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Recent Best Sellers
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Y 014LP
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Ted Lucas, the sole published album by singer-songwriter and master guitarist Ted Lucas has achieved an almost mystical reputation amongst aficionados and collectors. Ted Lucas is a seamless marriage of moody odes and raga-style instrumentals regarded by many to be, simply put, the greatest private press folk/psych album ever recorded. Lucas was a fixture in the Detroit rock scene of the sixties and seventies. His first band, The Spike Drivers, relocated to San Francisco to become one of the very first true psych bands, the Motor City's answer to Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds. Following that band's collapse, Lucas returned to Detroit and paid bills doing session work with Motown. And there he recorded, in 1972, the demo for Warner Brothers which would become Ted Lucas, released in two private editions in 1975 and known informally to friends and family as "The OM Album", after Lucas' own label. The album was released with artwork by the legendary Stanley Mouse originally created for Jimi Hendrix. A troubled figure whose lack of commercial capitalization and general disgust with the music business fueled a tragic narrative of self-destruction and an untimely death at 53, Lucas nevertheless reflects a regal confidence on this album, both in terms of his Sandy Bull-level guitar workouts and his masterful songwriting, as reflected in covers by the Blind Boys of Alabama, Richard Buckner, Phil Cook, and Father John Misty. As singular as Skip Spence's Oar (1969), as liminal and uncanny as David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971), Ted Lucas is a collection of elevated and elegiac cosmic folk music, presented here in a newly re-mastered edition from the original tapes with high-quality tip-on sleeves and the original back cover art.
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4LP
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FABRIC 200LP
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4LP version. Burial and Kode9 are each credited with fostering esoteric, hyperlocal sounds and steering them to global recognition. As such, these tracks reach into obscure corners and across a disorienting range of tempos. This set of four vinyl LPs -- produced to accompany the final FabricLive 100 compilation release, features 28 of the 37 tracks on the compilation in their unmixed format. Featuring artists from Africa, China, South America, and Japan as well as the Europe and US. Drawing from gqom, juke, and footwork to trance, jungle, and grime, as well as a wealth of material that defies categorization.
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WRWTFWW 025LP
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LP version. 140 gram vinyl; 350 gram sleeve, with sticker. WRWTFWW Records announces the highly anticipated official reissue of holy grail album MKWAJU by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's MKWAJU Ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon) and a digipack CD. Originally recorded in February and March 1981 and released by fabled Japanese avant-garde label Better Days (home of Ryuichi Sakamato's debut album, Yasuaki Shimizu's Kakashi (1982), Colored Music's self-titled LP (WRWTFWW 024CD/LP, 2018) and many more) MKWAJU is the fruit of the collaboration between Takada's crew and world-famous composer/musical director Joe Hisaishi, the man behind most of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime soundtracks and over 100 other films scores, including Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine (1993), Hana-Bi (1997), and Kikujiro (1999). The ensemble's transcendental wonder is, in fact, the first-ever Midori Takada album and the first-ever Joe Hisaishi-produced album: historic. Led by Midori Takada on marimba, gong, vibraphone, and tom tom, MKWAJU is an inventive and riveting take on Eastern and Western minimalist traditions, African rhythms, and early electronica. Drawing from its jazz-rooted polyrhythmic improvisations in the most inventive ways, the album covers a wide spectrum of sounds, from colorful dance floor-ready percussion pieces that stand somewhere between proto-techno and experimental synth-pop, to cinematic ambient landscapes and ethereal drone delicacies. The feverishly sought-after full-length is a stepping-stone in Midori Takada's career and an all-around pioneering album. Alongside Takada and Hisaishi (who not only produced the album but also played synthesizers), personnel on MKWAJU includes famed Japanese musicians Yoji Sadanari and Hideki Matsutake of KI-Motion (WRWTFWW 026CD/LP, 2018) fame, Junko Arase (heard on Satoshi Ashikawa's legendary Still Way - Wave Notation 2(1982)), and Pecker (whose stacked resume boasts collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jun Fukamachi).
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2LP
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LOVE 111LP
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Since the release of their album Wonderland (LOVE 105JC-CD/105LP, 2016), Demdike Stare have been recording material for this new double album Passion; an asymmetric re-imagining of UK club styles taking in frenzied drum trax, shortwave jungle, pinging dancehall and clipped, post-punk riddims. During this time they've been busy curating their DDS label (releases from Shinichi Atobe, Mica Levi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, and Equiknoxx, among others) and have been commissioned by both the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) and the surviving members of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza to mine and rework their archives. Enlisting visual artist Michael England (Autechre, Gescom, Leila), they've created a cinematic accompaniment for their collaborative live shows, resulting in the image which adorns this cover - a hybrid/composite portrait exploring/questioning the current use of software in creating hyper reality and the manipulation of the self. The accompanying film includes documentary footage filmed at a Voguing event in NYC, a Blackpool promenade and a Newark, New Jersey roller rink, the end result smudging the lines between live performance, documentary and sonic cinema. It's an idea that's echoed on Passion, continuing a process Demdike began on their Testpressing series of dismantling lines between analog and digital realms, between urban realism and fantasy, between experimental, pop and soundsystem cultures. An outlandish configuration of avant-garde and ultimately functional club weapons designed and honed for the weightiest bassbins, it's also their most direct and fucked up record to date -- a raucous, joyful 9-track smash that comes off like a night on a glamorous, neon-lit bender. Mastered by Matt Colton. RIYL: Errorsmith, Príncipe, Dem 2, Jon E Cash, Wiley, Joy Division, DJ Scud, Equiknoxx, Anthony 'Shake' Shakir, Bernard Parmegiani. High-gloss varnish sleeve.
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2LP
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OP 048LP
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2018 repress. Nicolas Jaar shows he is paying attention to the masses by issuing a widely called for vinyl press of his A.A.L. (Against All Logic) album 2012-2017. Originally issued as a digital-only release back in February of 2018, it's slowly grown to become one of the most cherished releases in the entire Other People discography. Much like Kerrier District did to disco, A.A.L. (Against All Logic) borrows heavily from the samples and sounds ingrained deep within Jaar's listening habits and evidently a record collection packed to the brim with classic soul, house, and most importantly, funk hooks. Keenly twisting these sounds and filtering them through a studio set up that's leaning heavily on the beefed-up kick drums and reverb units to make a well-executed homage to these sounds, pieced together with the inherent idea of making the listener unable to resist the urge to move, be it in a bedroom, basement, or just sat in work staring at a computer screen. A.A.L. (Against All Logic) is both a well-executed homage to all of the above references, yet also just a really strong and enjoyable record from Nicolas Jaar. Its undeniable popularity digitally is sure to see the vinyl evaporate in no time at all.
