LP version. Meaning "Hi" in Uruguayan slang, Opa are a South American jazz-funk phenomenon. Fusing Uruguay's native Candombe rhythms with North American jazz and pop music, Opa's space-age synthesizers, boisterous grooves and compositional magic expressed a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular: a voice which remains as vital and unique today as when it was recorded, almost half a century ago. Having migrated to New York from Montevideo in the early seventies, Opa were heard playing in a nightclub by renowned producer and label owner Larry Rosen. At Holly Place Studios between July and August 1975, Rosen oversaw Opa's first recordings using a four track TEAC 3340. The album would become home to some of Opa's hardest hitting funk jams, with moments of songwriting wonderment and soulful pop and rock progressions combining with the jazz-funk fusion Opa would become known for. Mysteriously (for reasons unknown to the band), Opa's debut was shelved and remained so until the mid-1990s. But the Back Home recordings were used as demos, gaining Opa a record deal with Milestone Records and the subsequent release of two cult-favorite albums: Goldenwings (1976) and Magic Time (1977). Opa would also collaborate with North American titans including bassist Ron Carter, producer Creed Taylor, and Brazilian icons Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal, and Milton Nascimento. In more recent years Opa's music has found new audiences after being sampled by Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus) and Madlib. For fans of Azymuth, Weather Report, Cortex, and The Headhunters.
"The Spiritual, a free jazz album recorded by the Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1974, finds the group of stellar musicians at their creative peak. With various types of percussion, though the absence of a traditional drummer, the ensemble is able to create vivid, freeing compositions without the confines of conventional structure. The quartet, consisting of Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Malachi Favors, explore the depths of avant-garde jazz through a means that has yet to be touched on in a comparable capacity. The Spiritual is now widely available on 180gram coke bottle clear vinyl. Mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering. Pressed at Pallas Group in Germany."
"Psing Psong Psung is artist Raymond Pettibon's new collaborative rock band. Only Fan is the debut album. Raymond provided the musicians with original lyrics and texts to be set to music. Guitarist Ricky Sepulveda sings most of the songs. Raymond sings two of them. Influences range from Arthur Lee to the band Love, sixties crooners Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, pro-football player/wrestler Wahoo McDaniel, the Bobby Fuller Four to pop celebrity in the 20th Century."
"In the magazine: Darius Jones, Steve Roach, Clarissa Connelly, [Ahmed], Shovel Dance Collective, Arushi Jain, Kulku, Harmony Holiday, Richie Culver. Invisible Jukebox: Ka Baird. Global Ear: Dublin. Epiphanies: Aura Satz on the sound of sirens. Inner Sleeve: Raji Rags on D'Angelo. Unlimited Editions: Industrial Coast. Unofficial Channels: The Rest newsletter, plus 40 pages of reviews including Shabaka Hutchings, Eddie Prévost, Creation Rebel, Eugene S Robinson, hcmf 2023, and more. On the CD: 16 new tracks by Jac Berrocal, Elaine Mitchener, Derek Piotr, Heejin Jang, Lori Vambe, Shit & Shine, The Phereomoans, A Lily, Dream Skills & GW Sok, and more."
"Ugly Things issue 65 top cover story: the Futuristic Sounds of the Yardbirds; writer Peter Stanfield explores their change of direction in 1965, their rivalry with The Who and lots more. Also featured: Detroit rock pioneers the Chosen Few, the band that spawned future members of SRC and the Stooges, the compelling story of UK '70s punk outsiders the Subway Sect as told by guitarist Rob Symmons; '70s power pop princes the Paley Brothers; Viennese proto-punk anarchists Novaks Kapelle; the sixties adventures of Matthew and Daniel Moore (the Moon, Colours, Matthew Moore Plus Four); and a fascinating study of the beat music industry behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Plus: Moby Grape, the Ascots, Cyril Jordan on Little Richard, and the meticulous review sections, covering all the latest vinyl and CD reissues, and rock and roll-related books."
A Colourful Storm begins presents a luxurious suite of daydreaming introspection courtesy of Unchained, the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis who was last seen on vinyl in the final Blackest Ever Black release. Recorded at home between 2020 and 2023, Gabbeh is the latest expression of Davis's guitar-based instrumental musings and represents a stylistic evolution of his self-released noise tapes and CD-Rs into romantic, bossa nova-influenced melody-making. He wrote the tracks sporadically, with minimal instrumentation and intervention. Electric guitar, bass improvisations and rhythms from an old drum machine are layered and given new life, the space between them softly breathing with minutiae of the everyday: the buzz of cicadas, the passing of cars, the whistling of passersby. The psychogeography of Grenoble, Davis' home since 2018, played a conscious role in the weaving of Gabbeh's fabric: "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city; 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix." Opener "Largo" sets the mood, its primitive samba rhythm concealed by a cloud of saudade. The bebop sensibility follows suit, the tension between its angular picks and percussive shuffle a wondrous balancing act, while the intoxicating sway of "Rambler" is perhaps the most poignant expression of longing and loss in recent years. Highly recommended for fans of Durutti Column, Maurice Feebank, Toninho Horta.
