Forced Exposure New Releases for the Week of 11/20/2023

 

PRICE: $13.50

CAT #: ALT 077CS

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Psywarfare on this recording was Dwid Hellion (Integrity) and Mauritz Mets. Recorded live in Paris on July 11th, 2003 at La Boule Noire. Cassette comes with an eight panel fold out J-card and Psywarfare sticker.

 

PRICE: $10.00

CAT #: BING 194CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Delia Meshlir presents her new album, Bring Back The Light, which is her second release on Ba Da Bing Records. On the Swiss artist's new record, Meshlir expands her sound to skillful new levels, with woodwinds and synthesizer adding to her guitar playing. It was recorded in Switzerland's Alps, as well as at the illustrious Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Grief can open a window to the past. Nostalgia whelms, and childhood memories surface. While making Bring Back The Light, Meshlir struggled with the loss of her grandmother and the severed ties she felt with her family. The phrase 'bring back the light' served as a mantra, manifesting with a return to authenticity and a celebration of healing. For Light, Meshlir reunited with the piano, an instrument she's played since she was eight. She explains, 'It was on the piano that I learned to compose and create worlds that transcribed my emotions. I felt the need to return to what I did as a child, alone in my room.' Dissolving judgment and embracing desires, Meshlir sparked a needed light within her to create the record. Basic tracks done, Meslir expanded instrumentation; the final masters exploring a range of sounds, from '70s psychedelic rock to '80s inspired tracks heavy with sax and synth. 'I wanted different textures of the instruments and effects I used to immerse you into each and every song,' she says. 'I love when music is already saying what the lyrics are going to tell, when it brings you images, smells, memories, and feelings. I tried to do the same with my songs. Each one of them tells a story, in which you can make your own too. It's an open scene where everything can happen.' The album reflects a new maturity and confidence from Meshlir. When the arrangements were combined with a bassist, drummer, and guitarist, Meshlir says 'Everything was simple and obvious, nothing more, nothing less; it was telling the story I wanted.'"

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: BING 194LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "Delia Meshlir presents her new album, Bring Back The Light, which is her second release on Ba Da Bing Records. On the Swiss artist's new record, Meshlir expands her sound to skillful new levels, with woodwinds and synthesizer adding to her guitar playing. It was recorded in Switzerland's Alps, as well as at the illustrious Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Grief can open a window to the past. Nostalgia whelms, and childhood memories surface. While making Bring Back The Light, Meshlir struggled with the loss of her grandmother and the severed ties she felt with her family. The phrase 'bring back the light' served as a mantra, manifesting with a return to authenticity and a celebration of healing. For Light, Meshlir reunited with the piano, an instrument she's played since she was eight. She explains, 'It was on the piano that I learned to compose and create worlds that transcribed my emotions. I felt the need to return to what I did as a child, alone in my room.' Dissolving judgment and embracing desires, Meshlir sparked a needed light within her to create the record. Basic tracks done, Meslir expanded instrumentation; the final masters exploring a range of sounds, from '70s psychedelic rock to '80s inspired tracks heavy with sax and synth. 'I wanted different textures of the instruments and effects I used to immerse you into each and every song,' she says. 'I love when music is already saying what the lyrics are going to tell, when it brings you images, smells, memories, and feelings. I tried to do the same with my songs. Each one of them tells a story, in which you can make your own too. It's an open scene where everything can happen.' The album reflects a new maturity and confidence from Meshlir. When the arrangements were combined with a bassist, drummer, and guitarist, Meshlir says 'Everything was simple and obvious, nothing more, nothing less; it was telling the story I wanted.'"

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 151LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Vecchio's Afro-Rock is one big horn-heavy, bass-blasting, Latin groove funk-rock party. This beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. A magnificent and somewhat obscure library set that's just a total, cohesive joy from start to finish, this here is the soundtrack to all your smokin' summer BBQs and communal cookouts. Afro-Rock is the debut album by Argentine keyboardist Luis Vecchio. Recorded for the sound library label De Wolfe, the album is frequently mentioned in hushed reverence among the beat digger DJ collecting crowd. It features fiery brass charts, funky bass lines, fluttering flute, choppy organ and additional hand tribal percussion. The band let loose too and jam hard; yet there's a certain thread of solidity that runs throughout, the tracks just belong together, not disparate sound and rhythm experiments like some library records; this is just straight up, no messin', consistent funk-rock fire. Hips will sway, heads will nod to the steady vibes. It's insanely good. The audio for Afro Rock has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 152LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

The Roger Webb Sound's Moonshade is one of the coolest records ever. Originally appearing via the legendary De Wolfe library in 1971, it's a sumptuous jazz-soul-funk instrumental set. Full of melodic, melancholic yet sun-drenched songs, rich with color and contrast, it was composed by self-taught jazz pianist Roger Webb and features vocal performances by Barbara Moore. It makes Moonshade the perfect precursor and accompaniment to Barbara Moore's eternal classic Vocal Shades And Tones. Moonshade is a phenomenal showcase of Brit maestro Webb's own roots in jazz. Those roots are served up here with a plethora of fast-stepping rhythms that truly give flight to the vocals of Barbara Moore, as they soar in wonderful ways. Moore sings wordlessly throughout, allowing her voice to act like another instrument in concert with the horns and keyboards elevating the fine arrangements. This is a deeply beautiful record. The audio for Moonshade has been brilliantly remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 153LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Vocal Shades And Tones is a miraculous leftfield library classic from the genius mind of celebrated UK composer/singer/vocal arranger Barbara Moore. It's a heavenly groove-based blend of jazz, Latin, soft-psych, folk-funk and gospel soul. Recorded for the legendary Music De Wolfe in 1972, it's an audacious start-to-finish listen, as dizzying as it is dazzling. It's a perfect snapshot of a musical era, supported by Moore's glorious vocal arrangements. Widely regarded among collectors, DJs, and lounge/easy-listening acolytes as an absolute essential it is viewed as the holy grail by many production music heads, rarely appearing for sale and disappearing in a flash when it does. Just one of the reasons why this fresh Be With reissue, part of a wider De Wolfe reissue campaign, is so utterly crucial. In the 1960s, Barbara Moore was a member of Top of the Pops' resident vocal-harmony group, The Ladybirds and sang backing vocals for Dusty Springfield's TV show. Her own outfit, the Barbara Moore Singers, were regulars on TOTP, singing with Jimi Hendrix when he performed "Hey Joe" live in Lime Grove Studios. By 1970, she was working as a session singer for De Wolfe and, by 1972, was composing her own tracks for De Wolfe and working within their tight creative strictures. Each short track had to evoke an obvious mood and theme, with no significant key or tempo changes. Her response, this very album, managed to stay between the lines while cohering as an overarching artistic masterpiece. The audio for Vocal Shades And Tones has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: 9781953691163

FILE UNDER: Misc

Restocked. "A thrilling account of life with Sun Ra's Arkestra and New York's avant-garde jazz scenes of the 1970s-90s. In this memoir, Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah recounts decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charts the rise of the New York loft jazz scene, offering a fascinating portrait of advanced music in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan from the 1970s through the 1990s, including thrilling stories about the politically important Bed-Stuy venue The East and the author's tutelage under composer and long-time Archie Shepp collaborator Cal Massey. Along the way, Abdullah covers his spiritual development as a Buddhist, battles with addiction, tribulations as a father, lessons from Sun Ra and working life as an educator and cab driver. Trumpeter and educator Ahmed Abdullah was born in Harlem in 1947. An important figure in the New York loft jazz movement, in 1972 he formed a group called Abdullah, two years before joining the Sun Ra Arkestra, with whom he played for more than 20 years. He is a founding member of the bands Melodic Art-Tet, The Group and NAM, and of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium. Abdullah is the music director at Sistas' Place in Brooklyn, and teaches music at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan and an elementary school in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn." 512 pages. 6.25(w) x 8.25(h) x (d). Paperback

 

PRICE: $41.00

CAT #: BM 003LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Bulbous Monocle focuses its lens further into the legacy and archives of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. These Things Remain Unassigned -- a phrase coined by Brian Hageman, one of the band's musical snake appendages emanating from its Medusa crown -- is presented as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). It gathers together the band's singles, compilation tracks, outtakes and never before released gems encompassing the arc of TFUL's musical corpus. Every track has been surgically remastered by Mark Gergis (Porest / Sublime Frequencies / Mono Pause) with his signature craftsman approach. This collection is an auditory and visual feast. The extensive booklet included features band ephemera, concert flyers, photographs, and commentary about each track from Mark Davies. Beyond the rare singles and unreleased tracks from the TFUL archives, are cover versions from such disparate artists and composers as Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda, The Residents, The Shaggs, Caroliner Rainbow and P?rez Prado." "... In addition to these compilation one-offs, there were also a few studio recordings that were never quite completed or released. Throw in an alternate mix or two and the handful of singles that came out on various labels over the years, and you end up with what I feel works well as its own body of work, a bunch of adopted oddballs that somehow fit together as a family. I hope you?ll agree with me that these things are now no longer unassigned, but part of a somewhat cohesive whole, stitched together into something mysterious and glistening." --Mark Davies (2023)

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: CH 43333LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited restock. A singer-songwriter who wrote for the Turtles, Judee Sill -- in her early 1970s heyday -- was compared to Asylum label contemporaries like Joni Mitchell, though her music had stronger spiritual overtones. This nearly forgotten performance reveals a true talent that deserved so much more during her short lifetime. Judee Sill grew up in a very troubled home and came through it with some truly great music to tell so many stories that many of the more sentient listeners will appreciate.

 

