00s (one of which featured production from 9th Wonder). The producer/rapper/singer is back working under this new pseudonym with his self-titled album. Basmala shows that he is still innovative with his ideas and execution now as he was a decade ago. Taking cues from progressive jazz (check out 'RNR' for proof) as well as ambitious hip-hop, the beatsmith has come up with something that's futuristic sounding, spiritual and unique." --Big Shot Magazine, who rewarded the album four stars.
Prog Temple present a reissue of East Of Eden's New Leaf, originally released in 1971. East Of Eden had an unexpected top ten UK hit with "Jig-A-Jig" in early 1971. By that time they had undergone various changes in personnel and musical approach, though they were still led by violinist Dave Arbus (who guested on The Who's "Baba O'Riley" the same year). New Leaf was originally issued that November and found the band in fine form with a mixture of progressive and more laidback material. It makes a welcome return to CD here, together with background notes and images.
Prog Temple present a reissue of Southern Comfort's self-titled album, originally released in 1971. As Matthews' Southern Comfort, this superb British band enjoyed a massive worldwide hit with "Woodstock" in October 1970. Not long after the departure of Iain Matthews, the band decided to continue, recording Frog City in 1971 (PT 8014CD), followed by this laid-back, country-styled effort, which was also released in 1971 in December. It makes a long overdue return to CD here, together with background notes and images.
LP version. "Cruel Optimism is a record that considers power (present and absent). It meditates on how power consumes, augments, and ultimately shapes two subsequent human conditions: obsession and fragility. . . . This edition owes its title and its origins to the wonderful text of the same name by American theorist Lauren Berlant. . . . In Cruel Optimism, I found a number of critical readings around the issues that have fueled so much of the music I have been making recently. Beyond her keen analysis of the relations of attachment as they pertain to conditions of possibility in the everyday, it was particularly her writing around trauma I found deeply affecting. It was a jumping off point from which a plague of unsettling impressions of suffering, intolerance, and ignorance could be unpacked and utilized as fuel over and above pointless frustration. When I made Wilderness Of Mirrors (RM 460CD/LP, 2014) clouds of unease were overhead. As I have worked through Cruel Optimism, what seemed an unimaginable future just a few years prior, began to present as actual. Over the course of creating the record, we collectively bore witness to a new wave of humanitarian and refugee crisis (captured so succinctly in the photograph of Alan Kurdi's tiny body motionless on the shore), the Black Lives Matter movement, the widespread use of sonic weapons on civilians, increased drone strikes in Waziristan, Syria and elsewhere, and record low numbers of voting around Brexit and the US election cycle, suggesting a wider sense of disillusionment and powerlessness. Acutely for me and other Australians, we've faced dire intolerance concerning race and continued inequalities related to gender and sexuality. The storm has broken and feels utterly visceral. Cruel Optimism is a meditation on these challenges and an encouragement to press forward towards more profound futures. Beyond the motivations forging the record, the process by which this edition was created was unlike many of my other records. Having worked largely alone in recent years, I wanted to shift away from that approach. . . . I count myself exceptionally fortunate to have been able to call on so many fine musicians in the making of this album. . . . I couldn't be more pleased to share Cruel Optimism with you." --Lawrence English, October 2016 Contributions in various forms from: Mats Gustafsson, Mary Rapp, Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, Werner Dafeldecker, Norman Westberg, Brodie McAllister, Australian Voices, Vanessa Tomlinson, Heinz Riegler, and Thor Harris.
$16.39 UPC: 739027481867 ELECTRONIC
01. Hard Rain
02. The Quietest Shore
03. Hammering A Screw
04. Crow
05. Requiem For A Reaper
06. Pillar Of Cloud
07. Exquisite Human Microphone
08. Object Of Projection
09. Negative Drone
10. Somnambulist
11. Moribund Territories
Double-LP version. 180-gram vinyl. Deluxe metallic silver gatefold sleeve. Limited numbered edition of 1000. Rotorelief inaugurates its Silver Collection with this deluxe expanded reissue of Nurse With Wound's 1986 masterpiece Spiral Insana. One of Nurse With Wound's most deep and mysterious recordings, Spiral Insana is more ambient and user-friendly than many other NWW outings, without losing any of its surreal edge. Stapleton and guests Robert Haigh and David Jackman mix prepared piano, percussion, loops, and various bric-à-brac into an hour-long collage of mashed-up sound, jarring juxtapositions, buzz-saw distortion, and even a pipe organ. If that sounds disorienting, that's because it is. This edition marks the definitive release of the complete Spiral Insana sessions, with the contents of the original 1986 LP augmented by three recordings from the same period: "Mourning Smile" (originally released on the 1987 LP Drunk With The Old Man Of The Mountains and later included on the 1997 United Dairies CD reissue of Spiral Insana), "Nihil" (first released on the 1997 Spiral Insana CD reissue), and "A Missing Sense," a 25-minute tribute to Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing originally released as the NWW half of a 1986 LP split with Organum. Steven Stapleton: drums, cello, radio, guitar, bowed piano, percussion, loops, voice, tuba, organ, electronics; Robert Haigh: guitar; David Jackman: banjo, splutter, voice; Chris Wallis: acoustic guitar; David Tibet: trumpet; Diana Rogerson: voice; Andrew McKenzie: voice. Mastered by Denis Blackham. Cover art and pictures by Babs Santini. "Still stands as one of the clear highlights of Stephen Stapleton's singularly daunting and mountainous discography. . . . Many of the varied interludes are noisy, fragmented, and somewhat abrasive, but there is always a playful sense of mischief lurking in the shadows, ready to blunder into the steadily darkening fever dream at any second. . . . a brilliantly skewed and excellent album that has not faded with age one bit." --Anthony D'Amico, Brainwashed
NURSE WITH WOUND: Spiral Insana (Colored Vinyl) 2LP (ROTOR 050SIL-LP)
Colored double-LP version. 180-gram vinyl. Silver and black vinyl (disc one); silver and white vinyl (disc two). Deluxe metallic silver gatefold sleeve. Limited numbered edition of 500. Rotorelief inaugurates its Silver Collection with this deluxe expanded reissue of Nurse With Wound's 1986 masterpiece Spiral Insana. One of Nurse With Wound's most deep and mysterious recordings, Spiral Insana is more ambient and user-friendly than many other NWW outings, without losing any of its surreal edge. Stapleton and guests Robert Haigh and David Jackman mix prepared piano, percussion, loops, and various bric-à-brac into an hour-long collage of mashed-up sound, jarring juxtapositions, buzz-saw distortion, and even a pipe organ. If that sounds disorienting, that's because it is. This edition marks the definitive release of the complete Spiral Insana sessions, with the contents of the original 1986 LP augmented by three recordings from the same period: "Mourning Smile" (originally released on the 1987 LP Drunk With The Old Man Of The Mountains and later included on the 1997 United Dairies CD reissue of Spiral Insana), "Nihil" (first released on the 1997 Spiral Insana CD reissue), and "A Missing Sense," a 25-minute tribute to Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing originally released as the NWW half of a 1986 LP split with Organum. Steven Stapleton: drums, cello, radio, guitar, bowed piano, percussion, loops, voice, tuba, organ, electronics; Robert Haigh: guitar; David Jackman: banjo, splutter, voice; Chris Wallis: acoustic guitar; David Tibet: trumpet; Diana Rogerson: voice; Andrew McKenzie: voice. Mastered by Denis Blackham. Cover art and pictures by Babs Santini. "Still stands as one of the clear highlights of Stephen Stapleton's singularly daunting and mountainous discography. . . . Many of the varied interludes are noisy, fragmented, and somewhat abrasive, but there is always a playful sense of mischief lurking in the shadows, ready to blunder into the steadily darkening fever dream at any second. . . . a brilliantly skewed and excellent album that has not faded with age one bit." --Anthony D'Amico, Brainwashed
LP version. On their third album in just three years, Krokofant typify a new and invigorating movement currently sweeping the Nordic region: hard-boiled improvisation and strong instrumental personalities bolted onto rock beats and driving rhythms. Equally powerful on record and on stage, Krokofant pull no punches, sounding off like some unholy three-way marriage of early '70s jazz rock (think Mahavishnu Orchestra, Terje Rypdal), the sprawling progressive odysseys of King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator, and the fierce heat of John Zorn or Peter Brötzmann's harsh free jazz ensembles. The group was properly born during the sessions at the proudly analog Engfelt & Forsgren Studio that led to their self-titled debut released on Rune Grammofon in 2014 (RCD 2154CD/RLP3154LP). This studio, with Christian Engfelt in charge of recording and mixing, has proved perfect for capturing the essence of a group like Krokofant, so it was only natural that they went back for the second album (RCD 2177CD/RLP3177LP, 2015) and now their third with Engfelt. Real musicians captured playing together in real time, you simply can´t beat that when it comes to this kind of music. Krokofant are the trio of: Axel Skalstad, Jørgen Mathisen, and Tom Hasslan.
Stirred up from deep within, from an abstract spiral of sound and movement, from a sensation of time and space absolving and converging at once, the Black Flower musicians have molded a tangible matter: the album Artifacts. Their second full album sounds international and ageless; Eastern influences, Ethio-dub, and jazz effortlessly merge producing psyche-delicious and accessible 21st century Ethio-dub-jazz. As if John Zorn put on Fela Kuti's shoes and imbibed Mulatu Astatke's whirls. Piloted by saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), this instrumental band aims for originality. Fellow musicians and "brothers down the road" are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, Stadt) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra) on the bass, and Wouter Haest (Los Callejeros, Voodoo Boogie) playing keys. For many, the Ethiopian aspect once made known to the world by Mulatu Astatke will stand out. Still, Black Flower further adds oriental scales, Afrobeat à la Fela Kuti, jazz in a John Zorn way and varied western music traditions such as rock and dub. The resulting melting pot is undoubtedly inspired by Nathan's distant travels and the multifariously colorful city of Brussels. After their well-received debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014) which created an atmosphere of mythical figures and psychedelia, Black Flower now reflect on ancient and modern cultures. The album title Artifacts refers to centuries-old fragile objects or tools that empowered the development of human culture. The musicians' personal musical backgrounds and the result is an album with an ageless mystique. Artifacts is the synthesis of different cultures, of the past and present, and personal and collective memories. It is the soundtrack to modern reality, based on the elements that connect everybody. Uncomplicated originality, plenty of space for fantasy and an organic tone: those are the ingredients for Black Flower to lay claim to an age-old human ritual: dancing! Also features: Tcha Limberger plays violin on "Lunar Eclipse"; Gernas Shekhmous plays daf on "Realm And Era". CD version comes in an uncoated digisleeve.
Pierre & Bastien's third studio album, Musique Grecque, shows the band at its best with a well-constructed set of songs. Paul Jimenes's lyrics hold nothing back, juggling private and social subjects brilliantly. Dark and menacing moods chase the light and brighter ones; Once again this fight of the soul puts the listener at the heart of the band's life. Musically, the band is more powerful and intense as ever: guitarist Baptiste Nollet is particularly dazzling and Frédéric Trux pounds sometimes a nearly industrial rhythm to the songs. Their sound has echoes of bands like Wire, Wipers, Dogs, Metal Urbain or Reich Orgasm. The sheer brutality or depraved psychedelics displayed on some tracks contrast with the pop-like vocal harmonies of others. From the minimalist and destructive opener "Sympa" to the dark and disturbing closer "A Nu", from the striking "Secret" to the light "Musique Grecque", Pierre & Bastien have crafted a dense, varied and more-complex-than-it-seems album.
$15.79 EAN: 5055869545167 ROCK
01. Sympa (2:38)
02. Allongé (4:02)
03. Secret (2:24)
04. Bon À Rien (3:06)
05. Mitterrand (3:09)
06. Musique Grecque (4:17)
07. Accessoire (3:20)
08. Baskets (3:48)
09. A Nu (6:38)
LAZAR, GABOR: Crisis Of Representation CD (SHELTER 076CD)
Budapest-based composer Gábor Lázár debuts on Shelter Press with his second full-length album, Crisis Of Representation. Continuously defining his unique composition skills over the years, Gábor Lázár shared a first release with Russell Haswell for his now defunct imprint Last Foundation, quickly followed in 2014 with the album I.L.S. on Lorenzo Senni's Presto!? label and EP16 on Boomkat's The Death Of Rave label (RAVE 006LP), before collaborating in 2015 on a joint album with Mark Fell for the highly acclaimed The Neurobiology Of Moral Decision Making (RAVE 010LP), also released on The Death Of Rave. Crisis Of Representation is a collection of seven pieces. Years in the making, the record gathers tracks, as stated by Lázár, that were "mostly recorded in 2015, but some of the tracks were recorded as early as 2011; but they are all about the same idea. It's really important to me to be able to be focused over a long period of time." Titled Crisis Of Representation, the album is another step further into the direction of his abstract techno fragments. Instead of repeating beats, Gábor Lázár maintains linearity by using only one type of characteristic sound and a few composition techniques throughout the whole album. Mastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker; Artwork by Zsófia Boda. CD version comes in a digipak; Includes additional track.
