Erupt offer up five fiery tracks on Left To Rot. Treading the blurry lines between extreme punk and extreme metal, Left To Rot is a cacophony in all the right ways. Fast as, heavy as, nasty as. Featuring members of Sheer Mag, Geld and Gutter Gods - Erupt brings its own molten explosions to the surface. These burnt offerings are recommended for fans of Sodom, Celtic Frost, Iron Age, Warthog, Mindsnare and the other hordes of apocalypse old and new.
At the tender age of twenty-five, while he was working part-time at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo's Kamata district, Kazuki Tomokawa released his debut record, fittingly titled Finally, His First Album. While he had already penned hundreds of songs, including his first single "Try Saying You're Alive!," written on a long train ride past fields and rice paddies, it was this recording that introduced Japan to one of its most unique musicians of the postwar era. Each track, as record label exec Kiichi Takahara writes in the LP's liner notes (here translated for the first time), is not a song but a "flesh-and-blood human being," birthed by the singer-songwriter and the raw, guttural cries that would become a hallmark of his incomparable sound. 1970s Japan was a time and place marked by a profound desire for authenticity amidst the onset of television and media saturation. Tomokawa arrived on the scene as a musician with "the personality of a hydrogen bomb," to borrow a phrase from his frequent collaborator Toshi Ishizuka. In an unwieldy interview included here, members of the notorious leftist band Zun? Keisatsu (Brain Police) put it bluntly: here was a man surrounded by the "disingenuous," the "wishy-washy," and the "superficial," who was delivering "real life, unvarnished." These songs are lullabies for the lost, staring not into the void but-as the fourth track declares-from inside it. Finally, His First Album is the first of three Tomokawa records to be reissued by Blank Forms Editions in conjunction with the US release of Tomokawa's memoir, Try Saying You're Alive!, the first-ever English translation of his writing. This debut captures the self-assured trademarks that Tomokawa would hone over the course of decades. Multiple tracks are performed in his native Akita dialect, a distinct and highly regional vernacular of northern Japan seldom heard outside the prefecture-and even more rarely heard in music. Tomokawa's lyrics locate profound interiority in the rituals of everyday life, and are sung against sparse folk arrangements of tender, lilting chords-a prelude to the rock and electronic stylings to come in later years. A self-proclaimed "living corpse," Tomokawa wallows, whispers, shouts, and cries, yet still, through his existential doubt, asks to be heard.
Available on vinyl for the first time! -Limited to just 500 records worldwide, this 2XLP is a must have production tool for producers and deejays. -Included are one shot drum tools, loops, song starters, guitar chords, and melodic chops.
DJ Nu-Mark is pleased to present his Creme De La Crate sample pack on vinyl for the first time. This dynamic collection offers the rusty grit and groove of classic funk and soul records at your fingertips without the sticky licensing issues.
The featured drum breaks and one shots were captured through Nu-Mark’s array of vintage ‘60s preamps, compressors and microphones. There’s also complete drum loops and fills provided by J-Zone, Aaron Steele and Jon Radford, as well as an abundance of melodic content thrown into the mix. From Nu-Mark’s own inspiring ‘Song Starters’ to guitar chords, bass guitar lines, tonewheel organ licks and electric piano recorded by Dan Ubick.
Whether you’re looking to create some classic hip-hop, or add some additional energy to your production arsenal regardless of your preferred genre, there’s endless creative paths locked away in this diverse pack. As Nu says; “Enjoy and stretch out! Remember, nobody can replicate you so unlock and reveal your core since ultimately your art will live in perpetuity.”
„Live At The El Mocambo“ - ein legendäres Ereignis in der unglaublichen 60-jährigen Geschichte der Rolling Stones ist ab 13. Mai zum ersten Mal in voller Länge erhältlich. Das Album markiert die erste offizielle Veröffentlichung der beiden berühmten Geheimkonzerte der Band in dem Club El Mocambo in Toronto im März 1977. „Live At The El Mocambo“ enthält das komplette Set
der Stones vom 5. März sowie drei Bonustracks vom 4. März, neu abgemischt von Bob Clearmountain.
This release marks the first vinyl reissue of the jazz classic by master conguero Mongo Santamaría. First released in 1976, Sofrito combines jazz with Afro-Cuban grooves, funk and soul. From the simmering blues of “Spring Song” to the devastating bass line of “O Mi Shangó” to the rousing groove of the title track, this set exemplifies the heady ambition of ’70s Afro-fusion at its most soulful. This edition features lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl.
Graham Nash: Live is the unique project arriving on May 6, on which Nash revisits his first two classic solo albums, Songs For Beginners and Wild Tales, recorded live in concert The live albums were recorded in 2019, each in their entirety with their songs in familiar sequence. Nash was joined on stage by a seven- piece band led by his
longtime collaborators, Shane Fontayne (guitar and vocals) and Todd Caldwell (keyboards and vocals), The album was mixed by Grammy Award® winner Kevin Killen and mastered by Grammy Award® winner Bob Ludwig.
An extraordinary Grammy Award® winning renaissance artist – and selfdescribed "simple man" - Nash was inducted twice into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, for his work with CSN and his work as a solo artist, beginning with these two landmark albums, Songs For Beginners and Wild Tales.
Nash's lifelong commitment to his work is unwavering. His inspiration is simple: "All the things we stood for, that love is better than hatred, that peace is better than war, that we have to take care of our fellow human beings, because that's all we have on this planet - those things are still true today. I need to know that I've brought something into the world that was positive and not negative."
A turning point for the band: Savatage's 1989 studio album exploring the
more progressive sound.
Even the album's regal front cover demonstrated the band's continued
musical evolution.To quote producer Paul O'Neill: "Savatage was
graduating from being a heavy metal band to becoming more than a
heavy metal band
On Mountain King, we had toyed with a little bit of more symphonic, progressive
side, but we hadn't taken it as deep as we did on Gutter."
Mastered for vinyl and reissued with the original cover design, enhanced artwork
including a 12pages LP booklet with extensive liner notes by Clay Marshall, the
album will become available as a 180g Black Vinyl Gatefold Edition and as a
Strictly Limited Heavyweight Collector's LP Edition on Silver Vinyl which includes
an exclusive '89 poster replica and an exclusive 10" Vinyl Single featuring the
songs "Thorazine Shuffle" (Side A) and a 1990 live version of "When The Crowds
Are Gone" (Side B).
"It's a very versatile album. It shows all sides of the band, and where we were
going with our songwriting. Working with Paul there were no limitations, we were
no longer just a heavy metal band, we now were a band ready to explore and
grow, as the follow up album "Streets" clearly shows. "Gutter Ballet" remains in
my top 3 favorite Savatage LP's." (Jon Oliva)
A turning point for the band: Savatage's 1989 studio album exploring the
more progressive sound.