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PAL 053LP
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Brace Up! is the first ever studio release from the duo of Chris Corsano (drums) and Bill Orcutt (guitar). Recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus by Christophe Albertijn on March 19th and 20th, 2018. Stage dive photograph by Jason Penner. "Over the past six years or so, drummer Chris Corsano has proven to be one of Bill Orcutt's most reliably flexible collusionists. Regardless of whether Bill is cluster-busting electric guitar strings, weaseling around with cracked electronics, or playing relatively spacious free-rock, Corsano is able to provide the proper base for his aural sculpting. A lot of Orcutt's instrumental work has traditionally felt hermetic even though he's exploring caverns of explosive ecstasy. One often got the impression Bill was operating in the way John Travolta did in the classic 1976 ABC television drama, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Orcutt's actual interaction with collaborators emerged not from communication so much as pure observation. While he was fully cognizant of his musical surroundings, his reactions to it were walled off. This approach did not encourage sonic dialogue so much as parallel streams of discourse. These streams could interact with each other, but not in particularly standard ways. On Brace Up! , their first ever studio release, this precept has changed considerably. Whether it's a function of emotional familiarity or an intellectual choice I dunno, but there's a whole new kind of duo exchange going down on this record. Bill and Chris are clearly playing off each other's moves throughout the album. And it really raises the level of the music to an all-time high. From the cop car see-saw of 'Poundland Frenzy' to the mutual pummeling of 'Paranoid Time' (possibly a Minutemen tribute?) to the lazychicken- gets-stung-prog of 'She Punched a Hole in the Moon for Me,' the sounds on Brace Up! display a constant flow of ideas and instantaneous conjugation of newly forged verbs. As great as Bill and Chris's previous duo records have been, this one's greater." -- Byron Coley
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2LP
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DDS 035LP
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Heat is a surprise new double album from Shinichi Atobe for Demdike Stare. It follows on from 2017's From The Heart, It's A Start, A Work Of Art (DDS 023LP) and continues a run of highly enigmatic, acclaimed and completely unparalleled productions that follow their own timeless logic. There's no sonic fiction involved; this material really does just turn up on a CD sent by air mail from Japan to Manchester, sparse info, no messing, pure gold. What's that cover art about? It's probaby something to do with the balmy, slightly fucked, sun-stroked material within. "So Good, So Right", the ten-minute opener, will force you to forget about all the shit around you for a while. There are also several tracks called "Heat"; they're all killer. This music takes you elsewhere almost immediately; that fan on your desk is basically a summer breeze. In fact, this whole album is absurd, completely effortless, and a total classic. Find a more life-affirming electronic album in 2018, and there's an ice cream in the offing. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton, cover by Mat Thornton.
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SF 111LP
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This is Sublime Frequencies' second volume of transcendent musical field recordings from central and southern Madagascar, produced by Charles Brooks. Like the grand beauty and wonder of its flora and fauna, Madagascar's music is completely unique. Whether the tempos are fast with polyrhythmic precision or slow in the form of a Kabosy ballad, once one gets familiar with its sound, it can never be mistaken again. Charles Brooks has been traveling to Madagascar and living with these spectacular artists for many years and has managed to document countless examples of their work, and regardless of how formal or informal a recording is made, the results always turn out magical. The following is an excerpt from Brooks's liner notes: "The musicians on this album are storytellers and much of their craft is improvised and has a strong foundation of expertise in their respective cultural traditions. These field recordings have been collaborative from beginning to end and here, I've attempted to represent the finest of these talented artists. Their music journeys across endless landscapes with some movements having the qualities of a start and finish and yet no apparent end... Seeking, recording, and sharing the intangible experience, the best of all of this, is to catch a ghost." Charles G Brooks, 2018 Limited edition LP with two-sided insert featuring images of the artist and highly detailed notes of the recording sessions. Performers include: Kavoria Lappella, Soa Vinelo Soando, Vonarivo M'Bola, Gilbert Peramena dit Bera, Zara Jean Paul, Randriana Solo, Mahalid Destin, M'Beamdala, Prosper Razafimamdimby, Melina Soulala, Dabaro and Ranasoa Velonjoha.
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2LP
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IMPREC 174-2LP
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2018 repress. Double LP. 2018 re-cut from original Peter Christopherson approved masters. The Ape Of Naples is Coil's highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of Jhonn Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape Of Naples uses Balance's final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece. Packaged in a heavy tip-on gatefold sleeve with Ian Johnstone's original artwork coated in a custom spot gloss. Each LP is house in a printed inner sleeve and side D is printed with all three original etchings. Lyrics are printed across the gatefold.
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FTR 386LP
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"In March 1995, soon after the German Veracity label issued Wolfways, and just before they did Parsnips Snips (1995) (Hurley's first vinyl after a nine-year drought), the Great Snock undertook his first European tour. Joined by bassist Robert Michener (from the Richmond scene Hurley'd been involved in) and percussionist Mickey Bones (legendary Boston drummer & bones player), Hurley hit a bunch of places and Germany and also KLUB K4 in Llubjana, Slovenia, where this set was recorded. The sound is beautiful, the band plays with lazy perfection, and Hurley's vocals are energetically melodic. He does some songs that were only released on the series of cassettes that immediately preceded Wolfways ('Horse's Ass,' 'The Beggar's Terms'), stuff from Wolfways ('Letter in Neon,' 'Portland Water,' 'I Paint a Design'), classics like 'O My Stars,' and a few cover tunes. And More! Packed up in a new Hurley art cover design (based on the Euro tour t-shirt), with great liner notes detailing the rigors of a German press junket from right before the tour-proper, this package is sure to please discerning Snockophiles of all stripes. It's a fantastic spin. Dig in today." --Byron Coley, 2018.
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SF 114LP
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Senyawa are a contemporary duo originating from Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Rully Shabara (extreme vocals) coupled with Wukir Suryadi's deft instrumentals (and homemade instruments) produce one of the most profound examples of experimental via traditional music happening anywhere today. By weaving Indonesian folkloric moods with various shades of modern genre hybrids, Senyawa has been navigating unexplored musical terrain for more than a decade. Sujud, their premier release on the Sublime Frequencies label, is the latest chapter of this very special and singular sound of the past, present, and future. The basic theme of the record can be summed up with one extremely powerful Bahasa Indonesian word, "tanah", which translates to "soil-ground-land-earth". Shabara's vocals are an expressive force, conjuring spirits from the soil with a deep humility and respect for the land and their existence in the universe. Suryadi has built a new guitar for these tracks and pushes the Senyawa sound into new territory, utilizing delay, loops, and other effects creating grounded backdrops of folk metal, punk attitudinal, and droning earthscapes - providing Shabara the perfect context to explore his whispering poetry and jagged, sharp-as-a-kris animistic powers. There is simply no other sound like it and Sublime Frequencies is thrilled to present this new direction in their discography. Limited LP with two-sided insert featuring lyrics in Bahasa Indonesian.
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4CD/BOOK
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SF 112CD
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Deben Bhattacharya (1921-2001) was a field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist, and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. Highly influential, it would not be too bold a stretch to say that his work shaped how we listen to the world: he produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos, and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from 1953 until his death in 2001. Never before published, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road features over four hours of music and is Deben's impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road from Europe into India. With four CDs of recordings, photographs, Deben's original recording notes, musical transcriptions, and more. An amazing glimpse into a time long gone and essential listening for anyone interested in folk and world music traditions. Produced and edited by Robert Millis (Indian Talking Machine (2015) and Victrola Favorites (DTD 011CD, 2009). "Actually, I think my playing is probably more derived from the folk music records that I heard; Middle Eastern music, Indian music... for years I had something called Music On The Desert Road, which was an album with all kinds of different ethnic music. I used to listen to that all the time." --Frank Zappa, 1993 (from an interview in Guitarist Magazine, talking about an LP released by Deben in 1956 using a few edited versions of the music included on this compilation.) 160 pages, cloth bound cover with four CDs: 45 pages of photographs and 50 pages of detailed recording notes. Introductions by Jharna Bose Bhattacharya, Robert Millis and WG Archer.
