We are back! Had a nice little break, full of adventure. And now we’re paying the price. Loads of new stuff in this week. So get down here and grab some wax!
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…..picks of the week…..
Sachiko Kanenobu: Misora (Light in the Attic) LP
Often regarded as Japan’s first female singer-songwriter, Sachiko Kanenobu created an enduring legacy with Misora, a timeless classic of intricate finger-picking, gently soaring melodies, and rustic Laurel Canyon vibes. Originally released in 1972 on URC (Underground Record Club), one of Japan’s first independent record labels, the Haruomi Hosono-produced album remains one of the most beloved works to come out of Japan’s folk and rock scenes centered around Tokyo and Kansai areas in the early 1970s. Born and raised in Osaka in a large, music-loving family, Kanenobu picked up the guitar as a teen just as the “college folk” boom swept through university campuses in the Kansai area in the mid-60s. The Pete Seeger and American folk-leaning scene didn’t appeal much to her, however, and instead gravitated towards the British sounds of Donovan and Pentangle, teaching herself guitar techniques by listening to their music. Kanenobu made her songwriting and recording debut as part of Himitsu Kessha Marumaru Kyodan, whose sole single was released on URC in 1969. After years of being pushed aside by the label in favor of newer male artists who were more “folky” in a traditional sense, it was her friendship with the groundbreaking band and labelmate Happy End that ultimately helped her secure the opportunity to record a solo album. With Hosono on board as producer, Kanenobu spent seven days recording the songs that would become Misora, with most songs recorded in a single take. By the time Misora released in September 1972, Kanenobu was gone. She had left for America, eager to start a new life with Paul Williams, a music writer who had founded Crawdaddy Magazine in 1966. Without the artist to promote it, “_Misora_ was asleep for a long time,” she said. Meanwhile Kanenobu settled near Sonoma in Northern California, retiring from music and concentrating on raising her two children. It wasn’t until Philip K. Dick, the famed writer and family friend, heard Misora and encouraged her to get back into music, that Kanenobu felt the urge to pick up the guitar again. Soon new songs started flowing, and Dick helped finance a single for Kanenobu in 1981. He was committed to producing a full length when he died unexpectedly in 1982. While she enjoyed success (especially in Germany) with her hard-hitting group Culture Shock in the 1980s, and continued to release albums in American and in Japan in the 1990s, it’s Misora that keeps coming back to her. Every few years a new generation of fans discover the album. Devendra Banhart, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Gunn, and many others continue to tout its greatness. Kanenobu played a series of sold-out homecoming shows in Japan in 2018, playing Misora in its entirety. Surviving members of Happy End came out to support, some even playing in her backing band. Audience members included old and young, some young enough to be her grandchildren. “I love it,” she said. “They love Misora, they’ve heard it so many times. And here it rose from death…because for them, they can’t believe it—she’s still alive!”
File Under: Japanese, Folk
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Nivhek: After its Own Death/Walking in a Spiral Towards the House (W.25th) LP
Opaque assemblages of Mellotron, guitar, field recordings, tapes and broken FX pedals by Pacific Northwest artist Liz Harris, created during and after two contrasting residencies in the Azores, Portugal and Murmansk, Russia and combined with pieces made at home in Astoria, Oregon. The collection’s unique dual design functions as a forked path, existing independently of one another but with roots intertwined. She cites her score for HYPNOSIS DISPLAY as a compositional reference point, inspired by “interior mnemonic device landscapes” and “curiosity around a sadness.” In pacing, palette and poignancy, these sides rank among Harris’ most stark, primordial work: fragile, feverish, ominous and otherworldly. She describes this music as “a requiem, a ritual, to unlock and release feelings,” a sense of shadowy masses, moving backwards, in spirals, massive doorways opening chaotic forces, “a toxic concentrated reduction of something much darker bubbling beneath.” Her artistry for mapping richly detailed inner worlds is nowhere more expressive and enigmatic, vibrations and voices gliding dimly out of the void, “wraithlike and ethereal, their existence in the mist questionable.” Initially released in a private edition that vanished almost as quickly as it was announced, After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house is presented here in a beautiful second edition on Superior Viaduct’s imprint W.25TH.
File Under: Ambient
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…..new arrivals…..
Art Ensemble of Chicago: We are on the Edge (Erased Tapes) LP
Iconic, innovative and internationally renowned force in avant-garde music The Art Ensemble of Chicago released their 50th anniversary celebratory album We Are On The Edge this month, and Erased Tapes are honoured to announce the vinyl edition of this exceptional body of work. Led by surviving founding members Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye, these brand new recordings involve a staggering array of contemporary artists ranging from across the jazz, experimental and improvised music spheres; from the visionary poet and musician Moor Mother, trumpeters Fred Berry and Hugh Ragin, who have performed with Mitchell for over five and four decades, to bassist Jaribu Shahid, supreme cellist Tomeka Reid, celebrated flute virtuoso Nicole Mitchell and the extraordinary voice of Rodolfo Cordova-Lebron.
