News & Events

FORCED EXPOSURE MAILORDER UPDATE
NEW RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF 08/03/2026

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: $43.00

CAT #: VP 2773LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"Limited edition double LP set. For the first time together, the complete Torch Of Freedom sessions. The acclaimed follow up to the classic Pick A Dub And Flesh Of My Skin album. Original raw manmba label Jamaican mix, plus Keith's UK remix and re-sequence. Includes bonus dub crying previously only available on rare import 7" single. Features the classic 'Turn The Heater On' as cover by New Order. Extensive sleeve notes by Keith Hudson biographer Vincent Ellis."

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: VP 4145LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress. Reggae anthology. Tracks includes: "Promise Land [Extended Mix]", "Whip Them Jah Jah", "Song My Mother Used To Sing", "Let Me Down Easy", "Created By The Father", "Rebel With A Cause [aka I'm A Rebel With A Cause]", "Words Of Wisdom", "I Am The Conqueror", "What About The Half", "No More Will I Roam", "Voice Of My Father", and "Children of Israel [Special 12" Mix]".

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: VP 4218LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress. LP version. "During the latter half of the seventies very few came close to emulating the success of the productions of Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson. 'The Mighty Two' took the greatest of Kingston's musical and technical innovations and transformed the cutting edge into a commercial proposition that crossed over the rest of the world. Under Heavy Manners was an essential purchase as well as a defining statement on the somber mood of the times in the year that 'Two Sevens Clash' and forty years after its original release, the raw reality of Under Heavy Manner continue to hit home."

 

PRICE: $62.00

CAT #: VPRL 4213LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress. "Two Sevens Clash from Culture was the must-have reggae accessory for any self-respecting music fan back in that long hot summer of '77. Loaded up with hit anthems like 'See Them A Come', 'I Am Not Ashamed', 'Natty Dread Taking Over' and the prophetic title track. 40th Anniversary edition is 3 LPs in deluxe packaging. 'Two Sevens Clash' remains the defining album statement of the year that reggae crossed over -get ready to ride this lion to Zion!"

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: VPRL 4222LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress; LP version. "Recorded at Randy's Studio 17 and Lee Perry's Black Ark, Max Romeo's Revelation Time is rightfully regarded as one of the cornerstones of Jamaican music. Released in JA in 1975 on Black World the album was picked by United Artist for US release and later by listed in The Rough Guide to Reggae as one of the essential reggae albums to own. Includes the classic Lee Perry production 'Three Blind Mice' and one of the all-time killer herbman anthems 'A Quarter Pound Of I'Cense'." CD includes bonus tracks, dubs and DJ cuts from I Roy and Prince Far I.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: NMN 051CD

FILE UNDER: EXPERIMENTAL

2026 restock; last copies, reduced price. In 2000, Henri Pousseur was asked by Philippe Samyn, a Brussels-based architect who liked to work in collaboration with other artforms, to lend his support to the plan for the construction of a business complex by one of the most important building enterprises in the country. There were four low buildings arranged like different parts of a medieval castle-village, grouped around a kind of large open central court. Leaning on the suggested image, Pousseur immediately suggested that the first spinal-column be composed of an electronic carillon, sounding in variations every hour, thus marking the hours between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Henri Poussuer imagined then a connection between Nivelles-time (a city 40 km south of Brussels, where this large project would be situated) and the time of the entire planet and the more or less metaphoric sonic and musical realities attached to it. He made on the one hand the 16 hours of a theoretically complete day of work (from the cleaning service up to the last research in the office) correspond to the 24 hours of a complete terrestrial revolution. He then divided the globe into eight large north/south "slices," themselves divided into three perpendicular "rings": north, center, south, with the understanding that only inhabited lands were taken into consideration. To each of the 8 "great hours" of the total duration, Pousseur associated three regions, one of each ring (north/central/south) set out as far apart as possible on the terrestrial globe. Over a background of a fairly continuous variety of noises which are perpetually evolving: sea, fire, city, swamp, industry, forest, etc., there are ethno-musical samples from one region or from several regions involved, more or less worked over by all sorts of numerical methods which vary their capacity to be recognized as quasi-traditional music. This work once finished (realized in the studio of the composer's son Denis), Pousseur made a synthesis on three discs by superimposing the landscapes (a bit in the manner of the previous Etudes paraboliques) in 16 Paysages Planetaires. The titles of the landscapes express by their contraction the simultaneous or alternate presence of several regions; for example, "Alaskamazonie" is self-explanatory. Something like "Gamelan Celtibere" is a sort of play on something between the West Coast of Europe with the Indonesian archipelago and even the northern part of Australia. Continuing like this you could find it amusing to reconstruct the circumplanetary movement of the work. Michel Butor wrote the luminous prose-verse alternating poetic structure which accompanies these landscapes. His text is included in the 60-page documentation booklet, also featuring two long essays by Henri Pousseur: "Paysages Planetaires" and "Atmospheric and Cultural Sources for Each of the Landscapes." Finally, with this work, Henri Pousseur makes an homage to all the singers and instrumentalists, sound engineers, ethnic musicologists and editors who have either produced, or gathered and transmitted, all the marvelous musical invention which inspired and nourished the work and which, with the sounds of the world, of nature, of society and of industry, are supposed to represent a kind of formal summing-up of life's multiplicity. All the images, obtained through extensive digital treatments, were conceived and manipulated by Henri Poussuer. Housed in a heavy cardboard slipcase with 3CDs and a 60-page booklet.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: N 104LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

On his new album, Micha Acher rearranged compositions for bands such as Tied & Tickled Trio and Ms. John Soda from previous years. None of the 15 pieces from Henry and the Ghost is really scary. On the contrary, they all feel strangely familiar. Like revenants or doppelgängers, which in fact they are. They have all been released before. But in a different form. In different line-ups. With different band projects such as Tied & Tickled Trio, The Notwist or the Alien Ensemble. With the Songbook, Micha Acher's aim was, as he says, to find out how the familiar pieces sound in a chamber music instrumentation. Therefore he met with Theresa Loibl (bass clarinet, piano), Timm Kornelius (bassoon), Markus Rom (guitar, banjo, electronics) and Simon Popp (drums, percussion) in his living room for a musical séance in the summer of 2022. The séance lasted two days. Afterwards, Markus Rom added some haunting electronical ideas. The mood of most of the pieces is melancholic. There are surprising twists and siren-like melodies. Just as ghost stories should be. However, most of the songs sound very light-footed. With their feet in pop, folk, jazz and classical music. The concluding "Nordlead" turns out to be a revenant of the instrumental "N.L." from The Notwist's legendary album Shrink from 1998. In the new version, the piece sounds like a distant echo. One that also brings to mind how Micha Acher's music has evolved. Which new worlds he explored and opened up since the nineties. And yet Acher's signature is recognizable in every single note of this fascinating Songbook.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: BKE 024CL-LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Clear vinyl version. In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room. Back in Mogard's studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centers and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard's layering and subtraction reassembled everyone's parts into the final arrangement. The album opens with "In the Eastern Wild," building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. "Over the Domes" widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with "A Blue Descent," centered on Bertoni's cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth. At the album's center, "In a Quiet Radiance" unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli's violin lines and Bertoni's lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli's processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record's pivotal moments. "Of Blessed Ages" suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music's internal drift. The closing "Among Shadows" settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede. Mogard and Irisarri's shared language balances restraint and maximalism.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: BKE 024LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room. Back in Mogard's studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centers and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard's layering and subtraction reassembled everyone's parts into the final arrangement. The album opens with "In the Eastern Wild," building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. "Over the Domes" widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with "A Blue Descent," centered on Bertoni's cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth. At the album's center, "In a Quiet Radiance" unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli's violin lines and Bertoni's lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli's processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record's pivotal moments. "Of Blessed Ages" suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music's internal drift. The closing "Among Shadows" settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede. Mogard and Irisarri's shared language balances restraint and maximalism. Also available on white (BKE 024WH-LP) and clear (BKE 024CL-LP) color vinyl.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: BKE 024WH-LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

White vinyl version. In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room. Back in Mogard's studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centers and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard's layering and subtraction reassembled everyone's parts into the final arrangement. The album opens with "In the Eastern Wild," building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. "Over the Domes" widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with "A Blue Descent," centered on Bertoni's cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth. At the album's center, "In a Quiet Radiance" unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli's violin lines and Bertoni's lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli's processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record's pivotal moments. "Of Blessed Ages" suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music's internal drift. The closing "Among Shadows" settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede. Mogard and Irisarri's shared language balances restraint and maximalism.