LAZAR, GABOR: Crisis Of Representation LP+CD (SHELTER 076LP)
LP versions. 140 gram vinyl. Includes CD. Budapest-based composer Gábor Lázár debuts on Shelter Press with his second full-length album, Crisis Of Representation. Continuously defining his unique composition skills over the years, Gábor Lázár shared a first release with Russell Haswell for his now defunct imprint Last Foundation, quickly followed in 2014 with the album I.L.S. on Lorenzo Senni's Presto!? label and EP16 on Boomkat's The Death Of Rave label (RAVE 006LP), before collaborating in 2015 on a joint album with Mark Fell for the highly acclaimed The Neurobiology Of Moral Decision Making (RAVE 010LP), also released on The Death Of Rave. Crisis Of Representation is a collection of seven pieces. Years in the making, the record gathers tracks, as stated by Lázár, that were "mostly recorded in 2015, but some of the tracks were recorded as early as 2011; but they are all about the same idea. It's really important to me to be able to be focused over a long period of time." Titled Crisis Of Representation, the album is another step further into the direction of his abstract techno fragments. Instead of repeating beats, Gábor Lázár maintains linearity by using only one type of characteristic sound and a few composition techniques throughout the whole album. Mastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker; Artwork by Zsófia Boda.
LOS PIRANAS: La Diversion Que Hacia Falta En Mi Pais LP (STAUB 145LP)
For more than 20 years, Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers), Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero, Ondatropica), and Pedro Ojeda (Romperayo, Sidestepper) have been exposed to Latin American tropical types of music that, for many years (and still recently), have been relegated to the last place of good taste. Vallenato, Peruvian chicha, Colombian raspa, champeta, some African sounds and cumbia, in its different genres (sabanera, rabajada, sonidera), make part of the new style that Los Pirañas expose in the agitated Colombian music scene. Their debut album Toma Tu Jabón Kapax (VAMPI 148CD/LP, 2013) is deliberately strident and still - you can easily dance to it. In 2013, they released the 7" single Salvemos Nuestro Folclor and a video, directed by artists Mateo Rivano and Santiago Mora. Their second LP, La Diversión Que Hacía Falta En Mi País, was recorded in June 2014, in collaboration with Quantic (Will Hollland), recorded on analog tape and mixed live.
$12.99 EAN: 4015698008234 WORLD
A1. Delincuencia Precoz
A2. Del Sol, A 18 Minutos
A3. Las Olfateadoras
A4. Guabina Aguachiquera
A5. Sir De Gusano
B1. Mis Animalitos: Homenaje a los Mayas
B2. El Colibrí Bajo Perfil
B3. La Diversión Que Hacía Falta En Mi País
B4. Dragones Chinos
B5. Cómo Me Calmo Yo
Ffug is the first full length album by the teenaged group FFUG. From Crymych in Pembrokeshire, FFUG consist of Iolo Selyf on vocals, Billy Morley on guitar, Henry Jones on bass, and Joey Robbins on drums. They play crunching punk with melodic, lyrical interludes and pointed, thoughtful lyrics in both English and Welsh. At a time when rock appears to be moribund, they invest the form with a new wit, energy, and excitement. If you thought rock was dead, FFUG shout that it isn't and never will be. Produced by Dafydd Ieuan (Super Furry Animals), Ffug contains ten songs that mix hardcore power with sly vocal harmonies and sudden interludes of openness and reflection. Iolo Selyf sings about adolescent problems - both observed and autobiographical - with strong opinions about what is going on in Wales and Britain in general. Here is the teenage news, in all its confusion, anger, energy, and a strong sense of what is wrong with the world. Isn't that, in part, what rock music in general and punk in particular is there for? As Iolo says, "it should be being pissed off about the government; being pissed off about how you're treated day to day; being pissed off about all the injustice in the world. And I don't feel like it's a common feeling in rock music currently. Which I think is a definite shame."
2x12" version. Reveries Of begins with a simple electrical hum - a starting signal for the appearance of a vibrant array of sound, shifting before us in seemingly random motion. Before you know it, all those pulsating melodies, razor-cut hi-fi-house beats and drunken robot jazz ensembles start forming into patterns, secretly and perfectly designed by one Art Alfie. A long time operator in Stockholm's small but insistent underground music scene, Oscar Wedrén broke through internationally in 2012 with the Karlovak project, founded with on-off studio and DJ partner Rudolf Nordström, aka Mr. Tophat. The duo's inexplicably fresh takes on classic dance music tropes is as much a result of a brilliantly odd pairing of personalities as of a defined concept and a precise method in searching for the perfect house groove. While writing Reveries Of, Art Alfie freed himself of all conceptual footholds, delving instead deep into his archives of old and new memories and feels, working with improptu field recordings, and emotionally-guided sampling processes. He came back with an intricate and personal debut album and he didn't lose his groove on the way. "Esquinas" features Daniel Rääf.
$16.39 EAN: 4260038316436 ELECTRONIC
01. Intro
02. A Lover's Anxiety
03. Klubbensborg
04. City Neon
05. A Blues (Dolphin Cruise Edit)
06. Greg's Island
07. Esquinas (feat. Daniel Rääf)
08. East Village Trip
09. Ah Hej Då Rå
DE JAER, BAUDOUIN: Eclerectic Attracta CD (SR 433CD)
Surrounded by Quatuor Tana, the unpredictable Baudouin De Jaer presents four new pieces that push the boundaries of contemporary composition. Composer and violinist Baudouin De Jaer studied composition with Philippe Boesmans, Henri Pousseur, Frederic Rzewski and with Bruce Mather at McGill University in Montréal. His works have been performed by the following ensembles: Synonymes, Besides, Arditti, Quadro, Stream, Ear Unit, Musiques Nouvelles, Orchestre De Mulhouse, National Korean Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique De Liège, Timf Seoul Ensemble, Korean Project, Ensemble 21, and Ensemble 88. In 2010, Baudouin De Jaer was awarded a prize from the National Gugak Center for his Gayageum compositions. In 2011, he resolved the enigmatic music system of Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli and released a CD called The Heavenly Ladder on Sub Rosa (SR 312CD). Since 2011, Quatuor Tana has been the only European ensemble to be playing on electronic equipment with the Airturn Electronic Scoring System, which makes them an ideal partner for research neither calculated nor premeditated. Quatuor Tana's singularity rests on its undeniably unique and fiercely contemporary repertoire. Its musicians impose, in a single voice, four wills and four energies that, while attached to the quartet tradition, have firmly decided to expand the framework and find individual expression in contemporary creations. Their insatiable music curiosity pushes them to explore the multiple facets, styles and riches of scores created by living composers. Quatuor Tana has performed in major halls and festivals around the world. Eclerectic Attracta comes as a six-page digipak CD and comes with a 16-page booklet.
VA: Where the Mountains Meet the Sky: Folk Music of Ladakh LP (SF 109LP)
Music from Ladakh recorded during the making of the film The Song Collector (2014) by director Erik Koto, with additional material recorded by Bill Kite in 1992. "Situated high in the Western Himalaya, Ladakh is one of the great cultural crossroads of Asia. For centuries, it sat at the hub of ancient trade routes that connected the Silk Road to India, Tibet, and Kashmir. Each year, once the winter snows had melted from the high passes surrounding Ladakh, its markets would buzz with merchants from throughout central Asia. They brought spices, wool, salt, and silk. They also brought their instruments and their folks songs. Over time, these diverse musical influences laid the foundation of Ladakh's unique folk traditions. Folk music became central to the daily life of the Ladakhis with song serving as an essential form of communication, documentation, and entertainment. This collection of songs is intended to offer a sampling of the range of Ladakh's folk music. These songs also celebrate one of the great folk artists of Ladakh, Morup Namgyal. Morup is an avid preservationist and during his 30-year career working at Ladakh's only radio station (All India Radio, Leh) he recorded a vast archive of Ladakhi folk songs. This collection of over 1,000 recordings was unlike anything else in Ladakh and formed a crucial link to a dying folk tradition. Tragically, it burned to the ground in 2002 when a fire raged through the old wooden radio station building. The loss was devastating, but Morup immediately set about recreating the archive. Five of the songs on this album, recorded in 1992, are among the handful of tracks to have been spared by the fire. Today, Ladakh's marketplaces bear little resemblance to the buzzing markets of old. Gone are the camel trains and merchants, replaced instead by Indian trucks belching smoke. Seemingly vanished too are the folk musicians, pushed aside by the synthetic beats of the latest Bollywood hit. But the folk artists have not vanished entirely, and if you wander beyond the blare of the latest pop song, you'll discover a folk tradition that, thanks to the efforts of Morup Namgyal and others like him, is alive, evolving, and poised to endure the challenges of modernization." --Erik Koto. LP comes with a full-size insert containing historic photos, song lyrics, and liner notes by Erik Koto.
As the first in a series of two-track seven inches, Tangram Records present LTGL. LTGL is a Jamaican-Polish hybrid beat-maker from Belgium. Splatter is a slowly building anthem that takes you on a trip through LTGL's universe, safely returning you home afterwards. The flip features his remix of "Java" by STUFF., probably Belgium's best band of the moment. LTGL turns the original completely inside-out, inserts heavy bass and switches themes more often than you can count.
Following a move from Chicago to Brooklyn, his rise as an in-demand DJ on the local underground circuit, and a widely charted 2016 debut single ("Crystal") on Honey Soundsystem, the Forget It EP is Justin Cudmore's debut on The Bunker New York. White-labels of the EP have drawn Brooklyn dancers to the booth demanding a track ID at late-night DJ sets by Bunker New York family members. With steady basslines, vocal hooks, and wiggly acid overtones, these are floor-fillers that more than capably stand up to home listening. Mastered by Neel at EnissLab. Cut at Manmade Mastering. Pressed at Brooklyn Vinyl Works.
VA: The Britxotica! Box: Three Amazing Albums Of Primitive Pop And Savage Jazz From The Wild British Isles! 3CD BOX (JBH 001BOX)
At last, all three killer Britxotica! LPs now available as a three CD box set. So that's 48 super rare and extraordinary exotic British masterpieces over three genre-defining albums. Britxotica! (pronounced "Britzotica") neatly describes an odd and yet undocumented pre-Beatles British musical scene where famed UK composers, as well as unknown singers and bandleaders, threw convention on holiday and went wild. For this very special box set Trunk have gathered the first three amazing and groundbreaking Britxotica! albums. Thought up and put together by legendary "smashing" DJ and co-creator of The Sound Gallery (1995) Martin Green and maverick collector Jonny Trunk, here are 48 incredible, unusual, inspiring, and super rare British tracks, set across these three magical and very different albums: Britxotica! London's Rarest Primitive Pop and Savage Jazz (JBH 057LP, 2015), Britxotica Goes East!: Persian Pop And Casbah Jazz From The Wild British Isles! (JBH 059LP, 2016), Tropical Britxotica! Polynesian Pop And Placid Jazz From The Wild British Isles! (JBH 062LP, 2016). So sit back, relax and let Britxotica! take you to musical places you have only ever dreamed of. Comes in a clamshell box; Each CD comes in a slipcase - a mini replica of the original vinyl LPs: the classic black and white Britxotica! post-war exotic style; Includes an eight-page booklet with comprehensive notes about the artists, bandleaders, and all the forgotten Britxotica! stars. Features: Lyn Cornell, Ted Heath, Allan Bruce, Rawicz and Landauer, Lucille Mapp, Sounds Incorporated, Nadia Cattouse, Brian Fahey, Tony Mansell and Johnny Dankworth, Reg Owen, Harry H Corbett, Laurie Johnson Orchestra, Edmundo Ros, Maxine Daniels, Cherry Wainer, Jerry Allen, Beverley Sisters, Chico Arnez, Stanley Black, Johnny Keating and the Z Men, Charles Blackwell, Philip Green and His Mayfair Orchestra, Kenny Day, Tony Osborne, Johnny Keating Kombo, Laurie Johnson, Roy Tierney, Ray Ellington, Frank Weir, The Sound of Ed White, Ron Goodwin, Geoff Love, Marion Ryan, Dick Katz, George Melly and Kenny Graham, International 'Pops' All Stars, Johnny Gentle, Kenny Graham, Betty Smith and The Malcolm Lockyer Group, Martinas and His Music, and Norrie Paramor.
