Another killer week here in the salt mines! A new slab from my favorite folk/fingerpicker/blues cat and a bleak as all fuck double slab from ex-factory worker Abul Mogard. And then there’s all them library reissues! And the long lost Betty Davis record featuring Miles and crew, WOAH! We are open over the long weekend, so come down and get some new (or used) wax for your Canada Day party!
Also, our pal Jeff interviewed me about the ins and outs of running a record shop for his excellent podcast Cups n Cake this week. AND as an added bonus, they also interviewed James and Lee from Slates about their upcoming tour. Check it out here.
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…..picks of the week…..
Ignatz: The Drain (Feeding Tube) LP
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! “For the last decade, Belgian guitarist Bram Devens has been releasing solo recordings under the name Ignatz. A couple of cassettes have come out in the States, but most of his releases have been elusive imports. Thus, we have taken it upon ourselves to do a public service and release a domestic version of an LP that will appear on the (K-RAAK-K) label in Belgium. This must be something like the sixth or seventh studio album Ignatz has cut, and it’s a remarkably solid slab of mysto-folk/blues invention. There are more vocals than noted on previous Ignatz slabs we’ve encountered, and they manage to remind us of everyone from early Townes Van Zandt (‘The Watertower’) to Karen Dalton covering ‘Play with Fire’ (‘People in This Town’). The way Bram’s voice lazily combines with the loose guitar playing sometimes makes the album sound like a mutant hybrid of early Jandek and mid-period Hurley. The rhythms and melodies go in and out of focus with a beautiful irregularity that demonstrate them to be the work of a true original. Playing what sounds like a mix of acoustic and lightly amped guitars, Ignatz hits Krazy Kat square in the bean with this one. And we all see stars. Tell Officer Pup the news.” –Byron Coley, 2016. Limited edition of 500.
File Under: Folk, Blues
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Abul Mogard: Works (Ecstatic) LP
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Ecstatic offer a deeply arresting and definitive collection of Works by erstwhile Serbian factory worker-turned-synthesist Abul Mogard; containing selections from two cassettes released in 2012 and 2013 on Steve Moore and Anthony Paterra’s VCO Recordings, as well as a cassette only release on Ecstatic, never before available on vinyl. Abul Mogard’s relatively unusual path to releasing music is well documented, but bears repeating here. Upon taking retirement from a job at a factory which he held for decades, Mogard craved the mechanical noise and complex harmonics of the industrial workplace, and found that the best way to fulfil that need was through electronic music – using a limited set-up of Farfisa organs, voices, samplers and a self-built modular system to realize a peaceful yet haunting, sweetly coruscating sound that resonates uncommonly with music from Leyland Kirby to Alessandro Cortini, or Fennesz and Tim Hecker. The nine tracks on Works are soused in an emotional richness that’s hard to forget once experienced. Broad daubs of distorted bass and naturally glorious harmonic progressions paint panoramas of wide open, grey-scaled skies whilst equally conveying the intimate feel of a person with their nose to the machine, toiling for a sound or feeling that really means something to them, and by turns, us. The fact that Mogard hails from an area hardly well-known for its synth music, and that he’s of an age where most people take up gardening or lawn bowls, rather than synth music, only helps to aid the enigma and magic surrounding this remarkable artist and his layered, emotional music. RIYL: Alessandro Cortini, The Caretaker, Fennesz, Tangerine Dream, Brain Eno, Tim Hecker.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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…..new arrivals…..
75 Dollar Bill: Wood/Metal/Plastic… (Thin Wrist) LP
75 Dollar Bill, a project by Che Chen and Rick Brown present Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. “Che’s interest in the Arabic modes of Mauritanian music has marked our sound quite a bit but I have brought some things, too. The plywood crate I play is a big factor, defining, by its positive qualities (a nice warm ‘boom’ sound) as well as by its simplicity, what we’re likely to do in the percussion realm. Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock, this new record, differs quite a bit from the previous one, notably in the rhythmic ‘tone.’ Wooden Bag (2015) was all forward momentum, stomping and shaking, but the new record explores a long-standing interest of mine: odd and ‘compound’ meters. In most of my previous musical activities, I’ve convinced my partners to delve into this, but in 75 Dollar Bill it has just felt natural and I believe Che’s modal investigations and melodic/harmonic tendencies enhance (and are enhanced by) this combination. The current record differs from the last in another big way: reinforcements! Over our few years together, Che and I have frequently had friends play with us at some of our gigs. There have been all sorts of permutations of instruments and some great friends/players who don’t all appear on this record but here we are lucky to have a bunch of them: Cheryl Kingan (of The Scene Is Now) on baritone and alto saxes, Andrew Lafkas (of Todd Capp’s Mystery Train) on contrabass, Karen Waltuch (of Zeke & Karen) on viola, Rolyn Hu (of True Primes) on trumpet and Carey Balch (of Knoxville’s Give Thanks) on floor tom. Please enjoy Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. ‘Earth’ saw is one of our earliest tunes and, I think, the first result of this ‘compound meter’ approach. It’s a slow 9 beat phrase Che came up with for this odd groove. ‘Beni Said’ has no fixed rhythmic cycle but a roughly unison melodic phrase and a pulsing, loose feeling of 3s and 4s played using a box full of bottle caps. ‘Cummins Falls’ features Carey Balch on Diddley-beat floor tom and me reprising the maracas. ‘I’m Not Trying To Wake Up’ is another of our compound meter songs, this one using an 18 beat scheme.” – Rick Brown
File Under: Experimental, Drone
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Acid Mothers Temple: Wake to a New Dawn of Another Astro Era
(Important) LP
Acid Mothers Temple – the next generation begins! With the departure of long time bass/drum duo Shimura Koji and Tsuyama Atsushi, AMT now have a new rhythm section featuring two young Japanese musicians, Satoshima Nani on drums and S/T on bass. Thus, Wake To A New Dawn of Another Astro Era is the first record in the second chapter of this legendary Japanese psychedelic rock group. Wake To A New Dawn Of Another Astro Era finds a rejuvenated Makoto Kawabata encompassing the best of what AMT has come to mean in the last twenty-one years. Deep ambient synth passages fade into deftly composed anthemic jams worthy of crowd favorite status like “La Novia” and “Pink Lady Lemonade”. Makoto’s guitar prowess reaches unfathomed apexes in epic crescendos while the new rhythm section holds down heavy Kraut-influenced repetition. Straddling the line between composition and improvisation, this is a legendary AMT record for sure. Features light show artwork by LiquidbiupiL. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. at the time of this recording were: Kawabata Makoto : electric guitar, acoustic guitar, fretless bass, bouzouki, electric saz, sitar, synthesizer, electronics, tape, short wave, voice, speed guru; Higashi Hiroshi : synthesizer, noodle king; Tabata Mitsuru: electric guitar, guitar-synthesizer, acoustic 12 strings guitar, tape, voice, maratab; Satoshima Nani : drums, another dimension; S/T : bass (on “Meridian Dimension ~ Lost Milky Way”), space & time. Produced and mixed by Makoto Kawabata.
