Wow! I think it’s safe to say that Record Store Day was a smashing success! If you didn’t make it down, you missed one hell of a day! Wall to wall people and records for eight hours straight! Needless to say, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your support! We are honored that everyone who came down and endured the line up to get in and line up to pay, chose to come down to our little shop, it means a lot. Congratulations to Paul, the winner of our Rega RP1 giveaway. Hopefully his RSD scores will sound just a little bit sweeter.
…..pick of the week…..
Cosmic Dead: Easterfaust (Sound of Cobra) LP
Since 2010, The Cosmic Dead have been exploring the outer reaches of kraut rock, doom and psychedelia, tasting the extremes of sound and fusing them into a single, all-enveloping web of stratospheric riffing, otherworldly ambience and kosmic textures that has spread itself across countless shows throughout all Europe. Remember that satanic drug thing you didn’t understand? Forget about it! Here comes the new breed and it’s a fierce and fiery force! A creeping barrage of sound that embodies the spirit of heavy psychedelic freak-outs from the Godz and Hawkind to early Monster Magnet („25… Tab“-era) and Acid Mother’s Temple to set you afire. Want some? Tune in, turn on, get burned! “For anyone who hasn’t yet stood before the Dead and their live homage to the cosmos, expect religious devotion to synthesised dreamworlds, subsonic grooves, guitaristic splendour and the vast, hypnotic sounds of Hawkwind and Popol Vuh eternally jamming in the Möbius strip of time and space” /Rock-A-Rolla Magazine
File Under: Psych, Rock, Space-rock, Kraut Rock, Hawkwind
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…..new arrivals…..
Suzanne Ciani / Clone: Logo Presentation Reel 1985/Octabred (Disposable) LP
A very special Disposable Music edition comprising two programmes of lost early 80s North American synthesiser music from American/Italian Buchla pioneer Suzanne Ciani and Alaska’s only dedicated electronic collective Clone. Comprising of instrumental versions of Ciani’s much coveted cassette-only electronic advertising portfolio (featuring Atari music and power tool jingles) alongside a Clone archive of exclusive Anchorage one-off radio synth sessions and theme tunes, this release represents another DIM milestone bringing lost embryonic electro and proto-synth pop from a place beyond the outskirts of the oblivious record industry.
File Under: Library, Early Electronic
Den Sorte Skole: Lektion III (Private) 3LP
Lektion III is a long dark journey through music history and beyond, built from thousands of sampled pieces lifted off more than 250 old vinyl records from 51 different countries on six continents. Here you will find everything from Moroccan traditional songs, Indian hymns and field recordings of Cameroonian Pygmies to forgotten Yugoslav psych, French avant-garde rock and early German electro. With Lektion III, Den Sorte Skole has left the realm of mash-ups and mixtapes completely and released a full-scale sampled-based album. Lektion III also marks another important change for Den Sorte Skole. Through the years they came to be known as a band that teared off the roof and left concert arenas behind in flames. Now they have set out on a completely different path. Lektion III is a contemplative and very demanding listen that sends the listener on an introspective journey into their own mind and the different moods of life. The mission is to encourage people to listen and lose themselves in the music. And those that are open and patient will be rewarded with an album that slowly grows on them and reveal new details even after many a listen.
File Under: Electronic, Plunderphonic, Madness
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Andrzej Korzynski: Man of Marble (Finders Keepers) LP
Opening further doors in the sprawling labyrinth of unreleased music by Polish composer Andrzej Korzyński, Finders Keepers Records present the soundtrack to the 1977 Polish film Man Of Marble by ‘national filmmaker’ and long-term collaborator Andrzej Wajda. Presented for the first time ever on vinyl (featuring exclusive unreleased bonus tracks) this synthesiser fuelled soundtrack marks a distinct stylistic manoeuvre towards a unique brand of Polish cosmic disco, celebrating the cinematic debut of Korzyński’s Arp-Life project – widely respected as Poland’s first “synthesiser orchestra.”
File Under: OST, Cosmic Disco, Poland
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Andrzej Korzynski/Awkward Corners: Sos/The Sweet Decay (Disposable) LP
In true Disposable Music style we conclude our successful second series by combining two very different global music projects from totally different eras and cultural climates. Andrzej Korzynski’s French funk inspired lost 1974 sound track to a Polish crime film directed by a Russian filmmaker shares vinyl sides with a compendium of modern field recording from Thailand and Pakistan assembled by UK born producer and Sound Of Wonder/Paradise Bangkok compiler Chris Menist.
