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Recent Best Sellers
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MAM 102LP
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Double LP version. 16-page, 11x11 book and insert. The psychedelic masterpiece nobody heard -- First ever official, authorized release of psychedelic mega-rarity. After suffering an LSD-induced mental breakdown, Los Angeles-based songwriter Craig Smith renamed himself Maitreya Kali and custom-pressed Apache / Inca, a double-LP documenting his musical, personal, and spiritual journey. His message to the world, encoded on the album jackets in rambling, quasi-mystical Messianic verse, was urgent, desperate, delusional, and disturbing. Recorded between 1967 and 1971, the music tells a different story. Achingly beautiful, haunting acoustic folk songs; luminescent psychedelic folk-rock; eerie, off-kilter acid rock; fragments; field recordings -- all meticulously woven into a magical, mesmerizing whole. Apache / Inca is an extraordinary work. Not the dark, self-indulgent ramblings of a cracked Messiah, but a thoughtfully-crafted collection of work by a singer and songwriter of remarkable depth and talent whose world was falling apart. Soon afterwards Maitreya -- and Craig -- disappeared into the shadows. He died homeless in a North Hollywood Park in 2012. Decades after its creation, Apache / Inca was discovered by collectors and hailed as a psychedelic masterpiece. It is now one of the most revered and sought-after artifacts of the era. Includes seven tracks by the Penny Arkade, produced by Michael Nesmith. Top quality vinyl pressing at RTI; Heavy duty gatefold jacket by Stoughton Printing with all original artwork; Repro of unique Inca inner sleeve with Maitreya artwork; Limited edition of 500.
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ARCHIVE 051LP
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Given Bryn Jones's rather slack approach to track titles (both being consistent with and sometimes even just supplying them), it's a bit of a relief to realize that two tracks with the same name are indeed related. In the case of "Arab Jerusalem", which makes up nearly half of the newly-released Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade, that kinship is immediately apparent even though both tracks are clearly their own experiences. Released as the first track on the Minaret-Spearker picture disc 7" in 1996, "Arab Jeruzalem" (spelling also sometimes being fairly slack) is nearly six minutes of effectively shifting dark ambience, wordless female vocals drifting over the hand percussion, chimes, and static of the track, with eventual conversational loops discussing... something underneath. The end of that version is especially striking for the way the woman's wordless singing starts being sampled in such a way that it overlays the whole track (and, slightly, itself). The almost 24-minute "Arab Jerusalem" here might be called the Deer Hunter version of the same story, building with great patience and many more abstract detours towards what now seems like simultaneously an excerpt and, now, a climax. As with many of Jones' more ambient tracks, the great length just lets it cast its spell more thoroughly and entrancingly. The other three tracks, meanwhile, suggest some of Jones' other work but never evoke them as directly as "Arab Jerusalem". "Jordan River" is nearly as long (a second shy of 20 minutes) but strips out the vocal elements in its predecessor, focusing instead on a more active percussive workout (analog and digital both). The title track of Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade might bring to mind the title of "Lalique Gadaffi Jar" from Libya Tour Guide, last reissued by Staalplaat in 2015 (ARCHIVE 031CD), but if they're sonically related Jones must have practically melted the other track to get this one. And the closing "Desert Gulag" (like the title track, a much more manageable length than the first two epic tracks here) bears a slight resemblance to "Negev Gulag" from 1996's Fatah Guerrilla, here what was a piercing, repetitive drone is softened and looped over more of Jones' percussion. The result is a well-rounded release that shows off many aspects of Jones' sound as Muslimgauze, while existing (like many of these DAT tapes do) in conversation with much of his previously released work. All tracks written, performed, mixed by Muslimgauze. Recorded, engineered, mixed by John Delf. Unreleased material. Edition of 700.
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2LP
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TW Q-LP
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#1 2019 Album of the year in The Wire magazine! Restocked. 75 Dollar Bill is one of the essential groups at the heart of NYC's underground. Driven by the telepathic union of Che Chen's microtonal electric guitar and Rick Brown's odd metered percussion their long-form sound is unmistakable and compelling. On their third album I Was Real, the group expands in bold new directions, embracing brilliant fuller orchestrations, joyous rockers and entrancing new textures. Having emerged as a vibrant musical force with their previous effort -- with Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock (GB 047CD, TW J CS/LP, 2016) -- 75 Dollar Bill have spent the last few years bringing their music to new places and people, delivering what NYC locals have known for years, with their dedication to performance in venues of all shapes and sizes. The fruits of this work can be heard here on their expansive new double-LP I Was Real. The album, its title's origin a jumbled misremembering of the lesser-known Motown song "He Was Really Saying Something", is 75 Dollar Bill's third, featuring new directions accompanying the band's previously established interest in sprawling, unusual grooves and microtonal melodies. The record is enhanced by the presence of eight additional players in various combinations over its nine tracks -- but also shows off the duo's strength when stripped down to the core. Requiring a variety of approaches, the album was recorded over a four-year period, in four different studios, with the band's closest associates and collaborators in a range of different ensemble configurations. The album also features several "studio as instrument" constructions that harken back to the collage-experiments of the band's early cassette tapes, while at the same time pointing to territories altogether new. The players involved highlight the "social" aspect of the band and the eight guests that appear on the record are some of the band's closest friends and collaborators. Some pieces were conceived in the band's very early days and others are much newer, but the music is unmistakably 75 Dollar Bill. As Steve Gunn said about the previous record: "Strings come in underneath Che Chen's supreme guitar tone. Rick Brown's trance percussion offers a guiding support with bass, strings, and horns supporting the melody. They have gathered all the moving parts perfectly." Double-LP version presented in a heavy tip-on gatefold jacket with textured clothe wrap and matte foil stamping.
Personnel: Rick Brown - plywood crate, hand and foot percussion, crude horns; Che Chen - 6 and 12-string and quarter-tone guitars, percussion; with: Sue Garner - guitar and bass guitar; Cheryl Kingan - alto and baritone saxophones; Andrew Lafkas - contrabass; Karen Waltuch - viola; Jim Pugliese - percussion; Barry Weisblat - signal processing, Casio SK-1; Steven Maing - quarter-tone guitar; Carey Balch - hi-hat.
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CSR 276LP
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Double LP version. 180 gram vinyl; glossy, 350gsm gatefold sleeve. Cold Spring Records announce the long-awaited reissue of Stolen & Contaminated Songs, Coil's 1992 album. Stolen & Contaminated Songs was recorded and produced by Coil in 1992. It is comprised of over 60 minutes of outtakes and unreleased songs, evolved during the recording sessions for their prior album, Love's Secret Domain (1991). A wealth of superb material showcasing the diversity of Coil: dark, violent, vivid, and fractured, yet cohesive and beautiful. Combined with the latest studio technology and Coil's ever-evolving production skills, S&C Songs walks a fine line between tradition and innovation, continually creating semi-abstract soundscapes with a cinematic quality.
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2LP
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IMPREC 473LP
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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Deep Listening, Important Records offer a definitive double-LP combining the classic, complete original 1989 release with selected tracks from the Deep Listening Band's 1991 album, The Ready Made Boomerang. Recorded in a cistern, this double-LP reverberates with brilliant sonic clarity and masterfully improvised performances combining live electronics, vocals, trombone. and accordion. Deep Listening is a classic in the fields of improvisation, minimalism, ambient/drone, and modern classical. Listen with attentiveness, listen while lying down, listen with headphones -- as recording engineer Al Swanson entices the listener to become a virtual performer in selecting the many different ways to perceive these phenomenal tracks. Whatever you do, listen deeply. Packaged in a gatefold sleeve with original and updated recollections from the performers, the engineer, and a mesostic from John Cage, to whom these recordings are inextricably linked.
