Wewantsounds reissue Omar Khorshid's highly sought-after instrumental album Giant + Guitar originally released in 1974 in Lebanon and recorded at Polysound Studio by famed Lebanese engineer Nabil Moumtaz. The album features Khorshid's unique electric guitar sound mixed with Arabic melodies over superb psych arrangements. Omar Khorshid's life, if short (he died age 36 in a road accident), was extraordinary. Blessed with a great talent for music, the Egyptian musician and actor became one of the best guitarists of the Arab World accompanying the greatest stars of the '60s and '70s, including Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez and Farid El Atrache. To avoid the political troubles of the time in Egypt, and to fulfil his artistic ambitions, Khorshid moved to Beirut in Lebanon in 1973 and started recording a string of superb albums experimenting with oriental music. He recorded for several labels including Voice of Lebanon, one of the key Lebanese labels of the time. He released his first album Giant + Guitar for the label in 1974 and it was an instantly popular in the Arab world. The front cover sees Khorshid on his motorcycle in the busy street of Hamra, one of the most vibrant Beirut neighborhoods where he was playing most nights in residence. (The album was also released internationally as Rhythms from the Orient with a different artwork focusing on belly dance). The sound is both bold and accessible, displaying Khorshid's unique guitar sound, accompanied by a small band mixing traditional and modern fuzzed-up arrangements. The mesmerizing opening track, "Rakset El Fadaa", composed by Lebanese musician Nour Al Mallah, is a perfect example of Khorshid's artistry. Starting with a long, hypnotic guitar intro, it then speeds up with the backing of a groovy organ, Oriental percussion and the psych sound of an early synthesizer to great effect. The album continues on the same mode blending traditional oriental music with inventive arrangements as showcased by the Mohamed Abdel Wahab standard "Leilet Hob" popularized by Oum Kalthoum, which sees Khorshid and his musicians shifting pace several times over eight minutes. One of the peaks of the album in terms of sonic experiments is undoubtedly Korshid's own composition, "Taqassim Sanat Alfein", with Khorshid's superb guitar in full bloom accompanied by a few touches of synth. Wewantsounds' series of Arabic music reissues are curated by Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Newly remastered; includes original Voice of Lebanon artwork and a two-page insert featuring liner notes by DJ Ernesto Chahoud.

"Somewhere between the first and second Harry Pussy singles, Adris and I worked up a set's worth of 30-second 'songs.' I doubt we ever played the whole thing live, but we did record it over a couple of nights at Rat's studio around the corner from our Michigan Ave apartment on Miami Beach. Our occasional bandmate, Ian Steinberg, a teenage accordionist whose mom dropped him off for the session, showed up on the second night to contribute vocals and fuzz accordion on several tracks. Of all the songs recorded, only 'HP Superstar' was ever released, on 1995's What Was Music? compilation, though 'No Hey', 'Youth Problem' and 'Prelude' appeared in other versions elsewhere. Live renditions of some of this set are also captured on the 'Live in Chapel Hill, 1993' single." --Bill Orcutt

"Almost as if The Germs had the diligence of Minutemen. Sounds like a crazy idea, but this record is nuts!" --Byron Coley

Adris Hoyos: drums & vox; Bill Orcutt: guitar & vox; Ian Steinberg: accordion & vox (1-21, 31-32) 1-21 recorded at Sync Studios, Miami Beach 1993 by Rat Bastard. 22-29 recorded live in Chapel Hill, NC, 1993. 30-33 recorded in rehearsal at the Alliance Cinema, Miami Beach. Some tracks previously released on Superstar 7", Live in Chapel Hill 7", and What Was Music? CD (Siltbreeze). Expanded 12" gatefold LP version of the last year's surprise hit EP -- 33 songs, includes ten unreleased tracks, live versions, rehearsal recordings, cover songs, accordion mixes, extended edits and studio outtakes.

2022 repress. With Magma, Faust was one of the most important of all the European groups of the '70s. Compiled from "lost" and unreleased material, originally released as Munich & Elsewhere on the tenth anniversary of their disbandment (including prophetic pre-dub mixing) as well as most of the unreleased Faust Party 3 LP. Intense, eccentric, hypnotic, a true timeless classic. 71 Minutes marked the second in ReR Vinyl's series of Faust reissues. 180 gram vinyl.

Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve featuring never-seen photos from the Mainstream vaults and new liner notes by UK journalist Paul Bowler. Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad's venerable jazz label Mainstream Records, and present a selection of 12 turntable-friendly tracks recorded between 1971 and 1975 and showcasing the label's superb blend of spiritual jazz, funk, and soul.Mainstream Records is one of the key independent jazz labels of the early 70s, together with Flying Dutchman, Strata East, CTI, and Black Jazz. Founded by legendary label man Bob Shad (who had been head of A&R at Mercury Records and set EmArcy in the '50s), the label concentrated on psychedelia in the '60s before switching back to Shad's jazz roots in the early '70s, signing a new crop of jazzmen fed on John Coltrane and Miles' electric experiments. Thus, was born the cult Mainstream "300 Series" with its distinctive artwork and outstanding music from which this selection is largely drawn. Giving their chance to many young jazz players and a few old friends, Shad recorded some of the most exciting jazz of the early '70s, mixing spiritual influences with funk and soul. It is interesting to note the Mainstream sessions included many of the hottest session players of that time such as Ron Carter, Eddie Henderson, Airto, Mtume, Earl Palmer, Mickey Roker, Merl Saunders, Cedar Walton, to name but a few. Shad also had a long-standing association with jazz divas showcased here with the opening track by Sarah Vaughan, a funkified version of Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" recorded the same year as the original in 1971. Mainstream Funk also includes a selection of superb tracks by young Turks who'd cut their teeth as sidemen for Blue Note and Prestige in the late '60s and were given a chance to record their own music on Mainstream. Buddy Terry's "Quiet Afternoon', Dave Hubbard's "Family Affair", and LaMont Johnson's "M'Bassa" are prime examples showcasing the label's desire to give these talented newcomers a chance to shine. Seasoned musicians from the Bebop scene were also welcome, such as trumpetists Blue Mitchell -- who'd released a string of great albums for Riverside and Blue Note in the late '50s and '60s -- and Johnny Coles who'd played with Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, and Herbie Hancock. Shad also released pure soul music on the label such as Sugar Billy's "Super Duper Love" which was released on his Fast Track sub-label in 1974, arranged by Jimmy Roach and featuring Marcus Belgrave in the line-up. Also features Prophecy, John White, Mike Longo, Barry Miles, and Pete Yellin.

Double LP version. Following the recent success of the Tokyo Dreaming (WWSCD 040CD/WWSLP 040LP), Wewantsounds comes with another compelling set, this time compiled by city pop expert DJ Notoya who has dug the rich Nippon Columbia catalog to bring a breezy selection of funky gems. Nippon has amassed an incredible back catalog over the decades. Particularly strong in the '70s and '80s, the label was one of the main purveyors of great music at a time when Japan was entering its greatest economic boom and labels had budgets at hand to create the highest quality music. As Notoya explains in the liner notes "Back in the day, the record companies had big budgets and could afford to have many great musicians playing on one record, plus strings and horn sections, top drummers and keyboardists. It all made for a very rich sound, which is generally very different to today's music." Keen to emulate the music created in the US by their American counterparts, Japanese musicians came with their own blend of funk, boogie and soul that has come to be known as city pop. The selection on Tokyo Glow is full of such gems and starts with "Kimugare" a relaxed, mid-tempo track by Kumi Nakamura, famous actress who only recorded one album in 1980 for Columbia. The set continues and flows effortlessly with the sunshine grooves of Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata and cult keyboard player Hiroshi Sato before the pace starts going faster and funkier with New Generation Company, Kengo Kurozumi -- with his superb boogie, "Juggler" -- and one of the queens of the genre, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama with "Tuxedo Connection". Tokyo-based DJ Notoya is from a new breed of Japanese DJs there focusing on nippon music and is an expert on funk, modern soul, and boogie from the Island. With Tokyo Glow, Notoya says he "focused more on the slightly more underground tracks from the era, rather than the bigger, well-known releases. For me that was a more fun and satisfying approach." Another fine example on the set is the mid-tempo groove of "I Wander All Alone Part III" by New Generation Company, an aggregate group of some of the best Japanese session musicians led by arranger Katz Hoshi and including Hiroyuki Namba, Kazuo Shiina, and Yutaka Uehara. Tokyo Glow showcases the diversity and specificity of Japanese city pop during the late '70s and '80s. Also features Haruyoshi Yamashina, Sumiko Yamagata, Makoto Iwabuchi, Arakawa Band, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Ken Nishizaki, Jadoes, Midori Hara, Mizuki Koyama, Haruo Chikada & Vibra-Tones, and Mitsuko Horie.

Exclusive liner notes by Dr. John. Published in 1970 on the small imprint Tiffany Records, the self-titled debut album by Brethren still deliver the goods half a century upon its original release. Way long before the genre Americana was certified, even before the "blue eyed soul mania" arose, this talented combo pave the way for an intense songwriting. Girl group The Blossoms was on board for several tracks on backing vocals, while the almighty Dr. John played keyboards as a guest and wrote some intense liner notes. Folk rock mixed with some country and a dash of gospel, that was the original essence of the album, a serious runner up in the Little Feat/Allman Bros category. But if you look further this band could have been easily described as the US answer to Steve Winwood's Traffic. "Midnight Train" has a southern rock feel while the vocals and composition on "Don't Talk Now" could pass as a tune from The Band. "I've Been Provided For" would fit in at a church revival while bluesy numbers such as "Outside Love" and "Success Brand Oil" have an uncanny jazz rocking instrumental feel. Fully remastered and licensed. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 500.

Finally, the LP reissue of one of the most loved albums by Italian progressive rock connoisseurs in a limited edition with gatefold cover like the 1972 original released for Kansas (the same label that produced Capricorn College Orfeo 2000 and EA Poe Generazioni). The Flashmen, a quartet from Cremona formed in 1967, have a wide and interesting discography but Pensando is at an absolutely superior level as regards creativity and maturity. A remarkable record worthy of the best groups of their contemporaries and aligned with that "thirst for new" that pervaded the period in which it was made. With the superb organ of Silver Scivoli in the foreground, the distorted guitar of Luciano Spotti, and the powerful drumming of Roberto Caroli which in the record demonstrates all its caliber the Flashmen (whose name derives from the Italian film Flashman of 1966) give their best blending rock prog, hard blues, psych, and gothic. A limpid and vigorous execution, an over-the-top recording, scratchy and modern lyrics as well as solid and original in its song structure enclosed between an "Ingresso (Entrance)" and a "Sortita (Sortie)" just like in the best concept albums make Pensando an essential album in the genre.