File Under: French Funk, Field Recordings, Psuedo-Library
Bruno Nicolai: All The Colours of the Dark (Finders Keepers) LP
As part of a devoted series of releases focussing on Bruno Nicolai’s soundtrack music to the films of Edwige Fenech, Finders Keepers proudly unveil what is perhaps the crowning moment for both actress and composer with the film that inaugurated them (alongside director Sergio Martino) into the critical Giallo royal family in the early 1970s. Presented here with previously unpressed tracks as an alternative to the extremely rare 1973 Gemelli library edition, this Finders Keepers special release includes the recently uncovered 1972 hard-hitting left field psychedelic pop themes that unified yet another unholy trinity, comprising of sitar wielding Alessandro Alessandroni (in true Pawnshop Braens Machine mode) and Italian cinematic songbird Edda Dell’Orso to create (under Nicolai’s gaze) what is regarded by many unified euro horror video collectors and vinyl detectives as the cream of this well furrowed crop.
File Under: OST, Library, Raerz
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Thee Oh Sees: Drop (Castle Face) LP
Our lad John P. Dwyer has been lancing eardrums with Thee Oh Sees in an ever-escalating flurry of records for the past six years. Since the release of The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In announced a new loud era (and excepting a few momentary detours into home-baked territory–Dog Poison and Castlemania, for example), Dwyer and company have pummeled a bit harder each time out, cementing their reputation as a live force to be reckoned with and leaving legions sweaty and bruised in the process. Late last year, after years of relentlessly touring the world, the word got out… Dwyer’s moving to Los Angeles (fear not, still California!) and Thee Oh Sees are taking a much-needed hiatus with a shifting of gears ahead and a new album on the way. This is that album. Drop was recorded in a banana-ripening warehouse (no joke) with hair-farming studio warlock Chris Woodhouse playing drums; it’s also graced with the presence of talented gurus Mikal Cronin, Greer McGettrick and Casafis adding horns and vocals. The result pushes the familiar polarities of the group farther outward than ever before. Features artwork by Jonny Negron.
File Under: Castle Face, Punk, Psych, Garage
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Martial Solal Joue Michel Magne: Electrode (Cacophonic) LP
A record of huge significance to the Finders Keepers family, this quintessential Cacophonic release documents the first full-length LP commission for the young Jean-Claude Vannier in collaboration with Musique Tachiste experimental score pioneer Michel Magne (owner of the Château d’Hérouville studio which has hosted Bowie, Pink Floyd, Magma amongst others). The first appearance of Vannier’s signature ethnic strings appear alongside Magne’s oblique co-writes with French jazz piano legend Martial Solal for this early benchmark in conceptual French music.
File Under: Experimental, Avant-Garde, Vannier, Jazz
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Francois Tusques: La Reine Des Vampires (Cacophonic) LP
As a central figure of one of Europe’s most vibrant inter-communal music movements, Francois Tusques’ involvement in the French free jazz scene (alongside Barney Wilen, Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Jacques Thollot) is as indispensable as it is synonymous. As a wholly improvisational live music entity running simultaneously (at times pre-emptively) to its early 60s American counterpart this self-styled music revolution remained truly independent, both creatively and logistically, rendering original physical audio documents virtually unobtainable save the few vinyl mementoes which cross human hands for hefty bounties beneath counters of record fairs before reaching the electronic auctions. As the first release in a series of long overdue reissues and vintage archival debuts Cacophonic Records present this previously presumed lost unreleased studio session from 1967 which sees the cross-pollination of two of France’s most exciting counter-culture families, combining the open music of Tusques and the moving image of experimental horror director Jean Rollin. Originally conceived as an ongoing series of surreal/comic book style film or TV episodes fusing Rollin’s past experiences with illustrators like Nicolas Devil/Philippe Druillet and Tusques’ groundbreaking avant-garde credentials this cinematic debut for both parties commenced in 1967 under the working title La Reine Des Vampires before being distributed and commonly (inaccurately) recognised as ‘France’s first vampire film’ under the title Viol Du Vampire. Staying faithful to the projects original title and intention this dedicated audio release hears the original unedited performance in its original form before Rollin’s sound editors got to work with their ruthless tape splicers, dialogue synchronisation and recycling tactics. La Reine Des Vampires features an all-star line-up of Barney Wilen, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Bernard Guerin and Eddie Gaumont – assembled by Tusques in the same months that followed the important manifesto of the avant-garde that embossed the groups name on the French musical map. This advent collides at the exact point where Rollin (as an erotic writer and avant-garde theatre patron) first committed his filmic experiments to feature length celluloid proving this previously unheard artifact to be a significant landmark at the start of both a controversial cinematic legacy and a genuinely experimental domestic music career (watch this space) that immediately went on to magnetise the likes of Don Cherry, and Archie Shepp and Sunny Murray in the following year. Remastered from Tusques’ very own studio master tapes and including an extra lost bonus track from his personal “work-in-progress” Ferrograph dubs this LP not only includes the unedited soundtrack source material but compiles a number of high quality studio demos originally turned down by Rollin in 1967. The approved themes found on the a-side of the record were also rearranged and edited for the soundtrack for Rollin’s second feature film La Vampire Nue without Tusques’ prior consent providing an extra twist in the tale and instantly giving this first time release a technical “double soundtrack” status.
