News & Events

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: ACRSLP 1603LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Howlin' Wolf was one of the most charismatic and exciting performers in the history of blues music. Standing six feet three inches he was a mountain of a man whose menacing vocal and low down 'n' dirty delivery greatly influenced a whole generation of rockers who followed. Born Chester Burnett, Wolf was one of the most important and influential figures in Chicago Blues through the 1950s. Rougher-edged than Muddy Waters, the intensity of Wolf's performance prompted Sun Records impresario, Sam Phillips, to observe: 'When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said: 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'.' Pressed on 140g black vinyl, this 16-track LP features the bluesman's best-loved songs from the first decade or more of his recording career, comprising songs from his 1951 debut recording for Phillips in Memphis, through to 1962 by which time commercial blues had become focused on the middle-class, white student market as much as its traditional black roots. A fitting tribute to one of the true greats of the blues."

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: BING 190LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"The rawness of The Veils' Nux Vomica can be enjoyed to a degree never heard before, with Ba Da Bing's limited edition pressing of the records with the original mixes by Nick Rainey left intact. Originally released in 2006, The Veils sophomore album Nux Vomica was praised for its 'Herculean intensity' by The Guardian, and called 'a heady blast of gothic psychodrama' by The Observer, while Pitchfork praised leader Finn Andrews' 'magnetic, outsized persona.' Long out of print, the vinyl version was resuscitated by Music On Vinyl in 2017 and quickly sold out. Now, The Veils present the definitive version of their most heralded album to date, which dusts off the original mixes by legendary producer Nick Launay (Public Image Limited, The Birthday Party, INXS and Midnight Oil) and offers them to fans here for the first time. Taken from the original two-inch analog tape reels, each song was carefully remastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios in London. Nux Vomica was the first of many creative reinventions for Andrews, who at 22 had already released an album on Rough Trade, moved from New Zealand to London to form a band, then back to New Zealand where he once again started the band anew. The creative progression is clear in Andrews' incisive lyricism and knack for hell-fire dramatics. All intentions to release this dark and raw set of recordings were dashed upon submission to Rough Trade for approval, who didn't like the results. They hired mixing engineer Bill Price to adjust the sound and add additional instrumentation. Launey's mixes were shelved and forgotten about, while the album nonetheless went on to be a critical highpoint for the band and is much loved to this day. To celebrate the release of The Veils' massive new double album, ?And Out Of The Void Came Love, Ba Da Bing is issuing a limited-to-1200-LPs simultaneous run of Nux Vomica in a form one has never heard before. The brilliance of Andrews' talents come through clearer in this version, which strips his songs to the core and allows the holes to show. Here's where the seeds of a lifelong artistic talent really began to first take root."

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: BW 011CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Backwards announce a new Fabio Orsi and Alessandra Guttagliere multimedia release: a book with an audio CD. The primary inspiration for this new four-handed work between Fabio Orsi and Alessandra Guttagliere are colors. The title (Arcoiris) in fact means "rainbow". For the realization of this work, there was a constant dialogue between Alessandra and Fabio; while Alessandra proposed a color simply by naming it, Fabio created the sound compositions, vice versa Alessandra listening to the sound compositions let herself be inspired to create the drawings. The pictorial work is a light work, using natural colors sometimes made by the artist starting from flowers or plants. It is an organic work, in progress and in movement. Fabio's tracks are maybe his most "pop-oriented" to date, but made with the usual class by our artist. Comes with an A5 format deluxe booklet with drawings by Alessandra Guttagliere, printed on sturdy cardboard. Edition of 200.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: BW 018RE-LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Reissue of the one-sided vinyl picture disc, originally available with the Fabio Orsi box set with book of the same name. The vinyl has an exclusive long track that is a sort of "summa" of Fabio Orsi's musical world: like his early releases, Il Ricordo Improvviso Dell'Assoluto Stupore is deep drone ambient track, with distant guitars and a nostalgic touch. Hypnotic and melodic at the same time... One-sided picture disc including a small insert; edition of 200.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BW 043LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Flag of Breeze marks a new adventurous collaboration between Nicola Giunta/Lay Llamas and Gioele Valenti/JuJu, coming seven years after Lay Llamas' acclaimed album Ostro, released in 2014 by London-based label Rocket Recordings. This mini-LP is like a sort of radio tuning listening session among FM stations and mysterious shortwaves transmissions. The tracks come out like from a hazy ethereal dimension, melting with alien lo-fi sounds from the unknown. Luminous and peaceful psych pop melodies meet exotic and ritual percussions, recalling a strange surfer's tribe on the beach around a campfire. A cosmic kraut sonic trip through the solar system to reach a Verne-like underwater jungle. Here it talks about universal flags made of breeze, nocturnal burnings, mixtures, and potions for unknown fever, ancient sleeping plants. The album's artwork is an esoteric map of symbols and forms, the visual key of this sonic journey. Silkscreened cover with two inserts; single-sided LP; edition of 225.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: BANG 107LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. In My Room features the unreleased recordings of what would have been the very last album of The Gun Club. Recorded in the very last period of the band, between 1991 and 1993, the studio recordings that Jeffrey Lee Pierce did with The Gun Club, with maximum quality and excellence of sound and presentation. What Jeffrey Lee Pierce exposes here is the highest vocal and guitar performing, from sounds are reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix and Television, to truly intimate heartbreaking blues, going through soul and rock. Includes covers from The Who, Wilson Pickett, and more. A dream come true for all Jeffrey Lee Pierce/The Gun Club fans all over the world - absolutely necessary. Comes in a deluxe gatefold jacket; Includes lyrics; 150 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: BEWITH 121LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 1979. Spatial & Co is a synth-drizzled, spaced-out bass-heavy discoid-funk masterpiece from French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia. Recorded for French library label Tele Music, in 1979, it's by turns cosmic funk and creeping crime funk, bursting with low slung, killer basslines, loping drum breaks, and sparkling percussion. It's so funky it hurts. Confidently swaggering out the gate is "Future Vision", with its loping yet dexterous bassline across strutting beats setting the scene. "Cosmic News", with its live crowd noises over killer bass work is reminiscent of Bernard & Nile's "Chic Cheer". The bass vs synth workout "Baby Bass" increases the propulsion whilst the dark and mysterious vibes of "Star Odyssey" serve as cosmic respite from being overpowered by funk. The temperature and tempo are raised with the bouncing sophisticated funk of "Meteor One", a slinky interstellar instrumental of the highest order before the sultry, melodic "Bass For Love" offers some attractive slow-mo sleaze to close out the first side. Opening up Side B, the menacing, beatless "Space Alert" sounds like all those sci-fi theme tunes from your childhood, synthesized into one glorious (black) whole. "Galaxy Wars" is next, another majestic cosmic gem, sans drums. The ultra-percussive flex of "All The Bass" sees the return of the frenetic funky bass and neck-snapping drums. The stretched-out funk of "O.V.N.I. Telex" is irresistible and cavernous in scope whilst the swirling, dramatic "Galactics" is an ominous yet melodic wonder. The throwaway funk-lite "Animals Bass" is a bit of a daft way to close out this otherwise flawless set but, hey, flirting with perfection is probably always more fun than actually achieving it. Sauveur Mallia is a crucial figure in the history of electronic and dance music and a hugely underrated French library bass player and composer from the Arpadys/Voyage crew. Remastered by Simon Francis. Cut by Pete Norman. Original and iconic sleeve restored by Be With Records.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: BEWITH 122LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 1979. Spatial & Co Vol. 2 may well be the best album in the Spatial & Co series. It's absolutely flawless. Again, created by French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia for French library label Tele Music in 1979, it leans far more into the space disco sound than the clean cosmic funk of its predecessor. And it's all the more thrilling for it. Wide-eyed opener "Discomax" is starts as pure piano-disco brilliance with a bassline to die for before heading off into wigged-out territory, all acidic squelches and jaw-dropping percussive breakdowns. "Space People" follows, an eerie, half-beatless sci-fi synth workout played out against a hauntingly metronomic pulse for the first half -- proper slow-mo space disco business -- before the beat kicks in, the electric guitar solo wails beautifully and the bassline that emerges at its conclusion rides in on some other shit. Closing out the A-side, the six minute long "Bass Power" is, unsurprisingly, a deep, low-end roller with head-nod drums, whizzing synths, blissed out ambient vibes and Mallia's otherworldly bass playing super high in the mix. It's white-hot funk, make no mistake, and it sounds like a re-geared library version of Roxy Music. Side B is laced firstly by "Holidays Morning", an emotional disco-pop groover, all electric guitars, skipping drums and synthy bleeps with more than a few moments of pure driving funk. One for the deep heads, longtime favorite "Electric Maneges" follows, a bleepy, haunted dancehall gem, uncut tropical Balearic-funk from another dimension. The sophisticated digi-soul of "Loving Discovery" comes on like a weird, interplanetary Sade instrumental, all swelling synths, warm keys and syrupy guitar rhythms. Arguably saving the best 'til last, the fierce, proto-techno of "Exotic Guide" closes out this extraordinary set. The intro genuinely sounds like Detroit would a good few years later -- just wild -- before it glides into a driving percussive funk break complete with both stabbing, insistent synths and those of a more winding, laconic variety. The one complaint? It's over far too soon. Sauveur Mallia is a crucial figure in the history of electronic and dance music and a hugely underrated French library bass player and composer from the Arpadys/Voyage crew. This is just the beginning of Be With's Mallia -- Tele Music reissue campaign. Remastered by Simon Francis. Cut by Pete Norman. Original and iconic sleeve restored by Be With Records.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: BEWITH 124LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 1985. Swing Family's Music Force is dramatic mid-80s synth-funk. From the maverick mind of Sauveur Mallia, it's thrilling and uniquely brilliant. It's undoubtedly known and revered for its unbelievable standout track, "Mission Africa". That track is the reason this record has been hugely sought-after for the best part of two decades. Originally released on Tele Music in France. Swing Family is basically a supergroup of French funk royalty. Led by French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia, they were augmented by trombonist Alex Perdigon from legendary French funk rock collective Godchild, trumpeter Kako Bessot from funky fusion group Synthesis and saxophonist Pierre Holassian, a member of Giant, Janko Nilovic's French jazz orchestra. So, about as heavyweight as it gets for funky French goodness. Mallia handles, of course, bass duties throughout, as well as utilizing his arsenal of synths including his E-mu, Yamaha Dx7, Roland MSQ 700, Mini Moog, and Oberheimm. The maximalist disco fusion of "Exorcistor" is perhaps a bit too '80s French cheese for most tastes, so either linger on its singular style or head straight to the soundtracky typo-funk of "Greewich Boulevard". A deep, swaggering powerhouse, it comes on like mid-80s Chic jamming on the set of Beverly Hills Cop with Kashif. It's followed by the vital "Music Force", a synthy, sleazy instrumental full of sax and flute and those '80s drum fills. "Mission Africa" is a rumbling, strutting, Afro-cosmic low-profile banger. The slick drums hit hard, the synth strings warm things up, overlapping horns add swagger whilst electric guitar flourishes and a chanted refrain sit in the mix quite perfectly. Cosmo-galactic. The B-side opens with "Musical Stars", an oh-so-80s funk-lite track which, at times, sounds like something Daft Punk may have left on the cutting room floor during their Discovery sessions. The druggy brilliance of "Gentleman & Musician" is made up of soaring, acidy synths, slick, heavy beats, and the irresistible interplay of the primo horn players create a real sleazy wonder. "Film Action" follows, a galloping horn-heavy synth romp with moments of extreme bass breakdown brilliance before the drama-synths of "Episode Double" take things up another notch as it oscillates between gorgeous funky horns and urgent bleepy magic. Super tense, super funky and super stylish. The electro-tinged horn workout "Fatal Lady" closes things out majestically. Remastered by Simon Francis. Cut by Pete Norman. Original and iconic sleeve restored by Be With Records.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: BNSD 074LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

