Purple Trap, the powerful trio of Keiji Haino (voice, guitar), Bill Laswell on bass, and Rashied Ali (drums), recorded live on stage at The Stone. Recorded in December 2005, this furious live album by what can easily be called a super group remained unreleased till in 2023 Bill Laswell made it accessible in a rough-mixed digital version for his bandcamp subscribers program exclusively. For this vinyl version, the music has been newly mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus (SchneiderTM) and mastered/cut by Ruy Mariné at Dubplates & Mastering Berlin. Purple Trap reunited for this one-off gig as part of a five-day Haino-festival at John Zorn's venue, The Stone, seven years after its only album had been recorded (released on Tzadik in 1999). The six untitled tracks deliver what can be expected from such musical masters: Rashied Ali, iconic free jazz drummer who played with John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Rollins, James Blood Ulmer, and countless more, is all drums, from quiet tiny sounds to high-energy rhythm patterns. Keiji Haino, one of the most prolific artists of the Japanese experimental/noise scene for almost 50 years now, switches between truculent guitar splatters and full-on psychedelic outbursts. Bill Laswell, who as producer and musician created a massive body of work in fields as diverse as ambient, world music, funk, jazz (and often hybrids of these), has proven his mastery in improvisation in projects like Massacre, Painkiller or (early) Material and provides the low-end grounding with his signature bass sound, or adds effect-laden ornaments to the whole. An overdue addition to a very small body of work by a clearly under-documented supergroup!

LP version. In 1968, Weird Herald released a now sought-after promo only 45 with the songs "Saratoga James"/'Just Yesterday." That 45 was part of a full album that was never released. Music ranges from haunting, beautiful folk-rock with spacey acoustic guitar playing and delicate vocal harmonies, cool laid-back country-folk, to energetic hard-rockers à la early Moby Grape or Jefferson Airplane with stunning electric leads. Not forgetting "Where I'm Bound" which has a cool Notorious Byrd Brothers feel. Hailing from Los Gatos in California, Weird Herald featured two accomplished guitar players who are local legends in the San Jose / Santa Cruz area, Billy Dean Andrus and Paul Ziegler. Their roots can be traced to the early San Jose folk / coffeehouse scene. Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna) was a close friend and used to jam with them. Billy Dean Andrus was Skip Spence's best friend since high school and they both used to perform as a folk duo in the early days. A fantastic rhythm section, Cecil Bollinger on bass and Pat McIntire on drums rounded the band. Sadly, in 1970 Billy Dean Andrus died of a drug overdose in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He was immortalized on the songs "Ode for Billy Dean" written by Jorma Kaukonen for Hot Tuna and "Chicago" by the Doobie Brothers. Paul Ziegler ended up joining up Hot Tuna in the early '70s. He passed away in 2000. Problems with the management/producers led to the planned album being shelved and, according to legend, the master tapes destroyed. Luckily, reel-to-reel copies have remained with the Andrus family for half over a century, unheard until now. Includes eight-page insert with detailed liner notes by Cam Cobb (authors of Weighted Down: The Complicated Life Of Skip Spence) with input from the Andrus family and the surviving Weird Herald members and rare photos. Comes with download card with 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks, including basement demos from 1967 by the first line-up of the band. RIYL: Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Milk Carton Kids, Buffalo Springfield, Maitreya Kali, Everly Brothers, Psychedelic Rock, Folk-Rock, Loner Folk.

2025 restock. Trost Records presents the latest release in its ongoing cooperation with Berlin's legendary FMP label, with the long overdue reissue of two classic live albums by the singular alto saxophonist Noah Howard, a key figure in New York's free jazz revolution during the 1960s. Berlin Concert was recorded live in the titular city in January of 1975 with a quartet featuring pianist Takashi Kako, bassist Kent Carter, drummer Oliver Johnson, and percussionist Lamont Hampton. It was released on the SAJ sub label in 1977. It deftly captures the full diapason of Howard's fiery art. Fueled by the propulsive swing of the great Oliver Johnson, bassist Kent Carter -- both Americans who spent many years living and working in Europe, including long stints with Steve Lacy -- and percussionist Lamont Hampton, Berlin Concert nonchalantly toggles between modal workouts, where Japanese pianist Takashi Kako invokes the ironclad drive of McCoy Tyner, and the needling fury of "New York Subway," summoning the all-out fury of the '60s New Thing. This album reinforces the scalding passion of Howard's playing, while simultaneously highlighting a stylistic depth and lyrical grace that's often overlooked in his music. Howard, who suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage in 2010, at age 67, has been duly celebrated for his work in the 1960s, but the return of this gem makes it plain he had plenty more to say. Recorded live by Jost Gebers on January 30th and 31st,1975 at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. Cover design by Wolf Walt. Photograph by Roberto Masotti. Produced by Jost Gebers. Originally released and published on FMP in 1977.

Super-rare library recorded in 1980 by the powerful duo of percussionist Daniel Humair, one of the most avant-garde in the Swiss jazz evolution experiment, and the familiar and talented cellist Jean-Charles Capon (ex-Baroque Jazz Trio), who is associated with Jef Gilson and Henri Texier. A total of 15 songs in which the two performers display their eye-opening acrobatics, including unexpected electric modulation, creating an insanely hip groove at the edge of indigestion. This magical production work was done by Christian Bonneau, a genius in the French radio music world who has worked on many national treasure-class libraries for Dominique Andre and Yan Tregger. Licensed by Daniel Humair.