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2x12"
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LOVE 114LP
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Black vinyl repress. Andy Stott's first release since 2016 and first EP since 2011, It Should Be Us is a double EP of slow and raw productions for the club, recorded in 2019 and following a series of EPs that started with Passed Me By (LOVE 069LP) and We Stay Together (LOVE 072LP) early this decade. Recorded fast and loose over the summer, these eight tracks harness a pure and bare-boned energy, melodies subsumed by drum machines and synths; slow, rugged hedonism. It's all about rhythmic heat and disorientation, pure dance and DJ specials rendered at an unsteady pace, from percolated house and percussive rituals to moody tripped-out burners. There'll be a new Andy Stott album in 2020, but in the meantime... this one's for dancing. Mastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
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MFM 044LP
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Music From Memory reissue the cult Spanish studio project Música Esporádica's incredible one off, self-titled album, originally released in 1985. Another Suso Saiz side project, this one grew out of his work with his band Orquesta De Las Nubes, who were themselves the subject of a Music From Memory compilation in 2018 (MFM 033LP). The idea of getting Orquesta De Las Nubes to collaborate with Glen Velez and Layne Redmond arose after the two American musicians visited Spain during a series of seminars on frame drum techniques in 1985. Having met Glen Velez some years before in Madrid whilst Glen was performing with the Steve Reich Ensemble, Suso Saiz and Glen Velez quickly formed a strong friendship over their mutual love of non-Western music and the potentials of repetition within music. The two would play, talk and drinks for many hours in Suso's studio space whenever Glen was in Madrid. During one such session in 1985, Glen and Suso would be joined by Orquesta De Las Nubes and Spanish friend and musician Miguel Herrero. With exciting new ideas flowing quickly and easily, Suso decided to immediately call Track Studios in Madrid to see if they might have a space to record some of the material. With just a few days available the group would record for about 12, with what Suso would describe as "incredible fluency", by which time they would have recorded the album they would later title Música Esporádica. After its release 34 years ago Música Esporádica sounds as stunning as ever and Music From Memory are delighted to be able to share the fluency, spontaneity. and close friendship which fueled the recording of this amazing album.
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LMS 5521288
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London Records present a reissue of Happy Mondays' Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches, originally released in 1990. Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches was Happy Mondays commercial peak, both a No. 4 victory (in the UK) and a benchmark album in history. That year the Mondays made a generation feel like the freaks were winning again, the dreamers and schemers hurtling in from the shadows to park themselves, like grin-faced goblins, in the daylight glare of the mainstream. Artwork lovingly replicated by original Manchester designers Central Station Design. Featured the singles "Step On", "Kinky Afro", and "Loose Fit". 180 gram vinyl; gatefold sleeve; printed inner-sleeve; includes download code.
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2LP
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WWSLP 032LP
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Double LP version. Wewantsounds present a 40th anniversary reissue of Akiko Yano's Gohan Ga Dekitayo, originally released in 1980. This superb double-album was recorded with Yellow Magic Orchestra at a time when she was part of the group's touring line-up between 1979 and 1980. The album is pure Akiko Yano featuring her superb singing and piano playing, enhanced by touches of YMO's synth-pop sound (check her cult version of YMO's classic, "Tong-Poo"). First album release outside of Japan. When Gohan Ga Dekitayo came out in 1980, Akiko Yano had been touring with Yellow Magic Orchestra for more than a year. She'd play keyboards alongside the three founding members -- Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi -- plus guitarist Kenji Omura and synth wizard programmer Hideki Matsutake (as part of the 1980 North American tour, she'd also feature in the group's cult TV appearance on Soul Train for a memorable rendition of "Tighten Up") and they are all present on Gohan Ga Dekitayo. The double-LP, whose title could be translated by "Dinner Is Ready", was co-produced with Ryuichi Sakamoto and recorded at two legendary studios: Tokyo's Alfa Studio "A" and Los Angeles's Sound City. It was Akiko's first shift towards a fuller synth sound following four studio albums mixing pop and jazz funk, including her landmark debut from 1976, Japanese Girl (WWSCD 017CD/WWSLP 017LP). A shift that would continue with the release of Tadaima in 1981 (WWSCD 016CD/WWSLP 016LP_, also featuring the YMO musicians. The fourteen tracks on Gohan Ga Dekitayo find Akiko in top form mixing her singer-songwriter's sensitivity with the electro-pop sound of YMO. It's interesting to note though that it is very much an Akiko Yano album even if the group is present on the album (interestingly they do also play analog instruments on the album). Akiko is clearly the one in charge with a string of beautiful compositions and the rendition of one of the group's classics, "Tong Poo" which she reinvents as a slower, less metronomic-paced song adding her own lyrics. Other highlights on the album include "Dogs Awaiting...", a hypnotic composition featuring fascinating electro arrangements or "Coloured Water" sung in English by Akiko accompanying herself on Fender Rhodes with subtle percussion by Tatsuo Hayashi and electronics by Ryuichi Sakamoto. There are many more great moments on this superb album which announces the further experiments of Tadaima. Remastered audio by Mitsuo Koike.
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BT 055LP
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7.5 on Pitchfork. Black Truffle release Le Piano Englouti (The Sunken Piano), the first collaboration between Brunhild Ferrari and Jim O'Rourke, offering up two side-long realizations of Ferrari's tape compositions recorded in concert at Tokyo's SuperDeluxe in 2014, revised and mixed by O'Rourke in 2019. The title piece weaves an immersive web of electronics, pre-recorded piano, and field-recorded sounds, including the raging Aegean Sea, the tranquil atmospherics of a Japanese island, and the roar of a pachinko parlor. Far from a slice of audio vérité, these geographically distant sites intermingle in an unreal space where they often become indistinguishable. Shadowed by electronics and reverberant snatches of piano, the field recordings rise up and recede like ocean waves, creating a constantly shifting texture that is nonetheless warmly inviting. Chirping birds are confused with their electronic doubles; snatches of footsteps and voices are engulfed by ambience of unclear origin. Increasingly present throughout the piece, the piano rises up one last time before being swallowed up for good by the pachinko parlor. "Tranquilles Impatiences" (Quiet Impatiences) takes as its source material the electronic sounds produced by Luc Ferrari for his 1977 Exercises d'Improvisation, seven tapes intended to be heard alongside instrumental improvisation. Brunhild Ferrari's piece layers Luc Ferrari's sounds into a dense new work that emphasizes the insistently pulsing rhythms of the source material. In this realization with O'Rourke, the piece becomes a monumental sound-object, a slowly shifting mass of skittering electronic tones, shimmering reverb, and growling bass from which field-recorded events occasionally arise. At times, the placement of these fragments of real life in a pulsing, insistent musical landscape calls up Luc Ferrari's classic Petit Symphonie; at other points, the swarming electronics bring to mind O'Rourke's Steamroom work or even the vast expanses of Roland Kayn. Deluxe gatefold sleeve with liner notes from Brunhild Ferrari. Design by Lasse Marhaug. Mixed and mastered by Jim O'Rourke. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
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4CD BOX
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SNS 016CD
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Repressed. A four-hour work, recorded at Jim O'Rourke's studio, Steamroom, between 2017 and 2018. Detailed and delicate electronic layers, processed instruments, and ambiguous field recordings come together in a slow-moving, fascinating kaleidoscope with multiple reflections and wrong turns, always in a constant state of flux. The finely crafted art of subterfuge. The four-CD set To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye is a hypnotic, multi-faceted, labyrinthine piece which flows as slowly as a river while speeding back through memory. Composer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke was born in Chicago in 1969. He is a veritable chameleon working at the frontiers of very diverse musical genres.