PRICE: $119.00

CAT #: COR 055LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Long-awaited, finally Cocoon Recordings is back with its renowned Cocoon Compilation. The iconic series continues with the 21st edition Compilation U and brings top-notch artists together as usual, providing zeitgeist and versatile sound. From deep and hypnotic techno beats to uplifting and euphoric melodies, there is something for everyone. Whether you're a seasoned clubber or a casual listener, this album is guaranteed to get your heart racing and your feet moving. Compilation U is a seamless blend of cutting-edge production and timeless musicality. Featuring New Jackson, Ian Pooley, Jakob Reiter, DJ Tennis, Drumcomplex & Frank Sonic, Michael Klein, Benjamin Damage, Levon Vincent, Space Dimension Controller, Orlando Voorn, Marco Faraone & The Florentian Cabaret, and Fango.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: DELI 028EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Gar?on Voyage is the first single in French from Courrier Sud's upcoming EP on D?licieuse Records. The song paints a fresco of that special and unsettling moment at the beginning of a relationship when one of the two falls in love, but isn't sure if they'll be loved in return. Its rhythm is heady like a beating heart, set to a mix of minimalist synths, somewhere between Metronomy and Flavien Berger.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: DELI 029EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Fhin's new EP, Nostalgic For The Future, was inspired by an experience he had during a lucid dream that evoked a paradoxical and enigmatic feeling. Also influenced by the artists of his childhood such as Daft Punk, Alan Braxe, and Jestofunk, this new project is imbued with house sounds. By using artificial intelligence in the conception of Nostalgic for The Future, Fhin proposes an innovative vision to tackle eternal and inexhaustible themes of music: love, the meaning of our existence or the intensity of our emotions.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: DRUNKEN 165LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Please welcome the grand, timely and thoroughly welcome return of Chain Whip. Straight out of the gate, their second full-length Call Of The Knife is absolutely raging. The opening title track might have you squinting at the turntable for a couple of seconds to check that someone hasn't reanimated the young Circle Jerks, but as soon as frontman Josh Nickel's voice kicks in, hardcore cognoscenti will be under no illusions that they could possibly be listening to anyone else. His voice is a righteous, gravelly roar that cuts straight through the noise with the very loose subtext "I'm having a bad day and it's imperative that you know about it." There's a vitality to it that helps make these Vancouver boys one of the best bands in punk today, and it helps that he's backed up by a rattling, rolling collective who remind us all that good old-fashioned hardcore (like the '80s used to make) remains one of the best ideas anyone's ever had. You know what you're getting with song titles like "Class Decay" and "Hatewave," but there's something about the band's garage-slanted take on the genre that makes them a cut above. On this sort of delicious form, no one can touch Chain Whip right now. Form a cult and get obsessed immediately.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: EFFICIENT 032CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Searchlight Moonbeam is the new narrative compilation from Time Is Away (Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney) whose eponymous monthly NTS Radio shows, tinctured fusions of fugitive sounds and reverie-inducing archival speech, have won them an ardent following. It follows from the London-based duo's Ballads, a remarkable driftwerk released on A Colourful Storm in 2022. Searchlight Moonbeam is an autumnal dreamscape, intimate and vespertine, pensive and irresolute. An imagined community where differences drop off and resonances emerge -- between Maher Shalal Hash Baz affiliates Kasumi Trio, Taiwanese score composer Chen Ming Chang whose "Rainwater" (written for Hou Hsiao-Hsien's 1986 film Dust In The Wind) is exquisitely heartbroken, and the plangent improvisations of self-taught French pianist Delphine Dora. Revelations are frequent: the bedsit isolationism of Bo Harwood and John Cassavetes' "No One Around to Hear It" (from The Killing of a Chinese Bookie); the narked minimalism of Klang (an early 2000s band formed by ex-Elastica guitarist and featuring prize-winning experimental novelist Isabel Waidner on bass); the etude-grooves and echoic wobble of below-the-radar French avant-gardists Omert?; the beautiful, plaintively dubby "Is It You?" by Slapp Happy; a psych-tinged reimagining of PiL's "Poptones" by Simon Fisher Turner (one half of Deux Filles, and here, recording for ?l as The King of Luxembourg) that's as perverse as the cover of Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats." Searchlight Moonbeam is the musical analog of an Italo Calvino novel or a medieval fable. Associative, intuitive, borderless. Emotional and mysterious. Endowed with the tactility of Braille. A private language that is both unknowable and understood. It is a record of the seasons, for the seasons. Featuring an evocative essay by writer Jeremy Atherton Lin and disarming cover art by Penny Davenport, Searchlight Moonbeam showcases Rollo and Tierney's still-unrivalled talent for gloaming melodies, disques du cr?puscule, ensorcelled storytelling. Also featuring Bhairavi Raman, Nanthesh Sivarajah, O.G. Jigg, Scala, Soft Location, Gyeongsu, CROCHE, Un, and Harry Plunket-Greene.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: EPR 074CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

First new sounds from Futuropaco in five years. Futuropaco, a.k.a. Justin Pinkerton from Oakland, California creates colorful psychedelic music -- a pan-cultural cratedigger's delight that welcomes in a wide range of elements -- from Afro-beat and post rock to Italian library music and heavy psych. The title translates to "The Glass Fortress" and is a reference to the fragility of the superpowers of the world, such as the US: "As we witnessed in the height of the pandemic and it's after effects, it doesn't take much to take down one of these entities that hide behind the facade of power and indestructibility. One tiny crack can trigger an unstoppable catastrophe," says Pinkerton of the album concept. But despite (or perhaps because of) it's underlying dark inception, Justin's new album is a terrific ride, from the first notes of earth-shaking opener "Muro Vuoto" to the mysterious and dreamy closer "Omicidio Per Soldi." Not a second is wasted on this record, every vinyl groove is packed with ideas and sounds that demand attention, whether they originate from Justin's vintage Moog synthesizers, his Turkish Saz, fuzz guitars or flute layered on top of Pinkerton's meticulously crafted, yet bone shaking drum fills. You could spend hours analyzing what's going on musically, but that's beside the point -- the nine tracks offered here are simply an invitation to surrender yourself to the head-spinning grooves and mesmerizing timbres. A truly unique psychedelic experience, and this is just volume 1!

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: EPR 074LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. First new sounds from Futuropaco in five years. Futuropaco, a.k.a. Justin Pinkerton from Oakland, California creates colorful psychedelic music -- a pan-cultural cratedigger's delight that welcomes in a wide range of elements -- from Afro-beat and post rock to Italian library music and heavy psych. The title translates to "The Glass Fortress" and is a reference to the fragility of the superpowers of the world, such as the US: "As we witnessed in the height of the pandemic and it's after effects, it doesn't take much to take down one of these entities that hide behind the facade of power and indestructibility. One tiny crack can trigger an unstoppable catastrophe," says Pinkerton of the album concept. But despite (or perhaps because of) it's underlying dark inception, Justin's new album is a terrific ride, from the first notes of earth-shaking opener "Muro Vuoto" to the mysterious and dreamy closer "Omicidio Per Soldi." Not a second is wasted on this record, every vinyl groove is packed with ideas and sounds that demand attention, whether they originate from Justin's vintage Moog synthesizers, his Turkish Saz, fuzz guitars or flute layered on top of Pinkerton's meticulously crafted, yet bone shaking drum fills. You could spend hours analyzing what's going on musically, but that's beside the point -- the nine tracks offered here are simply an invitation to surrender yourself to the head-spinning grooves and mesmerizing timbres. A truly unique psychedelic experience, and this is just volume 1!

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: XBITR 001EP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Rico Puestel steps up his dub game and delicately reinterprets two songs from his forthcoming 2024 singer-songwriter double-album Anthems For A Lost Generation as Rico Friebe, delivering ten deep and immersive minutes of electronic music on each side. While the original songs have never been designed for the dancefloor, both perfectly blend into the dry and groovy environment of Puestel's remakes and won't lose anything from their original message: Struggle, hope, and friendship.

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: XBITXS 002EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Stop Violence Against Women" has been the life-long credo from Rico Puestel and Make A Way (For Women) is a stomping protest of 11 minutes and 11 seconds that proclaims the fortitude of women! What Rico himself has to say about it: "With my 2022 Friebe-projects Jenni and Jenni II, I started to make a public appearance on this topic of violence against women musically. Back in childhood days, I already felt an intensely unjust manner and imbalance regarding women in society and an almost predetermined non-equality. The violence always seemed so ever-present, even in the smallest details of behavior and the associated self-understanding of men within their deeper planted attitude towards. I always felt an honorable glory and profound importance in women that seems impeccable and unreachable for men. It's clear that men would just be memories and ghosts without women... Musically speaking, while growing up with Gabba and Trance in the 1990s, I simply feel no charm to nowadays reflection on these times with productions and releases that somehow just sound insincere and scheming. I'm missing the real attitude, feel and groove that doesn't even care if it's techno, house or whatever and I'm also missing some of the stylistic approaches as well as the spirit from the Minimal-era. Based on all those thoughts, Make A Way (For Women) became this clenched fist - raised for good!"

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: FTR 617LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

2023 repress, red vinyl. "Tom Recchion is a legendary character. He is a world-famous art director, a founding member of the L.A.F.M.S., and was even the drummer for Sonic Youth for a brief period. Since the '70s, Tom has been creating screwed-up music in a dizzying array of formats, from large fully-clothed ensembles to buck naked solo explorations. The Japanese Cassette album falls into the latter category, and it is a head spinning doozy. The music here was originally created in 1986, to be featured on a multi cassette collection being assembled by the Japanese noise musician Hitomi Arimoto. Other musicians involved in the Journey into Pain set (1987) included a host of heavies from the experimental/noise underground. And although the collages here are similar to work Tom did that same year for a Slowscan compilation, that eventually became Chaotica, Mr. Arimoto was apparently hoping for something a little more harsh. So only a smattering of the material was used. We had been talking to Tom about doing a project together for a long time, and when he eventually suggested issuing the full '86 session, we were on it. The music mixes tape loops, keyboards, records and effects to create constantly shifting anti-patterns of sound, largely based on the use of previously extant commercial recordings. But even knowing much of this stuff began its life as something quite ordinary, the aesthetic reconfiguration involved in Tom's process turns each bit into something absolutely new. We think you'll agree the music on Japanese Cassette is both beautifully twisted and virtually impossible to trace back to its natural state. Featuring liner notes by the inimitable David Toop and expertly mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Like John Zorn and Eugene Chadbourne on the East Coast, Tom was then captivated by the music of Carl Stalling, whose work for Warner Bros. cartoons would be collected and made more widely known in the '90s. Like Stalling's work, the quick cuts and radical mood shifts Tom employs have both disorientational and familiar qualities. But potentially recognizable shards of sound move with such antic patterning you'd need to be a real fucking idiot to even care where they're from. Just close your eyes, tip you head back and let your brain soak in the maniacal musical miasma Mr. Recchion has put together for you. There is just nothing like it. Except for some of Tom's other albums. Which you would do well to check out. Toot sweet!" --Byron Coley, 2022

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: FTR 730LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Co-released with Repetidor. With five albums released, several tours around Spain, Europe, Uruguay and the United States in which he has paired among others with Geoff Farina (Karate) or Glenn Jones and even performed at the legendary John Fahey tribute festival in Takoma Park, Maryland (The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose), the passing of time has consolidated Isasa's musical career to the point of winning the praise of such exquisite critics as Byron Coley or Wire magazine, the blessing of masters of the new guitar such as Max Ochs or Richard Osborn, as well as the unanimous admiration and recognition of his contemporaries. Now, after a decade of solo career and the recently released debut of his current side project, Burro (featuring Trice), Conrado Isasa presents this fifth studio album, entitled Canciones de amor (Love songs). Sublime artefact with which the guitarist from Madrid (of Uruguayan origin) celebrates love in capital letters, through one of the purest poetic articulations that exist: the form without words. In this case, song without words. Recorded with Carasue?o in Lar de maravillas, Zaragoza, although the album incorporates new timbres as far as instrumentation is concerned; such as the autoharp of Lorena ?lvarez, the voice of Trice, the synthesizers and the piano of Carasue?o himself and even suggestive voices stolen in the intimacy; all of this works at the service of the melody. A narrative melody that responds, concatenates and harmonises, displaying a polyphonic palette of chromatic relations that is so expressive that it moves. Isasa masters the tempos of melodic language like almost no one else nowadays (much less in the genre). What's more, in these compositions his skill is such that the maestro gradually, partially and carefully -- in chiaroscuro -- unveils the refractory legacy of his life experience to place it, bravely, before us. In doing so, he achieves the most difficult thing: to turn his life into music, to touch the universal.

