Double LP version. In April 2023, the first part of the Fluxus edition called Stolen Symphony was released. Now, in 2024, there is the second part, called Keep Together. At the center of this edition was a broken piano, acquired by the Opening Performance Orchestra for the purpose of making live and studio recordings. During this time other new works for this broken piano were written by diverse Fluxus and non-Fluxus composers. In the spring of 2022, the Opening Performance Orchestra and the broken piano participated in an event hosted by Mieko Shiomi. This was a new version of her early work Spatial Poem, documentation of which was presented at the 2022 Aichi Triennale in Tokyo. At present, the broken piano lies in the open air in Prague and is subject to gradual decay. This edition contains new and old pieces, live and studio recordings, finished pieces and scores to be performed, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments from 33 Fluxus artists, which have been played by ten soloists and four ensembles. There are new essays and articles from 15 writers on the theme Fluxus, as well as original photos and other documentation in the booklets. The Belgian label Sub Rosa provided technical support and a good place for the grand-scale release. The audio restauration and mastering were done by Gabriel Séverin at Laboratoire central, Brussels, and Kakaxa, 3bees, Prague. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive archives and Edizioni Conz provided co-production. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Mozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive, the private archives from diverse Fluxus artists and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. Milan Knízák, Henning Christiansen, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, Bengt af Klintberg, George Maciunas, Takako Saito, Toshi Ichiyanagi, John Cage, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nam June Paik, Sara Miyamoto, Ken Friedman, Yoko Ono, Josef Anton Riedl, Giancarlo Cardini, Ay-O, and George Brecht.

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

The first ever publication of the original soundtrack composed by Alain Pierre for the Belgian cult film Vase de noces, directed by Thierry Zeno in 1974. Limited edition of 400 copies with screen-printed sleeve. Vase de Noces wasn't released in Belgium. The only distribution Thierry's films might have accessed here was the "Swedish distribution," a code for distribution around adult movie theaters. Films by major directors such as Bergman or Polanski were released this way. In memory of Alain Pierre (1948-2024).

"Vase de noces was made with very little money. Thierry used 16mm reversal film, utilizing the ends of reels he obtained from friends who worked as TV cameramen. Similarly, I salvaged magnetic tape from my workplace, the Équipe sound studio. Film professionals looked down on him because he filmed everything on his own, without relying on technicians. The remarks became even more disparaging when they saw the quality of the result. Thierry shot this film gradually, just getting by, progressing intermittently, but he had a precise idea and memory of the framing and sequences. He really did a great job, as if he had the entire edit in mind from the start. The first shot had to be the right one. He showed me the film sequence by sequence when the editing was over. This was how he worked, and that's why it took him so long getting the right splices, the right light, etc. Thierry handled the framing and the lighting himself. His black-and-white work is unique; he operated within constraints, which is how creativity often flourishes. Thierry had a story in mind, and in the end, he achieved exactly what he wanted. The performance of actor Dominique Garny, for instance, and his aptitude -- it helped a lot. They spent hours together in the cold, in the mud. As the shooting progressed, I suggested samples of sounds obtained from my machine. This was what he wanted: bottle sounds. There isn't a single direct sound in the film -- it's all dubbed. I never distinguished music from the rest of the soundtrack. The idea of a 'sound object' never left me, and I've always kept that direction in mind when composing. One day, Thierry stopped by while I was working on a documentary about Saint Augustine, for which I was using a tune by Monteverdi. He told me about a certain sequence from his film, and I had the feeling that this music would work wonderfully with that sequence if I slowed it down to the extreme, to the point that it would be unrecognizable. Very rudimentary special effects. I had manipulated music sung by castrati this way for O Sidarta (FKR 107LP), and he liked it. My suggestion was accepted." -- Alain Pierre

"Jacob Long's fourth full-length for Kranky began as a notion to reimagine Earthen Sea as a 'piano trio,' inspired by a year-long immersion in the ECM label catalog, but the compositions soon grew more complex. Elements were chopped and resampled, then layered with bass, drums, percussion, and additional keys. The result is a fusion of live band acoustics and downtempo loops, sculpted into nine smoke-and-mirror dubs of fractured jazz, soft-focus noir, and trip-hop dust: Recollection. Like the title implies, Long's playing and production share a mood of pensive movement, shuffling and rippling like uncertain memories at strange hours. From looming fog ('Present Day,' 'Neon Ruins') and shadowy breaks ('Another Space,' 'Cloudy Vagueness') to rosy glows ('Clear Photograph') and smeared reverie ('White Sky'), Recollection deftly wields its palette of gradient color and subdued states of beauty. His is a music of reduction and reflection, kinetic but oblique, attuned to the silhouettes of sound."

