MUSIC

Akhira Sano is a Tokyo-based artist working across sound, drawing, installation, and video. His practice finds generative potential for music in life's fleeting incidents, etching meaning from unassuming spaces and resonances. With releases on 12k, LAAPS, IIKKI, and The Trilogy Tapes, Sano has steadily carved out a distinctive voice within minimal and experimental music - one that privileges attentiveness and patience over spectacle.

"To Material Past", Sano's debut for SWIMS, carries this thread with a 30-minute expedition built solely using glockenspiel tones and field recordings from his local neighbourhood. This is a night walk with no map or end point; Sano follows irregular, coiling fragments that extend to form a tessellating luminous whole - like a subliminal mass of tree roots quietly shifting the concrete slabs beneath our feet.

Under this faded gauze of gestures and interactions, Sano's glockenspiel interjects like a grandfather clock, softly marking the partitions that make up a day's collected experience; clicking and chiming like the sleeping brain, as it sifts and catalogues a lifetime's ephemera of thoughts, faces and puzzles.

Re-upping and expanding our 2020 sufi-flamenco grail on LP and tape format, adding 4 newly unearthed tracks to those previously thought to be Aziz Balouch's only recordings.

Aziz Balouch moved to the Iberian Peninsula from modern-day Pakistan in 1932 in search of work and music. After a childhood spent studying Islamic mysticism and devotional songs in the Sufi shrines of his native Sindh he soon fell in love with the 'deep song' of flamenco and was taken in as an apprentice to the great heterodox cantaor Pepe Marchena after a chance encounter. He dedicated the rest of his life to flamenco and developed an elaborate theory of the South Asian and Sufi origins of the art which he propagated through live performances and publications in London, Spain and Pakistan.

Decades before the arrival of the academic discipline of ethnomusicology or the invention of 'fusion' Aziz Balouch painstakingly immersed himself into a completely different musical tradition seeking connections and drawing inspiration to create a unique performance style which has tragically remained hidden and ignored. These 8 tracks are taken from Aziz Balouch's only surviving recordings, two 7" EPs released in Spain in 1962. On each track Balouch draws on his polyglottism to seamlessly merge Sufi poetry in Persian, Sindhi, Hindi and Arabic with various forms of Andalusian song in Spanish. Accompanied by a single guitar his voice pushes through into the profound depths of human experience to excavate the shared past of flamenco which had been submerged beneath the surface.

Many thanks to Stefan Williamson Fa.

A cassette-only collection of haunted calypsos, blues, ragtime, spirituals and hawaiian guitar records.

Out of press in its original form for years, controversial beat poet Allen Ginsberg's East Village love-in 'First Blues' - a vast double-album of collaborations with everyone from Arthur Russell to Bob Dylan and Don Cherry - is newly reissued via Death Is Not The End. It's hard to deny Ginsberg's impact; his poetry alone was enough to shift the course of US counter culture, and you can visualise his contributions to downtown punk and folk. But his music career isn't quite as intimately understood, which makes 'First Blues' a pretty vital artefact for anyone looking to investigate further. Ginsberg wrote and recorded the material between 1971 and 1983, taking the opportunity to leaf through his lengthy phonebook and call up anyone he admired or had collaborated with in the past. So Dylan - who Ginsberg had collaborated with before - shows up on the first few tracks, helping to balance out his friend's wobbly-voiced, country-fried recitations with tangled acoustic twangs. The money shots comes with the majority of the remaining tracks, produced and featuring cello by Arthur Russell, given free rein to rumble through folk, blues, jazz and gospel over Ginsberg’s sexcapades, Buddhist revelations and conspiracy theories with bare-faced joy. 'CIA Dope Calypso' is a bonkers highlight, a chirpy Harry Belafonte reinterpretation that lambasts the Central Intelligence Agency for its under-the-radar drug peddling, while 'Sickness Blues' uses Russell's bendy cello tones as a crash mat for Ginsberg's pained lamentations.