 

PRICE: $16.50

CAT #: BB 447CD

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Released in 1974, Zuckerzeit marks a clear turning point in Cluster's work, introducing shorter formats and a more defined rhythmic framework. The increased use of drum machines and structured sequencing sets it apart from the duo's earlier, more diffuse recordings, while maintaining a focus on texture and tone. Developed in close proximity to Michael Rother and under increasingly independent production conditions, the album establishes a more direct and accessible approach without simplifying its underlying ideas. This standard edition makes the album available again on CD and vinyl following the previous limited anniversary release. A key recording in Cluster's catalogue, capturing a pivotal moment of transition and refinement. In 1974, Cluster entered the sugar era. Many a thing had changed for band members Moebius and Roedelius since Cluster II: They had moved from boisterous Berlin to this calm rural village, they had founded the band Harmonia, had set up their own studio and had bought new equipment. As a result of this and many other things, new impulses were noticeably spurring the evolution of their music. The album Zuckerzeit ("sugar era") launched a revolution for Cluster. Strictly speaking, Zuckerzeit is not really an album by Cluster. More precisely, the LP contains two mini solo albums by Moebius and Roedelius. Those who were familiar with the stylistic peculiarities of the two musicians could easily relate the solo pieces to either one of them. As Roedelius and Moebius had not yet released any solo works by the time, it was actually not possible to draw up any comparisons yet. Zuckerzeit is light and cheerful, freed from the Germanic gravity and the mystic incense fumes that were so fashionable at the time. Cluster managed to keep both feet on the ground without becoming plain or even sterile. The friendliness of the music is clearly due to the two personalities of Roedelius and Moebius; its down-to-earth character possibly comes from Michael Rother, the album's coproducer. When comparing Zuckerzeit to the works of other electronic combos produced at the same time, it is first of all the shortness of the tracks that seems most striking. The fact that Cluster worked in such a calm and collected way, that they concentrated on their musical ideas instead of losing themselves in long-windedness -- all this taken together gave way to the creation of electronic miniatures that sounded as extraordinary in the 1970s as they still do today.

 

PRICE: $26.00

CAT #: BB 447LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

LP version. Released in 1974, Zuckerzeit marks a clear turning point in Cluster's work, introducing shorter formats and a more defined rhythmic framework. The increased use of drum machines and structured sequencing sets it apart from the duo's earlier, more diffuse recordings, while maintaining a focus on texture and tone. Developed in close proximity to Michael Rother and under increasingly independent production conditions, the album establishes a more direct and accessible approach without simplifying its underlying ideas. This standard edition makes the album available again on CD and vinyl following the previous limited anniversary release. A key recording in Cluster's catalogue, capturing a pivotal moment of transition and refinement. In 1974, Cluster entered the sugar era. Many a thing had changed for band members Moebius and Roedelius since Cluster II: They had moved from boisterous Berlin to this calm rural village, they had founded the band Harmonia, had set up their own studio and had bought new equipment. As a result of this and many other things, new impulses were noticeably spurring the evolution of their music. The album Zuckerzeit ("sugar era") launched a revolution for Cluster. Strictly speaking, Zuckerzeit is not really an album by Cluster. More precisely, the LP contains two mini solo albums by Moebius and Roedelius. Those who were familiar with the stylistic peculiarities of the two musicians could easily relate the solo pieces to either one of them. As Roedelius and Moebius had not yet released any solo works by the time, it was actually not possible to draw up any comparisons yet. Zuckerzeit is light and cheerful, freed from the Germanic gravity and the mystic incense fumes that were so fashionable at the time. Cluster managed to keep both feet on the ground without becoming plain or even sterile. The friendliness of the music is clearly due to the two personalities of Roedelius and Moebius; its down-to-earth character possibly comes from Michael Rother, the album's coproducer. When comparing Zuckerzeit to the works of other electronic combos produced at the same time, it is first of all the shortness of the tracks that seems most striking. The fact that Cluster worked in such a calm and collected way, that they concentrated on their musical ideas instead of losing themselves in long-windedness -- all this taken together gave way to the creation of electronic miniatures that sounded as extraordinary in the 1970s as they still do today.

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: CELPACK 001LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The cult album, fully remastered. Recorded in Paris with Jean-Yves Messan, Patrick Francfort, and François Corea, leading figures of the African diaspora, Na Bo Ndedi is one of the pinnacles of makossa's golden age. A classic by Ngallé Jojo, with a unique sound that blends traditional rhythms with modern arrangements, vibrant grooves, and a powerful rhythmic drive. Thirty years later, Celluloid Records is reissuing this essential album in a remastered version. For collectors who know it by heart, and for all those who are finally discovering it.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: RECELESP 001LP

FILE UNDER: WORLD

The cult album, fully remastered. Recorded in Paris with Jean-Yves Messan, Patrick Francfort, and François Corea, leading figures of the African diaspora, Na Bo Ndedi is one of the pinnacles of makossa's golden age. A classic by Ngallé Jojo, with a unique sound that blends traditional rhythms with modern arrangements, vibrant grooves, and a powerful rhythmic drive. Thirty years later, Celluloid Records is reissuing this essential album in a remastered version. For collectors who know it by heart, and for all those who are finally discovering it. Also available with bonus 7" (CELPACK 001LP).

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: CT 119LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress; 1995 release. "A virtual wizard of the mixing desk, Overton H Brown has been one of the key figures in dub since the late 1970s. Getting his start as a teenager at King Tubby's legendary studio in Waterhouse, Brown was known as 'The Scientist' because his imaginative approach to the mixing desk and electronic gadgetry seemed to derive from magical powers that linked him to some intangible, futuristic realm."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: CT 124LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress. Recorded at Channel One Studio in 1982. Tracks include "Having Fun With The Klingons," "Rocking Time Warp Dub," "Jah Love All Aliens," "Conversation With Kahn" and "Smerf Wak Head Beat."

 

PRICE: $47.50

CAT #: CT 3388EP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 restock. Tracklist: Cornell Campbell - "Gun Court/Gifted And Black"; Johnny Clarke - "Creation Rebel"/The Aggrovators - "Creation Dub"; Augustus Pablo - "Jah Light"/"Jah Light Drum And Bass"; Devon Irons - "When Jah Comes"/Lee Perry - "Jah Dub"; Burning Spear - "Travelling"/"Walking In Dub"; Johnny Clarke - "None Shall Escape The Judgment"/King Tubby - "Judgment Day"; Lee Perry And The Aggrovators - "Ski-Wa-Wa"/Junior Byles - "When Better Will Come"
"The 7'' box set first of the series featuring, rock classics reggae from the Clocktower catalogue. We know you will enjoy this 1st 7'' collector box set with a magnetic lid. All of these are from the 70''s and are in mint condition and some are in color vinyl. To all our fans who continue to buy and support the Clocktower releases whether on 12'', 10'' or 7'', we thank you! So please add this to your personal collection and listen and enjoy to the music of life." -- Alfred Newman

 

PRICE: $23.00

CAT #: DKR 198LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"A long overdue return to the Chopper label, after some singles from way back in 2010. This 12 song LP corrals all our favorites from the label. The album features a mix of early '80s style live rhythms laid at Channel 1 and some great classical late '80s digital style. Lionel Barrett was the original and perhaps the core artist of the Chopper stable, and is featured heavily here. A few of his tracks as well as a couple others here are now issued on vinyl for the first time. The remaining are retrieved from long out of press albums and singles. The jacket features a survey of all of Chopper's excellent graphic design. All told this LP is a great overview of a prolific JA-NYC connected label from dancehall's best era."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: DKR 320EP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"Well-necessary reissue of Little Roy's Uprising classic, which was previously featured on the Roots Aggregation compilation LP in 2019. This time it's with the dub version as on the original 45, both tracks from master tape. On the B-side are two more previously unreleased instrumentals from the 12 Tribes musical maestro, Pablove Black. 'Reaching Our Goal' is an instrumental cut to George Beaufort's single of the same name on the Orthodox label, while 'Kissinger in Africa' is a wild synthesizer cut to the classic 'Black Star Liner' rhythm that's been spotted on dubplate a few times over the years."

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: DKR 333EP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"A best of both worlds reissue of the two most sought-after tracks on Keith Cole's Lovebird imprint. Keith cut some sides for producers in Jamaica in the early '70s before coming to New York and starting his own Lovebird label, mostly self-producing thru the first half of the '80s. The A-side here 'Honey Bee Fantasy' is a killer slow burner of mid '80s boogie/funk, featuring a couple of well-known American jazz/funk session players on the rhythm track. The picture sleeve is a near replica of the one that came with the original press. For the B-side comes Keith's production of Canadian singer Ann Marie, who also does backing vocals on 'Honey Bee Fantasy.' On 'Together Again' she's singing on a well known and loved moody early '80s rhythm, laid by the first incarnation of the Roots Radics which featured Blacka & Bingy Bunny of the Morwells."

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: DKR 339EP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"A little something out of the ordinary for DKR here, a four track dub 12" featuring one old and three new mixes, the latter done in excellent faithful fashion to the sound and Music Works dubplate style of their time. Junior Moore's 'Atlantis' is one of our favorite Gussie tunes, very underrated and under the radar. For the other three tracks, these are new mixes done from the original multi track tapes, in faithful style to the way they would have come on dubplate for sound systems, right out of Gussie's original Music Works studio on Slipe Road. If you like the spare, raw drum and bass style of the Taxi label, or the early '80s sound of Channel 1, these mixes will be right up your alley. These two early Hopeton Lindo roots tracks should be familiar to hardcore roots heads. The Pam Hall is another sleeper cut, a dark lovers take on the Stylistics' soul classic, which gets harder and moodier when stripped back like this -- indeed some raw rhythm cuts of this one were played by sounds like Jah Shaka."

 

PRICE: $23.00

CAT #: DKR 351LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"10-song compilation LP. Comes with insert detailing full musician and studio credits. Howard 'Sir Tommy' Mapp is one of the original guards of New York sound men, playing sound system since 1974. Around a decade after that, he began producing for his newly formed label of the same name. Later in the 1990's he established his own studio, which became a hub of New York's dancehall scene. In true independent fashion, Tommy covered nearly every aspect of the reggae business himself, marking him firmly as a peer in the NYC scene with others who blazed a similar path, like Wackie's, Jah Life, and Philip Smart. This is the first reissue of the early gems in Tommy's catalog and makes some more classic New York reggae accessible again. So what better to start with than a new compilation, 100% heaters, culled from long unavailable singles and albums. This LP is packed with prime cuts of just such music. Absolutely essential stuff for 1980's reggae heads."