 

PRICE: $35.50

CAT #: 9788396474018

FILE UNDER: Misc

Mark Perry is a familiar name from the early punk scene in London due to his having published Sniffin' Glue fanzine between July 1976 and August 1977. As he became increasingly disillusioned with punk, however, he at least still remained driven by its impetus and started his group, Alternative TV. Sharp yet wrought with frustration, Mark Perry took the group through a more personal space that pre-empted what a short while later became known as post-punk. Whilst sometimes charged with the same energy and anger, the music was more opened out and embraced all manner of different and often disparate areas, from reggae to industrial, improvisation and even brazen pop. Offset by subject matter that likewise often smashed down those borders of expectation, Mark always took his music wherever he felt it should go. Lost in Room focusses on the first four years of his musical path, beginning with Love Lies Limp and ending as the first version of the group collapsed soon after 1981's Strange Kicks album and Mark's joining The Reflections. Along the way are tours with Chelsea, Here & Now, and The Pop Group, a huge love of Frank Zappa, a meeting of minds with the late Genesis P-Orridge, the running of Step-Forward Records and working for Miles Copeland's Faulty Products network of labels, plenty of anecdotes about the world he was embroiled in, and the story behind the records themselves. Broken into two main parts, one concerning the historical development of Alternative TV and Mark's occasional releases outside the group, and the other dedicated to the ideas that informed many of the songs themselves, this book is centered around a conversational approach to a series of weekly interviews conducted via Zoom with Mark between late 2021 and summer 2022. Deliberately retaining the organic nature of the conversations, replete with tangents that sometimes refer to later work or creep elsewhere completely, Lost in Room is the first book to explore the early years of Mark Perry's having become one of the most interesting and honest voices to have arrived from the cultural shift of the late 1970s. Including a foreword by Graham Duff, discography, selected lyrics and many previously unseen or hard-to-find photos and images, this book is an absolute must for all of those interested in this period of music and, indeed, those seeking some snapshots of its importance on one of the best groups to have emerged from it that are still active.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: FD 146LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

On Direct Action, Alternative TV's first studio album since Opposing Forces in 2015, the listener is presented with six instrumental tracks which steadily rip apart all expectations as they shed all allusions to rock music in favor of the sonic mutilations that once helped 1979's classic Vibing Up the Senile Man (Part One) (SPITTLE 110LP, 2021) stumble into weird and wonderful shapes. Direct Action marries guttural electronics to sounds most artists would consign to the bin and through Perry's long perfected mastery of pulling together disparate strands to create something entirely alchemical and invigorating delivers a unique stamp to the ATV story. With the help of longtime collaborator Dave Morgan alongside the input of Gareth Matthews, Ruth Tidmarsh, and Cos Chapman, abstract patterns of disheveled sound rub alongside occasional percussion, disembodied plasma guitar strums and even what seems like an oboe groaning in a murky corner. Similar to its distant cousin of Vibing?, everything adds up to a whole that's demanding yet completely rewarding as every listen pries open the dark scab of contemporary malaise to reveal something fresh. The front cover's homage to an incredible album by a pioneering electronic group. If you are savvy enough to get that reference, then you're on the right path to understanding where Direct Action resides.

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: FM 12046EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Create-A-Dance: the eternal mantra for each and everyone making dance music. In this case it's Johannes Albert delivering a fresh house EP on his very own Frank Music imprint. Piano, phunky basslines, synth melodies and vocal statements on top. Being known for constantly trying to find the perfect sweetspot in between house, disco and Italo, Johannes delivers one of his most catchy EPs to date. As a bonus on the flip you shall find "Voices Traces Noises Spaces" plus Johannes' remix for Jean Cr?mant's initial super heat "Hyperspace." As Bryan used to say: "Don't Stop, Don't Stop The Dance."

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: GODUNK 099CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Brighton based multi-instrumentalist John J. Presley returns with a new album Chaos and Calypso. This album features the first new music from Presley since his debut album As The Night Draws In in 2019 and the vinyl only lockdown release Albany Sessions, which were both released to great acclaim. Presley's music is hard to categorize but that is its strength -- from folk blues noir moments to tasteful post rock walls of sound -- classic songwriting to improvised, experimental moments, Presley is constantly creating a tapestry that will engage, challenge and inspire. Presley plays guitar, bass and pedal steel on the new record and is an in-demand player too -- Nadine Shah, Duke Garwood, Laura-Mary Carter, Juanita Stein, and Smoke Fairies have all had him join their line ups. A diary piece that echoes a period of ill health, of spiraling vertigo and misdiagnoses, Chaos and Calypso shows Presley's trademark guitar tone in full effect with enough space in the mix to weave in a new palette of textures from drum machines and synths throughout. It's an earth-shattering end to an album that successfully takes the listener on a thrilling trip of feelings and sounds on the Chaos and Calypso.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GODUNK 099LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Brighton based multi-instrumentalist John J. Presley returns with a new album Chaos and Calypso. This album features the first new music from Presley since his debut album As The Night Draws In in 2019 and the vinyl only lockdown release Albany Sessions, which were both released to great acclaim. Presley's music is hard to categorize but that is its strength -- from folk blues noir moments to tasteful post rock walls of sound -- classic songwriting to improvised, experimental moments, Presley is constantly creating a tapestry that will engage, challenge and inspire. Presley plays guitar, bass and pedal steel on the new record and is an in-demand player too -- Nadine Shah, Duke Garwood, Laura-Mary Carter, Juanita Stein, and Smoke Fairies have all had him join their line ups. A diary piece that echoes a period of ill health, of spiraling vertigo and misdiagnoses, Chaos and Calypso shows Presley's trademark guitar tone in full effect with enough space in the mix to weave in a new palette of textures from drum machines and synths throughout. It's an earth-shattering end to an album that successfully takes the listener on a thrilling trip of feelings and sounds on the Chaos and Calypso.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: GONE 193LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"From his first self-released album in 2001, through sixteen more, over thirty singles, and collaborations with the likes of King Khan, Mark Sultan, Jon Spencer, Deke Dickerson, and the 5.6.7.8's, Bloodshot Bill has parlayed his unique blend of rockabilly, R&B, and garage rock into feverishly prolific productions that tap into the very roots of mutant rock and roll. As his reputation has grown, Bloodshot Bill has been deemed a rockabilly wildman, a primitive, a seminal punk, a throwback to the wild '50s, and the deranged spirit of psychobilly madness. His latest album, Psyche-o-Billy, on Goner Records, exudes raw energy and authenticity via a frenzied, stripped-down soundscape that defies all rules and descriptions. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded at Bloodshot Bill's home studio in Montr?al, Qu?bec, Psyche-o-Billy is equal parts joyous, moody, plaintive, searching, and deeply steeped in that old weird America documented via the otherworldly tunes captured on Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: EAT 019BK

FILE UNDER: Misc

"Eat Volume 19: 240 page full color journal of Robert Pollard's gorgeous collage art. Robert Pollard, who is best known for his sustained, prolific songwriting and recording, was creating collages even before he was writing songs. As a child, Pollard would spend hours alone in his room assembling collages that served as album covers for bands that existed only in his head. Later, when he had spear-headed his band Guided By Voices, each release whether an LP or a 45, would showcase Pollard's thoughtful imagery. Often satirical, political, dark and sarcastic, his collages can also be whimsical, innocent and uplifting."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: GBVI 120CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"This record is massive and amazing. Nowhere To Go But Up is Guided By Voices' third album of 2023 (and thirty-ninth overall) and is a sprawling, wild adventure. With virtually no choruses and just two repeated lyrics in forty minutes, GBV is audacious and unafraid. One of the most fully realized works that Guided By Voices has created, Nowhere To Go But Up showcases an expert rock band at the top of their game. The band is on a roll and unstoppable. Following their monumental 40th Anniversary Celebration in Dayton, Ohio, GBV begins their fifth decade with a bang!"

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: GBVI 120LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "This record is massive and amazing. Nowhere To Go But Up is Guided By Voices' third album of 2023 (and thirty-ninth overall) and is a sprawling, wild adventure. With virtually no choruses and just two repeated lyrics in forty minutes, GBV is audacious and unafraid. One of the most fully realized works that Guided By Voices has created, Nowhere To Go But Up showcases an expert rock band at the top of their game. The band is on a roll and unstoppable. Following their monumental 40th Anniversary Celebration in Dayton, Ohio, GBV begins their fifth decade with a bang!"

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: HEIST 077EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Iconic duo Dam Swindle deliver once again with their Minor Fools EP. Last year, Dam Swindle celebrated their 10-year anniversary with the Keep on Swindling series. The hard-hitters "All I Want," "Good Woman," and "You" showed various sides of that much loved Swindle sound as well as some steps into a more leftfield electronic area. Now, they're back on Heist with a three-track club EP full of that recognizable upbeat energy. "That's Right" has Dam Swindle in full live mode, not unlike their timeless classic "Call of the Wild feat. Jungle by Night." Live keys, bass, percussion, and horns (the latter by the Jungle by Night's trumpet guru Bo Floor) give you the feeling like you're on stage with a full band, hearing them give their all to record this heartwarming piece of music. Over the course of its seven minutes, the duo takes you on an electrifying feel-good trip through the Swindle sonic universe. On The EP title track "Minor Fools," Dam Swindle go into classic US house mode. Shuffling hats, a bouncy bass and male vocal chops lay the foundation for some crunchy jazz chords (think Underground Resistance with a Swindle touch). The track builds tension with haunting organs, looped vocals and smart modulation in the keys. Add to that the bouncy synth section at the heart of the track and you've got a jam that slaps hard in the best way imaginable. The EP ends with the dreamy and contemplative "Soul's Lament"; A slow burner that builds and builds on a relentless rhythm of bells and skipping hi-hats. Slowly, a massive string section takes control of the track, after which, an acid line takes over that gives the track its driving electronic touch. It's a welcome deep note to an EP that shows you exactly why Dam Swindle are such well respected and versatile producers. Grab this record while you can and dance, dance, dance!

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: IF 1086LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Since his first album, Labelle has been dovetailing the techno that so captivated his imagination as a teenager, with traditional Maloya music -- native to the French overseas department where he grew up and still lives. His new album submerges itself in the darker recesses of the psyche. Noir Anima is a reflective portrait of a soul enshrouded by the darkness of night, inching towards a euphoric morning. Over the last decade, the R?union Island-based composer has made a name for himself exploring syncretic religion and philosophy throughout his work and, for his fifth studio album, his search for truth has turned inwards. On Noir Anima, we are offered a glimpse into the emotional state of the artist making this extraordinary and dynamic music.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: FALLLP 062LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Action Pact were a punk rock band from Stanwell, a small village under the flight-path of London Heathrow Airport, inspiring the song this album takes for its title. Formed in 1981 with guitarist Wild Planet, bassist Dr. Phibes, and then 15-year-olds drummer Joe Fungus and singer George Cheex, who got the job because of 'her courage to scream along with the band's songs.' Both George and Joe were still attending school when the Heathrow Touchdown EP was released in October, 1981. The band got the attention of BBC DJ John Peel. He played the single many times and booked them to record their first session. The EP and Peel session tape caught the attention of the fledgling label Fall Out Records, a subsidiary of Jungle, who signed the band as the first act on their roster. Action Pact's label debut, the Suicide Bag EP was released in July 1982 and rocketed to the top of the British punk chart. Drummer Grimly Fiendish and bassist Thistles later joined the band, and their producer Phil Langham (of The Dark) provided bass for a short while under the name Elvin Pelvin. Dr. Phibes continued to contribute his insightful lyrics to the band. A series of five more singles entered the indie charts including 'Yet Another Dole Queue Song', and a reworked 'London Bouncers', along with two albums, Mercury Theatre - On The Air and Survival of the Fattest. A second Peel session, and a David Jensen BBC session were also recorded. They gigged around the UK and in Europe, including with bands like the Newtown Neurotics, whose Steve Drewett featured on one of their singles. They called it a day after four years, around 1985/6."

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: FREUD 135LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Magenta vinyl. The Heartbreakers (Johnny Thunders, Walter Lure, Billy Rath, and Jerry Nolan) with four studio demo sessions for 1976 and 1977, compiled onto one album for the first time. Two sessions were recorded in 1976 in New York, including four tracks in their early incarnation with Richard Hell, and later six tracks after Billy Rath had joined on bass. In London in 1977, they recorded one session just prior to signing with Track Records, and another after L.A.M.F. had been released, with The Clash's Terry Chimes on drums replacing the newly departed Jerry Nolan. Pressed on transparent magenta vinyl, it comes with a 12" poster of the Roberta Bayley cover photo, an outtake from the L.A.M.F. cover session, and an inner bag with Walter Lure interviewed by Johnny Thunders' biographer Nina Antonia in 2005. The album shows the development of the band building towards their classic 1977 L.A.M.F. album (recently reissued with a newly found original master), and further points to the direction they would have gone had they not split up."