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2LP
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BEC 5772110
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2020 repress. Justice's highly-acclaimed debut album from 2007. French-only vinyl version, in deluxe gatefold sleeve. Retreating to their underground post-nuclear shelter/studio, French duo Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay worked on their first album as if their lives depended on it. The result is a mind-fuck of an album that proves that Justice's unique talent is to be found where least expected. Take for example "Let There Be Light" and its strident, angry electro, driven by a jabbing bassline; "D.A.N.C.E," a pure piece of vicious house sung innocently by a choir of children; "Newjack," a funky parody of the opulent times of the French Touch; "Phantom," taking over where "Waters Of Nazareth" left off to drift towards "Phantom Pt. II" and its head-swirling disco violins; "Valentine," an erotic, melancholic nursery rhyme, like a tribute to Vladimir Cosma and "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy," a pure electro-funk track where the sexy Uffie plays more than ever the cheeky Lolita. Justice have thrown established rules out the window (the notion of good and bad taste, the thin line between underground and pop music, the pigeon hole labeling between rock and electro, etc.) with a fantastic talent for synthesizing and mixing their influences with total candor, be it the cosmic disco of Larry Levan or Vladimir Cosma's panty-wetting romantics, Camel's prog rock or the anxious theme of Goblin for Dario Argento, to the flashy funk of the Brothers Johnson or "ABC" by the Jackson 5. Cross isn't a collection of random dancefloor singles. Cross is for listening at home or in clubs. Cross is a link between pop at its purest and experimental music. Cross brings together hardcore elements and cheese. Cross makes the Goths link arms with the rave kids. A generational manifest, ideally positioned on the side of the dancefloor, Cross, insolent with youth, is a testimony that the French electro scene is healthier than ever.
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CD
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MAM 202CD
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The psychedelic masterpiece nobody heard -- First ever official, authorized release of psychedelic mega-rarity. After suffering an LSD-induced mental breakdown, Los Angeles-based songwriter Craig Smith renamed himself Maitreya Kali and custom-pressed Apache / Inca, a double-LP documenting his musical, personal, and spiritual journey. His message to the world, encoded on the album jackets in rambling, quasi-mystical Messianic verse, was urgent, desperate, delusional, and disturbing. Recorded between 1967 and 1971, the music tells a different story. Achingly beautiful, haunting acoustic folk songs; luminescent psychedelic folk-rock; eerie, off-kilter acid rock; fragments; field recordings -- all meticulously woven into a magical, mesmerizing whole. Apache / Inca is an extraordinary work. Not the dark, self-indulgent ramblings of a cracked Messiah, but a thoughtfully-crafted collection of work by a singer and songwriter of remarkable depth and talent whose world was falling apart. Soon afterwards Maitreya -- and Craig -- disappeared into the shadows. He died homeless in a North Hollywood Park in 2012. Decades after its creation, Apache / Inca was discovered by collectors and hailed as a psychedelic masterpiece. It is now one of the most revered and sought-after artifacts of the era. Includes seven tracks by the Penny Arkade, produced by Michael Nesmith. CD version comes as a digipak; includes 32-page booklet.
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BKEDIT 019LP
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The mighty HTRK follow-up their recent Venus in Leo album with Over The Rainbow, their debut soundtrack for Jeremy Piexoto's 2019 Scientology documentary. A rare and unexpected all-instrumental showreel by the shoegaze pop duo, their suite of original music is testament to a haunting soul that's long lurked under the hood of their singular, hugely evocative sound. Effectively a sort of dream come true for HTRK's legion disciples, the soundtrack strips away their signature vocals and drum machines in a commission to fit the mood of Piexoto's feature -- a film that seeks to better understand Scientology through a range of perspectives, from psychologists to former members. HTRK use their considerable knack for conjuring haunting, heavy-lidded feels and ohrwurm hooks to map the mood, deploying a trademark, incisive sense of detachment that colors the film's intersection of real beliefs and ideas of Scientology as a sect. In the absence of Jonnine Standish's vocals and Nigel Yang's 808 boom, HTRK's musick is pared to its essence of synths, guitars and electronics and painted in hazy, illusive strokes from a palette of smudged pastels mutual to both South California and the band's native Australia. The result is a 13 part mosaic tiling hazy blue cues with aqueous ambient pads and baroque themes, playing out like the atmospheric strokes to LA noir in a way that silhouettes the film's probing narrative and rhetoric and also reflects its fascination with American culture and the supernatural in a similar way to Eno's ambient classics or Lynch flicks and their scores. Ultimately Over The Rainbow is an instant play-it-again entry to HTRK's catalog, one that supplies a sort of crystal ball window onto their practice and most subtly illuminates the duo's masterful control of tonal sensitivity and floating, chamber-like composition. RIYL: classic ambient music from the likes of Pinkcourtesyphone, Gigi Masin, AFX, Eno. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplate & Mastering, Berlin. Sleeve printed on matt laminate card stock; Edition of 500.
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ROBOT 049LP
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Following the short-lived Truth Club with Trefor Goronwy (who later went on to work with This Heat and The Camberwell Now), Fote was formed in 1981 with the trio of Robert Haigh, Deborah Harding, and Trevor Reidy. Releasing two 12" EPs along with one track featured on a split 7" with Truth Club, Fote's entire studio recordings consisted of just eight tracks. With angular constructs of post-punk, free-form improvisations, and wicked time signatures, these tracks shredded boundaries one can still hear to this day. These early foundations are also heard in much of Haigh's later Sema compositions as well as Reidy's motorik percussion with Nurse with Wound, Danielle Dax, and The Monochrome Set. Curiously, Harding's vocal tensions and outright unhinged polarities in Fote sound like much of the exorcisms and brilliant psychodramas on many of Chrystal Belle Scrodd's (Diana Rogerson) later solo albums. An absolutely essential document from the early '80s independent British post-punk scene. Cut at 45 rpm for maximum fidelity, including all eight tracks, and featuring the original sleeve artwork by Deborah Harding.
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EPR 056LP
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LP version. Mythic Sunship played three shows at the 2019 edition of Roadburn. Changing Shapes documents the most ferocious and courageous of the three. It follows 2018's Another Shape Of Psychedelic Music (EPR 048CD/LP). Changing Shapes is a continuation of those ideas, not just a live performance of previous material (only two tracks from Another Shape are featured on this set). Søren Skov joins the band again here as the five-piece burns through a handful of lengthy pieces in front of an ecstatic audience. It's an immersive listen, from the curious opening notes of "Awakening", to the relentless roar of "Ophidian Rising".
"If Mythic Sunship aren't the shape of psychedelic music to come, it's in no small part because there are so few out there who could hope to match what they do." --The Obelisk
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LML 1002LP
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Lovely Music present a reissue of Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing, originally released as an LP by Lovely Music in 1979. Over the course of Robert Ashley's career his preoccupation with language and the voice took many forms. He became known in his librettos as a wonderful, funny, moving writer. But with Automatic Writing he examines language at a very "primitive" level -- the human impulse make sounds to express his inner state, whether it be regret, embarrassment, fear, or happiness -- even though there is no one else to listen. Talking to oneself.
Personnel: Voices - Robert Ashley and Mimi Johnson; Electronics and Polymoog - Robert Ashley; Words: Robert Ashley; Translation: Monsa Norberg; Silhouette: William Farley. The switching circuit was designed and built by Paul DeMarinis. Recorded, produced, and mixed by Robert Ashley at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland), the American Cultural Center (Paris), and Mastertone Recording Studios (New York). This reissue was remastered and cut, from the original reel-to-reel tape, by Scott Hull, Masterdisk (New York). Manufactured at Record Technology Inc/RTI (California). 180 gram vinyl; Stoughton Old Style sleeve. Includes an insert with a transcription of the words, and the Automatic Writing notes Ashley wrote for Lovely's 1996 CD (that included "Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon" and "She Was A Visitor").
