Forced Exposure New Releases for the Week of 11/7/2023

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: ATLP 017LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Repressed. Two visionary explorers of the acid and dub intersection team up for a seven-track LP, In The Afterworld, on Acid Test. Om Unit and TM404 have both been researching production and compositional elements in the crosshairs of dub and acid for the last few years -- Om Unit most notably with his Acid Dub Studies 1 & 2, and TM404 with his Acidub album in particular. Om Unit has been a longtime fan of TM404's use of the TB-303 and the deconstructed space he brings to the house and techno template. Meanwhile, Om Unit's own leaning towards breaks and reggae instrumentation has offered a different approach to the acid sound they both love so much. So, an LP with Acid Test seemed the perfect opportunity to combine those approaches and see what kind of mutations could be discovered. The result is a primordial soup that is in parts acid, dub, breaks and ambient, full of spaced-out synths and psychedelic bass, where the pair enjoyed building tracks with a feel for where the music wanted to go, irrespective of stylistic constraints. Rolling opener "Motorway Acid" sets the pace high and strong, conjuring both wide open spaces and fast-paced travel at the same time, with weightless pads, stroboscopic breaks and a mighty 303 riff that can teleport you to the middle of a foggy dancefloor. "Microdose Mondays" on the other hand, slows the tempo down and veers into cosmic territory, with perfectly dubbed drum rolls and burbling squelch. But it's "London Stock" that kicks the album into hyperspace, finding its futuristic steppers groove somewhere in the answer to the hypothetical question "what if Shaka had produced Stingray?" Speaking of underwater electronics, "Meanwhile In The Smoking Area" delves deep into submarine territory, delivering the kind of bass weight and sonar acid signals you'd need a diver's suit for. It's a vibe that's continued on the tracks "Thursday" and "Refracted", and speaks to the record's title -- otherworldly, dreamy bass meditations that aren't of this realm. The album closes out with "Praha", a pacey yet ambient vista of warm wide synths, layers of 303, and dub echoes that sound like the machines are slowly coming to life. It's in this altered state that the album resides, somewhere between worlds and styles, emerging out of the space around the TB-303 that Om Unit and TM404 have created, with their open-minded approach to the music and to this collaboration.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: ZORN 095LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

As an important agent of Gothenburg's underground scene, Dan Johansson has been a member of several experimental harsh noise projects such as Sewer Election, and lo-fi indie folk bands like Enhet F?r Fri Musik and Amateur Hour. Ordeal is his latest solo output, and might as well be ashes stuck in the blast furnace's edges of his last longing career. Not by means of summing up genres or as a culmination of his musical development, but as a profound music piece weaved in his own household. With not much more than a synthesizer, V?tterns P?rla is built by trembling, dissonant drones stained in feedback and reverberation, thickly textured by the no-fi quality of the recording, depicting a menacing atmosphere congested with heavy fumes. In Johansson's words, Ordeal "takes inspiration from the early '80s albums of Maurizio Bianchi, filtered through a Gothenburgian no-fi bleakness. It's an album for inner voyage, childhood memories, and places that now lost purpose and meaning." There's certainly intimacy and nostalgia, yet a claustrophobic, hypnotic ambiance wraps it all up in a contained and narrow space. Emphasis is put on texture rather than on detail, on color rather than on progression, on suspense rather than on conclusion. Tension varies stiffly, sometimes a drone layer dismantles and the mood seems to filter, but ragged edges are never polished. We can feel the walls and the air, which although tarnished, can be breathed in somehow. It's as if waking up in a dark room and having to recognize it with our ears and tact, testing its dimensions and its surface. The stillness in the chamber is like the stillness between gasps of storms. Without visible stars, an enclosed share of night sky hides a heavy load of industrial debris underwater. These remnants are maybe the pearl regarding the album's title. It all can seem like a dream, a grim mechanical soundscape deafened by hefty, yet sporadic winds. Soil strives to make something grow, but sprouting is kept suspended, held by a dismal presentiment. Long shadows on the ground prove that darkness is about to befall. And as these shadows stretch, almost about to break up in a loud strike, the noise turns white.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: ZORN 101LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Recorded in Brussels in 2019, Feral Lands and Forbidden Cities is Timelash's second delivery of a four-album projected series. In their debut, A Morphology of Wonders (Aguirre Records, 2021), the duet formed by Embassador Dulgoon (Nonlocal Society, Archimboldos) and Corum (Psychic Sounds, Million Brazilians) revealed a unique musical journey that unfolds and expands like a cluster of organic matters and mechanical dialogues lit by iridescent fluorescences. Timelash's musical proposal is firmly rooted in retrofuturism, reminding us of exotic and library music artists such as Martin Denny, Egisto Macchi, Bernard F?vre, and Eric Vann, reaching up to Mark Dwane's cinematic soundscapes, or Constance Demby's Novus Magnificat. Feral Lands and Forbidden Cities digs precisely into what the title indicates: civilizations not yet explored, untraceable ruins, and the unknown. Digital synthesizers, samplers, flutes, percussion pads, and effects are assembled as stirring sprouts of life and evolutionary dream cycles. Spacecraft bustles, strange body noises, tolling bells, plasticine murmurs, and boiling potions ring under harmonic synth soulful crescendos, building up a sense of both machinery and wonder; the emotional significance that the mechanical contains. The tactile quality of detail and the flourishing motifs join and bloom in poignant, even epic manners, as in "Outside Grottos of Time." A mood more dizzying and suspenseful speeds up "Sandrunner's Pass" until the puzzling closing track "Shadows of the Skyfish" wraps it all up. Chromatic glares, mechanical abstractions, and multicolored visions emerge like fumes radiating from electric dreams; melodic layers drift, rise, and finally lay down subtly. There's a feeling of mystery and motion in several directions, sometimes even simultaneous, although limited, all of them equally full of meaning, since this is a coherent musical tale. The Great Nebula of Andromeda swims like a phosphorescent amoeba. Far away yonder in forbidden cities, foreboding creatures are planning to abduct us while we sleep. In the dark, we cook our macaroni and eat by lantern light. Stars cluster all over our table like fireflies. We watch the turning moon through our little telescope. The unknown stumbles around the dying campfire. As breaths gather firm, an auroral stain illuminates the sky once again. Great geometrical winter constellations lift up over sinuous litmus gleams. We walk under the stars, our feet on the unknown round earth. Our eyes follow the lights of a deep glowing spaceship. Engine tones rise, shrill, faint, finally inaudible, and its lights go out in the southeast haze beneath the feet of Orion.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: ZORN 102LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

In addition to the unique musical proposals and the large body of work that they have developed separately, Amelia Cuni and Werner Durand have been performing together as a duo as well as in collaborations (Tonaliens, Born of Six) for more than 20 years. Fusing her Indian Raga singing in the Dhrupad style with his minimalist and experimental approach, they have expanded the reach of their soundworlds as well as proposed new paths for contemporary music. In this occasion, Uli Hohmann joins them in a range of hand drums from the Middle East and North Africa, plus a dulcimer-sounding hammered guitar. Durand's various self-made wind instruments, soprano sax, and blown kalimba shine along with Cuni's astounding vocals, which are sometimes sung through a mirliton (a medieval type of kazoo). Clearing is the trio's first published recording. With a condensing sound going from Buddhist morning chants down to Indian festive traditional music, the title track, which closes the album, is the most vibrant of all, permeating a bit of commotion through buzzing drones and galloping percussion. Without disorder, yet without measure. Clearing is therefore this shuttle into the distance, this space that weaves, unites, and tenses the different cords that we are made up of. When the clouds advance silently, gray, until they become dark in a few minutes, it means that the monsoon is coming. It reaches us without apparent noise, but then resounds in its images, leaving behind lightness, freshness, clarity, and a tremendous luminosity that comes from so far away: from the Himalayas, from so ancient, from Sanskrit, from a sound where the darkness and the divine, where the concrete and the landscape, where the rock and the humidity leave a mark that brings together and ties a sky loaded with new clouds.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: ZORN 104LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Apolline and Thomas have been performing since 2022 under the KOU guise with 24 electronic harmoniums. Producing dense layers of tones and overtones. On their debut album, KOU steers in another direction. The harmonium appears occasionally, but more prominent are delicate guitar pluckings, distant vocal effects, synths, flutes, piano strokes, a touch of musical magic and Apolline's jazz-not-jazz vocals. Recommended for fans of: Nina Harker, Le Diable Degoutant, Fiesta En El Vacio. Played, written, recorded and glued at home and on the road by Apolline Sch?ser and Thomas Coquelet.

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: ANS 6000LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress. Anthony Naples's fifth full-length LP, orbs, is a moody portal of shoegazed and slo-mo songs suspended in thin air. The album doesn't reassemble the AN sound from the ground up, so much as enhance and expand its scope in all directions. Samples and instruments meld together into new languorous and liquid forms that with or without the beat of drums, shift with the gentle movements of time.