Double LP version. Synth pop trio Bronski Beat's 1984 debut The Age of Consent is a rarity in musical history -- an album that both defined a generation and challenged the status quo. Its four singles, and particular lead single "Smalltown Boy," have endured with astonishing resonance, offering home to all listeners dreaming of escape from their familiar surroundings and situations. Every track on the album places the listener "in the room:" they are in it, living it, rolling inside each song's thematic meaning. Through the blue-eyed wonder of singer Jimmy Somerville's vocal pirouettes, they too take the punch of hate in "Why?," question the bible with alongside a male voice choir on "It Ain't Necessarily So," and watch the same crappy TV advertising on "Junk." They are part of the trade-off between lust and commerce in "Love and Money" and the heated near climax of "Need A Man Blues." 40 years later and The Age of Consent remains as prescient and vital as ever as it did on its original release; truly transgressive -- defiant, queer, and laden with hooks. To celebrate this important anniversary, London Records revisit the album across a series of expanded formats, uncovering sonic archival gems, new mixes, essays and more. Includes 24-page booklet featuring rare and unseen photos, and essays by: Tom Rasmussen, Lesley Chow, Lucy Robinson, and Barnaby Ashton-Bullock. Also available as 4CD/DVD (LMS 1725202) and 2LP (LMS 1725203).

Crawling Wind was released in 1981 on the Japanese Chaos International Series label and features the tracks "Toujours Plus à l'Est," "Before The Heat," and "Central Belgium In The Dark." This is the first vinyl reissue of this legendary EP. "Toujours Plus à l'Est," as the title suggests, is heavily influenced by the traditional music of Eastern Europe, particularly Bulgaria. It also pays tribute to the iconic catchphrase of Professor Calculus (Tournesol), the character from the Belgian comic series Tintin. "Before The Heat," played live a few times, is an ambient composition by Andy Kirk, who is part of the EP's lineup alongside Daniel Denis, Guy Segers, Alan Ward, and Dirk Descheemaeker. "Central Belgium in the Dark" is a live improvisation from a period when Univers Zéro dedicated part of their concerts to complete improvisation. What makes this recording unique is that one of Andy Kirk's effects pedals picked up and emitted the sound of a mysterious radio signal, seemingly coming from "nowhere," especially noticeable at the end of the piece. The title of this improv is a nod to contemporary composer Charles Ives' work "Central Park in the Dark." "Central Belgium" refers to the concert venue where the piece was recorded (Haine-St-Pierre). This EP was named one of the greatest Belgian albums of all time by MOFO magazine in February 2000, a rock magazine from the '80s. The original cover artwork has been beautifully redesigned by Thierry Moreau. Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music -- most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.

LP version. On Beautiful Days is Winter Family's fourth album. It tells a lot of stories; that of the musicians themselves and their loved ones, those of their territories, of their life in Jerusalem, Paris, or Lorraine; that of women, "witches," conspiracy myths; that of capitalist and colonialist Europe; that of the blindness and violence of Israeli society and the indoctrination of its population; that of the occupation of Palestine; that of eternal lockdown and a laboratory rat; and maybe yours, too. The duo from Jerusalem and Lotharingia formed by Ruth Rosenthal and Xavier Klaine has been developing for around fifteen years a unique universe, to say the least, alternating synthetic punk sounds and dronic prayers of a society on the edge of the precipice. Nourished by metal and baroque music, multidisciplinary theater and African-American culture, they continue to trace a unique path by defending a radical discourse that is aware of its contradictions. They play across the world in clubs, galleries and churches, music that is minimal, dark, political and abrasive, between magic, chaos and melancholy. Winter Family also create documentary theatre performances produced by major European theaters. Sometimes their daughter Saralei plays with them. Listeners hear layers of pump organs and harmoniums, an old piano, distortions and celestial white noise, sirens -- the sound of marching boots -- breathing during sleep -- stun grenades at checkpoint 56 in Hebron recorded by Xavier, the flows of Saralei's flutes, beats played on an iPhone and Ruth's voice. Listeners dive into all these contemporary stories haunted by history, feeling of a leap into the void, a state of dissociation or a feeling of liberation.

Masonna, the brainchild of Yamazaki "Maso" Takushi, holds a revered place within the Japanoise scene alongside peers like Merzbow, Incapacitants, CCCC, Violent Onsen Geisha, and Hijokaidan. The project, named Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, epitomizes the extreme end of the noise spectrum, intertwining cascades of electronic disarray with a distinct psychedelic touch and violent vocalizations. The new limited edition vinyl reissue of maso+onna=masonna, originally released on cassette by the Coquette label in 1989, breathes new life into this landmark recording, which has long been the subject of underground lore for its intense, almost mythical presence in the world of noise music. This reissue, limited to just 199 copies, captures Masonna at one of his most pivotal moments, offering two tracks that span roughly 20 minutes each. This format, with one piece per side, creates a compelling dynamic, allowing the listener to fully immerse themselves in the sprawling auditory landscapes that Masonna weaves. Side A delves into the tumultuous depths of distortion and feedback, showcasing the bracing intensity for which Masonna is famed. Here, Takushi's vocal manipulations become ferocious outbursts of sound, transformed through extreme distortion and delay into frantic bursts of static. The noise is relentless, taking the listener through a labyrinthine journey of high-pitched screeches, electronic burbles, and blues pulsations with disturbing whispers and hallucinating screams. Side B, in stark contrast, starts on a different trajectory. Opening with an incredible clutter of guitar and vocal, before the mayhem dissipates, buried under thick blankets of feedback and electronic distortion. This side is more organized yet still unrestrained, reminiscent of the controlled chaos in Steve Reich's minimalist compositions. The side's progression towards increasingly intricate and textured environments makes it a compelling counterpart to the more immediate assault of Side A. This album is not just an essential listen for seasoned aficionados of Japanoise but also for anyone beginning their journey into the world of extreme sonic art. Historically, maso+onna=masonna holds a monumental status, not just within Masonna's amazing catalogue but also within the broader genre of noise music. This vinyl reissue honors that legacy, offering a carefully remastered version that maintains the raw energy and emotional breadth of the original recordings. This limited-edition vinyl is a rare opportunity to experience Masonna's groundbreaking work in its full, remastered glory, and it is a must-have for any serious collector or enthusiast of noise music.

