New music is due from Cosey Fanni Tutti, Lawrence English, and Dienne, while older music is due from Painkiller, Fennesz, and Experimental Audio Research.

 

FORCED EXPOSURE MAILORDER UPDATE
NEW RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF 09/19/2022
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1960'S RECORDS (UK)
RANDB 047LP
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: RANDB 047LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND, THE Wonderful Radio Bonzo! (At The BBC 1966-1968) LP
2019 release. Like many other bands during the period 1966-68, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band produced some of their best and most innovative work for the BBC. Here are 16 previously-unrelated and high-quality studio tracks which Viv Stanshall accurately described as "insane spewings of our collective genius." Fellow writer Neil Innes contributes tracks never heard elsewhere such as the legendary Brain Opera. On this LP, the Bonzos' journey from warped jazz to rock n' roll that critiques and celebrates contemporary pop culture, through dangerous trousers, an electric shirt collar solo, and a protest song about dry cleaners. Full sleeve notes feature the return of Apollo C. Vermouth. Mmmm, that's nice.
RANDB 049LP
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: RANDB 049LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
FAITHFULL, MARIANNE A La Television 1965-67 LP
2019 release. The French have always loved Marianne Faithfull and the feeling is reciprocated: today she has a flat in Paris on the grand Boulevard du Montparnasse. Back in the mid-1960s Marianne was a regular performer on French television: such shows provide the majority of the songs featured here, all presented in excellent sound quality. Nicely packaged compilation of TV appearances.
A RECORDINGS (UK)
AUK 015CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: AUK 015CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, THE The Singles Collection 1992-2011 2CD
2022 repress; 2011 release. First time remaster from the vinyl originals is the band's singles compilation. This double CD features 14 tracks that have not been available on CD before. These versions are completely different from any version that found itself on a full-length album. It also features two tracks from the band's alter ego Acid, recorded in 1993, and also the unreleased anywhere apart from this CD and the original 7", the tracks "Convertible" and "Their Majesties 2nd Request (Enrique's Dream)" and also the 2011 vinyl single release Illuminomi/There's a War Going On. The 2CD comes with a 24-page booklet featuring the front & backs of all the picture covers of the original covers.
AUK 048EP
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: AUK 048EP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, THE Fudge 10"
Purple 10" vinyl. To coincide with the Brian Jonestown Massacre's start of their 2022 European tour is the release of two new tracks by the band. Recorded in Berlin and remotely between 2020 and 2021 , the opening track "Fudge" is from the forthcoming album The Future is Your Past the second track "The Future is Your Past" is exclusive to this release (It's not a typo the B side is the name of the forthcoming album but the track is not on the album). With Anton Newcombe (vocals/guitars), Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar), Hallberg Daði Hallbergsson (bass), and Uri Rennert (drums) playing on this offering. The release comes in a heavy weight PVC bag with the artwork being a J card so you can see the vinyl.
A TRIBE CALLED KOTORI (GERMANY)
ATCK 030EP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: ATCK 030EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
MADMOTORMIQUEL Bombo 12"
Up next on A Tribe Called Kotori, the label welcomes Berlin's very own Madmotormiquel -- all set and ready to storm the house after several transmissions on an array of quality outlets, including Katermukke. His maiden incursion on the label, Bombo>, comes in a hand-designed sleeves, each designed by Chrisse Kunst and Madmotormiquel himself, making these collectible one-off pieces of art to adorn your shelves with. Opening cut and lead-single "Bombo" sets the wheels in motion at a slow and steady rate, progressively fleshing out its initially stripped-back funkiness with a polychromatic webwork of tribal rhythms, spectral synth murk and frizzling machine talk. The quirky "Kohiko" serves up a mischievous buffet of further syncopated moves and chirpy chimes pouring in cascades as a sturdy bass unfalteringly dictates the momentum. Shifting the scope to no-nonsense floor-busting objectives in its first stages, "Timezone Chaser" slowly evolves from sheer DJ functionality to jazzed-up abstraction through perfectly inlaid superimpositions of processed clarinets, dubbed-out drums and an overall hazy sound design to satisfyingly lose yourself in. EP closer "Rodrigues" opts for a more jagged approach, as it fuses skittish snares and hats at the fore with deep and vaporous pad tapestries in the background, resulting in the kind of heavily FX-layered, acid-leaning sleepwalker that'll keep the dancers' legs in motion even though their eyes seem shuttered. Includes download with one additional track.
AGOGO RECORDS (GERMANY)
AR 149LP
 
PRICE: $31.50
CAT #: AR 149LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
BLACK JESUS EXPERIENCE Good Evening Black Buddha 2LP
LP version. Good Evening Black Buddha is Black Jesus eXperience's seventh studio album. Inspired by the land we live on and the connection to all that have gone before and will follow, inspired by the multicultural power of our community, inspired by the paradox of the story of the Black Buddha. From the perversity of the pandemic and its imposition of separation comes Good Evening Black Buddha, celebrating togetherness. Darkness is light. At the heart of Black Jesus eXperience's inspiration is Ethiopian/Australian singer Enushu Taye. Enushu's openness and poetic insight, delivered with unique beauty in her own Amharic tongue, lie at the core of Good Evening Black Buddha and all that Black Jesus eXperience (BJX) do. MC Mista Monk (Liam Monkhouse) complements and contrasts with rhymes and flow born of Africa and outback Australia. BJX are joined by their great friends, powerhouse singer Vida-Sunshyne, and crystalline new voice Gracie Sinclair. The songs on Good Evening Black Buddha rove from the lightness of touch of a trio to BJX's full fourteen piece polyrhythmic, polymetric, polytonal Ethiofunk juggernaut with six-piece horn arrangements. Soloists include living national treasure Bob Sedergreen on keyboards, Peter Harper on saxophone, Ian Dixon on trumpet, Zac Lister on guitar, Larry Crestani on guitar and his own invention "kraartar", over the deep grooves of Richard Rose on bass, James Davies on kit, and Kahan Harper on percussion. Black Jesus eXperience is also proud to be joined by conga player Louis Poblete, kraar and masinko virtuoso Endalkachew Yenehun, proud Kuku Nyunkal man and master yiki yiki (dijeridu) player Sean Ryan.
BATOV RECORDS (UK)
BTR 067EP
 
PRICE: $13.50
CAT #: BTR 067EP
FILE UNDER: WORLD
SABABA 5 Popcorn/The Bird Song 7"
Middle Eastern groove masters, Sababa 5 take on the unthinkable for Batov Records. "Popcorn" and the "Birdie Song" are reworked into psychedelic dancefloor smashes laden with synths, surf guitars and Hammond licks. Tel Aviv based four-piece Sababa 5 naturally came together, having collaborated in so many key sessions and concerts, not only for the likes of Hoodna Orchestra, Tigris, and Kutiman Orchestra, but also whilst backing leading vocalists such as Gili Yalo, Ester Rada, and Liraz Charhi. Following a string of sold-out 45s, championed by BBC Radio 6 Music DJs such as Gilles Peterson, Cerys Mathews, and Gideon Coe, the group have crafted a deadly pair of instrumentals that will trick your children into appreciating a killer rhythm and at the same time help you rediscover your inner child. Off the bat, "Popcorn" snakes its charm into your head with an off-beat drum and bassline pattern before "woosh!" The synths enter the fray and proceed to lay down the classic riff with maximum flair. On the flip, birdsong appears to herald "The Bird Song". Beautiful Hammond chords and guitars and another classic Middle Eastern rhythm build anticipation for the familiar melody, which lands with an almost jazz-like aplomb, showcasing some hip shaking percussion, courtesy of guest Matan Caspi on a darbuka drum, that will have you flying around the dancefloor. Far from just novelty cuts, these instrumentals are set to raise the levels of any party. Another essential 45 from Sababa 5 and Batov Records.
BE WITH RECORDS (UK)
BEWITH 104LP
 
PRICE: $32.00
CAT #: BEWITH 104LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
NUCLEUS Under The Sun LP
Reissue, originally released on Vertigo in 1974. Under The Sun is the follow-up to the astonishing Roots and contains yet more absolutely essential Nucleus material. Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. Under The Sun opens with the crisp, medium tempo "In Procession". It's a typically inventive Carr track with layers of dramatic, riff-led themes and repeating brass blasts. Bryan Spring's "The Addison Trip" is a moody funk piece, with Kieran White guesting on wordless vocals. Roger Sutton contributes some fine bass guitar on this track, particularly the great solo at around the two-minute mark. The excellently-named cool, jazzy ballad "Pastoral Graffiti" paints bucolic pictures with its mellow sonics, plaintive horns and Bob Bertles's flute. Sutton's superb, bass-driven "New Life" brings a different dynamic. Horns, guitar, and electric piano swirl over the head-nod bass motif and a killer Ken Shaw guitar solo. A false fade out halfway through brings in a new bass riff that's picked up by the whole ensemble as Carr wah-wah noodles over the top. The gorgeous, laidback "A Taste of Sarsaparilla" is exactly that -- closing out the first side with a cute blast of what is to come over on the killer flip. The whole of Under The Sun's second side is a suite of three "Themes" written by Ian Carr. The up-tempo first theme "Sarsaparilla" is comfortably one of Nucleus's best. What would've been a cluttered mess in the hands of most is instead an effortless lesson in clarity and zing. Between Geoff Castle's electric piano solo, the relentless funky drumming and more wild wah-wah trumpet from Carr, Nucleus show you how it's done. The languid groove of second theme "Feast Alfresco" is much more typical of "classic" Nucleus and sounds like something that might've been on Roots. The darker "Rites of Man", the third and final theme, is a slow build to a solid bass and electric piano riff, shored up by some tricky brass. Remastered from the original Vertigo master tapes. Mastered by Simon Francis. Cut by Pete Norman.
BEACON SOUND
BNSD 066LP
 
PRICE: $24.00
CAT #: BNSD 066LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
LOCATION SERVICES & DEREK HUNTER WILSON Wake LP
Wake is a distillation and reflection of the work of three Portland musicians thrown, like the rest of the world, into forced isolation by the continually-mutating curse of a natural world in disequilibrium. The product of involuntarily inward-looking emotional landscapes, Wake emerged sounding surprisingly expansive and confident. The trio uses a variety of instruments -- including harp, fretless bass, piano, and a variety of synthesizers -- to conjure sparkling panoramas of the imagination that are deep-pooled and impressionistic, bracing yet comforting. Mike Grabarak and Joshua Ward have performed together for years as a duo under the moniker of Location Services, while Derek Hunter Wilson has primarily worked as a solo composer in the classical realm. For the Points Of No Return compilation, Beacon Sound's 50th release and a benefit for the Beirut Musicians Fund, they recorded a collaborative piece entitled "Interdependence In Solitude" that was so promising the label offered to release an album if they continued down the path they had started upon. The resulting eight songs are simply mesmerizing. Made during a period of change and upheaval in the world and society where many people were disconnected from others, the album is the product of a collage-like dialogue built on trust and patience. While the musicians couldn't physically be together for much of this time, they began sending musical ideas to one another in a conversational back-and-forth that acted as an anchor of stability -- something they found they could turn to and depend on when things felt uncertain elsewhere. This comfort zone led to some transcendent moments of experimentation. "Delicate Need", for example, features recordings of exaggerated pizzicato that were sampled and then run back through processing effects, which were then subsequently performed live over the original track. As things became less risky on the Covid front, they would occasionally meet for backyard rehearsals. Indeed, a recording of one of these rehearsals became the basis for the opening track "Photo Aware". Design work by Berlin-based Studio Bernhardt. The cover painting was created by Portland artist Nate Ethington. RIYL: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Daniel Lanois, Loscil, K Leimer, Deaf Center, Tangerine Dream, Arvo Pärt.
BONFIRE RECORDS (ITALY)
BONF 010LP
 
PRICE: $34.00
CAT #: BONF 010LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
FREE DESIGN, THE Kites Are Fun LP
Reissue, originally released in 1967. 1967, just like it was yesterday, pre-Vietnam War scenario, high hopes, and a new bright horizon, soon to be fall. Meanwhile, the music and -- in this case -- the celestial vocal harmonies of the East Coast unit formally known as Free Design. Their 1967 debut Kites Are Fun is still a case in point and a major influence on today's alternative pop. Often referred as the East Coast answer to Mamas & the Papas, the band had a more ethereal and eclectic approach. From the gentle orchestral accompaniment of "Make the Madness Stop" to the folkish bossa of "When Love Was Young" through the sensational arrangements of "Proper Ornaments" -- a number eventually championed by Madlib in the stunning tribute The Now Sound Redesigned (2005) -- you'll find more than a singular approach. Produced by none other than Enoch Light, the album is still an astonishing piece of heavenly art-pop with such a lysergic counterpoint. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 500.
BRUIT DIRECT DISQUES (FRANCE)
BRD 040LP
 
PRICE: $28.00
CAT #: BRD 040LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
SUBMISSIVES, THE Wanna Be Your Thing LP
New one by Montreal singer-songwriter Deb Edison, working once again as The Submissives and willfully unchanged from 2016's Do You Really Love Me? cassette (Fixture). Six years into the most tumultuous period in global history since WWII -- a pandemic, right-wing infiltration, attempts at government overthrow, climate catastrophe looming, a near-complete loss of the moral compass, conspiracies lording over facts natural resources running out -- and Deb's still here, staring a hole through the floor/your head. "No one ever changes," she coos on "In A Pinch", and these songs are a textbook example of that sentiment, and her artistic embodiment of psychosexual desire, ready to shatter some lives and walk away looking for the next one. "I'm waiting for your signal/I'm several years older," she drones on "Sick Kinda Love", further reinforcing a long-held stance that the obsession, internalization of feelings, and the human power dynamic of The Submissives are on the menu once again. You'll find whatever it is you want to find in here, just dig in. Deb might even be talking about you, though there's a good chance she's not, and if you don't have the goods you can be sure she's gonna be doing all she can to passively drive you away. "Chirp Like a Bird" reads as Deb's bottom-looking-up retort to Whitehouse's "Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel", and might even be more severe, because she doesn't need microphonic feedback and screaming to intimidate. If you're in for surface thrills, scrape up the Shaggs-esque rock stumble, swooping viola, and behind-the-beat bash tapping out each of these eleven tracks. This is how it is; you get what you get, and you might be upset, but that's all on you. You'll never get to the bottom of this sketch.
CINEDELIC RECORDS (ITALY)
CNLP 066LP
 