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: EMEGO 322LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Pon is Tujiko Noriko's sixth album for Editions Mego and a further extension of her already significant body of work as both a solo and collaborative artist. Dedicated to her cat who she adopted as an infant and passed away due an accident having been born deaf, Pon is imbued with abstraction, tenderness and a deep emotional resonance. Noriko's palette of electronics, romantic melodies and surprising sonic details are all fully present here, and like her last full length, 2023's Crépuscule this is an epic work, released as a 2LP by Editions Mego. The unmistakable hue of Japan hovers throughout this emotional rich landscape. Subtle field recordings and fragile, abstract motifs drift through the album, all cloaked in a warmth and humanity that only Noriko seems able to conjure. Pon moves effortlessly between the childlike and the obscure. There are moments of deceptive simplicity where unexpected elements suddenly surface -- strange voices emerge on "Boku Wa Obaka." "Knife of Yonder" is a standout: a startling ten-minute unfolding that begins with a warm, almost Eno-esque drift before launching into a soaring mid-section and finally landing somewhere unexpectedly blues-adjacent. "Kikoeru Pon" is brimming with childlike wonder -- a heartfelt ballad that dissolves into domestic field recordings, including sounds of the feline for whom both the album and track are named. A quietly devastating ending that brings the personal nature of the record into sharp focus. There is a deep sense of the human in the way Noriko embraces technology. This is far from cold abstraction; rather, Pon feels like a colorful photo album, documenting Noriko's inner world and instincts with remarkable intimacy. Hovering in liminal states between pop, ambient and abstraction, this is a deeply affective and moving release that reveals new surprises with each listen. The emotional range of Noriko's latest offering inspires hope in a world in disarray. It is both gentle and epic and one which we feel embodies the work of an artist fully at the height of her powers.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: FAITBACK 006LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

2026 restock. A long-lost vinyl album is back in stock: for the last 20 years, Kosmischer Pitch by Jan Jelinek, originally released in 2005 on ~scape, existed only as a digital download. Right on time for the 20th anniversary, the remastered album is available again on vinyl. What the press said about Kosmischer Pitch back in 2005: "For Kosmischer Pitch, Jelinek draws from the obsessed-over rock produced by his German countrymen in the 1970s. Trance-inducing repetition is constantly modulated by variations that hover on the threshold of audibility. One of the more remarkable bodies of work in electronic music." (Pitchfork). "Like the cosmic compositions it delicately references, Kosmischer Pitch is proof that the higher and lower pleasures can triumphantly combine." (The Wire Magazine).

 

PRICE: $24.00

CAT #: 1FFJT176

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Limited 2026 repress. Alga Marghen/Formalibera present the first of a series of released documenting the work of Danish composer and multi-instrumentalist John Tchicai. This new LP features two previously unpublished recordings, "Beautiful United Harmony Happening" with Don Cherry and "Education Of An Amphibian" with Sahib Shihab. Tchicai returned to his native Denmark in July 1966 after spending a remarkable four years in New York City. In that short span, he helped redefine and expand the relationship between soloing, collective improvisation, and composition in small free jazz ensembles such as the New York Art Quartet, the New York Contemporary Five, and on albums such as New York Eye and Ear Control with Albert Ayler and John Coltrane's Ascension. It certainly counts as one of the most fertile periods in any artist's career. Yet when he returned to Europe, Tchicai turned his attention primarily (although not exclusively) to large ensemble music. The breakthroughs made in New York were not lost, but transferred to a large group context, opening up further avenues of exploration. "The Education of an Amphibian" by the John Tchicai Octet represents a first try at "Komponist Udøver Ensemble," or "Composing Improvisers Orchestra," an approach that further blurred boundaries between improvisation and composition. Recorded in October 1966, the piece presents Tchicai as composer and guiding presence; an organizer of sounds; and an explorer of a widening musical vocabulary drawn from contemporary classical and African influences. "Beautiful United Harmony Happening" is something different -- an opportunity to embrace new modes of interdisciplinary performance. From the beginning of his return to Denmark, Tchicai sought out not only musicians, but artists in all artforms and began to organize happenings. Although rarely noted, ideas linked to Fluxus, performance art, and happenings were a large influence of Tchicai's thinking at this time. All these related movements sought to blur or erase boundaries between media and set up juxtapositions between styles and artforms that disrupted received ideas of "high" and "low" art. Participation by non-artists introduced elements that challenged ideas about virtuosity and legitimate expression. Random elements were embraced, and non-Western music and concepts were welcome. This performance, heard here in an excerpt from the full two-hour performance, is very much in this vein. It is one of the last performances involving members of Cadentia Nova Danica, but they are only one component (and hardly the focus) of an ensemble that included a five-member chorus of disciples of the Swami Narayanananda (Tchicai lived at the yogi's ashram and had organized the choir himself), the Diane Black Dance Theatre, and trumpeter Don Cherry. Includes insert.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1576CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2022. After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering. Feeding The Machine was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham. The record features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories. With the use of modular synths and sampling, traditional melody and song structures are left behind as the musicians are pushed creatively to respond and in turn, "feed the machine."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1576CDOBI

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Japanese edition. Originally released in 2022. After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering. Feeding The Machine was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham. The record features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories. With the use of modular synths and sampling, traditional melody and song structures are left behind as the musicians are pushed creatively to respond and in turn, "feed the machine."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GB 1576LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2022. After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering. Feeding The Machine was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham. The record features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories. With the use of modular synths and sampling, traditional melody and song structures are left behind as the musicians are pushed creatively to respond and in turn, "feed the machine."

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GB 1576OBILP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Japanese edition. Originally released in 2022. After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering. Feeding The Machine was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham. The record features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories. With the use of modular synths and sampling, traditional melody and song structures are left behind as the musicians are pushed creatively to respond and in turn, "feed the machine."

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1578CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2022. The second album of the multi-award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer, Binker Golding. The record finds Golding moving towards a new sound that incorporates elements of blues, heart-land rock and Americana while remaining firmly rooted in the jazz idiom. The songs explore themes of manhood, father and son relationships, friendship, love and sex, reflection, drinking, escapism, death, masculinity, and resilience.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GB 1578LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2022. The second album of the multi-award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer, Binker Golding. The record finds Golding moving towards a new sound that incorporates elements of blues, heart-land rock and Americana while remaining firmly rooted in the jazz idiom. The songs explore themes of manhood, father and son relationships, friendship, love and sex, reflection, drinking, escapism, death, masculinity, and resilience.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1579CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2022. The fourth album by the singular Bastien Keb. Conceived as a fantasy world to escape self-doubt and loneliness, fragments from everyday life continue to bleed through the cracks of reality -- the harmony from a distant car alarm, someone's headphones on the night bus, rain on leaky roof, a decaying siren -- to produce a dreamlike journey pieced together from half-imagined memories and late-night inner-voice conversations.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GB 1579LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2022. The fourth album by the singular Bastien Keb. Conceived as a fantasy world to escape self-doubt and loneliness, fragments from everyday life continue to bleed through the cracks of reality -- the harmony from a distant car alarm, someone's headphones on the night bus, rain on leaky roof, a decaying siren -- to produce a dreamlike journey pieced together from half-imagined memories and late-night inner-voice conversations.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1580CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2022. Village Of The Sun is an enigmatic collaboration between UK jazz virtuosos Binker Golding & Moses Boyd and electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx fame. Born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music, the new project sees all three of the artists steps into relatively new territory, combining their respective sensibilities to create something all at once atmospheric and danceable.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GB 1580LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2022. Village Of The Sun is an enigmatic collaboration between UK jazz virtuosos Binker Golding & Moses Boyd and electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx fame. Born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music, the new project sees all three of the artists steps into relatively new territory, combining their respective sensibilities to create something all at once atmospheric and danceable.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1582CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Emmanuel Harold is a Grammy-nominated and award-winning drummer best known for his work with Gregory Porter; his extensive list of collaborators ranges from Damon Albarn, De La Soul, Wynton Marsalis, and Robert Glasper to Stevie Wonder. The music incorporates elements of R&B, jazz, funk, gospel, and hip-hop, with Gregory Porter appearing as a featured vocalist on the lead single, "I Think." The album also features guest appearances by Grammy-winning artist Malcolm-Jamal Warner -- known to Japanese audiences for his acting role in the medical drama The Resident -- as well as Emmanuel's brother, jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and fellow Gregory Porter collaborator and Grammy-winning musician Tivon Pennicott.