Solmania's limited-edition vinyl reissue of the Re-Rurr LP is a monumental work of avant-garde noise music that immerses listeners in a sonic experience unlike any other. Led by the visionary Masahiko Ohno, who founded Solmania in 1984, this reissue serves as a testament to the boundless creativity and technical brilliance that have established Solmania as a trailblazer in the Japanese music landscape. Ohno's unconventional approach to crafting electric guitars from spare parts has not only yielded unique instruments but has also paved the way for a musical journey that is as innovative as it is captivating. Originally released on cassette by Fatagaga Tapes in 1985, the two expansive tracks featured on this vinyl reissue invite listeners to embark on a transcendent voyage through experimental soundscapes and uncharted musical territories. Ohno's mastery of multi-neck guitars and harp guitars, with their unconventional body shapes and peculiar pickup placements, creates a sonic tapestry that is both haunting and sublime. Drawing inspiration from various musical genres such as progressive, punk, metal, noise, and drone music, Solmania's compositions not only defy conventional boundaries but also elevate the art of free improvisation to new and exhilarating heights. On side A of the album, listeners are taken on a mesmerizing voyage through a mystical landscape of shimmering chords and intricate melodies, each note resonating with a sense of ethereal beauty and enigmatic allure. As the music unfolds, Ohno's exceptional technical prowess and profound musical sensitivity reveal themselves, guiding the audience through a sonic journey that is not only introspective but also truly awe-inspiring. As the album transitions to side B, the exploration of free noise sculpting reaches new heights, plunging the listener into a realm of raw, unfiltered sound that challenges perception and sparks a spirit of adventurous exploration and discovery. Ohno's command of improvisation and experimentation takes center stage, as intricate layers of sound intertwine and collide in a cacophony of sonic innovation. Through the progression from side A to side B, the Re-Rurr LP reissue becomes a transformative sonic odyssey that not only challenges traditional notions of music but also invites listeners to embark on a deep and introspective journey of self-discovery. Whether you are a dedicated follower of Solmania or a newcomer to the world of experimental noise music, this vinyl reissue promises a transformative and enlightening experience that will leave a lasting impression on all who dare to immerse themselves in its captivating soundscape.

Metal.wet is the new album from mercurial avant-pop shapeshifters Soft as Snow. Ten tracks of beat-driven synth-pop featuring analogue synths, samplers, live drums, and processed guitars, with Oda Starheim's evocative and layered vocals at the center of it all. Recorded in Berlin and Marseille, the album is an ambitious and atmospheric step forward for the duo, exploring themes of vulnerability and sensuality with a confident and uncanny approach to experimental pop production. Includes insert with lyrics. Mastered by Heba Kadry. "Whip" features London-based MC Brother May.

LP version. Roberto Laneri (Prima Materia) further radicalizes his formal research path in the field of harmonic singing, with a highly rigorous compositional practice of scores and rhythmic placement of overtones. At the dawn of Western counterpoint and the birth of polyphony, he imagines as in a dream the famous Magister Perotinus (XII century) in ecstatic contact with higher entities (Jedi Masters) who would introduce him to those secrets of the vocal art, further developed in later centuries. Among the mysteries of subtle acoustic phenomena such as resonance, phasing and interference, the criterion of harmonic convergence (i.e. the convergence of different fundamentals on common overtones) emerges as a powerful compositional tool. The strength of this music lies in the vibrational power of sound, in an expanded archetypal liturgy, where lights and shadows of ancient Gothic cathedrals infinitely amplify the imaginative transformation of the real, as in the vesica piscis-shaped crevice of Noura Tafeche's sensational cover.

Probably in another life David Edren (DSR Lines) was a visionary biologist or chemist. In this new sound adventure, he becomes the narrator of anatomical and cellular symphonies, catharsis of invisible biochemical processes, painting the micro-dimensional flows of the subtle body or imaginary geographies of hidden micro-bodies. Here, his organic electronic music is enriched with new lymphs that also vaguely recall the influences of non-European music, especially Chinese and Japanese music (stick and chimes percussions) in an intimate and twilight dimension, poised between exotic ambient and cinematic suggestions. A militaristic description of liquid currents, labyrinthine veins, weaving streams, molecules and particles in multi-orbital dances, muscular chords, drowning bubbles, light waves; all in a confident compositional overview that is absolutely unique and fascinating.