File Under: Free Jazz, OST, Jean Rollin
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Various: Monster Skies (Finders Keepers) LP
Finders Keepers are excited to announce the birth of a new collaborative series of comps and reissues with the brains behind the awe inspiring Australian based Roundtable/Dual Planet archival labels who for the last few years have continued to blow our minds with recent releases by Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Cybotron, Teisco and Egisto Macchi amongst others. On this 14 track LP we find unheard and exclusive tracks from some of the aforementioned luminaries rubbing shoulders with fresh new finds unearthed from the vintage vaults of some of Finders Keepers most celebrated patchbay polymaths such as Suzanne Ciani, Andrzej Korzynski and the lost Alaskan synthesists Clone domestically pressed down under on to some of the nicest slabs of wax we have seen in a long time. As a further testimony to Finders Keepers ongoing collaborations with enthusiastic and likeminded detective labels this lost pop cultural exchange literally spans the entire length and width of the globe to bring you more untravelled and unreleased mutant strains of 60s/70s/80s vintage voltage pop, electronic rock, malformed tape music and zombified funk punk. Monster Skies pools the resources of two of the most unique and studious vinyl snoop-units and plummets the lost vaults, damp cellars and dark corners of this alternative musical universe from either side of the pear-shaped planet.
File Under: Library, Prog, Psychedelic
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Various: Pomegranates (Finders Keepers) LP
After 5 years out of print, we finally have this monster back on the shelves!!! “It’s no accident that the phoenix is an exalted moral, mythical, and figurative symbol in Iran. Like the phoenix, Iranian culture is in constant flux and, at times, elusive, with its existential wavering and blurred panoramas. Most of contemporary Iran’s artistic and creative leanings, its grapples with history and identity, are loosely and mystically conjoined and contested in memory. Iran is marked by the complex interplay of diverse constituencies, philosophies, and influences: ethnic, religious, political, geopolitical and historical. The glorification of pre-Islamic antiquity (in search of authentication) marked the socio-cultural attitude of a bygone era and is witnessing revival in the present day. The discordant reality of eastern traditions complicated by the rampant confusions of modernity has become a norm in Persian dialogue, not to mention revolution, exile, and diaspora. Like many other countries, the Sixties and Seventies were a time of tumult in Iran, bringing growth (via petrodollars) and freedom (under the banner of socioeconomic development) while exacerbating inequalities within the country. The music and voices that blossomed during those decades exemplify the turbulence and excitement of the age. It is worth recognizing these ‘left out’ and ‘lost’ artists individually and as a group in the global happenings of 60s/70s psych, rock and folk, while exploring their influence and relevance to the present day. Is it possible that there is a genus of delectable sounds and fetching images that almost exclusively reside in the elbowroom of memory and nostalgic ‘yesteryear’ storytelling? Little consideration has been given to the correlation of these sounds and stories within the universal psychedelic phenomena: parallel to the shared stylistics of British and American players, and the radical politicking of their Turkish and Korean counterparts. This collection endeavors to re-contextualize these songs from the realm of reminiscence, nostalgia, and memory into a specific and accessible narrative to share and relate within the universal musical gamut. It is for aficionados, the curious, and collectors alike. We hope that Iranians around the world will rediscover these songs. This collection is, in some sense, dedicated to a generation in self-imposed mental exile, due to years of war and catastrophe; decades of lies and bombs; a fundamentalist theocracy of reformist shams; addiction; isolation and alienation; unemployment, and inflation. These are voices and stories that may again prove relevant to a psychologically damaged and spiritually corrupt society, a society whose discontents recall the latter years of the Shah’s rule. The recordings excavated here are highly sexual musings, voluble love songs, and simple folk tunes. In many of these songs, there are subtle voices of political protest. Here is a personal best, a handful of artists and diversely stylized songs, presented on Finders Keepers.