Includes recordings of: Students of the Salonica Quaker Girl's School Dance of Jerissos,Saban Akdao, Hasan Sayin, Reza Argin, Jumma Ali, Vakkas Kaplan, Feizi Kaplan, Hüseyin Eroğlu, Raif Karsligil, Imam and congregation of the mosque at Kilis, Dervish worshippers in the house of Sheikh Saud Mawlawi, Nour Hanbali, Antone Noweh, Doureid Laham, Bashraf Sama'i Taatyus, Andalusi Muwashshah, Hazim, Suleiman and friends, Al-Haj Hashim Mohammad, Shu'aib Ibrahim, Abdul-KArim Al Azawi, Shu'aib Ibrahim, Khalil Akrawi, Ostad Zareen Panje Bel, Gulfa-e-Ghani and Zareef, Ostad Abol-Hassan Saba, Sher Khoda, Darioosh Sefvat, Hamedanian, Shapoore Delshadi, Eskandare Ebrahimi and Orchestra, Eskandare Ebrahimi , Muhammad Hussein, Dost Muhammad, Abdul Kader, Saroj Narang, Jyotish CH. Choudhury, Kalipada Das, Bhona, Mangal Mukerjee, and Jai Chand Bhagat and Babu.
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DOC 144LP
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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. Edition of 500.
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LP
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PT 3002LP
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Voices of Mississippi encapsulates the life's work of William Ferris, an audio recordist, filmmaker, folklorist, and teacher with an unwavering commitment to establish and to expand the study of the American South. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Ferris toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans as they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions that form the roots of the blues. This LP features blues and gospel field recordings made by Ferris between 1966 and 1974; all tracks are available on vinyl for the very first time. In addition to being a groundbreaking documentarian of the American South, Ferris is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferris co-edited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989) and is the author of multiple books. Printed inner sleeve.
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LP
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SF 113LP
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LP version. Baba Commandant And The Mandingo Band return with their second LP, Siri Ba Kele. After the Afro-beat fury of their first album Juguya (2015), the band has now distilled a potent mix of traditional and modern Burkinabe funk with a reverent take on the iconic Mandingue guitar music of the 1970's. Mamadou Sanou (Baba Commandant) leads the band with a confidence earned from years of toiling in the DIY underground of the West African music scene. His riveting growl and main instrument, the doso n'goni, still strike with a profound delivery. The band's guitarist, Issouf Diabate, is on board again and his breathtaking guitar work is one of the greatest examples of the instrument displayed in modern times. Massibo Taragna (bass) and Mohamed Sana (drums) are simply one of the finest rhythm sections working today, each a master on his instrument and the chops displayed here are truly something to behold. The band has become an interlocking five-headed hydra of complex funk and cosmic guitar explosions. Recorded in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in February 2018 by Camille Louvel and mixed with SF's Hisham Mayet, the Mandingo Band's sophomore LP is a modern statement of searing Sahelian compositions. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with such classics as Super Biton De Segou (1977), Kanaga De Mopti (1977), Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux (1981) and the mighty Rail Band. Limited edition.
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JBH 073LP
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Trunk presents a special, first-time, issue of David Shire's soundtrack for The Conversation (1974). This is the first time the complete score to The Conversation has been released on vinyl. The film itself was originally released in 1974 but until now nothing else has ever been pressed on vinyl. Jonny Trunk's obsession with this music began after he'd caught the film, late night, sometime in the mid-1990s. Musically it's an exceptional example of the "new minimalism" in film music of the period, marking a departure (for some) from big scores to smaller, more economic ensemble sounds. The film was written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and is a thrilling journey into sound, mind and murder. Heavily influenced by Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966) Coppola wanted to fuse the concept of Blow-Up with "the world of audio surveillance". The story centers around Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a professional wire-tapper and clandestine bugger consumed by a conversation he's been paid to record. Caul is a loner, an obsessive-compulsive character with numerous neuroses that play out brilliantly throughout the film. And as he slowly pieces together the conversation fragments and forms his own story around it, his world falls apart. For the music, Coppola wisely chose a young David Shire, his brother-in-law. Shire's deceptively simple piano theme is one of tragic beauty, capturing Caul's loneliness, his disturbed nature and this trip into darkness. The melody has both sweet and sour tones, feeling a little like a slow ragtime, developing throughout the film; there are even trips into avant-garde territory with electro-acoustic flourishes and Concrète. The agitated figure of Caul, wearing his distinctive transparent mac, is made all the more raw and poignant by the score, its sparse and curiously emotional compositions unlike any others from the period. The soundtrack for The Conversation proved to be a major break for Shire, his career taking off from this point. His next score was to classic Taking Of Pelham 123, followed up ironically by All The Presidents Men - a thriller about the Watergate scandal. The Conversation won several awards and nominations, and has become a classic of the "New Hollywood" movement. Personnel: Jack Nimitz - baritone sax; Ray Brown - bass; Shelly Manne - drums; Walter Murch - sound montage; Norman Wachner - engineer; Pete Jolly - piano; David Shire - piano; Clark Spangler - ARP 2600; Don Menza - tenor sax; Conte Condoli - trumpet.
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EMEGO 104LP
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2018 repress; gatefold LP version. Returnal is the fourth album from Daniel Lopatin's Oneohtrix Point Never project, after Betrayed In The Octagon (Deception Island, 2007), Zones Without People (Arbor, 2009) and Russian Mind (No Fun, 2009). All 3 albums being superbly compiled on the Rifts double CD set (No Fun, 2009). It sees Lopatin fine-tune his craft for the creation of deep atmospheres and textures even further. Starting off with the mind-blowing triptych of "Nil Admiari"/"Describing Bodies"/"Stress Waves," which fires off into a noise/rhythm excess before entering a zone of relative calm, building to the melancholy of the final part. This sets the tone perfectly for the album's title track, a stunning, out-of-this-world ballad featuring Lopatin's near-desperate vocal delivery, ending what could be seen as one of his most chilling and thought-provoking sides to-date. The atmosphere is slightly lifted as the darkened sun comes up over the ruins on "Pelham Island Road" and "Where Does Time Go," with the album closing with edgy broken beats and the fourth-world possible landscapes of "Preyouandi," which fades into the distance with echoes of the "Returnal" chorus closing the loop. What's burnt into memory here is Lopatin's love affair with the long, slow path back home... the cycle... the hypnotic sector... the ghost in the machine... and whether people are making dance music or hip-hop or space head-music or metal, the ouroboros is present in every sector -- as it was in Bach's study, and in the elephant songs of the Ituri forests. Instrumentation: Akai AX-60, Roland Juno-60, Roland MSQ-700, Korg Electribe ES-1, Voice. Recorded using a personal computer. Mastered by James Plotkin. Tape-op & additional engineering by Al Carlson. Awesome spot-varnished cover design by Stephen O'Malley.
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ZORN 054LP
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Aguirre Records present a reissue of In Paris, Aries 1973 by the Black Artists Group. "This outstanding free jazz session was recorded in 1973 in Paris by Chicago outfit. It was Lester Bowie, trumpeter with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, who suggested that the Black Artists Group should head for Paris. In 1972, several members took his advice and flew to France for an extended stay. The following year, a concert featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, drummer Charles Bobo Shaw and trombonist Joseph Bowie (Lester's younger brother) was recorded and subsequently issued as In Paris, Aries 1973, a limited LP on the group's own label. Since their formation in 1968, the home of the collective had been St Louis, the city where the Bowies had grown up. It was there that Lester started to play, before moving, to Chicago in 1966, where he joined the recently-established Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). His close friend Lake visited, attended AACM concerts and meetings and was inspired by their artistic vision, integrity, and organization. In June 1969, the Art Ensemble had taken their music to France, with its reputation for audiences that were open-minded and receptive to the music of innovators such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and others. In Paris, Aries 1973 offers a fascinating glimpse into that phase of BAG's existence. The album is dedicated to the memory of Kada Kayan, a bassist who had hoped to make the trip from St Louis but had grown ill and died. His absence adds special poignancy to the sound of the bass when it appears on this recording, played by Carroll. In Paris, Aries 1973 reveals BAG's musical affinities with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Both groups preserved an independently-minded approach to the notion of free jazz and a carefully filtered awareness of pan-African musical practices, while their creative interest in space, mobile structure, chance occurrences and simultaneity also suggests parallels with the concerns of leading experimental composers working at that time. These performances in Paris of Shaw's "Something to Play On" and Lake's "Re-Cre-A-Tion," plus two collective compositions/improvisations, display the dedication to structural fluency and sensitivity to coloration that accompanied BAG's unorthodox group dynamics and their unconventional instrumental combinations. This is not a showcase for solos, but a shape-shifting and multi-centered statement of togetherness and discovery."--Julian Cowley. Edition of 500.