Capricorn College was a sextet created by composer/musician Mario Barigazzi known as Barimar and very active since the 1960s. Orfeo 2000, originally released in 1972, is the first of the two LPs they produced (both on Kansas) and certainly the most interesting with jazz and prog cues especially in the instrumental tracks and a melodic sang typical of those years in Italy. Masterfully recorded by maestro Vittorio Paltrinieri at his Fono-Play Studio. A hidden gem of extreme rarity to be rediscovered. First reissue ever in a limited edition.

LP version. "Habibi Funk presents a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. Majid's music blends the best of Arab-disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique. Born in Kabylie, Algeria -- a place that remains fundamental to his career -- Majid Soula is a self-made musician, artist and producer. With no formal music education, Majid's tenacity has led to a career that is still blossoming. His synths, driving drums, guitar & strong lyrics make a unique sound. A strong proponent for the rights of the Amazigh, he has a band that to this day plays shows, most linked to cultural events of the Amazigh diaspora in France, as well as in Belgium, Russia the UK and Sweden. He was part of a new wave of widely popular and successful Kabyle artists in the 1980s, such as Ait Menguellet, Lounès Matoub, Takfarinas, Idir and many more. Habibi Funk as a label is dedicated to re-releasing music from 'The Arab World', but this release shows how reductive this term can be, as the countries from North Africa and West Asia being summarized under this term include a vast number of languages and identities. Obviously, headlines sometimes come with limited space, and one can't avoid using terms that paint a half-finished picture. That being the case, however, we are even happier that Majid Soula liked our idea to work on a release of a selection of his music with us. The tracks here are incredible and need to be introduced to a new generation of listeners. For Majid Soula music is more than just entertainment. He considers himself an activist through music, and foremost a 'chanteur engagé', as he says of himself: 'I take my inspiration from the daily life of my people and I share all their aspirations, mainly the official recognition of Tamazight as a language, culture and identity.' He still works on new music in his small home studio in Belleville and occasionally plays concerts for the Amazigh community of the city. We sincerely hope that for you reading this and listening to Majid's album, his music will have the same revelatory feeling it had on us, and that this will be part of a momentum that will allow Majid to keep on working, playing, and sharing his message for many years to come."

"Another gem from the extensive Flipper Music catalog, more precisely from their Flower sublabel, Dreams For Sax is possibly one of the most stand-out productions from their studio ensemble Gruppo Sound, this time around featuring saxophonist Paolo Russo with keyboardists Stefano Galante and Vittorio Quattrini. First released in 1987, the songs recorded for Dreams For Sax are a beautiful mélange of easy-listening electronic and jazzy vibes, from mellow tunes such as 'Dawning' and 'First Class' to some killer floor-filling Italo disco bangers such as 'Walking On Air' and 'Dance Power'. A groovy Italian library banger from the '80s now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release as a limited edition of 500 copies."

Cassette version. "Music by Madlib arranged by Kieren Hebden. Gil Evans to Miles Davis... Holger Czukay to the ensemble known as Can... Jean Claude Vannier to Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson. That's the only way to explain the specificity of Four Tet and Madlib's collaboration, in this special album that showcases a two-decade long friendship that has resulted in an album that follows Madlib's classics like Quasimoto's The Unseen, Madvillainy and his Pinata and Bandana albums with Freddie Gibbs. 'A few months ago I completed work on an album with my friend Madlib that we'd been making for the last few years. He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.' --Kieren Hebden AKA Four Tet"

"Madlib reissues his collaboration with legendary Brazilian drummer Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, propellant for lauded jazz fusion archetypes Azymuth, on his own imprint. Alternate cover artwork, photography by B+. When Madlib went to Brazil in 2002 with Mochilla to participate in the production of the Brasilintime documentary, his one mission was to meet Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, the drummer of the legendary trio Azymuth. Madlib had made an Azymuth tribute record he wanted to play for him. On a rainy night in Rio, Mamao and Madlib went in the studio. Several hours later the rhythm tracks that make up Sujinho were laid and the process began. Featuring the music of Madlib, Mamao, Edu Lobo, Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Luiz Eca, Baden Powell, Vinicius De Moraes, Marcos Valle, Joao Donato, Dom Um Romao, Airto Moreira and even George Duke... and with guest vocals by Thalma De Freitas -- Sujinho is a unique and classic record. Filled with the angularity and edge of a Madlib production and underwritten by the polyrhythmics of Mamao -- Sujinho takes Brazilian music into places it has never been, bringing oft forgotten classics like 'Upa Neguinho' to 21st century ears."