2025 restock. Souffle Continu presents Byard Lancaster -- The Complete Palm Recordings 1973-1974, the definitive seven LP deluxe package of Philadelphia born jazz wizard Byard Lancaster, including his four legendary albums released on Jef Gilson's Palm Records in the 1970s: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement, and Funny Funky Rib Crib, along with the first ever standalone edition of "Love Always," a fifteen minute modal jazz beauty plus a 20-page booklet with rare photos and in-depth article about Byard Lancaster's Parisian years by Pierre Crépon. At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell, and Ted Daniel. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It's Not Up To Us. He would come back to France in 1971 and in 1973. This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson's label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement, and Funny Funky Rib Crib. Us, the first of the four records was recorded on November 24th, 1973 with Sylvin Marc on electric bass and the evergreen Steve McCall on drums. A few months after recording Us, Lancaster recorded Mother Africa along with Clint Jackson III, a trumpeter, partner of Khan Jamal or Noah Howard on other recordings. The recording of Exactement required two sessions in the studio: February 1st and May 18th 1974. Two names appear on the cover of Exactement: Lancaster (Byard) and Speller (Keno). Funny Funky Rib Crib is an unforgettable recording (made up of several sessions dating from the middle of 1974) of creative jazz overwhelmed by funk and soul. If Lancaster had already made successful albums in the same genre, this one is an homage to James Brown and Sammy Davis. The magnificent "Love Always" was originally released on the fourth (and last) volume of the Jef Gilson Anthology series released in 1975. Recorded on 8th March 1974, it is a beautiful 15-minute-long modal jazz piece. Four notes from the bass (the relentless Jean-François Catoire, who makes up the rhythm section alongside drummer Jonathan Dickinson and percussionist Keno Speller), and the group is up and running! On piano, Gilson shows the subtle tact of a sideman, leaving the lions' share of the place to the horns. And if further proof was required of the confidence that Byard Lancaster and Jef Gilson inspire, "Love Always" provides it on this one-sided release exclusive to the box set. Carefully restored and remastered by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur.

"This is a 32-page perfect bound book of photographs by Fredrik Nilsen documenting three months in 1976 when members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society, aka the LAFMS, occupied studios in the 35 South Raymond building in what was then the derelict district of Old Town Pasadena. Some images were taken as promotional photos for their upcoming infamous performances at the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, California in July of that year. Others show the general mayhem that transpired in an ultra-creative moment in the history of this experimental sound art collective. The LAFMS was officially founded in 1975 and continues to this day in various collaborating ensembles and individuals. Depicted are legendary sound artists including Joe and Rick Potts, Tom Recchion, Dennis Duck Mehaffey, Chip Chapman, Juan Gomez, and Harold Schroeder."

Madteo is one of the great eccentric visionaries of electronic music and his new album Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta on Unsure once more happens to be a mind-bending piece of art. Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta shifts between focused gritty grooves and the long freeform associative adventures that you haven't heard before, never static, sometimes overwhelming, always on edge. The opener "Cans People" is an archaic rave monster, "To Know Those Who" is non-linear dub techno, "Nocturnal Palates" expands the "Filter House" universe and "Rave Nite Itz All Right" hits you hard and strange (yet subtle, in a way). The last two tracks then let loose; Madteo manipulates time, space and sounds to create the psychedelic secrets of "Luglio Ottantotto." And "Emo G (Sticky Wicket)" explores the outskirts not only of house or techno or whatever but music in general, a 15-min-trip through the low frequencies, the rumble, the dark hearts and the enchantment. Breathtaking. Bring The Voodoo Down.

2025 repress; 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.

2025 restock. Wewantsounds present the first ever vinyl release of Ziad Rahbani's Houdou Nisbi recorded in 1985 and only released on cassette and CD in 1991. One of Rahbani's most praised albums, released on the sought-after Lebanese label Relax-in. Mixing Arabic music with funk, jazz, boogie and a touch of Brazilian music, it is considered a classic among Oriental groove fans, DJs and collectors around the world. Curated by Lebanese DJ and Journalist Ernesto Chahoud. Ziad Rahbani is one of the giants of Arabic music and a cultural icon in the Middle East. The musician, pianist and producer is also a celebrated playwright and a political activist. Coming out of an illustrious artistic dynasty (his father, famous composer and musician Assi Rahbani, was in The Rahbani Brothers and his mother is the legendary Lebanese diva, Fairuz), Ziad Rahbani released a string of key albums in the '70s that have since become cult among DJs and collectors. Heavily influenced by Western music, Rahbani brought these influences to traditional Arabic music early one. 1978 saw the release of two key Rahbani albums, the disco 12" Abu Ali and Bennesbeh Labokra... Chou? (WWSLP 044LP). Serving as musical director to his mother Fairuz, he produced some of her best albums including Maarifti Feek recorded in 1984 at his Beirut studio, By Pass, bringing his blend of modern influences to her traditional sound. At the very same time, Rahbani started recording his own album at By Pass with the cream of Lebanese musicians including saxophonist Tewfic Farroukh, guitarist Paul Dawani, and percussionist Emile Boustani. Bringing funk, boogie, jazz funk fusion and Brazilian music to the mix, Rahbani created a landmark album, Houdou Nisbi now considered one of the best jazz funk albums from the Middle East. Featuring such cult tracks as "Rouh Khabbir", a remake of the Crusaders' "Soul Shadow" sung by Rahbani himself, the modern soul of "Bisaraha" and the Brazilian flavored "For Sure", the album is both effortlessly groovy and steeped in Oriental music. Houdou Nisbi, which means "relatively calm", an expression used by news anchors on Lebanese TV to describe the mood during cease-fire in the civil war that went on between 1975 and 1990. The cassette artwork has faithfully been reproduced for vinyl release. Remastered. New liner notes by Lebanese DJ and curator Ernesto Chahoud in English/French.

