Limited restock; Double LP version. In the late 1960s, the American trumpet player and free jazz pioneer Don Cherry (1936-1995) and the Swedish visual artist and designer Moki Cherry (1943-2009) began a collaboration that imagined an alternative space for creative music, most succinctly expressed in Moki's aphorism "the stage is home and home is a stage." By 1972, they had given name to a concept that united Don's music, Moki's art, and their family life in rural Tagårp, Sweden into one holistic entity: Organic Music Theatre. Captured here is the historic first Organic Music Theatre performance from the 1972 Festival de jazz de Chateauvallon in the South of France, mastered from tapes recorded during its original live broadcast on public TV. A life-affirming, multicultural patchwork of borrowed tunes suffused with the hallowed aura of Don's extensive global travels, the performance documents the moment he publicly jettisoned his identity as a jazz musician. The five-person band -- Don and Moki Cherry, Christer Bothén, Gérard "Doudou" Gouirand, and Naná Vasconcelos -- performed in an outdoor amphitheater and were joined onstage by a dozen adults and children, including Swedish friends who tagged along for the trip and Det Lilla Circus (The Little Circus), a Danish puppet troupe based in Christiania, Copenhagen. The platform was lined with Moki's carpets and her handmade, brightly colored tapestries, depicting Indian scales and bearing the words Organic Music Theatre, dressed the stage. As the musicians played, members of Det Lilla, led by Annie Hedvard, danced, sang, and mounted an improvised puppet show on poles high up in the air. In a fairly unprecedented move, Don abandoned his signature pocket trumpet for the piano and harmonium, thereby liberating his voice as an instrument for shamanic guidance. The show opens with him beckoning the audience to clap their hands and sing the Indian theta "Dha Dhin Na, Dha Tin Na," and the set cycles through uplifting and sacred tunes of Malian, South African, Brazilian, and Native American provenance -- including pieces that would later appear on Don's albums Organic Music Society and Home Boy (Sister Out) -- all punctuated by outbursts of possessed glossolalia from the puppeteers. "Relativity Suite, Part 1" notably spotlights Bothén on donso ngoni, a Malian hunter's guitar, prior to Vasconcelos taking an extended solo on berimbau. A vortex of wah-like microtonal rattling, Vasconcelos's masterful demonstration of this single-stringed Brazilian instrument is a harbinger of his work to come as a member, with Don, of the acclaimed group Codona.

"R.N.A. Organism landed themselves a place on the legendary Vanity Records roster after sending label head Agi Yuzuru a cassette by air mail in order to fool him into thinking they were from overseas. The ploy worked, and the group soon entered the studio for free-form sessions of minimalistic, rhythmic excursions played on an array of synths, drum machines and other gadgets. Working with producer Kaoru Sato (later of EP-4), RNAO made cut ups of the studio sessions for a hallucinatory trip through late 70s/early 80s industrial clang and psychedelic sound collage. The bulk of these mixes were, however, rejected for being too extreme, and their sole resulting album R.N.A.O. Meets P.O.P.O. (Vanity 0006,1980) primarily featured the straighter iterations. Luckily, the rejected mixes were archived on (recently unearthed) cassettes and are now available for the first time, in full, 40 years after they were recorded."

2021 repress. LP version. 180 gram virgin vinyl, with original artwork restored. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, less regard for standard pitch, and no obligation to present a regular beat. Ayler's sound was unprecedented, much rawer than any other jazz of the time. Sometimes it was expressed in squalls of untempered sound, sometimes in outbursts of poignant spontaneous melody. Meanwhile, under and around the leader's unfettered self-expressions, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray reinvented the roles of their instruments.

Mary Mazzacane's son Loren Connors writes: "These recordings, no matter how rough the sound quality, capture the essence of the art of bel canto soprano Mary Mazzacane. Born in an Italian American neighborhood (Fairhaven) near Yale, she was one of the first women to graduate from the Yale School of Music. Ms. Mazzacane, who was active on the opera stage from 1947 through the 1970s, playing leading roles in Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Amahl and the Night Visitors and other works, left no commercial recordings. All we have is a shoebox full of muddy practice sessions and live performance recordings on barely playable cassette tapes, along with a few radio broadcast acetates... Throughout these pieces, her voice has a unique inner warmth and a beautifully clear tone, the closest I know to the pure clarity of bells."

LP version. A work that literally immerses the listener into an acoustic substance. The sound becomes almost like matter, like jelly. Soon, you're swimming in sound, getting lost inside it. Released in Sub Rosa's Early Electronic series.

