News & Events

FORCED EXPOSURE MAILORDER UPDATE
NEW RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF 06/30/2025

we also accept orders via FAX at 781 321 0321

and via mail:
FORCED EXPOSURE / 60 Lowell Street / Arlington, MA 02476 / USA

for more information about shipping or ordering
please refer to our FAQ

direct any questions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: WHYT 105CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Biosphere's album The Way Of Time takes loose inspiration from Elizabeth Madox Roberts' novel The Time Of Man, sampling Joan Lorring's voice from the 1951 radio play adaptation of the novel. Biosphere's signature ambient loops, soothing arctic synths and melodies combine with Lorring's sweet, wistful and deep-south wonderings to create a record that is both deeply human and searching.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: WHYT 105LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

LP version. Biosphere's album The Way Of Time takes loose inspiration from Elizabeth Madox Roberts' novel The Time Of Man, sampling Joan Lorring's voice from the 1951 radio play adaptation of the novel. Biosphere's signature ambient loops, soothing arctic synths and melodies combine with Lorring's sweet, wistful and deep-south wonderings to create a record that is both deeply human and searching.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: AR 167LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Born in 1947 in the vibrant port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in western Ghana, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley's musical journey began with early influences from his father's military band flute playing and local highlife music. Ambolley's significance in the music world extends far beyond Ghana's borders. He is credited as the first musician from Ghana, and indeed the world, to formally incorporate rap forms into local highlife rhythms, creating a unique genre called Simigwa. Throughout his career, Ambolley has demonstrated a remarkable ability to blend diverse musical influences. His sound incorporates elements of traditional Ghanaian rhythms, American jazz, funk, and soul, creating a rich tapestry of musical expression. During his time working with Agogo Records since 2017, Ambolley has continued to push boundaries and explore new musical territories.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: ZORN 109LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"The road is a wrinkled timeline. Uncanny flatness conceals unfolding textures, transparent layers and open tabs. The truck cuts the landscape, tracing the road with a line of mad logic that composites time, space, thought. On Dans Le Camion de Marguerite Duras, French duo Jean-Marie Mercimek have returned with a road movie for the blind. Composed and recorded by Marion Molle and Ronan Riou over six years across France and Belgium, this unlikely distillation of microtonal MIDI composition, French B.O., and post-punk chansons brazenly expands the duos' penchant for lowkey narrative spectacle. Across Le Camion, sounds form a theatrical screen. Our ears are the curtains drawn wide and listening with a look that pans across the shot. No title cards, they cut straight to action. The truck is a camera, zooming and framing the tracks as scenes. Songwriting and sound design blur in a tangle of delicate economy. The balance of mutant music-boxes and dewy miniatures recalls otherworldly hits from Gareth Williams' Flaming Tunes, Residents, and catchier corners of the Lovely Music catalog. Strange, sure, but this flick is never quite a cartoon. Molle and Riou's vocals dilate into a cast of very human characters. Voices sing borrowed texts like untrained actors (playing themselves, in fact) stepping into the frame once before disappearing forever. And when they're gone, you miss them. But here in the truck, it all comes back again under the cyclic spell of repose in perpetual motion. Turn up the radio and appuyez sur le champignon." --Turner Williams Jr.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: ZORN 111LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Listening to CD3, I'm reminded of how the Vincent Over The Sink record 22 Coloured Bull Terriers made me feel all those years ago. There's a free ranging quality to it. It feels calmly capable of doing whatever it wants. It feels mysterious and self-generating, almost aloof to the humans who made it. I adored that record; it cascaded into so many epiphanies. I don't want to implicate Cooper and David's music in any fleeting desire towards currency, but listening to this CD3 record over the last few weeks has felt weirdly, thematically correct. There's an echo-ey kind of referentiality to it. Not to particular styles of music, but to the recently elapsed histories those styles of music evoke. It's something that Th Blisks kind of gestures towards, but which this project seems to own entirely. It's a kind of melted reconfiguration of popular (occasionally popular-on-the-fringes) styles. These familiar sounds are reconfigured and muddied. Hindsight frames the sources in an almost primordial light, to the extent that they feel like folk art. 'Glyphted' and 'Franzbranntwein' sound like pop songs stripped to their bones and distorted, as if the styles they vaguely recall are as old as time. It's a stunningly weird effect. Songs like 'The Duchess' and 'Farmhand' exacerbate this impression. The record comes to feel yearningly ahistorical. But in a way that feels pertinent? It might just be where my head is at, but the implacable nature of the record feels important to me, somehow. It's something far, far north of post-modern but ancient too." --Shaun Prescott

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: AMCD 1041CD

FILE UNDER: CLASSICAL

This recording showcases the three artists' unique interpretation of Philip Glass's famous Piano Etudes. The idea behind Glass Gaze began when in a moment seemingly suspended in time, Elfasci & Erard discovered Etude No. 16 in its original piano version. The duo soon began to arrange the piece for two guitars, and recorded the Etude beneath the vaulted ceilings of the Maladrerie Saint-Lazare, near Paris. Since then, the duo have always carried the complete collection of Philip Glass's 20 piano Etudes, listening to them on repeat, stating that 'like a small crowd of once-unfamiliar faces, these 20 Etudes gradually emerged from anonymity, each now resonating with listeners with the singularity of faces we have come to cherish.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: ATA 023LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Originally released in 2021. The spirit of KPM, DeWolfe & I Marc 4 distilled in a lockup garage in Leeds returns for a second helping. The funky, atmospheric, evocative and sometimes downright weird output of companies such as DeWolfe, Cavendish, Burton and the ubiquitous KPM have always been a guiding inspiration for ATA Records, as evidenced in the spooky soundtrack works of The Sorcerers, the big band brass of The Yorkshire Film & Television Orchestra and even in the soul-jazz of The Lewis Express. It only seemed natural for the team at ATA Records to scratch their own library itch, and so The Library Archive Vol. 1 was born. Recorded over a series of sessions in the Alladins cave of vintage recording equipment that is ATA studios, it featured many of the stalwart musicians from the label. Recorded during the Autumn of 2020, The Library Archive Vol. 2 still has the golden age of European Library music squarely in its sights, but this time the focus is drawn more to the wonky organ work of Italian quartet I Marc 4. Opening track "The Glass Eye" starts things off with a tense bass riff, atmospheric percussion and a haunting organ melody. "Mosey Rambler" brings things into more amiable territory before "Windie Man" soundtracks an early '70s sporting highlights reel or student hash party. "Ice Cool" introduces vocal elements reminiscent of Barbara Moore's ethereal output before "Cleared For Launch" blasts into the upper atmosphere and "Swamp Cat" channels Johnny Hawksworth's theme tune to "Roobarb" to close out the first side. Side B kicks off proceedings with the knockout "Fight Or Fuzz" before settling into the Addam's Familyesque "Mysterious Manor." The frenetic organ and bongos of "Push & Go" could quite easily accompany detectives Regan & Carter as they chase down another east end villain, while "Sensed Presence" brings a sense of otherworldly menace. "The Actuator" gets the wheels moving before LP closer "Going Galactic" takes listeners back to the mothership.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: ATA 027LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2022. Sage is a modern and contemporary turn on what a spiritual jazz record can be. This exceptional debut album, from artist Jake Mehew, set out to capture the raw energy present within performance. Workshopped and recorded over one week, many of the tracks on this album were captured in the moment; one-take improvised recordings. The intention being to harness an idea at its inception, rather than at its production. The unique nature of this recording is apparent not only in its content but also in its production; a combination of electro-acoustic music, jazz and contemporary classical sounds. This album has a raw, genuine immediacy that perfectly captures the spirit of the recording.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: ATA 033LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2024. I Too Am A Stranger was recorded at ATA Studios by the core Sorcerers trio, featuring the compositional vision and timeless lines of bassist Neil Innes, truly rare grooves from drummer Joost Hendrickx (Gott Street Park, Eddie Chacon) and a little cosmos of tones and melodies from reed/flute/vibes/keyboard player Richard Ormrod. Up-and-coming Leeds trumpeter Olivia Cuthill was chosen to augment the brass sections, and regular collaborator Danny Templeman fills out the percussion palette. As ever, the Ethiopique sound is front and center, as evidenced in flute features "Bebaynetu" and "Kid Mahout," and the final track, alto sax feature "She Who Perceives The Sounds Of The World." Beyond the Addis influences, I Too Am A Stranger references other unique and striking sounds that have always enthralled members of the ATA family: the declamatory baritone sax-heavy chanbara soundtracks of Fumio Hayasaka, the fuzzed-out vibes sound of Vibrafinger-era The Stark Reality, and Moondog's popping woodblocks. I Too Am A Stranger is a resolutely maximal endeavor, reflecting the cosmopolitan and cross-cultural networks that comprise the world. The Sorcerers pay homage to the rich history and cultural significance of this influential style of music while bringing their own unique energy and perspective to the table. The culmination of this artistic exploration is their eagerly anticipated third album, I Too Am A Stranger.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: BBI 592CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Back in 2017 The Sound Of Money, a band from the Munich pop underground, took the titles of their 12 favorite '60s albums as the DNA -- and gave the letters a good shake! Out came a batch of 12 new titles, for new songs. They wrote those songs, recorded them, and gathered them on the album More? Why Not! -- an anagrammatical exorcism of the '60s. Now, they have made a follow up, just with their favorite '70s albums, and what to say, it's topping the fun. A celebration of the album as a format, pop history and exchange. Here it is Two: Rhyme On - An Anagrammatical Exorcism Of The '70s. The band's list of favorite albums from that time ranges from Bowie to Chic, from Nico to Slits, from Bob Marley to Kraftwerk. And those Anagrams? Here's an example "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" became "Dr. Dr. Themefart, Frustrating Himself, Posed as Gay Old Nazi SS." And the music, how does this sound? Just like the letters of the titles, the music and lyrics have been shaken up into a dazzling, grotesque kaleidoscope of classic '70s pop styles: agricultural p-funk, casino gospel disco, anti-pogo postpunk, home computer dub jazz, or the entire Bowie in three and a half minutes backwards.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: BBI 601LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. "The album started when I found myself caught between worlds. Stuck in Montr?al, waiting for my paperwork to clear so I could return home to California after being forced by an emergency to travel to Europe during the pandemic travel ban, I was the sole occupant in an empty and closed-off hotel in the Jewish-Italian neighborhood of Mile End? That deep sense of longing was the spark that ignited this album, a journey that took years to write. By the time I felt ready to record, I had made it back home, married the love of my life, had the best tour of my career with The Portable Herman Dune, and was working towards permanent status in the U.S. I had also been improving my bluegrass mandolin skills, and life was finally looking up. But when I looked back at the songs, at the pain and relief of the journey, it felt like an Odyssey -- the greatest one of my life. That's when I decided to name the album Odysse?s. That's when I met David Garza. It was pure chance -- I was struggling with a violin arrangement for one of the songs when he sat down at my table in a crowded caf? in downtown San Pedro and asked what I was working on. David, a Grammy-winning producer and musician, had worked with Fiona Apple, Iron & Wine, John C. Reilly, and The Milk Carton Kids, and had played with some of my musical heroes, like Lucinda Williams and Townes Van Zandt. We immediately clicked, and he offered to produce my songs. We began playing the tunes every evening at my house, and once a week at a French restaurant called Le Compagnon. David knew the best musicians in LA -- folks like Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass (Fiona Apple), Richard Edson (drummer for Sonic Youth, actor in Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise and Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing), Odessa (violin, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros), and Paul J. Cartwright (violin, Olivia Rodrigo). When we felt ready, we gathered everyone at my house for three days of live sessions. It was a chaotic, beautiful process, with everyone in the room playing together, no headphones, no overdubs -- just raw, real music. The sessions were recorded and mixed by Chris Sorem, a Grammy-winning producer known for his work with LA legends Los Lobos? The recordings were unfiltered, organic, and full of soul. By the time we started mixing, we were all amazed by how this music had come together, capturing a moment in time that also felt timeless." --David Ivar Herman Dune

 

PRICE: $16.50

CAT #: BBI 602CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"The album started when I found myself caught between worlds. Stuck in Montr?al, waiting for my paperwork to clear so I could return home to California after being forced by an emergency to travel to Europe during the pandemic travel ban, I was the sole occupant in an empty and closed-off hotel in the Jewish-Italian neighborhood of Mile End? That deep sense of longing was the spark that ignited this album, a journey that took years to write. By the time I felt ready to record, I had made it back home, married the love of my life, had the best tour of my career with The Portable Herman Dune, and was working towards permanent status in the U.S. I had also been improving my bluegrass mandolin skills, and life was finally looking up. But when I looked back at the songs, at the pain and relief of the journey, it felt like an Odyssey -- the greatest one of my life. That's when I decided to name the album Odysse?s. That's when I met David Garza. It was pure chance -- I was struggling with a violin arrangement for one of the songs when he sat down at my table in a crowded caf? in downtown San Pedro and asked what I was working on. David, a Grammy-winning producer and musician, had worked with Fiona Apple, Iron & Wine, John C. Reilly, and The Milk Carton Kids, and had played with some of my musical heroes, like Lucinda Williams and Townes Van Zandt. We immediately clicked, and he offered to produce my songs. We began playing the tunes every evening at my house, and once a week at a French restaurant called Le Compagnon. David knew the best musicians in LA -- folks like Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass (Fiona Apple), Richard Edson (drummer for Sonic Youth, actor in Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise and Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing), Odessa (violin, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros), and Paul J. Cartwright (violin, Olivia Rodrigo). When we felt ready, we gathered everyone at my house for three days of live sessions. It was a chaotic, beautiful process, with everyone in the room playing together, no headphones, no overdubs -- just raw, real music. The sessions were recorded and mixed by Chris Sorem, a Grammy-winning producer known for his work with LA legends Los Lobos? The recordings were unfiltered, organic, and full of soul. By the time we started mixing, we were all amazed by how this music had come together, capturing a moment in time that also felt timeless." --David Ivar Herman Dune

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: BBI 611LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Swearing At Motorists has come a long way since its birth as a poster for a fake band in 1994. A few months after the posters mysteriously appeared in record stores and music venues around Dayton, Ohio, Dave Doughman jokingly scrawled the name on a cassette of home recordings that he gave to friends, and in 1995 the band was officially born. The late '90s found S@M releasing a slew of 7" EPs on different labels, and after getting repeated plays from John Peel and favorable press worldwide, the band landed a contract with the then new label Secretly Canadian. They released two EPs and 4 LPs on SC, including 2000's Number Seven Uptown and 2002's This Flag Signals Goodbye, both of which were named MOJO Magazine's "Underground Album of the Year" the years they were released. Swearing At Motorists relocated to Berlin, Germany in 2005, releasing their last LP for Secretly Canadian, Last Night Becomes This Morning the following year before quietly disappearing into the never-ending Berlin night. Eight years later, the band resurfaced in Hamburg, Germany, with a new album titled While Laughing, The Joker Tells The Truth, released Sept. 29, 2014 on Anton Newcombe's label A Recordings Ltd. But as this disappeared much like Swearing At Motorists once more and soon, it's time to reissue this.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BEWITH 079LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 restock. Reissue, originally released in 1979 on Mistlur Records in Sweden. Nyanser is widely considered Thomas Almvqvist's masterpiece. With his adventurous, virtuoso guitar technique to the fore, the album explores a unique path through world music, folk, jazz, and acoustic experimentation, whilst retaining a very personal vision. The majority of the album is a solo exercise with Thomas playing Rhodes, flute, synthesizer, and percussion as well as his idiosyncratic guitar on all tracks. Alongside Thomas in the studio were an array of young, experimental Swedish musicians in the nascent stages of their careers including the much-lauded Swedish composer Ann-Sofi S?derqvist, vocalist Turid Lundqvist, and perhaps the key contributor to the album, Hans Peter Andersson, whose alto, tenor and baritone saxophone contributions shift the album from into the realms of jazz, most notably on "Horisont" and "E.M." The whole ensemble comes together on the centerpiece of the album, the joyous aquatic harmony of "Coral Reef". The album presents a very visual aesthetic, each track evoking images of landscapes and far-flung corners of the earth. Almvqvist himself considered the visual aspect of his sound very important, describing his approach as "picture music." Nyanser is considered one of the earliest examples of a fusion of world music, jazz, and folk traditions, certainly from a Scandinavian artist. Despite its impact on release being minimal outside of those aficionados tuned into such sounds, over the years the album has become something of a "lost" cult classic and a fine example of the experimentalism going on in Scandinavian music at the time. The English translation of nyanser -- "shades" -- is a particularly apt description of the sounds contained within. Thomas very sadly passed away in 2008 at the age of 55. Be With Records hope this reissue will go some way to bringing his unique output to a wider audience and secure the legacy he deserves as one of Sweden's great guitarists and musical visionaries. It sounds sensational. Audio remastered from the original analog tapes. Mastered by Simon Francis. Cut by Pete Norman. Artwork restored at Be With HQ. Includes new insert with liner notes and original photos.