2017 repress. Ultra-rare gems extracted from 45 and 78 records released in the '50s and early '60s by obscure record labels. A unique mix of genres, perfect for a successful exotic party: tropicalypso, Persian cha-cha-cha, Latin and roll, Japanese rhumba, Hawaiian swing, Polynesian surf, Bahamian drums, Mexican monsters, and Brazilian exotica. The craziest compilation of music from all over the world. This comp collates a worldwide mixture of painfully obscure, crud-a-phonic dance craze platters from the '50s and '60s. A brilliant and bonkers concoction of exotica and international nonsense novelties. If you need something new to listen to after you've worn out yer Las Vegas Grind and Jungle Exotica records, then this is for you. This platter will liven up any party -- lurch-eriffic, tropical crazes and totally daffy mix-n-match foreign language tracks that'll make your eyes and ears alike pop just like corn. Long live the University of Vice.
$14.99 EAN: 8435008880798 WORLD
A1. Djalma Ferreira - Bicharada
A2. Sonora Ñiko Estrada - Maestros Del R&R
A3. Luis Amando - Trinidad-E-O
A4. Vicent Martin - Brown Skin Gal
A5. Juan Florer - Ba Ba Rum
A6. Twin Tunes - Japanese Rhumba
A7. Danny Cassella - Hawaiian War Chant
B1. Nicky Roberts - Guadawa
B2. The Kili Jacks - Uele
B3. El Boy - Jack, Jack, Jack
B4. Johnny Beecher - Jack Sax The City
B5. Mehrpouya - Boosehye Moj
B6. Manuel "Loco" Valdez - El Blob
B7. Tielman Brothers - Tahiti Jungle
The craziest compilation of music from all over the world, Poco Loco in the Coco Vol. 4 collates a worldwide mixture of painfully obscure crud-a-phonic dance craze extracted from 45s and 78s platters from the '50s and early '60s by obscure record labels. A brilliant and bonkers concoction of exotica and international nonsense novelties - if you need something new to listen to after you've worn out your Las Vegas Grind and Jungle Exotica records, then this is for you. A unique mix of genres perfect for a successful exotic party: Arabian swing, cha-cha-cha, bebop, Singaporean garage ye-ye, rumble rock from Thailand, Mexican troglodyte garage punk, and more. This platter will liven up any party! Lurch-eriffic tropical crazes and totally daffy mix-n-match foreign language tracks that'll make your eyes and ears alike pop just like corn. Long live the University of Vice. Features: Abdul Alexi Freeman, Teddy Martin, Los Albinos, Billy Nash, Gaston Y Sus Thunders, Zhang Xiao Ying, Dany Maurice, Los Dorman, The Goyos's Cats, Les Kili-Cats, The Modern Orientals, Rosendo Ruiz Jr., Jack Ary, and Johny's Guitar.
The record cover shows a woman walking towards dusk - or is it dawn? Two years after the success of Night Moves (BEC 5156022/5156023, 2015) - a wander through a threatening nocturnal Los Angeles - H-Burns returns with a new record for twilight. Kid We Own The Summer finds its identity between a few landmarks such as David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti's California, the intimacy of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978), the relative calmness of Suicide's second album (1980), and the elegant melancholy of The National. In order to compose, Renaud Brustlein, aka H-Burns, decided to reinvent himself once again. He didn't repeat the live configuration that he used in 2013 with Off the Map (BEC 5162399/5161300), an "electric storm" recorded in Chicago, with a band, in a single week, with the legendary Steve Albini. For Kid We Own The Summer, the composer started working in his home studio, by gradual touches, because there's no place like home. The result is a melancholic, cinematic stroll across stories of misguided couples, unspoken words that end-up ruining people's lives, the pursuit of dangerous situations - like an elegy to the end of adolescence, leading to a place we're unsure of. Born from a keyboard, a piano and a beatbox, these ten songs were brought to light, as always with infinite delicacy, by impeccable guests-friends: strings by Bertrand Belin and vaporous keyboards by Denis Clavaizolle (Bashung, Murat, Daniel Darc); mixed by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck) and mastered by the great Greg Calbi (Springsteen, Dylan, Paul Simon). Noisey said Night Moves was the perfect record for "all the cold and sad months to come." Kid We Own The Summer is a record for sleepless nights. CD version comes in digipak with two panels, a 12-page booklet.
Vinilisssimo present a reissue of Brazilian Octopus's self-titled album, originally released in 1969. This is such a unique album. Each tune is a winner, no wonder originals have fetched exorbitant prices in the collectors market, and it has been hailed by connoisseurs such as Nicola Conte or Andy Votel over the years. It features Hermeto Pascoal, Cido Bianchi (former Milton Banana Trio member), Lanny Gordin and shows an unusual mix of different styles and influences that transcends any possible category: from pop to Cuban rhythms. The bossa nova is obviously also present, as in many other Brazilian recordings from 1969, but the complex arrangements make this record lean towards the jazzier side of things, while the organ/guitar/vibes sounds will appeal for garage music lovers. Brazilian Octopus was formed in 1968 after Lívio Rangan, a wealthy businessman from Sao Paulo, asked Cido Bianchi to put together a band that would play at the shows run by his fashion company, Rhodia. A proper work contract was issued, including three months of paid rehearsals. Despite their diverse background, most of the members of the band already knew each other as they would often perform at Stardust, a popular club managed by Lanny's father. Hermeto Pascoal, and Nilson da Matta, joined the band a few months later. Then Mr Rangan approached the band again with a new idea: the recording of a full album mixing tunes written by other artists and their own compositions. The record was released by Fermata in 1969 and the band was then tempted with the idea of recording a second album. However, the offer was declined since the musicians had not received any fee for their work. That was the end of Brazilian Octopus. Nearly five decades after its first release, with original copies having almost vanished off the face of Earth, this beauty is made available again. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
Vinilisssimo present a reissue of Knocker Jungle's self-titled album, originally released in 1970. Ember was a British label created in 1960 by Jeffrey Kruger, founder of London's Flamingo Club. As well as recording British acts, Ember distributed many American and other recordings in the UK. The Knocker Jungle LP was released by the label in 1970, when the duo had already split, being withdrawn from sale shortly after due to a controversial picture included in the inner sleeve that made many shops refuse to stock it. A single (for the Spanish market only) somehow managed to get released too, and that's about all Tony Coop and Keith Jones achieved in their short life as Knocker Jungle. What the band members had done before this project was formed, or where this album led them to, remains totally unknown. Their music speaks for itself, confessing a true passion for classic song-based artists, from Donovan to Nick Drake or Dylan, with a certain degree of hippie-bluesy approach on most tracks. Tony Cox (responsible for producing Yes's album Time And A Word (1970) and other records from Family, Caravan, etc) held production duties and Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention are featured among the band players. From the splendid opener "I Don't Know Why", consistency remains solid throughout the entire album. The catchy "You've Lost Your Love For Me" adds some early T-Rex sound into the equation while "Where I Belong" shows a strong West Coast influence. Almost 47 years after its sudden withdrawal from the shops, this rare gem gets a deserved vinyl reissue. Presented in facsimile gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
Koban is a storm that has been gathering over the Pacific Northwest since 2011. After an EP and full length recording behind them, the Vancouver-based duo is striking out again with this six-song EP. Koban naturally and seamlessly genre-bend, their punk roots buried deep under layers of melded synth, goth, and post-punk. This creates a unique sound which is simultaneously full and sparse, atmospheric and uneasy. A drum machine creates a baseline over which moody interchanging vocals and blown-out guitar noise quickly and organically oscillates. Their lyrics nod to their influences and are sung in French for an icy touch.
$13.79 EAN: 5055869545341 ROCK
01. 401a
02. Rappeler
03. Détacher Et Déguiser
04. Cool Wind
05. Delirium
06. Standing On The Edge
"In 1992 the Melvins' fascination/adoration/denigration of the mighty KISS rock and roll universe compelled them to excrete out three solo masterworks inspired by the KISS solo LPs. The first in the series is King Buzzo, from the Melvins' giggling guitar grumpus. Four songs of atmospheric clanging and rockin' banging. Also features the many talents, drumming and otherwise, of a famous Grunge superstar, whose name sort of rhymes with New Wave Asshole. The second in the series is Dale Crover, from the Melvins' sleepy drum caveman. Four songs of gloomy heaviness, with Dale doin' the drummin', singin', guitarin', and dancin'. The third in the series is Joe Preston, from the Melvins' electronic beard warlord. Three songs of fuzz bass computer drone temper tantrum. All three 12-inches reissued on vinyl after 100,000 years out of print."
"In 1992 the Melvins' fascination/adoration/denigration of the mighty KISS rock and roll universe compelled them to excrete out three solo masterworks inspired by the KISS solo LPs. The first in the series is King Buzzo, from the Melvins' giggling guitar grumpus. Four songs of atmospheric clanging and rockin' banging. Also features the many talents, drumming and otherwise, of a famous Grunge superstar, whose name sort of rhymes with New Wave Asshole. The second in the series is Dale Crover, from the Melvins' sleepy drum caveman. Four songs of gloomy heaviness, with Dale doin' the drummin', singin', guitarin', and dancin'. The third in the series is Joe Preston, from the Melvins' electronic beard warlord. Three songs of fuzz bass computer drone temper tantrum. All three 12-inches reissued on vinyl after 100,000 years out of print."
"In 1992 the Melvins' fascination/adoration/denigration of the mighty KISS rock and roll universe compelled them to excrete out three solo masterworks inspired by the KISS solo LPs. The first in the series is King Buzzo, from the Melvins' giggling guitar grumpus. Four songs of atmospheric clanging and rockin' banging. Also features the many talents, drumming and otherwise, of a famous Grunge superstar, whose name sort of rhymes with New Wave Asshole. The second in the series is Dale Crover, from the Melvins' sleepy drum caveman. Four songs of gloomy heaviness, with Dale doin' the drummin', singin', guitarin', and dancin'. The third in the series is Joe Preston, from the Melvins' electronic beard warlord. Three songs of fuzz bass computer drone temper tantrum. All three 12-inches reissued on vinyl after 100,000 years out of print."
HOLIDAY, BILLIE: The Real "Lady Day" Sings the Blues LP (CONTI 211LP)
2017 repress of this 2014 repro; originally released in 1956. "Billie's 'Sweet Street' (52nd Street) period is represented by 'Them There Eyes,' 'You're Driving Me Crazy,' and 'T'Ain't Nobody's Biziness If I Do,' several of which she is supported by the floating tenor sax of jazz immortal Lester Young, who was Billie's long-time friend and intimate associate."
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volume 1: American Teenage Garage Hoot! 1965-1967 LP (CRYPT 109LP)
2015 release. "15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans. " Tracks by: The Buttons, The Colonials, Sonic-Lyne, The Pastels, Electric Sensation, The Juveniles, The Krels, The Infinitives, The Es Shades, The Expressions, The Dirt Merchants, The Other Side, The Vanguards, The Jolly Beggars, and The Continentals.
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volume 2: American Teenage Garage Hoot! 1965-1967 LP (CRYPT 110LP)
"15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in GATEFOLD SLEEVED luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans. (NOTE: This is an entirely NEW series and NONE of these tracks were on the old series GARAGE PUNK UNKNOWNS)." Tracks by: Our Gang, The Infinitives , Catsanovas, The Prophets Of Old, Alan Burn And The Ushers, Ronnie D. With The Casuals, Casuals Incorporated, Freedom Five, Half-Pint & The Fifths, End Result, Vandals, The Royal Coachmen, The Dirt Merchants, The Empty Streets, and an "unknown group."
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Vol 3: American Teenage Garage Hoot! 1965-1967 LP (CRYPT 111LP)
2015 release. "17 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans." Tracks by: The Shade, The Young Strangers, The Rogues,, The Tempos, The In-Set, Skip Ellis, The Fathoms, The Torques, The Kinetics, Apollo's Apaches, The Vespers, The Impalas, The Poverty Five, Eddie Day And The Night Timers, The Edges Of Wisdom, The Herd, and ThisIsIt.
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Vol 4: American Teenage Garage Hoot! 1965-1967 LP (CRYPT 112LP)
2015 release. "15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans. " Tracks by: The Zounds, The Vespers, The Ryells Combo, The Jazzmasters, The Tortians, The Fugitive Five, The Five Counts, The Couriers, Skip Ellis, The Last Image, The Henchmen, The Cavaliers, The Mystics, Sound Carnival, and The Blue Vistas.
