MOORE, THURSTON
Flow Critical Lucidity (USA exclusive Cream Color Vinyl) LP
LP version. USA exclusive cream color vinyl. The Daydream Library Series record label has confirmed Thurston Moore's new full-length album Flow Critical Lucidity, his ninth solo recording. Some of the songs were written and arranged in Europe and The United Kingdom and include lyrical references to their environments and inspired by nature, lucid dreaming, modern dance and Isadora Duncan. The album was arranged at La Becque in Switzerland and recorded at Total Refreshment Studios in London in 2022, and mixed at Hermitage Studios in London with Margo Broom in 2023. Flow Critical Lucidity comes from a lyric in the single "Sans Limites" and the album sleeve cover art features Jamie Nares' "Samurai Walkman" -- a helmet befitted with tuning forks. Jamie Nares (born in Great Britain) is a life-long friend of Thurston Moore from his New York No Wave days and the two have often collaborated in art and music. In 2023, Thurston released two singles: the energetic Isadora Duncan inspired "Isadora" with a music video starring Sky Ferreira. "Hypnogram," which press called "one of the most intensely cerebral cuts Moore has ever released, [in which] he blends the more melodic moments of his former band with the layered, heady flourishes of his bassist Deb Googe's main band, My Bloody Valentine. Emphatically conveying the feeling of dreams, the new material has fans excited for what the American has in store with his next album." In April of 2024, Thurston shared the stirring Earth Day anthem "Rewilding." The musician delivered chilling lines as he ruminated on the removal of the human hand from nature. Moore sang about renewal, and a period for friends of the Earth to sleep and realize a natural way by "coralmorphologically dreaming." The musician said the U.K.'s rewilding movement aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. The players on Flow Critical Lucidity: Thurston Moore (vocals, guitar); Deb Googe (bass); Jon Leidecker (electronics); James Sedwards (piano, organ, guitar, glockenspiel); Jem Doulton (percussion); Laetitia Sadier (backing vocals on "Sans Limites").
LP version. Wewantsounds presents the release of BAG's first album since 1973, For Peace and Liberty, recorded in Paris in Dec. 1972 when the musicians had recently arrived from St Louis. BAG only released one album during their existence. This long-lost performance, recorded at Maison de l'ORTF in optimal conditions just a few months previously, was thought lost until recently unearthed from the vaults of INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel). Here the group unleashes an incandescent 35-minute set mixing free improvisation and spiritual jazz with funk grooves. Released in partnership with the band and INA, the album features sound remastered from the original tapes, plus a 20-page booklet featuring words by Oliver Lake, Joseph Bowie, and Baikida Carroll plus Bobo Shaw's and Floyd LeFlore's daughters as well as extensive liner notes by BAG scholar Benjamin Looker and previously unseen photos by cult French photographer Philippe Gras. The Black Artist Group (BAG) was founded in St Louis, USA, in 1968 to promote local artists from the burgeoning Black Arts movement, including musicians, playwrights, dancers and poets. The BAG quintet heard here pulled together key musicians from the larger organization, including Oliver Lake on sax, Baikida Carroll, and Floyd LeFlore on trumpet, Joseph Bowie on trombone and Charles 'Bobo' Shaw on drums. The musicians emerged from the organization to become a vital force within the late '60s free jazz revolution. Modelled on the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago with whom they had close ties, this subset of BAG musicians followed in the footsteps of their Chicago colleagues, relocating to Paris in the early '70s on the recommendation of Lester Bowie, Joseph's older brother. Arriving in the French capital in Oct. 1972 the group made an instant impact on its underground music scene. In December of that year, Andre Francis, ORTF's jazz supremo invited them onto his "Jazz sur Scene" radio show, which showcased four groups live over two hours. Arriving onto the stage of the prestigious Studio 104 auditorium of the Maison de la Radio, the group delivered a jaw-dropping 35-minute set that left the audience mesmerized. Only thanks to a chance listening of another concert -- where the BAG live set was buried within -- was the recording unearthed making this historic release possible fifty years on. The release counts as an invaluable document, shedding fresh light on one of the most fascinating groups in modern jazz history.
A Colourful Storm presents Effroyables Jardins, a soundtrack composed by Zbigniew Preisner for Jean Becker's eponymous film. Given limited distribution during its initial release, the soundtrack's luster has only strengthened and it is now considered a lost gem of contemporary chamber composition. An understated triumph of the oeuvre of Preisner, who closely collaborated with Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski and was responsible for the film scores of Dekalog, The Double Life of Véronique, and the Three Colours trilogy. Effroyable Jardins marks Preisner's post-Kieslowski era of solo composition, shifting from devotional harmonies into a beautifully restrained style of neo-Romanticism. It is his second soundtrack for Jean Becker, following Francis Ford Coppola's commission for The Secret Garden, the César-winning Élisa, and Edoardo Ponte's Between Strangers. Its leitmotif -- a delicate, sparse melody for piano and organ, appears only during the opening sequence and, like Preisner's most powerful soundtracks, takes on a life of its own. Compositions for violin, harp and percussion are interspersed with haunting variations on a theme and a masterful use of silence. His music haunts the grieving Julie in Blue, soundtracks Valentine's epiphany in Red, and evokes the sublimity of moments in everyday life.
"Steve Roach's new purely atmospheric statement hovers within a warm and embracing expression of etheric ambience. One Day of Forever pulls back the layers of memory, time and perception to express life's amber-lit emotions, continuing an intimate, mystical-revealing vision within Roach's work. In this one day of forever the meditation on longing, nostalgia, connection, loss, grace and gratitude transmutes from fleeting moments, forming into gentle epiphanies. This album furthers the refined intention within the elemental approach first expressed on his previous 2CD, Reflections in Repose. The pieces began with a minimal collection of instruments leading to emotive sonic choices which paint the impressionistic realm contained in each of the album's five long-form pieces. The core of the release is built around the beguiling sound of the Mellotron (originally an English electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in 1963, but here performed on a new Swedish digital version) and emotional warmth of the Oberheim OB-X8. Steve reflects, 'This music reaches towards the moments between moments, leading to the eternal now. Each day provides the opportunity to connect to a sense and knowing of forever in our own individual ways; it lives within my ears, eyes, heart and soul, nourished by the ineffable and my desire is to embrace each day into forever.' CD in four-panel digipak."