 

PRICE: $44.50

CAT #: BEWITH 108LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 restock; double-LP version. Gatefold sleeve with insert and original liner notes. Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell's music to be released after his death in 1992. Released on CD by Point Music in 1993 it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With Records revisits this first compilation. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur's most recognizable music, like the title track "Another Thought", "A Little Lost", "This Is How We Walk On The Moon", "Keeping Up" and the woozy disco of "In The Light Of The Miracle" and "My Tiger, My Timing". Though technically a compilation, the whole of Another Thought comes together as a consistent, coherent, wonderful album. Janette Beckman reproduced her iconic photograph of Arthur in his newspaper boat hat for the sleeve. Tom Lee gave permission to include his liner notes from the original CD booklet, together with Arthur's lyrics. Another Thought is absolutely essential for even the most casual Arthur Russell collection. In fact, it's essential for any fan of non-obvious pop music.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: BAF 18036LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Bear Family Records re-releases the second soul/blues album Bobby 'Blue' Bland recorded in Los Angeles during 1973/74 -- entitled His California Album! Another milestone in soul/blues history on high-quality 180gram vinyl. Bland is quite justly regarded as one of the greatest US blues, soul and R&B singers of all time. Producer Steve Barri -- also responsible for Dreamer the following year -- brought guitarists Larry Carlton, Mel Brown, and Dean Parks into the studio. Contains 'This Time I'm Gone For Good,' '(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right,' and 'Help Me Through The Day,' classics of the genre. This first vinyl reissue on 180-gram has been carefully remastered and the original cover art is reproduced. When Bear Family released Dreamer by Bobby 'Blue' Bland (1930 -- 2013) on vinyl for the first time since its original release, it had no idea of the demand for this record. In 1973/74, Steve Barri produced two albums in Los Angeles with perhaps the greatest soul/blues singer of all time, which both met with a mixed reception at the time. After more than 50 years, however, Dreamer and its predecessor His California Album sound so 'hung up', cool and timeless, fantastic classics. The chant of the church combined with deep blues in Bland's interpretation is incredibly moving, the melancholy in his voice sounds so emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, at times cool and soft. Bland could be tough, but he also possessed the crooner qualities of Nat 'King' Cole, for example. His California Album -- the perfect synthesis of black soul and blues from the South and the coolness and laid-back attitude of Los Angeles."

 

PRICE: $56.00

CAT #: LP 27911LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"With Live Around The Globe: Part V, the collaboration between the Australian indie-psychedelic rockers and Blind Rope Records, ongoing since 2021, enters its fifth round with undiminished energy. Formed in 2010 in Melbourne, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are the famous exception to the infamous rule. Close to 30 studio albums speak a clear workaholic language, proving that this wild collective continues to celebrate the joy of creation with unshakable enthusiasm. Their distinctive style feels almost ecstatic in a live setting, with no two shows ever alike. Live Around The Globe: Part V is, once again, a carefully mastered compilation of the best of these moments, flowing seamlessly from start to finish."

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: BFR 029G-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Red-eyed at the crossroads of thunderous stoner sludge and towering doom, Hashtronaut are ready to daze and inebriate the riff-obsessed masses on this planet and beyond. No Return is a resiny slab in the grand tradition of weed-fiend odysseys from Sleep, Weedeater, and Bongzilla, an intoxicating and pummeling journey through time and space infused with a lungful of potent hook-doom."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: BJR 110CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

For their third album on Bongo Joe, Madalitso Band takes a new direction. After two records capturing the raw intensity of their live performances, the Malawian duo ventures for the first time into the possibilities of the studio -- without ever compromising their signature style or energy. Armed with their handmade babatone, a guitar, and their interwoven voices, Yobu and Yosefe craft a sound at the crossroads of banjo music, kwela, gospel, and African folk. An acoustic trance that's both minimal and vibrant, deeply rooted in tradition yet undeniably fresh and contemporary. On Ma Gitala, they add new textures: layered vocals, playful percussion, melodic surprises, and guests from their close and family circles. Always guided by instinct, the band reveals a more intimate and narrative side of their universe -- full of memories, spontaneity, and close-knit complicity. An album that captures the joy and creativity of two artists who turned the street into a stage, and the stage into a playground.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: BJR 110LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. For their third album on Bongo Joe, Madalitso Band takes a new direction. After two records capturing the raw intensity of their live performances, the Malawian duo ventures for the first time into the possibilities of the studio -- without ever compromising their signature style or energy. Armed with their handmade babatone, a guitar, and their interwoven voices, Yobu and Yosefe craft a sound at the crossroads of banjo music, kwela, gospel, and African folk. An acoustic trance that's both minimal and vibrant, deeply rooted in tradition yet undeniably fresh and contemporary. On Ma Gitala, they add new textures: layered vocals, playful percussion, melodic surprises, and guests from their close and family circles. Always guided by instinct, the band reveals a more intimate and narrative side of their universe -- full of memories, spontaneity, and close-knit complicity. An album that captures the joy and creativity of two artists who turned the street into a stage, and the stage into a playground.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: BRD 001LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Somehow, Beatles seems to have become more a term than a band very early on: a feeling, a color, a time, a phase, a way, signs. That's why the new album by the band Chuckamuck is called Beatles and not "The Beatles" even if the band keeps on appearing over and over. The three Berliners seem to have gotten into their fourth studio album piece by piece, until the title became inevitable. Much rather than indie, postpunk, or garage, listeners hear a poetic country band that plays with the Beatles characters and with other Westerns. Warm sounds and sadly beautiful.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BRD 008LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Bed is a new band founded in Berlin, at its core, a queer musical project with a sound rooted in shoegaze, dream pop and postpunk. Their lyrics are sad and sexual, weaving together threads of both vulnerability and desire, producing a body of work that challenges normative creative expression. This is exemplified in the vocalizations, which are intentionally gender ambiguous, representing a fluid identity throughout the album. There is a coming-of-age quality to Bed's compositions, a sense of reaching a certain age in life, losing a second virginity across their musical practice, the regaining of innocence and the caring of the wounds of adulthood. There are also narrative aspects that catch the listener, interludes that whisper a secret which gives depth to the storyline of the record -- a delicate and yet rough, noisy and still dramatic output that belongs to a sensitive audience, someone looking for deep-felt tunes and autobiographical confessions, paired with post-produced vocals and punchy electronic beats.

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: BSR 958LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"The Skinhead Moonstomp Revisited album features the original singer Roy Ellis from Symarip. The album was recorded in 2017 and includes new versions of all the classics. Features extensive sleeve notes and Q&A with Roy Ellis."

 

PRICE: $23.50

CAT #: COSMR 002LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 restock; reissue, originally released in 1976. Long before the term Cosmic Americana was of common use there was a band ideally fitting the role. Back in 1976 the long psychedelic wave was rapidly fading away, but the market of private press was still in demand. The self-debut album of Relatively Clean Rivers came out the same year on the leader Phil Pearlman's label. Pacific Is released just this sole album and was to a certain extent an original example of do it yourself. The brainchild of Phil Pearlman, the band was rapidly crossing genres focusing on extended long jam verging on Californian psych and proto-ambient country/folk. The man, a sort of local guru, was previously involved in two other projects: Orange County's own The Beat Of The Earth and The Electronic Hole, so to speak different names for the same group of musicians. While those two early efforts were explicitly devoted to a sort of LSD induced trip, the Relatively Clean Rivers stand on their own, merging styles and -- finally -- proposing an accurate songwriting. The first pressing of this sought-after, underground masterpiece has been traded for thousand dollars, now here's your chance to grab this rural manifesto. With much of the music being acoustic, there are elements of morphing electric guitars, smattered with strange, spacey moments creating a certain stoned atmosphere. The album is imaginative, melancholic, mellow, and exotically webbed. And then there's the band Wilco, citing Relatively Clean Rivers as being inspirational.

 

PRICE: $23.00

CAT #: DAMGOOD 629LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Instrumental album from 1983! The band's fourth LP, finally back on vinyl! Having endured no less than three long-players and a brace of singles featuring the caterwauling of Messrs Hampshire and Childish, the Milkshakes' audience figured it might be time for an instrumental outing. In response the group gave them just that. But this was to be no run-of-the-mill effort -- no Dick Dale-esque surf marathons or Shadowsy twangers are apparent here. These tunes are more 'rhythm-and-mood'-based compositions; occasionally leaning more towards the Link Wray end of the spectrum -- as you would probably expect. This fourth album was recorded in 1983 at Oakwood Studios -- as were all previous releases -- but this was the first in their new facilities in a converted church near Canterbury, which opened up a whole new golden vista of shimmering, silvery sounds in atmospheric conditions. Of course, the Milkshakes were having none of that."

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: EDDA 079CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

This is the third album by Lake Ruth and their first since Birds Of America in 2018, with Allison explaining that the album took a long time to write particularly with the interruption of the pandemic and then two of the members making an interstate jump. Working with melodies first, Allison knew she wanted a celestial and cinematic narrative to this album, from there threading and interweaving three key strands of influence into the stratosphere. This means that the tracks generate a constellation of tales with many of the lyrics inspired by the voices and tales on the sorrowful podcast about Heaven's Gate (the cult where the victims fatally believed they would graduate to an alien spacecraft behind the Hale-Bopp Comet). Second and third to this universe in terms of thematic inspiration are the science fiction novel Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the 1920 print Angelus Novus by Paul Klee, in particular Walter Benjamin's interpretation of this "angel of history" regarding the unceasing historical cycle of despair. Visually the themes are reflected in the cover of the album. Hawking Radiation, meanwhile, is a title that Hewson wrote referring to the energy emitted by a black hole after it consumes something. The black hole is a symbol of the cult but those lost to it are not lost forever, living on as memory. Contrary to what might be deemed overwhelming subjects are Allison's "hot-knife-through-butter' seraphic vocals, her melancholic intonation trading blushes with the guitars' ripple of baroque pop. There is a lightness of touch in the skittering drums too, some touches more familiar to fans of '60s bossa nova. All three members of Lake Ruth have been in other groups -- Allison Brice in Eighteenth Day Of May and The Silver Abduction; Hewson Chen in The New Lines and Matt Schulz in Holy Fuck. It's an effervescent combination that waltzes and flashes like perplexing trails in the night sky. For fans of: United States Of America, Broadcast, Saint Etienne, The Left Banke.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: CREP 113LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

People Like Us, the project of artist Vicki Bennet, returns to Discrepant with a special vinyl release of Copia. This album marks the first new musical material since The Mirror in 2018, delving into the profound realms of existential collage and sampling, celebrating these forms as expressions of timeless connectivity. The title Copia, meaning "abundance" and "copy," reflects the essence of collage and sampling -- art created not in isolation, but as a connective thread through time and space, linking ideas across generations in a seamless tapestry. By reconfiguring preexisting sounds and images, Bennet highlights the non-dual nature of creation -- where distinctions between past, present, and future possibilities blur, revealing a shared foundation beneath. The album marks a return to not just solo works but collaborations with notable artists. Drawing from the new People Like Us live AV performance, "The Library of Babel," sampling and edited sound collage, electronic music, combined with Ergo Phizmiz's lyrics and melodies, Copia weaves and recombines a timeless blend of diverse elements that transcends traditional musical boundaries. This creative process unfolded through the exchange of multitracks across both water and ether. Collaborating with the voices, instruments and editing timelines of Matmos, Hearty White, Gwilly Edmondez, Lotte Bowater, Buttress O'Kneel, Douglas Benford, Irene Moon, Jon Leidecker, and Matt Warwick, the work evolved exquisite corpse-style.

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: DC 054LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 repress of this five track EP from 1994. Written-By/Performer: David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke. Featuring John McEntire (percussion), Gene Coleman (bass clarinet). Recorded By: Casey Rice , John McEntire, Steve Albini.

 

PRICE: $25.00

CAT #: DC 162LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 repress; originally released in 1999. LP version. "Jim is doing for himself what he's more than generously done for other so-called musical talents. Everybody wants a little pop in their lives and the O'Rourke is no exception. There is no way to listen to Eureka without hearing the eccentricity, the progressive musical textures, the utter lack of anything like pop music, but at the same time it's magnificent in scale, pleasant to listen to, catchy and even reminiscent of other records you might actually have heard on The Casey Casem Show. If Bad Timing was regarded as a crossroads of O'Rourkian interests, Eureka is a six-lane clover-leaf junction of singer-songwriter traditions, production styles of the 70s, confusion and contradiction as well as the riveting sound of the artist putting all his cards on the table."

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: DC 438LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 repress; double LP version. "Where God Is Good was the first step in a more ornate and sophisticated direction for Om, Advaitic Songs achieves a level of composition that would've been impossible to foresee. There remains the singularity of purpose that is the core of all Om records, but no single reason can account for this comprehensive nature of their evolution. On this album the core primary sound of Om remains, yet everything reaches further and becomes more of itself. Whatever drone-doom camp that Om had previously been placed in has been decimated by the sheer imagination and expansive quality of this recording. For a band that has continually followed its own course, and stood alone in its sound and approach, Advaitic Songs for certain, is the band's most focused, progressive document."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: EB 207CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The Ramones were punks before punk rock was even invented. With their catchy, sing-along tunes, iconic hair styles and outfits, Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny and Tommy rewrote rock history and are now, as part of the first wave of US punk, firmly considered part of the subcultural world heritage. In the DUB-cultural world, on the other hand, their footprint has been pretty slim, particularly if one considers their stomping, three-chord songs, instantly recognizable chants and laconic humor. There are a few reggae and Latin versions of their songs online, but never before have the Ramones been honored with an entire album in early reggae style -- until now. The label Echo Beach, a bit of a specialist for missions such as these, got together with Andr? Meyer (production, bass) and Manougazou (production, guitar). Also back in the team is keyboarder and DubXanne mastermind Guido Craveiro, who plays Hammond organ and piano on half of the tracks. The other two additions to the core team are singer and all-round instrumentalist Sebastian Sturm and drummer Raul Pfeffer. Together they homed in on some of the most iconic Ramones three-minute-singalongs, including "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Wanna Be Sedated", "Pet Sematary" and "Rock'n'Roll Highschool", and treated them to a reggae make-over. From up-and-coming youngsters to living legends, everyone is included, albeit with a focus on the elder statemen and stateswomen: the vast majority of the guests are over 60 and look back on deeply impressive careers! The artists come from Jamaica, the USA, the UK and Germany. All contributed one or two songs, and all of them tackle the songs in pairs with infectiously good humor, transforming legendary punk rock bangers into unpredictable dub tracks. It almost goes without saying that the lyrics have been adapted to everyday Jamaican life with a great deal of fun and creativity.