File Under: Psych, Japanese
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Agitation Free: Malesch (Made in Germany) LP
“A vinyl re-release of the debut-album by legendary krautrock avant garde band Agitation Free, starring Lutz ‘Lüül’ Graf-Ulbrich on guitar, who late became part of Ash Ra with Manuel Goettsching.” Authorized, official remaster (same as the 2008 version on Reviisted/SPV), with printed inner sleeve and liner notes.
File Under: Kraut Rock
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Alessandro ALessandroni: Ust 370 – Caratteristici Vari (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Remastered sound. Released 500 copies. Italian funky library monster from the infamous Fonit Usignolo series. Ust 370 – Caratteristici Vari contains many outtakes from the Inchiesta jam reissued in 2013, so it was most likely fully recorded in 1977. “Foggy Place” easily explains why this album is on top levels, hip hop funky with scat vocals. 20 tracks of several score and various themes, jazz-funk and funky vibes all over, Fender Rhodes and sexy scat vocals, bossa, easy listening, blues jazz, Hammond funk, tense cinematic and lively groovy vibes for the full album. Killer!
File Under: Italian, Library, Funk
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Bat For Lashes: The Bride (Warner) LP
Bat For Lashes – aka multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Natasha Khan – will release her latest album, The Bride, via Parlophone/Warner Brothers in July 2016. The Bride follows the story of a woman whose fiancé has been killed in a crash on the way to the church for their wedding. The Bride flees the scene to take the honeymoon trip alone, resulting in a dark meditation on love, loss, grief, and celebration. Written as the soundtrack for a feature length film in mind, The Bride is Khan’s most ambitious work to date, sonically and visually incorporating an entire world inhabited by The Bride, along with the characters and places she encounters on the way. The Bride was conceived of and produced by Khan alongside a host of long-time collaborators and friends including Simone Felice, Dan Carey, Head and Ben Christophers. Inspired by a short film Khan wrote and directed entitled I Do, which made its debut at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC , The Bride was created over the course of 18 months across London, Los Angeles, and Brighton. Finally last Autumn, Natasha headed to the mountains of Woodstock, NY, where she built a studio into the ground floor of a big old house and lived there for two months, finishing the record with co-producer Simone Felice (Lumineers, Felice Bros). The album was mixed by Head in London and mastered at Metropolis Studios. The lush narrative of the artwork was conceived as a visual partnership between Natasha and Neil Krug over a period of two years. The Bride’s universe was the product of intense collaboration and experimentation.
File Under: Indie Pop, Electronic
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Belarisk: Moments in Shapeshifting (Type) LP
New England’s Lee Tindall has been a mainstay of the noise/electronic scene for some time. Working as Zerfallt and Belarisk, and in a variety of groups (including Astronaut with Daniel Lopatin), Tindall has been perfecting what he calls “Hy-Fy mutant music” for a decade, working on the fringes of a sound that has slipped in-and-out of focus. Moments In Shapeshifting is Tindall’s most fully-realized release to date, bringing together his interest in abrasive noise, abstract electronics and haunting ambience. It follows a long spell in a maze of his own confusion, navigating the labyrinth of corporate tech support, hell-to-reach, complete mental and physical exhaustion. The tracks came together from vivid dreams and nightmares during this time, as Tindall embraced the negativity of the New England mindset, crafting the songs as an escape or moment of clarity. Referencing ’80s sci-fi and body horror, the album concerns itself with duality, betrayal and paranoia – many of the tracks have more than one title and some pivot mid-way through, shifting focus and transforming completely. As Tindall fixated on dreams, surrealist art and fiction, the nature of rural New England landscape gave him something tangible to reflect on, and the result is a beguiling collection of tracks that flow into each other without fixating on a certain genre or other. At times reminiscent of Tim Hecker’s dense ambience and at others closer to M.E.S.H. or Oneohtrix Point Never, Moments In Shapeshifting offers an enticing distortion of reality – a cracked mirror for us to gaze into and obsess over. It might be the most human electronic record of the year. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. Edition of 500.
File Under: Electronic, Drone, Ambient
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Brotzmann/Parker/Drake: Song Sentimentale (Otoroku) LP
Song Sentimentale, featuring unique material on each format, was recorded on January 27-29, 2015, at Cafe OTO. Outside of the 2CD release Never Too Late But Always Too Early (2003) there has been scant documentation of one of the most dynamic pairings in all free jazz. Song Sentimentale rectifies this anomaly with a full-blown audio account of the breathtaking communicative heights obtained by these three legends of the living. Over three nights in January 2015, the trio seduced a winter-worn crowd with the kind of organic interplay only these three can conjure. Warm and urgent, the material unveils a wide range of techniques and emotions. This is music on the edge of itself; a living, breathing and existing force documented for repeated visits. Peter Brötzmann – tenor saxophone, B flat clarinet, tarogato; William Parker – double bass, guembri, shakuhachi, shenai; Hamid Drake – drums, frame drum, voice. Recorded Live at Cafe OTO on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January 2015.
File Under: Free Jazz
Ian William Craig: Meaning Turns to Whispers (Aguirre) LP
Aguirre Records present Ian William Craig’s Meaning Turns to Whispers. Ian is a trained opera singer and painter out of Vancouver, Canada. Over the last few years he has proved to be one of the most original artists active in the ambient/experimental genre. His debut A Turn Of Breath (2014) and the follow-up, Cradle For The Wanting (2015) received high acclaim. Meaning Turns to Whispers is a combination of piano improvisations and FM feedback loops, recorded over various winters from 2009 to 2011 and edited down, manipulated and degraded to reveal some of their hidden spaces. The discreet piano layers mixed with waves of white noise are intriguing making you long for more. Meaning Turns to Whispers is a record rooted in a gorgeous neo-classical tradition, but totally fucked up by tape manipulations that made it anything but pretty. For Craig, the use of reel-to-reels is a way of decaying sentimentality: any time his music has come too close to meeting his expectations, he uproots it, creating impervious walls or bursts of modest but stupefying noise. In choice moments on Meaning, you can hear Craig trying to imagine the lived lives of his inanimate instruments; you hear him beam down on the piano, its wooden infrastructure revealed, sounding like it has its own set of motivations. “I was living with my sister in Edmonton, and during the ridiculously cold winter, I gutted her piano and mic’d it up in a whole bunch of weird ways. I recorded probably twenty hours of material, and after listening to it I was amazed at how much it sounded like sentimental crap. At that point I was really trying to express something, and afterwards I thought the only way through would be to destroy the recordings, and that’s what Meaning Turns To Whispers is. It’s completely mangled to remove that struggle for expression. I realized at the end of that album that I didn’t want to express, I just wanted to explore.” Mastered by Sean McCann at Recital. Lacquer cut by Christoph Grote-Beverborg at Dubplates & Mastering. Edition of 500.