 

PRICE: $27.00

CAT #: GB 1582LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Emmanuel Harold is a Grammy-nominated and award-winning drummer best known for his work with Gregory Porter; his extensive list of collaborators ranges from Damon Albarn, De La Soul, Wynton Marsalis, and Robert Glasper to Stevie Wonder. The music incorporates elements of R&B, jazz, funk, gospel, and hip-hop, with Gregory Porter appearing as a featured vocalist on the lead single, "I Think." The album also features guest appearances by Grammy-winning artist Malcolm-Jamal Warner -- known to Japanese audiences for his acting role in the medical drama The Resident -- as well as Emmanuel's brother, jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and fellow Gregory Porter collaborator and Grammy-winning musician Tivon Pennicott.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1584CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2023. Dwight Trible presents Ancient Future. Featuring special guests Kamasi Washington, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Greg Paul, Megashia Jackson, G. E. Stinson, Andrew Gouché, John Beasley, and Rene Fisher. On Ancient Future, Trible collaborates once again with Kamasi Washington (saxophone), as well as lauded LA multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow (vocals), who is signed to Brianfeeder and has previously worked with the likes of Madlib, Denzel Curry, Mos Def, Blood Orange, and Brittany Howard. Elsewhere, the record also features double Grammy winning pianist, John Beasley; Kamaal Williams touring drummer Greg Paul; gospel bassist Andrew Gouché; percussionist and backing vocalist Megashia Jackson; LA guitarist G. E. Stinson; and percussionist Rene Fisher. A key figurehead in the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible is a legend in waiting. With an incredible career spanning decades, he has played a pivotal role in creating as much jazz history through his work and inspiration in the new wave of US jazz, as he should be noted for in his undoubtable vocal and songwriting talent. He is the vocalist for the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and has collaborated with a huge variety of artists. Trible has also been on the forefront of the US jazz resurgence, working as executive director of the hugely crucial arts space The World Stage -- a vital component to Leimert Park, which has been the epicenter of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s. Ancient Future is another step out from behind the curtain for Dwight Trible, and one that continues to celebrate the local community, the artists who have come up through The World Stage. These are all things that may seem external to Trible on first look, but they are in-fact elements that largely what make him who he is, and with this album, there is no better time to get to know him.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: GB 1584LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2023. Dwight Trible presents Ancient Future. Featuring special guests Kamasi Washington, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Greg Paul, Megashia Jackson, G. E. Stinson, Andrew Gouché, John Beasley, and Rene Fisher. On Ancient Future, Trible collaborates once again with Kamasi Washington (saxophone), as well as lauded LA multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow (vocals), who is signed to Brianfeeder and has previously worked with the likes of Madlib, Denzel Curry, Mos Def, Blood Orange, and Brittany Howard. Elsewhere, the record also features double Grammy winning pianist, John Beasley; Kamaal Williams touring drummer Greg Paul; gospel bassist Andrew Gouché; percussionist and backing vocalist Megashia Jackson; LA guitarist G. E. Stinson; and percussionist Rene Fisher. A key figurehead in the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible is a legend in waiting. With an incredible career spanning decades, he has played a pivotal role in creating as much jazz history through his work and inspiration in the new wave of US jazz, as he should be noted for in his undoubtable vocal and songwriting talent. He is the vocalist for the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and has collaborated with a huge variety of artists. Trible has also been on the forefront of the US jazz resurgence, working as executive director of the hugely crucial arts space The World Stage -- a vital component to Leimert Park, which has been the epicenter of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s. Ancient Future is another step out from behind the curtain for Dwight Trible, and one that continues to celebrate the local community, the artists who have come up through The World Stage. These are all things that may seem external to Trible on first look, but they are in-fact elements that largely what make him who he is, and with this album, there is no better time to get to know him.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: GB 1591CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Taken from Abdullah Ibrahim's summer 2023 sold-out headline date at London's Barbican Centre, 3 follows suit and is spread across two performances -- the first is recorded without an audience ahead of the concert straight to analogue on a 1" Scully tape machine, which had previously been used by Elvis at the famous Memphis-based Sun Studios. The second recording is taken from the evening's performance itself with Ibrahim performing in a unique trio which includes Cleave Guyton (flute, piccolo, saxophone) who has performed alongside the likes of Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, and Joe Henderson, as well as lauded bassist and cellist Noah Jackson, both of which are members of EKAYA and featured on Ibrahim's Top 3 Billboard Jazz album The Balance.

 

PRICE: $52.50

CAT #: GB 1591LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Taken from Abdullah Ibrahim's summer 2023 sold-out headline date at London's Barbican Centre, 3 follows suit and is spread across two performances -- the first is recorded without an audience ahead of the concert straight to analogue on a 1" Scully tape machine, which had previously been used by Elvis at the famous Memphis-based Sun Studios. The second recording is taken from the evening's performance itself with Ibrahim performing in a unique trio which includes Cleave Guyton (flute, piccolo, saxophone) who has performed alongside the likes of Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, and Joe Henderson, as well as lauded bassist and cellist Noah Jackson, both of which are members of EKAYA and featured on Ibrahim's Top 3 Billboard Jazz album The Balance.

 

PRICE: $20.50

CAT #: GB 1593CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2024. There is so much to discover, and love, about Japanese pop music, and in particular the genre known as City Pop, with elements of disco, R&B, funk, AOR and soul released in the 1970s and 1980s. There were also traces of the genre in the 1990s and it is increasingly found in today's pop music, both stylistically and through sampling, with artists like The Weeknd, Benny Sings and Friday Night Plans opening up the sound to a whole new generation of music lovers around the world. City Music Tokyo represents some of the many highlights of the genre from a variety of originators and key artists making this wonderful hybrid of music. High production values, stunning arrangements, the most talented musicians, and a lot of shiny new Japanese technology all coming together in some of the best studios in the world at the time! Featuring CARNATION, Yasushi Nakanishi, JADOES, Keiko Kimura, Tomoki Kikuchi, Yumi Seino, Takaki Horigome, Midori Hara, Emi Necozawa, Nanako Sato, Kyoko Furuya, Escalators, Mitsuko Horie, Namihiko Ohmura, Chikako Ueno, and Hiroshi Sato.

 

PRICE: $39.50

CAT #: GB 1593LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2024. There is so much to discover, and love, about Japanese pop music, and in particular the genre known as City Pop, with elements of disco, R&B, funk, AOR and soul released in the 1970s and 1980s. There were also traces of the genre in the 1990s and it is increasingly found in today's pop music, both stylistically and through sampling, with artists like The Weeknd, Benny Sings and Friday Night Plans opening up the sound to a whole new generation of music lovers around the world. City Music Tokyo represents some of the many highlights of the genre from a variety of originators and key artists making this wonderful hybrid of music. High production values, stunning arrangements, the most talented musicians, and a lot of shiny new Japanese technology all coming together in some of the best studios in the world at the time! Featuring CARNATION, Yasushi Nakanishi, JADOES, Keiko Kimura, Tomoki Kikuchi, Yumi Seino, Takaki Horigome, Midori Hara, Emi Necozawa, Nanako Sato, Kyoko Furuya, Escalators, Mitsuko Horie, Namihiko Ohmura, Chikako Ueno, and Hiroshi Sato.

 

PRICE: $15.50

CAT #: GB 1594CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

Originally released in 2024. From his first full-length album Minima Moralia in 2006, through the subsequent 70+ albums that followed, Chihei Hatakeyama has created a mighty canon of work. Having collaborated with the likes of Ai Kuwabara, Hiroki Chiba, Kei Matsumaru, Gen Hoshino, Terumasa Hino, Tony Allen, and countless others, Shun Ishiwaka is one of Japan's most prolific modern jazz drummers. Between them they've played across ambient, experimental, electronic, pop, hip-hop, jazz, and metal projects, and that's what this release represents -- a meeting of like-minded musicians with innumerable reference points coming together at an epoch-making juncture to produce an ambient work brimming with creativity and understanding. They met while appearing live on radio. This extended to a series of gigs. The chemistry was instantaneous and recording sessions for this two-volume epic followed, in March 2023. Chihei's specific references for guitar treatments on this album include My Bloody Valentine, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Keiji Haino. Both musicians drew on their love of free jazz and spiritual jazz, and in particular the works of Alice Coltrane and later period Sun Ra. Psycho-acoustic considerations, chance, spontaneity and the cross-section at which musicians respond (or not) to each other, in the heat of the moment, were all inspirations for this remarkable project.

 

PRICE: $35.50

CAT #: GB 1594LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. Originally released in 2024. From his first full-length album Minima Moralia in 2006, through the subsequent 70+ albums that followed, Chihei Hatakeyama has created a mighty canon of work. Having collaborated with the likes of Ai Kuwabara, Hiroki Chiba, Kei Matsumaru, Gen Hoshino, Terumasa Hino, Tony Allen, and countless others, Shun Ishiwaka is one of Japan's most prolific modern jazz drummers. Between them they've played across ambient, experimental, electronic, pop, hip-hop, jazz, and metal projects, and that's what this release represents -- a meeting of like-minded musicians with innumerable reference points coming together at an epoch-making juncture to produce an ambient work brimming with creativity and understanding. They met while appearing live on radio. This extended to a series of gigs. The chemistry was instantaneous and recording sessions for this two-volume epic followed, in March 2023. Chihei's specific references for guitar treatments on this album include My Bloody Valentine, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Keiji Haino. Both musicians drew on their love of free jazz and spiritual jazz, and in particular the works of Alice Coltrane and later period Sun Ra. Psycho-acoustic considerations, chance, spontaneity and the cross-section at which musicians respond (or not) to each other, in the heat of the moment, were all inspirations for this remarkable project.

 

PRICE: $42.00

CAT #: GME 939LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

2026 repress forthcoming; double LP version. Magma, is a French cross-genre, jazz-rock rooted, progressive rock and fusion band founded in 1969 by drummer Christian Vander. Magma have existed in two phases, the first was formed in the summer of 1969 and debuted on LP in 1970, continuing through to 1983. Kobaia was released in the spring of 1970.

