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PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: BEWITH 056LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2024 repress. Be With Records present a reissue of Sweet And Nice, the vital debut album from Jamaica's undisputed first lady of song Marica Griffiths, originally released in 1974. It's reggae at its most soulful. Slinking through a tight ten tracks of R&B and pop-sourced material, it became an instant best seller. Sweet And Nice has appeared over the years with a revised running order and under different titles. But the original's opening sequence of loping soul is legendary, even beyond reggae circles. These songs are now returned to how they were presented on that first Jamaican release, and under their intended album title. Be With doesn't mess with magic. Marcia's version of "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" has long been lusted after, played by genre-hopping selectors to snapping necks for decades now. It's followed by the sophisticated, rollicking wah-wah funk of "Everything I Own" and the slice of smooth lovers soul par excellence that is "Green Grasshopper" and her ace, lilting Neil Diamond cover "Play Me". The thundering, humid funk of "Children At Play" "sounds uncannily like a precursor of Massive Attack", as FACT Mag astutely noted when they put Sweet And Nice at number 16 in their list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s. Otherworldly, moody, and essential. Side two keeps the fire burning. "Sweet, Bitter Love" should leave you swooning, and is also one of the album's alternate titles. Curtis Mayfield's already-eternal "Gypsy Man" follows, recast as proto-lovers rock. "There's No Me Without You" is elevated to canonical status by the majestic, forlorn horns of the Federal Soul Givers and Marcia's heartbreaking delivery. And if this doesn't get you then surely the next track will: arguably the definitive version of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". "I Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" re-takes its rightful place at the end of the LP's second side... but Be With Records added an entire second record of rare material recorded around the same time as Sweet And Nice, much of it unavailable since it was originally released. Amongst these 14 extra tracks you'll find the exquisite late-60s singles "Melody Life" and "Mark My Word" which, along with the sumptuous reading of "Band Of Gold". All material is remastered. 140 gram vinyl.

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: SAUNA 081CS

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Murals For Immersion is Kenneth James Gibson's sixth ambient outing under his given name, this time around collaborating with saxophonist Paul Carman who played and recorded with Frank Zappa in what Zappa called The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. In late 2022, Gibson and Carman started getting together at Gibson's Idyllwild studio, laying down tons of saxophone sounds -- layers of drones, melody lines, and off kilter noises. Gibson processed, sculpted, and arranged these sounds into full-fledged pieces of music. Although the original idea was to make a 100% pure saxophone-based album, sub-heavy Moog Prodigy bass swells were added to fill out the lower end of the spectrum. From this process comes the aptly titled Murals For Immersion. Paul Carman is a legend in the California Jazz scene and a veteran of the 80's Frank Zappa Band. Rehearsing, touring, and recording with one of music's most influential groundbreakers inspired Carman to form his own ensembles and write his own original music. He has released six recordings over the past 35 years. Paul also played and recorded in bands such as ESP, Continuum, Quarteto Nuevo, and Dick Dale. Paul has a trio with bassist Marshall Hawkins (Miles Davis, Roberta Flack) and pianist Barnaby Finch (George Benson, Lee Ritnour). Currently floating between Idyllwild and Los Angeles, California, Kenneth James Gibson was born in Canada, but grew up in El Paso, Texas. Gibson founded the 1990s noise rock band Furry Things, which released most of its material on King Coffey's (of the Butthole Surfers) Trance Syndicate/Touch and Go Records imprint. Gibson has also released music that spans many genres under aliases such as Eight Frozen Modules, dubLoner, and Hiss & Buzz (with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto). He founded the electronic music record label Adjunct Audio in early 2005 with friend Konstantin Gabbro. Gibson, along with Brian McBride of Stars of the Lid, started the band Bell Gardens in 2009. The two explored the realms of Americana, chamber pop, folk, and psychedelic pop. The band released three albums on Southern Records, Rocket Girl, and their own Failed Better. In April 2016, Gibson released his first full-length ambient album under his given name titled The Evening Falls (KOMPPA 004CD) and returned for a second album in March of 2018 titled In The Fields Of Nothing (KOM 381LP). In 2022 he followed this up with two more albums, Groundskeeping and Ssih Mountain on his own Meadows Heavy Recorders.

 

PRICE: $21.00

CAT #: CTATSU 005LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Following its release in the winter of 2018, Landmarks, a collaboration between veteran ambient artists Celer and Forest Management, initially drew quiet accolades and a steadfast listenership that has since swelled to unimagined proportions, resonating with listeners perhaps now more than ever and cementing its status as an experimental classic. Inspired by Paul Theroux's novel The Mosquito Coast and Peter Weir's 1986 film adaptation of that book, Landmarks sets out 14 tracks in a 'stunning hour of music' (The Quietus) that creates a 'general sense of foreboding, critique of romantic retreat into individualism and colonialism' (A Closer Listen). The album is now offered on vinyl for the first time (originally out on cassette tape), newly remastered by Stephan Mathieu to enhance the depth and richness of this oneiric soundscape. Both Americans, Celer (Will Long) resides in Tokyo, Japan and Forest Management (John Daniel) in Chicago, USA. Landmarks was born of their months-long collaboration, trading music back and forth and reshaping each other's work using a series of patches, tape looping, and electronic manipulation. As a throughline in each piece we hear their distinct voices and cultural contexts blend to unique, often otherworldly effect, conjuring a dreamlike tension that refuses easy resolution. We are hooked by a mood that captured listeners back in 2018 and continues to hold us today in the context of current events, related disquietudes, and a nostalgic longing for solutions that may be more imaginary than real."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: CVSD 110CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

