News & Events

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: A 046LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

a-Musik, the Cologne-based bastion of sonic exploration, unveils a new chapter in their quest for boundary-pushing sounds. Timekeepers II, a split LP featuring recordings of two duos by Marcus Schmickler with Jaki Liebezeit and Hayden Chisholm. Side A bears the imprint of Liebezeit's rhythmic flow fusing with Schmickler's digital Shepard Tone interpretation. A studio recording taken before a performance at Moers Festival in 2014. On side B, Schmickler's electronics converge with Chisholm's bagpipe drones. The piece was composed for their show at Art's Birthday at Berghain and a-Musik's 20th anniversary at Geb?ude 9. Tim Berresheim's artwork serves as a visual backdrop. Berresheim mostly works with computer rendered images, which have been created for a solo exhibition at JUBG in Cologne in 2022.

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: ZORN 103LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

"Freeform, pigeon-hole dodging, stylistic merry-go-round, restless, weird and addictive -- the long-anticipated return of Nina Harker, three years in the works since their self-titled 2020 debut. Similar in vein to its polyglot predecessor, this is an extremely skewed trip to the unknown. The duo's chameleon-like musical world never misses an opportunity to shred its skin and reappear as something totally unexpected. Apolline's beautifully exposed, day-dreaming vocals on opener 'Le Pont ? Voiles' cut deep, setting up a false sense of security before things take a dive into the underneath -- stuttering synths and garbled vocals brace an eerie up-right piano solo and agitated spoken/electronics piece. The sheer lack of cohesion and total disregard for an attempt at flow adds a tangible sense of surrealism. But it's no amateurish prank or way of disguising technical flaws -- it's clear these musicians can play, and there's a strong feeling of intent. The folkier moments, when they do decide to glisten through the gunk, are captivating and otherworldly, whereas the indifferent vocals and brittle drum machine tilt of 'Hin Und Her' or quivering electronics of "e" could easily be misplaced for an '80s tape piece from Vox Populi. Add in a drop of the unhinged weirdness of early Beate Bartel/CHBB, or scratchy Siltbreeze almost-songs and the collage-aesthetic of Enhet F?r Fri Musik, and it's clear this is something special. In an age of unashamed pastiche, it's so nice, almost refreshing, to be properly tangled up in something so genuinely other and intoxicating. No one does it better." --Tom, All Night Flight

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: N 090CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya?s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

 

PRICE: $37.50

CAT #: N 090KOBE-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Double LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya?s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: N 090TOKYO-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya?s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: ARB 019CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Arbitrary presents Terrain Vague, the debut of Danish group Mesmer. The album is a series of (deconstructed) live-recordings taken from three live concerts. The sounds on this record are taken from two years' worth of sound research and creative outbursts with inspiration from field trips to the outskirts of Copenhagen. Intrigued by the auditive landscapes of places where nature and culture meet and challenge each other. Listening to the field-recordings led Mesmer to interpret the moods, musical qualities, and inherent energy of the sounds from these areas. Thus, creating melodies, harmonies and rhythmical structures that, together with the field recordings, paved the way for this album. Mesmer consists of the three musicians and composers Emil Jensen, Victor Dybbroe, and Anders Filipsen, who have been creating music together over the last 15 years in various groups. Mesmer is fascinated by how sound (and its absence) influences us as people and how the different natural and cultural environments create different musical scenarios. Recorded and produced by Mesmer, 2021 and 2022. Mixed by Mads Emil Nielsen. Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Cover art, graphic design: Mesmer/Mads Emil Nielsen.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: BV 278174LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited restock. The king of alternative pop sings: "Disco 2000", "Let It Be", "Mojo", "The Kiss Of Love", "I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", "I'm Your Man", "Cosmic Dancer", "Money & Run", "Farewell Song", "Ramblin' Mind", "The Breaking Hands", and "Shine On Me".

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 087LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Frank Maston's Tulips is a sample-ready film score to the best '70s movie never made. Originally a super-limited self-release on his Phonoscope label in late 2017. Be With Records were introduced to Maston by mutual friends Aquarium Drunkard and it didn't take long before the label decided this modern classic deserved a reissue. Inspired by the deep-grooving soundtracks of Italian cinema -- think Morricone, Umiliani, and Alessandroni -- Maston conceived the entire Tulips project as a continuation of these revered works. Frank designed the artwork and made two 16mm films to accompany the music. There's a distinct library music feel too, with wiry organ, spacey keyboards and loping '60s guitar hinting at KPM and DeWolfe. Like the best library music, Tulips creates a cinematic universe through sound alone, evoking moving images in the listener's technicolor imagination. Tulips was recorded between 2015 and 2017 in a small studio in a village called Zwaag in Holland, during downtime from Frank's touring duties with Jacco Gardner's band. With some very European influences in mind, Frank wanted to eschew any American influences. But you can still feel the studio wizardry of the likes of Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson in there somewhere. A psychedelic bedroom-pop song-cycle, full of hypnotic hooks and dusty drums, Tulips manages to sound charmingly homemade yet wholly widescreen. Dreamy opener "Swans" is an exquisite soul instrumental and recalls the soft-psych of Koushik. Tropicalia influences abound in the cool and breezy "New Danger" and the KPM-references are loud and proud on the lush organ pop of "Old Habits". Fast-paced "Chase Theme No. 1" manages to be both tense and laid back, decorated by acid-drenched spaghetti Western guitars. The glorious Gainsbourg-esque melancholia of "Infinite Bliss" is all gauzy flutes and happy-sad vocalizing and the title is almost perfect. Side A closes with "Evening", a subtle bossa nova beat thing. Side B opens with the heat-shimmer guitars of "Rain Dance", evoking an unreleased Byrds or Buffalo Springfield backing track. "Sure Thing" is music to accompany an elevator ride you never want to end, but in a good way! The ornate "Gar?on Manqu?" is as beautiful as the instrumentals on Pet Sounds and the wistful "Turning In" starts like a stroll in the park before Maston introduces a scorched-Earth guitar solo. "Chase Theme No. 2" is a briefer, more keening counterpart to what is on side A. The head-nod bass-drums-keys funk of "Hues" rounds out this staggeringly assured set. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis. Alternative burnt orange artwork from Maston. 140 gram vinyl; can be played at 33rpm or 45rpm.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 096LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Maston's Darkland is a breezy collection of the material from the Tulips (BEWITH 087LP) sessions that didn't make it on to the original LP. Originally a digital-only release for those in the know in the autumn of 2018, after re-issuing Tulips in 2020 it made too much sense for Be With to give Darkland a vinyl release. Like Tulips, Darkland was recorded mostly in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, between 2015-2017 during downtime from Frank's touring duties with Jacco Gardner's band. Bits were also done in Los Angeles on some extended trips back home. The collection plays like an alternate view of Maston's instant modern classic Tulips; a companion piece to the LP proper with similar mixture of shorter themes and more full-length tracks. Darkland opens with its ornate 39 second title-track before striding into "Tulips", that full-length title-track that never was. It's a real head-nod, percussive-rich electric piano stunner that would've been a comfortable standout on the album proper. But now this "downlifting" gem is given ample room to shine on this record. The funky organ-led bass and drums workout "Immaculate Conception" will keep your neck gently snapping while MPC fiends go reaching for their sampler. "Love Theme No 3" cuts a breathtakingly stylish vibra-slapped swathe through the middle of the opening side before we're startled by the pronounced bass and twinkling percussion of "The Owl In Daylight". Charming digi-drums underpin the wonky synth (quiet-)banger "Innovative Patterns" which has a lovely melodic switch-up in the final third before the tempo (and hairs on your neck) rise on the faintly creepy yet imminently groovy "Osiris". The gorgeously soft-focus "Groove Experiment No 3" closes out the first half in slo-mo wonderment. The lushly melancholic "Raincloud" ushers in side B before the emotionally-stirring "Phonic" taps at the door, coming on like the long lost sister to Pet Sounds' "Let's Go Away For A While". Next up, the swooning beauty "Love Theme No 2" keenly sways in front of you, growing ever more insistent and hypnotic. The too-short "Italian Summer" conjures the same flirtatious imagery as the title hints at whilst "Endless" is a fascinating "piano-pella" alternative version to "Rain Dance" from Tulips. "Wonder Theme" has a nostalgic, exotic 60s swing and album closer "Willow" is a hushed, campfire folk gem. The gently circular strumming is just magical. Mastered by Simon Francis.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: BEWITH 158LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Repressed. Known principally as a smooth titan of blue-eyed soul, Bobby Caldwell transcended genre tags with consummate ease; he was a musical icon of real class and versatility, cherished the world over. His double platinum self-titled album from 1978 is a timeless masterpiece of sophisticated jazzy soul brilliance and is strictly canonical. Whilst Ned Doheny is known in Japan as "Mr California", native New Yorker Bobby Caldwell has always been "Mr AOR" to his Far-Eastern friends. His distinct charm is an irresistible blend of soul, jazz, and pop influences. He possessed phenomenal songwriting prowess, smooth vocal performances, was both a great soul guitarist and dextrous keyboard player and known for genius chord progressions. It all added up to a multi-layered brilliance entering the studio, and the singular sound he landed on was laced with soulful, sweeping strings and funky horns, touching lightly on disco, while allowing his supple voice to carry the stunning tracks he'd crafted. Bobby sadly passed away on 23rd March 2023, after a long struggle with mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress, due to an adverse effect from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The reissue of his eponymous album will be available on vinyl across the globe, ensuring that fans -- and soul music enthusiasts worldwide -- can radiate in the deep beauty of this seminal album. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest quality at Record Industry in Holland.