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volume 5: American Teenage Garage Hoot! 1965-1967 (Plus A Puerto Rican Treat!) LP (CRYPT 116LP)
2016 release. "15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans." Tracks by: The Thunderbirds, The Kinetics, The Edges Of Wisdom, The French Church, The Symbols, The Scurvy Knaves, Purple Virus, The Sonsets, The Liv'in End, Caesar & His Romans, The Ebb Tides, The Dagenites, The New Corvets, The Four Keys, and The Fatigues.
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volume 6: Beware! Noisy & Ultra-Crudely Recorded Garage 1965-1967 (Plus A German Treat!) LP (CRYPT 117LP)
2016 release. "15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA garage punk aceness focusing on the super-crude side of things in gatefold sleeved luxury with liner notes, band photos, label scans." Tracks by: The Plague, Caedman And The Nobles, The Starfyres, The Uniteds, The Grey Stokes, The Fuzztones, The Torments, Sir Kenneth And The Yorkshire Coachmen, The Druids, The Night Crawlers, The Riots, The Sires, The Esquires, Wet Paint, and Jonathan with Orchestra.
VA: Last Of The Garage Punk Unknowns Volume 7: Heartbroken American Garage Jangle Misery 1965-1967 LP (CRYPT 118LP)
2016 release. "15 prime slabs of mid-60s USA MISERY - garage punk sadness in gatefold sleeved luxury plus inner sleeve with liner notes, band photos, label scans. " Tracks by The Nomads, The Pulsating Heartbeats, The Gremlins, The Last Image, The Plastic Menagerie, The Glas Menagerie, The French Church, Prince And The Paupers, The King's Ransom, The Time Takers, The Stratacasters, The Pastels, The Shakles, The Scurvy Knaves, and The New Rumley Invincibles.
AQUARIAN BLOOD: Last Nite In Paradise CD (GONE 134CD)
"Aquarian Blood is a crew of six (sometimes seven) Memphis degenerates from assorted generations playing hypnotic, synth-y tracks whose main ruminations are cults, the paranormal, and other obscurities -- whirlwind, weirdo punk soaked in the brain-goo pouring out of the ears of an acid freak. Led by husband and wife duo JB Horrell (Ex-Cult, Moving Finger) and Laurel Ferdon (Nots, Moving Finger), the project began as bedroom recordings that yielded two now out-of-print tapes of total trippiness on the ZAP cassette label, and one completely unhinged monster of a single on Goner. Last Nite In Paradise is their debut album."
MCMULLAN, HAYES: Everyday Seem Like Murder Here CD (LITA 152CD)
"Bluesman. Sharecropper. Church deacon. Civil Rights activist. Hayes McMullan should be a name on every Blues aficionados' short-list and thanks to the preservation fieldwork carried out by one of the genre's greatest researchers some 50 years ago - it might soon be. Born in 1902, Hayes McMullan was discovered by the renowned American roots scholar, collector and documentarian Gayle Dean Wardlow. Wardlow, author of the seminal blues anthology Chasin' That Devil Music - Searching For The Blues, may be most famous for uncovering Robert Johnson's death certificate in 1968, finally revealing clues to the bluesman's mysterious and much disputed demise. Moreover, in his tireless and committed mission to preserve the Blues for future generations, he captured McMullan's raw talent on tape and on paper. Wardlow recorded these sessions, transcribed the songs and now, writes the sleeve-notes for this landmark release. Wardlow and McMullan met by chance on one of the former's record-hunting trips, in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, in 1967. Having introduced himself to McMullan on a hunch, it turned out this unassuming elderly man had not only heard of Wardlow's idol, Charley Patton, but had played alongside him in the 1920s, as part of a brief musical journey that took him from the plantation to the open roads and juke joints of the Depression-era South. Striking up a friendship that was deemed unorthodox in 1960's Mississippi, Wardlow traveled to McMullan's sharecropper's shack and convinced him to play guitar for the first time since he quit the Blues for the Church in the '30s. 'Hayes was playing like no one I had ever heard,' Wardlow writes with amazement. Wardlow visited McMullan on a handful of occasions, always taking his recorder, a guitar and some whiskey with him. It was during these visits that Wardlow captured - with surprising clarity - the songs that make up Everyday Seem Like Murder Here. Hayes McMullan passed away at the age of 84 in 1986, his talent and legacy largely unknown. 'Reflecting now on our brief time together, I marvel at the small glimpse of something much larger I was lucky to have captured,' writes Wardlow. 'The few old snapshots I took, the handful of tunes we recorded, and his brilliant performance of 'Hurry Sundown' captured on film are all that's left of the musical legacy of Hayes McMullan, sharecropper, deacon, and - unbeknownst to so many for so long - reluctant bluesman.' All tracks previously unreleased (except track #3); Remastered from original tapes; Liner notes by blues historians Gayle Dean Wardlow & John Miller."
BEZOS AND THE WHITE BIRDS, KOSTAS: Kostas Bezos And The White Birds LP+CD (MRP 098LP)
"The first-ever compilation of 'Xabagies', the nearly forgotten Hawaiian-influenced music of 1930s Greece, focused on the compositions of Kostas Bezos and his ensemble White Birds. A world-class slide guitarist, political cartoonist, and sleepless Bohemian, Kostas Bezos created some of the most unique music of any era: surrealist guitar portraits blurring Athens and Honolulu, haunting tropical serenades, wild acoustic orchestras, and heartbreaking steel guitar duets. LP version includes a 28 page booklet with extensive notes by Tony Klein and Dimitri Kourtis, unpublished photographs, lyrics, obituaries, and a bonus CD containing 18 additional tracks. Mastered from original 78s by Michael Graves. Co-released by Olvido Records, edition of 1000."
MASIN/CHARLES HAYWARD, GIGI: Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre Volume 2 LP (MCR 923LP)
LP version. Housed in a Stoughton, "tip-on" jacket; First ever vinyl reissue. "Following the reissue of the entire recorded output of South London-based experimental act This Heat and its successor, Camberwell Now, Modern Classics Recordings holds the lens up to a special split album created by one of the driving forces behind those groups - drummer Charles Hayward - in collaboration with Italian musician Gigi Masin, whose looping, rhythmic, electronic compositions have seen his cult following grow in his four decades as a recording artist. Originally released on Belgium's Sub Rosa label in 1989, Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre Volume 2 is a split LP on which Masin's eight tracks occupy side A and Charles Hayward's long-form piece (at 21 minutes long), 'Thames Water Authority', occupies side B. Geography may have separated the two artists, who each recorded their pieces in isolation from the other, but there's a commonality to their approach. Previously, Masin had released the inspired 1986 album Wind (BAR 003-015LP), while Hayward's music had long been influenced by the landscape and society of London and the UK. For this album, the label challenged the two musicians to write about the waterways of their respective cities, Venice and London. For Masin, that meant describing the human interactions related to the Italian city's famous landmarks. 'Places, faces, memories... that's what most of the people love to find when they travel to Venice - some kind of magic that's deep in the city,' he writes in the new liner notes accompanying this new re-release. For Hayward, it meant describing the physicality of water, the 'densities and energies' as he puts it, and the politics of it too. Writes Hayward: 'Water was being privatized at the time, the profit margin had been factored in, cost-cutting was implicit, people were being poisoned. Water was a political thing; it still is." Dive in. Track notes by Gigi Masin and Charles Hayward; Restored and remastered audio; Features the Masin track 'Clouds' as sampled by To Rococo Rot and Björk."
"Brian d'Souza (aka Auntie Flo) brings together an international group of musicians to explore musical differences and celebrate shared visions across two extended tracks. Produced and arranged over an intense, collaborative two day session at the Santuri studio as part of the Ugandan Bayimba arts festival in Kampala in September 2015, the project draws on Senegalese Sabar drumming, the plaintive notes of the Adungu (a Ugandan 10 string harp) and the vocals of Gio Kiyingi, underpinned by d'Souza's arrangements and drum programming. The title The Soniferous Garden is taken from the writings of Canadian composer and environmentalist R Murray Schafer, a concept he defines as 'a garden or place of acoustic delights' -- an aural space of retreat from the oppressive overabundance of acoustic information that characterizes the modern industrial world. The two compositions are a response to this idea -- drawing the listener into meandering, ever-evolving themes that weave in and out of a rhythmic base that is equal parts traditional percussion and electronic production. The title track showcases the virtuoso Adungu playing of erstwhile Burnt Friedman collaborator Hakim Kiwanuka, and vocals from regular Highlife World Series contributor Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi whilst 'Rainfall On Red Earth' (inspired by the vivid colours of the landscape around the studio) pushes the talking drum of Mama N'Dieck Seck Thiam to the fore."
"On the cover: Aine O'Dwyer (Through her sounding of sacred spaces and collaborative projects, the Irish musician moves between the folk traditions and performance art that form her musical heritage). Inside the issue: The Primer: A user's guide to Moroccan trance; Experimental music from Canada; Invisible Jukebox: Alexander Hawkins ; Global Ear: Seoul and Chuncheon; ADULT. (The Detroit electroshock duo bring it all back home); Mary Ocher (The Berlin based artist offers collage without frontiers); Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments (Clare Salaman drags Francis Bacon's utopian music into the present)."
FAHEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, JOHN: Of Rivers and Religion (180-Gram Vinyl) LP (MS 2089HLP)
180-gram reissue of John Fahey's 1972 major-label debut. "In the liner notes for this wonderful disc, sideman Chris Darrow comments, 'I remember the first time I ever heard him, I thought they'd turned the record from 45 to 33 or something, 'cause I couldn't believe how slow he played.' One of the (many) great beauties in Fahey's approach is just that: he takes his time and savors every last resonance he can wring from his guitar. This 1972 release was his first for a major label (originally on Reprise) after more than a decade of issuing work privately or on small imprints, and also the first instance of Fahey having access to a large ensemble of musicians, including a brass and string section. Still, the extra players don't come close to swamping the session; Fahey is very much in the foreground and a number of the pieces read, essentially, as solo performances. It opens with 'Steamboat Gwine 'Round de Bend,' as gorgeous an example of Fahey's slide guitar work as he ever recorded, languid, soulful, and profound. Similarly, his medley of 'Deep River' and 'Ol' Man River' is steeped in Delta humidity, lazily floating downstream. The tracks with the brass band raise the ghosts of Dixieland, while some of the string accompaniment may recall Van Morrison. In any event, Fahey, major label or not, is simply himself, leisurely rolling along, sharply perceptive in his observations and sumptuously gorgeous in his evocations. A fine effort and certainly something that belongs on the shelves of any fan of the late, very great guitarist." --Brian Olewnick, AllMusic
AMPS FOR CHRIST: The Plains Of Alluvial LP (WW 020LP)
" 'The alluvial fans on the south side of the San Gabriel mountains are some of the biggest anywhere. I ended a twelve year relationship and moved into my friend's house in east Claremont only about 100 yards from the San Antonio River, on the center of that giant alluvial plain. I made instruments in a falling down garage and in the front of the house built a studio. It was the end of me in Man Is The Bastard and the birth of me returning to folk, but bringing hardcore and noise back with me. I started calling it folk-core meaning folk and hardcore mixed together and 'Musnic' meaning musical noise. I had at that studio a Hammond S-6 chord organ, pure tube electronics with no mechanical tone wheel to derive the sounds. I circuit bent it to produce the sounds of bodrahns and bagpipes, sounds I have always loved. It has 60-80 vacuum tubes in it! A small little organ designed by John Hannert for Hammond; and one was used on Magical Mystery Tour. I had been writing Amps For Christ on all the amps and oscillators I made, so it ended up being my new name. The Plains Of Alluvial felt meant to be, everything, the name, the recordings just seemed to fall in place. I took the tape to Dennis of Shrimper Records and he agreed to release it.' -Henry Barnes Now reissued for the first time ever. The Amps For Christ debut cassettes a full length LP with covers letter-pressed by Stumptown Printers. Limited to 500 copies."