2022 repress; black vinyl. "This special edition 2LP package comes housed in an all new exclusive jacket featuring Doom's infamous metal mask icon embossed out of a metallic silver foil. An absolute must have for the Doom completist. The long awaited reissue of Doom's first solo gem, Operation: Doomsday. Remastered from the original Fondle 'Em 1999 issue. Side A is listed as 'Side Zero'. Side B is 'Side One'. And so forth. Underneath his mysterious metal mask, MF DOOM hides the cachet underground legends are made of. After KMD (his first group)'s 1994 sophomore album Bl_ck B_st_rds was shelved by Elektra in 1994 and his blood brother Subroc (one half of the sibling rap duo) passed away, surviving frontman Zev Love X mutated into the MC Avenger known as MF DOOM and the Rap world is better for it. This 19-cut deep album is ridiculously dope, in a bizarro Ol' Dirty Bastard kind of way. Doom sounds either high or drunk on most of the tracks, his self-produced beats are gritty, and his rhyme styles are almost indecipherable."

"The Tribe co-founder's debut, lacquered directly from his master tapes in an all-analog transfer by Bernie Grundman. The definitive reissue of this spiritual jazz album which set the stage for his Vibes from the Tribe. 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."

Beat Records release on CD the original soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone for the 1971 giallo movie Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura (aka The Cold Eyes of Fear), directed by Enzo G. Castellari with a screenplay by Enzo G. Castellari, Leo Anchóriz and Tito Carpi. Photography by Antonio L. Ballesteros, editing by Vincenzo Tomassi, and starring Giovanna Ralli, Gianni Garko, Fernando Rey, Julián Mateos, Karin Schubert, Frank Wolff, Franco Marletta, Leonardo Scavino. The plot -- Peter Badel, the young son of a judge, arrives back home with his girlfriend Anna and is held captive by two criminals who'd been lying in wait after killing the servant. The older of the two criminals, who'd been sentenced by Peter's father to fifteen years in jail, plans to kill the judge when he returns home by blowing up the house with an explosive device. Peter and his girlfriend try everything in their power to communicate with the outside world, but their efforts are in vain. Desperate, the young man causes a short circuit that leaves the house in complete darkness. In the ensuing climactic fight scene, the two criminals and the girlfriend are killed, and Peter, the only survivor, battered and bleeding, awaits his father's return. The music -- Ennio Morricone composed a score of the experimental kind, conducted by Bruno Nicolai and performed by Gruppo di improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. With just a few instruments performing a sort of conversation, the maestro effectively creates an avant-garde atmosphere, suspended and rarefied, alternating with other violent clashes of sound that provide the ideal background to the situation of pure terror in which the protagonists find themselves. For the making of this CD, the stereo master tapes of the original session were used, providing another discographic tribute to the musical art of Ennio Morricone and the cinematic art of director Enzo G. Castellari. Liner notes by Fabio Babini, mastering by Claudio Fuiano, and graphic layout by Daniele De Gemini.

2022 restock of Bureau B's 2009 reissue. LP version. Originally released in 1978 on Sky Records, After The Heat was the second collaborative release by Brian Eno with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster). Produced once again by Conny Plank, After The Heat is a suite of micro-managed organic and electronic instrumentation that features recited and sung vocals by Eno on 3 tracks. As Asmus Tietchens writes in the liner notes: "Cluster & Eno can, with the benefit of hindsight and without overstating its case, be seen as the first ambient album to have been produced in Germany. The second LP, After The Heat, is, however, a completely different story. Whilst Cluster & Eno bears the hallmark of a Cluster composition guided by Eno's ambient concept, After The Heat is more of an Eno album bearing stylistic characteristics of Cluster music." Sweet, slow-moving and airy, with a modern classical/prog appeal.

2022 repress. Double LP version. Includes 12" 12-page booklet. "Habibi Funk is dedicated to re-releasing a style of music that historically never existed as a musical genre. We use the term to describe a certain sound that we like from the countries of the Arab world. The songs we chose were created in places quite far from another and under very different circumstances. Some were written and recorded during war times, others in exile. Despite the differences we think there is a musical connection between them. Essentially, we are interested in the musical endeavors, in which artists from the Arab world mixed local and regional influences with musical interests that came from outside of the region. Even though the name suggests it's all about funk music, our focus is more than just that. Often these influences might be inspired from Western popular music such as soul, pop and rock but it's not limited to that either. Some of our favorite records are best described as Arabic zouk (a genre originating from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe) like Mallek Mohamed's music, Algerian coladera (a popular musical style from the Cape Verdean islands) or Lebanese AOR, which means the process of musical influences displayed on this compilation was much more versatile than just taking Western music as a blueprint and translating it with a local accent. The compilation features 15 different artists. Some you might already know thru Habibi Funk's releases like Fadoul, Ahmed Malek, Dalton or Al Massrieen, while others are meant as an introduction to artists like Kamal Keila, Sharhabeel Ahmed, Attarazat Addahabia & Mallek Mohamed who will all release full length albums on Habibi Funk in 2018."