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ZORN 050LP
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Aguirre Records present a reissue of Infinite Sound's Contemporary African-Amerikan Music. This is conscious free jazz featuring Roland P. Young, originally released in 1975 on the eclectic 1750 Arch records. "'1750 Arch was a beautiful Spanish-style hacienda,'recalls Young. 'It had a recording studio in the basement and the salon was a performance.' Young played solo gigs there and also in duo with cellist Chris Chaffe. He remembers it as a particularly 'transcendent' setting for concerts by this trio, with singer Aisha Kahlil and bassist Glenn Howell. 'What appeared to be 'experimental' was reaching for sounds and emotions that were unfamiliar. We performed at rallies in support of various causes; our ultimate goal was a blending of cultures.' In 1968, Young was working as a DJ at KSAN, an underground rock station in San Francisco. 'Glenn used to call me when I was on air to comment about the music I was playing; he was a musician and I invited him to come talk about music, then decided to play. The pair met Kahlil at one of their concerts. 'A mutual friend introduced her and told us she was a good vocalist, loved our music and wanted to sing with us. We invited her to a rehearsal and soon after invited her to join the group. Infinite Sound came together easily; we had a shared intuition, and created a lot of music. Each of us would bring ideas to rehearsals and we would work on them. We talked about how to present our material and how compositions would flow; we were also conscious of how we dressed for performances, how we moved on stage, how we interacted with each other and the audience. On occasion we would invite dancers to perform with us, friends of Aisha.' Contemporary African-Amerikan Music preserves a fascinating glimpse of the trio in action. Their compositions embrace mobile forms, with Howell's buoyant bass taking a role around which Young's horns and Kahlil's voice move. Rhythms dissolve into textures, and melodic shapes soften or flare into exuberant bursts of tonal color. The music's mood swings unpredictably from flamboyance to introspection. Moments of musical allusiveness mutate into passages of wild inventiveness. Tantalizingly, this was this trio's only release. Times have changed, yet increasingly in recent years creative artists have come to accept the need to erase musical boundaries and erode the constraints of aesthetic categorization." --Julian Cowley. Edition of 500.
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LP
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ALGA 029LP
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Alga Marghen presents the new edition of Eliane Radigue's "Jouet Electronique" (1967) for feedback on magnetic tape and "Elemental I" (1968) for feedback of natural sounds on magnetic tape. This LP was first issued in 2010, and it's now presented for the first time with its own specific artwork and layout. Both works were recorded at Pierre Henry's Studio Apsome in Paris. Between 1967 and 1968, Radigue was Henry's assistant, mainly for the editing of L'Apocalypse de Jean (1969). Henry also put her in charge of organizing his sound archive; Radigue enjoyed doing this work, even if it took a long time. She decided to set the machines of the studio to do some work of her own. "Jouet Electronique" and "Elemental I" were born this way during her time as an assistant; working with feedback is something that Radigue learned through Henry. Do you remember Henry's Voyage (1969)? There's that fluid part which is made of feedback constructed with a microphone. Everything had to be set at a precise distance from the loudspeakers because that is the specific problem with feedback; one has to be at the right distance. Afterwards, these high tone recordings were slowed down in order to discover the deeper character of their color. This work with feedback was in the end quite limited and the composer preferred working with two reel tape machines to produce sounds. The first was set on the recording mode while the other was playing and it was the accidents happening in this phase that made the feedback richer. Fine-tuning could yield beautiful results: low pulsations, high-pitched sounds (sometimes both at the same time), or long sounds. All of these could be slowed down or accelerated, which gave beautiful source material. With "Jouet Electronique", Radigue had a lot of fun, hence the title. As far as "Elemental I" is concerned, it was the first attempt at something which was important to her based on the theme of the basic elements: water, fire, air and earth. Eliane had the chance to record in open air thanks to a small Stella Vox that Arman gave her in the beginning of the 1960s. Using it, Radigue built a minimal sound library, consisting of not more than ten reel tapes. This was the starting point; in 1968 she used these recordings for her work with two reel tape machines. New edition of 200, with liners by Radigue and portrait photos by Arman.
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LP
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SPHERES 022X-LP
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Color vinyl version; not for Amazon, etc. Indie stores only. The Light Is Leaving Us All is more music from Current 93, everyone's favorite hallucinatory cuneiform super-group. Three years in the making, The Light Is Leaving Us Allcontain spells within its eleven tracks. C93 are possibly, probably, certainly perhaps: Alasdair Roberts, Aloma Ruiz Boada, Andrew Liles, Ben Chasny, David Tibet, Michael J. York, Ossian Brown, Reinier van Houdt, Rita Knuistingh Neven, and Thomas Ligotti. Remember, remember, your future cartoon is as soft as the tarot! Gatefold sleeve, with insert containing all lyrics and credits.
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2CD
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CVSD 052CD
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Corbett Vs. Dempsey presents a reissue of Milford Graves's Bäbi, originally issued in 1977 on Graves's own IPS label. This is the first reissue of one of the most legendary albums in the history of free music. Recorded live in concert in 1976, when Graves' trio with saxophonists Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover was at the height of its powers, Bäbi is a testament to the absolutely unique approach the drummer had established for himself. He had reconfigured the drum kit, removing the second heads on all the drums and replacing the snare with two toms, which allowed him a much more nuanced sense of indirectness in his multi-directional adventures in time. The track "Ba" remains one of the most astonishing feats of percussion alchemy ever waxed, as funky as ten slap bassists and as free as an exploding grenade. Doyle and Glover are incendiary, too, inspired by Graves to new and shocking heights of achievement, their hoarse cries and whistling split-tones carried to thrilling plateaus on the energy of Graves' hands and feet. The original tapes for the session have been lost, so the reissue was lovingly remastered from virgin vinyl, itself now worth a mint. In 2017, Graves discovered a previously unknown tape in his archives featuring the same trio at its inception, in home recordings made seven years earlier, in 1969. Graves pummels a huge gong while Glover plays an instrument that, after sounding like none ever known, turns out to be bass clarinet. Extreme music recorded up close and very hot, it is among the most searing sessions never heard, until now. Rounding out the two-CD package are three previously unpublished photos by Gérard Rouy, and the original LP cover design by Graves himself.
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DVD
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DTD 054DVD
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Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, folklorist William Ferris toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans as they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions that form the roots of the blues. This DVD features seven films made by Ferris between 1968 and 1975.
Films included:
Black Delta, Part I (1968) (b/w)
Black Delta, Part II (1968) (b/w)
Parchman Penitentiary (1968) (b/w)
Give My Poor Heart Ease: Mississippi Delta Bluesmen (1975) (color)
I Ain't Lyin': Folktales from Mississippi (1975) (color)
Made in Mississippi: Black Folk Art and Crafts (1975) (color)
Two Black Churches (1975) (color)
In addition to being a groundbreaking documentarian of the American South, Ferris is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferris co-edited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989) and is the author of multiple books. In 1991, Rolling Stone named him among the top ten professors in the United States. DVD in digipak; NTSC format and region free.