Even the album's regal front cover demonstrated the band's continued
musical evolution.To quote producer Paul O'Neill: "Savatage was
graduating from being a heavy metal band to becoming more than a
heavy metal band
On Mountain King, we had toyed with a little bit of more symphonic, progressive
side, but we hadn't taken it as deep as we did on Gutter."
Mastered for vinyl and reissued with the original cover design, enhanced artwork
including a 12pages LP booklet with extensive liner notes by Clay Marshall, the
album will become available as a 180g Black Vinyl Gatefold Edition and as a
Strictly Limited Heavyweight Collector's LP Edition on Silver Vinyl which includes
an exclusive '89 poster replica and an exclusive 10" Vinyl Single featuring the
songs "Thorazine Shuffle" (Side A) and a 1990 live version of "When The Crowds
Are Gone" (Side B).
"It's a very versatile album. It shows all sides of the band, and where we were
going with our songwriting. Working with Paul there were no limitations, we were
no longer just a heavy metal band, we now were a band ready to explore and
grow, as the follow up album "Streets" clearly shows. "Gutter Ballet" remains in
my top 3 favorite Savatage LP's." (Jon Oliva)
A defining artistic statement:Savatage's first concept album!
Every fan believes that their favourite band has a crowning achievement,
a magnum opus, a defining artistic statement
For many Savatage diehards, that landmark is Streets.Originally released in 1991,
the group's first rock opera tells of a rock star who ultimately overcomes the
demons of his drug- dealing past to achieve spiritual salvation. The album
spawned what would become the band's most beloved song, an epic tale of
redemption titled "Believe". It would also be the last Savatage record featuring
vocalist Jon Oliva performing alongside his late brother, guitarist Criss Oliva.
This Savatage classic is being reissued as a Heavyweight Double LP Gatefold
Edition on Black Vinyl, along with a Limited Collector's Edition on Ocean Blue
Vinyl. Both editions are mastered for vinyl and reissued with the original cover
design, specially enhanced artwork, including a 12pages LP booklet with
extensive liner notes by Clay Marshall.
"'Streets' was in my opinion the best work we did with the line-up of Criss, myself,
Johnny, Steve and Paul. It is definitely the most versatile of all our albums, and if
there is one album that shows all the sides of Savatage, 'Streets' is the one" (Jon
Oliva)
A defining artistic statement:Savatage's first concept album!
Every fan believes that their favourite band has a crowning achievement,
a magnum opus, a defining artistic statement
For many Savatage diehards, that landmark is Streets.Originally released in 1991,
the group's first rock opera tells of a rock star who ultimately overcomes the
demons of his drug- dealing past to achieve spiritual salvation. The album
spawned what would become the band's most beloved song, an epic tale of
redemption titled "Believe". It would also be the last Savatage record featuring
vocalist Jon Oliva performing alongside his late brother, guitarist Criss Oliva.
This Savatage classic is being reissued as a Heavyweight Double LP Gatefold
Edition on Black Vinyl, along with a Limited Collector's Edition on Ocean Blue
Vinyl. Both editions are mastered for vinyl and reissued with the original cover
design, specially enhanced artwork, including a 12pages LP booklet with
extensive liner notes by Clay Marshall.
"'Streets' was in my opinion the best work we did with the line-up of Criss, myself,
Johnny, Steve and Paul. It is definitely the most versatile of all our albums, and if
there is one album that shows all the sides of Savatage, 'Streets' is the one" (Jon
Oliva)
It finally took five years and two lineup changes for Handful of Snowdrops to release their debut album, the iconic Land of the Damned. While too many of the songs written during that period never made it to tape, some fortunately did.
This is what we believed is first home recording from the second generation of the band with Jean-Pierre as the lead singer. All tracks were recorded in a single day in a dark and humid basement using a beaten-up TEAC 4-track tape cassette recorder borrowed from a friend. Since the original mix downs are long gone, we had to salvage the music from two old worn out cassette copies.
It would be fair to say that the recordings are very representative of the overwhelming naivety of the early compositions. It’s a unique chance to have another look inside an old photo album you thought you had lost forever.
This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen; an insert with lyrics, original notes, and Terry’s letter to H.C. Westermann about the songs; and a high-res download code. Deluxe CD edition features a trifold jacket and inner sleeve. Recorded exactly two years after acclaimed visual artist and songwriter Terry Allen’s masterpiece Lubbock (on everything), the feral follow-up Smokin the Dummy is less conceptually focused but more sonically and stylistically unified than its predecessor it’s also rougher and rowdier, wilder and more wired, and altogether more menacingly rock and roll. Following the 1973 Whitney Biennial, in which songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen and fellow iconic artist Horace Clifford “Cliff” Westermann both exhibited, Allen maintained a lively long-distance correspondence and exchange of artworks and music with Westermann, whose singular and highly influential art he admired enormously. In a February 1981 letter to his friend and mentor, written shortly after the late 1980 release of his third album Smokin the Dummy, while he and his family were living in Fresno, California, Terry explains the genesis of the album title: Westermann died shortly after receiving this letter, enclosed with a Smokin the Dummy LP, the minimalist black jacket of which Allen suggested that Cliff fold into a jaunty cardboard hat if he didn’t like the music. That response was unlikely, since Westermann loved Terry’s music, calling his debut record Juarez (1975) “the finest, most honest and heartfelt piece of music I ever heard.” The Panhandle Mystery Band had only recently coalesced during those 1978 Lubbock sessions, Lloyd Maines’s first foray into production. Through 1979, they honed their sound and tightened their arrangements with a series of periodic performances beyond Allen’s regular art-world circuit, including memorable record release concerts in Lubbock, Chicago, L.A., and Kansas City. Terry sought to harness the high-octane power of this now well-oiled collective engine to overdrive his songs into rawer and rockier off-road territory. His first album to share top billing with the Panhandle Mystery Band, Dummy documents a ferocious new band in fully telepathic, tornado-fueled flight, refining its caliber, increasing its range, and never looking down. Alongside the stalwart Maines brothers co-producer, guitarist, and all-rounder Lloyd, bassist Kenny, and drummer Donnie and mainstay Richard Bowden (who here contributes not only fiddle but also mandolin, cello, and “truck noise theory,” the big-rig doppler effect of Lloyd’s steel on “Roll Truck Roll”), new addition Jesse Taylor supplies blistering lead guitar, on loan from Joe Ely (who plays harmonica here). Jesse’s kinetic blues lines and penchant for extreme volume were instrumental in pushing these recordings into brisker tempos and tougher attitudes. Terry was feverish for several studio days, suffering from a bad flu and sweating through his clothes, which partially explains the literally febrile edge to his performances, rendered largely in a perma-growl. (By this point, he was regularly breaking piano pedals with his heavy-booted stomp.) Like the album title itself, the songs on Smokin the Dummy ring various demented bells. The tracks rifle through Terry’s assorted Obsessions especially the potential energy and escape of the open road, elevated here to an ecstatic, prayerful pitch and are populated by a cast of crooked characters: truckers, truck-stop waitresses, convicts, cokeheads, speed freaks, greasers, holy rollers, rodeo riders, dancehall cheaters, and sacrificial prairie dogs, sinners seeking some small reprieve, any fugitive moment of grace. A reigning deity of a certain kind of country music since the mid-70s. – The New York Times // The kind of singular American artist who expresses the fundamental weirdness of his country. – The Wire
Modest became the talk of the town in native Denmark in 2017 when they released their debut single “Pretty Sure It’s Honest”. This saw them play the likes of Roskilde Festival and SPOT Festival in Denmark as well as Sebright Arms (London) and N.C.I. (Cambridge) in the UK. since then, Modest have released a line of EP’s and singles to great exposure on Danish National Radio (DR). All the while, the band have been preparing their debut album ‘Friend’. On ‘Friend’, Modest continue down the melodic, jangly path of their early material while widening their range and venturing into slightly darker territory. Lyrically, ‘Friend’ addresses the loss of lead singer Julius Lykke’s mother: Expressing my state of mind during the last couple of years has been an imperative part of the making of this album. Despite the very personal content of the lyrics, I feel the album is inclusive towards the listener, and I hope it will resonate with people in a universal way. ‘Friend’ was recorded by Jens Benz in Silence Studio in rural Sweden and is set to release on May 6 2022 via Copenhagen based Part Time Records. Modest is Jacob Tjerrild (guitars), Jakob Ahlers (guitars), Stinus Kruse (drums) and Julius Kruse Lykke (Bass, vocals).