 

PRICE: $27.50

CAT #: FTR 802LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Eric Arn has mined the nether regions of avant-rock, free improv, drone and psychedelia beginning with the Crystalized Movements in the 1980s, and continuing with Primordial Undermind for over three decades. Eric has released records on a wide range of other labels, including Feeding Tube Records, Stoned to Death, The Lotus Sound, Sloow Tapes, and Ramble Records, among others. Eric has also collaborated with the likes of Tom Carter (Charalambides), Jasmine Pender, Margaret Unknown, and Eyal Maoz. Nearly four years to the date after the release of Higher Order, Eric Arn's previous release for Carbon Records, comes his latest collection of guitar excursions. The songs on fixe Idee have a rolling, rambling guitar feel that builds sonic lattices which drift in the air like steel spiderwebs in the summer sky. The record opens with the American Primitive-esque storytelling saga "Impromptu pour le fant?me," setting the stage for a nice variety of playing and recording styles to follow. The more pastoral tracks "Sunrills" and "Gutbucket" are nicely interspersed with the more raw, lo-fi slide-based joints "Rhyolite" and "Ewigkeitsgasse," each with variations of tipsy tones dancing off the edge of the fretboard to bathe in a swirling concoction of acoustic fantasia. Fixe Idee finally moves back into the Primitive landscape with the "raag Melathys," then the closer, the perfectly titled "Bear," completely unraveled starts with more spastic and experimental Derek Bailey leanings, then eventually settles into more rhythmic patterns, and an exhaling finale. This is a record made by someone whose passion for the guitar as a physical instrument creating sound for enjoyment, and as a catalyst for getting right with the Universe, is deeply evident.

 

PRICE: $29.00

CAT #: FTR 795LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

It's one thing to have founded a notable band dedicated to exploring the possibilities of psychedelic exploration in many different sounds and styles. But it's arguably pretty darn rare to have done it, as Jeffrey Alexander has, four separate times. First emerging with the Iditarod in the mid-1990s before a later world oversimplified their sound as "freak folk," you'd be forgiven for thinking Alexander had settled into things with the feedback grooves of Dire Wolves. But 2020 brought forth another incarnation in the form of the Philadelphia-based Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders, joined by local legends like Kohoutek's drummer Scott Verrastro and Drew Gardner and Jesse Shepherd of the exploratory guitar duo Elkhorn. Once more they're here to provide some needed balm in the form of their sixth formal album effort, Synchronous Orbit, released jointly by Feeding Tube and Cardinal Fuzz labels. With three lengthy songs showcasing their interwoven skills both in studio and live settings, Synchronous Orbit finds the Heavy Lidders once more, given the appropriate album title, aiming for a beautiful trip into outer space and in the inner mind. There's guest percussion from Ryan Jewell and, in a lovely matching of voices with Alexander, a wonderful turn from the legendary Kate Wright, famed for her work in the Bristol UK acts Movietone and Crescent. Plenty of space unfolds for a sweetly trippy midsection as the players do their thing, with Wright and Alexander's vocals returning to help wrap up the trip. The core quartet keep the calm but never cool vibes leading into a steady slow-building burn, guitar parts pouring over each other like glowing layers of honey with Verrastro's drumming both keeping pace and gently altering tempos and intensity. Synchronous Orbit concludes with its longest track at twenty minutes, taken from a live show at the Milwaukee Psych Festival in May 2024. There's a heck of a wonderful wild card factor in the form of 21st century jazz experimenter Isaiah Collier, contributing not merely saxophone but bullhorn and bird calls -- a real?menagerie of sound. His performances add both depth and even more energy to the proceedings, never simply a rampage outward even at his fiercest, but?embracing the sense of community and participation in the performance.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 159CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Saagara's new album, 3, is the third installment of this acclaimed collaboration between Polish producer/multi-instrumentalist Wac?aw Zimpel and four virtuosic musicians from the Carnatic musical tradition of southern India: percussionists Giridhar Udupa (ghatam), Aggu Baba (khanjira) and K Raja (thavil) and violinist Mysore N. Karthik. It's a buzzing juxtaposition of dense Indian rhythms and pulsating electronic patterns. An album of deeply transformative compositions that navigate tradition and experimentation as they move towards the universal. Zimpel works with a diverse array of music. The Warsaw-based musician/producer started out playing free jazz with artists like Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake and Joe McPhee. Later, he went from minimalism inspired albums to folk-trance collaborations to synth-buzzing solo releases, along the way developing a vivid electronic music language through collaborations with British electronic artists James Holden and Sam Shackleton. The Saagara project was first initiated during a jam session in Poland more than a decade ago by Zimpel and one of the most prominent Indian percussionists Gitridhar Udupa (ghatam), and took further shape during his visit to India in 2012. With the 1976 album Shakti with John McLaughlin in mind, particularly its virtuosic blending of Western melodic-rhythmic concepts with Carnatic ones, Zimpel wanted to create something that would continue that ethos but with an individualized approach. His deep fascination with minimalism, tinged with electronics, helped shape the project's concept as did the grooves and sounds of Carnatic music's most prominent instruments. Through the ensemble's collective experimentation, the edgy rhythms of Carnatic music became seamlessly synchronized with Zimpel's clarinet and electronics and Karthik's violin parts. On 3 the music is not as contemplative as it was on the previous two albums. Acidic electronic post-club sounds now counterpoint the traditional instruments, and the instruments themselves are filtered through contemporary processing. This can be clearly heard on the album's densely rhythmic opening track, "God of Bangalore."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 159LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

LP version. Saagara's new album, 3, is the third installment of this acclaimed collaboration between Polish producer/multi-instrumentalist Wac?aw Zimpel and four virtuosic musicians from the Carnatic musical tradition of southern India: percussionists Giridhar Udupa (ghatam), Aggu Baba (khanjira) and K Raja (thavil) and violinist Mysore N. Karthik. It's a buzzing juxtaposition of dense Indian rhythms and pulsating electronic patterns. An album of deeply transformative compositions that navigate tradition and experimentation as they move towards the universal. Zimpel works with a diverse array of music. The Warsaw-based musician/producer started out playing free jazz with artists like Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake and Joe McPhee. Later, he went from minimalism inspired albums to folk-trance collaborations to synth-buzzing solo releases, along the way developing a vivid electronic music language through collaborations with British electronic artists James Holden and Sam Shackleton. The Saagara project was first initiated during a jam session in Poland more than a decade ago by Zimpel and one of the most prominent Indian percussionists Gitridhar Udupa (ghatam), and took further shape during his visit to India in 2012. With the 1976 album Shakti with John McLaughlin in mind, particularly its virtuosic blending of Western melodic-rhythmic concepts with Carnatic ones, Zimpel wanted to create something that would continue that ethos but with an individualized approach. His deep fascination with minimalism, tinged with electronics, helped shape the project's concept as did the grooves and sounds of Carnatic music's most prominent instruments. Through the ensemble's collective experimentation, the edgy rhythms of Carnatic music became seamlessly synchronized with Zimpel's clarinet and electronics and Karthik's violin parts. On 3 the music is not as contemplative as it was on the previous two albums. Acidic electronic post-club sounds now counterpoint the traditional instruments, and the instruments themselves are filtered through contemporary processing. This can be clearly heard on the album's densely rhythmic opening track, "God of Bangalore."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GB 161LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Dal:um -- alongside peers Park Jiha, Jambinai and Leenalchi -- are at the forefront of new Korean music. The duo of Ha Suyean and Hwang Hyeyoung are virtuosos on two different types of traditional zithers, the gayageum and geomungo, and their music deftly navigates a plethora of contemporary influences: post-minimalism, experimental folk and abstract jazz. The sound of 21st century Seoul, where the boundaries of tradition are stretched and occasionally broken. Something magical is happening on the South Korean music scene, and it isn't K-Pop. Blow away the froth, and it is soon apparent that in the concert halls and clubs of Seoul and beyond, a febrile music scene is bubbling up. Ha Suyean and Hwang Hyeyoung grew up learning formal Korean gugak music, excelling on two different types of zithers: the gayageum and geomungo respectively. But these two young women soon became restless. Dal:um translates as "to keep pursuing something," a name which couldn't be more apposite. Suyean and Hyeyoung garnered wide acclaim and toured around the world with their debut album, Similar and Different (GB 112CD, 2021), and with their second album, Coexistence, they are taking another leap forward. Similar and Different was the sound of two musicians pushing and pulling one another. In Coexistence they have become one: one with one another, one with the wider world around them, one with life itself. It is music that is deeply personal, but personal in the way that it absorbs the life that surrounds the pair, finding peace, fear, drama and -- ultimately -- hope. Coexistence was forged at the tail end of the COVID pandemic. The duo, who first met as members of the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Traditional Music Ensemble, determined that this time round they would compose the whole album themselves. They took inspiration from the nature around them in Seoul, as well as from their tours in Europe, where long car journeys took them through natural landscapes that were strikingly different from home. "The pandemic made us realize how precious the things around us truly are," they explain. "As we wrote, we contemplated the value of living alongside other living things. The question that arose was: how can we harmoniously coexist with the life surrounding us? We wanted to encapsulate these thoughts in our music."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 162CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Part technicolor fever dream, part polyrhythmic Dadaist frolic, Chak Chak Chak Chak is the latest full-length from avant-garde Colombian singer-songwriter Juli?n Mayorga, an album that brilliantly brings to life his absurdist post-cumbia infused psychedelia. Broadcasting from the fertile cauldron of his current headquarters in Madrid, where he has lived for the past ten years, Mayorga has created the next compelling phase of his self-proclaimed "timbre rebellion." Inspired by the sounds of unconventional musical instruments -- frying pans, mortar and pestle, knives and plates -- his debut release on Glitterbeat (his ninth in all) curdles with an uncanny energy and satirical wit. Mayorga's songs are layered, multi-dimensional constructs. They evoke the illusory edge-lands that emerge where urban and rural meet, and echo memories originating in the working-class neighborhoods of his Tolima birthplace -- places abundant with greasepaint and grime, vitality and color. It is indeed not at all surprising that Mayorga counts daring, idiom-defying musical oddballs like Tom Z?, Tom Waits, Renaldo and the Loaf, Captain Beefheart and The Residents (whose classic 1978 cut Semolina is reconfigured here in an intoxicating locomotive rush) as kindred influences. The album's offbeat allegories and anti-capitalist broadsides ooze tropical mischief, dystopian noise and a love for folkloric bestiaries. They are a gloriously bewildering assault on the totems of hegemony and tyranny -- cultural, personal, political and musical. An unrelenting sonic cyborg engine -- part-machine, part-human -- with spluttering gears, gnashing teeth and stuttering cogwheels grinding up against the shrapnel alluded to in the album's onomatopoeic title. Chak Chak Chak Chak is Julian Mayorga divining gold amid the ordure.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 162LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

LP version. Part technicolor fever dream, part polyrhythmic Dadaist frolic, Chak Chak Chak Chak is the latest full-length from avant-garde Colombian singer-songwriter Juli?n Mayorga, an album that brilliantly brings to life his absurdist post-cumbia infused psychedelia. Broadcasting from the fertile cauldron of his current headquarters in Madrid, where he has lived for the past ten years, Mayorga has created the next compelling phase of his self-proclaimed "timbre rebellion." Inspired by the sounds of unconventional musical instruments -- frying pans, mortar and pestle, knives and plates -- his debut release on Glitterbeat (his ninth in all) curdles with an uncanny energy and satirical wit. Mayorga's songs are layered, multi-dimensional constructs. They evoke the illusory edge-lands that emerge where urban and rural meet, and echo memories originating in the working-class neighborhoods of his Tolima birthplace -- places abundant with greasepaint and grime, vitality and color. It is indeed not at all surprising that Mayorga counts daring, idiom-defying musical oddballs like Tom Z?, Tom Waits, Renaldo and the Loaf, Captain Beefheart and The Residents (whose classic 1978 cut Semolina is reconfigured here in an intoxicating locomotive rush) as kindred influences. The album's offbeat allegories and anti-capitalist broadsides ooze tropical mischief, dystopian noise and a love for folkloric bestiaries. They are a gloriously bewildering assault on the totems of hegemony and tyranny -- cultural, personal, political and musical. An unrelenting sonic cyborg engine -- part-machine, part-human -- with spluttering gears, gnashing teeth and stuttering cogwheels grinding up against the shrapnel alluded to in the album's onomatopoeic title. Chak Chak Chak Chak is Julian Mayorga divining gold amid the ordure.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 163CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

This legendary Istanbul band remains the most experimental exponent of the hotly-tipped contemporary Turkish psych-rock scene. BaBa ZuLa are revered sonic trailblazers who have built a cult following in all corners of the globe and can count members of Einst?rzende Neubauten, Can, and Nick Cave the Bad Seeds as their fans. Pulsing, hypnotic tracks powered by Turkish percussion, glitched electronics, deep bass, electric saz and dual male/female vocals. ?stanbul Sokaklar? (Streets of Istanbul) is a vivid sonic and political statement from a band that continues to show listeners the future. It's a modus operandi that has marked them out as true iconoclasts. "Lots of Turkish musicians are fundamentalists," says co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Levent Akman. "They want it acoustic, and they hate Murat because he plays electric. We are trying to break these kinds of borders." Their latest album ?stanbul Sokaklar? (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces -- the six-minute "Ars?z Saksa?an (Cheeky Magpie)," the eight-minute "Yapraklar?n Aras?ndan (In Between the Leaves)" and the eleven-minute "Yok Haddi Yok Hesab? (No Limits No Calculation)," they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 163LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. This legendary Istanbul band remains the most experimental exponent of the hotly-tipped contemporary Turkish psych-rock scene. BaBa ZuLa are revered sonic trailblazers who have built a cult following in all corners of the globe and can count members of Einst?rzende Neubauten, Can, and Nick Cave the Bad Seeds as their fans. Pulsing, hypnotic tracks powered by Turkish percussion, glitched electronics, deep bass, electric saz and dual male/female vocals. ?stanbul Sokaklar? (Streets of Istanbul) is a vivid sonic and political statement from a band that continues to show listeners the future. It's a modus operandi that has marked them out as true iconoclasts. "Lots of Turkish musicians are fundamentalists," says co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Levent Akman. "They want it acoustic, and they hate Murat because he plays electric. We are trying to break these kinds of borders." Their latest album ?stanbul Sokaklar? (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces -- the six-minute "Ars?z Saksa?an (Cheeky Magpie)," the eight-minute "Yapraklar?n Aras?ndan (In Between the Leaves)" and the eleven-minute "Yok Haddi Yok Hesab? (No Limits No Calculation)," they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 165CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