"'Popcorn' is presented on 7" vinyl for the first time ever. Originally released on The Upsetters' 1970 full-length Eastwood Rides Again this Jamaican funk instrumental by Lee 'Scratch' Perry and the Upsetters is an incredible up-tempo breakbeat instrumental, predating everybody else by years, a dancefloor bomb full of syncopated beats, bass and drums. Awesome and absolutely unstoppable! On the B Side, The Upsetters very rare 'Tight Spot' with Dave Barker on the microphone. Another deadly dance floor gem up-tempo proto dub, full of hypnotic organ, sharp guitars, with several layers of sounds completed by Barkers' manic laughs and screams. Do not miss the exotic clarinet somewhere in the background... A truly unique and magical Scratch dance floor creation!!!"

Radiation Roots present a reissue of Early B's Sunday Dish, originally released in 1985. Earlando Arrington Neil became Early B on the Jamaican sound system scene, working his way through Soul Imperial, King Majesty, and other sets before coming to prominence in the early 1980s on Kilimajaro, where he became known as "The Doctor" for unleashing his lyrical cures on the mic. Recording for various producers from 1981, Early B reached another level upon linking with deejay-turned-producer Jah Thomas in 1984, the humorous hit "Sunday Dish" leading to this explosive LP of the same name, an enduring classic of early dancehall that also features the equally hilarious "Learn Fi Drive". All killer, no filler.

Radiation Roots present a reissue of Junior Keatting's Weekend Lover, originally released in 1980. During the late 1970s, deejay-turned-producer Jah Thomas played a key role in the emerging dancehall movement, harnessing the Roots Radics at Channel One studio for rough-edged futuristic rhythms that became platforms for songs of everyday life. Junior Keating's solid debut LP Weekend Lover gathered popular singles such as "Watch What You Do", which implored upright living, and lovers' laments "Long Long Time" and "Something Is Bugging Me"; "Conquering Lion" showed that the versatile singer was also adept at deep roots tunes. With a tough mix by Scientist at King Tubby's studio and additional editing by Bullwackie, this superb offering is of massive appeal to all fans of late roots and foundation dancehall.

Restocked; double LP version. Tip-on gatefold jacket. Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes its essential compilation from 1970s Egypt, produced and compiled by Hisham Mayet. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi -- one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the Diamond Orchestra with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi's direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi's long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern-tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Includes extensive liner notes by Hisham Mayet with rare photographs.

Hunkered down and unable to record together, in 2020 the Mekons created a glorious digital chain letter of an album. Exquisite is a sprawling manifesto of connection and defiance that deftly slides through fiddle tunes, digi-dub, fireside ballads and urgent rock n' roll. And that's just side A. The original recording plan was to have been a whole-band-in-a-room session in Valencia, Spain. When the pandemic rendered that impossible the process took a sharp swerve. This legendary group from Leeds, have written contemporary music history for the last 40 years as radical innovators of both first generation punk and insurgent roots music, and Exquisite is another powerful vector of that legacy.

"In Paris, in 1925, Yves Tanguy, Jacques Prévert, André Breton and Marcel Duchamp invented a game they called 'cadavre exquis,' derived from a phrase that came up when they first played: 'le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau' ('the exquisite corpse will drink the new wine'). Basically each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. During the plague years of the early 21st Century, the Mekons adopted this method as a means of collectively assembling lyrics and tunes and recording their new albums. Scattered in various locations from the West Coast of California to the East End of London, they sang and played into their mobile phones and emailed, uploaded and messaged their wailings, beatings, scratchings and strummings around the globe through the billions of interconnected nodes of our networked panopticon. Mike Hagler assembles the results in Chicago and sends them to be mixed by The Baron at Chateau Trumfio. While the world goes hyper-speed to NetNever avidly acting out the crazy jags of meltdown capitalism electrified dancing corpses and waves of virus plunge into burning oil seas of ancient systemic racism ravaging and squawking out of this nightmare sleep of reason, come chlorinated chickens home to roost in nests of hypocrisy, impunity and conspiracy. We put on our goggles and look to the Madderworse, scanning our eyes towards the acid horizon of annihilation, take virtual joy if you can. And, well, you just might be tired from having to take to the streets: what better time to settle down with a fancy cocktail of medical drugs and dig the Mekons' new surrealist sounds..." --Colin Stewart, Bridlington

Disasters By Choice release Voltaje Raizal, the first album of the tropical futurist music project Rizomagic. Rizomagic is an electronic music duo, that consists of Diego Manrique, director of the avant-garde cumbia orchestra Niño Pueblo, and Edgar Marun, director of the ethno-Afrobeat ensemble, Dorado Kandua. Two outstanding projects from Bogota's new thriving alternative psychedelic scene. The sounds of the album are rooted in the Afro-Caribbean musical tradition, in the mixed ancestry that defines Colombian culture, and IDM. The melodic construction of the album takes inspiration from various cultures, including indigenous chants from Colombia's Embera people, the traditional scales from Mali's Bambara ethnic group, and the Ghanian palm wine guitar interpreted by a Caribbean millo flute. The mix and master were carried out by Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers, Pirañas, Chupame el Dedo) and Camilo Manchego offered the final touches that make Voltaje Raizal a fresh proposal to Colombia's futurist tropical scene. "Rizomagic set out to recontextualize their sources. It's no coincidence that their name comes from rhizomatic, the botanically derived term for a subterranean, horizontal network of roots." Rizomagic remixes of both La Palabra and Truequeo. Edition of 350.