"Los Angeles musician Megan Mitchell returns with a new Cruel Diagonals album that resonates with maximum emotional impact. Constructed entirely with sounds generated by her own voice -- chopped up, warped, rendered unrecognizable, ringing out in hymn-like incantations -- Fractured Whole is a powerful and timeless exploration of vulnerability, resistance, and the freedom to be yourself. Megan Mitchell opens her latest album Fractured Whole in much the same way she did with her previous full-length 2021's A Dormant Vigor with the sound of her voice intoning a series of notes. But listening to them side-by-side, the differences between the two are stark. Not simply in the notes that Mitchell chooses to sing but in the emotion and depth and power behind that crystal clear mezzo-soprano. On 'Penance,' the first track on Fractured Whole, she bears the weight of hundreds of years of music written for singers and her own complex history with ease, evoking everything from the sacred music of Hildegard von Bingen to the satanic masses of Diamanda Galas with each intertwining melody. Mitchell's singing has been an integral part of her work as Cruel Diagonals from the start, but it has never felt so present as it does on Fractured Whole. That's simply because every piece of sound featured on this album was created using her voice. It may be stretched and twisted into unusual shapes, chopped up and shattered, or rendered unrecognizable by technology but it is still there, pulling at the corners of the conscious mind and conveying deeply felt emotions. This decision to use her voice as the only instrument was, according to Mitchell, a necessary step to move forward as an artist and composer -- a challenge that brought with it growth and confidence . . . Over the course of the 18 months it took Mitchell to compose and record Fractured Whole, she was working through a lot of emotional and psychological fragments, seeking better understanding of her life and her art. Though she had been receiving nothing but praise for her releases and live gigs, the accolades never sunk in. It was a disconnect steeped in trauma from her past and gendered socialization . . . Embracing that duality on Fractured Whole allowed Mitchell to produce art that feels unmistakably human and thrillingly alien -- an uncanny valley that she invites the listener to explore with her." --Robert Ham (excerpted from the liner notes)

 

PRICE: $13.50

CAT #: BORNBAD 158CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

As soon as the pilots of the Space Oddities endeavor decided to tackle Yan Tregger's oeuvre, a major problem surfaced: where to begin? And where to end? Upon which side should one launch into the ascension of this body of work? It will have taken Alexis Le-Tan and Jess years to put up this selection, capturing the profusion and eclecticism of Tregger who, at 81 years old, has yet to lay down the arms and still defines himself as a "jack of all trades". Symphonies, library music, movie soundtracks, TV credits, advertisement, French variété, pop, disco, electronic, experimental, or relaxation music, Yan Tregger (born Edouard Scotto di Suoccio) took up all genres, styles, and formats through a career spanning from the end of the '50s to this day. How the Stakhanovist successfully went down so many different routes can be explained by his innate talent for composing melodies; they are the very basis on which his iconoclastic production was built. Ten years ago already, Yan Tregger had welcomed Born Bad in the studio of his Parisian suburb pavilion. There, sat in front of his machines and albums framed on the wall, he had delved into the midst of a life writing itself like would a rather unusual musical score. "I was born in Algeria in 1940, in a coastal town -- Algeria's Nice, Philippeville, (today Skikda -- author's note), to parents of Italian descent. People were unhappy in Italy and did as migrants do today. Still, there was some tendering. When France started colonizing Algeria, the government brought in people to constitute a work force: many Italians, but also some Maltese and Jews who were already established there. My father managed a balancelle, a dinghy which would deliver materials along the coast. My mother was a housewife, just like any Italian back then. I am an only child." CD version comes in digipack; includes 20-page booklet.

 

PRICE: $12.00

CAT #: BORNBAD 168CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Two social media posts out of three are about losing his phone, the last one is about him swearing he saw a dog making himself a sandwich. Paul Ramon (Bryan's Magic Tears, la Secte du Futur) has managed to finish his second solo album, Buvez le poison (Drink the Poison). Preceded by a reputation for being Defcon 1 -- level unmanageable on tour, while obviously being able to hold his own, it's no surprise to find the paradox in his music. Body search the record and you'll find chemical faves of the last forty years. Paul Ramon is doing 20 on the highway ("Hacienda", downhill dub with over-the-top bass), and 60 in the city ("Les victimes du roi", arpeggiated medieval-fantasy trip). Pleasure Principle obviously decided that traffic regulations just didn't apply to his vehicle. Sung in French (neither bellowed nor whispered, thanks), highlife guitars travelling light via the Caribbeans, '90s synths stabs, calculated MTV moments -- traces of everything, traces everywhere. A singer by obligation, by his own admission, he performs with a cheeky Madchester University alumni attitude. Happy to be there, but wishes nobody knew. Paul Ramon stuck his tongue out to write -- he deals generously in one-liners, as sharp as disposable razors. Can't wait to see him pull those out of his pockets, struggling to bleed everyone. Marc Portheau saves the day in his mix; "Heliopolis", psych-pop jam lost in heavy delay, could have gone astray but suddenly gets all sophisticated with winds and chorus -- as much appreciated as they never RSVP'd (Olivier Demeaux, Romain Vasset). This is a bear trap of an album. "La punition commence" (the punishment begins) and you'd expect a synth-wave dungeon moist with whispered confessions, when in fact it's more about wiggling arms in the air, and trampling the corpse of dance-pop to the sound of brain-dead synth, circa 1995. "Frappe le cuir" pays homage to the Happy Mondays, which you'd expect given the drummer's pedigree. "Buvez le poison" and "La sieste", a barely legal promotional campaign for narcotics, contain more than you asked for, if you can only listen. And "Rêves", chord-driven summer track gets turned over by the effects-laden guitar solo. Traps, again. So. when you get to "Plein de rancoeur je vis mon meilleur moment", successful attempt to remake "Loser" in 2022, you'll know that Pleasure Principle knows his business in a rather endearing way. This is not a collage, but tie and dye colors spread to be looked at, rubbing each other lewdly.

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: BB 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited restock. Originally released in 1986. Gatefold sleeve. Features The Bostweeds, Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads, Link Wray And His Ray Men, Dwight Pullen, Glen Glenn, Roy Orbison, The Sonics, The Groupies, Ronnie Dawson, The Third Bardo, Warren Smith, Mel Robbins, The Novas, and Wanda Jackson.

 

PRICE: $16.50

CAT #: BB 427CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Gegenwelt (Parallel World) is the second LP by CEL, a duo Kubin and Zemler formed. More melodically-evolved than their eponymous 2020 debut (BB 334CD/LP), it is an even more explicit example of the syncretic impulse that impelled these guys to form the band. Their basic notion was to explore the juncture between two streams of German underground sounds -- the motorik 4/4 rhythms first posited by Can's Jaki Liebezeit and Kraftwerk's Klaus Dinger, and the sequencer-driven brain loops of early, experimental pioneers of the NDW, such as Der Plan. The opening track, "Tokamak", begins like the sequenced soundtrack to a brightly-colored animated nightmare before transmuting into a marimba fusillade that unspools like Steve Reich on steroids. The last track is 'Transformator Matki Polki', which sounds like a radical Viennese remix of random snippets from Wolfgang Dauner's Output. In between these poles are an array of wild and varied rides through cartoon landscapes, with side trips to the spy movie vibe of 'Gegenwelt', the thug/art rock hybrid of 'Eiweißangriff' and beyond. Gegenwelt is also a showcase for Kubin's latest invented instrument, the Mechatronikon. Built for him by engineer Lars Vaupel, the Mechatronikon receives CV or MIDI signals and translates them into commands for electromagnetic mini motors. In Felix's words, this allows 'sequencers to trigger kitchen gear or whatever we'd like to resonate. With this machine we can also create rhythms that a human drummer would hardly be able to reproduce in this precision.' The mechanical sound effect of this device can be heard, for example, in the piece 'Trippeltanz'. But the precision of the pure motorik impulse is not something Zemler is afraid to ignore at times. His grounding in free jazz emerges regularly (if subtly), displaying lateral moves that add another layer of complexity to music that's often moving in several directions at once. Even when the surface of CEL's melodies sound simple, a closer listening often reveals a wealth of subterranean activity. Mixed and coproduced by Hamburg's post-punk luminary Mense Reents, the music on Gegenwelt is a fine example of CEL's ability to compose pieces with a multivalent architecture listeners can appreciate in a variety of ways. Their music is partially shaped by whatever preconceptions you bring to it. So think good thoughts about Gegenwelt and your rewards will be bountiful." --Byron Coley

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BB 427LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