All Living Things is a tender and profound meditation on the miracle of life. It is suffused with reverence and gratitude for the chance to simply be a living being on this planet at this time. Park Jiha explores this vision through idiosyncratic and deeply personal methods. Like its critically acclaimed predecessors, Philos (2018) and The Gleam (2022), All Living Things features her playing every instrument, meticulously overdubbed and layered in the studio to create sumptuous sound worlds. She employs an array of Korean instruments -- piri, yanggeum and the saenghwang -- alongside flute, glockenspiel, bells, her voice and, most crucially, electronics. On All Living Things, her music has undertaken a decided turn towards sonic experimentation and contemporary sound design. The opening track, "First Buds," is the perfect example of this approach. As the title suggests, it feels like a gentle opening up, delicate and full of promise, the acoustic instruments intertwining with more elusive and otherworldly textures. The track that follows is "Grounding," a hypnotic composition that evolves in luminous cycles and reveals Park Jiha's stylistic debt to minimalism. "Growth Ring," is a dialogic game between the saenghwang and piri, both instruments bringing a distinctive atmosphere to a composition that represents maturity; a concept that expands as the album continues. The first single, "Blown Leaves," features a seductive saenghwang melody that is doubled by shimmering and escalating electronics. The record's final track, "Water Moon" with its softly struck glockenspiel, creates a childhood, music box innocence that hints at new beginnings and a sense of having come full circle. The album as a whole manifests Park's deeply personal take on the lifecycle, evolving from birth to growth, maturity to decline and finally death. This conceptual structure deliberately encourages listeners to engage with the album from start to finish. As she puts it, the album itself is "a cycle expressing the hope and beautiful uncertainty that I tried to bring into the music."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 165LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. All Living Things is a tender and profound meditation on the miracle of life. It is suffused with reverence and gratitude for the chance to simply be a living being on this planet at this time. Park Jiha explores this vision through idiosyncratic and deeply personal methods. Like its critically acclaimed predecessors, Philos (2018) and The Gleam (2022), All Living Things features her playing every instrument, meticulously overdubbed and layered in the studio to create sumptuous sound worlds. She employs an array of Korean instruments -- piri, yanggeum and the saenghwang -- alongside flute, glockenspiel, bells, her voice and, most crucially, electronics. On All Living Things, her music has undertaken a decided turn towards sonic experimentation and contemporary sound design. The opening track, "First Buds," is the perfect example of this approach. As the title suggests, it feels like a gentle opening up, delicate and full of promise, the acoustic instruments intertwining with more elusive and otherworldly textures. The track that follows is "Grounding," a hypnotic composition that evolves in luminous cycles and reveals Park Jiha's stylistic debt to minimalism. "Growth Ring," is a dialogic game between the saenghwang and piri, both instruments bringing a distinctive atmosphere to a composition that represents maturity; a concept that expands as the album continues. The first single, "Blown Leaves," features a seductive saenghwang melody that is doubled by shimmering and escalating electronics. The record's final track, "Water Moon" with its softly struck glockenspiel, creates a childhood, music box innocence that hints at new beginnings and a sense of having come full circle. The album as a whole manifests Park's deeply personal take on the lifecycle, evolving from birth to growth, maturity to decline and finally death. This conceptual structure deliberately encourages listeners to engage with the album from start to finish. As she puts it, the album itself is "a cycle expressing the hope and beautiful uncertainty that I tried to bring into the music."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 169LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Kuunatic's hotly anticipated second album Wheels of ?mon takes another adventuresome deep dive into their self-made fantasy mythology, proposing whole new worlds of psychedelic drama and ritual. In addition to their core sonic palette of tribal drums, pulsing bass, atmospheric keyboards and grouped female vocals, the acclaimed Japanese psych-rock trio played an array of Japanese traditional instruments on Wheels of ?mon. The result is a thrilling, kaleidoscopic album that brushes against tradition as it whirls into an other-worldly future. Kuunatic are the trio of Fumi Kikuchi on keyboards, Shoko Yoshida on bass and Yuko Araki on drums. All three of them also sing. They formed in 2016 and released an EP and 7" single before, in 2021, dropping their debut album, Gate of Kl?na (GB 117CD, 2021), on an unsuspecting public. Wheels of ?mon builds on the story of Gate of Kl?na with more tales of prophecy, mysterious powers and magical healing lakes. Kuunatic's imaginative flights of visionary fancy achieve the same kind of epic, science-fiction world-building as legendary French jazz-prog heroes, Magma. But their inspirations come from further afield. "The three of us listen to completely different types of music so our ideas and influences come from all different places," they say. "We create fantasy stories," they say, "but it's deeply influenced by historical events that happened on Earth. So, when we stayed in Switzerland, looking at the Alps and Vall?e du Rh?ne, they made us imagine vast histories of a grand Earth and times of several hundred million years ago. Perhaps it's this majestic natural setting that has imparted to the new album a deep connection to folk traditions, to human stories, to the very roots of storytelling. It's a mood that manifests most powerfully in the album's varied use of Japanese traditional instruments. Throughout the album, Kuunatic play chappa (hand-sized cymbals used at temple rituals or festivals), sasara (a percussion instrument of 108 wooden plates strung with a cotton cord), ryuteki (a flute used in gagaku), kagurabue (a flute used for Japanese traditional shrine music) ougidaiko (a fan-shaped hand drum), kokiriko (small bamboo stick instruments), and wadaiko (a huge traditional drum that has been used for rituals or festivals since ancient times)."Grumbling psych played on a whirring blender of guitars, synths and traditional Japanese temple instruments" -- The Wire

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 170CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Denmark-based Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Youssef has already created whole new worlds of sound. His startling debut as AMMAR 808 -- 2018's Maghreb United -- fused thumping TR-808 drum machine rhythms and bone-rattling bass with traditional North African folk instrumentalists and vocalists from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, suggesting a pan-Maghreb science-fiction mash-up worthy of William Burroughs' most fevered dreams. For his latest album -- Club Tounsi -- he sets his sights on home, with an album that investigates and explores the vibrant folk tradition of his native Tunisia. Named after the ancient mezoued goatskin bagpipes that provide the music's sinuous melodies, it's traditionally accompanied by popular singers also backed by clattering hand drums. Originating in the 1950s, when a surge of rural migrants flocked to the capital Tunis in search of work, it's the music of the downtrodden and the underdog, long frowned upon by polite Tunisian society. As AMMAR 808 explains, the music persisted. "It evolved out of that stigmatization and became something that actually speaks to all Tunisians, because it takes its roots from all available music in Tunisia." In Mezoued, you'll find Sufi devotional hymns, malouf melodies, Arabic scales and ancient folksong all part of one repertoire. Although it?s lyrics are preoccupied with hardship and the pain of love, Mezoued music wants to party hard. And rhythm is the key. On Club Tounsi, AMMAR 808 takes this "festive" tradition and reimagines it for the 21st century with pulsating basslines, shimmering synths, crunching distortion and mechanistic drum machine rhythms. Featuring Brahim Riahi, Mahmoud Lahbib, and Mariem Bettouhami.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 170LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Denmark-based Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Youssef has already created whole new worlds of sound. His startling debut as AMMAR 808 -- 2018's Maghreb United -- fused thumping TR-808 drum machine rhythms and bone-rattling bass with traditional North African folk instrumentalists and vocalists from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, suggesting a pan-Maghreb science-fiction mash-up worthy of William Burroughs' most fevered dreams. For his latest album -- Club Tounsi -- he sets his sights on home, with an album that investigates and explores the vibrant folk tradition of his native Tunisia. Named after the ancient mezoued goatskin bagpipes that provide the music's sinuous melodies, it's traditionally accompanied by popular singers also backed by clattering hand drums. Originating in the 1950s, when a surge of rural migrants flocked to the capital Tunis in search of work, it's the music of the downtrodden and the underdog, long frowned upon by polite Tunisian society. As AMMAR 808 explains, the music persisted. "It evolved out of that stigmatization and became something that actually speaks to all Tunisians, because it takes its roots from all available music in Tunisia." In Mezoued, you'll find Sufi devotional hymns, malouf melodies, Arabic scales and ancient folksong all part of one repertoire. Although it?s lyrics are preoccupied with hardship and the pain of love, Mezoued music wants to party hard. And rhythm is the key. On Club Tounsi, AMMAR 808 takes this "festive" tradition and reimagines it for the 21st century with pulsating basslines, shimmering synths, crunching distortion and mechanistic drum machine rhythms. Featuring Brahim Riahi, Mahmoud Lahbib, and Mariem Bettouhami.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GRAM 2501CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

An extraordinary meeting of three artists from three different musical worlds and three different continents. Norman Westberg (ex-Swans) and Jacek Mazurkiewicz have already released one album together, First Man In The Moon in 2021. In this new project, they are accompanied by Giridhar Udupa, an Indian master of ghatam (a clay percussion instrument that looks like a jug). The album features three long trance compositions, referring to ambient, krautrock, free jazz and Indian music. Detroit guitarist Norman Westberg moved to New York in 1980 and became a part of the experimental music scene that was experiencing its golden age. Westberg himself became a permanent fixture when he joined the iconic avant-rock band Swans in 1983. Westberg has also been involved with other legendary New York noise-rock acts, including Jim Thirlwell's Foetus and the post-Swans Heroine Sheiks, in which he played with Cows frontman Shannon Selberg. Giridhar Udupa is an extremely valued teacher and world-renowned artist, an Indian master of ghatam (a clay percussion instrument that looks like a jug). Jacek Mazurkiewicz is interested in music in the broad sense. He puts his sounds together based on emotional impressions and pulse. Combining acoustics with electronics, he is constantly looking for a new sound.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GRAM 2502LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. An extraordinary meeting of three artists from three different musical worlds and three different continents. Norman Westberg (ex-Swans) and Jacek Mazurkiewicz have already released one album together, First Man In The Moon in 2021. In this new project, they are accompanied by Giridhar Udupa, an Indian master of ghatam (a clay percussion instrument that looks like a jug). The album features three long trance compositions, referring to ambient, krautrock, free jazz and Indian music. Detroit guitarist Norman Westberg moved to New York in 1980 and became a part of the experimental music scene that was experiencing its golden age. Westberg himself became a permanent fixture when he joined the iconic avant-rock band Swans in 1983. Westberg has also been involved with other legendary New York noise-rock acts, including Jim Thirlwell's Foetus and the post-Swans Heroine Sheiks, in which he played with Cows frontman Shannon Selberg. Giridhar Udupa is an extremely valued teacher and world-renowned artist, an Indian master of ghatam (a clay percussion instrument that looks like a jug). Jacek Mazurkiewicz is interested in music in the broad sense. He puts his sounds together based on emotional impressions and pulse. Combining acoustics with electronics, he is constantly looking for a new sound.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GRAM 2503CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

It's 2022. The world lockdown is finally over. Imagine a picturesque lake in Tuscany. Now imagine a floating state of the art studio on that lake with two maverick rock icons creating a wild, alchemical concept album: Hugo Race, frontman of Australian post-punk legends The Wreckery and guitarist for the Bad Seeds and leader of True Spirit and Fatalists, and Gianni 'Marok' Maroccolo, producer of Italian alternative music and film soundtracks since the 1980s Florence darkwave scene with Litfiba, CSI & CCCP. Together, they fuse an existential narrative made up of individual stories in the style of Boccaccio's Decameron with psychedelic soundscapes framed by experimental electronica, rock instrumentation and decades of experience as cutting-edge musicians and studio producers to bring you an album that defies categorization.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: HOOP 001LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Hologram Teen is the solo project (and anagram) of former Stereolab keyboardist Morgane Lhote. Her colorful playful songs are heavily influenced by disco and '80s French pop. Initially from Paris, Morgane relocated to Los Angeles where she concentrated on her solo material. Captain Fluo is a disco-fueled love letter to 1980s Paris and its underground nightlife, record store discoveries and the exhilaration of growing up as a gay teenager in a world of self-discovery. Produced and mixed by Andrew Claristidge (Acid Washed) at Duca Sonora Studios in Brittany, Captain Fluo is a vibrant fusion of propulsive beats, bouncy synths and funky basslines. Morgane's signature keyboards weave through a constellation of guest vocalists including Sandra Zettpunkt, Maxwell Farrington, Eric D Clark, and Alex Aikiu. From the euphoric pulse of "Lust Pill" to the radio crooner nostalgia of "Fr?quence Gaie" each track is a portal to the dance floors and late-night airwaves of a bygone era. Drawing inspiration from French pop icons like France Gall, Michel Berger, and Louis Chedid alongside the sleek productions of Italo disco pioneers Kasso and the genre-defining touch of David Bowie, Nile Rogers, Quincy Jones, and Depeche Mode, Captain Fluo is a heartfelt ride through an era when music was liberation.

 

PRICE: $46.50

CAT #: HDYANEO 011LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Double LP version. Limited 2LP colored yellow and oxblood vinyl with A3 Poster, sticker, MP3 Download. How Do You Are? are back with another chapter in its ongoing series of unearthing smooth vibes from all over the world. This time, the label goes back to the future for you with: The Sunset Manifesto Volume 2. After a five-year break mainly concentrating on the late '70s/early '80s Westcoast Soul/Yacht/AOR sound, HDYA finally dives deep into the modern world of its beloved sister-label Too Slow To Disco NEO. TSTD NEO is the outlet DJ Supermarkt is using to unearth modern laidback, smooth, sunny slow disco vibes with a soulful Westcoast/Balearic touch. For him TSTD always has been about a laidback vibe/feeling, not a certain time period in musical history. And that sunny Westcoast vibe HDYA dug out on those traditional TSTD compilations has become a huge influence to so many modern artists. So it makes sense that the label presents the cream of new slo/mo nu-disco/dunset disco/daytime disco acts in the TSTD format, a luxurious compilation, with artists from all across the globe: Not only from the two homelands of that modern slow disco sound, Los Angeles/California and France, but also from Beijing, Montreal, Mexico, London, New York, Stockholm, Rotterdam. This music is more a state of mind, a feeling, then a geographical thing. Featuring Poolside, Woolfy, Prep & Eddie Chacon, Turbotito, Young Gun Silver Fox, Lovetempo, Kimchii, Goodvibes Sound, Nicholas Cangiano, Moi Je, B.U.M.P., 1-900, Moods & Nic Hanson, BowAsWell, and Joel Sarakula.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: IDAMT 021CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Like a fruit ripened away from sight, Sudden Fruit embodies the subtle magic that arises when two singular artists converge. This album is the result of a rare musical encounter between Japanese composer and pianist Midori Hirano and Russian-born experimentalist Ivan Pavlov, known as COH. Their collaboration bridges the organic and the synthetic, unfolding in a sonic space where time seems to hover -- neither blooming nor fading, but suspended in introspective grace. Midori Hirano, now based in Berlin, is known for her minimalist compositions that gently fuse acoustic piano with ambient electronic textures. Reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto's later works, her music deconstructs classical traditions to reveal deeply meditative soundscapes. Under the alias Mimicof, she further explores more beat-driven territories, from ambient techno to IDM. COH, a long-standing figure in avant-garde electronic music, brings decades of sonic experimentation to the collaboration. Formerly an acoustic engineer in the Russian navy, Pavlov's work ranges from glitch and post-techno to ambient and electroacoustic. His partnerships with Peter Christopherson (COIL), Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Abul Mogard speak to his collaborative fluidity and precision. From the opening track 'Wave to Wave,' the album gracefully balances Hirano's emotive piano with Pavlov's subterranean frequencies. 'Mirages' slows time to a hush, while the title track nudges toward IDM. Throughout, Sudden Fruit reveals an uncanny sense of narrative, a dialogue between textures, gestures, and silences. Part of the Mind Travels collection, the album eludes classification. It is a work of quiet daring -- intimate yet expansive, cerebral yet emotional. Sudden Fruit is not merely an album; it is a sonic terrain waiting to be wandered."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: IDAMT 021LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Like a fruit ripened away from sight, Sudden Fruit embodies the subtle magic that arises when two singular artists converge. This album is the result of a rare musical encounter between Japanese composer and pianist Midori Hirano and Russian-born experimentalist Ivan Pavlov, known as COH. Their collaboration bridges the organic and the synthetic, unfolding in a sonic space where time seems to hover -- neither blooming nor fading, but suspended in introspective grace. Midori Hirano, now based in Berlin, is known for her minimalist compositions that gently fuse acoustic piano with ambient electronic textures. Reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto's later works, her music deconstructs classical traditions to reveal deeply meditative soundscapes. Under the alias Mimicof, she further explores more beat-driven territories, from ambient techno to IDM. COH, a long-standing figure in avant-garde electronic music, brings decades of sonic experimentation to the collaboration. Formerly an acoustic engineer in the Russian navy, Pavlov's work ranges from glitch and post-techno to ambient and electroacoustic. His partnerships with Peter Christopherson (COIL), Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Abul Mogard speak to his collaborative fluidity and precision. From the opening track 'Wave to Wave,' the album gracefully balances Hirano's emotive piano with Pavlov's subterranean frequencies. 'Mirages' slows time to a hush, while the title track nudges toward IDM. Throughout, Sudden Fruit reveals an uncanny sense of narrative, a dialogue between textures, gestures, and silences. Part of the Mind Travels collection, the album eludes classification. It is a work of quiet daring -- intimate yet expansive, cerebral yet emotional. Sudden Fruit is not merely an album; it is a sonic terrain waiting to be wandered."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: INC 038LP

