MUSIC

The long-awaited repress! The world's first compilation that covers the miracle of Spanish NEW WAVE-ambient-progressive music, the masterpiece of Finis Africae, and the footprints of 17 years!
This is a must-listen work with a number of spiritual, deep, afro and ambient spiritual organic grooves!

Spiritual Afro, NEW WAVE, Ambient Dance Music! A number of miraculous sound sources that include African music, contemporary music, natural sounds from NEW WAVE and field recording, and even jazz and folklore tastes from Spain. It seems that he was influenced by many music genres, but the music is a beautiful combination of ambient and spiritual extracts, and the track with the synthesizer has a new age that is similar to that of IASOS! Great content that would not have been possible without an aesthetic eye for sharp music. 16P booklet included. Commentary posted in Spanish / English / Japanese.

A collection of stunning Persian-tuned piano pieces cut from Iranian national radio broadcasts made for the Golha programmes between 1956 & 1965...

Morteza Mahjubi (1900-1965) was a Iranian pianist & composer who developed a unique tuning system for the piano which enabled the instrument to be played in all the different modes and dastgahs of traditional Persian art music. Known as Piano-ye Sonnati, this technique allowed Mahjubi to express the unique ornamental and monophonic nature of Persian classical music on this western instrument - mimicking the tar, setar & santur and extracting sounds from the piano which are still unprecedented to this day.

An active performer and composer from a young age, Mahjubi made his most notable mark as key contributor and soloist for the Golha (Flowers of Persian Song and Poetry) radio programmes. These seminal broadcasts platformed an encyclopaedic wealth of traditional Persian classical music and poetry on Iranian national radio between 1956 until the revolution in 1979.

Presented here is a collection of Morteza Mahjubi's stunningly virtuosic improvised pieces broadcast on Golha between the programme's inception until Mahjubi's death in 1965 - mostly solo, though at times peppered with tombak, violin & some segments of poetry.

The vast collection of Golha radio programmes was put together thanks to the incredible work of Jane Lewisohn & the Golha Project as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives programme, comprising 1,578 radio programs consisting of approximately 847 hours of broadcasts. 

To enter the world of Sally Townes and Roberta Vandervort is to be swept away into a dimension of unique sound. Embellishments of smoldering jazz funk, seductive soft rock, breezy AOR, and misty folk, all paint a picture of the worlds which they inhabited; from the endless flat expanse of Dallas, the hot and humid bustle of a Bourbon Street night club, to the late night buzz of a Los Angeles studio session. While Sally Townes and Roberta Vandervort never crossed paths in our reality, their supernatural union on this compilation feels like the meeting of old, yet familiar friends, set in a parallel dimension with lives intertwined. The songs feel like old friends, too — a comforting time capsule of the popular sounds of the era, yet offering something completely new. Bridged by the striking similarities in their musical confidence, vocal conviction, and boundless creativity, both women encapsulate an uncompromising passion for living, loving, and creating on their own terms.

Woke rhythms and high-spirited grooves from the vaults of two seminal Italian jazz labels, between the 70s and 80s. Intensely curated by Khalab. Hyperituals is part of the new research path undertaken by Hyperjazz Records. Entirely curated by Khalab - Raffaele Costantino, HJ’s founder and head of A&R - Hyperituals is a philological investigation that delves deeply into the musical influences and cultural roots of the young Italian label. The theme that runs through Hyperituals is the exploration of the possibilities of sound, rhythm, remix, and endless sampling. Inspiring listening, interpretation, and insight. Is it an exercise in crate-digging that explores the past of some of the most important yet sometimes forgotten record labels and aims to bring to light music that is contemporary both in its sound and its message. The first stage of this journey is represented by Black Saint/Soul Note, an Italian ‘double’ label based in Milan that, since the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, established itself as one of the most important imprints for international jazz. Founded respectively in 1975 by Giacomo Pellicciotti and in 1979 by Giovanni Bonandrini (to whom Pellicciotti sold Black Saint in 1977), Black Saint and Soul Note have represented a safe haven for incredible and brilliant artists who were unable to find their space elsewhere. By combining jazz tradition with the political vanguard sentiment of the time, the two sister labels were able to press and produce more than five hundred records (still available today - the catalogue is now owned by CAM Jazz), many of which are by some of the brightest names in creative jazz or the ‘avant-garde’ of the era. Black Saint and Soul Note always placed the artists, their visions, and their music at the center, giving them total freedom of creative expression. It is thanks to this constant, cutting-edge and meticulous commitment that today we have some of the shiniest musical gems by Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Max Roach, Anthony Braxton, David Murray, and many others. And it is this long list of jazz gods and idols that led the two labels to be recognized as the best in the world by critics, winning the DownBeat Critics Poll for Best Record Label for six years in a row, from 1984 to 1990, conquering the American market. This first double gatefold vinyl volume is entirely dedicated to the Soul Note catalogue. Khalab’s selection - focused on rhythms, grooves and Afrocentric traditions - demonstrates how this music, through its sensibility, can renew our connection to the present in unexpected ways. As the curator and music critic Enrico Bettinello writes in the compilation’s liner notes, in this volume “we find moments of ecstasy, irresistible percussive webs, fiery solos, poetic awareness, and magical ritual lyricism.” A second volume focused on the Black Saint catalogue is already in the works.