PRICE: $40.00
CAT #: CNLP 066LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
INAGAKI & SOUL MEDIA, JIRO Woodstock Generation LP
Reissue, originally released in 1970. Finally, this ghost gem left by Jiro Inagaki's Soul Media has been reissued on vinyl for the first time thanks to Cinedelic Records. Woodstock Generation is a masterpiece of Japanese jazz/rock funk/soul that for some it even considered better than the acclaimed Head Rock (1970) in terms of perfection; surely there are many points in common between the two albums having been made a few months later, in 1970. Behind the Soul Media name hides saxophonist Jiro Inagaki, an iconic figure of the Japanese jazz rock scene during the late sixties to the early seventies. Jiro is supported by his legendary quintet Soul Media under its first incarnation featuring Ryo Kawasaki (guitar), Yasuo Arakawa (bass), Masaru Imada (organ), Sadakazu Tabata (drums) with Tetsuo Fushimi and Shunzo Ohno on trumpet in addition. Woodstock Generation is a tribute album to the Woodstock Festival including cover of songs performed on the stage by Sly & Family Stone ("I Want To Take You Higher"), The Who ("Summertime Blues"), or Ten Years After ("Spoonful") but also "Woodstock" (written by Joni Mitchell in honor of the festival) and "Mamma Told Me (Not To Come)" written by Randy Newman for Eric Burdon and The Animals. Titles include also variations on the Head Rock theme, "The Ground For Peace", and original composition by Masahiko Sato, "Knick Knack". All tracks arranged by Jiro Inagaki. Artwork by Eric Adrian Lee.
CLUB NIGHT CLUB (UK)
CNC 003EP
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: CNC 003EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
CLEYRA Soft Bloom 12"
Club Night Club is excited to present its latest release via Bristol's Cleyra. "Ruk" is a spatial builder. The glitched-out mover presents a delicate exercise in restraint, its skeletal rhythms gradually enveloped within a haze of sound design and dubbed out synth lines. In six short minutes the track builds into a continuous ascension of synthetic tension, resulting in a deceptively lethal club joint. "Uninvited" is a frantic club screamer. A real shake-the-rave bouncer capable of serious floor damage. Pro-tier mixing holds together a speed demon barrage of percussive hits and shrieking resonance. This deadly cut, much like the record as a whole, manages to sustain a flare of intimacy even in its most punishing moments. The B-side counterbalances the deadly with the delicate. "2B" leans into the warm and melodic, perhaps the most direct manifestation of the EP's title. A heart wrenching bloom unfolds, enveloping the listener like a warm hug as the lights come on in the wee hours. The track is an immaculate sketch of raw emotion, deep tenderness mapped out through Cleyra's distinct brand of innovative composition. "Triumph" closes out the record with some wonky no-nonsense chug action. A hypnotic low-slung groover which packs a final sting towards the end. One for the headbangers. From start to finish Soft Bloom is a striking feat of sonic creation, guaranteed to subvert listener's expectations and dancer's footsteps alike.
COLD SPRING RECORDS (UK)
CSR 306CD
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: CSR 306CD
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
MASCHINENZIMMER 412 (MZ. 412) Macht Durch Stimme CD
Macht Durch Stimme -- the debut release of Maschinenzimmer 412, a.k.a. MZ. 412 -- is the milestone in the history of Swedish black Industrial music. This is the release that initiated a 35+ year long career of relentless industrial rituals; darkness fused with machines, your fears and your power all fused into an expression of the coldest music imaginable. In 1987, Henrik Nordvargr Björkk, Jouni Ulvtharm Ollila, and Leif Holm forged a band that would be an outlet for blasphemous prophecies, yet from a unique sonic spectrum. The unholy triumvirate were already hitting hard as Pouppée Fabrikk, with Maschinenzimmer 412 unleashing their deepest, darkest personas. Jonas Drakhon Aneheim joined in 1995, replacing Holm and thus enacting the change of name to the abridged MZ. 412. Originally released in 1988 by Swedish tape label Mechanik Cassettes (run by Memorandum's Petter Marklund) in a tiny edition of just 50 copies, this definitive edition has been painstakingly remastered from the original 4-track tapes. It also contains a previously unreleased, exclusive track that was rediscovered when listening through the old master tapes. MZ. 412 are an act that continues to cover the earth in a nightmarish black veil. Rare releases and even rarer performances have only added to the cult status of these prime movers. Digipak with elegant new artwork by Abby Helasdottir (Gydja).
CSR 311CD
 
PRICE: $20.00
CAT #: CSR 311CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
WE BE ECHO Ceza Evi - Compleat Edition 2CD
Occupying a halfway point between Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire without ever quite sounding like either, We Be Echo is Kevin Thorne. Thorne's first foray into music came after a chance meeting with Throbbing Gristle on Tottenham Court Road in 1979. A few months later he met Raye Calouri at the legendary Throbbing Gristle/Cabaret Voltaire/Rema Rema gig at Central YMCA, London. Soon after, the duo formed the short-lived Third Door From The Left. After the demise of TDFTL, Thorne formed We Be Echo. The debut album Ceza Evi -- featuring Genesis P-Orridge and Iham on Tibetan thigh-bone trumpet -- was released in June 1983, followed by a special edition later the same year, originally available only to readers of Nanavesh. The music was recorded using the built-in microphone on a dual cassette recorder, then the next layer was recorded whilst playing the first tape back. Very lo-fi, no editing, no remixing, all spontaneous and raw. As with TDFTL, who recorded in the same way, it all just seemed to fall into place. Compleat Edition: disc one contains the original tracks for the Ceza Evi special edition release. The remaining tracks on disc two are from the original cassette release of Ceza Evi, plus bonus tracks recorded between 1981-1983. Briefly pushing We Be Echo back into the light, a handful of these tracks appeared on the 2009 compilation Decades (Vinyl On Demand). Now, bringing together all these tracks for the first time ever, this Compleat Edition cements Ceza Evi as one of the most important underground releases of the early '80s. Mastered by Attrition's Martin Bowes.
CSR 315CD
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: CSR 315CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
COLOSSLOTH Promethean Meat CD
Rhythmic industrial noise -- grinding and churning, drenched in crushing doom-laden guitars -- drapes the sacrificial bones of the new album from esoteric electronic alchemist Colossloth. Building on this trademark sound, pushing and striving for reinvention and renewal, Colossloth has also utilized live instrumentation and ethereal vocals, and black metal blast beats on certain tracks for the first time to enhance the intent behind the music. Digitally-driven soundtracks for transfigured cities and myths born in the wilderness of Albion. Digipak."An unknown voice deep within the landscape reveals a clandestine location. A place of arcane mechanics, a cathedral of divine engines suspended in primal matter. Turbulence forms amidst amorphous strata, the polarized elements stretch out and then return once more to a singular form, gauging an ecology of discordant time down newly formed vertices. Crystallized dreams spin wild atmospheres into the horizons and fill the localized spaces with the remnants of passive machinations and distant mutterings, the devices allocating into their framework the offerings set forth."
COMPOST (GERMANY)
COMP 519LP
 
PRICE: $21.00
CAT #: COMP 519LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
AH! KOSMOS Beautiful Swamp LP
2022 repress; LP version. Ah! Kosmos has created a wonder that she holds you in the middle of. Also known as Basak Günak, a sound designer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist born in Istanbul, her tracks open up a space that draws the listener into a state of flow. In her second album, Beautiful Swamp, she combines crackling percussions with melodic soundscapes. Deep in the fabric of her tracks are also fears, rapture, bliss, and gloom. Günak's music captures what she has processed and overcome in her life between Istanbul and Berlin. The listener not only explores soundscapes but multi-layered emotions each layer drawing them further into the swamp. Even with her first record, Bastards (2015), Günak proved to be a border crossing producer, oscillating blissfully between avant-garde and gloomy post-rock. With Beautiful Swamp, which was created in Berlin and Istanbul in 2017, Ah! Kosmos continues challenging genre boundaries. Günak uses polyrhythms and folktronic instruments to build a mystical world of sound into which one can sink and be carried away. On this album, she has further revealed her own voice, becoming even more tangible as a person. Her music is physical and carries graceful traces of clashes. The aptly named Swamp, perhaps also a primordial soup from which all things emerge and perhaps return to, is neither dark nor light but holds the potential for everything: beginnings, endings, growth, pain. Ah! Kosmos primarily works alone. But when Günak collaborates with others, it is even more intense -- like the one with the jazz singer Elif Çaglar, heard in the song "Beyond Dreams", or with the guitarist Özgür Yilmaz on the track "Wide". Additionally, Selen Ansen, one of the most important Turkish intellectuals of her generation, has written a poem for Günak's new work, entitled "In The Dark Woods". When Günak performs live, the music reacts directly to the mood in the floor. At each of her performances, her soundscapes take on a new form. Performing solo or accompanied by a guitarist, she has already supported acts such as Sigur Rós and Jonny Greenwood's Junun Project and has starred at important festivals. She also composes for contemporary dance and theater productions, short films, and performances. In the spring of 2018, she participated in the project "Sonár Calling GJ273B" and sent her disembodied voice singing "I do not belong here" into space. You probably feel very connected to her sound, out there.
CPT 601LP
 
PRICE: $24.00
CAT #: CPT 601LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
INKSWEL & COLONEL RED Holders of the Sun Vol. 1 LP
Cracking album from a fabulous joint venture team. Jaunty hip-hop downbeat soul gems, perfectly balanced between phat beats, soulful melodies, strong lyrics and noisy overtones. Inkswel & Colonel Red started out writing together more than decade ago and over time have developed quite a unique sound when recording together, a chemistry that blends music melody and lyric into every verse chorus and hook. So, when Inkswel approached Colonel Red to create the Holders of the Sun album, Redz response was to move his hectic schedule around and started immediately. Inkswel dropped the beats Colonel Red dropped the vocals and some fine musical tuning and Holders of the Sun Vol. 1 was born. The fantastic artwork comes from Our Machine, Netherlands, who designed a lot of sleeves for Kindred Spirit, Tom Trago, Versatile, Build An Arc, and many others. Colonel Red is a groundbreaking soul singer, musician, producer, and performer, often referred to as one of the most powerful voices in the UK soul music community, a champion in equal parts of the original broken beat scene, as well as the UK soul scene. Working with and writing for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Amp Fiddler, Maurice White, Bugz In The Attic, Tony Allen, and countless others. His track "Belive In Me" was awarded the Worldwide award from Gilles Peterson in 2014. Colonel Red's foray into the music industry began when Epic Record company giant Sylvia Rhone signed the then lead singer, Nikki Romillie, of Pride n' Politix, to Atlantic Records. An accompanying publishing deal with Warner Bros. established the artist, now known as Colonel Red, as one of the UK's top cutting-edge singer/songwriters. Inkswel has been heralded as one of the busiest and most prolific beat-based producers from Australia, a true master of his craft he has worked with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Andrew Ashong, Dwight Trible, Amp Fiddler, and countless others as well as putting out timeless musical projects on labels such as BBE, Sonar Kollekiv, Rush Hour, Warner Music, Boogie Angst, and others. He hovers evenly between hip-hop and club sensibilities, blending new age approaches with nostalgic leans. Holders of The Sun is the audio melting pot of two musical aliens, future directive soul music drenched in the nostalgia of what once was.
CONSPIRACY INTERNATIONAL (UK)
CTIDELIA 2022LP
 
PRICE: $30.50
CAT #: CTIDELIA 2022LP
FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK
TUTTI, COSEY FANNI Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes LP
LP version. Ultra clear vinyl. Cosey Fanni Tutti has announced details of a new album, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes, her original soundtrack recordings for Caroline Catz's acclaimed film about Derbyshire. In 2018, Cosey Fanni Tutti was commissioned to write the soundtrack to director and actor Caroline Catz's acclaimed, intimate portrayal of the composer, musician, and sonic experimentalist, Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001). Best known for her groundbreaking work on the 1963 Doctor Who theme tune, Derbyshire was instrumental in giving easy access to and rewiring a nation's attitudes towards electronic music. Working within the often-stifling confines of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, her experimentalism -- which saw her manipulating magnetic tape, found sounds and electronics -- is only now being given full credit for the immeasurable impact it has had on the way we hear the world. The new album includes the audio explorations and experiments that lead Cosey Fanni Tutti to the final soundtrack for Catz's film. From the four-minute long "Cornet Lament" to the humorous "Snuff Chorus" (which references an addiction that Derbyshire had for snuff), the album is a journey through both Delia and Cosey's practise -- Fanni Tutti spent time researching Derbyshire's archives (both musical and the more personal ephemera of her life) to create an audio world for Catz's depiction of the artist to inhabit. Fanni Tutti explains, "The compositions are inspired by my research of the Delia Derbyshire audio archive, Delia's original compositional notes and techniques which in combination with my admiration and love of Delia's work provided a way to integrate her style and approach to music with my own. An alliance of our sensibilities." The new album follows the release of Cosey Fanni Tutti's new book, RE-SISTERS: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti. The music was composed, performed and produced by Cosey Fanni Tutti in Twickenham Studio 3, London and Studio 47 in Norfork, with vocals by Cosey Fanni Tutti and Caroline Catz, alongside the voice of Delia Derbyshire.Musician, artist, and author Cosey Fanni Tutti has continually challenged boundaries and conventions for four decades. As a founding member of the hugely influential avant-garde band Throbbing Gristle, as one half of electronic pioneers Chris and Cosey, and as an artist channeling her experience in pornographic modelling and striptease, her work on the margins has come to reshape the mainstream. Her first solo album, Time To Tell (1983) was followed by 2019's Tutti and her debut book, Art Sex Music, was published in 2017.
DARKER THAN WAX (SINGAPORE)
DTW 069LP
 
PRICE: $24.00
CAT #: DTW 069LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
CAIN Sarissa LP
Known for crafting infectious rhythms infused with an otherworldly strangeness, UK-based producer Cain makes his debut on Darker Than Wax with Sarissa -- a seven-tracker driven by his signature percussive style. Written in his native highlands of Scotland and heavily influenced by the mountainous landscapes, Sarissa seeks to fuse together organic and synthetic sounds in unusual ways. True to his ethos of joining the dots between folk music from cultures around the world, the melodies and rhythms explored throughout are tied together by their timeless, ethereal quality. Interlocking rhythms lead the way as the skeleton in this music with cinematic harmonies woven in and out, leading the listener through dark valleys and emotional peaks. Each tune tells its own story and has a distinct feel from the next -- from the jilting rhythms and hazy rave feel of "Sarissa", the crawling basslines of "Gecko", and the ethereal lightness of "Marwa" to the harmonic weight of "Kuro". The seven cuts making up Sarissa are equally effective as dancefloor weapons, or as accompaniments on long foggy walks. For fans of: Anunaku, Auntie Flo, Clap! Clap!, DJ Plead.
DAYDREAM LIBRARY SERIES (UK)
DLS 001LP
 
PRICE: $26.50
CAT #: DLS 001LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BIG JOANIE Sistahs LP
2022 restock on purple vinyl. The first record in the Daydream Library series is London's black feminist punk band Big Joanie's debut album Sistahs. Big Joanie are Stephanie Phillips (singer/guitarist), Estella Adeyeri (bass) and Chardine Taylor-Stone (drums). The band formed in 2013 and released their first EP, Sistah Punk in 2014 and the single Crooked Room in 2016. As part of London's thriving DIY punk scene Big Joanie have played with locals Shopping, toured with US punks Downtown Boys, and Dutch punk band The Ex. Inspired by The Ronettes, Nirvana, Breeders, and Jesus and Mary Chain, Big Joanie have described themselves as being "similar to The Ronettes filtered through '80s DIY and Riot Grrrl with a sprinkling of dashikis." Big Joanie recorded Sistahs at Hermitage Works Studio with producer Margo Broom. The album title derives from the band's belief in sisterhood and female friendship. One of the main reasons for coming together was to create an atmosphere to be "completely ourselves as black women and discover what was possible to realize in those spaces." The album cover features Steph's mum Joan, whom the band is named after, and her aunt on holiday in Wales. The Daydream Library Series of records and tapes is the independent house label of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Eva Prinz's publishing imprint Ecstatic Peace Library. The Daydream Series was established in 2018 to provide a label for emerging musicians, both local and international. In this series curated by Prinz, Moore, and Abby Banks, a limited edition number of vinyl or cassette albums will be released in a pristine "collector's edition" package with the highest quality recordings, impeccable design and handmade fanzines with the album's liner notes and interviews with the bands. Sistahs is an optimistic album about friendship, melancholic memories, and the belief in a modern future. Eva and Thurston discovered Big Joanie playing live supporting The Ex in Islington (London) earlier this spring and ran to the merch table to discover the band didn't have a record with all the songs that had just mesmerized the audience.
DELL'ORSO RECORDS (UK)
EDDA 052X-LP
 