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: ASH 311LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

2023 repress. "Released in 1976, Eternity was Alice Coltrane's first album for Warner Bros. after eight wondrous records on Impulse! Combining the drones and textures of India, the gospel and R&B of her Detroit youth and the dissonance of modern classical composition, Coltrane's music in the '70s would become increasingly difficult to categorize. Having moved a few years earlier to California (where she founded the Vedantic Center, an Ashram for spiritual studies), Coltrane stretches out on Eternity -- incorporating various musical styles, including a stirring adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring -- and the results are dazzling, both in sonic scope and emotional range. Opener 'Spiritual Eternal' sways between Alice's exploratory organ and the dramatic swell of lush strings. A meditative solo piece for harp, 'Wisdom Eye,' precedes the rollicking rhythms of 'Los Caballos,' which showcases some of her finest soloing. 'Om Supreme' is the album's first track to be built around bhajans (Hindu devotional songs). Featuring graceful keyboards backed by an angelic choir, this piece hints at the ecstatic devotional music that she would later make with members of her Ashram. While Coltrane would delve deeper into her spiritual journeys and continue to expand her musical interests on subsequent LPs, Eternity remains a vivid and compelling display of her unique vision, myriad talents and passions."

 

PRICE: $84.00

CAT #: AE 51019251CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Limited restock; 2001 release. Odyssey is the definitive compendium of solo trumpet music by Bill Dixon, as compiled by the artist. Dixon (1925-2010) was known primarily for his small and large ensemble masterpieces of the decades between Intents and Purposes (1967) and Tapestries (2009). While he appeared infrequently in solo performances, he was continually evolving in studio through these years a remarkably nuanced and powerful solo music -- especially during the mid-1970s, as a counterpart to daily work with student orchestras on large ensemble pieces. Small offerings of these solo gems were published relatively obscurely in the early 1980s in Italy, and a larger batch were hand selected by the composer for a two-LP collection in 1985. In 2000, Dixon gathered into Odyssey the entirety of his oeuvre for solo trumpet, adding more than two hours of further solo pieces, and a small number of additional duet recordings. The tracks were selected and sequenced by Mr. Dixon, who curated the entire project for release on his own label, Archive Edition. Veteran engineer Kevin Reeves (Capitol, Universal; Grammy-nominated for Revenant (2015) work) mastered from original tapes exclusively, deriving unprecedented clarity on these exquisite recordings. The set spans five CDs of trumpet solos and one full disc of Dixon's enigmatic spoken commentary for the project. Two printed folios are also in the box: In one are further emphatic annotations by Dixon ensemble veterans Stephen Horenstein and Jason Zappa, and historian Ben Young; and the Dixon interview with journalist Graham Taylor-Lock. A second full-color folio Works on Paper reproduces 13 of Dixon's stunning ink and acrylic visual creations, mostly from the late 1990s, and unpublished prior to this set. Recordings span 1970-92, made primarily in Dixon's studio In Bennington, Vermont, with earlier examples from New York, and a later solo performance from Israel. Also included are Dixon's only released works for solo piano, the full set of "Relay" duets for his own piano and trumpet, an excerpt of the 1971 magnum opus "Summerdance", featuring drummers Laurence Cook and David Moss, and one preferred example of the duets with keyboardist Leslie Winston. Odyssey was released in 2001 -- assembled on the highest artistic level, according to Bill Dixon's production standards. It also has been subject to DIY distribution since that time, so in many ways this 2018 re-launch will be a first hearing for many.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: BEWITH 028LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

2023 repress. Be With Records present the first ever official reissue of Kimiko Kasai with Herbie Hancock's Butterfly, originally released in 1979. The positively sublime and very rare Butterfly LP, recorded in Tokyo in 1979 by Japanese songstress Kimiko Kasai and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. Due to its super-rare status as a Japan-only release, this exquisite collection of covers never got the recognition it deserved at the time, despite incredibly inspired performances from Kimiko, Herbie, and the supremely talented musicians assembled for the project. From heavenly drummer Alphonse Mouzon and renowned organist Webster Lewis to bassist Paul Jackson, reedman Bennie Maupin, and the master percussionist Bill Summers, the legendary performers crafted amazingly good vocal versions of Herbie/Headhunters jazz-funk. Unsurprisingly, it has been heavily in demand for many years. The LP opens with Kimiko's highly desirable version of "I Thought It Was You", an elegant take on Herbie's own anthem. Other superb re-workings include the delicately soulful "Butterfly", jazzy groover "Sunlight", the smooth and sexy "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", and the beautiful ballads "Maiden Voyage" and "Harvest Time". A wonderful example of perfectly understated and masterful jazz-funk soul fusion that shouldn't be missed, the set closes with a jaw-dropping version of Stevie Wonder's "As". This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of this hitherto unavailable masterpiece. The stunning artwork which adorned the original jacket -- complete with obi strip and sumptuous four-page folded insert -- has been faithfully restored. Mastered by Simon Francis, and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $21.50

CAT #: BONF 002LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reduced price, last copies. Bonfire Records present a reissue of Siren's self-titled album, originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label in 1969. Siren was the debut album by Kevin Coyne with Siren, the band he founded with former Bonzo Dog Band bassist Dave Clague and pianist/guitarist Nick Cudworth. An artist who would later inspire John Lydon, Sting, Ben Watt, and Will Oldham and would collaborate with Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Dagmar Krause, Brendan Croker, Gary Lucas, and The Mekons' Jon Langford, Kevin Coyne deserves a royal place between the likes of Syd Barrett, Peter Hammill, and Daevid Allen. Standing on the verge of British blues, folk and rawk n' roll, Siren could have been easily labeled as the British answer to Canned Heat, but there's even more. "And I Wonder" is clearly an anticipation of what would happen next, with the solo career of Coyne, more focused on acid folk songwriting. Licensed by Cherry Red. 180 gram vinyl. "Most of the album is good time rock-on-out-music a la the Flamin' Groovies... one of those (albums) you keep coming back to when the night gets cold and the wine is almost out. I play it a lot, and that's the nicest thing I can say about an album." --Ed Ward, Rolling Stone. "Siren just came as a breath of fresh air really, in the same way that like a generation later The Ramones did. When you just thought 'Thank God for that!' You hadn't realized how bored you'd become..." --John Peel.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: BONF 003LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reduced price, last copies. Long before there was a "Highway To Hell" late AC/DC singer Bon Scott was the front-man of Australian own Fraternity, a Sydney rock band formed in 1970. For the first time on this gatefold double LP, you'll find the complete recordings of this unbelievable act. Formerly four members of the Levi Smith's Clefs, John Bisset on keyboards, Tony Buettel on drums, Bruce Howe on bass guitar and vocals, and Mick Jurd on lead guitar. Due to conflict at the time with their singer, Barry McAskill, the group abandoned him and relocated to Adelaide in 1971 to restart their career as Fraternity on the Sweet Peach label. Fraternity's debut release was a cover of The Moody Blues track "Question" backed with an Ashdown/Stewart song "Why Did It Have To Be Me?". While the band had competent recording vocals, they were lacking a definitive front-man. Bon Scott at the time was performing with a group called The Valentines. The band liked his raw energy and felt that he would be a good addition to the band. After some persuasion, Bon agreed to relocate and joined them as lead singer. The band's biggest local hit was a cover of Blackfeather's "Seasons of Change" which peaked at No.1 in Adelaide. In 1971, Fraternity went on to win the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. Bon Scott's previous band, The Valentines, had been a finalist in this competition two years earlier. Fraternity were now being touted as "The Next Big Band" and the competition prize was a free trip to London. However, this trip would go on to be the end of Fraternity as we know it. Licensed by Good Time Inc./Sweet Peach. Gatefold; 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BB 185A-LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress; LP edition, split into two volumes sold separately. To provide an overview of the various musical styles in which Bureau B specializes, the label launches a new compilation series entitled Kollektion. Each release in this series will be curated by a musician perfectly suited to the task. The first kick-off release will be: Kollektion 01: Sky Records, compiled by Tim Gane. The erstwhile Stereolab mastermind delves through the archives of the legendary German Krautrock label. About Sky Records: The record company was founded in the year 1975 and went on to become one of the few German labels to reap international acclaim. It was run by Gunter K?rber, who quit his job at Metronome where he and Bruno Wendel had spent four years developing and managing the legendary Brain label. About Tim Gane: No less a figure than Tim Gane, the man behind Stereolab, has delved into the Sky Records archives for the Kollektion series. Gane has never hidden his love of Krautrock; many a Stereolab song has its foundations in the typical "motorik" beat, while his latest band, Cavern Of Anti-Matter wallows in Klaus Dinger rhythms. Experimental sounds hold no fear for him, as early noise cassette releases under his Un-Kommuniti alias testify. This first vinyl volume contains seven tracks; artists: Asmus Tietchens, Moebius & Beerbohm, Roedelius, Michael Rother, Cluster and Moebius & Plank.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BB 185B-LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress; LP edition, split into two volumes sold separately. This is Volume B. Contains final 10 tracks from the CD version. Artists: Asmus Tietchens, Roedelius, Eno Moebius Roedelius, Moebius & Beerbohm, Riechmann, Moebius, Gunter Schickert and Cluster.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: BSR 840LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"This is Lee 'Scratch' Perry's final studio album recorded shortly before his passing in October 2021. Lee was one of 'the major cultural figures' of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. His contribution to the furtherance of Jamaican music as producer, arranger, writer and artist is beyond compare. He played a pivotal role in, and was the inspiration behind, many of the key movements in the development of reggae throughout the '60s and '70s. Released on 180m gram vinyl, including a booklet with extensive sleeve notes by Noel Hawks, plus photos."