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: KALITA 12011EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 limited restock. Kalita Records present the first ever official reissue of the holy grail of disco 12" singles, Vance and Suzzanne's I Can't Get Along Without You, originally privately released in 1980 on Vanton Records. The product of two members of Crown Heights Affair (Richard Vance Turner and Eleton Johns), Vanton Records was established as a way to protect their musical freedom. Vance and Suzzanne consisted of Richard and his childhood friend and fellow band member Suzzanne Slaughter, who was a background singer for many bands in New York including Sister Sledge. Includes a never-before-seen press photo and interview-based liner notes.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: MUS 287LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Ragdoll Dance is the fourth album by New York-via Texas punks Institute. Most underground punk bands don't make four albums, but it makes sense for Institute. Even on their earliest releases, Institute's sound teemed with possibility, drawing from a long history of anarcho-punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and fusing those aesthetics with great, classic-sounding songwriting. Ragdoll Dance finds Institute back with their original lineup (including Albert from Nosferatu and Altar of Eden on drums) and returning to a DIY approach to recording, working both at home (using the same setup as singer Moses Brown's solo project, Peace de R?sistance) and with Joe and Owen of D4MT Labs, whose gritty yet vital recordings have documented some of DIY punk's best contemporary bands. Institute also chose to work within the hardcore community to release the record. While Ragdoll Dance is culturally embedded in the world of DIY hardcore punk, musically it tends to move back toward the more eclectic sound of Salt and Catharsis. The album's title is a nod to Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Brown also cites arty post-punks Magazine as an influence on the record, which shows on tracks like "City" and "Where's It Go," energetic, left-of-center pop songs that challenge but also gratify. If you're looking for the savage young Institute, though, "Uncle Sam's Hate" and "Plateau of Self" crackle with raw rock and roll energy that few groups can summon, particularly groups with Institute's inimitable style, musical chops, and lyrical weight. While so many punk bands peak early, Institute has continued to refine these qualities, and Ragdoll Dance's assured tone makes it as vital as anything they've recorded so far.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: MUS 288LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Crashing dirty carnage somewhere between Neuroot, Ripcord, and Sacrilege comes Stingray's debut LP. Tin Savage barks his brutish textural east London drawl on top of unrefined metal-tinged hardcore punk veering between scandi wallop, jacked up amphetamine hardcore, and jaw snapping mosh lusciously and confidently. Recorded by Jonah Falco at Fuzzbrain Studios and mixed and mastered by Chris Corry in the Paincave, Fortress Britain is a ruthless and unrelenting blunt instrument.

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: LIB 5130LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Phil Ochs is known primarily as a songwriter but his talents extend far beyond that, to short stories, poetry and satire. More than a torrent, less than a flood, the songs poured out of Phil so quickly that not all were able to find their place on his albums with some of those songs only emerging decades later. The Warner/Chappell demos, which make up the main portion of this, represent a time period spanning Ochs' last two albums for Elektra when Phil was finding his full strength as a songwriter and moving to include the lyrical in his repertoire, alongside the topical and satirical. Released on CD in April 2020 this 20-song set makes its vinyl debut on 2 LPs."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: LR 111B-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Hailing from late-'60s Detroit, Black Merda (pronounced "Murder") were both aesthetically and musically way ahead of their time. When most black groups (including Parliament/ Funkadelic) were still sporting suits, singing about love and using a horn section, Black Merda had already become a tight guitar-heavy freak-funk four-piece. By weaving guitar rock and psychedelia into soul and R&B they were the gods of the underground "black rock" movement which fell somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Parliament and MC5. But it wasn't just about the music, the message was just as important. Clear beer vinyl.

 

PRICE: $39.00

CAT #: MIG 261LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Agitation Free was one of the leading representatives of German experimental rock music in the early 1970s. The Berlin band developed long, for that time unusual, free instrumental improvisations from the end of 1967. They achieved cult status as early as 1972 with an independent mixture of improvised rock paired with electro, ethno, jazz and trance elements. Extensive live activities gave the band a steadily increasing level of recognition throughout Europe. For example, the group performed in the cultural program of the Olympic Games in Munich in the summer of 1972, toured France for two months in early 1973, performed at the 'German Rock Super Concert' in Frankfurt in May, produced the second album 2nd and then went on tour through France and major German cities. In 1974, the band began to show signs of fatigue, which led to their temporary breakup at the end of the year after a farewell concert. In retrospect, it became clear that the experimental circle Agitation Free was one of the important bands of the 'Berlin School' and furthermore a career springboard for several German musicians. Christopher Franke, for example, helped the band Tangerine Dream achieve worldwide recognition. Michael Hoenig worked with Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream before he became known as a film composer in Hollywood after a solo album (among other things, the film music for the blockbuster 9 1/2 Weeks with Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke). Axel Genrich moved to Guru Guru, Burghard Rausch became a founding member of Bel Ami. Gustl L?tjens, toured with Shirley Bassey and Nena and later found a large audience with his new age band Living Mirrors, especially in the USA. Lutz 'L??l' Ulbrich joined Ashra, worked with ex-Velvet Underground singer Nico, produced solo records in addition to theater music, and has enjoyed success with the 17 Hippies since the late 1990s."

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: MIG 263LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Color vinyl version. "Agitation Free was one of the leading representatives of German experimental rock music in the early 1970s. The Berlin band developed long, for that time unusual, free instrumental improvisations from the end of 1967. They achieved cult status as early as 1972 with an independent mixture of improvised rock paired with electro, ethno, jazz and trance elements. Extensive live activities gave the band a steadily increasing level of recognition throughout Europe. For example, the group performed in the cultural program of the Olympic Games in Munich in the summer of 1972, toured France for two months in early 1973, performed at the 'German Rock Super Concert' in Frankfurt in May, produced the second album 2nd and then went on tour through France and major German cities. In 1974, the band began to show signs of fatigue, which led to their temporary breakup at the end of the year after a farewell concert. In retrospect, it became clear that the experimental circle Agitation Free was one of the important bands of the 'Berlin School' and furthermore a career springboard for several German musicians. Christopher Franke, for example, helped the band Tangerine Dream achieve worldwide recognition. Michael Hoenig worked with Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream before he became known as a film composer in Hollywood after a solo album (among other things, the film music for the blockbuster 9 1/2 Weeks with Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke). Axel Genrich moved to Guru Guru, Burghard Rausch became a founding member of Bel Ami. Gustl L?tjens, toured with Shirley Bassey and Nena and later found a large audience with his new age band Living Mirrors, especially in the USA. Lutz 'L??l' Ulbrich joined Ashra, worked with ex-Velvet Underground singer Nico, produced solo records in addition to theater music, and has enjoyed success with the 17 Hippies since the late 1990s."

 

PRICE: $69.50

CAT #: MTY AIR

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Anetha presents her third tempestuous compilation on her label Mama Told Ya, titled Mille attaques, les vents contr?rent, just one year after Contre tout, toutes et tous, la terre demeure and two years after L'eau repousse les feux agressifs. Through air element, the compilation comes up with the collaboration of 22 artists with 20 tracks, divided into four vinyls. Once again, Anetha carried away with her a generation of electronic artists from around the world. Mille attaques, les vents contr?rent, is the third of a series around the four elements. Capricious yet vigorous, air sweeps out everything on its way. Nothing can save you when you're in the eye of the cyclone: prepare to fly hard. Alongside windbreaker artists, skydive into the celestial vastness of sound: gusts of disturbed techno, squalls of groove, mental tornado, minimal bass hurricane, cloudburst of psytrance. Time to get some fresh air. Piercing pampero, mad mistral, forceful cierzo are blowing, blazing khamsin, steady sirocco, sharp shamal, dank nor'wester are entwining. Techno winds from all around the world are joining the fight against humanity. The artwork has been once again entrusted to visual artist Karin Kimel. She delivers an aerial scenery where supernal wafts are swirling, embalming our air. Diplomatie Studio took care of the design, while mastering was entrusted to Sixbitdeep. Featuring Hasvat Informant, VOST, Uncrat, Ra?l, DJ Bazootka & Ryacet, Cerrot, Werfol, Lacchesi, Gaston Fiore, David L?hlein, Shaven, Benjamin Damage, Tangerine, Pernox, Zo? Mc Pherson, Disjoli, BXTR, Vel & LDS, Boys Noize, and A Strange Wedding.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: MTB 009EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Four dubby, raw and fast-paced techno cuts from Ecilo. Mastering and lacquer cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates and Mastering Berlin.

 

PRICE: $25.50

CAT #: M3H 007LP

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

2023 limited restock. In South Africa, June 16, 1976 is unanimously recognized as the definitive turning point in the tenor and intensity of the fight against apartheid. It comes as the internal capacity of the major liberation movements such as the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress is nearly depleted; with many of its leaders in jail or in exile. Black Consciousness (BC) arises from these ashes and the apartheid regime scrambles to contain it in the form of assassinations, banning orders and trials. High school youths in Soweto, having already imbibed BC from their teachers (a group of newly-recruited university radicals), begin planning protests that would attain an incredible kinetic thrust. These demonstrations were supposedly to rally against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, but as student leader Tsietsi Mashinini says in the documentary film UPRIZE!, the situation in South Africa had been explosive for a long time and any issue could have delivered the shift in momentum that June 16th would symbolize. This new SPAZA release is the original motion picture soundtrack of the film UPRIZE!, but it serves a parallel function. Recorded in Yeoville, Johannesburg, during a three-day improvised scoring workshop in 2016, the recording is almost the underside of the film, which strikes a defiant pose both in the selection of speakers and in the tone of much of the archival footage. The June 16th protests stretched over several weeks in a countrywide blaze that turned out to be a sustained show of solidarity among students and an unbridled display of brutality by the state. The recording process mirrors that protraction, working out a new language with which to commemorate the death, darkness and defiance of those days.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: NSD 170LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

2023 repress. "J Dilla's Motor City LP."

 

PRICE: $23.00

CAT #: OST 015LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"In apartheid-era South Africa, gospel music provided solace and served as a tool for covert communication to organize resistance. By the 2010s, South African gospel, deeply ingrained in the soul of Soweto, assumed a new role -- as a heartfelt cry against persistent failures and shortcomings, a cry mourning a South Africa that never materialized. A new South Africa needed a new gospel sound. In 2016, nine young men from different parts of Diepkloof, a celebrated neighborhood brimming with talent within Soweto's sprawling township, came together to form the sound of the new South Africa under the name Diepkloof United Voice. Diepkloof United Voice's music has gone viral multiple times on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, garnering between 60,000 to 2 million views. The comments section displays flag emojis from Brazil to India, showcasing the global reach of their music. This album was recorded on site in Soweto, in an abandoned classroom of Lebowa Elementary School in Diepkloof Zone 3, where the choir rehearsed for years. Amid rolling blackouts, Diepkloof United Voice poured their heart, soul, and vocal chords into their debut record, combining classic South Africa gospel, Soweto's own kasi soul, American blues, and Zulu flavor, to present the contemporary gospel sound of a changing South Africa. The promise of a new South Africa might finally be realized, as Diepkloof United Voice guarantees the country's future is guided by the truth, uttered with each gasp of breath from their inimitable voices. This is the voice of a new South Africa."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: OST 015VAR-LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Orange color vinyl version. "In apartheid-era South Africa, gospel music provided solace and served as a tool for covert communication to organize resistance. By the 2010s, South African gospel, deeply ingrained in the soul of Soweto, assumed a new role -- as a heartfelt cry against persistent failures and shortcomings, a cry mourning a South Africa that never materialized. A new South Africa needed a new gospel sound. In 2016, nine young men from different parts of Diepkloof, a celebrated neighborhood brimming with talent within Soweto's sprawling township, came together to form the sound of the new South Africa under the name Diepkloof United Voice. Diepkloof United Voice's music has gone viral multiple times on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, garnering between 60,000 to 2 million views. The comments section displays flag emojis from Brazil to India, showcasing the global reach of their music. This album was recorded on site in Soweto, in an abandoned classroom of Lebowa Elementary School in Diepkloof Zone 3, where the choir rehearsed for years. Amid rolling blackouts, Diepkloof United Voice poured their heart, soul, and vocal chords into their debut record, combining classic South Africa gospel, Soweto's own kasi soul, American blues, and Zulu flavor, to present the contemporary gospel sound of a changing South Africa. The promise of a new South Africa might finally be realized, as Diepkloof United Voice guarantees the country's future is guided by the truth, uttered with each gasp of breath from their inimitable voices. This is the voice of a new South Africa."