2025 repress. This is the "lost" second album by hard-prog band T2, featuring demos recorded at Decca Studios by the original line-up in 1970, just after the release of their debut masterpiece It'll All Work Out In Boomland (1970). Known also as T2 and Fantasy, 1970 shows T2 at their rawest, featuring the explosive guitar of Keith Cross, the powerful drumming and cool vocals of Peter Dunton, and the fantastic bass playing of Bernie Jinks. Hard cardboard sleeve; includes insert with liner notes and photos.

Music Is A Message From Space is a bracing nine-track LP featuring new and archival recordings, all orbiting around the intergalactic soundscape introduced by Sun Ra. Ra's own acapella track "I Don't Believe in Love," recorded by Ra at home in Chicago during the 1950s, kicks the program off. This intimate private recording is followed by two intense new solo improvisations by French guitarist Raymond "Moncho" Boni, one acoustic and one electric, inspired by seeing the Arkestra preparing for a gig in Arles in 1976. The first side wraps up with Jason Adasiewicz's riveting unaccompanied vibraphone workout on Ra's "Lanquidity" and "Where Pathways Meet," both compositions from the LP Lanquidity. With a completely different take on Lanquidity, side two begins with four wild remixes by legendary Cologne techno pioneer Wolfgang Voigt, using layered samples from the record. Hailing from the intersection of free jazz and out rock, Ken Vandermark's band Spaceways Inc., with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Hamid Drake, continue with a medley of two Ra tunes ("We Travel the Spaceways" and "Space is the Place"), in collaboration with the Italian band Zu. And where the program started in disbelief, love-skepticism, it concludes with Joe McPhee's emphatic loving embrace on "Cosmic Love," a classic tenor/synth sound-on-sound recording from 1970. In its breadth, Music is a Message From Space revels in the omnidirectionality of Ra's influence. The vinyl is strictly limited to 500 copies and features cover art by Emil Schult, who designed classic 1970s LPs for Kraftwerk. The record's inner sleeve reproduces the artworks in Nothing Is: Sun Ra and Other's Covers, a show curated by John Corbett and Albert Oehlen for JUBG in Cologne and CvsD in Chicago, serving as a full-color commemoration of that recent exhibition.

"Antigone is Eiko Ishibashi's new album -- a musical masterwork rife with chilling speculations, all calling from inside her own head! For Antigone, her first album of songs with lyrics and singing since 2018's acclaimed The Dream My Bones Dream, Eiko teases out images from a dystopia not unlike the one we've already got. Hers is suffused with a 'scene missing' quality, its continuity laced with sudden, odd details sprung like traps from within her music's smooth, expansive sound. It's a clash of context with Eiko's serene vocals and the well-appointed precision of the soundscape, uncanny, disturbing, not entirely okay. That's it working! And it keeps ticking like clockwork through the whole album. An accomplished keyboardist/multi-instrumental composer and improviser, Eiko consolidates her conceptions throughout Antigone. On her early song-based albums -- 2013's sci-fi-themed Imitation of Life and 2014's poptastic Car & Freezer, listeners sensed an album-oriented direction, built song by song into an inevitable whole. 2018's conceptually-united The Dream My Bones Dream allowed Eiko to tell stories closer to home. Her instrumental works since then -- 2022's For McCoy (Black Truffle) and the soundtracks for Ryusuke Hamaguchi's films, Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist -- have seen her diversity of musical ideas operating in an increasingly integrated long-form presentation. With these transformative encounters in hand, Eiko and her band -- drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, bassist Marty Holoubek, Norweigan accordionist Kalle Moberg, Ermhoi on backing vocals, Joe Talia playing percussion and Jim O'Rourke on Bass VI, synths, etc -- bring a wide array of sounds and moods to the songs here, referencing pop, funk and jazz, ambient, electronic and musique concrète in a seamless flow. Antigone is a bittersweet look at our already-alternate reality, Eiko's jarringly personal vision glimpsed through a latticework of ambitious compositions and on-lock production techniques."

Top-shelf previously unreleased psychedelic pop from 1967-68 by this post-Lomax Alliance Anglo-American trio. A mix of West Coast/Swingin' London sounds with killer vocal harmonies, fuzz guitar, tape/studio effects. Think psych-era Beatles, Byrds, Nazz, Buffalo Springfield, Colours, and The Moon. The convulsed story of Rain involves Brian Epstein, The Beatles, Merseybeat, Liverpool, New York, Linda Eastman (who photographed the band) and more. Basically, when the Brian Epstein-managed band Lomax Alliance parted ways with their frontman Jackie Lomax (who was about to embark on a George Harrison-assisted solo career), his colleagues in Lomax Alliance -- guitarist John Cannon, bassist Tom Caccetta and drummer Bugs Pemberton -- left London behind to relocate to New York, where they changed their name to Rain (after his favorite Beatles track) and recorded a full album with producer Chris Huston (The Undertakers, Young Rascals). Despite the outstanding production, top notch songwriting and superb musicianship, the album never left the acetate stage. The trio played at the Fillmore and did more studio work under the Gypsy Wizards Band name that remained also unreleased, before disbanding in 1969. Tomorrow Never Comes includes all the tracks from the Rain acetate, recorded 1967-68, plus two songs from the Gypsy Wizards Band one (1968-69). Vintage styled artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. Remastered sound. Includes Insert with liner notes by David Wells and rare photos/memorabilia.