 

PRICE: $12.00

CAT #: ESPDISK 5047CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Guillermo Gregorio has been exploring space and form and gesture in music for a very long time. In 1969, with composers Norberto Chavarri and Roque de Pedro, he cofounded the collective Movimiento M?sica M?s, which for a while staged public interventions, performances, and happenings even as the political skies were darkening again. He finally left Argentina in 1985, living in Vienna, L.A., and Cologne through the end of that decade, before settling in Chicago for the next 25 years. Already in Vienna, he began his fertile relationship with the Hat Art label, which eventually put out half a dozen records under his name, plus other sessions playing the music of Anthony Braxton and Cornelius Cardew, as guest soloist with Ran Blake, and a piece he wrote commissioned by the Makrokosmos Quartet. The present record reflects a sort of pivot to his new home, New York, where Gregorio moved in 2015. For the trio that performed at Edgefest -- the festival's 22nd edition in 2018 focused on the Chicago connection -- he reached out to close associates from two decades earlier, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Carrie Biolo, neither of whom live there anymore either. That trio was the most productive and enduring group he ever played with, and their nuanced rapport, the fine weave of their sound, the mutual instincts, seem but a continuation without pause of their past work together. Chicago also proved highly receptive to the fruitful convergence of free jazz and twentieth-century European music that allowed him to flourish and become a recognized figure there in the nineties. Concurrently, by the time of the festival, Gregorio had been performing with Nicholas Jozwiak in different settings around Manhattan and Brooklyn, as they did at Downtown Music Gallery in 2020 just before the world locked down. DMG, Bruce Gallanter's friendly institution packed into a tiny space, has for decades seen fit not just to sell records but to host weekly concerts of improvised music and Gregorio has played there on many occasions since well before he left Chicago. On this late date, the trio was completed by one of his newest collaborators, Iv?n Barenboim, like Jozwiak a couple generations younger and like Gregorio a porte?o (native of Buenos Aires).

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: GONE 189LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Goner Records presents Harahan Fats, an extraordinary posthumous album by King Louie Bankston (December 18, 1972 - February 12, 2022). The collection showcases an American artist at the pinnacle of his musical and personal identity. An aural roadmap to South Louisiana that's imbued with personal mythologies and blurry, beer-soaked and drug-skewed memories, Harahan Fats was recorded over a four-year period that culminated in mid-October 2021. As co-founder and drummer of the Royal Pendletons, Bankston recorded with power-pop legend Alex Chilton. He picked up a Gibson Flying V for his work in Bad Times, a garage rock supergroup that Bankston helmed alongside Eric Oblivian and Jay Reatard. In the 1990s, Bankston channeled his energy into bands like the Persuaders, Intelligenitals, the Clickems, Harahan Crack Combo, and Gerry And The Bastard Makers. At the dawn of the new century, he founded the legendary King Louie One Man Band. In 2000, Louie pulled up stakes in New Orleans and moved to Portland, Oregon, where he joined the power-pop punk band The Exploding Hearts. Bankston wrote many of the songs and played keyboards on their only album, the highly acclaimed Guitar Romantic, released mere weeks before three members of the band were killed in a van wreck, and recently reissued by Third Man Records. Bankston then landed in Memphis, where he formed the Loose Diamonds, a ramshackle bar band, with Jack Oblivian, Harlan T. Bobo, and Gary Wrong. With guitarist Julian Fried, he formed Missing Monuments and Black Rose Band, founded a New Orleans biker-rock band called Kondor with Mr. Quintron, and reconnected with Exploding Hearts guitarist Terry Six for Terry And Louie."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: HEADVOICE 001

FILE UNDER: Misc

"The debut issue of Head Voice, created by James Toth, Donovan Quinn, and Ben Chasny. Featuring Matt Valentine, Peter Laughner, Naomi Yang, Cheval Sombre, Kristen Gallerneaux, and Jason Quever. Head Voice is an audio recording zine focused on creative musical pursuits and unorthodox sound production. Our work strives to be of interest to those intrigued by the imaginative ingenuity behind audio recordings, regardless of whether you record music yourself. This zine is tailored from the threads of a thousand conversations between recording musicians. Many of these conversations share a common theme: the creative, non-technical side of sound recording. While the world seems to be overflowing with tips and tricks about how-to-do-this and how-to-do-that, Head Voice is more interested in the joy of recording while keeping in mind the primacy of the music. Dogmatic opinions about the 'right' and 'wrong' ways to create and record music -- in both the analog and digital realm -- tend to obscure and even dismiss the intuitive approaches that have been utilized to create art since the dawn of recorded time. Such strategies are often as unique, idiosyncratic, and individual as the artists who implement them, and these are the corners Head Voice wishes to explore. It is dedicated to the spirit of inquiry and transparency; to asking, not telling, and dispelling many discouraging myths about the recording process. It seeks to answer questions about the creation of music and art, as well as questions about the artists who make it. Head Voice hopes that this shared knowledge provides both resources and inspiration. Its motto: You are doing nothing wrong."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: HOS 871CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

RSE surprise album just in time before the migration to cooler waters. Grown in the shade of the glacier. Killer Whale Atmospheres is a future-memory affair of sub bass propulsive drones, rhythms, chords and dorsal scars building to a forbidding sense of cold echolocations yet to come through the violent procession of darkening rains. Black vinyl double LP in wide spine sleeve. Digital download code included.

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: ICTUSRE 005LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