South Africa is in fact the only country in the whole African continent that has developed a strong jazz tradition. Initially influenced by the great American stylists, (Ellington, Gillespie...) South Africa gradually developed its own soulful style based on a distinctive taste for melody and a deep sense of groove. Masterfully selected from the so-called "Golden Age" of the genre, (late '50s/ early '60s), this compilation represents the best introduction to the work of a large and varied body of musicians and composers who inevitably developed their music as part of the historical Anti-Apartheid struggle, and as means of self-expression in the dark times of exile. Kippie Moeketsi, Hugh Masekela (in The Jazz Epistles), Dollar Brand, Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana (in Chris McGregor & The Castle Lager Big Band), Mongesi Feza (in Chris McGregor & The Castle Lager Big Band), Barney Rabachan, Nick Moyake (in Chris McGregor & The Castle Lager Big Band), and of course the queen Miriam Makeba are just some of the main voices represented here. A bunch of true warriors. Also features John Mehegan, Dollar Brand Trio, and Gideon Nxumalo.

A marvelous compilation as tribute to the genius of Allen Toussaint, one of the greatest musicians, composers and arrangers in the history of American popular music as well as an incredibly influential figure in the New Orleans r&b tradition. "Nola Soul" features a selection of 16 Toussaint's productions within the crucial time frame 1960-1963. 16 gems performed by the cream of the New Orleans Scene, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, Aaron Neville... The best of southern soul music experience, What else?

未発表デモ音源も収録したUKポストパンク・バンド、MEDIUM MEDIUMの決定的コンピが2LPリリース!! UKポストパンク・バンド、MEDIUM MEDIUMの決定的コンピレーション・アルバムが2LPがRECORD STORE DAY 2022に登場! オープニングナンバーにして代表曲"HUNGRY, SO ANGRY"は、数々のコンピにセレクト、言わずもがなのホワイト・ファンク金字塔的名曲。イントロのサックス、腰にビシビシとクるベース、鋭角的なギターと完璧! 1981年、UKレーベルCHERRY REDよりリリースされたスタジオ・アルバム唯一作『THE GLITTERHOUSE』収録曲に加え、ライブ音源、そして1982年10月のデモ・テープからの未発表曲を含む、NW / ポストパンク・フリークはスルー厳禁の内容! 完全リマスター / 180グラム重量盤 / 500枚限定プレス