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: BUDA 860384CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"For several years, N?garit has established itself as the leading orchestra of the Ethiopian instrumental scene, choosing to perform regularly at the Fendika [???? F?ndeqa - exultation, exuberance], underground and popular lair, hyperactive and mutating melting pot, rather than in the conventional clubs of the nice neighborhoods - which today tend to transform into shishab?t (shisha bars)... As opposed to Ethiopian pop songs, which always favor the lyrics over and above vocal or instrumental innovation, Ethiopian jazz has for the last 20 years or so received greater interest from a growing and noticeably youthful audience. These younger generations find in instrumental music, spiced up with improvisation, a pleasing compromise between openings onto other worlds and boring Ethiopian pop. The near or total absence of lyrics helps to erase linguistic differences or taboos. Pan-Ethiopian tastes and audiences, a far cry from the ethnic hierarchies of yore, whereas inter-ethnic violence is very much on the rise. It is no small paradox that the peaceable gentleman Teferi Assefa chose N?garit as the emblem for his group. The traditional insignia of royalty and symbol of power, n?garit is the name of the drum which once called for general mobilization. It is brave souls such as Teferi Assefa and his N?garit Band who are carrying high, today, multicultural, pan-Ethiopian claims and belonging. Pay close attention to each of the individual talents in this combo. Other experimenters are getting involved in this stirring clear-out, such as Endris Hassen, Haddis 'Haddinqo' Alemayehu, Sammy Yirga, etc. It has been half a century since the release of the album Yekatit - Ethio Jazz (Amha Records 1974, ethiopiques 4, 1998). The N?garit band is hanging in there, and in its turn forging a delicate path in these times of global epidemic and unacknowledged civil war." --Francis Falceto (Ethiopiques Series Producer)

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: BSR 840CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"This is Lee 'Scratch' Perry's final studio album recorded shortly before his passing in October 2021. Lee was one of 'the major cultural figures' of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. His contribution to the furtherance of Jamaican music as producer, arranger, writer and artist is beyond compare. He played a pivotal role in, and was the inspiration behind, many of the key movements in the development of reggae throughout the sixties and seventies."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: BSR 841CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"1979 heavy dub album produced by Prince Jammy, reissued on CD. Murder Remix Style by Prince Jammy at King Tubby's Studio."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: CMAR 005CD

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

Twenty years ago, when Craig Armstrong sat down in his Glasgow studio to compose the cues for Richard Curtis' latest romcom, he had no idea the film would become one of the world's most beloved cult classics -- and his score would be a central part of the film's enduring appeal. The intertwining romances of Love Actually were beautifully punctuated and accented by Armstrong's original score when it was released in 2003. Now, the award-winning musician has returned to his original compositions for an exciting new project, released by independent Glasgow-based record label, CMA Records. The Scottish composer's new album, Love Actually - The Love Themes For Orchestra, comprises 15 songs from the film's original score, all beautifully adapted, extended and reworked to celebrate not only the film's 20th anniversary, but fulfil Armstrong's long-held ambition to create fuller versions of his now classic compositions. Due to the very nature of film editing, Armstrong's cues were often cut down to shorter versions within the film's scenes, but revisiting the score has allowed the Grammy winner to write fuller versions, which have been performed by the Budapest Art Orchestra, conducted by Peter Pejtsik, for the album. The tracks on the new album are updated versions of the most poignant, moving parts of the film, including "Croissants In France," which fans will know and love for its use during the lost in translation love story of Jamie (Colin Firth) and Aurelia (L?cia Moniz), and "Glasgow Love Theme," a beautiful piano-led piece, which soundtracks the unrequited love between Mark (Andrew Lincoln) and Juliet (Keira Knightley). Creating what he hopes is an added listening experience for both fans of the classic film, and film music lovers in general, with this special album release, Armstrong has, once again, perfectly captured romance, love, desire, passion and emotion through his unique sound.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: CRR 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Dee Dee Ramone's infamous solo debut, Standing in the Spotlight is a controversial, confusing and extremely interesting piece of music history. Considered an absolute failure at the time of its release, it is a fun and pioneering album in which Dee Dee mixes his unstoppable punk personality with strong doses of old school hip hop and a touch of his passion for '50s music. A weird, charming and mind-bending release from one of punk's most iconic, troubled and talented figures, no Ramones collection is complete without this oddity."

 

PRICE: $360.00

CAT #: DIALP 926BOX

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

10 LP box set version. Includes hand-numbered certificate, 10 LPs in faithful replicas of the original covers and polylined inner sleeves, an 80-page LP-sized book in English, all housed in a custom lavish linen box; edition of 1000. Over the last few years, the Italian imprint, Dialogo, has showed a remarkable dedication to the history of experimental music via reissues of seminal artefacts from the Cramps catalog, and important albums by Piero Umiliani, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Enrico Rava, and others. This initiative now takes on a towering scale with the first ever box set gathering the entire ten album collection of Brian Eno's Obscure Records, originally issued between 1975 and 1978. A truly groundbreaking body of recordings - many of which have remained out of print and difficult to find for decades - it contains some of the most important, influential, and enduring music to emerge during the second half of the 20th Century, which collectively reconfigured the terms of minimalism and laid the groundwork for the emerging movement of ambient music over its short, three-year run. Each box set contains all of Obscure's albums, completely remastered by Andrea Marutti and housed in faithful mini-replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as a 130-page booklet, this historic collection marks the first time such a seminal series has received a complete repress. This is certainly one of the year's most interesting, essential, and widely anticipated releases, stunningly produced with the complete involvement of all the artists or their estates. When viewed collectively, the Obscure catalog reveals a remarkable, and previously unexplored counterpoint -- bridging the United Kingdom and the American West Coast -- to the dominant threads of minimal and experimental music, centered in New York that had long dominated the public consciousness. This historic collection marks the first time the seminal Obscure catalog has received a complete repress; simply a dream come true. Featuring Gavin Bryars, Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Brian Eno, David Toop, Max Eastley, Jan Steele, John Cage, Michael Nyman, The Penguin Caf? Orchestra, John White, Tom Phillips, Gavin Bryars, Fred Orton, and Harold Budd.

 

PRICE: $21.00

CAT #: DOL 954HC-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Reissue, originally released in 1964. 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: FAITICHE 034EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

The vinyl single Love/Hate brings together two sample collages on the theme of good and evil. Often evoked and sung about, but rarely in such concentrated, systematic form, these collages present the words "love" and "hate" in a variegated catalogue of articulations. Poirier's miniature radio play is anything but misanthropic: never before has the message of hate been conveyed in such a wonderfully warm-hearted manner. The Love side features a track originally released by Jan Jelinek in 2005 on the Eastern Developments label under the long-forgotten pseudonym The Exposures.

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: FTR 734LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Jaw Guzzi is the ninth LP Melted Men have released since 1995. This is reportedly the year they formed, but as with all Melted Things, there is little hard information to back this up. Like an earlier experimental 'rock' band from Northern California (by way of Louisiana), Melted Men have embraced something akin to Nigel Senada's Theory of Obscurity. Facts regarding the band's details are smudgy at best, and that's the way they like it. About all I could get out my contact for the group is that they are currently a six piece, with members based in France, Croatia, Holland and America. They seem to have initially been centered in or around Athens, Georgia. And while they play live infrequently, the reviews of shows I've managed to dig up seem to be amazingly freaked out and fucked up. Which comes as no surprise. I've not heard all their records, but the ones I have are as bizarre as they are beautiful, and the same is certainly true of Jaw Guzzi. The music is a tough-to-untangle bramble of live racket, pre-taped material and audio fuckery of unknown origins. There are surely comparisons to be made with artists like Orchid Spangiafora and Glands of External Secretion, but Melted Men display more overt musical structure than those collage-oriented maestros. I have the (perhaps misplaced) notion that Melted Men are able to recreate larger portions of this sonic smut in live performance. Like the aforementioned (or at least aforalluded-to) Residents, Melted Men mix 'actual' and pre-recorded material in a way that taps deep into the artistic vein of surrealist/dada-damage that has pumped through the best fringe culture for a century. There are also similarities to certain units of the L.A.F.M.S, as well as the Birmingham Alabama Surrealist coven that birthed the Say-Day-Bew and Trans Museq scenes. Most of the material here is instrumental, using sly pinches of style ranging from lounge-exotica to Gary Wilson-style porn-funk to noisy ethnic forgeries, the music flows like sweet hot lava, igniting everything it touches into woozy gouts of flame. Jaw Guzzi is a bracing goddamn spin, sure to please anyone who likes buzzing guitars, clonky percussion and cascades of dark weirdness. In the immortal words of Roald Dahl, 'better coffee than this, there isn't.'" --Byron Coley, 2023

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 143CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Haunting in situ recordings from Parchman Farm maximum security prison in Mississippi. Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Zomba Prison Project) recorded the prison's Sunday gospel service and the results are unforgettable. The performances range from solo acapella to a floor-shaking electric band. The repertoire includes both traditional and newly penned spirituals. Some Mississippi Sunday Morning is an unfiltered and deeply resonant journey into a musical world rarely seen or heard. The notorious Parchman Prison has a rich musical history with Son House, Bukka White, Mose Allison, and Elvis Presley's father Vernon Presley having been former residents. Mississippi's oldest penitentiary, Parchman was founded in 1901 and has one of the highest prisoner mortality rates in the nation as well as experiencing ongoing riots. Due to restrictions on video and photos, the only artifact from this meeting are the sounds -- making the voices all the more ethereal and ghostly. One man's voice was so deep, it sounded like the Mississippi River singing -- as if Barry White were a soprano. Another freestyled a rap about the shame he feels for having caused pain to his mother and others due to his actions. Another was a 73-year-old, former "rock and roll" singer who'd survived prison, become a chaplain, and found God. A veil of sadness seemed to shroud. The singers' voices softened and textured by the inescapable regret that their environment confronts them with. Most songs were covers of Gospel standards, but delivered so imbued with subtext that they were transformed almost unrecognizably from the source material. One of the beauties of the experience was that it was a successful integration of white and black inmates, whose services are often held separately due to racial tensions. As the men beamed, hugged and hi-fived one another in celebration, Chaplain Sidney beamed, "The making of this record has brought much needed encouragement and hope to the men here at Parchman." These were voices unchained, if only for those few hours. Expressing a vocal breadth of freedom otherwise denied and restrained. Recorded 100% live without overdubs at Parchman maximum security prison's Sunday morning service.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 146CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