Double LP version. The trio of Japanese saxophone legend Akira Sakata with the Scandinavian rhythm section presents already his fifth album! While the trio was on a Japan tour in 2019, Sakata arranged for a handful of special collaborations, with some of Japan's most important artistic figures. Featuring the avantgarde dancer Min Tanaka, the pianist Yuji Takahashi and a heavyweight veteran of Japanese experimental music -- drummer Takeo Moriyama. Moriyama was playing with Sakata in the Yosuke Yamashita Trio and is his unflinching sparring partner on the explosive 2022 Trost duo recording Mitochondria. Japanese saxophonist and improviser Akira Sakata turned 79 in February of 2024, but this singular musician shows no little sign of age. Over the last 15 years or so, as he neared the typical retirement age, he formed a couple of searing working bands that finally earned him a devoted international following despite his crucial role in establishing his homeland as key center for free jazz as a member of the Yosuke Yamashita Trio in the 1970s. Arashi, with Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and Swedish bassist Johan Berthling, has become his primary touring group, a fiery unit operating with a collective improvisational drive that lifts his white-hot alto saxophone and clarinet playing to new heights and provides the ideal platform for his over-the-top vocal exhortations. While the trio was on a short Japanese tour in 2019, Sakata arranged for a handful of special collaborations, bringing his two younger Scandinavian colleagues face-to-face with some of Japan's most important artistic figures. They performed with Min Tanaka, the singular experimental dancer, who famously improvised with guitarist Derek Bailey and pianist Cecil Taylor, as well as the legendary new music pianist Yuji Takahashi. The concert documented on this phenomenal recording features the third veteran of Japanese experimental music Arashi worked with on that tour, drummer Takeo Moriyama, the third member of the Yamashita trio. As the present recording makes patently clear, Moriyama fit right in. The percussionists melded beautifully, driving the music but also clearing space for one another and forging astonishing feats of interactivity. Rather than canceling one another out or laying it on too thick, they quickly find a method to co-exists, tapping history without the slightest hint of nostalgia. The trio nonchalantly becomes a quartet, absorbing more history, more ideas, and more energy, spitting it back out with greater concentration and focus than ever.
SUN RA
The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Vol. 1 LP
2024 repress! 180-gram black vinyl. The astonishing sessions that went light years beyond "free jazz" improvisation to create a music of deeply felt, explosive and gentle gesture made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony are now reissued on 180 gram vinyl with Sun Ra's original, self-created cover art. Recorded by Richard Alderson on April 20, 1965, this set of tunes finds Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. Remastered.
"Nicholas Lens, a Belgian composer of contemporary music, is known particularly for his operas. One of his earliest works is the music drama Flamma Flamma: The Fire Requiem, the first part of his trilogy The Accacha Chronicles (Flamma Flamma/Terra Terra/Amor Aeternus). The fusion of non-European musical cultures and Western classical music has been described as highly unique. Flamma Flamma is conspicuous for its unusual instrumentation - apart from chamber orchestra, mixed choir and six soloists, there are also a Japanese koto, an extensive percussion set-up and three natural voices. The work is a composition beyond all conventions. Unlike almost any other requiem, Flamma Flamma not only deals with grief and pain, but also with the idea that death is a natural part of life. Tribute is paid to the afterlife without glorifying it, the positive aspects of fire -- such as light and warmth -- are praised and all human emotions in the face of death are addressed, across all philosophical and even musical boundaries. Flamma Flamma has been used numerous times for the most diverse art events and hundreds of dance and ballet creations around the world. For instance, it was performed live at the opening of the Adelaide Festival with more than 1,000 performers in front of an audience of 30,000 people. After its first release on CD in 1994, Flamma Flamma moved up various international charts and quickly went from being an insiders' tip to a huge success, with even a videoclip showing on MTV and Arte. Tracks such as 'Sumus Vicinae,' 'Corpus Inimici' or the title track 'Flamma Flamma' have even become cult classics and made it to some alternative dance floors from Paris to NY and Tokyo. Flamma Flamma by Nicholas Lens will now be re-released on an elaborately designed double vinyl in gatefold cover to mark the 30th anniversary. The composer himself artistically supervised the re-mastering."
BOYD, JOE
And the Roots of Rhythm Remain Book
"When Paul Simon first heard the Zulu accordion flourish that would open his multi-platinum album Graceland, he told Joe Boyd that it seemed to proclaim, 'You haven't heard this before!' Yet the 'world music' boom of the 1980s that Simon's album helped to usher in had roots that extended back through the decades and across continents: tango on the eve of World War I, Latin dance across the '30s, '40s and '50s, reggae in the '70s, pre-War samba and pre-Beatles bossa nova, Eastern European ensembles filling capitalist concert halls during the Cold War, Indian ragas changing rock and roll in the 1960s, gypsy music inspiring classical composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. As far back as 1853, the music that had intrigued Simon had captivated London during a Zulu choir's extended run there. (Only Charles Dickens dissented.) Like that of other far-flung musical traditions sweeping the globe, the story of Zulu music and its relationship to neighbors, invaders, appropriators, and admirers -- from brutal 19th century massacres to 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' -- is more controversial, colorful, and complex than many imagine. Joe Boyd was part of a small group of label heads and journalists who chose 'world music' as their marketing slogan in the 1980s. Already the legendary producer of artists including Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band, Soft Machine, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Toots and the Maytals, and many others, Boyd had little idea how fast and how wide those simple words would spread, or how far back the history went. He would soon learn, producing pathbreaking music in Cuba, Brazil, Bulgaria, Mali, Hungary, Spain, and India under his label Hannibal Records. Following the success of his book White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, a self-published smash hit, Boyd now sets out to explore the stories behind the world music he had helped to popularize. He has traveled across continents and interviewed dozens of musicians, producers, and academics, and spent years reading, listening, and writing. The one-of-a-kind result is And The Roots of Rhythm Remain: a riveting, symphonic, globetrotting tour of the music that shapes the world. Hardcover. 900 pages."