File Under: Ambient, Classical, Tape
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Betty Davis: Columbia Years 1968-1969 (Light in the Attic) LP
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! “One can hardly imagine Prince, Erykah Badu, or Outkast without the influence of Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music. Betty penned the song ‘Uptown’ for The Chambers Brothers and wrote the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending DIY ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal. In 1968, she married Miles Davis and quickly influenced him on the magic of psychedelic rock along with introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album, Bitches Brew. Miles and Betty fans have long debated the truth of a near mythological session recorded in Studios B and E at Columbia’s 52nd Street Studios on May 14th and 20th, 1969. The landmark session was produced by Miles and Teo Macero and featured Betty on vocals, accompanied by Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, guitarist John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock on keys, and Dylan/Miles session bassist Harvey Brooks. Other players included bassist Billy Cox (Band of Gypsys), saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and organist Larry Young. Now, Light In The Attic, with full support from Betty herself, presents these recordings to the public for the very first time. These historic sessions — never heard, never bootlegged — predate Miles’ revolutionary album, Bitches Brew, and are the true birth of Miles’ jazz-rock explorations, along with the roots for Betty’s groundbreaking funk that came years later, starting with her self-titled debut in 1973. While, ultimately, these recordings would go unreleased for nearly half a century, they would greatly shape each of their careers. The vibe is intrinsically unique, fresh, and futuristic — jazz heavyweights playing psychedelia, rock, and jazz-fusion long before the term became commonplace. The songs include Betty originals and covers of classics by Creedence and Cream. The concepts explored on these previously unheard sessions fueled concepts that wouldn’t be fully realized until years later with Miles’ seminal On The Corner. Additionally, included here is the first time rerelease of a 1968 Columbia single, recorded in October 1968 at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles. The session was produced by Jerry Fuller and featured South African maverick Hugh Masekela on trumpet and arrangements, plus members of jazz-funk pioneers The Crusaders — including trombonist Wayne Henderson and pianist Joe Sample. All tracks previously unreleased (except track B5/8). Production by Miles Davis & Teo Macero with performances from Hugh Masekela, Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience), John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Harvey Brooks, Wayne Shorter, Billy Cox (Band of Gypsys), Larry Young, and members of The Jazz Crusaders. Remastered from the original analog master tapes.New interviews, rare photos, and unseen historical documents from the Teo Macero archive.”
File Under: Funk
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Dies Irae: s/t (Monster Melodies) LP
Monster Melodies present Dies Irae featuring Dies Irae. A flagship group of the French progressive underground from the ’70s, based on the French Riviera (Monaco). This record is the first record of this group to be released (not to be confused with the German namesake training krautrock record release on the Pilz label in 1971). It consists of tracks recorded on stage and in the studio from 1976 and 1978, when Dies Irae was at the top of its game. A record that will allow you to judge the qualities of this little-known group that claims its influences (including notorious groups of the era King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator and Magma) nevertheless has a very personal and original touch which deserves to be included in the history of French rock. Gatefold sleeve. Transparent vinyl. Includes many inserts. Edition of 1000.
File Under: French, Prog
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Dindo Bembo Orchestra: Ust 86 (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Remastered sound. Released 500 copies. One of the rarest and best library albums from the Fonit Usignolo series. Actually the full soundtrack for an obscure Italian movie, this is one of the finest jazz-funk scores to come out of Italy in the 1970s. Full of poliziesco-styled sounds, sexy giallo & thriller grooves, dark cop themes with infectious flute stabs, clipped wah-wah, elegant spy jazz waltzes, funky drums, dope Rhodes, vertigo psychedelic guitars and basslines, panoramic lounge, eccentric funky-baroque, romantic themes and so on. The pinnacle of Italian arranger Alberto Baldan Bembo, a complete masterpiece!
File Under: Italian, OST, Funk, Spy
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Eclosion: s/t (Monster Melodies) LP
Monster Melodies presents the self-titled album from Eclosion. A legendary recording in the history of Underground French Rock from 1972 released for the first time. Eclosion is a musical project by friends Leon Cobra (founder of the counter culture magazine Le Treponeme Bleu Pale), guitarist Bernard Stisi and Mark White (drummer and guitarist of Ame Son). Psychedelic entrancing music with an experimental, Indian influenced and noisy sound recorded in analog in early 1973 on a Revox tape recorder (the same used by Red Noise to record the sound effects of the album Sarcelles-Lochères in 1970) with the help of a an echo chamber for a highly innovative outcome. But the trio ended up having different destinies. The project remained on a shelf, along with the planned design of the cover by illustrator Henri Aspic. 10 tracks specially selected and restored. Blue vinyl comes in a cover which folds open, with numerous illustrations. It also contains a separate illustration of a collage by Leon Cobra and an anniversary edition of the magazine Le Tréponème Bleu Pâle of 20 pages. Edition of 1000.
File Under: French, Prog
Exploit: Crisi (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Gatefold sleeve. Remastered sound from the original master tapes. Released 500 copies. Italian prog holy-grail and one of the most prized records of the genre. Impossible to find in its original edition, Exploit’s Crisi remains a fleeting appearance of Italian discography and a fair object of desire in the record collectors circle. Musically influenced by symphonic rock legends of the period like Emerson Lake And Palmer and Italian top prog bands like Le Orme. Features a stunning progressive suite on the first side followed by a more commercial pop-rock vibes on side B. Released in 1972 on the small library label CGO with faint distribution and signed by Italian library players and session men of the time like Walter Rizzati. Screaming organ, whirling drums/percussion/sounds and overflowing bassline. A legendary, Italian progressive-pop album.