S?o Paulo's Afro-Brazilian groove visionaries Bixiga 70 return with an ecstatic fifth album -- Vapor -- their first in four years. The sound is joyful, a series of potent horn driven melodies and infectious polyrhythms. More than a return, Vapor is a rebirth. An exuberant, full-tilt party. Featuring Simone Sou.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 146LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. S?o Paulo's Afro-Brazilian groove visionaries Bixiga 70 return with an ecstatic fifth album -- Vapor -- their first in four years. The sound is joyful, a series of potent horn driven melodies and infectious polyrhythms. More than a return, Vapor is a rebirth. An exuberant, full-tilt party. Featuring Simone Sou.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: GRLP 360LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Now available on double vinyl. Chris & Carlas' Life Full of Holes presents a wide range of friends and performers to create an evocative album easily the equal of The Walkabouts' best efforts. Guests range from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Tindersticks. Musically, everything from baroque European folk tunes to avant-garde noisemaking surfaces, creating an overall feeling of hushed power throughout. There are almost too many highlights to pick out. Life Full of Holes is an underrated gem by consistently underrated performers.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: GRLP 432LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Second studio album by the guiding lights in The Walkabouts. This time around Chris & Carla are credited for playing a variety of instruments: guitars, upright piano, Swinger 500 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, percussion, synthesizer, loops, programming and assorted noises. Just like the main band, the Chris & Carla duo is steadily developing and refining their sound. Rolling Stone Magazine wrote about this Chris & Carla album: "An expedition to the dark heart of America," and that pretty much sums it up.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: GRLP 659LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Now available on double vinyl. Two years after the Walkabouts' successful return with the chart album Acetylene, a new Chris & Carla album, Fly High Brave Dreamers, finally was released in 2007. It had been way too long (1998) since the two had last appeared as a duo. Musically, a lot had changed since then. Of course, the trademarks remained audible: the warm, excellently unobtrusively produced basic mood, Eckman's guitar playing, the vocal harmonies. But the result is an upbeat version of a Chris & Carla record. One half was produced with analogue instruments as a digital production, a sort of folktronica draft, the other five songs as live and direct as possible with the support of Al Deloner (ex-Midnight Choir) and Jason Victor (Steve Wynn, Willard Grant Conspiracy), among others. The eleventh song, 'Salad Days' by the Young Marble Giants, provides the credo for this album: Stay direct and keep everything as simple as possible.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GRAM 2315LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-punk and industrial pioneers with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of post-punk and industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, alternate tunings, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. In 2021 Savage Republic released the album Meteora on Gusstaff Records and during the tour promoting this album in January 2023, the band also played a concert in Wroclaw, Poland. It became not only a document of this route, but also a kind of summary of their entire history. The album is released in CD format (the entire concert), as a black LP (over half of the concert) and as a limited red vinyl with an eight-inch vinyl record (lathe-cut) added with a few remaining songs from the concert. Both LP versions were pressed on thick 200g vinyl. Vinyl versions include download codes with the entire concert.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: GRAM 2315X-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-punk and industrial pioneers with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of post-punk and industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, alternate tunings, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. In 2021 Savage Republic released the album Meteora on Gusstaff Records and during the tour promoting this album in January 2023, the band also played a concert in Wroclaw, Poland. It became not only a document of this route, but also a kind of summary of their entire history. The album is released in CD format (the entire concert), as a black LP (over half of the concert) and as a limited red vinyl with an eight-inch vinyl record (lathe-cut) added with a few remaining songs from the concert. Both LP versions were pressed on thick 200g vinyl. Vinyl versions include download codes with the entire concert.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: HEIST 079EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

House music legend DJ Sneak shows why he's a master of the groove on his Back To Love EP for Heist Recordings. There's only a handful of people that can really say they've seen house music since its earliest days. Puerto Rica-born, Chicago-bred, and LA-based artist DJ Sneak is definitely one of them. He has been the king of the groove ever since his big break back in '94 through Cajmere's label Cajual and was key in the development of that mid-nineties house sound with appearances on labels such as Strictly Rhythm, Henry St Music, and 83 West. Sneak has worked with some of the biggest artists in the game including Daft Punk, (delivering lyrics for their track "Digital Love"), Armand Van Helden, and many more. After a break in where Sneak re-evaluated his relationship with the scene and his music, he's now back doing the thing he loves most: Making killer tracks and slamming it on a record. The aptly titled Back To Love EP starts off with one of Sneak's most intimate productions to date: "Love can make it happen." Built around an ever-evolving vocal loop, and dreamy strings this track is deeper than deep with the percussion matching that meditative energy, with the grunt only Sneak can bring. "Going back to it" is Chicago house music in its core. Moody chords, some vocal chops, a badass bass line, and solid percussion is all you need. With "Full Cycle" on the flip, Sneak takes back his rightful place as the king of the groove. It's a track that is reminiscent of the days of "Paperclip People" where the bluntness of a live recorded "on/off" arrangement really adds something special to a track. The EP ends with "Pockets," a house jam with classic '90s vocals and energetic snare drums to add that classic New York touch to this already amazing record.

 

PRICE: $95.00

CAT #: HOL 136LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Born Herman Poole Blount in Alabama during 1914, Sun Ra first emerged on the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. One of the great avant-garde composers of his generation -- leading the way on piano, organ, and (eventually) synthesizer -- beginning in the mid-1950s and lasting until his death in 1993, led the Arkestra, a band through which a near countless number of important artists passed and collaborated with, and many remained for the duration of their careers, notably Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, and June Tyson. Known for their wild costumes and theatrics, Ra's eccentric image and claims that he was from Saturn was deeply political, imagining an alternate social order, history, and future for African Americans that rests as a pioneering force in the Afro-Futurist movement. Recorded live at Teatro Giulio Cesare on March 28, 1980, comprising an astounding 27 compositions, including the highly celebrated "Astro Black," "Mr. Mystery," "Romance of Two Planets," "Space Is the Place," "We Travel the Spaceways," and "Calling Planet Earth," over six vinyl sides. High among the greatest live gigs by the Arkestra captured on tape, carefully mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio, Live in Rome 1980 is a near perfect snapshot of the band's versatility and range, including many of their most notably and famous songs, as well as striking renditions of the Horace Henderson penned Benny Goodman number "Big John's Special," Fletcher Henderson's "Yeah Man!," and "Limehouse Blues," displaying Ra's willingness to address and rework the entire, diverse history of jazz in a single go. Heard in its totality, perhaps what makes Live in Rome 1980 most striking is the way in which the concert plays out. Roughly the first half encounters the band locked in some of the most out-there, free jazz fire that can be imagined, weaving a startling sense of interplay and furious energy into a brilliant tapestry of writhing sonority, the likes of which were only really achieved by this band. The second half, with only moments of exception that return to the furious energy of the first, is a very different affair, easy toward the vocal standards, led by June Tyson's vocals and the joyous collective chanting of the band, for which they have become so widely celebrated, threading the sounds of off-kilter big band swing with heavy grooves and imagines of outer space.

 

PRICE: $39.50

CAT #: HOS 739LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The expanded edition of Negative Fascination includes the extended mix 12", unreleased demos, and source outro packaged in deluxe wide spine jacket with updated art on clear vinyl. Perhaps the single most defining Hospital release -- one that cut across genre/subcultures and interloped into the wider consciousness and found commonality among the ruins. Digital download included.

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: HOS 809CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The world is already fallen and the temples are all new again. Available for the first time on 12" vinyl with mini poster. Digital download included.

 

PRICE: $27.50

CAT #: HOS 809LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. The world is already fallen and the temples are all new again. Available for the first time on 12" vinyl with mini poster. Digital download included.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: HJ 009LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

A deep dive into the titles released by these legendary jazz labels refreshes the history and vital relevance of this music. A vast, incredibly stimulating yet little-known catalogue, Black Saint/Soul Note is an Italian "double" label based in Milan. Starting in the 1970s, by the 1980s it had established itself as one of the most important imprints for international jazz. Virtually all of the brightest names in creative jazz or the "avant-garde" of the era, left important artefacts: prominent Americans on the label included Anthony Braxton, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell, and Sun Ra. It also gathered innovative Europeans such as Enrico Rava, Misha Mengelberg, Giorgio Gaslini, to mention just a few. In two volumes -- the second of which is dedicated to tracks from the Black Saint catalog, while the first is focused on the Soul Note one -- the music chosen by Khalab renews in unexpected ways its connection with the present through his dystopian and Afrocentric sensibilities. In this second volume there are moments in which the rhythmic aspect is powerfully explicit (the relentless Maono project by Andrew Cyrille or the fierce tension of Don Pullen's quintet), others in which the kinetic aspect dialogues on different levels with African American cultural contexts (like Oliver Lake's nod to tap dance or the dystopian Latin-jazz of Muhal Richard Abrams), others in which the groove does not even need percussion ("Hattie Wall" by World Saxophone Quartet or the intimate dance of "Wait A Minute" from one of The Leaders' album). There is no shortage of instances where the sound links the present to Africa (the strings in the dialogue between Diedre Murray and Fred Hopkinsor the textures of Karl Berger, without forgetting the very delicate polychromy woven by John Carter in "Ode to the Flower Maiden"), or references the most ancestral rituals (from Jarman and Moye's "Mama Marimba" with Johnny Dyani to the conscious Archie Shepp of "Song for Mozambique / Poem: A Sea Of Faces"), not to mention Sun Ra's eternal ability to connect Mayan temples to the farthest sidereal space. Khalab's Black Saint/Soul Note universe (which also draws on some work from the 1990s, when, without losing its vision, the label was going through a less vital period) is a colorful one, dotted with rhythmic galaxies in constant motion. It's a true feast for the ears, and a bewitching siren for the most curious and seasoned diggers. Also featuring Joseph Jarman and Don Moye.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: HJ 011LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