LP version. "Gegenwelt (Parallel World) is the second LP by CEL, a duo Kubin and Zemler formed. More melodically-evolved than their eponymous 2020 debut (BB 334CD/LP), it is an even more explicit example of the syncretic impulse that impelled these guys to form the band. Their basic notion was to explore the juncture between two streams of German underground sounds -- the motorik 4/4 rhythms first posited by Can's Jaki Liebezeit and Kraftwerk's Klaus Dinger, and the sequencer-driven brain loops of early, experimental pioneers of the NDW, such as Der Plan. The opening track, "Tokamak", begins like the sequenced soundtrack to a brightly-colored animated nightmare before transmuting into a marimba fusillade that unspools like Steve Reich on steroids. The last track is 'Transformator Matki Polki', which sounds like a radical Viennese remix of random snippets from Wolfgang Dauner's Output. In between these poles are an array of wild and varied rides through cartoon landscapes, with side trips to the spy movie vibe of 'Gegenwelt', the thug/art rock hybrid of 'Eiweißangriff' and beyond. Gegenwelt is also a showcase for Kubin's latest invented instrument, the Mechatronikon. Built for him by engineer Lars Vaupel, the Mechatronikon receives CV or MIDI signals and translates them into commands for electromagnetic mini motors. In Felix's words, this allows 'sequencers to trigger kitchen gear or whatever we'd like to resonate. With this machine we can also create rhythms that a human drummer would hardly be able to reproduce in this precision.' The mechanical sound effect of this device can be heard, for example, in the piece 'Trippeltanz'. But the precision of the pure motorik impulse is not something Zemler is afraid to ignore at times. His grounding in free jazz emerges regularly (if subtly), displaying lateral moves that add another layer of complexity to music that's often moving in several directions at once. Even when the surface of CEL's melodies sound simple, a closer listening often reveals a wealth of subterranean activity. Mixed and coproduced by Hamburg's post-punk luminary Mense Reents, the music on Gegenwelt is a fine example of CEL's ability to compose pieces with a multivalent architecture listeners can appreciate in a variety of ways. Their music is partially shaped by whatever preconceptions you bring to it. So think good thoughts about Gegenwelt and your rewards will be bountiful." --Byron Coley

 

PRICE: $38.50

CAT #: CNLP 067LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Reissue, originally released in 1970. "An ambitious, brand new album has reached the Japanese jazz scene. It is Bakimba: Memories of Africa." This is how Akira Ishikawa Count Buffalo Jazz And Rock Band's album was advertised by the Japanese press in 1970. The Japanese jazz artists were bravely approaching the rock scene, and their choice became an inspiration to jazz-rock groups like Takeshi Inomata & Sound Limited, Jiro Inagaki, and Soul Media, and more. The blending between jazz and rock was born in the United States, thanks to Miles Davis and orchestras like Blood Sweat and Tears and Chicago. This movement resulted in the empowerment of jazz and in the birth of a new musical genre: a perfect mix of jazz, Latin influences, and rock. Akira Ishikawa and Count Buffalo's jazz-rock band are reminiscent of Santana in the way they embody these energies in their album Bakimba. Yet, at the same time, they give life to even more impressive musical compositions. This is also thanks to Hiromasa Suzuki's innovative electric piano. Often defined as a jazz-rock band, Count Buffalo scales new heights in the context of jazz thanks to the strong rock influences that characterize this work. Gatefold cover with insert.

 

PRICE: $35.50

CAT #: CNSV 004LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

First time on vinyl, from original master tapes. Recorded in Florence in October 1979, Asia represents Egisto Macchi's musical journey across the East. In this work, Macchi describes the many faces of Asia through his unmistakable, electric style. In Macchi's music, Asia acquires mystical, religious, naturalist, sacred, and adventurous connotations. Acoustic instruments dominate this album; among percussion, zithers, celestas, flutes, marimbas, sansas, and violins, the listener embarks on a musical journey outside the limits of space and time.

 

PRICE: $14.00

CAT #: NRT 003EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"'Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life' is a sound collage consisting entirely of The B*****s samples, created by The Residents in 1977 and first released as the A-side of the single 'The B******s Play The Residents and The Residents Play The B*****s'. It is accompanied by The Residents cover of The Beatles' instrumental 'Flying'. Alongside their 1976 album The Third Reich 'n Roll, it is often considered to be one of the earliest commercially released examples of what is now known as a "mash-up."

 

PRICE: $14.00

CAT #: NRT 004EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

7" single of "Monstrous".

 

PRICE: $48.00

CAT #: DE 300LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"The venerable Dark Entries celebrates its 300th release with Panoramic Coloursound, a triple LP from the Creative Technology Consortium. Traxx, Andrew Bisenius, and Jason Letkiewicz forged the CtC during the depths of pandemic isolation. Drawing from film and television music of the '80s/'90s and armed with a mighty array of vintage analog and digital synthesizers, they set out to explore heists, vices, and catastrophe. Panoramic Coloursound collapses sound and image into a neon blur throughout its 25 tracks. While retro scores were the starting point for the CtC, the project does more than pay dutiful homage -- these notes are warped and skewed, devolving into decaying digital soundscapes. EBM-inflected basslines pop up on tracks like 'Catastrophe' and 'A Retro Vice,' menacing numbers that recall Traxx and Letkiewicz's legendary work as Mutant Beat Dance (a project also featuring Beau Wanzer). 'Follow Our Kode' pairs heroic synths with funky bass, striking cosmic chords akin to the material that Traxx and Bisenius have released as An Anomaly. Krautrock-esque guitars slide along anthemic pads on 'Beautifully Polluted Sunset,' which comes across like an alien Miami Vice closing theme. The CtC channel corroded VHS vibes while making music for the future. Panoramic Coloursound was mastered by Frédéric Alstadt. The sleeve was designed by Eloise Leigh, and features a photograph by Jason Letkiewicz. Also included is a postcard featuring liner notes, a gear list, and a photograph by Maria Tzeka."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: JACK 027CV-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The Jesus and Mary Chain is a chaotic, noisy indie quartet formed in Scotland, blending the Beach Boys' sunny pop with the Velvet Underground's black-leather cool. Live at the U4 Club in Wien, great sound quality.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: JACK 028CV-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Red vinyl. An astonishing 1984 live set from Andrew Eldritch and his gang, Sisters Of Mercy. right before the release of their undisputed '85 masterpiece First And Last And Always.

 

PRICE: $22.50

CAT #: JACK 028LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

An astonishing 1984 live set from Andrew Eldritch and his gang, Sisters Of Mercy. right before the release of their undisputed '85 masterpiece First And Last And Always.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: JACK 030CV-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Green vinyl. Massive as Joy Division were becoming, they still played Shit-Holes like this former, partially demolished, cinema in Derby. The old seats were still in place, except for a few that were torn off of their perches to allow dancing, if required. Again, another cavernous sounding audience recording, and again they are treated to a joint band version of "Girls Don't Count" for the rarity value. Due to cancellations, probably due to Ian's failing health, this would turn out to be the penultimate Joy Division performance, before the loss of Ian Curtis.

 

PRICE: $22.50

CAT #: JACK 030LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Massive as Joy Division were becoming, they still played Shit-Holes like this former, partially demolished, cinema in Derby. The old seats were still in place, except for a few that were torn off of their perches to allow dancing, if required. Again, another cavernous sounding audience recording, and again they are treated to a joint band version of "Girls Don't Count" for the rarity value. Due to cancellations, probably due to Ian's failing health, this would turn out to be the penultimate Joy Division performance, before the loss of Ian Curtis.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: DMOO 010LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Reissue, originally released in 1962. Though she had been performing professionally since the late 1920s, as a teenager in Harlem, during its Renaissance, the immortal Billie Holiday didn't play a single night on the European continent until 1954. It was in that year that the great journalist and musician Leonard Feather, and a Swedish promoter organized the Jazz Club U.S.A. tour, named after Feather's wildly popular radio program. Featuring Red Norvo, Sonny Clark, and more, the centerpiece of Jazz Club U.S.A. was, undoubtedly, Lady Day. Recorded at various dates across the tour, Lady Love shows Holiday still had it, despite the turmoil, and drug and alcohol abuse, her voice remained strong, a stunning document of one of America's greatest treasures on her first ever tour of Europe. Clear vinyl.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: DMOO 029LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Recorded by the German WDR radio at the Apollo Theater in Düsseldorf on Monday, March 18, 1960 this session documents a precise step in John Coltrane's career. While on tour in Europe with the Miles Davis quintet, the young but already mature tenor saxophonist took the chance to lead a quartet session with the Davis rhythm section, a hard swinging combo with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist extraordinaire Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. This is very fine set based on a bunch of well selected standards, among them "On Green Dolphin Street", Miles Davis's "Walkin'" and a deep ballad medley including "Yesterdays", "Autumn Leaves", 'What's New", and "Moonlight In Vermont".

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: DMOO 030LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 1962. Recorded July 24, 1962 at the third International Jazz Festival D'Antibes/Juan-Les-Pins, this is classic 1960s Dizzy Gillespie. It's smooth and swinging without losing any of his patented power. Produced by Quincy Jones, and featuring piano and arrangements from Argentinian master Lalo Schifrin, Gillespie shines here alongside underrated reed man Leo Wright. A great early '60s Dizzy group absolutely slaying live to a receptive audience. Clear vinyl.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: DC 1121BK

FILE UNDER: Misc

"Shorty's Ark is a book for young readers, a collaborative effort between singer Will Oldham and graphic artist Lori Damiano, based on work by Oldham and musician Matt Sweeney. Drawing inspiration from the story of Noah, Shorty's Ark names and pictures a wild variety of species to inform and engage an equal variety of young minds with the diversity that can be found around this great planet of ours. The flood stands as metaphor for current impending changes in our planet, and the story works as a springboard for understanding concepts of interdependency, diversity and extinction. Colorfully illustrating as many creatures and their places as possible, Shorty's Ark is an earth-affirmative vision meant to stimulate the curiosity and passion of those who encounter it." 10x12". 22pp. Hardcover.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: DC 842LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Outsider freekz, make with the haste! It's time to get back to The Future -- the one promised back when rock and roll was king, remember? J.T. IV believed in the promise -- and now, the mystery man behind barely-released private press 7" records of the '80s like 'Destructo Rock' and 'Cosmic Lightning' and a film holding the Guinness record for worlds-longest -- 85 hours! -- has been called back to our mortal coil, to live out his glittering, rapacious dreams once again. The 2009 comp LP Cosmic Lightning cast his tragic silhouette up on the big screen for all to see: the lost boy, alone in the world, standing before the mic and releasing his inner star with glee and vengeance, his antisocial visions flying high atop a raging funnel of distorted guitars and blunt rhythms . . . The Future goes even further, excavating fifteen recordings from a previously unheard-of cassette entitled, The Best Of Johnny Zhivago Retrospective 1979-1993, and adding four more uncollected tracks from his slim (and impossible to find anyway) discography. Of these nineteen tracks, eight are covers -- and J.T. IV's picks, from Velvets to Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, Lee Hazlewood, The Kinks, Eno and Stephen Sondheim, sharpen our image of the misfit adrift; on the outside looking in, but maybe just a few steps away from his goal. The Future unfolds like an epic, as both sides of J.T.'s persona -- the street-smart, damaged rocker and the heartstruck poet of the scene -- live on together in the best performances of his short career . . . Now 20 years on from his passing, The Future is ever farther away from the world in which he struggled so mightily -- but his stinging iconoclasm, whether screamed from Marshall amps or mic'ed up close, feels ever more powerfully infused with his unique breadth of illness and essence. The album is called The Future for several reasons. The title track extols the virtue of being an independent thinker, which scans with our data on J.T. But it's also an optimistic, even anthemic, call for a better tomorrow, giving the next generation a world of love and hope! John's scathing cynicism melts away showing his pure soul underneath. Then, 'My Fellow Americans' closes the album with another future-oriented song, though this time it's a dystopian landscape where the president, a Reaganesque war monger, delivers an ominous and bizarre State of the Union address to the American people, suggesting that he replace Congress with clones of Adolf Hitler to mandate the extermination of all welfare and social security recipients in the US. These songs represent the two sides of J.T. -- and while they emanate from the '80s, they find themselves potently renewed in the polarized world of today, making The Future a worthwhile destination for everyone who ever had a heart touched by the transgression and freedom promised by rock and roll."