Cocteau Twins, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julia Holter, DIIV, Washed Out, Broadcast, Insides, Beach House, Drug Store Romeos. Introducing Beneather, a BAFTA-nominated composer from North London obsessively crafting sad, lo-fi, cinematic, ambient scandi-dreampop submerged in gently fuzzy tape loops. Much like the paintings of Gerhard Richter or a heavy mist rolling through a familiar landscape, the debut long player from Beneather obscures and blurs ten beautiful tracks beneath washes of cinematic, ambient scandi-dreampop – details emerge and fade, voices ooze and flow, tunes soothe and unnerve, metronomic beats click and swing. It would not be out of place on a David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch soundtrack. Inspired by the likes of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Hammock, Grouper, Low, GAS, Huerco S., Emeralds, Jenny Holzer, William Basinski & ABBA!! Beneather is the solo project of Lewis Young - composer and collaborator in The Leaf Library, drone pop from north London. As a composer, Lewis recently scored the British short ‘Lucky Break’ which found its way into the BAFTAs short list only to narrowly miss out on the gong. Lewis is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, designer and filmmaker currently living in Walthamstow, London. He started as a guitarist in noughties math-rockers Tea with the Queen, shifting to bass for multi-harmonied Naomi Hates Humans before returning to thumping roots as drummer for The Leaf Library. Objects Forever - the imprint label created by The Leaf Library - has provided Lewis with the vehicle to jump back into experimental song craft, inspiring the genesis of Beneather. “I just needed to make a project which spoke to all the aspects of music I’ve loved creating as a multi-instrumentalist. Plugging things into things to make satisfying little electronic loops, then layering extremely minimal bass and guitar lines with a lo-fi aesthetic. Melinda and I spent a few days in the studio - picking out objects, patterns… items that could inspire a thread of instinctive wordless melody. I took that expressionism and sliced it to pieces, rearranging it into ambient vocal hooks.” Beneather is an exercise in hypnotic simplicity. Experimental, dream-like music built on layers of scratchy electronic tape loops, chiming spacious guitars and abstract pulsing vocals. These cinematic songs combine Grouper's wistful deviations with the warm fuzz of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, the nocturnal hum of Emeralds, the crackling collapse of William Basinski and Low's glacial pop melancholy. Outside of compositions for film, TV and Podcasts - Lewis plays with the indie drone-pop band The Leaf Library, featuring Matt Ashton from John Peel faves Saloon (“World-weary yet innocent, blissful dream-pop” - UNCUT - 8/10). Lewis has supported the likes of Lali Puna, Joanna Newsom, Lætitia Sadier & Alexis Taylor.
Stunning second album from Royal Headache and 2015's underground pop sensation. Royal Headache's follow-up, retains that swagger, pop hooks and grace but adds extra romance and instant appeal. The amount of emotion and range of Shogun's vocals and the whip-smart counterpoint provided by the band - drummer Shortty, guitarist Law, and bassist Joe - present a dash through decades of pop history, recombining not just the music but all of the feelings of pain and joy elicited from audiences, supercharged and ready to explode once more. Shogun's voice and lyrics aren't so much a secret weapon in Royal Headache's arsenal as they are the front line, happiness and hurt soaring above the songs, driving home all the feelings within. For fans of the Buzzcocks, The Strokes first album, Marked Men and The Undertones.
Strut present the first ever reissue of an essential lost classic from the Black Fire catalogue, Wayne Davis’ powerful self-titled gospel-soul album from 1976.
An accomplished vocalist and keyboard player, Davis had studied in Washington D.C. and had worked with Roberta Flack and she subsequently secured him a recording deal with Atlantic Records; he released the 'A View From Another Place' album in 1973 and Roberta contributed electric piano to one of the tracks. Davis was the dropped from the label and his subsequent album was released by Jimmy Gray on Black Fire. Produced by Jimmy Watkins and Bias Studios manager, Bob Dawson, the album line-up featured the celebrated poet and flautist Wanda Robinson and the horn section from legendary D.C. go-go pioneers Experience Unlimited. Wayne later returned the favour, appearing as a vocalist on Experience Unlimited’s seminal 'Free Yourself' album.
This first international reissue of the album features new sleeve notes including band member interviews and original illustrated artwork by Muzi Branch. Audio was transferred from the original tapes by the album’s engineer, Bob Dawson, and was remastered by The Carvery.
• First international reissue of Wayne Davis’ album from 1976
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed pays homage to country legend Merle Haggard by
putting a soulful spin on some classic tunes
Recorded in Brooklyn with longtime collaborator Vince Chiarito (Black Pumas, Charles Bradley), Reed taps into all the heartache of Haggard's iconic catalog and channels it into explosive, high-octane performances that blur the lines of genre, geography, and race to reveal the common, distinctly American threads tying hem all together.
Stunning debut release from RAFRAM aka Irdial legend Ramjac Corporation and the Toronto legend (& honorary Glaswegian) Raf Reza.
300 copies only, full printed sleeves plus riso insert.