2023 restock. Reissue, originally released in 1978. The Italian Ictus imprint was founded in 1976 by percussionist and composer, Andrea Centazzo, and his wife, Carla Lugli. Running for just under a decade, until relaunching during the mid-2000s, the label produced a couple of dozen highly celebrated releases, the majority of which loosely fall under the banner of free jazz. Ictus's second batch of releases from the label's historic archives logically begins with Andrea Centazzo's U.S.A. Concerts, out of print on vinyl for the majority of the time since. U.S.A. Concerts draws on the same rough period when Centazzo was working in the United States for Environment for Sextet, which was reissued in the previous batch (ICTUSRE 004LP), and features many of the same players -- Polly Bradfield on violin, Eugene Chadbourne on guitar, Tom Cora on cello, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet, and John Zorn on saxophone -- in different configurations. In fact, the first, second, and seventh tracks -- "Sextet Improvisation", "Duet Improvisation N. 1", "Duet Improvisation N. 4" -- were all recorded on the same day at the same location as the aforementioned album: WKCR Radio in New York on November 7, 1978. Beginning with the brilliant textural and tonal explorations of the full ensemble encountered in "Sextet Improvisation", the album quickly moves toward quieter and more restrained investigations of roughly similar ground, moving through a series of duo improvisations between the percussionist and Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, and the under-celebrated saxophonist, Jack Wright, whose howling horn is transformed to otherworldly effect by the reverberance of the space within which he works. From here, Centazzo embraces the trio form with an improvisation with two more under-celebrated figures from the American scene -- Davey Williams playing guitar and banjo, and LaDonna Smith on violin, viola, and voice -- capturing a performance in Jackson, Mississippi on November 19, 1978, during which the three fire responsive statements that hang like barbs in the spacious air, before conceding the LP with a brilliant suite of duos with Toshinori Kondo, Williams, and Smith. Offering incredible insight into Centazzo's unique sensibility, as well as into the work of a new generation of stunning improvisers as they emerged at the tail end of the '70s, before going on to help define the '80s free jazz sound, U.S.A. Concerts is a crucial artifact of free music at the juncture; fire on the boundaries of outright noise.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: JMAN 138CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Many artists achieve greatness but very few produce work that is so moving it's considered sacred. Whether you choose to call them hymns, psalms or spirituals, their songs are a healing force for troubled times. Jazzman's Spiritual Jazz series would not exist without the inspiration and leadership of the spiritual messiah that is John Coltrane. It can therefore only be right and proper that a whole album is dedicated to his legacy and lasting influence. Spiritual Jazz 15: A Tribute to 'Trane shines a spotlight on the reverence in which the saxophonist is held in so many ways. On one hand this selection displays cover versions of his songs performed by the musicians he inspired; disciples to Coltrane the messiah, who chose to give praise to the one who laid a foundation for them. The listener will also encounter original music written in honour of Coltrane that underlines the endless presence he has had among artists from different backgrounds and eras. The preacher may have ascended to a higher plane, but his congregation is still right down here on the ground. Ten songs to lift the spirits of everyone, everywhere. Gatefold LP with pics, liner notes and download code. Also includes 16-page booklet. Featuring Norman Connors, Clifford Jordan, Sonny Fortune, The Darwin Strickland Trio, Gilles Torrent Jazztet, Carsten Meinert, Malachi Thompson and Africa Brass, Hampton Hawes Trio, Carmelo Garcia, Brother Jack McDuff.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: JMAN 138LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Many artists achieve greatness but very few produce work that is so moving it's considered sacred. Whether you choose to call them hymns, psalms or spirituals, their songs are a healing force for troubled times. Jazzman's Spiritual Jazz series would not exist without the inspiration and leadership of the spiritual messiah that is John Coltrane. It can therefore only be right and proper that a whole album is dedicated to his legacy and lasting influence. Spiritual Jazz 15: A Tribute to 'Trane shines a spotlight on the reverence in which the saxophonist is held in so many ways. On one hand this selection displays cover versions of his songs performed by the musicians he inspired; disciples to Coltrane the messiah, who chose to give praise to the one who laid a foundation for them. The listener will also encounter original music written in honour of Coltrane that underlines the endless presence he has had among artists from different backgrounds and eras. The preacher may have ascended to a higher plane, but his congregation is still right down here on the ground. Ten songs to lift the spirits of everyone, everywhere. Gatefold LP with pics, liner notes and download code. Also includes 16-page booklet. Featuring Norman Connors, Clifford Jordan, Sonny Fortune, The Darwin Strickland Trio, Gilles Torrent Jazztet, Carsten Meinert, Malachi Thompson and Africa Brass, Hampton Hawes Trio, Carmelo Garcia, Brother Jack McDuff.

 

PRICE: $9.00

CAT #: KS 004EP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Warehouse find, last copies. "Originally to be released on Planet E's Community Projects sub-label, this late 80's recorded vocal Brazilian Jazz gem was picked up by the Kindred Spirits camp and it was decided to co-release it with the Community Projects label. It was recorded with the New World Jazz band, which features Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Kenny Cox on piano and Rodney Whitaker on bass a.o. Beautiful as the original is, Carl Craig decided to edit the intro, mid and outro break and add some effects to ensure that this will be a cross-over dancefloor hit on any dancefloor begging for percussive rhythms."

 

PRICE: $36.00

CAT #: KRANK 014LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. "The second album from New York City's Bowery Electric was released in late 1996, less than 15 months after their self-titled debut, but it found them having traveled light years musically in the interim, the group having seemingly decided to see how far they could take the guitar/bass/drums/vocal setup into the atmosphere. Every aspect of their approach had been refined and focused: squalling, distorted guitars had been transformed into hazy, sensual sheets; the live drums transmuted to sampled rhythms more in debt to the blossoming down-tempo sound of the day; bass lines reduced to their most basic diagrams; vocals submerged to become one with the narcotized fog of the instruments; even the lyrics were reduced to a few minimal lines used sparingly so as not to overshadow the dynamic. Beat is a lush and dense mantra of shadowy percussion, barely-there vocals and immersive drones that envelops the listener in an opiated blanket of sound. The second in a trio of albums released by the core duo of Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener, Beat is without doubt their definitive artistic statement. Coming 20 years to the day of its original release, this is the first time this album has been available on vinyl in almost two decades, and the first ever U.S. vinyl release."

 

PRICE: $36.00

CAT #: KRANK 239LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Repressed; double LP version. "The latest by Canadian composer Tim Hecker serves as a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue. Whether taken as warning or promise, No Highs delivers -- this is music of austerity and ambiguity, purgatorial and seasick. A jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined. Morse code pulse programming flickers like distress signals while a gathering storm of strings, noise, and low-end looms in the distance. Processed electronics shiver and shudder against pitch-shifting assemblages of crackling voltage, mantric horns (including exquisite modal sax by Colin Stetson), and cathedral keys. Throughout, the pieces both accrue and avoid drama, more attuned to undertow than crescendo. Hecker mentions 'negation' as a muse of sorts -- the sense of tumult without bombast, tethered ecstasies, an escape from escapism. His is an antagonism both brusque and beguiling, devoid of resolution, beckoning the listener ever deeper into its greyscale alchemies of magisterial disquiet."

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: SCIE 3123CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue of Home Comfort by Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier, originally self-released in 1980. With this album, Glynne and Zwier, based in the Netherlands and connected to the Ultra scene, drew an insular blend of intimate post-punk and chamber (bedroom) songs with surreal scenic reflections. Probably its naked singularity defying categorization has left it so unnoticed, even 43 years after the making. It also features a reciting Marl?ne Dumas still quite unknown at the time. With biggest gratitude to Mark Glynne who instantly felt confident with my proposal to reissue this silent witness of lasting beauty.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: SCIE 3123LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Reissue of Home Comfort by Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier, originally self-released in 1980. With this album, Glynne and Zwier, based in the Netherlands and connected to the Ultra scene, drew an insular blend of intimate post-punk and chamber (bedroom) songs with surreal scenic reflections. Probably its naked singularity defying categorization has left it so unnoticed, even 43 years after the making. It also features a reciting Marl?ne Dumas still quite unknown at the time. With biggest gratitude to Mark Glynne who instantly felt confident with my proposal to reissue this silent witness of lasting beauty.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: LUV 044LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

The sonic movement once known as downbeat continues to cast a long and intimidating shadow over the Austrian electronic music scene, with influential figures like Kruder & Dorfmeister reigning atop a metaphorical mountain of venerable dubplates, resembling ancient gods. Now, emerging from the depths of this mountain, comes Triangle, poised to rejuvenate the genre with Amor Fati, brimming with the purest liquid downbeat gold. Featuring an abundance of dusty breaks, reggae vocals, atmospheric keys and strings, dub stabs, wonky acid sequences, and deep basslines, these tunes check all the right boxes without ever feeling like mere imitations. The overall vibe remains warm, mellow, and hazy, while each track seamlessly weaves in an array of peculiar soundbites. Dive into the depths of Amor Fati, an album that bridges eras of timeless electronic soundscapes.

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: MAR 093EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Recorded in 1980, only 500 copies of this 7" were pressed, making the original extremely rare -- finally, Mad About Records presents this reissue.

 

PRICE: $64.00

CAT #: METAPHON 012LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

First ever release of female French composer, musicologist and writer Nicole Lachartre (1934-1991). This ten-track triple LP set comprises most of her electronic and musique concr?te compositions recorded in the 1960's and 1970's, all previously unreleased. It includes her first tape composition from 1968, recorded in Pierre Henry's Apsome studio, electronic and electro-acoustic compositions realized at the IPEM in Ghent, The Institute of Sonology in Utrecht and the Radio Belgrade Electronic Music Studio, and a premi?re concert recording from 1978 with the legendary Jeanne Loriod playing the Ondes Martenot. Lachartre studied with Darius Milhaud, Iannis Xenakis and Michel Philippot. Her broad formation and interest as well as her profound commitment and singular vision created a solitary voice, even within the field of electronic and concrete music, strangely enough unheard till this day.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: METAPHON 016LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Arthur Petronio's one and only LP, now reissued by Metaphon, was originally published by the Belgian Igloo label in 1979. An extravagant DIY montage of musique concr?te and sound poetry. In addition to Petronio's voice several female readers/performers contribute to this theatre of voices as guest vocalists. An album as unusual as his lifecycle. Born Switzerland 1897, Petronio was a French-Italian musician, poet and painter. He was a young violin virtuoso studying with Belgian master violinist Eug?ne Ysa?e, and played solo violin for Belgian King Leopold II at the age of 9. He was attracted to the avant-garde and visionary ideas of Gesamtkunstwerk and developed and presented his "Verbophonie" in 1919, integrating sound poetry into regular music scores. He was a friend to Kandinsky, Mondrian, Cocteau and Picasso, and published several avant-garde journals and poetry books with participation of like-minded artists. He wrote many scores for solo instruments, small ensembles, orchestral works, and operas and extended his musical ideas with new possibilities of tape composition.