CURRENT 93
The Light Is Leaving Us All (Picture Disc) LP
"The Light Is Leaving Us All is one of the C93 albums that haunts me the most. I was OverMoon and Blessed to work on it with the astonishing aeonic beautiful talents of Reinier Van Houdt, Alasdair Roberts, Ossian Brown, Rita Knuistingh Neven, Andrew Liles, Aloma Ruiz Boada, Michael York, Davide Pepe, Ania Goszczyńska, and Giulio Di Mauro. Once again, the voice in the mask of one of my favorite authors, and longest colleagues, Thomas Ligotti, also joined C93. The album's title was given to me in a dream, in which I saw the souls of humans pouring out of their eyes, and returning to God. On The Light Is Leaving Us All, I brought together my studies of specific Akkadian and Biblical Hebrew texts that I was translating with my friends and teachers Professor Martin Worthington, Ola Wikander, and Professor Seth Sanders, and also channeled my fascinations with The Red Barn Murder of 1827 and The Witchcraft Murders of Bella in Hagley Wood, and Charles Walton in Lower Quinton in 1945. All this time, the birds were sweetly singing, the kettle was on, the milkmaid was singing, and the policeman was dead -- all this while the birds were softly singing, and The Light Was Leaving Us All. Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12" vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-color die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside. This is one of the first four reissues of the entire back catalogue of C93 on picture-disc and standard vinyl, in the lead-up to the publication of my autobiography at the end of 2025, whilst I also work on many other recording, publishing, and painting projects! Each release in the picture-disc vinyl reissues series is limited to 1,000 copies, and the titles will not be repressed as picture-discs once they have sold out." -- David Tibet
2024 repress. The mighty Scientist meets Jamaica's original Crazy Mad Professor in a dub showdown pitching their best musical shots against each other. The connection between these two great mixers/producers is that they both learned the trade and also cut their musical teeth working with the master himself King Tubby. Scientist (b. Overton Brownie, 1960, Jamaica) and the Crazy Mad Professor (not to be confused with the London-based Mad Professor, Neil Frazer, Ariwa Sounds) initially both helped King Tubby (b. Osbourne Ruddock) wind his transformers for his main business of electrical repairs. They both moved over to engineering and mixing when the need arose due to the heavy demands on Tubby's time and studio became too great. Scientist and The Crazy Mad Professor built their careers on these formative years of training, as they say if you learn from the best, your knowledge can only hold you in good stead and it certainly has with both these talents. Jamaican Recordings have pitched both against each other on some great rhythms recorded at the legendary Channel 1 Studios and then mixed them at King Tubby's Studio, as was often the case when rhythms needed voicing/versioning for that classic dub cut.
"The music of New York trio Weak Signal (Mike Bones, guitar and voice; Sasha Vine, electric bass, violin, and voice; Tran, drums and voice) is a masterclass in simplicity and economy but these aspects aren't present for their own didactic sake. Rather, their art is world-building in the most essential of ways, subtly spinning out in an enveloping, rich haze from a clear, architectural core. There are sections of knife-like collective squall and dialogic drift that glance at improvised music; while not strictly pop, the tunes are incredibly catchy with wry, keenly memorable lyrics that easily stick in one's craw. With associations including Endless Boogie, Sian Alice Group, and Soldiers of Fortune, Weak Signal formed in 2017. They waxed two full lengths in the period leading up to the pandemic, and during that unsettling year -- plus without many gigs to speak of, the trio kept busy and unleashed a handful of choice digital EPs and a couple of split 7" singles. Fine is their fourth full-length to date, its tight ten-song program fleshed out with sonic icing from keyboardist Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) and guitarists Doug Shaw (Gang Gang Dance; White Magic) and Cass McCombs. Fine is an unhurried jewel in the trio's discography, partly the result of the time it took to write. Even if the vibe and structure is familiar -- and one can easily pick out their stripped-down jangle, like the lovechild of the Rain Parade and Lungfish -- there's a clear evolution over the course of their records, each one more finely-tuned and comfortable. Fine was recorded by Jon Erickson and mixed by Rupert Clervaux, whose expertise has been called in for records by Spiritualized and pianist Matthew Shipp, among others, keeping just enough of the SoundCloud lo-fi aesthetic to ensure it's a proper Weak Signal record."
"The Viceroys were a Jamaican reggae vocal group formed in the late 1960s. They were one of the numerous vocal trios that emerged during the rocksteady and early reggae eras in Jamaica. The group's lineup consisted of Wesley Tinglin, Neville Ingram, and Daniel Bernard. They gained popularity with their harmonious vocal style and catchy melodies. One of their most famous songs is 'Heart Made of Stone,' which became a hit in Jamaica and internationally. They worked with various producers, including Derrick Morgan, Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, and Lee 'Scratch' Perry, recording songs that reflected the social and political issues of the time. While the original lineup of the Viceroys disbanded in the 1970s, Wesley Tinglin continued to perform under the Viceroys name with different members. Their music continues to be celebrated among reggae enthusiasts for its soulful harmonies and uplifting messages."