British percussionist Tony Oxley returned to his piece "Angular Apron" multiple times after debuting it in the early 1970s. Drawing equally on his interest in contemporary composed music by folks like Xenakis and Ligeti and on his long tenure as one of the central figures in European improvised music, Oxley assembled a quintet to play the work in Bochum, Germany, in 1992. The one-time ensemble consisted of five players from varied backgrounds. Trumpeter and flugelhornist Manfred Schoof, who delivers one of his last performances before turning exclusively to composition, is one of the pioneers of free music in Germany, a somewhat understated figure of immense power and authority whose 1969 FMP LP European Echoes stands as one of the great documents of orchestral improvisation, and whose own quintet helped define the transitional forms of new jazz a few years earlier in the decade. American bassist Sirone is best known for his work in the Revolutionary Ensemble, with violinist Leroy Jenkins and drummer Jerome Cooper. Sirone's presence in Oxley's group confirms the drummer's commitment to a transatlantic aesthetic, one he explored extensively with Cecil Taylor and William Parker in the Feel Trio. Saxophonist Larry Stabbins brings his incredible versatility to the band, adding the mix of ferocity and buoyancy that he added to diverse projects from Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Peter Br?tzmann to Weekend and Working Week. On piano and electronics, Pat Thomas was at the time a relative newcomer to the British scene, rapidly becoming one of its leading lights and most sought-after collaborators. Oxley drew on this crew's wide range of orientations for this "Angular Apron," exploiting their extremes of timbre and register, calling on their acuity as listeners, and prodding them with his finely-honed junkshop of metal percussion, with which he detonates the hour-long piece. Presenting the never-before-released music in its complete glory, mastered from the original tapes, the Angular Apron CD design features images of two of Oxley's paintings. Recorded October 2, 1992, at the Ruhr Jazz Festival, Bochum, Germany. Mastered by Larry Stabbins. Design by David Khan-Giordano. Produced by John Corbett. Thanks to Tutta Oxley.

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: DIS 007LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2024 repress, yellow vinyl. "Flex Your Head was first released in January 1982 and was the first full-length album released by Dischord Records. The compilation features 32 songs by 11 DC area bands and went a long way towards 'putting DC on the map' as one of the era's great punk scenes. This album has remained in print, first on LP and later on CD, and has remained a perennial must-have for each new generation of kids looking to re-trace the roots and ethos of DIY punk. One of the unique features of the album over the years has been its revolving front cover image. The first pressing featured a generic stock cover with a classical music theme chosen from the pressing plant's catalog. Over the years there have been 4 different covers, the violin, the wheat field, the DC Flag and the blurry man. This new edition, which has been re-cut and includes a free MP3 download coupon, features the DC Flag stars and bars (on a red field), an image so associated with DC punk that many mistake it for a made-up symbol for straight edge. This cover image was also used (on a black field) for an edition of the album briefly pressed in conjunction with Alternative Tentacles in the '80s."

 

PRICE: $35.00

CAT #: ELPALMAS 036LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

In the '80s, Dimas "Sam Dimas" Pedroza was encouraged with two atypical projects. One in partnership with the great Larry Francia, another artist released by El Palmas Music, and titled La Salsa Es Con Dimas y Larry. And the other with an orchestra of great artists of the time that El Palmas now relaunches: Sam Dimas and La Diferente's El Tumbao?, with songs by prestigious authors such as Jose?to Fern?ndez and Jos? Gonz?lez Giralt and arrangements by the renowned trombonist Rafael Silva. It is worth mentioning the great musicians that Dimas Pedroza summoned for this album: Rafael Araujo, Lewis Vargas, and Gustavo Aranguren (trumpets), Carlos Espinoza and Rafael Silva (trombones), Jos? ?vila (piano), Rafael Prado (bass), Pedro Viloria (timbales, g?iro), Williams (congas), Nene Pacheco (bongo, drum), Leo Pacheco, Rafael Silva and Rafael Prado (choirs). There were also some special guests: Alfredo Pollo Gil and Manuel Icazas (trumpets), Oscar Mendoza (trombone), Joe Santamar?a and Chucho Chuchochi (timbal), and Edwin Infante (maracas). Sam Dimas y La Diferente's El Tumbao... is an album that Dimas never presented live. One of those hidden gems in the history of salsa that El Palmas is dedicated to rescuing to continue reconstructing the memory of Venezuelan popular music, one of its main objectives.

 

PRICE: $35.00

CAT #: ELPALMAS 037LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The rescue of the only album by the Orquesta La Solvencia symbolizes very well the full meaning of the mission of the El Palmas label, stubborn in keeping the history of salsa alive in Venezuela, recovering the intrepid and genuine music with which the pillars of the salsa genre were built. At the time this album appeared, originally released by the Corpodisco label in 1980, "guaguanc?, guaracha, son and merengue were played, but Latin rhythms were not yet definitively labeled as salsa" says Felipe D?az, singer of La Solvencia. There were many orchestras of this type in Venezuela. Every season they used to visit dozens and dozens of towns to celebrate the festivities of different patron saints, popular celebrations in which people gave themselves up to dancing in an atmosphere of collective trance. The combination of the natural and contagious groove of La Solvencia's songs with lyrics that paint with strokes as simple as they are accurate the daily life of ordinary people, their joys and disappointments, their urgencies and troubles, transformed the group into one of the favorites of the Venezuelan salsa public.

 

PRICE: $35.00

CAT #: ELPALMAS 038LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The recovery of this Sexteto Fantas?a album is another event that El Palmas Music is proud to promote. The leader of that Venezuelan group that released this album in 1968 is Virgilio Armas, a pianist with a truly enviable record of service. To confirm it, just skim the list of artists he once worked with: Tito Puente, Paulinho da Costa, Stan Getz, Nancy Wilson, Sergio Mendes, Elis Regina, Leslie Root, and more. Estamos en Algo captivates and surprises with its heterogeneity: there is guaracha, pachanga, mambo, boogaloo (attention to the soulero groove and boogie-woogie of "Panchita"), cha cha cha, and bolero. As was well explained on the back cover of the first edition of this magnificent album, it is "a dynamic and versatile group made up of young musicians, wishing to contribute a new style in order to establish themselves in the competitive field of sextets." The spirit is salsa, but here there are nuances of Latin jazz and bossa nova that color the landscape. The Sexteto Fantasia was connected to the tradition of Latin American popular music and its time, focused especially on expanding the limits of its own work, as befits any modern artist. The staff of this album was headed by pianist and musical director Virgilio Armas. It was completed by Domingo Moret (flute and guitar), Rodolfo Buena?o (bass), Guillermo Taribe (drums), Hugo Liendo (tumbadoras), and Gabriel Ruiz on vocals.