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: TAPEITMRL 015LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Assegai is an instrumental rock outfit consisting of saxophone, bass, guitar, and drums. Each member of the group brings a variety of musical influences to the eclectic entanglement that is Assegai's distinct sound. No matter where you place yourself musically you will always find something to grab your attention in their odd type of instrumental rock. The album Water Worlds and Dry Spells is the product of a mutual pile of ideas; written sketches, memorized conversations, and cell phone recordings which were all collected in a joint cloud folder, and eventually laid the foundation of the compositions. Continuing from their 2020 album Kraal and their 2022 album 53, this release is a further development of the unity that the band have found themselves in, where jazz phrases fuse with krautrock repetition, traditional folk themes, and polyrhythmic structures.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: PL 135LP

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

2023 repress. On May 28, 1969, four American musicians -- reed/wind players Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, bassist Malachi Favors, and (accompanied by his wife, singer Fontella Bass) trumpeter Lester Bowie -- boarded the ocean liner S.S. United States, bound for Le Havre, France. After landing five days later, they moved on to Paris, where they got to work. On August 22, 1970, in the waning days of their stay overseas, the group, with Bass on vocals, would record their second release for EMI's Path? Marconi: the movie soundtrack Les Stances ? Sophie. The record, an exciting, eminently listenable combination of soul, classical, and jazz strains that survives as the Art Ensemble of Chicago's most stylistically diverse album, has long been admired by a devoted cult. Its durability is largely due to the popularity of its "hit": Over the years, "Theme de Yoyo" has been covered repeatedly, essayed by acts as varied as German funk band the Boogoos (and the offshoot Deep Jazz, both featuring singer Julia Fehenbeger), British nu-jazz combo the Cinematic Orchestra, Polish jazz man Wojtek Mazolewski, Norwegian rockers Motorpsycho, French dance music artist ?tienne Jaumet, and London-based remixer, Shall I Bruk It. More than half a century later, "Theme de Yoyo" and Les Stances ? Sophie still bring it. Limited-edition LP reissue from play loud! Productions, supplemented with new notes by U.S. music journalist Chris Morris.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: PI 280LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Water Tiger is the debut album from oqbqbo & Scandinavian Star, compiling their previously released singles with three new songs. In 2020 the couple released their first collaborative work, the double single Airdrops/Coercion just as the first wave of Covid lockdowns set in action across Europe and the rest of the world. The music offered a kind and compassionate stance to the turmoil that swept across the world in those months. Later that year the single "Wakening" was released on Rift One, a compilation by Year0001. In 2022 they returned with another double single "Dandelions/Sleep Lines". Water Tiger compiles all those with three new songs; "Free Fall," "Colibri," and "Water Tiger." oqbqbo is the moniker of Russian born artist Nastya Sipulina. Scandinavian Star is Malthe Fischer, producer and part of pop outfit Lust For Youth. They live together in Copenhagen, Amager with their daughter Freja Rei. Together they make uplifting and bubbly dance music that inhabits its own world whilst playfully referencing both Euro dance and contemporary club music. The LP version comes on white vinyl, housed in a white, stickered disco sleeve, with hand-stamped and numbered white labels, a fold around two-sided color cover and an obistrip.

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: PPLP 004LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"I can say that the album It's not too late has been created by chance. Few years ago together with Lisa Gerrard we visited synagogue in a small town hundred kilometers from Cracow, Bobowa. When we entered the synagogue Lisa started to sing. It appeared that the place had spine-tingling acoustics. I said then to Lisa: 'Let's try to record something here.' The rule was simple: I prepared themes and we recorded live performance. Lisa heard what I was playing for the first time during the recording and she improvised. We recorded nine compositions in 45 minutes. It supposed to be a holiday joy. Six years later I returned to the material we recorded and decided to finish it. What is left from the original recording is the voice of Lisa. I composed and recorded everything else in my studio. Dominik Wania played piano, Magdalena Pluta -- cello, and Jerzy G?owczewski -- saxophone. That's the way the album It's not too late came in to being. We live in the most dangerous time since the Second World War. Lisa Gerrard and I want to tell you about the world we share. Our weapon is music. It doesn't kill, it resurrects, and it brings hope to life. It's not too late." --Zbigniew Preisner

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: PP 098LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Public Possession welcoming ddwy to the label, after a first appearance on this year's Chill Pill compilation with the Balearic dance beauty "Orchard." The duo now delivers their first mini-LP titled Sprig Songs. ddwy -- that is DJs Inner Totality and Nangi --introduce their special style of tripped out dubby dance tunes, slow paced, dreamy and proggy, all flavored with Nangis chants. They are sure to cast a spell on you!

 

PRICE: $47.00

CAT #: RTRLP 009LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Queen Talk: Live at the Left Bank is an official never before released concert recording from one of the greatest female jazz organists of all-time, Shirley Scott, featuring a powerhouse trio with George Coleman on tenor saxophone and Bobby Durham on drums, plus special guest vocalist Ernie Andrews on three tracks. This hand-numbered, limited edition to 3,000, double LP set was transferred from the original tape reels and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl, features 100 minutes of music and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an extensive booklet with liner notes by acclaimed music writer A. Scott Galloway; rare photos by Don Schlitten and Raymond Ross, and memorabilia from the Left Bank archives; plus interviews with jazz organ icon Joey DeFrancesco, former Shirley Scott bandmate, saxophonist Tim Warfield, and pianist Monty Alexander reminiscing about drummer Bobby Durham. The set is co-produced by label owner musician Cory Weeds and renowned archival recording producer Zev Feldman. The show was recorded at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore Maryland on August 20, 1972 and hasn't ever been previously available. Philadelphia born Scott rose to fame in the late 1950s playing the Hammond B-3 organ influenced by blues and gospel evolving into '60s soul jazz. She recorded numerous albums for Prestige, Impulse!, Atlantic, Cadet, and Candid performing with countless jazz legends including Stanley Turrentine, Oliver Nelson, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, Clark Terry, and Kenny Burrell. The ten-track set cooks on songs of the day like 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix,' 'You Don't Mess Around With Jim,' and 'Never Can Say Goodbye,' along with standards such as 'Smile,' 'Witchcraft' and John Coltrane's 'Impressions.'"

 

PRICE: $47.00

CAT #: RTRLP 010LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Bish at the Bank: Live in Baltimore is an official previously unissued set of recordings by one of the unsung heroes of bebop jazz piano, Walter Bishop Jr., featuring a swinging trio with Harold Vick on saxophone, Lou McIntosh on bass and Dick Berk on drums. This hand-numbered (to 3,000), double LP set was transferred from the original tape reels and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl, boasts 100 minutes of music and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an extensive booklet with essays by esteemed jazz journalist Ted Panken and jazz video journalist and friend of Bishop's, Bret Primack; rare photos by Don Schlitten, Raymod Ross, and Jan Persson; plus, poetry pieces written by Bishop. The set is produced by label owner musician Cory Weeds and 'Jazz Detective' producer Zev Feldman. The double LP set consists of two shows recorded in Baltimore, Maryland, disc one recorded at The Madison Club on August 28, 1966 and The Famous Ballroom on February 26, 1967. Harlem-born Bishop began his performing and recording career as part of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers on his debut Blue Note album in 1948. His bebop style continued on with gigs and recordings with Kenny Dorham, Jimmy Heath, Milt Jackson, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Oscar Pettiford, Wynton Kelly, and many others. In the 1960s he fronted a trio with Jimmy Garrison and G.T. Hogan. He recorded for various independent labels including Jazztime, Black Jazz and Muse Records. The eight-track set cooks with two Miles Davis compositions along with standards such as 'Willow Weep for Me,' Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Quiet Nights,' and Henry Mancini's 'The Days of Wine and Roses.'"

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: REP 071LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Since its depraved and characteristically ugly Australian birthing in 1986, Stu Spasm's Lubricated Goat has remained a cock in the ass of decency. Stu has worn the devil's red cloak proudly through a revolving door of musical confederates, trans-Pacific moves, bizarre and unrepentant television nudity, a celebrated underground rock marriage and divorce, six albums, countless tours, even a stabbing. His vision remains unchanged. Reptilian Records proudly serves up The Great Old Ones as a lustful orgy of aural hedonism. It's celebrating the first ten years of mayhem cut to tape. This long-awaited disc collects newly recorded stabs at songs from previous Lubricated Goat albums (all painfully out of print), some singles, and a track from Stu's band Crunt (feat. Members of Babes in Toyland and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). Insanity, free will, intellectual hedonism, the devil's hand in fine dining. The Great Old Ones considerably ups all the antes, the band playing with the deft confidence and sure-handedness of a well-oiled touring rock machine. It's not even funny how much better these versions are than their predecessors. Good, confident rock always trumps even the best and worst intentions of art."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: EZRDR 172LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "For the better part of the last fifteen years, the duo of Max Dameron (guitar/vox) and Sam Ford (drums/vox) have been too weird and too wild for this lame-ass planet. After enjoying vagabond stints living in Portland, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn, they now call Detroit home. Here they rebuild, out of the scraps and wreckage of the 21st century, something which casts aside any rules or adherence to banal tropes: Psychic Trash. Specializing in the unexpected, Dameron and Ford have wrought an individual sound that's as much post-Melvins sludge punk as it is futurist prog-metal. Their forthcoming self-titled debut, recorded in 2022 at High-Bias in Detroit, puts on display the fruits of their metamorphosis. From the soaring triumphal fuzz of 'Uncanny Valley' or the sweep and thrust of 'House Of Butterflies,' their craft is precise -- they're just making up their own shapes to sculpt. Times change and artists mature: under the name Psychic Trash, Ford and Dameron come to Riding Easy Records as veterans turning a fresh page, reinvigorated at the prospect of forging a new path and the beneficiaries of about a decade and a half's slog through the underground. Psychic Trash's self-titled debut is unmistakably uncompromising, a little theatrical, intermittently manic, and deceptively broad in style for just how much punk rests beneath."

 

PRICE: $47.00

CAT #: ROC 3460LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"This set gathers together 18 selections from one of jazz's greatest saxophonists, Charlie Parker. All the recordings were captured in the late 1940s and early 1950s at such storied venues as Carnegie Hall and Birdland in New York, The Jubilee in Los Angeles, and the Portland Civic Auditorium. Focused on experiments in Afro-Cuban fusion, Parker is joined by a dazzling array of jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Art Blakey, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Red Rodney, and others. The package includes essays by rock keyboardist Keith Emerson and contemporary jazz saxophonist Cory Weeds. While these tracks have previously appeared on other albums, this is the first time they have been gathered in this deluxe package. Available on a limited-edition 180-gram vinyl version for Record Store Day available exclusively at independent retailers. Also available on CD and digital."