File Under: Jazz
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CFM: Soundtrack to an Empty Room (In The Red) LP
Charles Moothart is releasing his third album under the moniker CFM. It’s called Soundtrack For An Empty Room and keeps it cookin’ off 2016’s Still Life Of Citrus And Slime and 2017’s Dichotomy Desaturated. Moothart is a frequent contributor on many of Ty Segall’s solo ventures but also as a co-conspirator in bands like the blazing jam unit Fuzz, and a fantastic monster of a group called GØGGS, which throws Segall and Moothart in with Chris Shaw of Ex-Cult. Something that’s immediately apparent on this album is that it’s a harder record than its predecessors. The shift isn’t subtle but it is tremendously cool. A lot of the material was written while Moothart was on tour with Segall and working on the GØGGS Pre Strike Sweep album. The first two CFM efforts gave Moothart the experience to work effectively on his own in the studio, the live shows infuse this with the confidence and attitude that comes from a lot of nights playing where there are no second takes. It is an exciting follow up and further proof that Moothart is one of those people with a lot of music in him. “If I may speak completely for myself. It’s musicians like Charles, Ty, Chris Shaw, John Dwyer, Tim Presley and Mikal Cronin who are not only revitalizing Independent Music, but have forced the idea of the monolithic album, endless tour and then a year before another release to be but an antiquated and megaboring option. It’s a blast trying to keep up with their output. Super exciting. Lastly, all three CFM albums are great but Soundtrack To An Empty Room is the best one. It rips from start to finish.” —Henry Rollins
File Under: Psych, Garage, Punk
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John Di Stefano: For the Moment (Concentric Circles) LP
American-born, Japan-based composer John Di Stefano self-released a number of cassettes as part of the 80s DIY underground on his own imprint Oktron Produktions, including Klang’s Drift, a collaboration with Joel Graham. Living in San Francisco, Di Stefano had access to multiple University electronic music studios, where he had an impressive array of synthesizers at his fingertips, including both Buchla and Serge modular systems. Combining his knowledge of modular synthesis with a background in percussion, his early releases were a uniquely human approach to electroacoustic music, with flourishes of post punk in the mix. Di Stefano developed an interest in world music, studying Indian music theory and tabla, and after an extended trip to Indonesia in the mid 80s, he was particularly drawn to Javanese gamelan music. Future recordings would forever be indebted to the sounds he heard during those travels. Concentric Circles is proud to present For the Moment, which features tracks from some of Di Stefano’s early cassette releases, as well as a number of unheard explorations of Indian polyrhythms from the early 90s. Di Stefano’s prescient and unique work will appeal to fans of Cybe, Joel Graham, UnknownmiX, Zru Vogue, and provides a fascinating view of the 80s US electronic underground.
File Under: Electronic, World
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Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein: Spheres (Invada) LP
SPHERES—a celestially immersive experience focusing on the human connection with the cosmos—with music composed and performed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (S U R V I V E, Stranger Things). SPHERES written and directed by Eliza McNitt (Fistful of Stars, Without Fire), will be released on the Oculus Rift in the fall presented by City Lights and Protozoa Pictures. Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel are Executive Producers. The entire series had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival with the debut of the first and final installment of the series, “Chorus of the Cosmos” narrated by Millie Bobby Brown where it won the “Best Virtual Reality” award. The second chapter—“Songs of Spacetime” narrated by Jessica Chastain—world premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The third chapter—“Pale Blue Dot” narrated by Patti Smith—premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
File Under: Electronic, Stranger Things
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Suzanne Doucet: New Age Boxset 1982-84 (Dark Entries) 5LP Box
“We are honored to release a 5-LP Vinyl Box Set from one of the key figures of New Age music, Suzanne Doucet from her incredible run of cassette only albums from 1982-84. Suzanne was born in Tuebingen, Germany where as a three year old, Doucet discovered her innate artistic gifts. Instinctively, she was always drawing, playing music, singing, and writing. By the age of 18, Suzanne was an established pop star in Germany with several #1 hits. She also made her mark as a composer, actress, TV moderator, director, engineer, and producer. At age 25. she took a sabbatical from the music business to go on a spiritual odyssey. In 1970 she released a triple album of field recordings and mind-expanding psychedelia under the name Zweistein. For the next ten years, she developed her own style of New Age music while exploring many areas of metaphysics and spiritual practices, including astrology, music therapy, tarot, yoga and the Kabbalah. In 1979, Doucet launched a record label in West Germany named Isis, after the Egyptian goddess of feminine divinity. She formed the duo New Age with her musical partner Christian Bühner, and released the 1982 cassette album ‘Transformation’, which was inspired by a visit to Findhorn, Scotland. Suzanne and Christian recorded acoustic sounds such as waterdrops and vocals using sophisticated sound manipulation devices and muli-track recording techniques. The only electronic instruments used were the Jupiter 8 and the Roland TR-808 drum machine. The next year the duo began work on the follow-up ‘Transmission’, which released on cassette in 1983. After this release, Bühner and Doucet moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find more kindred spirits in the burgeoning New Age scene there. Doucet met Tajalli (William Wichman) whom with she would collaborate with on the 1984 cassette ‘Brilliance’. That same year Doucet married Video Artist and Yoga instructor James Bell. Together they recorded two albums, ‘Reflecting Light Vol. 1’ and ‘Reflecting Light Vol. 2’, using a Roland JX-3P, TR-909 and a Steinway Grand Piano. Both cassettes had mirrored covers, a reference to the Zweistein jacket 14 years prior. For the first time Suzanne’s cassette music is available on vinyl, in a limited run of 300 box sets. Each is stamped with a rainbow foil of the goddess Isis and includes an 8-page full color magazine designed by Eloise Leigh with liner notes, photos and reflections by Suzanne.