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CD
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SF 113CD
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Baba Commandant And The Mandingo Band return with their second album, Siri Ba Kele. After the Afro-beat fury of their first album Juguya (2015), the band has now distilled a potent mix of traditional and modern Burkinabe funk with a reverent take on the iconic Mandingue guitar music of the 1970's. Mamadou Sanou (Baba Commandant) leads the band with a confidence earned from years of toiling in the DIY underground of the West African music scene. His riveting growl and main instrument, the doso n'goni, still strike with a profound delivery. The band's guitarist, Issouf Diabate, is on board again and his breathtaking guitar work is one of the greatest examples of the instrument displayed in modern times. Massibo Taragna (bass) and Mohamed Sana (drums) are simply one of the finest rhythm sections working today, each a master on his instrument and the chops displayed here are truly something to behold. The band has become an interlocking five-headed hydra of complex funk and cosmic guitar explosions. Recorded in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in February 2018 by Camille Louvel and mixed with SF's Hisham Mayet, the Mandingo Band's sophomore LP is a modern statement of searing Sahelian compositions. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with such classics as Super Biton De Segou (1977), Kanaga De Mopti (1977), Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux (1981) and the mighty Rail Band.
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LP
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NK 201801LP
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Performing on four different dates in 1967, the year they released their first album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967), this is Pink Floyd at their early, psychedelic, and raw best. Their showing in May of that year, for the program "The Look Of The Week", was probably the earliest live video recording of the group and includes amazing versions of "Pow R. Toc H." and "Astronomy Domine". Two more recordings for the program Top Gear, which showcased the underground hipster scene of London, and one for "Tomorrow's World" round out this amazing collection of early Floyd, including great versions of "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", "Flaming", and "Vegetable Man". Essential live recordings of Pink Floyd during their greatest era! Limited edition splatter vinyl LP.
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LP
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TROST 180LP
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LP version; Comes in a heavy, '60s style tip-on cover. Sparrow Nights is the first studio album from the furious duo of pedal steel player Heather Leigh and saxophone legend Peter Brötzmann. Their collaboration has quickly gained a well-earned reputation for their cutting-edge music and frenetic but sensuous playing. Recorded and mastered in Vienna by Martin Siewert. Features artwork by Brötzmann.
"There is complexity in simplicity, and Sparrow Nights is Brötzmann and Leigh's most enduring record to date. A series of emotionally rich and boldly elucidated tonal and timbral exchanges played like compositions on pedal steel and reeds, the tracks (released as a six-track LP and ten- track CD) are cold-forged minimalist blues motifs dragged from instrumental laments. After three years playing together Brötzmann and Leigh's connection and understanding is by now both cerebral and deeply invested in the physical and sensory possibilities of their combined sound, while retaining a melancholic distance. Within this duo there is fluidity - neither is the anchor - and these recordings sound with as much variety as the sea. At times Sparrow Nights carries the clarity and poeticism of still water and open horizon ("This Word Love"), and at others it contains the elemental and ferocious roar of white water breakers on black rocks ("This Time Around"). On their previous three live albums (Ears Are Filled With Wonder (TROST 147LP, 2016), Sex Tape (TROST 163CD, 2017), and Crowmoon (2018)), the duo have developed an intimate and intense language that manifests here as a focus on power and control, where figures blasted of unnecessary decoration are drawn from the shadows and smoke of collapse. The studio setting also allows Brötzmann to bring a broader range of reeds than in live scenarios: where previously he has played primarily tenor, clarinet and tarogato with Leigh, here he delivers the heat of alto and the low pressure of bass saxophone and clarinet. Brötzmann's duo with Leigh continues to trace a fresh new arc in his trajectory, and this release also falls at a time when Leigh releases Throne (EMEGO 257CD/LP), her most song-based record to date. Here as a studio duo they play a new-old blues for times of complexity, noise and chaos, continuing to redefine and re-sound possibilities for improvised music."--JLA.
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LP
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SNDW 126LP
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Soundway presents a reissue of Brazilian duo Grupo Controle Digital's only album, A Festa É Nossa, originally released in 1988. The title track "A Festa É Nossa" having circulated in DJ sets of influential tastemakers, the album has become highly sought after by electronic fans and collectors alike. Lo-fi synths and cruising bass lines permeate the record, influenced by the group's Brazilian contemporaries at the time such as Tim Maia, Cláudio Zoli, Secos E Molhados, and rock outfit Made In Brazil. Band members Billy Jaguar and Gel Valiery regularly performed in various groups in São Paulo throughout the '80s and '90s, but after Gel passed away, Grupo Controle Digital was no more -- the band and the album faded into obscurity and Billy became a priest, working with gospel music. It remained that way until Brazilian DJ Millos Kaiser (from label Selva Discos, and one half of Brazilian street party organizers Selvagem) tracked down the remaining member of the group to be able to include one of their tracks on the highly anticipated Soundway compilation, Onda De Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94) (SNDW 125CD/LP, 2018). Audio restored by Neal Birnie. Artwork restored by Lewis Heriz. Remastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London. Tip-on heavyweight sleeve.
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LP
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VL 990045LP
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Vinyl Lovers present a reissue of the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat, originally issued in 1968. While 1967's Velvet Underground & Nico was a part of Andy Warhol's global artistic vision, 1968's White Light/White Heat was free of all Warholian influence, so in a way it could be thought of as another debut album. Here the music was left to fester on its own, with no artistic visionary interfering or trying to create a soundtrack for his pop art, and the Velvets filled that void with an album that is an aural subway car full of drunkards, junkies and whores rumbling through the bowels of NYC with a one way ticket to oblivion. Purple vinyl.
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LP
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Y 017LP
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I Saw You is the distillation of Right Belief and Right Action, heretofore unknown, privately issued cassettes from 1986 and 1987 by Peter Thomas Kardas. A student of guitar craft and accredited member of The League of Crafty Guitarists, Kardas drew inspiration from Robert Fripp 'sloop-based Frippertronics, but the expansive, introspective washes of synths and repeated phrases and vocalizations are utterly their own thing, conjuring the independence, awe, and isolation of the remote Northern Californian landscapes in which they were created. I Saw You is a co-production -- the first new record from Los Angeles-based Yoga Records (Ted Lucas, Woo, Matthew Young) in over two years, and the first release by the newly-inaugurated Echo Ocho label based in San Francisco. Remastered from the original four-track masters by the artist. All songs composed and performed in 1986 and 1987 by Peter Kardas except as noted. Produced and remastered by Peter Kardas. Cover and Layout by Peter Kardas and Aleya Hoerlein. Reissue produced by Tyler Craft and Douglas Mcgowan. "Tip-on" cover; Includes download code; Edition of 500.
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2LP
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RLSUPSETT 004LP
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Double LP version. At 83 years of age, Lee Scratch Perry presents to the world his next full-length solo album, The Black Album, with dub versions, continuing his inimitable roots reggae legacy. Lee's brief for the album, was to blend the vintage and the obscure, during the sessions Lee referred to the sound and "black" and wanted space, light and darkness in the songs and their respective dub versions. The result sees Lee having mixed up an analog concoction of ultra-rare effects, sonic wizardry and deep heavy roots rhythms. Over 2017 and 2018, Lee Scratch Perry reunited with producer and mixer Daniel Boyle to start work on their second solo album project for Lee. Picking up where their last efforts Back On The Controls (2014) left off. Lee wanted to continue the raw analog sound they had cultivated together over multiple past releases, and take it to the next level with new effects devices to create another sonic signature. They entered the studio in 2017, to begin to put together ideas for the tracks, which were then taken to RAK studios in London with their ever-changing Rolling Lion All Stars session band; to lay down the rhythm versions. Using strictly vintage analog equipment, they employed Neuman valve and RCA Ribbon microphones, and RAK's early model vintage API desk to record, the "sound" for the album was sculpted in these sessions. Vintage, but punchy, which was then blended with Lee's choice of super rare and custom analogue effects. Ursa Major Space Station and Stargate delays and reverbs, old choruses, plate and spring reverbs, and tape delays were used to create a tight vintage feel but retaining the rawness of the "Low Fi" roots sound Lee was aiming for. With the music coming together, the vocal sessions were held in Abbey Road Studio 3, again using vintage RCA ribbon mics, overdriving their EMI TG console and Fairchild compressors to create a pleasantly distorted lo-fi vocal sound. Lee and Daniel then returned to Daniels Rolling Lion Studio, to mix and dub the album, live, on the mixing console.