The World Is but a Place of Survival: Ethiopian Begena Songs documents the spiritual heart of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Amhara tradition. The begena, a ten‑stringed lyre linked by legend to King David, is reserved solely for sacred music. Its rich, buzzing tone – produced by leather strips beneath the strings – is believed to protect against evil and bring players closer to God. Symbolising elements of the faith, the instrument is played during times of prayer and reflection, especially Lent. Long associated with scholars and nobles, the begena endured even the Derg regime’s ban.

Recorded in Addis Ababa by Stéphanie Weisser (2002–2005) and mastered by Renaud Millet‑Lacombe, this release comes via Death Is Not The End under licence from VDE‑Gallo, Switzerland.

For Aesop Rock, the phrase “I heard it’s a mess there too” started out as a lyric, but it didn’t take long for that line to get its hooks into him. It felt familiar, like a line he’d said a thousand times in recent years while checking in with friends across different cities, swapping stories about where each other are, and what’s going on there. The more he sat with the phrase, the more it started to feel like the center of something bigger. I Heard It’s A Mess There Too lives at the intersection of two personal urges for Aesop: the need to venture out and document your surroundings, and the desire to stay connected—especially when things feel uncertain. 

Musically, Aesop Rock explores some new territory on the album. “I’d been building tracks the same way for many years,” he says, “but I made a conscious shift in my process here. I tried out some new tools and attempted to make my beats cleaner, more minimal. The drums are more stripped back, the bass lines are allowed to just sit, without layering ten things on top. I didn’t want the beat and the vocals competing for attention—I just wanted enough to get a wave rolling and not much more, just setting a mood I could move to.” These twelve songs mark different stops along that path of tinkering and looking for something new.

Rian Treanor presents 10 x 10 = Great Hits, a collaborative album born from his Electronic Music Club — a free after-school project in Rotherham where young people learn to make music alongside leading experimental artists.

Over two years, guests including RP Boo, YPY, Beatrice Dillon, Elvin Brandhi, Bianca Scout, Will Guthrie, Cara Tolmie, Modern Institute, DJ Sprinkles, Gavsborg and Lord Spike Heart joined sessions that encouraged play, invention and curiosity. The resulting album was co-produced by Treanor with Brandhi, Modern Institute, Bianca Scout and RP Boo, with workshops coordinated by Isabella Carreras and artwork by NaOH.

Operated as a non-profit, all proceeds from the project fund trips and activities for the participants.

Hailu Mergia is a one-man band. In 1985, master accordionist and veteran bandleader, arranger and keyboardist released the Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument cassette. In a nostalgic effort to bring back the vintage accordion sound of his youth, Hailu gave Ethiopian music a sonic makeover. He was already celebrated for his work with the groundbreaking Addis Ababa ethio-jazz and funk outfit Walias Band. With imagination and a visionary sense of the self-contained possibilities of modern music, he captured the popular sounds of the past using the modern tools of the day. Hailu Mergia weaves Moog and DX7 synthesizers, Rhodes electric piano and rhythm machine into the rich harmonic layering of his accordion, creating hauntingly psychedelic, elegantly arranged instrumentals. These tunes draw from famous traditional and modern Ethiopian songs, as Hailu brilliantly matches lush Amhara, Tigrinya and Oromo melodies with otherworldly flavors soaked in jazz and blues, synthesizing a futuristic landscape. He balances Ethiopian music's signature melodic shape with beautiful analog synth touches, floating upon clouds of hypnotically minimal rhythm tracks. Hailu Mergia was born in Debre Birhan, Showa Province, Ethiopia in 1938 (1946 in the European calendar) to parents Tewabech Ezineh and Mergia Lulessa, who were of Amhara and Oromo ancestry, respectively. His mother took him to Aynemisa, close to Addis, where he grew up from age 3 until he was 10 when they moved to the capital Addis Ababa. Hailu went to Shimelis Habte high school but dropped out before graduating. In 1952 (1960 in European calendar), he joined the army music department as a boy scout to support his mother. Mergia stayed in the army almost two years, learning how to read and write music. After Hailu left the army, he started singing in small bars as a freelance musician. He joined various pick-up bands, touring across the Ethiopian provinces as a singer and accordion player for almost a year. After the group broke up, he started performing in nightclubs like Addis Ababa, Patrice Lumumba, Asegedech Alamrew, Sombrero, Zula Club and others. At Zula Club he and his mates formed Walias Band and did something no other band in Ethiopian nightclub history had done: they started buying their own musical instruments. Until then the club owners were supplying the instruments and had the power to fire musicians at will. For the first time ever Walias Band signed a contract with the owner of Venus Club as a group thereby protecting themselves from club owners. Mergia and Walias Band went on to do gigs at hotels like Wabi Shebele and the Hilton. After playing almost eight years at the Hilton Hotel, Mergia and Walias Band came to the United States and toured widely in 1982-1983. Afterwards, some of of the band stayed in America while others went back to Addis. That was a heartbreaking time for the band. They considered themselves a family, and they knew they had broken new ground in the history of Addis nightclub musicians. They had helped make the Ashantis Band from Kenya famous in Addis. They were the first private band who played for state dinners at the palace for the Derg government (twice). And, they were the first private band to tour the USA. After the break-up of Walias Band, Mergia settled in the States and formed Zula Band with Moges Habte and Tamiru Ayele, playing in different restaurants and touring in the States and Europe. At that time, Mergia made a one-man band recording with accordion for the first time, mixing in Rhodes electric piano, Moog synthesizer and a rhythm machine. That was 1985. This recording was inspired by the early memories of his first instrument, the accordion. After the break-up of Zula Band in 1992, he quit performing and ran Soukous Club for seven years with his partners Moges and Tamiru. Nowadays he's making his living as a self-employed taxi driver at Dulles International Airport while continuing to record his music and practice as often as possible. The reissue of this recording brings back a moment when Ethiopian music was shifting from acoustic-based performances to recordings using more and more synthesized elements. While the results of that shift have their critics Hailu Mergia's initial experiments with solo instrumental music based on Ethiopian folk and popular music captures a singular feeling dripping in ambiance and very human emotional energy.