 

PRICE: $43.00

CAT #: GREL 2107LP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

2026 repress. Featuring: Roots Radics, Johnny Osbourne, Little John, Billy Boyo, Hugh Mundell, Wayne Jarrett, Toyan, and Captain Sinbad.

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: HRZ 010BK

FILE UNDER: ROCK

123 pages. Second edition of 350. "It's finally come to fruition. Chicago photographer and graphic designer Brian Shanley may best known for his work with Wax Trax! Records during the 1980s, but for the first time anywhere, Hozac Books has collected his seminal band photographs that he shot during his time before settling in at the record label's art department. Most of these incredible shots are previously unpublished, and not even seen by many of the bands themselves. From 1976 to 1984, Brian Shanley fixated himself at the epicenter of whichever show was happening around Chicago (and a few from NYC and London as well) and locked in on the talent. Setting his craft apart from most of his photographer brethren, Shanley focused on portrait-style shots of bands that rarely ever sat still, and along with his trusty camera, was welcomed into a world where most people aren't allowed to tread. You won't find a better snapshot of the fledgling '70s Chicago punk scene than in Dodged & Burned, which collects rare images of bands such as Epicycle, The Imports, Sundog Summit, Special Affect, and more, that escaped attention and fame at the time, yet still are firmly rooted in the city's rich music history. But that still can't overshadow Shanley's incredible shots of the new and exciting touring bands that criss-crossed the US passing thru Chicago on many of their maiden voyages, most of which have never been seen before anywhere. Featuring a Foreword by Sub Pop Records' founder Bruce Pavitt, he fondly recalls meeting Shanley in the early 1980s when his Chicago-based fanzine Subterranean Pop ran their first ads that Shanley designed for Wax Trax, as well as an introduction by David Kendrick (DEVO, Sparks, Gleaming Spires) and commentary by Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, Tones on Tail)."

 

PRICE: $23.00

CAT #: HRZ 023BK

FILE UNDER: MISC

202 pages, softcover. "Hozac Books presents An Ideal For Living: A Celebration of the EP (Extended Play) by Corey du Browa and friends. An impressive first overview and history of the often-neglected E.P. format, whether a 6-track 3" CD, a 4-track 7", a 5-track 10", or a 6-track 12", the EP is the sweet spot between a 'single' and an album/LP and it's time you recognized how many great specimens there truly are. From Dangerhouse to Touch and Go to Sub Pop to Flying Nun, and all roads in between, savvy labels have used the EP to great effect and it's been the way to introduce bands in a less risky mid-sized format for decades. This super-interesting guide shows how the format developed and how it took on a life of its own, from early jazz and rock'n roll through the beat and psychedelic rock era, right on through punk, new wave, and post-punk, and into the alternative/indie rock era, right up to the modern age. This rousing guide through the mid-sized mindset features a huge swath of guest writers galore, each offering up their enthusiastic opinions on which E.P.s deserve your attention, divided by decade, along with all of their details on long-forgotten B-sides and extras that couldn't fit on the 7" version, yet easily pad out a 12". Featuring contributions from Camilla Aisa, A.D. Amorosi, Rick Anguilla, Andrew Beaujon, Jonathan Blunk, Tim Bugbee, M.J. Call, Jason Cohen, Byron Coley, Britt Daniel, Joe Ehrbar, Rob Elba, Neil Ferguson, Jeff Gold, Glenn Francis Griffith, Matt Hickey, Tim Hinely, Jon D. Hurwitz, Steve Klinge, Joseph Kyle, David Menconi, Steve Michener, Eric T. Miller, Nathan Misner, Kevin Moyer, Tom Murphy, Molly Neuman, Al Quint, Jim Riswold, Nickolas Rossi, Jason Roth, Matt Ryan, Chris Slusarenko, David Smay, Tim Stegall, Kevin Stewart-Panko, Matt Teper, Pat Thomas, Eric Waggoner, Henry Wimmer, Annie Zaleski, & Scott Zuppardo. Foreword by Britt Daniel (Spoon). Epilogue by Chris Slusarenko (Sprinkler, Guided By Voices, Boston Spaceships, Eyelids)."

 

PRICE: $32.00

CAT #: HRZ 025BK

FILE UNDER: ROCK

320 pages, softcover. "Hozac Books presents another foundational brick in the pantheon of New Zealand underground music with Peter Jefferies - The Other Side of Reason, a career-spanning biography by music historian Andrew Schmidt of Audioculture.nz. Covering Jefferies' earliest musical projects during the first wave punk heyday such as Dull Emma and Pink Noise on into Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, Plagal Grind, Cyclops, and much more in striking detail, the author leaves no stone unturned and weaves Jefferies life story into a gripping saga of innovation, isolation, and redemption. Alongside is the story of the evolving Flying Nun imprint as well as the creation of Xpressway which served to fill a sorely needed gap in handling and distributing more of the marginal New Zealand lo-fi recordings to the masses. The Other Side of Reason truly shows the endless power of creative perseverance and the intensities that come therein when dealing with that immovable thrust in the core of your being and how to channel that into something that lasts for the ages. For ten long years between 2002 and 2012, Peter Jefferies, the New Zealand indie composer and musician didn't answer the phone or his email, when old and new fans and friends called. He didn't want to know about the brilliant run of solo albums and live shows that sparked a major cult following in the United States. Then step by step, note by note, year by year, Jefferies emerged from his Taranaki abode on the edge of home city, New Plymouth, to see nearly every major work he'd meticulously assembled in the post-punk and alternative rock era between 1980 and 2002 in New Zealand and the US reissued and universally praised. The cultural footprint from his busy and fiercely creative years with Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, Xpressway Records, Plagal Grind, Cyclops, Two Foot Flame and solo was that deep. Returning sporadically to the live stage in New Zealand, new music soon flowed, adding to one of the small South Pacific nation's most potent collections of words and sound. Written with Peter's cooperation, Peter Jefferies - The Other Side of Reason reveals the stark beauty, brutal honesty and endearing humanity of his best work, as music historian, Andrew Schmidt, traces the Stratford-born musician's life through New Zealand's punk and post-punk hot spots in Auckland, New Plymouth, and Dunedin in the 1980s and early 1990s, and then, when the world came calling, Chicago, Vancouver, and Austin, Texas, with tours through Europe and Australia from the mid to late 1990s into the new millennium."

 

PRICE: $36.00

CAT #: HRZ 027BK

FILE UNDER: ROCK

170 pages, softcover. First edition of 500. "As a founding member of one of Los Angeles' earliest female-led bands, Backstage Pass, Genevieve Schorr lived and breathed rock'n roll growing up like a lot of teenagers at the time. What set her apart was forging her unique band so early in the punk timeline (a direct shot from her glam and pub rock influences) and eventually evolving her life into becoming a professional rock'n roll stylist to the stars. Genny's book reads like a lost diary trapped in a punk house time capsule from the era, complete with tales of dereliction and unsuspecting victories along the way. Crossing paths with such wildly diverse characters such as The Screamers, The Mumps, Dr. Feelgood, The Damned, The Quick, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, The Bangles, and Linda Ronstadt, All Roads Lead To Punk is an invigorating flash through a wild life not to be forgotten. This book comes also with a limited-edition Backstage Pass 7″ single featuring the original 1977 studio recordings of 'Legend (Come On Up To Me)' (immortalized by Redd Kross's version in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls) b/w 'Let Me Show You Love.'"

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: HRZ 028BK

FILE UNDER: ROCK

242 pages, softcover. First edition of 400. "As long as there has been music, the form has been used as a vehicle for storytelling. Artists who have something to say often find that putting it into music is the ideal means of communicating thoughts and feelings to others. And the concept-album form is a logical extension of that storytelling impulse, often writ large. It allows the writer to tackle bigger themes, more involved story lines, more finely textured characters and ideas. In the pages of What's The Big Idea, author Bill Kopp explores 30 remarkable concept albums, drawing on new, firsthand interviews with the artists behind their creation. Author of the critically acclaimed Disturbing The Peace, Kopp turns us down the darkest road of musical blind-spots yet, the concept album, a previously shunned genre, now worthy of your curiosity. And then you hear something like Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, and The Turtles Present Battle of the Bands, or S.F. Sorrow, and you're REALLY second-guessing yourself now, right? As it turns out, there's something genuinely interesting about this 'concept' in itself, and it lends readers a look into a world when musical creativity really had been unleashed in its full glory. Yes, those extravagances produced much audio garbage, but very few people even get that chance anymore, despite the ease of home recording. Even Captain Sensible and The Church committed this 'big ideas' into noteworthy efforts, along with Hawkwind, William Shatner, Ghostface Killa, and of course, Pete Townshend, who graciously offers an exclusive interview here."

 

PRICE: $14.00

CAT #: HRZ 032EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"The official re-issue of The Tights Bad Hearts 7″ EP, the maiden release on Cherry Red Records in 1978 has come back to roost at HoZac Archival, making this gem of first wave UK punk accessible again. The three tracks on this EP were recorded on 16 track over a weekend in Cheltenham at Millstream Studios 1978, produced by John Acock. This was the first time the band had recorded in a 'real' studio. RIYL: The Users, Eater, Steve Treatment, The Outcasts, Panic, Television Personalities."