Orphic Apparition is a new label born out of a transatlantic meeting of minds. Facilitated by a long, hedonistic party in one of present-day London’s ‘meanwhile use’ venues Grow Tottenham, Canadian producer Raf Reza and British acid house luminary Paul Chivers spent a precious day in the studio to record a 3 hour straight to DAT session before Reza's return to Canada. The result of this spontaneous yet intuitive collaboration blurs the lines between Chiver’s long-standing Ramjac Corporation alias and Reza’s genre-spanning approach to dub, breaks and house styles. Part of the early 90s rave scene and an important member of the blueprint-setting Irdial label, Ramjac locks heads with the self-professed ‘lazy music guy from Toronto’ to adapt their studio session into five separate mixdowns.
‘In The Grow’ begins with a bouncy, cut-up sounding Errorsmith-esque rhythm, the recurring fright night melody that distinguishes the record coming in all quick and powerful. The A2 ‘Rotten Mix’ offers a more traditional house approach in its composition, with dub FX and a nice DJ friendly outro. On the final uptempo choice the pair opt for a head-scrambling electro take. Choose your fighter! The ‘Swampy Dub’ on the flip really dismantles everything we’ve heard prior, slo-mo drums allowing a much different DJ experience and altering the freaky synthetic propulsion into an almost modern classical sound. A little like Paul Dresher’s eternal ‘Channels Passing’ (tip). Combined with the other edits this version almost becomes a totally different track. The final ‘Rootless Dub’ gives its clues in the title, removing all the tough drum sounds and allowing for an ambient decompression.
Orphic Apparition will return soon.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Known for his work on Transient Force, Gigolo, and of course as a contributor for Fundamental's Time Capsule a.k.a. 808 Box project, -=UHU=-'s album is a selection of his best unreleased tracks. Compiled from an old folder full of tracks that have that twenty years old spirit in each of them, that futurist funk that -=UHU=- can deliver so well. ''Ezzential Electro'' is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement. The first six parts of the series come in beautiful white silkscreen printed sleeves on recycled cardboard and include a real puzzle piece on the front cover, indicating which part of the series you have in your hands.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
BLACK BOMBERS, Birmingham's rock 'n Roll veterans whose primal racket contains elements of both proto and post punk, drop a new 7"on Friday, April 1st - on Easy Action Records. All Fools' Day 2022 seems the perfect time to release a track about false promises and the fantasy of returning to fading Empires. The recording for the single was originally carried out during one of those brief respites from Lockdown in the Summer of 2020 and was then developed in the Soho studio of new Black Bomber guitarist Steve Crittall over the following few months. The 'B' side of the single features Black Bombers' cover of The Damned's 'You Take My Money' - the much maligned second album being something of a band favourite. Bass player Darren Birch played with Damned guitarist Brian James in a short-lived line-up of his James Gang band. This release comes as 'UN-SCENE!', Black Bombers' drummer Dave Twist's compilation album of Birmingham Post Punk, is receiving real acclaim and is already in short supply... The band have dates around the country in the coming weeks and play the DIE DAS DER benefit show for Ukraine on March 27th at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath Birmingham.
Giacomo D’Attorre – lead singer of Clever Square – has been through a lot of late. With his band. In his personal life. Even just with the state of the world. This fire has fuelled Clever Square’s new record Secret Alliance, eleven tracks that explore feelings of frustration, disillusionment, and disconnection, and chronicle what it’s like to be swept along by a world that “gets noisier everyday”. The record was inspired by a creeping realisation; of coming change, and a sense that D’Attorre was “losing contact with who I was before, for the good and the bad.” New needs and desires surfaced; old ones disappeared. Thus he began writing around ideas of rethinking yourself, and “acquiring a new conscience of mutation”. The darker realms of science fiction informed much of D’Attorre’s thinking here; Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury – ‘Mr. & Mrs. K’ was inspired by The Martian Chronicles – and Flannery O’Connor, whose The Violent Bear It Away proved particularly inspiring. All of this is perfectly framed by Clever Square’s shuffling, quirky indie, and cute melodies. Soft and worn around the edges, like the perfect flannel shirt, there’s a gentle, shambling quality to the music; “blue collar”, D’Attorre calls it. Guitar lines gently bloom, Fender Rhodes organ is sprinkled throughout, and the acoustic strumming sounds easy and unhurried. From the relaxed bustle and acoustic picking of ‘Hail The Proper Karl’, to the joyous, bouncy ‘Little Flaws’; from the stripped back melancholy of ‘Obsolete Epsilons’ to the arena-ready vibes of indie classic ‘Golden Wires’, D’Attorre has crafted a spell-binding, mesmerizing set of songs that delight on first listen and reward deeper inspection. “It’s a hymn to privacy, to the joys of secrecy, and solitude,” he says of Secret Alliance. That he wraps such heartfelt, profound topics in gloriously laid-back indie adds to the charm, and cements Clever Square’s status as one of Italy’s finest contemporary bands. The world might seem increasingly complex and be spinning ever faster, but Secret Alliance slows it down just enough to savour the scenery and think about charting a path back to something a little more manageable.
Thanks to this mini-LP format, Interface Palm gets to showcase more of his talent. He explores a wide range of influences and offers an overview of his wide musical palette, from broken beat, to cosmic jazz, hip-hop and house music. A true milestone for Interface Palm, this “Curated Space” mini-LP is the perfect example of artists willing to set new standards by blurring the lines of musical styles.
Welcome to the Broken District !
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LNDFK (aka Linda Feki) presents her ground-breaking debut album, "Kuni" on Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings. Undeniably on the rise after her 2019 breakout performance at Primavera Sound, LNDFK has already caught the attention of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine, Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan (among many others) while being championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, and Jamz Supernova & landing spots on tastemaker playlists like Spotify's "Pollen" and "Fresh Finds."
"Kuni" is a spellbinding exploration of dichotomies: Love & Death (Eros & Thanatos), Flower & Fire, Delicacy & Violence, Poetry & Realism, Purification & Destruction. These opposites are reified in the 10-track LPs multifarious and multifaceted sounds, elegantly meandering through a variety of styles and genres, spearheaded by Linda and features the production wizardry of Darrio Bassolino who co-wrote the album.
"Kuni" opens with "Hana-bi," an ambient instrumental piece that sets the tone for the album. Inspired by the Takeshi Kitano 1997 film of the same name – particularly Joe Hisaishi's stunning soundtrack, as well as Kitano's paintings which appear in the film. "Hana-bi" expresses the dialoguing opposites of flowers and fire, the first of many dichotomous representations throughout the album. "Takeshi" acts as an extension and to "Hana-bi," albeit one of opposing sound, with its driving, highly syncopated drums (which reappear throughout "Kuni") – à la Karriem Riggins, Questlove, or Yussef Dayes – frenetic bass line, and jazz chords. Linda's sultry voice is interspersed, initially jumping around in scat fashion, being triggered as if a sample, before her lyrics come in; her vocals are used like an additional instrument, adding to the song's rich texture. "Kuni" truly hits its stride with the next song, "Smoke – a moon or a button" (its title lifted from the 1959 book by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip), which is structured like a jazz standard yet flows into neo-soul territory sonically with those prodigious drums a highlight once again.