Double LP version. The Brand New Heavies revisit their seminal 1994 album Brother Sister for its 30 year anniversary. Replete with groove-driven, horn-splashed, hand-clapping funk, Brother Sister saw the band dig deep into their jazz grooves, with N'Dea Davenport in full flight as diva/lead vocalist. Featuring some of their best loved songs including the chart hits "Midnight at the Oasis," "Dream on Dreamer," and "Spend Some Time," Brother Sister debuted in the UK charts at #4 and went onto be a hit worldwide, the band rightly claiming their crown as acid jazz heavyweights, delivering knock-out punch after punch on this album. Freshly remastered, the 2LP vinyl/18-track edition features three bonus tracks, and is pressed onto one black and one white vinyl, and is signed by Andrew and Simon from the band. The remastered 2CD/31-track edition (LMS 1725112) features rarities and classic remixes from the likes of David Morales, Roger Sanchez, and a newly commissioned rework of "Back To Love" by Luke Mornay. And also includes two newly uncovered demos, "Pocketful of Bass" and an alternate demo of "Put Yourself In My Shoes," with vocals by N'dea Davenport.
"On the cover: Keiji Haino. Inside: Shamica Ruddock, Seppuku Pistols, Jabu, Gregory TS Walker, Viktar Siama?ka. The Primer: John Butcher. Invisible Jukebox: Wolfgang Voigt. Epiphanies: Mark Webber on Spaceman 3. The Inner Sleeve: Céline Gillain on Leonard Cohen. Global Ear: Nicosia. Unlimited Editions: Nashazphone, and in the reviews sections: Wendy Eisenberg, Ivo Perelman, Yellow Swans, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tristwch Y Fenywod, Byard Lancaster, Zdeněk Li?ka, Dr John, Supernormal, Heroines Of Sound, and much more."
VA
Mobilisation Generale: Protest and Spirit Jazz from France 1970-1976 2LP
2024 repress; double LP version. Comes in a gatefold sleeve. 1968. France, Incorporated. The entire building was being consumed by flames and was slowly collapsing. Nothing would survive. Out of the rubble of the old world jumped the children of Marx and Coca-Cola, ripping the white and blue stripes off the French flag. Yet, the socialist revolution was more mythic than real and music did nothing to mitigate people's behavior. It was time for innovation. While singles from The Stones, The Who, The Kinks and MC5 provided an incendiary soundtrack for the revolution, it was Black Americans who truly blew the world from its foundations in the '60s. Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, and Archie Shepp left behind the jazz of their fathers' generation, liberating the notes, trashing the structures, diving headfirst into furious improvisations, inventing a new land without boundaries -- neither spiritual nor political. Free jazz endowed the saxophone with the power to destroy the established order. In 1969, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago arrived at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier in Paris and a new fuse was lit. Their multi-instrumentalism made use of a varied multiplicity of "little instruments" (including bicycle bells, wind chimes, steel drums, vibraphone and djembe: they left no stone unturned), which they employed according to their inspirations. The group's stage appearance shocked as well. They wore boubous (traditional African robes) and war paint to venerate the power of their free, hypnotic music, directly linked to their African roots. They were predestined to meet up with the Saravah record label (founded in 1965 by Pierre Barouh), already at the vanguard of as-yet unnamed world music. Brigitte Fontaine's album Comme à la radio, recorded in 1970 after a series of concerts at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, substantiated the union of this heiress to the poetic and politically-committed chanson française with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's voodoo jazz and the Arab tradition perpetuated by her companion Areski Belkacem. A UFO had landed on the turntables of French teens, who were discovering underground culture via publications like Actuel, Libération, Charlie Hebdo, Rock & Folk and a vigorous free press. For 20 year-olds in the early 1970s, making music was a political act; they grabbed a microphone to advance a cause, not to become rock stars. While the price of oil skyrocketed and Pompidou went overboard building horrible concrete apartment buildings for public housing and "adapting the city for the automobile," some took refuge in the countryside. Alternative communities formed all across France, giving rise to groups (or rather, collectives) with open-minded structures, cheerfully mixing music, theatrical happenings and agitprop, along with a good dose of acid. Projects bordering on the ridiculous were often tolerated (progressive rock was one of the primary banalities the era produced), while those who followed the route paved by spiritual jazz often ended up elsewhere. The vehemence (if not grandiloquence) of their declarations was carried and transcended by the finesse and brilliance of their musicianship. Simultaneously spatial, pastoral and tribal, the tracks in this collection represent an ideal intersection between a sort of psychedelic legacy, the space jazz of Sun Ra and Afro Beat (then being created by Fela in Lagos): they are as much incantations (often driven by the spoken-word), war cries or poems as they are polemics. 1978. Giscard was at the helm. Punk and disco were busily decapitating the last remaining hippies. Peoples' blood was still boiling, but it was already too late. The war was over, lost without anyone noticing. Nevertheless, people still tilted at windmills or talked tough in dead-end struggles; a dream is not so far from a nightmare. We knew that an enchanted era had ended, the hope for a brighter future was now behind us and that we would leave behind nothing for our children but a few records. Indeed, ghosts may still crackle from our speakers, as the 45 spins and Brigitte Fontaine asks Areski: "Hé mais je pense à un truc, on ne va pas mourir dans une minute?" (trans. "Hey, I was just thinking, aren't we going to die in a minute?"). Features artists such as Alfred Panou & Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Brigitte Fontaine & Areski Belkacem, Atarpop 73 & Le Collectif Le Temps Des Cerises, RK Nagati, Frédéric Rufin & Raphaël Lecomte, François Tusques, Mahjun (Mouvement Anarcho Héroïque des Joyeux Utopistes Nébuleux), Full Moon Ensemble, Baroque Jazz Trio, Michel Roques, Chêne Noir, and Beatrice Arnac.
LP version. Among the figureheads of French disco, Bernard Fèvre, better known as Black Devil, probably had the shortest-lived career but was the most brilliant and unique mind of them all. Although his first album Disco Club, released in 1978, went unnoticed at first, it has since become a must-have, a collector's item which has led a lot of listeners to further investigate into his extensive work. From rock music to music hall, sound illustration to disco, pop to reggae, through film music and advertising, Bernard Fèvre has experimented with so many genres that it has been hard not to lose track. One of his best albums even has such an unambivalent title as The Strange World of Bernard Fèvre. Please make your way to a cosmic dimension, verging on the unknown.