File Under: New Age, Ambient
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Earthen Sea: Grass and Trees (Kranky) LP
Jacob Long’s reductionist rhythmic ambient vessel, Earthen Sea, ebbs towards a more purely elemental state on his second excursion for Kranky, Grass And Trees. He describes the creative process as one of “simplifying things as much as possible,” designing uncluttered spaces traced in nothing but breath, field recordings, and “sounds that could be played by hand but weren’t.” The results feel decentralized but dynamic, low-lit evocations of ambiguous nocturnal environments—dub techno disassembled into stray pulses and spare parts. It’s a music both interior and infinite, languorous yet transformative, made in the outer boroughs of a metropolis but existing in its own liminal wilderness. Long’s vision is a grounding one, rooted in the physical body but attuned to larger currents: “In response to living in a fairly hectic city, and at a very hectic time for the world at large, creating something more drawn back and restrained felt appropriate.”
File Under: Ambient
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Follakzoid: I (Sacred Bones) LP
The long-awaited fourth full-length by Föllakzoid isn’t merely a recalibration for the band. It is a multidimensional reconsideration of what the process of songwriting, performance, and creating a work of recorded music can be. Föllakzoid grows via depuration, aiming with each record to fill longer spaces of time with fewer and fewer elements. The creative perspective of the band has always been about unlearning the narrative and musical knowledge that shape the physical and digital formats and conceptions available, both visually and musically in order to make a time-space metric structure that dissolves both the author and the narrative paradigms. “We found our sonic and metric identity even more in these songs than in our previous attempts,” guitarist/singer Domingæ Garcia-Huidobro explains. Unlike past Föllakzoid records, that were done in single takes with the full band, this record took three months to construct out of more than 60 separate stems – guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers, and vocals, all recorded in isolation. Producer Atom TM, who was not present for recording, was then asked to re-organize the four sequences of stems without any length, structural restrictions or guidelines. Those sequences ultimately became the four long tracks that appear on I. The result of this was a set of songs where neither the band’s, nor the producer’s, structural vision primarily shaped the metric or tonal space shifts, but where both were still subliminally present in each of the parts that form the structure and the frequency modulations that guide them. “We invite you to join us in sharing the experience of being led by this non-rational, sonic artform and its energy. It is also an invitation to connect once again with your inner master and his intuition, erasing the systematic rationalization that usually follows creative forces when perceived, to guide you on this holographic simultaneous simulation where reality is rooted in,” Domingæ adds.
File Under: Psych, Minimalism
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Jim Guthrie: Sword & Sworcery (iam8bit) LP
The soundtrack for Sword & Sworcery: The Ballad of the Space Babies is LEGENDARY, and that is thanks to the LEGEND himself, other-dimensional composer, Jim Guthrie. That’s actually an understatement, because fact is – this dreamy, ephemeral synth-rock journey of an album is responsible for inspiring an entire generation of videogame music. When Guthrie self-published the epic tunes from Sword & Sworcery on vinyl in 2011, the collection wasn’t complete. FINALLY – eight years later – this 2xLP “Super Deluxe Edition” presents, for the first time, the full soundtrack + an additional 40 minutes of bonus tracks and remixes + a mindblowing, glow-in-the-dark playset of a package. Made with moon magic and kissed with cosmic dust.