LNDFK touches on experimental hip hop in two songs on the record (both of which were released as singles in 2021): "Don't Know I'm Dead or Not (feat. Chester Watson)" – track #4 – and "How Do We Know We're Alive (feat. Pink Siifu)" – track #9. Although they embrace a more hip hop-leaning sound, these songs by no means shy away from the exploratory theme, and feature two of the alt-rap scenes rising stars with Chester Watson and Pink Siifu who offer provocatively impressing verses, combining dense word play with unconventional flows. While these tracks may first appear to be outliers on the album, they are undeniably in tune with "Kuni's" message and sonic palette, acting as testaments to LNDFK's willingness to explore and experiment.
Meanwhile, "Ku" – the third and last single before the album release – furthers the pre-established future soul sound while meandering through nu jazz and left-field electronic. Inspired by the graphic novel and film, "Sin City," and its female assassin protagonist Miho, "Ku" is a musical interpretation of Miho's story, incorporating both her beauty – the first half of the song – and murderous tendencies – the second half – to create a stunning juxtaposition, culminating in an ambient finale that suggests the character's vulnerability and inner peace. The song gracefully bridges the gap between Hiatus Kaiyote-esque songwriting, Dilla's rhythmic syncopation, and Thundercat's instrumental prowess (LNDFK has shared a stage Brainfeeder labelmate Kamasi Washington).
Mixed in throughout "Kuni" are a series of instrumental pieces that function as something akin to an interlude. The aforementioned intro, "Hana-bi," and the album closer "se mi stacco da te, mi strappo tutto:" act as bookends, while "Om" indicates the half-way mark, and "Ktm" sees Jason Lindner add his sound the album. These tracks are the ambient foundation of "Kuni," representing the thematic duality of the work. Clocking in at only 24 minutes, "Kuni" packs an astonishingly diverse array of sounds, styles, and themes, all while showcasing virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess.
Appearing on "Hana-bi" and "Ktm," renowned international artists Asa-Chang and Jason Lindner add an additional perspective to "Kuni": Asa-Chang on "Hana-bi," and Jason Lindner on "Ktm." Asa-Chang - famously of the Japanese avant-garde group Asa-Chang & Junray - provides vocals and percussion to an alternate version of the instrumental opener, while the acclaimed keyboardist Jason Lindner offers his synth expertise on "Ktm." These features highlight the spirit of collaboration found in LNDFK's music, always willing to try out new ways of working.
LNDFK is a singer and songwriter, born of two cultures – an Italian mother and Arab father. She grew up in Naples, away from her father, the Sahara, her homeland and traditions, which has helped nourish the desire to rediscover – through art – an engagement to her roots. Her music melts with jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop influences, filtered through her experiences and sensibility.
Her first EP, "Lust Blue," was composed with the artistic production of Dario Bass and released by Feelin' Music; after that she released several singles that saw international radio support (BBC, NTS, Wordwide FM) and gained a massive audience on digital platforms. Together with her band, she toured around Europe, performing alongside such notable artists as Kamasi Washington and Mndsgn, among others. Most recently she toured Italy, and performed at Primavera Sound Festival 2019 in Barcelona.
"Kuni," is due out on NYC label Bastard Jazz Recordings in February, 2022, while the vinyl LP will follow shortly after.
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There is never any doubt that soul is in the house, when you hear the poetic guitar and organ licks from Cold Diamond & Mink starting to twirl together, and out of nowhere Carlton Jumel Smith steps effortlessly inside the groove. "Heaven In My Arms" is the second in line of Carlton's new trio of singles on Timmion, and what a treat it is: deep as Mississippi mud, light as a feather.
This time our trans-Atlantic tag team delivers a melodic beat ballad of the highest order, which should sweep fans of lowrider soul off their wheels. Spanish Harlem-bred Carlton has been steadily churning out gems since meeting the Timmion folks some years back and shows no signs of stopping yet. This is a love song with plenty of heart to give everybody. Just take it all in, and enjoy the instrumental on the flipside while you're at it.
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The Decades Collected compilations are part of the Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest names of each decade, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of listening to their favourite tunes while uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.
Various Artists - Seventies Collected features classic tracks and forgotten gems: Queen “Somebody To Love”, Billie Joel “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”, Lou Reed “Vicious”, Blondie “Atomic”, Paul McCartney & Wings “Mrs. Vandebilt”, Rodriguez “Sugarman”, Patti Smith Group “Dancing Barefoot”, Roxy Music “Dance Away”, Big Star “Thirteen”, Leon Russell “A Song For You”, 10CC “Dreadlock Holiday”, Grace Jones “La Vie En Rose”, Rush “Closer To The Heart”, Gerry Rafferty “Right Down The Line”, Minnie Riperton “Les Fleurs”, The Brothers Johnson “Strawberry Letter 23” a.o.
Various Artists - Seventies Collected is available on black vinyl and includes an insert.
Just over a decade ago, Japanese indie-pop duo Tenniscoats recorded »Papa's Ear« (2012) and »Tan-Tan Therapy« (2007), two albums made with musical and production help from Swedish post-rock/folk trio Tape. Originally released on Häpna, they are beautiful documents of the exploratory music made by a close-knit collective of musicians, fully at ease with each other, playing songs written by Tenniscoats and arranging them in gentle and generous ways. Released during a particularly productive time for Tenniscoats – during the late ‘00s and early ‘10s, they would also collaborate with Jad Fair, The Pastels, Secai and Pastacas – they have, however, never been available on vinyl. In collaboration with Alien Transistor, Morr Music is now reissuing these albums both digitally and on double vinyl, with extra tracks.
This reissue mini-series starts with »Papa’s Ear«. The second album from this expanded line-up of Tenniscoats, you can hear the musicians are immediately comfortable in each other’s presence, and they’ve almost intuitively understood what they can offer to one another. Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats bring their magical, gentle folk-pop sensibility, and their winning way with straightforward, yet lush melodies. Johan Berthling, along with fellow Tape member Tomas Hallonsten, plus guests Fredrik Ljungkvist, Lars Skoglund, Andreas Söderstrom and Andreas Werlin, all generous and creative presences in the Swedish jazz underground, shades in the songs with endlessly inventive arrangements, highlighting the warmth and curiosity at the core of the Tenniscoats’ aesthetic – sometimes taking the songs in unexpected directions, other times pillowing the melodies with the softest of brushstrokes and the kindest of tones.
»Papa’s Ear« includes some of Tenniscoats’ most memorable songs. »Papaya« is a lustrous dreamland of a song, with the Swedish musicians singing ‘pa-pa-ya’ as an enchanted tattoo, while Saya’s piano and melodica clank and huff out, further expanding the song’s horizon. It’s followed by the spindly and mysterious »Sappolondon«, where drums and double-bass shuffle and pulse under weeping accordion and bittersweet clarinet. Saya’s voice sighs into the frame while the musicians breathe lungfuls of sweet drones and flick glittering countermelodies across the song’s surface. It reminds a little of the wild kindness of Movietone, or the regal charm of Carla Bley’s compositions.