These recordings were made in Bombay in 1968 by Bengt Berger (Bitter Funeral Beer Band) during a stay with Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, who was primarily responsible for the revival of the Rudra Veena as a solo concert instrument. His home in the suburb of Chembur was at the time the magical haunt of a plethora of fantastic musicians, including Ritwik Sanyal and K. Sridhar, who took part in the session. In perfect and stern Duphrad vocal style, these two Raga lead listeners to different atmospheres and perceptions: "Malkauns" is the contemplative state of the evening, of the abandonment of the senses before the breaking of the silence in the night; "Miyan Ki Todi" is the first breath of the morning, the gentle awakening of the limbs before a puja. The two Dagar brothers, Mohiuddin on the Rudra and Fariduddin on the chant, complement each other, become ocean and fire, stillness and storm, in an intimate and tight dialogue of exploration and expressive subtlety, in which the purity of an Indian summer becomes the highest symbol of beauty and freedom of spirit. Originally released on CD by Country & Eastern.

Through the course of time, DSR Lines (David Edren) never loses his intimate and profound connection to the universe of modular synths. These recordings, made during 2014 in a residence at the Cem/Worm studio in Rotterdam, represent a further magical compendium of his Organic Electronic Music. In particular, here he draws from his expressive arsenal the cosmic and galactic potential of the Arp 2500, which happily floating throughout. A rigorous magician of vaporous, oscillating patterns, sidereal frequencies, nebulous dust; an explorer of inter-zonal paths, he unveils new dreamlike dimensions en-route to unfold planets. Between Kraut-Kosmische accelerations and a personal approach of gentle minimalism, he always forges rare atmospheres of rhythmic pulsation, full of enveloping, spherical and spiraling sounds, luminous and radiant in their hypnotic aura, or magnificently ecstatic and ascending. Originally released by Ultra Eczema.

Corbett vs. Dempsey and Studio Williams announce that Radio Play is available on long play vinyl for the first time. The double-disk set contains two adaptions of Inklusive. Inklusive is a play written by Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz. It is part of a trilogy of radio plays from 1971 titled Trilogie Münchener Lebens. The play was first broadcast as a radio play in former West Germany on Südwestfunk in 1972. A second version was broadcast in former East Germany on Rundfunk der DDR in 1974. The West and East German broadcasts are the basis for two radio play adaptations by artist Christopher Williams. Both adaptations will be recorded in German using the same technology used to produce the original broadcasts of 1972 and 1974. Eva Mattes (O.k., The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) is an actress born in Tegernsee. Sebastian Bezzel (Tatort, Eberhoferkrimis) is an actor from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Norbert Stöß (Abschnitt 40) is an actor born in Dresden. Andreas Leupold (The Human Centipede) is an actor from East Berlin. Rüdiger Carl is a free jazz artist born in Goldap, East Prussia. Mo Stern is a sound engineer, visual artist, DJ and music producer born in Hamburg. Franz Xaver Kroetz is a playwright, actor, and director from Munich. Christopher Williams is a Los Angeles-born artist and professor of photography who lives and works in Cologne. Maximilian Klemens Sänger is an artist and filmmaker based in Düsseldorf. Packaged in cardboard sleeve with paper insert. Produced and directed by Christopher Williams; executive production by: John Corbett & Jim Dempsey. Edition of 500.

Over the last few years, the Italian imprint, Dialogo, has showed a remarkable dedication to the history of experimental music via reissues of seminal artefacts from the Cramps catalog, and important albums by Piero Umiliani, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Enrico Rava, and others. This initiative now takes on a towering scale with the first ever box set gathering the entire ten album collection of Brian Eno's Obscure Records, originally issued between 1975 and 1978. A truly groundbreaking body of recordings - many of which have remained out of print and difficult to find for decades - it contains some of the most important, influential, and enduring music to emerge during the second half of the 20th Century, which collectively reconfigured the terms of minimalism and laid the groundwork for the emerging movement of ambient music over its short, three-year run. Issued in a deluxe CD edition of 1,000 copies, each box set contains all of Obscure's albums, completely remastered by Andrea Marutti and housed in faithful mini-replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as a 130-page booklet, this historic collection marks the first time such a seminal series has received a complete repress. This is certainly one of the year's most interesting, essential, and widely anticipated releases, stunningly produced with the complete involvement of all the artists or their estates. When viewed collectively, the Obscure catalog reveals a remarkable, and previously unexplored counterpoint -- bridging the United Kingdom and the American West Coast -- to the dominant threads of minimal and experimental music, centered in New York that had long dominated the public consciousness. This historic collection marks the first time the seminal Obscure catalog has received a complete repress; simply a dream come true. Featuring Gavin Bryars, Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Brian Eno, David Toop, Max Eastley, Jan Steele, John Cage, Michael Nyman, The Penguin Café Orchestra, John White, Tom Phillips, Gavin Bryars, Fred Orton, and Harold Budd.