 

PRICE: $13.50

CAT #: DC 867CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Once you have set the needle down on the record and heard for yourself the intimacies and impressionism, abstraction and unfiltered emotion found in The Forest In Me, Xylouris White's fifth album release (and first since 2019's The Sisypheans), you may wonder what was the mood of the room in which this music came to be. Only three people can say for sure, and even then . . . Guy Picciotto: In late 2019, we had begun taking steps to working on new material. In a haphazard fashion, Jim and I started tracking drums in my basement, cutting them up into shapes with no set landing in mind. Some of it we sent to Giorgos in Crete -- he responded with his lyra and his lute. Without intention we had initiated a process that would soon become more ruthlessly mandated by the world events that separated and isolated us to three corners of the globe in the following year. Giorgos Xylouris: Every harmonic is a fallen tree trunk that I climb over. I'm stepping in muddy waters in the woods or coming to a clearing -- that is part of the journey I take whether I am playing music with an audience or recording alone. It's a journey around the forest of my inner self . . . Jim White: I ended up in the pandemic in rural Australia on care duty and then back in Melbourne alone in a house with an imminent, ultimately very long lock down. Giorgos: The past several years created a very particular situation that none of us had ever lived through, in such seclusion in our homes and within ourselves. In the isolation I found other wrinkles/folds in my inner being. That helped create this music, as did the unusual way we went about recording. Jim: The night before the curfew I acquired some mics from a studio and bought an interface. And learnt to record. And tracked. George tracked in Crete. Guy, in New York, helped assemble the structures and find combinations. Giorgos: So every note, every phrase, every instrument came from in and around our inner forests. Guy: On previous projects our customary way of working was to be in one room all together; an inward facing triangle of instant communication leading to marathon sessions from which we would build an archive from which to sculpt the records, finding the binding lines that connected the statements we were trying to make. Giorgos: Using whatever instruments I had with me in the studio at home, in the silence I discovered things I hadn't had the peace to uncover previously. I saw that music isn't static, moving only in its usual ways within the parameters of its centrifugal force -- it can move a long way further in other directions. Guy: With this record we still had that stash to draw from but now we were also adding material composed from this enforced new geometry; this different, wider triangle where we each assumed different roles than we had previously with writing, engineering, arranging all mixed up like finger paints..."

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: DC 867LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "Once you have set the needle down on the record and heard for yourself the intimacies and impressionism, abstraction and unfiltered emotion found in The Forest In Me, Xylouris White's fifth album release (and first since 2019's The Sisypheans), you may wonder what was the mood of the room in which this music came to be. Only three people can say for sure, and even then . . . Guy Picciotto: In late 2019, we had begun taking steps to working on new material. In a haphazard fashion, Jim and I started tracking drums in my basement, cutting them up into shapes with no set landing in mind. Some of it we sent to Giorgos in Crete -- he responded with his lyra and his lute. Without intention we had initiated a process that would soon become more ruthlessly mandated by the world events that separated and isolated us to three corners of the globe in the following year. Giorgos Xylouris: Every harmonic is a fallen tree trunk that I climb over. I'm stepping in muddy waters in the woods or coming to a clearing -- that is part of the journey I take whether I am playing music with an audience or recording alone. It's a journey around the forest of my inner self . . . Jim White: I ended up in the pandemic in rural Australia on care duty and then back in Melbourne alone in a house with an imminent, ultimately very long lock down. Giorgos: The past several years created a very particular situation that none of us had ever lived through, in such seclusion in our homes and within ourselves. In the isolation I found other wrinkles/folds in my inner being. That helped create this music, as did the unusual way we went about recording. Jim: The night before the curfew I acquired some mics from a studio and bought an interface. And learnt to record. And tracked. George tracked in Crete. Guy, in New York, helped assemble the structures and find combinations. Giorgos: So every note, every phrase, every instrument came from in and around our inner forests. Guy: On previous projects our customary way of working was to be in one room all together; an inward facing triangle of instant communication leading to marathon sessions from which we would build an archive from which to sculpt the records, finding the binding lines that connected the statements we were trying to make. Giorgos: Using whatever instruments I had with me in the studio at home, in the silence I discovered things I hadn't had the peace to uncover previously. I saw that music isn't static, moving only in its usual ways within the parameters of its centrifugal force -- it can move a long way further in other directions. Guy: With this record we still had that stash to draw from but now we were also adding material composed from this enforced new geometry; this different, wider triangle where we each assumed different roles than we had previously with writing, engineering, arranging all mixed up like finger paints..."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: EF 102CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

2008 release. "Throughout the 1970s, legendary American composer Terry Riley toured regularly in Europe, performing solo organ concerts. In October 1978, Riley's personal technician Chester Wood built a stereo digital delay out of an ancient computer he had procured from Don Buchla, and the subsequent tour was the maiden voyage to try it out. Riley's specially modified two-manual Yamaha YC-45D portable combo organ had a Just Intonation setting and allowed him to feed stereo signals to the digital delay. The Yamaha had been manufactured with single mono output, but now with the modification it had a separate output for each manual eventuating in four channels (two live and two delayed). During a residency as a Fellow at DAAD in Berlin, Riley fine-tuned the delay speeds and experimented with different stereo combinations so that by the time of this Paris concert, the tape delays worked well with the tempos he was using. This all came on the heels of the Shri Camel recording Riley had just made in San Francisco for CBS. The musical materials of The Last Camel in Paris are second generational, belonging to the Shri Camel family while manifesting their own distinct shape and flavor."

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: FTR 146-4LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress; black vinyl. The debut LP by Montreal's Myriam Gendron is one of 2014's signature releases. Feeding Tube had previously been made aware of Myriam when she performed at the Michael Hurley cover tune showcase at the Casa del Popolo. That event, tied to l'Oie de Cravan's publication of The Words to the Songs of Michael Hurley, introduced Myriam as a wonderful if spectral guitarist and singer, whose signature sound was as light as it was intoxicating. Her next performance was an event including the American poet Charles Plymell, and she debuted a set of material based on the poems of Dorothy Parker. Everyone was blown away. Plymell and Gerard Malanga were effusive in their praise of her work, and when a tape fell into the hands of Richard Meltzer, he agreed that Myriam's approach to the material attained a singularity of loss that had not yet been approached. The set was a stun gun, set on its highest possible notch. It blew away anything similar, and achieved a wordy beauty that both buggered description and celebrated itself. Parker's poetry -- though little-known in comparison to her prose -- offers many possibilities of both beauty and humor. Myriam grabs every edge availed to her, and does so beautifully. This album glows with holism and is one of the most beautiful evocations of times past and present and future you will hear.

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: FTR 671LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Vinylization of what was something like the sixth release by Big Blood, originally issued on cassette and CDR in the year 2008. At the time, Big Blood was still a quartet comprised of two flesh and blood humans, along with their two spirit animals, and the sound here maintains some of the acid-folk-witchiness (ala Comus or early Spires That in the Sunset Rise) that marked the band's pre-Quinnisa era. Recorded at Big Blood's South Portland Maine headquarters during the winter of 2007, the instrumentation is largely acoustic (or at least acoustic sounding) apart from the album's closer, 'Low Gravity Blues,' which is built around a big electric slide riff from frequent guest, Nixsa Polosa. But the blaring guitar and harmonica on that track are more than balanced by the weird-yet-delicate approach to most of the other tunes. Even when tracks get stacked up, the effect is akin to a Dionysian fire pit party you might attend at some super enlightened youth camp. Acoustic guitars lay down thick chorded rhythm patterns, upon which vocals and other instrumental events are piled. The results display a very particular kind of ecstasy, and an approach to open joy that will get deep under your skin. Some of the tunes use banjo and ganged vocals for a futurist/primitive hybridization that resembles a geodesic dome made of twigs and feathers. Others mix bluesy guitar tones with vocals that sound more like bits heisted from a space opera being performed in a cave. There are a lot of textures here, but the shifts between them are subtle and supple. So everything slides into you ear like an old friend playing a trick on you. And that is a good feeling to know. Get it here. Now!" --Byron Coley, 2023

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: FTR 672LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Vinylization of the seventh (I think) album by Big Blood on which they are abetted by the Bleedin' Hearts -- Tom Kovacevic and Micah Blue Smaldone (who were Caleb and Colleen's bandmates in Fire On Fire) and Kelly Nesbitt (a Portland-based musician/performance artist.) Not sure if the Bleedin' Hearts ever did anything on their lonesome, but here (serving as a kind of pre-Quinnisa secret weapon) they deliver the goods. Recorded at home in South Portland Maine 'at various times through various means,' this session was originally released on CDR in 2008. For about half the album Big Blood retains its duo/'ghost quartet' profile, with the core participants generating copious gusts of the avant/rural fog that was their early trademark. Tunes range from the 'Graceless Lady' (with tense vocals recalling Nick Cave's 'Weeping Song') to the cracked Americana twangin' of 'Night Lighter.' It also includes idiosyncratic tracks, such as 'Tease It Like a Cop,' pared down to Colleen's treated vocals and piano, and a rare (and beautiful) cover tune -- Syd Barrett's 'Terrapin.' For the other (rough) half of the album, Tom, Micah and Kelly add instruments and voices that fit smoothly with everything else. But their presence provides varieties of additional sonics, veering into areas that actually resemble something like the Beatles' most fully freaked instrumental moments, crossed with the Third Ear Band's soundtrack music for Polanski's Macbeth. It's pretty incredible and 'rollicking' in a totally unorthodox way. All of which makes me think Big Blood should record an album with Van Dyke Parks. Until then, this one's about as close as we'll get to that. And if that don't get your heart beatin', then I'm not sure you have one." --Byron Coley, 2023

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: FIGURE X035EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Dropping as the second standalone EP ahead of Len Faki's highly anticipated debut album Fusion (due late 2023), this release provides a new outlook on the producer's sounds, going far beyond the confines of techno that he previously has been known and lauded for. Opening the record in bold yet sensible style, "Gamma" subtly transcends the dancefloor functionality by anchoring its driving momentum in a wistful and enigmatic melody; a regular of Berghain, Faki also occasionally plays the upstairs room -- where the bumping house of his own "It's Time (To Move Your Body)" could well go down as the highlight of a long night, whizzing with of colorful synths and anthemic vocals. "Yantra" then is a reminder of the powerful, loopy and trippy techno, which Faki (amongst all the newfound sonic explorations) has still not lost his appetite and knack for. A genuine counterpart, "Shri Yantra" then picks up elements of its predecessor, reframed in an enveloping breakbeat journey through time and space. Going past the constraints of his previous work, Faki's signature style is still very much audible on this EP, while also showing how there are still endless possibilities to develop.