LP version. Private hard-rock ultra-rarity from Texas, only 200 copies pressed back in 1975. A mystery for many years (all the band members used pseudonyms on the album credits), many people failed to track the band down -- until Out-Sider solved the mystery in 2015 when the label located them and reissued the album. Long out of print, Out-Sider now presents a new edition. Formed in 1974 in Houston, Stud featured the killer lead guitar of 17-year-old genius Tim Williams, the brutal Rickenbacker bass attacks of Paul Eakin and the solid as a rock drumming of George Lasher. The chemistry was born since they first starting played together and after many rehearsals, they decided they were ready to record their first album. So they entered the Barons Studios in Rosenberg and Stud was the result. Powerful hard-rock on songs like "A woman like you" or "Jim/Blues," killer boogie-rock, hard-psychedelic jams, and progressive hard-rock on the impressive "The War Aong." RIYL: Morly Grey and Incredible Hog. Original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve plus OBI. Remastered sound. Color insert with unseen photos and liner notes by band member Paul Eakin. Includes download card.

Acetate only album recorded in 1969 by the early line-up of '70s UK progressive rock band Black Widow, featuring female vocalist Kay Garrett. Including the original versions of material that would be re-recorded and released as the band's debut 1970 album, the occult-rock classic Sacrifice, like their demonic anthem "Come To The Sabbat." Heavy prog sound with hard guitars, sax, flute, keyboard and occult/dark lyrical themes. Originally known as Pesky Gee!, Black Widow formed in Leicester in 1969. Influenced by Hammer horror films, they combined progressive hard rock, jazz, and folk influences with occult and black magic imagery. Their stage performances often included ritualistic elements, including mock sacrifices. Remastered sound. Hard cardboard sleeve. Includes insert with liner notes by David Wells and rare photos / memorabilia.

Third vinyl edition. 40th anniversary remaster. 140gram, galaxy swirl sea blue & ultra clear vinyl. "Steve Roach's 1984 Structures from Silence is an ambient classic. Projekt celebrates Structures' 40th anniversary beautiful remastered edition. The breathing, suspended embrace of atmospheres and serene melodies instantly struck a chord with listeners in 1984; the album continues to reiterate its timeless resonations with new listeners today. This landmark recording of gentle proportions was the birth of something new: an original and pure balance between diaphanous and understated, deep and reflective. Pitchfork: 'Top-40 Best Ambient Albums of All Time. Contemplative bliss, full of purring drones and high notes that shimmer and fade. Like a desert mirage, these structures hover forever at the horizon, an oasis from the din surrounding it.' Structures From Silence remains an iconic American release in the ambient and electronic genres. A well-respected soundtrack for contemplation, relaxation, meditation, and creativity, it's emotional, powerful, and enriching. It is a living example of music's true healing quality. Yoga Journal Magazine: 'Top ten all time releases for Yoga.' Rediscover this timeless classic. The new mastering reveals the stillness within, setting the tone for the next 40 years of silence. Drawing from his 44-year dedication to the evolution of ambient-atmospheric-electronic music, Steve Roach is an internationally-renowned artist who creates timeless ephemeral and empowered spaces that sooth, inspire and enlighten."

An unusual detour in the Robert Wyatt catalogue, Radio Experiment Rome was recorded in February 1981, when the ex-Soft Machine drummer had been invited to record some material in-progress for a radio broadcast. The tone of these sessions is characterized by a free-roaming experimentation, laying down eight-track recordings of vocals, piano, hi-hat, jaw harp and a variety of analogue tape effects. This is Wyatt unhinged and completely let loose from the agenda of proper album recording: there's no eye on a finished, commercially viable product here, and the scope of the project takes in jazzy soundscapes like "Heathens Have No Souls," exquisitely melodic piano pieces like "L'Albero Degli Zoccoli," vaudevillian vocal tuning experiment "Billie's Bounce" and the politicized rant-poem "Born Again Cretin," about the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. "I was invited to go for a week just to record the actual process of my working. Of things like that which I've seen, for example on painters, with the honorable exception of Picasso who worked on a piece of glass, people tend to cheat a bit and do an actual finished performance in front of the cameras. But I thought 'If they really want to see how I work before I know what I'm doing, then that's what they're going to get and if during that week something comes out of it, then it will do, but if it doesn't then that will be more honest.' I deliberately went in there and improvised what I was doing as well as how I did it. The point wasn't to have a finished result that could be listened to, the point was to see a process. It's only in retrospect that I can see that bits of some of them have some kind of coherence." Robert Wyatt recorded for Un Certo Discorso, a Rai Radiotre programme by Pasquale Santoli with Francesca Albini, Teresa De Santis, and Sabina Sacchi Rome, sala M, Centro di Produzione Radio Roma, February 16-20, 1981.

A limited edition of 300 copies. Imagine a road trip aboard a beautiful American convertible, the landscape passes by and you can hear this warm '60s soundtrack of Santa Maria Death Trip somewhere between the surf rock of La Luz, the sunny pop of Allah-Las and the psychedelic garage sound of their Perpignan fellows The Limiñanas. After two EPs, critically acclaimed by the French specialized press like Rock & Folk and Rolling Stone, here is their first full-length album Lili's Garden, released on Staubgold.

2025 repress. Anthony Naples's fifth full-length LP, orbs, is a moody portal of shoegazed and slo-mo songs suspended in thin air. The album doesn't reassemble the AN sound from the ground up, so much as enhance and expand its scope in all directions. Samples and instruments meld together into new languorous and liquid forms that with or without the beat of drums, shift with the gentle movements of time.