 

PRICE: $38.50

CAT #: MGART 611TV-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Transparent vinyl version. First-ever official reissue on vinyl since 1975. Ash Ra Tempel is the eponymous debut studio album by the Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel. It features guitarist Manuel G?ttsching with drummer Klaus Schulze and bassist Hartmut Enke. Engineered by Conny Plank, it was recorded in March and June 1971 on Ohr Records. This 50th Anniversary Album will be released in memoriam of all the musical contributors to this release and on Manuel G?ttsching?s MG.ART label."On our album, the track 'Amboss' represents the first layer. Conventional instruments communicate familiar music which is in part expanded through electronic means. In the second track of the album -- 'Traummaschine' -- the actual basic sound approach is dissolved into an electronic Nirvana which no longer allows the concrete identification of actual instruments. Innocent, virgin listening, free from any and every association, can finally begin -- and the music can be absorbed and processed free from the limitations of categorization. That is the purpose of our music: To convey freedom without any predetermined criteria or traditions. Thank you for your attention." --Manuel G?ttsching (Taken from the original A-R-T Bio 1970)140gram Limited Transparent Vinyl. Sticker, 50th Anniversary RE-Edition, Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel G?ttsching. 350 gram Quadro Fold Out Sleeve that exactly replicates complex/original OHR die-cut jacket, A2 Poster, 2x (German and English) A4 Inlay with Original Bio Sheet written by Manuel G?ttsching (1970). Pressed at Optimal, Germany.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: LOVE 128LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Lucy Railton trusts in the nuance of her own creative instincts on an intensely modern, quietly radical new album, her second for Modern Love. Following her 2018 solo debut Paradise 94 (LOVE 108LP), and countless collaborations in the time since, Railton's diverse musical circles here bleed into each other, creating an insoluble testament to a lifelong pursuit of sound. The multi-instrumentalist further articulates her own tonal register, embracing her solo strengths and trusting the process to reveal vulnerable and compelling emotional facets through a fluid mix of composition, and pure expression. On the simplest level, Corner Dancer is a record that revels in the momentum of creation. Through a range of approaches, Railton gradually loosens her grip and allows her identities to expose themselves; cut to the bone, sinew and spirit of music making. Reaching outside tried and tested zones, she lands at a charged space characterized by unmetered pacing and an embrace of imperfection, using cello, viella (a medieval cello), Buchla, 808, a fan, synths, horse hair whips, a handheld harp and her own voice, across eight tracks that arc from an opening sequence of ruptured asymmetries, to something bordering the sublime on "Blush Study," the album's masterful closing flourish. In between, Railton invokes psychoacoustic, heady spins and repetitions, while also allowing space for live performance, a mode to which she feels most attuned, and here captured best on "Held in Paradise" (her violin debut) and "Rib Cage." Collapsing boundaries, Railton harnesses a lifetime of formal training in order to patiently trace more ambiguous, intimate and sometimes deviant shapes, operating to a fuzzed logic that loops back to themes with an ingenious underlying dramaturgy of energies, dismantling the form from the inside out, in a way that bends through feeling, rather than design.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: CREST 119LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"This album is an overview of the work of Jackson C. Frank, friend and peer of the likes of Paul Simon, Bert Jansch, and (his girlfriend for a while), Sandy Denny. His most well-known song 'Blues Run The Game' (included here in the rare single version, along with the non-album B-side) has been covered by Simon and Garfunkel, Counting Crows, Bert Jansch and Eddi Reader, and Nick Drake recorded four of his songs. In recent years, Jackson's work has come to be recognized much more widely, and his music (particularly 'Blues Run The Game') has been included in many TV programs and films, with 'My Name Is Carnival' featuring in 2019's huge hit Joker. Sessions include 'My Kind Of Folk' Nov 13, 1968 'Shotwell Sessions,' recorded June 5, 1972 'Rude Sessions,' recorded May 9, 1974 Extensive sleeve notes detailing the tragic life of this folk artist."

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: TM 2022LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Tim Mari?n's music settles in a liminal world, between borders. In A Basement Suite, musical self-evidences are called into question. At first, Mari?n 'uproots' our listening experience through his use of unconventional musical tunings, which he distills from tones that are naturally present in the harmonic overtone series. In this liberating approach, turnings do not get bogged down in a fixed basic principle. They spread out and become a range of possibilities for the composer. Marien's flexible method is strongly tied to his practice of rebuilding and retuning instruments to play his microtonal scales, including antique, worn pianos, a discarded harpsichord, and a traveled mandolin. Sometimes the fragile state of these instruments prevents them from being tuned to perfection. But it is precisely this unruly materiality of sound, which runs counter to the theoretical perfection of tuning systems. Furthermore, Mari?n often allows the instruments, with their unique timbres and microtonal scales, to simultaneously develop varying transformational processes in his compositions. Instruments are in constant interaction, taking over intervals, gestures and even playing techniques from each other. A Basement Suite takes us to the heart of Mari?n's liminal sound world. This suite for string ensemble, written for Tiptoe Company, unites three pieces Mari?n composed and reworked between 2012 and 2020: "Basement of Strings," "Unresolved Streets" and "Tomorrow Started the Game I." The liminal approach of A Basement Suite goes even further: the boundaries of the pieces themselves are also porous. Mari?n conceived the suite as a modular composition, in which the three pieces can be rearranged and attached to each other in all sorts of ways. In the version for this album, Unresolved Streets (2015) was given a chorus role. With alternating plucked and bowed textures, the instruments seem to be searching for a solution that simply fails to materialize. (Text by Anna Vermeulen. Translation by Thomas R. Moore.)

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: NA 6104LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

2023 restock. "Pressed on opaque green vinyl. 'Electrified by a diet of James Brown, the Stones and Deep Purple, Witch were the stadium-filling kings of 70s Zamrock.' --MOJO This landmark recording from Now-Again's comprehensive overview of Zambia's premier garage-, psych-, prog-, funk-, Afro-rock ensemble Witch, We Intend To Cause Havoc! is now available in a never before seen color variant. The audio is nigh-perfect -- restored and remastered from the original master tapes. Witch's musical arc is contained to a five-year span and, in retrospect, is a logical one. The band's first two, self-produced albums -- released in unison with the birth of the commercial Zambian recording industry -- are exuberant experiments in garage rock, and are as influenced by the Rolling Stones as they are James Brown. In The Past, their second album, is the perfect follow-up for anyone exposed to the Witch band through their landmark Introduction."

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: OS 005LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Third edition of 500 copies on splatter black-and-white vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. De Brassers were one of the most notorious bands in the Belgian new wave/punk history. With their no-nonsense attitude they scared the shit out of the local catholic community of Hamont. De Brassers were a local mixture of the Sex Pistols (in the lowest gear) and Joy Division (they always performed a cover version of Joy Division's "Shadowplay"), combining a criticism of bureaucracy and politics with experiences of psychological and existential tensions. The doomed sound they produced tells a lot about the dark atmosphere of the late seventies and early eighties: the fear of atomic bombs, cold war pessimism, police violence against squatters, the first cases of AIDS, and the grim years of Reagan and Thatcher. This compilation takes you back to that time. All tracks from their first 7? En Toen Was Er Niets Meer and their self-titled 12?, plus rare and unreleased tracks taken from various live performances and the cassette Levend. If you're in for a raw slice of Belgian history let de Brassers immerse you in a cold wave of punk.