Big Crown Records is proud to present Dave Guy’s debut album Ruby. Having lent his talents both on stage and in the studio to artists like Amy Winehouse, Lizzo, Pharrell, and Sharon Jones to currently playing every night on The Tonight Show as a member of The Roots, Dave steps out on his own with a jazz record that is both unique and modern. Ruby mixes his musical influences with the energies of the city that raised him, capturing different moods and inviting the listener into the world as Dave Guy sees and feels it. Recorded in Queens at The Legendary Diamond Mine, the album is produced by Homer Steinweiss and Nick Movshon and features musical contributions from Leon Michels, Marco Benevento, Claire Cottrill, and more. Ruby instantly sits with the classics as an album that is fully realized and not simply a collection of songs. Lead single “7th Heaven” opens the album with an anthemic energy as Dave’s horn lines soar over thundering drums, ethereal vocals, and dancing piano. Keeping the energy high, “Footwork” is a Latin inspired number that is sure to soundtrack many a dance floor from SoHo to Harlem. The synth intro of “Pinky Ring” cleanses your palate for the mood shift when the track drops. Deep bass tones underline the impeccable drumming and Dave effortlessly finds the pocket wasting no notes as the verses and choruses trade off. The record leans into spiritual jazz vibes on “Diamond Encore” with a dark and deep almost “Axelrodish” rhythm track then picks the energy back up with the stomper “Still Standing”. “Dave Wants You” has a bop all its own with an unorthodox drum pattern that Dave anchors with his trumpet hits. The otherworldly arrangement of “Drony Boy” puts the production on a pedestal. The first intro almost serves as an intermission on the album while the second intro sets up the neck snapping track that is about to drop. A menacing guitar signals the builds and the whole thing is juxtaposed by Dave’s beautiful trumpet riffs. “Quesodillas” & “Green Door” begin the autumn of the album with their mellow & intimate energy and “Ruby’s Rubies”, the album’s closer is the perfect ending to the journey.

Renowned for her releases on Sweet Dreams Press, Natsuki Takeda delivers a pure, white ambient document with Shiro no Hitotsuki! Based in Kyoto, she has been an active member of numerous bands such as Kaze no Mata Sunny, quaeru, and Matamata. Since around 2021, she has begun composing solo works using YAMAHA reface CP and DX, analog synthesizers, and loopers, while also performing extensively in solo and session settings in pursuit of a transparent and delicate sound. This album records a month of recovery following a fever at the end of 2022, captured through daily improvisational sessions. Gentle synth fluctuations, overlapping loops, and the breath of subtle noise combine to create a dreamlike soundscape that drifts along the boundary between dreams and reality.