Michel Redolfi on Sonic Waters: "With the Sonic Waters project initiated in 1978, my aim was to situate field of electronic music within a liberating and futuristic experience, outside the concert halls and in sync with the development of new instruments -- in particular the Synclavier digital synthesizer, the first model of which I acquired in 1977. As concert space, the Pacific Ocean seemed to me to be the ideal experimental medium for both acoustic and cultural reasons. I then developed the aesthetic and technical elements that would contribute to the conception of 'Underwater Music'. Numerous performances would follow spanning four decades, in natural sites or in large public pools such as those of Sydney, Paris or Venice during the 2006 Biennale. I've divided this album into two fields: 'Sonic Waters: Music for Fresh Water' (1981) 'Sonic Waters: Music for Salt Water' (1979-1987)"

Michel Redolfi (1951), French composer and sound artist, is the founder of "Underwater Music". The natural elements captured and highlighted by experimental technology are a constant in Redolfi's catalog: many compositions explore the earth environments such as in Pacific Tubular Waves, Jungles, Desert Tracks (SR 418CD/LP) and especially with Sonic Waters, a work that literally immerses the listener into an acoustic substance. During the mid-70s, Redolfi carried out his electro-acoustic research in the United States, with major electronic music centers including the California Institute of the Arts and chiefly the University of California in San Diego. As invited resident of their studios, Michel Redolfi launched the underwater music concerts, with the series Sonic Waters performed in the Pacific Ocean. Michel Redolfi's underwater creations have since been regularly programmed by major international festivals, with multi-media installations held in ecological marine reserves or in historical city pools. Among them, the Sydney Festival, Paris "Nuit Blanche", Ars Electronica in Linz, the 2006 Venice Biennale (nominated Golden Lion) and lately the 2018 Ars Musica festival in Brussels. This record presents different variations of Sonic Waters from 1980 to 1987, alternating studio mixes with their re-recordings in the depths of the Pacific.

"The beauty of all this, as well as its sorrowful brutality, is even more powerful and stupefying since Ghédalia's sudden departure. Because retrospectively, not only is this recording the trace of a rare moment in a Parisian garden, it also summons a ghost, that of a loved one that is gone, and of his voice, which is fully alive here."

Tazartes and Chatham had met once in 1977 at CBGB's and had not seen each other since then when they were asked by their mutual agent to play a private show in Paris. This happened in September 2018 in a house with a garden where sax player Steve Lacy had lived back in the 1990s. This album presents the recording of this show plus another show at La semaine du bizarre festival in Montreuil, France a year later, mixed with a couple of studio sessions. This was probably the last music Tazartès, who died in February 2021, recorded. His unique singing blends perfectly with Chatham's loops on electric guitar, trumpet and flute. Clear vinyl.

Rhys Chatham is a composer, guitarist, trumpet player and flutist from Manhattan, currently living in Paris, who altered the DNA of rock and created a new type of urban music by fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of the early 60s with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones -- the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock. -Chatham's trumpet work deploys extended playing techniques inherited from the glory days of the early New York minimalist and '70s loft jazz period.

Ghédalia Tazartes: French cult artist with an uncompromising character who defied categorization. He recorded alone more than 20 albums, calling his Art "Impromuz" for lack of a better term. Before the years 2000s, his public appearances remained exceptional events. Ghédalia Tazartès' music has always been a mystery. It switches from musique concrète to -- existing or invented -- ethnic music, from poetry to noise, or from loops and collages to sad and extremely beautiful tunes in a second, but it constantly is in flux and coherent. In 2004, Ghedalia finally decided to do live performances again. He first worked with other musicians (Les Reines d'Angleterre, David Fenech & Jac Berrocal, Norscq & Black Sifichi, Nicolas Lelièvre) then went solo for ten years. Since then, Tazartes has played many shows across Europe. Ghedalia died at his home in Paris on 9th February 2021.

Restocked. "Late 1980s to early '90s guitar pop/rock n roll band from Dunedin, New Zealand. Stephen featured David Kilgour, Alf Danielson, Geoff Hoani, and Stephen Kilroy. Formed by David Kilgour after The Clean first split. They released an EP on Flying Nun records in 1988 as a three piece, later added another guitarist and recorded for a record that didn't happen. Remastered, rescued and compiled for this release. New art and liner notes, insert with prev. unseen photos and fliers. Tracks from the Dumb EP, Radar of Small Dogs, as well as studio tracks from sessions towards the never-completed LP. Interview with David Kilgour about the band coming up in the next Maggot Brain issue." "Stephen Kilroy recently reminded me that my idea for the band was to have no aspirations, apart from making new music, and that it was a casual experiment. I'd forgotten that. I remember having a long break after the Clean first split. I wanted to keep making music in a low-key way, and with other musicians I could write and share the spotlight with. I've always wanted to be in someone else's band." --David Kilgour (from the Maggot Brain interview)

A definitive compilation of Glaxo Babies' first period career. Glaxo Babies was one of the most exciting British post-punk band of the era. Raised in Bristol -- altogether with such local influential acts like Maximum Joy, The Transmitters and obviously The Pop Group -- Glaxo Babies formed in late 1977. The band signed to local label Heartbeat Records (marketed by Cherry Red), with their first release being the This Is Your Life EP in February 1979; in the same year they released the single "Christine Keeler". This led to them recording their first session for BBC radio's John Peel the following April, and the track "It's Irrational", from this session, opened the seminal 1979 Bristol Compilation album Avon Calling. Their aggro mix of in your face lyrics and groovy bassline led to a unique formula, with both their feet in the post-punk scene and the uprising black jazz crossover. The so-called white funk was the plat du jour, even if the band soon achieved a straight and original personality. Fully remastered and licensed. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 500.