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: RIYH 012LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"My parents were living in Bolinas when i was born. this was the early '70s. there was alot of weaving, ceramics, banjo playing and this kind of thing back then. My mom said the other day she had developed a course, to be taught at the Bolinas community center, Self-Awareness Through Macrame. i said 'oh, thats interesting, do you keep in touch with any of the students?' she said 'no, no one signed up'. that made me laugh. This record was mostly made during the pandemic, in a few masked sessions. The songs came about organically with Josiah Flores, Ava Lynch, just playing around in the pandemic with no agenda. Tahlia Harbour and Rusty Miller appeared later on most tracks and then a few other friends sprinkled around towards the end. Waiting came about watching my teen age son during the pandemic, waiting in his room for something to change. He was sewing a lot, making garments. I began to imagine he was sewing an outfit he would wear when he would leave this weird dystopian planet, when a UFO came down and helped all the teenagers escape the dumpster planet we've made. Shadows was also about the pandemic, and imagining our shadows to be our friends from another realm, always sticking by our side, up until death. City Life came out of moving to the country during the record. When I would visit the city it took on a new feeling, it felt more like a sci-fi landscape, and I could see a lot more of the city innards then when I lived inside it. All the wires, and dirt and crazy human energy, everything was more vibrant and daunting. 'How to Make a Ceramic Dog,' came about as I started making ceramic dogs for people during the pandemic, and I thought I might write a how-to song about it, and how facsism is all around these days and how to just put it aside sometimes just to make something pure. People love their dogs, and dogs during the pandemic took on a certain heroic feature. People really leaned on their pets during the pandemic, so when I began making their dogs in clay the orders went crazy and suddenly I was making hundreds of dogs. Somehow the ceramics and moving to the country near Bolinas all felt a little tied to the way my parents were living when I was born, banjos, sewing, ceramics, dogs, things being built by hand, and escaping the city and such."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: RUMI 012LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Cherry Bandora is an oriental Jewish princess singing in poetic Greek, rhythmical Turkish and Hebrew slang. The fresh combination of the Greek blues guitar, the bouzouki, with the psychedelic Hammond organ, accompanied by lively middle eastern grooves on drums creates an exciting clash of tradition and rebellious attitude. Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: RB 085-6EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Numbers hold the key to unlock the universe. So, a six-pack can either consist of six bottles of beer, very well-developed stomach muscles or in our case: a string of smash hits. To take it even further, it's exactly six tracks for the sixth part of the VA-series that is One Swallow Doesn't Make A Summer. Hit men include friends new and old: Llewellyn, Stereocalypse, Zillas On Acid, Storken & Hammer, Ede, Se?or Chugger and Count Van Delicious. The pace is cool and hot at the same time. Rave signals by Ede foil the nouveau disco by Stereocalypse or Storken & Hammer, Llewellyn does a classic house piano hop, Zilles On Acid deliver, well. mid-tempo acid, and last, but not least, Se?or Chugger & Count Van Delicious strike a delicious pose. One for almost everyone! And if not, let your body go with the flow!

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: RBINC 010LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Following up 2022's Acrobatic Thoughts album (RBINC 008LP), Panoram delves even deeper into his own musical universe with Keep Looking Where The Light Comes From. We find the producer in confident form, exploring the fuzzy fringes of beauty and chaos. The result is an album that sounds even more like himself and yet surprising at each turn. Opening track "Feathers" sounds like only Panoram can, buzzy arpeggiated distortion takes flight somewhere in the direction of a distant multiverse where Animal Collective and Boards of Canada soundtracked Koyaanisqatsi. But the psychedelic drift is all Panoram's own, conjuring a stark sense of the uncanny with the repeated phrases. The digital guitar and vocal loops of "I Can Only Repeat Your Love" are practically on the brink of collapsing in on themselves, to the point where the structure begins to shift like a collapsing monument. "Flat Stones" nods towards ASMR, as flute and woodwind tones caress the ears and a whispered voice teases out an altered state. It's this dreamlike mood that pervades the whole album, a maximal effect that's wrung from minimalist compositions. "The Wide House" picks up the baton from Laurie Anderson to trip gently through different states of awareness, while the piano patterns of "Blank Sheep" float through the synth ambience like ideas entering an empty dream. "There Is A Hole Here" is another mutant loop that unravels as it proceeds -- the rhythms turn into a pulse, and despite what the lyrics say, it does indeed mess around with your brain. Panoram balances dance tropes, classical composition, ambient drones and a washed out, fuzzy twist on avant garde pop, and manages to transform it all into a uniform whole that fits all those puzzle pieces together. Yet such is the assuredness of Panoram's production that it sounds effortless. At this point, the music is more like a midwife, manifesting your future self's enlightened consciousness with surreal effect.

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: SCTR 064LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Beginnings: Collected Pedal Steel Guitar Works, is the first full length album by UK-based pedal steel guitarist and improviser Gary Peters. As there seems to be a slew of pedal steel guitar albums coming out in the last five years, this one is unlike any one has heard. There's no use of reverb pedals or ambient swells, yet it still has so much atmosphere and emotion. The majority of the compositions and improvisations are solo pedal steel guitar, but there are a couple tracks with accompaniment by upright bassist Christopher Williams and pianist Veryan Weston. Gary Peters has been quietly and prolifically releasing recordings over the years. This grouping of songs Scissor Tail Editions spent about a year working towards narrowing down and mixing and are very honored to present this album of collected pedal steel guitar works."

 

PRICE: $39.50

CAT #: 7VA 010LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Seven Villas presents their latest well-crafted long-playing techno release. Pablo Bolivar & Nacho Sanchez reunite and team up for this excursion into classic inspired rhythmic sound on Distances. Over the past 20 years, these two friends have shared their love of the history of Detroit techno, dub techno and more recently, electro. Since they last crossed paths in 2014, their love for collecting and playing records has now fully grown into creating their own music. And what more meaningful way to honor that musical friendship than with making music based on that early mutual passion for that Detroit-Berlin techno connection. Distances is just that simply. A 16-track deep foray into all the things they love and respect about the foundations and traditions of techno music. Each essence and theme of the genre is represented with this track list collaboration. Also featuring Ercos Blanka and Vidall.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: SWORD 002LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Demos/sketches/interludes from the hinterland between records. Drum machines and single take vocal sketches tied together with downtime synth experiments and recordings of local disappearing areas. True as it is, Jabu's strap-line is a somewhat understated take on what also proved to be a transformative experience for them. The follow-up record to their 2020 sophomore LP Sweet Company (and the ensuing Versions), Boiling Wells weaves a smudged, group -mind spell. Originally released without fanfare as a digital-only release, it now receives the proper release attention it deserves, issued in a neatly packaged vinyl edition of 300 copies. Dreamlike, woozy, raw and in dub, the album documents a blossoming process, and encapsulates a fragment in time -- holed up in the country, soaking up the atmosphere in collective isolation, creatively embracing the limitations of a small recording set-up, and finding a new way to work as a band. Boiling Wells (Demos '19-'22) is released by UK newcomer Six of Swords in a limited vinyl edition of 300 copies, pressed on black vinyl housed in full-color 270gsm matt varnish sleeve and black paper inner, with full download coupon.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: SCR 196LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The Cornish improv noise/post-rock/shoegaze band's cult classic debut, remastered and re-edited by Slowdive's Simon Scott and available on vinyl for the first time since its release back in 2017, with original copies (released via The Weird Beard) now changing hands for triple figures. The three tracks that make up the album were recorded live, in one take. They are presented as captured snippets of the one song the band used to play, the continually existing and evolving "CPA" (Cosmic Pink Alignment). It formed the blueprint for their unique mix of Sonic Youth squall and Slowdive-style beauty, which was later heard on 2021's acclaimed debut for Sonic Cathedral, Sleepover. Simon's magic touch has really elevated this stunning record, making it sound bigger, bolder and better than ever.

 

PRICE: $13.50

CAT #: SCR 260CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The eponymous debut EP by London-based dreampop duo deary. The six-track release is available on frosted clear 12" vinyl, plus a CD with five additional bonus tracks and remixes. Their debut single "Fairground" was an instant classic. A mix of shoegaze beauty and trip-hop beats, it was amazing to see people falling in love with it in real time as it gained airplay around the world, a remix by Saint Etienne and hit number one on the official charts' vinyl singles chart. The EP includes the follow-up, the deliciously dark "Beauty In All Blue Satin," and new single "Sleepsong," plus three other tracks.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: SRP 003EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Manuel Tur and Adrian Hoffmann return to their alter ego Class Compliance for the second time, having introduced it on last year's Future Sound of Jazz compilation on Compost. The Plug & Play EP features three quirky and slightly offbeat tracks that won't be everyone's cup of tea, but will find fans among those interested in unquantized synths and polymetric rhythm layers. Early support from Kornel Kovacz, ?me and Ben Ufo.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: SPIRIT 030LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

"Record producer and electric bassist Dan Horne returns to his Lone Palm a.k.a. Liberty Hair Farm studio in Echo Park, Los Angeles for the vinyl release of his debut full-length studio album, Count The Clouds. Recorded in 2020-2021 before his touring schedule kicked back into high gear with Circles Around the Sun and Grateful Shred, Horne unveils Count The Clouds, featuring eight songs with the multi-instrumentalist vibin' out on all the guitars, drums, pedal steel, and keys. A flashback to mid-1960s psychedelic folk, Count The Clouds includes special guests Ny Oh from Harry Styles' band, Raze Regal, and Frank LoCrasto. Horne is gaining recognition on the Echo Park scene as a producer at Lone Palm a.k.a. Liberty Hair Farm working with artists Mapache, Chapin Sisters, Pacific Range, Allah-Las, and others. On the national live music circuit, he's a founding member of Circles Around The Sun, the Dead tribute band Grateful Shred (who's selling out venues all across the country), and a key player with bandleaders Jonathan Wilson, Ben Kweller and Conor Oberst."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: SPITTLE 059LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. In the Italian panorama of the '70s, Chrisma (Christina Moser and Maurizio Arcieri) skirted the common rules of Italian pop (the aura of progressive rock or the first wave of prolific folk singers); in fact, they created Italian new wave from scratch. After the release of their 1977 debut album Chinese Restaurant (SPITTLE 051LP) -- so far from the punk revolution and so deep into the algid dynamics of the Mittel-European sound -- came Hibernation, their creative peak on which they embrace the revelation of the man-machine and venture into the realms of incomparable robots Kraftwerk. Again the album was produced by Niko Papathanassiou (brother of the Greek legend Vangelis), and it features very sophisticated cover artwork created by famous photographer Mario Convertino. Chrisma, so far ahead of their time, crafted an opus that should be considered at the same emotional level as the most famous synth-pop bands from the UK and Germany. Highlights include "Vetra Platz," a long digital ride worthy of the most famous Kraftwerk singles; "Calling" and "Gott Gott Electron," a primeval couplet of furious post-punk numbers; and the lush "Lover," with Miss Moser still in top form. This reissue includes the original artwork with a silver background. RIYL: T. Rex, Nico, Kraftwerk.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: SPITTLE 114LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Spittle Records present a reissue of Sad Lovers And Giants' Feeding The Flame, originally released in 1983. Sad Lovers And Giants second album, a brilliant atmospheric post punk record with several elements akin to Joy Division and The Chameleons. You can definitely apply the term "ethereal" to these compositions, certainly the sound is very oceanic and otherworldly melancholic, typical trademarks of the new wave renaissance. Recorded in 1983 -- and released on their own label Midnight Music -- Feeding The Flame showcases the original line up at its very best.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: SQM 022LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Roots run deep on Candid, the first LP by Munich-based producer Polygonia and drummer Simon Popp. The record is a perfect blend of their distinct voices, with Popp's drumset and his signature percussion sounds buzzing around Polygonia's bold and blooming productions. Comprised of live material recorded at Munich's ZIRKA in late 2022 and over several studio sessions in-between touring duties, Candid is a meadow of herbal electronic, mystic at times, but joyful nonetheless.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: SR 462LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (Vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (Vol. 3). The link between music, sound and the paranormal is manifested in many different ways. Gerard van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher, wrote "Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express." Furthermore, "The effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation," as said Derek Parker, the British journalist. Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two subjects together seems obvious. This second volume of musical and audio anomalies continues and expands upon the works initially reproduced in the latter. Rosemary Brown makes a welcome re-appearance, especially with a performance of Gr?belei via Liszt, as well as the Caruso-inspired tenor Leo May making a repeat performance. Few people realize that both Anton LaVey and Aleister Crowley were quite fine musicians and Alex Sanders was also interested in music. The background music of Wagner's Tannh?user used by the latter combines both pagan and Christian elements. So close your eyes and let the magic of sound take over! Also featuring David Behr, Jack Webber, Robert, Rita Goold, Leslie Flint, Leo, Carmen Rogers, Uri Geller, Jean-Louis Victor, Joe Meek, Howard Menger, Barbara The Gray Witch, and Rev. Patrick J. Berkery, Ph. D.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: SR 543CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