 

PRICE: $73.00

CAT #: FPE 038LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"dragonchild's BLACK from FPE Records is meditative, spiritual Ethio-futurism, spread across four one-sided LPs designed to be played simultaneously. D.A. Mekonnen is a saxophone player, and the longtime leader of Debo Band, the acclaimed Ethiopian-American new-music ensemble. He is also an artist who thinks in cosmic terms, and for decades he has been thinking about the long and twisted history of the saxophone, and the noises it makes. BLACK, the first record he has produced as dragonchild, is the monumental result of that exploration: four one-sided albums, designed to be played simultaneously, creating an immersive and disorienting swarm of sound. BLACK was inspired by a trio of Black visionaries: the Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, the nonconformist American artist Lonnie Holley, and the American activist and author adrienne maree brown. It is dedicated to Alice Coltrane, the American jazz visionary, but perhaps you can also hear in it echoes of Getatchew Mekurya, the Ethiopian jazz visionary. In BLACK, these currents cross and combine, creating a mighty roar, ferocious but also meditative. You can't really listen to BLACK, but you can perform it. First, of course, you will need four turntables, and a space to set them up. (The album includes a diagram showing optimum placement.) You will also need three accomplices, so that all four tonearms can be dropped at once. 'Debo,' the name of Mekonnen's band, is an Amharic word meaning 'communal labor'; to truly experience BLACK, you need a community, too. BLACK comes in an innovative, immersive package, with artwork by the Ethiopian photographer Michael Tsegaye, depicting an active volcano in Eastern Ethiopia. Each vinyl record is translucent, with music on one side and a topographic map of lava fields on the reverse. This is a beautiful and audacious project: an artistic landmark, and an important addition to the long history of African-American cultural exchange."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: HONEY 079LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Reissue, originally released in 1957. A Drum Is A Woman is a musical allegory by American pianist, composer, and bandleader Duke Ellington and his long-time musical collaborator Billy Strayhorn. It tells the story of Madam Zajj, the personification of African rhythm, and Carribee Joe, who has his roots firmly in the jungle with his drums. Zajj travels out into the world seeking fame and sophistication and melds with the influences of cultures she weaves through the story, which gives a brief history of the rise of jazz and bebop. Originally recorded for the Columbia label in 1956, it was produced for television on the US Steel Hour on May 8, 1957.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: HRB 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 2013. Chicago's Broken Hope shook up the US death metal scene with a series of transitional releases, during a time when the genre was shifting from the styles of old vanguards to themes of heavy gore, with a matching visual aesthetic. Sixth album, Omen Of Disease, was the sole LP to feature Gorgasm's Tom Leski on vocals, with new drummer Mike Miczek and guitarist Chuck Wepfer of the Rise & Fall joining mainstays Jeremy Wagner and Shaun Glass for gloriously gory excursions. High-speed guitar blasts galore and a few slam elements, along with sci-fi synth interludes. Brutally excellent -- and not for the faint-hearted! Includes two bonus tracks. Color vinyl.

 

PRICE: $52.00

CAT #: HH 3160745LP

FILE UNDER: CLASSICAL

Limited restock. Chicago-based Australian vocalist Jessica Aszodi is a performer of notated and improvised music, a researcher, and curator. She bridges the worlds of contemporary art music and the experimental with total conviction. In her genre-bounding career Jessica has premiered over 70 new pieces of notated music, performed works that have lain dormant for centuries and collaborated with a constellation of artists. She is co-director of the vocal festival Resonant Bodies Australia. Prayer for Nil is a composer/performer experiment for electronics and voice. Each piece is its own microcosm of unfolding connections, decisions and influences, negotiating varying degrees of control and freedom. If there is a common thread amongst them, it is that they all push her vocalic body towards its limits. The voice on this record is not the voice of a unified and cogent human, it is the mutable voice of someone wailing unrestrained in passionate argument. The composers are Anthony Pateras (Mike Patton, PIVIXKI, Pateras/Fox), James Rushford (Oren Ambarchi, Golden Fur), Alexander Garsden (Erkki Veltheim, Melbourne Symphony), and Jeanette Little (Speak Percussion)."In Anthony Pateras' "Prayer for Nil" the electronics are a swell of voices so dense they seem inhuman, amassed like a threatening cloud. As the piece unfolds the masses thin to a taper. By its conclusion the solitary singer is left brutally alone, though it's hard to tell if she wasn't alone the whole time - every voice in the throng was my own. In "[ja] maser" Alexander Garsden deals with relationships between groups of pitches and non-traditional vocal utterances to create cresting swarms of vocality that grow, splinter and re-germinate. In the second half of the piece, a more vulnerable voice emerges, broken and crumpled in the low depths of my range. James Rushford's piece is the most overtly inspired by composer-performer relationship. Composed material was conveyed to me though an audio-score, piped point-blank into my ear. In Jeanette Little's "Mechanical Bride", my singing voice represents anima in an automated world. The text comes from Enrico Cavacchioli's 1914 poem, Let the moon be damned, in which he describes a decaying environment where humans entwine with machines. The dystopic picture painted in this poem still convinces. As I perform this piece, I stage inside myself a battle between flaw-filled human expressivity and savage, ancient machines. Jeanette's sound world pays homage to an analog era, mid-century modernist instrumental and electronic techniques in a milieu that is something like a space-western."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: KEYSYS 003CD

FILE UNDER: HIPHOP

30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist. Grammy Nominated for Best Historical Album 2022/23!"Freestyle Fellowship -- the legendary rap crew from Los Angeles made up of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The 'Best Historical Album' nomination is the first ever for any rap album in Grammy history, and comes a little over 30 years after the group released their solo project as a grassroots, independent effort. In a time and region underscored by gangsta rap, G-funk, and record sales, the Freestyle Fellowship was largely built on collaborative community, long term friendships, and artistic willpower. What most defined the group is not only their lyrical dexterity, but their commitment to an authentic, do-it-yourself spirit that can often elude the most commercially successful rappers. Highlighted by their free-flowing, jazz-inspired cadences and multi-rhythmic flows delivered in obtuse ways -- whether rapping slightly off beat, meandering in and out of alternating patterns, or coming in at rapid fire bursts -- the Freestyle Fellowship helped to build the West Coast's underground movement, drawing inspiration from East Coast boom bap, spoken word poetry, and the socially explosive world around them." --OkayPlayer

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: KEYSYS 003CS

FILE UNDER: HIPHOP

Cassette version. 30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist. Grammy Nominated for Best Historical Album 2022/23!"Freestyle Fellowship -- the legendary rap crew from Los Angeles made up of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The 'Best Historical Album' nomination is the first ever for any rap album in Grammy history, and comes a little over 30 years after the group released their solo project as a grassroots, independent effort. In a time and region underscored by gangsta rap, G-funk, and record sales, the Freestyle Fellowship was largely built on collaborative community, long term friendships, and artistic willpower. What most defined the group is not only their lyrical dexterity, but their commitment to an authentic, do-it-yourself spirit that can often elude the most commercially successful rappers. Highlighted by their free-flowing, jazz-inspired cadences and multi-rhythmic flows delivered in obtuse ways -- whether rapping slightly off beat, meandering in and out of alternating patterns, or coming in at rapid fire bursts -- the Freestyle Fellowship helped to build the West Coast's underground movement, drawing inspiration from East Coast boom bap, spoken word poetry, and the socially explosive world around them." --OkayPlayer

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: KEYSYS 003LP

FILE UNDER: HIPHOP

Double LP version. 30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist. Grammy Nominated for Best Historical Album 2022/23! Mastered for vinyl by Daddy Kev; includes an insert with full credits, rare photos from the archives of Brian "B+" Cross and producer J. Sumbi, as well as copious liner notes by David Ma and Nate LeBlanc of DadBodRapPod. Manufactured entirely in the USA. 30th anniversary definitive issue of legendary hip-hop crew The Freestyle Fellowship's landmark 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern..., mixed from the original 4-track tapes by Cut Chemist."Freestyle Fellowship -- the legendary rap crew from Los Angeles made up of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The 'Best Historical Album' nomination is the first ever for any rap album in Grammy history, and comes a little over 30 years after the group released their solo project as a grassroots, independent effort. In a time and region underscored by gangsta rap, G-funk, and record sales, the Freestyle Fellowship was largely built on collaborative community, long term friendships, and artistic willpower. What most defined the group is not only their lyrical dexterity, but their commitment to an authentic, do-it-yourself spirit that can often elude the most commercially successful rappers. Highlighted by their free-flowing, jazz-inspired cadences and multi-rhythmic flows delivered in obtuse ways -- whether rapping slightly off beat, meandering in and out of alternating patterns, or coming in at rapid fire bursts -- the Freestyle Fellowship helped to build the West Coast's underground movement, drawing inspiration from East Coast boom bap, spoken word poetry, and the socially explosive world around them." --OkayPlayer

 

PRICE: $46.00

CAT #: KEYSYS 006LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Oakland CA, 1981: Hijrah, a vocal group formed from a small Sunni Muslim community in East Oakland, independently releases an album called Truly Free. Locally successful but without distribution, it quickly goes out of print, falling into obscurity. Now rare, prized and sought-after for its beautiful combination of multipart harmonies, soul-jazz backing, and uplifting spiritual message, Key System present this first-ever reissue, licensed directly from the group, and coupled with their 1985 follow-up Time -- a funky and eclectic update of the Hijrah sound which sadly never saw the light of day. Mastered by Jessica Thompson, with exhaustive historical listening notes by John Morrison. Pressed at Gotta Groove in Ohio; edition of 500.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: KOO 007LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