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: PAL 072LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"I was hanging out with Bill Orcutt at the 930 Club nearly 30 years ago, watching a famous post-rock band (who shall remain nameless, but whose moniker contained two-and-a-half times more articles and conjunctions than nouns) when he said: 'This band is like my band in college -- all major 7th and 9th chords.' I relate this to emphasize that in the case of Bill Orcutt and Harry Pussy, the seemingly untutored ooze of 'Please Don't Come Back From the Moon' and 'Girl With Frog' had its genesis in something far more Apollonian than is usually understood. It's debatable whether or not Watt, the duo of Orcutt and drummer Tim Koffley featured on Recorded in Miami, is the above referenced grad-school band. Watt is not resplendent with jazz chords, but it's certainly more tutored, offering a mannered link between the contemporaneous Thunders-esque punk of Orcutt's Trash Monkeys and Harry Pussy's mayhem. The continuity with Harry Pussy is more than temporal -- Recorded in Miami is Orcutt's first use of the four-string guitar, and Harry Pussy claimed the same amp and drum kit. The resemblance more or less ends there. To further put Recorded in Miami -- made on Orcutt's Walkman, Rat Bastard's North Miami studio, and South Miami's Natural Sound (total bill $289) -- into context, consider the fecundity of the underground music world as the '80s rolled into the '90s. It's hard to relate to those who missed it, but it was a time when post-hardcore hadn't quite given way to the bloat of grunge, when the Minutemen held sway (for the moment) over Led Zeppelin. The indie world was ruled by an ever-propagating compost heap of jagged guitar bands like TFUL282, Truman's Water, and (to crank it back a couple years) Phantom Tollbooth. And in some ways (although Orcutt swears Watt's prime influences were James Blood Ulmer and Fred Frith's Massacre), this record seems very much cut from that decade-ending cloth, seemingly only one vocal overdub away from a Homestead catalog number. Track after track (mostly titled after episodes of Art Clokey's slyly Buddhist TV masterwork, Gumby), Recorded in Miami's tracks spill over with right angles, rockist tropes, and verse/ chorus structures, from the Minutemen-oid funk of 'Band Contest' to the stroked Moore-Ranaldo-isms of 'The Young and the Decoding.' Yet Orcutt's fretboard-spanning angular melodic runs are right up front in the latter, and the final two tracks introduce a bit of the explosive chaos that would follow when Adris finally claimed the drum kit. Consider 'Wattstock,' where Koffley forms the bedrock for an extended Orcutt hotbox of instantly-composed harmolodics. Or 'God Are You There, It's Me, Watt,' where we can hear the spontaneous vocal bursts (the only vocals on the album) that would re-emerge on Orcutt's early solo records. Watt began to crumble when Koffley, as drummers will do, yearned for rhythmic grids of increasing complexity, while Orcutt instead wanted to 'smoke more pot and improvise.' For a few records with Harry Pussy, Orcutt would get his wish (though some of the structuralism of Watt would creep into later records). But we shouldn't regard Recorded in Miami as mere transitional scraps of juvenalia, or stunt-rock delivered for the mere thrill of pulling it off. Rather, it's an early, major piece of the unfolding and complex puzzle of Orcutt's music. A foundation. And without the earth beneath our feet, how can we ever reach the sky?" --Tom Carter

 

PRICE: $39.50

CAT #: PEACE 020LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Peace & Rhythm announce the release of Richmond, Virginia-based salsa orchestra Bio Ritmo's self-titled 2002 album, first time on vinyl (double LP), remastered from the original tapes, with three bonus unreleased live tracks and download card. The so-called "Green Album" has received a facelift for its vinyl debut, with a remix of the artwork and an interior gatefold spread chock-full of band memorabilia from the era. What's more, the original album tracks have been properly mastered from the reel-to-reel tapes for the first time, and the added live recordings give fans a taste of what it was like to hear tunes from the album performed on stage back in the day. Bio Ritmo are known as pioneers of the indie-salsa music revival, and this visionary album is the one that kicked the band into high gear in the second chapter of their career. Though inspired by classic salsa dura artists of the seventies, Bio Ritmo have created their own unique sound, some say "experimental" for their mixing of influences not commonly found in salsa music.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 383LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Classic Wailers recordings done with Lee Perry early '70s. Tuff roots rhythms with early stripped-down versions to later well-known tracks such as "Sun Is Shining," "African Herbsman," "Keep On Moving" and many more.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 388LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Barry Brown was one of the handful of upcoming artists that came to define the emerging dancehall style as a singer with a distinctive high tenor that was instantly recognizable, and one which inevitably made a lasting impression on the listener. His lyrics were witty, gritty, and full of gusto, typically addressing the trials and tribulations facing the underprivileged, but also celebrating the positive aspects of ghetto life, including the irresistible lure of the local sound systems, the need to enjoy a loving relationship with a woman, and the various other joys one may encounter along the way. Most of the work on Love And Protection, an intriguing compilation that surfaced in the mid-1990s, brings us back to Barry Brown's peak period as heard on the Cool Pon Your Corner and Far East LPs, along with the original unembellished mixes of two EPs released by Black Roots, as well as some harder to trace material, such as the vibrant digital title track. Running the gauntlet from "reality" tunes to dance numbers to songs of loving romance and everything in between, it ultimately emphasizes Barry Brown's impressive versatility, highlighting the important role he played in the shift from roots to dancehall.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 389LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

One of the most popular and high profile of Jamaican reggae vocalists, Gregory Isaacs was a rough diamond who clawed his way out of the harsh western Kingston ghetto with an instantly recognizable voice that was wonderfully emotive, expressing both his toughness and determination for betterment, as well as the bleeding heart of a vulnerable lover. New Dance is one of the excellent mid-1990s dancehall albums expertly produced by Anthony Dehaney, alias Bunny Gemini, working as usual with the Firehouse Crew, this time with Fatman Thompson of King Tubby's studio at the mixing desk and guitarist Lascelles Beckford of the Gifted Roots band as special guest. As usual, Gregory rides the rhythms with considerable aplomb, feeling completely natural atop the hard-edged rhythms and tackling a range of topics along the way. Much of the album deals with love lost, love gained, and love deferred; "Say A Special Prayer" revamps the evergreen "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On" and "New Dance" salutes the allure of dancehall music in the open air. This is one of Mr. Isaacs' better offerings from the mid-1990s, worth getting to know if you're not already familiar with it, and a must-have if you've worn out your original copy.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: RE 020LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A Great Miracle: Jeremiah Lockwood's Guitar Soli Chanukah Record, a solo guitar tribute to the holiday, is now available on Reboot Records. With heartfelt appreciation of the 1968 classic The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Record, Jeremiah Lockwood has sweetly crafted eight songs, one for each night of Chanukah, to celebrate the dancing candlelight with his new, blues-inspired takes on the most beloved melodies of the holiday's canon. Lockwood's career has followed a unique path, with deep musical inspiration coming from two mentors. His grandfather Cantor Jacob Konigsberg (1921-2007) infused in him the melodies of the Jewish liturgy, with Lockwood performing in his choir. Lockwood credits his career as a guitarist to a decade-long apprenticeship with the legendary blues musician Carolina Slim, a.k.a. Elijah Staley (1926-2014), who passed down to Lockwood the Piedmont blues tradition of Brownie McGhee and Buddy Moss. Lockwood also leads the band Sway Machinery, which features Jordan McLean of Antibalis and at one point Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Great Miracle is the ultimate realization of both sides of Lockwood's learning, as he translates the major Chanukkah melodies into a blues language, through his fingers and the strings of his Gibson guitar."

 

PRICE: $9.50

CAT #: RANDB 012CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"This is a delicious double CD production with a 28-page booklet choked with information, pictures (the Earl Palmer one is terrific) and a discography that indicates the rhythm pattern associated with the song. The appendix gives instruction on how to speak aloud the rhythm of the beats and tap out the accented beats with your hands (difficult or what?). Let me assure you on the majority of tracks my foot jumps and I want to dance. The tracks do not appear to be common to the vast amount of PD releases -- CD 2 is very interesting with a different feel to your normal run of the mill PD -- due to their late '50s/early '60s recording dates -- It's the more obscure tracks that grab you. The number one and most essential is the quality of the recordings. They are first class and on a personal note, I now have the best copy in my collection of 'The Freeze' by Albert Collins. There is a lot to discover and long-established collectors will have the opportunity to refresh their musical diet by checking this compilation out. Highly recommended to all." --Keith Scoffham, Blues & Rhythm. Featuring Lazy Lester, Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters, Dale Hawkins, Wynona Carr, Guitar Junior, Big "T" Tyler, Andr? Williams, Art Neville, Bobby Freeman, B.B. King, Tommy Ridgley, Fats Domino, Paul Gayten, Eddie Cochran, Richard Berry, Charles Sheffield, Bill Doggett, Smokey Hogg, Otis Rush, Champion Jack Dupree, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Bo Diddley, Larry Williams, Leonard Carbo, Eddie Lang, Screamin' Joe Neal, The Champs, Lavern Baker, Albert Collins, Memphis Slim, Harry Belafonte, Ray Charles, Texas Ray, Arthur Alexander, Junior Wells, Willie Jones, Little Willie John, Link Wray, James Brown, Davey Cortez, Ruth Brown, The Coasters, Teddy Randazzo, Curtis Knight, Tal Miller, Renaldo Jackson, The Orioles, Barrett Strong, Charles Brown, The Isley Brothers, Cozy Cole, Bobby Hebb, Andre Williams, Phil Upchurch, Buddy Guy, Louis Brooks, The Olympics, Ford Eaglin, Chuck Berry, Gary U.S. Bonds, and Huey Piano Smith.