Ajdin Asllan was born in Leskovik near the present-day southern border of Albania on March 12, 1895. At the age of 30, on July 12, 1925, he married a girl named Emverije, who was one month shy of her 16th birthday, in her native town Korçë, about 80 miles north. He arrived in New York by himself less than a year later on September 20, 1926, and when he filed his Declaration of Intent to become an American citizen in 1928 as a resident of Detroit, he gave his occupation as "musician." Emverije joined him in New York City on July 27, 1931. Asllan appears to have made his first recordings in November 1931 as a clarinetist on four songs issued as 12” discs by Columbia sung in Albanian by K. Duro N. Gerati. In January 1932 he recorded again, this time singing and playing oud on three Columbia 12”s along with several Albanian singers and the violinist Nicola Doneff (born March 21, 1891 Dichin, Bulgaria; died July 19, 1961 New York). In 30s Asllan launched an independent label called Mi-Re (roughly “With New” in Albanian) Rekord primarily to release his own recordings, but it stalled out after about 6 releases. In October 1941 he accompanied a Greek singer and songwriter named G.K. Xenopoulos as an oudist along with the beloved Greek clarinetist Kostas Gadinis and accordionist John Gianaros for the Orthophonic subsidiary of Victor Records run by Tetos Demetriades. The trio of Gadinis, Asllan, and Gianaros cut another four sides for Orthophonic May 1, 1942. Shortly thereafter, Asllan relaunched his label as Me Re with the help of Doneff and then quickly renamed it, more generically, Balkan. Gianaros came in as a business partner, and Balkan released scores of records, some of them seemingly selling thousands of copies in the mid-40s, but Gianaros split angrily with Asllan after just a few years over money problems. By 1947, Doneff had trademarked the Kaliphon label, which drew from much of the same roster of New York musicians of the Greek- and Turkish-speaking performers as Balkan and apparently collaborated in distribution, marketing, and manufacturing into the 1950s, but some business distinction had been drawn. A third label, Metropolitan, was launched and became at catchall for further Greek, Turkish, Armenian, and Ladino material by New York players, but it's not clear who was in charge or how things were divided up. Maybe Metropolitan was started by Asllan as a separate business to dodge the taxman or old creditors? We don’t know. All three labels shared a standard black-on-red color scheme that, it would seem reasonable to guess, was based on the Albanian flag and Asslan’s original, core purpose as an artist and impresario. Adjin and Emverije lived during the 1930s into the 50s first at 143 Norfolk St. and then at 42 Rivington St. (where Asllan opened a record shop), in Manhattan's Lower East Side, where Eastern European Jewish immigrants surrounded the small Albanian community and Turkish-speaking Sephardic Jews, and abutting Little Italy and a strip of Greek coffee houses on Mulberry Street. He worked within a network of primarily Turkish- and Greek-speaking performers in New York and released recordings prolifically made both locally and overseas through the 40s and 50s. He corresponded with his brother Selim (who sings on track 1, side A, later worked on the radio in Tirana and co-founded the National Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances) back home, who was able to secure masters of Albanian performers recorded in Istanbul and Athens along with performances by Turkish- and Greek-speaking stars including Rosa Eskenazi and Udi Hrant (both of whom subsequently made extended visits to the U.S.) Greeks and Armenians had, even at the low ebb of immigration during the 1940s-50s, substantial immigrant populations in New York and around the country - Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and many other cities. Those markets kept the Balkan label afloat for nearly 20 years. But Asllan also issued about 40 discs for the Albanian-language market ca. 1945-50 (at which point he retained a 500-series numbering scheme for them, picking up where he’d left off with his Me Ri label a decade earlier), including both folk music of southern Albania and choral music, much of the latter anti-Fascist Communist songs. In addition, three discs were issued as part of Balkan’s Greek series of uncredited musicians from Pogoni and Konitsa, towns about 30 miles south as the crow flies from where Asllan was born. The total Albanian-speaking population in the U.S. at the time was less than 10,000, and many couldn’t afford record players. But despite the small market for Albanian-language songs, he made sure to release discs for his countrymen. It was a time of immense political and social turbulence in both Albania and Greece, and the sense of duty to music is palpable in his work. Balkan’s business model was haphazard. Its numbering system, if one can call it that, indicates a tendency to start a series, then add to it - or not - sporadically, driven largely the question, “can we sell 500 of these? (And if so, can we sell 1000?)” The last Balkan 78s were issued around 1959; a few LP releases appeared around 1960, more than 20 years after Asllan released his first discs. We know he visited his native home and family in 1951, 25 years after having become American. He died in New York in October 1976. He had no children, save the records. ========= We have so far been able to trace a biographical narrative of only one of the other immigrant performer among those who play on this collection, Chaban Arif, who apparently sings on track 9. He was born May 22, 1899 in Berat, Albania, attended school through the second grade, and arrived alone at Ellis Island on November 2, 1920 at the age of 19 under the name Aril Shaban. His intention upon arrival was to meet up with a cousin, Mahomet Hajrules (who, in turn, had arrived only six months earlier under the name Mehemet Airula) in Southbridge, Massachusetts. However, there was a family of four from Shaban’s hometown on the same steamship who were headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (via a stop first at the south Philadelphia home of a relative), so Shaban wound up in Pittsburgh. He filed his first papers to become a U.S. citizen in Canton, Ohio in 1925, but he had returned to Albania in June of 1928, where he married an 18 year old woman named Nadire, and by 1931 had returned to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where he was working at the Duquesne, Pennsylvania Carnegie steel mill. (When his cousin Mehmet Hajrulla filed his Declaration of Intent to naturalize as a U.S. citizen in 1937, he was a widower living on Braddock Ave. in Pittsburgh and working as a painter.) The 1940 census found Shaban Arif relocated to 55 Clinton St. on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, about seven blocks from Adjin Asllan’s place on Rivington. Arif told the census enumerator that he worked 60 hours a week, 52 weeks a year for $916 a year (about $17,000 a year in today’s money) at the counter of of a restaurant. The man he listed on his WWII draft registration card as his closest contact was named Kardi Braim, who gave his country of origin either as Albania and Macedonia on different documents, had himself worked for a brick manufacturer in Erie County, Pennsylvania in addition to a string of other laboring jobs and worked at the time at Stewart’s Restaurant. It would seem reasonable to guess that both Shaban Arif and Kardi Braim were in Adjin Asllan’s limited social circle of Albanians in the neighborhood in the early 1940s when he recorded on this song. The $1 that the disc cost could have represented three and a half hours of labor at the restaurant. We know nothing else of Shaban Arif’s life except that he died in New York City in September, 1971. (Kardi Braim died in 1978.)