"Duck Baker should be a national treasure. He should be an international treasure. Should be? In my book he already is. I first came across his work in the 1970s on early Kicking Mule LPs in my local library in the UK, which was his temporary base then, and is his permanent home now. Many years later I was astounded by Spinning Song, his CD of Herbie Nichols compositions. Around the same time, I made contact with him by way of thanks following a review he wrote of my work on Stuff Smith and, later, other historic violinistic books and CDs. Duck's knowledge and learning about the ancestry of so many musical genres is prodigious, whether jazz, avant-garde, improvisation in general, various forms of country music, Irish, blues, ragtime, swing, you name it. He draws on so much to make his own unique playing and composing. And none of it is to go by the troublesome term 'appropriation;' Duck absorbs, pays tribute, and is himself, wherever his fingers might move across his flamenco guitar, including, of course, its wood body. This previously unreleased collection consists of fourteen solos and two duos with Eugene Chadbourne. The performances are drawn mostly from demo sessions or live recordings, and were recorded at various locations between 1976 and 1998. They run the gamut of moods and tempos, from the reflective 'Peace' and brooding 'Like Flies' to burners that rank with Baker's most animated free playing on record, like the title track, 'No Family Planning,' and 'Buffalo Fire.' The only so-to-speak standards are Thelonious Monk's 'Straight, No Chaser' and Billy Strayhorn's 'Take the 'A' Train,' the latter featuring fascinating and humorous interplay between the two guitarists?. Duck's catalogue is now vast, including a recent CD release of Thelonious Monk compositions, which beautifully complements the aforementioned Nichols CD. As well as solo efforts, past records include collaborations with the likes of Chadbourne, Roswell Rudd, John Zorn, and John Butchers or, at the other end of the spectrum, Stefan Grossman, John Renbourn, Leo Kottke, Molly Andrews, and Maggie Boyle. I, for one, never tire of listening to Duck playing in whatever context. He is a master and every recording is a gem." --Anthony Barnett

"11-song LP, one track in extended mix. Classic LP recorded circa 1980 in the Radics/Scientist era, this is a reissue of the 1997 pressing with two bonus tracks, but with a fresh new layout. Timeless stuff here that is the top shelf of its era."

Double LP version. Utah Saints are one of the most important acts since the inception of electronic dance music. Early adopters of sampling, they brought the artform -- used chiefly in hip-hop in the 1980s -- into new realms. Incorporating rock, dance and hip-hop elements into their music, they scored five Top 40 UK singles including "Something Good" and "What Can You Do For Me" and a Top 10 album in the space of just two years. Out of print since its original release over 30 years ago, Utah Saints' eponymous debut album returns -- remastered extended with three sought after remixes by CJ Bolland, DJ Misjah, and Union Jack. Includes special limited edition mirror board packaging, for National Album Day 2024.

"The inspiration for Christopher Trapani's (b. 1980) new song cycle is Michael Denning's book Noise Uprising, which chronicles the explosion of vernacular recording that took place in the late 1920s in port cities around the globe. The historical 78 rpm records of this era are the not-so-silent witnesses of the birth of son, jazz, samba, rembetiko, fado, tango, etc. They reveal a kind of B-side of music history, a people's history of music-making driven by the bustling marketplaces of colonial port cities. Noise Uprising (2024) is a polystylistic atlas that unravels a subterranean, cross-cultural network far away from, and with a wider reach than, traditional concert halls. Using Denning's book as a starting point, Christopher Trapani 'fills in the map' by composing a series of pieces for four guitars and two singers, sometimes including live electronics. In studying these 78s as primary source documents, Trapani transcribes and transforms their musical gestures. These recordings are in turn woven into electronic collages, often alongside his own field recordings, made on site in the cities where the source material originated, imagining alternative histories, fictive encounters and cross-pollinations between styles which in reality may never have intersected: gamelan meets tango, fado meets samba. With Noise Uprising Trapani uncovers hidden connections between geographically distant genres, but in doing so he always strives to create work that ultimately represents something more than a travelogue or a book of postcards. The short works he has composed for this cycle call into question notions of cultural appropriation and authenticity, challenge rather than romanticize notions of the exotic, and draw attention to the dangers of 'overtourism' and the unreflective, superficial consumption of place. The guitar, in all its possible variations, forms a common thread. But also the human voice plays a central role in Noise Uprising. This recording features the voices of Swedish-Ethiopian soprano Sofia Jernberg and Puerto Rican soprano Sophia Burgos."

"Tucked in the back corner of a linen closet in Macon, Georgia since 1979 sat a box that very few people knew existed. Lost and presumed forgotten, this box contained reel-to-reel tapes of the lost album by the band that issued the lauded Black Gold as The Mighty Chevelles in 1977. By 1979, while transitioning to the name Music Makers Band, the band entered Capricorn Studios and recorded this disco funk opus, finally issued as You Can Be. Nearly all songs have been remixed from the original multi-track masters by Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez."

"The definitive survey of America's independent '70s soul scene, and a companion piece to Now-Again's long-running Soul Cal series."