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LP
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BB 310LP
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LP version. "Sowas Von Egal, is the result of a collaboration between Bureau B and the Hamburg party series Damaged Goods. Record companies and DJs are aligned through a love and passion for seeking out rare music which simply needs to be heard. For the three of us as DJs, we created Damaged Goods as a party where we could play music beyond the electro clichés. Our focus would be seldom-heard post-punk and synth-wave from, or in the style of, the 1980s. We'd slip in these unknown or long-forgotten treasures between more familiar hits from the genre to inspire and excite our guests. Eighties culture is very much a reference point today in music, art and fashion, so why not play the originals, especially as there is still so much to be discovered from that period? Many of the old records we'd play in the club had only been pressed in small quantities, often sold exclusively at the respective bands' gigs. More than 30 years later, it is almost impossible to get hold of these tracks, unless you pay over the odds on certain websites or track them down as inferior MP3s on this or that blog. This is why it was so important to us that our collaboration with Bureau B would be dedicated to selecting tracks for Sowas Von Egalwhich are not readily available on vinyl and have not been rereleased (or the reissues themselves are genuine rarities). The groundwork for this project was interesting in itself: sorting through and listening to songs, making lists, setting priorities, then getting in touch with labels and trying to find the musicians of yesteryear. This wasn't always so easy: some had disappeared from view, others had died. When we did find who we were looking for, the reaction was generally positive, although some were surprised that anybody was interested in their music today. We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to Tom Morgenstern, who worked wonders with a jumble of disparate source material to achieve sonic consistency. Fans of our parties will recognize more than a few of the tracks on Sowas von egal; we are proud to have put together this collection." --Volker Kindt and Marco Flöß, June 2018. Features: Träneninvasion, Der Moderne Man, Silberstreif, El Deux, Nullzeit, Hoffnung and Psyche, Schwellköper, New Dimension, Berlin Express, Pension Stammheim, Alu, Matthias Schuster, Gorilla Aktiv, 08/15.
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LP
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WRJ 001LP
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New "regular edition" on 140 gram vinyl. We Release Jazz (WRWTFWW Records' new sister-label) presents its first release, the official reissue of Ryo Fukui's highly sought-after masterpiece Scenery, originally released in 1976. Unquestionably one of the most important Japanese jazz albums ever recorded, Scenery reveals Ryo Fukui as a miraculously brilliant self-taught pianist fusing modal, bop, and cool jazz influences for a very personal, dexterous, and game-changing take on classic standards made famous by Bing Crosby and John Coltrane among others. From "It Could Happen To You" and its serene and calm intro which magically flows into a jubilant and upbeat piece, to the out-of-this-world piano solo of "Early Summer", or the incredible teamwork of "Autumn Leaves" where Fukui leads Satoshi Denpo (bass) and Yoshinori Fukui (drums) into groove heaven, every single note on the album oozes precision, confidence, and flair and every single section slides seamlessly into one another, creating a supreme and elegant blend of jazz. Often compared to McCoy Tyner or Bill Evans, Ryo Fukui was a genius in his own right, a true master of his craft whose perfectionism gave birth to some of the greatest music ever recorded. Scenery is his magnum opus and an absolute must-have. The Hokkaido wizard-pianist followed Scenery with the soulful gem Mellow Dream (WRJ 002CD/LP/LTD-LP) in 1977. He then focused on improving his live skills, often performing at Sapporo's Slowboat Jazz Club (which he co-founded with his wife Yasuko Fukui) and releasing two live albums. Ryo Fukui sadly passed away in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come. Sourced from the original masters. LP version is mastered at half speed; 140 gram vinyl with sticker.
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2LP+CD
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BEC 5543616
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Double LP version. Includes CD. Gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves. Because Music presents a 20th anniversary remaster and reissue of The Three EPs, a compilation of The Beta Band's early music, dating from 1997-1998. Arguably one of the most acclaimed and loved bands of the past 20 years, by both fans and their musical peers alike, The Beta Band formed in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1996. Their unique musical and aesthetic approach to everything they did set them far apart from their musical contemporaries. Together for a relatively short period of time, the three albums and three EPs that they released between 1996 and 2004 would nonetheless help define them as one of the most exciting and cherished bands of their generation. After acquiring the Beta Band's catalog in 2017, Because Music are reissuing a series of releases, starting with The Three EPs. Two-panel digipack with 32-page stapled booklet.
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CD
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BEC 5543700
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Arguably one of the most acclaimed and loved bands of the past 20 years, by both fans and their musical peers alike, The Beta Band formed in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1996. Innovative and singular, their unique musical and aesthetic approach to everything they did set them far apart from their musical contemporaries. Together for a relatively short period of time, the three albums and three EPs they released between 1996 and 2004 would nonetheless help define them as one of the most exciting and cherished bands of their generation. After a short hiatus the band gradually gravitated back into the studio and recruited noted UK producer Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, to oversee the process of Hot Shots II which was released in mid-2001. Notoriously the band had intended to release "Squares", which featured a sample from the Günter Kallmann Choir's 1970 version of Wallace Collection's "Daydream", as the lead single. However, after filming the music video and taking the single to radio it suddenly transpired that another single "Daydream In Blue" by I Monster featuring the sample from Günter Kallmann Choir recording was also to be released at the same time causing the band to release "Broke" instead. Touring extensively and supporting Radiohead in August 2002, they made No. 3 on Q magazine's list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". CD version comes in a three-panel digisleeve with a 12-page poster booklet.
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LP
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SHELTER 101LP
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Felicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's Limpid As The Solitudes cuts through sound-making techniques to enter a new zone of sonic revelations. The record recalls the turn-of-the-century Mille Plateaux glitch era, the warmth of La Monte Young's drones, acousmatic non-space recordings made by GRM artists, 4AD's floor-gazing guitar sound, and blissfully diverse field recordings. But, one could equally equate it with entirely different recording sources. Limpid As The Solitudes has a widescreen sound that is both familiar and unfamiliar. Warm, comforting and also unsettling in unpredictable ways. Deliberate yet exploratory, it's a record composed of opposites and contrasts, following historical guidelines yet also throwing them out of the window. To describe the album as ambient would indicate passive engagement with the sound; leave it to play in the background and one could miss a lot of the joy. Atkinson and Cantu-Ledesma describe the record as a series of postcards - things and sounds that happen vertically as a slow ascension, vessels communicating in dreams. In this collaborative recording, there is a feeling of "becoming" - a concrete sound turns into a electronic sound that turns into a spiral-like melody which then furls/unfurls at the same time. The album title as well as track titles, are all verses stolen from Sylvia Plath's poems, Atkinson notes, "like dropped pearls from a lost collar." Trying further to capture the record's poetic impulses, it reflects "Empathy to objects and nature's elements, meteorological states, seasons that answer to your heart, granular etchings carved and sustained to create a blurred sentimental landscape. The finale is more optimistic than Plath's poetry. Love and lyricism win, the music soaring from deep water to interstellar galaxies." The cover is another key, an image by Julien Carreyn of a young woman wearing destroyed jeans, playing with bubble wrap. The image is intended to give the viewer an eerie 1990's feeling that echoes the recording and films by Hal Hartley or Wong Kar Wai. Be sure to come back to this record more than once; it's then that it's power will work. Recall the sound of a lover, a garden once walked through, an echo of a record once loved. To be appreciated, "Limpid As The Solitudes" requires immersion as if in a hot spring, letting the sounds float and alter perceptions and memories. Mastered and cut by Helmut Erler at D+M. Printed photographs by Julien Carreyn on glossy inner and outer sleeve.