File Under: Italian, Prog
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Farlocco: Tecnologia (Intervallo) LP
Intervallo present a reissue from Amedeo Tommasi’s Rotary Records label, Farlocco’s Tecnologia (1974). The niche occupied by libraries in the history of Italian music is full of amazing stories, such as Rotary Record’s, which is actually one of the most interesting and peculiar. The label, created and led by renewed composer Amedeo Tommasi, released seven albums in just one year – between 1973 and 1974 – of material ranging from futuristic experimentations to classic and jazz (the latter being one of the biggest passions of Tommasi). He wasn’t just the boss, he also played piano and electronic instruments in all the records he released. He also took care of all the brilliant artwork (the original ones can easily be found online) and of pressing duties. The first three volumes of the series were released in 300 copies each, the other four in a humble press of 100 each: numbers that show how rare these records are nowadays, and how scarce their circulation was at the time. Tecnologia by Farlocco (an alias of the great Stefano Torossi, meaning “fake” in italian) is the second of the two Intervallo reissues dedicated to Rotary’s experimental vein, the first being Narassa’s Tensione Dinamica (INTER 005LP). This album is one of the first instances of electronic libraries: a perfect example of how, sometimes, Italian libraries were a stunningly fertile ground for experimentation and foretaste of future sounds. It’s not a blasphemy to say that the three versions of “Superpotenza”, opening the album, are techno tracks before techno was even born. Or that the heavy mood of “Silicosi” (in two different versions), “Geosonda” and “Pressione” are prehistoric examples of industrial music. But there are, also, the experimentations of “Lavoro Veloce” (once again, in two very different versions) with its pure sonic sci-fi, and the electro-glitch of “Virus” and “Biodegenerazione”. Probably the future was not what we meant it to be, but a part of it can be found in the grooves of this album.
File Under: Italian, Library
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Fennesz & Jim O’Rourke: It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry
(Editions Mego) LP/CD
Despite decades of activity and having crossed paths in various collaborations, this release presents the first-ever duo recording from two of the most highly regarded citizens of planet experimental electronic. Individually, Jim O’Rourke and Christian Fennesz have been responsible for numerous legendary works that merge the traditional avant-garde with contemporary sensibilities. On It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry these giants of experimental electronic practice come together for an immensely powerful sonic experience. The signatures of both O’Rourke and Fennesz cohabit this release, with O’Rourke’s gurgling harmonies swimming among the shimmering frequencies and strummed melodies produced by Fennesz. The two tracks situate themselves as a warm electronic adventure; simultaneously radical and comforting, these works shift from gentle sonorities to fully distorted explosions, all of which reside within a template of tension between musical and non-music matter. Timeless in execution and presentation, It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry is a deeply rewarding sonic experience from two of the most romantic gentlemen active in experimental music today. Recorded in Kobe, Kyoto, and Tokyo in September 2015. Photos by Jim O’Rourke. Layout by Shunichiro Okada.
File Under: Electronic
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James Ferraro: Rerex (Aguirre) 3LP
Aguirre Records present a reissue and the first vinyl release of James Ferraro’s Rerex, originally released in 2009. James Ferraro is an experimental musician, composer and virtual atmospherist born in Bronx, New York. Ferraro has released material under a wide array of aliases, and was a member of the Californian two-piece avant-garde project The Skaters. His album Far Side Virtual (2011) was chosen as “Album of the Year” by the UK’s Wire Magazine in 2011. Ferraro has been producing small runs of releases on cassette, CD-R, and VHS with a wide variety of styles all representing different dreams of a demonic mind tower spanning from freak flesh bodybuilder atmospheres to ambient modern world/psych. First on New Age Tapes and later on MuscleWork Inc., self-run cassette/CD-R labels primarily used for releasing small runs of his solo work. In the summer of 2009, Ferraro composed and recorded the “Summer Headrush Series” in Antwerp, Belgium for Musclework Inc. The series is loosely based on visualizations that came to mind while receiving self-induced hypocapnia (aka, choking oneself) or as it’s commonly called “free fall”. The albums being representatives of the free fall head space. Other albums from the Headrush Series are: Body Fusion 1 and 2, iAsia, Wild World, Son of Dracula and Hacker Track. The Rerex album is vintage hypnagogic Ferraro and with its length (almost three hours), it may be considered a “magnum opus” of his. Using cheap casio keyboards, loops, effects and difficult to trace samples, Ferraro creates a slightly haunting but oh-so beautiful musical world. Please use headphones for a dynamic HD headphone experience. Artwork by James Ferraro. Mastered and lacquer cut by Christoph Grote-Beverborg at Dubplates & Mastering. Lay-out by Jeroen Wille. Edition of 500.
File Under: Electronic, Psych
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Fille Qui Mousse: Trixie Stapleton 291 (Monster Melodies) LP
Monster Melodies Records presents a reissue of Trixie Stapleton 291 – Se Taire Pour Une Femme Trop Bell by Fille Qui Mousse, originally recorded in 1971. The group was created from the culmination of a movement born after the Second World War, counter culture and the apparition of Lettrism, founded by Isidore Isou who wrote the book The Uprising Youth accompanied by Gabriel Pomerand, Maurice Lemaitre, Jean-Louis Brau, Guy Debord, Gil Wolman. The band consisting of Barbara Lowengreen (vocals), Bernard Gilson (guitar), Sylvie Péristéris (sound effects), Henri-Jean Enu (guitar, vocals), Denis Gheerbrandt (vocals), Daniel Hoffmann (guitar), Benjamin Legrand (piano, vocals), Dominique Lentin (percussion), Jean-Pierre Lentin (guitar, bass), Léo Sab (violin), François Guildon (guitar) recorded its only album in one day on July 8th, 1971. Fille Qui Mousse is on the list established by Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak of the 291 musicians who influenced the band Nurse With Wound. Comes as a red translucent vinyl comes in a sleeve which opens up, presenting unpublished photos of the group and containing two postcards reproducing the vintage concert posters and an insert with an unpublished text by Henri-Jean Enu. Edition of 500.
