Reissue, originally released in 1974. Blending Native American references into a body of sonority that draws on free improvisation, experimental electronic music, and spiritual jazz, Pygmy Unit's Signals From Earth -- originally self-released by the band in 1974 -- forges a singular and almost entirely unknown path, and stands almost entirely on its own in the history of west coast American jazz. First appearing on the San Francisco scene sometime during the early 1970s, almost nothing is known about the Pygmy Unit, a seven-piece band steered by Darrel De Vore, who contributed flute, bass, percussion, piano, and vocals to the band's lone LP, first appeared with percussionist Terry Wilson within the psychedelic folk rock band, The Charlatans, who belonged to the legendary Family Dog scene. Jim Pepper, a Native American tenor saxophonist known for being a member of the Mal Waldron Quartet, played with Charlie Haden, Don Cherry, and numerous others, and produced the cult favorite, Pepper's Pow Wow, for Embryo Records in 1971. John Celona, who contributes parts on sax, synthesizer, and percussion, would later go on to be regarded as an electronic composer of some note. Of the remaining members, saxophonist Frank Albright, bassoonist Ron Grunn, and percussionist Marvin Kirkland, very little else is known. It seems this LP is more or less all they recorded. While undeniably jazz -- riding a remarkable line between avant-garde electronic music, spiritual jazz, and free improvisation -- the band was very much a product of the diverse creative ferment that developed in their hometown of San Francisco during the 1960s. Embodying the raw spirit of DIY (many of the instruments used in the recordings were made by DeVore himself, self-described as an "itinerant flute-maker") the ensemble channels references -- via passages of chanting and percussion, as well as conceptual underpinnings -- from Jim Pepper's Native American roots, intuiting them with the soulfulness of spiritual jazz, wild moments of avant-gardism centered around synths and electronic effects, and explosions of wild free improvisation. "Development of new music is a continuous path that grows directionally according to psychoacoustical phenomena available for unification. This record is evidence of that development, containing 12 performance pieces, at 12 separate times in different acoustical spaces with various combinations of musicians and instrumentation. The music is shaped by signals, received and sent by life forms on this planet. It is unwritten, unrehearsed, utilizing new and traditional approaches to energy, motion, and form. Eventually, music develops as a natural extension of the environment in which it exists. It is the aim of the traditions... to signal the universe from the Earth." Includes two booklets/replicas of original DeVore's publications; edition of 500.
Astonishing smoldering R&B flex from Brooklyn's Dawuna, making strong debut moves on the ace O___o? label that gave you LA Timpa's first record. If u like it slow x dripping in a Prince/D'Angelo style with intricate. Almost concrète production -- this is as good as it gets. The debut of the decade? Aye, v possibly. Slow baked for a gooey core and crispy texture, and laced with sonic THC, Dawuna's Glass Lit Dream settles on the soul like the time delayed release of a good edible. It's a hugely accomplished first effort, drawing comparisons with everyone from Tricky to Prince at his wooziest and most downbeat, to the timeless frayed intimacies of Leila's Like Weather, or the asymmetric pop skew of Mica & Tirzah, yet patently possessed of its own worries. The magick lies in how Dawuna works them out, channeling a quiet stream of consciousness thru velvet vocals, ranging from aching croon to ASMR whispers, and most nimbly stitched to crunchy drums and nagging licks that feel like Burial and Timbaland productions re-imagined by Bernard Parmegiani. Occupying a shadowy fidelity that's too meticulous to be called lo-fi, but clearly not oozing typical R&B gloss, the ten songs hold a huge amount of broad appeal while boldly reserving the right to fuck with you and switch track at right angles without notice. They play out in mixtape form, crucially bridged with crafty transitions that make it feel like we're sleepwalking around Dawuna's dreams between the mechanical knocks, domestic rustle and close miked vox of "The Ape Prince" and bruised blooz of "The Lethe, The Sea." You'll be totally snagged on the stranger Afro-goth R&B lilt of "The General" (that ends with a remarkable ASMR/concrète spell), and the Timba-tight drums and sore vocal motif of "Bad Karma" lay a proper earworm, while "Moon, I Already Know" is an unmissable piece of gently curdled, alien gospel recalling a tempered, less flamboyant fusion of Arca and Autre Ne Veut to the lugs. Aqua vinyl; edition of 1000.
Reissue, originally released in 1978. A little masterpiece of soul Afrofunk with carpets of dreamy keyboards on their swirling, seductive sound and their really cool voices. The second album of Black Children Sledge Funk Band released in 1978 is a delight. Repressed for the first time.
Reissue, originally released in 1974. An aura of mystery is hidden on this magnificent album released on EMI Nigeria in 1974 and today a collector's cult object was the only one named Moonrakers Band. Steve Black tells: "We were the original members of The Moonrakers and were based in Zaria, then in 1972 we left band management and started The Elcados. The original management of The Moonrakers sold the name to his elder brother who had a club in Kano and they brought Prince Bola Agbana to get other musicians to continue The Moonrakers while we moved in as The Elcados." Moonrakers Band and the Elcados were the two bands that inflamed northern Nigeria in the early '70s with a more rocking and virtuoso sound, and especially with tons of rare grooves, then everything else around it. Coming to the album content tracks like "Wait For Me", "Cut Your Coat According To You Size", "Yara Manyan Gobe", but also "Enia Sa Pele" and "Move On", will make floating camels appear on the dancefloor, or in your house.