"Reeling in the weeks -- which felt like years -- after my first Current 93 album, I had started on the difficult second C93 album, Dogs Blood Rising. Having been asked to appear on both Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test 93 times in the same week after the release of Nature Unveiled, I realized that God was telling me that I had hit on a winning formula of Christian eschatology and Apocalyptic Christian texts over a Soundscape as cool as flies, but that I was missing the vital ingredient of a Simon & Garfunkel song. Dogs Blood Rising -- which I described to myself in a vision as an album which hoped, wished, and made bad trips sound like good trips -- was essentially the mirror night of Nature Unveiled, although only half of it was recorded at Roundhouse Studios. Squats were calling, and 8-track studios were all I was able to afford. Dogs Blood Rising didn't chart, except in my night sweats. Listening to it now, it makes me as restless as I was then, staring beyond the windows there, watching and praying for something, someone, anything, anyone. Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12" vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-color die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside. This is one of the first four reissues of the entire back catalogue of C93 on picture-disc and standard vinyl, in the lead-up to the publication of my autobiography at the end of 2025, whilst I also work on many other recording, publishing, and painting projects. Each release in the picture-disc vinyl reissues series is limited to 1,000 copies, and the titles will not be repressed as picture-discs once they have sold out." -- David Tibet
"Swastikas For Noddy is possibly, probably, maybe, or not, a seminal and sidereal masterpiece, the inspiration for 93,000 Masks On Nothings, none of which were groovy. For me, well, it was my first hallucinatory pick-nick, and the skies turned pixie red for it. I was given the album's title during an acid trip: seeing Noddy crucified in the sky, I asked God what the most inappropriate birthday present for Noddy might be. God answered me from the acid whirlwind: "Swastikas!" I recorded her in a run-down basement studio in West London, whilst I was simultaneously recording Imperium. On playing the finished album to certain well-chosen friends, I was told by them that I had 'destroyed Current 93,' and that it sounded like 'demented children on drugs singing Simon & Garfunkel in a playground.' I then knew the album sounded exactly as I had dreamed it to sound, and as God had intended it to sound. Had I ditched the earlier darkness, and skipped into flowered fields? Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12" vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-color die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside. This is one of the first four reissues of the entire back catalogue of C93 on picture-disc and standard vinyl, in the lead-up to the publication of my autobiography at the end of 2025, whilst I also work on many other recording, publishing, and painting projects. Each release in the picture-disc vinyl reissues series is limited to 1,000 copies, and the titles will not be repressed as picture-discs once they have sold out." --David Tibet
THOMAS, HENRY
Texas Worried Blues: Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 2LP
2024 restock. 180 gram double vinyl reissue of this 1989 collection; housed in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes by Stephen Calt and Mack McCormick. "Representing the oldest style captured on record, Henry Thomas was a singular and important figure. Coming out of Texas at the turn of the century, he left behind a total of 23 issued selections that represent one of the richest contributions to our musical culture. Playing panpipes and guitar with a thrusting drive that evokes a country dance, he gives us a glimpse of black music as it existed late in the 19th century."
LP version. Posthumous collaboration between Michael Chapman and Andrew Tuttle. Release includes Michael Chapman's original recordings, unfinished and never released (Another Fish). Sleeve notes by Andru Chapman. When Michael Chapman passed away in September of 2021, at the age of 80, he did so -- as he spent much of his life -- as both a pioneer and a legend. A veteran of the British blues/folk/jazz scene, Chapman emerged in 1966 and continued working throughout his life, always pushing the boundaries of his creations while collaborating with a slew of similarly heralded musicians along the way: Bert Jansch, Mick Ronson, Elton John, Thurston Moore, Steve Gunn. It's the latter of those -- Brooklyn guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn -- who Chapman flourished alongside in recent years, the two collaborating on 50 and True North, two of Chapman's final and finest records. It was through that friendship that Chapman's music found Andrew Tuttle, the Brisbane-based multi-instrumentalist who has toured Australia several times alongside Gunn. In the aftermath of Chapman's passing, his partner Andru discovered Tuttle's Fleeting Adventure LP, describing it as "one of the albums that kept me sane during that first brutal winter on my own." The pair met in Australia shortly after, and before Andru had even made it back home to the north of England, Tuttle had begun working on the recordings she shared with him at that time. Those recordings were part of a project Chapman was working on at the time of his death, called Another Fish -- what would have been a companion piece to his previously-released LP, simply called Fish. Though there was little intention in terms of how to finalize the project, Tuttle spent valuable time with those recordings. What materialized, eventually -- with time, care, and diligent attention -- is Another Tide, Another Fish, something both unusual and completely distinctive. Another Tide is centered around Tuttle's own work, which shaped all seven of Michael's songs and ideas into new songs of their own, and the second disc which simply incorporates the recordings that Michael left behind. What's left is indeed a hybrid: part remix album, part cover album, both a solo work and a collaboration, of sorts. Inspired by Chapman's original ideas and with new track titles directly referencing the numbered but otherwise untitled source material, Tuttle adds his own flashes of colors throughout, including editing, sampling, MIDI transposing and signal processing that twists these songs into beautiful new shapes.