File Under: French, Experimental, Psych
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Hartmut Geerken: Orpheus (Holidays) LP
Holiday Records presents Orpheus by Hartmut Geerken. Fantastic sound poetry piece by Hartmut Geerken restringing the “Sun Harp”, the Ukranian bandura that Sun Ra gave him in 1971 when he visited Egypt for the first time. The acoustics of his manual workings emerge without any esthetic intention: the bandura’s voluminous resonating body forms the reverb of the room. Each manual action and each contact of the tuning key with the wooden body is “reverbed”. The instrument creates its audio space. A mythic dream play is evoked: the myth’s space of reverb. An ear ready to absorb, hears the labor pains of voice and string ahead of language and music. A human voice in search for language and thus for communication. A string instrument in search for sound and thus for music. Based on this phonemic pre-space, words do rise only sporadically. Through certain techniques of vocal chords the phonemes move close to the meditative Indian Dhrupad-singing, as well as to lunacy and disturbance. Animal languages, signals, shepherds’ calls, silvered drum-language, ham-boning, calls, litany, subconscious voicings, sirens: the search for Eurydike and the search for the origin of letter and syllable, out of the breath. Besides one single “superimposition” no further mounting, no computer-generated sounds, no digital gimmicks, no remix or art mix do exist in this live-recorded dream play. Edition of 200.
File Under: Experimental, Sound Poetry
Highest Order: Still Holding (Idee Fixe) LP
The Highest Order are Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer, Kyle Porter and Simone TB, veterans and ambassadors of Toronto’s downtown underground and collaborators with kindred souls Jennifer Castle, Slim Twig, US Girls and Milk Lines. Three years after the release of their critically acclaimed and well travelled debut album If It’s Real the band return with Still Holding. If their debut was a work of cosmic country then the band have doubled down on the cosmic. Highlighting the band’s growing mastery of the recording studio, smashed tape collages, phase shifted psychedelic guitar duels and varisped everything surround Still Holding’s mastery of song. It’s the songs that stay with you, fully realized as though they have always existed, vessels for Schmidt’s words. Deep truths. Athletic metaphors. The Highest Order are Still Holding and they saved some for you.
File Under: Cosmic Country, Psych
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Intersystems: Number One Intersystems (Alga Marghen) LP
Alga Marghen presents a reissue of Intersystems’ Number One Intersystems (1967). Intersystems’ works evoke the heightened awareness, intermittent psychosis, intellectual over-stimulation and giddy nihilism of an acid expedition. “Orange Juice and Velvet Underwear” may indeed be the most typically “Psychedelic” cut of Intersystems entire catalog. Its saturated crypto-Indian drone and bent acoustic guitar notes, are upstaged by Parker’s lurid-sounding declamations and Mills-Cockell’s fierce industrial clatter. From there, it all spirals further into a vortex of frayed cacophony and sober-yet-surreal orations. The sixteen-minute “Blackout Mix” is a perfect demonstration of just how tenuous their relationship was to even the furthest-out reaches of psychedelia in spite of their own pronounced use of related terminology. All curdled puddles of synth noise and caustic electronic howls, Parker’s fragmentary deadpan bark both penetrates, and is enveloped by, the sticky sonic tapestry. He unfurls a series of disparate images, more-than-flirting with the mundane horror enumerated later (and more explicitly) by the likes of Throbbing Gristle. “Vox 3/13/67” is Number One Intersystems’ second longest and arguably most varied piece. John’s contributions span dimly elegiac textures, evoking distant chimes and striated choral voices. Parker delivers his writing as staunchly as ever, yet hacks certain words into syllabic mincemeat that spills violently and incoherently into the middles of sentences. It’s by no means less anxious than other pieces on the album, but its tension is achieved through an eerily pronounced sense of breath and movement rather more aggressive means. Where elsewhere Number One Intersystems seems to forecast post-punk excursions into avant-noise antagonism, here there’s more indication of Mills-Cockell’s training and more canonical influences in its careful phrase-shaping. Featured throughout the album was a homespun instrument devised by John, dubbed “The Coffin”, which was also employed live in their “presentations”. Mills-Cockell recalls: “It was a 6 foot long box line with purple satin, housing a long plank strung with many parallel lengths of piano wire held in place with tuning pegs which were adjustable with a wrench we kept on board for the purpose. There were contact mikes which were switchable, just like on a Telecaster except that the switches could permit not only selection of different harmonic spectra when the instrument sounded, but of a variety of loudspeakers in various locations in a performance space.” Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi. Edition of 300. Presented in the original Allied Records sleeve.
File Under: Electronic, Experimental, Avant-Garde
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Intersystems: Peachy (Alga Marghen) LP
Alga Marghen presents a reissue of Intersystems’ Peachy (1967). The sound work of Intersystems cannibalized stray bits of McLuhanism, psychedelia, Cagean experimentalism, and even the modernist gestural strains of nascent electronic music, yet it was all couched within a very particular DIY ethos. Peachy pushes the meticulousness of Number One Intersystems even further and, as such, represents a more balanced amalgam of Intersystems’ various disparate stylistic and emotional elements. The truncated opening cut “Experienced Not Watched” is deceptive, beginning with lush, tuneful organ swells that almost border on the ecclesiastical and washed-out metallic pulsations. Yet, the track comes to an abrupt end. What follows is thinner and more gestural, imbued with both poise and awkward buoyancy, owing more to musique concrète than anything on Number One Intersystems. Each sound is framed within ample negative space, inviting listeners to savor each moment, yet its dynamism, and boisterousness, mischievous character steer it well away from being too precious. This impression is reinforced by the decidedly rugged and opaque timbre of much of the sonic activity. Peachy’s balance can also be attributed to its consistent flow. The album may superficially be divided into discrete tracks yet the pieces follow one another seamlessly, conveying a single arc, with many continuities and recurring motives. Many of these motives are just mere pithy jolts or shudders of white noise that dart in and out of the aural scenery. In “So They Took The Guns”, it matches the gestural profile of the opening cut – it’s suddenly lopped off, shifting decisively back toward a slice of Parker’s grim narrative, planted squarely in the foreground amidst various percolating abstract chatter. Just as the musical textures have a more unified logic, Parker’s texts are also more integrated into the total picture, both aurally and thematically. Despite its sharp veerings into death and violence, the abrupt leaps have a more absurd timbre, than one of abjection and morbidity. And the sudden shifts, of course, are complemented well by the restless intensity of Mills-Cockell’s contributions. Parker’s voice is subject to a wider spectrum of electronic treatments than before. They’re also situated in various places, both spatially and within the mix. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi. Edition of 300.