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

LP version. "Composer and lute player Jozef Van Wissem has created, in my opinion, the most beautiful film music of the year for Un Prince. Suites of princely pieces allow the film to be transported into a fantastic dimension where power and magic unfold." --Chaosreign"Un Prince features a striking soundtrack -- part Baroque courtly dance, part Doors-like instrumental by Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem" --Variety/ Screen Daily"The Dutch composer illustrates the initiatory story of the film (a young man discovers gardening and unusual sexual practices) and the scenes of a pictorial nature, in fixed shots, with captivating notes of the order of the procession, with a certain devoutness, like a ceremony." --Cinezik

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: INC 039CD

FILE UNDER: SOUNDTRACK

"Composer and lute player Jozef Van Wissem has created, in my opinion, the most beautiful film music of the year for Un Prince. Suites of princely pieces allow the film to be transported into a fantastic dimension where power and magic unfold." --Chaosreign"Un Prince features a striking soundtrack -- part Baroque courtly dance, part Doors-like instrumental by Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem" --Variety/ Screen Daily"The Dutch composer illustrates the initiatory story of the film (a young man discovers gardening and unusual sexual practices) and the scenes of a pictorial nature, in fixed shots, with captivating notes of the order of the procession, with a certain devoutness, like a ceremony." --Cinezik

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: INC 040LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Acclaimed director and musician Jim Jarmusch and experimental lute player and composer Jozef Van Wissem met nearly 20 years ago, forming a close bond after they ran into each other on the streets of New York City. In 2011, they began performing and producing records together. This release is the follow up to American Landscapes entitled The Day The Angels Cried. The duo weaves an intricate lute and guitar string tapestry of droning, minimal free-folk compositions destined to captivate listeners with their dark hypnosis. This time vocals and electronics are added as well. Van Wissem's work comes from a tradition of avant-garde minimalism and lends itself well to the director's stark cinematic works. Jarmusch has played guitar in bands on and off since the late '70s. Van Wissem's compositional style involves hypnotic circular musical phrases that allow for a lot of contemplative space between the notes. Their first live performance was in Issue Project Room in Brooklyn in October 2011, where they appeared together for a Van Wissem curated concert program called "New Music for Early Instruments." The idea for their first album, Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity (Important Records) developed from their live performance. Jarmusch has said that he considers these songs as Van Wissem's compositions, and sees himself as someone filling in the background to Jozef 's foreground, like the "scenic" on a film shoot, the one who paints the backdrops. "The sound of the lute is as bright as the sun, a beautiful red color and my stuff sounds sort of like the moon, more like blue, like mercury." According to Van Wissem: "We started with layers of instrumental parts. Jim recorded an otherworldly Passerelle bridge guitar part to which we added vocals. This became the title track 'The Day The Angels Cried.' The lyrics for this song came to me during a vision I had in a dream. It was much like a vision Swedenborg writes about. In it he converses with angels. In my vision the angel looked down from the heavens upon the earth engulfed in flames. Recent events in Los Angeles and other parts of the world, have led me to believe that this dream was a premonition.'"

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: INC 041CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Acclaimed director and musician Jim Jarmusch and experimental lute player and composer Jozef Van Wissem met nearly 20 years ago, forming a close bond after they ran into each other on the streets of New York City. In 2011, they began performing and producing records together. This release is the follow up to American Landscapes entitled The Day The Angels Cried. The duo weaves an intricate lute and guitar string tapestry of droning, minimal free-folk compositions destined to captivate listeners with their dark hypnosis. This time vocals and electronics are added as well. Van Wissem's work comes from a tradition of avant-garde minimalism and lends itself well to the director's stark cinematic works. Jarmusch has played guitar in bands on and off since the late '70s. Van Wissem's compositional style involves hypnotic circular musical phrases that allow for a lot of contemplative space between the notes. Their first live performance was in Issue Project Room in Brooklyn in October 2011, where they appeared together for a Van Wissem curated concert program called "New Music for Early Instruments." The idea for their first album, Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity (Important Records) developed from their live performance. Jarmusch has said that he considers these songs as Van Wissem's compositions, and sees himself as someone filling in the background to Jozef 's foreground, like the "scenic" on a film shoot, the one who paints the backdrops. "The sound of the lute is as bright as the sun, a beautiful red color and my stuff sounds sort of like the moon, more like blue, like mercury." According to Van Wissem: "We started with layers of instrumental parts. Jim recorded an otherworldly Passerelle bridge guitar part to which we added vocals. This became the title track 'The Day The Angels Cried.' The lyrics for this song came to me during a vision I had in a dream. It was much like a vision Swedenborg writes about. In it he converses with angels. In my vision the angel looked down from the heavens upon the earth engulfed in flames. Recent events in Los Angeles and other parts of the world, have led me to believe that this dream was a premonition.'"

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: JMAN 148CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

One of the most politically charged terms of the 20th century, the Iron Curtain was a metaphor for political and cultural division. In a post-war telegram Winston Churchill referred to the fault line that ran through Europe between East and West as "an Iron Curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind." In this two-part album, as far as jazz is concerned, Jazzman will showcase, describe and celebrate exactly what was "going on behind." Music is the power supreme, with the ability to transcend all barriers, be they physical, political or metaphorical. The liner notes illustrate the complex and contradictory history of Soviet jazz, and the tracks chosen cover the key period of the early 1960s to the 1980s. It was during these dark years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union and its satellite states produced a number of outstanding artists playing in a variety of styles. The impact of modernism, from hard bop and Latin to modal and cool jazz, had found its way through cracks in the curtain. The deeply-felt ancestral strains of traditional European folk music were combined with the exciting new and progressive sounds of the West, and a radical, intoxicating brew was created that no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome. Jazzman chronicles the triumph of jazz at a time of extreme geopolitical conflict. What went on behind the Iron Curtain in these countries was once mysterious and unknown to the West, but the perseverance of their artists provided sound and light amid the secretive, dark days of the communist-capitalist standoff. There was no end of life-affirming spiritual jazz behind the Iron Curtain. Featuring Collage, Manfred Ludwig-Sextett, Krzysztof Komeda, Polish Jazz Quartet, Vagif Mustafa-Zade, Quartet Jazz Focus-65, Theo Schumman Combo, Vaclav Zahradnik, Karel Velebny, Sevil, Focus '65, Golstain-Nosov Quintet, YU All Stars 1977, Dan Mindrila, Leningrad Jazz Ensemble, Sh Jazz Quintet, Josef Blaha Trio, Csaba Deseo Ensemble, Manfred Ludwig-Sextett, Anatoly Vapirov, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Andrzej Trzaskowski Quintet, Tomsits Quartet, Nicolai Gromin Quartet, Valery Kolesnikov, Vyacheslav Novikov, Vladimir Molotkov, Alexander Christidis, Tone Jansa, and S+HQ.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: JMAN 148LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Double LP version. Part 1. One of the most politically charged terms of the 20th century, the Iron Curtain was a metaphor for political and cultural division. In a post-war telegram Winston Churchill referred to the fault line that ran through Europe between East and West as "an Iron Curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind." In this two-part album, as far as jazz is concerned, Jazzman will showcase, describe and celebrate exactly what was "going on behind." Music is the power supreme, with the ability to transcend all barriers, be they physical, political or metaphorical. The liner notes illustrate the complex and contradictory history of Soviet jazz, and the tracks chosen cover the key period of the early 1960s to the 1980s. It was during these dark years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union and its satellite states produced a number of outstanding artists playing in a variety of styles. The impact of modernism, from hard bop and Latin to modal and cool jazz, had found its way through cracks in the curtain. The deeply-felt ancestral strains of traditional European folk music were combined with the exciting new and progressive sounds of the West, and a radical, intoxicating brew was created that no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome. Jazzman chronicles the triumph of jazz at a time of extreme geopolitical conflict. What went on behind the Iron Curtain in these countries was once mysterious and unknown to the West, but the perseverance of their artists provided sound and light amid the secretive, dark days of the communist-capitalist standoff. There was no end of life-affirming spiritual jazz behind the Iron Curtain. Featuring Collage, Manfred Ludwig-Sextett, Krzysztof Komeda, Polish Jazz Quartet, Vagif Mustafa-Zade, Quartet Jazz Focus-65, Theo Schumman Combo, Vaclav Zahradnik, Karel Velebny, Sevil, Focus '65, Golstain-Nosov Quintet, YU All Stars 1977, and Dan Mindrila.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: JMAN 149LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Double LP version. Part 2. One of the most politically charged terms of the 20th century, the Iron Curtain was a metaphor for political and cultural division. In a post-war telegram Winston Churchill referred to the fault line that ran through Europe between East and West as "an Iron Curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind." In this two-part album, as far as jazz is concerned, Jazzman will showcase, describe and celebrate exactly what was "going on behind." Music is the power supreme, with the ability to transcend all barriers, be they physical, political or metaphorical. The liner notes illustrate the complex and contradictory history of Soviet jazz, and the tracks chosen cover the key period of the early 1960s to the 1980s. It was during these dark years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union and its satellite states produced a number of outstanding artists playing in a variety of styles. The impact of modernism, from hard bop and Latin to modal and cool jazz, had found its way through cracks in the curtain. The deeply-felt ancestral strains of traditional European folk music were combined with the exciting new and progressive sounds of the West, and a radical, intoxicating brew was created that no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome. Jazzman chronicles the triumph of jazz at a time of extreme geopolitical conflict. What went on behind the Iron Curtain in these countries was once mysterious and unknown to the West, but the perseverance of their artists provided sound and light amid the secretive, dark days of the communist-capitalist standoff. There was no end of life-affirming spiritual jazz behind the Iron Curtain. Featuring Leningrad Jazz Ensemble, Sh Jazz Quintet, Josef Blaha Trio, Csaba Deseo Ensemble, Manfred Ludwig-Sextett, Anatoly Vapirov, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Andrzej Trzaskowski Quintet, Tomsits Quartet, Nicolai Gromin Quartet, Valery Kolesnikov, Vyacheslav Novikov, Vladimir Molotkov, Alexander Christidis, Tone Jansa, and S+HQ.

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: GG 495CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"JEM3 is an improvising trio that brings together the wide-ranging talents of three unique musicians: drummer JT Lewis, guitarist/reed player Elliott Sharp, and guitarist Marco Cappelli. The JEM3 found its genesis in an improvised set at the behest of Cappelli. The results felt great to all and so more shows followed. They decided to book a session at GSI Studios and this debut album Apices is the result. In addition to their mastery of their instruments and innovative approaches, JEM3 operates from the strategy of spontaneous composition with structure and narrative arc of equal weight to instrumental inventiveness. JT Lewis, a member of the band Harriet Tubman, has performed or recorded with many artists including Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, Sting, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Elvis Costello, Whitney Houston, Debbie Harry, and more. Elliott Sharp is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who leads Terraplane and SysOrk and whose collaborators have included the Radiosinfonie Frankfurt, Cecil Taylor, Hubert Sumlin, Christian Marclay, Bachir Attar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Debbie Harry. Marco Cappelli has performed or recorded with a diverse array of artists including Anthony Coleman, Michel Godard, Butch Morris, Franco Piersanti, Jim Pugliese, Enrico Rava, Marc Ribot, Adam Rudolph, and Markus Stockhausen."

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: GG 502CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Palo Alto is a French group formed in Paris, France in 1989 by Jacques Barb?ri, Denis Frajerman, Philippe Masson, and Philippe Perreaudin. In their early interviews the group insisted on their musical filiation with Tuxedomoon, and on drawing their inspiration from Made to Measure, a Crammed Discs label. They would later make explicit their interest in bands such as Art Zoyd, The Legendary Pink Dots, Coil, The Residents, Can, or Cabaret Voltaire. Science fiction in all its forms is a leitmotiv in the group's work. In 1990 Palo Alto released their cassette tape, Le clos, on the Italian label Old Europa Caf?. At the time their music was definitely written rather than improvised, consisting mainly of instrumentals with a stress on melody. Two years later, Extr?me Ponction was released as a cassette on the T.T.I.C.C. Contingent label in France. This double CD collects those two tapes with the addition of Excroissance, another cassette release from 1993, this time as a cassette single. The whole material has been remastered by Norscq in 2024."

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: GG 512CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"A sensational quartet that was created by Free Music Forum in Austria. Joe McPhee is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He is currently the member of Trio X, Survival Unit III, and has collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Br?tzmann, Evan Parker, Raymond Boni, The Thing, Trespass Trio, and Universal Indians among many others. With a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections and reach for music's outer limits. John Edwards is a true virtuoso on the double bass whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Br?tzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others. Susanna Gartmayer is an Austrian composer and bass clarinetist working in the fields of experimental rock music, multi-idiomatic improvisation, jazz and contemporary music. She is especially interested in the sound possibilities of the low clarinets and the theory and practical implications of working together in bands and collectives. Mari? Portugal is a Brazilian drummer, singer, composer, musical producer and improviser who has been active in the Brazilian music scene for more than 20 years. She has toured and performed with artists like Arrigo Barnab?, Elza Soares, Met? Met?, Pato Fu, Fernanda Takai, Maggie Nicols, Angelika Niescier, Fred Frith, Nick Dunston, Anthony Braxton, and Tomeka Reid. Together those four create one of the strongest jazz quartets one can imagine, Playfulness, creativity and virtuosity meet on a level rarely reached."