The debut release from a new collaboration between Samuel van Dijk (Netherlands) and Rasmus Hedlund (Finland). Both key proponents to the scene in Northern Europe, they come together with mutual understanding and a common vision to sound. Dialog acts as a conversational exchange that sees the interplay of dynamic frequencies, evocative imagery and contemporary sonic art. Spread across four sides, the album as a whole exists as a kind of metaphysical process, eternally growing and contracting -- change is the only constant, marked by a continuous progression of sound and space. Expansive, deep, and at moments arresting, Dialog unfolds with sweeping soundscapes and shimmers with tactile sonic details. A chasmic rift of scintillating drone structures, each layer exposes a series of ever-deeper shades. In a play of dynamic dualities, the pair harnesses both earthly materials as well as access to more ethereal dimensions in the music. Side A begins with sub-terrestrial ruptures, gestating in a process of constant elemental changes. Rattling hits sputter amongst a state of nascent chaos, yet continues to be maintained in self-regulating stasis. Side B sets a more introspective tone, whispering with ghostly artifacts and bubbling synth lines, before building into a driving energy of layered field recordings and mechanistic timbres. The essence of form continues to be contested, until it subsides into momentary calm on side C. A cleansing period of soft drones float into the space and the pace slows, washing away remnants of past. The journey continues with side D's conclusion -- a solemn contour that reaches its internal extent, to then finally return to its source.
An attempt to bring forth the notion that the future could provide more than what we are doing now. A series from Growth (1994) and Expanded (2004) under the same concept.
Reissue, originally released in 1981. An outstanding yet obscure release by two Art Ensemble of Chicago members, multi reeds player Joseph Jarman and drummer Don Moye, along with legendary bassist Rafael Garret (mostly remembered for his presence on Coltrane's masterpiece Kulu Se Mama) and young lion Craig Harris on trombone. Four great individuals digging deep between ancient African rituals and modern urban multidimensional grooves. A tribal ecstatic sound based on a multitude of instruments: reeds, bamboo flutes, didgeridoo, trombone, conch shell, panpipes, and a sea of percussion. A beautiful example of AACM "Ancient to the Future" aesthetic. A magic mixture of elements from the African American music continuum.
Reissue, originally released in 1971. The sole self-titled album by English progsters Chillum was in fact an offshoot project of famous psychedelic icon Second Hand. They shared three members -- George Hart, Ken Elliott, Kieran O'Connor -- with the former band, giving birth to a more experimental act. The record originally saw the light of day in 1971. The LP was supposed to be the third Second Hand album, but apparently the members decided to change the band's name. Their heavy swinging approach was in the end similar to such contemporary luminaries like Atomic Rooster, Leaf Hound, and Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. A jam album with lots of roaring percussion and an impressive organ to make big sound. Personnel: Ken Elliott (keyboards, mellotron, organ, vocals); Kieran O'Connor (drums); Tony McGill (guitar); George Hart (bass). Fully licensed; edition of 500.
On Upon This Fleeting Dream Clive Bell's Twinkle3 embraces medieval and 16th century Japanese poems and haiku about death and saying farewell. Twinkle3, consisting of Dave Ross and Richard Scott besides Clive Bell, expand their sonic borders to unknown territory: bringing these pithy epigrams to a new Fourth World where electro-acoustic sounds glitches into a hypnagogic, if not unconscious level of fragile beauty. The distinctive voice of David Sylvian, who reads the English version of the poems and created field recordings and the artwork for this album, blends in the most organic way with the shakuhachi, Thai reed flutes, and mouth organs played by Clive Bell. The narrative voices of David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki's (Frank Chickens, Kahondo Style) velvet timbre are the cornerstones of this compelling journey while the tangling and abstract rhythms transcending from Dave Ross's modular synths and Richard Scott's sampler and analogue electronics, unravel and unfold a mesmerizing universe with unknown dimensions and frequencies of a fleeting dream. Vinyl edition with printed inlay and extra insert Recommended if you like: David Sylvian, Japanese poems, Jon Hassell, Pan Sonic, Laraaji, Brian Eno. Personnel: Clive Bell- Shakuhachi flute, pi saw, khene mouth organ; Dave Ross - Droscillator, modular synths, various wind and string instruments; Richard Scott - sampler, modular synths, analog electronics; David Sylvian - vocals, field recordings; Kazuko Hohki - Japanese voice.