On his new album Layers, Khalab acknowledges and celebrates the encounters that have shaped his ever-evolving musical vision. The record, out on his own Hyperjazz Records, represents the culmination of a creative journey that began with his Eunoto EP, evolved with the Afro-Futuristic soundscapes of 2018's highly acclaimed album Black Noise 2084 (OTCR 001CD), and has since developed further through a series of experiences and deep musical collaborations. Layers summons all the alchemy of Khalab's live performances, and embodies the transcendental power of music making as a collective art form. The album's nine tracks feature an impressive lineup of collaborators old and new, including UK drummer and producer Emanative, Burkinabe singer, guitarist, and m'bira player Gabin Dabir?, Italian producer Clap! Clap!, multi-wind instrumentalist Tamar Osborn, drummer and producer Tommaso Cappellato, British-Bahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, Bristol's vocalist and producer Grove, multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious, Italian jazz singer Alessia Obino, and British-born Nigerian spoken-word artist Joshua Idehen. Layers still revolves around the key components of Khalab's sound -- dark and trancey electronics and his research into Black music and all its evolutions -- but with a bigger emphasis on harmonic arrangements. Across the album, Khalab's productions twist and pulsate into mesmerizing motifs, as the interplay between different instruments coalesce into focused melodies and rich, complex textures. Khalab and his collaborators masterfully blend gloomy and radiant tones, eliciting feelings of both doom and hope. For Khalab, Layers represents the end point of a journey that began with the synthesis of ancestral rhythms and electronic experimentation on Black Noise 2084, and has taken him on a meandering route through a Mauritanian refugee camp, and deep into the catalogs of legendary Italian labels Soul Note and Black Saint (for the Hyperituals compilations, released on his own Hyperjazz label). Also featuring Lady Blue Eyes.

 

PRICE: $35.00

CAT #: OGOALP 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. The Old Gods of Asgard, also known as Poets of the Fall, are once again part of the gaming world! The upcoming album, Rebirth: Greatest Hits, includes four previously digitally released tracks and four brand new songs, three of which are featured in Remedy's game Alan Wake 2. Remedy Entertainment is one of Finland's most successful gaming companies, and the upcoming game is one of Finland's all-time biggest entertainment productions. Marko, Olli, and Captain from the band Poets of the Fall are appearing for the first time in Alan Wake 2 as characters from the Old Gods of Asgard band. So, the Old Gods of Asgard band is a collaborative creation of Sami J?rvi from Remedy and Poets of the Fall. The band has its own story, history, and mythology within the universe of Remedy's games. The lyrics of the songs are closely related to the game's plot and provide hints to players. The band was last heard in Remedy's Control game in 2019, with the unique "Take Control" song being the first interactive rock song that changes with the game situation during a long battle scene. The entire collaboration with Remedy began in 2003 with the game Max Payne 2, which featured the band's first song, the hit "Late Goodbye." It won the "Grammy of the gaming world," the G.A.N.G. Award for the best pop song in a video game. It was a great start for both the band's career and their collaboration with Remedy.

 

PRICE: $37.50

CAT #: OGOALPX 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Double LP version. Gold color vinyl. The Old Gods of Asgard, also known as Poets of the Fall, are once again part of the gaming world! The upcoming album, Rebirth: Greatest Hits, includes four previously digitally released tracks and four brand new songs, three of which are featured in Remedy's game Alan Wake 2. Remedy Entertainment is one of Finland's most successful gaming companies, and the upcoming game is one of Finland's all-time biggest entertainment productions. Marko, Olli, and Captain from the band Poets of the Fall are appearing for the first time in Alan Wake 2 as characters from the Old Gods of Asgard band. So, the Old Gods of Asgard band is a collaborative creation of Sami J?rvi from Remedy and Poets of the Fall. The band has its own story, history, and mythology within the universe of Remedy's games. The lyrics of the songs are closely related to the game's plot and provide hints to players. The band was last heard in Remedy's Control game in 2019, with the unique "Take Control" song being the first interactive rock song that changes with the game situation during a long battle scene. The entire collaboration with Remedy began in 2003 with the game Max Payne 2, which featured the band's first song, the hit "Late Goodbye." It won the "Grammy of the gaming world," the G.A.N.G. Award for the best pop song in a video game. It was a great start for both the band's career and their collaboration with Remedy.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: KK 131LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Theresa Stroetges returns to Karaoke Kalk with her second album for the Berlin-based label, her fifth solo full-length with her Golden Disk? Ship project in total. Having released records with the Indian-German band project Hotel Kali as well as Painting, a group dedicated to audio-visual concepts, Oval Sun Patch sees her embrace influences from club culture, advanced electronic music, and pop more firmly than ever before. Over the past 15 years, Golden Disk? Ship has served a vessel with which the Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist has traversed a variety of genres and circumnavigated all conventions in the process. With Oval Sun Patch, Stroetges again sets sail into unknown waters with what is perhaps her catchiest album so far -- beat-driven, playful, atmospheric, and at times thoroughly anthemic. This is the sound of Golden Disk? Ship moving forward. The punchy beat and Moroder-like bassline that form the backbone of "Dolphins With Soft Helmets," the throbbing house and techno grooves underneath "Ephemeral Carnivores" and "Well-Oiled Machine," as well as the jittery IDM rhythms of "Google Your New Name" and her nods to trip-hop with "Tiny Island" do not so much follow established formulas as they use them as a starting point for wild experimentation instead. Stroetges juxtaposes complex rhythms with interlocking melodies and rich harmonies in ways that continue to surprise throughout and still leave enough space for the occasional wistful guitar or vocal passage. Oval Sun Patch is an album about change. The lyrics describe constant transformations of sceneries, relationships, physical and emotional states as well as the climate throughout its running time. Stroetges in the meanwhile leads the way as a singer, songwriter and producer who lets her music evolve constantly. This is sound, moving forward.

 

PRICE: $37.50

CAT #: KEPLARREV 018LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Keplar releases a vinyl reissue of 2001's Curve, the second album released by Frank Bretschneider on Mille Plateaux under his real name. Curve saw him pick up on the underlying concept of 1999's Rand, but gave his explorations of the sonic and stylistic range of electronic music notably more space and time to unfold. Merging compositional minimalism with sonic complexity, the eight tracks display an affinity for the production techniques of dub music, which had already been a major reference point for Bretschneider's work before. Its subtle grooves, especially in the rhythmically charged pieces towards the end of the album, also nod at the dance music-inspired work of contemporaries such as SND or Vladislav Delay. Produced during a prolific time for Bretschneider, who had previously co-run the Rastermusic label and was at that time still active under his Komet moniker, he considers Curve to be a crucial album in his discography. Bretschneider was an important figure in the 1980s Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) scene and released his first solo experiments with electronic music through his own klangFarBe tape label as early as 1985. Throughout the 1990s, he was part of projects such as Produkt and Tol and also released solo albums as Komet on Rastermusic, which he had co-founded in 1995 together with Olaf Bender a.k.a. Byetone. At the turn of the millennium, he gradually started releasing more solo records under his real name. After 1999's Rand, followed Rausch on 12k -- with whose owner Taylor Deupree he would collaborate for 2002's Balance, reissued in 2020 by Keplar -- in the following year and, finally, Curve. Produced after he had moved to Berlin, Bretschneider used a Clavia Nord Modular as his primary sound source and the Logic DAW to modulate and synchronize the sounds, adding only drum loops to some tracks in the second half of the album. Curve is a record that is hard to pigeonhole and thus an archetypical Bretschneider album: marked by a meticulous attention to detail, infinitely playful, and fully dedicated to pushing the envelope of electronic music. It is no wonder that it left a lasting mark on the international scene for adventurous electronic music.

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: LSRLP 161LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

A sinopia is an ancient preparatory sketch technique for a fresco. If you scrape the final work off the wall, the sketch remains; simplified and powerful in its starkness. Alessandra Novaga, an experimental guitarist/composer based in Milan, Italy found this historic technique resonated with an album she recently recorded with NYC-based drummer Kid Millions (aka John Colpitts of Oneida, Man Forever and many other projects). Italy's cultural past is the often transcendent and occasionally irritating uninvited collaborator to the living Italian artist. But as this recording project developed, Novaga couldn't shake the metaphor. Novaga met Colpitts in 2015 at the Tutto Questo Sentire residency, in Capalbio Tuscany. Both felt an immediate kinship as performers and friends. For Colpitts, Novaga's guitar syntax had no boundaries. Her playing coiled and attacked powerfully all while she left surprising, compelling silences. Colpitts responded with restraint and nuance and found himself reaching some stunning new territory. Novaga felt that Colpitts's could handle whatever extended technique choices she threw at him. The two musicians composed, over the course of a few months, the six pieces that make up this album. It all started with six sinopias. Instead of operating through in-person, extemporaneous improvisations, guitarist Novaga and Colpitts recorded performances or sinopies, on which the other completed the final mosaic. Colpitts was a new father, so he would take short breaks while his baby slept to record with Lenny Monachello at his studio next door. Novaga walked ten minutes from her apartment in Milan to a film music studio above a legendary frame shop, both managed by Giovanni Isgr?. Sinopia #1's inexorable drum battery is engulfed with a droning wave of sound. Sinopia #6's pinball machine-esque percussion is threaded by Novaga's Walkman feedback. The album moves through sections of found sound, quietude, chaos and flurried energy -- which combine to capture two virtuosos meeting on record for the first time. Dan Schechter, an award-winning designer who's worked on Colpitts's album art for 20 years, interpreted the layering concept of sinopia for the cover. His design highlights the veneers beneath a crumbling fresco. On Sinopia, Colpitts and Novaga find new territories, and create career defining music together.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: LM 2308CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

In 1994, the rock singer recorded the album Black, which was released in 1995 and then took a break of 14 years until the next studio album. Lita Ford was born in England and became famous in the '70s as a member of the Runaways. On the album Black, she stays true to her roots of rock and metal, but also dabbles in grunge and blues. The album has been remastered and continues the small but fine series of releases of the Lost Music label.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: MADSVIL 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Radio broadcast. Big beat from Beatsville Tour."