File Under: Persian Pop, Psych, Funk, Ethnic, Essentials
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Various: Thai Dai! (Finders Keepers) LP
It’s possibly a misnomer to label music recorded outside of the USA or Europe with terms such as ‘psyche’ or ‘surf’ as it is often just a stylistic innovation based on exposure to foreign records via the radio or music stores. It doesn’t necessarily chime in with any of the social shifts or changes that accompanied the music’s development in the West. Even in America, the concept of teen culture was relatively new during the height of these genres popularity. People who could afford to take advantage of these new freedoms often had the financial cushioning to do so. This factor was amplified in South East Asia, and the music shouldn’t be considered nationally representative – it’s a more scaled down phenomenon, relevant to a small cross-section of society. By the same token, this wasn’t just bland copycat music to widen a band’s audience, or to entertain expat patrons in bars or clubs. This was a sincere desire to experiment and repackage local sounds without necessarily needing to make a statement. The musical information was processed and partially recast amidst a blend of local music and arrangements, transposed onto drums, electric bass, guitar and keyboards. Although in the mid-70s there was a wider protest movement in Thailand that found it’s musical outlet in the ‘songs for life’ of Caravan and Carabao, the music collected here was not part of the same aesthetic, although it’s possible there was some musical overspill. The styles featured on this compilation fall somewhere between Luk Thung (‘song of the countryside’) and Luk Krung (‘song of the city’). Bangkok was a particular melting pot for the evolution of these two genres, the former alluding to musical themes and lyrics aimed at the wider national population, the latter looking westwards with a more urban ‘sophisticated’ audience in mind. The tracks here were experimentations or dice rolling by both little known groups, as well as established figures like Plearn Promdan. Some tracks might represent a specific artist’s only foray into this musical area. Even within Thailand the majority of these tunes remain unissued, so it’s with great pleasure that we present this glimpse of the strange underbelly of Thai Luk Thung in all its unique, original and outlandish glory – a small snapshot of an otherwise forgotten era.
File Under: Asian, Psych, Funk, Luk Thung
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…..record store day leftovers…..
A Minor Forest: Flemish Altruism/Inindependence (Thrill Jockey) 4LP
Alvarius, B /Sir Richard Bishop: If You Don’t Like It, Don’t (3Lobed) LP
Black Angels: Cleak Lake Forest (Blue Horizon) 10″
Bok Bok: Come Back To Me (Captured Tracks) 7″
Bombinio: Agamgam 2004 (Glitterbeat) LP
Botch: Unifying Themes Redux (Hydrahead) LP
Built to Spill: Ultimate Alternative Wavers (Light in the Attic) LP
Cave In: Jupiter (Hydrahead) 2LP
Michael Chapman: Playing Guitar The Easy Way (Light in the Attic) LP
Chocolate Milk: Action Speaks… (Nature Sounds) LP
The Civil Wars: Live at Eddies Attic (Sony) LP
College: Nothern Council (Invada) LP
Emperor: IX Equilibrium (Back on Black) LP
Fix: Vengeance/Jan’s Rooms (Touch & Go) 2×7″
Foals: Live At Royal Albert Hall (Warner) LP
Frightened Rabbit: Live (Atlantic) LP
Davy Graham & Bert Jansch: Live (Les Cousins) 10″
Half Japanese: Volume 1 (Fire) 3LP
Hollis Brown: Gets Loaded (Alive) LP
Julia Holter: Julia Don’t Make Me Over (Domino) 7″
Idle Race: Birthday Party (Parlophone) LP
Stephen John Kalinich: World Of Peace Must Come (Light in the Attic) LP
Khlyst: Chaos is my Name (Hydrahead) LP
Kode9 & Spaceape: Memories of the Future (Hyperdub) LP
Mastadon: Live At Brixton (Reprise) LP
Jenks ‘Horseback’ Miller/James ‘Wooden Wand’ Toth: Roads to Ruin (3Lobed) LP
Notwist: Run Run Run (Sub Pop) 12″
Oneohtrix Point Never: Commissions 1 (Warp) 12″
William Onyeabor: William What Remixes (Luaka Bop) LP
OST: 1990 The Bronx Warriors (Death Waltz) LP
OST: The Perfume Of The Lady In Black (Death Waltz) LP
OST: Degradation Of Emanuelle (Death Waltz) LP
OST: In The Wall (Death Waltz) LP
Pagans: Whats This Shit? (Thermionic) LP
Pissed Jeans: Best of Sub Pop (Sub Pop) LP
Red Temple Spirits: If Tomorrow… (Mannequin) LP
Red Temple Spirits: Dancing to Restore (Mannequin) LP
Ringo Deathstarr: God’s Dream (Invada) LP
Alexander Robotinick: Vintage Robotnicks (Medical) LP
Shooting Guns: Brotherhood of the Ram (Easyrider) LP
Omar Souleyman: Jazeera Nights (Sublime Frequencies) LP
J. Spaceman & Kid Millions: Live (Northern Spy) LP
Spoon: Love Ways (Merge) 12″
Sebastien Tellier: L’Incroyable Verite (Because) LP
Vitamin String Quartet: Performs Weezer’s Pinkerton (Vitamin) LP
Doc Watson: Southbound (Vanguard) LP
Whirlwind Heat: Do Rabbits… (Third Man) LP
Link Wray: Slinky (Sundazed) 7″
Various: Pop Yeh Yeh (Sublime Frequencies) LP
Various: Rough Guide to Latin Rare Groove (Rough Guide) LP
Many of these are our last copies, so don’t sleep! Also, many RSD records are still available, and on the way, so check back!