File Under: OST, Video Games
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William Hooker: …is Eternal Life (Superior Viaduct) LP
Drummer, composer and poet William Hooker has been a tireless force in free improvised music for over 40 years. He emerged from New York’s loft jazz scene in the mid-’70s, part of a generation of artists fueled by the social, political and cultural frustrations of their era. This second wave of American free jazz would push relentlessly into new territories—collaborating in a variety of non-traditional settings, establishing their own labels, venues, etc.—all in an effort at creative self-determination. While William Hooker’s output extends past 70 albums as leader, it all began with the double LP … Is Eternal Life. Recorded in 1975-1976 and released privately on the artist’s own Reality Unit Concepts imprint, … Is Eternal Life is nothing short of visionary. Filled with tension, intricacy and raw fury, these extended compositions feature the playing of David Murray, Mark Miller, David S. Ware, Hasaan Dawkins and Les Goodson.
File Under: Jazz, Free Improvisation
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Weldon Irvine: Liberated Brother (Pure Pleasure) LP
Weldon Irvine’s debut as a leader remains one of the most fiercely idiosyncratic electric jazz outings of the early ‘70s. Innovative not only for its moody, nuanced jazz-funk sensibility, Liberated Brother also translates the uncommonly strong passion of Irvine’s political and philosophical views into its grooves, creating music of rare sincerity and ambition. While the record’s first-half features longer, more meditative songs, like the Latin-inspired title tune and “Blues Wel-Don,” the second side of Liberated Brother commands the most attention. With sterling contributions from guitarist Tommy Smith, bassist Roland Wilson, and drummer Napoleon Revels-Bey, cuts like “Mr. Clean” and “Sister Sanctified” (later sampled by Boogie Down Productions for the rap classic “My Philosophy”) achieve a deeply funky consciousness forged from elements of jazz, soul, and psychedelia; “Juggah Buggah” even features Irvine on Moog synthesizer, further expanding the LP’s cosmic reach.
File Under: Jazz
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Bombay S Jayashri: Shravanam (Time Capsule) LP
The fourth Time Capsule release presents a transcendental work of intensely spiritual Indian classical music by celebrated vocalist and composer Bombay S Jayashri. During its brief lifespan reissue imprint Time-Capsule’s releases have proved as multinational as they have been wide-ranging in style, serving up Italian new age music (Il Guardiano Del Faro’s Oasis), Japanese guitar fusion (Yuji Toriyama’s Choice Works 1982-1985), and American dub by way of Ethiopia (Bill Laswell and Gigi’s Illuminated Audio). For their fourth effort they’ve selected one of classical Indian vocalist Bombay S Jayashri’s most mesmerising works. Born into a musician family steeped in the south Indian tradition of vocal music, the Mumbai-raised singer took advantage of the city’s cosmopolitism to study northern Hindustani disciplines, one of the few vocalists to train in both. Now revered as one of the greatest living exponents of Carnatic music, she received an Oscar nomination for her work on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Within the first minute of opener Sada Bada (Slokam), Jayashri’s intensely spiritual vocals give a clear indication of why she has been increasingly embraced by a new generation of western listeners who’ve made the natural leap from ambient soundscapes to new age and devotional music. Accompanied on the following Bhajeham Bhajeham by a hypnotic rhythmic backing of mridangam drums, bells and the drone of a tambura, over its epic twenty-minute length she stretches her voice into a variety of spellbinding forms – her softly enunciated dedications to Shiva enveloping you with their immersive warmth and cosmic beauty. Kalimaheshwari’s gently undulating rhythms form a similarly entrancing undercurrent, over which Javashri delivers a jaw-dropping performance of melodic Sanskrit chants which evoke a variety of different names for the sacred feminine. One of the album’s new-found devotees is label boss Kay Suzuki: “every time I listen I’m amazed at how such a small ensemble can create such a deep musical landscape. The incredible production plays a big part. That intricate percussion sounds so clear and sits in all the right pockets rhythmically and sonically. Just by following this groove I’m put into a timeless zone, but when her voice hits on top of that gorgeous drone sound and I focus on the details of her small melodies within melodies, my heart centres and I find myself in a blissful place.” As professor of cultural and political theory Jeremy Gilbert states in the album’s liner notes, the mesmerising sincerity and deep spirituality of these songs present an intense and spiritual charge that will appeal to an audience well beyond believers and devotees of Hinduism.