 

PRICE: $25.50

CAT #: FTR 650LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

"It is absolutely appropriate the second volume of Wednesday Knudsen's Soft Focus suite appears as spring finally begins to take hold. Like the brilliant first section of this work (the whole of which was initially released on CD), the music here is a celebration of shimmering sunlight and the awakening of nature's tonal brilliance. But where the first LP focused on more bite-sized pieces of work, this one envisions and documents instrumental horizons that are ever expanding. The first of the three tracks, 'Sunshine,' is the shortest, and picks up where Volume One left off -- slow single note electric piano runs with lightly buzzing sustain that are darker than the song title suggests, but utterly devoid of overt bummer tongues. The way the keys' edges are muted for its ending feels like washing your hands in a bag of rough-cut diamonds. The second, 'Ariel's Letter and the Rain,' has a mysterious title that turns out to be far less abstract than you might imagine. It references a friend making some suggestions involving the rhythms and flow of nature at a crucial moment in the tune's gestation. As simple as that, and the resultant sounds are stunning. The final, side-long 'Soft Focus II' begins with the same slow-massed notes that end 'Soft Focus I,' but it mostly explores long tones generated by two or three notes that fluctuate and pulse like soft drops of dew on a car's window, drooling to the wind's commands while accreting size and strength. After a while, things shift to small piano figures that repeat and mutate casually, before cascading upwards with a sense of coalescent rebirth. Unlike Soft Focus Volume I, there are no vocals on this album, but the music creates its own meditative language that will transport you from wherever you happen to be, into warm sunshine and air filled with the languorous scents of earth awakening. Paradise is rarely this portable." --Byron Coley, 2024

 

PRICE: $27.50

CAT #: FTR 746LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

E Gone is Daniel Westerlund from Stockholm, Sweden, and Adventures Before the Body is his long-awaited latest excursion into cosmically earthy musical alchemy, rounding out a trilogy of albums begun in 2013 with All the Suns of the Earth, and continuing with Advice to Hill Walkers in 2016 (both also released by Deep Water Acres and Sunrise Ocean Bender). Musically, Adventures builds on its predecessors' eclecticism and love of sonic juxtapositions -- astute psychedelic guitar lines swirled together with exotic instrumentation and modal motifs, rock riffs alongside ethnic percussion and old-school beats, drones and atmospheric effects blending into electronic deep dives. A pair of songs bring back Westerlund's vocals, though the overall compositional logic scales up from the shorter instrumental pieces on Advice into more progressive territory (most notably the 14-minute title track). As that suggests, Adventures also extends the triptych conceptually -- if All the Suns was about waking up and breaking free, and Advice was a metaphorical travel guide of diverse vignettes, Adventures is about expansion or explosion, whether outwards or inwards; evoking, in the man's own words, "a feeling of vertigo in the vastness of the universe." That said, deep philosophical musings are in no way necessary to appreciate the sheer enjoyment within Adventures' grooves. These are songs and sounds of mystery and wonder, as sonically experimental as they are melodically accessible, taking form somewhere outside of conventional genre lines. An album of shifting textures and formidable scope that rewards attentive ears and repeat listening. Adventures Before the Body is brought to you by Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube Records, in collaboration with Deep Water Acres, and in tribute to Sunrise Ocean Bender Records and Kevin McFadin.

 

PRICE: $27.50

CAT #: FTR 747LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube Records in collaboration with Deep Water Acres and in tribute to Sunrise Ocean Bender Records bring to you: Elkhorn -- Other Worlds. Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard, the two-guitar duo of Elkhorn, share a musical brotherhood that spans several decades. From their nascent high school socialist-realist post-punk band Mayfirst, to teenage scavenger trips to the Princeton Record Exchange and City Gardens, the two came of age goofing along to the Dead Kennedys, the Butthole Surfers, and Sonic Youth in the dank Jersey/Philly-scene music holes. Elkhorn has long traversed the valleys between fried cosmic psychedelia and American Primitive, particularly the latter style's reverence for a wide range of folk and blues idioms ranging from County Records compilations to the Mississippi Sheiks. While the pair is best known for their acoustic guitar explorations, Other Worlds continues their recent experiments with other instrumental possibilities. For instance, on the previous Elkhorn release On the Whole Universe in All Directions, Drew switched to vibraphone and drums, with Jesse playing 12-string guitar. Other Worlds, on the other hand, finds them in a recognizable "rock trio" format (in improvisational mode) -- Drew is on electric guitar, with Jesse playing bass, and they are again joined by Ian McColm on drums, with the free-flowing groove he brings. On the opening track "Watching the Skies" you can feel the forward propulsion this power trio sets up, a cosmic widescreen which Elkhorn proceed to rock and groove across the whole of Other Worlds. Three flawless musicians in their own right, together they form a telepathic psychic link that taps into the otherworldly flow that is Other Worlds, as the synergy created by Jesse and Ian leaves Drew plenty of space to take off on exhilarating and soaring flights of fuzzy haze fire that results in a musical journey toward transcendence. Elkhorn demonstrate again and again that there is no height they won't scale, no direction they won't travel. Have Elkhorn ever sounded as heavy or as on fire as the recordings laid down here? You be the judge. The trio is multitudes. The trio is one.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: GET 51521LP

FILE UNDER: HIPHOP

"Memphis rap legend Project Pat released his third studio album Layin' Da Smack Down in 2002 on CD and cassette via Loud/Columbia/Hypnotize Minds. Following up Mista Don't Play, Project Pat spits rapid-fire street tales of the dirty south over DJ Paul and Juicy J's signature Three 6 Mafia bangin' 808 beats. From rowdy club tracks to smoother pimp tales and true-to-life stories of being incarcerated, Project Pat delivers another Hypnotize Minds North Memphis classic. The album also contains the single 'Choose U' which would be reworked in 2007 for UGK's 'International Players Anthem.' Get On Down in partnership with Sony Music's Certified presents Layin' Da Smack Down for the first time on vinyl. Pressed on colored vinyl packaged in a gatefold jacket with a printed insert and numbered OBI limited to 1000 copies."