Head X'Change is the new album by Scythe, a long-distance collaborative project of David West and R.A. Jones. First appearing on two cloak-and-dagger cassettes distributed by Low Company in 2019 and 20, Scythe's "expertly modulated space blues and isolationist architectures" betrayed a uniquely sleep-deprived, DIY take on kosmische atmospheres, where brittle, decaying synthesizer loops found solace in endless trails of feedback and reverb. Head X'Change was recorded with modest instrumentation but grand ambition, recounting a journey, a memory -- of leaving earth, a loved one, a body. Lifting off from tense, unnerving "Tennessee," an ode is made to Genevieve, for perhaps the last time. Landing in eerily familiar valleys and amongst the lunar debris of "Dawngarden" and "Superwillow," marveling back at Earth inflicts a feeling of tininess and innocence, captured in the stargazing blues of "Embryo." The titular track then marks a sudden inward trajectory and shift in mood: cool winds and amorphous bursts of black and deep blue emanate from fissures, ominously foreshadowing tunnelling paranoia. "Mark, Ring Me" is a distant plea for human contact, but it may all be too late, for the aching psychedelia "For Iris" grieves alone into the abyss. For fans of Cluster, Craig Leon, Pete Namlook.
LP version. After a successful tour following the release of Alors Quoi (BJR 061LP, 2022) on Bongo Joe records, accompanied by a drummer/percussionist change, the prospect of what comes next naturally arose. Elements surfaced, including a desire for more low frequencies, a fascination with the marimba/vibraphone, and a liberating indifference to the difference between recorded and live performances. To evolve, the team collaborated with outsider Kwake Bass, known for collaborations with Kae Tempest, Tirzah, Mica Levi, and others. Despite aesthetic differences from Meril Wubslin's previous albums, this divergence was seen as key -- an enriching risk that resulted in a unique blend of influences. The acoustic core of Meril Wubslin now embraces electronic elements, revealing a more powerful and urban dimension. While maintaining a commitment to French lyrics, the themes explore the concrete yet remain grounded in the intimate and the sensitive, avoiding overly clear and univocal messages.
Liverpool's long lost '90s indie rock noisemakers, compiling three singles and unreleased tracks. Back in the 1990s Playhouse were Liverpool's premiere "honey-souled indie rock band." They had a devoted following around the country after supporting the likes of Sleater Kinney, Unwound, Penthouse, Pavement, Sebadoh, Feeder, and Gary Numan. With three 7" singles under their belt and support from the NME and John Peel, the band were due to record their debut album until disaster struck when the drummer, Simon, broke his leg in a bizarre incident. Simon later went on to play with the rock band, Black Spiders, and now performs under the name of Blobb Ross. Singer and guitarist Pete continues to write songs. He is Liverpool's most prolific and enigmatic figure, writing some of the most beautiful songs around. Bassist Jason went on to perform with Mugstar, Sex Swing, Klamp, Domes, Twin Sister, and JAAW. Dynamo compiles the three singles they released, alongside unreleased tracks, including a cover of Sebadoh's "It's So Hard To Fall in Love."
Musique Infinie is the collaborative project of Manuel Oberholzer a.k.a. Feldermelder and Noémi Büchi. Their album Earth, released through the Hallow Ground label, is based on a spontaneously composed live score for Alexander Dovzhenko's groundbreaking 1930 silent movie Zemlya ("Earth") created for the 24th edition of the VIDEOEX festival for experimental film. Frequently cited as a masterpiece of early 20th century filmmaking, the movie deals with the collectivization of Ukraine's agriculture. The Swiss duo complemented it with atmospherically rich electronic soundscapes that are both deeply immersive and highly evocative. As a stand-alone music release, the two-piece Earth album captures the essence of Büchi and Oberholzer's collaboration that is marked by mutual trust and musical versatility that puts them in a state of "togetherness trance," as they call it. Oberholzer has been highly productive as a composer, musician, sound designer, and installation artist in recent years, releasing a slew of solo albums as well as a variety of collaboration records with artists such as Sara Oswald and Julian Sartorius. Büchi has recently debuted as a solo composer and sound artist working with electroacoustic techniques to create a »symphonic maximalism for "the end of the world," as she dubs it. Both are prolific and versatile artists with a penchant for working conceptually, however their collaboration as Musique Infinie is an improvisational and thus by design an intuitive one. Their sessions start with an exchange on emotions and thoughts rather than theoretical questions or aesthetic debates. When they get to work, they rarely talk. They approached Earth the same way, improvising freely together and using only a few select samples from the film's original score in the process. Their open-ended approach is marked by an aesthetic ambivalence that perfectly corresponds with the movie's own inherent contradictions. Dovzhenko approached his socio-political subject with poetic imagery and philosophical rigour, juxtaposing notions of traditionality with the depiction of modernity. Büchi and Oberholzer accordingly work with motives that at once seem anthemic and elegiac, working with sounds and musical motives that evoke a sense of familiarity in one moment before transforming into something futuristic and uncanny in the next. Their score for Zemlya is not to be understood as a mere interpretation of the movie, but rather a re-narration or even re-negotiation of its aesthetic and emotional qualities under their very own terms.