Munster present a reissue of Mick Farren's Vampires Stole My Lunch Money, originally released in 1978. After three albums of raw, rabble-rousing psychedelic street punk with the Deviants, and an esoteric solo album (1970's Mona - The Carnivorous Circus), Mick Farren put his musical activities on hold at the dawn of the 1970s, and focused instead on his writing. By 1976 Farren was making his mark as a staff writer at the New Musical Express, where he was instrumental in chronicling, and to some extent nurturing, the nascent punk rock movement as it jerked awkwardly to life in the streets and pubs of London. Farren felt a natural affinity with the new youth fashion line of pimple-faced punk aspirants, full of piss, vinegar and amphetamines, ranting about anarchy and boredom over a simplistic rock n' roll backbeat. Inevitably, it wasn't long before Mick was off the sidelines and back in the musical fray. Farren got a call from Logo Records who had just acquired the Transatlantic catalog and were re-releasing the Deviants' third album. Mick suggested they also release a new solo album, and to his surprise, after some initial hesitation, they agreed. Andy Colquhoun, the Warsaw Pakt's lead guitarist, soon became his primary musical foil -- in fact, some of the songs on this album were originally intended for the Warsaw Pakt. Also, Farren put a band together, including guest musicians: Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood, Chrissie Hynde who was still in the process of forming the Pretenders, Sonja Kristina, the lead singer of Curved Air, and Will Stallibrass who'd played with Graham Parker, Lightnin' Slim and Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers, to name a few. Due to the limited budget, they ended up spending most of their time working on a half-dozen of their favorite tracks, while the rest were "banged down as little more than jamming, art-school R&B, with only a thin coat of metalflake." Unavailable on vinyl for quite some time, Munster Records present the reissue of Vampires Stole My Lunch Money, regarded as one of Mick Farren's finest albums. In Trouser Press, Ira A. Robbins called it "Farren's solo masterwork... a harrowingly honest collection of songs about drinking, dissolution, depression and desperation." Includes liner notes by Mike Stax (Ugly Things Magazine).

"Now-Again Records' follow up to one of its most well-loved compilations, Forge Your Own Chains, with another batch of rare, largely uncompiled -- and sometimes barely heard -- heavy psych-rock and funk. Pounding drums, scathing fuzz guitar and morose, contemplative lyrics will bring you up on a downer. Tickets For Doomsday, as the title hints, is and rumination on what might befall the human race -- made especially salient by the past year's trials and tribulations -- as performed by prison funk ensembles, Indonesian hippies, Krautrock legends, Icelandic prog-rock bands and even Bay Area rap catalyst E-40's uncle, the man to ¬first distribute Master P's No Limit Records, and the creator of this album's title track, St. Charles 'Chucky' Thurman. A unique and compelling listen, and surely a worthy companion for these times." Features Golden Wing, Misty, Icecross, Paternoster, Chucky Thurmon, Upheaval, Water Color, Stephen David Heitkotter, Christopher, Kourosh, and J.B Green and Band.

"Composer and recording artist Forrest Fang refined his dynamic hybrid style of composition over the past four decades, expanding upon his roots in progressive music, minimalism, textural ambient, and the traditional musics of Asia. Drawing on his deep knowledge of sound creation and manipulation, he uses the studio like a separate instrument to create distinctive, alluring and otherworldly atmospheres. With captivating approaches to sound creation, his latest Projekt album Forever Cascades presents a series of intricately-layered sonic vignettes and impressionistic soundscapes inspired by shoreline walks over the last year. 'Though my walks near the San Francisco Bay were initially a way for me to clear my head,' says Fang, 'I also found myself drawn to the cycles and cadences of tides and aquatic life that shifted gradually from season to season. I was seeking a similar underlying cadence or pulse in these pieces that would evolve over time.' The walk-through sound returns to where it began with subtle changes in perceived time and space. CD in 4-panel digipak."

2022 repress. Vinilisssimo present the first vinyl reissue of Tim Maia's 1977 self-titled album. Tim Maia was born in 1942 in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and started his musical career at an early age, along with close friends such as Roberto Carlos or Jorge Ben. Carlos would eventually help him to get a deal for his first single at CBS. During the '70s, Maia started to incorporate soul and funk elements into his style. After a two-year period involvement in the Cultura Racional in Brazil, Maia's funky style was still at its best when he released this album in 1977. It was his first and only recording for Som Livre, the legendary label that became extremely popular due to the many soap operas soundtracks in its extensive catalog. This self-titled LP deserves to be shortlisted among Maia's top records. It features killer tunes like the anthemic "É Necessário", undoubtedly one of the best songs in his career, and also boogie gems such as "Verão Carioca" or "Venha Dormir Em Casa" that show obvious influences by some of the biggest American soul artists of the time. It also contains intimate vocal delights as in the lovely smooth tune "Música Para Betinha" or even straight funky instrumentals like "Flores Belas". The string arrangements, wah-wah guitars, horns, deep vocals make this recording a milestone in the so-called "Black Movement" in Rio, where artists like Toni Tornado, Banda Black Rio and Maia himself were bringing in the funky sounds of America and mixing them with local rhythms like samba. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