PRICE: $30.50
CAT #: EDDA 052X-LP
FILE UNDER: HIPHOP
REE-VO All Welcome On Planet Ree-Vo (Turquoise Blue Vinyl) LP + 10"
LP version. Turquoise blue vinyl LP with orange 10" featuring remixes and collaborations from The Bug, Object Object, NØISE, and Dälek, gatefold sleeve. All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol's decades of less conventional hip-hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine-tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk. The album was all recorded, produced and mixed by Andy Spaceland at Christchurch Studios, Bristol (home of Mezzanine era Massive Attack) with all vocals written and performed by T. Relly. During 2021 the first two singles from the LP were released. The first was the juggernaut that is "Groove With It". T. Relly growling out polemic against the relentless cacophony spun by Andy, the brutality of the bass and horns is temporarily smoothed with Relly's soulful, swaggering placation of "Turn your speakers on/ Till ya speakers blown baby/ If you're feeling strong baby/ We can keep it going baby". This was followed in April by the 12" release of "Combat" featuring a thumping remix by Surgeon and an extended electro remix by Ree-Vo themselves. "Spacebox" which will be the last single to be released in time with the album is their hookiest, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control. "Lift off, blast off, shirt off, dance off! Naked in the dancehall SPACE BOX!" is the beamed mantra, Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy. "We wanted to make a hedonistic and colorful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years."
DESTINATION MOON (ITALY)
DEST 013LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: DEST 013LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
TURNER'S KINGS OF RHYTHM, IKE & TINA Dance LP
In the late 1950s, Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock) caught a performance of Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm at St. Louis nightclub and practically begged Ike to let her sing with the band. Ike refused, as only men were allowed to sing in his group at the time, but she persisted, and once he heard Tina sing, he wouldn't let her stop. Since that fateful meeting, the world of R&B has never been the same. Ike & Tina Turner's Kings of Rhythm Dance is their second long player, originally released in 1961, and it is full of stompers, rippers, and all-around rocking R&B magic. Ike's guitar tone and style are the perfect complement to Tina's unmistakable voice. Now nearly impossible to find an original LP at a reasonable price, Destination Moon once again saves the party by putting another R&B classic back in print. Features the original hit version of "It's Gonna Work Out Fine".
DISCREPANT (UK)
CREP 087LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: CREP 087LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
ONDNESS Oeste A.D. LP
Somewhere in the middle of the first track, "Torres e Baldios", there's a sudden change of pace with percussion rhythms interfering with the trance-like sound of the first six minutes. It sounds like steps, people running away on a corridor bashing their feet. It dazzles you because of how unexpected it is, how unpredictable those sounds sound like and, most of all, how it makes perfect sense. It is a monstrous piece. And the beginning of a new age for Ondness, in the same year he defied his Serpente moniker to create an absolute classic, Dias da Aranha (SOUK 009LP). What makes Oeste A.D. so remarkable is the intangible idea of nostalgia. "Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation" recreates with a slowed down mentality the theme of one of the main events of the Expo 98 in Lisbon. It's nowhere similar to the original, what it does is to mess around with the global ideas that were such a big part of that event. The Portuguese musicians that were invited to collaborate with Expo 98 were mesmerized by the ideas of union and globalization, creating overpriced music that sounds like shit today. "Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation" messes around with that vibe in a positive way. Think Mark Leckey playing around with his rave memories. Same thing, but in Portugal we had Expo 98. Jokes aside, the B side is more futuristic with "Torres e Baldios II" and "Endless Domingo", a nod to Endless Summer (EMEGO 135CD/LP), by Fennesz, and "Endless Happiness" (from Beaches And Canyons), by Black Dice, mashing up -- freely -- both covers and reminding of how great 2001-2002 was for experimental music. Both tracks are full of sci-fi drama and this sickness of the future that has been traveling with Ondness since its early days. But the approach here is somehow different. Before Oeste A.D. the Ondness sound was fragmented, sparse and intensively reflexive. There was this uncertainty to it that made the previously releases so good. But Oeste A.D. is full of clarity, the phrases are straightforward, and the music moves in one direction, continuously. Before, there were loads of unanswered questions. The only doubt is when will the world start to care and listen to Bruno's brilliant music. Now sounds like a good time. Mastered by Carlos Nascimento. Front cover by Evan Crankshaw. Back cover by Filipe Felizardo.
FABRIQUE RECORDS (AUSTRIA)
FAB 097LP
 
PRICE: $21.50
CAT #: FAB 097LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
IRMERT, JANA What Happens At Night LP
Seismic vibrations alter the ever-changing sonic surfaces of Jana Irmert's new release What Happens At Night. Like layers of sediment, sounds are being pushed up from underneath, floating away or sinking back to the bottom. At the core of the album lies a question: What will be left of us? While Earth melts, we go on. But eventually, there will be a point in the future where all that will be left of humanity is a thin layer of rock. While this may seem like a deeply gloomy prospect, it also carries a great deal of comfort: the reminder that we are only a small particle in a vast system so big that we can never fully grasp it. Artist notes: "When playing or improvising, it sometimes happens that time kind of stops in its usual rhythm -- measures of moments and durations become blurry. I smashed and rubbed lava rocks, layered and bent sounds and field recordings until what I heard matched the images of strata in rock I was looking at: millennia of existence and non-existence, on a planet to which we are a very recent addition. I fell out of time, somewhere between the moment and eternity, and that's a feeling I wanted to capture on What Happens At Night."
FINDERS KEEPERS (UK)
FKR 109LP
 
PRICE: $28.50
CAT #: FKR 109LP
FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK
VANNIER, JEAN-CLAUDE La bete noire/Paris n'existe pas LP
Finders Keepers Records present both the hallucinogenic orchestral music to Robert Benayoun's Paris n'existe pas (1969) and the rhythmic onslaught and cyclic waltzes from Patrick Chaput's La bête noire (1983) complete with an extensive booklet of essays, interviews, secrets, and rare images from both of these mythical cinematic obscurities. From deep in the vaults of the Parisian composer, Jean-Claude Vannier finally liberates two previously unreleased and fabled film soundtracks that mark significant milestones in the career of this legendary composer and his close connection to the French free jazz scene. Comprised on this one vinyl disc you will find the only existing original historic recordings to his first ever 1968 collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg as well as the entire lost musical score for Vannier's first major star-studded solo film commission.La bête noire: From the furious pen of controversial author Jean-Pierre Bastid (Let The Corpses Tan/Massacre Of Pleasure) and directed by one-time realisateur Patrick Chaput the gritty street crime thriller precedes the likes of La haine. Revealing itself to be one of Jean-Claude Vannier's most unique scores these previously unreleased studio master tapes capture self-styled batucadas and furious rhythm tracks next to frenzied carousel waltzes free from the stylistic time-stamp of their 1983 recording date. These experimental recordings remain independent from the pop and rock idiom and are both timeless as well as groundbreaking due to the deployment of key players from the French free jazz scene and the reunion of Vannier's long-standing Insolitudes. Showcasing a crack team of Palm/Futura/Actuel/Saravah label regulars such as saxophonist Philippe Maté alongside drummer Bernard Lubat, Arpadys/Voyage rhythm masters Marc Chantereau and Pierre-Alain Dahan, and session legend Michel Zanlonghi, this thunderous group bridges an authentic gap between The Jef Gilson Group and France's signature "cosmic" revolution. Previously unheard compositions, rhythms, and sound design experiments.Paris n'existe pas: Previously the subject of biographical rock history, archival documentaries, and cruel bootlegging opportunity, the official master tapes to Jean-Claude Vannier's first ever studio date with Serge Gainsbourg poetically mirrors the title of the film... They didn't exist, until now. Culled from reference recordings, rehearsals, playback tapes, and work-in-progress TV magazine features, Finders Keepers in close collaboration with Jean-Claude present the genuine hallucinogenic orchestral and experimental sound design recordings that appeared on the 1968 film Paris n'existe pas. The brooding orchestrations and experimental music found on this record comes complete with interjections of modern jazz courtesy of French free jazz mainstays Philippe Maté and Jean-Louis Chautemps. With the help of an esteemed string ensemble Vannier also lays down an early orchestral blueprint for his own "approximately-Orient" signature sound in its earliest naked form just three years before Histoire de Melody Nelson would cause widespread controversy on its release.
FOURTH DIMENSION (UK)
FD 137CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: FD 137CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
YOUNGS, RICHARD New Emptiness CD
Similar to 2021's Iker album on Fourth Dimension, this CD album idea sprang into life following our hearing some of Richard Youngs's experiments with loops and tones online and, subsequently, a few discussions via email about such music, its shortcomings, its appeal and, indeed, how it can be pushed into new spaces. Which is exactly what the pieces on New Emptiness do. Each one of the five compositions here may use tones or oscillating loops as something of a starting point, but true to form Richard Youngs teases each one into new shapes where different shading applies as well as an unexpected rhythm or, on final cut "Annulus II", his manipulated voice enter the fray. Anybody familiar with Richard Youngs' work, now spanning a few decades, will be aware that it can go all over the place, from avant-folk, "noise" or hybrid forms of electronica and drone music. Fourth Dimension Records has long championed his work yet generally pushes the more uneasy listening ends of it. New Emptiness might not sit quite so uneasily, but drawing from both the avant-garde of contemporary minimalist music and his own tendency not to settle for half-measures, it is still an album that requires a little sweat oozing from the ears of the listener.
GET ON DOWN
GET 51284LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: GET 51284LP
FILE UNDER: HIPHOP
SPICE 1 Spice 1 LP
2022 repress. "Spice 1 is an undisputed West Coast legend, who first hit the scene after the N.W.A. and -- closer to home -- Too $hort explosion of the late '80s. As history showed, he continued that bloodline with finesse and authority. His nasal flow is menacing and strong, and fans have been consistently captivated by his 'hood tales since his self-titled debut in 1992. If you want thematic range with your MCs, Spice isn't that dude -- he is all about crime tales and the perils of ghetto life. And he attacks that storytelling sweet spot with each new cut. Spice 1 boasted four singles by the time it was all said and done, and breezed to Gold status on the strength of cuts like the catchy 'East Bay Gangster'; the heartfelt tales and truths of 'Welcome To The Ghetto'; and the thick, grooving 'In My Neighborhood.' He even produced the alcohol-themed '187 Proof,' another of the album's singles, and the hands-down cleverest vocal outing on the LP. Sonically, the backdrops on Spice 1 range from plunky, keyboard-bassline funk to deeper, fuzzy '70s samples -- and he sounds strong on top of both. "Break Yourself" is fueled with an electro-funk drive; '1-800 Spice' brings reggae flavor; and 'Peace To My Nine' gets chunkier, with a well-placed P-Funk 'One Nation Under A Groove' sample. Presented here on official retail vinyl for the first time since its initial release 26 years ago, Spice 1's debut holds the test of time and carries the California gangsta flag with pride. Some colors just don't fade."
GOD UNKNOWN RECORDS (UK)
GODUNK 085LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: GODUNK 085LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
MODERN RITUALS Cracking of the Bulk LP
Modern Rituals have announced their return with the release of upcoming new album, Cracking of the Bulk. For a band who've tended to flesh out songs in the practice room and track live, the writing and recording of Modern Rituals' third album was a disparate and protracted process. In cramped apartments and a secluded annex, sharing files over the internet and working on parts in solitude, the band introduced subtler tones from their last record, This Is The History (2020). Yet still, this new direction is matched by an explosive frustration that gives it a unique balance of darker and lighter shades.
GROWING BIN RECORDS (GERMANY)
GBR 025LP
 
PRICE: $29.50
CAT #: GBR 025LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
LIQUID CANOE Liquid Canoe LP
Acid bass, slow funk, and cosmic energy make for a mind-expanding trip in the Liquid Canoe. Load up on edibles, make it a macro-dose and let the music lead the way. Whether you're hard at work on a Hamburg allotment, basking in the heat of a Balinese beach or enjoying the cool waters of the Salish Sea, remember that the same sky stretches over all of us. And if you forget your finger for a minute and soak in the heavenly beauty instead, you might just catch the cosmic vibrations of Liquid Canoe, the latest members of the Growing Bin family. A loose ensemble, Liquid Canoe is the brainchild of Wolfgang Matthes, a lost Angelino who's swapped the rush and push of a mega city for the space of the Pacific Northwest -- and listening to this eight-track offering, you'll realize that space is the place. Armed with an array of vintage synths and programmed rhythms, Wolfgang sketched out a slew of inter dimensional transmissions, inspired by the commune electronics and space rock of '70s Germany and inhabited by the spirit of the boogie. Inviting friends to drop by and lend their own instrumental skill, Wolfgang quickly turned Liquid Canoe into a true collaboration. Finalized in a converted stable on Galiano Island, the LP is a perfect marriage of the electronic and organic, shimmering arps and spheric synth bass intertwined with American primitive guitar, nuanced hand percussion, and glassy chimes. As this mind-expanding collection stretches out towards infinity, you'll hear Floyd-ian funk, cosmic dub, tangerine daydreams, and micro-dosed ambience, all imbued with the memories of New York lofts, Bay Area warehouses, skyscraping pines or the world wide web of fungi. Liquid Canoe taking you on an oarsome trip.
GBR 044LP
 
PRICE: $28.50
CAT #: GBR 044LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
BECK, MATTHIEU Here Alone LP
Fresh and zesty with subtle tropical flavors, this is a delightfully listenable debut from Matthieu Beck on Growing Bin. Inspired by the lilting rhythms, jazzy instrumentation, and slow listening gems found on his Love In The Afternoon radio show, the Frenchman has crafted a gorgeous collection of laid back sophisti-pop, perfect for long summer days or seasonally affected escapism. Any suggestion of sorrow in the album title is actually a mislead -- this may be a solo LP, but Matthieu's surrounded himself with the musical friends he's made over the years, serving as composer and bandleader to a willing troop of collaborators. Longtime friend and former Metronomy bassist Gabriel Stebbing, Source Ensemble drummer Emmanuel Mario, and of course Laetitia Sadier herself, stepped in to lend their services and bring Matthieu's music to life, before Jérôme Caron (Blackjoy) expertly mixed it all down. Though the tracklist may read like a travelogue, these nine tracks all began at home with Matthieu sat behind a Fender Rhodes with a drum machine by his side. Soon live bass, saxophone, and flute strolled into his unhurried arrangements, retaining the simplicity of his demos while expanding the emotion. Weighty synth drones and bubbling bass balance the airy elements of tracks like "California" or the dream-pop romance of "Rooftop Rome", while the mellow "Malika" and joyful "Retour De Plage" showcase the Frenchman's relationship with jazz. Elsewhere there's hints of digi-dub ("Island" and "Suede"), coastal boogie ("Tokyo Montana"), stripped-back city pop ("California"), and downtown nostalgia ("Dora"), before Beck arrives at the poetic, progressive but peaceful finale "Piano Fin", which recalls Air at their prettiest, without stepping outside Matthieu's well-defined sound.
GUERSSEN RECORDS (SPAIN)
GUESS 068CD
 
PRICE: $16.50
CAT #: GUESS 068CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
FARM Farm CD
Reissue. Originally released as private pressing in 1971, the Farm album is highly sought-after and revered by collectors. Recorded by this Southern Illinois band in 1971 at the legendary Golden Voice studios, it's chock full of jammy, bluesy guitar psych with heavy dual guitars, organ, congas, harp... Recommended if you like Quicksilver, Allman Brothers, Canned Heat, Ten Years After... Remastered sound; original artwork; includes booklet with photos and extensive liner notes by Kevin Rathert (It's Psychedelic Baby) "A vital album for fans of vintage guitar action." --Patrick Lundborg (Acid Archives).
HALLOW GROUND (SWITZERLAND)
HG 2203LP
 
PRICE: $31.50
CAT #: HG 2203LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
AMINI & EUGENE THACKER, SIAVASH Songs for Sad Poets 2LP
Composer and sound artist Siavash Amini collaborates with author Eugene Thacker on Songs for Sad Poets. The collection of eight pieces draws its inspiration from the legacy of the so-called cursed poets ("poètes maudits") as well as the German-language tradition of song cycles and expands the structure of the classic art song through a process of lyric abstraction. Amini is no stranger to interdisciplinary collaboration, as seen in A Mimesis of Nothingness, his 2020 collaboration with photographer Nooshin Shafiee, also released through the Swiss Hallow Ground label. But whereas in Amini's previous collaborations music and other media are set in dialogue, with Songs for Sad Poets, Thacker's poems and Amini's soundscapes are deeply enmeshed with each other. In fact, none of the words printed in the record's booklet are being said out loud on this double-LP, but rather made tangible through the use of sound. Songs for Sad Poets was born out of a mutual admiration of each other's work and it is easy to see how the musician and the writer could relate to one another artistically. The Tehran-based Amini has released over 20 albums in the past decade that probe the physical world but also search for something beyond it. His compositions draw on field recordings as well as acoustic and electronic sounds, blurring the lines between what is conventionally perceived as real or authentic and the abstract or otherworldly. The New York-based Thacker on the other hand is known as a writer whose philosophical works like Infinite Resignation read like poetry while his poetry and other literary writing is inherently philosophically charged. What unites them on this project is an interest in the idea of the fragility of the human being set against the vast horizon of climate, planet, and the cosmos that produces a "sadness without cause." The pieces on Songs for Sad Poets translate this nearly inexpressible ambient melancholy into dense and sometimes claustrophobic pieces that are marked by internal tensions and slowly unfolding dynamics. The eight poems are neither only the starting points nor just the byproduct of the compositions, or vice versa. Instead, the entire record is one single result of a coherent creative process. Clear vinyl; 12-page booklet.
HEIST RECORDINGS (NETHERLANDS)
HEIST 063EP
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: HEIST 063EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
CRACKAZAT Demucha EP 12"
What do you do when you've just released an amazing album and your last EP on Heist Recordings was one of the label's best-selling records in recent years? This is the "question" Crackazat had to answer when writing his new EP for the label. His solution? Just deliver something even more amazing. Easy. When Crackazat released his Alfa EP early 2021, Heist knew it was going to be a great record. It had everything we've come to expect and love from him; a great balance between creative musicality and downright beef for the club. Fast forward a year and a half and here is Demucha EP. Title track "Demucha" starts with the jazzy energy of a double bass, flanked by brushed percussion and some vocal chops. You feel the speed of the track working through every part of the song, which becomes even more evident when the main key comes in. A typical Crackazat-esque finger-twirling loop brings the track to its top speed, where horn stabs add to the excitement. This is peak-time jazzy house executed to perfection. "Sarge" takes a more mellow approach, where you see Crackazat navigate the idea of timelessness with dreamy keys, strings and a dubby bass. A mid track crackly arpeggio and faraway voices add to the contemplative vibe of the track to great effect. The EP closer "We Know" stays away from Crackazat's renowned skippy beats and instead, make way for a driving staccato stomp. Rough key stabs along with the talented multi-instrumentalist's own faraway vocals make for a mesmerizing track that takes you on a lovely sonic journey that will work as well on the dancefloor as in any other space. The Demucha EP is another great example of Crackazat's talent to write an earworm of a melody and produce a sonically rich record in a manner that feels both effortless and compelling throughout its full-length.
HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
HJP 096EP
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: HJP 096EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
SHACKLETON The Majestic Yes 12"
Killer EP. Next-level Shackleton. Taking off from Beaugars Seck's foundational sabar drum rhythms -- recorded by Sam in Dakar in February 2020 -- Shackleton has constructed a trio of intricately layered, luminous, enchanted, epic excursions. The second is more dazzled and meandering, with jellied bass, insectile detail, and discombobulated jabbering; the third is more liquid, fleet of foot, and psychedelic, with a grooving b-line and funky keyboard stabs, scrambled eastern strings and hypnotic vocalese. The harmonium in "The Overwhelming Yes" sounds like Nico blowing in chillily from up the desert shore. The overall mood is wondrous, twinkling with light, onwards-and-upwards; an uncanny, dubwise mix of the ancient and the futuristic. Mark Ernestus's "Version" is stripped, trepidatious, mystical, and stranger still, with just a snatch of the original melody, extra distortion and delay, and crystal-clear drum sound. Twenty minutes of startlingly original music, with Shackleton the maestro at the top of his game, and a characteristically devilish dub by Mark Ernestus. Mastered by Rashad Becker; handsomely sleeved. Sick to the nth. Love 4 ever.
HJR 062LP
 