ROHRER, SAMUEL: Range Of Regularity CD (AMEL 712CD)
Samuel Rohrer, the multi-faceted, forward-thinking percussionist and producer behind the Arjunamusic Records label, the Ambiq trio, and a wealth of other musical projects, has set out on his own with a new full-length solo album, Range Of Regularity. Constructed almost entirely upon electronically-treated recordings of acoustic instrumentation, with a bare minimum of synthesizer voicing, Range Of Regularity vibrates with a compelling organic-ism, as if old-growth Black Forest trees had conspired together to make an album of ultra-modern improvisational music. Indeed, the record feels limned with contributions from some "other" intelligence, despite being a clear extension of the fluid, percussion-driven musical technique that Rohrer has exhibited in previous years. Opening with the track "Microcosmism", the sound-forest feeling immediately takes effect, and the listener can either enjoying navigating a path through this verdant total environment or just being lost in it. "Lenina" does not abandon this unique aesthetic, but reprises the story with a different vocabulary (in this case, deep synth-bass signals, piano runs and all sorts of hyper-real ventilations). "Nimbus" temporarily dials back the feeling of modular assemblage that powers the previous two pieces, and allows Rohrer's drum kit to come to the fore, working away at a determined snare-driven beat that brings a variety of treated sound ephemera out of their hiding places. After the gentle - but never too precious - interlude of "Sunclue", "War On Consciousness" emerges as the album's infectious tour de force. As the title implies, the feeling here is of using sound to fend off some sort of invasive energy, featuring a full concert's worth of timbral variations and audio events. Incisive rhythmic patterns slice away like finely honed blades at an insistent mechanical chattering, while cautiously walking acoustic bass adds an extra layer of defense. "Uncertain Grace" closes the set out with a busy multi-layered arpeggio punctuated with bass drum hits, from which a melodic narrative gradually emerges. Although similarities are apparent to other progenitors of rhythmic intelligence (classic Can, for example), Range Of Regularity stands perfectly well on its own. Artwork by Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic.
Notably outstanding on the Russian scene and largely compared with the legendary Wardruna, Nytt Land are unique in their devotion to ritual northern music and tradition. Their approach, using genuine native hand-crafted instruments, and true Old Norse, help them to grasp the true spirit of ancient northern music like no one in Eastern Europe has done before. Their music is mostly based on the sources from Poetic Edda, performed in original Old Islandic. Fimbulvinter is enriched with instruments like bagpipes and trembita (Alpine horn), and throat singing, skillfully used to illustrate the occurrence of the forces of chaos; chthonic monsters in the world of men and gods. Fear and powerlessness alongside belief in the coming revival, renewal. All Scandinavian mythology is permeated with fatalism, humbleness to fate. The same mood saturates Fimbulvinter. The first part is dedicated to the creation of the world and people, embodying the warm seasons. The second half to winter, the death of all living things. Nytt Land supported Wardruna on their Russian tour in February of 2017. Features: Uliana Shulepina and Eisenslav (Kroda). CD version comes in a six-panel digipak, featuring all lyrics.
$10.99 UPC: 641871744886 ROCK
01. Dauði Balder (Völuspá, 31-35)
02. Gullinkambi (Völuspá, 42-44)
03. Ár Var Alda (Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, 1-4)
04. Fimbulvinter
05. Gjallarhorni (Völuspá, 46-48)
06. Fenris Kinder (Völuspá, 40-41) (feat. Uliana Shulepina)
07. Hittusk Æsir (Völuspá, 7-10)
08. Sal Sér Hon Standa (Völuspá, 64-66)
09. Surtr Ferr Sunnan (Völuspá, 52,57)
10. Bróðurbana Sínum (Hávamál, 89-91) (feat. Eisenslav)
11. The Last War
12. Winter Day
ELIA, ENZO: I'm Conscious/Night Without An End 12" (CODIS 014EP)
Enzo Elia has crafted his own style of DJing and producing that has taken him all over Europe as well as to Tokyo and Tel Aviv. Elia's chameleon approach also finds release in parallel projects like El Freakadell and Balearic Gabba Sound System. Free spirits and spontaneous attitude: The unique and energetic sound of Florian Meindl's Modular System. The guitar riff of Manuel Sirotti. The poetic instinct of Bobby Blue. Mix everything and you will get the essence of different musicians with different backgrounds.
$8.39 UPC: 673799281419 ELECTRONIC
A1. I'm Conscious (feat. Bobby Blue) (9:16)
B1. Night Without An End (5:35)
B2. Night Without An End (Instrumental) (5:36)
Doxy present a reissue of Billie's Best, a selection drawn from Billie Holiday's recordings of the mid-1950s, originally released in 1992. Holiday's voice possessed a unique presence, a sound that seems lit up by a resilient vitality. Producer Norman Granz set Holiday among the small jazz combos that suited her talents best, groups that included some of the finest soloists of her generation, such as trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison and saxophonists Benny Carter and Ben Webster. Granz also supplied ideal rhythm sections, with pianist Jimmy Rowles and guitarists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessel making appearances here. There's more room to stretch out than was available on the early Columbia and Commodore recordings, and the results are relaxed and profound treatments of some great songs.
$18.99 UPC: 889397040079 JAZZ
A1. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
A2. A Foggy Day
A3. Come Rain Or Come Shine
A4. Comes Love
B1. He's Funny That Way
B2. Stars Fell On Alabama
B3. Gone With The Wind
B4. They Can't Take That Away From Me
C1. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
C2. Everything I Have Is Yours
C3. Stormy Blues
C4. Speak Low
D1. April In Paris
D2. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
D3. Some Other Spring
D4. All The Way
DJ MEHDI: Lucky Boy (2017 Edition) 2LP+CD (BEC 5156698)
Limited 2017 release of DJ Mehdi's Lucky Boy, originally released in 2006. DJ Mehdi's Classic from 2006, now in a neat 2017 anniversary edition. The tenth anniversary reissue comes as a double vinyl release. The second vinyl collects the best mixes from various 12" of 2006 and 2007. Included CD is the original album (the bonus mixes are exclusive to vinyl). Bonus LP features: Thomas Bangalter, Brodinski, Kenny Dope, and Outlines.
$18.99 EAN: 5060421566986 ELECTRONIC
A1. Busy Being Born
A2. I Am Somebody
A3. Signatune
A4. Boggin'
A5. Always Be An Angel
A6. Pony Rocking
B1. Saharian Break
B2. Lucky Boy
B3. Wee Bounce
B4. Leave It Lone
B5. Hot-O-Momo
B6. Constellation
B7. Love Bombing
Bonus LP:
C1. Signatune (Thomas Bangalter Edit)
C2. Pocket Piano (Brodinski Remix)
D1. I Am Somebody (Kenny Dope Remix)
D2. Lucky Boy (Outlines Remixes)
JUSTICE: Access All Arenas (2017 Edition) 2LP+CD (BEC 5156809)
Limited 2017 release of Justice's Access All Arenas, originally released in 2013. Ten years ago, "We Are Your Friends" pushed Justice to the front of the scene, a young French duo signed by Pedro Winter on the label he had just created: Ed Banger Records. The record that followed in 2007, Cross (BEC 5772110), was an album of condensed jerky electro, disco reminiscences, and heavy metal energy, with unstoppable tunes like "D.A.N.C.E.", "Stress", and "Phantom", and its videos, allowed Justice to follow the '90s French touch and its filtered disco loop. Since the release of their debut album in 2007, Justice has been tirelessly touring the world by bus, road festival to festival and concerts all over the planet. Since their first tour, the band developed a powerful stage design that they polished and magnified throughout the years and the gigs. The wall of vintage Marshall amps front of the stage, an imposing cross, impressive light shows, and the sound of Justice totally revisited for the live shows. Limited 2017 edition features new packaging including: Gatefold sleeve; double vinyl; Poster 60x30; CD.
$21.79 EAN: 5060421568096 ELECTRONIC
A1. Genesis
A2. Helix
A3. Phantom
A4. Civilization
B1. Canon
B2. D.A.N.C.E.
B3. Horsepower
B4. Newlands
C1. Stress
C2. Waters of Nazareth
C3. Audio Video Disco
D1. Encore
D2. On'n On
D3. Phantom II
VA: Ed Rec Vol. 2 (2017 Edition) 2LP+CD (BEC 5772082)
Limited 2017 release of Ed Banger Records' Ed Rec Vol. 2, originally released in 2007. The first available Ed Banger label compilation, featuring your basic who's who of Ed Banger: Mr. Oizo, Uffie, Justice, DJ Mehdi, Mr. Flash, Krazy Baldhead, Feadz, Busy P, SebastiAn, Klaxons, So Me, and Vicarious Bliss. Ed Rec Vol. 1 came as digital only (2006), gathering tracks from Ed Banger Records' back catalog. Ed Rec Vol. 2 is a 14 track compilation containing exclusive tracks, with a cover art design by So Me.
BUSY P: Rainbow Man (2017 Edition) 12" (BEC 5772083)
2017 tenth anniversary edition of Pierre Winter's, aka Busy P, classic Rainbow Man, originally released in 2007. Debut release from the dude behind Ed Banger Records (and Daft Punk). "Rainbow Man" is a 4 a.m. anthem dedicated to New York's hottest club, APT. "Chop Suey" was released on a super limited 7'' on Arcade Mode. "What's Your Name Again" is a remix done for Paris's best rock band, Fancy. This remix is pure club banger, saturation and compression at its best.
DJ MEHDI: Lucky Girl EP (2017 Edition) 12" (BEC 5772084)
2017 tenth anniversary edition of DJ Mehdi 's Lucky Girl EP, originally released in 2007. DJ Mehdi's with a second single from his 2006 album Lucky Boy (BEC 5156204/5156698). An exclusive track, two remixes and one club edit for the perfect package. With Fafi on the mic, and two of the hottest French producers delivered the remixes. Outlines, the Parisian duo, dropped a slice of '50s boogie. Surkin offers a trip between Baltimore and Chicago in four minutes. Thomas Bangalter was crazy about "Signatune", so he made a club friendly edit.
2017 tenth anniversary edition of Justice's D.A.N.C.E. Remixes, originally released in 2007. On Jackson's five minute remix, he assimilates at the same time "Genesis", "Waters Of Nazareth", "D.A.N.C.E.", and "New Jack" delivering his own vision of this album: "G.L.O.R.I.O.U.S." Widely acknowledged as a dancefloor hit, the MSTRKRFT "D.A.N.C.E." remix is now available on this 12". On the B side, Justice, inspired by MSTRKRFT remix, interfered with this track, arranging the song and bringing it to their favorite playground. Alan Braxe and Fred Falke end this 12" with an aerial remix that will please the first hour techno fans.
2017 tenth anniversary edition of the ultimate Breakbot classic, Baby I'm Yours, originally released in 2007. A must have for any collection. Remixes by: Siriusmo and La Funk Mob.
$8.99 EAN: 5060107726390 ELECTRONIC
A1. Baby I'm Yours
A2. Baby I'm Yours (Siriusmo Remix)
B1. Make You Mine
B2. Baby I'm Yours (La Funk Mob Remix)
"Michael Turner, famed resident of Louisville/Lexington KY, main cog in the splendid Warmer Milks and valuable presence in many other ensembles, has recently migrated to New England. And we are honored to have him amongst us. As a way of making him feel 'to home,' Feeding Tube has released his most recent slab of insane solo aktion, Heavy Death Hand, as splendidly 'out' an LP as anyone could ask for. Mazozma is a recent nom de musique assumed by Turner, following a passel of albums released under the name Ma Turner. And every one of them we've heard is a pure blitz of sound designed to make your brain feel all soft and runny. The vibe of the music is pure American zonerism -- think of stuff like the Bobby J Records catalog, the Department Store Santas, Willimantic Shrin, and other LPs that seem to exist inside their own personal aesthetic continuum. One gets the feeling that they carry their own very real message, but that it is so deeply coded, so artfully fucked-with, and so weirdly personal that getting to its essence is like trying to play chess with Kaspar Hauser. The music itself is rock-based, but abstract, chittering, and incredibly fascinating. There are lots of people who try to do something new and original with guitar pedals and keyboard toggles and altered vocals, but usually it just ends up sounding like stoner bong-dust. Mazozma's music coheres somehow, venting poison gases with a gentle scent and strange allure. All of Turner's albums are pretty amazing, but this one seems to go further in terms of pure sonic reach. The record more or less defines a very specific type of 'late night music,' one which is favored by people who embrace the aether at just around the time most of us abandon hope and wish only to slip into the arms of Morpheus. As the soundtrack to a waking dream, it almost makes sense." --Byron Coley Edition of 400.