File Under: Indian, Classical, New Age
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Omar Khorshid: Tribute to Oum Koulsoum (Right Track) LP
Omar Khorshid (9-Oct-1945 – 29-May-1981) is an Egyptian musician, composer, accompanist, and actor. Born in Cairo, Omar Khorshid was a well-known guitarist who accompanied many Arabic singers, including Farid Al Atrach, Oum Koulsoum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, and Abdel Halim Hafez. From 1973 to 1977, Khorshid moved to Lebanon and began recording albums under his own name, working with sound engineer Nabil Moumtaz at Polysound Studios in Beirut. Khorshid’s musicality in orchestra performances, original songs, and film scores was considered revolutionary at the time in the Middle East. His extensive theoretical knowledge, fusion of Western sounds with Eastern sounds, and incorporation of different, more modern instruments (e.g. the electric guitar, electric keyboard, and synthesizer) in Arabic music was previously unheard of. Khorshid’s unique style sparked inspiration from many aspiring musicians not only in the Middle East, but in Europe and the Americas as well. His mixing of “modern” instruments with older Arabic tunes spawned a new, more modern sound of Arabic music that many use for belly-dancing today.
File Under: Arabic, Guitar
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The Mekons: The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen (Superior Viaduct) LP
After two singles for Fast Product, Leeds art-punk collective The Mekons signed with Virgin Records in 1979. The band would have to borrow gear from their mates Gang Of Four to record their major label debut. In classic Mekons style, the album’s back cover featured a photo of Gang Of Four instead of themselves. As Simon Reynolds writes, “The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen got a mixed reception at the time. Listening to it now, though, the first LP sounds more of a piece with the band’s early punk singles. What’s striking is the commonality of sound across the three key Leeds groups of that moment (Gang Of Four, Delta 5 and The Mekons). There are textural affinities in terms of scrawny abrasiveness and a general departure from rock ’n’ roll norms of singing and emoting.” With boundless energy, The Mekons net a dozen barbed takes on pop culture, art and politics. “What Are We Going To Do Tonight” stands out as a razor-sharp critique of leisure, while “Beetroot” drowns apathy in angular riffs and catchy, unmelodic chants. Clad in one of the most striking record covers of its era, The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen is now available in the US for the first time. Liner notes by Simon Reynolds.
File Under: Punk
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Ennio Morricone: Morricone Groove (Beat Ball) LP
This double LP set is the absolute first release of Ennio Morricone’s lesser know bet beautiful scores from ‘60~’70s. A very cool way to introduce the amazing music of this legendary Italian composer to the younger fans. This selection of the best of the Lounge style tracks from his film music production has been a true enterprise, At the end of this very cool listening experience through four sides, the listener will have surely know and enjoyed all the colors of a musical giant.
File Under: OST, Library
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Lee Moses: How Much Longer Must I Wait? (Future Days) LP
After reissuing his much sought-after Time and Place LP, many questions still remained (Lee was a mysterious man!) – but the one asked most was, “where’s “Bad Girl”?!” Not included on his lone LP, “Bad Girl” is an undisputed Southern soul classic – arguably the song Lee Moses’ legacy rests on. While we may never know all we wish we knew about the man behind the music, we can finally complete the picture of his work. You know – the tunes! And what tunes they are. How Much Longer Must I Wait? Singles & Rarities 1965-1972 collects all of Lee Moses’ non-album singles and B-sides, plus three never-released tracks together for the first time ever. Most of the material here pre-dates 1971’s Time and Place, reflecting his initial bid for stardom via a series of now-legendary 45s recorded with Atlanta producer Johnny Brantley. As for the unreleased recordings – much like the man himself, little is known about them. What remains is an oeuvre that has become synonymous with raw and emotionally charged Southern soul. Essential listening for anyone with a heart.
File Under: Soul
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Musical Breed: Save the Little Children (Dig This Way) LP
Deep Nigerian ’80’s Digi-Roots Reggae! This album was originally released in Nigeria by Tabansi Records and recorded at Afrodisia/Decca studio in Lagos. The LP never really saw a commercial issue and was probably pressed in very few promotional copies for Radios and DJs making the original nearly impossible to find. Musically it comes with some dope, slow digital roots riddims filled with mad synths, deep conscious lyrics and deep bass lines. It’s quite unique as the two main tracks come with a raw Dub which is hard to find on other African Reggae albums. We have been working together with the lead singer of the band, Sharon Escco Wilson that we met personally in Lagos to finally make the album available worldwide.
File Under: Nigeria, Reggae
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Neurosis & Jarboe: s/t (Neurot) LP
Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner, available on vinyl for the first time, as well as CD and digital formats. When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasize the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on…) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time—a sentiment which also rings true to some fifteen years later. The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of “dance music,” Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past—and outlined the course of heavy music to come.