Devin Brahja Waldman is a New York saxophonist, drummer, synthesizer player, and composer who leads the group Brahja. Waldman has accompanied his aunt, poet Anne Waldman, since the age of ten. Waldman is a co-founding member of Radical Reversal, Diva of Deva Loka, and Notable Deaths. He has performed with Patti Smith, William Parker, Nadah El Shazly, Malcolm Mooney, Thurston Moore, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Charles Hayward, Luke Stewart, and Yoshiko Chuma. Waldman is also a member of NYC's Heroes Are Gang Leaders (led by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis), of Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush, and of the Norwegian hardcore group MoE. As a youngster, Waldman was taken under the wing of avant-garde giant Paul Bley. Along with Anne Waldman and cousin Ambrose Bye, Waldman is a co-producer for Fast Speaking Music, a NYC poetry and music label which has released recordings with Amiri Baraka, Meredith Monk, William Parker, Laurie Anderson, Eileen Myles, CAConrad, Fred Moten, Daniel Carter, Clark Coolidge, Thurston Moore, Joanne Kyger, and many others.
The moment the first bass note of Luke Stewart kicks in on Watermelancholia, followed by the swelling drum roll of Malick Koly and the lush leading voice of Janice Lowe you feel Devin Brahja will take you on a deep mind-blowing spiritual journey. Channeling wild seventies Impulse vibes on "O.P.K" or, could you say, even resonating the guts of early Art Ensemble of Chicago and the tempering spirit of Max Roach's We Insist era: Brahja is soul searching their spirit on Watermelancholia. A poetic stream of consciousness, backboned by top-notch musicians, transcending the cosmic universe, trying to find answers and musically connecting. Watermelancholia is a meditation on healing the inner schism between the sense of self -- the ego -- and the inner being. It is about bringing the ego to justice; putting it on trial, as it were. Includes booklet with extended liner notes.
"Ancient to the future 2.0. Watermelancholia is about the law of Karma: a law so obvious that it often goes unspecified and ignored. Neglecting this law invites a world of chaos. It's been articulated in endless ways. Some have called it Cosmic Law or Natural Law. Others translate it as Do No Harm." --liner notes excerpt
"In the late '70s Wild Fire was one of the more popular groups in Trinidad. Formed by Oliver 'Stompy' Chapman back in 1962 the group was originally named the Sparks. By the disco era Wild Fire were the house band at night clubs like Disco Tracks and the Upper Level. The group was very influenced by disco, especially the famous British group, Hot Chocolate known for the classic disco hit 'You Sexy Thing.' Hot Chocolate's chief songwriter, Tony Wilson was originally a Trinidadian native and also great friends with Oliver Chapman. The opening track on this compilation is 'Try Making Love', a floor-filling track written by Tony Wilson in 1977 and recorded at Coral Sound Studio in Port of Spain. It was there that Oliver Chapman laid down the unforgettable bass line, solidifying its status as a surefire hit. The infectious tune held steady at the number one slot for six weeks in Trinidad and eventually climbed to the top of the charts in Barbados. Recorded at KH Studios, 'Living On A String' with its unique disco synth sound by keyboard player Calvin Duncan was about the hard living of one trying to survive as a musician and hoping to one day partake in the material strappings of fame. 'The Rebels' was more about the political struggle for the young in the country at the time. There was a lot of corruption in the government and a lot of young people out of work. The song called to stand up and rebel against the regime. And years later in 1990 it did happen when the Muslim group Jamaat al Muslimeen stormed the Red House (Trinidad's Parliament House) and took cabinet members hostage. Wild Fire would go on to tour the Caribbean extensively including stops in Barbados, Antigua, St. Thomas and Guadeloupe. The group had a massive local hit with their track 'Say A Little Prayer.' The group would disband in 1985 and Oliver Chapman would move to America. Dance Hits is a collection of Wild Fire's more dance friendly material."
