MUSIC

For a decade, Maxine Funke has cut an idiosyncratic path as a singer-songwriter, all the while avoiding the parochial retreads of that worn-out label. Funke's music is intimate and deeply intelligent, buoyed by a sense of effortlessness that belies a scrupulous attention to the smallest of details. Lace was originally released as a CD-R in 2008 on Alastair Galbraith's Next Best Way label. Imagine the just-so arrangements of Josephine Foster and the knowing quotidian eye of Sibylle Baier meeting the realism of Funke's compatriots Turiiya or the acoustic textures of the Kiwi Animal and you're nearly there -- but in that gap lies the undeniable pull of Funke's music. Short songs for nylon string guitar, violin, piano, incidental snippets of bird song and furniture creaks, brief instrumental interludes in the vein of Funke's regular collaborator Galbraith: this is the realest of deals. The metaphysic of 'Second Hand Store' cuts to the uncompromised heart of this record, a rejection of the idea of ownership in favor of communal chance, the ragged comfort of things lived-in and passed on, a searching with no need to find, let alone possess. Indeed, as much as these recordings suggest the close quarters and warmth of a small home, Maxine Funke makes music for traveling, providing accompaniment through the rough, unfeeling vectors of a disenchanted world and, as she does on the last song of Felt, imagining it differently. As the titles of these albums suggest, Funke's is a tactile art, as warm and tangible as the tape hiss bathing it, her words and music rescuing everyday moments from traps of distraction and defeat. Following limited edition vinyl reissues in 2016 -- a swansong for Nemo Bidstrup's sorely missed Time-Lag Recordings imprint -- we're happy to make Felt and Lace widely available. Maxine Funke's music, immediate and entirely unpretentious, suggests a world in which Katherine Mansfield rubs shoulders with Liz Harris, or Vashti Bunyan grows up on the Flying Nun catalog. Absolutely essential."

“Abner Jay is the most unusual talent in the world. A true Southerner from South G.A. He was raised layin on his belly, drinkin water from the ol Swaunee River. Jay claims the secret for his good health and being the father of sixteen young’uns, and gonna git some more, layin on his belly drinkin water from that ol Swaunee. Abner still go to the Swaunee River every Sunday, and lay down on his belly. Abner is twenty five years older than you think.” - Abner Jay Stunning one-man band tunes from one of the United States’ great unsung artists. A new album of previously unreleased tracks from Abner’s vast catalog of home recordings, showcasing some of his most haunting and powerful vocal performances on revelatory new renditions of classics like “I’m So Depressed” and “Ol Man River.” Abner recorded the majority of the songs found on this LP over and over - some were recorded with R&B bands in the late 1950's, some as earnest folk ballads in the early 1960's and some as homemade one man band recordings on electric banjo, drum and harmonica throughout the 1970's. Here Abner plays these songs more deeply felt than at any other point, accompanied by his electric guitar, plaintive harmonica and solid almost tribal bass drum. We don't know exactly what date these recordings were made, but they stand as absolutely timeless. A truly independent artist who performed at swap meets and fairs out of his custom converted trailer, Abner Jay traveled the United States from the 1930s until his passing in 1993. Told with his characteristic blend of humor and pathos, I Don’t Have Time To Lie To You is an unsparing take on the country Abner knew so well, and possibly the best full album of his music to date. Licensed from Brandie Records and Abner’s family.

The long-awaited repress! The label's Warfaring Strangers Comp and Josefus-based proto-heavy metal hot 71st edition !! Missouri's unknown four-piece heavy psychedelic, Bulbous Creation's only album is back from Numero!