PRICE: $31.50
CAT #: HJR 062LP
FILE UNDER: WORLD
VA London Is the Place for Me 6: Mento, Calypso, Jazz & Highlife from Young Black London 2LP
2022 restock; double LP version. Comes in a gatefold sleeve with four-page insert. Other calypsos range compellingly from the devaluation of the pound through jiu jitsu, big rubbery instruments, football fans, heavyweight champ Joe Louis and the sexual allure of English women police. The Rolling Stones favorite Ginger Johnson with a percussive Latin scorcher. Jamaican mento makes its first entry in the series, with a brace by Tony Johnson: a drily witty drinking-song, and a love-letter to Marilyn Monroe. Plus a trio of magnificently hybrid, hard-swinging instrumentals led in turn by master-guitarist Fitzroy Coleman, Kitch's innovative arranger Rupert Nurse, and trumpeter Shake Keane -- named after Shakespeare because of his love of poetry -- from St. Vincent.
HJR 071LP
 
PRICE: $31.50
CAT #: HJR 071LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
VA Christians Catch Hell: Gospel Roots, 1976-79 2LP
2022 restock; gatefold double LP version. Includes full-size 16-page booklet. In 1977 Henry Stone invited Thomas Spann down to Florida. Spann was founder and leader of The Brooklyn All Stars, one of the most celebrated gospel quartets in the US; Stone headed T.K. Records, the biggest independent record company in the world. The All Stars' contract with Jewel Records just happened to be ending. "He called me and asked me would I meet him in Miami," recalls Spann. "And I flew down to Miami, and I met him and we went to this place that sold all these motor homes. He said, 'Pick out one, pick you out one that you want.' And I did so. I drove it off the lot that same day. I didn't take a plane back. I drove that motor home back to North Carolina."Christians Catch Hell is a scorching, sublimely soulful survey of the Gospel Roots label, subsidiary of the mighty T.K. Records, at the height of the Miami Sound -- 1976-'79. Includes tracks by The Brooklyn All Stars, Pastor T. L. Barrett, Camille Doughty, The Howard Lemon Singers, The Fantastic Family Aires, Jean Austin & Company, The Jordan Singers, The Phillipians, The Fabulous Luckett Brothers, Bright Clouds, The O'Neal Twins, The Original Sunset Travelers, Reverend Edna Isaac and the Greene Sisters, and The Fountain of Life Joy Choir. Mastered at Abbey Road.
HJR 072LP
 
PRICE: $31.50
CAT #: HJR 072LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
VON OSWALD TRIO, MORITZ Sounding Lines 2LP
2022 repress. Gatefold double LP version. The Moritz Von Oswald Trio opens a new chapter. There's a new configuration to the project, with Tony Allen joining original members Moritz von Oswald and Max Loderbauer. Allen, the legendary drummer who's amassed a formidable catalog both as a solo artist and as part of Fela Kuti's band, has taken over percussion duties from Vladislav Delay. Together, von Oswald, Loderbauer, and Allen form something close to a dream team, two masters of the electronic sphere meeting an afrobeat pioneer. Allen had already established a rapport with the group before they entered the studio to record Sounding Lines -- he's been touring with von Oswald and Loderbauer for more than a year, playing live shows around the world. There has been an evolution on each new Moritz Von Oswald Trio record, and Sounding Lines is no different. The album, which was mixed by Ricardo Villalobos, maintains the project's trajectory -- a fearless exploration of dub techno, classical music, and jazz -- but the prevailing mood feels looser and more organic than ever before. Allen's imperious percussive work sits tantalizingly in the mix. His drums meet the electronics of von Oswald and Loderbauer in a way that renders the project in new, vivid colors. There are 4/4 tracks, beatless interludes, and complex jazz structures, with propulsive recordings ("3") coexisting alongside more languid moments ("1"). Sometimes Allen provides flourishes of drums (notably on "4") while at other times spectral synths come to the fore (as on "5"). Von Oswald, a masterful composer and arranger with a deep understanding of space, paints the crevices of each composition on Sounding Lines with rich detail. Individually, von Oswald, Loderbauer, and Allen are formidable and hugely influential musicians. As a trio, they've conjured something remarkable. Tony Allen, drums; Max Loderbauer, synthesizers; Moritz von Oswald, percussion sequencing, synthesizers, additional electronics. Artwork by Marc Brandenburg.
HJR 087LP
 
PRICE: $35.50
CAT #: HJR 087LP
FILE UNDER: WORLD
NDIAYE ROSE FAMILY, THE DOUDOU Twenty-One Sabar Rhythms 2LP
Magnificent Wolof drum music, performed by an extended griot family over seven consecutive days, in the mystical setting of Lac Rose, outside Dakar. Doudou Ndiaye Rose -- who died in 2015 -- is a key drummer in the musical history of the world. He developed a system of five hundred original drumming patterns, ancient and new. Amongst the modern rhythms here is Bench Mi -- "under the Baobab tree," a spot where problems get solved. Also, Hibar Yi -- "passing on information" -- the theme-tune of Senegalese TV national news for decades -- and Les Rosettes, the signature rhythm of Senegal's first ever all-female percussion group, convened by Doudou, and named after his grandmother. These original compositions sit alongside important traditional rhythms, familiar to every Sabar player, such as "Farwu Jar" (a courtship game sometimes resulting in a wedding), "Ceebu Jin" (also the name of the national dish of fish and rice), and "Gumbé", often played after a successful harvest. Recorded in joyful single takes, with no overdubs, mastered by Rashad Becker, the music is deep and thrilling, polyrhythmic to the bone, with a complex, pointillistic intensity at times evoking Jeff Mills in full flight.
HORN OF PLENTY (UK)
HOP 007LP
 
PRICE: $44.00
CAT #: HOP 007LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
CHAIN, PAUL Is Dead (Volume One) 2LP
2022 restock. 93-minute collection of the electronic, ambient, prog, and kosmische side of the '80s-90s Paul Chain catalog. Paul Chain is widely revered in the doom metal underground, and rightly so, but this collection aims to highlight the many "other" sides to his work. Anyone interested in NWW list or Mutant Sounds should investigate. Officially licensed collection bringing these gems to back to vinyl for the first time in 30 years.
HUBRO (NORWAY)
HUBRO 2651CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: HUBRO 2651CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
APNESETH, ERLEND Nova CD
Erlend Apneseth is one of Norway's foremost Hardanger fiddle players and folk musicians. After being widely recognized with the award-winning and critically acclaimed Erlend Apneseth Trio, he now returns with an acoustic solo album. This is the first time since his debut album Blikkspor (2013) that he has put the soloistic performance in focus, and this time the unique acoustics in Emmanuel Vigeland's Mausoleum sets the scene for his improvisations and compositions. "The Hardanger fiddle is traditionally a soloistic instrument. For me, one of the most fascinating things about the instrument is its ability to fill a whole room with sound all by itself. Even though I've been working in an electro-acoustic universe the last years, I've never left the acoustic approach to the Hardanger fiddle, and I now felt the time had come to do something all alone again." Even though Apneseth is rooted in traditional music, he has immersed himself in improvisation and alternative sonic-and pizzicato-technics on the Hardanger fiddle, which makes him stand out with his very own musical expression. After incessantly exploring his instrument for many years, this album can be seen as a personal catalogue of the Hardanger fiddle's sonic possibilities. Erlend Apneseth has released eight albums, received numerous awards, among them Grappas Debutantpris and Gammleng-prisen, and no less than five nominations for the Norwegian Grammy's. In 2019 he received the Norwegian Grammy's award in the open category for his album Salika, Molika, with Erlend Apneseth Trio and Frode Haltli. The album also received the NOPA-award and was nominated for the Nordic Music Prize. Apneseth has written commissioned works for Kongsberg Jazzfestival, Førdefestivalen, and Ultima, and toured extensively in Europe the past years. Since 2021 he has collaborated with the composer Ørjan Matre on new works for Hardanger Fiddle and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
HUBRO 3651LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: HUBRO 3651LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
APNESETH, ERLEND Nova LP
LP version. Erlend Apneseth is one of Norway's foremost Hardanger fiddle players and folk musicians. After being widely recognized with the award-winning and critically acclaimed Erlend Apneseth Trio, he now returns with an acoustic solo album. This is the first time since his debut album Blikkspor (2013) that he has put the soloistic performance in focus, and this time the unique acoustics in Emmanuel Vigeland's Mausoleum sets the scene for his improvisations and compositions. "The Hardanger fiddle is traditionally a soloistic instrument. For me, one of the most fascinating things about the instrument is its ability to fill a whole room with sound all by itself. Even though I've been working in an electro-acoustic universe the last years, I've never left the acoustic approach to the Hardanger fiddle, and I now felt the time had come to do something all alone again." Even though Apneseth is rooted in traditional music, he has immersed himself in improvisation and alternative sonic-and pizzicato-technics on the Hardanger fiddle, which makes him stand out with his very own musical expression. After incessantly exploring his instrument for many years, this album can be seen as a personal catalogue of the Hardanger fiddle's sonic possibilities. Erlend Apneseth has released eight albums, received numerous awards, among them Grappas Debutantpris and Gammleng-prisen, and no less than five nominations for the Norwegian Grammy's. In 2019 he received the Norwegian Grammy's award in the open category for his album Salika, Molika, with Erlend Apneseth Trio and Frode Haltli. The album also received the NOPA-award and was nominated for the Nordic Music Prize. Apneseth has written commissioned works for Kongsberg Jazzfestival, Førdefestivalen, and Ultima, and toured extensively in Europe the past years. Since 2021 he has collaborated with the composer Ørjan Matre on new works for Hardanger Fiddle and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
HUBRO 3653LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: HUBRO 3653LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
SUNDSTOL, GEIR The Studio Intim Sessions Vol. 1 LP
LP version. Geir Sundstøl has made a name for himself as an innovative session musician on hundreds of Norwegian and international albums. 2015 saw the release of Furulund (HUBRO 2533CD/3533LP), the first self-composed long player from this master of strings. Langen Ro, Norwegian Grammy winner Brødløs and St.Hanshaugen Steel (HUBRO 2642CD/3642LP), followed soon after. Now, the stage is set for something quite different. The Studio Intim Sessions Vol. 1, Sundstøl's fifth solo album, has taken a trip on its own, away from the cinematic Nordic noir and genre-crossing soundscapes we know, and ended up somewhere south of the Kattegat. Personnel: Geir Sundstøl - strings, with: Maria Due, Daniel Sandén Warg, Audun Erlien, Nikolai Hængsle, Håkon Brunborg, Lars Horntveth, Hans Hulbækmo, Gulzar Butt, Kjell Pop, Jarle Bernhoft, Chimta Raja Abdul, Sofi Jonas, Bashir Rydhem, Erland Dahlen.
INFINE (FRANCE)
IF 1075CD
 
PRICE: $13.50
CAT #: IF 1075CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
MARTEL, SEB Saturn 63 CD
If the name Seb Martel is still unknown to you, the guitarist appears on the credits of classic albums from Tony Allen, Femi Kuti, Morcheeba, or Blackalicious. Saturn 63, his new album on InFiné is dedicated to the exploration of the electric guitar in all its nuances. This new opus made from a selection of nine guitars from the Musée de la Musique (a branch of the Philharmonie de Paris), and only enriched with the voices of his close collaborators (Camille, Sabrina Bellaouel...), unfolds on fourteen tracks a musical fresco faithful to the historical and geographical heritage of his instrument. The album includes fascinating reworks of Carl Perkins, Benjamin Britten, Chavela Vargas, or Vincent Ségal in addition to his own compositions. However, adopting a dogmatic approach, and dressing his compositions with sounds and effects collected during the recordings, Martel offers an abstract and experimental edge to Saturm 63, which transports the listener into an out of time experience. Two famous names of the French chanson, M (Matthieu Chedid) and Mathieu Boogaerts joined Martel to close the album with the snapshot of a speechless improvised session. Also features Cindy Pooch, Martin Gamet, Vincent Ségal, Nicolas Martel, Vic Moan, and Marc Anthony Thompson (aka Chocolate Genius). CD version includes one additional track.
JAZZMAN RECORDS (UK)
JMAN 131CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: JMAN 131CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
REALITY Disco Party CD
Jazzman have already given legitimate release to albums that fell foul of the notorious '70s "tax scam" practice, namely those by Sounds of the City Experience and Ricardo Marrero. It now gives the label great satisfaction to present Reality's Disco Party album, for the very first time in agreement with the surviving members of the band. Possibly the most obscure of all the obscurities in the TSG catalog, Disco Party isn't actually "disco" at all, moreover it's a fully rounded excursion into mid-70s dancefloor funk and proto-disco-jazz, performed by a group of expert musicians at the height of their powers. Recorded in one long session in NYC, until now, bandleader Dr. Otto Gomez and the rest of his crew had never even heard the recordings they'd made almost 50 years ago. Indeed, none of the band even knew that their album had been released. At Jazzman, the label considers it their mission to shine new light on music that went under-appreciated at the time of its original release. There are many varied circumstances which can cause an otherwise great record to not do so well -- for instance, poor budget, marketing, promo and sometimes just plain old bad luck. Perhaps the most unjust circumstance involves the tax loss releases of the mid-70s -- records made purely to cheat a few dollars out of the tax man. Here, along with restoring the music, the label have dug deep into the backstory of the group, interviewing Gomez and others to find out exactly who this unheralded NYC funk orchestra were and what happened to them before and after the monumental session laid out on this record. Jazzman Records' liner notes tell the story of the TSG label and the "tax loss" phenomenon, and they delve into the history of the band from their humble beginnings as the Smokin' Shades of Black to the present day. Jazzman also find out exactly what it means to record some brilliant music -- only to have it taken away -- and discarded. CD version includes eight-page color booklet.
JMAN 131LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: JMAN 131LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
REALITY Disco Party LP
LP version. Tip on sleeve; printed inner with liners and pictures; includes download card. Jazzman have already given legitimate release to albums that fell foul of the notorious '70s "tax scam" practice, namely those by Sounds of the City Experience and Ricardo Marrero. It now gives the label great satisfaction to present Reality's Disco Party album, for the very first time in agreement with the surviving members of the band. Possibly the most obscure of all the obscurities in the TSG catalog, Disco Party isn't actually "disco" at all, moreover it's a fully rounded excursion into mid-70s dancefloor funk and proto-disco-jazz, performed by a group of expert musicians at the height of their powers. Recorded in one long session in NYC, until now, bandleader Dr. Otto Gomez and the rest of his crew had never even heard the recordings they'd made almost 50 years ago. Indeed, none of the band even knew that their album had been released. At Jazzman, the label considers it their mission to shine new light on music that went under-appreciated at the time of its original release. There are many varied circumstances which can cause an otherwise great record to not do so well -- for instance, poor budget, marketing, promo and sometimes just plain old bad luck. Perhaps the most unjust circumstance involves the tax loss releases of the mid-70s -- records made purely to cheat a few dollars out of the tax man. Here, along with restoring the music, the label have dug deep into the backstory of the group, interviewing Gomez and others to find out exactly who this unheralded NYC funk orchestra were and what happened to them before and after the monumental session laid out on this record. Jazzman Records' liner notes tell the story of the TSG label and the "tax loss" phenomenon, and they delve into the history of the band from their humble beginnings as the Smokin' Shades of Black to the present day. Jazzman also find out exactly what it means to record some brilliant music -- only to have it taken away -- and discarded.
K7/BECAUSE MUSIC (FRANCE)
K7 416EP
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: K7 416EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
REAPER & KLOKE, TIM Museum/Flow State 12"
Museum/Flow State is a collaboration between British nouveau junglist Tim Reaper and Antipodean producer Kloke; this union within the thrilling new generation of jungle artists culminates in a set of disparate yet compelling spheres of sound. These productions are a side consequence of back-and-forth sessions between the two for the acclaimed Meeting Of The Minds series housed on Tim Reaper's label, Future Retro London. The artists were spurred on by the myths and legends of 1990s London's most celebrated epicenters from across the DnB continuum. "Flow State" takes inspiration from Speed, Fabio, and LTJ Bukem's seminal club night in London's West End, where the mid-90s jungle blueprint iterated into soulful, jazzy liquid. As its name suggests, "Flow State" is beautifully rolling and detail oriented, layered and warmly spacious, as it generously serves desires that are both cerebral and bodily. "Museum" is pure kinetic energy, from its suspenseful looped intro through its jagged edges. The track takes its cues from the iconoclastic Sunday night Metalheadz residency in London's Hoxton, where the leading edge of drum and bass was carved out under the guidance of Goldie and Grooverider in close, sweaty proximity. "Museum" shapeshifts swiftly through soft-hard dynamics, pairing explosive drum programming and intricate sound design with seductive melodic breaks that hit you in the core, transporting the listener into the pitch of its deep junglist heritage. 45rpm.
KALITA RECORDS (UK)
KALITA 12020EP
 