Sound of Matter is the debut album by Romanian sound artist and composer Simina Oprescu. The two pieces draw on research conducted with 15 historical church bells at the Märkisches Museum and the Stadtmuseum Berlin. After the artist had presented the results of her studies of the connection between matter and harmony in the form of a multi-channel installation, she has translated the underlying approach of this site-specific work into an album that unfolds slowly, consistently setting in motion subtle tonal changes that continuously change the mood of the two pieces. Sound of Matter is both minimalist and maximalist, creating an infinitely rich and multi-layered dronescape that modestly invites its audience to get lost in the sonic experience. Oprescu has been fascinated by church bells since her childhood spent in Transylvania since the instruments were shrouded in mystery, as she explains in an in-depth essay that accompanies the album. She started working with the archive of the Märkisches Museum, which included 15 historical church bells that were built between the 15th and the early 19th century. Since every bell sounds different according to its shape, material, and density, Oprescu abstracted these qualities in a mathematical formula. This enabled her to recreate the harmonic tone of the individual bells with Max/MSP. She then composed a piece with semi-overlayed tones, i.e. overlapping frequencies. Naturally, this resulted in a beating effect that provided the music with a sense of urgency, though the five-second-long natural reverb of the Märkisches Museum's Große Halle turned it into a "warm blanket of sound," as the artist herself puts it. This is perfectly recreated on Sound of Matter due to the music being presented in mono, bringing out the intrinsic movement of the beatings with more nuance than a stereo version would. Sound of Matter feels warm and welcoming even when different frequencies seem to create friction between each other or when the subtle beating effects turn into throbbing rhythms like at the end of the record. It manages to explore both Oprescu's personal fascination with church bells and psychological and psychoacoustic questions relating to them as well as philosophical issues connected with them. This music is profoundly physical, but also intellectually stimulating -- perfectly at home in the catalogue of the Swiss Hallow Ground label between records by Kali Malone, Lawrence English, or Siavash Amini.
LP version. Gregory Isaacs, the Cool Ruler as he became known, grew up in the ghetto district of Kingston Jamaica. His influences lay not only in the American singers he heard on the radio such as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, but also local singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, and John Holt. His debut release Another Heartache was recorded for producer Winston Sinclair and was released under Winstons' name in the U.K. This saw Gregory move on to work with producer Rupie Edwards forming a vocal group called The Concords alongside two local singers Bramwell and Penros. Isaacs always had his sights on forming his own label, which he did in 1972 alongside Errol Dunkley, called African Museum. Gregory carried on working with various other producers throughout his career, work that helped fund his own label. One of these producers was Tappa Zukie. Tappa Zukie was also raised in the rough and tough areas of Kingston Jamaica, and very much like Gregory Isaacs found music as a way out of the tough environment in which he was surrounded. Music seemed like the only way out of a life of crime and gang culture. A path that Tappa Zukie found and by the mid 1970's was establishing himself as a named star on the DJ Roots circuit. Back home in Jamaica he was also getting a name for his production work for other local singers such as Prince Allah and the group Knowledge. To release his own productions, like Gregory Isaacs, he formed his own label called Tappa Records. These two artists working together was a match made in heaven and resulted in this set of songs. Nine of these songs originally saw the light of day in 1988, released on Tappa Zukie's Tappa Records initially called Red. Kingston Sounds has added some additional material also produced by Mr. Zukie around the same time to expand that release and make their work together more of a complete story.
AS ONE
Reflections (30th Anniversary Edition) 2LP
Although 30 years after its birth this fundamental electronic gem called Reflections has achieved cult status, it is worth remembering that it all started in 1993 in a small apartment in Waterloo, London, with the help of a mixer and a bunch of hardware synth and drum machines of hardware, with the mastodontic Oberheim OB-8 synthesizer as the main partner. While in the UK the vast majority of kids showed a certain rejection of what came from North America in the form of electro, Kirk Degiorgio, under his alias As One, embraced it openly and incorporated it into his productions along with influences from other genres that he had already adored since he was young, such as jazz, soul or funk, thus becoming one of the true early adopters of Detroit techno in the UK. Reflections is a challenge in itself, and even more so considering what the consumption pattern of electronic music was in the early '90s. This timeless album fits into the delicate border between being enough club to work on the dance floor, and still being musical and cerebral enough to be listened to at home. A milestone that, whether premeditated or not, Degiorgio more than achieved. Three decades later Lapsus Records has been able to access the pre-masters extracted from the original DATs to build a special 30th anniversary edition within its Perennial series. For the occasion, this reissue not only offers the tracks included in the first edition, it also adds the songs "The Priestess" -- never released on vinyl before -- and "Forgotten Memory" -- until now unreleased and rediscovered in one of the DATs dating back to 1992 from the Reflections recording sessions. This is the definitive edition of an album that, despite coexisting with the explosion of the rave movement, would pave the path for the UK-Detroit connection.
"This box set (3 CDs and a 52-page book) collects and restores two legendary mid-'70s releases, both met at the time with extravagant critical acclaim but few sales outside of Spain. Presents for the first time a set of previously unknown studio recordings by the otherwise undocumented Trio Altisent, featuring members of both other projects -- alongside comprehensive book of background materials, newly conducted interviews, rare unpublished photographs, and overview of Barcelona's mid '70s music scene. On the first CD: Musica Urbana -- one of the most impressive albums of its time: uniquely infuses the languages of rock, jazz and formal composition with the Spanish folk tradition of flamenco and the sensibility of national composers (e.g. Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz). It weaves all these elements into a uniquely Spanish iteration of experimental rock. A work of luminous brilliance. On the second CD: Joan Albert I Felui Gasul, released a year later by Musica Urbana's keyboardist Joan Albert Amargos and flamenco virtuoso Feliu Gasul, a seamless fusion of styles, intensity, a high degree of musical intelligence, edge-of-the-seat playing, and mixture of compositional and improvisational flexibility, with a lightness and sense that conceal the compositions' fiendish complexity. Joan Albert plays acoustic piano, fender electric and clavinet, Jaume Cortadellus adds some perfectly judged flute on one of the tracks. All of Musica Urbana appear on another beautifully recorded and mixed album, with unusually clear, strong sound and exquisite separation, together capturing an explosive cultural moment On the third CD: Trio Altisent, unreleased recordings by Amargos, Gasul, and Cortadellus made in 1984, in a project that grew from their previous work together. Amargos and Gasul went on to become highly respected contemporary composers, later working with Paco de Lucia, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, and Maria del Mar Bonet. This box restores and expands an important moment in music, which rapidly faded as music industry values regained control."