File Under: Metal
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Ofege: Higher Plane Breeze (Tidal Waves) LP
Limited coloured wax! Ofege was formed in the early 1970s by a bunch of teenagers at the St. Gregory’s College in Lagos Nigeria. They were largely influenced by the guitar solos of Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page while closer to home, they were influenced by the music of ‘BLO’ (Berkley Jones, Laolu Akins and Mike Odumosu), ‘Monomono’ (led by Joni Haastrup), The Funkees, and Ofo The Black Company. Due to their vibrant combo of sweet harmonies, hooks & fuzz, Ofege would become one of the most legendary Nigerian groups of all time, with expressive sales and national stardom. At the turn of the century (and because of tracks appearing on various psychedelic music compilations) Ofege would receive international acknowledgment for being the first of their kind and the ultimate West-African psychedelic funk band! Their first album (Try and Love – 1973) was recorded while the band members were still in high school (average age of 16). It took some years before other albums saw the light since some band members still had to finish school. Further astonishing recordings include ‘The Last of The Origins’ (1976), ‘Higher Plane Breeze’ (1977) and ‘How Do You Feel’ (1978). ‘Higher Plane Breeze’ (released in 1977 on Polydor Nigeria) is Ofege’s third album and it’s a STRONG one, combining funk and disco influences with Afrobeat and heavy rock guitars. The album provides one of the Nigerian scene’s most iconic images with its cover shot showing one member squatting amongst his bandmates, middle fingers raised high and proud toward the camera. Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the first reissue of this landmark Nigerian album. This RARE classic (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited vinyl edition (500 copies) complete with the original artwork and exclusive liner notes/pictures provided by Ofege’s founding member ‘Melvin Ukachi’ who also supervised this reissue.
File Under: African, Psych, Funk
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Oh Sees: Grave Blockers (Castle Face) LP
Encased in a brown paper wrapping like a forgotten bit of smut from behind the beaded curtain, this unassuming disc is a time-capsule back to John Dwyer’s early SF days, janglingly fingerpicked wisps of melody and electronics baking in the all-too anemic sunshine of San Francisco’s elusive summer. Like a seashell to the ear, one can hear within it Baker Beach bike ride excursions, holding court and gently harassing passers-by on a Haight street stoop, and midnight rambles with friends from out of town, daring the sun to come up. Somewhere chronologically between the folky whisper of Songs About Death And Dying and the recently reissued Cool Death Of Island Raiders, this one’s been vexing to find for way too long and Castle Face has decided to give it “the treatment”. May it awaken the gentle glow of possibility dappled with the dancing shadow of danger that it stirs around this castle.
File Under: Punk, Garage, Psych
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Michael Orr: Spread Love (Tidal Waves) LP
Limited coloured wax! Many remember the `70s as the platinum age of R&B. Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Spinners, Curtis Mayfield and Norman Connors were among a myriad of musicians at peak power. Indeed, it was a great time for beautiful African-American music. Michael Orr and his “Spread Love” album probably should have been part of that party too, but it wasn’t meant to be…at least not then. “Spread Love” was originally released in 1975 on the Detroit based Sunstar label. Largely ignored when it was first issued, it has since gained cult status among soul collectors worldwide. Inspired by the musical vision of Quincy Jones, Michael Orr and bass player Carey Harris assembled a cast of musicians and vocalists to create a timeless masterpiece which effortlessly blends cosmic soul, jazz, funk and gospel influences. Honey drips from Michael Orr’s omnipresent rich baritone voice (his commitment to strong vocals can be heard in his mix of styles that recalls of artists like Gil Scott-Heron) and he’s got a real talent for song writing. A smooth approach at the base, with touches of soul jazz, and handled with a bit of roughness that makes things sound a lot more real than some of the other soul records coming out at the time. This is a completely honest soul testament from singer/songwriter Michael Orr and it’s not often that one comes across an album of such majesty and beauty that it leaves you breathless. Follow your heart and enjoy this chapter of African-American music’s soulful heritage. Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the reissue of ‘Spread Love’ (original copies tend to go for silly money on the second-hand market) remastered by Michael and his son Jamal Orr themselves. This official reissue is now available as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) and comes with an insert containing liner notes.
File Under: Funk, Soul
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OST: Adventure Time: Complete Series Soundtrack (Mondo) BOX
Mondo and Cartoon Network are proud to present ADVENTURE TIME – The Complete Series Soundtrack Box Set. Fans can transport themselves back to any episode with over 200 songs spanning the entire series. Sing along with fan-favorite tracks including “Bacon Pancakes,” “My Best Friends in the World,” “Island Song (Come Along With Me)” and so many more! This multi-format physical box set is presented on 3X 12-inch LPs, 1X 10-inch LP, a CD and Cassette featuring 15 song demos exclusive to this limited-edition set.