An imaginary train journey between Bologna and Moscow. The original recording of the entire experimental electronic session performed at the audiovisual festival "Geometry of Now," Moscow (2017) curated by Mark Fell, reworked in Bologna (Italy) with custom analog equipment in 2022. Alexei Borisov, the Moscow underground legend who has spanned new wave, electronic noise, and constructivist experimentation, measures up with artist and curator Sergey Kasich, a sound and media artist originally from Sevastopol, Crimea, founder and main curator of the SA)) community for experimental sound artists from the post-Soviet regions, as well as the SA))_gallery and SA))_studio in Moscow. The deconstruction of that live performance is meant to underscore the evidence of the lie of the end of history and the inadequacy of theories produced by the relativist burden of postmodernity with its illusory recombinations, revivals, and remixes, lead to the search for a misaligned and alt-modern subjectivity that concretely emerges from an imaginary journey into the era of the materialization of the unexpected, like the sudden concreteness of a window that no longer squeaks, but slams... The "Petroni apartment session" was recorded in Bologna, by also mixing concrete elements of environmental recording to emphasize the sudden impending immediacy of the real dimension.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: LANR 026LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 1984. Mandatory reissue for British dub-roots combo. Co-produced by On U Sound and Cherry Red, the album shows the masterful production of wizard Adrian Sherwood and a series of sublime vocal performances by stalwarts Bim Sherman, Mikey Dread, and Prince Far I. The sublime line-up is completed by master musicians Crucial Tony, "Deadly" Headley Bennett, Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, and Evar Wellington. Enjoy the purity of this aquatic sound 1. Fully remastered and licensed; edition of 500.

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: LPS PS005-LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress. From its creation in the late '90s until its closure in 2009, the Toytronic label witnessed a digital revolution that transformed the record industry, turning glitch into a production tool for a whole generation heir to the of bleep 'n' bass sound. Thanks to their impeccable A&R credentials, its head honchos, Martin Haidinger and Chris Cunningham, created an incredible IDM label catalog, as well as producing their own material under pseudonym Abfahrt Hinwil. Their only album to date Links Berge Rechts Seen (Toytronic, 2002) was released as a compilation featuring tracks from their brief career that over the years has become a benchmark for the Toytronic sound. This album included their first -- and only -- three releases signed to Expending Records and Toytronic, and also included two previously unreleased songs: "Planquadrat" and a hidden track at the end of the CD version. Lapsus presents Links Berge Rechts Seen, which will be released on vinyl for the first time as part of its Perennial Series. Originally released on CD in 2002. The collector's format double-LP is accompanied by a double-sided lithographic print, which includes a unique and exclusive interview from Martin and Chris, talking to prestigious electronic music journalist Philip Sherburne; marbled vinyl (solid silver & black) double-LP.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: LION 104N-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Transparent sun yellow vinyl. "A new edition of this Canadian folk/psych classic -- perfect dreamy, sunshine-infused-yet-with-clouds-passing-by pop psychedelia with a folk bent, originally released by independent Canadian label Allied Records in 1968. When we first issued this terrific album many many years ago, our booklet featured the few scraps of information on the band we could find. We challenged 'anyone out there' to find some information on this elusive and intriguing band. Well, we're pleased that someone took us up on that offer, and that the specific someone was band leader Tom Waschkowski (credited on the album as Tom Martin). He graciously offered us a band history, lyrics, and some terrific photos. This allows us to offer up as perfect a reissue of this album as humanly possible. The Folklords' Release the Sunshine is a captivating album, a notion shared by the many collectors world-wide who fight for original copies, which are few and far between. Strange thing is, if someone were to say to us that the Folklords album was released by Creation Records in 1987, it would be difficult to argue. You may well ask, why? Our answer: the chiming guitars, the rattle of tambourine, the dreaminess, the sometimes dark lyrics, and the harmony vocals of Martha Johnson place the Folklords closer to Biff Bang Pow, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Revolving Paint Dream, or even My Bloody Valentine's debut, 'Ecstasy and Wine' (granted, at a much slower speed, and without the rampant fuzz guitar) than it does to sunny 1960's poppiness. Glorious newly remastered sound -- sourced directly from the master tapes. Dreamy sunshine-infused-yet-with-clouds-passing-by pop psychedelia with a folk bent and a futuristic sound."

 

PRICE: $13.50

CAT #: MACROM 070CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Death ambient: Lucaslavia operates on the outer rings of metal, melting its constituent elements into vicious torrents of fury. Furnace resembles a field recording from the sixth circle of hell. Despite its deceptively calm initial form, ancient hatreds seem to rage in violent currents just below the leaden surface. Disembodied voices range from whispered malediction to screams of utmost anger, stretched into purgatorial eternities. Gargantuan sonic fortification walls composed of drums, ripping sheets of distorted guitar, hissing residue of steel and stone blasted apart build threatening levels of intensity. The only deceptive respite comes from what appears to be the faint mechanical creaking emanating from the inexorable and towering installations found in the engine rooms of boundless pain. Lucaslavia was written and produced by Stefan Goldmann. Stefan Goldmann has performed electronic music in 45 countries across six continents, with formats ranging from DJ sets to a four-hour opera with ensemble and a room-spanning installation. He has developed special formats for Berghain in Berlin, LACMA in Los Angeles and Kyoto's Honen-in Temple and is currently artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic's Strom Festival. Mastered by Rashad Becker.

 

PRICE: $12.00

CAT #: MAGGOT 012

FILE UNDER: Misc

Crazy Doberman ? Erick's Bradshaw delivers an epic, well-illustrated tour diary of a brief jaunt with these noise greats. Composer TAYONDAI BRAXTON by Katy Henricksen! A meaty, beautiful feature on DR. PETE LARSON by Fred Thomas, worlds collide! An amazing LUCY SANTE column! Cassette tapes! Reissue of the issue is the 'Southeast of Saturn 2' comp of obscure Midwestern '90s shoegaze! The Bay Area's deliriously good new band GALORE by Jessica Beard! A beloved celebrity writes in to Mimi Lipson's advice column! A lengthy excerpt from a great unpublished novel by DAVID GORDON! Editor Mike McGonigal's tribute to Tom Verlaine! And we think that's everything, hard to really know, as we always pack so much into every issue because we love you!

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: MGDC 012LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Pink Floyd, live at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on September 17, 1969. FM Broadcast.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: MG 134LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited restock. Two guitars heard, one played that listens to the second. Two superimposed timelines that are replayed through the disc. "Libellule": One side with use of drone. "Ébouli": a side where the guitar is detuned as the piece progresses. Guilhem Lacroux designed this disc so that it could be listened to in 45rpm and 33rpm. The 45rpm, as a version of real time -- I live -- and the 33rpm version that of the state of suspension, the invitation to slow time. For fans of France (the band), Tanz Mein Herz, guitar improvisations, electroacoustics.

 

PRICE: $38.00

CAT #: MOV 1904COL-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Juicy Lucy formed after the demise of The Misunderstood. Steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell, and Blackburn saxophonist Chris Mercer recruited guitarist Neil Hubbard, bassist Keith Ellis, and drummer Pete Dobson to complete the band. Their eponymous debut album was originally released in 1969, and is a heavy form of blues-rock, often played at break-neck speed. The album's cover features Burlesque dancer named Zelda Plum. The band immediately notched a UK Top 20 hit with a cover version of Bo Diddley's 'Who Do You Love?'. Juicy Luicy is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on translucent yellow color vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve."

 

PRICE: $37.00

CAT #: MOV 2650COL-LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"The album The Skatalite was originally released in 1969 and contains some of the best tracks from the Skatalites cut for producer Duke Reid. It was recorded with the classic line-up, featuring Don Drummond on trombone, Jackie Mittoo on piano, and Jonny 'Dizzy' Moore on the trumpet. This 12-track set includes 'Eastern Standard Time', 'Dan-De-Lion' and 'Yard Broom' amongst others. The Skatalite is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on turquoise colored vinyl."

 

PRICE: $47.00

CAT #: MOV 3272COL-LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Pharoah 'Farrell' Sanders was a leading figure in the world of jazz and his tenor saxophone playing earned him a legendary status among jazz circles. This 2LP compilation Welcome To Love features the master saxophonist playing straight-up jazz ballads and includes the bonus track 'Moonlight In Vermont'. Sanders is accompanied by William Henderson on piano, Stafford James on bass and Eccleston W. Wainwright on drums. Welcome To Love is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on yellow color vinyl."

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: NK 202303LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Aired on 06/05/1969. Line-up: Michael Giles (drums, vocals); Greg Lake (bass, vocals); Robert Fripp (lead guitar); Ian Macdonald (alto saxophone, flute, keyboards). Color vinyl; 45rpm.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: PAL 069LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Limited double-LP version of the 2008 CD originally issued on Load, compiling the best live and studio recordings by the final iteration of this group."60 second bursts of chaotic rock 'n' roll that barbarize whole histories of freakout style, from free jazz through classic hardcore, boogie, blues, Black Flag, Germs, most explicitly through Beefheart, but all hyper-condensed into ultra-kranky riffs that Orcutt plays at hallucinatory speed, compressing Zoot Horn Rollo style avant confusion into lighting runs and metallic two note knock-outs. Hoyos's style is so primitive that it's wildly avantgarde, with an instinctive feel for time that confounds the most advanced improvisatory strategies with the most hysterical. And her vocals are post-Yoko in the truest sense, not directly informed by her but sharing the same spontaneous energy and a-musical appeal, sometimes breaking from songs completely to expand on barely articulated vocal rants and fever pitched bouts of screaming. The whole group existed in a zone that was constantly beyond technique. The arc of their career was perfect, the mission truly accomplished, and all that's left is this amazing series of recordings, a body of work that has had a disproportionate effect on the minds, if rarely the actual sound of the underground." --David Keenan, The Wire, December 2008

 

PRICE: $47.00

CAT #: 9783907236543

FILE UNDER: Misc

"A glorious design herbarium of marijuana ads from the great underground magazines of the 1960s and '70s. The youth uprising now simply known as the Sixties was fed by one of the greatest booms in publishing history. The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) began as a loose confederation of five papers in 1966, and within a few years swelled to over 500 across the world, including Kaleidoscope, International Times and the East Village Other. They 'spread like weed,' said the UPS director, weed dealer and eventual founder of High Times Tom Forcade. The metaphor was apt: the UPS spurred the legalization movement, and weed became its totem -- and a helpful means for government agencies to crack down on the UPS, since weed permeated UPS pages, with gaps in text crammed with weed-inspired 'spot illustrations.' Heads Together collects these drawings, shining a light on lesser-known names in the stoner-art canon, and many who weren't names at all since no signature was attached. It also compiles guides for growing weed from the period that were treated like contraband by the CIA. Activist-oriented, psychedelic rolling papers are showcased too. As pot now fast-tracks toward legalization in the US and beyond, its once-incendiary status is brought into odd relief. Pot's contemporary corporate profiteers do not reflect those who fought for legalization, or the Black and Latino populations strategically criminalized for pot well before hippies were targeted and long after. The art in this book speaks to a time when pot was smoked with optimism, as something capable of activating transformation in the face of corrupt and powerful forces." Contributor(s): David Jacob Kramer (text by - art/photo books), Rembert Browne (text by - art/photo books), Melania Gazzotti (text by - art/photo books), John Sinclair (contribution by), Ishmael Reed (contribution by), Marjorie Heins (contribution by), Mariann Wizard-Vasquez (contribution by), Abe Peck (contribution by). 566 pages. Paperback. 7.5 x 9.75 in.