PRICE: $17.50
CAT #: KALITA 12020EP
FILE UNDER: WORLD
FIRST, ADELLE Don't Give Up 12"
Kalita Records announce the first ever official reissue of Adelle First's highly sought-after 1986 12" South African boogie single Don't Give Up. Originally privately released on infamous South African label Music Team's imprint Solid Records, the single features both the shorter vocal version and devastating nine-minute long extended "Dub Mix", a true testament to the genius of producer Tom Mkhize. Having recently rocketed in demand, fueled by equal measures of quality and scarcity, and with original copies now selling for over £200 on the second-hand market, Kalita now offers this masterpiece to the world once more, sourced from the original master tapes.
KARLRECORDS (GERMANY)
KR 025LP
 
PRICE: $25.00
CAT #: KR 025LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
PAINKILLER Execution Ground 2LP
2022 repress. The seminal 1994 double album Execution Ground, by the original Painkiller with the line-up of Bill Laswell, John Zorn and Mick Harris on vinyl for the first time. When Painkiller started in 1991, their first two albums Guts Of A Virgin (1991) and Buried Secrets (1992) (both released on extreme metal label Earache) were heavy attacks blending grindcore and free jazz that brought together the musical backgrounds of the three protagonists: drummer Mick Harris had just left grindcore legend Napalm Death, John Zorn explored new extremities with his Naked City project while Bill Laswell had as a member of roaring free jazz quartet Last Exit (with Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock, Ronald Shannon Jackson) proven that he was not only a visionary producer but also an accomplished bassist. But it is their 1994 double album Execution Ground remains the opus magnum of the brilliant trio: Zorn's unmistakable shrieking saxophone, Harris's pounding drums and Laswell's growling sub-bass lines were given heavy mixing desk treatment, resulting in extended tracks that are no less intense than their early works but display the full range of the musicians's skills. Avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres - even more so in the "ambient" versions of the second disc. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin. Available here as a double 180 gram vinyl. Includes a download code and insert.
KEPLAR (GERMANY)
KEPLARREV 008LP
 
PRICE: $24.00
CAT #: KEPLARREV 008LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
JULES, MARSEN Herbstlaub LP
Herbstlaub, the third album by Marsen Jules, was both introspective and visionary, modest and ground-breaking. Blending elements of classical music with electronic textures, the German artist created six pieces that draw on the power of repetition, yet are full of internal tensions and sweeping dynamics. Now, Keplar makes it available again on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 2005. This version, remastered by Stephan Mathieu and with a new artwork by Umor Rex's Daniel Castrejón, shines a new light on a record that paved the way not only for the artist's later work, but also further developments in electronic and ambient music more broadly. "The noughties were a special time," says Marsen Jules today. "It felt like there was a new tool made available practically every day that allowed you to create new musical worlds on your computer." Hence, this prolific phase saw the emergence of a plentitude of genres and styles that can be traced back to individual records -- "precious gems that opened up new possibilities and anticipated a lot of what later would be picked up on," as he describes them. Herbstlaub surely falls into this category, having paved the way for a distinct approach to combining elements from classical and electronic music. While Wolfgang Voigt was focusing on the marriage of romanticism and techno with his Gas project at the same time, the six pieces on Herbstlaub follow a very different concept. Through repetition and reduction, Marsen Jules threw any sense of time out of joint while also inserting an emotional component into the music. "What would remain if you abstract musical contents to this degree, how much of your personality would still resonate in it," he sums up the questions that shaped his approach. "When will reduction result in monotony, and how could unique, magical moments created through repetition?" More than one and a half decades later, Herbstlaub seems both melancholic and brimming with excitement. This is the sound of an artist experimenting freely with the sounds and structures of two supposedly irreconcilable musical traditions with new and exciting tools, creating something previously unheard of in the process. All tracks composed and recorded by Martin Juhls. Originally released on CCO in 2005. Vinyl cut by LUPO. Cover art by Daniel Castrejón based on the original by Alphazebra.
KITTO RECORDS (UK)
KITT 001LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: KITT 001LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
ASHONG & KAIDI TATHAM, ANDREW Sankofa Season LP
2020 release. South London soul artist Andrew Ashong returns with his first full release since 2014 -- an expansive six-track collaboration with Kaidi Tatham, the unrivaled underground virtuoso described as the UK's Herbie Hancock. Sankofa Season takes both artists to new heights as they seamlessly complement each other's musical language, giving voice to productions that criss-cross genre and time to move into their own distinct lane. Expect deep jazz funk, hazy contemporary soul, jazzy broken beat, breezy Latin soul, organic deep house, and much more. A chance DJ set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with British Ghanaian soul artist Andrew Ashong on the decks, and UK broken beat legend Kaidi Tatham jamming along on synths and flute, was the crux of their new collaborative EP Sankofa Season. Remembering that night Kaidi says: "Andrew came in with a load of amazing records man, but then he played Manolo Badrena 'The One Thing', and I still remember, that's when I knew, this guy's proper, he's serious. I was like who is this dude, he smashed up the place, an amazing night." "Sankofa" translates to "go back and get it" in the Twi language of Ghana, and is the message throughout the six-track EP. Whether it's looking back at the London club scene on "Low Ceilings", or exploring the diasporic connections of music on "Sankofa Song", while also taking in the events of the year so far, Andrew explains: "Let's not spend too much of our divine energy retraumatizing ourselves and obsessing over grievances. We've got to address it, but we have to move forward, and try and make it better". Sankofa Season takes both artists to new heights as they seamlessly complement each other's musical language, giving voice to productions that criss-cross genre and time to move into their own distinct lane. Speaking on the recording process with Kaidi, Andrew says: "I don't even know how to describe how fluid and fast and how on point and how abundant his musical expression is, it's insane". Kaidi adds, "I just knew exactly what to do with Andrew man, straight away. But this is just the beginning -- this is just the start, people ain't ready". The EP follows Kaidi Tatham's 2018 album It's A World Before You, and is Andrew Ashong's first full release since his 2014 self-titled EP. Sankofa Season is the inaugural release for Kitto Records, a new label based in Belfast and London. RIYL: Sault, Moodymann, Theo Parrish.
KITT 002LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: KITT 002LP
FILE UNDER: WORLD
NYAMAKYE JUNCTION Dasein LP
Born of chance meetings in Accra, the band brings together a Burundian producer and vocalist, Betina Quest; with a Ghanaian singer-songwriter, Eli A Free; and a German percussionist and multi-instrumentalist, Ma.ttic. Nyamekye Junction take their name from a bustling junction in the Ghanaian capital, where a number of major roads merge, embodying the musical approach of the band: a singular sound at the junction of their cultural heritages. In Eli's words, Dasein (from the German for "existence", "being there"), captures "the need to live in this moment here and now with a heart full of gratitude" while exploring a number of interlinked themes, including the importance of one's environment -- cultural and political, as well as physical -- in situating, shaping and explaining each individual's identity. The band adeptly channel a wide range of influences, from the Ghanaian legends Ebo Taylor and Osibisa through to US mainstays such as Nina Simone and Erykah Badu; with equal regard given to UK innovators like Benjamin Clementine and Mala. The resulting debut EP Dasein is a stunning collage which showcases the band's impressive range and evolving sound by traversing a diverse range of moods, rhythms and textures. The lead single "GMT" (short for "Ghana Man Time") is a dancefloor-ready track that carries a deft political message. Driven by a weighty bassline alongside punching drums and percussion, for a rhythm section that would be at home in any broken-beat set, the song explores and emphasizes differing conceptions of time between the West and Africa with a playful irony. Later, the lighter "Eyes Don't See" provides space for the full range of Eli's balladeering vocals, while "Cloud 21" serves up Dean Bluntesque instrumentals and "Aduro" closes the record with a rousing anti-colonial anthem. "Being there", and was a core concept in the existentialist philosophy of Heidigger. For the band, it captures "the need to live in this moment here and now with a heart full of gratitude" (Eli) and the themes it raises, including the importance of one's environment in situating, shaping and explaining each individual's identity, are explored throughout the EP. Against a backdrop of a heavily male dominated music production space, Betina also quietly champions a course for women music producers in Africa and beyond, providing the driving force behind the band's distinct sound with intricate, looping productions and synth lines. For fans of: Obongjayar, Young Fathers, Alewya.
KOOKY TOO (UK)
KOOKY 201EP
 
PRICE: $13.50
CAT #: KOOKY 201EP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BLOODY/BATH Idle Hands/Sunder 7"
The debut 7" vinyl from Bloody/Bath "Idle Hands" is also the debut release by Kooky>Too, an offshoot of Kooky Records. This limited 7" is a peach -- a gloomy neu wave banger for our gloomy fin de siècle death-spiraling age. Sonically a bout of sleep paralysis, emotionally a midnight text from your favorite ex, Bloody/Bath are feverish, infectious and bewitching taking a post-punk passage that sounds distinctly their own. Catchy melodies dance throughout the tracks, disguising a heaviness, a desperation, drowning somewhere beneath the surface. Louder Than War describes the Bloody/Bath sound as "Stop-The-Clocks pop. Music to submerge yourself in. Wallow deep, then count your blessings." Summoned initially by Northampton singer-songwriter Kailan Price, but now a fully-fledged, five-piece band, interest has been soaring following their incendiary live sets invited to play for Slow Dance at the Brixton Windmill, and other shows in London, Bristol, and Bedford with Ritual Howls, Do Nothing, and Minor Conflict. Bloody/Bath create sparse expanses, concrete homogeny, and heavy atmospheres. Bruised and beaten down, a whole load of listeners can't get enough of Bloody/Bath.
KRYPTOX (GERMANY)
KRY 027LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: KRY 027LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
FURBRINGER AND FRIENDS, NOAH Moonwalker LP
The current moment in music is an interesting one: electronic music is more popular than ever, but at the same time there is a growing counterworld of new bands and musicians who are inventing new styles by reinterpreting old styles and combining live music with electronic production. Many of these new musicians are switching between "scenes" and styles -- just like many young listeners do today. Kryptox, the sub-label of Toy Tonics, is a platform for these new hybrid musicians. Noah Fürbringer is one of these new talents. Moving in these intermediate worlds -- a virtuoso drummer, composer, and busy band leader who is at home in many genres and besides writing his own great music which he debuts on this album he also is a side musician for some big names of the German rap and indie pop scene. Since he moved to Berlin in 2019 a lot of things happened: he came with a big hunger for creating something meaningful out of his radical lust to play drums and make music with as much different musicians as possible. This album -- his debut as a bandleader, composer, producer, drummer -- marks a special moment in his very young career. The LP is pure jazz funk in a modern style. Some might even call it jazz rock or fusion. Great compositions which fit perfectly in today's neo jazz scene. His name has appeared as a drummer in a wide variety of projects. In 2020, he founded the band Lord Of The Amazing Panther together with Vincent von Schlippenbach (DJ, electronics), Dirk Berger (guitar), and Beat Halberschmidt (bass). At the same time, he developed the cool jazz project Moses Yoffee Trio with Moses Yoffee on piano and Roman Klobe on bass, with which he was invited to the legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scotts. Moonwalker, for which Noah Fürbringer gathered a handful of friends around him, shows the wide spectrum of his musical abilities and the intense interest in exchange with other musicians. At a certain point the voice of Detroit activist and musician Malik Yakini appears in two pieces and talks about John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and the revolutionary power of black music. Noah Fürbringer explains: "It's not only a tribute to jazz, but also a political statement. The two pieces are a reference to how many different musical worlds I want to bring together." Features Malik, Roger Rekless, and Mike Nasa.
LA VIDA ES UN MUS (UK)
MUS 208LP
 
PRICE: $23.50
CAT #: MUS 208LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
SOAKIE Soakie LP
Debut seven-track album from half-Melbourne, half-NYC Soakie. It's total no nonsense blistering, fast, and energetic hardcore with a vocalist that sounds like she has been chewing on glass every day since birth. She has a real rasp and anger that is part Nick Blinko (Rudimentary Peni) and part Vi Subversa (Poison Girls) but the music is totally pummeling and would sit perfectly for those that love pogo punk, Teddy And the Frat Girls, The Feederz, and Good Throb in equal measures. "Boys On Stage" is a real standout with the lyric "There're too many fucking boys on stage" sticking in your head from one listen. Soakie was recorded by James Rumsey and mixed by Ian Teeple who also took care of the artwork. Includes A3 lyric insert.
MUS 254LP
 
PRICE: $29.50
CAT #: MUS 254LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
MOCK EXECUTION Killed By Mock Execution LP
Chicago's Mock Execution return with nine tracks of unadulterated sonic aggression. Their debut LP Killed By Mock Execution takes cues from the dirtier sides of both Finish and Japanese hardcore while keeping their engineer boots firmly set on the traditional UK crust sound of yesteryear. Executing a magnificent hybrid of Doom and Gloom, Gai, Kaaos, and the entire early 2000's Crust War catalog, Mock Execution tear through flanger solos, huge crash cymbals, burly driven bass and No Security split era intros and that's only part way to the band's sound. Recorded by the band on an 8-track tape recorder at their tiny practice space, during the height of global pandemic and civil unrest in the USA between 2020 and 2021, and graced with artwork by the inimitable Monykaos.
LANTERN REC. (ITALY)
LANR 017LP
 