File Under: Experimental, Electronic, Avant-Garde
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Intersystems: Free Psychedelic Poster Inside (Alga Marghen) LP
Alga Marghen presents a reissue of Intersystems’ Free Psychedelic Poster Inside (1968). Intersystems occupied a difficult-to-reach critical nook between the many tropes that had established to frame the various artistic trends of 1960s. Announcing itself with a quivering beam of fluorescent sound, the beginning of Intersystems’ Free Psychedelic Poster Inside feels as though it’s slowly piercing right through your frontal lobe. Blake Parker’s poetry is a dark glimpse into mundane domesticity and the suburbs. One can’t help but sense that they’re being brainwashed: the slow metamorphosis of sound is juxtaposed against Parker’s even-tempered yet electronically-tampered-with speech. There are occasional hints at the twitchy energy of Peachy, but everything is braced by a spine of lean, cool tones, making Free Psychedelic Poster Inside a far more stark outing than either of its predecessors. Yet the sense of impending danger and general volatility found in the rest of the catalogue is still present – if not amplified. In contrast to Peachy, the shapes the music cuts are smooth rather than jagged, but one is never sure just when Parker’s strangely uninflected voice will emerge from the blinding aggregates of pure color. While these clusters of glowing sustain assert an aggressive mesmerism, they serve as a primer for the ears, ominously readying them for virtually anything to happen. When something does, there’s often a sense mild alarm on the listener’s part even when said change comes in the form of a reprieve from the relentless swarms of high frequency – cascades of synthetic giggles, sliding slow elastic melodies, vigorous strobing modulations and bubbling passages of electronic fizz. Musician and insatiable collector Julian Cope, on his exhaustive online chronicle of all things rare and psychedelic, “Head Heritage” calls Intersystems third LP “one of the densest, most oblique collections of sound ever”. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi. Comes with original LP graphics as well as a new insert. Edition of 300.
File Under: Experimental, Electronic, Avant-Garde
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Ariel Kalma: Interfrequence (Black Sweat) LP
After the 1978 exploits of Osmose, Ariel Kalma returned to the studio in 1980 to create the space-ambient library record Interfrequence, reissued here for the first time. In a continuation of Kalma’s personal research into the combination of electronic machines with natural sounds and acoustic instrumentation, the French musician plays the master of ceremonies with his synths, but he diverges from the symphonic, galactic suites composed by other standard-bearers like Richard Pinhas and Klaus Schulze. One finds 18 short sound-pictures (a few of them in collaboration with M. Saclays) that emanate an unparalleled variety of ideas and ethno-cultural influences. Kalma’s distinctive compositional style always returns in a crescendo of ecstatic emotions reflecting on the hidden and secret aspects of the micro- and macro-cosmos. If in Osmose the sampling from the mother Gaia was more explicit, here nature is investigated not only in terms of pure tones, but also in the dynamics of flows and movements dictated by the frequency of Moogs and organs. Complete with embellishments of hyper-space flutes, trumpets, and clarinets, Interfrequence is yet another chapter in Kalma’s personal saga of sound imagery discovery.
File Under: Electronic, Ambient, Library, New Age
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Les Rallizes Denudes: France Demo Tapes (Bamboo) LP
Bamboo presents the first vinyl release of France Demo Tapes. “This just might be the single greatest side of OTT psych/noise guitar oblivion ever put to disc from the most legendary Japanese underground group of all time, Les Rallizes Denudes: the mysteriously-named France Demo Tapes have previously only circulated on wildly dubious CD-R burns, often with contradictory and conflicting track listings/material but the session (whether it was actually recorded in France or not) is consistently dated as being from some time in the late ’80s. This gloriously out-of-nowhere release finally delivers on the hype surrounding this much whispered-about session, two massively deformed versions of their classics “Night Of The Assassins” and “The Last One”. You have heard nothing” like this and when Mizutani is on this kind of form it’s hard to believe that any other rock music exists outside of this singular, blasted universe. If you buy one electric guitar album this lifetime…” — David Keenan. 180 gram, colored vinyl. Includes detailed liner notes. Edition of 1000.
File Under: Psych, Japanese
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Arrigo Lora-Totino: Trio Prosodico (Holidays) LP
Holiday Records presents a reissue of Trio Prosodico (1978) by Arrigo Lora-Totino. Arrigo Lora-Totino is considered one of the fathers of Italian sound poetry. He’s mostly known for having curated the anthology Futura: Poesia Sonora (1978), where he collected the voices of the most interesting sound poets of the twentieth century, but also for being a key figure in the Italian experimental poetry. Active since the late sixties, he gave more than 200 performances of “Gymnastic Poetry” and “Liquid Poetry” (using the Idromegaphone, a tool invented on purpose to let the voice sound through water) and a series of mimic declamations of avant-garde texts, from futurism to dadaism, Russian ‘zaum, expressionism, surrealism, lettrisme and concretism. This sound poem in six movements – performed as a vocal trio together with Sergio Cena and Laura Santiano – was recorded in 1976 in Torino at Studio di Informazione Estetica (S.I.E.) and is considered by the author himself one of his most important works. First volume in a series of sound poetry releases on Holiday Records coordinated by Luca Garino. Comes in a deluxe edition with the complete reproduction of the handwritten original scores. Edition of 250.
File Under: Sound Poetry, Italian
Mario Molino: C 364 – Antico E Moderno (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Remastered sound. Released 500 copies. A totally insane Italian killer library album reissued for the joy of collectors and sample hunters from the highly-collectible Fonit Usignolo series. Famed album Mario Molino’s for the mental breakbeats hailing from the track “Traffico Caotico”, a simply mind-melting electronic hip hop beat which seems to be written nowadays. Spaced-out deep electronic and experimental sounds with another atomic shot “Iceland Bossa” featured. More avant-garde, tv-score themes, industrial vibes and space electronics madness on the rest of the album. Top Molino recording! From 1975.
File Under: Italian, Library
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Moving Gelatin Plates: s/t(Monster Melodies) LP
Monster Melodies presents a collaboration with Moving Gelatine Plates with Moving Gelatine Plates. 45 years after the start of Moving Gelatine Plates, Monster Mélodies and the legendary band release an album of unreleased tracks recorded between 1970 and 1978. Comes as a translucent pink jelly colored vinyl. Comes in a sleeve which opens up, containing a flyer with a family tree illustration of the different components of the band, a post card of a vintage promotional poster rand a plus a record which is an identical reproduction of the one originally made in 1970.
File Under: Prog
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Mystery Lights: s/t (Wick) LP
RECOMMENDED! In an era when the city kvetches that there are no good NYC bands, when half of the music scene has split for sunny California, The Mystery Lights are an anomaly. Not only did these bold young men reverse the direction – optimistically migrating east against the tide from the west coast, but they also landed in the wormy apple to immerse themselves in the action and diversity of New York City. Hot on the heels of the “Too Many Girls”/”Too Tough To Bear” single, Wick Records (Daptone’s new rock subsidiary) officially rolls out The Mystery Lights’ debut LP, recorded at Daptone Records’ House of Soul studio, in June 2016.