 

PRICE: $41.00

CAT #: GET 52742LP

FILE UNDER: HIPHOP

"Leaders Of The New School began recording their debut album late in 1989 under the watchful eye of Chuck D and the Bomb Squad. The result was their masterful 1991 release A Future Without A Past. The group's members, Charlie Brown, Dinco D, Cut Monitor Milo, Busta Rhymes complement one another, mixing classic Cold Crush Brothers style routines with a New School edge. Leaders Of The New School made an impact that had them living up to their name. Often slept on, A Future Without A Past stands as a trail-blazing release due to its mix of jazz samples with fun and creative storytelling on top of pounding Hip Hop drums. The first thing that grabs you while listening to A Future Without A Past is the unique delivery of the three rappers (Dinco D, Charlie Brown, and Busta Rhymes) in lyrical content and flow. Stand-out tracks such as 'Transformers,' 'Sound of the Zeekers,' 'International Zone Coaster,' 'Sobb Story,' and the lead single 'Case of the P.T.A.' all display the multi-talents of each MC and how they bounced off each other's style. 'Feminine Fatt' and 'My Ding A Ling' showed the group's more playful edge, while 'Show Me A Hero' and 'Teachers Don't Teach Us Nonsense' had the group trading rhymes in their rapid-fire deliveries. With a sound so fresh and new, the production on the album by the Bomb Squad's Eric 'Vietnam' Sadler, the SD50s, and members of L.O.N.S. rivaled what Public Enemy started and the Native Tongues finished. Often underappreciated, A Future Without A Past is '90s rap at its best."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GUESS 232LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Previously unreleased album recorded in 1967 by cult UK psych-pop band Living Daylights, led by Garth Watt-Roy and his younger brother (and future Ian Dury & The Blockhead) Norman and famous for their fabulous Rubbles classic 'Let's Live For Today/I'm Real' 45 (also included here!). Originally from Harlow, Living Daylights signed with Beatles publisher Dick James and their studio production team included famous studio musician Caleb Quaye. Their 1967 recording sessions resulted in just a couple 45s/EPs with the remaining tracks unreleased until now. Highly recommended if you like Rubber Soul/Revolver era Beatles, Hollies, Kinks, Zombies, The Who, Mirage. Remastered sound in mono. Includes insert with liner notes by David Wells and photos."Another dropped stitch in the tapestry of late Sixties British psychedelic pop." --David Wells

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GUESS 236LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Vivid peyote-induced psychedelia from Texas sounding like an impossible meld between the Elevators and the Velvet Underground but possessing a strongly unique disposition. Recorded in 1970 but never released at the time, featuring future members of Roky Erickson's backing band Bleib Alien/The Aliens. Formed in Austin in the late 1960s by visionary lyricist and autoharp player Billy Bill Miller and his friend Tom McGarrigle on guitar, Cold Sun evolved from a band called Cauldron (later Amethyst) which at one point featured drummer John Kearney from Roky Erickson's first band The Spades. Miller, a proto-Goth figure always dressed in black, highly influenced by Joe Meek and vintage sci-fi/horror movies, started to experiment with weird noises out of his electrified autoharp, favoring the audio-oriented drug mescaline over the LSD associated with hippies. Amethyst jammed with musicians such as Benny Thurman from the 13th Floor Elevators and Steve Webb from the Lost And Found. It was through Mike Waugh's friendship with Elevators drummer John Ike Walton that Billy Miller and the band hooked up with the local label/studio Sonobeat, who expressed interest in recording an album with the intention to shop it to a major label: thus, the now-legendary Cold Sun album was born. The band, driven by Miller's strange electrified autoharp sounds plus the massive fuzz guitar of McGarrigle, dressed with feedback and futuristic lyrics, laid down several tracks in between rehearsals at Miller's house on Castle Hill (west Austin). Never released at the time, the Cold Sun album languished in oblivion and the musicians moved on to other things. It wasn't until 1990 that the Cold Sun album was finally released on vinyl by the Rockadelic label (in a tiny edition of 300 copies), followed by a new edition on German label World In Sound in 2008, now out of print. For this new edition, Guerssen tried to imagine how the Cold Sun album could have looked like if it had been actually released in 1970. It comes in a hard cardboard sleeve with vintage styled artwork by psychedelic illustrator Callum Rooney. Sourced from the same audio master as the original Rockadelic LP, the sound has been vastly improved thanks to the meticulous and careful restoration/remastering by audiophile engineer Ezra Lesser, who has also penned the definitive story of Cold Sun for the liner notes.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GUESS 250LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Originally released in 1969, Poe Through The Glass Prism was one of the first ever concept-based rock albums. This Scranton, PA band (the first rock group from the Northeast to perform on national television shows and obtain a major record label deal) adapted Edgar Allan Poe poems to psychedelic rock with stunning results: swirling organ, fuzz bursts, passionate vocals. The sound quality was exceptional as the album was engineered and produced by Les Paul (the legendary inventor of the electric guitar and many studio recording devices) at his recording studio in New York. The album and its single "The Raven" hit the Billboard, Cashbox and Record World charts in 1969 and remained on for several weeks. This is the first ever band sanctioned LP reissue of this cult psychedelic classic. Sourced from the original master tapes. Includes insert with liner notes by Plastic Crimewave and rare photos."The Glass Prism were forerunners of the Goth movement. "The Raven" was the first true expression of Goth Rock." --Maxim Furek

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GUESS 251LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Second album by Pennsylvania psychedelic band Glass Prism, originally released in 1970 and recorded in NYC with engineer Mike Moran (who worked with David Bowie, the Youngbloods, and Herbie Hancock). With a title taken from Kahil Gibran's The Prophet, this is a heavier effort than their debut, featuring killer organ and piercing fuzz-wah guitar. This is the first ever LP reissue of this underrated hard-psychedelic classic. Features original artwork, and sourced from the original master tapes. Includes insert with liner notes by Plastic Crimewave and photos. RIYL: Amboy Dukes, Steppenwolf, Cream, Doors."Graced with a moody cover uncharacteristic of its time, with the band largely hidden in shadows, the album is a nice time capsule of the 60s dream turning perhaps a bit darker?" --Plastic Crimewave

 

PRICE: $95.00

CAT #: HOL 136LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

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

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: LTJC 015LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Gatefold packaging. Le Tres Jazz Club can't really say that Japanese jazzmen benefit (not justify in fact) from a great international fame. However, trumpet player Terumasa Hino is an exception, undoubtedly because since the '70s he has collaborated with numerous American musicians: Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock -- on Into the Heaven, which was released in 1970, Terumasa Hino is surrounded by the same musicians as on Hi- Nology (LTJC 016LP), released a year earlier: his brother Motohiko Hino on drums, Hiromasa Suzuki on electric piano, Kunimitsu Inaba on electric bass, and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. The eponymous piece, which lasts more than 20 minutes, is a jazz fusion giving room to choruses and which is reminiscent of the music that Miles Davis then o?ered. B side opens with "Love More Train," a brilliant and long hard bop song, while the album closes melancholy with the peaceful "Feeling Blues As You Are Feeling."