Suffolk-based singer songwriter James Varda's fourth and final album before his death from a long battle with cancer in 2015, Chance And Time, set for a vinyl only reissue on Unspun Heroes is an astonishing aural document of a creative, forward -thinking musician coming to terms with a life slowly evaporating away. There is hubris, melancholy and an undeniable weight of sadness in these ten songs but, miraculously, there is also a stoic realization and acceptance from Varda that is both heart-wrenching and deeply affecting. On Chance And Time, Varda reconnects the human spirit to the land, a heavy, fearful heart to an optimistic soul, and in a beautiful poetic flourish gives a real tangible sense of loving and hope to his family and friends offering genuine reassurance and even, at times, a green light for celebration. Carrying a certain air of mystique of say a Karen Dalton or a Jeff Buckley, Varda's delivery and tone carries huge emotional weight here and a unique ability to add an honest perspective and warmth to the starkest of realities. Chance And Time is both an extraordinary record and poignant study of life and living, of death and what comes after. James Varda released four albums between 1988 and his death in 2015.
Snakes Don't Belong In Alaska have firmly established themselves as a prominent force in the underground UK psych scene, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in the current generation of psych rock. Notably, they collaborated on a mesmerizing album with the legendary Japanese psych artist, Junzo Suzuki, and have had the privilege of performing alongside esteemed bands like Hawklords, 10000 Russos, and The Myrrors, among others. Originating from the vibrant city of Newcastle upon Tyne, SDBIA embraces an experimental genre non-conforming psych style, blending elements of stoner, kosmische, space rock, prog, and post rock. This captivating fusion of sounds creates a unique musical experience that continues to captivate audiences far and wide. Their latest offering Navegando Al Paraiso sees a slight change of pace from the band, but none less potent. The band invite you on a transcendent musical journey, effortlessly blending psychedelic rock with waves of folk and post-rock. This album immerses listeners in a dreamscape where ethereal melodies ebb and flow like the tides. Each track evokes a sense of wanderlust, drawing inspiration from timeless musical traditions while pushing the boundaries of sonic exploration. Snakes Don't Belong in Alaska paint an otherworldly soundscape that invites you to lose yourself in the euphoria of musical and introspective discovery. Available on super limited-edition green and clear vinyl, only 300 copies pressed.
Brooklyn-based artist Jonah Parzen-Johnson returns with the new album You're Never Really Alone. If you look at the label on the LP containing eight intimate compositions for baritone sax and flute, you will find the words, "we made this together." At first thought, this simple phrase may seem out of place on a solo record, but just like the compositions on this album, it was carefully crafted to cut to the core of what this music is all about. You're Never Really Alone arrives in stark contrast to Parzen-Johnson's 2020 We Jazz Records solo debut, Imagine Giving Up. Where Imagine Giving Up was celebrated for Parzen-Johnson's ability to assemble deeply evocative electro-acoustic sound worlds, You're Never Really Alone shows that Jonah can look you in the eye and say "my voice alone is enough." Across eight tracks, Parzen-Johnson, a Chicago native, explores the technical limits of his baritone saxophone and flute without ever making the listener feel like he has something to prove. You will find circular breathing, multiphonics, and explosive levels of sound, but more importantly, you will enjoy every moment of musical storytelling and compositional skill. This album is made for repeat listening.
"Marion 'Little Walter' Jacobs was possibly one of the most important blues artists of the post-war era. He not only revolutionized harmonica playing by using amplification to compete with the growling guitars of the Chicago blues movement, he changed the way the harp was perceived and opened up a new world of instrumentation. Walter purposely pushed his amplifiers beyond their intended technical limitations to explore and develop radical new timbres and sonic effects previously unheard from a harmonica or indeed, any other instrument. This natural distortion opened musicians' ears to the possibilities of their own instruments and, in many ways, laid the foundations for the blues boom to come along in the sixties. Walter was the first, and to this point, only artist to have a No.1 hit with his self-penned, harp led instrumental Juke. He went on to have numerous R&B chart hits before succumbing to his wild, violent and hard drinking life-style. This LP features all Little Walters biggest R&B chart hits from his debut No.1 'Juke,' to his last chart entry in 1959, the ironically titled 'Everything Gonna Be Alright.'"
Derek Bailey: guitar. Simon H. Fell: double bass. Recorded at Sound 323, London by Tim Fletcher on 15 August 2001. Remastered by Rupert Clervaux, September 2023. "Both Bailey and Fell are master musicians who improvise together at an intense and challenging level. This set bristles with focused energy. Both instruments sound closely mic'd so that we can hear each scrape, pluck and bow. At times, it seems as if Mr. Bailey is on the verge of exploding and then things calm do a bit only to flare up again. Mr. Fell sounds as if he is using a peg or wooden object on his bass at times and coaxing brittle percussive sounds. I found this set to be quite exciting, that edge-of-your-seat dynamic! Pretty incredible throughout!" --Bruce Lee Gallanter
The June Brides debut single originally released in 1984 on The Pink Label. Both tracks are from fresh transfers from the master tapes which were then remastered by Jason Mitchell at LOUD Mastering in Taunton in early 2021. The June Brides are true innovators, hailing from the first wave of British indie, with fans that include Manic Street Preachers (who covered their song "The Instrumental" as a tribute), Morrissey, and Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch. They have always been regarded as pioneers, and one of the most beloved of the bands that formed the original UK independent music scene, which has since been tagged as C86. Part of The Optic Sevens 5.0 Reissue Series. Limited to 500 copies worldwide. Pressed on blue vinyl. Includes poster. Brand-new remastered versions.