"On Automatic Writing, Robert Ashley composes under the influence of his 'involuntary speech.' (In his liner notes, Ashley revealed that he suffered from 'a mild form of Tourette's.') The piece starts quietly, with scraps of Ashley's mild, tremulous voice arranged next to more fluid French translations and barely-there touches of Moog. After Ashley's phrases lengthen enough to encompass sense-making phrases, a bass-register groove briefly appears, vanishes, then returns. Few pieces so quiet have proven as captivating; many that intend to be equally startling can't capture Ashley's range of surprises." --Seth Colter Walls, from Pitchfork's "Fifty Best Ambient Albums of All Time"
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TDP 54013LP
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Trading Places present a reissue of Bridget St. John's Ask Me No Questions, originally released in 1969. Blessed with a distinctive voice largely defined by a rich, cello-like timbre, the English singer and guitarist Bridget St. John was brought to the attention of the adventurous guitarist John Martyn by fellow singer Robin Frederick and after being introduced to him by Martyn's poet friend, Pete Roch, was championed by BBC Radio disc jockey John Peel, who formed the Dandelion label in 1969 (with Elektra record-plugger Clive Selwood) specifically to issue St. John's music. Recorded in a brief session that lasted for some nine or ten hours, debut album Ask Me No Questions features Martyn on second guitar on opener "To Be Without A Hitch" and the equally chilling "Curl Your Toes", as well as the haunting title track, while future Fairport Convention and Soft Machine member Ric Sanders appears on "Lizard Tongue Boy" and "Many Happy Returns". Licensed by Cherry Red.
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PALTO 007LP
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2019 repress; LP version. "Originally released in 1982, Kakashi is another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground. This album, which has gathered cult status in recent years, is the project of musical visionary Yasuaki Shimizu, and considered to be a highlight of his solo career. Shimizu was the bandleader of Mariah, who also saw their album Utakata No Hibi reissued by Palto Flats in 2015. Kakashi offers a similar blend of saxophone experimentations, jazz fusion and ambient dub excursions."
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LMS 5521286
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London Records present the first vinyl reissue of Happy Mondays' Bummed, originally released in 1988. Like many an influential album in rock history, the cultural significance of Happy Mondays' Bummed was apparent to precious few listeners upon its first release on November 5th, 1988. Within a decade or two, Bummed would be hailed as one of the best records of the '80s, often by the self-same publications that had slated it back in the day -- a harbinger of the seismic shift about to take place in British popular music, away from the squeaky-clean, corporately ordained pop-radio fodder which had increasingly dominated the charts since punk, and back towards the more aggressive, unruly, and experience-hungry urges which had always pulsed through rock n' roll. Artwork lovingly replicated by original Manchester designers Central Station Design. Featured the singles "Wrote For Luck" and "Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer". 180 gram vinyl; gatefold sleeve with embossing; printed inner-sleeve; includes download code.
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ROBOT 050LP
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Consisting of two side-long pieces, Perception & Association was composed over a period from 2012-2018. Opening side A is "Time and Again", a startling work for tape and electronics which pulses over waves of interlocking spatial relationships. These elements are at once distant, even static, yet Christoph Heemann gradually propels the listener along chapters of an unexpected and further revealing sonic narrative. While the deliberate frames and events offer a specific path, even the most active listener will gain new insights with repeated spins. Side B, "The Trains", suggests not merely a travelogue, but a series of meticulously constructed episodes that reference the record's opposite side as well as the album title as a whole. In the spirit of early electroacoustic works by Jacques Lejeune, Eliane Radigue, and Jaap Vink, these new pieces continue to emphasize Heemann's ongoing filmic obsessions and firmly engage the listener with his latest cinéma pour l'oreille (cinema for the ear). Widescreen. Front cover artwork by Ruth-Marie Adam; back cover painting by Fritz Martin.
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LP
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WWSLP 024LP
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LP version. Wewantsounds present a reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first solo album Thousand Knives Of, originally released in 1978 on the sought-after Better Days label. Save for a small-scale release in 1982, this is the first time the album is being released on vinyl outside of Japan. 1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country's most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic experimentation he had started with his solo album Paraiso. The album, recorded between December '77 and January '78, featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan. Sakamoto had become an in-demand session musician after studying composition at the Tokyo University of Art and had played on many key albums of the time, such as Taeko Ohnuki's Sunshower (1977) and Tatsuro Yamashita Spacy (1977). This led to an invitation by Hosono to feature on Paraiso. A penchant for avant-garde and improvisation had gotten Sakamoto interested in electronic music early on, and with Thousand Knives he decided to get Hideki Matsutake on board as he had mastered the art of synth programming following a stint with Electronic Music pioneer Isao Tomita. Thousand Knives took several months to record as Sakamoto would be busy during the day with his session work and would only record at night. Named after Belgian-born poet Henri Michaux's description of a mescaline experience, the album is a reflection on how synthesizer technology might come to change the face of music. The first side conceived as a long suite opens with the title track and a recitation of the Mao Zedong poem "Jinggang Mountain" filtered through a vocoder, before morphing into a mid-tempo synthpop instrumental. It is followed by "Island Of Woods", a ten-minute track buzzing with insect-like synth sounds. Side one ends with "Grasshoppers", a beautiful acoustic piano melody underlined by a subtle synthesizer soundscape. Side two opens with "Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied", acknowledging the influence of the German sound spearheaded by Kraftwerk. The track features a mid-tempo metronomic beat skillfully intertwined with a Japanese folk sounding melody. The album ends with two catchy up-tempo synthpop tunes in the form of "Plastic Bamboo" and "The End Of Asia", which both became staples of YMO's and Sakamoto's live shows. YMO's sound included various influences from its three members but there is no denying Thousand Knives paved the way for the group's Computer Music sound. Remastered from the original tapes by renowned producer and engineer Seigen Ono.
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2LP
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FVR 150LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. The motor hasn't had time to cool down and the belt drive is feeling the fatigue. But Charles Maurice is the kind of DJ who just can't let a turntable rest. After steaming up the slipmat with three sexy compilations of French Boogie (FVR 101CD/LP, 122CD/LP, 140CD/LP), Charles Maurice is back with Volume 4. In the late '70s and early '80s, while France was still firmly tuned into variety-show pop, a few enlightened ears and souls picked up the hypnotic beat of funk from across the Atlantic. These first warrior monks spread the good word in discotheques, jumped on newly available frequencies to fill the airwaves and -- in some cases -- took up instruments themselves to unabashedly build on the U.S. model. In a short decade stretching from the late '70s to the late '80s -- just a blip on the scale of music history -- they turned out material in abundance. Lush productions with colorful covers, groovy typeface, and creative photo shoots, but first and foremost, they made music weaned on, spoon-fed and imbued with funk. Music defined by a groove with a robotic beat (Djeneba) that clearly hears hip-hop banging on the door, where layers of synthesizers, handclaps (Eric Chotteau), horns, and African percussion line up and follow the all-powerful lead of the swelling slap bass (Cyrill). This is music that tells everyday stories, both humorous and lovelorn (Serge Delisle), often packed with pheromones just waiting to be released on the dance floor or sofa (Chris O'Hara). Shaped by synthetic textures, these productions are also spiced with Caribbean and Creole arrangements that reflect the West Indies' critical contribution to French Boogie (Wai Kop, Acayouman). With his immaculate tailoring, slicked-back hair and clipped moustache, Maurice has once again transformed himself into a hi-fi stylus to explore the groove traced by this specifically French musical style. From 45 to 33 rpm, he has traveled the black spiral to bring a new selection that proudly features a number of rarely-heard pieces and even an unreleased track by Marco Attali. True to form, Monsieur Charles carefully crafted this fourth volume from his personal collection of impeccably restored and mastered vinyl recordings. Charles Maurice: where French elegance meets uncompromising musical taste. Also features: Dwight Druick, David Simon, Shen Et Les Shendys, and Aries.