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: MSQ 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Recorded live at the Save the Mask benefit in Los Angeles in 1978, this record is a treat for any punk aficionado. Presenting four LA punk legends (X, The Zeros, The Weirdos, and The Eyes) live at the peak of their powers, this is a raw and powerful testament to one of the greatest times in punk history. A must!"

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: M 1223CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Multi-instrumentalist Michal Urbaniak (violin, saxophone, lyricon). was born in Warsaw in 1943 but grew up in Lodz, of which he is an ambassador and honorary citizen. In 1962 he traveled to the United States for the first time, performing at various jazz festivals with Andrzej Trzaskowski's quintet The Wreckers in Washington DC, Newport, New Orleans and New York. He received rave reviews, including in the New York Times. From 1969, he led the Michal Urbaniak Group, which consisted primarily of Polish jazz artists, namely Adam Makovicz (electric piano), Pawe? Jarc?bski (bass), Czes?aw Bartkowski (drums) and his wife Urszula Dudziak (vocals). The present Radio Bremen concert was recorded with this line-up as well. After that, he and his wife moved back to the United States, where he performed in numerous clubs and concert halls (f.e. Carnegie Hall, Beacon Theatre) with jazz stars such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Billy Cobham. In 1985, he participated in a recording session with Miles Davis for the album Tutu! He was a co-founder of the so-called UrbJazz fusion jazz in New York. As the first creator of fusion music, he introduced rock, rap and hip-hop into jazz by forming the band Urbanator in 1989 and the UrbSymphony Project in 1995. In the 2000s, he wrote music for 25 American movies, among others, and also appeared as an actor. To date, the exceptional Polish artist has released over 60 albums. Two original albums from Michal Urbaniak's early days and a unique live recording from Radio Bremen, where he presented the tracks from the two albums Paratyphus B and Inactin before they were released on vinyl a couple of months later."

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: MVD 13447DVD

FILE UNDER: Misc

"Home to outcasts, misfits, losers, perverts, lunatics, gangsters, pranksters, outlaws, neurotics, psychotics, maniacs, brainiacs, hippies, yippies, yuppies, junkies, flunkies, monkeys, all trying to claw their way to the top of trash heap, all screaming me, me, I want my fame my fortune, my lousy fifteen minutes, my, what the f*** whatever it is - You want it? We got it! It's MONDO NEW YORK." "Restored and remastered from a brand new transfer (from the original camera negative), Mondo New York is a cult classic celebration and perversely compelling tribute to the mutant artists and anti-stars of the Naked City circa 1980's Berlin cabaret in all their glory including Joey Arias, Joe Coleman, Karen Finley, Phoebe Legere, Ann Magnuson, Lydia Lunch, Rick Aviles and Dean Johnson and more, in this unforgettable avant-garde time capsule of New York City that will leave you both shocked and enlightened."

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: MVD 13448BR

FILE UNDER: Misc

"Home to outcasts, misfits, losers, perverts, lunatics, gangsters, pranksters, outlaws, neurotics, psychotics, maniacs, brainiacs, hippies, yippies, yuppies, junkies, flunkies, monkeys, all trying to claw their way to the top of trash heap, all screaming me, me, I want my fame my fortune, my lousy fifteen minutes, my, what the f*** whatever it is - You want it? We got it! It's MONDO NEW YORK." "Restored and remastered from a brand new transfer (from the original camera negative), Mondo New York is a cult classic celebration and perversely compelling tribute to the mutant artists and anti-stars of the Naked City circa 1980's Berlin cabaret in all their glory including Joey Arias, Joe Coleman, Karen Finley, Phoebe Legere, Ann Magnuson, Lydia Lunch, Rick Aviles and Dean Johnson and more, in this unforgettable avant-garde time capsule of New York City that will leave you both shocked and enlightened."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: NEON 018LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 restock. This is the demo recording sessions from Television in 1974 under Brian Eno's guidance. The A side demos were recorded at Good Vibrations Studios in NYC with Richard Hell on bass, and produced by Brian Eno and Richard Williams of Island Records. It also includes three live tracks from CBGB's in 1975 including the unreleased "(I Look At You And Get A) Double Exposure", the band never recorded in studio. An abrasive 13th Floor Elevators number and the iconic Richard Hell "(I Belong To The) Blank Generation". It is fascinating listening to the early versions of these songs that eventually appeared on Marquee Moon. Each version is distinctly different having a "harder edge" to them and closer to the final released editions. Sound quality: very good stereo.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: DMRLP 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"FULL DISCLOSURE: Previous releases of this show were taken from a 2nd or 3rd generation dub of the original recording which was sped up by approximately 8 per cent. This manipulation allowed the full recording to fit on one LP. This release is culled from the original master tape and is presented, for the first time, at the correct speed. This action not only ensures higher audio fidelity, but presents the songs as the artist originally intended. Consequently, 3 songs -- 'Teenage Werewolf,' 'Sunglasses After Dark,' and 'I'm Cramped' -- are missing from this release due to the time constraints of a vinyl record. These tracks are available on Dead Mike's companion 7" single release, 'Just Got Back from Venus' and the deluxe CD edition of 'The Last Supper.'" Recorded April 19th 1980

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: OMM 290796LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Double LP version. In September 1968, Amon D??l played the "International Essener Songtage," Germany's first rock festival of five days duration, which was initiated by the later OHR label boss Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser. The Berlin hit producer Peter Meisel heard and saw the band there and spontaneously signed them, along with Tangerine Dream and Birth Control. Amon D??l was close to the Berlin "Kommune 1" and came together at a time when everyone was an artist who wanted to be one. Anyone who wanted to could also be a musician. As a collective, anything was possible. In Meisel's studio, Angelika and Helge Filanda, Wolfgang Krischke, Ulrich Leopold, Rainer, and Ella Bauer, Peter Leopold and Uschi Obermaier, sky-high as it was state of the art, recorded a session that broke every rule and turned all listening habits inside out. The recordings initially went into the poison cabinet; it was not before a year later that Meisel dared to publish them under the title Psychedelic Underground. Here's more: The double LP Disaster (L??d Noma) was released in 1972, when the group Amon D??l didn't exist anymore, and it presents further recordings from the same session. All titles are untranslatable surrealistic plays on words, the tracks, compared to the first LP, are better organized in terms of sound, less fragmentary, more clearly separated from each other and edited more sophisticatedly -- the note that all glitches and errors are intentional is meant tongue-in-cheek, of course, but nevertheless has an element of truth. Now these memorable recordings are available again, remastered from the original analog tapes. As already the first record, Disaster (L??d Noma) is a document of a zeitgeist that has remained unrepeatable. Anyone who is seriously interested in the beginnings of Krautrock cannot ignore this album -- disaster is waiting just for you!

 

PRICE: $12.00

CAT #: OJL 011LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2024 restock. Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1965. 16 tracks featuring Son House, Louise Johnson, Charlie Patton, Jaydee Short, Blind Joe Reynolds, Robert Wilkins, "Hi" Henry Brown, Garfield Akers, and Joe Calicott.

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: PIC 3520LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Recorded August 11, 1969 in Paris. Picc-A-Dilly label US edition was licensed from Actuel in the 70's and issued with an alternate cover in 1980. Music is the same as currently unavailable Actuel/BYG version: New Africa. Personnel: Alan Silva - bass; Andrew Cyrille - drums; Dave Burrell - piano; Jean Georgakarakos, Jean-Luc Young - producer; Roscoe Mitchell - saxophone [alto], flute [piccolo]; Grachan Moncur III - trombone "Also put out in Europe by the BYG and Actuel labels, this LP is fairly adventurous, featuring the originals and trombone of Grachan Moncur III. He matches ideas with altoist Roscoe Mitchell, pianist Dave Burrell, bassist Alan Silva, drummer Andrew Cyrille and (on one of the four pieces) his former boss, tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp. Three of the selections are a bit reminiscent of the John Coltrane Quartet in their modality, but it is during the four movements of the continuous 'New Africa' that Moncur can be heard at his dynamic best." --Scott Yanow/AllMusic

 

PRICE: $38.50

CAT #: BGJ 002LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Double LP, comes in a single sleeve, 5mm spine. Printed inner bags, insert card. Bror Gunnar Jansson's second album Moan Snake Moan celebrates a decade with a special anniversary double 12" vinyl edition with lots of extra and previously unreleased material plus a new design. The original album has sold more than 10,000 physical copies, millions of streams and several songs have been featured in various TV series and movies.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: FARALP 007LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. The wait for Hulkoff's folk-metal album Hersir will soon be over. Hersir is Hulkoff's fourth album and is preceded by KVEN in 2017, Pansarfolk in 2020, and Ragnar?k in 2021. With a dash of Scandinavian melancholy, ancient instruments and acoustic violins, Hersir offers an assortment of rock-hard, earthy, melodic and furious folk-metal -- a throwback in time accompanied by familiar and ancient Nordic tones.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: PGML 173CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Around 2022, Mando Diao was invited to do another MTV Unplugged concert following up their massively success one for their English material that was done back in 2010. This time the focus was to on all of the Swedish material recorded over the years and with emphasis on the albums Infruset as well as I solnedg?ngen. The band went into the majestic and former church Eric Ericssonhallen in central Stockholm and also invited a few guests on stage including Ane Brun, Kristofer Greczula, and Jacqline Moss.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: RAJATON 002E-EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Sasu Ripatti presents the fifth and last volume in his Dancefloor Classics series. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: RAJATON 003E-EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Vladislav Delay presents the fifth and last EP in his Hide Behind The Silence series. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton". "Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as 'still water', or 'still air' for that matter . . . It's filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we're not scientists -- and even if you happen to be -- it's the natural world of perception that moves me . . . A hot summer's day with zero wind feels completely still. It's the closest I have felt to complete stillness. Or for a more urban adaptation, imagine the same vibe inside a normal apartment. In those moments, revelations and mind- blowing experiences can be had with experiments in stillness..."