LP version. "Meg Baird's songs are rarely made up of tidy stories. In fact, for Meg, mystery itself is often the medium. With Furling, Meg's fourth album under her own name, she explores the breadth of her musical fascinations and the environments around them -- the edges of memory, daydreams spanning years, loose ends, loss, divergent paths, and secret conversations under stars. Furling moves through these varied spaces with the slippery, misty cohesiveness of a dream -- guided by an ageless, stirring voice that remains singular and unmistakable. Since co-founding the beguiling and beautiful Espers in the mid-aughts amid Philadelphia's fertile underground music community, Meg's solo recordings have constituted just a fraction of her work. Her first solo LP, the disarmingly out-of-time Dear Companion (2007), saw her carve a quiet, sunlit space away from the flickering swirl of Espers. Since her last solo releases, Seasons on Earth (2011) and Don't Weigh Down the Light (2015) Meg has lent thunderous drumming, lead vocal, and poetry to Heron Oblivion (Sub Pop) . . . She collaborated with harpist Mary Lattimore on the mesmerizingly hazy Ghost Forests (2018). She's played drums with Philadelphia scuzz-punks Watery Love (In The Red, Richie Records) and explored her deep familial folk roots in the Baird Sisters (Grapefruit Records). She also contributed her vocal arrangements to albums from Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Will Oldham, and Steve Gunn, and toured with Angel Olson, Dinosaur Jr., Bill Callahan, Thurston Moore, and Bert Jansch, among others. Yet Furling is the album that most irreverently explores the span of her work and musical touchstones. It showcases her natural tether to '60s English folk traditions. But it also reveals her deep love for soul balladry, the dubby Bristol atmospherics of Flying Saucer Attack, the solitary musings of Neil Young shackled to his piano deep in the foggy pre-dawn, the melancholy memory collage of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, and the delicious, Saturday-night promise of St. Etienne. Furling was primarily recorded at Louder Studios by Tim Green (Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Melvins, Wooden Shjips). Additional piano and vocal recording were captured at Panoramic Studios in Stinson Beach, CA with Jason Quever (Papercuts). It was mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry, who mixed Bjork's Utopia and mastered LPs for Slowdive, Cass McCombs, and Beach House. For all its adornments, Furling remains deeply intimate. The entire album was performed by Meg and her longtime collaborator, partner, and Heron Oblivion bandmate Charlie Saufley. While her prior solo work hinted at more expansive horizons, Furling explores the idea of Meg Baird as a band much more freely. Venturing beyond the musical confines of fingerstyle guitar, she plays drums, mellotron, organs, synths, and vibraphone over her piano and guitar foundations. Her distinctive, simultaneously elegiac and uplifting vocals, meanwhile, connect surreal dream montages, graft sunshine sonics to swooning meditations on romantic solidarity in trying times, and weave odes to the simple gestures of friendship -- and the loss of family and friends..."
Mt. Hadamard National Park is the Hallow Ground debut by composer, programmer, and instrument designer Matthias Puech. Informed by mathematical and artistic approaches that aim to both contemplate on and control complexity, the eponymous five-part composition explores natural and mystical forces through what he calls "audio-naturalist noise". The composition is complemented by two further pieces that follow similar concepts: "Suspension" emulates the chemical phenomenon of the same name, while "Imperceptible Life" hinges on the musical possibilities of stridulation. Over the course of the entire album, Puech's singular take on electro-acoustic and electronic music creates unique sonic spaces as much as it pays its dues to the unpredictability of the world that we inhabit. Jacques Hadamard was a pioneer among physicists and mathematicians who, in the early 20th century, were puzzled by processes that are deterministic but hard to predict. The sounds, arranged in sweeping and tense dynamics, serve as multiple agents within a complex system. The synthetic flora and fauna created through the use of the composer-performer's instruments feels uncannily familiar or even disturbingly hostile at times... This process is mirrored in aquatic yet tangible sounds as well as dynamics that slowly converge towards density before the composition ends on a quiet note. The 14-minute-long "Imperceptible Life" is based on a 2019 live performance first conceived as a full-scale test drive of some new electronic equipment Puech was designing at that time. It explores the musical potential of stridulation, the act of creating sounds by rubbing together certain body parts -- in the insect world, a common means of communication. Again, Puech's approach is neither purely naturalistic nor only mimetic. Rather, "Imperceptible Life" offers yet another artistic reflection on the theme of chaos and order, and how human perception and emotion relate to it. As a whole, Mt. Hadamard National Park thus not merely mirrors natural phenomena but transforms them in ways that are emotionally evocative: the complexity and apparent arbitrariness of Puech's compositions reveal an underlying beauty that is equal parts haunting and comforting.
Kalita Records announce the first ever official 7" single release of Carrie Cleveland's highly sought-after soulful disco masterpiece "Love Will Set You Free", backed by her equally elusive promotional version of "Make Love To Me". At long last, Kalita collates Carrie's two most in-demand recordings on one 7" single, housed in a picture sleeve limited to just 500 copies. Originally written, produced and performed by Carrie and her husband Bill in their home garage studio and privately released over a space of three years between 1978 and 1980, the two recordings showcase both Carrie's captivating vocals and Bill's musical prowess. Although Carrie's album and singles were originally soon lost to memory without the promotional tools of the major labels at the time, her music has since become highly sought-after on the soul and disco scene, with original copies of her album and singles reaching £300+ on the rare occasion that they come up for sale. Now, in follow up to their 2018 discography retrospective on Carrie's life and music, Kalita showcase her two greatest songs on this limited 7" picture sleeve single.
Four CD version. Includes two remastered versions, each on two CDs. Four-CD version includes two remastered versions, each on two CDs; first remaster by Dierks/Flüchter and then a completely different mastering by Dieter Wegner, who has already remastered many albums of the krautrock catalog, including the albums of the Cosmic Jokers. Remastered by Dieter Dierks and Dennis Flüchter. Walter Wegmüller (1937-2020) was a Swiss-Jenish artist who grew up in difficult circumstances in Bern. After training in Basel, Bern, Paris, and London, he began his artistic career. In addition to painting and sculptural works, Walter Wegmüller occupied himself with the entire spectrum of art. He gained widespread international attention, especially from 1974 onwards, with the publication of his Zigeuner Tarot. He was successful at countless exhibitions in Europe and overseas and was repeatedly awarded prizes and distinctions. However, he never forgot his origins as a Verding child and "Rome child from the Kalderasch tribe." In 1973, he released the album Tarot with an all-star band. Successful musicians such as Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching, Harald Grosskopf, Dieter Dierks, Hartmut Enke, Jürgen Dollase, and Walter Westrupp played in the band. It remained Walter Wegmüller's only foray into the world of music. The album was last released on vinyl in 1976, the CD in 2000. This version here is the first remaster ever.