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ARTYARD CIA100
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Art Yard present a reissue of Sun Ra's The Antique Blacks, originally released in 1974. The vitality you hear on The Antique Blacks is a testament to the unique energy of the community around The Foxhole Cafe in Philadelphia, as Ra honed his unique brand of Afro-futurism through the late '60s and '70s. Cosmic theater, spiritual chants, and experimental electronics make this record an essential document that was ahead of its time. Recorded as a radio broadcast in Philadelphia, according to Dale Williams, The Antique Blacks has a well-defined but oddball structure. Sun Ra was a master architect, very concerned to use the unfolding of an album, a broadcast, or a live performance to create a satisfying structure. "Song No. 1" is a lively, tonal introduction, featuring John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, Sun Ra on roksichord, Dale Williams, then aged 15, on guitar, and Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet. Sun Ra's poetry is featured on "There Is Change In The Air", a track which has on occasion been used for the album title: in its original incarnation as a Saturn LP, there was no dedicated sleeve artwork, and this record appeared under many names. Ra's poetry is allusive, elusive, and paradoxical, and this was its first major appearance on a record. During instrumental passages, Williams's guitar is heard, along with the saxophones of Marshall Allen and Danny Davis. The Antique Blacks is a similar setting for a Sun Ra poem, which encompasses "spiritual men", and Lucifer as a dark angel. The Arkestra is heard in conducted improvisational ensembles, in between the sections of the poem. "This Song Is Dedicated To Nature's God" has Arkestral vocals, with John Gilmore's voice in the foreground. Sun Ra's poetic declamations provide the structure for "The Ridiculous I" and "The Cosmos Me", which also has a fine unaccompanied tenor solo by John Gilmore, keyboard improvisations by Sun Ra, and closes with bass clarinet from Eloe Omoe. Sun Ra's keyboards are heard with minimal Arkestra support on "Would I For All That Were" -- a fine synthesizer improvisation, with electric piano left hand accompaniment. Tension is resolved by "Space Is The Place", which rounds the album out in an upbeat mood, with Akh Tal Ebah, James Jackson, and Sun Ra prominent among the vocalists. The closing section includes the chant Sun Ra And His Band From Outer Space, often used at the close of live performances.
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BANG 138LP
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Bang! Records present a reissue of Lydia Lunch and Rowland S. Howard's Shotgun Wedding, originally released in 1991. Lydia Lunch: New York City's provocateur, poet, singer, author, performer, and actress. From fronting the influential no-wave group Teenage Jesus and The Jerks to her current musical incarnation as Big Sexy Noise, with Gallon Drunk's noise makers James Johnston, Terry Edwards, and Ian White; countless collaborations and projects in between Lydia has never played by anyone's rules but her own. This 1991 collaboration with the Australian iconic cult figure Rowland S. Howard is perhaps one of her most revered. Featuring production by JG Thirwell (Foetus, Manorexia) and drums by Jim Sclavunos (Bad Seeds, Grinderman) it's a veritable who is who of the post punk/no wave scene of the time. Rowland S. Howard is no doubt best known for his work with the Birthday Party, his discordant guitar is an essential factor in their sound. Howard sadly passed away from liver cancer in 2009. A hugely influential alternative musician, in 2011 he was subject to a 110-minute documentary entitled Autoluminescent, by cult filmmakers Richard Lowenstein and Lynne Maree Milburn, which received an independent cinema release. Featuring luminaries such as Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie, Wim Wenders, and of course... Lydia Lunch, the film highlights Howard s genius, talent, and rightfully elevates him to the cult status he so deserves. With both parties at the height of their respective talents, this is an alternative rock gem, yet however maintains an atmosphere of eerie beauty throughout. Out of print for years, this re-press is a must have.
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LMS 5521284
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London Records present the first vinyl reissue of Happy Mondays' Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), originally released in 1987. Released in April 1987, the Happy Mondays debut album was a perfect snapshot of a very different kind of pop culture coming from beyond the fringes. It would be an underground album but a game changer. Produced by Velvet Underground legend, John Cale, this was the accidental sound track for the endless housing estates sailing away from Manchester City center and into Salford-perfectly captured by this gang of misfits. Artwork lovingly replicated by original Manchester designers Central Station Design. Featured the singles "Tart Tart" and "24 Hour Party People". 180 gram vinyl; silk-screen printed PVC O-card; printed inner-sleeve; includes download code.
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3LP
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KOM 370-3LP
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Pop -- the album that has become widely recognized as the defining moment in which Wolfgang Voigt brought his listeners into a clearing of his deep, psychedelic forest. A landmark release in the GAS odyssey that drew international attention, Pop was originally released in 2000 on the iconic Frankfurt imprint, Mille Plateux. Pop was heralded by Pitchfork at the time of release as being "an exercise in sonic texture... pure sonic velvet, the layered drone radiating a palpable warmth." Pop was reissued by Kompakt in 2016 as a part of GAS Box (now out of print) and by itself here. First time on 180 gram, triple-LP vinyl; includes original artwork.
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WRWTFWW 030LP
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Repressed. LP version. 350gsm sleeve with selected UV high gloss varnish. Liner notes by Midori Takada, Satoshi Ashikawa, and Gareth Quinn Redmond. WRWTFWW Records announce the reissue of Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (Wave Notation 2). Initially released in 1982 as part of the Wave Notation series (which includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards), Still Way is, without a doubt, a seminal Japanese environmental/ambient/minimalism album, often mentioned alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (1983) (WRWTFWW 018LP, WRWTFWW 019CD/LP) and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green (1986) as one of the genre's most important pieces. "Like the moment of stillness, after the wind passes through the garden, when the rain stops for a brief second..." Notably inspired by Erik Satie's Furniture Music and Brian Eno's ambient work, Satoshi Ashikawa aimed to compose music "intended to be listened to in a casual manner, as a musical landscape or a sound object -- not something that would stimulate listeners but music that should drift like smoke and become part of the environment." The result is simply phenomenal, subtle minimalism and emotional elegance exquisitely orchestrated by Satoshi Ishikawa and his team consisting of his wife Masami Ashikawa (on flute), Midori Takada (on vibraphone), Yuko Utsumi (on harp), Tomoko Sono (on piano), and Junko Arase (on vibraphone). In conjunction with Still Way, WRWTFWW Records is releasing Laistigh den Ghleo (WRWTFWW 039CD/LP), a companion album by Irish ambient/minimalist composer Gareth Quinn Redmond, inspired by Ashikawa's approach. Liner notes by Midori Takada, Satoshi Ashikawa, and Gareth Quinn Redmond.
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LP
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BSR 002LP
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Black Saint present a reissue of Archie Shepp's A Sea of Faces, originally released in 1975. Recorded in Milan (Italy), A Sea of Faces stands as one of Shepp's strongest recordings of the '70s. A highly varied program, covering Shepp's entire spectrum and performed by an all-star line-up featuring Archie Shepp (tenor & soprano sax, piano, vocals), Charles Greenlee (trombone, tambourine, vocals), Dave Burrell (piano), Cameron Brown (bass), Beaver Harris (drums, tambourine, vocals), Rafi Taha (vocals), and Bunny Foy (vocals, maracas, percussion). The album includes the famous 26-minute long "Hypnosis," a groovy extended jam in full spiritual Jazz mode.
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BSR 109LP
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Black Saint present a reissue of Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet's Voodoo, originally released in 1986. Voodoo shows the Sonny Clarke soulful hard bop conception as seen through the oblique perspective of a NY Downtown all-star quartet featuring John Zorn (alto sax), Wayne Horvitz (piano), Bobby Previte (drums), and legendary bassman Bill Drummond. This unique and iconic album stands as one of Zorn's first declared tributes to the art of an influential musician and composer. All compositions are by Sonny Clark including such hits as "Cool Struttin'" and "Something Special" both from his classic late '50s/early '60s Blue Note sessions. A full catalog of opened up hard bop structures and advanced jazz modes.
"Quartet masterminds Zorn and Wayne Horvitz spit fire, never allowing this heartfelt tribute to get too reverential... Here Zorn sounds like he's having serious fun" --Scott Yanow, All Music Guide.