SALAMI J.R.: A Man Who Can't Write A Song 7" (FTR 293EP)
"Salami J.R. (aka Joey Pizza Slice) has returned with a new record. Mr. J.R. (aka Mr. Slice) has maintained his position near the top of the ladder of those who seek to destroy and celebrate pop music in equal measure. . . . Since his whole creative approach is literally singing along with songs he already wrote, this is one of Joey's boldest existential statements yet. Mr. Slice builds his songs slowly, in layers, with melodic focus shifting in and out quickly, and a naif quality recalling many of the bedroom pop genies of the last century." --Byron Coley
MARCUCCI, STEFANO: Tempo Di Demono, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici 10" (FKR 088LP)
Finders Keepers present a reissue of Stefano Marcucci's Tempo Di Demono, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici, originally released in 1975. The mythical, mysterious and misfiled transcription disc of a lost Italian demonic religious rock opera recorded at Pierre Umiliani's Sound Workshop by Stefano Marcucci - beat group veteran, Fernando Arrabal collaborator and Libra affiliate. Featuring members of the wider Casa/Ducros family and future Federico Fellini collaborators, this previously commercially unavailable mini-LP features embryonic Minimoog, ecclesiastical organs and chorus alongside a tight psych funk rhythm section from Italian library music's golden era. Imagine Jean Pierre Massiera's Visitors rescoring a scene from Juliette Of The Spirits (1965), backed by a skeleton staff from Jean-Claude Vannier's Chorale des Jeunesses Musicales de France on a foreign exchange program; on Halloween, in the Vatican... Continuing their mission to shine light on the genuine anomalies of '70s Italian production music, Finders Keepers resurrects another unlikely transcription disc from the vaults of one of Rome's most esoteric library music archives. This bizarre one-off theatrical project, composed and recorded at Umiliani's studio, was commissioned for a short-run demonic religious performance entitled Tempo Di Demoni, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici under the musical direction of former Italian psychedelic beat-group member Stefano Marcucci. Instantly recognized by Flower Records founder Romano Di Bari as having commercial potential beyond its handful of church and small theater performances in the early months of 1975, Marcucci agreed that they should commit these bizarre recordings to vinyl as a form of preservation with hope of attracting a wider commercial audience through Di Bari's Television and Films synchronization contacts. Sitting slightly ajar to the custom-made projects of its label bedfellows (swapping schedules with experimental theme-music by Alessandro Alessandroni, Gerardo Iacoucci, and Anthonio Ricardo Luciani) and confusingly sharing an identical catalog number to another collectable Flower release called Ritimico by Paolo Ferrara (RED 402D-LP), this album has slipped under the radar of many library label completists over the years attracting confusion, skepticism, polarized opinion but nothing short of astonishment at the bizarre hidden synth-ridden psychedelic concept pop found behind some of the most striking duo-tone artwork to come out of Italy's most experimental era.
$17.79 EAN: 5060099506260 SOUNDTRACK
01. Pange Lingua (strum.)
02. Alleluja
03. Inferno
04. Coro Dei Penitenti
05. Gli Occhi Di Tutti
06. Roma Nobilis
07. Rendete Grazie
08. Pange Lingua (vocale)
CROTCHES, THE: Ein Ahot La Mifsaot CD (GARZEN 005CD)
The Crotches. Who the hell are they? First of all The Crotches are brothers. Biological, Real Brothers, Brothers in arms. A - vocals and tambourine Amitkes - guitar, Shashe - drums. This is their second album, and the first one to be released on Garzen Records. The rock n' roll band that was almost splattered up by the missiles landing in Israel during the war in 2014, have not given up, and continued to write songs, and perform every rat hole in Israel. The band has a strong social and political message. The anti-government lyrics, and the breaking of taboos made the band one of the most intriguing bands in the Middle East. Many of the songs in the album came out of frustration of the situation in Israel. One of the best things you can do is to try and catch a live show by The Crotches in one of Tel Aviv's dirty undergrounds clubs.
BARROTT, MARK: Music For Presence 12" (IFEEL 060EP)
Mark Barrott embodies elements of world music and a more poignant mood with Music For Presence: "I noticed the mood change at La Torre, as the post sunset nocturne started to get longer and longer. It made me realize that this was a different kind of music. . . . it was a feeling I was very keen to explore once September finished and I headed back into the studio. A different feeling to the sunset haze of long drawn-out summer days, one inspired by the golden colors of Autumn and the neon cityscapes of Tokyo and Osaka at night."
VA: Journey To The Light - Rhodes Dodecanese: Selected by Tasos Giasiranis CD (KLTMP 007CD)
Rhodes Island. Bathed in sun, the Aegean's sun, a spring of life and inspiration. Surrounded by its waters. A wall and a path at the same moment. Where the West meets the East. Where worlds become one and civilizations blend. An island that acts like a witch, that captures your soul forever, that makes you always look for it, crave for it, always want to go back. Beauty, history, culture. Journey To The Light is a compilation inspired by Rhodes island and its nomination for "European Culture Capital City 2021". The multi-awarded DJ, radio producer, and compiler Tasos Giasiranis signs the island's sixth compilation. A journey into the magical world of electronic music in a unique combination with the 12 breathtaking postal cards included. 12 pictures by the hands of Stelios Kalisperis, Fillip Fillipou, and Harris Zambetoulas. The only thing you need to have while leaving the island. Memories in a box. Tasos Giasiranis keeps on making a dream come true once again with Journey To The Light. Features: Homme, Nefeli, OutPass, Craun, Melorman, Tokkoi, Nathaniel Echo, Serafim Tsotsonis, Sillyboy, Jonas Bering, Alex Dimou, Energy Deejays, Christos Mastoras, One & One, B.I.G., Satoshi Fumi, and Info.
$10.99 EAN: 5200105301353 ELECTRONIC
01. Homme - Mountains Of Prologomea (feat. Nefeli)
02. OutPass - Apela
03. Craun - Birds Of Dissonance
04. Melorman - Mrs Sun In Her Eyes
05. Tokkoi - Journey Into The Light
06. Nathaniel Echo - A Fairytale's Dream
07. Serafim Tsotsonis - Everything And Nothing
08. Sillyboy - Do It Again
09. Jonas Bering - I Can't Stop Loving You (Alex Dimou Remix)
10. Energy Deejays - Lost Without You (feat. Christos Mastoras) (One & One Remix)
11. B.I.G. - Winter Synergy
12. Satoshi Fumi - Sweet Sensation (Info Remix)
New versions of Tensal's Opposite Inertia EP (KYN 003EP, 2016), with a remake of his own and contributions from Mike Parker and Pangaea. One the most distinctive artists in techno, Mike Parker combines his signature, modulated bassline and sharp claps with the off-kilter rhythm of "Inertia 1". Tensal's remake of "Inertia 2" is direct, peak-time gear. The synth line is kept front and center, the beat is heavy and expertly arranged. Pangaea switches up the broken rhythm of "Inertia 3" and adds the kind of unusual touches that make his records stand out. Artwork by Christopher Honeywell.
A project that came to life fueled by collector's obsession and a life-long willingness to dive head-first into unknown musical wormholes, Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty have never been defined by a singular musical trajectory. Their opening salvo of releases dabbled with the aesthetic of the occult and provided an alternate, parallax view of the Italian Library records with which they were both obsessed at the time, but as their long running mixtape series and brilliantly curated DDS label attest, their interests extend far outside the crevices of early electronic music and into dance music, dancehall, roots, jungle, techno, industrial, noise and beyond. While 2013's Testpressing series provided an outlet for mostly club-based productions shot from the hip, Wonderland, their first album since 2012's Elemental, has been constructed with a narrative in mind. From the clipped hard-style of the opening "Curzon", through the jaunty dancehall mutations of "Animal Style" and "FullEdge", exotica/house refractions on "Hardnoise", the frankly ridiculous, bass-bin destroying jungle ructions on "Sourcer", or the extended tease of "Overstaying", it's probably the most enjoyable and loose-limbed hour of music in their catalog, or that you'll likely hear in these weird, angst-ridden times. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. Comes in a jewel case.
PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS: The Light Years Reworks 3LP (MOTE 003LP)
Having already unleashed a considerable amount of collaborative magic with the Planetary Funk: 22 Light Years series of remix EPs (MOTE 046EP, MOTE 047EP, 2016), Luke Slater upped the ante with six full sides worth of material, all of them injecting the spirit of classic Planetary Assault Systems into new sonic organisms. Using motifs from past P.A.S. successes, Luke Slater and his cohorts join here to make something radical and revitalizing: too cohesive for a "compilation album" and with too much autonomy granted to the guest remixers to be a simple "tribute". Three of the tracks in the program are intense and captivating live re-workings from Slater himself, hurtling from the speakers with an apparent minimum of post-production polish and an optimal level of buzzing energy. While this on its own would make for a compelling listen, the album is also laden with contributions from an international assembly of electronic soul controllers (to wit: Marcel Fengler, Psyk, Lucy, Slam, Octave One, Function, and Kamikaze Space Programme). Fengler kicks off the proceedings with an ecstatic and lustrous rework of "Twelve", a melodic sunrise joining a synth pad massage to a locked-in and systematic rhythm. Psyk's own interpretation of the same track preserves the same insistence but applies it to a completely different time and place, driving the listener through a wilderness of coded signals and an ambiguous repetition of the title that sounds like it could be as much a warning as an indicator of progress. KSP's version of "Function 6" gradually builds a cyborg leitmotif from an overdriven martial beat and epileptic machine breakdowns. Sequencing this with Octave One's "Booster" rework is an ideal choice, as the squared-away EBM/electro-funk sequences and flanged hi-hats seem to refer to a different phase in the life cycle of the same machine. Function's "Diesel Drudge," on the other hand, moves from the machine world into a totally oneiric world typified by backwards-masked/time-traveling voices and a thick strobe-lit haze. Lucy's re-envisioning of "Surface Noise" is a no-nonsense tantric exercise in shedding preconceptions and inhibitions. Rounding out the collection is Steve Bicknell's "Raid" version - a breathing mosaic of rhythmic pulses and clattering objects - and Slam's characteristically intense modification of "Temporary Suspension," whose low-end sequences continually bubble and seethe yet never completely boil over. Comes on 180 gram clear vinyl; includes a download card.
M.A.K.U. Soundsystem's unique sound and high-energy live style combines Afro-beat, jazz, funk, punk, and Colombian roots into a heady cocktail that is equal parts city and jungle and could only come from New York by way of South America and the Atlantic Crossing. Their infectious vibe and eclectic approach is captured on their new EP, The Mix. With seven choice dancefloor-friendly cuts making their debut on vinyl for the first time, the collection features rarities, outtakes, and versions sure to please long-time fans, as well as introduce newcomers to a balanced overview of what this band is about.
Since 2008, Puerto Rico's rebel salsa dura band Orquesta El Macabeo has continuously raised the bar on tropical Latin dance music with their uncompromising blend of diverse beats for the dancefloor and original lyrics for the head (and the heart). This limited reissue of their sophomore effort El Entierro ("The Burial"), originally released in 2011, is made available for the first time on vinyl. will have you enjoying the mix of old and new between the grooves. Insert lyric sheet included.
ORQUESTA EL MACABEO: La Maldicion Del Timbal LP+CD (PEACE 006LP)
Out of the depths of a nation's socio-political struggle comes one of the most mature albums Puerto Rican music has seen in quite some time. Orquesta El Macabeo unleash their fourth studio album, La Maldición Del Timbal, an eight track bombshell that proves how far their spirited blend of indie salsa, punk rock attitude and Afro-Boricua beats have come along. Latin dance music for the head and heart, as well as the feet.
The return of Andy Votel's most elusive alter-ego with a new album of delirious and darkened collage pieces brought to you by his own Pre-Cert Home Entertainment label, run alongside longtime spar, Sean Canty (Demdike Stare). Hiding behind "Cowardly Pseudonyms" inspired by the incognito exploits of Jean-Pierre Massiera and a long list of Italian library musicians, Applehead is the twice-removed alter-alter-alter ego project of Dead-Cert, Finders Keepers, Cacophonic, Pre-Cert label boss and designer Andy Votel, aka Anworth Kirk, aka Xian Orphic, aka Tandy Love, aka Tony Deval, aka Neotantrik, and the list goes on. This hang-dried and un-cured collection of low-brow electronics, oblique movie-tones, cold-funk, ready-made poetry and domestic plunderism spans five years since the debut Applehead LP on the Pre-Cert label (2011). Cut and pasted from a pool of overnight rare synth-lends, some obscure foreign-pop fix-ups and a stash of emotive tonal sketches and tape-edits (prepared when touring Milan and Rome with Suzanne Ciani and Northern Italy with the blink-missable Stanza Nera punk-funk project) these multifarious, Crepaxian comic-book compositions have clearly absorbed a strong Italian DIY muse. With respectful nods to Daniela Casa, Raskovich, Frizzi, and AR Luciani, Applehead also combines surrealist shlock with Letterist informed random Roman female spoken word and occasional back-handed salutes to Throbbing Gristle and NWW projects. This self-motivated, naturalistic response to the broad vista that has informed 20 years of Votel's unwaning multi-dis adventures offers an infrequent opportunity to hear his personal problematic-pop and scalpel-happy art in the comfort of his own creative confides complete with square-pegs and sandpaper. Mastered by Matt Colton. Edition of 500.