2024 repress. Be With Records present the first ever official reissue of Kimiko Kasai with Herbie Hancock's Butterfly, originally released in 1979. The positively sublime and very rare Butterfly LP, recorded in Tokyo in 1979 by Japanese songstress Kimiko Kasai and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. Due to its super-rare status as a Japan-only release, this exquisite collection of covers never got the recognition it deserved at the time, despite incredibly inspired performances from Kimiko, Herbie, and the supremely talented musicians assembled for the project. From heavenly drummer Alphonse Mouzon and renowned organist Webster Lewis to bassist Paul Jackson, reedman Bennie Maupin, and the master percussionist Bill Summers, the legendary performers crafted amazingly good vocal versions of Herbie/Headhunters jazz-funk. Unsurprisingly, it has been heavily in demand for many years. The LP opens with Kimiko's highly desirable version of "I Thought It Was You", an elegant take on Herbie's own anthem. Other superb re-workings include the delicately soulful "Butterfly", jazzy groover "Sunlight", the smooth and sexy "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", and the beautiful ballads "Maiden Voyage" and "Harvest Time". A wonderful example of perfectly understated and masterful jazz-funk soul fusion that shouldn't be missed, the set closes with a jaw-dropping version of Stevie Wonder's "As". This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of this hitherto unavailable masterpiece. The stunning artwork which adorned the original jacket -- complete with obi strip and sumptuous four-page folded insert -- has been faithfully restored. Mastered by Simon Francis, and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
"Back with another selection from the Don, one of Digikiller's favorite artists. This one is the only tune he voiced for Bullwackie's, and it is of course killer. Only ever released on a compilation, now on 45 for the first time backed with dub of the rhythm, well-loved from the Love Joy's tune 'Studio Man.'"
"New twelve inch of vintage Wackie's on City Line. The A-side features two of the best Wackie's deep roots tunes previously only released on compilation, which have long needed single release. Stranger Cole's somber 'Capture Land' about the reality of squatting in the ghetto, followed by Wanachi's instrumental cut of the brilliant rhythm you might know from Azul's 'Black Rose.' The B-side features a really unique previously unreleased tune from one Moon Dread. Operatic, semi-acoustic and haunting, if you like early Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus, this tune offers a maybe less spiritual and more theatrical but still compelling take in that vein from about a decade later in the late 1970s. Comes in new Wackie's company sleeve."
2024 repress. LP version. "Through the years and the shape-shifts of different albums, players and songs, the music of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy has proven to be an experience of sharing: Bonny sharing the songs with musicians for a new experience; Bonny sharing the record with you. What do you think? The Letting Go is an overwhelming undertaking. As mentioned, there are strings -- lovely charts that do so much more than just trace chord changes up and down the neck. Arrangements by Ryder McNair and Nico Muhly are threaded throughout the record, augmenting a simple quintet of players to provide a sixth sense. The deceptive nature of his band is on display from the top. 'Filthy' Jim White is known far and wide for his resource behind the drum kit and he proves it song after song, with sensitivity that provokes dynamic variety from skins, an acoustic depth to the room. Paul Oldham's bass is a feeling accompaniment to Bonny's guitar, played with brotherly clairvoyance and constancy. Young Emmett Kelly's clean electric guitar lines roam within the web and suddenly shine, are blues and folk and r'n'b in shifting turn, guilelessly tactic and soulfully expressive. And up front with Bonny is the bewitching Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables. Her vocal flights on those records can hardly prepare one for the intimacy and empathy of her harmonies and other voices on The Letting Go."
LP version. A sanctuary of adoration, creation and imagination, duo White Hills' lair in Brooklyn is also the nerve center of their record label Heads on Fire Industries. It's the site where the final mixes of Beyond This Fiction took shape. For nearly two decades, White Hills have been blowing minds with their sonic alchemy: a unique mix of neo-psychedelia, art rock, and post-punk -- at once original and recognizable. Their cult reputation emblazoned in celluloid following their performance in Jim Jarmusch's sultry vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), the duo has toured vigorously since their inception. With a vast catalog that astounds and a relentless punk ethos, time seems to energize the duo, making them increasingly daring and prolific. Founding member Dave W, whose signature other-worldly guitar sorcery defines the White Hills sound, grabs his Les Paul to record a melody lingering in his head from last night's dream before it escapes. Outside, the sound of passing sirens, honking horns and bits of conversation remind you that you're in the middle of New York, a city so flush with rock legacy and artistic innovation it would take lifetimes to drink it all in. Committed to a vocation marked by extremes, doubt, struggle and moments of ecstasy, Dave and Ego Sensation Sensation (drums/bass/vocals) continue this torrid affair with music bearing their latest fruit Beyond This Fiction. Inspired by the ideas of Joseph Campbell, the writer/philosopher known for the book The Power of Myth (1988), the album explores the idea of "riding between opposites" -- forging one's own path unrestrained by the dualistic constraints of society. Recorded with Martin Bisi, known for his iconic NYC sound developed through his work with no-wave titans Sonic Youth, Swans, and Lydia Lunch, Beyond This Fiction sees Dave W (guitar/vocals/synths) and Ego Sensation (drums/bass/vocals) orchestrating their distinct guitar heavy meditations into songs with a stronger focus on vocals than previous albums. The album harnesses the seductive accessibility of 2015's Walks For Motorists while evoking the tempestuous soul of the band's seminal H-p1 (2011). Notorious shapeshifters, White Hills make Beyond This Fiction a familiar surprise. Back in the lair, Dave draws eyes on his hands in preparation for the day's video shoot. Ego reaches in the closet pulling out the red velvet jacket she wears on the cover of Beyond This Fiction where she stands in a NYC alley holding a glowing orb.
"A late period hard-rock, proto-punk entry in Zambian guitarist and bandleader Paul Ngozi's extensive catalog. LP includes oversized eight-page booklet detailing Ngozi's arc, rare photographs, discography and annotations. Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene: on the African continent, only Nigeria can claim one so comprehensive, and Nigeria's was largely catalyzed and funded by subsidiaries of the European major labels. Zamrock was as independent as the newly-named country, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia. Zamrock is starting in its completeness, especially for a scene that emerged, unfurled and disappeared so quickly. From Musi-O-Tunya's fusion of Fela's Afro-beat, Hendrix's rock, South African jazz and traditional Zambian melodies and rhythms to Salty Dog's acid folk/rock, Zambia's rock scene contained all of rock's subgenres. Zamrock was much more than an imitation of American and European rock music: it quickly became a uniquely Zambian movement, befitting of its name. WITCH, Paul Ngozi, and Amanaz sound nothing like other rock music from the African continent -- or elsewhere. Zamrock came from a nation's youth carrying forth the momentum of a political and social revolution with a musical revolution that maintained the fiery power of early rock -- in the mid-to late-'70s. From that era, Zamrock's energy is matched only by the punk and hip-hop scenes of England and America."