"Recorded March 20, 2009 (from No, the Sun LP session). Edition of 150. Cover art Paul Flaherty. Screened by Alan Sherry. 45rpm."

Limited restock. The classic minimal music album is now available again on vinyl for the first time since the '70s. During the 1970s, Californian composer Terry Riley concentrated on solo keyboard performances, continuing to make music yet writing down almost nothing. Riley selected a mode, chose a few motifs or basic patterns and then, seated on the floor in front of his audience, improvised on electronic keyboard. The electric organ, superseded at later concerts by a synthesizer, was portable and consistent. By the early '70s, Riley had come to feel that scores were a distraction. Faithful interpretation of an already written piece was a deviation from the true purpose of making music, which was spiritual quest. Fortunately, some of those live performances were captured on tape. Persian Surgery Dervishes, issued initially on the French label Shandar in 1972, features two such concerts for electric organ and reel-to-reel delay, one recorded in Los Angeles on April 18th, 1971, the other in Paris on May 24th, 1972. At the start of that decade, Riley became a dedicated student of the great Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath. Looking into North Indian classical tradition, he found correspondences to modal and cyclic ideas that he was already working on. In 1971, Riley started teaching Indian music at Mills College, in Oakland. That experience fed directly into his solo keyboard performances, but other influences were also shaping his music. Personal research into ancient Persian culture and the poetry of Rumi lit up his imagination, while the repetitive swirling of Sufi devotional music from North Africa and jazz, an enduring source of inspiration, reverberate through these performances. The Californian version of Persian Surgery Dervishes starts with low dark tones, dense and brooding like a huddled human figure, deep in introspection. But as the improvisation unfolds Riley's buoyant spirit asserts itself, spiraling out in ecstatic coils. The Parisian concert conveys a different mood, brighter and more open in texture, more relaxed from the outset and breathing with greater freedom as it takes flight. Persian Surgery Dervishes is a mesmerizing record of a vital stage in Riley's ongoing quest for connection with the universal mind and sublime music. "Music is my spiritual path. It's my way of finding out who I am." --Terry Riley, 1976 Includes insert with liner notes by Julian Cowley; Lacquer cut by Rashad Becker; Layout by Jeroen Wille; Remastered by Equusl; Licensed from FGL Productions.

LP version. "De-formation: Piano Variations, a work for solo piano. Composed and performed by Galás in September 2019, the 21:19 minute piece is based on the expressionist poem 'Das Fieberspital' (The Fever Hospital). Written by German poet Georg Heym in 1912, Das Fieberspital's depiction of warehoused patients of yellow fever presaged the treatment and hiding of infected and damaged soldiers later in WWI. De-formation depicts a march and delivery of maimed and infected soldiers to hospitals and industrial warehouses throughout Germany during and after the First World War. In the hospitals the maimed would receive experimental operations and the infected would be confined to protect the mental vitality, enthusiasm, and health of citizens of the State. The Piano Variations were inspired by Galás' work on the score for 'Das Fieberspital'. In organizing the work, she realized that the piano skeleton had become its own work, and she decided to record that in advance of the vocal work. One-sided vinyl LP, with poster of D. Galas artwork."

"Ultra-rare rehearsal sessions from 1969 by this South African heavy psych/acid rock band, mastered from a tape transfer -- and yet still doom-laden, dark, heavy, and as messy as can be, in all the right ways. Influences from heavy bands of the time, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf are noticeable, with proto-doom and psych/funk undercurrents. Do you like fuzz guitar? You're going to hear it screaming and wailing and building to epic tidal waves and crashes, the kinds of astonishing guitar cascades not heard since you cued up the best of all available live Jimi Hendrix recordings. Highly recommended for fans of psychedelic obscurities and hard rock from the 1960s and early 1970s. Cover art by NYC-based artist Nate Harris."

Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. New full length album by LeRon Carson titled Under The Conditions. Follows 12-inches Lemonline and Tracks From the Tape on Sound Signature. "Under The Conditions sounds like the pinnacle of what lo-fi house producers tried to accomplish a few years ago. Carson carved forward-thinking house anthems with limited equipment and only rudimentary syncing of electronic instruments." --Resident Advisor