File Under: OST
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OST: Twin Peaks Limited Event Series Soundtrack (Death Waltz) LP
We are thrilled to be returning to the town of Twin Peaks with our very own version of Season 3’s Limited Event Series Score featuring tracks by Angelo Badalamenti, Johnny Jewel, David Lynch & Dean Hurley, split across 2 LPs the package compliments our previous Twin Peaks releases featuring a red die cut spot gloss sleeve that reveals a key moment in the show. Mike Bozzi at Bernie Grundman Mastering has mastered the vinyl and Bernie Grundman supervised the cutting master with pressing duties being handled by QRP (Quality Record Pressings in Kansas). The work here is incredible, whether breathing new life into familiar themes or creating brand new ear worms in the form of smokey jazz, Ambient and Industrial stylings. The score is thick with atmosphere and dripping in mood and tension proving once again that Lynch & Badalamenti are both bona fide geniuses who deserve every plaudit given to them.
File Under: OST
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Ty Segall: First Taste (Drag City) LP
“Our salivating makes it all taste worse,” croons Ty Segall in “Taste,” the lead single from his latest album, First Taste. He’s talking about us: how we’re the masters of our own destiny, tellers of our own prophecy, makers of our own sickened choices. It’s a warning, but this time, the finger is pointing back at him too. He’s one with us. First Taste is an introspective set for Segall after the extroversions of 2018’s Freedom’s Goblin. Lines of struggle wind through the songs as Segall reflects on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. He skates through oneness, self-esteem, the parents – all the joys of a rain-filled childhood – while reaching outward in the here and now, feeling for a shared pulse. Meanwhile, the production is far out! Segall’s creative juices suggested some radical (in the older sense of the word) new instrumental territories: koto, recorder, bouzouki, harmoniser, mandolin, saxophones and brass, voices, and a sprinkling of keys. Segall occupies the drum set whenever it’s heard on the left speaker, while Charles Moothart plays the kit on the right side. Segall’s vocal prowess sits in fresh relief against his mutant orchestra, spooling tension through some of his most patient songs, his feral scream in complete control. Whatever the mood is, the pedal is pushed cleanly to the metal – and that means to the max of the lightest ballads ever, or through the most raging rocks yet. Segall’s song designs are all over the place, but unlike the freewheeling feast style of Freedom’s Goblin, these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.
File Under: Punk, Garage, Psych
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Sensation’s Fix: Fragments of Light (Vinyl Magic) LP
Listening today to the music produced by Sensations’ Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in ‘70s, can’t just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-‘60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations’ Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years. Often associated with the sound of Tangerine Dream and the so-called German ‘cosmic couriers’, Sensations’ Fix were much more than mere clones of something already existing. “Sensations’ Fix” is – together with “Portable Madness” and “Fragments of Light” – one of the three titles published in 1974, a collection of short psychedelic compositions, in which glimpses of ‘cosmic’ music can already be noticed; those elements would soon become a trademark in the group’s repertoire. The twelve compositions present here were part of demos that Falsini had sold to the record company, which decided to publish them in the form of a not-for-sale LP, which had “music especially recorded for radio and television” written on the back cover: in practice, sketches of musical ideas had been ‘transformed’ into ‘library music’ and collected in an extremely rare vinyl that sells today for hundreds of euros. Sensations’ Fix albums are generally difficult to find; almost none of them has been reprinted in over forty years, but thanks to this series of reissues on the VM label it is now possible to rediscover them all.
File Under: Experimental, Ambient
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Sensation’s Fix: Finest Finger (Vinyl Magic) LP
Listening today to the music produced by Sensations’ Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in ‘70s, can’t just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-‘60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations’ Fix and signed a contract with Polydor for the release of six records in five years. Often associated with the sound of Tangerine Dream and the so-called German ‘cosmic couriers’, Sensations’ Fix were much more than mere clones of something already existing. “Finest Finger” is Sensations’ Fix’s fourth album, originally released in 1976 and never officially reissued on vinyl until today. The making of this record coincided with the line-up addition of a second keyboard player and, even if Franco Falsini remains the only author of all its songs, the album sounds much more homogeneous, fluent, inspired, better produced than the band’s previous ones and is clearly the result of a proper teamwork. For the first time, Falsini also took care of the singing parts in four of the eight tracks, with very good results. This is probably the first album in which, thanks to the experience and means acquired, the sound of Sensations’ Fix takes on more precise and personal shapes. Sensations’ Fix albums are generally difficult to find; almost none of them has been reprinted in over forty years, but thanks to this series of reissues on the VM label it is now possible to rediscover them all.
File Under: Prog, Italian
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Don Slepian: Sea of Bliss (Numero) LP
First ever vinyl edition of the landmark 1980 cassette by synth wizard Don Slepian. Utilizing the fabled and notoriously complex Alles digital synthesizer at the Bell Laboratories scientific research center, Sea Of Bliss features two transcendent cascading sidelong tracks, to easily qualify as one of the ultimate pinnacles of the new age genre. Cut with care using the Direct Metal Mastering process, and featuring cover artwork by visionary artist Jonathan Meader.