2025 repress. Up-Tight are a three-piece psych group based in Hamamatsu, Japan with a history dating back to 1992 has released around 10 records. Up-Tight's current line-up (2016) is original members T. Aoki (vocal & guitar) T. Ogata (bass) and T. Shirahata (drums). The ghosts of The Velvet Underground, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Amon Düül loom large over their personal feedback song-destruction universe. This LP is the first re-issue of their original CD-R-only release in Japan in 1999 in a very limited edition of 100 copies. It has been remastered in Berlin from original recordings and presented here in an edition of 300. Here is what David Keenan (Wire magazine) thought about this first CD-R released in 1999 : "Up-Tight are a noxious young trio from south Tokyo, all acolytes of the legendary Japanese psych group Les Rallizes Dénudés, who augment their sound with crushing, Sabbath-styled dynamics, earsplitting acid leads and beautiful Velvets-inspired ballads... Song structures are mostly kept loose, allowing for lots of noisy improvisation. Generally the album is anchored by heavy riffs. Just when you thought you'd got to grips with Tokyo's paradigm destroying psych scene, this one hits like a sucker punch." All songs are five to ten minutes long, varying from very melodic ballads to psychedelic journeys. The album ends with an epic track, "無題", which is an 18 minutes tour-de-force, that takes you to another dimension as if the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" would have a child with Acid Mothers Temple, while listening to Amon Düül under codeine. Up-Tight are from the generation that emerged with the madness of the Tokyo '90s and the P.S.F Records scene. Close to Acid Mothers Temple (the two bands recorded an album together), Up-Tight has a unique sound and is one of the most important underground reference in the Japan psychedelic scene.

LP version. Dead Meadow's highly anticipated tenth studio album Voyager to Voyager marks a defining moment in their illustrious 26-year journey. Revered as a pioneering force in the heavy psychedelic rock scene since their formation in the late '90s, the band delivers not only their most emotionally charged and sonically expansive album to date but also a powerful tribute to their brother, late bassist Steve Kille, whose battle against cancer and untimely passing in early 2024 has made it the poignant end of a chapter in the band's history. Written and recorded across three intense sessions in downtown LA's Ultrasound Studios, Voyager to Voyager perfectly encapsulates Dead Meadow's raw energy and creative chemistry. The result is an album that is unmistakably Dead Meadow: expansive, melody-driven, and deeply rooted in their unique sound -- one that honors both their roots and the cosmic imagery that defines Voyager to Voyager. While Voyager to Voyager is anything but a tribute album, it does ultimately stand as a celebration of Kille's immeasurable legacy. His unique and endlessly creative bass playing helped shape Dead Meadow's sound while his singular artistic vision created iconic album covers and defined the band's visual identity. With Voyager to Voyager, Dead Meadow once again affirms their place in the pantheon of modern psych rock by pushing their sound to new heights, all the while honoring the deep creative bond they have shared through nearly three decades of melting minds worldwide -- and perhaps even beyond that time and space continuum. The end of a chapter and a cosmic journey we shall embrace fully. Also available on CD (HPS 331CD), red vinyl (HPS 331LTD-LP), and orange/blue/green vinyl (HPS 331ULTRA-LP).

Tsunaki Kadowaki curates the fourth installment of Midnight in Tokyo, themed around Ambient Kayō. The Midnight in Tokyo series by Studio Mule focuses on Japanese music, serving as a soundtrack for Tokyo nights -- whether for home listening, club play, or as a driving BGM, transcending location and space. The fourth volume takes "Ambient Kayō" as its new perspective, compiling genre-defying tracks released between 1977 and 1999 to explore the intersection of Japanese ambient and pop music. The focus was on music that deeply moves the listener, is open-minded and evocative, brims with inspiration and spiritual insight, and embodies the "utagokoro" (singing heart) of Japanese artists. Opening the compilation is "Umi e Kinasai" by Yōsui Inoue, a legendary Japanese singer-songwriter. Composed and arranged by Katsu Hoshi, the track features renowned players such as Masayoshi Takanaka, Hiroki Inui, and Shigeru Inoue. Next, "Oritatamu Umi," compiled from Keiko Nosaka and George Murasaki, is an instrumental track from their album Niraikanai Requiem 1945. Also featured is "Natsu no Kowareru Koro" by Higurashi, a folk-rock band led by Seiichi Takeda, formerly a guitarist of The Remainders of The Clover. From the enigmatic Blue, the only work left by the mysterious composer S.R. Kinoshita, comes "Mangrove", a hidden treasure of Japan's ambient/new age scene from the CD era. "Yaponesia Sakura," selected from Rehabilual's sole album New Child, is a masterpiece of Japanese new age music. The track features Michio Ogawa (Chakra) and Atsuo Fujimoto (Colored Music). "Asa no Hitoshizuku", the opening folk song from Sachiko Kanenobu's album Sachiko, is also included. From the synth-pop band E.S. Island comes "Yume Fūrin ", selected from their long-lost new age classic Nanpū from Hachijo. Dubbed "the world's first Min'yō House Mix," "Esashi Oiwake (Maeuta)" comes from Kanazawa Akiko HOUSE MIX, a collaboration between Japanese house music pioneer Soichi Terada and Akiko Kanazawa. This compilation also includes "Sweet Ong Choh," a track from Voice From Asia, a group active between 1989 and 1992 featuring vocal artist Shizuru Ohtaka. Hailed by Haruomi Hosono as having "a shaman residing in her voice," singer-songwriter Nami Hōdatsu also appears in the selection. Her debut album featured "Asa-Hikari-Ame-Yume," a track that now stands as a precursor to modern vocaloid/synthesized vocal music. Likewise, "Tennessee Waltz", from Naomi Akimoto's album One Night Stand, supported by members of Mariah, serves as another early prototype of vocaloid/synthesized vocal music. Closing the compilation is "Heaven Electric", a track from Nav Katze's album Gentle & Elegance, which featured remixes by Autechre, Seefeel, and Sun Electric.