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: RM 4208CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

A note From Fabio Perletta: "This release borrows its title Nessun Legame con la Polvere (No Attachment To Dust) from a Zen story as well as from a small wooden box, namely one of ten sculptures of my project I Fiori Non Vedono Mai I Propri Semi (Flowers Don't Ever See Their Own Seeds). This artwork was exhibited in 2020 at Pollinaria's forest, Italy as part of Aequusol Autumnus MMXX. The exhibition had no sound. It is now clear that life, the matter we are made of, and the objects we use every day cannot be considered entities in their own right but rather as relationships between these things, the way they affect each other. Even their own tangibility and particular properties are nothing but the way they influence and act on other things. It is a perspective that quantum physics has adopted for many years, but also the basis of our biology, of our feelings. When we perceive the world we establish a strictly localized perspective which in turn can generate a more extended and widespread resonance within and around us. Nessun Legame con la Polvere is a web of mutual influences; encounters that come and go forever; sounds that intersect with others in unpredictable ways, fragments sedimented over time and resurfaced, personal happenings that unwittingly steered the rudder towards one course rather than another. Nessun Legame con la Polvere is a meditation on lost friends, death and its counterpart, the extraordinary force of life. Although the title of this work seems to betray what I have stated so far, it is in its paradoxical, bizarre riddle that I learnt to really appreciate the value of things. I embraced a perspective that contemplates life's complexity in a broader sense, without looking for a purpose, an alleged answer to our existence, a meaning or God. Having no attachment to dust opens up to possibilities, it welcomes likelihoods. I hope that this work can generate some light while listening, and create new relationships between you and the shadows of the world, their ripples and little openings, between the infinitely small and the unknowable vastness of the universe."

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: RM 4214CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

A Note from Lawrence English: "The work of Amby Downs, aka Murri/European artist Tahlia Palmer, occupies an intensely personal and unique space in the Australian music landscape. It is a project that speaks as much to trauma, as it does to aspiration or hope. It is work that recognizes the complexities of intergenerational exchange; emotionally, socially, politically and culturally. For the past half decade, Tahlia has been seeking to trace unspoken, and in some cases deeply fragmented histories, and thread a linage that is heavily worn by the weight of colonial aggression and obfuscation. She is a collector, a researcher and a surgeon, stitching together these pieces of connective tissue, and through doing so she creates the opportunity to imagine, perhaps even re-imagine, the stories that have forged her very being. 'Ngunmal' and 'I Am Holding My Breath' are two long form works that exist both as sound pieces and as audio visual installations. They are pieces that operate in the realm of the physical. They are loaded with a low frequency energy that breathes, sighs and yearns. There's a sense of simultaneous constriction and expansion in her compositions, a quality that draws you in deeper and deeper. This depth is sensed as pressure. In some respects, her sound works mimic the research that feeds into them; even the smallest crack, the tiniest murmuring, can be split open to reveal an entire cavern of sound. Amby Downs, and Palmer's practice more broadly, asks us to make ourselves available. It asks us to be vulnerable to places and situations of not knowing, to be uncertain, to being unsettled. It prompts us to recognize within ourselves the way we operate in the day to day, and through doing so opens us up to experience these wildly intense, provocative and ultimately beautiful works."

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: RM 4218CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

A note from Kate Carr: "All the birds I never recorded, and some I did. Re-imagined. Stretched and stuttering, glitching and morphing, swirling and sputtering. Artifact and performance, digital bits all. I imagine them swooping and calling in these scaffolds of sound I have made for them. Gleaming amid technicolor jungles. Alive, unassailable; in a world we haven't ruined. In a field recording I never made."

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: RM 4221CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

A note from Yuko Araki: "This might sound a little antithetical, but I am interested in making noise music that is free from unnecessary noise. I do realize how this sounds, but it is absolutely at the core of my new recording. I want to create maximum impact and dynamics in the music through using only the essential elements and materials. I am a huge fan of noise music, and in many cases I enjoy the excessive nature of that music. For my own work though I am interested in reducing this, boiling it down, to the very critical parts that can allow the music to profoundly affect those who choose to listen to it. I want to use what I have at my disposal with intent and with force. I also wanted to deepen my connection to, and place in, this music. To this end I have started to explore how it is I fit into the work. I explored how is my body part of this project beyond being a gestural interface between the various machines I use to make it. I've started to think about voice a lot and this has come into the process of the recording. I'm not so much interested in the way voice can speak to stories or singing for that matter. I'm more interested in how voice might haunt the music. I invited another artist, Taichi Nagura from the band Endon, to contribute some voice to this album too. He is featured on 'Sloshing' and his voice absolutely captures this quality I am interested in exploring. It's as if he is trapped in that piece, fight for and against the other materials in the sound. This tension captures, for me at least, the relationships I think are so powerful about making, and also listening to music."

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: RM 4227CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

A Note from JW Paton: "Anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with the 1981 film Thief. The opening scenes show a cold, methodical, neon lit diamond heist soundtracked by Tangerine Dream. Contrasted with, the thief sharing a danish with a stranger fishing on an endless ocean at dawn. The heist is technical and calculated. The fishing is grounded and ancient. I'm sure that I'm projecting some of my personal experiences onto the film unfairly. As over time I've come to see the line between these two scenes more and more blurred. The contrast between night and day, city and ocean, drill and rod, I see these less as a dichotomy and more as a merging of worlds that slowly collapse in on each other. Choosing tracks for this release highlighted ideas that I've returned to for years. Technology and its place in the natural world. The way labor and skill shape identity. How my ancestors were in many ways more advanced than the society I live in today. A kind of ancient futurism."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: SED 072CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Sedimental brings to light this long overdue release of material from 2007 of the distinctive and esteemed improvising trio Mawja (Mike Bullock, Mazen Kerbaj, and Vic Rawlings) during their residency at STEIM in Amsterdam (NL). Already established as highly respected improvisors, both Bullock and Rawlings being key figures in the fertile improvising scene of Boston codified as "lowercase" and Kerbaj instigating and synergizing the free music scene in Lebanon simultaneously, the trio came together in 2004 while Kerbaj was in the U.S. for the first time. Material was generated during Kerbaj's residency at STEIM in Amsterdam (with Bullock and Rawlings guests), yet these recordings never came to light as a formal release until now. These recordings sound as exciting and vital as ever, and complete the full audio record of this important project, providing an opportunity to re-assess the material on its own terms but also in the context of each of these respected and still active artists' careers, before and since. Musically the four tracks (one live long piece and three shorter studio excerpts), reveal the vigor and confidence of these players. This is pure improvised work, restrained but determined, that asks the listener to be the active fourth participant. The acoustic instruments of trumpet, contrabass and cello weave and hover and share equal weight with the electronic elements, often not clearly distinguished but fused, and then not. At the casual macro level, seemingly two dimensional, but at the microgranular level, quite active and multi-dimensional, encouraging increased listening volume. Kerbaj, also known for his art and illustrations, provides the artwork and drawings, playful and humorous, clearly a nod to the participants themselves and the trio as well.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: SCR 250LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Following the news that all three Lush albums are going to be reissued, Emma Anderson, the band's co-founder, has announced her debut solo album, Pearlies, which will be released by Sonic Cathedral on October 20, 2023. One of the most underrated British songwriters to emerge from the era that encompassed shoegaze and Britpop, she has teamed up with producer James Chapman (aka Maps) for this collection that combines effervescent electronic pop with psych and folk textures with lyrics covering themes such as confronting your fears, embracing independence and moving on in life. It arrives fully formed with a burnished beauty (aided by the mastering skills of Heba Kadry) that belies its somewhat protracted creation, which began with Emma feeling disillusioned after Lush's 2016 reunion came to an abrupt end. Left with songs and bits of music originally intended for the band, she began working with cellist and string arranger Audrey Riley and Robin Guthrie, formerly of the Cocteau Twins, both of whom encouraged her to sing her own songs. Covid put a temporary halt on proceedings, but the decision had been made. When Sonic Cathedral introduced her to James Chapman at the start of 2022, Pearlies quickly took shape and blossomed into a masterpiece, the perfect mix of Emma's incredible, idiosyncratic songwriting and James' electronic production nous. Plus, a little extra guitar magic on four tracks courtesy of Richard Oakes from Suede. The finished album has somehow written its own narrative. By her own admission, Emma tends to write words and "see what comes out", but Pearlies seems to tell the story of her decision to go it alone, with opener "I Was Miles Away" posing the question: "See if I make it on my own." The rest of the album provides the answer as it takes in everything from the unexpectedly funky first single "Bend The Round," to folky finger-picking and film theme references, via psych leaning electronic pop reminiscent of Goldfrapp or Melody's Echo Chamber. It concludes with "Clusters," a stunning, Stereolab-style groove which begins with the line "and now the party's over, the music's at the end". Thankfully, that is not the case. This incredible album is just the start of Emma's long-awaited solo journey.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: TRESOR 339CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