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: RIP 206CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"An archival release of early muisc from Sonny Vincent, the legendary leader of The Testors, one of the original CBGB bands. It has music from his early protometal bands Fury, Distance and Liquid Diamonds. An album that goes one further by compiling tracks from Vincent's various pre-Testors power-trios from 1969-1976."

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: RMVL 023LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Double LP version. On their 2015 self-titled debut EP, H?llas lay the foundation of the saga bearing the same name as the protagonist crusader as well as the band themselves, which later grew into a trilogy composed of the two last songs on the aforementioned EP and the two following albums Excerpts from a Future Past and Conundrum. To celebrate the completion of the trilogy the band decided to do a one-off show in front of a seated audience at Cirkus, a classic venue in Stockholm. Due to worldwide restrictions the show had to be replanned and postponed several times until it finally happened on April 10th 2022. After more than two years on hiatus and with the exception of a minor festival gig the year before, this was the band's first performance during that whole period, and it was by far the longest set to date in the band's entire career. All first three releases of the band were to be performed from back-to-back divided into two acts. Act I consisted of H?llas and Excerpts from a Future Past while Conundrum and two songs from their newly released album Isle of Wisdom were performed in Act II. For the first time people were able to experience these new songs live. Some of the older songs such as "Insomnia" and "Tale of a Tyrant" had not been performed for several years. "Strider" and "Blinded by the Emerald Mist" had never even been played live before. So H?llas fans from all over the world attending the show were in for an unforgettable evening. With this record you get a slice of that pie in the comfort of your own living room. So please have a seat and enjoy this time capsule, as it is a very good representation of how this band sounded live back then.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: SRR 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Originally intended as the band's debut album and later shelved after Mike Browning left the band, Abominations of Desolation is the stuff of legend among death metal enthusiasts. Recorded in 1986, it is a stepping stone in the genre's history and contains early and raw versions of many soon to be classics in the band's repertoire, with Browning's brutal delivery giving the songs a very different personality than that of later versions. Absolutely essential for anyone interested in extreme metal."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: SODA 013LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Atte Elias Kantonen is a composer and sound designer based in Helsinki, Finland. a path with a name follows well-received releases on Mappa and Active Listeners Club, and finds Kantonen expanding the scope of his dynamic and idiosyncratic practice. Here, he places his listeners within an auditive diorama, affording them myriad views of the microscopic landscapes contained there within. An oneiric narrative is established from the opening track, in which a heavily treated voice proposes a dialogue and introduces us to the wonders of the soundscape. This speaker appears at various points throughout the record, functioning as guide, confidant, and friend. Those familiar with Kantonen's prior output will immediately recognize the shapeshifting, 3D timbral constructions presented here, arrangements that are positively overflowing with glimmering, delicate, polyphonic detail. This is a record that invites and welcomes speculation about the nature of the quest that it sets its listeners out upon, with Kantonen offering up trail markings to provide (dis)orientation before turning them loose to explore the soil, moss, and tide pools.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: SODA 014LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Iggy goes West! Soda Gong welcomes back Kansas City-based musician Iggy Romeu with his latest collection as Mister Water Wet. Cold Clay from the Middle West is a (characteristically) sharp left turn from his last two records, with Romeu offering up a surprising and addictive m?lange of crackpot Americana and smoky noir beat science. "Cold Clay Suite" opens the record, a five-part ride into the sunset that features Cooder-esque guitars, cat-gut fiddle, horse-hoof percussion, stadium organs, penny whistle, and bleary-eyed polysynth ruminations, among sundry other ephemera. Multi-instrumentalist Will Yates, known to most as Memotone, shows up three times on the album, lending clarinet, keys, guitars, banjo, sarangi, and vibraphone to these kaleidoscopic productions. It's a wild ride of a record akin to following a dotted bridleway on a crumpled old map, marvelously variegated and stitched together as only MWW knows how. Get along, now.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: SONIG 096LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

God knows enough has been written about Workshop. This group has been around since 1985, and what they did was this: musically quite limited, they made the music they wanted to hear, but in an ingenious way. Some played the instruments skillfully and others not so much. Seven records were recorded, which, with the exception of the second LP, are still more than worth listening to today. Are they in danger of being forgotten? Yes and no. What is worth listening to here has often been banned. One must bring it out again. Make attentive. Against the forgetting. These impetuous songs -- just let them get close to you again and listen to them in a new context and forget all the smart-ass talk that was said about them. That means to put the self with all its reality entanglements in the pillory. This is of course not only pleasant. Bravo!

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: SNS 025CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Audio Archaeology Series Volume 3: Brest. Sheet Erosion is the third episode in a series of works based around ideas of audio archaeology and found sounds. The setting this time is the city of Brest in France. It is composed of field recordings made in early 2020 during the storms Ciara and Desmond plus a batch of found open-reel tape recordings dating from the '70s and '80s. The tapes include domestic home recordings but mostly document recordist Michel's tastes in music and radio programs of the time. Daily life bleeds into these lo-fi recordings of radio and TV shows. Captured with a mic in front of a speaker rather than directly cabled, ambiguous activities can be heard in the background; babies crying, feedback, chairs scraping and muffled conversations. In the composition, family histories and musical tastes are transposed over a more contemporary soundscape of Brest. Over-saturated tape distorts time as well as sounds. Speeds change. Chronologies become confused. Different instances in time are blended and fused. What seeps through these chronological crevices are events and incidents unmoored from linear time taking place in a chimerical non-space.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: SNS 026CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Spuren & Gegenworte began with a quasi-telepathic collaboration between Kohei Matsunaga and Ralf Wehowsky. Both recorded a track on May 3, 2021, from 8:00 PM to 8:10 PM. These recordings were subsequently transformed, combined, juxtaposed, and further modified over the course of several months, resulting in the completion of the four pieces on the CD. Spuren & Gegenworte can be translated as "traces and antonyms," opening up a wide range of interpretations. "Traces" may refer to the remnants of the original sounds that have been transformed in the process of reworking, or it can symbolize the cultural and musical influences that can be discerned. "Antonyms" oscillates between contrasting/contradictory and complementary meanings. Of course, other interpretations are also possible. The four titles are indicated as Japanese terms on the cover: ???????????. They stand for the themes of traces, confrontation, fluctuation, completion.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: SWV 412LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

A collection of previously unreleased live recordings and acetate demos from in 1968-1970. Featuring recordings from The Matrix (San Francisco, 1969), The End of Cole Avenue (Dallas, 1969), The Boston Tea Party (Boston, 1969), Hilltop Festival (New Hampshire, 1969), La Cave (Cleveland, 1968), and Max's Rehearsal (New York, 1969). Includes "Sweet Jane," "Candy Says," "Cool It Down," and more. Edition of 500.

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: TME 851INDIE-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Opaque blue vinyl. "The experimentations taking shape in jazz at the end of the '60s with Miles Davis leading the pack pushed jazz in many new directions. Released six months after Bitches Brew, Electric Byrd shows legendary hard bop Detroit trumpet player Donald Byrd was listening to, but not necessarily following concurrent paths. Backed by a diverse group of players including hard bop legends with Brazilians Moreira and Pascoal lending a fresh sound. Shimmering percussion, wind instruments and electric piano and guitar set the backdrop for Byrd's dramatic flight into a psychedelic space with his echo-laden trumpet blasts. The album ends on a rollocking funk featuring his full band that foreshadows the gold he would soon mine with the Mizell Brothers on his string of hit records recorded shortly after. A true glimpse of an artist in transition, it would be difficult to find a more perfect sounding record."

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: TME 854INDIE-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

White vinyl. "It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the Jones brothers Thad, Hank, and Elvin on the world of jazz. Between the three of them, their performances can be heard on literally thousands of recordings, including some of the most legendary sessions ever recorded with some of the greatest artists. Post-War Detroit was really taking notes on the new sounds of jazz coming into favor and the group of former Detroiters included on this album include some of its most virtuosic students. Thad Jones, (although he was technically from nearby Pontiac, MI) on trumpet, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Tommy Flanagan on piano and Billy Mitchell on saxophone. Jones' first for Blue Note from 1956 stands as a fantastic sounding announcement that the Detroiters had landed in New York and were about to take off. Including legendary players Shadow Wilson on drums and Oscar Pettiford on bass; Detroit - New York Junction, a long sought after rarity and a true testament to the importance of Detroit on the evolution of jazz music through Blue Note Records."

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: TMR 850LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Recorded live at Club Mozambique, Detroit, MI 1971 by Francis Wolff. The funk fans have been waiting for this one. Finally available on vinyl, Grant Green's near perfect slice of jazz funk and soul, Live at Club Mozambique, remastered and rendered back in the Motor City. Grant Green's band had been playing a series of live dates at Detroit's Club Mozambique, (before it became a fabled male dance club) when this session was recorded live on two cold January nights in 1971. Powerhouse drummer Idris Muhammad and soulful tenor star Houston Person were brought in to supplement Green's current band featuring Ronnie Foster on organ and Clarence Thomas on soprano and tenor sax and Blue Note producer Francis Wolff recorded. This treasure was never released, though, and (conjectures aside) remained in the Blue Notes vaults for 35 years before a 2006 CD release. Sounding incredibly fresh and live, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more real stamping of Grant Green at the top of his game. The LP blends extremely hypnotic and wild funk such as their opening cover of a local funk hit 'Jan Jan' by the Fabulous Counts next to laidback renditions of early '70s soul favorites 'Walk on By,' 'Patches' and 'One More Chance' by the Jackson 5. It perfectly captures the magic of hearing a legendary band effortlessly doing their thing in a small club while the audience unwinds after a long work day. Green pulls it all together with his melodic genius and perfect delivery. Great artists make it seem so easy. No pretensions here, just a great band burning up the stage with unmistakable chemistry on what might be the ultimate jazz funk time capsule."