 

PRICE: $38.50

CAT #: RAUM 005LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Folk isn't exactly a genre and it isn't always an aesthetic, it's the lore that's curled around the roots of myths, ballads and anecdotes, burying itself just inches beneath the surface of contemporary culture. On their debut album, Canzonieri brush away some of the dust from Western civilization, excavating forgotten sonorities, philosophies and motifs to figure out what impact this knowledge might have on a chaotic, apocryphal modern reality. Processing familiar acoustic instruments and utilizing an arsenal of idiosyncratic self-built devices, acclaimed artist Emiliano Maggi and musical artist Cosimo Damiano -- both members of Italian surrealist quartet Sal? -- survey the uneven, challenging landscape that surrounds them, calling attention to the conflicts and illusions that underpin art in all its forms. They take a widescreen view of centuries of musical evolution, juxtaposing simplicity and complexity, past and present, city life and the pull of nature to distill the essence of folk -- emotional histories that are whispered from person to person. It was while they were working together as Sal? that Emiliano and Damiano realized their deep musical affinity and shared interests, so the duo decided to apply that to new music, drawing on different influences and ideas. They presented this work for the first time at an exhibition focused on the life of Arabo-Sicilian poet Al-Ballan?b?; Emiliano had used Al-Ballan?b?'s foundational love poems to inform his sculptures, and invited Damiano to collaborate on a soundtrack. The experience drew them further into the history of verse, leading them towards Sayat-Nova's Armenian songbook and Pier Paolo Passolini's Il Canzoniere Italiano, and Canzonieri was born. Improvising and bending their performance to whatever space they have access to, Canzonieri fuse electroacoustic experimentation with classical minimalism, neofolk, prog rock and surrealist chamber pop, using these various concepts to guide their lyrical, free-floating ruminations. Featuring Maria Violenza and Lara D?maso.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: LTNC 028CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Latency present ?s pregunta, the second album from Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena. Founded by Helena Ros Redon and Marta Torrella i Mart?nez, Tarta Relena explores the rich vocal traditions of the Mediterranean, singing in languages such as Classical Greek, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Catalan, Ladino, and more. Their music blends sacred and secular influences, drawing inspiration from flamenco, lyrical song, traditional music, and electronic experimentation. ?s pregunta dives into themes of tragic contemplation, portraying the tension between natural and human forces grappling with mysterious and inevitable consequences. The album is a conceptual journey through fate, knowledge, and the struggle to reconcile our future selves with present realities. Influenced by Mediterranean folk, Georgian laments, and the mystic works of 12th-century visionary Hildegard von Bingen, Tarta Relena crafts a vibrant sonic world where the past and future converge. Renowned for their captivating live performances, Tarta Relena has enchanted audiences at festivals like S?nar, Le Guess Who, Mutek, Big Ears, and Primavera Sound. Their stage presence is enriched by subtle electronics and rhythmic patterns played on a ceramic amphora, creating a unique texture to their vocal artistry. Collaborations with artists such as Marina Herlop and Maria Arnal i Marcel Bag?s have further pushed the duo to explore new dimensions of contemporary folk music. For Tarta Relena, folk is a living tradition -- deeply rooted in the past but always evolving.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: LTNC 028LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Latency present ?s pregunta, the second album from Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena. Founded by Helena Ros Redon and Marta Torrella i Mart?nez, Tarta Relena explores the rich vocal traditions of the Mediterranean, singing in languages such as Classical Greek, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Catalan, Ladino, and more. Their music blends sacred and secular influences, drawing inspiration from flamenco, lyrical song, traditional music, and electronic experimentation. ?s pregunta dives into themes of tragic contemplation, portraying the tension between natural and human forces grappling with mysterious and inevitable consequences. The album is a conceptual journey through fate, knowledge, and the struggle to reconcile our future selves with present realities. Influenced by Mediterranean folk, Georgian laments, and the mystic works of 12th-century visionary Hildegard von Bingen, Tarta Relena crafts a vibrant sonic world where the past and future converge. Renowned for their captivating live performances, Tarta Relena has enchanted audiences at festivals like S?nar, Le Guess Who, Mutek, Big Ears, and Primavera Sound. Their stage presence is enriched by subtle electronics and rhythmic patterns played on a ceramic amphora, creating a unique texture to their vocal artistry. Collaborations with artists such as Marina Herlop and Maria Arnal i Marcel Bag?s have further pushed the duo to explore new dimensions of contemporary folk music. For Tarta Relena, folk is a living tradition -- deeply rooted in the past but always evolving.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: LTNC 029CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Latency presents the first-ever arrangements of iconic Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's music for piano and strings, honoring her desire to broaden the interpretation of her work beyond the piano. Led by pianist, composer, and Emahoy's close friend Maya Dunietz, a nine-piece string ensemble performed her compositions during two tribute concerts at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, in April 2024. This album celebrates the centenary of Emahoy's birth and commemorates the first anniversary of her passing. The album marks the culmination of a journey that began nearly two decades ago, in 2005. While browsing a London record store, pianist and composer Maya Dunietz and conductor Ilan Volkov discovered a CD by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, released as part of the acclaimed ?thiopiques series. Intrigued, they sought out the esteemed musician, eventually locating her in a small monastery in Jerusalem. Their initial meeting blossomed into a deep, lengthy conversation. Emahoy recounted her life in the monastery and the challenges of making music in that setting. They delved into her music, discussing it in great detail. When they asked Emahoy about notation, she invited them to read her notebook, which contained compositions written that very morning. Maya and Ilan played some on the piano. At that moment, Emahoy began to trust them. Before leaving, Maya wrote her phone number in Emahoy's notebook and invited her to call if she ever wanted or needed anything. A few years later, the call came: Emahoy invited Maya to the monastery, handing her a couple of wrinkled old Air Ethiopia plastic bags filled with hundreds of her composition manuscripts. She asked Maya to help create a book of her piano compositions, making them accessible to people around the world. Faced with such a monumental undertaking, Maya partnered with the Jerusalem Season of Culture to embark on this ambitious project. This collaboration resulted in the publication of a book of sheet music and a collection of essays in 2013, as well as numerous concerts performed worldwide. These concerts, along with Maya's work on Emahoy's music, grew from a deep bond of love and mutual respect between the two women. For Maya, this tremendous compliment became the catalyst for all the string arrangements she would create for Emahoy's beautiful music -- arrangements now collected in this album after years of collaboration and discussions between Maya and the record label Latency.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: LTNC 029LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Latency presents the first-ever arrangements of iconic Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's music for piano and strings, honoring her desire to broaden the interpretation of her work beyond the piano. Led by pianist, composer, and Emahoy's close friend Maya Dunietz, a nine-piece string ensemble performed her compositions during two tribute concerts at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, in April 2024. This album celebrates the centenary of Emahoy's birth and commemorates the first anniversary of her passing. The album marks the culmination of a journey that began nearly two decades ago, in 2005. While browsing a London record store, pianist and composer Maya Dunietz and conductor Ilan Volkov discovered a CD by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, released as part of the acclaimed ?thiopiques series. Intrigued, they sought out the esteemed musician, eventually locating her in a small monastery in Jerusalem. Their initial meeting blossomed into a deep, lengthy conversation. Emahoy recounted her life in the monastery and the challenges of making music in that setting. They delved into her music, discussing it in great detail. When they asked Emahoy about notation, she invited them to read her notebook, which contained compositions written that very morning. Maya and Ilan played some on the piano. At that moment, Emahoy began to trust them. Before leaving, Maya wrote her phone number in Emahoy's notebook and invited her to call if she ever wanted or needed anything. A few years later, the call came: Emahoy invited Maya to the monastery, handing her a couple of wrinkled old Air Ethiopia plastic bags filled with hundreds of her composition manuscripts. She asked Maya to help create a book of her piano compositions, making them accessible to people around the world. Faced with such a monumental undertaking, Maya partnered with the Jerusalem Season of Culture to embark on this ambitious project. This collaboration resulted in the publication of a book of sheet music and a collection of essays in 2013, as well as numerous concerts performed worldwide. These concerts, along with Maya's work on Emahoy's music, grew from a deep bond of love and mutual respect between the two women. For Maya, this tremendous compliment became the catalyst for all the string arrangements she would create for Emahoy's beautiful music -- arrangements now collected in this album after years of collaboration and discussions between Maya and the record label Latency.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: LTR 036LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Nils Frahm presents a new collection of solo piano music, his first album since 2022's three-hour Music For Animals. Day was recorded in the summer of 2022 in complete solitude and away from his studio at Berlin's famed Funkhaus complex. Day may come as a surprise to those who, over the last decade, have watched Frahm shift slowly away from the piano compositions with which he first made his name in favor of a nonetheless still-distinctive approach that's considerably more instrumentally complex and intricately arranged. Indeed, Frahm has never been able to resist returning to his first love, and those who enjoyed earlier acclaimed albums like The Bells, Felt, and Screws will once again revel in Day's familiar, personal style. Day contains six tracks, three over the six-minute mark. Characterized by its confidential mood, the album confirms that, while Frahm is arguably now best known for elaborate, celebratory concerts calling upon an arsenal of pianos, organs, keyboards, synths, even a glass harmonica, he's still a prolific master of affecting simplicity, tenderness and romance. In 2021, having spent the early part of the pandemic arranging his archives, he released the 80 minute, 23-track Old Friends New Friends, a compilation of previously unreleased piano music intended to enable him to "start over" with a clean slate. Judging from the extended, ambient nature of Music For Animals, it proved a successful gambit, but Frahm has never been able to resist returning to his first love.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: LTR 049LP

FILE UNDER: CLASSICAL

Nils Frahm presents the follow up to Day, the collection of solo piano music he released in 2024. Night, which contains five new tracks, will be released on vinyl as well as via all digital platforms. A CD version, Night & Day (LTR 050CD), including all eleven tracks from both Day and Night, will also be made available. These follow Frahm's latest live album, Paris. Frahm recorded the pieces on Night on the Klavins M450 piano, installed in his studio at the renowned Funkhaus complex in Berlin. It was built by German-Latvian piano maker David Klavins for the first Piano Day in 2015, a celebration that will mark its 10th anniversary. At 4.5 meters tall and weighing over a ton, the model was the largest upright piano in the world at the time. The record is a reminder that, though he's since become celebrated for the complex, intricately arranged approach of his most commercially successful, multi-instrumental albums, Frahm first made his name with similarly meditative piano compositions on albums like 2009's The Bells, 2011's Felt, and 2012's Screws. Night, like Day, confirms that Frahm remains a prolific master of affecting simplicity, tenderness and romance, and as capable as ever of unforgettable, epigrammatic succinctness.

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: LTR 050CD

FILE UNDER: CLASSICAL

Nils Frahm presents a new CD of solo piano music, Night & Day, to be released by Leiter, the label he runs with his manager, Felix Grimm. Containing all eleven tracks from both Day and a second, Night, it follows Frahm's latest live album, Paris. Night & Day's tracks are a reminder that, though he's since become celebrated for the intricately arranged approach of his most commercially successful, multi-instrumental albums, Frahm first made his name with similarly meditative piano compositions on collections like 2009's The Bells, 2011's Felt, and 2012's Screws. Recorded in Majorca, far away from his studio in the German capital's famed Funkhaus complex, Day provides six tracks, three over the six-minute mark. There are muffled pedal creaks on the cyclical, quietly jazzy 'You Name It' or, during the palliative ripples of 'Butter Notes'' arpeggios, the sound of dogs barking in the streets outside. Night adds another five tracks, opening at a glacial pace with "Wesen," conjuring images of Frahm, lit only by a candle, huddled over his instrument, playing for the sheer companionship that it offers. And the album closes with "Canton," its delicious airiness perhaps the record's equivalent of a glimpse of dawn. It's a perfect conclusion to a typically beguiling collection that, as always, points to a musical character that is immediately, distinctively Frahm's. It also highlights why the German pianist has continued throughout his career to return loyally to the piano as his first love. After all, it's notable that, even during his recent, expansive live performances, which find him leaping between multiple keyboards, synths, and even a glass harmonica, Frahm has always made space for such works.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: LTR 051LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

New York-born, Tamil Nadu-raised singer and transdisciplinarian Ganavya presents a new album, Nilam. It follows Daughter Of A Temple, Gilles Peterson's BBC 6 Music Album of the Year, similarly declared one of 2024's Top 10 Best Global Albums by The Guardian, who applauded Ganavya's ability to harness "the power of communal harmony to touch something deeper than song." Co-produced by Nils Frahm at Leiter Studio in Berlin's Funkhaus complex. Listening to the remarkable Nilam, it seems implausible now that its inception might ever have been in doubt. So astonishing is its stillness, so profound its communication of sentiment, it feels as if it was always meant to be. A celebration of the ties that bind, and possibly the most tender-hearted music listeners will hear this year, it's intimate and honest, a poignant expression of gratitude for the blessings which keep people grounded, if only they'll recognize and welcome them. Indeed, it could have been transmitted directly from soul to stereo, from the way "Not A Burden" lifts a weight off the world's shoulders to the peaceful "Sees Fire," with "Land"'s gentle groove full of space, "Nine Jeweled Prayer" serenely precious, and, throughout, Ganavya's vocals like ripples on a lagoon.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: LY 007CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Basing himself off the works of Cuban guitarist-composers Jos? Angel Navarro and Hector Angulo, Italian guitarist Walter Zanetti intimately recreates sacred Afro-Cuban bat? drum songs on guitar. Santer?a draws heavily on music for its ceremonies. This Afro-Cuban syncretic religion, sometimes called La Regla de Ocha, saw the Orisha deities of the West African Yoruba peoples codified with Catholic saints. Yoruba practitioners, brought by force to the West, continued to worship their gods under the nose of those who sought to dehumanize them by adopting their spiritual language. The chants that became Santer?a's prayers were often accompanied by the beat of the bat? drum. This heartbeat runs through every invocation, through every sacred song. In the same way that the shuffling chains on the feet of enslaved African peoples dancing defiantly in Colombia birthed the distinctive rhythm of cumbia, syncretism has been present in music as much as it has in religion. It has always been about challenging the odds, about creation, creativity, and heart. This is why Italian musician Walter Zanetti's guitar pierces straight to the soul on his Cantos Yoruba de Cuba. This album of new recordings from Zanetti brings together six original compositions by Navarro dictated to the Italian guitarist on a month-long trip to Cuba and reinterpretations of Angulo's nine original Cantos Yoruba de Cuba, which give the record its name. LP version (LY 007LP) includes download code and an essay by E.R. Pulgar, a Venezuelan-American journalist, editor, poet, and translator interested in Latinx and alternative culture.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: LO 001X-CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

A tangle of word and melody, old and new, Nightjar evokes journeys along ghostly paths, country lanes and starlit shorelines, alive with shimmering patterns of a flowing tide. Stories of childhood, of loves and rivalries, fair maidens, cruel sisters and winged sorcerers are interwoven with glimpses of the natural world. Nightjar is Liz Overs' debut solo release, having previously been signed to Atlantic in the late '90s as part of indie-dance crossover band Pocket Size -- she was also lead singer and songwriter for the Sussex-based folk band Chalk Horse Music. Liz's haunting, unaccompanied version of "The Birds in the Spring" was featured in Dylan Howitt's award-winning documentary The Nettle Dress, and she performed live at several key screenings of the film in the UK.

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: LO 001X-LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. A tangle of word and melody, old and new, Nightjar evokes journeys along ghostly paths, country lanes and starlit shorelines, alive with shimmering patterns of a flowing tide. Stories of childhood, of loves and rivalries, fair maidens, cruel sisters and winged sorcerers are interwoven with glimpses of the natural world. Nightjar is Liz Overs' debut solo release, having previously been signed to Atlantic in the late '90s as part of indie-dance crossover band Pocket Size -- she was also lead singer and songwriter for the Sussex-based folk band Chalk Horse Music. Liz's haunting, unaccompanied version of "The Birds in the Spring" was featured in Dylan Howitt's award-winning documentary The Nettle Dress, and she performed live at several key screenings of the film in the UK.

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: MIG 3432CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Formed in 1972 as a quintet, Dzyan recorded their self-titled debut album after only two months and released it on Aronda, a small Bad Homburg label owned by producer G?nther M?ller. The original line-up, which never performed live, broke up after a few months. Bassist Reinhard Karwatky soon formed a trio that took the band's name. Karwatky, guitarist Eddy Marron and drummer Peter Giger signed a contract with Bacillus/Bellaphon, Peter Hauke (Omega, Nektar, Jeronimo, etc.) produced and Dieter Dierks was the studio engineer. On Time Machine (1973), the first album for Bacillus, Dzyan plays virtuoso jazz-rock that occasionally, especially on the 18-minute title track, reminds one of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. At the same time, the trio does not lack a certain herbaceous rawness. On their second Bacillus album, Electric Silence (1974), the trio celebrates their Kraut-Jazzrock to perfection. In its review of the album, the leading German jazz magazine Jazz Podium concluded that Electric Silence would establish Dzyan as 'probably the best German band' in the field of jazz rock. Achim Breiling of the online magazine Babyblaue Seiten said: 'Electric Silence is certainly one of the strangest, but also one of the most impressive and independent of what has been produced in Germany in the border area between jazz and rock.'"