File Under: Jazz
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Tomb Mold: Planetary Clairvoyance (20 Buck Spin) LP
Limited coloured wax! Recklessly devouring the world into a vortex of alternate dimensional planes with Manor Of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold has crashed through boundaries with the impact of an ocean-sized asteroid. Somewhere between outer space, inner space and the unseen dark matter in between all space, they’ve devised an alchemical formula both crushingly oppressive and rapidly expanding outward in every direction. Waking from stasis for the third time in three years, their new record Planetary Clairvoyance is the sum total of knowledge gained and aeons absorbed, concentrated into a single massive tome of arcane wisdom and implausible physics. Like the album’s cover art, it exists in a domain of alien anatomical abnormality, malign flora and cold void desolation, warping and deforming the familiar into unknown obscurity. Tracked in Canada and then mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk once again, the amalgamation of the huge sound of Manor Of Infinite Forms and the gritty particle chaos of Primordial Malignity come into boundless unity on this latest. With the explosive weight of a collapsing black hole, Tomb Mold accelerate unhinged toward infinite resurrection.
File Under: Metal
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…..Restocks…..
75 Dollar Bill: Wooden Bag (Other Music) LP
Les Baxter: Ritual of the Savage (Waxtime) LP
Les Baxter: Space Escapade/Music Out of the Moon (Vinyl Passion) LP
Bikini Kill: Pussy Whipped (Bikini Kill) LP
Blood on Black Wax BOOK
Bowery Electric: Beat (Kranky) LP
Alice Coltrane: A Monastic Trio (Superior Viaduct) LP
D’Angelo: Voodoo (Modern Classics) LP
Karen Dalton: In My Own Time (Light in the Attic) LP
Betty Davis: s/t (Light in the Attic) LP
Betty Davis: They Say I’m Different (Light in the Attic) LP
Devo: Hardcore Vol 1 (Superior Viaduct) LP
Elder: Dead Roots Stirring (Armageddon) LP
Elder: Lore (Armageddon) LP
Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets (Astralwerks) LP
Foxwarren: s/t (Arts & Crafts) LP
Fuzz: II (In The Red) LP
Serge Gainsbourg: Historie de Melody Nelson (Light in the Attic) LP
Guided By Voices: Bee Thousand (Scat) LP
Here Lies Man: s/t (Riding Easy) LP
Here Lies Man: You Will Know Nothing (Riding Easy) LP
Haruomi Hosono: Cochin Moon (Light in the Attic) LP
Haruomi Hosono: Hosono House (Light in the Attic) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (Castle Face) LP
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Quarters (Castle Face) LP
Basil Kirchin: Worlds Within Worlds (Superior Viaduct) LP
Kendrick Lamar: Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City (Aftermath) LP
Minami Deutsch: With Dim Light (Gurugurubrain) LP
Minami Deutsch: s/t (Gurugurubrain) LP
Mdou Moctar: Ilana: The Creator (Sahel) LP
Oh Sees: Carrion Crawler (In The Red) LP
Oh Sees: Grave Blockers (Castle Face) LP
Oh Sees: Mutilator Defeated At Last (Castle Face) LP
OST: Liquid Sky (Death Waltz) LP
Orville Peck: Pony (Royal Mountain) LP
Public Image Ltd: First Issue (Light in the Attic) LP
Steve Reich: Four Organs (Superior Viaduct) LP
J. Robbins: Un-Becoming (Dischord) LP
Robyn: Body Talk (Universal) LP
Arthur Russell: Calling Out of Context (Audika) LP
Arthur Russell: World of Echo (Audika) LP
Pharoah Sanders & Idris Muhammad: Africa (Tidal Wave) LP
The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World (Light in the Attic) LP
Shellac: End of Radio (Touch & Go) LP
Ty Segall: Melted (Goner) LP
Silver Jews: Natural Bridge (Drag City) LP
Silver Jews: Starlite Walker (Drag City) LP
Silver Jews: Tanglewood Numbers (Drag City) LP
Smog: Doctor Came at Dawn (Drag City) LP
Smog: Red Apple Falls (Drag City) LP
Brent Snyder: Cumulus (Morning Trip) LP
This Heat: Deceit (Modern Classics) LP
Tragically Hip: Day for Night (Universal) LP
Tragically Hip: Fully Completely (Universal) LP
Tragically Hip: Phantom Power (Universal) LP
Marcos Valle: Previsao do Tempo (Light in the Attic) LP
Ween: God Ween Satan (Plain) LP
Wipers: Is This Real? (Jackpot) LP
Various: Kankyo Ongaku (Light in the Attic) BOX
Various: Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles (Numero) LP