2025 repress. Bahamadia's 1996 debut album Kollage is rightly regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of the 1990s. For the first time ever, Be With presents the definitive double LP version of this eternal hip-hop classic, including the legendary "Path To Rhythm" which never appeared on the original LP or on vinyl, anywhere. An indelible vibe from start-to-finish, Kollage presents Bahamadia's swirling rhymes delivered with an irresistibly butter flow and razor-sharp assuredness over a steady slew of smoothed-out, jazzed-up, blunted beats. Achingly cool and effortlessly funky throughout, it's an absolute must for true '90s hip-hop fanatics. The entire Kollage project was recorded at D&D Studios and the ties to Gang Starr are keenly felt, with DJ Premier producing five tracks in addition to the killer songs Guru had already produced with her. Working with the cream of the mid-'90s East Coast sound, Kollage is, accordingly, a record that demonstrates a varied musical taste with disparate influences. With intelligent, poetic lyricism and a laconic verbal style bursting with both warm texture and deceptive energy, Bahamadia's flow was as inspired by Aretha and Nancy Wilson as it was Q-Tip, Schoolly D and Lady B. Incredibly, only the European and Japanese CD versions of Kollage were released with the brilliantly breezy "Path To Rhythm," featuring Ursula Rucker. Whilst ostensibly a "bonus track," it's anything but. Very much in sonic conversation with KRS-One's stretched-out sleeper classic "Higher Level," it's absolutely essential. Somewhat predictably, whilst Kollage was released to significant critical acclaim, it suffered from disappointing sales. In the intervening years -- and for far too long -- it was a criminally underrated record, an increasingly hidden gem. This Be With double LP reissue has been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston, and pressed at Record Industry. It's too bold and beautiful to remain overlooked and underserved.

Patti Smith, live at CBGB's August 11, 1979.

2025 restock; LP version, originally released 1997, the first O'Rourke album for Drag City. "Make no mistake, Bad Timing is not a pop album by any standards. But it is a musing on popular standards and uses much of the same instrumentation that many of our country's most popular records have. Yes, Bad Timing is a theme record, Jim O'Rourke's pop opera, just waiting for someone to come along and play with it. Based on Fahey-esque 6-string acoustic guitar foundations, each of the three pieces expand to include other musical elements. Piano, organ, electric guitar, brass, strings -- everything, it seems except vocals! Think of the impressionist Americana of Van Dyke Parks and the soundtracks of Jack Nitzsche."

2025 repress. "David Berman is a funny guy who talks too much. But when he straps on the guitar, he's a funny guy who sings not nearly enough. Then there's the pop know-how of Pavement singer Stephen Malkmus, his soothing voice in direct Cher-like relief to his muse: the inspiring untrained gravel of Berman's lead vocal (Sonny!). Bingo -- you've got American Water. This record will be your prostitute for the next six weeks, should you come up with the nerve to pimp it. In honor of 20 years of American Water -- and counting -- the vinyl has been half-speed mastered at Abbey Road to provide increased depth and nuance for all future LP listeners. "I enjoy the last quarter of all basketball games." -- Sarah Silverman.

2025 restock. The long awaited repress of Slight Freedom, acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's first solo album & a New York Times' best albums of 2016 selection, is here. Pressed on premium 120-gram audiophile-quality vinyl by RTI from lacquers cut at sterling sound by Steve Fallone, presented in a retro flipback jacket. Second edition of 1,399 copies. What we said in 2016: "Slight Freedom, Jeff Parker's first ever solo record, presents the first opportunity to hear the guitarist in fully self-revealed circumstances. recorded 2013 & '14 in the Hollywood Hills as he relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles, Parker combines the dark tonal palette & percussive attack he's long been known for with real-time processing elements & field recordings, deftly crafting a unique world of solo guitar music -- multilingual, mysterious, alive with extraordinary sonic events, with a sturdy intelligence in charge & a raw homestyle vibe. parker's title composition sets the album's cavernous mood. terse lines & ricocheting loops morph into a gnarly ambient section that resembles Neil Young droning out over a vg+ copy of discreet music. Parker creates a different sort of ambient space in his take on Frank Ocean's 'Super Rich Kids', bending the melody around a bossa nova rhythm into a moodsville tone poem. parker makes an extraordinary long-form statement out of Chad Taylor's 'Mainz', a piece he first recorded with Taylor & Chris Lopes on the album Bright Light In Winter. Twice the length of the trio recording, the multi-layered soliloquy finds parker leaping from the high rung to damn near orchestral heights, pushing his techniques & concepts to the breaking points. It's one of the great solo performances you'll hear from a musician this year. To say 'Lush Life' comes with formidable baggage is an understatement. Parker achieves instant classic status with a rendition that sounds beamed-in from a decommissioned satellite -- burned out, covered in space grit, yet still formally nuanced & beautifully reflective of Strayhorn's world-weary lyrics. twenty years into the game it's a joy for eremite to present work by an artist who's clearly taking his music to the next level." "It's not jazz, it's not ambient, it's not noise; it's something more idiosyncratic and more personal, something only Parker could have come up with. Perhaps this is what Slight Freedom is supposed to mean: Not an anarchic exploding of rules, not the total liberation proposed by free jazz, but a steadier, stealthier path -- dissolving boundaries, softening constraints, and wearing away at the edges of things until the ideas run as freely as water." --Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork

The Lazy Cowgirls' Tapping The Source is a raw, high-octane blast of punk rock energy from the heart of Los Angeles, brought back on vinyl. Packed with gritty anthems and unapologetic attitude, this album captures the heart and soul of a band that lived and breathed the DIY ethos. Originally released in 1987, it's a defining moment for the band, a record that embodies the sweat-soaked, beer-stained glory of the L.A. punk scene.