 

PRICE: $37.00

CAT #: TMR 851LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"The experimentations taking shape in jazz at the end of the '60s with Miles Davis leading the pack pushed jazz in many new directions. Released six months after Bitches Brew, Electric Byrd shows legendary hard bop Detroit trumpet player Donald Byrd was listening to, but not necessarily following concurrent paths. Backed by a diverse group of players including hard bop legends with Brazilians Moreira and Pascoal lending a fresh sound. Shimmering percussion, wind instruments and electric piano and guitar set the backdrop for Byrd's dramatic flight into a psychedelic space with his echo-laden trumpet blasts. The album ends on a rollocking funk featuring his full band that foreshadows the gold he would soon mine with the Mizell Brothers on his string of hit records recorded shortly after. A true glimpse of an artist in transition, it would be difficult to find a more perfect sounding record."

 

PRICE: $37.00

CAT #: TMR 854LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the Jones brothers Thad, Hank, and Elvin on the world of jazz. Between the three of them, their performances can be heard on literally thousands of recordings, including some of the most legendary sessions ever recorded with some of the greatest artists. Post-War Detroit was really taking notes on the new sounds of jazz coming into favor and the group of former Detroiters included on this album include some of its most virtuosic students. Thad Jones, (although he was technically from nearby Pontiac, MI) on trumpet, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Tommy Flanagan on piano and Billy Mitchell on saxophone. Jones' first for Blue Note from 1956 stands as a fantastic sounding announcement that the Detroiters had landed in New York and were about to take off. Including legendary players Shadow Wilson on drums and Oscar Pettiford on bass; Detroit - New York Junction, a long sought after rarity and a true testament to the importance of Detroit on the evolution of jazz music through Blue Note Records."

 

PRICE: $11.00

CAT #: TMR 899CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Neil Gust and Elliott Smith arrived in Portland, OR together in the summer of 1991 to start a new band with drummer/producer Tony Lash. Within a year of adding bassist Brandt Peterson on bass, they were playing across the West Coast and demoing dozens of songs for their first LP. Six of these tracks were self-released on the cassette titled The Music of Heatmiser which was sold at shows, local record shops, and handed out to record labels. The sound of the band changed a lot over 3 LPs, but this is Heatmiser right out of the gate. New, energetic, excited, moving quickly through styles, totally broke and making it work in whatever way possible. It's guitar rock, full-blast, through 100-watt Marshall half stacks, when grunge was ascendant in the Pacific Northwest and the Portland scene was exploding. Fast, tight, loud, fun. Third Man Records presents this original set of six songs on vinyl and streaming for the first time, along with 23 demos, live tracks, rare versions and never before released songs."

 

PRICE: $31.00

CAT #: TMR 899LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "Neil Gust and Elliott Smith arrived in Portland, OR together in the summer of 1991 to start a new band with drummer/producer Tony Lash. Within a year of adding bassist Brandt Peterson on bass, they were playing across the West Coast and demoing dozens of songs for their first LP. Six of these tracks were self-released on the cassette titled The Music of Heatmiser which was sold at shows, local record shops, and handed out to record labels. The sound of the band changed a lot over 3 LPs, but this is Heatmiser right out of the gate. New, energetic, excited, moving quickly through styles, totally broke and making it work in whatever way possible. It's guitar rock, full-blast, through 100-watt Marshall half stacks, when grunge was ascendant in the Pacific Northwest and the Portland scene was exploding. Fast, tight, loud, fun. Third Man Records presents this original set of six songs on vinyl and streaming for the first time, along with 23 demos, live tracks, rare versions and never before released songs."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: TMR 932LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"History has shown that the greatest bands -- bands with that certain, ever elusive quality called lasting power -- neither conform to nor buck the trends of their time, but rather force the times to catch up to them. Sheer Mag has such lasting power in droves. After almost a decade spent carving out a career that has already become the stuff of modern underground legend, the band's new stand-alone single, All Lined Up, comes alongside the announcement of their signing to Third Man Records -- their first partnership with a larger independent label -- who will also be physically and digitally re-releasing the entirety of Sheer Mag's back-catalogue, including their cult-beloved early EPs I (2014), II (2015), and III (2016), as well as their first two breakthrough LPs, Need To Feel Your Love (2017) and A Distant Call (2019). Sheer Mag's sensibility, as fervently beloved by baseball-tee clad garage rockers and tattoo-less indie kids as it is by leather-and-stud-loyal punks, finds its strength in an unconventional mixture of refined complexity and straight-forward pop prowess. Seamlessly trading between head-turning guitar heroics and a charmingly timeless blend of disco, hard rock, and garage inflected hooks, Sheer Mag's oft-referenced, never-replicated sound has played an undeniably large role in stoking the current resurgence of interest power-pop forward rock music. While quickly adopted as a fan-favorite amongst the sweat-caked crowds of the early 2010s underground, time has attested to Sheer Mag's singular cultural mutability: though never straying too far from their home-town Philadelphian origins."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: TMR 933LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"History has shown that the greatest bands -- bands with that certain, ever elusive quality called lasting power -- neither conform to nor buck the trends of their time, but rather force the times to catch up to them. Sheer Mag has such lasting power in droves. After almost a decade spent carving out a career that has already become the stuff of modern underground legend, the band's new stand-alone single, All Lined Up, comes alongside the announcement of their signing to Third Man Records -- their first partnership with a larger independent label -- who will also be physically and digitally re-releasing the entirety of Sheer Mag's back-catalogue, including their cult-beloved early EPs I (2014), II (2015), and III (2016), as well as their first two breakthrough LPs, Need To Feel Your Love (2017) and A Distant Call (2019). Sheer Mag's sensibility, as fervently beloved by baseball-tee clad garage rockers and tattoo-less indie kids as it is by leather-and-stud-loyal punks, finds its strength in an unconventional mixture of refined complexity and straight-forward pop prowess. Seamlessly trading between head-turning guitar heroics and a charmingly timeless blend of disco, hard rock, and garage inflected hooks, Sheer Mag's oft-referenced, never-replicated sound has played an undeniably large role in stoking the current resurgence of interest power-pop forward rock music. While quickly adopted as a fan-favorite amongst the sweat-caked crowds of the early 2010s underground, time has attested to Sheer Mag's singular cultural mutability: though never straying too far from their home-town Philadelphian origins."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: TMR 934LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"History has shown that the greatest bands -- bands with that certain, ever elusive quality called lasting power -- neither conform to nor buck the trends of their time, but rather force the times to catch up to them. Sheer Mag has such lasting power in droves. After almost a decade spent carving out a career that has already become the stuff of modern underground legend, the band's new stand-alone single, All Lined Up, comes alongside the announcement of their signing to Third Man Records -- their first partnership with a larger independent label -- who will also be physically and digitally re-releasing the entirety of Sheer Mag's back-catalogue, including their cult-beloved early EPs I (2014), II (2015), and III (2016), as well as their first two breakthrough LPs, Need To Feel Your Love (2017) and A Distant Call (2019). Sheer Mag's sensibility, as fervently beloved by baseball-tee clad garage rockers and tattoo-less indie kids as it is by leather-and-stud-loyal punks, finds its strength in an unconventional mixture of refined complexity and straight-forward pop prowess. Seamlessly trading between head-turning guitar heroics and a charmingly timeless blend of disco, hard rock, and garage inflected hooks, Sheer Mag's oft-referenced, never-replicated sound has played an undeniably large role in stoking the current resurgence of interest power-pop forward rock music. While quickly adopted as a fan-favorite amongst the sweat-caked crowds of the early 2010s underground, time has attested to Sheer Mag's singular cultural mutability: though never straying too far from their home-town Philadelphian origins."

 

PRICE: $13.00

CAT #: TMR 960CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Devotion, Grossmann's debut for Jack White's U.S.-based Third Man Records label, continues her musical evolution, arriving at a sound that wears inspirations transparently, but in practice, is markedly original holistic work. It is titled after Grossmann's experience of a natural sense of devotion that arose from her Buddhist meditation practice. She says, 'noticing that sounds are dissolving into the vast empty space, the true nature of reality. Just as thoughts are always dissolving into the stillness of our mind, we slowly realize that the essence of our mind is clarity. Devotion is a dedicated aural engagement with extremely talented musicians. It reflects a deep spirituality in composition, expression discovery through kaleidoscopic, 21st century jazz.'"

 

PRICE: $31.00

CAT #: TMR 960LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Double LP version. "Devotion, Grossmann's debut for Jack White's U.S.-based Third Man Records label, continues her musical evolution, arriving at a sound that wears inspirations transparently, but in practice, is markedly original holistic work. It is titled after Grossmann's experience of a natural sense of devotion that arose from her Buddhist meditation practice. She says, 'noticing that sounds are dissolving into the vast empty space, the true nature of reality. Just as thoughts are always dissolving into the stillness of our mind, we slowly realize that the essence of our mind is clarity. Devotion is a dedicated aural engagement with extremely talented musicians. It reflects a deep spirituality in composition, expression discovery through kaleidoscopic, 21st century jazz.'"

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: TRAUMTON 4717CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

With his unmistakable, personal sound, Karl Ivar Refseth delights fans of jazz and neo-classical, minimal and groove music -- whether as a soloist, bandleader or sideman with The Notwist, Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Tied & Tickled Trio, among others. The albums released to date by his trio with Christian Weidner (alto saxophone) and Matthias Pichler (double bass), most recently Devotion in February 2022, have received the highest acclaim from audiences and the media. Karl Ivar Refseth loves melodies, and this is no different on the new album than on previous releases. They give his pieces their special "vibe" and subliminally refer to his pop collaborations. After all, the classically and jazz-trained percussionist, born in Lillehammer in 1977, has been providing the indie rock pioneers The Notwist with rhythmic and sonic impulses since 2009, giving Gisbert zu Knyphausen's clever songs additional depth and creating panoramas between techno and nuanced radio-play music with Acid Pauli alias Martin Gretschmann.