File Under: Psych, Rock
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Narassa: Tensione Dinamica (Intervallo) LP
Intervallo present a reissue from Amedeo Tommasi’s Rotary Records label, Narassa’s Tensione Dinamica (1974).The niche occupied by libraries in the history of Italian music is full of amazing stories, such as Rotary Record’s, which is actually one of the most interesting and peculiar. The label, created and led by renewed composer Amedeo Tommasi, released seven albums in just one year – between 1973 and 1974 – of material ranging from futuristic experimentations to classic and jazz (the latter being one of the biggest passions of Tommasi). He wasn’t just the boss, he also played piano and electronic instruments in all the records he released. He also took care of all the brilliant artwork (the original ones can easily be found online) and of pressing duties. The first three volumes of the series were released in 300 copies each, the other four in a humble press of 100 each: numbers that show how rare these records are nowadays, and how scarce their circulation was at the time. Tensione Dinamica by Narassa (an alias of Sandro Brugnolini), is the first of two Intervallo releases dedicated to Rotary’s experimental vein, the other being Farlocco’s Tecnologia (INTER 006LP). This lost gem by the duo Brugnolini/Tommasi is a work ahead of its time – pretty much as it happened to the almost-twin album Tecnologia. It’s characterized by a lighter use of technology and a more traditional approach. Creative tension (be it static or dynamic, like the first two song titles of the album) is always headed toward experimentation, even if touches of jazz and of the great tradition of Italian libraries can be found in the album. “Vacuum” (in two versions), “Conflittuale” and “Filterband” introduce electro touches, but the biggest surprise comes with “Spleen”, the opener of side two: a perfect track to be sampled for hip-hop… for example, Mobb Deep. But Tensione Dinamica is also enhanced by the precious liquid piano and the synth mumbles of “Subtone”. And let’s not forget the invention of Stereolab in “Aflogelia”.
File Under: Italian, Library
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Orchestra Ollamar/Rino De Fillippi: Atmosfere (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Remastered sound. Released 500 copies. One of the darkest and in high-demand Italian Library. From the infamous Fonit 7001 series, is the most obscure and deepest of Rino de Filippi’s creations, Atmosfere, composed along with maestro Giancarlo Chiaramello. Obstinated dark breakbeats like in the killer “Ostinazione” with fuzz psychedelic guitar and amazing drumming tempo. More dark samples on “Pulsazioni”. Spookiest guitar and basslines ever and scary atmospherics with screaming sophisticated vocals too. Insane record!
File Under: Italian, Library, Fuzz
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Raime: Tooth (Blackest Ever Black) LP
Raime presents their second album, Tooth. The widescreen melancholia of their 2012 debut, Quarter Turns Over A Living Line, gives way to an urgent and focused futurism, in the shape of eight fiercely up-tempo, minimal, meticulously crafted electro-acoustic rhythm tracks. The DNA of dub-techno, garage/grime and post-hardcore rock music spliced into sleek and predatory new forms. No let-up, no hesitation. Needlepoint guitar, deftly junglist drum programming, brooding synths and lethal sub-bass drive the engine. The production is immaculate, high definition. No hiss, no obscuring drones or extraneous noise: the music of Tooth is wide-open and exposed. The seeds of its supple dancehall biomechanics can be found in the self-titled 2013 EP by Raime side-project Moin, an ahead-of-its-time synthesis of art-rock and sound-system sensibilities, but Tooth pushes the template further, binding the disparate elements together so tightly that they become indistinguishable from one another. If Quarter Turns was an album that confronted total loss and self-destruction, even longed for it, then Tooth is the sound of resistance and counter-attack: cunning, quick, resolute; calling upon stealth as much as brute-force. At a time when so many pay lip service to experimentation without ever fully committing themselves or their work to it, Raime return from three years of deep, dedicated studio research with a bold and original new music: staunch, rude, and way out in front.
File Under: Electronic, Industrial, Darkwave
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Teresa Rampazzi: Images for Diana Baylon (Die Schachtel) LP
The long and mesmerizing single piece of analog electronic music that develops over the two sides of Images for Diana Baylon (1972), the latest Die Schachtel “Silver Series” LP is a soundscape composed by Teresa Rampazzi for the artist Diana Baylon’s 1972 exhibition at the modern art gallery Il Fiore in Florence, Italy. Diana Baylon (1920-2013), a friend of Rampazzi’s, was a cross-disciplinary artist who transformed various materials (ceramics, glass, metal, paper, paintings, graphics, jewelry) into figurative and – later in the ’60s – abstract and programmatic art objects. In the summer of 1969 she appeared – along with Alberto Burri, Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet and Lucio Fontana – at the Festival dei Due Mondi di Spoleto exhibition “Maitres Et Jeunes D’aujourd’hui”. For the 1972 Florence exhibition, Teresa Rampazzi realized this long “soundtrack” (in her words) to be played in loop. Sounds were made with the analog equipment she used at the time. “The inner space of the exhibition” she wrote, “is made of sound, for the whole duration of the exhibition. The work is composed by a series of sound events, with both informal and aleatory features, in a continuous flux, and there is no planned predetermination in any of the various sections. This choice has been made for the sound space to adjust to the sculptor’s plastic and loose images.” Immagini per Diana Baylon was in fact the third time Teresa Rampazzi realized music for an exhibition. The first was also the very first experimental composition that Rampazzi and Ennio Chiggio composed in 1965, a sound collage for the opening of an exhibition of the Gruppo Enne at the International Biennale d’Arte in Venice. The second soundscape piece, “Environ” (1970), was realized for the presentation of a 360 degree round modular couch in foamed resin designed by Chiggio, presented at a furniture shop in Padova in 1970. The piece is featured on the Die Schachtel Musica Endoscopica LP by Teresa Rampazzi released in 2009. Immagini per Diana Baylon is the eighth LP release in the Die Schachtel “Silver Series” dedicated to the pioneers of early Italian electronic music. Limited deluxe vinyl LP edition. Silver printed cover with silver-foil print, with a red inner sleeve and booklet. Edition of 450.