PRICE: $34.00
CAT #: LANR 017LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
DI FRANCO, LINDA Rise Of The Heart LP
Reissue, originally released in 1986. Just a single album and a bunch of singles, rising star Linda Di Franco debuted in 1985 and left the scene all of a sudden in 1986. Her first album was a combined effort produced by Don Was (Blue Note's Renaissance music man and previously leader of post disco combo Was Not Was), a gentle selection of soul-pop ballads and lushy synth arrangements. With leading single "My Boss" the album shows an ethereal continuum with an excellent rendition of Burt Bacharach "The Look Of Love". Recorded in London, Detroit, and New York, Rise Of The Heart is definitely a keystone in the rising club culture revolution verging on the more existentialist pop aesthetic. RIYL: Sade, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Carmel, Antena. Fully remastered and licensed.
LES DISQUES BONGO JOE (SWITZERLAND)
BJR 081CD
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: BJR 081CD
FILE UNDER: WORLD
BKO Djine Bora CD
In response to the current political and ecological turmoil, the famous Malian quintet BKO appeals to the magical spirit of the djinn with Djine Bora (the appearance of the genie). An explosive and mystical third album, embodied by a music of resistance, the fruit of their unique experimentation with Mandingo music and their extraordinary history. The three letters B.K.O. are the code for Bamako airport. It is in the Malian capital that the group has been rehearsing since 2012. In the same year that Mali declared a state of emergency, no one could have imagined that these musicians would be responsible for three albums and over 450 concerts in 25 different countries. BKO fights, does not fail, unifies and looks like no one else. In this album, the band delivers an abrasive music where tradition is tinged with rock, polyphonies, distortions and shrill breaks. They invoke ancestral spiritualities by marrying for the first time in Mali two diametrically opposed traditions. In the course of the ten tracks of Djine Bora, BKO propels the traditions within a powerful and hybrid universe, just like Bamako. In this bewitching atmosphere, crackling concrete and ritual ceremonies meet. The group has released one of its most accomplished albums, tinged with trance, enigmatic melodies (the Peulh prayer of "Ntiaro") and unifying messages ("Maya", "Bamako", "Toumaro").
LION PRODUCTIONS
LION 059LP
 
PRICE: $34.00
CAT #: LION 059LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
TRUTH & JANEY Topeka Jam: Live 1974 2LP
"Double album of recently unearthed live recordings from 1974 by legendary Midwestern underground hard rock trio Truth & Janey, captured stretching out on extended jam sessions over several nights in Topeka, Kansas. Celebrated Iowa hard rock trio Truth & Janey are captured here doing what they did best, stretching out into raw extended jams featuring heavy guitar action from Billylee Janey, booming fuzz bass from Steve Bock, with Denis Bunce locked in the zone behind his drum kit. 'Midnight Horsemen,' originally released as a three-minute single in 1972, is featured here as a side-long 22-minute jam -- and is a prime example of vintage Truth & Janey. Included are several songs otherwise unreleased in any form (live or studio), as well as early versions of 'Down the Road' and 'My Mind,' from their 1976 underground hard rock classic debut album, No Rest for the Wicked. A new pressing of this double album collection of live recordings excavated from the archives of a long-time roadie, made over several nights in Topeka, Kansas in 1974. Limited edition of 500 copies. All previously unreleased recordings."
MAD ABOUT RECORDS (PORTUGAL)
MARCD 002CD
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: MARCD 002CD
FILE UNDER: WORLD
CHAVES, ERLON Procura-Se Uma Virgem CD
Reissue, originally released in 1971. Erlon Chaves e Orquestra Saint Moritz's Procura-Se Uma Virgem original soundtrack is supposedly one of the most sought-after Erlon Chaves LPs. This OST was recorded to a Brazilian soft porn movie with killer organ funk instrumental tracks and several funky, erotic and modal tracks, arranged and directed by maestro Erlon Chaves."Oh my gosh one of the true holy grails of Brazil I've after this for too long... just the correct side of lounge thank you for re-releasing this gem." --Gilles Peterson
MARCD 016CD
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: MARCD 016CD
FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK
SALVANINI, HARETON Xavana, Uma Ilha Do Amor CD
Reissue, originally released in 1981. Rare Brazilian album of the obscure film Xavana, Uma Ilha do Amor with a mixture of jazz, bossa nova, and psych. Hareton Salvanini creates a record full of groovy guitars, refined strings, and delicate orchestral sounds. Polish filmmaker Zygmunt Sulistrowski pioneered the format of shooting low-budget soft porn on exotic locations. Brazilian arranger and writer Hareton Salvanini was commissioned to deliver this soundtrack. No wonder many consider him a lesser-known Arthur Verocai. Salvanini creates a record full of groovy guitars and percussions that could rival with the best of KPM or Chappell library LPs.
MANA (UK)
MANA 015LP
 
PRICE: $31.00
CAT #: MANA 015LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
LEDA MAAR Stairway 13 2LP
"Swooping, sub-heavy sci-fi from Riz Maslen. Leda Maar is a new moniker for the established artist who's released a crop of downtempo and electronic music as Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine, as well as collaborated with the likes of Future Sound of London, filmmaker Andrew Kötting, and featured in PSP-era Grand Theft Auto soundtracks. Mana's long-lasting love of Riz's 1996 Laundrophonic EP, released under her Neotropic name, spurred this new release. That 12" was a deep and dark web of rhythm and ghostly urban found sound that one Discogs reviewer aptly named 'coin-slot Dubstep'. With elements mostly sourced from tape recordings made in and of her local laundromat, it still stands out as a remarkably contemporary feeling work; more like a post-Fisher, post-hauntology observation of urban life from the last decade, taking the ambient temperature and undercurrent pressures of the '90s. Asking if she had anything in continuity with this slice of her discography, and describing our interest in her take on 'space and bass', Maslen returned to us with Stairway 13. Heavy-lidded and ethereal in long form, the album's balance of bass weight, mechanical meter, and darkly tinted new age feels like a cinematic re-approach to some of the textures, moods, and themes of Laundrophonic. Originally designed for an installation, Stairway 13 folds in her decades' experience in sound design and theater, along with shards and elements abstracted from her more recent folk-like music, zoning into a deep, retreated, altogether dreamlike and expansive atmosphere. The scale and soundscape are reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi and their Ecophony album series, resonating to similar frequencies and exploring themes of chaos and re-birth in feature-length form. Stairway 13's four parts spread and swoop as single extended sides across this double LP. Carried by waves of sub bass and heavenly chorus, and later punctuated with autonomic clicks of machinery, whirrs, and pulses -- sometimes reminiscent of FSOL's weirder and more clipped staccato sampling in sections of their cyberpunk ISDN -- the work forms a gothic, otherworldly ambience. A subtle space opera."
MG.ART (GERMANY)
MGART 613LP
 
PRICE: $29.50
CAT #: MGART 613LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
LEARY & ASH RA TEMPEL, TIMOTHY Seven Up LP
MG.ART reissue Seven Up as part two of the authorized 50th anniversary "A.R.T." re-edition series. Seven Up is the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel and their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology, Dr. Timothy Leary. Cover art by famous Swiss artist Walter Wegmüller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany. First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik -- the first release on the new sub-label "Kosmische Kuriere". Seven Up in a re-cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself. Features the full original text for the "7 Levels of Consciousness" by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. "Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel" plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts including notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session. Gatefold; four-page inlay.Julian Cope's review and remarks from Krautrocksampler (1995): "When the Leary Mob met the Kaiser Gang, the sparks flew ever Up-wards... 7up is a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues! Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke had begun their careers in The Steeple Chase Blues Band back in the mid-60ies, and they quickly felt their way through what Barritt and Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unreal Pere Ubu/early Roxy Music quality. The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on 7Up that there is really nothing else like it. Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And with Dierks at the controls, even the New Kids on the Block would have sounded psychedelic. 7Up is like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers. The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions. In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, 'Space' and 'Time'. Within this, though, Timothy Leary's ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together . . . Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on like Jagger and Morrison but too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away..."
MGART 614LP
 
PRICE: $29.50
CAT #: MGART 614LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
ASH RA TEMPEL Join Inn LP
MG.ART announce the reissue of Join Inn as part three of the authorized 50th anniversary "A.R.T." re-edition series. Join Inn is the fourth album by Ash Ra Tempel. It was recorded at Studio Dierks and originally released on LP by Ohr Musik-Produktion Each side of the LP comprises one long track. In 1972, Ash Ra Tempel teamed up again with Klaus Schulze during the recording of Walter Wegmüller's Tarot album, and after one of the recording sessions, Ash Ra Tempel members Enke, Göttsching and Rosi, together with Klaus decided to "play it again" in a late-night session. This recording led to the birth of the Join Inn album, as well as two legendary last concerts in February 1973 in Paris and Cologne. Manuel Göttsching recalls Hartmut Enke on bass and Klaus Schulze on drums being a dream-team rhythm section for him to play his guitar, especially here to hear on "Freak n' Roll", that was ingenious and not to replace ever since. It was the last recording ever where Klaus Schulze (who sadly passed away in 2022) played the drums and also Hartmut (the Hawk) Enke soon after quit the bass and music forever. Join Inn marks the end of the collaboration with Klaus Schulze. However, together with Ash Ra Tempel, their eponymous first album, it is considered a highlight of the Krautrock movement. Re-cut overseen by Manuel Göttsching.Julian Cope's review from his book Krautrocksampler (1995): "'Freak'n'roll' fades in like it never started -- just was always there from the beginning of time, a dry wah-guitar free rock riff-out unlike any of the other Ash Ra Tempel LPs, and not much like any other music. Yes, there are bluesy riff but none of them have a blues context. Manuel Göttsching's guitar is so confident that he sometimes drops down to a simple major chord groove, whilst the Hawk pushes that round woody bass into strange overlapping rumbling melody. And ... it's the return of Klaus Schulze on drums which propels 'Freak'n'roll' to its height. No-one but Klaus has the ability to transcend rock n' roll in such an on-the-beat non-groove-y way and still send sparks of light into the cosmos as he does it. 'Freak'n'roll' is so egoless that it even works at a quiet volume as meditational music. Themes rise from the high tempo pulse beat, then are carried along the muscles of the song into the main area where the riff actually becomes real and expressionist for just long enough before slipping back into the musical fabric of the song. As usual with Ash Ra Tempel, the other side is an enormous drift piece called 'Jenseits (The Next World)', a beautiful Klaus Schultze meditation of haunting synthesizer chords over which Rosi Muller tells the story of the Cosmic Couriers' meeting with Timothy Leary..."
MIRAE ARTS
MA 006LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: MA 006LP
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
VA Spring Snow LP
Spring Snow is a compilation of eight leading experimental artists from different cultures and musical backgrounds who were asked to freely reflect on the word, nostalgia. The word, nostalgia, in particular comes from the Greek "nostos" (homecoming) and "algos" (pain), which are reflected on both sides of the record. Li Yilei's "SHI", meaning "time" in Japanese, sets the stage with its free-form synth notes and traverse rhythms. The listener is then presented with a memory of an orchestra, conducted by Lucy Liyou, leading to euphoric moments from Sawako and Gonima. The latter half explores the melancholic and sometimes painful side of nostalgia and youth. Forest Management opens the journey with a late-night rumination, which seems to loop endlessly. Jiyoung Wi, from South Korea, reflects on her birth and upbringing, and leverages her own voice to narrate the story. Things take a deeper turn with Gaël Segalen's "The Bed of Wewa", which paints a rougher picture with its noisy soundscapes, pounding synth notes, and synthetic voices. The trip concludes with Evicshen's rumbling and noisy track, titled "Inguinal". Artwork design by Steffany Tran. Mastering and lacquer completed by Frédéric Alstadt.
NO LABEL (EUROPE)
AEH 3456LP
 
PRICE: $26.00
CAT #: AEH 3456LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
MARASMA Vussa LP
"Marasma's Vussa is the Brainchild of Antonio Feola a long-standing figure on the London music scene, Antonio has been running the Fish Factory Studio in Willesden, North London for over two decades now. Throughout the years, he has had a major role in helping many of the current lead players of the London scene have a place to record and define their sound. Antonio's project Masmara has existed for over 30 years and here has found its place on record. Recorded on tape over time with some of the most sought-after players in London and edited during the lockdown period, Vussa is an album of mind-bending deep, cosmic mediative jazz experiments. Boasting catchy melodies and heavy, heavy jazz breaks!"
NOTON (GERMANY)
NOTON 053CD
 
PRICE: $18.00
CAT #: NOTON 053CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO Revep (Remaster) CD
Initially released in 2006, Revep is the third collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the third installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five album series. Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album's recordings are accompanied by three new compositions titled "City Radieuse", "Veru 1", and "Veru 2". "City Radieuse" was composed for the 2012 short cinematic essay titled "Cité Radieuse" and part of Carsten Nicolai's "future past perfect" series. The video shot at le Corbusier's Unité D'Habitation in Nantes (called "cité radieuse") takes the viewer through the modular system and design applied to the residential buildings. The film's narrative unfolds through a sequence of images tracking the apartments' indoor space and details, and points to the different benchmarks of standardized production as they correlate to their environment and its inhabitants. The album's original recordings resulted from musical exchanges that began with Vrioon (NOTON 051CD/LP) and revolved around a collaborative arrangement of Sakamoto's classic Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, the theme music to the 1983 movie starring David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself. In Revep, the piano takes the lead while the padded bass and pitched electronic frequencies mark sudden change. Deeply evocative and effortlessly colliding worlds of analog beauty and digital mastery, this album is considered another indispensable record from the duo's ongoing collaboration.
NOTON 053LP
 
PRICE: $40.00
CAT #: NOTON 053LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO Revep (Remaster) 2LP
Double LP version. Initially released in 2006, Revep is the third collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the third installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five album series. Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album's recordings are accompanied by three new compositions titled "City Radieuse", "Veru 1", and "Veru 2". "City Radieuse" was composed for the 2012 short cinematic essay titled "Cité Radieuse" and part of Carsten Nicolai's "future past perfect" series. The video shot at le Corbusier's Unité D'Habitation in Nantes (called "cité radieuse") takes the viewer through the modular system and design applied to the residential buildings. The film's narrative unfolds through a sequence of images tracking the apartments' indoor space and details, and points to the different benchmarks of standardized production as they correlate to their environment and its inhabitants. The album's original recordings resulted from musical exchanges that began with Vrioon (NOTON 051CD/LP) and revolved around a collaborative arrangement of Sakamoto's classic Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, the theme music to the 1983 movie starring David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself. In Revep, the piano takes the lead while the padded bass and pitched electronic frequencies mark sudden change. Deeply evocative and effortlessly colliding worlds of analog beauty and digital mastery, this album is considered another indispensable record from the duo's ongoing collaboration.
OPTIC NERVE (UK)
ON 410EP
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: ON 410EP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
DOLLY MIXTURE Everything And More 7"
Part of the Optic Sevens 4.0 Reissue series. Dolly Mixture were as instrumental in the founding of indie-pop as Orange Juice and The Pastels. The Cambridge three-piece, comprising bassist/vocalist Debsey Wykes, guitarist Rachel Bor, and drummer Hester Smith released just four singles, an EP and an album in their six-year life span; but they revealed a remarkable gift for songwriting and a keen sense of adventure and set the template for every female indie band since. The third single from Dolly Mixture is a perfect mod-pop affair. Co- produced by Captain Sensible and originally released on Paul Weller's Respond label. Magenta vinyl; includes postcard and poster.
ON 412EP
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: ON 412EP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
AVOCADOS, THE I Never Knew 7"
Part of the Optic Sevens 4.0 Reissue series. Written by a 15-year-old Etta Saunders and released in 1981 on Choo Choo Train Records as a one off by members of The 49 Americans and included Oisin Little of The Weather Prophets. There were no gigs, no sessions and there are no other recordings. These two tracks represent the full discography. The original is sought after by collectors. If you can find a copy expect to pay around the £70 mark. Green vinyl; includes postcard and poster.
OTHER PEOPLE
OP 067LP
 
PRICE: $30.50
CAT #: OP 067LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
DIENNE Addio LP
Dienne's debut Addio is a 32-minute study on loss and mourning. Following the death of her grandmother due to covid, and unable to say a proper goodbye due to travel restrictions, Dienne set out to give her Addio through musical form. She lets objects fall, leaves windows open, and lets the wind dust off the shelves. This is the sound of everyday mourning, a taste instead of an event. A lingering, broken and patient work of undeniable beauty. Dienne is a Belgian composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. She builds songs and soundscapes portraying images and stories that play behind her eyes. Starting with the oboe as a child, before adding the piano and flute to her repertoire, she later produced soundtracks for theater and dance performances. Artwork by Africanus Okokon and Maziyar Pahlevan. Mastering by Gert Van Hoof.
POTOMAK (GERMANY)
POTOMAK 957051
 