LP version. Wewantsounds continues their Ryuichi Sakamoto reissue series with the release of the 1985 album Esperanto, composed for a performance by New York avant-garde choreographer Molissa Fenley. Produced and performed by Sakamoto with contribution by Arto Lindsay and Japanese percussionist Yas-Kaz, Esperanto is a fascinating instrumental work mixing electronica, ambient and synth pop. Released in Japan in 1985 on Midi Inc.s' School label, the album has never been released outside of Japan until now. Esperanto originally came out in 1985 and was Ryuichi Sakamoto's sixth solo album. Coming after his stint with the influential Yellow Magic Orchestra, and also the worldwide success of Sakamoto's 1984 soundtrack for the film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (in which he starred alongside David Bowie), Esperanto was a return to Sakamoto's leftfield roots. Composed as the soundtrack to a performance by New York choreographer Molissa Fenley (a show commissioned by Japanese producer Shozo Tsurumoto), the album was masterminded by Sakamoto with the help of the cutting-edge electronic technology of the time (the only external contributions are by Arto Lindsay on guitar and Japanese composer Yas-Kaz on percussion). Indeed, the album is a fascinating soundscape experimenting with the new sampler technology -- which, according to Ryuichi Sakamoto from a conversation with journalist Andy Beta mentioned in the liner notes, needed a computer that was huge at the time. Esperanto is composed of eight tracks displaying a varied mix of influences. "A Wongga Dance Song" is pulsating with rhythms while "A Rain Song" adopts a minimalist mode with its distinctive repetitive pattern. "Dolphins" and "A Carved Stone" are captivating ambient pieces showcasing Sakamoto's talent for setting beautiful abstract melodic ornaments over atmospheric tones. One of the highlights of the album is "Adelic Penguins", a fascinating proto techno piece with a funky twist stretching over six minutes which echoes the electro funk of 1981's album Hidari Ude No Yume (WWSCD 033CD/WWSLP 033LP/WWSLP 034LP). "Ulu Watu", a collage-like piece featuring bird motives and a tropical soundscape closes the album with an experimental note. It's interesting to note that, a year later, the tracks from Esperanto would be turned into an experimental video project by New York visual artists Kit Fitzgerald and Nam June Paik collaborator Paul Garrin. A unique album in Ryuichi Sakamoto's rich discography, Esperanto is a groundbreaking work worth rediscovering in its full glory. Original artwork; includes two-page insert with a new introduction by journalist Andy Beta. Audio remastered in Tokyo by Seigen Ono.

Double-LP version. Gatefold sleeve with insert and original liner notes. Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell's music to be released after his death in 1992. Released on CD by Point Music in 1993 it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With Records revisits this first compilation. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur's most recognizable music, like the title track "Another Thought", "A Little Lost", "This Is How We Walk On The Moon", "Keeping Up" and the woozy disco of "In The Light Of The Miracle" and "My Tiger, My Timing". Though technically a compilation, the whole of Another Thought comes together as a consistent, coherent, wonderful album. Janette Beckman reproduced her iconic photograph of Arthur in his newspaper boat hat for the sleeve. Tom Lee gave permission to include his liner notes from the original CD booklet, together with Arthur's lyrics. Another Thought is absolutely essential for even the most casual Arthur Russell collection. In fact, it's essential for any fan of non-obvious pop music.

2021 repress. Double LP version with printed inner sleeve. Born Bad Records presents the music of Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey, circa 1982-1984. "The first time I saw a sanza (a type of African 'thumb piano'), it was just sitting there on a piece of furniture in my family's living room/dining room -- a space that our father also transformed into a recording studio every day. It seemed more like a box than a musical instrument: a mysterious instrument, which arrived at our house, like many things, in a somewhat miraculous way. The sounds it produced seemed particularly bizarre; to my young musician's ears, trained in Western classical music, it sounded out of tune. That's because, like my brothers and sisters, I had been trained on the piano. I had trouble understanding how anyone could endure these tones and, honestly, our father's passion for 'unusual sounds' did not interest me. I was in secondary school at the time (the very late 1970s) and was not at all oriented toward musical projects. I planned to graduate, and then become a chef. In the early 1980s, my interest in music picked up. I was still undecided about my career. I was content to pursue my 'serious' English studies while hanging out at jazz clubs at les Halles in Paris, where I sometimes joined jam sessions. Next, I put together my first band with professional musicians; I had hidden my age and lack of experience from them. France was just beginning to accept 'world music.' Musicians of every nationality were performing in Paris. It was a wonderful period. My father asked my brother Toups and me to accompany him for a few concerts. In particular, we toured Tunisia together at the time of the 1983 Carthage International Festival. Back then, my father was renowned across the French-speaking world. Everyone looked forward to hearing his humorous songs, like 'Agatha' and 'La condition masculine.' But, behind the scenes, he continued his research concerning electronic music, the sansa, pygmy polyphony, etc. One day he put a sansa in my hands, without saying a word. He was sending me a message: 'Let's see what you can do with it!' That's when I really discovered something. Exploring the instrument and playing, I transcended the 'imperfect' aspect of its sound and began to discover its fascinating potential. Playing the sansa, you enter a world that enraptures you in a very serene and mesmerizing way. I think its sounds evoke a rainbow, with rain falling while the sun shines. A very peaceful feeling. It allows you to make music that truly sounds like life. The sansa is also the instrument that my father and I shared the most because I am a pianist and he was a guitarist. I also share this eminently African instrument with my musician brother, Toups. Our father loved to tell us one of the legends of the sansa: how it even managed to dispel the boredom felt by... the Creator himself! This instrument gives life to the world, to beings and things. I did not participate in the production of the various records that my father devoted to the sansa. He did it himself, you might say, in his 'laboratory.' Yet today, I cannot imagine playing a concert without using a sansa. The piano remains present so that listeners don't become disoriented and wonder about the weird sounds invading their ears! However, I find the eccentric and disturbing side of sansa interesting. And the sansa always affects the audience: in reality, it excites them. The secrets of this instrument are surely its beneficial powers and... its magic!" --Patrick Bebey