"The union of composers Lawrence English and loscil aka Scott Morgan is seamless, sublime, and long overdue. Born of a conversation centered on the notion of "rich sources" as a forge for electronic music, Colours Of Air is a collection of recordings of a century old pipe organ housed at the historic Old Museum in Brisbane, Australia, which were then processed, transformed, and elevated into eight majestic electro-acoustic threshold devotionals. The timbre of the instrument and spatial fluctuations of room tone infuse the music with a subdued, sacred feel, like vaulted light in a nave of stained glass. They describe the album as 'an iterative project, a reduction and eventual expansion,' sifting the swells and drones of the organ for every shivering shade of radiance. The tracks are named for the hue each piece suggests -- from the gauzy levitational miasma of 'Yellow' to the pulsing melancholic mirage of 'Violet' to the seething twilit sandstorm of 'Magenta.' Morgan and English are both adept at conjuring moods of muted grandeur, like landscapes veiled in dusk, still looming and luminous. Here their combined powers open pathways to heightened realms of deep listening and bewitching restraint, finding flickering infinities in ancient configurations of wind, brass, stone, and dust."
Reissue, originally released in 1980. Welcome to the realm of creator and mentor Michael Wadada, the man behind the exotic maneuvers of Suns of Arqa, one of the most sought-after world beat fusion project of the early eighties. His main goal was to increase the vibrations of classical Indian raga with the rhythms of Niyabinghi drumming, epitomized in England by contemporary dub producers. Released in 1980 on Manchester's own Rock Steady Records, Revenge Of The Mozabites is an essential masterpiece paving the way for future over the border contamination. Deeply informed by cosmic mysticism the album still reverberates with the hidden sounds of earth and soul. Fully remastered and licensed; edition of 500.
"Keyboardist and composer Weldon Irvine is among the most celebrated jazz-funk artists of all time. A longtime bandleader for Nina Simone, he wrote the lyrics for Simone's iconic civil rights anthem 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black'. Throughout the 1970s, Irvine released a series of seminal albums full of deep, soulful, funky grooves, many of which were later mined for samples. The Sisters is a collection of lost tracks and demos from his late-1970s studio sessions with fellow jazz-funk luminary, Don Blackman. Featuring the hit single 'Morning Sunrise' (later famously sampled on Jay-Z's 'Dear Summer'), the album contains a potent mix of instrumental and vocal tracks that stand up with the best work in Irvine's impressive catalog."
2023 repress. "The Tribe founders' collaborative debut, remixed from the original mutli-track master tapes under the direction of its creators and lacquered by Bernie Grundman. Phil Ranelin's side has been pitch-corrected and restored to a suite, as was originally intended. Wendell Harrison's side contains extended, full versions of two songs. The definitive reissue of this SPIRITUAL JAZZ masterpiece. The Tribe label, one of the brightest lights of America's 1970s jazz underground, receives the Now-Again reissue treatment. This is your chance to indulge in the music and story of one of the most meaningful, local movements of the 20th Century Black American experience, one that expanded outwards towards the cosmos. In the words of the collective themselves, 'Music is the healing force of the universe.' Included in an extensive, oversized booklet, Larry Gabriel and Jeff 'Chairman' Mao take us through the history of the Tribe, in a compelling story that delves not just into the history of the label and its principals, but into the story of Black American empowerment in the latter half of the 20th Century. The booklet features never-before-seen archival photos and rare ephemera from Tribe's mid-1970s heyday."
From the artists: "Nothing untoward happened. Actually, that's not true, many unexpected things happened that can't really be described, not in words at least. Maybe communicated in a look, through touch or some kind of psychic pulse. Nobody got hurt though, quite the opposite. If you'd passed us by you wouldn't have noticed anything. We keep a low profile. We might have seen you. We might have see you in your entirety or perhaps a silhouette, a glimpse of an essence. On the other hand, at that point we might not have understood what existence means. Or we might have understood all of it at the same time. Your passing by being merely a brief glimmer in a torrent, a miniscule fluctuation. For all intents and purposes imperceptible. That's OK. We lost some details, we left soft debris in our heads, to be arranged and processed later on. We knew what we saw and felt and we'll know it again when we return. None more real. We were pinned to the earth and free to go anywhere we wanted. Anywhere, if we dared. We walked through lands suddenly divined, then everything faded away."
New double album from Anthony Child (Surgeon) and Daniel Bean, aka The Transcendence Orchestra. RIYL: classic Namlook/Fax, the spectralism of Iancu Dumitrescu, Jóhann Jóhannsson's Englabörn, Roedelius x Cluster. Cover print by Trudy Green. Mastered by Rashad Becker. Edition of 500.