From Lawrence English: "A few years ago, my dear friend and bandmate Jamie Stewart and I were talking about Swans. I started to mention how much I admired the utterly personal approach to guitar that Norman Westberg had developed on those early records and moreover how that had blossomed out so richly on this latest incarnation of the band. During the course of the conversation Jamie mentioned a CDR that Norman had passed to him, which collected a few pieces of solo work that Norman had been working on. I was instantly curious to hear these pieces and started to track down the recordings online. After some investigating I found Norman's CDRs available through an Etsy shop he had set up. I ordered one and a couple of weeks later, after I'd listened to that first CDR non-stop for a few days, I ordered all the others I could get my hands on. The first solo work I heard from Norman was this recording, Jasper Sits Out. I was instantly struck by the textural sensitivity he managed to create with nothing more than a guitar and some modest pedals. He managed to find a depth in what was a very limited palette and that impressed me greatly. The connections to his work with Swans was clear, in that his trademark relation to tonality was present. Instead of relying on volume to achieve this sonic state though, Norman's solo practice relied on a sense of swaying harmony and orbiting loops to create a tonally dense sound world that was very much personal, but overtly invitational to the listener. Jasper Sits Out, the title referencing the Westberg family mascot who has now sadly departed, reflects Norman's interest in minimal structures and the processes of iteration that are formed through the manipulation of looping fragments. Creating almost tidal surges across these pieces, Jasper Sits Out speaks to his abilities to contour sound in time. The lead track for example is truly oceanic in that is has a remarkable tidal flow of strumming textures that seem to sink below one another in an effortless wash of textural density. I could not be more pleased to be able to share this music through Room40. This edition comes completely remastered and features a bonus piece recorded exclusively for this edition. I encourage you to listen deeply."
$12.79 UPC: TBA ROCK
01. Jasper Sits Out
02. Homeset Trunc
03. A Particular Tuesday
Future music duo Second Woman's sophomore full-length for Spectrum Spools further hones their distinctive fusion of shape-shifting software sculpture and tessellated footwork. Shivering digital textures oscillate with and against algorithmically mapped percussion samples; smeared synthetic chords levitate in the distance; stabs of digital noise punctuate the mix in twitchy, time-distorting patterns. Their anamorphosis verges on ascetic: stark, splintered waveforms rendered into unique fiber optic hieroglyphs. Multi-instrumentalists Josh Eustis and Turk Dietrich share a deep history going back to their days in the New Orleans ambient electronic community, as part of Telefon Tel Aviv and Belong, respectively. Even so, S/W pushes beyond their combined discographies to date, flexing impossibilities, building rhythms from arrhythmia, teasing veiled emotion from bold iterations of cold code.
Unreleased material by Luc Ferrari, released here on Sub Rosa's Early Electronic series. Two tracks from the forthcoming three-CD box set devoted to Luc Ferrari's film music. Not only does the collection reveal a little-known chunk of Ferrari's oeuvre as a composer for the screen, it also sheds light on the ties between cinema and musique concrète, especially during the fruitful period that stretched from the 1960s to the 1980s. Tinguely (1967) is a musique concrète piece for a television program by C. Caspari. From recordings made by the composer in 1966 at an exhibition of Jean Tinguely's work. Once the 110V Liliput engine is turned on, the sculptures start moving instantly in unpredictable ways, as if they had suddenly become frantic. They move in disorganized and excited ways; each action brings them on the verge of self-destruction. Tinguely's "Balubas" illustrate how ephemeral and intangible art and life are. The "Balubas" carry joy and despair, fascination and disillusionment. Dernier Matin d'Edgar-Allan Poe (1964) is a musique concrete piece for a short 33mm black-and-white film by Jean Barral.
"In Oiseaux-Tempête, Frédéric D. Oberland and Stéphane Pigneul have chosen a name, a call from the sea, of almost totemic quality. . . . AL-'AN! ('Now!' in Arabic) is the third part of a journey that commenced in 2012. A two part - aesthetic and political - proposition. How to build something that speaks of the present, that transcribes it, mirrors it, opens discourse and questions, and provokes the sharing of experience that conjures away this contemporary malaise of powerlessness and, in turn, opens doors to a common future? . . . Building something together, bearing witness, creating sense, being a part of the world, refusing the catastrophe. Rather, grabbing hold of the present, cradling it and letting it breath. . . . This was the attempt of Frédéric D. Oberland, Stéphane Pigneul, and Ben McConnell with Oiseaux-Tempête (SR 381CD/LP), their first album, an opening chapter published in 2013. . . . Following the energetic post-rock of this first, self-titled album, came Ütopiya? (SR 396CD/LP, 2015). A far more poignant piece of work, lyrical, yet with the roughness of the free music it was inspired by. Interweaving their music with the photographic images of Yusuf Sevincli and the words of poets Nazim Hikmet and Tarkovsky, Oiseaux-Tempête continued their Mediterranean voyage, this time further East. . . . With AL-'AN!, Oiseaux-Tempête have achieved a far more complex work, richer in texture, the intertwining of acoustic elements with electronica, roaming and shaking the foundations of this almost labyrinthian personal opus of an album. As ever, the group realizing both the immersive and also the total physicality on the record. . . . And in the same way, AL-'AN! remembers. Memories in the far more intimate form of the travel diary, each track the capturing of a moment, brief sketches, the first notes the faint outlines of a specific atmosphere, the chords building little by little the heavier lines of a coherent edifice, an innate sense of structure beneath the apparent fragmentation. . . . AL-'AN! proceeds from a logic of abundance, from the diversity of character to the binds that give it its structure. Not only because this opus is blending the Arabic, French, and English languages, and in doing so constructs a dialogue between Europe and the Middle-East." --Alexandre Francois Features Tamer Abu Ghazaleh and G. W. Sok. CD version includes a bonus track.
LEVIN/INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN/CHRIS CORSANO, DANIEL: Spinning Jenny CD (TROST 153CD)
Beside Trost releasing artists Chris Corsano (projects with Akira Sakata, Massimo Pupillo, Joe McPhee, and Mette Rasmussen, to name a few) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (The Thing), with this new formation, the label works with the active US cellist and composer Daniel Levin. Daniel Levin is "one of the outstanding cellists working in the vanguard arena" (All About Jazz), "ridiculously fluent, virtually overflowing with ideas" (New York City Jazz Record), and "very much the man to watch" (Penguin Guide to Jazz). No matter what setting he plays in, cellist Daniel Levin occupies a musical space bordered by many kinds of music, but fully defined by none of them. The New York Times on Levin: "Demonstrating an impressive breadth of texture and contrast, the cellist Daniel Levin comes well prepared for a career in jazz's contemporary avant-garde." Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. John Sharpe in The New York City Jazz Record: "he invokes all manner of musics with prodigious skill: jazz, classical, improv, noise, vocal chorus. Those with an adventurous streak or interest in the outer reaches of the cello universe will find much to savor." Personnel: Daniel Levin - cello; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass; Chris Corsano - drums.
"A La Memoria Del Muerto is Fruko Y Sus Tesos's second album, released in 1972, and features exclusively the soaring and soulful vocals of Cali native Edulfamid Molina Díaz, aka 'Píper Pimienta', Fruko's previous vocalist Humberto 'Huango' González having left after the first album Tesura (1970). The record is a mix of spirited cover versions and authentically Nuyorican-sounding originals with a Colombian twist. . . . Produced and engineered by Fruko's uncle Mario "Pachanga" Rincón, the album has an uncompromisingly stark, hard sound that is appealing to today's collectors of 'salsa brava' just as it was impactful on the Colombian scene when it was made at the beginning of the 1970s. Unlike the first Tesos album, with a two trumpet line-up and fairly simple arrangements, this more mature recording added another trumpet and two trombones for a more robust brass attack. Additionally, instead of basic salsa, there are many different rhythms - guaguancó, bomba, plena, oriza, bolero, cha-cha-chá, descarga and Latin soul. Though Fruko's sound at this stage wore its New York, Havana and San Juan sources on its sleeve - Willie Colón, Javier Vázquez, Richie Ray -, at the same time the album has a uniquely Colombian approach to these influences with the bounciness of coastal music like cumbia being felt throughout. The title song is a 'guaguan-plena' version of Dominica Y Su Conjunto's original 'Acuyuye' hit of the same name from a decade earlier. Following that is Fruko's take on Cuban pianist Javier Vazquez's driving salsa dura anthem 'Mi Verdadero Son'. . . . The side finishes out with more cover versions: the double-entendre 'La Fruta Bomba' by Cuban trovador Maximiliano "Bimbi" Sánchez Y Su Trío Oriental and the fiery rumba gitana 'Achilipu'. . . . Side B kicks off with one of Fruko's favorite Afro-Cuban artists, the conguero and Santería singer Silvestre Méndez, with 'A Bailar Oriza'. After a wild descarga (jam session) track, we are treated to a fun pair of cover tunes: Johnny Zamot's 'Bomba Africana' and the old Afro-centric chestnut by folkloric Cuban rumbero Alberto Zayas, 'Baho Kende'. . . . The record finishes off with another Fruko original written with his Discos Fuentes colleague Isaac Villanueva. . . .This reissue features as a bonus the Latin soul track 'Tihuanaco' (a cover of Peruvian pianist Alfredito Linares), which appeared on the US edition of the LP." --Pablo Yglesias, aka DJ Bongohead
"Combo Los Yogas was a short-lived early Colombian salsa band from Medellín directed and arranged by Aníbal José Ángel Echeverri, the famous antioqueño keyboardist known as Aníbal Ángel or simply Anán. Anán studied arranging and composition at the famed Manhattan School of Music in New York, had many of his own songs become hits over the years, founded the raspa gallega band Los Teen-Agers in 1958, and recorded with Discos Fuentes starting in 1965, so he was already an established musician on the scene by the time he founded this oddly named combo. With the influence of New York's burgeoning young Latin scene being absorbed by certain sectors of the youth in South America at the end of the 1960s, Aníbal Ángel must have felt the urge to join the fray, so in 1968 he founded Los Yogas to explore this new phenomenon from the north. Employing Barranquilla native Johnny Moré as his lead vocalist and a full combo with trumpet, trombone, congas and timbales, Los Yogas recorded a fantastic collection of cover tunes in the guaguancó, son, guajira, descarga and cha-cha-chá rhythms. The sound here is very raw and hard, something that makes this obscure Discos Fuentes record a sought after collector's item. Taking their cue from the New York scene, Los Yogas cover Larry Harlow's arrangement of 'Coco May May' and 'Bajándote' from Orquesta Harlow's 1967 album of the same name, as well as a fabulous version of Puerto Rican singer/songwriter Chivirico Davila's 'Montuno Pa' Caridad' from Joe Cotto's classic early 1960s album El Magnífico. Sprinkled throughout are heavy versions of Cheo Marquetti's son cubano classics 'Que No Muera El Son', 'Caramelo A Kilo', and 'Apriétala En El Rincón', all tunes heavily influential on Fania co-founder and musical director Johnny Pacheco. Venezuelan sax player and New York transplant Juan 'Johnny' Sedes's composition 'Aquí Y Allá' . . . became a hit in Colombia for Los Yogas when they covered it, as did the title tune 'Cañabrava' by Mexican composer Paco Chanona and the album's sultry closer, the guajira descarga 'Oye Mira' (originally done in 1965 by Pete Rodríguez Y Su Conjunto La Magnífica). Despite being a record with no originals, Cañabrava holds up magnificently due to the inherent quality and execution of its repertoire, providing a wonderful snapshot of the influences and early development of the genre of salsa in 1960s Colombia." --Pablo Yglesias, aka DJ Bongohead
EL MICHELS AFFAIR: Tearz/Verbal Intercourse 7" (BC 008-7)
"With the full length, Return To The 37th Chamber dropping April 14th, El Michels Affair releases another flawless two sider to hold us over. Side A's cover of 'Tearz' is as much an homage to the Wendy Rene sample as it is to the Wu-Tang Clan track. The song starts as a glazed over cover of 'after laughter, comes tears' with Shannon Wise of The Shacks singing Wendy Rene's timeless mantra. Halfway through, the mood dramatically shifts and the drums and organ that drive the original RZA sample, take over. A dubbed out Lee Fields taps in like only he can, and the song spirals into outer space. Side B finds EMA dipping into the deeper side of the Wu catalog with Raekwon's 'Verbal Intercourse'. Mixing the grimy, gritty production aesthetic of the original with elements of dubbed out reggae, El Michels Affair once again pushes the definition of a 'cover' and truly makes it a tune of their own."