Elsewhere, you can hear Tape and their friends embracing the freedom offered by the songs of Tenniscoats: see, for example, the glistening electronics in »På floden«, like a keyboard conducting a music box on a distant planet; or the descending phrase for winds on »Sabaku«, dovetailing beautifully into a creek of moon-lit texturology. The double-LP ends with two extra tracks, drawn from the 2008 Tenniscoats/Tape split single, also released by Häpna., »Lutie Lutie« is a sweet delight, driven by a clacking drum machine, the Tenniscoats duo joined by Hallonsten on glockenspiel and synthesizer, and special guest, Japanese indie-pop legend Kazumi Nikaido, as choir. »Come Maddalena« rounds off the set, a brooding cover of an Ennio Morricone tune, the music by Tape, the vocals by Tenniscoats and Nikaido. Open-hearted and full of puckish spirit, »Papa’s Ear« is an album of great tenderness and warm friendship.
For Number 008 ORIGU releases two more bangers from the Loyalty Digital Corp. camp.
Off his album "Underground With Commercial Appeal", Fokis brings you "Audio Crack" featuring Skyzoo and Chi-Ali, plus the previously unreleased "52 Pick Up" produced by Paul Danjer.
Fokis managed to create quite a line-up for his releases on his label, and Skyzoo and Chi-Ali are just big names he put on his album.
Eversince his official debut "Cloud 9" in 2006 Skyzoo is a well-known figure in the hiphop game. Chi-Ali is making his first appearance on vinyl since 1992, when he was a teenager and released the album "The Fabolous Chi-Ali" with the help of The Beatnuts, Black Sheep, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.
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JOYFULTALK returns with its third album for Constellation; another vibrantly divergent stylistic take on the analog materiality and sensibility of electronic composer-producer Jay Crocker, whose previous two records forged trance-inducing polyrhythmic intricacy, each from a distinct angle and sound palette, each enlisting a single instrumental collaborator. Familiar Science rallies contributions from a larger cast of musicians into a looser, cosmic recombinant combo_still shot through with JOYFULTALK's singular mixing desk kinetics, but this time deep-diving into gnarled and twisted, spliced and diced out-jazz. Crocker draws inspiration from 1980s M-Base music and Ornette Coleman's harmolodic funk period, while his own prior history as an improv guitarist also resurfaces for the first time in many years_an element in this polyvalent artist's chemistry set that hasn't appeared prominently in his own music for over a decade. Familiar Science finds Crocker folding time (as lockdown will do), immersed in his present-day kaleidoscope of solitary art and music practices in rural Nova Scotia, while channeling his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Building outwards from roiling resampled acoustic drums, Crocker extracted additional sonic and rhythmic textures, then formed the head of each song using dusted-off archival recordings and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing. Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Alvvays) provided improvised drum tracks to be chopped and harvested; Nova Scotia-based Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) laid down resplendent excursions on saxophone and flute; Crocker's own dexterous guitar appears on several cuts. Familiar Science also poignantly features samples from live recordings by the late Calgary saxophonisticonoclast Dan Meichel, catalysing some of the album's heaviest contortions. Crocker weaves all these raw materials into exuberant compositions that blur the line between sizzling corporeal combo and sampledelic futurist jamz, variously conjuring (leftfield) Flying Lotus, (later) Tortoise, BADBADNOTGOOD and Squarepusher's Music Is Rotted One Note. The rubbery hyper-compression of boom-bap opener "Body Stone" initiates the séance, and the album offers a panoply of skittering grooves and soaring melodic pathways thereafter, through quags of heady jazz alternately streaked with dayglo delirium and other more vaporous states of revelry. Crocker's own wordless stacked vocals are the giddy secret sauce on several cuts, and his lead guitar work (in kinship with the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson or Jeff Parker) features on "Take It To The Grave", "Stop Freaking Out!" and the album's title track. More honeyed passages on songs like "Blissed For A Minute" and "Ballad In 9" center around Miller's bouyant alto sax and flute. Familiar Science is a rousing feast of noise-tinged polychrome electronic avant-jazz: richly harmolodic compositions teeming with intersecting textures and turbulences; exploratory, exhilarated and indeed joyful.
Before Madvillain, before Yesterday’s New Quintet and before Quasimoto or any other of his several alter egos, Madlib perfected his craft as an MC/producer in the Lootpack. Along with DJ Romes, and fellow rhymer Wildchild, they released the dusty full-length, Soundpieces: Da Antidote back in 1999, that laid down the foundation for the unique and dusty sound now associated with Madlib. The loose, freeform recordings on this collection are circa 1996 when the group was managed by Madlib’s father, and they show the now-renowned maverick producer in comparatively restrained form. Madlib’s scope and imagination was clearly fixated on East coast jazzy hip-hop production from the early ’90s, laying down soundscapes for his hungry crew including the likes of Kazi, Declaime and Medaphoar, who have all become well known underground rap vets. Madlib’s own strong mic presence is noticeable given his now only-on-rare-occasion rhyming, but it’s his production that is the most fascinating element here. While a resolutely hip-hop project, the burgeoning jazzy flourishes and Madlib’s heavily accomplished ear for sound makes the record an important starting point for adherents of his more recent exploratory work.
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless Records, Music On Vinyl is releasing a series that features albums that are part of the Timeless Records legacy and will be released mainly throughout 2022.
To this day, jazz pianists are influenced by Bill Evans by his use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and his trademark rhythmically independent, “singing” melodic lines. Evans gained his first spotlight when joining Miles Davis’ sextet during the time Kind of Blue was recorded. After leaving the sextet, Evans began his career as bandleader. As trio with Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums, they recorded The Brilliant in 1980, just before Evans’ passing.
The Brilliant is pressed on coloured vinyl for the first time and available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on gold coloured vinyl. The package includes an insert with other titles from the Timeless Records 45th Anniversary Jazz Series
EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF SIGH'S EARLY DEMOS, EP's & RARITIES,
PRESENTED ON DOUBLE CD FORMAT - INCLUDES INTERVIEW & LINER
NOTES COURTESY OF MAINMAN MIRAI KAWASHIMA ON THE
FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE JAPANESE LEGENDS.Cult Japanese black
metal legends Sigh formed in 1989/90, featuring mainman Mirai
Kawashima, Satoshi Fujinami & Kazuki Ozeki
Following initial demos, Shinichi Ishikawa was brought into the band, & Kazuki
removed from the line- up. It was following this shift that the band set about
recording the masterpiece debut 'Scorn Defeat' for Euronymous' Deathlike Silence
Productions, going on to become one of the country's greatest & most revered
metal exports. With a journey through the strange & the psychedelic,
incorporating a whole eclectic mix of genre styles & experimentation throughout
their career, Sigh has remained a vital creative force in the avantgarde field.