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: MIG 3442CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

"Harald Grosskopf is a living legend of progressive Krautrock and electronic music, known far beyond the borders of Germany. His career, spanning over five decades, ranges from his beginnings with the German progressive Krautrock band Wallenstein, his collaboration with Klaus Schulze and Manuel G?ttsching, the release of his seminal solo album Synthesist (1980, Sky Records) to his great live successes in front of audiences of over 30,000, such as at the Metamorphose Festival 2008 (Japan) or most recently in 2024 at the Plain District Festivals in Beijing and Xi'an (China). Harald Grosskopf's music has inspired DJs, producers and artists around the world, including Cologne-based DJ, composer and sound artist ?mit Han. The two have now worked together for the first time in recent months, crossing generational boundaries. The result is the album Magnetfeld. For Harald Grosskopf, it is a further chapter in his impressive career; for the techno musician ?mit Han, it is a step into new musical spheres; and for the listener, it is a new encounter of the electronic kind."

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: MIG 3472CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Guitarist Ax Genrich began his career in 1970 with a brief stint with German prog-kraut rockers Agitation Free. There he was able to develop his improvisational style, but was soon poached by Mani Neumeier to join Guru Guru. Together with bassist Uli Trepte, Genrich and Neumeier enjoyed their first major successes and were soon regarded as the new figureheads of Krautrock, releasing K?nguru in 1972, a milestone in the genre. After four years and four albums, Ax Genrich left Guru Guru because the string wizard had new plans. The first of these was called Highdelberg and became a kind of Krautrock supergroup project: Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier sat at the drums, supported by Kraan bassist Helmuth Hattler, guitarist Peter Wollbrandt and drummer Jan Friede, as well as the two keyboardists and electronic specialists Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (both also of Cluster and Harmonia). Conny Plank was on the mixing desk. Musically, Ax Genrich explored new frontiers, moving away from the improvisational style of the gurus and devoting himself more to a well-dosed mixture of progressive rock, pop and Kraut. It was not until 1994 that Genrich released his second solo album, Psychedelic Guitar, and he is still active today."

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: MIG 90510CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

DVD region code 0. "With their catchy mix of post-punk, funk, and rhythmic spoken vocals, Ian Dury and the Blockheads became pioneers of the new wave scene. Frontman Dury captivated audiences with his mischievous Cockney wit and ecstatic stage show. In the mid-1970s, Ian Dury was the figurehead of the British new wave and pub rock scene. His 1977 debut album New Boots And Panties!!! became a classic shortly after its release: songs like 'Sex And Drugs And Rock'n_Roll' became catchphrases, and the melodic and creative richness of early Ian Dury, coupled with his extravagant stage show, made him a legend. The Rockpalast concert, which has now been released, was recorded just a few months after the release of New Boots And Panties and contains all the highlights of the album, a completely unrestrained Ian Dury and the Blockheads playing brilliantly! A memorable performance, recorded by WDR on February 21, 1978, at WDR Studio-L in Cologne, precisely because Dury was virtually unknown in Germany at the time. His quirky performance is more reminiscent of a staggering drug addict than a musician who doesn't take himself too seriously, but still gives his all and always works professionally. A document of its time, not so metal, but extremely worth seeing and hearing -- a classic!"

 

PRICE: $16.50

CAT #: MACD 099CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Scotland's best jazz musicians meet one of the best and most influential bands from Scotland! The Colin Steele Quartet play the music of The Blue Nile, undisputed masters of Sophisti-Pop. The beautiful and atmospheric, often synth-driven songs of The Blue Nile get the deluxe jazz treatment in exciting new arrangements. All-time classics like "Easter Parade," "Heatwave," and "Let's Go Out Tonight" shine in bright new shades and colors, and get transformed into something unique by Colin Steele's very own trumpet style. The album perfectly captures and even enhances the late-night moods and aural landscapes of The Blue Nile's music. Colin Steele's smooth and emotive trumpet caresses and lifts these beautiful songs to new heights. This album completes a trilogy of songbook albums by the Colin Steele Quartet which started with Diving For Pearls (MA 082CD, 2017), a dive into the music of The Pearlfishers, and continued with Joni (MA 089CD, 2020), their take on the songs of Joni Mitchell. Colin Steele from Edinburgh, one of UK's leading jazz trumpet players, is accompanied by the same top-notch musicians as before: Calum Gourlay on double bass, Alyn Cosker on drums, and pianist Dave Milligan who also arranged the album brilliantly. Like many great jazz albums, The Blue Nile was recorded in just one day -- on July 16, 2024. The session took place at the same studio where all classic Blue Nile albums were recorded: At Scotland's famous Castlesound Studios. Masterfully and intimately engineered by Stuart Hamilton. The album also features "Mid Air" -- the title track of Paul's fabulous solo outing (2012). CD version comes in a beautiful six-panel digisleeve and features two additional tracks -- "Happiness" and "Headlights On The Parade."

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: MALP 099LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Scotland's best jazz musicians meet one of the best and most influential bands from Scotland! The Colin Steele Quartet play the music of The Blue Nile, undisputed masters of Sophisti-Pop. The beautiful and atmospheric, often synth-driven songs of The Blue Nile get the deluxe jazz treatment in exciting new arrangements. All-time classics like "Easter Parade," "Heatwave," and "Let's Go Out Tonight" shine in bright new shades and colors, and get transformed into something unique by Colin Steele's very own trumpet style. The album perfectly captures and even enhances the late-night moods and aural landscapes of The Blue Nile's music. Colin Steele's smooth and emotive trumpet caresses and lifts these beautiful songs to new heights. This album completes a trilogy of songbook albums by the Colin Steele Quartet which started with Diving For Pearls (MA 082CD, 2017), a dive into the music of The Pearlfishers, and continued with Joni (MA 089CD, 2020), their take on the songs of Joni Mitchell. Colin Steele from Edinburgh, one of UK's leading jazz trumpet players, is accompanied by the same top-notch musicians as before: Calum Gourlay on double bass, Alyn Cosker on drums, and pianist Dave Milligan who also arranged the album brilliantly. Like many great jazz albums, The Blue Nile was recorded in just one day -- on July 16, 2024. The session took place at the same studio where all classic Blue Nile albums were recorded: At Scotland's famous Castlesound Studios. Masterfully and intimately engineered by Stuart Hamilton. The album also features "Mid Air" -- the title track of Paul's fabulous solo outing (2012). CD version comes in a beautiful six-panel digisleeve and features two additional tracks -- "Happiness" and "Headlights On The Parade."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: MVD 4994LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2025 restock. "Reissued for 2014 on limited clear vinyl. This vinyl only release contains audio selections from the DVD release Live CBGB 1982. Sure it sounds confusing, but the material on the CD and LP, while culled from the same series of live shows around Christmas 1982 at CBGBs, is completely different. Includes blazingly awesome live versions of 'FVK,' 'How Low Can a Punk Get,' and more."

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: NP 054LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

A meeting of great minds recorded live at the Improtech Festival in Uzeste in summer 2023. Two avant-garde and improvisation titans offer a new chapter in the infinite quest for freedom and absolute beauty. "Innocence" and "Insouciance" are sharp and stinging live improvisations by longtime comrades, Parker and Foussat. Elegant, subtle and complex, these pieces immediately rise to the status of eternal documents by these giants. "WIRElessfor Anthony Wood" is a solo tenor piece by Parker recorded during The Actual Festival at the London ICA in August 1981 and named in homage to the late Anthony Wood, founder of both The Wire Magazine and The Actual Festival. It is followed and echoed by "SLAUGHTreturn," a contemporaneous assembly piece by Foussat from the original Abattage solo VCS3session in late 1980.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: OATH 023LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

SofaTalk is an Italian producer known for his eclectic and genre-blending approach to electronic music. Drawing inspiration from the global underground, nu-jazz, and his roots in Italy, his sound is rich, experimental, and difficult to categorize, yet always engaging. Alongside running his label Cognitiva Records and curating events and radio shows, he continues to refine his style through remixes and collaborations. His latest project, The Soul's Code, released via Oathcreations, is an eight-track album that further explores his unconventional sound. Featuring collaborations with Veezo and Zopelar, the album fuses house, funk, broken beat, dub, and jazz in imaginative ways. Tracks like "Dub Lush" and "The Truth" highlight SofaTalk's ability to craft deeply textured productions, while "Paradiddle," "Complex Journey," and "Around" showcase his playful, lo-fi sensibilities and love for rhythmic experimentation. The album closes with "Magpie Rules," a dreamy, breakbeat-driven finale that captures the surreal energy of the entire release. With support from artists like Fred P, Carista, and Bradley Zero, The Soul's Code is another bold step in SofaTalk's constantly evolving musical journey.

 

PRICE: $16.50

CAT #: JKONE 025CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Newest album by renowned Gamelan orchestra Salukat and award-winning composer Jan Kadereit. Salukat is one of the most acclaimed ensembles dedicated to contemporary ethnological music in the world. This resulting album is full of unheard harmonies and beautifully intertwined melodies. It ranges from meditative pieces rich in sounds to burstful, highly joyous and energetic pieces that bring out the skill of the virtuosic musicians. They seem to effortlessly bend the flow of time, seemingly dancing through multiple rhythms like on the title track "Ashira." In the same composition, the differently tuned sets of instruments are combined to create colors that no other ensemble in the world can replicate.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: JKONEVI 025LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. Newest album by renowned Gamelan orchestra Salukat and award-winning composer Jan Kadereit. Salukat is one of the most acclaimed ensembles dedicated to contemporary ethnological music in the world. This resulting album is full of unheard harmonies and beautifully intertwined melodies. It ranges from meditative pieces rich in sounds to burstful, highly joyous and energetic pieces that bring out the skill of the virtuosic musicians. They seem to effortlessly bend the flow of time, seemingly dancing through multiple rhythms like on the title track "Ashira." In the same composition, the differently tuned sets of instruments are combined to create colors that no other ensemble in the world can replicate.

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: OP 089LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Highlighting a decade of working together as Fronte Violeta, Brazilian transdisciplinary artist Anelena Toku and musician and sound artist Carla Boregas present Fronte Violeta, a captivating blend of aural compositions, scents and experiences. Switching the moniker name to the album title serves as a way to showcase the culmination of their multidisciplinary project's journey, developed from compiling fragments, sounds and intentions from their previous body of work comprising electroacoustic and electronic music composition, moving image, scent, installation and live performances. Fronte Violeta is a sonic amalgam where synthesized sounds, percussion, voice, feathers, branches and other non-human sonorities coalesce. Toku and Boregas have skillfully woven together those elements creating a rich tapestry of interconnected sounds that tension listeners perception as something always in motion, never fully settling into an established form. Composed and performed by Anelena Toku and Carla Boregas.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: PING 090LP

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

Pierre Bastien and Michel Banabila return with Nuits Sans Nuit, their second collaboration following their Baba Soir?e debut from 2023. Recorded as an intuitive exchange between Rotterdam and Valencia, the album emerged from a simple ping-pong process: Banabila sculpted sounds and atmospheres, to which Bastien responded with his distinctive instrumental palette: flute-augmented cornet, mechanized log drum, and more. Mixed by Banabila, the result is a raw yet immersive work that resonates with a somnambulant, wide-awake presence. Nuits Sans Nuit unfolds through shifting shades of melancholy. "I don't know how to describe the feeling of these crazy times we live in," says Banabila. "Les plus d?sesp?r?s sont les chants les plus beaux," Bastien quotes De Musset. Wordless yet deeply expressive, the album invites listeners into a space of contemplation, where meaning emerges through immersion -- like ritual music carrying an unspoken message. Echoes of saudade, blues, fado, and sole? surface in the duo's playful noise, reimagined through their singular vocabulary.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: PE 043LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Edition of 500 colored vinyl (transparent purple). Artwork developed in collaboration with Paris-based visual artist Caroline Ventura. Includes download code. i got a song, it's gonna make us millions is the highly-anticipated new album by Sirens Of Lesbos, led by sisters Jasmina and Nabyla Serag. Following a run of singles featuring guests like Drake-co-signed-rapper SadBoi and Kendrick-Lamar-collaborator Zacari, the dynamic release is a vibrant showcase of the group's musical range. Self-written and self-produced, this new album highlights Sirens Of Lesbos' expansive sound, drawing from Childish Gambino, Solange Knowles, Trick Daddy, Doechii, and Outkast, while blending elements of '90s British girl pop, Afrobeats, electronic music, and lo-fi indie pop in the spirit of Mk.gee and Jai Paul into a rich, genre-defying experience. Their music has earned praise from CLASH, COLORS, Dork, Tsugi, and Earmilk, with BBC 1Xtra's CassKidd calling them "magical." The vinyl version of i got a song, it's gonna make us millions is presented by Pr?sens Editionen, following recent audio releases by Martina Lussi, spalarnia, Magda Drozd, Anom Vitruv, Belia Winnewisser, and Red On, among others.

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: PRO 064CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A classic mid-'90s release in the shoegazer genre. A beautiful wrestling of ethereal noise, Lovesliescrushing emerged in the early '90s as America's answer to Britain's My Bloody Valentine and the nascent shoegazer scene. LLC's first two Projekt releases of captivating low-fi sonic atmospheres invoked a tangled palette of noisy guitar textures, frenzied distortion and longing ethereal vocals. From milky softness to a blasting metallic roar, instrumentalist Scott Cortez took the shoegaze genre to its furthest regions, far removed from song-structured pop. On these two albums, Lovesliescrushing originated a sound still reckoned with today. Veils of gorgeous guitar wash and angelic gossamery voice. Beautiful and grandiose orchestral subtlety and childlike naivete, billowy, fur-lined, milky softness to a blasting metallic roar. 75 minutes of spacey drumless iridescent textures and atmospheric soundscapes. Melissa's vocals are glassy shimmering and evanescent like snowflakes melting in your hand. Scott's infamous guitar damage conjures images of an aurora's phantasmagoric majesty or a jet engine's intensity. Guitar and voices sculpted, manipulated and processed into beautiful noise. Another gem of lo-fi brilliance gleaned from a 4-track. CD in jewel box with 16-page booklet."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: RSN 050LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Ransom Note Records welcome illustrious French electronic duo Froid Dub to the fold for their new vinyl release, Tears Maker Chant. Head honchos of the wonderful Delodio label, St?phane and Fran?ois mark the 50th release for R$N Recs, and this is without a shadow of a doubt an incredibly special one. So, sit back and ready yourself for some inimitable Froid Dub cuts; laid back but pounding, graceful yet aggressive but above all, thoroughly danceable. Opening proceedings is the acid tinged "Just One," a masterclass in making people dance at under 80bpm. Achingly gorgeous polysynth chords rain down, hovering like a film overhead the saturated 303 line that wobbles along in the low end. First single "On The Nose" enters next, with a delightfully soft, round bass that feels like bouncing around a padded room. Inside a Zorb. On MDMA. More echoed, analogue motifs dart from left to right, confirming with strong conviction that the chaps from Paris put the Dub in Indubitably Fantastic. "Digital Pond" closes side A, a low slung, nonchalant piece of mood music. Idiosyncratically "French," brittle chords piece the sound stage, evoking past Italo Disco spaces, but remaining conscientiously chug-dubbed out. Second single "Control (Special Mix)" opens side B with a capital B. For Banger. Another Space Echo heavy workout in the lower frequencies of the audio spectrum, this is testament to the old adage that less is often, a hell of a lot more (to paraphrase). The titular "Tears Maker" glides into view next, with its frantic 808 patterns and spacey melodica, setting the scene for the majesty to follow. This epically proportioned tune is probably going to be a little passe come the end of summer, because it's going to be played at festivals the world over relentlessly. Be warned! Finally "Terri's Dub" brings matters to a close with its angular, stands and woozy vocals. Artwork by Sylvia Tournerie, mastered by Krikor Kouchian.