File Under: Early Electronic
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Elza Soares: The Woman at the End of the World (Mais Um Discos) LP
Septuagenarian Brazilian music icon Elza Soares teams up with the cream of São Paulo’s avant-garde musicians for an album of apocalyptic, experimental samba sujo (“dirty samba”) that tackles the burning issues of 21st century Brazil: racism, domestic violence, sex, drug addiction and global warming. The Woman at the end of the World is Elza’s 34th studio album and her first to feature previously unrecorded material, exclusively composed for her. Voted “Best Album of 2015” by Rolling Stone Brazil after its domestic release, it will now be released worldwide by UK based label Mais Um Discos. Over a sprawl of distorted guitars, squalling horn, taught strings and electronic shards, samba is savaged by rock ‘n’ roll, free jazz, noise and other experimental music forms. A true legend of Brazilian music Elza has an incredible musical oeuvre that stretches back over seven decades mixing samba with jazz, soul, funk, hip hop and electronica, whilst her life story is a rags-to-riches-to-rags rollercoaster of triumphs and tragedies that has made her a voice for Brazil’s repressed female, black, gay and working class populations. Her music career began in the late 1950s as she sung in clubs and hotels, sometimes being forced to perform off stage because of her skin color. The ’60s was a career defining period with a run of classic albums for Odeon. After decades of hardships and artistic exploration, her latest muse is São Paulo’s hyped samba sujo scene. Soares presents an album that walks a tightrope between post-rock and post-samba. “I knew this album would be a bold, modern sound” she says. “These songs are tense they do not allow you to relax”. The album opens with “Coracão do Mar (Heart of the Sea)” with Elza reciting a poem from celebrated Brazilian modernist poet Oswald de Andrade. Title track “Mulher do fim do Mundo” uses carnival as a metaphor for the apocalypse and according to composer Romulo Froes “translates Elza’s strength and indestructability”. With The Woman at the End of the World, Elza forces the joy and sadness that personifies samba to confront the dirty truths of modern day São Paulo.
File Under: Brazilian, Experimental, Samba
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Ghedalia Tazartes: 5 Rimbaud 1 Verlaine (Holidays) 10″
Holiday Records presents the vinyl reissue of Ghedalia Tazartes’ 5 Rimbaud 1 Verlaine (2006). This is a great tribute to the poetry of Rimbaud and Verlaine made by a favorite French sorcerer, who exceptionally abandoned his typical imaginary language to reinterpret six small poems in his own way, jumping from one musical genre to the other and happily letting them crunch together in a childish, enthusiastic play. Recorded in Paris in his flat around the same time he recorded the wonderful Hystérie Off Music (2007) and previously available in an almost unnoticed mini CD edition published by the French label Jardin au Fou. Available here in a remastered vinyl version – with an excellent 45 rpm cut made by SST in Frankfurt. Edition of 350.
File Under: Experimental, Gypsy
Franco Tonani: Confluenze (Sonor Music) LP
180 gram vinyl. Remastered sound. Released 500 copies. Italian free jazz milestone. Here’s Franco Tonani (Night In Fonorama) (1964) at the drums together with top Italian jazz musicians of the time for a full free jazz/avant-garde session. Tracks like “Shepping”, “Odd Piece” and “Whisper” are high-class bopping jazz cues with Tonani killing at the drums. Other weird and avant-garde themes on both of the sides. Legendary Italian jazz album!
File Under: Italian, Library, Jazz
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Various: Wake Up You! Vol. 1 (Now Again) LP
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! “The Western world was in the throes of peace, love and flower power as Nigeria descended into Civil War in 1967. The rock scene that developed during the following three years of bloodshed and destruction would come to heal the country, propagate the world-wide ideal of the Modern Nigerian, and propel Fela Kuti to stardom after the conflict ended in 1970. Wake Up You! tells the story of this time, pays homage to these now-forgotten musicians and their struggle, and brings to light the funk and psychedelic fury they created as they wrested free of the ravages of the late 1960s and created thrilling, original Nigerian rock music throughout the 1970s. This ‘standard’ 2LP set follows the now-OOP Record Store Day edition. It comes with a download card with full audio and a 104 page digital booklet (as a .pdf) filled with never-seen photos and detailed liner notes by Nigerian musicologist and researcher Uchenna Ikonne (Who Is William Onyeabor?; Brand New Wayo: Nigerian Boogie and Disco, etc.), with all tracks fully licensed from the bands themselves.”
File Under: Psych, Nigerian
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…..restocks…..
Chvrches: Bones of What You Believe (Glassnote) LP
Miles Davis: Cookin’ (Waxtime) LP
Dead Kennedys: Frankenchrist (Manifesto) LP
Dead Kennedys: Give Me Convenience (Manifesto) LP
Fabio Fabor: Aquarium (Sonor Music) LP
Godspeed You Black Emperor: Lift Your Skinny Fists… (Constellation) LP
Godspeed You Black Emperor: F#A# (Constellation) LP
Godspeed You Black Emperor: Allelujah! (Constellation) LP
Godspeed You Black Emperor: Asunder… (Constellation) LP
Grizzly Bear: Shields (Warp) LP
Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp) LP
Billie Holiday: Carnegie Hall (Pan American) LP
Billie Holiday: Stay With Me (Pan American) LP
Holy Fuck: Congrats (Last Gang) LP
Jerusalem in my Heart: Mo7it Al-Mo7it (Constellation) LP
Jerusalem in my Heart: If He Dies, If If If If If (Constellation) LP
July Talk: s/t (Sleepless) LP
Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid… (Aftermath) LP
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly (Aftermath) LP
LCD Soundsystem: London Sessions (DFA) LP
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening (DFA) LP
Lumineers: Cleopatra (Dine Alone) LP
Thelonious Monk: Monks Dream (Waxtime) LP
Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser (Music on Vinyl) LP
Lee Morgan: Search For A New Land (Blue Note) LP
Pearl Jam: Ten (Epic) LP
Pearl Jam: Vitalogy (Epic) LP
Pearl Jam: Vs. (Epic) LP
Iggy Pop & The Stooges: Raw Power (Epic) LP
Purity Ring: Shrines (Last Gang) LP
Lou Reed: Transformer (Sony) LP
Emitt Rhodes: Rainbow Ends (Omnivore) LP
Royal Headache: s/t (What’s Your Rupture) LP
Sturgill Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide.. (Atlantic) LP
Vince Staples: Summertime ’06 (Universal) LP
Stooges: Funhouse (Rhino) LP
Melvins: Houdini (Third Man) LP
Lungfish: Sound in Time (Dischord) LP
Various: Coxsone’s Music 2 (Soul Jazz) LP
Various: Heartworn Highways (Light in the Attic) LP
Various: Hillbillies in Hell Volume 2 (Iron Mountain) LP
Various: Venezuela 70 (Soul Jazz) LP