Live in Soest, Germany, in Winter 1970, WDR-TV. Right before the definitive incarnation of the man-machine and all along the ocean of sound also known as krautrock. An early line-up of the Düsseldorf legend consisting of the two original members Ralf Hütter (organ) and Florian Schneider-Esleban (flute, violin, vibraphone, electronics) augmented by future Neu! drummer and motorik engineer, Klaus Dinger. From here to eternity!
2023 repress. Brace Up! is the first ever studio release from the duo of Chris Corsano (drums) and Bill Orcutt (guitar). Recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus by Christophe Albertijn on March 19th and 20th, 2018. Stage dive photograph by Jason Penner. "Over the past six years or so, drummer Chris Corsano has proven to be one of Bill Orcutt's most reliably flexible collusionists. Regardless of whether Bill is cluster-busting electric guitar strings, weaseling around with cracked electronics, or playing relatively spacious free-rock, Corsano is able to provide the proper base for his aural sculpting. A lot of Orcutt's instrumental work has traditionally felt hermetic even though he's exploring caverns of explosive ecstasy. One often got the impression Bill was operating in the way John Travolta did in the classic 1976 ABC television drama, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Orcutt's actual interaction with collaborators emerged not from communication so much as pure observation. While he was fully cognizant of his musical surroundings, his reactions to it were walled off. This approach did not encourage sonic dialogue so much as parallel streams of discourse. These streams could interact with each other, but not in particularly standard ways. On Brace Up! , their first ever studio release, this precept has changed considerably. Whether it's a function of emotional familiarity or an intellectual choice I dunno, but there's a whole new kind of duo exchange going down on this record. Bill and Chris are clearly playing off each other's moves throughout the album. And it really raises the level of the music to an all-time high. From the cop car see-saw of 'Poundland Frenzy' to the mutual pummeling of 'Paranoid Time' (possibly a Minutemen tribute?) to the lazychicken- gets-stung-prog of 'She Punched a Hole in the Moon for Me,' the sounds on Brace Up! display a constant flow of ideas and instantaneous conjugation of newly forged verbs. As great as Bill and Chris's previous duo records have been, this one's greater." -- Byron Coley
"On the Cover, Meredith Monk: Over the last 60 years the New York composer, vocalist, film maker and choreographer has redefined the boundaries of live performance and vocal experimentation with her ambitious compositions and happenings. She talks to Emily Bick about a box set of her ECM recordings released to mark her 80th birthday, and her science fiction-influenced new touring program Memory Game. Inside the issue... Ocen James: The Kampala based acholi fiddle player has made waves in experimental dance music as part of the Nyege Nyege collective and now with a new record Saccades with UK electronic music producer Rian Treanor; Barbara Dane: The venerable US folk musician and activist has been trying to smash the capitalist system for more than half a century. She talks to Emily Pothast about her new book This Bell Still Rings: My Life Of Defiance And Song; Invisible Jukebox: aya The London based club music producer and Hyperdub label artist takes our mystery music test. Global Ear: The Kansai region of Japan has become home to a new wave of DJ experimentalists crafting new templates of hyperpop and queer club sounds. By Miranda Remington; Unlimited Editions: The Croatian label Fox & His Friends explores the Yugoslav history of the region rediscovering lost electronic and soundtrack pioneers. By Antonio Poscic; Unofficial Channels: The Bristol Germ; Epiphanies: The Raincoats' Gina Birch is empowered by a live encounter with The Slit; Plus full, page interviews with Mark Jenkin, Territorial Gobbing, Jacqueline Nova and Zaliva-D."
Reissue, originally release in 1970. Formed in the West Midlands manufacturing town of Coventry in 1968, esteemed psychedelic folk group Dando Shaft are revered as key influencers of the progressive strand of the 1960s folk revival, and the interplay of melodies on guitar, mandolin, and violin made their sound distinctive, thanks to frontman Martin Jenkins, whose expressive vocals complement his intricate lines, while Roger Bullen's melodious bass helps to lubricate the proceedings. Recorded before Polly Bolton's harmonic presence shifted the emphasis of their output, this masterwork is required listening for all progressive folk devotees. Licensed from Cherry Red.
Reissue, originally released in 1971. In the 1971 counterculture comedy You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, Zalman King tries to find the meaning of life, with Richard Pryor and Robert Downey Jr among the cameos; who better to cut the soundtrack than Steely Dan? Except that the Dan had not officially formed yet! With typical tongue-in-cheek touches, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker rise to the challenge, with fellow Dan guitarist Denny Diaz and drummer John Discepolo of previous vehicle, Jay & the Americans; if you're a Steely Dan fan, you really need to check out this one-off soundtrack, cut just before they upset the rock applecart with Can't Buy A Thrill. Licensed from Cherry Red.