Part of the Optic Sevens 5.0 Reissue Series. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide. Pressed on clear blue vinyl . Includes poster. The Wedding Present's third single originally released in 1986. Company card inner, re-printed copy of original promo poster. Sleeve is a copy of original 12" release. "This Boy Can Wait" is the unedited 12" version.
Following the success of his last Rhythm Section release, Ripples, the enigmatic Wallace returns to Rhythm Section after a series of stellar releases with a highly anticipated follow-up -- Papertrip -- that is destined to once again set the dance music community ablaze. Wallace's impact on the scene has been nothing short of extraordinary, and since Ripples he has gone on to play in the iconic Panorama bar, tour Japan and release a double LP on Mule Musiq. Wallace continues to cultivate a dedicated following among discerning listeners and industry tastemakers alike. Now, with the forthcoming release, Wallace is poised to ascend to new heights, continuing the undeniable Wallace-maina. For fans of: Chaos In The CBD, Kolter, Black Loops, Laurence Guy.
2024 restock; LP version. Obi; includes four-page insert. Wewantsounds present the first official release outside of Japan for The Mystery Kindaichi Band's The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke, originally released in 1977. The "imaginary" soundtrack to the cult detective book series by writer Seishi Yokomizo is on many DJ want-lists. Arranged by soundtrack master Kentaro Haneda and featuring a mysterious group of the best '70s Japanese Funk musicians, the album is pure undiluted disco funk. Writer Seishi Yokomizo is an institution in Japan. He could be compared to Agatha Christie with his series of novels based on the adventures of detective Kosuke Kindaichi. The fictional character was born in 1946 with Yokomizo's first novel in the series and solved mysteries until the late '70s under Yokomizo's pen before the death of the writer in 1981. Yokomizo's novels have been a prime source for film and TV scenarios, so when, in 1977, Japanese label King Records decided to record a concept album based on the Kindaichi novels, it made complete sense. The writer was slightly surprised though. The concept album was arranged by pianist Kentaro Haneda, a key TV and film composer who has worked on many anime films and is also famous outside of Japan for composing the music for the video game Wizardry. For the album, he assembled a supergroup of some of the best Tokyo funk and city pop musicians. The long list includes jazz pianist Hideo Ichikawa who played on the 1971 Joe Henderson In Japan album, drummer Jun Moriya, who is on Joe Hisaichi's cult Wonder City Orchestra album (1982), percussionist Tadaomi Anai who played with disco singer Eri Ohno, trumpeter Koji Hadori who's featured on Haruomi Hosono's Pacific album (1978). Also present on the album are saxophonist Takeru Muraoka who plays on many Tatsuro Yamashita cult albums including For You (1982) and Spacy (1977), Kimiko Yamauchi (koto) who's on Akiko Yano's landmark 1976 album Japanese Girl (WWSCD 017CD/WWSLP 017LP), and last but not least, French hornist Koji Yamaguchi who plays on Yazuaki Shimizu's Kakashi (1982). Together they lay the funk on ten instrumentals filled with pure disco and funk breakbeats, making the album one of the highly-coveted Japanese LPs on international cratedigger scene. Remastered from the original tapes. Faithfully reproduced original artwork; Artwork by renowned illustrator Ichibun Sugimoto. New introduction by Anton Spice.
2024 repress; LP version. 140 gram vinyl; includes four-page insert with photos and liner notes. Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space present Steve Hiett's Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long-awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece, Down On The Road By The Beach (BEWITH 001CD/061LP), these ten Balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist Paris Tapes (1986-1997). While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett's music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar. Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett's languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine, and then utilize his arsenal of technology. He'd dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett's six-stringed touch. Hiett's guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly's ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys. Remastered from the previously unreleased, original masters by Simon Francis. These private moments are adorned with Hiett's singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
"On the cover: This is a really packed, special issue of Maggot Brain, with the feature cover story a comprehensive interview by celebrated writer Sasha Frere-Jones with essayist Lucy Sante (who's written for every issue of MB since the start), on the occasion of her awesome memoir about transitioning, I Heard Her Call My Name. Inside: Phill Niblock: A tribute to the genius musician, filmmaker, label head, and generous promoter of ecstatic sound, by Steve Silverstein. Tresa Leigh: An in-depth feature on the star of Efficient Space's beloved Ghost Riders compilation! Really a beautiful, untold story. Dredd Foole: As his legacy is revealed through Corbett vs Dempsey's archival series, Foole talks to Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny about the role of his band the Din in the Boston underground. Plus, sidebars from Christina Carter, Kris Price, and Phil Milstein. Loopsel: Mike McGonigal on some of the most elusive, beautiful contemporary music, straight out of Gothenburg. Sleater-Kinney: 30 vital years of uncompromising music, by none other than Audrey Golden!"
"Way Out Yonder is the second live release from Terry Riley & Gyan Riley, the duo comprised of iconic American composer and minimalist pioneer Terry Riley and his guitarist/composer son Gyan Riley. The album is comprised of spontaneous improvisations and compositions by both Terry and Gyan, captured during three performances in Canada, Japan and the US, and features the elder Riley on piano, voice, melodica and electronics. The album artwork was created by Barbara Falconer, who also painted the cover of Riley's landmark 1978 release, Sri Camel."