2025 limited restock. Deep, deep, earth music from Tsutomu Ōhashi and the Geinoh Yamashirogumi crew. A macrosymphony composed for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka, Japan, 1990, Ecophony Gaia, was supposed to be the stunning, aural centerpiece for a light and water performance system echoing the sentiment of the venue: "Harmonious Coexistence of Nature and Mankind". Ecophony Gaia was in its truest essence the final part of a trilogy that began with 1986's Ecophony Rinne, continued, in 1988, with their most-known work the soundtrack to Katsuhiro Otomo's dystopian, cyber-punk film Akira (released as Symphonic Suite Akira), and this release mere months later. Looking back one can break up these releases into a holy musical trinity: Ecophony Rinne = spirit, Symphonic Suite Akira = body, and Ecophony Gaia = Gaia/earth. Ecophony Gaia is Geinoh Yamashirogumi's most hopeful release. Rebirth, the hardest thing to capture in music, is something Ecophony Gaia expounds upon through sonics and feeling. You hear this in light echoes from Symphonic Suite Akira coursing through Ecophony Gaia, acting as symbols saying: "not everything from the past needs to be discarded, that certain things, when rethought of, hold a heavier power". The Japanese Noh music you heard trapezing through Akira's "Illusion" walks positively untethered in Ecophony Gaia's "Euphony", Indonesian gong chimes that hit darkly in Akira's "Tetsuo" transform Ecophony Gaia's "Catastrophe" into the light sublime, serene music that it is. What's left over are the songs that point to new directions. Those that derive their influence from things that aren't easily quantifiable. The introduction of field recordings to a warmer palette of sound makes Ecophony Gaia Geinoh Yamashirogumi's first roots album. Of course, these roots belong to worldlier kind of music. Rhythms that sound like water coursing downstream from brook to ocean, electronic layers that hum and cycle through, string instruments that hover like atmosphere, wind instruments that sound like air and breath, and the powerful sound of human voices presenting divinity through communal chant -- those all constitute the ecosystem of Ecophony Gaia. Things that you've heard/felt before, renewed in a different luster. When you hear the album, notice how there are two sides to its whole: "Chaos" ending in "Euphony", "Catastrophe" ending in "Gaia". It would be a disservice to describe the way it sounds, it's an album based on belief not premonition. All you'll find in Ecophony Gaia are movements. Hopeful movements. Needed movement.

Restocked. The reissue of 1972's Italian jazz funk classic, directed by Il Maestro Piero Umiliani. Trumpetist Francesco "Cicci" Santucci and saxophonist Enzo Scoppa cut their teeth in the late '50s, playing with the Italian group Modern Jazz Gang, along with other Italian jazz greats such as Sandro Brugnolini and Amadeo Tommasi. In June 1971, "il maestro" Piero Umiliani made his Sound Workshop recording studio in the heart of Rome available to them, so that they could create an album under his supervision. The result was Olimpiade, a jazz-funk album featuring Franco d'Andrea on electric piano (who would go on to play with the group Perigeo a year later), and Belgian musician Joel Vendrokenbrak on organ. It should be noted that this session was also released on Dire, under the name On the Underground Road, but is here reissued for the first time with its magnificent original cover. A poster of the artwork and a printed insert featuring the Sound Workshop studio are also included with this reissue.

2025 restock, last copies. Otoroku present the first vinyl reissue of Louis Moholo Octet's Spirits Rejoice!, originally released in 1978 on Ogun Recordings. One of the most legendary free jazz records ever produced, Spirits Rejoice! is a high achievement in the movement of the era as it soars beyond oppression with a raucous and spiritually uplifting surge of movement and melody. Featuring Harry Miller, Johnny Dyani, Keith Tippett, Evan Parker, Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti, and Kenny Wheeler, this is former Blue Note artist Louis Moholo's first album under his own name and is a classic example of the cross-pollination between South African and British players. Mongezi Feza's 'You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me" alone is enough to make your life a better place. Made with permission and in association with Ogun Recordings. Features an exact reproduction of the original artwork and liner notes, along with new liner notes from Matthew Wright. Remastered by Giuseppe IIelasi. High gloss sleeve.

From Matthew Wright's new liner notes: "The South African melodies, now so familiar, were wholeheartedly taken on board by the individual musicians, their unity of purpose mirroring the belief in the strength of the collective. Stunning solos, often close to the edge, feature throughout -- Evan Parker and Keith Tippett on 'Shine Wherever You Are'; the contrasting trombone styles of Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti on 'You Ain't Gonna Know Me...'; the octet sounding like a full big band; and behind them, the relentlessly rhythmic urgency of the piano, bass and drums. Add to this Kenny Wheeler's moving and all-encompassing trumpet on the elegiac 'Amaxesha Osizi' and the joyous flamboyancy of 'Wedding Hymn' with Parker's relatively straight-ahead tenor and Tippett's dextrous piano solo over a bed of riffing horns, (fast) walking bass lines and a supreme sense of swing. Louis' early hero, Big Sid Catlett, would have loved it!"