LP version. Following his highly acclaimed 2021 album Atotal (AES 004CD) and 2022's Magnetoscope (R-M 200CD), Franck Vigroux returns with eight heavyweight tracks composed in 2023 and 2024. Vigroux states about his current work: "I am not very talkative about my music unless I am specifically questioned, the immaterial dimension of music partly spares us from the major questions which are the prerogative of theatrical forms for which I am also very active, in this sense for me music is a real outlet where things are done intuitively, for pleasure." Always pushing forth and expanding his now classic rigidly cold analog sounds and rhythmic structures entwined with lush atmospheric synth compositions, Grand Bal is another milestone in his ever-growing discography.
Gwendoline is the project from Micka (a.k.a. Mikoune) and Pierre (a.k.a. Daniel). Based in Brest in France, musically influenced by the classic cold wave which originated in their country, precarious and aimless, they shape Gwendoline to their own image. Pure DIY ethics, quick recordings at their home studio. Dark lyrics, self-mockery, criticism, sarcasm derived from the world's mediocrity. Après C'est Gobelet is their first album. Melodic but dark, ironic but direct, sophisticated but absolutely minimalistic. A testimony of today's world viewed under a grey prism of sarcasm and wrapped around beautiful melodies and rhythms.
LP version. "Parisian-by-choice Detlef Weinrich aka Tolouse Low Trax turns the page again. Always willing for a new episode, notion, impulse, idea, ideal. Searching for some light out there. Now Kiosque Versions, a compilation compiled by himself, featuring seven edits by friends and treasured artists. They renew some rare TLT tunes, as well as hits, that never took the charts by storm. There is French legend and Tigersushi boss Joakim, edging the TLT winner Rushing Into Water from 2016. A guarded stepper, dancy, trippy, with an enchantress on his shoulder, that haunts your body and soul. The 2020 TLT tune "Dawn Is Temporal," taken from his album Jumping Dead Leafs, comes as an old school hip hop leaning track, re-fashioned by New York's Beat Detectives, including Amen-Break and nod-your-head vibes. Producer Ido Plumes from Bristol took "Tristeros Empire" home and worked it club-wise. A nervous beating modification, Detroit machines, motorway funk, cosmic gasps - pure driller killer. Glasgow's Dip Friso stays tense too. Echoes, tribal bounce, manic loops. Another driller in dub heaven. Like Paris based digi-dub explorers Froid Dub, who bring a great wave of warm grooves, making baroque-esk dub friends with "Make Friends," a TLT track from his legendary three-volume strong 2016 Antinote sampler compendium. Their fellow countryman Simo Cell nervously metamorphoses "A Song and a Photo Novella," a TLT soundtrack for a film by artist Nicolàs Guagnini. His version has all that bass, vibrates on an experimental subconsciousness, and aims the dancefloor with a stirring bouquet of rhythmic ideas. The dot on the I comes from TLT himself, remixing his very own music, translating the Gamelan melancholy of "Subghosts," a tune from his 2010 debut album Mask Talk, into today, refined with dubby upsetting notes, a speed lift, and a very playful TLT groove. Let's turn the page." --Michael Leuffen
LP version. "With Anchors, Chicago-based bass clarinetist-composer Jason Stein arises from a six-year hiatus as bandleader with his most personal, nuanced, and expansive album to date. A masterful player on this difficult-to-master reed instrument (Dolphy did it, too), Stein created Anchors together with bassist Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society, of which Stein has been a member since 2017), drummer Gerald Cleaver (whose bona fides run deep and wide), and guest artist/co-producer Boon. Anchors is a suite of great beauty and potency, moving from meditative calms to lyrical buoyancy to gripping intensity and again to a transformative peace found in unity. Anchors are, so often, symbolic of strength and stability. They reflect peoples' capacity to steady themselves in turbulent waters, allowing them to traverse the deepest seas. With anchors aboard, listeners can quell their fears, weather the storm, and chart forth. In all their looming weight, anchors allow then to be free. With Anchors, Jason Stein emerges with a luminous tribute to anchors of his own. Amidst the discomfort of transformation, he reaches into a reservoir of resilience and invites listeners to do the same. Stein's purposefully chosen trio partners on this work, Joshua Abrams and drummer Gerald Cleaver, are two illustrious improvisers rooted as much in the jazz tradition as they are in contemporary experimental approaches. Abrams' grounding in multifarious music traditions gives way to a visionary synthesis of styles, perhaps most apparent in his acclaimed Natural Information Society. Stein has recorded and toured with the group since 2017, and the unmistakable intuitive interplay between these long-time collaborators is a through-line on Anchors. Gerald Cleaver, a definitive stylist in the international creative music community, works with Stein for the first time here, shaping the record with a skillful prowess as impressive as his distinctive sound."
LP version. Limited blue crystal clear color vinyl. Gatefold sleeve. Includes four-page booklet. For years, Manu Chao has been travelling the world to meet his fans in unusual venues, villages and small festivals. Elusive, but always accessible to those who cross his path, Manu now presents his new studio album Viva Tu, a collection of songs written at the heart of daily lives and struggles, and a fresh take on the state of the world, singing sunny, universal songs in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese, painting an unforgiving picture of social imbalances. The lead song "Viva Tu," a heartfelt rumba dedicated to the daily life heroes, has already made its mark. The second single, "São Paulo Motoboy," is a colorful, sunny ode to the two-wheeled delivery people venturing the Latin American metropoles every day. The album also features some memorable collaborations, including "Heaven's Bad Day" with country legend Willie Nelson and "Tu Te Vas" with rising French rapper Laeti. Also available as CD (BEC 5613918), black color vinyl (BEC 5613919), and picture disc vinyl (BEC 5613921).