2021 restock. Third volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "After three years as a member of Albert Ayler's band (1964-1967), avant-garde jazz drummer Sunny Murray traveled to France where he recorded for Affinity and BYG. The amazing Homage to Africa was recorded on August 15, 1969 for BYG and features Archie Shepp, Alan Silva, Grachan Moncur III, Lester Bowie, Clifford Thornton, Roscoe Mitchell, Kenneth Terroade and Jeanne Lee."

2021 restock. Reissue of Shaolin Soul Episode 1, originally released in 1998. One of three LP reissues celebrating the 20th anniversary of Shaolin Soul Episode 1. Legendary deep soul French compilations featuring many soul classics, sometimes forgotten, which have been sampled countless times by some of the biggest hip-hop acts. Available for the first time on vinyl + CD. Original packaging strictly reproduced. Cut from original masters. Double-LP comes in a gatefold sleeve; Includes CD.

Episode 1 features Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, The Charmels, David Porter, Willie Mitchell, Al Green, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, The Emotions, Bob James, Syl Johnson, Donny Hathaway, Wendy Rene, Lyn Collins, The Dramatics, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Booker T. And The MGs, and Barry White.

2021 restock; LP version. 140 gram vinyl; gatefold sleeve; includes 16-page insert with photos and liner notes. For the first time since its inception in 1983, Steve Hiett's elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett's transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York. A career devotee of Brian Wilson's groundbreaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone -- as well as The Doors, Miles Davis, and Jimi Hendrix -- while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire. In 1982, representatives from Tokyo's Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7" of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down "Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach" in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan hired-gun, Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, there were requests for him to fly to Tokyo to record; it wasn't until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar, and retreated to his hotel room to start writing. Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders -- one of Japan's most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper, and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of "Roll Over Beethoven", Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk" and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit, "Never Found A Girl". Produced in coordination between Be With Records, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters; extensive liner notes penned by Mikey IQ Jones.

Alessandro Cortini's acclaimed Forse series is available for the first time on CD including an exclusive disc of Forse performed live. Composed using only an original Buchla Music Easel, an incredibly rare electronic music instrument designed by Don Buchla, the Forse series features long, romantic compositions full of voluminous, bombastic tones and dripping with thick timbre. 2021 digital master by Stephan Mathieu. Packaged in matte-coated digipacks, housed in a heavy-duty tip-on style outer box.

2021 restock; LP version. Marks the title's first ever vinyl release; Cut at Emil Berliner Studios; Housed in a 350 gsm sleeve; Includes CD with all ten tracks. We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records present a reissue of Midori Takada and Masahiko Satoh's Lunar Cruise, originally released in 1990. Following the successful reissue of Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 018LP/WRWTFWW 019CD/LP), WRWTFWW Records present another release from the legendary Japanese percussionist: 1990's Lunar Cruise, her superb collaboration with jazz pianist, synth master, composer, and arranger Masahiko Satoh. Arguably the best kept secret in Midori Takada's fascinating discography, Lunar Cruise is an under-the-radar masterpiece that captures Takada (on marimba and minimal percussion set-up) and Satoh (on Korg M1 and Yamaha DX7II synths, Ensoniq EPS sampler, and acoustic piano) vibrantly fusing traditional African and Asian percussion with jazz, ambient, and minimalism. The album also features the great Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra, Happy End) and Kazutoki Umezu (saxophone, clarinet).

Sourced from the original studio masters (DATs); New liner notes with a poster inlay.

2021 repress. "Hopeton Brown, better known as Scientist, has been a pioneering figure in the world of dub for 40 years. His early love of electronics proved fruitful when (still a teenager) he was hired at King Tubby's studio in Kingston. Brown quickly ascended the ranks and became heir to Tubby's throne, producing imaginative and technically impressive mixes that solidified his forward-looking nickname. Originally released in 1981, In The Kingdom Of Dub remains one of the best early LPs in Scientist's long career. Produced by Roy Cousins at Channel One and featuring Sly and Robbie along with members of The Revolutionaries, The Aggrovators and The Soul Syndicate, the album offers a wide range of arresting rhythms, bold effect drops and exquisitely melodic bass. From '18 Drumalie Avenue Dub' (a reference to King Tubby's address) to 'Burning Sun Dub', Scientist lays down a veritable roadmap of dub -- filled with disintegrating echoes of satiny organ and textural guitar -- firmly cementing his place as one of the true innovators in Jamaican popular music."