PRICE: $43.00
CAT #: POTOMAK 957051
FILE UNDER: ROCK
EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Silence Is Sexy 2LP
2022 repress; Gatefold vinyl reissue of Einstürzende Neubauten's Silence Is Sexy, originally released in 2000. This vinyl double album contains the track "Pelikanol," first available as a bonus track with the 2000 release of the album and now for the first time available on vinyl. Silence Is Sexy finally receives a long-awaited reissue on the band's own label Potomak. The element of surprise was and continues to be routine for Einstürzende Neubauten. On Silence Is Sexy they masterfully celebrate the unexpected in the exploration of silence. It is a wonderful album in the classical Neubauten sense; lyrical and melancholy. It's a musical coming-of-age from metal-defying scrap iron sound to constructed melodiousness, with a familiar rhythmic undertow -- playful, arrogant, poetic, subversive, dandified and mature. From its first release in 2000 (marking the 20-year existence of the band) to date, it has doubtlessly remained the group's most complex work and the most fascinating in its evolution. It shows the Neubauten universe from both a known, emotionally moving side, as well as one that is deliberately constructive. It clearly breathes the inimitably rough Neubauten handwriting, while Blixa's voice cuts through intellectual and cryptic texts. It is carried by metal sounds, from which individual instruments can almost no longer be extracted -- and by silence. Ultimately, nearly inaudible tones or laughter in the right place can seem more destructive than the most enduring rage. This is an album that won't be ignored; a unique appearance in the history of German rock music. 180 gram audiophile pressing.
QUINDI RECORDS (ITALY)
QUI 006LP
 
PRICE: $23.50
CAT #: QUI 006LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
SWAN, ELLIS 3am LP
Drawing the night in around his private, unnerving vigil, Ellis Swan returns to Quindi Records with an album of cracked beauty and haunted balladry. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter debuted on the label last year with a collaborative project called Dead Bandit, a vividly produced instrumental set in thrall to the badlands and a laconic, languid Americana. Under his own name, Swan records intimate, poetic songs in a stark fashion, so fragile they might disintegrate in between your fingers were you to pick them up. He draws the microphone close to pick up every whisper and drags the music through layer upon layer of tape fuzz, leaving room for atmospheric impressions which loom out of the walls like the ghosts of past misdeeds. These pieces play on the natural distortion and delirium which occurs at the farthest end of the night -- the hour before dawn might hope to break the veil of darkness. Swan's is a hauntological sound, but like the late Israeli rockabilly icon Charlie Megira his process strikes a spooked tone past revivalism and out of time or place. The only anchor which places Swan anywhere is the subtle presence of Katherine Swan providing lyrics to "3am" and lyrics and backing vocals to "It Could Be Worse". The impression cast is of one man and his guitar, but there are other textures tucked into the music -- the muffled murmur of a drum machine or a low frequency organ hum, some desolate piano, other treated percussive impulses which might well have been the work of incidental sprites while the four-track was rolling. There are fuller cuts like "Evening Sun" and the title track "3am" which play with structural dynamics and creep out of the shadows a touch, while passages of plaintive, instrumental unease such as the hypnotic, mantra-like "Chinatown" protract the space between songs. "Swing" lolls between moments of bottomless silence and a discernible, rickety funk, and "Puppeteers Tears" teases out a buried drama. But primarily, it's the light touch of "Horses Bones" and tin can tenderness of "She's My Sweet Summer Storm" which spell out the spellbinding character of 3am; a singular creation fusing the best qualities of folk, blues and Americana with a fearlessly experimental sound palette.
RADIATION REISSUES (ITALY)
RRS 179LP
 
PRICE: $22.50
CAT #: RRS 179LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
SICK OF IT ALL Wake The Sleeping Dragon! LP
Reissue for the 2018 album by NYHC pioneers Sick Of It All. Wake the Sleeping Dragon! is not sensitive, subtle, nuanced singer-songwriter fare. Aggressive, angry, and in your face, old school, Lower East Side hardcore punk. Sick Of It All have made another career and genre defining album. Don't sleep on Wake the Sleeping Dragon!
RRS 180LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: RRS 180LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BUSINESS, THE Keep The Faith LP
Reissue, originally released in 1994. Formed in south London in 1979, punk band The Business became associated with the Oi! movement in the early 1980s, making clear that they were against the extremism sometimes associated with it by staging Oi Against Racism events. Keep The Faith was the comeback album from 1994 that followed a long hiatus, songs like the censorious "Maradona" and the title track showing they'd lost none of their propulsive hardcore power, while the controversial "Holiday In Seattle" referenced the demise of Kurt Cobain. Another great Business disc for the hardcore and Oi! fanatics.
ROOM40 (AUSTRALIA)
RM 4200CD
 
PRICE: $18.50
CAT #: RM 4200CD
FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL
ENGLISH, LAWRENCE Approach CD
In 1985, Mangaka Yoshihisa Tagami penned Grey. Now, seemingly all but forgotten, it remains historic as it led the vanguard of manga translated and serialized in the west. Approach is Lawrence English's homage to the lasting impression the manga left on him as a 13-year-old. After rediscovering it in 2021, he was struck by how internalized some of the manga's themes had become and was compelled to create a soundtrack as a form of distorted mirror to its pages. What results is an intensely episodic study of Tagami's renderings of the humans, landscapes, and technologies that haunt the speculative world he depicts. Approach is a potent and affective work which acts a distant sonic pyre of a smoldering future that feels acutely more tangible than it did when Tagami first imaged it.From Lawrence English: "... This album, Approach, is an echo that has travelled with me for 33 years, even if I wasn't fully aware of it. It's a record about memory, about how seemingly cursory encounters shape us and how experiences accumulate in time . . . The record draws its root from Yoshihisa Tagami's seminal manga Grey. In many respects this album is a soundtrack to that manga. What makes Grey unique, in the west at least, is that it was amongst one of the first manga to be translated and distributed outside of Japan (yes, even before the touchstone that is Akira). It was one of the first droplets that has since become a torrent pouring outward from Japan. It was also the first manga I bought for myself, when I was 13, and read as a serial. I tend not to think or speak very much about my teenage years. I had some profound experiences that have carried forward, I forged deep emotional partnerships that carry to this day. The majority of that time however was something of a slog, a day-by-day performance of self-preservation . . . All boys' schools, one of which I attended, are a maleficent prison if you are not participating in, or as was my case you are maintaining an antithetical position to, hegemonic masculinity . . . It's difficult for me to quantify how much cultural consumption happened during my teen years, but I recognize now how formative so many of those exposures have become. An example of this came into sharp focus last year when I happened to remember, and then reread Tagami's Grey. As laconic and occasionally unlikable as the main character, Grey, might have been I associated deeply with their sense of determination. Grey's rejection of societal expectation, and his refusal to accept the immobility of systems, and social codes, clearly resonated with me . . . This record then is also a kind of sonic postcard retrospectively drafted for that very unsteady and volatile version of myself..."
RUNNING BACK (GERMANY)
RBCR 078EP
 
PRICE: $14.00
CAT #: RBCR 078EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
TERJE, TODD Ragysh 12"
2022 repress. Originally released 2011. You've been touched by the hand of Todd. Todd Terje, that is. The first edition of this comes in super-nice recycling sleeves -- the second edition in not-so nice sleeves. Trans-dance from the Norwegian chief inspector with greatysh hypnotism, properysh beats and a lovelysh Terjerine dream to round it all off. Vinyl contains some hidden tracks and extra elements. Cannot stop listening to it.
RUNNING BACK SUPER SOUND SINGLES (GERMANY)
RBSSS 007EP
 
PRICE: $15.50
CAT #: RBSSS 007EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
EQUIP Greg Wilson Presents XXXO + ICA Beats 12"
A central theme in the life and work of the British DJ pioneer Greg Wilson, UK electro is a page turner. With the seminal Street Sounds compilation from 1984 being the beacon, there are still a few overlooked corners. "XXXO" by Equip is one of them. Originally intended to be part of said release and produced by Greg Wilson, Martin Jackson, and Andy Connell (like most of the comp), it was turned down at the time. Sounding like a like a proto-house template with a dash of Klein & MBO, it wasn't considered strong enough at the time, but found its way to the public as a one-sided 12" in 2006, it felt like a brand-new track as it perfectly correlated with the electro influenced underground dance music mainstream at the time (Chicken Lips et al.) Here it is again: remastered, rekindled, and unreduced cut to 45rpm. Pressed and released for the first time on this planet though are the "ICA Beats Pt 1" and "Pt 2". Intended to be backing tracks for a UK electro live appearance in August '84, they haven't seen the light of day until now. Both restored and re-edited with some help of label owner Gerd Janson, they are fierce examples of the sound at the time. Sitting between rhythm tracks and experimental drum machine compositions (and a short greeting from their creators' other project Syncbeat), it makes you wonder how one could have lived for so long without them. The history of the past enables you to dream of the future.
SONIC CATHEDRAL (UK)
SCR 200LP
 
PRICE: $35.50
CAT #: SCR 200LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BELL, ANDY Flicker 2LP
Restocked; double LP version. Clear vinyl. Flicker is the second album from Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell. This 18-track double album finds Andy moving towards classic songwriting, notably on the reflective lead single "Something Like Love", the strident harmonies of "World of Echo", the joyous refracted loops of "Jenny Holzer B. Goode" and the fuzz-laden late-60s balladeering of "Love Is The Frequency". Stylistically, the four sides of Flicker take in everything from modern psychedelia to fingerpicked folk, whimsical baroque pop, and Byrdsian 12-string beauty. It's a breathtaking array and makes it even more abundantly clear that Andy has entered a purple patch in his songwriting, hitting a new velocity in contrast to his initial inhibitions about becoming a solo artist. Flicker is also an apt description for the genesis of the album. At the start of 2021, Andy returned to the stems of the recording sessions he made at Beady Eye and Oasis bandmate Gem Archer's North London studio and added fuel to the fire, writing melodies and lyrics and turning them into fully formed songs. The same sessions were also the starting point for The View From Halfway Down (SCR 170CD/LP, 2020) and this album picks up where that one left off, quite literally, with the very first words being "I was halfway down?" This is the first of several playful, possibly intentional, references to albums and song titles that litter the record like a musical breadcrumb trail. As much as this is a modern sounding and forward-looking record, it's also very much about looking back, something that is clear from the first glimpse of the front cover -- a previously unseen outtake from Joe Dilworth's photo sessions for the inner sleeve of Ride's debut album, Nowhere (1990). "When I think about Flicker, I see it as closure," explains Andy. "Most literally, on a half-finished project from over six years ago, but also on a much bigger timescale. Some of these songs date back to the '90s and the cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self." Some of it remains unspoken, taking place sonically rather than verbally: the album has a reflective, meditative feeling throughout.
SCR 210CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: SCR 210CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
PYE CORNER AUDIO Let's Emerge! CD
Pye Corner Audio releases a new album, Let's Emerge!, for Sonic Cathedral. It's his first studio outing for the label following the acclaimed live recording Social Dissonance, which came out on vinyl earlier in 2022, and it features Ride guitarist Andy Bell playing on five of its ten tracks. From the first glimpse of the artwork to the first note of the music it's a marked deviation from Pye Corner Audio's more traditional shadowy sounds. Whereas his last outing for Ghost Box (2021's Entangled Routes) was inspired by the underground fungal pathways through which plants communicate, this one is very much above ground, bathed in sunlight and acid-bright psychedelia. Designer Marc Jones's bold and ultra-vivid artwork consciously references the likes of LFO, Spacemen 3, and the early output of Stereolab. "I think it mixes together many of my earliest influences," explains Martin. "I've been a long-time fan of Spacemen 3 and Stereolab. Their moments of repetition and drone have always seeped into what I've tried to create. I was living in a small apartment and I'd stripped down my studio set-up when I was recording this album. This enabled me to focus on a few key pieces of equipment and explore them fully." The recordings were fleshed out by Andy Bell. "When I met Andy, we agreed that we needed to work together in some way. After I'd remixed a few tracks from his album The View From Halfway Down, he kindly repaid the favor." The end results -- mastered in New York by acclaimed engineer Heba Kadry -- are incredible, from the first stirrings of opener "De-Hibernate", via the glorious "Haze Loops" and "Saturation Point", the album slowly but surely awakens, blinking and feeling its way into the light. It all culminates in the epic closing track "Warmth Of The Sun" which, with its vocal harmonies and acid breakdown, is seven and a half minutes of pure release. "That one's about life's simple pleasures," concludes Martin. "The Beach Boys, tremolo guitars, infinite drones, Spacemen 3. Let's emerge from this darkened era and feel the 'Warmth Of The Sun'. The last few years have seen huge changes, both personally and in a wider perspective. The album title is a reaction to this, a collective (tentative) sigh of relief. Here's to new beginnings and a sense of hope."
SCR 230LP
 
PRICE: $28.50
CAT #: SCR 230LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
PETERS, MARK Red Sunset Dreams LP
LP version. Red vinyl. Mark Peters releases a second solo album Red Sunset Dreams on Sonic Cathedral. The follow-up to his hugely acclaimed debut Innerland (SCR 094CD/LP, 2018), which was one of Rough Trade's albums of the year when it came out in 2018, it features a number of guest musicians, including former One Dove singer and songwriter Dot Allison and pedal steel legend BJ Cole. Like its predecessor, Red Sunset Dreams is an album about an imaginary landscape. Whereas Innerland was an introspective psycho-geographic trip inspired by Mark's move back to his hometown of Wigan and the memories it stirred up, Red Sunset Dreams looks outwards, across the Atlantic to the United States of America, but very much through a UK prism; a representation of the subconscious Americana that's buried deep in our collective psyches. The result is an incredibly evocative trip through the landscapes of old Western movies, exploring their links with the North West of England while touching on wider themes such as isolation, freedom and dementia. Sonically, it builds on the palette of the previous record with instrumentation equally inspired by the ascendant ambient Americana movement and classic country-rock. As a result it ends up somewhere between Acetone's peerless I Guess I Would, Diamond Head-era Phil Manzanera and the dusty instrumentals on the second disc of David Sylvian's 1986 classic Gone To Earth. Mark has spent the four years since Innerland recording and releasing Destiny Waiving, his third collaboration with Ulrich Schnauss, and recently followed up 2020's new Engineers recordings (the ambient perambulations of Pictobug) with a reissue series of the band's much sought -after early albums. He has recently put a brand-new band together and will be playing a series of live shows following the release of Red Sunset Dreams.
SPACE AGE (UK)
ORBIT 055LP
 
PRICE: $30.50
CAT #: ORBIT 055LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
SPACEMEN 3 Recurring (Green Vinyl) LP
Solid green, 180 gram vinyl. Due to continued demand, the fourth and final Spacemen 3 studio album Recurring; the much-anticipated follow-up to their seminal Playing with Fire album, is being repressed. By the time the album was recorded, relations between the band had soured to the extent that the record is essentially in two parts; the first five tracks on side A written and performed by Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom, Spectrum, and E.A.R., and the last five tracks on side B written and performed by Jason Pierce (Spiritualized). The lead track "Big City" recently featured on HBO's hugely successful show Succession, as well as being used on an episode of The Simpsons. The track "I Love You" has also enjoyed success on the screen having been used in a recent episode of Reservation Dogs, a successful US TV drama. The artwork looks as good now as it did over 30 years ago, the solid green vinyl only complimenting the overall design. An essential album for any old or new fans of Spacemen 3. Printed card inner sleeve.
ORBIT 077LP
 
PRICE: $30.50
CAT #: ORBIT 077LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO RESEARCH Beyond The Pale LP
This was the first album from Experimental Audio Research (aka E.A.R) an experimental music collective formed around Sonic Boom (Pete Kember), founding member of Spacemen 3 (along with Jason Pierce), who, on this project works closely with Eddie Prevost (AMM), Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine), and Kevin Martin (God). Although not released until 1996, Beyond The Pale was originally recorded in Northampton, back in 1992 at Angus Wallace's Far Heath Studios. This is the limited-edition heavy weight, 180 gram transparent vinyl LP that was produced and mixed by Sonic and has been pressed in a limited run for 2022. The original artwork, created by long time E.A.R. collaborator, artist Anthony Ausgang, looks brighter and crisper than ever in this sturdy 300gsm sleeve.
SQUAMA (GERMANY)
SQM 009CD
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: SQM 009CD
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
ENJI Ursgal CD
On her second album, Ursgal, Mongolian singer Enji creates a unique blend of jazz and folk with the thousand-year-old traditions of Mongolian music. Currently based in Munich, her lyrics tell personal stories about unbearable distances, the oddness of being on earth and the simple truths in life. She's accompanied by Paul Brändle on guitar and Munguntovch Tsolmonbayar on double bass. Born in Ulaanbaatar, Enji grew up in a yurt to a working-class family. Having always been drawn to music, dance and literature, she initially wanted to become a music teacher with little ambitions to compose or be on stage. A program by the local Goethe Institute sparked her passion for Jazz and eventually led her to become a performing artist. Inspired by the music of Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson, Enji started writing songs of her own, cherishing this newfound means of expression. Ursgal is the first record featuring her original compositions.
SQM 014LP
 