"Soul Cal captures the retro-utopian vision of a past where every smalltown record store or garage in the US might have hidden a virtuosic funk outfit; the thrill of knowing that jobbing musicians might be getting paid for the first time; plus the bittersweet knowledge that those that passed on are getting deserved recognition. And all that before you get the thrill of the music itself." --Wire Magazine.

"Compilation produced, annotated and researched by Eothen 'Egon' Alapatt. Art direction by Errol Richardson. Mastered by Dave Cooley, Kelly Hibbert, and Jason Bitner. Additional coordination by Tanner McCrary."

"Limited-edition transparent purple vinyl. Iggy Pop practically invented punk rock with The Stooges and is celebrated for his wild and dangerous attitude, whether with The Stooges, David Bowie, or other line-ups. But he's rarely seen SOLO. This Skydog Records double-vinyl album captures Iggy without any band in various environments, mostly acoustic and also electric, but -- just as rock'n'roll as ever! Stripped down versions of 'I Wanna Be Your Dog,' 'Louie Louie,' 'Night Clubbing,' Jonathan Richmond's 'Pablo Picasso' with only four strings left on his guitar, and many other favorites as they've rarely been heard -- and five otherwise unreleased songs! The 2LP set comprises a solo acoustic show from Barcelona, an acoustic studio session, a solo electric gig from Paris, plus more solo tracks from elsewhere. Skydog Records' first Iggy release was in 1976 with the riotous 'last ever Stooges show,' Metallic KO; this is its alternative hidden gem."

LP version. "Second release on Robert Pollard's new Splendid Research label is a reissue of a 1984 demo cassette by Children's Crusade, post-punk teenage band of Guided By Voices' Doug Gillard. The Cleveland guitarist went on to record for Scat, Homestead and Restless Records with the bands Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde, My Dad Is Dead, and Gem, before joining GBV (1996-2004), then Nada Surf (2010-2016), then rejoining GBV (2016-present), as well as playing on albums by Richard Buckner, Neko Case, and others. 1980s Cleveland was a hotbed for indie rock, following in the Northern Ohio footsteps of Pere Ubu, The Dead Boys, The Styrenes, Mirrors, and Devo. Children's Crusade was a fleeting blotch on the wild, mid-'80s Cleveland underground music scene, slowly seeping through like a drop of oil on the uniformly black jeans of that era -- noticeable only after it settles, spreads, and you realize it won't come out in the wash."

Club music reduced to its essential elements, those elements then pushed to their limits! Dangerously malfunctioning DJ tools! The Feeling of Power! All that and much more on this striking new record from the one and only Barnt, the great reductional absurdist finally appearing on Studio Barnhus, providing concrete proof of the secret, decade-long love-affair between artist and label, after a bunch of Barnt b2b Boman DJ sets over the years, Kornél Kovács' legendary "disco edit" of classic Barnt track "Chappell", endless "Studio Barnthus" jokes, etc. "Aqua Breeze" immediately makes its mark as an essential part of Barnt's relatively small, absolutely profound catalog.

MLiR is one of those rare creative partnerships where personalities and talents perfectly match, an exquisite balance of similarity and polarity leading to ingenuity. In the case of MLiR, this dynamic has resulted in the form of consistently vibrant takes on current, past and future global dance music, an artistic expression fueled by equal parts tireless record digging and masterful studio wizardry. Their two previous EPs on Studio Barnhus count among the label's most played and loved, and the forthcoming debut album Pulpo Fiction, released on the Stockholm label, takes it to the next level with a staggering track list of 16 new recordings featuring vocal talent as diverse as Kenyan rapper Nah Eeto, American poet Oliver Grimball and Swedish soul singer Cosima Olu. The music is as wild a ride as ever with MLiR at the controls -- ranging from the nostalgic to the futuristic, the deep to the poptastic -- with a firm base in the kind high-powered, light-footed dancefloor material the duo is so beloved for. Also features Arnau Obiols, Kamohelo, Janne Tavi, and Kamohelo.

mindSET is the ninth album from enigmatic producer SW., directly following 2024's excursion into his trademark techno, IDM and bleep soundscapes, on the myDEFINITIONS Vol II album. But with his mindSET album, SW. takes a left turn, as pioneers often do, and listeners find themselves on the lesser traveled side roads of electronic music history. Or in SW.'s own words: "the more abstract leftfield elements." It's in these less-defined areas that SW. finds his sweet spot, building dancefloor soundtracks that defied definition. And with mindSET, the sounds and the machines might have changed, the methodology remains the same. "It draws from what was more generally seen in leftfield as a term for the slightly off-kilter house and broken beats that didn't fit neatly into classic genres, whether that was Chicago house, French garage, drum and bass, or broken beat. It's more about those in-between sounds that never really took off, only appearing briefly in the early to mid-'90s and then quickly disappearing. There was a certain magic in that moment, which I wanted to capture. Also, the entire album was produced using classic analog equipment, with old machines that were used during that era. That's the approach I've taken." The eight tracks on mindSET are shaped out of de-tuned techno pop synths and heavy, syncopated drums, grooving along chopped-up polymeters to create an eerie mood, as if orbiting an undiscovered planet for the first time. The harmonic movements are often bent out of shape, sometimes veering towards Gherkin Jerks or Cristian Vogel territory. But in the end, the sounds are less important than the atmosphere, and the tracks represent an attitude or an approach -- to creating the music as well as experiencing it. mindSET is a nod to those dancers sharing an oddball moment, and for those of us on the same wavelength, it's a vibe listeners can all get inside.