Shipping begins September 21: an improvised ambient/experimental document born in Kyoto’s Imadegawa. The collaborative work IMA DE GAWA GINGA by CazU-23 & Sinkichi now arrives on cassette. CazU-23, an artist who has explored a unique sonic world through solo and band activities, employs guitar and monosynth to striking effect, while Sinkichi—a veteran DJ/producer active since the dawn of Kyoto’s club scene—works fluidly with modular synths and field recordings. Recorded in a single, unbroken session at Softribe Studio, the album interweaves the plucked tones of a 1970s Teisco guitar, shimmering modular layers, and environmental sounds gathered from the city, achieving a quietude and spaciousness akin to the night air. Subtle noise and breath-like resonances evoke layers of time and fragments of memory, with a sense of prayer offered as homage to the late ambient DJ OPERON. A meditative minimal new age/ambient work, where city and nature, present and memory converge into a small yet luminous galaxy.

‘She who loves silence’.

Founder of KUMP and Meth.O tapes, Lyon’s Marc-Étienne Guibert (AKA Gil.Barte) awakens his new Mert Seger moniker for a shadowy Plaque excursion. Nine slow burners strike from the murk with venomous precision.

This album is a solo album by SINKICHI, the label owner of MATSUNOMI TO SENSO REC. It is a collection of field recordings made during the lockdown of the COVID19, live to 2 track recordings of improvised performances with hardware equipment, and modular synthesizer performances on the holy mountains and spiritual rivers. Please enjoy. SINKICHI A pioneer ambient DJ in Japan who has been playing at many rave parties since the early 90's. He has participated in many bands such as SOFT, AOA, Based on kyoto, and Churashima Navigator.He has also worked as a mastering engineer on vinyl mastering for 17853 Records and Crosspoint label.

We first became aware of the Florence-based composer Marco Baldini’s work via the incredible Another Timbre label. His albums, Vesperi and Maniera, blew us away. Maniera, Marco’s second album for the label consists of seven chamber works for strings, beautifully played by Apartment House. If for some reason you haven’t heard it go straight to Another Timbre’s Bandcamp and check it out! Vesperi, Marco’s first release on Another Timbre, from around a year before is also absolutely unmissable, it’s comprised of three pieces derived from works by 16th century Italian composers alongside original compositions. Both albums have provided much needed calm in turbulent times. Marco kindly accepted our invitation to compile a mixtape, and here it is! Thank you so much, Marco! Trilogy Tapes

After the cult favourite Apron Japan Vol.1 dropped in 2023, we’re back with the next wave!

We’ve expanded our reach beyond Japan — this time diving deeper into the sounds of the East. Featuring a diverse lineup of producers and artists across Asia and the surrounding regions, Apron East Vol.2 celebrates the rawness, late night riddims, and future classics.

FEATURING MUSIC BY:

Benedek, DJ Dreamboy, Hookuo, Isaac, DJ Jeyon, J M S KHOSAH, Kendall Timmons, KO SAITO, Jarren, Steven Julien, and Yuka Sunflora.

Psychedelic trance ritual music! It is an imaginary and vast horizon. From the percussion instrument group "Kodo", which has its roots in Sado, great performance of Kenta Taku Yutaku, a unit consisting kodo! Reminds me of Mohammad Reza Mortazavi or Ricardo Villalobos & Oren Ambarchi "Hubris"!!

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Kenta Taku Yu Tataku 2nd Album
Physical release on cassette tape along with digital release. The cassette is limited to 100!

Imagine from the sound.
Create sound.

The "sound" that overflows from Kenta Nakagome and Yuta Sumiyoshi, who chose the media "cassette" in an era where they can listen to anything with various streaming services, is particular about their own sound and the sound that only two people can make "NAYUTA". It became a work called.
Please prepare a cassette deck and fully enjoy the difference in texture and sound quality peculiar to analog that can never be reproduced digitally.
Also pay attention to the cassette design that you want to collect and the bonus stickers that come with it!