Reissue, originally released in 1991. Influential Detroit band Destroy All Monsters mashed up punk, garage, and noise rock, their atypical work notably influencing Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. By the time of their first recordings, the group included pedigree members such as guitarist Ron Asheton of the Stooges and bassist Mike Davis of the MC5, as well as drummer Rob King, apoplectic vocalist Niagara, and assorted friends. Bored is a must-have compilation that brings together their early singles from the late 1970s, including "You're Gonna Die," "Nov 22," "Meet The Creeper," "What Do I Get?," and the outstanding title track that began their acceleration. Licensed from Cherry Red.
Tresor Records announce forthcoming special editions of its entire catalog of Drexciya and related projects. 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of James Stinson and the releases of the Transllusion and Shifted Phases albums. In recognition, the rights holders, their families, and the label have commissioned Detroit-based contemporary artist Matthew Angelo Harrison to re-conceptualize the covers of Tresor's Drexciya-related catalog.
Austrian based collaborators of free jazz, improvisation, and sound experiments releasing the long-awaited debut album of Dry Thrust -- the new project by the trio of German pianist and composer Georg Graewe, Martin Siewert (Radian, Trapist, Also), and Dieter Kern (DEK Trio, Bulbul, Fuckhead). Graewe, has since been leading a variety of ensembles since the early '80s -- ranging from trio to chamber orchestra formats -- which have involved some of the leading instrumentalists in contemporary music. His compositions include works for full orchestras as well as scores for films, theater, and radio drama and have been performed and broadcasted around the world. Dry Thrust is one of the very rare occasions Graewe plays organ instead of piano. Recorded by Martin Siewert, in June 16-18, 2020 in Vienna. Mixed and mastered by Martin Siewert. Artwork by Georg Graewe. Personnel: Georg Graewe - organ; Martin Siewert - guitars, electronics; Dieter Kern - drums.
First ever release of the scariest, most inappropriate and possibly most influential kids TV music of all time. When Children of the Stones (AKA COTS) was first shown on kids TV back in 1977, just about anyone who watched was scared shitless. The seven-part drama centered around disturbing happenings in a strange pagan village of very weird and unusually happy people, all set in the midst of the stone circle at Avebury -- known as Milbury for the show. The series shown across British TV (and USA TV in 1980) would scar, disturb, and influence an entire generation. Without COTS it's unlikely there would be hauntology, a relentless interest spooky folk stuff, stone circle clubs, weird walks, and a hunger for such pagan oddities everywhere. And COTS really is the key TV series in many of these modern movements, way before The Wicker Man. Even though The Wicker Man was released in 1973, it was an adult film only released to a few cinemas. Very few people saw it and its influence really started in the late 1990s with the first release of the music. Whereas COTS, on the other hand, was show at 5PM, on schooldays, to a whole nation of impressionable kids, who had never seen or heard anything quite like it. The power of COTS runs deep. So much so Stewart Lee made a whole documentary about it. The release of this long-awaited album will be a "Happy Day" for many. According to rumor, the director of the show was listening to Penderecki as he first approached Avebury to scope out locations. Sidney Sager and The Ambrosian Singers produced and avant-garde and often quite oddly terrifying sequence of vocal drones and dramatic peaks based on ancient Icelandic singular word "Hadave". And yes, it's still scary. There is only 17 minutes of music throughout the series, so Trunk have fitted it all onto a one-sided LP. Artwork is by Julian House, legendary hauntologist (Belbury Poly, etc.) and the man behind some of the greatest spooky band artwork of all time: Stereolab, Broadcast, Primal Scream, etc. Sleeve notes by Stewart Lee and inner sleeve notes by Alan Gubby of Buried Treasure Records. 17 cues in all, plus the bonus HTV West jingle by Radiophonic Workshop GOD John Baker. One-sided black vinyl.
"The Fall's 12 CD '70s box set combines all of the band's work in that decade. Featuring the albums Live At The Witch Trials and Dragnet plus all of the singles from the time and eight live shows -- many have been unreleased. Including a recording of what is thought to be the band's first ever gig -- these shows showcase the very earliest version of the Fall in full effect, raw and uncompromising." Clamshell box.
Duper, the new release from Morgan Geist, is a not-so-subtle callback to his 2001 EP, Super. "I was working most days with Kelley Polar on our new vocal project, Au Suisse, which isn't really dance music at all," he explains. "I started fooling around with these instrumental tracks at night for fun. Each track was in a different style, but they seemed to work nicely as a group. By the time I asked Kelley to contribute strings to the A-side, the record really started feeling like the sequel to Super." Super Duper -- get it? Indeed, the playful synth riffs and sweeping disco strings of "Twilight Express" echo the palette of Geist's cult classic "24K" and early Metro Area. "Black Test Car" is a unique collision of minimal, almost krautrock-style drums, sound library textures and spacy electro percussion. Meanwhile, "Feeling Is Mutual" is a rare acid outing that pushes beyond the usual comfort zone, the 303 acting more as feather than hammer on top of major-key modulations. "I love a lot of Aphex Twin and I love sweet, 'quiet storm'-style R&B," says Geist. "I figured, why not?"