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: HRZ 229LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"San Francisco punk's stillborn 1979 masterpiece is about to be mid-wived and you're invited to the violently beautiful procedure. The often-misunderstood 1979 Pop Session recording has been historically misattributed to Negative Trend, the band originally fronted by Rozz Rezabek, in its only available bootleg form, but one thing that's for certain, these nine blood-boiling studio recordings are set to change the historical context going forward. It's truly that heavy, that powerful, that intimidating, and somehow still unknown. Dangerously simmering in the pre-hardcore sweet spot of 1979, this collection of speed-soaked brain-frying tracks is inexplicably stuck in the blind spot for most first wave West Coast punk fanatics, until now. Featuring Bobby Barrage on drums (pre-No Alternative) and the ironically named Dave Basic on guitar, Rozz's Negative Trendisms are still firing on all cylinders through some of the most cranium-exploding vocals ever set to tape. The purely aneurismic vocal delivery on tracks like 'I Don't Wanna Be a Machine' and 'Never Say Die' are going to be used specifically to medically resuscitate dying punk people in the near future so you might wanna just get that ready, y'know?"

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: HRZ 231EP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"Formed in 2022, the Obliques are Angus Gering, Donivan Russell, Jackson Steffens, and Pablo Blackwell. An incredibly unexpected vibe from kids that really have their slop mentality in the right place, and who kick out a delirious tone for the ages. RIYL: The Mirrors, Styrenes, Poly Styrene Jass Band, Electric Eels, Cinderella Backstreet."

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: HRZ 235LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"An earth-moving night in Chicago, 30 crazy years ago, caught HOT on tape and finally unleashed! Teengenerate were a force to be reckoned with in the '90s garage punk underground and with their string of classic singles and LPs, the Midwest was just STARVED for these heathens to break minds wide open. Is this how Hozac started? YES, this was THE SEED. Just an awe-inspiring brute force of punk purity, slashing through incredible covers of The Kids, Pagans, and Fun Things and sowing the seeds of obscure punk obsessions to no end with their savage treasure map of sick sounds. The heat, the power, the rage and the euphoria, it just doesn't always align like it did when Fink & Fifi took the stage. Secretly recorded by Ken White, the Brides' right hand man, and mastered by Tim Warren of Crypt Records for maximum authenticity, Live at the Empty Bottle just explodes out of the grooves and will level anyone within earshot, just like it did when Teengenerate desecrated Chicago TWICE on the same night."

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: HRZ 236LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A true Ohio outsider legend in every sense, Tommy Jay along with his producer/co-hort Mike Rep were recording like crazy in the mid-1970s. Here is an unreleased 1974 studio album with another book of classics intertwined within, and if you've been following Tommy's hypnotic trajectory with Mike Rep, True Believers, and the Harrisburg Players over the years, it's another long-awaited reward for your faith in this underground system you're invested in. Pure Ohio Gold as they say, and as a recently unearthed recording, it is presented it for the first time anywhere, solidifying Tommy Jay's pillar-like influence in the sick and twisted Harrisburg underground. Forever underrated, Tommy shines hard here for the singer-songwriter era, keeping that creeping 'punk edge' just under the surface for extra tension, even in 1974. In another world Tommy Jay would be as well-known as Skip Spence or Ron House, but his star still rises, albeit slowly and surely. Much like a companion LP to The Grim-O-Comix Sequence and his essential Tall Tales of Trauma LP, Short Sagas of Sorrow fills yet another void with its deep lo-fi goodness that has no problem hitting all of your unprotected sweet spots."

 

PRICE: $20.00

CAT #: HRZ 237LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"A common misconception about Mars is that their music was meant to be dark and nihilistic. That's not totally wrong: When their guitars sawed noise, rhythms lurched heavy and words came in howls, listening could be a harrowing experience, as suffocating as any of their apocalyptic No Wave counterparts. But the quartet's work was also energetic, joyful and buoyantly melodic. After all, they started by jamming on tunes by the Velvet Underground, pretty much the ur-band when it comes to sounding both dark and bright. As much as Mars stretched and remade that model into new wiry shapes, the spark of brightness sustained. It's easy to hear when listening to this set recorded in the summer of 1977 at a series of shows put on by the late Terry Ork at the Village Gate, a renowned jazz club in Greenwich Village. All eight songs have an urgent bounce, which is clearest in the caffeinated energy of the vocals, usually delivered in the pungent wail of either Sumner Crane or Connie Burg. Mark Cunningham's rubbery bass and the chopping guitars of Crane and Burg shoot flares as if they were running a fireworks display. Add Nancy Arlen's nonstop drumming -- roughly echoing Mo Tucker if she had extra limbs and Live at the Village Gate becomes a dizzying rush of tunes that zooms by in a taut 24 minutes. Though Mars hadn't even recorded at this point, they were already what Burg called 'like a machine in a way -- a really out of control machine.' Most of these songs were honed when the band was called China, a name they changed a few months before this gig after discovering other, potentially litigious groups bearing that moniker. In fact these songs were so far along that when Mars did start recording, only '3E' would survive, none of the other seven would ever see the dank light of a studio." --Marc Masters

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: KK 144LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

"When I first heard Yelka play I thought to myself: 'I'd like to play in that band.' In the meantime I have realized that it would not be as easy as I imagined. The fluffy easy sound that gets created is so particular that it would not be so easy to execute those exact sounds of the band. This is mostly due to the unconventional harmonies of the guitar. Daniel himself said he is content with the guitar and added an extra one on almost all of the songs. Which I, as a fan of Daniels anarchic approach to playing, love. Also Yelka's groovy smooth bass playing is in the forefront of the album once again. Her sound bounces through the guitar riffs as if it's the most common thing on earth. Once Yelka adds her vocals to the songs, that's when they almost become pop and reminiscent of Velvet Underground. Christian's drums hold these two together through the track list, with a fun Krautrock and jazz influenced style. Everything was recorded live and it sounds fantastic! The sixth track of the Yelka album Jeans is a highlight with the piano support from Federico Corazzini, who adds lush open jazz chords to the incredible intricate harmonies of the band. Arne Bergner (Studio Popschutz) who is once more responsible for the production of the album, also added a beautiful choir arrangement. The finishing touches completing Yelka´s wonderful sound as always added by Norman Nitzsches mastering (Mokik Studio). From top to bottom an amazing album: 'King of the World' (Steely Dan cover), a pop song with a fantastic keyboard solo from `the one and only Dan Ra´ alias Daniel Nentwig (The Whitest Boy Alive), 'Moon for Now,' an atmospheric jazz-ish tune, to 'Walking Whispering,' a strong nine-minute guitar heavy number. I think there are more than two guitars in this one. American indie rock/pop/jazz whatever -- school (after all, it's the third album in the band's America trilogy) and yet above all Berlin, in its most likeable and perhaps even coolest form." --Masha Qrella

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: KEPLARREV 024LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Originally released in 2008 on Ezekiel Honig's own Anticipate Recordings, Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band finds the artist refining a compositional language rooted in the methodologies of musique concrete, ambient, and beat research. Working from a palette of environmental recordings, instrumental fragments, and soft electronic treatments, Honig pushes the source material into an array of sympathetic forms ranging from pillow-soft, lowercase ambient to diffuse downtempo and minimal house. For its reissue on Keplar, the album has been remastered by Kassian Troyer (D&M), bringing a new clarity to its intricate, low-lit architectures. Throughout the record, serving almost as audiographic guideposts, are faint but insistent gestures toward propulsion, an abiding and recurrent 4/4 pulse that guides the music laterally and instantiates a slow negotiation between its various elements. This music invites close listening precisely by not revealing itself all at once, allowing small collisions of timbre and subtle shifts in emphasis to carry the weight. The traces of lived environments that remain embedded in the mix -- distant crowds, sounds of transit, the indistinct acoustics of interiors in flux -- expand the frame without breaking its intimacy, creating a potent dislocation between the nearness of the sound and the scale of its sources. Rather than foregrounding any single voice, this is music that distributes attention equally across its materials, allowing background details to assert their presence as much as melody or rhythm. Honig presents listeners with an astute practice that's concerned less with building from the ground up than with uncovering what happens when disparate textures and structures are brought into close contact with one another.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: LMS 1725758

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Renascent marks the long-awaited return of legendary Manchester outfit The Durutti Column, their first new studio album in over fifteen years, produced by Keir Stewart. Around the guitar work of Vini Reilly, the album plays between sonic atmospherics and structure: warm ambient washes, piano, beats and guest vocal turns by a new generation (Caoilfhionn Rose on "Agonistes" and Lucas Elliot on CD bonus track "All they See is Fire"). Both contemporary and otherworldly, and with a swathe of new champions citing the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis), Renascent is a timely and vital rebirth for The Durutti Column. Artwork by long-time collaborators 8vo. CD features an exclusive additional bonus track "All They See is Fire." Also available on 1LP yellow standard edition (LMS 1725759) and 1LP coke bottle green deluxe edition (LMS 1725760) with exclusive alternative artwork, gatefold sleeve and large format 12-page booklet. Video for "Scammer":

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: LMS 1725759

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Yellow vinyl. Renascent marks the long-awaited return of legendary Manchester outfit The Durutti Column, their first new studio album in over fifteen years, produced by Keir Stewart. Around the guitar work of Vini Reilly, the album plays between sonic atmospherics and structure: warm ambient washes, piano, beats and guest vocal turns by a new generation (Caoilfhionn Rose on "Agonistes" and Lucas Elliot on CD bonus track "All they See is Fire"). Both contemporary and otherworldly, and with a swathe of new champions citing the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis), Renascent is a timely and vital rebirth for The Durutti Column. Artwork by long-time collaborators 8vo.