Australia’s world-renowned cinematic soul outfit Surprise Chef return with new album Superb. A record that represents a change in their creative approach and turns up the heat in their music. Trading in their meticulous writing and recording techniques for a looser and less planned approach with the intentions of bringing more levity to the process, and it comes through in spades. The high caliber musicianship is still front and center, but they push their sound into a more energetic and fun place on this album.

Album opener “Sleep Dreams” is the closest thing to a Surprise Chef tune one would come to expect, but then lead single “Bully Ball” comes on and you get the picture that they came to kick in the door on this one. The song’s gritty drums thunder through the speakers and get covered with percussion, keys, bass, and guitar chanks that stay in the pocket and bring the funk with them. The band pushes the boundaries of arrangement with tunes like “Body Slam” that starts off like a sweet soul track then pulls a 180, turning dark and haunting, centering on a sound they created by tucking a timpani into a bathroom two doors down from the mixing board. That same sense of experimentation comes up again on “Fare Evader” where they pepper another neck breaking rhythm track with synth notes that sound like robot sound effects from a 70s sci-fi film. The fellas turn up the tempo for the dance with tunes like “Consulate Case” and “Tag Dag”; the former pulling influence from afro-funk and the latter from jazz-funk. They take us deep into the beautiful world of Surprise Chef ballads on “Websites” and double down on their abilities to make beautiful and ethereal tracks with “Dreamer’s Disease”.

With their new album Superb, their new approach, and plans to tour the world, we are about to see Surprise Chef take the step from the underground’s most beloved to a household name and we are definitely here for it. 

Taeko Onuki's second album released in 1977. Reissue,

Having led the legendary avant-garde ensemble Ché-SHIZU and performed under Takehisa Kosugi with East Bionic Symphonia, Chie Mukai has become a defining figure of Japanese improvisational music. Originally released on cassette in 1989 via Steeple & Globe and reissued the following year on CD by P.S.F. Records, her solo masterpiece Kokyo Solo Improvisation now sees a long-awaited cassette reissue from Beijing’s UFO Creations. The profound resonance of her kokyū (erhu), exhausted and spectral vocalizations, and the use of metal fragments and cymbals create a performance that fuses Chinese musical traditions, rustic incantations, Eastern spirituality, and surrealist visions into a twisted sonic swell. A singular form of otherworldly music where the ferocity of improvisation collides with moments of prayer-like stillness. Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies.

A solo improvisation stripped down to the extremes of resonance, silence, and impact through the drum itself! Shoji Hano, a free jazz/improvisation drummer and singular figure in the Japanese scene—known for his releases on P.S.F. Records and collaborations with European avant-garde giants like Peter Brötzmann and Hans Reichel—presents his 2024 solo cassette work 69, stocked here from Beijing’s rising label UFO CREAtions. Strikes, reverberations, and silence intertwine with tension, offering a meditative experience of sound that expands both time and inner space. What resonates here is not decoration of narrative or genre, but the raw vibration of life itself—an experience of listening to an “absent pulse,” inviting both quiet introspection and a journey into uncharted sonic territory. A stark, uncompromising document of Hano’s solitary improvisation that transcends jazz and free music, drawing the listener into profound inner resonance. Limited to 69 copies—don’t miss it!

Suishou no Fune, the solitary psychedelic band whose works have graced Important Records, Holy Mountain, and Japan’s avant-garde stronghold P.S.F. Records. True to their name—taken from a classic song by The Doors—they have long spun visionary and transcendent sound worlds. Now in stock: their 2024 double-cassette box set. Released on Love Share Dopamine (L.S.D.), a sub-label of Beijing’s rising UFO CREAtions, carrying forward the devotion to P.S.F. alongside imprints such as Black Editions, An’archives, and Eschogras Records. Recorded live at the sacred venue Kuroneko Sabō in Asagaya in April 2024, the performance moves from pitch-black P.S.F.–to–Ftarri-like free improvisation and silence, through the smoke-shrouded, decadent psychedelia in the lineage of Les Rallizes Dénudés, to drifting slow-psych like ripples across water, and even slow psychedelic shoegaze recalling Hallelujahs and Nagisa ni te. A definitive document of dense, multifaceted visions. Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies.