80 page book with over 50 photos and a 21 track CD. Printed in Belgium by die Keure. Designed by John Hubbard. "Zabelle Panosian sang one of the most amazing notes I've ever heard - so much humanity, sorrow, promise, infinite longing. When I write my novel the main character will be Zabelle's note." -David Harrington, Kronos Quartet "Please listen to the Armenian singer, Zabelle Panosian. [Her ‘Groung'] is a secret song that steals away the breath of those who are fortunate enough to hear it." -Nick Cave "A carefully crafted and detailed, yet succinct biography. Many of us were introduced to Armenian-American singer Zabelle Panosian’s soul-jolting rendition of “Groung” via the 2011 release of To What Strange Place, but here, in Zabelle Panosian: I Am Your Servant, for the first time, we travel with Panosian from her birthplace in Bardizag to her home in New York. We are there in the studio with her at Columbia Records for her historic recordings in lower Manhattan, and we stand with her in the radio studios of WEAF. We become readers of reviews of Panosian’s concerts both celebrated and scathing. We accompany her on performances, minuscule and grand from Waterford to Providence and San Francisco to Fresno, eventually recrossing the Atlantic with her to sing in France, Italy, and Egypt. More than a singer or performer, we learn of Zabelle, the estranged sister, the loving aunt, and the mother who passes the baton to her daughter, Adrina Otero, completing what will be the starting point for future historians or ethnomusicologists wishing to explore Zabelle Panosian and her legacy.” -Richard Breaux, Associate Professor of Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Among the most significant Armenian singers in the early twentieth century, Zabelle Panosian made a small group of recordings in New York City in 1917-’18. Unaccountably, she was then largely neglected as an artist for more than half a century. This volume by three dedicated researchers is the first effort to reconstruct the life and work of a woman who had an exceptional and cultivated voice — who toured the world as a performer and made a significant contribution to the cultural lives of the Armenian diaspora, the elevation of Armenian art song, and the relief of survivors of the Armenian genocide. Panosian’s music is derived from a syncretic experience of the Western Armenian village near the sea of Marmara where she was born and a passion for the coloratura sopranos she encountered in Boston. As an immigrant carrying the traumas of dislocation and the loss of her home, she transformed her grief into action, dedicated her life to an expression of the greatest art she could imagine, both from her former life and her new life in America, and she created a path in her wake for her daughter to become a renowned dancer. Tracing her story from the Ottoman Empire to New England, from the concert halls of Italy, Egypt, and France to California, Florida, and South America through two World Wars, the story of Zabelle Panosian is that of a serious talent recognized and celebrated, dismissed and forgotten, year by year, waiting only to be known and loved again.