 

PRICE: $28.50

CAT #: LR 336LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2024 repress. Lilith present a reissue of Os Mutantes' self-titled debut, originally released in 1968. With the release of their debut LP in 1968, Os Mutantes cracked the already red hot Tropicalia scene wide open. Fusing traditional Brazilian music, psychedelia, rock, and a good dose of pure experimentation, they quickly became giants both in Brazil and in the outer fringes of pop music, where they have managed to reign supreme for the past four decades. Not an easy task in such a crowded arena. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Tom Z?, and Os Mutantes? What do these people put in their drinking water? The band went on to release several more albums, but this one was their magnum opus. Obi "bookmark" Japanese style; 180 gram vinyl; Includes CD.

 

PRICE: $37.50

CAT #: MAR 085LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Private pressings have always been objects of demand and research by record collectors. In most cases, print runs were no more than 300 copies, and despite the total lack of recognition, this movement can be seen as a countercurrent act to the mass music industry. Private presses are non-commercial print runs distributed as a promotion or sold at concerts. This was the case of Belair that, in 1980, recorded and sold the album Relax, You're Soaking In It at their own risk and distributed it in the San Francisco area. At the time, 1000 copies were pressed, which have become rare and highly desirable for collectors. Deluxe hard-cardboard sleeve cover. 180g vinyl, plus obi.

 

PRICE: $35.50

CAT #: MAR 098LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

A tribute to a glorious and sophisticated era in Brazil music. Disco E Cultura: Vol. 2 brings 15 tracks of the funkiest Brazilian music from the '70s and '80s. Soul and funk were taking the world by storm in the 1970s. Brazilians developed their own sound by combining influences from funk and soul music from abroad to create something uniquely Brazilian. Featuring Jorge Ben, Almir Ricardi, Guilherme Arantes, Marcos Valle, Sandra S?, Tony Bizarro, Viva Voz, Hanna, Marilia Barbosa, Tony Bizarro, Coral Som Livre, Ana Maria E Mauricio, Djalma Dias, Inema Trio, and Jeremias. 180g vinyl in deluxe hard-cardboard sleeve cover with obi.

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: MAR 099EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Both from Porto, keyboard wizard and Azar Azar mastermind -- S?rgio Alves -- and veteran and pioneer DJ -- Pedro Tenreiro -- join forces on The Bam Jam Band. Designed for the dancefloor without any worries about the bpm ruling the world, The Bam Jam Band celebrates disco, jazz, and funk fusion in a post-house way. Theme / Don't go away is the first single of this imaginary band, featuring local heroes Pedro Ferreira (bass) and Kiko (vocals). Download card included.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: MIR 100708LP

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

2024 repress. Edward Artemiev's re-recording of his score to Andrei Tarkovsky's classic 1972 film ??????? (Solaris), reissued on 180-gram vinyl. When Artemiev recorded this score in Moscow in 1989 and '90, there was no legitimately available releases of the original soundtrack. Artemiev chose to fill that void himself with this recording, released on Torso Kino in the Netherlands as part of a 1990 double-LP set also containing re-recordings of Artemiev's scores to ??????? (Mirror) (1975) and ??????? (Stalker) (1979). This set is now long out of print, and Mirumir is pleased to present the collection on two separate LP releases, remastered, with new artwork, and officially licensed by the artist himself.

 

PRICE: $17.50

CAT #: NOTON 064CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

For an aesthetic of (dis)obedience. The impressions Richard Siegal and his company Ballet of Difference gathered on a trip to Japan in September 2022 now find their way into a full-length dance evening. Siegal and his team had set off for Tokyo to learn the practice of Shuudan Koudou, also known as "Japanese Precision Walking". The strictly synchronized group choreographies are astonishing in their radical stringency and have become a secret YouTube hit, not least because of their peculiar subtle humor. Siegal recognizes in the extreme disciplining of the bodies an analogy to the training practice of classical ballet. In the mutual exchange of these movement cultures, questions are raised about individual and collective thinking, about personal decision-making power and social responsibility. For this extraordinary project, Richard Siegal has invited a special guest: Nazareth Panadero, long-time companion of Pina Bausch, who has long since become an icon of Wuppertal dance theatre and will be on stage with the BoD ensemble. On the other hand, Hybrid III is inspired by Noh Play -- Japanese performances and deals with the refusal of rules musically. Hybrid III continues the two previous albums and weaves both rhythmic and beatless musical pieces into a holistic work.

 