2024 restock. Wewantsounds reissue Omar Khorshid's highly sought-after instrumental album Giant + Guitar originally released in 1974 in Lebanon and recorded at Polysound Studio by famed Lebanese engineer Nabil Moumtaz. The album features Khorshid's unique electric guitar sound mixed with Arabic melodies over superb psych arrangements. Omar Khorshid's life, if short (he died age 36 in a road accident), was extraordinary. Blessed with a great talent for music, the Egyptian musician and actor became one of the best guitarists of the Arab World accompanying the greatest stars of the '60s and '70s, including Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez and Farid El Atrache. To avoid the political troubles of the time in Egypt, and to fulfil his artistic ambitions, Khorshid moved to Beirut in Lebanon in 1973 and started recording a string of superb albums experimenting with oriental music. He recorded for several labels including Voice of Lebanon, one of the key Lebanese labels of the time. He released his first album Giant + Guitar for the label in 1974 and it was an instantly popular in the Arab world. The front cover sees Khorshid on his motorcycle in the busy street of Hamra, one of the most vibrant Beirut neighborhoods where he was playing most nights in residence. (The album was also released internationally as Rhythms from the Orient with a different artwork focusing on belly dance). The sound is both bold and accessible, displaying Khorshid's unique guitar sound, accompanied by a small band mixing traditional and modern fuzzed-up arrangements. The mesmerizing opening track, "Rakset El Fadaa", composed by Lebanese musician Nour Al Mallah, is a perfect example of Khorshid's artistry. Starting with a long, hypnotic guitar intro, it then speeds up with the backing of a groovy organ, Oriental percussion and the psych sound of an early synthesizer to great effect. The album continues on the same mode blending traditional oriental music with inventive arrangements as showcased by the Mohamed Abdel Wahab standard "Leilet Hob" popularized by Oum Kalthoum, which sees Khorshid and his musicians shifting pace several times over eight minutes. One of the peaks of the album in terms of sonic experiments is undoubtedly Korshid's own composition, "Taqassim Sanat Alfein", with Khorshid's superb guitar in full bloom accompanied by a few touches of synth. Wewantsounds' series of Arabic music reissues are curated by Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Newly remastered; includes original Voice of Lebanon artwork and a two-page insert featuring liner notes by DJ Ernesto Chahoud.
2024 repress. "Recorded in 1995 and 1996, mostly in John Fahey's room at a Salem, Oregon boardinghouse, the performances on Proofs and Refutations prefigure the ornery turn of the page that marked Fahey's final years, drawing another enigmatic rabbit from his seemingly bottomless musical hat. Cloaked in the language of dogma, this is Fahey dancing a jig in the Duchampian gap, jester cap bells a-jingling. Right out of the gate, Fahey re-materializes before us, somewhere between Oracle of Delphi and Clown Prince at Olympus. Mounting a thundering dialectic from on high, 'All the Rains' resembles nothing else in his extensive discography -- betraying roots in everything from Dada to Episcopal liturgical chant -- and contains nary a plucked guitar note. When the lap steel of yore appears on 'F for Fake,' it serves more as soundbed for an extended sequence of vocal improvisations, running the gamut from wordless Bashoian caterwauling to free-form (but decidedly fake) Tuvan, even revealing a burnished falsetto in the process. Fahey takes on a different kind of provocation in the two acoustic guitar-based tracks closing Side 1 -- 'Morning' parts 1 and 2 -- the first of four recordings in this session that have him wrestling with the ghost of Skip James, perhaps Fahey's effort to wrench the 'bitter, hateful old creep' (his words) back into the grave. Anchoring Side 2 is the two-part 'Evening, Not Night,' the second half of his extended cathexis on James. The opening and closing pieces again feature Fahey's guitar as drone soundbed -- employing distortion, oscillation, and an altogether absurd quotient of reverb to create texture and harmonics that are --if we wanna go there -- not dissimilar to the sustained tonic clusters of Tibetan singing bowls, the hurdy gurdy, Hindustani classical music, or La Monte Young. Portions of this material appeared on obscure late '90s vinyl in the 7" or double-78 rpm format, but as a 'session' it has lain dormant more than a quarter century now. Taken together, we can now see these tracks as secret blueprints to latter-day Fahey provocations, several years prior to records like 1997's City of Refuge and Womblife."