The self-titled tape by Ulises Carrión, reissued by Counter Culture Chronicles, revisits his elusive Trios & Boleros, a work once privately circulated. Here, Carrión reimagines popular form through a deconstructed lens, where fragments of music and voice are refracted into conceptual gestures that linger between intimacy, satire, and radical sonic experimentation.

Counter Culture Chronicles present the reissue of a scarce recording by Ulises Carrión, originally distributed in private circles under the title Trios & Boleros. Best known as a writer, publisher, and leading figure in conceptual art, Carrión also developed a body of sound work where his investigations of language and structure took on aural form.

This release captures his unique approach to the conventions of popular music. The recognizable formulas of trios and boleros emerge only to be fractured, recontextualized, and reframed as conceptual gestures. Sentimentality becomes parody, melody is interrupted or destabilized, and the listener is pushed to hear not only the sound but the cultural scripts it carries.

More than a curiosity from the archive, the work embodies Carrión’s insistence on communication as a shifting field of rules, signals, and noise. In re-presenting these recordings, Counter Culture Chronicles offers insight into an artist who challenged literary, visual, and sonic forms alike, leaving behind fragments that continue to resonate for their precision, wit, and critical edge.

From the archives vol. 13, released by Counter Culture Chronicles, gathers rare recordings from key figures such as Lawrence Weiner, Ulises Carrión, Michael Gibbs, and others. This collection traces the porous boundaries between conceptual art and sound, where language, gesture, and environment intersect in works both fleeting and resonant.

With From the archives vol. 13, Counter Culture Chronicles continues its excavation of overlooked and ephemeral sound works from the conceptual art milieu. This volume assembles recordings by Lawrence Weiner, Ulises Carrión, Michael Gibbs, John Baldessari, herman de vries, Jacob van Donselaer, Terry Fox, Maurizio Nannucci, Marinus Boezem, Hamish Fulton, and Georg Winter. Each artist extends the possibilities of sound as material, whether through spoken word, minimal interventions, or conceptual gestures that hover between the audible and the imagined.

Rather than a traditional compilation, the release functions as a collective document of practices that redefined the relationship between art and sound in the latter half of the 20th century. The pieces presented here embody a range of strategies: the taut precision of Weiner’s language-based constructions, Carrión’s playful subversions of form, Baldessari’s wry performativity, and Fox’s meditative listening experiments.

From the archives vol. 13 preserves fragile traces otherwise consigned to private recordings, underscoring the cross-disciplinary energy of a generation more concerned with ideas than categories. By making these works accessible again, Counter Culture Chronicles confirms the enduring relevance of artists who approached sound not as music or text alone, but as an unstable, vital field of thought and experience.

The tape Wildlife & it’s Results by Sue Fishbein, reissued by Counter Culture Chronicles, captures a collage-based soundpiece from early 1980s San Francisco. A key figure in the mail art network, Fishbein constructs an aural patchwork where found sound, irony, and cultural debris converge into a sharp yet playful critique of everyday noise.

Counter Culture Chronicles unveils Wildlife & it’s Results, a rare sound collage by Sue Fishbein, recorded in the early 1980s when San Francisco’s underground scenes provided fertile ground for cross-disciplinary exchange. Best known as a central force in the mail art network, Fishbein used sound as another medium of correspondence—fragmented, suggestive, and defiantly anti-hierarchical.

In this piece, wildlife is less a subject than a metaphor for unruly activity: snatches of found recordings, cut-up voices, urban din, and unexpected silences intertwine in a restless composition. The results are both humorous and disorienting, echoing the anarchic spirit of mail art’s international dialogues. By treating sound as fungible material, Fishbein extends her cut-and-paste aesthetic into the aural domain, challenging notions of authorship and form.

Wildlife & it’s Results carries the immediacy of a cassette-era experiment yet resonates today as a prescient reflection on media saturation, excess, and play. More document than performance, more collage than composition, the work encapsulates Fishbein’s singular ability to twist fragments into a sonic correspondence that remains vital, unruly, and fiercely independent.