PRICE: $35.50

CAT #: NOTON 064LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Double LP version. For an aesthetic of (dis)obedience. The impressions Richard Siegal and his company Ballet of Difference gathered on a trip to Japan in September 2022 now find their way into a full-length dance evening. Siegal and his team had set off for Tokyo to learn the practice of Shuudan Koudou, also known as "Japanese Precision Walking". The strictly synchronized group choreographies are astonishing in their radical stringency and have become a secret YouTube hit, not least because of their peculiar subtle humor. Siegal recognizes in the extreme disciplining of the bodies an analogy to the training practice of classical ballet. In the mutual exchange of these movement cultures, questions are raised about individual and collective thinking, about personal decision-making power and social responsibility. For this extraordinary project, Richard Siegal has invited a special guest: Nazareth Panadero, long-time companion of Pina Bausch, who has long since become an icon of Wuppertal dance theatre and will be on stage with the BoD ensemble. On the other hand, Hybrid III is inspired by Noh Play -- Japanese performances and deals with the refusal of rules musically. Hybrid III continues the two previous albums and weaves both rhythmic and beatless musical pieces into a holistic work.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: NA 5258LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"Celebrated Zambian guitarist and bandleader Paul Ngozi's concept album about the struggles of those living in Africa's 1970s townships. Includes oversized eight-page booklet that details Paul Ngozi and the Ngozi family's arc, including rare photographs, discography, and annotation. The third entry in an era-defining reissue series on Now-Again centered around this Zamrock legend and his band - previous entries include Day Of Judgement and 45,000 Volts. Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene: on the African continent, only Nigeria can claim one so comprehensive, and Nigeria's was largely catalyzed and funded by subsidiaries of the European major labels. Zamrock was as independent as the newly-named country, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia. Zamrock is starting in its completeness, especially for a scene that emerged, unfurled and disappeared so quickly. From Musi-O-Tunya?s fusion of Fela's Afro-beat, Hendrix's rock, South African jazz and traditional Zambian melodies and rhythms to Salty Dog's acid folk/rock, Zambia's rock scene contained all of rock's subgenres. Zamrock was much more than an imitation of American and European rock music: it quickly became a uniquely Zambian movement, befitting of its name. WITCH, Paul Ngozi, and Amanaz sound nothing like other rock music from the African continent -- or elsewhere."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: OSR 023X-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Rare US '72 hard-rock/heavy-blues private pressing with a powerful sound in the vein of Sabbath, Led Zep, and Grand Funk. Originally from Sandston, Virginia, Short Cross featured ace guitar player Velpo Robertson and during their existence (1969-1973) opened for bands like Black Sabbath, Trapeze, and Black Oak Arkansas among many others. Arising was their only album, released in 1972 and now considered a cult hard-rock classic. This new reissue is dedicated to Velpo, who sadly passed away in 2020. Featuring original artwork in gatefold sleeve. Remastered sound. Includes insert with liner notes and photos. "Ballsy, pro-sounding early 1970s rural bar rock-hardrock in an Allman Bros direction with great organ-guitar interplay" --Patrick Lundborg (Acid Archives)

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: REBREC 003LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Simultaneity (???) is a musical attempt to represent a journey of a spirit which seeks warmth, contentedness and ultimately the answer to his question of existence. The word "simultaneity" is a technical term from the theory of special relativity representing two distinct events happening at the same time. This fluidity is embodied in the musical exploration of Ari Tsugi. Comprised of mostly self-taught musicians, the soundscape is a unique melting pot of UK Jazz scenes and the raw energy that comes from psychedelic rock. Produced and mixed by Glasgow-based musician Sam Bancroft (Starsky-Rae) alongside engineer-producer Villus Vilo Jokubaitis, the album features offerings from Liam Shorthall and India Blue (Azamiah) alongside the original Ari Tsugi trio -- Clement Gaud, Joe Weisberg, and Mashu Harada -- with keys from Angus MacDonald being added later down the line. Now consisting of eight members, including bass, vocals, flute and cello, Ari Tsugi have had multiple DIY residencies in Glasgow, London, and Epinal (France). They have toured through Europe, playing at various jazz bars and small underground venues, always playing one rehearsed set and one improvised set with a guest musician. They have showcased their talents at festivals including Karakumai Festival (Lithuania) and Tranzl8tor Festival (Germany). Also featuring Iona Bermon, Mateusz Sobieski, Peter Konecny, Ben Boswell Jones, Finn Rosenbaum, and Lene De Montaigu.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: RPUT 045CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

With their fourth album, Seas of Static, the French band Dead Horse One establishes itself as one of the heaviest bands of modern shoegaze, propelling the genre to new heights of power and emotion. On this album, Dead Horse One skillfully merges the incisive alternative metal of Deftones with the enveloping and ethereal sound of My Bloody Valentine. The result is a captivating whirlwind, where walls of guitars collide in a surge of creativity, raw emotion, and energy. Far from recycling, Seas of Static is a deep exploration of the grungegaze fusion, thus creating a unique and powerful sound, far from being conventional. Assisted by a massive production by Brendan Williams (Soul Blind, Francis Lung, GoGo Penguin), Dead Horse One creates a unique sonic texture with raw energy that evokes both grunge riffs and shoegaze atmospheres while injecting a new and contemporary energy. With this album, Dead Horse One pushes the boundaries of the genre, offering listeners an immersive and uncompromising musical experience. For fans of Nothing, Deafcult, Soul Blind, Deftones, Narrow Head, Modern Color, Super Heaven, Soundgarden, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Smashing Pumpkins.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: RPUT 045LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. With their fourth album, Seas of Static, the French band Dead Horse One establishes itself as one of the heaviest bands of modern shoegaze, propelling the genre to new heights of power and emotion. On this album, Dead Horse One skillfully merges the incisive alternative metal of Deftones with the enveloping and ethereal sound of My Bloody Valentine. The result is a captivating whirlwind, where walls of guitars collide in a surge of creativity, raw emotion, and energy. Far from recycling, Seas of Static is a deep exploration of the grungegaze fusion, thus creating a unique and powerful sound, far from being conventional. Assisted by a massive production by Brendan Williams (Soul Blind, Francis Lung, GoGo Penguin), Dead Horse One creates a unique sonic texture with raw energy that evokes both grunge riffs and shoegaze atmospheres while injecting a new and contemporary energy. With this album, Dead Horse One pushes the boundaries of the genre, offering listeners an immersive and uncompromising musical experience. For fans of Nothing, Deafcult, Soul Blind, Deftones, Narrow Head, Modern Color, Super Heaven, Soundgarden, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Smashing Pumpkins.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: RB 009LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2024 repress; LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Gatefold sleeve. The accumulation of about four years of work, with tracks written in Berlin and Melbourne, Tornado Wallace's debut album Lonely Planet is nothing like what may have expected from the Australian expat. No stranger to fans and followers of ESP Institute, Beats In Space and Music From Memory's sister label Second Circle, Tornado Wallace's strain of releases, so far, merge functionality with a musical playfulness that led him to find himself as one of the producer's behind Jos? Padilla's International Feel album So Many Colours (IFEEL 042CD/LP, 2015). Here, he leaves the needs of the dancefloor behind in order to create a magical mystery tour de trance into his inner jungle. How about some references? New age sounds meet new wave melodies, Grace Jones runs into the Dire Straits at Compass Point while a Korg Mini Pops and a Roland CR78 make amends for Sly & Robbie's absence, Michael Mann pictures Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness, Robert Rauschenberg tries his luck at naturalism and an imagined Wally Badarou echoes through all of it. Sandwiched between the title track and the yearning beauty of the album's final point "Healing Feeling", the listener will get all of that as well as collaborations with and contributions of No Zu, David Hischfelder and the voice of Sui Zhen on "Today", who would easily make Anna Domino take her proverbial hat off. With Lonely Planet, Tornado Wallace has created an album that supersedes the requirements and expectations of a debut. Like a lost Island Records or a never released Made To Measure album, Lonely Planet soundtracks notions and ideas that recall the nostalgic future in the past as much as it looks ahead.