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

Limited edition LP of 100 copies with special folded cover. Less a tapestry than an errant strand of lunatic fringe, Hotel 10KM pulls listeners through a jungle of abandoned airwaves, smoky jazz clubs, and lost VHS tape with the guiding hand of Yado Tasu's distinct brand of kitchen-sink bedroom-funk. Imagine a soundtrack Richie Unterberger might dream up for his conversation pit and you're almost there. More than just record-collector music, Hotel 10KM is the groggy stirring of a record collection awakened. "Hotel 10KM was made in spare and forced moments with a Tascam four-track cassette recorder and a laptop in storage units, closets, bedrooms, a church, and a classroom from 2020-2023. It is maybe some or all of the following: a confused love letter to my family, a concept album about death, a stay-at-home parent's descent into madness, and/or a clumsy mélange of too many inspirations." Performing, digging, recording, and mixing by Yado Tasu. Lovingly mastered by Chris Cline.

2024 repress; LP version. "After a two-decade interlude, Jim O'Rourke's Moikai returns with Spectral Evolution, a major new work by Rafael Toral. Making his name in the mid-1990s with influential guitar drone platters like Sound Mind Sound Body and Wave Field, Toral has never been one to rest on his laurels repeating his past glories. Since 2017, Toral's work has been entering a new phase, often still centered around the arsenal of self-built instruments developed in the Space Program, but with a renewed interest in the long tones and almost static textures of his earlier work; he has also, after more than a decade, returned to the electric guitar. Spectral Evolution is undoubtedly Toral's most sophisticated work to date, bringing together seemingly incompatible threads from his entire career into a powerful new synthesis, both wildly experimental and emotionally affecting. Toral manages the almost miraculous feat of having his self-built electronic instruments (which in the past he had seen as 'inadequate to play any music based on the Western system') play in tune. In an unexpected sidestep away from any of his previous work, the chord changes that underpin many of the episodes on Spectral Evolution are derived from classic jazz harmony, including takes on the archetypal Gershwin 'Rhythm changes' and Ellington-Strayhorn's 'Take the ʻA' Train,' albeit slowed to such an extent that each chord becomes a kind of environment in its own right. Threading together twelve distinct episodes into a flowing whole, Spectral Evolution alternates moments of airy instrumental interplay with dense sonic mass, breaking up the pieces based on chord changes with ambient 'Spaces.' At points reduced to almost a whisper, at other moments Toral's electronics wail, squelch, and squeak like David Tudor's live-electronic rainforest. Similarly, his use of the guitar encompasses an enormous dynamic and textural range, from chiming chords to expansive drones, from crystal clarity to fuzzy grit: on the beautiful 'Your Goodbye,' his filtered, distorted soloing recalls Loren Connors in its emotive depth and wandering melodic sensibility. The product of three years of experimentation and recording, and synthesizing the insights of more than thirty years of musical research, Spectral Evolution is the quintessential album of guitar music from Rafael Toral."

From Mike Cooper: "I made the first set of pieces for this collection during the intense heat of the 2023 Spanish summer; 32 degrees inside the house at night sometimes. I had just finished reading one of the most extraordinary volumes of fiction (something I rarely read) titled The Guyana Quartet by the Caribbean writer Wilson Harris. I came to this book via the works of Nathaniel Mackay, who recommended Wilson Harris as an important influence on his own creative writing. While researching further for my Tropical Gothic project I came across another writer from Guyana, Edgar Mittelholzer, and his book My Bones And My Flute. The two books couldn't be more different. Mittelholzer's book is described as 'a ghost story in the old-fashioned manner,' while The Guyana Quartet is one of the strangest books I have ever read. A lot of the time I had no idea what was going on but its strangeness kept drawing me into it and onwards. It is extremely psychedelic and tropical gothic with an added healthy dose of quantum time. Sometimes the characters are both alive and dead at the same time. The stories all takes place either in the Amazon basin rainforests of Guyana or the Rupununi Savannah, home to a vast array of exotic wildlife which includes jaguars, sloths, monkeys, giant otters, tapirs, emerald tree boa snakes and more. I wanted this musical edition to be an aural reflection of the landscapes conjured in my mind's eye as I was reading. Most of my samples and loops are created using a ukulele, my fingers, a metal hip-flask, (for rum), an empty St James Rum bottle, field recordings from Martinique, electric and acoustic lap steel guitar and a virtual pedal steel guitar. The flute player is unknown but maybe from Vietnam. The titles of my pieces are mostly taken from the two books as well as the title, Slow Motion Lightning, which resonated with me as a description of our current situation with regards climate change, and other man-made disasters that have occurred since beginning the pieces. Slow Motion Lightning; deadly and unpredictable never strikes twice in the same place except when it does."