Music-lovers of all lands, rejoice! Here you have the rerelease of the fourth album of the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra recorded with the Guinean saxophonist Jo Maka. The title says it all: Vol.4: Jo Maka. But before that, a bit of history: The Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra was created in 1971 by an "old hand" of French free jazz, François Tusques. "Free Jazz" was also the name of the recording made by the pianist and other like-minded Frenchmen (Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérinand Charles Saudrais) in 1965. But, six years later Tusques had had his fill of free jazz. So he then founded the Inter Communal, an association a name under which the different communities could become closer and compose, simply. In 1976, on the first album: L'Inter Communal, listeners can already hear Tusques playing without borders in the company of Carlos Andreu, Ramadolf, Michel Marreand, and Jo Maka (as a conclusion to this Vol. 4, listeners can hear them in 1977 at the Moulin de Prades Le Lez). Over the next decade, the, association kept going with concerts at the Dunois theatre, in 1980 and 1981, it welcomed old hands and new recruits (Bernard Vitet, Jean-Jacques Avenel, Jacques Thollot, Sylvain Kassap). If Vol. 4 : Jo Maka is an homage to the Guinean saxophonist, who passed away a few months before the release of this selection of concert recordings, it also displays a proud collective inspiration! One foot in the blues, and ears open to everything else, Tusques begins with a lament that the Company rapidly transforms into a joyful dance ("Vive la Commune"), weaves a full-blown party piece ("Poses ton fardeau et remets la machine en route," "7 rue des prêcheurs," "Mazir") or gets fabulous with Mingus ("Fable Of Faubus"). And there you have it, with so many revolutions François Tusques is almost back to free jazz. So, your turn with the turntable.

2025 repress. Reissue, originally released in 1976. After running a sound system and studying electronics overseas, Spanish Town-based Harry Mudie began releasing rhythm and blues recordings by local performers, enjoying more concerted success during the reggae era of the late 1960s and mid-1970s, crafting lasting hits with artists like Dennis Walks and the Spanish Town-based toaster, I Roy. The first volume of the Dub Conference series, made with King Tubby, has stripped-down cuts of some of Mudie's greatest productions, including "Lorna's Dance," a percussion and horns take of "Caught You In A Lie," and a strings cut of the Heptones' "Love Without Feeling."

LP version. "The work of Fred Moten and Brandon Lopez, both powerfully creative and exceptionally perceptive individuals, concerns itself with how one might navigate the ascending reign of long-institutionalized madness while simultaneously keeping humanity and sanity intact. With Revision, the synergistic mesh of these two voices in duo is presented on record for the first time, following two acclaimed works on the Reading Group label in trio with Gerald Cleaver. Inimitable poet, cultural theorist, author, 2020 MacArthur Fellow, Fred Moten creates new conceptual spaces that accommodate emergent forms of Black cultural production, aesthetics, and social life. Moten is a professor of performance studies and comparative literature at New York University concerned with social movement, aesthetic experiment, and Black study. He is also a United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Puerto Rican-American bassist Brandon López is the son of a gravedigger who himself put time in doing the same, developing muscles that serve him well in his thorough command of the upright bass. On moving to NYC, López made himself indispensable within numerous realms of creative music. As the Cleveland Review of Books noted, 'This is virtuosity as vocabulary, a total command of texture, subtlety, and a depth that can be reached into.' RIYL: Nathaniel Mackey, Amiri Baraka, Manley Lopez, Irreversible Entanglements, Gil Scott-Heron, Art Ensemble of Chicago."

2025 restock; LP version. Includes original four-page insert full of session photos and credits. Wewantsounds present a reissue of Jaye P. Morgan's 1976 ultra-rare private press, featuring the cream of the LA jazz and funk scene -- and one of David Foster's first productions -- is reissued on vinyl and CD. This lost classic recorded in LA at the legendary Sound City Studios is also the first full-blown production by David Foster two years before he co-produced Earth Wind & Fire's album I Am (1979) and went on to become one of the hottest producers on the scene. Featuring an extraordinary lineup of the best LA musicians including Harvey Mason, Ed Greene, Jay Graydon, Ray Parker Jr. Tower of Power, Ernie Watts, and many more, it's probably one of the most expensive private press ever produced and a delight of sophisticated Los Angeles funk featuring Jaye's superb soulful vocals. "This album is one of the first David ever produced and I know he was going all the way to the top" stated Jaye P. Morgan in an interview when asked about David Foster before adding: "I tried to make a soulful album and I loved David's work. We used the best musicians in the world." And they certainly did making this album one of the most expensive private presses in the world! This album was a bold move for the singer who had made her mark in the '50s and '60s as a singer and actress. Hiring Foster was a masterstroke as he hadn't yet produced any noticeable hit, but together they gathered the most impressive crew of musicians you could think of including two of Foster's closest associates, guitarist Jay Graydon and singer/arranger Bill Champlin (of Sons of Champlin's fame) and created the perfect white soul album with a breezy California feel. Featuring masterful renditions of such iconic songs as Stevie Wonder's songs as "Seems So Long" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "Can't Hide Love" (Foster, Champlin, and Graydon would soon pen "After The Love Has Gone" which would become a mega hit for Earth Wind & Fire two years later), together with a handpicked selection of originals, the sound alternates between up-tempo funk and soulful mid-tempo ballads, all served by Morgan's superb vocals. The missing link between Steely Dan and Earth, Wind & Fire, Jaye P. Morgan is pure, undiluted funk music and an essential LA classic.