However, at its core, Sigh has always remained true to its roots of old school
metal. 'Eastern Darkness' contains a comprehensive collection of Sigh's early rare
works showing their swift musical evolution as well as the strong utilisation of
keyboards in their compositional process throughout. The collection includes the
band's legendary demo tapes, 'Desolation', & 'Tragedies', plus their EP's & rarities,
as well as contributions to various compilation releases in the mid 1990's.
Considering Sigh's well- known regard for UK legends Venom throughout their
career, 'Eastern Darkness' also contains the band's own tribute to the 1980's black
metal pioneers, in the form of tribute 'To Hell & Back', originally released on tape
in 1995.
This edition of 'Eastern Darkness' is presented on double disc CD format &
includes a 12- page booklet featuring an interview with Mirai Kawashima about
the early years of the band, along with his recollections of the origins of each title
contained within the release, three decades on from Sigh's formation.
Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.
The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”.
In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity.
But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection.
“La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development.
The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff.
New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end.
However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record.
It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.
Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings.
Following hot on the heels of the first, mid-sixties generation of Japanese free jazz players like Kaoru Abe, Masayuki Takayanagi, Yōsuke Yamashita, Motoharu Yoshizawa, etc., an exciting second wave of younger players began to emerge in the seventies. Two of its leading members were the saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu and multi-instrumentalist Yoriyuki Harada. Both were post-war babies and immigrants to the city, Umezu from Sendai in the north and Harada from Shimane in the west. They first met as students in the clarinet department at the Kunitachi College of Music, a well-known conservatory in western Tokyo. Harada was already securing sideman gigs on bass with professional jazz groups and was active in student politics, making good use of his connections to set up jazz concerts on campus. It was around this time that the two began to play together in an improvised duo, with Umezu on clarinet and bass clarinet and Harada on piano. They also experimented with graphic scores and prepared piano.
These experiments eventually led to the creation of a trio, with a high-school student called Tetsuya Morimura on drums, that they decided to name Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai (Lifestyle Improvement Committee) in joking reference to the Marxist discourse of the student radicals of the time. Around 1973, Umezu and Harada decided to call it a day and go their separate ways. Umezu began playing with the Toshinori Kondo Unit and Harada with the Tadashi Yoshida Quintet. In 1974 Harada formed his own trio and began to play at jazz coffeehouses across Japan.
Then, in September 1974 Umezu travelled alone to New York, where he set about building connections with the loft jazz scene in the city. It was a fortuitous moment to arrive in New York. Rents were cheap in the Lower East Side, possibilities for squatting existed, so many musicians and artists had moved to the area. Umezu soon became known on the scene as Kappo and he started to make connections with some of the young musicians like David Murray, Arthur Blythe, and Oliver Lake. He recalls making the rounds of the lofts every evening, checking out the performances, and getting the chance to sit in with many groups including Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society and trumpeter Ted Daniel’s orchestra.
Things were going so well that Umezu wrote to Harada and invited him to come to New York. He accepted and arrived in the city in July 1975. Harada and Umezu took the opportunity to resume their artistic collaboration. Their first concert together in over two years took place on July 20th at another loft, Sunrise Studios at 122 2nd Avenue. Umezu remembers Sunrise as an unusually sunny loft with the rarest of things, a grand piano. He invited along Ahmed Abdullah, a trumpeter he had got to know while playing with Ted Daniel. Abdullah led his own group and was a long-term Sun Ra sideman. William Parker, one of the key figures in the loft jazz scene of the period, was on bass. Abdullah also brought along Rashid Sinan on drums. Sinan drummed in Abdullah’s units throughout the seventies, but he had also played on Frank Lowe’s immortal Black Beings album and collaborated with Arthur Doyle, playing on Doyle’s Alabama Feeling album. By all accounts the evening was a huge success, with speed and dynamism of Harada’s piano playing gaining him lots of support.
Since they had managed to save some money from their day jobs, Umezu and Harada decided to set up a recording session with the same line-up on August 11 at Studio We, where there was a well-equipped studio on the third floor. Umezu recalls the session as follows, Of course, we recorded our performances in one take, with zero retakes as far as I remember. On all the tracks we recorded, we moved as one unit, sharp and fast. That was the nature of Lifestyle Improvement Committee, New York Branch.
Umezu and Harada would later become known for the elements of parody and entertainment that they brought to their music, a freewheeling blend of pastiche, humour and on-stage performativity that paralleled the approaches of the Art Ensemble, Sun Ra, and Holland’s ICP. But here, on their first recordings, the humour element is not yet present. Instead, there is a febrile sense of joy in creation and connection. On the Umezu-penned “Kim”, for example, Harada opens the piece with a speedy exploration of the full-range of the keyboard, hitting hard on the bass keys to create a rhythmic bed out of which patterns begin to emerge. Umezu enters at a much slower pace, longer held notes that at first float weightlessly over the urgency of the piano before they begin in splinter and accelerate. When Parker and Sinan kick in, it’s a rollicking tempo with Parker plucking deep and hard and the left-handed Sinan skittering hard across the topside of his kit. Abdullah kicks in a glorious solo twelve minutes in, bright and breathy at once. The piece slows and grows more spacious towards the end, giving Parker a chance to showcase some arco work that shades beautifully into the air against Abdullah’s trumpet.
The first ever recordings of FRED MCDOWELL. Recorded by ALAN LOMAX in 1959. The first vinyl release dedicated entirely to this phenomenal recording session. Twelve songs that highlight the depth of his repetoire - from droning & hypnotic versions of songs that later became blues standards such as "Shake Em On Down" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" to his deeply felt renditions of spirituals like "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning." Accompanied at times by some amazing hair comb playing & beautiful backup vocals. Comes in old-school "tip on" sleeves with liner notes by NATHAN SALSBURG. A co-release with our friends Domino Sound. The stuff of dreams. Received an 8.5 rating from Pitchfork.
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless Records, Music On Vinyl is releasing a series that features albums that are part of the Timeless Records legacy and will be released mainly throughout 2022.
To this day, jazz pianists are influenced by Bill Evans by his use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and his trademark rhythmically independent, “singing” melodic lines. Evans gained his first spotlight when joining Miles Davis’ sextet during the time Kind of Blue was recorded. After leaving the sextet, Evans began his career as bandleader. As trio with Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums, they recorded The Brilliant in 1980, just before Evans’ passing.
The Brilliant is pressed on coloured vinyl for the first time and available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on gold coloured vinyl. The package includes an insert with other titles from the Timeless Records 45th Anniversary Jazz Series
After high rotation online, Ghent's finest dub crew finally bring 'Furious' to wax, with an exclusive dub version by Kosmo Sound's drummer Marius Couvreur on the flipside. One for the bassheads!