"Jeff Carney's sophomore effort for audioFile (1989) could not have been criticized were it to have remained in similar territory as the electronic wall of sound he had created on Imperfect Space Journeys. Instead, he created a more sparse, evolving tapestry of analog timbres. Using an exclusively vintage analog arsenal and recording live without overdubbing, Carney pushed forward with new ideas and uniquely developing sweeps of filter madness. The side-long 'Questions (Unanswered)' is immensely innovative: the sounds are at once organic and of the earth, yet futuristic in their skyward drones and hypnotic hooks. Additional layers are gradually added, like a bubbling alien swarm tone that comes in successive falling surges, followed by cosmic whooshing and howling rushes of wind. The effect is simultaneously meditative and intense. And live. As Carney said, 'I was quite proud because I managed to essentially perform the entire composition without error. Just about every sound came in at the right level. Every part was performed without mistake. And nothing was adjusted or corrected. This was what happened on the spot.' Carney explores different territory on the two B-side tracks: 'ARP 2600 Improvisation' is like a master class of cosmic effects. It feels like the soundtrack to a 1950s sci-fi movie, recalling Forbidden Planet's most electrifying moments, but also at times sounding like sci-fi flick meets battle-in-space video game. 'Pensive Mood' roars out of the starting gate with a high octane electronic arpeggiated pattern, creating a somewhat white-knuckled brand of 'pensive' contemplation. This is the most minimal piece of the set, with the incessant, almost imperceptibly evolving arrangement having a somewhat edge-of-your-seat hypnotic effect. The album was completely uninfluenced by the digital trends that were dominating the era, and stands as a landmark example of the uncompromising ethos adopted by many artists of the 1980s underground. Featuring an all new essay and interview with Jeff Carney by Jerry Kranitz (author of the Cassette Culture book and publisher for nearly two decades of Aural Innovations), this is the definitive reissue of Live Electronic Music."

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps the essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early '90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it's a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap's boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz. Be With reissue includes "Pure Thought" from the CD version of the album. Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter -- along with DJ Kiilu -- forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city's finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic. Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group's dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city's hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo. With the bulk of the album's production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" and Miles Davis's "Black Comedy" were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, "Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the '50s without verging into jazz-rap parody." The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship's lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism. Remastered by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman.

2022 repress. LP version with a 12-page full-color booklet with extensive notes and unseen photos. "With only six singles released between 1965 and 1966, and from an apparently remote place such as Lima, Peru, Los Saicos created a raw, wild and visceral sound, the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the garage rock that was coming out of the U.S. Northwest at the same time. Theirs is the same DNA shared by The Sonics, The Cramps and Black Lips. This release compiles all their recordings and tells their amazing story. This snarling maelstrom of nihilism was cut in Lima when the rest of the world was wetting itself over The Beatles, direct links to both The Stooges and The Cramps here and several more equally-enthralling combos. The latter spawned several generations of individuals who would dig deep to previously (mostly) unheard seams of music and other forms of culture that have since become part of the mainstream fabric. Another strong case of the same kind of happenstance to my mind is that which preceded the much-vaunted 'punk' explosion of the '70s." --Lindsay Hutton

2022 repress. Pressed on 180 gram black vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve. Remastered for a vinyl release. This 15-track compilation spans the years 1995-2004, featuring key tracks from all their albums as well as live recordings and many unreleased tracks. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a psychedelic rock band originally from San Francisco, California, led by guitarist/singer Anton Newcombe. Since 1995 The Brian Jonestown Massacre has released numerous albums, first for Bomp! Records, the label which gave them their start, and later for TVT and Tee Pee. BJM has been essential in the development of the modern U.S. garage scene, and many L.A. and SF musicians got their start playing with Newcombe, including Peter Hayes of The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Originally Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase -- the name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK shoegazing genre of the 1990s, and incorporates influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

2022 restock. Zbigniew Preisner is a self-educated Polish film score composer who first won renown for his collaborations with influential Polish director and screenwriter Krzysztof Kieslowski. As part of its reissue series focusing on Preisner's work with Kieslowski, Because Music presents a reissue of Preisner's score for Kieslowski's Three Colors: Red (1994), the third film in Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy (BEC 5156047), following Blue (BEC 5156048) and White (BEC 5156049). The trilogy is themed on the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity; Red is about fraternity, which it examines by showing characters whose lives gradually become closely interconnected. Red stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Irène Jacob, and received universal acclaim upon its release; Preisner's score, performed by the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Silesian Philharmonic choir, won the 1995 César Award for Best Music. The score opens with a performance by Zbigniew Zamachowski. Zbigniew Preisner has also worked with Jean Becker (on Élisa (1995), winner of the 1996 César Award for Best Music), Thomas Vinterberg (It's All About Love (2003)), and Claude Miller (Un secret (2007)). LP includes CD.