 

PRICE: $32.50

CAT #: SMC 040LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

At long last, Lowell MA psych-trash-rockers Squash are coming to vinyl. This pairing of 2021's Whatever It's Like Is That's What's Happening and 2023's Where Did I Go? EP finally gives fans of the chance to own a physical piece of their particular brand of sonic onslaught. Aside from the fact that they were undoubtedly created by the same band, these releases provide the perfect companion pieces to one another. Whatever It's Like is a richly crafted aural experience, awash with meticulous overdubs creating enveloping sonic textures that wrap your brain in a fuzzy blanket of sound. On the other hand, the Where Did I Go? EP demonstrates a loose, raw sound more reminiscent of the band's chaotic live performances and is the perfect follow-up. Raunchy riffs, wandering guitar lines and warbly howling vocals, this has got it all. RIYL: Grateful Dead, Fugazi, Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, Built to Spill, Nirvana, The Gerbils.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: SOMM 081LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Heavy-progressive sounds with long tracks and stunning lead guitar by this British band (post-Red Dirt). This is the first ever vinyl release of their unissued at the time album recorded between 1971 and 1973 at some of London's best studios and sounding like a killer cross between King Crimson and Wishbone Ash. Snake Eye started life in 1970 as Red Dirt, the band famous for their collectable Fontana album. After playing several dates in London Red Dirt was picked up by Peter F. Amott and Ivan Mant who, at the time, worked with the John Sherry Agency and Miles Copeland. Miles Copeland chose the name "Snake Eye" for the new line up, featuring Ron Hales on lead guitar. Snake Eye played with many of the top artists at the time such as Free, Marc Bolan, The Kinks, or Status Quo and they were described by Manfred Mann as being "one of the best bands" he had seen. Originally conceived as concept album, The Journey was started in 1971 and finished in 1973 but never released at the time. Vintage styled artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. Remastered sound. Includes insert with liner notes and photos.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: SOMM 085LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Psychedelic, funky hard-rock with plenty of distorted guitar and Hammond by this "supergroup" created by legendary producer Shel Talmy and featuring some of the best session musicians from the UK: Herbie Flowers (bass), Alan Parker (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards), plus Peter Lee Sterling (Daniel Boone!) on powerful vocals. This is their first album from 1970, originally released in the UK, Europe and the US, now officially reissued on vinyl for the first time, faithful to the original UK edition with the effects between songs and the lavish gatefold sleeve. RIYL: Led Zeppelin, Ugly Custard, Hungry Wolf, Black Cat Bones, Atomic Rooster. Original UK artwork in gatefold sleeve. Sourced from the original master tapes. Includes insert with liner notes by Alec Palao and rare photos / memorabilia.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: SOMM 088LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Mega rare UK private album (99 copies originally pressed in 1969) by singer/songwriter Jeremy Harmer, featuring David Costa of psych-folk band TREES on guitar. Melancholic, introspective psych-folk with chamber/baroque feel. Jeremy Harmer started singing and playing at school and university, where his circle of friends included aspiring folk musicians like Nick Drake and pre-Trees David Costa. Jeremy has a long history as a singer/songwriter and performer, along with his work in the field of English language teaching. Idiosyncratics and Swallows' Wings was recorded one night in 1968 at the studios of Anglia Television, Norwich, while Jeremy was at the University of East Anglia. Along with Jeremy singing and playing guitar, the album features a mini-chamber ensemble of flute, viola, bass and drums with orchestral arrangements written by John Trevitt from the School of Fine Arts. Jeremy's friend David Costa (prior to forming the psych-folk band Trees) played guitar on several tracks and co-wrote "Tuesday P.M." Original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. First ever vinyl reissue. Insert with liner notes and photos, plus download card.

 

PRICE: $36.50

CAT #: S4R 005LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Soul4Real continues to provide invaluable service to lovers of quality soul music from the 1960s and 1970s, with another carefully curated long-playing selection of incredible music from the enormous vaults of the Ertegun brothers and Jerry Wexler's Atlantic group of labels. Atlantic was and is still based in New York, but its repertoire came from all over the USA. In Here Come The Tears you will hear music from Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Houston, Memphis and the Big Apple itself. Most of the featured artists will need no introduction -- and that's how it should be, for they are all legends of black American music, regardless of how well they fared in the US charts. Some tracks are big-ticket items, others can be found on 45 at pocket-friendly prices. Four have never been issued on vinyl until now, including the Drifters' long-thought-lost version of the O'Jays' "I Dig Your Act" and Judy Clay's thrilling take on "The Love Of My Man" -- written by Ed Townsend, who also produced the splendid Dee Dee Warwick track that makes its vinyl debut here. One thing that all these tracks have in common, regardless of their vinyl value, is that they are all priceless examples of soul music, from an era where every US state had its own sound, and every artist their own unique style. There is no reason to list highlights -- every track is a highlight! There is also nothing generic or homogenized about anything you'll hear here -- it's all coming to you straight from the heart and soul. Whether you are hearing most of these tracks for the first time or getting reacquainted with 'old friends', there's more to enjoy on this one album than there is in anything currently being issued in the name of 21st century soul. Also featuring Barbara Lynn, Willie Tee, The Dynells, Barbara Lewis, Bettye Swann, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Darrell Banks, Doris Troy, The Isley Brothers, and Aretha Franklin.