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12"
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LSR 022EP
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Dopplereffekt present Athanatos, their fourth release for Leisure System, including a stunning collaboration with Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender. Advancing the concepts of growth and decay considered in Cellular Automata (LSR 020LP, 2017), the duo of Rudolf Klorzeiger and To-Nhan explore the genetic conditions behind mortality in five sections, each offering a different interpretation of the subject matter. While conceived as a whole, the parts could be seen as functional devices in an iterative process. The release features artwork by Carsten Nicolai.
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LP
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EMEGO 249LP
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Hence is the third collaborative release from Oren Ambarchi and Jim O'Rourke, following on from Behold (EMEGO 176LP, 2015). Building on the refined combination of electronics and acoustic instrumentation found on their previous releases, Hence presents two side-long pieces combining synthesizers, heavily effected guitar tones, and tabla rhythms played by special guest Uzhaan. On the first side, an explosive opening chord sends out ripples of sparse, irregularly pulsing guitar and synthesizer tones, aleatorically changing in pitch and jumping around the stereo image. Combined with the tabla, which gradually builds in busyness throughout the side, the piece is like a dream collaboration between David Behrman and the Henry Kaiser of It's A Wonderful Life (1984), gradually overtaken in its second half by a swarm of lush live electronic sizzle. The second side begins in a similar area, combining tabla, shimmering Leslie cabinet guitar tones, and a wandering melodic line. Undergoing a series of subtle variations, this initial area eventually builds to a climax of twittering synthesized birdsong reminiscent of Alvin Curran's '70s work. As on the first side, Ambarchi and O'Rourke craft a piece that is both comforting and subtly strange, as the constantly shifting dynamics and changes of focus (which recall the flow of improvised music) refuse to allow the music to settle into any one moment for too long or to build in too linear a fashion. Combining influences from post-minimalism, the pioneers of live electronics, and eastern music into a unique sound world, Hence is a seductive work from two of the most singular sensibilities in contemporary music. Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Photos by Traianos Pakioufakis. Sleeve/type design by Stephen O'Malley.
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3LP
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AALP 087LP
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Triple LP version. 140 gram vinyl; Gatefold sleeve with liner notes and pictures. Following Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb's dangerous trip to Mogadishu in November of 2016, the label presents Dur Dur of Somalia: Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks. Dur-Dur, a young band from the '80s, climaxed as a band in April of 1987 with the release of Volume 2, their second album. The secrets to Dur-Dur's rapid success is inextricably linked to the vision of Isse Dahir, founder and keyboard player of the band. Isse's plan was to locate some of the most forward-thinking musicians of Mogadishu's buzzing scene and lure them into Dur-Dur. Ujeeri, the band's mercurial bass player was recruited from Somali jazz and drummer extraordinaire Handal previously played in Bakaka Band. Isse also added his two younger brothers to the line-up: Abukar Dahir Qassin was brought in to play lead guitar, and Ahmed Dahir Qassin was hired as a permanent sound engineer. On their first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, three different singers traded lead-vocal duties back and forth. Shimaali, formerly of Bakaka Band, handled the Dhaanto songs, a Somalian rhythm from the northern part of the country that bears a striking resemblance to reggae; Sahra Dawo, a young female singer, had been recruited from Somalia's national orchestra, the Waaberi Band. Their third singer, the legendary Baastow, who had also been a vocalist with the Waaberi Band, and had been brought into Dur-Dur due to his deep knowledge of traditional Somali music, particularly Saar, a type of music intended to summon the spirits during religious rituals. From the very beginning, Dur-Dur's doctrine was the fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance: funk, reggae, soul, disco, and new wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Dhaanto, and spiritual Saar music. The concoction was explosive. It initially seemed that Dur-Dur's music had only been preserved as a series of murky tape dubs and YouTube videos, but after Samy arrived in Mogadishu he eventually got to the heart of Mogadishu's tape-copying network and ended up finding some of the band's fabled master tapes, long thought to have disappeared. This set reissues the band's first two albums -- the first installment in a three-part series dedicated to Dur-Dur Band -- representing the first fruit of Analog Africa's long labors to bring this extraordinary music to the wider world. Remastered from the best available audio sources. Includes two previously unreleased tracks; Accompanied by extensive liner notes, featuring interviews with original band members.
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2LP
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HOL 108LP
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Holidays Records presents Henning Christiansen's Stone-song. Stone-song is a one-hour performance presented in 1990 at the 8th Biennale of Sydney (The Readymade Boomerang: Certain Relations in 20th Century Art) where time is being scanned and animated by matter and where the genius of Henning Christiansen (with fellow artist Bjørn Nørgaard and Ken Unsworth, to whom this performance is dedicated) establish a deep dialogue with the nature (of sound) watching the time, stone on stone, being at the same time actors and audience of its ephemeral and violent manifestations. What time is it? Is it what time? Time is it what? Released in collaboration with the Henning Christiansen Archive.
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LP
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BS 045LP
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Black Sweat presents a reissue of Garrett List's Your Own Self, originally issued in 1972. Produced on Max Schubel's Opus One label, it was a remarkable creative effort, conceived like a celebration of a higher self-consciousness. The context is avant-garde minimalism, but the music is enriched by a deep spiritualism; it echoes the most meditative jazz of the age, taking also advantage from the mystic lesson of La Monte Young. Everything is solved in a free, moderate and brilliant language, pure and elegant. It's quintessential, in these rare moments of beauty, the instrumentation of the voices and the relative interpretation of the text. The sibilant female chant is lost in an intimate and ethereal recitation, wrapped by the drones of the horns and the dripping notes of the piano and vibraphone. It's the ideal atmosphere for an impalpable ecstatic way, the echo of a secret dialog with the inner cosmos. On this recording, List seems to condense perfectly all his emotional and transcendental sound universe, making Your Own Self not only a seminal work, but also a radiant message of total harmony.
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2LP
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TRESOR 025LP
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Jeff Mills's Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 initially came out in 1994 on Tresor Records. The eight titles on this album marked a turning point for Mills. It indicates a transition from the straightforward sound he had created through the early 1990s, into the different facets and sound palette he would develop through the remainder of the decade. It is a significant piece within Mills's oeuvre. This repress is a stamped and hand-numbered edition, limited to 1500.
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LP
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TRD 005LP
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"'J. Spaceman recorded this strange record at his own Amazing Grace Studio in June 2005. Hard to describe in words, it contains elements of systems musics with gamelan-like overtones. Looped cells are contained within longer improvisations, forcing the listener to engage with and make some order from the insistent chaos. Music without precedent or tradition- a perfect companion piece to the new Spiritualized LP.'"
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2LP
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SPHERES 023LP
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The Spheres announce the double-LP reissue of Current 93's classic Soft Black Stars. Originally released in 1998 in a vinyl edition of just 2000 copies, and on CD, this is the first official vinyl reissue. Remastered by The Bricoleur, this album contains all the released versions of the album's final track, "Chewing On Shadows" -- the original album track, as well as the two different versions used on the expanded CD release of 2004. Comes in a full-color sleeve, reproducing the original paintings by David Tibet, and a two-sided full-color insert.