"Career anthology of Los Angeles-based musician Merrell Fankhauser described by one pundit as 'the cult artist's cult artist'. Includes his work as a solo performer and fronting such collectable garage rock/psychedelic acts as The Exiles, Fapardokly, HMS Bounty and Mu."
"The Paragons were originally called The Binders, a band that comprised Keith Anderson (better known as Bob Andy), Garth Evans (aka Tyrone Evans), Junior Menz, and Leroy Stamp. In 1964 John Holt and Howard Barrett replaced Menz, and Stamp and the name was changed to The Paragons. Anderson left in 1965, and The Paragons continued as a trio. After John Holt left to pursue a solo career, Vic Taylor took Holt's place. The trio initially recorded two outstanding albums, including the legendary On The Beach. In 1980 Blondie covered their song 'The Tide Is High' with great international success. Today, On The Beach is considered to be the definitive rocksteady LP. Presented here, two selections from the On The Beach full-length, the gorgeous and haunting 'When The Lights Are Low' on the A-side. A Rocksteady masterpiece that totally deserves being released as a single at last. On the B-side, a cover of a lesser known but fine Beatles song 'I'll Be Back' featured on the Beatles '65 album. Though this gem sounds 100% like a Paragons song through and through, with gorgeous harmonies being served on an upbeat Rocksteady rhythm, complete with thumping bass and powerful horns. Brilliant."
Six-LP box set; 180 gram vinyl; 4c print + glossy varnish. Features Stephan Bodzin, Luna Semara, Solomun, Adriatique, Mind Against, Jupiter Jazz, Maceo Plex, AVNU, Fideles, Denis Horvat, Kevin de Vries, Ben Böhmer, Boris Brejcha, Roman Flügel, Agents Of Time, Patrice Baumel, Echonomist, Hernan Cattaneo, Soundexile, Dubfire, Anfisa Letyago, ANNA, Wehbba, Reinier Zonneveld, Ameloar, Christopher Coe, ANII, Hannes Bieger, MEUTE, Innellea.
2022 repress of 2010's GAF & The Love Supreme Arkestra's debut album -- another tour de force from this multi-faceted band, showcasing its surprising chameleonic ease of play with multi references to space rock, free jazz, and the raw German sound of the early '70s. Electric mantras meet hazy synthesizers and gaseous guitar drones float weightlessly into the cosmos. If Carl Sagan had a chance to listen to pieces such as "Shine" or the sublime "Decata Na Sunceto", he would surely turn into their unconditional fan. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jorge Lozano in 2009 at Gallinero Studio (Los Realejos, Tenerife). Artwork by Felipe González Cabezas. Originally released by Foehn Records in 2010. Personnel: Mladen Kurajica - voice, synths, drum machines; Felipe González Cabezas - drums; Ceśar Chinarro - guitar; Eduardo Villalobos - bass; Olivier Dubois - saxophones, flutes.
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When The Lights Are Low/I Want To Go Back 7"
Boston Music Hall 1972 LP
Just Like Achilles (Blue Vinyl) LP
Pillows & Prayers: Cherry Red Records 1981-1984 (40th Anniversary Vinyl Edition) LP
Lazy Ways + Beach Party CD
Crisis & Opportunity, Vol.3 - Unfold LP
Tinkerbell's Fairydust CD
Goin' Round In My Mind: The Merrell Fankhauser Anthology 1964-1979 6CD BOX
Mt. Hadamard National Park LP
My Homeland/My Homeland Dub 7"
Love Will Set You Free 7"
GAF & The Love Supreme Arkestra LP
Open The Gate (Orange Vinyl) 3LP
Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents 2LP
Dub From The Heart Part 2 LP
Dub of Independence/Paranormal Dubwise 10"
Black Lace And Voodoo Drums: Lux And Ivy Dig That Sound CD
Sound Wonders: A Series of Epics LP
An Evening With Dando Shaft LP
You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It LP
High Stakes & Dangerous Men LP
Children of the Stones LP
La vita, a volte, e molto dura, vero Provvidenza? - Ci risiamo, Provvidenza CD
Commissariato Di Notturna - La Supplente CD
...Continuavano A Chiamarlo Trinita' CD
Earth Passage - Density LP
Upon This Fleeting Dream LP
San Francisco Night (1983) 7"
Tarot (Limited Edition) 4CD
Revenge Of The Mozabites LP
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef LP
The Struggle/Save The Children 12"
Darker Than Blue (A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield) LP
Lo Spirito Continua (TVOR Edition) LP
The Other Side of Futurism LP
Blue Butterfly (Selected Sound) LP
African Paradigm EP 1 12"
Urgh... The Complete Show - Live at Santa Monica Civic, CA 15th August 1980 - FM Broadcast (Yellow Vinyl) LP
Urgh... The Complete Show - Live at Santa Monica Civic, CA 15th August 1980 - FM Broadcast LP
Dead Sea Apes and The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol LP
That'll Be The End: Live At The Ajanta Cinema, Derby, UK, April 19th, 1980 LP
The Candle And The Flame CD
The Candle And The Flame LP
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