This second project released on Sub Rosa by the Japanese artist Kaoru Tashiro, manages to create a subtle dialogue between four composers, and four musical pieces, mixing a delicate blend of Japanese and European sensibilities. Those different approaches convergence thanks to the highly recognizable sensibility of Kaoru Tashiro's way to play. After "drifting" through unpublished pieces from Toshi Ichiyanagi (Fluxus) and Claude Ledoux on the album Cloud Atlas, Kaoru Tashiro is now highlighting the works of: Kenji Sakai, Claude Ledoux, Jean-Pierre Deleuze, and Julia Purgina. Sakai dilates space through a virtuoso piece, "Reflecting Space I - Bell, Cloud and Disincarnations," based on the idea of the metamorphosis of classical repertoires. Claude Ledoux, already present on the first disc, is wandering through mysterious, disquieting landscapes, that gives pride of place to the hushed sounds coming from the piano strings, hammered and muffled by the imprint of the pianist's fingers. Jean-Pierre Deleuze whom creates through this piano composition a dreamlike space that unfolds. Julia Purgina, a young Austrian composer, whose piece that was composed in full confinement, turned out to be "dark," as she attempted to create an atmosphere of an almost surreal expressivity between exaltation and pessimism. This work has been premiered in Vienna in 2021 and this is a first recording.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: SR 552LP

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

Musik f?r animierte Tonspurfilm, the twelfth album by Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (or DAAU, as they are commonly known), is the soundtrack to a series of short, abstract animation films by Rudy Trouv?, who also acted as a creative director during the recording process. The music originates from acoustic improvisation sessions by accordionist Roel Van Camp, clarinetist Han Stubbe, double bass player Hannes D'Hoine and percussionist Jeroen Stevens. These took place according to conceptual guidelines set by Trouv?. Sometimes the starting point was a play on words or a random chord sequence, sometimes a specific atmosphere, but the playing field was always kept deliberately limited. Hence, the musicians were forced to build a musical structure with minimal means. The result was cut on cassette, after which the Antwerp enfant terrible Rudy Trouv?, known from his work with dEUS, Kiss My Jazz, Gore Slut, and I H8 Camera among others, happily hit the tracks with a virtual sledge hammer. DAAU's pieces were cut up, sampled, drastically restructured and pasted together again, a method that had been applies earlier on the retrospective album Hineininterpretierung (2017). On top of that audio collage, the musicians added new electronic layers, using a digital accordion, synths, digital bass and marimba.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: SR 555CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Univers Zero's new album follows the lineage of Phosphorescent Dreams, originally released only on CD in Japan in 2014, and reissued as an LP on the Sub Rosa label in 2019. Lueur is the fruit of two years' work and reflection, the foundations of which were laid by Daniel Denis (keyboards, drums, percussion), then enriched by the contributions of Nicolas Dech?ne (guitars), Kurt Bud? (clarinet / bass clarinet) and Nicolas Denis (bass, percussion, vocals), all three present on Phosphorescent Dreams. With this reduced line-up, Lueur offers a dense journey, rooted in the balance between power and calm, raging and serene sound. A balance, too, between complex arrangements and more contemplative moments. While this album continues the avant-rock tradition of Univers Zero, it also features some very short pieces, more electronic, tribal and haunting sounds, and voice work that is new to the U.Z. universe. Between tradition and subtle evolution, Lueur is a major new contribution to the discography of this band, which will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2024. Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music -- most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: SR 555LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Univers Zero's new album follows the lineage of Phosphorescent Dreams, originally released only on CD in Japan in 2014, and reissued as an LP on the Sub Rosa label in 2019. Lueur is the fruit of two years' work and reflection, the foundations of which were laid by Daniel Denis (keyboards, drums, percussion), then enriched by the contributions of Nicolas Dech?ne (guitars), Kurt Bud? (clarinet / bass clarinet) and Nicolas Denis (bass, percussion, vocals), all three present on Phosphorescent Dreams. With this reduced line-up, Lueur offers a dense journey, rooted in the balance between power and calm, raging and serene sound. A balance, too, between complex arrangements and more contemplative moments. While this album continues the avant-rock tradition of Univers Zero, it also features some very short pieces, more electronic, tribal and haunting sounds, and voice work that is new to the U.Z. universe. Between tradition and subtle evolution, Lueur is a major new contribution to the discography of this band, which will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2024. Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music -- most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: SV 194LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock, and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era -- he is, simply put, free jazz royalty. In April 1966, the duo of Graves and pianist Don Pullen played at Yale University. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, 'This performance was something of a turning point for Graves. Until then he had been working in other people's bands or collective ensembles. He was phenomenally busy. In 1965 alone, he recorded with NYAQ (two LPs), Giuseppi Logan Quartet, Paul Bley Quintet, and Lowell Davidson Trio, and he made his first recording released under his own name, Percussion Ensemble. Every one of these is important in its own way, but none of them quite anticipate how radical was the music that he and Pullen would unleash that evening in New Haven.' Originally released on the artists' own Self-Reliance Program label, this legendary one-night performance would be split into two volumes: In Concert At Yale University and Nommo. While rooted in African rhythms, Graves' music has its own sense of time. As the drummer stated in a 1966 DownBeat interview, 'Time was always there, and the time I see is not the same as what man says time is. It works by impulsion.'"

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: SV 195LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock, and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era -- he is, simply put, free jazz royalty. In April 1966, the duo of Graves and pianist Don Pullen played at Yale University. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, 'This performance was something of a turning point for Graves. Until then he had been working in other people's bands or collective ensembles. He was phenomenally busy. In 1965 alone, he recorded with NYAQ (two LPs), Giuseppi Logan Quartet, Paul Bley Quintet, and Lowell Davidson Trio, and he made his first recording released under his own name, Percussion Ensemble. Every one of these is important in its own way, but none of them quite anticipate how radical was the music that he and Pullen would unleash that evening in New Haven.' Originally released on the artists' own Self-Reliance Program label, this legendary one-night performance would be split into two volumes: In Concert At Yale University and Nommo. While rooted in African rhythms, Graves' music has its own sense of time. As the drummer stated in a 1966 DownBeat interview, 'Time was always there, and the time I see is not the same as what man says time is. It works by impulsion.'"

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: SV 196LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"By the early '70s, Milford Graves had more or less stopped gigging. Having learned his lesson the hard way in multiple-night runs like a legendary Slugs' residency with Albert Ayler, he knew that the level of energy that he put out during a performance would be difficult to sustain over the long haul. A concert was a kind of absolute ritual for him, after which he would be totally spent, emotionally and physically. Graves rarely left anything on the table. Any musical performance was an opportunity to present an amalgamated version of all the things he had learned. He was an innovator and a teacher at his core, and the concert venue was one of his first classroom settings. In March 1976, Verna Gillis invited Graves to perform on WBAI's Free Music Store radio show. For the date, he chose to present a trio lineup which he had been occasionally playing -- featuring two saxophonists who were dedicated to the drummer's vision. Hugh Glover is almost exclusively known for his work with Graves, while Arthur Doyle would gain exposure later for an obscure record that he made two years later, Alabama Feeling, which would become a highly collectable item among free jazz enthusiasts. Originally released in 1977, Babi remains one of Graves' most seminal recordings. The music played by the trio was ecstatic. Extreme energy music, buoyant and joyful. It relied on Graves' new way of approaching the drum kit, in which he had opened up the bottoms of his skin-slackened toms and eliminated the snare. Graves' art was always unblemished by commercial interests, and this album is its finest mission statement."

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: SYR 003LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. "The third SYR release documents Sonic Youth's first collaboration with Jim O'Rourke. This sharp Esparanto-addled 'Muzikaj Perspektivoj'-series edition contains 3 new songs, and 50+ minutes of music."

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: SYST 136EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Following the successful release of their inaugural collaboration, Die Zeit, esteemed artists Timo Maas and Marc Romboy now present their second installment in their Creative series. This latest offering delves into the realm of Der Rhythmus, exploring the intricate nature of rhythm, as expounded upon by the introspective musings of vocalist Fadila. The original composition emerges as a contemporary electro opus, meticulously crafted to infuse an exhilarating energy into moments calling for broken beats. With its innovative sonic palette, Der Rhythmus serves as a dynamic auditory experience, promising to captivate listeners seeking an electrifying sonic journey. In addition to the original, the release features a transformative reimagining by none other than Dense & Pika. Their remix propels the track into a futuristic soundscape that seems to beckon from the year 2030. Immerse yourself in a riveting odyssey that transports you to a science-fiction world, where visionary sounds harmoniously merge with avant-garde techno rhythms. Dense & Pika's rendition embodies forward-thinking musical craftsmanship, inviting enthusiasts to explore new dimensions of electronic music. Der Rhythmus emerges as a testament to the boundless creativity and collaborative prowess of Timo Maas, Marc Romboy, and Fadila, as well as the innovative remix artistry of Dense & Pika. This release is poised to leave an indelible mark on the ever-evolving landscape of electronic music.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: FLENSER 150LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Ragana is a duo whose members alternate duties on drums, guitar, and vocals to produce some of the most unique and affecting dark music in metal today. The two-piece came together in 2011 in the DIY punk scene of Olympia, WA and are now based in Olympia and Oakland, CA. In their time together so far, Ragana have self-released five albums and teamed up with genre-favorite Thou for a split release in 2018. The following year, Ragana released their heralded We Know That The Heavens Are Empty EP and have quietly been working on new music ever since. The band signed with The Flenser in late 2022 and now present their forthcoming debut album for the label, Desolation's Flower. On Desolation's Flower, Ragana draws upon a number of influences from the flora and fauna of their Pacific Northwest origins to the darkly nostalgic folk of Mt. Eerie and, yes, their Olympian forebears Wolves In The Throne Room, synthesizing them into an experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal. Held together by an intense focus on raw emotion and haunting atmospherics, Ragana shifts seamlessly from tender, mesmerizing vocal harmonies to piercing, heart-ripping screams and back again, yielding music that is heavy, beautiful and punishing all at once. Written over the past few tumultuous years, Desolation's Flower is the band's most devastating effort to date, containing seven incantations of loss, rage, pain and hope. Expertly engineered by the masterful Nicholas Wilbur at the Unknown Studio in Anacortes, Washington (Planning For Burial, drowse, Divide and Dissolve, Have a Nice Life), the album serves as the culmination of the past decade plus of the band's ethos and execution."

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: FLENSER 150X-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Color vinyl. "Ragana is a duo whose members alternate duties on drums, guitar, and vocals to produce some of the most unique and affecting dark music in metal today. The two-piece came together in 2011 in the DIY punk scene of Olympia, WA and are now based in Olympia and Oakland, CA. In their time together so far, Ragana have self-released five albums and teamed up with genre-favorite Thou for a split release in 2018. The following year, Ragana released their heralded We Know That The Heavens Are Empty EP and have quietly been working on new music ever since. The band signed with The Flenser in late 2022 and now present their forthcoming debut album for the label, Desolation's Flower. On Desolation's Flower, Ragana draws upon a number of influences from the flora and fauna of their Pacific Northwest origins to the darkly nostalgic folk of Mt. Eerie and, yes, their Olympian forebears Wolves In The Throne Room, synthesizing them into an experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal. Held together by an intense focus on raw emotion and haunting atmospherics, Ragana shifts seamlessly from tender, mesmerizing vocal harmonies to piercing, heart-ripping screams and back again, yielding music that is heavy, beautiful and punishing all at once. Written over the past few tumultuous years, Desolation's Flower is the band's most devastating effort to date, containing seven incantations of loss, rage, pain and hope. Expertly engineered by the masterful Nicholas Wilbur at the Unknown Studio in Anacortes, Washington (Planning For Burial, drowse, Divide and Dissolve, Have a Nice Life), the album serves as the culmination of the past decade plus of the band's ethos and execution."