 

PRICE: $22.50

CAT #: PC 481LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 repress. Long standing influential British experimental group Coil began performing live again in 1999 after a 15-year hiatus. These now legendary performances included many pieces that were never released on album, including this album-length epic version of "The Universe Is A Haunted House", captured live on October 12th, 2002 at London's Convay Hall.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 377LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Recorded in the 1982. Roots Radics backing in a dancehall style with the drums and bass of style Scott and Errol Flabba Holt on extended 12" mixes. Produced by Jah Thomas at Channel One Studio.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 378LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Reissue of this 1982 release. Recorded and mixed at Channel One and King Tubby's studios. Includes killer songs such as "Reggae Dance," "Unwilling Baby Mother," "Sweet Reggae Music," and "This Kind Of Way." A dancehall classic!

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RR 382LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Reissue. Legendary Jamaican songsmith Gregory Isaacs's 1995 album Private Lesson on Radiation Roots. The set includes laidback cuts "Preacher Boy," "Feeling Sad Tonight," "Diplomatic Fool," "She Doesn't Want Me," "Slave Master," and many more.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: MVD 12373CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A 2CD set of rare, early Hüsker Dü live recordings, featuring original flyers and artwork. Drawn from the historical Hüsker Dü recording archives compiled by Terry Katzman, this double disc live set is an essential companion piece to the band's Savage Young Du Box Set. While the SYD release principally featured studio demos, the 28 tracks presented here are the aural and enchanting equivalent of a time machine that vividly thrusts the listener straight back to Husker Du's embryonic unsheathing on stage. Side A dates to July 1979. Side B gives us a full year's evolution to July 1980, while Sides C and D land the listener in September 1980. Perhaps 120 people in total saw these three Longhorn performances. Until now, a handful at most have heard the playbacks. So, rare and fresh, it's all here: the songs, the driven performances, the small club intimacy of being in front of select friends, fans, and peers, with one fair shot at getting it right. These four sides compellingly document that you can't doubt that they did."

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: ROTOR 060LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2023 restock. A reissue of Brume's Autoportrait, originally released in 1991 on cassette. C. Renou on the album: "Emergency and compression ... it is the climate in which this 50-minute material was recorded. Comettre, a Self-Portrait is not nothing! ... This is a sensitive exercise, deep, must find the note, must sustain his own honesty ... well so, do not crash! This project, in 1990, took ten hours! (execution, post production, and mastering ...). I privileged a direct and rapid expression so essential to squirt! But I confess some 'literary verbages' essential in my view have been borrowed. It's almost live, as the set was 'sloppy', and made in just a day and a night! There's practically raw material, thick, rusty metal (beware Tinnitus ears ...!), performed without concession and without cerebral onanism ... but only by pure nihilism!" Black vinyl version comes in an edition of 400 (numbered).

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: SEAL 015EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Limited restock. Reissue of Rudimentary Peni's stunning debut 12-song 7". Recorded in 1981 at Street Level Studios and originally released on their own Outer Himalayan label. From the first track Rudimentary Peni pull you in and aurally assault your ears. It's abrasive, sharp with supreme musicianship. They created a perfect, demented universe of twisted, poetic and needle in the red punk that has never been bettered. This reissue comes with a fold-out replica sleeve with the iconic Blinko fetus artwork and booklet.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: SOULG 010LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Reissue, originally released in 1973. Reissued for the very first time on a limited vinyl edition, here's the fifth work of the godfather of ska, Laurel Aitken. Originally released on Count Shelly Records, Moria Sofia was completely written, arranged, produced, and sung by Aitken himself. The album is a skillful blend of soul and calypso tunes with a splash of rocksteady. A mandatory gem to be rediscovered by all Jamaican music fans. Fully licensed; edition of 500.

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: SOW 043LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Reissue, originally released in 1961. Looking Ahead is the debut album by American jazz musician Ken McIntyre, recorded with fellow alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy in 1960 and released on the New Jazz label in January 1961. From the beginning Mr. McIntyre considered himself part of the avant-garde or "new thing" movement in jazz, as spearheaded by musicians like Ornette Coleman, Bill Dixon, and Cecil Taylor, although his own music was considerably more traditionally melodic than theirs. He played a whole fleet of reed instruments, including oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet, and saxophones. In 1964, on the album Way, Way Out, he recorded bouncing, urgent jazz tunes with chilly, dissonant string arrangements; in 1966, he accompanied Mr. Taylor on the album Unit Structures, a landmark recording of the jazz avant-garde. Clear vinyl.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: FLENSER 136LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Midwife's Madeline Johnston has gone through several different iterations of her music project. In 2015, she moved into Denver's premier DIY space Rhinoceropolis, where she began learning recording on her own and primarily focusing on Sister Grotto, a long-form ambient based project. Working alongside artists like Colin Ward and Dani Rev, she was inspired by her roommate's tenacity and artistic outpouring. Madeline recorded Born to Lose / Born to Leave, Blindside, and Song For An Unborn Sun during the first half of her residency (before she started the project that would soon become Like Author, Like Daughter). Time is a major element in this group of recordings. Tracks were played in real time, slowed down, and played on top of, repeatedly, and has been referred to as an ambient sludge record. Components like the Casio SK-1, endless loop cassettes, delay and pitch shifters distort the passage of time -- layers, repetition, and analog delay fold it back in on itself. Not unlike the sentimentality and difficulty distinguishing landmark moments of this time period for Madeline, the music itself is a sort of frenetic and meditative blur. Some of the tracks on Song For An Unborn Sun were later re-worked for the first Midwife album. Most importantly, 'Song For An Unborn Sun' and 'Placeholder' which became the song 'Way Out.' Song For An Unborn Sun was originally released as a split in 2016 on the small run cassette label Terrible Pleasures. Side A was by Sister Grotto, and Side B was by Devin Shaffer (who at the time was releasing music under the name Yarrow). The Flenser 2023 reissue will solely highlight the Sister Grotto material, remastered, along with previously unreleased songs that serve as a timestamp of that particularly magic creative era. 'Placeholder (Slide Edit)' is a postcard from Madeline Johnston and Tucker Theodore's early collaboration. 'Live at Wazee Union' is a recording of a guerrilla show in a former co-op art studio in the process of being demolished and replaced. It was presented and played with the help and additional instrumentation of Braeyden Jae and H Lite's Anton Krueger. The group created a shrine with about 50 votive candles to set the scene: a temporary refuge from the growing pains of gentrification. 'ESP' is a play on Song For An Unborn Sun's closing track, 'Hex,' and was made using modified tape loops and field recordings from the industrial neighborhood where Rhinoceropolis once stood."

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: TROST 230BK

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Limited restock. Schwarzwaldfahrt is a magical document of a moment out of time, a moment when the saxophone player Peter Brötzmann and percussionist Han Bennink made a journey deep into the heart of the Black Forest with early portable recording equipment and cameras. The recordings that they made there were released as the Schwarzwaldfahrt album by FMP in 1977 and it remains a free music classic, recorded completely in the open air, with Bennink and Brötzmann duetting with the birds, playing in the water, drumming on great natural xylophones made of logs and catching the sounds of airplanes strafing the skies. It is a music of eternal expansion, of elemental communion. This new book comes with the original recordings on a CD and is assembled round a treasure trove of newly discovered photographs taken during the trip by both Brötzmann and Bennink -- photographs of each other, of their lodgings, of their ritual communions, of their route into, and out of the forest. "It's so lonely, this music, these two friends, making music on their own, in all of this space, and back of time, now, too, a document of a world that seems less populated -- by people, by ideas, by demands, by the tyranny of modern time, itself." --pre-liminal poetic text by David Keenan Peter Brötzmann & Han Bennink: e-flat clarinet, b-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, birdcalls, viola, banjo, cymbals, wood, trees, sand, land, water, air. 120 page book; 20x20cm; edition of 1000.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: VAMPI 234LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

2023 repress. Reissue of the first album by Brazilian musician, poet and plastic artist Manduka. Originally released in 1972 on IRT, the album is a sought-after collectors' item, especially among those who seek in its cultural richness, fundamental episodes of Chilean popular musical history. An essential record almost entirely written by Manduka during his exile years in Chile, away from his home in Brazil. It includes improvised jams and songs about Brazilian history, his own exile and the new cultures he got exposed to. A sublime combination of acoustic guitar sounds, percussions and delicate songwriting that may remind you of some other Brazilian artists like Os Novos Baianos or even Caetano. It includes a special cover version of Violeta Parra's "Qué dirá el Santo Padre" and features guest artists like Soledad Bravo, Patricio Castillo, Baltasar Villaseca from Congregación, brothers Gabriel and Eduardo Parra, members of Los Jaivas, and Numhauser himself.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: VG+ 007CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

"CD format contains both volumes! In 1968, Bay Area native Doug McKechnie got hold of one the very first modular Moog synthesizers ever made and began finding his own way to play it. Soon, he was hauling the finicky instrument around to perform improvised concerts at colleges and psychedelic ballrooms, as well as an ill-fated appearance on the bill at Altamont. Some of the performances were recorded, and the surviving tapes -- never before released -- capture a free-flowing, transportive sound that fills in the gap between the austere mid-century academic avant-garde and the expansive cosmic suites of Tangerine Dream and the rest of the Berlin School in the '70s." "These pieces represent amazingly fully formed early approaches to the very idea of musical synthesis...arresting even to modern ears." --Goldmine "Presages both Tangerine Dream's soundtracks and, in its most grimy moments, Acid Tracks." --The Wire

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: VHF 152LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Third in a trilogy of albums of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This Is Not This Heat, etc.) following 2020's Electric M?y? and 2021's Fourth Density. For heads, the term 'library music' in 2021 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate-diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. The fifteen tracks on The Physic Garden are fully-formed and orchestrated compositions, which would be highlights on anyone's release, never mind as incidental music. Of the music, O'Sullivan says: 'The Physic Garden is an album of diverse instrumentals inspired by a swathe of verdant vistas from manicured gardens and follies to urban common land, overgrown and forgotten. Convalescent memories in the shape of psychedelic auditory botanics.' Key tracks include the droning acoustic folk of the title song; the Canterbury-esque rolling horn and woodwind melody of 'Return The Heart' (with expert drum kit from Frank Byng); the prog-ish odd meter interlude 'Buttercup Tea'; The quiet ambience and delicate melody of 'Dusty Feather'; and the Eno-like drift of 'Vapourer Larvae.'"