Last copies... Revised and expanded second edition of Hartmut Geerken and Chris Trent's comprehensive reference Omniverse Sun Ra, originally published in 1994. Full-color 304-page hardcover book. French fold cover with metallic silver foil blocking on cyan faimei cloth. 290mm x 245mm portrait. Omniverse Sun Ra features many previously unpublished photographs of Sun Ra and His Arkestra in New York in 1966 and Germany in 1979 by Val Wilmer, and Hartmut Geerken's previously unpublished photographs from Heliopolis in Cairo, Egypt, in 1971, in addition to an updated comprehensive pictorial and annotated discography by Chris Trent, including chronological discography and alphabetical record title, composition, personnel, and record label indexes, as well as indexes of shellac 78RPM records, 45 RPM singles, jackets, and labels. Also includes essays and photo documents by Hartmut Geerken, Chris Trent, Amiri Baraka, Robert L. Campbell, Chris Cutler, Gabi Geist, Sigrid Hauff, Karl Heinz Kessler, Robert Lax, and Salah Ragab.

The Mighty Soulmates is a towering early '90s project from the legitimate super group of André Cymone (bass player with Prince), St. Paul Peterson (keyboard player in The Time and lead singer in Prince's group The Family), Mic Murphy (of Sass and The System fame) and Gardner Cole (writer, producer and musician probably best known for his work with Madonna). The sound is a majestic blend of sophisticated funk, emotional R&B, new jack swing flava and slick deep soul. These should-be legendary sessions have been almost a secret since they were recorded back in 1993. From all the tracks Mic sent over, Be With Records cherry picked the absolute cream for a tight four-track EP. A mixture of beat ballads and up-tempo non-hits, coming on like Al B Sure! or Babyface take on Shalamar or even The Purple One. The feel-good dancefloor dynamite of "I Wanna Be The One" is the explosive opening track. A piano-driven, groove-laden blast of yearning deep-pop, with perfectly delivered soulful vocals and an unmistakable "early '90s" sound. Indeed, fans of Eddie Chacon's old group will dig this for days. "Back In The Day" has a timeless swing and swagger, the lyrics reminiscing about the halcyon street life of the Soulmates' youth, about Curtis, Superfly and innocent days gone by, about hustling with friends. Yet more spine-tingling vocals over yet another perfectly produced musical backdrop. "Blue Tuesday" is the thrilling pinnacle of the EP, at least for us. It's absolute soulful-pop perfection. A soaring beat ballad full of chiming guitars, gorgeous harmonizing, falsetto backing vocals and a real steppers' groove. Dramatic, purple-hued closer "Private Time" seems to predict the Timbaland-dominated sound of the mid-to-late '90s, all synthetic strings and squelchy, acidic-drum-machine soul. This EP represents the sound of four incredibly soulful, talented, and influential (soul)mates jamming together over one long hot summer and weaving pure sonic magic.

2021 repress. French pop connoisseurs La Femme present Mystère. La Femme have made a huge mark on modern Paris's cultural landscape, with the two sides of the city - the glamour and the grit - ingrained in their music. Since the release of their debut album, Psycho Tropical Berlin (BORNBAD 051LP, 2013), their rise has only gained momentum with fans including directors Jacques Audiard and Romain Gavras to legends Jean Michel Jarre and Hedi Slimane. Returning with a more psychedelic sound and guest vocalists that slice through the starkest of electro beats, Mystère sees La Femme celebrating their wonderful city. From the chattering tête-à-tête heard on "Conversations Nocturnes" to the throbbing disco beat of "SSD", a direct reference to the pulsing nightlife hotspot and multi-cultural district Strasbourg Saint Denis where the band is based. Mystère's true intrigue however, lies in La Femme's enigmatic questioning of falling in and out of love. A compendium of short stories describing loves and losses, each song breaks down language barriers through an inventive and astute knack for melody. The elation of a passionate encounter is captured on the ricocheting electronics of "Tatiana", the melancholic acoustic guitar echoes in "Le Vide Est Ton Nouveau Prenom" and the sorrow of a war-torn couple in "Psyzook". Whether delicate or drenched in dirty disco, the impact of Clémence, Marlon and Sacha's gothic mantras mixed with the guest vocal talent of Clara Luciani, Jane Peynot, Naomi Greene, Mathilde Marlière, Angela Hureau, Battista Acquaviva and Sarah Ben Abdallah is perhaps where La Femme's true meaning can be found. Sacha on his band's all-inclusive philosophy: "We don't like the idea of having a leader or a chief: everyone brings to the band what they can and want." Recorded between a castle in Brittany and a Paris basement before being finished up with Sonny Diperri (Animal Collective) in LA, Mystère once again sees backgrounds blurred and worlds collide. The band's chic retro-futurist surf-pop sound possesses the same dose of glamorous punk stomp as before, but this time around it's layered with an elegant fusion of influences from Ennio Morricone, Marie Et Les Garcons's disco-rock touch and the lysergic romanticism of The Velvet Underground. Through increased use of strings and further exploration of sound, Mystère also incorporates the band's new love of oriental sounds, Turkish disco, Tuareg blues, medieval psychedelia to mainstays Brian Eno and Pink Floyd.