What are the differences and similarities between human and artificial sound, between oscillations generated by vocal cords and synthesizer voices, voltage amplified by speakers? On Silencio, Moritz von Oswald works with a 16-voice choir to explore this concept. Drawing from the ensemble works of long-standing inspirations Edgard Vare?se, Gyo?rgy Ligeti, and Iannis Xenakis, von Oswald and Vocalconsort Berlin delve into the space between sounds, creating a deeply textured collection that shifts between light and ethereal and dark and dissonant. As masterfully demonstrated in the early work of von Oswald and Mark Ernestus's influential Basic Channel project, repetition and reduction are key elements here, much in the tradition of techno and minimalism. The vast dynamism of the human voice adds to the profound weight of electronics while offering up a rhythmic source and sonic noise palette unexplored in von Oswald's repertoire. In Silencio, von Oswald dredges a dank murk, pulling clouds over a distant pulse. It hangs, ready to take on new forms. The compositions were written in von Oswald's Berlin studio on classic synthesizers, such as the EMS VCS3 & AKS, Prophet V, Oberheim 4-Voice and the Moog Model 15. These abstract recordings were transcribed to sheet music for choir by Berlin-based Finnish composer and pianist, Jarkko Riihima?ki and performed by Vocalconsort Berlin in O?lberg church in the city's Kreuzberg district, only few meters down the road from where Dubplates & Mastering and Hard Wax opened their doors for music enthusiasts for many years so long. The recordings of the choral versions were then incorporated into the synthesized parts of the album and brought into a new electronic context; in Silencio, the focus is not on using one means to imitate the other, but to sonically discuss the tensions and harmonies between the two worlds and create a dialogue between them. The relationship between von Oswald and Tresor Records goes back thirty years, all the way to Blake Baxter's Dream Sequence in 1991 -- which von Oswald engineered alongside Thomas Fehlmann. The collaboration with Fehlmann lived on, seeing the duo team up as 3MB with Eddie Fowlkes or Juan Atkins. More recently, the Detroit-Berlin connection continued as Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland (TRESOR 262CD, 2013).

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: TRESOR 339LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Double-LP version. What are the differences and similarities between human and artificial sound, between oscillations generated by vocal cords and synthesizer voices, voltage amplified by speakers? On Silencio, Moritz von Oswald works with a 16-voice choir to explore this concept. Drawing from the ensemble works of long-standing inspirations Edgard Vare?se, Gyo?rgy Ligeti, and Iannis Xenakis, von Oswald and Vocalconsort Berlin delve into the space between sounds, creating a deeply textured collection that shifts between light and ethereal and dark and dissonant. As masterfully demonstrated in the early work of von Oswald and Mark Ernestus's influential Basic Channel project, repetition and reduction are key elements here, much in the tradition of techno and minimalism. The vast dynamism of the human voice adds to the profound weight of electronics while offering up a rhythmic source and sonic noise palette unexplored in von Oswald's repertoire. In Silencio, von Oswald dredges a dank murk, pulling clouds over a distant pulse. It hangs, ready to take on new forms. The compositions were written in von Oswald's Berlin studio on classic synthesizers, such as the EMS VCS3 & AKS, Prophet V, Oberheim 4-Voice and the Moog Model 15. These abstract recordings were transcribed to sheet music for choir by Berlin-based Finnish composer and pianist, Jarkko Riihima?ki and performed by Vocalconsort Berlin in O?lberg church in the city's Kreuzberg district, only few meters down the road from where Dubplates & Mastering and Hard Wax opened their doors for music enthusiasts for many years so long. The recordings of the choral versions were then incorporated into the synthesized parts of the album and brought into a new electronic context; in Silencio, the focus is not on using one means to imitate the other, but to sonically discuss the tensions and harmonies between the two worlds and create a dialogue between them. The relationship between von Oswald and Tresor Records goes back thirty years, all the way to Blake Baxter's Dream Sequence in 1991 -- which von Oswald engineered alongside Thomas Fehlmann. The collaboration with Fehlmann lived on, seeing the duo team up as 3MB with Eddie Fowlkes or Juan Atkins. More recently, the Detroit-Berlin connection continued as Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland (TRESOR 262CD, 2013).

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: CDWEIN 025CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

This solo could have been titled "16 Caprices for cello." As in Paganini's Caprices, all the techniques and virtuosity of the classical tradition are used here, expanded and enriched by the sounds and research of the contemporary one. However, the approach to the instrument is physical and bodily characteristic of European free improvisation and jazz. But as in Tristan Honsinger, Leroy Jenkins, or in Cage's Freeman Etudes for violin the focus is always the music, whose often hidden corners are uncovered. References to the many traditions encountered, to animals, ethnic sounds, the sound of other instruments, noises and the human voice, are many and are always addressed with a smile on the lips.

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: CDWEIN 026CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Berlin-based Banquet of Consequences is the new sextet led by double bassist Antonio Borghini. In addition to the valuable lesson of Charles Mingus, clear references to Dutch, Italian and South African jazz traditions are mixed in the group. The group's eponymous debut album oscillates between completely improvised works -- a series of numbered "Dialogues" -- and compositions that swing wildly between chaos and tenderness.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: WRJ 001LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

2023 repress; New "regular edition" on 140 gram vinyl. We Release Jazz (WRWTFWW Records' new sister-label) presents its first release, the official reissue of Ryo Fukui's highly sought-after masterpiece Scenery, originally released in 1976. Unquestionably one of the most important Japanese jazz albums ever recorded, Scenery reveals Ryo Fukui as a miraculously brilliant self-taught pianist fusing modal, bop, and cool jazz influences for a very personal, dexterous, and game-changing take on classic standards made famous by Bing Crosby and John Coltrane among others. From "It Could Happen To You" and its serene and calm intro which magically flows into a jubilant and upbeat piece, to the out-of-this-world piano solo of "Early Summer", or the incredible teamwork of "Autumn Leaves" where Fukui leads Satoshi Denpo (bass) and Yoshinori Fukui (drums) into groove heaven, every single note on the album oozes precision, confidence, and flair and every single section slides seamlessly into one another, creating a supreme and elegant blend of jazz. Often compared to McCoy Tyner or Bill Evans, Ryo Fukui was a genius in his own right, a true master of his craft whose perfectionism gave birth to some of the greatest music ever recorded. Scenery is his magnum opus and an absolute must-have. The Hokkaido wizard-pianist followed Scenery with the soulful gem Mellow Dream (WRJ 002CD/LP/LTD-LP) in 1977. He then focused on improving his live skills, often performing at Sapporo's Slowboat Jazz Club (which he co-founded with his wife Yasuko Fukui) and releasing two live albums. Ryo Fukui sadly passed away in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come. Sourced from the original masters. LP version is mastered at half speed; 140 gram vinyl with sticker.

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: WRWTFWW 025LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress; LP version. 140 gram vinyl; 350 gram sleeve, with sticker. WRWTFWW Records announces the highly anticipated official reissue of holy grail album MKWAJU by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's MKWAJU Ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon) and a digipack CD. Originally recorded in February and March 1981 and released by fabled Japanese avant-garde label Better Days (home of Ryuichi Sakamato's debut album, Yasuaki Shimizu's Kakashi (1982), Colored Music's self-titled LP (WRWTFWW 024CD/LP, 2018) and many more) MKWAJU is the fruit of the collaboration between Takada's crew and world-famous composer/musical director Joe Hisaishi, the man behind most of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime soundtracks and over 100 other films scores, including Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine (1993), Hana-Bi (1997), and Kikujiro (1999). The ensemble's transcendental wonder is, in fact, the first-ever Midori Takada album and the first-ever Joe Hisaishi-produced album: historic. Led by Midori Takada on marimba, gong, vibraphone, and tom tom, MKWAJU is an inventive and riveting take on Eastern and Western minimalist traditions, African rhythms, and early electronica. Drawing from its jazz-rooted polyrhythmic improvisations in the most inventive ways, the album covers a wide spectrum of sounds, from colorful dance floor-ready percussion pieces that stand somewhere between proto-techno and experimental synth-pop, to cinematic ambient landscapes and ethereal drone delicacies. The feverishly sought-after full-length is a stepping-stone in Midori Takada's career and an all-around pioneering album. Alongside Takada and Hisaishi (who not only produced the album but also played synthesizers), personnel on MKWAJU includes famed Japanese musicians Yoji Sadanari and Hideki Matsutake of KI-Motion (WRWTFWW 026CD/LP, 2018) fame, Junko Arase (heard on Satoshi Ashikawa's legendary Still Way - Wave Notation 2(1982)), and Pecker (whose stacked resume boasts collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jun Fukamachi).

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: XRP 2205CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

After having reissued five of his albums last year, the unstoppable beatmaker Degiheugi today completes the great retrospective on his past discography by announcing the release of his first two albums, in fully remixed and remastered version, available on vinyl for the first time. It is in a new light that purists will be able to (re)discover his first album Aquilon, released in 2005, which oscillates between instrumental hip-hop, breakbeat and electronic spleen. The album cover has also been redesigned down to the smallest detail for this deluxe version, to which is added a remix as a bonus. Also featuring Virus.