 

PRICE: $19.50

CAT #: TDP 54027LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited 2023 restock. Trading Places present a reissue of Bridget St. John's Songs For The Gentle Man, originally released in 1971. The English singer and guitarist Bridget St. John was introduced to the bourgeoning London folk scene by guitarist John Martyn, her rich and unusually deep voice being highly distinctive. BBC Radio disc jockey John Peel became one of her greatest champions, and when Peel formed the Dandelion label in 1969 with former Elektra record plugger Clive Selwood, the original intention was to issue St John's music. Following debut album from 1969, Ask Me No Questions (TDP 54013LP), which featured Martyn on a few tracks, the 1971 follow-up Songs For The Gentle Man was produced by Ron Geesin, who supplied a more orchestrated arrangement with woodwinds; the album also features a cover of Donovan's "The Pebble And The Man". Licensed from Cherry Red. 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: TPR 311LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Archie Shepp's world has always been filled with fire music, and eventually Fire Music. Before that landmark LP, Shepp made Four for Trane -- his August 1964 beachhead with Impulse. And even before that, as it turns out, came this one blip -- the earliest Shepp leader project yet on record. Under supervision of the artist, this previously unissued demo recording is now available from Triple Point Records. As the cover of Derailleur suggests, Shepp tries out some surprising combinations for the session. The playlist includes two of Archie's earliest documented compositions -- the jagged 5/4 statement "Viva Jomo" and a shuffling blues named for his Florida homeland. And an homage to Maestro Ellington of course. Archie had already defined his voice while a sideman and co-leader; now he was looking for his team. Shepp momentarily adopted the quartet that Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd led in the Village. This assemblage delivered a spontaneous demo, and engineer Art Crist captured it in a mono studio session. Buried in Archie's tape archive was this batch of music that was all but forgotten; now Triple Point has polished it into crisp perfection. Pressed on 150g vinyl at Independent Record Pressings, this release features an insert that contains photos and a new historical essay by Ben Young.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: UR 013LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Martha and Jessica Kilpatrick (aka Waterbaby) had a creative upbringing in South London -- spending their days singing in Southwark Cathedral Choir or experimenting with recording ideas onto cassette tapes, such as trying to make their out-of-tune family piano and a flute sound like an electric guitar. Eventually settling together in an attic flat in Peckham, the sisters became quiet, mystical forces in the underground London scene, emerging in and out of the sanctuary of their studio to perform their hypnotic live show with artists as varied as Kedr Livansky, James K, TAAHLIAH, and Dorian Electra. The sisters' insular and feminine sonic world showcases inventive song structures backed by dizzying layers of production -- all crafted on their stash of lost and found analogue gear in their South East London studio, squashed between Hyperdub's headquarters and a mechanic's garage. In a world where the analogue and the digital seem to be in constant headlock, Waterbaby effortlessly solve the equation -- operating in a space where Cocteau Twins-esque anachronism meets the sharper edge of contemporary experimental electronica.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: WSDMLP 006LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Seoul duo Salamanda arrive on Wisdom Teeth with their latest and most focused LP yet: In Parallel -- a vividly textural and immersive record that brings a new level of clarity to their typically psychedelic, expansive approach. Since arriving in 2019, the pair -- comprised of friends Uman Therma (aka Sala) and Yetsuby (aka Manda) -- have been fast at work mapping out their elaborate, dream-state sonic world -- prolifically honing their sound across four albums and over a dozen singles to date. Across their already-extensive discography the pair have established a few key calling cards. Mallet instruments and tuned drums play out playful music-box melodies. Thick washes of gaseous ambience invoke otherworldly or ancient soundscapes. And buried fragments of found sound and manipulated vocal give their otherwise synthetic compositions a warm sense of first-person narrative. In Parallel's lead single "Homemade Jam" is the closest the duo have come to writing an all-out pop track: its buoyant beat and autotuned vocals sounding like something SOPHIE and Charli XCX could have written after a particularly potent batch of mushroom tea. It's a razor-sharp slice of alt-pop that offers a mouthwatering first look at what happens when Salamanda's sprawling, unbridled creative energy is distilled right down into something concentrated and polished. At other points their sonic explorations lead them to embrace a more upfront approach to rhythm, skirting closer than ever before to the dancefloor in the process. The meandering drums and vocal chops on "Paper Labyrinth" are underpinned by a firm 4x4 pulse, while the dembow groove of "Tonal, Fluid" would feel right at home in a Nick Le?n or DJ Plead set. In Parallel is a record about connection, and the warmth and nostalgic simplicity of friendship is felt vividly throughout. Its title refers to the harmony the duo have found between them as friends and collaborators -- and sonic parallels are traced throughout the record as testament to this. Motifs come and go before reappearing at later points: take, for example, the melody underpinning "Sun Tickles," which returns in a different key and tempo on album closer "Mysterious Wedding." Parallel lines are traced between each artist and through their music, linking back to their past and pointing ahead to the future. Only Salamanda know where these will take us next.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: WRWTFWW 086LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

WRWTFWW Records announces Shower, the brand-new album by New York born, Los Angeles based ambient/jazz/downtempo musician Danny Scott Lane, following the recently released and very well-received cozy soundscape, Home Decor (WRWTFWW 077LP, 2023). The limited-edition LP is available on biovinyl housed in a heavy 350gsm sleeve featuring an illustration by Gabrielle Rul and design by Jazlyn Fung. The album is also available digitally. Continuing to gently push the boundaries of chill out music, smooth jazz, and comfy electronica, Shower draws inspiration from "the feeling of a steamy shower shared with a stranger after a night on the dance floor," a warm immersive affair for the mind and the body. This latest funky auditory experience once again invites Matt Elliot Gooden's soothing saxophone, and this time also welcomes the vibrant beats of drummer David Ruiz. Organic, discreet in the most relaxing and elegant ways, and just the right amount of sexy -- Lane's new creation offers the finest in audio cocooning. Shower is the first new release by WRWTFWW Records made with biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.

 

PRICE: $41.00

CAT #: XRP 2305LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Double LP version. Soom T aka "The Raggamuffin Queen" presents her sixth studio album The Louder The Better. A combination of live band studio recordings and digital compositions, it took only three years to fully realize from the very first live band recordings in Brazil during the 2020 pandemic to its release this year. Entirely self-produced with her own music label Renegade Masters with Kunta as executive producer, Soom T called on her most trusted collaborators to produce this new reggae/dub gem, and it's sunnier than ever. Additional synths were added by Kunta and studio partner Green Teddy of Highly Seen. Many of the instruments on these songs were performed by Mr Cowlin himself among other seasoned musicians and recorded at his studio in the UK. With this new reggae album, Soom T sticks to what is closest to her heart covering a multitude of topics from the corrupt state of the world, to the emptiness of politics and the urgent need to awaken to the reality of the condition of society. Behind the need to inform and urge society moving forward, The Louder The Better delivers a positive and inspiring message, led by melodies and vocals at the crossroads of genres, that fans will love to listen to at any time. Also featuring Tom Fire and Sonny Green.

 

PRICE: $41.00

CAT #: XRP 2306LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

True leader of a Raggamuffin new wave of in Europe, Jamaican artist Skarra Mucci's album Return Of The Raggamuffin was awarded Best Dancehall album of the year in 2012 and never repressed since then. Here are all the tracks which made his success such as "Movie Star", "Raggamuffin" or "Feel Alright" in remastered version. According to the press and his fans, this is his milestone album. Featuring U-Jean, Delroy Wilson, and Kiprich.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: XRP 2307CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Released in 2014, Greater Than Great is the fifth album by Jamaican singer Skarra Mucci, the first for Undisputed Records, bringing together the cream of Reggae Digital productions from Bizzarri Records, DreadSquad, Irie Ites Records, Weedy G Soundforce, Deebuzz Musik, Hard2Def, Soulove / Delamix, D&H Records, Kskamp and Rawkaz Clan which the toaster comes to ride brilliantly. Greater than great, it's just legend! The album Greater Than Great offers eclectic versions navigating between dancehall, digital, reggae and raggamuffin. Skarra Mucci proves once again that he is one of the rare singers capable of putting his voice on all styles of reggae with a capital "R" and transforming them into instant classics. Featuring Alex, Teacha Dee, and Teacha Dee.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: XRP 2307LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Released in 2014, Greater Than Great is the fifth album by Jamaican singer Skarra Mucci, the first for Undisputed Records, bringing together the cream of Reggae Digital productions from Bizzarri Records, DreadSquad, Irie Ites Records, Weedy G Soundforce, Deebuzz Musik, Hard2Def, Soulove / Delamix, D&H Records, Kskamp and Rawkaz Clan which the toaster comes to ride brilliantly. Greater than great, it's just legend! The album Greater Than Great offers eclectic versions navigating between dancehall, digital, reggae and raggamuffin. Skarra Mucci proves once again that he is one of the rare singers capable of putting his voice on all styles of reggae with a capital "R" and transforming them into instant classics. Featuring Alex, Teacha Dee, and Teacha Dee.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: XRP 2308LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. On the occasion of the new 2023 edition of his album Dancehall President, released in 2016 on Undisputed Records, Skarra Mucci unveils an alternative cover for the vinyl version. Nicknamed "King Skarra" or "The Dancehall President", Skarra Mucci is undoubtedly one of the most versatile and interesting singers on the current reggae scene. With an inexhaustible flow and judicious crossovers between reggae/dancehall, hip-hop and soul, Skarra Mucci transcends riddims and eras with mad class. Between Shaggy and Damian Marley, he reconciles tradition and modernity, old-fashioned raggamuffin and current productions. Dancehall President is no exception in this area with reggae, dancehall, hip hop, dubstep influences and featurings such as Beenie Man, Willy William, Yaniss Odua, Horace Andy, and Mandinka.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: XRP 2309LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Originally released in 2018 on Undisputed Records, The One Love Family is Skarra Mucci's seventh studio album. For this featuring album where one or more guests appear on each track, the artist invited a cast of choice with guests from various backgrounds such as the heavyweights of French reggae from Dub Inc or the Jamaican stars of yesterday and today such as Ken Boothe, King Kong, and Chezidek. This album is a hymn to sharing in which we find the many facets of the Dancehall President. Also featuring Teacha Dee, Phantom IMC, MC Navigator, Echo Minott, Keith & Tex, Yaniss Odua, Hawkeye, Little Pepe, Horace Andy, Moana & The Tribe, and Treesha.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: XRP 2310LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Skarra Mucci is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist born in Kingston. Known as the "Dancehall President", his career counts seven solo albums, including the essential Return of the Raggamuffin (2012) and countless classics and cult collaborations, such as the hit "My Sound" from the album Greater Than Great (2014) which exceeds 15 million cumulative streams and the critically acclaimed album Dancehall President (2016) with its tour of more than 100 dates around the world, from Mexico to China. Five years after the release of The One Love Family (2018), this essential figure of Jamaican music, with his versatile flow and recognizable voice, announces a new studio album with multiple influences Perfect Timing. Perfect Timing is an ode to reggae of all eras, full of nods to the Sound System culture, from its origins to the present day. From the choice of the featurings to that of the beats, nothing is left to chance to offer us a journey through the highlights of this rich culture which has never ceased to evolve, without any period being left behind. Accustomed to albums teeming with successful collaborations, Perfect Timing is obviously no exception. In particular, on the title "Street Dance," are the essential French producers of L'Entourloop, with whom he released the very successful EP Golden Nuggets. Jamaican legend Johnny Osbourne also takes part in the celebration offering a version of his '80s classic "What A La La," here performed by French riddim maker specialized in digital reggae, Manudigital. Skarra Mucci continues his exploration of various styles and influences with the very groovy "Dancehall," produced by the Dub Akom band. There is also the massive "Who Fool Them," a UK stepper track produced by Evidence Music, as long as the future dancehall classic "Rappa Pam Pam," and the mystic "Misty Babylon" in a much more roots reggae register.