2022 restock. 180 gram vinyl exact repro reissue of Shuggie's timeless 1970 debut. "Produced and arranged by his father, R&B legend Johnny Otis, the set features nine original cuts co-written by the pair, and in some cases others, and one written by Johnny with Dan Aldrich. The album is evenly divided between vocal tunes and instrumentals. The cast for these sessions included Johnny, Wilton Felder, Stix Hooper, bassist Al McKibbon, Preston Love, Jackie Kelso, Plas Johnson and a string section. 'Oxford Gray,' the album's opener, is an instrumental written by Johnny, Shuggie, Felder, and Hooper. Unlike anything that ever came before it, it's a baroque blues tune that features Shuggie playing both electric and acoustic bottleneck slide, a harpsichord, strings and a groovy little backbeat that walks the edge of blues and funk. It feels like a suite because of its many composed sections, but Shuggie's guitar is pure improvisational poetry. This is followed by the beautiful, psychedelic pop of 'Jennie Lee.' Shuggie's vocals weren't quite there, and were still somewhat tentative, but his gorgeous, Albert King-inflected guitar solo is right in the pocket, and stands in wonderful contrast to his acoustic string in the verses. The horns are restrained and regal, and the textural palette of the cut is lush and spacious. There is plenty of rootsy playing here too, such as on 'Bootie Cooler,' a Stax-styled blues groove, and the name-dropping shimmy and shake of 'Shuggie's Boogie,' the wig-tightening funk of 'Hurricane,' and the reverentially gritty 'Gospel Groove.' It closes with a modern soul rocker called 'Baby I Needed You,' with a killer hook in the refrain even if Shuggie's vocal doesn't quite pull it all off. Here Comes Shuggie Otis stands the test of time over 30 years later, and stands as a hallmark of songwriting, improvisation, and production acumen." -- All Music Guide

Restocked. "The sixth LP by NYC trio, Rhyton, is as heavy as an Egyptian space-funeral. The vibe of this masterful album is fully embodied by its gorgeous Robert Beatty cover art, which looks like a Mati Klarwein reinterpretation of Tony Scott's '68 Verve LP, Music for Yoga Meditation. Rhyton was formed in 2011 by Dave Shuford and fellow travelers, with a notion to balance the songwriterly stance of D. Charles Speer with something more improvisation based. As Shuford says, 'Originally we took certain international rock icons, mainly European and Japanese touchstones, to be points of departure. In general, and as the drummer changed, some of the influences stateside came more to the fore. Improvisation, though still prevalent, began to take a secondary role in the creative method. The studio has continually increased its position as a focused tool for the group, dating back to the Kykeon album and expanding again on this latest batch. Studio -- structure -- rupture -- living asunder.' Pharaonic Crosstalk was recorded at Gary's Electric studio in Greenpoint in bits and pieces, when it wasn't being used otherwise. The process was begun about four years ago, and really only got finished when the Plague shut things down. The sound this time has evolved as Shuford suggests. Drummer Rob Smith shows some of the lessons he must have learned while studying with Bernard Purdie, lending even the zoniest sections a groove-oid bottom that won't stop. And this does not infer boogie tendencies, so much as a solid new approach to fundamentals. Shuford's multivalent string aktion, combined with Jimmy SeiTang's wonderful bass/keyboard dualism and Smith's provocative percolation make this an album of crazy hybridized stoned space-funk-psych-fusion while still manifesting experimental highlights. It is a heady goddamn brew. And never more so than when Al Carlson (who engineered the session) is guesting on sax or the great Tennessee roots pianist, Hans Chew, shows up on clavinet (who knew)! Pharaonic Crosstalk is one of the sweetest bubbles of expressed space-time we've heard in a good long while. Super hard to pin down (like so many truly great records), its contours are a glorious mind-fuck for listeners of all ages." --Byron Coley, 2021 Edition of 400.

2022 repress! ."Pleased as punch are we to be reissuing Michael Hurley's long-lost 1984 album, Blue Navigator. Admittedly, Secret Seven and Mississippi collaborated on a dandy 8-track version a decade ago, but the record has mostly been available as an obscure import CD -- if at all -- for many a year. The reason for this is that the Rooster Records HQ burned down in 1987, taking master tapes, extra covers and whatever else there was with it. This was a general bummer, but especially so for us Hurley fans, since his final LP with Rounder was Snockgrass in 1980, and he didn't hook up with Fundamental to do Watertower until 1987. The disappearance of Blue Navigator from this earth left a sizable hole. Which we'd now like to think has been plugged. Recorded with a cast of Northern Vermont hepcats including guitarist Jon Weber (of Dan Hicks' original Hot Licks), head Rooster William Wright on guitar and mandolin, Nancy Beavan on vocals, Gordon Stone on pedal steel and various other goners, all playing some sweet rural swing displaying exactly how Hurley became the toast of the snowmobile club circuit during his days in the North Country. A mix of old favorites -- 'Werewolf,' 'Open Up (Eternal Lips)' -- new favorites -- 'Code of the Mountains,' 'Ghost Woman Blues' -- and even a re-write -- 'Blue Navigator' -- it's a great, very casual sounding session, revealing more layers the more you listen. The instrumentation varies a lot between tunes, but the music always flows with Snocky grace and assurance. For this reissue, Michael has written a set of illustrated liner notes that scoot around just the way his conversation does on a long car ride. Which makes me miss the open road as much as anything else today. Just close your eyes, sink back into the music on Blue Navigator and pretend you're drifting through the hills and valleys of the Green Mountain State on your way to a cold growler of beer. You'll soon feel like a million bucks. Promise!" --Byron Coley, 2020