Mazza Vision's Ohm Spectrum represents the first album of this new project created by two founding members of Tone Rec and Dat Politics, joined by occasional collaborators. Recorded during the bizarre pandemic summer of 2020, the six slow-burning tracks take drone-rock-noise as rhythm to new hazy territories by stripping down the essence of acoustic/electronic sound into dry husks and organizing them into strangely harmonic and hypnotic structures. A radical collision of instrument manipulations, heady electronics, field recordings, and heartfelt ambient soundscapes forms part of a puzzling, lo-fi dissonant movement that seems to seep out of the concrete walls. All music composed and mixed by Mazza Vision (Pailliot, Collet): electronics, drums, synthesizer, sampler, organ, bass, accordion, guitar, field recordings, contact mic, minidisk. RIYL: Tone Rec, Seefeel, Tomaga, Fuck Buttons.

"Arabian Waltz is the pinnacle of Rabih Abou-Khalil's achievement as a composer and arranger. It is a sublime fusion of jazz, Middle Eastern traditional music, and Western classical. In addition to Abou-Khalil on oud (the Arabic lute), Michel Godard on the tuba and the serpent (the tuba's antique kinsman), and Nabil Khaiat on frame drums, the album also features the Balanescu String Quartet instead of the usual trumpet or sax. The presence of the Balanescu might seem to pose a dilemma for the composer: traditional Middle Eastern music uses no harmony but a string quartet is all about harmony. Abou-Khalil achieves a compromise by generally writing the string parts in unison (or in octaves), in effect using the quartet as a single voice, but also letting the quartet split up to play parts in unison with the other instruments or to provide ornamentation. Without surrendering jazziness at all, the presence of the strings makes possible a wondrous atmosphere, almost as if one is listening to the soundtrack of a classy movie set in Beirut or Damascus during the '40s. This feeling is greatest on 'Dreams of a Dying City' with its brooding tuba and cello motifs and grave, repeated rhythms. 'The Pain After' starts with an impressive tuba solo that turns into a long interlude for tuba and string quartet; sad, slow music that sounds like one of Beethoven's late quartets. Then Abou-Khalil finally enters on oud, bringing a sustained note of wistfulness. Fortunately, beside the darker numbers lie the propulsive drama of 'Arabian Waltz' and the bobbing and weaving quirkiness of 'Ornette Never Sleeps.' Abou-Khalil is known for experimenting with the possibilities his guest musicians bring to his style. In this case, the guests have inspired the host to reach a new height and maybe even a new style. This recording suits every fan of world music, jazz, classical, or just good music." --Kurt Keefner

US psych holy grail from 1969. Killer Doorsy organ and fuzzed-out guitars, including all-time psychedelic classics like "Colors," "Workshop," and "Mind Machine." Transplanted from Portland to the Sunset Strip, Hunger played at all the hip places, rubbing shoulders with bands like Hour Glass (pre-Allman Brothers), the Doors, and Steppenwolf. In 1969 they released Strictly from Hunger for the small Public label. Highly sought after, Guerssen is proud to present a straight reissue of such collectable album. Featuring original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve plus OBI, with remastered sound and insert with liner notes and rare photos by Clark Faville.

Until now, the earliest recordings anyone has heard by Joe McPhee come from the period around his 1968 debut album, Underground Railroad. McPhee had just started playing tenor saxophone at that point. A couple of years earlier, the bassist featured on all of McPhee's early recordings, Tyrone Crabb, led a band of his own, the Jazzmen, in which McPhee was featured on his first instrument: trumpet. Indeed, McPhee was a trumpet legacy -- his father was a trumpeter. In the mid-'60s, Joe was a serious young player with deep knowledge and an expansive ear. Performing around Poughkeepsie and across the Hudson Valley, the Jazzmen were one of the very first ensembles recorded by Craig Johnson, who would go on to form the CjR label expressly to release McPhee's music. The fledgling audio engineer was clearly learning the ropes when he documented this incredible 1966 performance, but despite a few excusable acoustic blemishes, it's a beautiful window into McPhee's trumpet playing, suggesting that, had he stuck to that instrument alone, he might well have been considered a major figure on the horn (of course, he is such a figure on the pocket trumpet); the opening track, a version of "One Mint Julep" as arranged by Freddie Hubbard (on his Blue Note record Open Sesame) shows McPhee's lithe stylings to good effect. McPhee's musical cosmology was much bigger than a single axe, however, as is evident on the sprawling second track, which, over the course of half-an-hour proceeds from an excoriating yowl to a version of Miles Davis's "Milestones" taken at a sweltering tempo. A portent of the free jazz to follow and a marker of McPhee's foundations in hard bop and soul jazz, 1966 features the entire reel-to-reel tape long thought lost, simply labeled: "Joe McPhee, 1966, trumpet." Featuring Joe McPhee (trumpet, recorder), Harry Hall (tenor saxophone, recorder), Reggie Marks (tenor saxophone, recorder), Mike Kull (piano), Tyrone Crabb (bass, bandleader), and Charlie Benjamin (drums).