2024 repress. "Purple Mountains is the new nom-de-rock of David Berman. Purple Mountains is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums -- full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of handcrafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs are produced impeccably by Woods' Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl, buffed up like a hardwood floor ready to be well-trod upon for an evening of romance and dance. The songs of Purple Mountains are a potent brew, stitched together from lifetimes, knitting the drift of the years with the tightest lyric construction Berman's ever attempted. Honesty is archly in the air, but lines of incredible bleakness somehow give way to playful distraction and the hiding of surprises for close listeners. Even still, as the songwriter once wrote, 'every single thought is like a punch in the face.' It won't take long after slapping the record on the platter for you to hear that this is one of THOSE albums. The portrait is David Berman's most to-the-bone yet, very frankly confessing a near-total collapse from the first moment, then delving into the layers of nuance with twin lasers of personal laceration and professional remove. This etches a picture that cries to be understood in the misbegotten country that made everything great about Purple Mountains. America's fate is that of its treasured icons: the cowboy, the outlaw, the card sharp and the riverboat gambler, who all face simple resignation in the end. There are no perfect crimes. Berman's poet-thief of so many precious moments, now stripped and chastened, recalls his latest lowest moments in perfect detail, hovering ghostly above the tumescent production sound as it echoes with tragic majesty and the sound-fragments of former glory, evoking the defeated-king era of late Elvis, southernfried and sassy still on his countrypolitan way down, and somehow still solid-gold at the bottom. Berman's songwriter's bone's never been laid more-bare, either. Where are you tonight, America? The things that used to be have slipped away into the darkness without you knowing it, and your children are wandering in a blasted landscape, with only Purple Mountains left to comfort them, and David Berman's shattered fables for company."
"Smoky hustler music by North Memphis's Skinny Pimp, a former member of Three 6 Mafia recorded in 1993 and originally released on cassette. This is part of Now Again Records multiple LP series on the history of Memphis rap, which attempts to capture Memphis and its underground rap scene as it began to produce some of the most distinctive music of the '90s. This was a unique hip-hop strain -- visceral and often vicious. It was a local, low-fi, cassette-tape based movement -- yet it went on to change the course of rap music. These albums have never been pressed on vinyl - until now. From Skinny Pimp and Carmike to Gangsta Blac and Shawty Pimp, these albums have been relegated to the proverbial bins of history and bootlegged, with unofficial copies still fetching top dollar on the secondary market. These albums were all licensed directly from their original creators, and come on limited edition colored vinyl with artist-approved imagery for their first LP iterations. You can read the story of the Memphis rap scene in a 12-page, oversized booklet with notes by Torii MacAdams. It captures the story of Memphis rap starting with the city's founding and ending with an auto supply shop that sold these albums over the counter, with all points in between. Pressed on galaxy ice-colored vinyl with a 12-page booklet."
WRWTFWW Records furthers its collaboration with Japanese electronic/ambient group Interior by releasing their never-heard-before soundtrack for environmental artist NILS-UDO's 1987 Laserdisc Sculpture of Time (Apocalypse). The intriguing sound design/kankyō ongaku/new age album is available as a limited-edition LP housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve and comes with a obi strip. In 1987, Intermission published a Japan-only Laserdisc showcasing one hour of works created by renowned German environmental artist NILS-UDO. To accompany the visuals, they commissioned electronic music group Interior, fresh off their Haroumi Hosono-produced self-titled debut (also available on WRWTFWW Records) and their Windham Hill Records-released sophomore album Design. For the first time ever, the soundtrack is now available in full HD glory, demonstrating Daisuke Hinata, Eiki Nonaka, Mitsuru Sawamura, and Tsukasa Betto's precise, subtle, and spellbinding approach to ambient sound design. Calming nature sounds, ritualistic synths, meditative atmospheres, and eruptive forays into darker territories mesh superbly in a four-part soundscape that flirts with oeuvres such Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, making Sculpture of Time one of one of the best kept secrets of kankyō ongaku -- a must have for mystery hunters and levitating music lovers.
World-renowned drummer-composer Valentina Magaletti teams up with music producer and multi-instrumentalist Zongamin in their East London studio to create an album of dub/post-punk influenced material, featuring Vanishing Twin's Cathy Lucas, Coby Sey, and Venus Ex Machina. Dub postcards, east London boats, reflections in the eye of a cat, swallowing your tarot card, spitting echo from calming substances, yellow paint on the shut-down local brunch spot, post-punk golden rules, shaking metal memories in a glass jar. Absence of sound shaped in summertime 2022.
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Companion Rises (Twig Harper Remix) LP
Straight From The Heart: The Great Last Concert Vol. II LP
Rita Mitsouko (Best Of) -- 2024 Edition CD
Mobilisation Generale: Protest and Spirit Jazz from France 1970-1976 2LP
The Soul Of... The Fabulous Courettes CD
Lost Blues & Other Songs 2LP
Opika Pende: Africa At 78 RPM 4CD/BOOK
The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Vol. 1 LP
The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Vol. 2 LP
Medianos Exitos Subtropicales Vol. 2: El Relincho Del Tiempo LP
Drippin' for a Tripp 2x12"
The Return Of Pipecock Jackxon LP
Flamma Flamma: The Fire Requiem CD
Hometown Hi-Fi Dubplate Specials 1975-1979 LP
Flood Of Lies + Gross-Out USA 2CD
Brother Sister: 30th Anniversary Edition 2LP
What A Day (Beatclub 1970) 2CD
Structures from Silence (40th Anniversary Remastered Edition) LP
Pardon My Late Response 12"
Habits Of Assembly: Live at Cafe OTO CD
Kapote Presents Italomania Vol. 2 2LP
Super Metroid (OST Recreated) 2LP
Texas Worried Blues: Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 2LP
And the Roots of Rhythm Remain Book
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