Limited restock; double LP version. "Freddie Gibbs is the product of violent, drug-laden streets. But unlike most rappers with similar resumes, he brings the block to the booth without inhibition or an exaggerated rap persona. Piñata, a 17 track collaboration with producer Madlib, is the best distillation yet of his transparent approach to making music, combining an at times stark honesty with electrifying talent as a lyricist and performer. Piñata is 'a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax,' says Gibbs, who came up on the streets of Gary, Indiana, the disregarded city known for producing Michael Jackson. Here he is joined by Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul and a host of others in setting his soliloquies of the streets alongside film snippets and dusted funk, soul and prog musical tapestries. While this is the latest in a series of single-artist collaborations for Madlib, after Jaylib (J Dilla), Madvillainy (MF Doom) and the street-centric O.J. Simpson with Detroit's Guilty Simpson, the pairing is unique as it is the first time for Gibbs working with just one producer."

Tetsuo Furudate has been working on projects including electronic music, films, videos creating time passages between old and new pieces, re-reading the past through re-appropriations. All his recent pieces can be watched or just listened to. it is also a cultural mix embracing all eastern and western cultures (from JS Bach to Merzbow). Here he recreates a borderless and timeless universe, where voices and pianos reach emotional moments of great depth. The whole is driven by Tetsuo who, by a continuous mixing, conceives these different pieces as an editor would a film made of borrowings images, archives material and unpublished fragments. The Nocturne, The Nightmare and a Fruit features Keiko Higuchi and Olga Magieres.

Tetsuo Furudate was first the collaborator and friend of Zbigniew Karkowski in Japan, together they created some of the most radical but complex pieces under the name of World as Will (after Arthur Schopenhauer's book), some of which were rewritten for the Viennese Zeitkratzer Ensemble.

Keiko Higuchi is above all a pianist and performer, linked to jazz and improvisation. She was revealed by Love Hotel (2008), her concerts are like real performances, she is considered as one of the most singular and impressive performing artists of her generation.

Olga Magieres, Russian pianist living in Denmark, specializes in improvised music and the syntactic relationship of languages. She has already collaborated with Tetsuo in 2010 with Introduction Of Blue Of Noon, her first opus Piano and Poetry had been praised.

LP version. Includes insert and download card.

2021 repress; double LP version. 2005 release. The former wife of Miles, Betty Mabry Davis is perhaps the only woman in the world who could rightfully have the following legend tattooed across her rear: THIS ASS INVENTED FUSION. While their marriage only lasted a year (1968-1969), Betty pointed the way to Miles, introducing him to the musical and material gods of revolutionary style: Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, which would have an enormous impact on his electrified musical Frankenfusion masterpiece known as Bitches Brew. Betty ruled as the mentor-muse for the original man and his music. She was a woman with the strength of a Black Panther, a "nasty" woman in total control, but unfortunately for Betty, America was not yet ready to embrace a woman with such an explicitly sexual persona. She had a much rougher edge to her music than other female funk and soul artists of the '70s. Betty Davis' is one of the most extreme sounding debut records of the decade, which just like Bitches Brew takes equal parts inspiration from Hendrix and Sly. One critic aptly described their sound as something like a cross between Tina Turner, Funkadelic, and Sly & The Family Stone. Add the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the flair of Miles Davis, and you have quite a cocktail. This is the best of Betty Davis' three much-sought albums.

Originally released in 1978. 2005 reissue. "Return Of The Super Ape is a reggae studio album produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, credited to The Upsetters."

Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell's music to be released after his death in 1992. Released on CD by Point Music in 1993 it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With Records revisits this first compilation. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur's most recognizable music, like the title track "Another Thought", "A Little Lost", "This Is How We Walk On The Moon", "Keeping Up" and the woozy disco of "In The Light Of The Miracle" and "My Tiger, My Timing". Though technically a compilation, the whole of Another Thought comes together as a consistent, coherent, wonderful album. Janette Beckman reproduced her iconic photograph of Arthur in his newspaper boat hat for the sleeve. Tom Lee gave permission to include his liner notes from the original CD booklet, together with Arthur's lyrics. Another Thought is absolutely essential for even the most casual Arthur Russell collection. In fact, it's essential for any fan of non-obvious pop music. CD version comes in triple-fold digipack with insert and original liner notes.