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LP
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8VL 5214LP
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An LP comprised of two stunning works composed by Luc Ferrari during the early 1980s, "Dialogue Ordinaire Avec la Machine" and "Sexolidad", released by the long standing Italian experimental imprint, Elica. Wild and wonderful, this one is absolutely essential for any fan of electronic avant-garde. Needing little introduction, Luc Ferrari is one the great figures in 20th century avant-garde and experimental music. Ferrari was a pioneer, who, for roughly half a century, continuously revolutionized the field of electronic and electroacoustic creative process. Leaving such a sprawling body of work in his wake, much remained unreleased at the time of his death in 2005. Labels and fans have been scrambling to catch up over the years since. Part of their long-standing dedication to Ferrari, dating back to the 1990s, Elica's latest LP, Dialogue Ordinaire Avec la Machine / Sexolidad, takes great strides toward illuminating the composer's remarkable range of diverse approaches to sound. Composed between 1982 and 1984, the first piece showcases Ferrari's interest in tape collage work and sampling, whereas the second piece is one of his less than traditional compositions for a traditional ensemble. "Dialogue Ordinaire Avec la Machine" describes the not so chance meeting between the artists (Ferrari helped by Yannick Gornet) and the mysteriously working machine (a sampler), between the curiosity, amusement, surprise, ineptitude and excitement of the musicians and the machine with its appeal, complexity, stubbornness and synthetic eruptions. A rollercoaster through exploration, seduction, observations, misunderstandings, purrs, moans, gurgles, whooshes, loops and mechanical rhythms from which Ferrari builds his own synthesized folklore, ending with one of the most unusual episodes in the composer's production, the rather graphically explicit and apocalyptic "Love Song With the Machine" (which, to make an unlikely comparison with younger artists, one could imagine the music of the New York duo Suicide mixed by Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton). "Sexolidad" is one of Ferrari's most seductive instrumental pieces, representing a journey over the body, in which tonalities and their mix create "a particular harmonic climate [...]" The curious concept and its musical composition result in an extremely enjoyable piece which is continuously intriguing, evocative, dauntless, persuasive and highly satisfying, exquisitely performed here by the Ives Ensemble. Includes 30x30cm four-page booklet with bilingual (French-English) versions of the integrated text from "Sexolidad" and the lyrics to "Love Song with the Machine". Gatefold cover; edition of 300.
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LP
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LMS 5521290
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London Records present a reissue of Happy Mondays' ...Yes Please!, originally released in 1992. The last Happy Mondays album on Factory Records -- reaching no. 14 in the UK chart. Produced by Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. Artwork lovingly replicated by original Manchester designers Central Station Design. Features the singles "Stinkin' Thinkin", "Sunshine & Love", and "Angel". 180 gram vinyl; printed inner-sleeve; includes download code.
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DOC 144LP
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2020 repress. Akira Ifukube's mighty score to the legendary monster movie that started it all, Godzilla! Ifukube's visionary music is super dark reflecting the horror of Ishiro Honda's film. This incredible score music alternates between brass and strings as we witness the death and destruction that comes in Godzilla's wake
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LP
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NAKED 006LP
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Recorded Live in Sweden in September 1961, the Uppsala Concert is an important document from Eric Dolphy's first Swedish tour as leader of an obscure but talented local quartet featuring Rony Johansson (piano), Kurt Lindgren (bass), and Rune Carlsson (drums). Master Dolphy shines, as always, on all his instruments alto sax, bass clarinet, and flute, while the track list consists of a rare mix of standards such as Milt Jackson's "Bags Groove", Monk's "52nd Street Theme", Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?", and the famous unaccompanied alto sax version of "Laura", all this plus a 20-minute long version of Dolphy's blues "245" where every single note played by Dolphy sounds as pure gold.
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LP
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VCR 014LP
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Elettroencefalogramma scans the full breadth of electronic composition by Italian musical mastermind Antonino Riccardo Luciani, who's perhaps best known for his library records, but on the showing here had a strong, prescient line in mind-bending, fathoms-deep experimental and academic work with tape and early, pre-synth devices. Awarded unprecedented access to polymath composer "Tony" Luciani's archive of inter-disciplinary work, Finders Keepers' Andy Votel follows his pressing of Maria Teresa Luciani's Sounds Of The City (FKR 093LP) with a first compilation survey of her sibling's vast catalog, newly issued via the Dead-Cert label he curates alongside Sean Canty and Doug Shipton. The set falls deep within the label's remit of reissued and previously unreleased work by overlooked and undocumented pioneers of 20th century sound, revealing a distinctive mix of material that nods to contemporary, tape music, neo-classical, jazz, electro-acoustic, and counterpoint composition. Drawn from original tapes recorded during the 1970s, Elettroencefalogramma spans the heyday of Luciani's work, before synth music was popularized. In this sense, it's worth noting Luciani's links with Teresa Rampazzi and the pioneering electroacoustic group NPS -- and namely Serenella "Serena" Marega -- with whom he shares a strong affiliation toward embracing the possibilities of new music at the dawn of an unprecedented sonic epoch. There's a sense of being in transition between worlds and eras in the opening blend of melancholy strings and bubbling electronic rhythm "Battery Farm", and likewise the cranky mixture of bestial growls and dissonance in "The Zoo", while the rattle-y rhythm of "Offices" uncannily recalls Trunk's recent issue of Mechanical Keyboard Sounds (JBH 084LP, 2019) from the modern day. But Luciani excels at quieter, introspective styles, as with the flute-led vision of "Desol 2", and most remarkably in the stygian, primitive drum machine pulse and clammy string drones of "Forest Of Chimneys", which is surely crying out for imagery of Satanic mills, while the rupturing tape of "Bombardment" sets him firmly in a lane of advanced Italian noise that connects him to Gruppo's Roland Kayn and Maurizio Bianchi. RIYL: Dapne Oram, Teresa Rampazzi, Daniela Casa, Roland Kayn, Maurizio Bianchi. Edition of 300.
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ASH 3002LP
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2019 repress. Deluxe LP format; 180 gram pressing. Reissue of the second Flower Travellin' Band album, originally issued by Atlantic Records in Japan in 1971. Satori is a conceptual hard rock/psych album driven by Hideki Ishima's furious guitar licks which erupt and explode over the harmonic heart beat of the drums and bass. Yamanaka's banshee-like vocal style turned him into an occidental Iggy Pop or Robert Plant while the band itself was rapidly becoming Japan's answer to Led Zeppelin. Satori is a huge album in every way. From power chords to Eastern-tinged North African six-string freak-outs and crashing tom-toms, the band flexes its collective muscle from start to finish. In short, this is a real rock classic of the type they simply don't make any more.
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BEWITH 075LP
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Reissue of Peter Lüdemann and Pit Troja's The Now Generation (Percussive Underscores), originally released in 1983. They say: "Documentary and industrial underlays for current themes of modern life". Be With Records say: Mind-blowing, percussion-heavy, Afro-tinged, cosmic-disco library bomb. An absolutely outstanding record from 1983 and definitely one of the hardest to find on the collectable German library label, Coloursound. The Now Generation (Percussive Underscores) is comfortably one of the very best library records full stop. The record comes galloping out the gate with a pair of rapid synthy-Euro disco bombs -- the title-track and "Panama" -- before slowing down to a woozy pace on "Inorganic Matter". "African Nightclub" sounds like it reads, and is a particular favorite of Prins Thomas. Indeed, it was used to great effect on his seminal "Cosmo Galactic Prism" mix for Eskimo back in 2007. It's followed by the dark, druggy, slow motion industrial groove of "Grease Plant" before "Southerly" lifts the tempo to close out side A with its Latin funk strut of bells and melancholic keys. For some listeners, though, it'll be all about the opener to side B: "Mechanical Heart". Seven minutes of building, mid-tempo disco-funk joy, deceptively explosive, club-ready gear for body and soul. The back cover dryly describes the track as "Guitar and percussion, light industrial underlay". Hmmm. How about, "after finally emerging from a particularly heavy week jamming in a sunless, lawless German warehouse, Chic warily press record on a wayward, illicit instrumental for basement gatherings". Just wait for those drums at the three-minute mark... The beatless ambience and menacing stabs of the proto-electro "Chemical Threat" follows, before the open drums and incredible fills of the metronomic "Steady Going" and fantastically monotonous funk breaks of "Nepal Trek" round out this sensational set. This is a library masterpiece in no uncertain terms, full of synth funk, Afro beats, exotica, leftfield madness, dancefloor dynamite, and all-around greatness. As with Be With Records' KPM and Themes reissues, the audio for The Now Generation comes from the original analog tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory. 140 gram vinyl.