2024 restock; single LP version. Obi strip; four-page insert. Wewantsounds present the reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto's third solo album Hidari Ude No Yume (Left Handed Dream), originally released in 1981 on the Alfa label. Save for a small-scale Dutch vinyl release in 1981, it is the first time the album's original Japanese edition is released outside of Japan (the European release on Epic Records included significantly different tracks and mixes). Hidari Ude No Yume was recorded at the legendary Alfa Studio "A" in Tokyo during the Summer of 1981. it came after B-2 Unit in 1980 and his debut album Thousand Knives Of... in 1978 (WWSCD 024CD/WWSLP 024LP), the very year Sakamoto was invited by Haruomi Hosono to join Yellow Magic Orchestra alongside Yukihiro Takahashi. In 1981, Sakamoto decided to record an album rooted in pop, following the more experimental B-2 Unit and his landmark electro debut. Sakamoto invited British producer Robin Scott to co-produce. They entered the Alfa studio in July 1981 with his fellow YMO musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, keyboard programmer extraordinaire Hideki Matsutake who'd been on Sakamoto's first two albums and became YMO's unofficial fourth member, violinist Kaoru Sato, saxophonist Satoshi Nakamura, and American guitarist Adrian Belew (David Bowie, The Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club). Together, they created a fascinating mix of pop, ambient and electronic music with elements of avant-garde and traditional Japanese music, the whole firmly rooted in a solid groove. From the funk of "Relâché" to the new wave feel of "Venezia" and the ambient minimalism of "Slat Dance," the album is remarkably consistent while displaying a wealth of global influences. The album was released in Japan in 1981 and Epic Records picked it up for Europe a year later but decided to release it in a significantly altered version. The sequencing was completely reshuffled and two tracks, "Saru No Ie" and "Living In The Dark" were completely dropped while three others, "Relâché", "Tell 'em To Me", "Venezia" were heavily remodeled with English lyrics and different names. Last but not least, a new English-sung track, "The Arrangement," was added, making the album nine tracks instead of ten for the Japanese edition. Newly remastered from the original tapes by renowned engineer Bernie Grundman. Comes with original artwork featuring cover shot by famous photographer Masayoshi Sukita. Four-page insert with new introduction by journalist Anton Spice.
2024 repress. With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (July 1980), Dome 2 (October 1980), and Dome 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, Will You Speak This Word: Dome IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983. These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene. Previously issued in the out-of-print Dome 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Now available as standalone LP; Includes download card. New artwork by Dave Coppenhall. B.C. Gilbert: voices, guitars, bass, percussion, tapes, drums; G. Lewis: voices, guitars, bass, percussion, tapes, synthesizer; A.M.C. - voice on "Cruel When Complete". Recorded on March 10th & 16th, 1980 and April 1st, 1980; Produced by B.C. Gilbert and G. Lewis; Engineer - Eric Radcliffe; Asst. engineer - John Fryer; Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011; Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011.
With an album as versatile and expansive as his LP Fusion, Len Faki wanted a collection of remixes to display a similar kind of musical variety. Hand-picked from his favorite producers, the cast now features a diverse group of artists who have re-imagined of Fusion's tracks. FigureX39 kicks off the trilogy, with Arthur Robert at the helm, fittingly remaking the album's pensive closer into a melodic peak time stomper. Ø [Phase] ramps up the intensity on straight-laced "Temple," keeping the BPM in line with modern techno's need for speed. On the flip, rRoxymore inverts "Tor 8" into a psychedelic funnel of haunted voices and pummeling percussion, while dubby synth swirls and ferocious filter action give Pangea's rework of "Space Cowboys I" a distinctly UK-feel. Coming in as hard hitting as ever, PAS layers high-octane rave stabs and nonstop propulsive drums on his version of "Yantra" and one of the album's few original house tracks, "It's Time," gets the Truncate treatment, making for lean, clap-heavy groover with enough low-end to move some bodies. Often known for his cinematic compositions, Djrum delivers a complex masterpiece of heady drum science and intricate patterns condensed into one dazzling mosaic of sound. Closing this first EP out in style is Munich-based newcomer Polygonia, presenting her shimmering and always shifting remix of "Friedrichshain Funk," effortlessly moving between driving rhythms and mystical melodies.
2024 repress. The record follows a majestic appearance on the Tresor 30 anniversary compilation and his expert devotion to the Roland TB-303, Filo Loves The Acid. True to form, 124 meddles sharp rhythmic minimalism and diverse textures, each track pushing at the epiphanic threshold as the boss of Spazio Disponibile allows his deeply intuitive productions to take effect. "messy kafka world" introduces a frenetic and concentrated atmosphere of rhythmic forces, hallucinatory and euphoric in effect. Its dizzying staccato loops are given structure by strengthening beats and bleak synthetic pillars. "synthi chase" emits radical powers, as buzzing rhythms and monotone synths make raw gestures towards altered states. It shares a kindred spirit with "cassiopeia 36", seen in particular through its determined and primitive pulses, nested within wobbling wood percussion and nervous synth repetitions. "wooden dolls don't cry" stamps a warm groove, its tempered percussion taking center stage as shimmering melodic loops threaten spiraling feedback. These dark, hypnotic tracks are flawlessly programmed to cast mesmeric momentums onto club floors and into loosened limbs. 124 represents Donato Dozzy ever-expanding his powers and musical freedom. His innate groove and inventive sound design push minimal and serene techno with a substantial weight and voice that sets him apart from others.