The instrumental sextet mix heavy bass lines and tight drums with spacy melodies into an organic trip that sets every venue on fire. They have already performed twice as the support act for dub legend Adrian Sherwood and became winners of Sound Track in 2019.
“It's a slow motion dub explosion.” - Woodburner
“As a mixture of Slimmah Sound, El Michels Afffair and Khruangbin in which deep dub basses flirt with thin desert blues guitars, jazzy drum patterns and tufts of saxophone.” - Indiestyle
“The canvas that these six musicians span as Kosmo Sound has a musical breadth that effortlessly ranges from dub over jazz to psych.” - daMusic
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Architect by day and musician by night, Jaime Tellado picks up as Skygaze, and returns to the fold of Flumo Recordings with his brand new 12”, the ‘Astral Trip’ EP; combining his knowledge of architecture with a love for sound to construct and merge acid house, broken beat and atmospheric melodicism.
The 'Astral Trip' EP follows releases on Guayaba records, Riverette and Thirty Three Circular. And remixes for Ed is Dead and Contours & Yadava, earning support/plaudits from the likes of Mr. Scruff, Simbad, k15, Andrew Jervis, Gilles Peterson, amongst others.
The common denominator throughout the release is the balance and combination of various elements, exploring a multifaceted contemporary dance sound whilst paying homage to the foundations of the sounds that we listen to today.
‘Minor Mood’ pays tribute to Chicago and Detroit with its high paced house rhythm, acid synths, and piano lines, whilst ‘City Cathedratics’ slows the tempo down to lay the groundwork for a dreamy synth-laden soundscape.
Whilst the majority of the project is a solo exploration in dance music and its multi-layered context and history, the contributions of vocalist Ruben Ondina lift the high-paced, synth house grooves of ‘Gimme Five’ to another level. Meanwhile, the broken beat influence of London is keenly felt on ‘Nigh Heat’ and ‘Wagwan’, their rhythms emphasised further by harmonic and melodic exploration via atmospheric synths, melodic improvisation and irresistible synth bass lines.
Skygaze reconstructs the rhythms and synths into his own fresh and unique package to paint a picture of spiritual wonder, richness and excitement.
DJ Support:
Severino / Horse Meat Disco
Ashley Beedle
Fouk
Just Her
John Digweed
Oliver Dollar
DJ Feedback:
Ashley Beedle - Fantastic EP and difficult to pick one track! 'Wagwan' will be ft. on my April 'Heavy Disco Spectacular' radio show on Worldwide FM.
Michel De Hey - Very nice release
Diynamic / Connaisseur - Very nice cosmic vibes!
Xinobi - serious knowledge of groove on this release.
Lex Ludlow - Super nice!!!
Joshua James - Groove on this...
Just Her - Gimme five is really nice
Fouk - Loving this!
Tom Simpson - some good stuff ....summer is coming.
Junior Simba - peng !
Willie Rosado - nice soulful sound
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Spun Out Agency is honoured to present ‘More of that Frightful Oompty Boompty Music’, a compilation dedicated to the Guv’nor himself Mr Andrew Weatherall who should need no introduction on these pages. Released on vinyl in two beautiful parts, the first drops on April 15th with the second following two weeks after.
‘More of that Frightful Oompty Boompty Music’ (yes we are going to write that out every time we talk about it in this communique) showcases a selection of the shining greatness from the agency’s roster. Paranoid London, Fantastic Twins, Mehmet Aslan, Autarkic, Ruf Dug, Sean Johnston, and Manfredas gift exclusive tracks which highlight the sublime acid, techno and house sound that Weatherall would have described as “oopmty-boompty” music.
Spun Out is a London-based artist booking agency which has been run by Caroline Hayes for over 20 splendid years, that looked after the life and times of Andrew Weatherall alongside his partnership with Sean Johnston under their A Love From Outer Space moniker, and the likes of Optimo (Espacio), Ivan Smagghe, Josh Caffe, Man Power, Body Hammer, Kiara Scuro and many more artists, doing it differently.
Kicking off the A-side of the first record is Hardway Bros’ (aka Sean Johnston) previously unreleased remix of We Are The Axis by The Asphodells, the duo consisting of the Andrew Weatherall and former Battant member and Spun Out talent Timothy J. Fairplay. An energetic techno stomper with percussive rhythms, this exclusive remix offers the ideal tantalising dose to tease any dancefloor. The vocals and synth layers give it a punk rock approach, referencing the multi-genre essence of Weatherall’s taste in music.
Tel-Aviv-based Autarkic’s Sleepover closes the A-side with a chuggy lullaby, one that is certainly unsuitable for putting a baby to bed, given its intricate acid lines of total hypnosis. Following on the B-side is Manctalo Banger, a house bop by the Manchester-via-Ibiza computer game nerd and vinyl digger Ruf Dug, and Shizowaves, Turkish-born Basel-based Mehmet Aslan’s soulful touch to the compilation, bringing Middle-Eastern percussive melodies and catchy basslines.
The second record is introduced by Paranoid London, with a Spun Out dedicated acid techno banger appropriately titled Spinning Out and Fantastic Twins’ EBM track Kali’s Tongue Was A Weapon. On the B-side is Lithuanian chug legend Manfredas’ Hfuhruhurr, and Naum Gabo, who closes the compilation with the chaotic analogue-synth frenzy, Cold Sold. The name Naum Gabo may evoke the pioneer of Russian constructivism, who rose to fame thanks to his crazy kinetic sculptures. However, here it manifests as one half of Spun Out’s Optimo duo Jonnie Wilkes (JG Wikes) and James Savage. The duo’s impeccable manipulation of electronic hardware couldn’t give a better homage to him.
Some highlights for Spun Out artists this summer include 9 acts from the roster playing at Houghton Festival, Paranoid London’s show at Sonar Festival, Love International Festival and Ransom Note’s festival with Optimo Watching Trees.
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"Off-kilter melodies, dense instrumentation and lyrical explorations of the darkest side of the human condition" -- The Guardian
With B FLAT A this much acclaimed quartet from Gdansk, Poland have
produced their most epic and visceral statement to date.
A universe where echoes of Can, Syd Barrett and Fugazi lovingly collide. Cryptic and possessing of a great moral force, Trupa Trupa is a band for these times, whether we are ready for them or not.
The frst single "Twitch" is already out and is receiving strong airplay from BBC6 Music. Clash magazine wrote "Polish art-rock group Trupa Trupa return with the storming 'Twitch.' The band's imposing physicality is matched to some truly ground-breaking artistry - imagine a kind of Eastern European answer to Swans and you'd be close. With their intense live shows and crunching studio output,
Trupa Trupa have built an imposing catalogue, one with an international reach."
UK GIGS
19.02.2022 – UK – London – Lexington
21.02.2022 – UK – Brighton – Green Door Store
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