 

PRICE: $40.00

CAT #: LMS 1725760

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Deluxe LP version. Coke-bottle green vinyl. Renascent marks the long-awaited return of legendary Manchester outfit The Durutti Column, their first new studio album in over fifteen years, produced by Keir Stewart. Around the guitar work of Vini Reilly, the album plays between sonic atmospherics and structure: warm ambient washes, piano, beats and guest vocal turns by a new generation (Caoilfhionn Rose on "Agonistes" and Lucas Elliot on CD bonus track "All they See is Fire"). Both contemporary and otherworldly, and with a swathe of new champions citing the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis), Renascent is a timely and vital rebirth for The Durutti Column. Artwork by long-time collaborators 8vo.

 

PRICE: $31.50

CAT #: LMS 1725862

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly album is available again to everyone. Produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries, New Order). Many new champions cite the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis). Includes booklet.

 

PRICE: $11.00

CAT #: LMS 1725876

FILE UNDER: ROCK

The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly album is available again to everyone. Produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries, New Order). Many new champions cite the band as an influence (Blood Orange, Harry Styles, The Avalanches, Mark William Lewis). Includes booklet.

 

PRICE: $16.00

CAT #: M 1231CD

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Step into Radio Bremen's legendary Sendesaal and experience an intimate, breathtaking solo performance by Chick Corea at the height of his artistic development. This newly restored double CD, recorded on October 29, 1972, captures an evening that was both musically daring and deeply personal. An evening when Corea's warmth, imagination, and virtuosity filled one of Europe's best acoustic halls. This concert from the archives of Radio Bremen documents a defining moment: Corea was 31 years old and moved fluidly between different musical worlds. Fresh from Piano Improvisations, shortly before Return to Forever, and in search of new creative partnerships with artists such as Gary Burton and Stan Getz. This performance condenses all that energy into two captivating sets. Throughout the program, Corea transforms the grand piano into a storyteller. He expands pieces like 'Noon Song' far beyond their studio versions, combining rhythmic fire with lyrical beauty and shifting effortlessly from romantic introspection to Latin-infused exuberance. He revisits early gems like 'Children's Song No. 1,' explores Wayne Shorter's 'Masqualero,' and even allows himself to be inspired by a free improvisation influenced by Jonathan Livingston Seagull. What makes this recording so extraordinary is not just the repertoire. Corea speaks to the audience, tells stories, and invites listeners into his creative world. As music journalist Arne Schumacher recalls in the liner notes: 'The beauty and warmth that unfolded from the piano and filled the room was overwhelming. I was spellbound.'"

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: ODA 007LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Bristol duo Pume Orenge unspool a world of spectral electronica from cassette loops and instrumental improvisation on their debut album Angel By Milo for Odda Recordings. It is a world that opens draped in ferric hiss. A fog of sound, dense and yet not quite there, catching the light in strange shades and ambient drifts. Looping and receding, looping and receding, as pucks of static burst like faraway fireworks on a cold winter's night. Sound sources obscured, ambiguous, not quite what they seem. Angel By Milo takes its lead from the analogue process and textures by which it was made. Percussive and melodic loops were established, manipulated and responded to with instrumental improvisation, in a give-and-take with the materiality of the medium. Across these seven intricately developed tracks, the sound fluctuates between the cinematic and the introspective, at times melancholy, at others verging on a kind of restrained anger, before the calm sets in once more. It is music for the small hours, awash with the grainy stuff of memory. Embedded within Bristol's independent scene, Pume Orenge's quiet debut also speaks to the duo's shared roots in the area, and like many of Odda's previous releases, contains a sensitivity to place and atmosphere, even when these are no more than implied. Angel By Milo builds on the DIY ethos of Pume Orenge's 2023 self-titled debut EP, whose tracks were recorded live in single takes, now honing a more intentional, purposeful approach to music making. It is one in which layers of meaning are allowed to reveal themselves, a way of composing that makes a virtue of its labor and the chance occurrences that can arise in the process. This is music in praise of shadows.

 

PRICE: $30.50

CAT #: ODA 008LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Church Andrews and Matt Davies return with Tilt, a pinpoint collection of skewed microtonal and discordant compositions for percussion and digital synth. Tones ascend but don't resolve, rhythms loop, collapse and reassemble, patterns wriggle with geometric precision, sounds tilt, the edges fray. Kinetic, elastic, wonky without being obtuse, Church Andrews (aka Kirk Barley) and Matt Davies new LP Tilt is the culmination of six years of creative collaboration, refining and redrawing the relationship between Davies' virtuoso percussive practice and Barley's off-kilter synthesis. Where their 2024 release, Yucca, took rhythmic cues from the Fibonacci sequence, Tilt explores a more intuitive approach, returning the duo to a minimal sound interrogating the interplay of chance and control, system and body, freedom and mechanization. Featuring prepared guitar, finely resonant muted percussion and a crisp palette of digital synths, it draws on the pair's long-standing interest in alternate time signatures. Here, a tripped-up 11/8 beat gives "Yokai" a disorientating quality, threading unusual paths through the playful, mysterious 5-note Hirajoshi scale -- a pentatonic scale from Japan hinted at in the track's playful reference to a supernatural spirit in the country's folklore. Using a simple on-off system between drum and synth to trigger a Shepard tone -- an auditory illusion of a sound that ascends or descends in pitch without actually changing -- "Shepherd" revels in the stripped-back simplicity of its sonic palette, where the nuance lies in what Barley calls "subtleties in the timbre of the sounds" as they dialogue with Davies' warped loops. It's these finely tuned melodic drum tones and an eerily abstracted prepared guitar that give "Debris" its uncanny feel, yet never feeling overly controlled. Like the album's meticulous, graphic artwork, Tilt seeks the shifting ground between the physical and the digital, as acoustic tones are tweaked and disambiguated into new and unexpected forms. Tilt represents Church Andrews and Matt Davies' ongoing collaboration in its purest form -- a hyper-defined evocation of gravitational potential in their live sound.

 

PRICE: $29.50

CAT #: SHAKE 002LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

LP version. The new album by the French jazz guitarist recorded in the legendary Abbey Road studio. A soft album with pop and cinematic influences between Khruangbin, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Bill Frisell. With wild eyes and ash-gray fur, Loup(s) is an instrumental album where jazz and pop intertwine, led by guitarist Matthis Pascaud (Ayo, Erik Truffaz, Moonlight Benjamin, Marion Rampal, Hugh Coltman) and his pack of sonic alchemists. Once again, the album features the magnetic R (Cheick Tidiane Seck, Erik Truffaz, Tété, Albin de la Simone) on drums, composition, and co-production, alongside bassist Laurent Vernerey (Didier Lockwood, MC Solaar, Henri Salvador, Jane Birkin) and saxophonist-clarinetist Christophe Panzani (Carla Bley Big Band, Hocus Pocus, Anne Paceo). Four lone wolves, fluent in swamp blues and psychedelic incantations. After Night Trippin' and Good Grief, Matthis sets off into uncharted territory, tracing the footsteps of Pink Floyd while echoing the shimmering grooves of Khruangbin, Blake Mills, and Pino Palladino. The result, Loup(s), recorded at London's legendary Abbey Road Studios, is a record where atmosphere reigns supreme. Tempos stretch and breathe, basslines rumble, and saxophones murmur through a Leslie cabinet. Landscapes emerge, sculpted by rolling toms and the feline cry of a 1967 Gretsch Astrojet. Later, singer Célia Kameni and pianist Gaël Rakotondrabe lend their own mysterious enchantments. Together, Pascaud and his band of explorers chase textures as others might chase gold, dreaming aloud of a music made of a panoramic vision stretching from the plains of Gran Sasso to the far edges of the American West, in search of forgotten legends.

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: SOD 142CS

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Remnants is an album marked by the ambiguity of presence and absence. The pieces, recorded using minimal equipment in what Ayami Suzuki describes as a ritual-like atmosphere, began as a way of processing the loss of her father in 2019. But beyond this, they also come to speak to the ways in which loss changes peoples' relationship with someone, and their experiences of the world. Indeed, the experience of loss is not marked merely by a single event, but is instead a process that unfolds over time. Despite the other's absence, a particular location, the smell of a certain brand of tobacco, a look on a friend's face -- traces such as these are enough to bring about a renewed presence. It is through these subtle traces and remnants, encountered over time, that listeners come to understand loss as not only the acceptance of absence, but the recognition of a continued presence. As Suzuki says, "this is not a solo album." Its creation was instead shaped by an ongoing dialogue, the continued elaboration of a complex and ambivalent relationship. At once melancholic, warm, and embracing, it is this ambiguity, these subtle traces, that Suzuki's compositions speak to. These are not merely the sounds of mourning, but instead have been shaped by the evolving dialectic of presence and absence into something far more subtle and haunting.