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OME 1001LP
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2020 repress. Fantome Phonographique present a reissue of Maya Deren's Voices Of Haiti, originally released as a 10" record in 1954. Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Russian-American filmmaker and one of the most important voices in avant-garde cinema of the mid-20th century. She was a muse and inspiration to such up-and-coming avant-garde filmmakers as Curtis Harrington, Stan Brakhage, and Kenneth Anger, who emulated her independent, entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Deren attacked Hollywood for its artistic, political and economic monopoly over American cinema. She stated, "I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick." When Maya Deren decided, between the end of the '40s and the beginning of the '50s, to make an ethnographic film in Haiti, she was criticized for abandoning the avant-garde film world where she had made her place, but she was ready to expand to a new level as an artist. Deren not only filmed, recorded, and photographed many hours of voodoo ritual, but also participated in the ceremonies. It was in working on this film that Deren recorded the Haitian musicians found on these sides originally released in the very early days of Elektra records. Voices Of Haiti, a beautiful artifact of percussion and chant heavy ritual music, is one of the earliest and best Western ethnographic documents of voodoo culture in Haiti. It is unmissable both for its historical value and for the beauty and spiritual power of the music it contains. Original cover art for the album was created by the Japanese composer and performer Teiji Ito, husband of Maya Deren. Remastered; repressed here as a 12".
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OSR 076LP
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Out-Sider present a reissue of Wildfire's Smokin', originally released in 1971. Powerful and melodic hard-rock by this US power-trio: ultra-loud Quilter amps, killer leads, fuzz bass, furious drumming and vocals. Recorded at the legendary Sonobeat Studios in Austin (home of Mariani) and originally released in 1971 as a private demo album, now impossible to find. Originally formed in California in the late '60s, Wildfire consisted of Randy Love (guitar, vocals), Danny Jamison (bassm lead vocals), and Donny Martin (drums). Famous for powerful live shows, they packed the clubs with lines around the block of fans waiting to enter, becoming the house band for Finnegan's Rainbow and the favorite group of The Hessians Motorcycle Club, who became the unofficial guardians of the band. Soon, they got in touch with Pat Quilter from Quilter amps. Tired of blowing up amps when playing, Randy told Pat to design an amp that couldn't blow up. And he did it. Following Wildfire's input, Pat designed for the band the famous "Master Volume Dial" amp. In 1969, a Texas promoter heard the band in Southern California and brought them to Austin, becoming an instant hit locally in the Austin area. While in Texas, Wildfire shared the stage with Freddie King, the Allman Brothers, Johnny Winter, and ZZ Top. It was in Austin that the eight-song demo was cut at Sonobeat Records (home also of Mariani and Cold Sun), released in 1970 as a private pressing housed in a plain white cover with a Wildfire sticker, each one numbered. The demo album was never sold other than at a small record store in Southern California and it's now one the rarest hard-rock albums from the US. First bootlegged in the '90s and then officially reissued by Shadoks in 2006, here's a welcomed new vinyl edition. RIYL: Grand Funk, Bolder Damn, Demian, Cactus, Stack, Banchee, Blue Cheer, Hendrix... Master tape sound; includes insert with liner notes and photos.
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3CD BOX
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SLT 005CD
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Saltern presents its fifth release, Performances & Recordings 1998-2018, the first comprehensive collection of recordings surveying the career of renowned, American cellist Charles Curtis. Selected by Curtis and Tashi Wada from recordings spanning the past two decades, the collection offers a broad, inclusive view of Curtis's activities across the diverse worlds of music he inhabits, containing rare, unreleased recordings, and never-before-released music by Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Éliane Radigue, Alison Knowles, and Curtis. The wide-ranging scope of this release speaks not to a musical restlessness, but to a genuine spirit of inquiry, as these areas of activity for Curtis have existed concurrently in dialogue, not simply in succession, for decades. Over two hours of music by composers and artists with whom Curtis is closely associated including Éliane Radigue, Guillaume de Machaut, Tobias Hume, Silvestro di Ganassi, Terry Jennings, Morton Feldman, Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen, Alison Knowles, Richard Maxfield, and Curtis himself. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with liner notes by La Monte Young, Spencer Gerhardt, and Tashi Wada. Custom packaging and screen printing by Alan Sherry; Edition of 500.
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2LP
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CSR 276LTD-LP
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Double LP version. Bone color vinyl; edition of 800. Cold Spring Records announce the long-awaited reissue of Stolen & Contaminated Songs, Coil's 1992 album. Stolen & Contaminated Songs was recorded and produced by Coil in 1992. It is comprised of over 60 minutes of outtakes and unreleased songs, evolved during the recording sessions for their prior album, Love's Secret Domain (1991). A wealth of superb material showcasing the diversity of Coil: dark, violent, vivid, and fractured, yet cohesive and beautiful. Combined with the latest studio technology and Coil's ever-evolving production skills, S&C Songs walks a fine line between tradition and innovation, continually creating semi-abstract soundscapes with a cinematic quality.
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LP
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LR 102LP
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2019 repress. One of the brightest and most famous projects of the entire punk/new wave scene, No New York was released in 1978 on Island's sub-label Antilles. Featuring some of the most incredible rule breaking bands of the underground N.Y.C. art and music scene, the project - produced by Brian Eno - is a genuine snapshot of the massively creative N.Y.C. scene. Artists: Contortions, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, Mars, D.N.A..
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LP
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NA 5178LP
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"Now-Again Records presents limited edition deluxe reissues of the lauded black fire catalog in 2020. First up in the series, this previously unreleased live session recorded at the legendary Brooklyn venue The East in 1973. Magical, mystical, Afrocentric, progressive -- words that could be used to describe any number of musical compositions by Sun Ra or his cosmic brothers and sisters, from John to Alice Coltrane, early '70s projects on record labels like Detroit's Tribe or Houston's Lightin' or the interests of one Washington, DC native named Jimmy Gray that centered under one, perfect moniker: Black Fire. Gray spent nearly three decades pushing boundaries as a Black American promoter, distributor and, finally, record label owner. Together with Juju's leader James 'Plunky Nkabinde' Branch, Gray oversaw sixteen releases on Black Fire Records between 1975 and 1996. These are the definitive reissues of five of the label's key titles; all were lacquered -- most directly from master tape -- by legendary Los Angeles mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. With this set, Juju and Black Fire's story burns forth into its fifth decade, its message not tempered, its sound pure. It's cycle, once again, complete. Each release is packaged in a thick, tip-on sleeve and includes a deluxe booklet with extensive notes on the album, the Black Fire collective, and the musical and cultural revolution they created. Limited edition, one time pressing."
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LP
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NAKED 002LP
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This is the legendary Krzystof Komeda Quintet caught live at the Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw in 1963. A marvelous combo featuring some of the greatest Polish jazz musicians, such as Tomasz Stanko (trumpet), Michal Urbaniak (tenor sax), Maciej Suzin (bass), and Czeslaw Bartowski (drums). Komeda, Stanko, and Urbaniak were sort of pioneers who effectively opened up a way for jazz in Poland. Komeda's fluent modern jazz conception was a perfect synthesis between the American influence and a certain Slavic lyricism. The album includes an astonishing version of "Ballad From Knife In Water" from Komeda's soundtrack for the 1962 Roman Polanski movie. A major statement in the East-European music history.
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LP
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NAKED 005LP
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The George Russell Sextet caught in a rare live recording from a concert held at Music Inn, in Lenox Massachusetts on September 1, 1960. George Russell's kaleidoscopic sound conception takes shape through the collective interplay of a brilliant tight band featuring George Russell himself on piano, Al Kiger (trumpet), Dave Baker (trombone), Dave Young (tenor sax), Chuck Israels (bass), and Joe Hunt (drums). A great example of challenging modern and yet swinging jazz, including highlights such as Russell's original "Stratusphunk" and an early Carla Bley's tune called "Dance Class".