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: VHF 158CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A genuinely sprawling collection of high-fidelity mutation music that suits the compact disc format perfectly, Hypnotape is the third consecutive Sunburned Hand Of The Man album of studio assemblages following 2019's Headless and 2021's Pick A Day To Die. Recorded throughout 2021 and 2022, it's an album possessed with a peculiar runaway locomotion which jump cuts feverishly between unusual atmospheres yet maintains a beguiling consistency -- throbbing, twisting, undulating rhythmic blast-offs suddenly kick the door down into serene realms of nuanced acoustic privacy which are unexpectedly plunged back, face first into a miasma of shirtless, raging thuggery, ad infinitum. The album is notable in the group's monstrous catalog for a few reasons: first, it showcases founding member Conrad Capistran stepping out from behind the keyboards and electronics to spread his smooth, buttery baritone atop the majority of the tracks. From his velvet cooing above the pulsing whirlwind of opener 'People Person' to his vivid and febrile musings as a trip reporter on the frontlines of the meltdown zone on 'Roger' his honeyed vocals guide the listener Virgil-like through the inferno all the way to the album's finale where he duets with Ron Schneiderman on the old Dino Valenti/Quicksilver chestnut 'What About Me'. Secondly, it features the recorded debut of Sunburned's longtime friend and collaborator Mark Perretta after years of touring with the group. Some may remember Perretta from his days stomping across the primordial Boston underground of the late '80s/early '90s with the mighty Subskin Cables or his solo career as Deluxx but most, no doubt, will be familiar with his stint with Lou Barlow, John Davis and Bob Fay as Deluxx Folk Implosion, most notably when Perretta's whimsical ode to fatherhood 'Daddy Never Understood' was used in the opening sequence to Larry Clark's beloved coming of age tale Kids in 1996. Finally, with Hypnotape, Sunburned steps into the hallowed VHF arena after decades of hovering along adjacent corridors!"

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: MRSSS 539LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 restock, new lower pricing. Vinilisssimo present the first vinyl reissue of Tim Maia's 1977 self-titled album. Tim Maia was born in 1942 in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and started his musical career at an early age, along with close friends such as Roberto Carlos or Jorge Ben. Carlos would eventually help him to get a deal for his first single at CBS. During the '70s, Maia started to incorporate soul and funk elements into his style. After a two-year period involvement in the Cultura Racional in Brazil, Maia's funky style was still at its best when he released this album in 1977. It was his first and only recording for Som Livre, the legendary label that became extremely popular due to the many soap operas soundtracks in its extensive catalog. This self-titled LP deserves to be shortlisted among Maia's top records. It features killer tunes like the anthemic "É Necessário", undoubtedly one of the best songs in his career, and also boogie gems such as "Verão Carioca" or "Venha Dormir Em Casa" that show obvious influences by some of the biggest American soul artists of the time. It also contains intimate vocal delights as in the lovely smooth tune "Música Para Betinha" or even straight funky instrumentals like "Flores Belas". The string arrangements, wah-wah guitars, horns, deep vocals make this recording a milestone in the so-called "Black Movement" in Rio, where artists like Toni Tornado, Banda Black Rio and Maia himself were bringing in the funky sounds of America and mixing them with local rhythms like samba. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: VL 900372LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 repress. Reissue, originally released in 1973. "When the New York Dolls released their debut album in 1973, they managed to be named both 'Best New Band' and 'Worst Band' in Creem Magazine's annual reader's poll, and it usually takes something special to polarize an audience like that. And the Dolls were inarguably special -- decades after its release, New York Dolls still sounds thoroughly unique, a gritty, big-city amalgam of Stones-style R&B, hard rock guitars, lyrics that merge pulp storytelling with girl group attitude, and a sloppy but brilliant attack that would inspire punk rock (without the punks ever getting its joyous slop quite right). Much was made of the Dolls' sexual ambiguity in the day, but with the passage of time, it's a misfit swagger that communicates most strongly in these songs, and David Johansen's vocals suggest the product of an emotional melting pot who just wants to find some lovin' before Manhattan is gone, preferably from a woman who would prefer him over a fix. If the lyrics sometimes recall Hubert Selby, Jr. if he'd had a playful side, the music is big, raucous hard rock, basic but with a strongly distinct personality -- the noisy snarl of Johnny Thunders' lead guitar quickly became a touchstone, and if he didn't have a lot of tricks in his arsenal, he sure knew when and how to apply them, and the way he locked in with Syl Sylvain's rhythm work was genius -- and the Dolls made their downtown decadence sound both ominous and funny at the same time. The Dolls were smart enough to know that a band needs a great drummer, and if there's something likably clumsy about Arthur Kane's bass work, Jerry Nolan's superb, elemental drumming holds the pieces in place with no-nonsense precision at all times. 'Lonely Planet Boy' proved the Dolls could dial down their amps and sound very much like themselves, 'Pills' was a superbly chosen cover that seemed like an original once they were done with it, and 'Personality Crisis,' 'Trash,' and 'Jet Boy' were downtown rock & roll masterpieces no other band could have created. And while New York Dolls clearly came from a very specific time and place, this album still sounds fresh and hasn't dated in the least -- this is one of rock's greatest debut albums, and a raucous statement of purpose that's still bold and thoroughly engaging." --AllMusic

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: WHP 1463LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

In 1983 Herbie Hancock's glorious career in jazz (and fusion) experienced a resounding mainstream breakthrough thanks to the extraordinary success of the transcendent "Rockit," a single taken from the Grammy award-winning album Future Shock (1983) that has gone down in history as the first crossover between jazz, hip-hop, and scratching (breakdancers elected it in those years as their world anthem). The piece, in a nearly 11-minute version, is included in the radio-originated live performance culled from a concert that the legendary keyboardist and his band -- including Anton Fier, Bernard Fowler, D.ST., J.T. Lewis, Jeff Bova, and Wayne Brathwaite -- held on July 24, 1984 at the Yomiuriland Open East Theatre in Tokyo: synthesizers and electronics characterize a set that includes versions of other pieces from the Future Shock album (the title track, "Earth Beat," "Autodrive," "Rough"), "Stars In Your Eyes" from Monster (1980) and the final 17 minutes medley of "Crazy Cuts/Chameleon".

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: WHP 1464LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Here's the historical Rome concert recorded at Radio Rai studios in Via Asiago, with extended versions of four original compositions, including a fantastic interpretation of the already popular "Lonely Woman."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 079CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

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). CD version includes one bonus track.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 079LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

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).

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 080CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

WRWTFWW Records present the first official worldwide reissue of the sophomore album from fabled Japanese folk singer-songwriter/actress/writer Hako Yamasaki, Tsunawatari. Recorded right after her outstanding debut Tobimasu (WRWTFWW 079CD/LP), Tsunawatari was released in 1976 on Elec Records, one of the first independent labels in Japan, and solidified Hako Yamasaki as one of the most gorgeous voices of the country and an exceptional musician and singer. A truly perfect follow-up, it immortalizes the bitter beauty of heartache with tearful performances and nostalgic empowerment. The beauty of melancholic songs reaches heartbreaking heights in Tsunawatari, a magnificent ode to the sorrow of lost love and the time that passes offered to the world with a very unique brand of folk music. The kind of folk that goes for the guts, folk that shamelessly flirts with tearful blues, contemplative soft pop and psychedelic nostalgia. Put the needle on "Help Me" -- there's simply no holding back. Hako Yamasaki, a pioneer in both the creative boom and the rise of feminism of 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. Tsunawatari is released in conjunction with Hako Yamasaki's classic debut album Tobimasu, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: WRWTFWW 080LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. WRWTFWW Records present the first official worldwide reissue of the sophomore album from fabled Japanese folk singer-songwriter/actress/writer Hako Yamasaki, Tsunawatari. Recorded right after her outstanding debut Tobimasu (WRWTFWW 079CD/LP), Tsunawatari was released in 1976 on Elec Records, one of the first independent labels in Japan, and solidified Hako Yamasaki as one of the most gorgeous voices of the country and an exceptional musician and singer. A truly perfect follow-up, it immortalizes the bitter beauty of heartache with tearful performances and nostalgic empowerment. The beauty of melancholic songs reaches heartbreaking heights in Tsunawatari, a magnificent ode to the sorrow of lost love and the time that passes offered to the world with a very unique brand of folk music. The kind of folk that goes for the guts, folk that shamelessly flirts with tearful blues, contemplative soft pop and psychedelic nostalgia. Put the needle on "Help Me" -- there's simply no holding back. Hako Yamasaki, a pioneer in both the creative boom and the rise of feminism of 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. Tsunawatari is released in conjunction with Hako Yamasaki's classic debut album Tobimasu, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: YAZ 1043HLP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 restock. 180 gram reissue of Yazoo's scholarly 1974 collection of "bawdy and vaudeville-inspired" songs from the '20s and '30s. Classic Robert Crumb cover art. Artists: Whistling Bob Howe & Frankie Griggs, Tommie Bradley & James Cole, Buddie Burton, Georgia Tom & Tampa Red, Rufus & Ben Quillian, Hokum Boys, Papa Charlie Jackson, Butterbeans & Susie, Robert & Charlie Hicks, Yazoo All Stars, Memphis Minnie, Leola B. Wilson & Kid Wesley Wilson and Bo Carter.