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LP
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WRWTFWW 032LP
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LP version; in heavy 350 gram sleeve. WRWTFWW Records present the official reissue of cult album Lingua Franca-1 (originally released in 1983) by groundbreaking Kyoto band EP-4. Straight from the delirious minds of unconventional geniuses Kaoru Sato (who had previously released an album as R.N.A. Organism on legendary Osaka label Vanity Records) and Yuji "Banana" Kawashima, Lingua Franca-1 is a seamless voyage of spellbinding mutant funk grooves, joyful post-punk explorations, synth fantasies, sexy distortions, and fluid cool-no-sweat vocals. Constantly mutating in an almost biological way (similarly to Colored Music's self-titled album (1981)), always mysterious and seductive, sometimes reminiscing of a freaky cross between PiL, Liquid Liquid, David Bowie, and Yello, EP-4's debut is hard to label, although "Debonair Wave" could be a legitimate way to describe this Japan's best-kept-secret of an album. Defying the rules wasn't limited to sonic experimentations for band leader Kaoru Sato. To promote Lingua Franca-1, he and his crew plastered gigantic (illegal) billboards all over Shibuya and Harajuku, announcing performances in four different cities on odd hours of the same day (May 5th, 1983). Other of his notable antics included originally sub-titling the album "Death to the Emperor Showa", causing a controversy (which led to censorship and a title-change), trying to release two albums on the same day without the concerned labels being aware of the plan or, in the R.N.A. Organism days, fooling Vanity Records into believing the demo he sent them came from a foreign band (it worked). Unique personality, unique music!
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LP
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BS 044LP
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Black Sweat presents a reissue of Frederic Rzewski's Coming Together / Attica / Les Moutons De Panurge, originally issued in 1974. This milestone of avant-garde music, first published by Max Schubel's historic Opus One label, was a very significant political statement. With "Coming Together" and "Attica", Rzewski celebrates in music the famous revolt in the American prison in 1971. The texts of Sam Melville and Richard X. Clark make the invocations of the prisoners pulsating and alive. Full of pathos, these fragments of life oscillate between a confessional tone and a hymn to freedom, in a touching emblem of compassion. The fixity of the sound images is incisive, unnerving and melancholic, embroidering a solid minimalist repetition. The different combination of the verses produces a psychosis or obsession towards a cathartic experience, at the same time emotional, physical and mental. Together with great guests such as Alvin Curran, Jon Gibson, Garrett List, Steve Ben Israel and Karl Berger, Rzewski seems to merge his radical vocation with the most meditative and suffered plots of the spiritual jazz; sealing the package with "Les Moutons Des Panurge," an amazing suite for percussion, a timeless masterpiece of polyrhythmic expertise.
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LP
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V 25AH426
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Victory present a reissue of Pacific, originally released in 1978. Reuniting the best session musicians Japan had to offer to make an album that would evoke the atmospheres of the South Pacific islands, the kind of places Japanese people spend their vacations. Pacific is a treat to the ears; its theme of the southern Pacific ocean and its warm cerulean waters relax its listeners with a fusion of city pop, soft jazz, and that good old 1970s funk while remaining surprisingly fully instrumental throughout all contributions from artists Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. A true cult LP and an inspiration for a lot of so called "vaporware" music. LP includes insert.
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2LP
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ZEDD 045LP
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Part one of three double-LP versions; gatefold sleeve. Classic disco reworked from original multi-track tapes, Joey Negro's Remixed With Love Volume 3 is the latest edition of what has become the industry-leading disco remix series. No one knows this era of music better than Dave Lee, who under his Joey Negro alias once again turns his impeccable hand to some of the best-loved records ever committed to wax. Lee says, "I can clearly remember in the 1980s having fantasies about being a remixer and dreaming of tweaking my favorite songs and re-releasing them. I really never thought it would happen. The days when I receive the parts for some of these classic recordings are literally a dream come true." Remixed With Love Volume 3 has been a real labor of love, and a release several years in the making. With original parts for some of these classics hard to find, and with major labels rightly protective of songs created by legendary artists, it is a testament to both the perseverance of Lee and the esteem in which he is held as a remixer that the project was ever completed. Lee has put his own inimitable spin on more than a dozen seminal records, with The Fatback Band, Patti LaBelle, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Odyssey and many more vying for attention across a stunning three-part gatefold double vinyl/double CD release. As one would expect from an artist of Lee's caliber, he's taken the task extremely seriously. There are few producers with either the confident or ability to take on records of this heritage, but Lee has once again proved that when it comes to sensitive re-workings of disco staples, he's in a league of his own. All the remixes here are new and exclusive to the compilation, making Remixed With Love Volume 3 an essential purchase for any disco devotee. Also features: Ashford & Simpson, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eddie Kendricks, Brenda Russell, L.T.D., Michael Wycoff, Gwen McCrae, Samuel Jonathan Johnson, Mass Production, Lonnie Liston Smith, Mtume, Glenn Jones, Slave, Venus Dodson, Booker T., Patrice Rushen, and Deniece Williams.
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LP
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SPHERES 022LP
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The Light Is Leaving Us All is more music from Current 93, everyone's favorite hallucinatory cuneiform super-group. Three years in the making, The Light Is Leaving Us Allcontain spells within its eleven tracks. C93 are possibly, probably, certainly perhaps: Alasdair Roberts, Aloma Ruiz Boada, Andrew Liles, Ben Chasny, David Tibet, Michael J. York, Ossian Brown, Reinier van Houdt, Rita Knuistingh Neven, and Thomas Ligotti. Remember, remember, your future cartoon is as soft as the tarot! Gatefold sleeve, with insert containing all lyrics and credits.
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LP
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GLAM 006LP
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Glass Modern present the first vinyl issue of Thurston Moore and Tom Surgal's Klangfarbenmelodie.. And The Colorist Strikes Primitiv. Originally released on CD in 1995 only in New Zealand by the Dead C's Bruce Russell on his Corpus Hermeticum label. Edited by Bruce Russell for this Glass Modern release. New liner notes by Bruce Russell. 180 gram, white vinyl.
"A 1995 release from the famed Sonic Youth guitarist, this recording sees him paired with free jazz drummer Tom Surgal for a blistering noise set, in keeping with New Zealand noise label Corpus Hermeticum's aesthetic. The listener should not expect the sweet psychedelic pop of his Psychic Hearts album of the same year; rather, Moore explores his interest in freeform improvisation on this live set recorded in 1994. The recording is lo-fi, but that adds to it's candid charm, as his guitar thrashing reaches peaks of noise only hinted at in early Sonic Youth. The duo works along lines that are more akin to the Blue Humans -- with whom drummer Surgal began -- and also seems influenced by such underground acts as Fushitsusha and the Dead C. Moore's guitar is so distinct, however, that many parts here could be mistaken for a live Sonic Youth recording from that band's more heady and chaotic '80s period." --Dean McFarlane, AllMusic
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LP+CD
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LR 336LP
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2018 repress. Lilith present a reissue of Os Mutantes' self-titled debut, originally released in 1968. With the release of their debut LP in 1968, Os Mutantes cracked the already red hot Tropicalia scene wide open. Fusing traditional Brazilian music, psychedelia, rock, and a good dose of pure experimentation, they quickly became giants both in Brazil and in the outer fringes of pop music, where they have managed to reign supreme for the past four decades. Not an easy task in such a crowded arena. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Tom Zé, and Os Mutantes? What do these people put in their drinking water? The band went on to release several more albums, but this one was their magnum opus. Obi "bookmark" Japanese style; 180 gram vinyl; Includes CD.
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