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LP
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GET 52737LP
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Housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket; OBI. "After years of Wrecking Crew-grade session musicianship around Los Angeles, Malcolm John Rebbenack carved his own niche by the late 1960s with a distinct blend of psychedelic rock, boogie-woogie, and rhythm & blues. Taking the stage name Dr. John, The Night Tripper (later shortened to Dr. John), he developed a cult following with his music, heavily influenced by his home of New Orleans, and fascination with the voodoo religion, which was reflected in his elaborate stage shows. In 1968 he released his debut record Gris-Gris, which was not a commercial hit, but fascinated critics, and set him on an artistic path that would eventually lead to major mainstream success in the 1970s, and cement his reputation as a prominent curator and performer of the New Orleans sound. After Gris-Gris' release, Dr. John found himself in a strange and awkward position. The US was deep into the Vietnam War, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were fresh in the public memory. On top of that, Dr. John was being pursued by various Los Angeles authorities for a handful of criminal offenses. It was, in his own words: 'a heavy time for me.' Much like Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On, Dr. John's sophomore album Babylon would be a reflection of the chaotic and tumultuous time that he was living in. He and the band dove deeper into the voodoo-inflected psychedelic rock and R&B of Gris-Gris, while touching upon elements of free jazz and Captain Beefheart-style avant garde. As with his debut record, production was handled by the legendary Harold Battiste, and much of the same session personnel who performed on it returned for Babylon, including Plas Johnson on saxophone, Alvin Robinson on guitar, and backing vocals from Jessie Hill, Shirley Goodman, and Tami Lynn. Babylon stands out as one of Dr. John's most overtly political albums, and is a singularly murky and darkly entrancing record in his discography. A psychedelic swamp of apocalyptic lyrical content, drunk, disorienting experimentation, and a fascinating entry into Dr. John's catalogue well-worthy of his expansive legacy."
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LP + 7"
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GUESS 156LP
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Guerssen Records present a reissue of Caedmon's legendary debut from 1978, originally released as a private pressing. One of the most sought-after progressive folk-rock albums from the UK. Caedmon -- a five-piece student band in the '70s -- recorded this album to mark their farewell concert in early 1978, before they went their separate ways after university. They had literally no idea of the myths, rumors, and tales that would embellish (and sometimes distort) the musical arc traced by this album in the decades to come. The album contains twelve songs. Ten were written by the band. One was based on an ancient text by seventh century poet Caedmon. And the final track was a traditional gospel song. Angela Naylor's lead vocals are supported by close harmony male vocals throughout. Acoustic guitars, mandolin, and cello jostle with electric guitar, keyboards, percussion, and bass. The resultant blend can only be described as eclectic, conjuring a slightly bizarre mix of folk ballad, bossa-nova, and psychedelic jazz and funk. Little did they know that this would be described as acid-folk in years to come. Unusual time signatures, tight arrangements, improbable instrumentation, oblique and poetic stories tackling spirituality, distorted fuzz guitar, and the odd recorder solo. 1978 was the era of punk. Caedmon adopted a self-produced approach and recorded their farewell to fans in Barclay Towers Studio in Edinburgh, an attic flat, patronized by the Rezillos, among others. Essentially each song was recorded "live" in two or three takes on a four-track tape machine, with occasional overdubs. During the pressing, a call from the pressing plant informed the band that they had too much music recorded to fit on a 33rpm 12" vinyl. A quick decision resulted in two tracks being moved across to a 45rpm 7" single. The band was unsigned, boasted a small fan-base (mostly in Scotland), only occasionally played south of the border (notably at a disastrous gig at the Greenbelt Festival in 1977), enjoyed some success at the Edinburgh Fringe. Their niche fame came twenty years later. Both a re-release of the original album on CD by Kissing Spell Records, and a burgeoning world-wide vinyl collectors market made possible by the internet led to feverish demand for copies of the original vinyl of 1978. First licensed reissue of the 1978 album since the Kissing Spell CD. 24-bit remastering from the original master tapes; Four-page color insert with lyrics, rare photos, and liner notes; Original artwork.
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3LP BOX
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DPROMBX 148LP
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Triple-LP box set in three different dayglo color vinyl LPs; includes a fold-out insert. There is no track listing -- no Side A, B, etc. This music is to be played in whichever order the listener wants to. The box and insert all have new artwork by Babs Santini. Features all new material.
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LP
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CCS 055-2LP
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2019 repress. LP version. Second edition with amended tracklisting (the track "I Got A Woman" has been deleted). Four years after his debut EP on Wolf + Lamb, Nicolas Jaar, the New Yorker by way of Chile returns to Circus Company with Space Is Only Noise, an uncompromising manifesto on traces of the past, love lost, and spectres of the future. Jaar has made it quite apparent over the course of his nascent catalog and increasingly sought-after live sets that challenge is an intrinsic part of his creative discourse. Few are the producers of any age with the guts to ride a sub-100-bpm tempo at peak-time in the techno Mecca of Berlin, and fewer still are those who receive an ecstatic hands-in-the-air response for their precocious efforts. It is precisely this sense of risk which elevates Space Is Only Noise beyond the realm of valiant first effort or crossover dance music oddity. Those looking to wade through the sea of Jaar's potential influences will quickly find themselves in the deep waters of golden age Factory records, the home-spun digitalism of Mille Plateaux, Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow and Eric Satie. Jaar gently coaxes his listener into the experience from the opening sounds of rolling waves on "être," but quickly transitions into the sophisticated percussion and meandering melodies that characterize his sound. Jaar seeks, and often finds, beauty in melancholy on the first few tracks of the album. As the album begins to accelerate with "Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust," Jaar confronts us with the often forgotten reality that our sadness is not mutually exclusive on the dancefloor. Suddenly, on "Keep Me There," Jaar's voice appears over the delicious, rumbling melody. Though your hips stir to the relentless bass line and the sexiness of the voices, your heart is jolted out of its luxurious malaise when horns erupt seconds later. "How can you talk about a landscape without showing the sky and the earth?" a voice asks, translating from the French on "être." So Jaar concludes, revisiting the same track to end the album. Complete landscapes such as these are only realized in contrast -- the indulgent against the reserved, the sky against the earth; lightness and darkness. Space Is Only Noise is a tour de force with few modern equals, and a great sign of things to come from one of electronic music's most exciting producers.
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LP
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BEWITH 071LP
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Reissue of Visual Impact, originally released at 1976. They say: "Descriptive scores for scenes of visual impact". Be With Records say: Arguably the single greatest album in KPM history. An ensemble piece of staggeringly heavy works from none other than Brian Bennett, John Scott, Steve Gray, Jim Lawless, and Johnny Pearson. Visual Impact includes the insanely ace "Nuplex" by Brian Bennett, a nagging, sweeping, punchy funk piece that exists in a world of its own. If you don't know, get to know -- the record's worth getting for this track alone. The same goes for the beautifully paced, string-drenched, horn-fed LP opener "Canaveral Scape", courtesy of John Scott. Truly sublime. Other highlights on the A-side include Bennett's easy, bass-heavy jazz groover "Sequence Of Events" and the spare, building, undercover funk of Steve Gray's aptly-named "Low Profile". The B-side is straight-up fantastic. The percussive, vibey exotica of Jim Lawless's "Keeping Pace" is followed by five tracks of slick, weighty funk breaks from Johnny Pearson. Check the pure groove of "Jaguar" with its head-nod drum break intro, the creeping piano-strings combo and... er... giant neck-snapping breaks of "Giant's Causeway", the speaker-smashing progressive bass groove of "Fugitive", the tense "Rock Climb" and the sheer heft of "Heavy Load". Library largeness. If that isn't enough, John Scott's incessant "Flight Of The Phoenix" ends the session, brilliantly pilfered by M.O.P. for their much-loved "We Run New York". Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, Visual Impact is a rare example of a library record that's genuinely great listen from start to finish. As with all of Be With Records' KPM reissues, the audio for Visual Impact comes from the original analog tape and has been remastered for vinyl by Simon Francis. Sleeve reproduction duties by Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM's brand identity. 180 gram vinyl.
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