 

PRICE: $12.50

CAT #: SOD 144CS

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Josh Mason's new collection, Wave Salt +7, emerges from an oblique origin. Unearthed from a dormant hard drive, it documents a set of work sessions only partially recoverable, their original continuity and intent fractured by time and technical failure. What remains is a constellation of mercurial gestures that proves, against all odds, to be entirely consonant with Mason's ongoing musical concerns. In a sense, the very condition of partiality proves generative, with elision operating on multiple levels -- structural, sonic, and archival -- shaping both the music itself and the circumstances of its (re)appearance. Phrases surface only to be truncated or displaced, hovering at the edge of resolution, and transitions are implied rather than fully enacted. Absence functions not as a deficit, but as an important compositional resource. Central to the album's sound is a distinctive use of vocoding. Deployed not to simulate vocal presence but as a tool for tonal sculpting, it yields a shifting lattice of smeared harmonics, angular melody, and attenuated noise. Sounds are pressed through one another, their edges softened, shifted, or selectively erased, producing surfaces simultaneously articulated and porous. Rather than reconstructing a lost whole, the album posits a mode of listening attuned to gaps, interruptions, and unstable forms. Even so, in keeping with Mason's broader practice, this music remains grounded in melodic logic and a distinctly human scale, ensuring that its fragmentary structures register not solely as experiments, but as expressions of proximity and feeling.

 

PRICE: $11.95

CAT #: UT 072

FILE UNDER: MISC

"This issue's cover story is an extraordinary interview with Jim 'Harpo' Valley who talks about his years on the early Northwest rock 'n' roll scene with the Viceroys and Don & the Goodtimes, his wildly eventful year with Paul Revere & the Raiders at their 1966-67 peak, a summer of love solo career that failed to launch, and the dramatic events that sent him to live alone in a cave in Big Sur. Then, from 'Louie Louie' to Fun House, Don Gallucci tells all about his adventures with the Kingsmen, Don & the Goodtimes, Touch, and producing the Stooges' seminal second album. Also, the wild ride of 1965-67 Sunset Strip garage band the New Generation, the continuing saga of '60s Canadian psych/rock legends the Collectors, and a short chat with writer/musician Michael Moorcock. Plus the life-sustaining reviews sections covering the latest reissues and music-related books."

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: URXX CLXIII

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Originally released in 2014 on cassette and digital only, Till Human Voices Wake Us was the first album by the Iranian artist on Umor Rex. It became a key work in the label's catalog, and now it is available on vinyl for the first time. Till Human Voices Wake Us comprises ten tracks with a clear and carefully structured script, based on poems by T.S. Eliot, highlighting Siavash Amini's work as a composer for theater, film, and art exhibitions. His music deliberately leans toward ambient expressions, at times recalling Morricone's Western film scores. The interplay between synthetic and digital elements, together with multilayered, soul-healing electric guitar passages, creates an opulent sonic texture that moves between dramatic and melancholic moments with a finely constructed, fluid dynamism. There is an emotional depth in each piece, guided by tonal variations and shifting textures that turn the music into a mental journey, with landscapes, a sense of cold resolution, and the quiet inevitability of an ending. Till Human Voices Wake Us was Amini's first album on a non-Iranian label. Following this release, he has also published work, in addition to Umor Rex, on labels such as Room40, Hallow Ground, and Opal Tapes, among others, and is now considered one of the most prominent figures in Iran's experimental music scene. All music by Siavash Amini. Original master by Nicholas Szczepanik. Remastered for vinyl by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Artwork by Daniel Castrejón.

 

PRICE: $34.00

CAT #: URXX CLXIV

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

Originally released on Umor Rex on cassette, El Sol de los Muertos deeply shaped the evolution and vision of Mexican producer Concepción Huerta's sonic work, becoming a reference point for a kind of experimental sound deeply connected to Latin American critical thought. Crafted entirely through subharmonic structures and tape manipulation, El Sol de los Muertos stands as Concepción Huerta's most abrasive and emotionally charged work to date, rooted in drone, musique concrète, and visceral textures. The album reflects on dispossession, extraction, and colonialism, while connecting deeply with Latin American critical thought and Indigenous resistance across the region. Inspired in part by Eduardo Galeano's work, it is not a manifesto, but an invitation to reflection, memory, and vigilance against the enduring forms of fascism and colonialism. Recorded by Concepción Huerta in 2024 between Berlin, The Hague, and Mexico City. Original master and remastered for vinyl by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, New York. Volcano photography by Magaly Ugarte. Design by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

 

PRICE: $50.00

CAT #: VAR 001LP

FILE UNDER: ELECTRONIC

øjeRum is the moniker of Danish artist Paw Grabowski. Since 2007, his mostly tape-based works have unfolded like private diaries -- intimate, textural, often centered around a vintage pump organ Paw found left abandoned in a dilapidated Danish home, and to which he would return, sometimes in the dead of winter, to play and record on. The works featured on this release are centered around this pivotal engagement and collect some of his earliest releases from around 2014 to 2017. These were then carefully selected and released via Vaagner's sister label in 2018 via a double cassette release, which has since become a coveted collectors' item. Throughout the album, the organ breathes, sighs -- the moments of brief silence that follow are almost palpable, then like a sonorous echo, the sound rushes back into the foreground with gentle restraint, submerging the listener into an undulating current of emotional upheaval. In this ebb and flow, øjeRum shapes a space where memory seems to waver and dissolve, and where a fragile, lingering melancholy unfolds with a kind of hushed inevitability. With the newly minted Vaagner.Archive, this album is now reissued on vinyl for the first time -- carefully remastered and housed in a 2LP gatefold sleeve printed on special cardboard, its tactile presence echoing the material sensitivity that has always defined Paw Grabowski's practice. A love letter to repetition and restraint.

 

PRICE: $15.00

CAT #: VP 7501EP

FILE UNDER: REGGAE

"Produced by internationally acclaimed hitmaker Supa Dups (Rihana, Drake, Bruno Mars) this track delivers a vibrant, feel-good sound anchored on a re-lick of the answer rhythm. Buju's unmistakable cadence glides effortlessly across the track, blending classic dancehall energy with a modern sonic edge. The single exemplifies a confident rerun, one that bridges legacy with evolution while reintroducing the essence of dancehall to new generation."

 

PRICE: $18.00

CAT #: WWSCD 115CD

FILE UNDER: ROCK

Wewantsounds presents the first official reissue of the highly sought-after 1979 classic, Summer-Time Love Song by The Milky Way. Originally released on the Seven Seas label in Japan and produced by the legendary Makoto Matsushita -- the visionary behind the cult album First Light -- the album is a premier example of the sophisticated sound that defined the era. Featuring the cream of Japanese musicians, including Yasuaki Shimizu, the record offers a superb mix of AOR, jazz fusion, funk, and bossa nova. Remastered by Colorsound Studio, this deluxe reissue features the original artwork, an OBI strip, and a 4-page booklet with a new introduction by Paul Bowler. The album serves as a vital precursor to Matsushita's own 1981 cult masterpiece First Light. Here, he and Nobuta lead the cream of Japanese session musicians. From the sun-drenched bossa nova rhythms of the Jobim classic "Wave" to a sophisticated rendition of Boz Scaggs' classic "Harbor Lights," finishing with the dreamy rhythms of "Endless Summer," the record is a masterclass in elegant funky arrangements and relaxed harmonies. As music journalist Paul Bowler writes in the liner notes for this release: "Summer-Time Love Song represents a fascinating bridge in Japanese pop history; a moment where the breezy aspirations of the '70s met the meticulous studio perfectionism that would soon take over the world." This deluxe edition features the original artwork, showcasing classic photography by the cult photographer Shinpei Asai -- famed for his iconic work on the Pacific album by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. Newly remastered, this reissue finally makes one of the most coveted albums of the 70s Japanese scene accessible to Japanese music fans worldwide.

 

PRICE: $33.00

CAT #: WWSLP 115LP

FILE UNDER: ROCK

LP version. Wewantsounds presents the first official reissue of the highly sought-after 1979 classic, Summer-Time Love Song by The Milky Way. Originally released on the Seven Seas label in Japan and produced by the legendary Makoto Matsushita -- the visionary behind the cult album First Light -- the album is a premier example of the sophisticated sound that defined the era. Featuring the cream of Japanese musicians, including Yasuaki Shimizu, the record offers a superb mix of AOR, jazz fusion, funk, and bossa nova. Remastered by Colorsound Studio, this deluxe reissue features the original artwork, an OBI strip, and a 4-page booklet with a new introduction by Paul Bowler. The album serves as a vital precursor to Matsushita's own 1981 cult masterpiece First Light. Here, he and Nobuta lead the cream of Japanese session musicians. From the sun-drenched bossa nova rhythms of the Jobim classic "Wave" to a sophisticated rendition of Boz Scaggs' classic "Harbor Lights," finishing with the dreamy rhythms of "Endless Summer," the record is a masterclass in elegant funky arrangements and relaxed harmonies. As music journalist Paul Bowler writes in the liner notes for this release: "Summer-Time Love Song represents a fascinating bridge in Japanese pop history; a moment where the breezy aspirations of the '70s met the meticulous studio perfectionism that would soon take over the world." This deluxe edition features the original artwork, showcasing classic photography by the cult photographer Shinpei Asai -- famed for his iconic work on the Pacific album by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. Newly remastered, this reissue finally makes one of the most coveted albums of the 70s Japanese scene accessible to Japanese music fans worldwide.

 

PRICE: $19.00

CAT #: WH 394LP

FILE UNDER: JAZZ

"Following the success of Itai Doshin is Kuon Ganjo, Mike Clark's third release for Wide Hive Records, which is simply fantastic! Featuring Patrice Rushen on Rhodes and piano, Essiet Odu Essiet on bass, Craig Handy on sax, and Eddie Henderson on trumpet. Mike really centers into the New York sound he fell in love with early on here; starting things off with a burning East Broadway Rundown. Amazing line-up with many accolades across the entire band performing a sort of up-tempo Jazz that will knock your socks off."