PRICE: $28.00
CAT #: SQM 014LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
9MS II LP
II is the second album by drum experimentalists Simon Popp and Florian König aka 9ms. Following up on their debut Pleats (SQM 008LP, 2021), the Munich-based musicians further expanded their toolbox of synthesizers, effects, and tonal percussion to create a dark and dense fusion of trip hop, krautrock, and dub.
STAMFORD AUDIO (UK)
STAM 1003LP
 
PRICE: $33.00
CAT #: STAM 1003LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
DENNY, SANDY She Moves Through The Fair LP
Warehouse find, last available copies. "Stamford Audio, in association with Fledg'ling Records and by special arrangement with the Sandy Denny Estate, is very proud to present the first pressing on beautiful 180 gram vinyl of Sandy Denny's first recordings, unavailable on vinyl until now! The five songs on this LP, recorded at home in London in 1967, capture Sandy proving her vocal and, on two songs, writing mettle at the age of 19, around the same time as her first professional recording sessions with the Saga label, but before her work with The Strawbs, Fairport Convention and Fotheringay. The beauty and purity of Sandy's vocals shine through on these haunting early recordings, setting the template for an all too short career as one of, if not the, finest female singer our shores produced." This is a short release (16 minutes approx), with acetate-quality sound sourcing; previously released on the Fledg'ling A Boxful of Treasures 5CD box.
SUBEXOTIC (UK)
SUBEX 080LP
 
PRICE: $29.50
CAT #: SUBEX 080LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
PULSELOVERS Circles Within Circles LP
Pulselovers is the recording moniker of Doncaster's electronic music polymath, Mat Handley. In recent times, Mat's restless enthusiasm and boundless talent has seen him excel in a variety of related fields: as a much-loved broadcaster (presenting "You, the Night and the Music"); dispensing his electronic magic as a member of the bands Floodlights and Vert:x; and founding the essential Woodford Halse tape label. While recording as Pulselovers, he has produced a string of impressive releases, including titles on Castles in Space, Sensory Leakage, Polytechnic Youth, Misophonia, Russian Library, Do It Thissen, as well as regular contributions to the iconic A Year In The Country album series. Mat explains how reviewing these AYITC contributions gave rise to the possibility of compiling a retrospective collection as a stand-alone album: "Circles Within Circles contains tracks that have previously appeared on albums released by A Year In The Country between 2017 and 2020. Each collection had a particular theme which gave me an opportunity to experiment and develop the way I work by incorporating field recordings, tape loops and enrichments from additional instrumentation played by friends and kindred souls (guitar, bass, saxophone, flute, violin, vocals etc.) For example, the track 'Brodsworth' is built around a four-track tape loop of different synth tones to create a rudimentary (and very lo-fi) Mellotron, played using the sliders on the Tascam 414 in place of keys. For 'Fuggles', my partner and I broke into an abandoned brewery in Sheffield and made recordings of the empty space and crumbling concrete. For 'Beat Her Down' I assembled a virtual choir lead by Katje Janisch to sing a simple but disturbing folk nursery rhyme. It was my friend (and Floodlights main man) John Alexander who suggested collecting the AYITC tracks into a single volume and after several different permutations (around five pieces were excluded from this compilation), I think we've managed to put together something that feels like a coherent stand-alone album. I've enjoyed revisiting these works, some of which I've not listened to in five years. Thanks to Steve Prince of AYITC for his inspirational concepts and to Dan at Subexotic for giving these pieces a second home." Transparent magenta vinyl.
SURVIVAL RESEARCH (AUSTRALIA)
SVVRCH 058LP
 
PRICE: $20.50
CAT #: SVVRCH 058LP
FILE UNDER: JAZZ
LATEEF, YUSEF Jazz Mood LP
Reissue, originally released in 1957. A multi-instrumentalist who reconfigured jazz many times during his long career, Yusef Lateef came to prominence in the late 1950s, after having toured with Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz Mood dates from 1957, when his quintet had some of Detroit's finest, including Alice Coltrane's brother Ernest Farrow on bass and future Jazz Messenger Curtis Fuller on trombone. The use of an argol on "Metaphor" and a rabat and finger cymbals on "Morning" point to Lateef's Islamic grounding and his belief that music serves a higher purpose; this edition has bonus track "Passion," from the equally excellent Before Dawn (1957). Rich, deep, and varied, this is required listening for all serious jazz heads.
THE FLENSER
FLENSER 042LP
 
PRICE: $39.00
CAT #: FLENSER 042LP
FILE UNDER: ROCK
HAVE A NICE LIFE Deathconsciousness 2LP/BOOK
Reissue, color vinyl. Originally released in 2008. Includes 75-page book. "Have a Nice Life released their debut double-album Deathconsciousness in 2008 to a whimper and critical non-interest; six years later, the band followed it up with 2014's stunner The Unnatural World. In the meantime, Deathconsciousness has become a cult classic whose seamless blend of shoegaze, post-punk, new wave, industrial and noise influences inspire fanatic obsession. Now, longtime Have a Nice Life collaborator The Flenser reissues Deathconsciousness on colored vinyl with deluxe packaging. The band commented, 'Working with Flenser lets us keep things comfortable on our end, while also pressing enough copies to actually meet the need and not creating an artificially inflated collector's market, as happened with some of our past releases.' Rhythmic, primal and expansive, Deathconsciousness offers a meditation on death, loss and unrequited love, with repeated listens revealing new layers of depth and meaning. The Flenser's reissue is accompanied by a 75-page booklet detailing the dark and forgotten history of the Antiochean cult -- an engrossing narrative that blurs the lines between liner notes, novella and academic text." "A masterpiece of depression" --The Quietus.
THE WIRE (UK)
WIRE 464
 
PRICE: $10.00
CAT #: WIRE 464
FILE UNDER: Misc
WIRE, THE #464 October 2022 MAG
"On the cover... Lucrecia Dalt: The Colombian experimental musician and now sought after soundtrack composer explores heritage and diaspora through rhythmic rearrangements of South American music on new album ¡Ay!; Inside the issue... Anthony Moore: The former Slapp Happy and Henry Cow player has forged a unique career taking in stadium rock, experimental film, modern composition and his own solo works; Carl Stone: The electronic music and sampling pioneer gets music history dancing to a new tune through his radical reworkings of old school sounds; Epiphanies: Composer Sarah Angliss on trans performer and teacher Linda Grant; One-page interviews with avant clarinettist John McCowen, DIY folklorist Derek Piotr, and one man psych unit Dez Dare; also includes Global Ear, Unlimited Editions and Invisible Jukebox."
TINY GLOBAL PRODUCTIONS (HUNGARY)
LSE 003CD
 
PRICE: $8.00
CAT #: LSE 003CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
ROSSALL Blackpool Rocks CD
The second single from the album The Last Glam In Town by John Rossall (PICI 026CD/LP, 2020). Founding member and songwriter of The Glitter Band. It contains the hit song from Rossall's album The Last Glam In Town as well as six other songs -- Alan "I Love Rock And Roll" Merrill's original NYC demo of "Equalizer", the previously-unreleased version of "You Know You Should Be Glad" from the album sessions, an early instrumental version of "Fear Of A Glam Planet" and three rough mixes of songs from the album by Simon Ding Archer.
PICI 036CD
 
PRICE: $16.00
CAT #: PICI 036CD
FILE UNDER: ROCK
BAND OF HOLY JOY Everyone Is Searching For Beautiful Things 2CD
The reimagined and reworked version of Band Of Holy Joy's Dreams Take Flight album, plus a full concert recording from the band's 2021 UK tour on two CDs. Band Of Holy Joy have mutated endlessly since their origin as a kind of trash bin industrial folk collective, through early experiments in an intensely poetic form of ambient post-punk which produced cult faves like "Rosemary Smith", to near chart-contenders on a then-failing Rough Trade with songs as beautiful as anything by The Pogues, free of bitterness but with greater heart... and more recently onward to a series of albums of gently anthemic social culture and political critique. A new album in the making will add another dimension to the work of Johny Brown and his ever-evolving band, but until those sessions see the light of day, the band have created two albums from recent work, a compelling audio verité remix of the last full-length, Neon Primitives (PICI 021CD/LP), and a fine live show from their last tour dates. Both sets are available here alone, on a double compact disc with magnificent art from Inga Tillere. Unreleased material. Edition of 300.
TOUCH (UK)
TO 076V-LP
 
PRICE: $33.00
CAT #: TO 076V-LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
FENNESZ Black Sea 2x10"
Black Sea was Fennesz's follow-up album to Venice (Touch, 2004), and was originally released in 2008; Stylus Magazine's Nick Southall wrote: "Fennesz does with sound what Stan Brakhage did with film, altering its very fabric and texture, employing disorder and error as forms of communication and expression. He forces you to learn a different method of perception and interpretation, to look beneath the chaos that seems to govern the movements of life and find the patterns beneath." Fennesz's career has come a long way since Instrument, his debut for Mego in 1995, and his first solo album Hotel Paral.lel which followed in 1998. Endless Summer (2001) brought him to a much wider audience and Venice underlined his mastery of melody and dissonance. His songs usually embody the skillful application and manipulation of dense sonic textures with a genuine feel for the live, and real-time. Black Sea features guitars that rarely sound like guitars; the instrument is transformed into an orchestra. Fennesz lists the elements used to make the compositions: "Acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, electronics, computers and live-improvising software lloopp." On "Glide," Fennesz duets with New Zealand's Rosy Parlane, whose work is also released on Touch. Fennesz also teams up with eMego artist Anthony Pateras whose prepared piano features on "The Colour of Three." Fennesz pushes his work into a more classical domain, preferring the slow reveal to Venice's and Endless Summer's more song- based structures. Jon Wozencroft's artwork makes visible this carefully hidden world resting beneath the surface of "the first impression." A series of shots, taken in quick succession as the tide recedes, reveals a world of specific activity only visible at a particular time and place, histories appearing and disappearing.
TO 119CD
 
PRICE: $14.50
CAT #: TO 119CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
CLEARED Of Endless Light CD
"Cleared is the longstanding project of Steven Hess and Michael Vallera, based in Chicago, Illinois. Of Endless Light was recorded by Jeremy Lemos at Electrical Audio in Chicago and mastered by Denis Blackham. The six tracks complete the longest release to date by the duo, who were resolute in utilizing the maximum time available on the compact disc format. Cleared has produced a series of critically recognized recordings since its self-titled debut in 2011. Working with the Touch label on The Key (recorded in spring 2019, released in October 2020, TO 116CD) was a leap forward, prompting remixed tracks by Philp Jeck, Fennesz, Bethan Kellough, and Olivia Block. Of Endless Light is noctambulant, a walk through formal sonic spaces and colors beginning with the cascading, bell-like tones of the opening track, 'First Sleep.' The husks of a city's industrial past are summoned: warehouses hollowed out for condominiums, dust-covered factory floors, a distant grind of machining, clouds of metallic particles, and the persistent background hum of traffic. These remnants contrast with hints of the sterile present of a city no less cruel than its industrial past. 'Dawn' opens with a grey drone and scattered electronic rhythms as wiring, and extended guitar lines suggest the opening of another cycle of the day into evening. 'Pulse' offers a hypnotic pattern that suggests the movement of people through the city's core, slowly overlain with cymbals evoking the shimmer of sunlight cleaving off the windows of distant buildings. The album appropriately concludes with 'Walking Field,' methodically moving forward via a cloud of meditative clicks and looping melodies. Of Endless Light is a patient listen, distilled into a sonic environment specific to Hess and Vallera's lens. Cleared created its crepuscular moods using the core methodology of their previous records while expanding their music's range, artistry, and subtlety. Deploying careful instrumentation, sampling, and mixing to experiment with tone and atmosphere, Of Endless Light breathes and drifts through layers of sound that veil, reveal, and intrigue. The result gives a listener much to discover, examine, experience, and consider -- as well as the incentive to return again and again." -- Bruce Adams, 2022
TRESOR (GERMANY)
TRESOR 300X-LP
 
PRICE: $48.00
CAT #: TRESOR 300X-LP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
VA Scopex 1998-2000 (2022 Repress) 4x12"
Originally reissued to mark the 300th release on Tresor Records and the 20th anniversary of the mysterious Scopex imprint, Tresor present the long-awaited repress of the Scopex 1998-2000 release. The three essential Scopex records and the previously unreleased track "Optimal Flow" are now completed by "Pressure Point", a new track on the H-side, available on vinyl for the first time on the 2022 edition. Re-mastered from the original DAT tapes, the four records come together in a beautiful gatefold sleeve featuring the original and idiosyncratic Scopex designs with delicate spot UV print. Includes: Simulant's Simm City (12"), Simulant's Out Of Ether (12"), Pollon's Electratech (12"), Simulant's Optimal Flow/Pressure Point (12").
WISDOM TEETH (UK)
WSDM 023EP
 
PRICE: $17.50
CAT #: WSDM 023EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
KUNING, JORG Chosta-del-sol 12"
Enigmatic Welsh producer Jorg Kuning lands on Facta and K-LONE's Wisdom Teeth imprint with a four-track EP of psychedelic, sun-kissed modular house-and-techno. Like so many great artists emanating from the lush Welsh valleys (think Steevio, Leif, Duckett, et al) Jorg creates distinctly pastoral dance music that is in equal parts playful, deep, melodic and eccentric. Through a string of low-key sell-outs on his own Bakk Heia label, the producer has already developed a unique signature sound and a burgeoning cult following to boot, with early adopters including Ben UFO, Call Super, and Shanti Celeste. The record opens with "Chosta-del-sol" -- a noodling polyphony of warm pads, warping plucks and oozing modular noise that stretches and sprawls over a sun-baked house beat. Next up, the two-stepping rhythms of "Ex-tensor" provide a bruk backbone for a constantly-crescendoing symphony of warbling chords, glitching melodies and fluttering pads. On the flip, "Rhos Fiddle" sees the artist hit a more driving, peak-time pace -- whilst "TB-SB" sees him at his most skeletal, recalling Skull Disco-era Shackleton.
WRWTFWW RECORDS (SWITZERLAND)
WRWTFWW 066CD
 
PRICE: $19.00
CAT #: WRWTFWW 066CD
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
HIROSE, YUTAKA Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 2CD
WRWTFWW Records announce the release of Yutaka Hirose's never-heard before 11-track collection Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989, with liner notes from the artist. Trace is a collection of 11 unreleased tracks produced by Yutaka Hirose between 1986 and 1989, during the Sound Process Design sessions, right after the release of his classic Soundscape series album Nova. Sound Process Design was Satoshi Ashikawa's label, home of the Wave Notation trilogy (Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards, Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie 1866-1925, and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way). Following Wave Notation, Sound Process Design worked with museums, cafes, and bars to create site-specific soundscapes, starting with the sound design of the Kushiro Museum. Yutaka Hirose was called to work on these projects. Rather than simply providing pre-recorded compositions, Hirose sought to create a "sound scenery". To achieve this, he participated in the conception of the space and paid particular attention to the accidental combination of sounds by placing the speakers, using a multi-sound source, and following the concept of "sculpturing time through sound". The composer explains: "sculpturing time through sound means that time, the space itself, the sound played in it, and the audience all become one sculpture. It is close to the idea of a Japanese tea ceremony where you use all of your five (or six) senses to taste the tea." Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 is divided into two parts. The Reflection segment is based on an ambient soundscape. It narrates "a sleep that starts with the sound of water droplets at dawn and slowly disappears into darkness" and feels like a natural and soothing progression of Nova. It was played in entrance halls, at events, in cafes and bars. The "Voice From Past Technology" segment expresses the dream world born out of that sleep and is based on what Yukata Hirose calls hardcore ambient, environmental music with a noise approach. It was played in museums and science centers. All in all, Trace is a crucial addition to every Japanese environmental music fan's collection, alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 019CD/LP), Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (WRWTFWW 030CD/LP), Motohiko Hamase's Notes of Forestry (WRWTFWW 034CD/LP), Inoyamaland's Danzindan-Pojidon (WRWTFWW 040LP), and Yutaka Hirose's very own Nova (WRWTFWW 028CD/LTD).
XCPT (UK)
XM 007EP
 
PRICE: $20.00
CAT #: XM 007EP
FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC
NOTHUS Angulo Angusto 12"
"Written and produced by Nothus (Milan, 2019). Mastered and cut by Marco Pellegrino at Analogcut, Berlin. Design by Linking Bios."
new releases are also viewable at https://www.forcedexposure.com/new/newindx.htmlForced Exposure, 60 Lowell St, Arlington, MA, 02476, United States, www.forcedexposure.com