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: TWCD 1029CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Rhythms recorded in Jamaica by Winston "Cobra" Francis. Featuring Captain Juce.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: TDP 54040LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2024 restock; Trading Places present a reissue of Ben's self-titled album, originally released in 1971. Canterbury-based progressive jazz-rock act Ben only released one obscure album, issued on Philips' prog subsidiary Vertigo in 1971, but it's a lovely collective of extended instrumental jams, worthy of discovery for those that missed it the first time around. Peter Davey's saxophone and clarinet melodies push the material to high peaks, against an understated backing from future Nashville Teens bassist, Len Surtees, and former Graham Bond drummer, David Sheen, keyboardist Alex Macleery, and guitarist Gerry Reid adding flourishes at key moments. The songs "The Wooing Of The Child" and "The Wooing Of The Man" credit a certain K Jarrett as songwriter, making this rare beast all the more intriguing. Licensed from Cherry Red. Gatefold sleeve.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: WRJ 002LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

2024 repress. "Regular edition" on 140 gram vinyl. We Release Jazz (WRWTFWW Records' new sister-label) present the official reissue of criminally overlooked Japanese jazz gem Mellow Dream by Hokkaido pianist wunderkind Ryo Fukui, originally released in 1977. Released in conjunction with the its legendary predecessor 1976's Scenery (WRJ 001CD/LP/LTD-LP). Firmly standing on the foundation he laid down with Scenery, Ryo Fukui continues his exploration of modal, bop, and cool jazz sounds with meticulous grace and absolute mastery. As its title suggests, Mellow Dream ventures into slightly mellower, more soulful, and sometimes more contemplative territories (the Bill Evans-reminiscent "Mellow Dream" and "My Foolish Heart") while still packing the commanding punch Fukui's work is loved for, as heard on the amazingly bombastic "Baron Potato Blues" or the gigantic McCoy Tyner/John Coltrane-influenced "Horizon" which sees each member of the trio -- Satoshi Denpo is on bass and Yoshinori Fukui is on drums -- demonstrating their virtuosity for nine exhilarating minutes. With his sophomore album, Ryo Fukui swings from melancholy to vibrant joy with ease, and reminds you that jazz is best served with a pinch of blues, and displays an immensely rare combination of pure talent, unique personal approach and focused discipline. The man undeniably deserves a spot in the pantheon of all-time great jazz pianists. After releasing the outstanding Scenery and Mellow Dream back-to-back, Ryo Fukui worked on developing his live skills, often performing at Sapporo's Slowboat Jazz Club (which he co-founded with his wife Yasuko Fukui), and even releasing two live albums. He sadly passed away in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that all jazz lovers should explore. Sourced from the original masters. Mastered at half speed; 140 gram vinyl; includes sticker.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: WWSCD 089CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Wewantsounds announces the reissue of Norio Maeda's cult classic Rock Communication Yagibushi, released in Japan in 1970. The album has since become a Japanese jazz funk cornerstone and is now highly sought-after on the international DJ scene. The album reinterprets 14 traditional Japanese folk songs into jaw-dropping jazz funk instrumentals featuring killer arrangements by Maeda that would fit perfectly between David Axelrod and Lalo Schifrin. One of the most prolific Nippon arrangers, Norio Maeda on a par with Yuji Ohno and Kentaro Haneda and this album has long been on many collectors' wantlist. Rock Communication Yagibushi is reissued internationally for the first time, with newly remastered audio, original gatefold artwork and new liner notes by Paul Bowler. Norio Maeda was born in Osaka Prefecture in 1934 and learnt to read music from an early age thanks to his father. He was largely self-taught on piano and quickly got into jazz, before moving to Tokyo in the mid '50s to immerse himself in the city's thriving jazz scene. There Maeda started his own group before joining The West Liners led by saxophonist Konosuke Saijo as pianist and arranger in 1959. Maeda arranged many pop and jazz albums by the likes of Nobuo Hara, Terumasa Hino, jazz singer Mieko Irota and, in 1969, he released the album This is Jazz Rock with saxophonist Jiro Inagaki, reinterpreting international pop, jazz and soul hits with groove arrangements which would pave the way for Rock Communication Yagibushi a year later. For the album, Maeda used two lineups -- a reduced one comprising Takeshi Inomata on drums, Shigeo Suzuki on sax and flute, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, and Tetsuo Fushimi on trumpet -- and an extended one adding three trumpets, four trombones and a different drummer, Takahiro Suzuki. The album is an explosive succession of instrumental funk and breakbeat nuggets that are reminiscent of David Axelrod with shades of Italian cinematic groove adding a Japanese twist to the mix. It's hard to pick a favorite track as Norio Maeda hits the mark every time and manages to display many fascinating shades of funk throughout the album. One of the most coveted Japanese classics on the international diggers scene, Rock Communication Yagibushi is finally available internationally and will please Japanese jazz funk's many fans.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: WWSLP 089LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Wewantsounds announces the reissue of Norio Maeda's cult classic Rock Communication Yagibushi, released in Japan in 1970. The album has since become a Japanese jazz funk cornerstone and is now highly sought-after on the international DJ scene. The album reinterprets 14 traditional Japanese folk songs into jaw-dropping jazz funk instrumentals featuring killer arrangements by Maeda that would fit perfectly between David Axelrod and Lalo Schifrin. One of the most prolific Nippon arrangers, Norio Maeda on a par with Yuji Ohno and Kentaro Haneda and this album has long been on many collectors' wantlist. Rock Communication Yagibushi is reissued internationally for the first time, with newly remastered audio, original gatefold artwork and new liner notes by Paul Bowler. Norio Maeda was born in Osaka Prefecture in 1934 and learnt to read music from an early age thanks to his father. He was largely self-taught on piano and quickly got into jazz, before moving to Tokyo in the mid '50s to immerse himself in the city's thriving jazz scene. There Maeda started his own group before joining The West Liners led by saxophonist Konosuke Saijo as pianist and arranger in 1959. Maeda arranged many pop and jazz albums by the likes of Nobuo Hara, Terumasa Hino, jazz singer Mieko Irota and, in 1969, he released the album This is Jazz Rock with saxophonist Jiro Inagaki, reinterpreting international pop, jazz and soul hits with groove arrangements which would pave the way for Rock Communication Yagibushi a year later. For the album, Maeda used two lineups -- a reduced one comprising Takeshi Inomata on drums, Shigeo Suzuki on sax and flute, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, and Tetsuo Fushimi on trumpet -- and an extended one adding three trumpets, four trombones and a different drummer, Takahiro Suzuki. The album is an explosive succession of instrumental funk and breakbeat nuggets that are reminiscent of David Axelrod with shades of Italian cinematic groove adding a Japanese twist to the mix. It's hard to pick a favorite track as Norio Maeda hits the mark every time and manages to display many fascinating shades of funk throughout the album. One of the most coveted Japanese classics on the international diggers scene, Rock Communication Yagibushi is finally available internationally and will please Japanese jazz funk's many fans.