 

PRICE: $39.50

CAT #: UR 149LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

After two years, Carl and Andreas present their second album, and once again, it opens up a wide associative space. The uncommon instrumentation is striking: a church organ, harpsichord, glass tubes, and more. Like their first album The Aporias of Futurism (UR 133LP, 2021), it is mysterious and dark. But it also carries a strong touch of rebellion and adrenaline, sometimes quite pointedly. The pieces are now shorter and feature intricate yet irresistible rhythms. The impact is immediate, yet it maintains a sense of solemnity and ceremony. Music for Unknown Rituals oscillates between primitive instincts and avant-garde intrigues. The process began in D?blitz, a small village on the Saale river in Germany, inside an old church that houses an organ built in 1886 by Johann Adolph Ibach. Carl and Andreas gained access and secluded themselves there for a few days, accompanied by the organ, an instrument made of glass tubes, and a set of modular synthesizers. After recording the basic tracks in D?blitz, the work continued in Munich and Berlin. Carl played electric guitars, harpsichord, bass, metallophone, xylophone, Indian harmonium, and various percussive instruments. Andreas added layers of electronic sounds, noises, and atmospheric drones. He also created percussive structures extracted and derived from recorded material of technical and industrial noises, which contrasted with the acoustic drums played by Carl. The antithetical approach continues with the dichotomous arrangement of the instruments, often panned hard left and right in the stereo field, creating an antiphonic communication. Some parts, especially the use of the electric guitar, evoke memories of the psychedelic sixties. However, this is anything but a nostalgic album -- these musical references are merely remnants, set pieces, and fragments used from a contemporary, post-modern, post-youth-cultural, and post-romantic perspective. Although Andreas and Carl continue on their chosen path of composing music with an almost literary narrative structure, this album is conceptually and formally completely different from their first effort.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: SE 4617X-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 restock. "The album was produced by the band themselves, and issued in two different stereo mixes. The more widely distributed mix is the one done by MGM/Verve staff engineer Val Valentin. The other mix was done by Lou Reed, boosting his vocals and guitar solos, while reducing the level of other instruments. This version was dubbed the 'Closet Mix' by Sterling Morrison, because it sounded to him as if it had been recorded in a closet. The most dramatic difference is that the two versions use entirely different performances of 'Some Kinda Love', both taken from the same recording sessions."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: VAA 007LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Whisky soaked, nocturnal, brooding. Aging's album Troubles? I Got A Bartender was a noteworthy, film-noir infused suite that quietly slipped out on cassette in 2015 by a then budding Manchester avant-jazz ensemble, led by David McLean. In 2020, amidst the pandemic's tempest and winter's gloom, the idea manifested of showcasing McLean's slow burning, wistful soir?e in a new light via a curated effort by Berlin's Vaagner label, which invited a series of hand-picked artist to rework selected compositions from the album, rendering its mournful, smoke-tinged resonances into new shapes. Its result is Reworks (Rewoven), and it presents six new interpretations by five artists. These range from ruminating, tape smudged ambient works interlaced with sublime acoustic strums by fellow Manchester musicians The Humble Bee and Tape Loop Orchestra, to poignant steel guitar renditions by Nashville based Kelby Clark. Furthermore, Barcelona based Dania and London based Laila Sakini, each present pieces that draw the listener into opaque realms harbored by swooning reverie and eerie, glistening prophecy. Carefully assembled across two sides of vinyl, McLean's penchant for hard-boiled detective novels, vintage Japanese crime flicks and film noir iconography have a continued lurking presence in the reworks, yet the new pieces each add a modern facet to the original's cinematic narrative, its morose and sulky mood now opening into new avenues of interpretation. And whilst some artists have chosen to dive further into the themes of contentious ambivalence and pensive solitude, others have sought to slightly lift the haze, stirring up melodies tinged with a sense of hope, hinting at times, towards instants of poise and vivacity. In the end this leaves us with a new body of work that manages to feel poignant in its complexity whilst remaining dissonant and elusive in its renditions, hinting at a moder-day existence even more opaque, intricate and convoluted than the film noir classics of old might have pictured the world.

 

PRICE: $37.50

CAT #: VAMPI 187LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

2023 repress. Double LP version. "Fifty years after the release of one of the founding records of the genre known as Peruvian cumbia (by guitar players Enrique Delgado Montes and Berardo Hern?ndez 'Manzanita'), Vampisoul presents this third volume in the series Cumbia Beat, which brings together 45 rpm rarities from acclaimed groups, short-lived bands and outstanding huaycumbias. Like the previous volumes in this series, listening to this record takes you on a journey across the geography of Peru, as the majority of the groups on this collection were from different regions of the country, or had close links to them, although all of the artists recorded in Lima. Most of the bands emerged during the period 1968-1980, a time of deep political and social change implemented by the nationalist military dictatorship. Los Demonios Del Mantaro, Los Demonios De Corocochay, and Los 5 Palomillas are the exceptions to this, as they recorded between 1965 and 1967 and produced a hybrid of cumbia and huayno called huaycumbia, a genre which achieved high sales figures during those years. Despite the characteristics of huaycumbia, the early composers of Peruvian cumbia didn't consider it a direct source of inspiration. They admit to being more influenced by Colombian cumbia, Cuban guaracha, beat, and psychedelic music from the UK and US that they had played since the end of the '60s, in their 'own style', as a part of a musical appropriation process that quickly led them to forge a singular sound. Peruvian cumbia developed, spurred by the music school erudition of the guitarist Enrique Delgado Montes on the one hand and, on the other, by the self-taught creativity of Berardo Hern?ndez 'Manzanita'. Largely ignored by the elites, it steadily won over audiences and created its own market, establishing its own broadcast channels and distribution channels. As Enrique Delgado stated in 1973: 'We've defined a typically Peruvian cumbia which, strange as it might appear, people also like in Colombia and several other countries.' Finally, setting up their own labels, competing hard against one another and enriching their music with sounds they brought from their specific regions, these bands that gradually sprung up all over the country managed to consolidate a tradition that is still alive today." --Hugo L?vano GAlso features Silvestre Montez Y Sus Guantanameros, Los C?ndores Del Cusco, Los Gitanos, Los Orientales De Paramonga, Los Casme?os, Los Beta 5, Los Girasoles, Paco Zambrano Y Sus Ratones, Los Ecos, Los Tantos, Los Scorpios, Los Blue Kings De ?a?a, Grupo Siglo XX, Los Sander's De ?a?a, Los Quantos, Los Diablos Rojos, Marco Merry Y Sus Golfos, and Sonido Verde De Moyobamba.

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: VAMPI 270LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

2023 restock; reissue, originally released in 1974. Heavy-duty Colombian salsa group The Latin Brothers were formed in 1974 by the Discos Fuentes A&R team as a sibling band of Fruko Y Sus Tesos in order to provide the local market with a trombone-heavy ensemble in the mode of the popular Nuyorican Willie Col?n orchestra. The band was led by Julio "Fruko" Estrada on bass, featuring basically the same musicians as Los Tesos, minus the trumpets and highlighting the cutthroat trombone work of Gustavo "La Pantera" Garc?a. At the time, Fruko's Tesos were going through a transition and his talented former lead vocalist, P?per Pimienta, left to sing lead in The Latin Brothers while Joe Arroyo and Wilson "Saoko" Manyoma took over vocal duties in Los Tesos. El Picotero was The Latin Brothers' debut album and remains to this day a favorite of salsa dura fans the world over. The album established The Latin Brothers as a bona fide contender in the crowded field of trombone-centric salsa bands taking over the airwaves and dance floors around Latin America. With this bold and brassy record, The Latin Brothers would inspire future Colombian salsa orchestras as well as helping establish Medell?n as a center of salsa almost as famous as Cali. The song selection on the album also spotlights where the band is coming from as a salsa manifesto of sorts, lyrically covering various topics such as paying homage to the people, patron saints and music of Puerto Rico and Cuba, as well as praising the DJs (picoteros) and radio hosts (locutores) who play the guaguanc? rhythm of salsa, and of course the typical themes of problems with women and heavy partying that come with most male-centric Latin dance tunes of the era. This lovingly restored reissue adds the P?per Pimienta penned "Echa Pa'lante Camar?" as a great bonus track with its heavy dance rhythms and oddball Mellotron solo. 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $35.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 066LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2024 restock; double LP version. 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).

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 079LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Repressed; LP version. 180 gram vinyl. WRWTFWW Records present the first official worldwide reissue of the debut album from fabled Japanese folk singer-songwriter/actress/writer Hako Yamasaki, Tobimasu. Originally released in 1975 on legendary independent label Elec Records, Tobimasu is a masterpiece of melancholy carried by one of the most beautiful, moving, melodic, and haunting voices in the history of Japanese music. An extraordinary singer and guitar player, Hako Yamasaki wrote the album at only 18 years old, showing incredible emotional maturity and music making skills, and creating, out of nowhere, a downright classic of folk music, brilliantly arranged and sequenced. Hako Yamasaki's folk is bluesy, psychedelic, soft, and poetic, perfectly fitting the themes of nostalgia, love, and nature she covers with heartbreaking intensity. Her songs capture sorrow ravishingly, offering glimpses of empowering hope and uplifting wisdom. A unique voice, a unique approach, and nothing less than magnificent music. Hako Yamasaki, a pioneer in both the creative boom and the rise of feminism in 1970s Japan, went on to release over thirty albums, building an impressive discography and a fascinating career filled with ups and downs. Her work, inimitable and timeless, deserves the utmost recognition and should be celebrated. Again and again and again. Tobimasu is released in conjunction with Hako Yamasaki's beautiful follow-up Tsunawatari, also available on WRWTFWW Records (WRWTFWW 080CD/LP).