$6.25 UPC: N/A ELECTRONIC
CULTURES OF SOUL RECORDS (UNITED STATES):
SJOB MOVEMENT: Friendship Train CD (COS 019CD)
"SJOB Movement's Friendship Train was the second LP by the group and one which saw the group rise to new heights. It's a masterpiece of African music with its fluid Afro beat grooves and spaced out Moog synthesizer sounds. Here is an excerpt from the liner notes written and researched by Uchenna Ikonne: 'Prince Bola Agbana might hardly be the most immediately recognizable name in the constellation of Nigerian music stars, but for a significant portion of the last half-century he labored in the shadows, dutifully serving as one of the key movers in its development: An in-demand session musician. An early and respected exponent of funk. A catalyst in the retrofit of juju into a modern pop genre. Most of all, though, he is recognized as the founder, leader, drummer and principal vocalist of the SJOB Movement. SJOB: Sam, Johnnie, Ottah, Bola. For a moment in the mid-1970s, they were le dernier cri in modern Nigerian music, representing the next step in the evolution of Afro rhythms, and a new paradigm for the band economy. Their first album, 1976's A Move in the Right Direction, was a minor sensation and was swiftly followed by Friendship Train in 1977. Then it appeared that the movement stopped moving, and SJOB disappeared from the scene."
$11.75 UPC: 820250001929 WORLD
SJOB MOVEMENT: Friendship Train LP (COS 019LP)
LP version.
$14.50 UPC: 820250001912 WORLD
GET ON DOWN (UNITED STATES):
VA: James Brown's Funky People Part 2 LP (GET 54084LP)
"As music fans know, James Brown wasn't just the greatest funk and soul singer the world has ever seen -- he was also a musical visionary and businessman, who surrounded himself with geniuses who made him better and pushed him further. From horn masters Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis to vocalists Lyn Collins and Bobby Byrd, Brown was a musical A & R master, restless and always looking for the next big thing. Most times, that would manifest in the latest James Brown smash under his own name. But not always. His stable of talent was overflowing in the '60s and '70s, and, thankfully, the tape machine in his studio was always rolling. Originally released in 1988, during the era of hip-hop's golden age of sampling, it's no surprise that just about every note heard in this incredible collection has been used on not one but multiple rap classics. Which, at the time, was proof of Brown's (and his crew's) staying power. But we're almost three decades beyond those days now, and it has lost none of its musical potency. Diving deeper into the vaults than the also-incredible Part 1 of the Funky People series, there is not a weak track in the bunch. Moving beyond well-known JBs cuts, things get interesting from the get-go with Bobby Byrd's monumental groover 'I Know You Got Soul.' Hank Ballard and Marva Whitney also enter the fray, leading the way to Myra Barnes' emotional and powerful 'Message From The Soul Sisters (Parts 1 & 2)' and Lyn Collins' slow, smoldering cover of Isaac Hayes' 'Do Your Thing,' Politics even get the funky soul treatment, with Fred Wesley & The JBs' 'You Can Have Watergate But Gimme Some Bucks And I'll Be Straight' and 'I'm Paying Taxes, But What Am I Buying?' And it should not be overlooked that Maceo & The Macks' instrumental workout 'Soul Power '74' even features a proto-sampling snippet from MLK's 'I've Been To The Mountaintop' speech from 1968. This is another amazing collection of James Brown's funky friends, without one second of filler, brought to you as a glorious 2-LP gatefold by your friends at Get On Down."
$23.00 UPC: 664425408416 ROCK
DOMINATRIX: The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight LP (GET 58015LP)
"The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight has a long and storied history among connoisseurs of '80s New York dance music. Combining catchy, deadpan synth-pop and classic '80s electro hallmarks with the provocative edge of leather-and-lace sex culture, it remains a worldwide dancefloor staple to this day. Despite its popularity, little has been known about the song's background. The brainchild of producer Stuart Argabright (nee Arbright, a member of the groups Ike Yard and Death Comet Crew); alongside DJ and remixer Ivan Ivan; Kenneth Lockie (from Cowboys International, and early Death Comet Crew); and vocalist Claudia Summers; the song's dominating female subject was based on a person whom Arbright had dated. The song -- and a banned-by-MTV video that today could be mistaken for a Victoria's Secret commercial -- became a club smash at famed Danceteria and other urban meccas. But, despite some leather-clad live dates in 1984, the group itself was short-lived. This special Get On Down vinyl edition is sure to be coveted by fans and collectors. This configuration has never been available before: beyond four original mixes of the song (12", Chants, Dominant and Beat Me) that fans know and love ? this full-length LP includes the newly unearthed song 'Play It Safe' and the rarely heard, hypnotic 'City That Never Sleeps,' in addition to the rare 1984 'Scratch Mix' of the original title song, with cuts by the legendary DJ Red Alert. The deluxe vinyl package is accompanied by a 16-page glossy booklet with text by writer Dave Tompkins and input from Argabright and Ivan Ivan. Additionally, fans will be thrilled into submission by visuals and press clips relating to the original release on Arthur Baker's Street Wise Records; the song's provocative video; as well as the dominatrix culture in New York City at the time which inspired this unlikely smash hit."
$10.75 UPC: 664425801514 ELECTRONIC
HABIBI FUNK (GERMANY):
MALEK & FLAKO, AHMED: The Electronic Tapes CD (HAB 005CD)
"Unreleased early Algerian synth electronic by Ahmed Malek, compiled and co-produced by Flako In the early 1980s, Ahmed Malek was already in his 50s, when he discovered synthesizers and electronic music for himself and started to experiment with sounds. The result was a mixture of ambient synth music, field recordings he made in Cuba and a wide variation of different sound experiments that he also presented as different avanguarde music festivals in Cuba and the US. None of it was ever released but we got a huge box of master tapes from his family and we're happy to present this different side of Ahmed Malek's music. It was compiled and co-produced by Flako, a fan of early electronic and synth music. This is not a remix album though, Flako's aim was to create an album out of 2 hours of material that sounds like it might have if Mr. Malek would have finished it himself before of his death. Fully approved and licensed from the artists family. The album comes with an informative booklet with liner notes, an interview with Flako regarding his approach towards the production and unseen photos. We will also release a third album by Ahmed Malek which will be more in the vein again of the music he is known for and this album will also be previously unreleased."
$11.75 UPC: 673790032980 WORLD
MALEK & FLAKO, AHMED: The Electronic Tapes LP (HAB 005LP)
LP version.
$19.50 UPC: 673790032973 WORLD
HOZAC RECORDS (UNITED STATES):
MCMAHON, BRIAN: Jaguar Ride: Memoir Of An Electric Eel Book (HZB 004BK)
" 'The Electric Eels have left a serious scar on the face of music like few other originals have so far, a complex yet primitive pulsation of audio animosity shot through the universe right at the exact moment when nobody could comprehend it. Chicago may be the Midwest hub population-wise, but we all know that Ohio was punk's true Mesopotamia, and nothing spells that out more succinctly as the Electric Eels. Founding guitarist Brian McMahon's long-awaited memoir of his wild proto-punk days is finally here, the first-ever book covering the primordial ooze of Cleveland's wiry mutants in all their prickly-detailed glory. Over the course of 300 pages, you can really crawl inside the brain of one of America's finest overlooked musical miscreants, a fascinating glimpse into the vivid details and sickening dreams of one half of the songwriting contribution to the electric eels demented noise. To be so ahead of their time with so little to lose, now just the utterance of their name holds instant reverence with the punk cognoscenti, but that took a while. Once the meat of their recordings was unearthed and had time to circulate, now everyone is tripping over themselves to drool at their feet, and rightfully so. Jaguar Ride: Memoir Of An Electric Eel taps into the once impenetrable inner space of life around this ground-breaking band quite effortlessly. Like the eye of the universe opening up just enough for your weary legs to slip past and dangle in its toxic waters, McMahon leads us through his haziest experiences with incredible recollections of what it felt like to stand at the edge of the cliff of possibilities. The Electric Eels were true originals that streaked across time and space for a very short amount of time in the early-to-mid 1970s, creating nothing short of atonal atrocities glistening with punk promise. Deranged rust belt pop songs blanched in chemical waste and chopped mercilessly with a broken food processor and left for dead, only to be rediscovered when the coast was clear for cultures so noxiously curdled to finally thrive. Now that experience is finally here in book form for you to absorb and indulge, and as the mysteries of the eels go many layers deep, fear not and embody their pioneering spirit, finally in print.' --VictimofTime.com"
"This extensive collection from the group's Dilla-helmed era is a comprehensive overview of Fantastic V.1 and V.2. The contributions of the late Detroit producer James DeWitt Yancey - better known to the world as J Dilla - to the world of hip-hop can't be overstated, and nowhere is his legacy more apparent than his work as a member of Slum Village. A founding member of the trio, (alongside rappers T3 and Baatin) Dilla provided the group's distinctly esoteric, free-wheeling sound, built around winding basslines, quirky drumbeats, subtle low-end frequencies, and classic jazz & soul samples. Against the backdrop of Dilla's rich production, T3 and Baatin's free-flowing style of rhyming would also earn wide critical praise, leading to comparisons as the successors to A Tribe Called Quest. (A label they themselves have rejected.) Dilla himself went on to earn his own legend of brilliance, inspiring a slew of classic artists like Nas and The Pharcyde, to newcomers like Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. It would be a gratuitous task to encapsulate the full magnificence of the material Dilla produced with Slum Village, but Ne'Astra Media Group have accomplished such a feat, with the arrival of the Fantastic Collection! A comprehensive overview of the underground group's Dilla-produced tracks across four compact discs. The CD includes the entirety of the namesake albums Fantastic Volumes 1 & 2, instrumental versions, and a bonus fourth collection of remixes and obscurities, featuring collaborations with Madlib & Pete Rock, and select cuts from Best Kept Secret, the group's rare release under the name J-88. The Fantastic Box is a veritable crown jewel for any fan of J Dilla or Slum Village, as well as an outstanding entry-point into the legacy of an underground hip-hop production hero."
$14.50 UPC: 769413576419 HIPHOP
NOW-AGAIN (UNITED STATES):
THOMSETT, ROB: Yaraandoo/Hara CD (NA 5127CD)
"Australian guitarist/visionary Rob Thomsett's collected works -- two LPs -- are combined into one package as the fourth release in the Now Again Reserve series. Originally privately pressed in tiny numbers in Canberra in the mid-'70s, Yaraandoo & Hara have become sought after examples of the best in progressive jazz/rock. Custom made, 'mini-LP', tip-on CD packaged with perfect-bound booklet packaged in O card. 'Taking in impressionistic hazy instrumental jazz ... muscular fusion moves, solo Mellotron pieces as heavenly as anything Beethoven or Handel ever concocted, extremely loose-limbed ethno-fusion soundscapes of the Don Cherry/Pharoah Sanders variety, film soundtracks ... and electronic experimentalism ... hair-raising, soul-searching beauty -- with an overall dreamy, hazy quality that perhaps could only be written by an Australian fully conversant with the 'Dreamtime' cultural feel for the myths and legends of the Outback.' --Julian Cope's Head Heritage"
$15.50 UPC: 659457512729 JAZZ
THOMSETT, ROB: Yaraandoo/Hara 2LP (NA 5127LP)
LP version. "Australian guitarist/visionary Rob Thomsett's collected works -- two LPs -- are combined into one package as the fourth release in the Now Again Reserve series. Custom made, thick-cardboard, tip-on Now-Again Reserve Edition gatefold jacket. Hand numbered edition of 1000. 160 gram vinyl from Quality Record Production. OBI strip and re-sealable 'Japanese-style' plastic sleeve. Download card for WAV files of the album. Contains booklet with the story of this band, told for the first time, and many unpublished photos."
"Plane Jane is back with another proper 2-sider. This time by way of Miles Bonny, we heard 'Hello Jesus' a few years back on an EP Miles had put out and Lepse has been playing it to dancefloors ever since. The tune gets such a heavy response we wanted to get it on a 7, so here it is. Side A is Bonny's version of a song that isn't called 'Hello Jesus', with production by Canadian duo Circle Research. The bass and drums alone catch you from the first beat, add the gritty synth lines and Miles' smooth but rough vocals and we have a hit. Sure to set the dance on fire for all the DJs that play this kind of thing."