2021 repress. Be With Records present a reissue of Sweet And Nice, the vital debut album from Jamaica's undisputed first lady of song Marica Griffiths, originally released in 1974. It's reggae at its most soulful. Slinking through a tight ten tracks of R&B and pop-sourced material, it became an instant best seller. Sweet And Nice has appeared over the years with a revised running order and under different titles. But the original's opening sequence of loping soul is legendary, even beyond reggae circles. These songs are now returned to how they were presented on that first Jamaican release, and under their intended album title. Be With doesn't mess with magic. Marcia's version of "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" has long been lusted after, played by genre-hopping selectors to snapping necks for decades now. It's followed by the sophisticated, rollicking wah-wah funk of "Everything I Own" and the slice of smooth lovers soul par excellence that is "Green Grasshopper" and her ace, lilting Neil Diamond cover "Play Me". The thundering, humid funk of "Children At Play" "sounds uncannily like a precursor of Massive Attack", as FACT Mag astutely noted when they put Sweet And Nice at number 16 in their list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s. Otherworldly, moody, and essential. Side two keeps the fire burning. "Sweet, Bitter Love" should leave you swooning, and is also one of the album's alternate titles. Curtis Mayfield's already-eternal "Gypsy Man" follows, recast as proto-lovers rock. "There's No Me Without You" is elevated to canonical status by the majestic, forlorn horns of the Federal Soul Givers and Marcia's heartbreaking delivery. And if this doesn't get you then surely the next track will: arguably the definitive version of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". "I Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" re-takes its rightful place at the end of the LP's second side... but Be With Records added an entire second record of rare material recorded around the same time as Sweet And Nice, much of it unavailable since it was originally released. Amongst these 14 extra tracks you'll find the exquisite late-60s singles "Melody Life" and "Mark My Word" which, along with the sumptuous reading of "Band Of Gold". All material is remastered. 140 gram vinyl.

2021 repress. Transparent orange vinyl. LP version. Windborne is the debut album from young Norwegian power-trio Kanaan. With components from jazz, fusion and post-rock they have created six extended pieces of blazing free-form psychedelia. While the band is rooted in the same spirit that gave birth to Mahavishnu Orchestra and Larry Coryell's The Eleventh House in the 1970s, there's a distinctive modern flavor to Kanaan. Their Scandinavian genealogy is apparent as well; their intricate song structures seems to be branching off the same stem as Motorpsycho, Papir, and Jaga Jazzist. Opening track "A. Hausenbecken" feels like a sudden blast of refreshing Nordic air, with rolling guitar leads and growling Fender Rhodes. But Kanaan aren't afraid to get deep and heavy; the B-side dives into straight-up Sabbath territory, with "Act Upon The Mundane World" and "The Groke", before ending the album with the abstract, free-flowing title track "Windborne".

"We are most pleased to present the seventh LP by The Doozer, now based in Edinburgh, but still creating a sound we feel has deep roots in Cambridge, England. is a somewhat sparser trip than his last album, 2018's Figurines (FTR 360LP), but the quality of the songs will be balm to those who have missed his presence. With gentle accompaniment from multi-instrumentalist Ben Kingsbury, Lance Whitehead and Eddie Goodban, the tracks here were recorded in Edinburgh in the summer of 2019, before the shit hit the fans, but some of the songs feel as though they were precipitated by a personal apocalypse, and I'm pretty sure that's something we can all empathize with at this point in the time/space continuum. The sense one gets is that the songs collected here are deigned to help us all rebuild that which has collapsed around us. This is not on infer that The Doozer has gone all instructional on us. One of the great features of his songs has always been their way of combining abstract confusion with observational clarity, allowing simple words to create abstract images. And that has not changed here. His brilliantly casual approach to this is what always makes people (like me anyway), think about his music in terms of extending the sweetest traditions of Syd Barrett and Nick Nicely. There is darkness built into this music, but it is countered with illumination. And if you so choose, you can spend many pleasant hours exploring the many mysterious corners of Convalescence. And that would be the right thing to do!" --Byron Coley, 2021

The classic debut LP by Dub Narcotic Sound System, Boot Party, originally released on K Records in 1996 and unavailable on vinyl for 25 years. The oddball indie-funk collective Dub Narcotic Sound System was spearheaded by vocalist Calvin Johnson, the former frontman of the legendary Beat Happening as well as the founder of the famed K Records label. Named in honor of Johnson's own Olympia, WA-based basement studio Dub Narcotic, the project was begun in 1994 with a rapid-fire series of funk-, rap-, and reggae-influenced singles including "Bite", "Fuck Shit Up", "Booty Run", and "Shake-a-Puddin'"; from the outset Johnson was the group's sole constant member, although over the course of subsequent releases, including the EPs Industrial Breakdown (1996), Ridin' Shotgun (1995), and Ship to Shore (1996), the revolving lineup grew to include Olympia scenesters like Lois Maffeo as well as Larry Butler, Todd Ranslow, and Brian Weber, all three members of the hip-hop unit Dead Presidents. The first Dub Narcotic Sound System full-length, Rhythm Record, Vol. One: Echoes From the Scene Control Room, appeared in 1995; later efforts included 1996's Boot Party and 1998's Out of Your Mind. Sideways Soul, a collaboration with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, followed in 1999. Trouser Press wrote that "when not delving deep into the usual sorts of ambient studio trickery, the songs hit a '60s R&B stride, bathing in the stoned soul picnic ambience with uplifting spirit." Deep red vinyl.