"A very nice return to unadorned acoustic guitar playing by one of the form's masters. Allred's last album for FTR, What Strange Flowers Grow in the Shade (FTR 656LP) was more of an imaginary band outing, but Folk Guitar plays it straight. Joseph reports they'd been listening to a lot to pieces by 16th-century composer, John Dowland, and the solo work of Pentangle's John Renbourn while this album was gestating. They also note Hammer Studio horror-film soundtracks as a touchstone for certain tunes, while others were inspired by the music in Chinese fantasy TV shows, and poetic fragments by Sappho. All of which means, this is another deeply considered and beautifully rendered set of tunes by this Tennessee-based rambler. Unlike some of Allred's early solo work, which manifested the same sort of syncretic brassiness as Robbie Basho's Takoma-era work, several of the pieces here display an extreme clarity of attack that reminds me a bit of British guitarist, John Pearse, whose work also explored folk and classical traditions (sometimes simultaneously). But of course, Allred's playing is as original as always. They manage to blend whatever influences they have consumed into perfect gems of musical karma -- each facet glimmering like a transcendental star. Folk Guitar is a work of unalloyed brilliance, and will prove to be a boon companion for anyone attuned to the art of solo guitar music." --Byron Coley, 2024
Sound artist, technologist, and electronic musician Moisés Horta Valenzuela (aka Hexorcismos) has been studying artificial intelligence and generative art, wondering how these new technologies might be augmented into his musical process. Born in Tijuana and currently based in Berlin, Hexorcismos has long attempted to break down the permeable borders between musical styles and expressions, using the spaces in between to reinforce his politics and worldview. And on Mutalismx, he expands his vision, inviting artists from across the globe to collaborate on work that questions the biases inherent in AI models, offering a collective alternative that could serve as a blueprint for further research. Hexorcismos began to develop a bottom-up approach to AI, using "small data" to interrogate his idiosyncratic approach to art; he built a tool called "SEMILLA.AI" based on neural audio synthesis that could not only mimic his sonic fingerprint but transform it into another. So when he offered the synth to his network of collaborators, he gave them the option of either using only their data or sharing the signatures of each other artist involved in the project, blurring their identities into a mutual voice. The result is a compilation that unspools with the coherence and fluidity of a single-artist album or adventurous DJ mix, genreless and boundless but unified by a singular message. Hunanese-American artist Kloxii Li for example takes rugged percussion and tense, industrial ambience, smudging her soundscape into a swirling gust of ghostly dissonance. Hexorcismos himself contributes two compositions: the lengthy, hypnotic "Acaso de veras se vive con raÃz en la Tierra," an AI-powered scramble of his pointed tribal guarachero experiments; and "Interferencias," a collaboration with Mexican club veteran Bryan Dálvez, aka El Irreal Veintiuno that drives intense dancefloor rhythms into a dense haze of frozen drones and radio static. Elsewhere, Berlin-based Lebanese artist and writer Jessika Khazrik dissolves her voice into a mesh of obscured rhythms and dissociated whirrs, blending the organic with the artificial but retaining an overpowering sense of humanity. Data sets are made by people, and by engaging directly with musicians, Hexorcismos suggests a new way of utilizing a technology demonized and glorified without careful examination. Operating outside of academia and capitalist enterprises, Mutualismx proposes an alternative future -- one without borders that's not beholden to the Western canon, where independent labor can be prioritized and celebrated, and where creativity can truly flourish. Also featuring Ale Hop, Daniela Huerta, Debashis Sinha, El Irreal Veintiuno, Khyam Allami, KMRU, MAF, Portrait XO, Simina Oprescu, and Visions of Lizard.
LP version. The relative classicism of Frustration's sixth album, Our Decisions, quenches the thirst of fans whose reputation is well established. Their music is driven by an initial desire that is sufficiently complex that its expression is never a repetition. Frustration doesn't teach music history, but that doesn't mean they don't know where they come from. One of the great joys of listening to a band that's had time to figure out what it wants is that it plays together. The keyboards have six strings, the drummer has a mediator, the bass sings, no one's pulling their punches, and it shows. No doubt there are plenty of presets on his synths, but Fred Campo had to rip out what wasn't being used, and the result: no lasagna of layers, it's played like a scraper. If this is your first knife, be confident: the quintet crafts its blades with the savoir-faire of a Thiers cutlery factory. For snobs who roll on the floor when English is sung on the wrong side of the Channel, two tracks in French, "Omerta" and "Consumés," remind listeners that Fabrice Gilbert sings in an interlanguage that has kept the best of both idioms. It's the perfect way to savor his acid, no-holds-barred rants, which cut a swath through this "generation of apathetic truffles/fantasizing about assholes full of money." Produced in-house at Mains d'Oeuvres, premixed by guitarist Nicus, mixed by Jonathan Lieffroy, with Krikor on mastering: there's been a bit of a shift to port since their last album, So Cold Streams. The sound is less radically cold wave, and seeks a balance close to the instruments (the guitar plays inside your face, closer is in). There are traces of Indus on the drum skins of "Riptide," tunnel produced like a banger, and sung like new wave. Anne, from the Rouen combo Hammershøi, sings in German on "Vorbei," a rare moment of pause in this very intense record. The cardio-packed drums of "Catching Your Eye" recall the joyful drone of "Shades from the past," an instrumental from their first album, and confirm, if confirmation were needed, that Mark Adolf forms a formidable tandem with Pat Dambrine on bass. "Secular Prayer," which closes the album, confirms that Frustration are as much in the Ian Curtis family as they are in the Ian Dury family: it takes great care not to take themselves so seriously with such success.
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King Of The Harp: Complete Chart Hits 1952-59 LP
Supersonic Megafauna Collision LP
Quadrophenia Live in Philadelphia 1973 LP
Live in Philadelphia 1973 LP
Agustin Pereyra Lucena CD
Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom CD
Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom 2LP
Black Holes Don't Choke CD
Black Holes Don't Choke LP
One Man Against The World CD
One Man Against The World LP
Reflections (30th Anniversary Edition) 2LP
You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends/This Boy Can Wait 7"
You're Never Really Alone LP
Ye Ankasa | We Ourselves CD
New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz CD
Supersonic Megafauna Collision (Red Vinyl) LP
Cuban Music In Jam Session LP
The Spiritual (Clear Vinyl) LP
The Found Tapes: Live in Los Angeles 3CD
Garage Beat In Florence: The Complete 1966 Singles Collection 2LP
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?/Stayin' Alive (Splatter Color Vinyl) 7"
The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke LP
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