 

PRICE: $17.00

CAT #: RR 123189CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"It is widely believed that one of Grossman's 'career best' albums was his May 1985 album Love Is the Thing for Red Records. Accompanied by the Cedar Walton Trio, who were touring Europe at the time, their unequivocal bebop-into-hard bop saw Grossman turn more towards 1950s Sonny Rollins for inspiration than his formative influence John Coltrane. This apparent shift in allegiance is captured on what is probably the album's finest track, 'Easy To Love,' although his love of Coltrane's music is not forgotten with the choice of 'Naima,' whose challenging changes are negotiated with aplomb and conviction."

 

PRICE: $22.00

CAT #: RR 123342CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"In more recent times, archival research in the Red Records tape vault yielded two quarter-inch tapes, previously thought to be blank, lodged with the Sphere holdings. However, on closer inspection a single Sphere track was discovered on each of the otherwise blank reels. This was a major discovery, as incredibly, for such an important jazz group. And here, perhaps, is the reason why the precious few recordings of Sphere can be returned to time and again and they are still able to reveal a little more of themselves each time. They are informed by one of the great masters of modern jazz, but not dominated. Rather, Monk's inspiration acts as a spur to creativity as each member congregates around their very specific group ethic while remaining true to the spirit of the masters."

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: ROOTS 055EP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

'90s digital BOMB delivered by the one-of-a-kind voice that is Daweh Congo. Daweh's haunting delivery and spiritual fire set him apart in the roots revival movement. "Fi Years" is one of the first tunes he released, dating back to 1996. An anthem of struggle and resilience, still hitting hard decades later.

 

PRICE: $14.50

CAT #: ROOTS 056EP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Militant roots missile delivered by the one-of-a-kind voice that is Daweh Congo. Daweh's haunting delivery and spiritual fire set him apart in the roots revival movement. On "Prophecy Reveal," originally released in 2000, Daweh's mystical chant rides a heavy digital rhythm, while the flip side unleashes deep '90s electronic dub vibes.

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: SMALL 069EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Frank & Tony and Smallville have been on the same musical wave-length since forever. Frank & Tony is the collaborative guise of Scissor & Thread co-founders Francis Harris and Anthony Collins aka Grant. Both have long been staples of the underground with material under their own names and numerous other guises shaping the musical landscape of house techno and beyond since the turn of the millennium. Both lived together in New York and as Frank & Tony the pair have delivered multiple albums and many EP's on their own label, Tokyo's Mule Musiq and Pacific Rhythm. Now they are warmly welcomed onto the Smallville Records roster with their latest collection of works. "Ways Of Mine" leads on the A-Side and showcases the pairs signature deep hypnotic house style via soft billowing pads cascading metallic chimes psychedelic spoken word and dreamy dubbed out keys floating atop a robust bouncy rhythm section. To open the flip-side title-track "After All" lays down a subtly blooming chord sequence shuffled drums and bumpy bass stabs at its core all subtly nuanced while the latter half introduces more dynamic rhythmic elements and intertwined melodic touches. "Dimension" then concludes the release diving deeper with saturated ethereal pads and bubbling resonant arpeggio lines alongside heavily swung crisp drums jazzy keys and delayed vocal chants. After All comes with a full cover artwork by Stefan Marx.

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: SORC 1015CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2023 release. The complete discography from Scotland's dawson, all in one handy place: a 2CD set! dawson existed from approx. 1989-1994, played extensively throughout the UK and Europe and even toured the US. They recorded and released three full-length LPs on their own Gruff Wit label, as well as several 7"s and a tape. Linked up with the Scottish-Dutch connection of The Ex and Dog Faced Hermans, both of whom they toured/gigged with, they were part of the vital Scottish post-punk/hardcore scene of the era, along with others such as Badgewearer, Archbishop Kebab, Whirling Pig Dervish, Long Fin Killie, etc. dawson were an incredible scattershot of sounds, blending political hardcore fury with scratchy post-punk, Afro rhythms, tape collage, manic noise, heavy-duty dub and much more. The Pop Group, Crass, On-U Sound, bIG fLAME, Minutemen and even the controlled chaos of the Boredoms could be mentioned, but this was Scotland's dawson. This 2CD has been fully remastered and comes housed in a three-panel cardboard wallet with a 20-page booklet containing extensive liner notes by the band's Jer Reid, photos, lyrics, flyers, etc.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 176CD

FILE UNDER: WORLD

"This record follows the embrace of winter time; the closing in of darkness, the cold, the pull to turn inward. But also, the customs of the season, and gathering for the ceilidh: songs and stories told round the fire; where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur."Thus, Br?ghde Chaimbeul introduces her third album, a release which comes after two years of incredible acclaim for its predecessor Carry Them With Us (GB 139CD/LP), which won awards from such diverse places as The Guardian (Best Folk Album Of 2023 #7) and The Quietus (Best Albums of 2023 #13). Since that album, she has played stages from Tennessee to Denmark, often far outside the traditional/folk circuit where she first made her name, and often playing for audiences who'd never seen someone play small pipes before. To appear alone on the main stage at 2024's Supersonic Festival in Birmingham and reduce a hungover festival crowd to rapt silence probably isn't what Chaimbeul expected, and nor would she have expected to be hailed as leading a revival of interest in an instrument that was arguably fading into obscurity. Sunwise is more a solo record than Carry Them With Us, which saw her collaborate with acclaimed artist and peripatetic collaborator Colin Stetson. Chaimbeul explains that she'd spent the last two years playing live solo, "so that's where I was naturally going at the time of recording, most of the collaborators came on after I had recorded my parts," the exception being "Sguabag/The Sweeper" where she recorded live with the three other pipers. She explains that she's learned a great deal about how to record her instrument, where "a lot of it is about tone, and the depth and richness of that tone, paying attention to detail -- what mics you're using, and how to get the best sound possible." However, Stetson returns on the rousing, whirling "A Chailleach," which also features Chaimbeul's lovely, sparingly used voice. Sunwise is a remarkable album, a record steeped in folklore and tradition but also embracing minimalism, experimentation and the eternal presence of the drone. Her love for this music, these traditions and shared stories, shines through everything she does: "It's a music and language that has survived so much and for so long -- it's the music of people. It's music of the land. And I think it's extremely relevant to hold on to that and learn from that in current times."

 

PRICE: $28.00

CAT #: GB 176LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

LP version. "This record follows the embrace of winter time; the closing in of darkness, the cold, the pull to turn inward. But also, the customs of the season, and gathering for the ceilidh: songs and stories told round the fire; where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur."Thus, Br?ghde Chaimbeul introduces her third album, a release which comes after two years of incredible acclaim for its predecessor Carry Them With Us (GB 139CD/LP), which won awards from such diverse places as The Guardian (Best Folk Album Of 2023 #7) and The Quietus (Best Albums of 2023 #13). Since that album, she has played stages from Tennessee to Denmark, often far outside the traditional/folk circuit where she first made her name, and often playing for audiences who'd never seen someone play small pipes before. To appear alone on the main stage at 2024's Supersonic Festival in Birmingham and reduce a hungover festival crowd to rapt silence probably isn't what Chaimbeul expected, and nor would she have expected to be hailed as leading a revival of interest in an instrument that was arguably fading into obscurity. Sunwise is more a solo record than Carry Them With Us, which saw her collaborate with acclaimed artist and peripatetic collaborator Colin Stetson. Chaimbeul explains that she'd spent the last two years playing live solo, "so that's where I was naturally going at the time of recording, most of the collaborators came on after I had recorded my parts," the exception being "Sguabag/The Sweeper" where she recorded live with the three other pipers. She explains that she's learned a great deal about how to record her instrument, where "a lot of it is about tone, and the depth and richness of that tone, paying attention to detail -- what mics you're using, and how to get the best sound possible." However, Stetson returns on the rousing, whirling "A Chailleach," which also features Chaimbeul's lovely, sparingly used voice. Sunwise is a remarkable album, a record steeped in folklore and tradition but also embracing minimalism, experimentation and the eternal presence of the drone. Her love for this music, these traditions and shared stories, shines through everything she does: "It's a music and language that has survived so much and for so long -- it's the music of people. It's music of the land. And I think it's extremely relevant to hold on to that and learn from that in current times."

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: TART 055EP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Tartelet welcomes the tranquil acid delights of fast-rising Frankfurt-Leipzig duo Not Even Noticed for a brightly melodic, rolling EP of positive party gear. Since forming in 2020, the pair have won over a succession of well-established labels and dancefloors with their infectious, easy-going approach to acid and breakbeat. The mellow, soulful mood on their Aerial EP arrives as the perfect soundtrack to the brightening skies of Spring in the Northern hemisphere. From the airy pads of "Aerial" and the psychedelic chill-out breaks of "Voidness" to the tough groove of "Fidelity" and "Affected"'s tightly wound electro framework, there's plenty of scope across the whole record without losing a grip on the warm and grounded mood that makes this duo such a resounding success wherever their music gets an airing. Coming correct with an all-too-rare restorative quality to their tunes and a serious weight that comes to life over a big system, not even noticed are a perfect fit right here on Tartelet. The 12-inch is limited to 300 copies and comes in a black sleeve with sticker.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: US 5711LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The Malian Dogon ethnic group are notorious worldwide for their animal masks and ritual dances. Their incredible astronomical knowledge -- important festivals are based on the orbit of Sirius B, a planet that cannot be seen with the naked eye -- has puzzled Western researchers for over a hundred years. But has anyone ever heard of the music of this myth-enshrouded people? Petit Goro was the first musician to adapt the traditional Dogon rhythms for a young, modern audience, indeed he is the very first Dogon pop star. When he straps on his guitar on one of Bamako's open-air stages, thousands of dancers kick up the dust. It's a sound that sometimes sounds as if Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and the one-chord vamps of Mississippi Hill Country Blues have moved to the Niger. Pentatonic chords. Dogon chants. And the pull of his band -- which rides towards trance with bass, guitar and traditional percussion. Petit Goro sings about the struggle for their own culture and identity. The pop star is the figurehead of a new movement: in the face of the threat -- almost every week a Dogon village is attacked by jihadists -- the young Dogon have rediscovered their endangered animist traditions. Everywhere in Bamako, young people can be seen proudly wearing their Dogon costumes. Petit Goro, however, carries their message out into the world, rocking archaic traditions with a Dogon blues that has never been heard before.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: VIA 011LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Meet Motherfuckers JMB & Co! J is for Jim, M is for Marc, B is for Brian. The trio's first full-length is a rocket of rhythm and atmosphere that fearlessly treks into vast sonic spaces. Drumbeats spread into constellations, bass pumps air into the sky, drones flare into clouds. Thick grooves drift in and out of focus, but there's always a central force to cling to as all the vapor-trails shoot past. Decades of musical archaeology lurk behind this rainbow-hued swirl of psych, drone, improvisation, and ritual. Brian Weitz (hurdy gurdy) has spent 25 years crafting sound as Geologist in the ground-breaking quartet Animal Collective. Jim Thomson (drums) has been in scores of bands, from helping found Richmond art-metal legends GWAR, to jamming instrumentals in SST alums Alter-Natives (a fitting forebear to JMB's vocal-less jaunts), to driving the spirited dance-punk of Time Is Fire. Marc Minsker (bass, guitar, harmonium) has made music since the early '90s, initially in Third Eye Lounge (who backed legendary improviser Eugene Chadbourne), and later in myriad partnerships around the mid-Atlantic region. The trio came together via old-fashioned community, in the always-fertile ground of the DC/Maryland/Virginia experimental scene. Recordings for Music Excitement Action Beauty took place in Tonal Park studios during a single afternoon, with "lights lowered and incense and candles lit," as Thomson describes. Weitz edited the resulting material after a three-month break, trimming down improvisations and reworking cut-out sections into seamless transitions. Music Excitement Action Beauty features seven cascading tracks that blend like ice cream flavors overfilling a cone. Throughout Music Excitement Action Beauty, there's a communal vibe -- not just from the friends-through-friends connections of JMB, but also the larger environments they've moved in for years. There's a "Co." at the end of their name for a reason, as if Music Excitement Action Beauty was made by three on behalf of many more. "Every group I've played with was usually organically formed and informed by the community and friendships in some ways," says Thomson. "I was very attracted to playing with Marc and Brian because of the promise of repetition, drone, and psychedelia, and it delivered in spades."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: WWSLP 103LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

Repressed. Wewantsounds presents the release of Al-Qasar's new album, Uncovered, a side-project from the group featuring covers from the Western and Arabic repertoires, as well as new originals composed by the group. The album was recorded in Europe and Africa and features guest appearances by Alsarah, Mamani Keita, Cheick Tidiane Seck, and Sami Galbi. Al-Qasar's new album keeps exploring diverse sounds from around the world. One says there's nothing like the original. But when the psychedelic collective tackles such a Depeche Mode classic as "Personal Jesus," you know you're in for a brain-melting, transcontinental journey. The lyrics are in Turkish, and the song's iconic riffs are played on electric saz. The cast is mouth-watering, with studio wizard Thomas Attar producing, playing guitar and saz and Turkish artist Sibel on vocals. "Promises," the second single, is an Afro-futuristic heavy-psych track sung in Bambara which features Malian singer Mamani Keita (who played with Salif Keita) on vocals and the revered "Black Buddah," Cheick Tidiane Seck (Gorillaz, Black Eyed Peas, Santana) on keyboards and backing vocals. On drums you've got Souleymane Ibrahim (from the Tuareg group Mdou Moctar) who unleashes a powerful beat. The rest of the album is sizzling and features Swiss-Morrocan Rai rising star Sami Galbi, Sudanese singer Alsarah, Tunisian virtuoso oud player Nada Mahmoud and Sufi singer Mariam Hamrouni. Produced by Thomas Attar who also plays guitars and synths, Uncovered has been recorded between Tunis, Lisbon, Bamako and Paris and is enhanced by Matt Hyde's warm and massive mix which will enthrall all the group's fans.

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: WH 377CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Jake Breaks returns to Wide Hive for a second album of eleven new songs that stretch out into various genres all the while retaining a cohesive sound. Shades of rock, jazz, hip-hop and even classical music integrate to form the bed of sound that Categorical Expansionism explores and well represents the music of today. Alongside Throttle Elevator Music writers Gregory Howe and Erik Jekabson (trumpet) are Jonny Kamiek (bass), Ross Howe (guitar), Roland Sain (guitar), Mike Hughes (Drums), Mads Tolling on violin, and Ben Davis on cello."

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: WH 378LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Jake Breaks returns to Wide Hive for a second album of eleven new songs that stretch out into various genres all the while retaining a cohesive sound. Shades of rock, jazz, hip-hop and even classical music integrate to form the bed of sound that Categorical Expansionism explores and well represents the music of today. Alongside Throttle Elevator Music writers Gregory Howe and Erik Jekabson (trumpet) are Jonny Kamiek (bass), Ross Howe (guitar), Roland Sain (guitar), Mike Hughes (Drums), Mads Tolling on violin, and Ben Davis on cello."