Jan Steele and Janet Sherbourne gained a reputation for being ambient musicians thanks to their appearance with John Cage on 1976’s Voices And Instruments from Brian Eno’s lofty Obscure series. But in a fascinating catalog spanning more than four decades, these English multi- instrumentalists’ variegated sonic sojourns have proved that label to be far too narrow. In the long-gestating, decades-spanning collection, Distant Saxophones, Steele and Sherbourne flaunt a nuanced vision that encompasses ECM-esque chamber jazz, minimalist modern composition, cinematic soundtracks, and an embryonic, contemplative form of experimental pop. Distant Saxophones—many of whose tracks have been re-recorded and improved from their original incarnations—invites you to lean in and bask in an interiorized zone of revelations. These songs simultaneously freeze time and exist outside of it. Community Library’s anthology is offered in a single LP format with a tracklist more limited than the CD version; the LP’s digital download ticket provides the full music set.

Jan Steele and Janet Sherbourne gained a reputation for being ambient musicians thanks to their appearance with John Cage on 1976’s Voices And Instruments from Brian Eno’s lofty Obscure series. But in a fascinating catalog spanning more than four decades, these English multi- instrumentalists’ variegated sonic sojourns have proved that label to be far too narrow. In the long-gestating, decades-spanning collection, Distant Saxophones, Steele and Sherbourne flaunt a nuanced vision that encompasses ECM-esque chamber jazz, minimalist modern composition, cinematic soundtracks, and an embryonic, contemplative form of experimental pop. Distant Saxophones—many of whose tracks have been re-recorded and improved from their original incarnations—invites you to lean in and bask in an interiorized zone of revelations. These songs simultaneously freeze time and exist outside of it. Community Library’s anthology is offered in a single LP format with a tracklist more limited than the CD version; the LP’s digital download ticket provides the full music set.

A historical archive of nine years of Japan's earliest SP recordings, dating back as far as 1903, is now available, from the beginning of the 20th century to 1912. Legendary producer and recording engineer Fred Gaithersburg traveled the world recording for Gramophone, and this groundbreaking compilation is miraculously published by Sublime Frequencies. Simple and complex, alien and familiar. From gagaku (traditional Japanese court music), shakuhachi (bamboo flute), shamisen (three-stringed Japanese banjo), storytelling, and folk songs, this is a unique commercial recording that gives us a glimpse of Japanese classical culture, even a shadow of 19th century Japan, and is a historical document of the beginning of Japan's domestic record industry. The third in the label's series of early Asian recordings, the compilation and liner notes are written by sound artist Robert Millis (Climax Golden Twins), who has produced the previous two releases.

Brother Theotis Taylor is a 92-year-old spiritual singer and piano player known throughout South Georgia and beyond for his powerful voice and heavenly falsetto. His music took him from his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, to the stage with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, to Harlem’s Apollo, and even to Carnegie Hall.

Though his releases are limited to six stunning and rare singles on the Pitch label and a single small-press LP, his recorded archive is vast. For much of his life, Brother Taylor kept a reel-to-reel recorder atop his piano at home.

“The music just comes down on you,” Brother Taylor told us late last year. “You always have your machine where you can catch everything. ‘Cause what you can catch today you can’t remember tomorrow.”

Brother Taylor recorded himself on his DIY home setup only when he was inspired by a higher power, often fasting and praying for days before recording. These intimate home recordings were digitized in 2020 and are being heard for the first time with this release.

Revisiting these old songs brought Brother Taylor to tears. “[When I hear this music] I pick up the same spirit that I did it in. And you see me cryin’. It made me feel good ‘cause I know I did it and I did it well. And I want to see it get out, because if it made me feel good, it make somebody else feel good. Right? This is spiritual music.”

Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994 he and his musicians have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little-known outside of the country. To date, they have issued more than 500 studio and live recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city. Born in rural Northeastern Syria, he began his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that remain with him today. The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music. Here, classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization gives way to high-octane Syrian Dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi Choubi and a host of Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles, among others. This amalgamation is truly the sound of Syria. The music often has an overdriven sound consisting of phase-shifted Arabic keyboard solos and frantic rhythms. At breakneck speeds, these shrill Syrian electronics play out like forbidden morse-code, but the moods swing from coarse and urgent to dirgy and contemplative in the rugged anthems that comprise Souleyman's repertoire. Oud, reeds, baglama saz, accompanying vocals and percussion fill out the sound from track to track. Mahmoud Harbi is a long-time collaborator and the man responsible for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman. Together, they commonly perform the Ataba, a traditional form of folk poetry used in Dabke. On stage, Harbi chain smokes cigarettes while standing shoulder to shoulder with Souleyman, periodically leaning over to whisper the material into his ear. Acting as a conduit, Souleyman struts into the audience with urgency, vocalizing the prose in song before returning for the next verse. Souleyman’s first hit in Syria was "Jani" (1996) which gained cassette-kiosk infamy and brought him recognition throughout the country. Over the years, his popularity has risen steadily and the group tirelessly performs concerts throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon. Omar Souleyman is a man of hospitality and striking integrity who describes his style as his own and prides himself on not being an imitator or a sellout. 

Sublime Frequencies is honored to present the Western debut of Omar Souleyman with this retrospective disc of studio and live recordings spanning 12 years of his career, culled from cassettes recorded between 1994 and 2006. This collection offers a rare glimpse into Syrian street-level folk-pop and Dabke– a phenomena seldom heard in the West, not previously deemed serious enough for export by the Syrians and rarely, if ever, included on the import agenda of worldwide academic musical committees. 

Listeners who know much of anything about Bryn Jones’ work as Muslimgauze know that he was prolific in both his work and in the way he sent out his work to labels and other interested parties (it’s one of the reason some of that body of work is still being sorted through and released 20+ years after his passing). Fittingly enough for an artist that feverishly productive and often taciturn to the point of frustration, he didn’t tend to give much more information than handwritten track titles on the sleeve of a DAT. Why he would submit multiple copies of the same or similar tracks to those he worked with, often in totally different configurations, is now a permanent mystery, but it does lead to Jackal the Invizible, essentially a compilation of material from multiple other releases* that Jones had also submitted at the time on its own DAT. All of the songs here were released at least 20 years ago (a few over 30!) and as with practically all Muslimgauze releases they were limited and/or hard to get ahold of now. Jackal the Invizible is both a way to issue those tracks on vinyl as the Archive Series has been consistently doing, and in interesting look into how Jones would organize and sequence his albums. The track listing here was faithfully reproduced from the way Jones titled these tracks on this submission, which is how you get Fedayeen’s “Bharboo of Pakistan Railways” here called “Fedayeen Bharboo of Pakistan Railways 2001” (although that album came out in 1998 and Jones sadly was not making anything by 2001, only leading to more questions). This compilation as with most of his work was submitted without comment, so it can be asked, was it intended to be a compilation? Had he at some point decided he preferred these tracks in this arrangement rather than on their other tapes? Did he produce so much work and/or was so disorganized he simply forgot this batch had been mailed off before? Did he have a standing arrangement with his postal worker and just handed him whatever was closest to the door each week? (Well, probably not that last one.) One thing we don’t have to question is the quality of the tracks here, regardless of familiarity. The new juxtapositions can be quite striking; shifting suddenly from the harshly distorted blurts of “Resume and Shaduf Fatah Guerrilla 1999” to the cooly nocturnal atmosphere of “Abu Nidal 1987” and then to the dubby bass pulses and rattling hand percussion of “Hand of Fatima 1999” (possibly the most misleading to longtime listeners - it has indeed been heard on it’s almost-namesake album, but there it’s known as “Mint Tea With Gadaffi”) is an experience unlike much else in Jones’ oeuvre, even though all three modes are ones he has worked in before. The result doesn’t touch on every single mode explored throughout the vast body of Jones’ work (you’d need a box set for that), but does prove to be a multifaceted experience that also serves as an excellent introduction to or refresher on Muslimgauze as a whole.

Deben Bhattacharya (1921-2001) was a field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist, and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. Highly influential, it would not be too bold a stretch to say that his work shaped how we listen to the world: he produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos, and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from 1953 until his death in 2001. Never before published, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road features over four hours of music and is Deben's impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road from Europe into India. With four CDs of recordings, photographs, Deben's original recording notes, musical transcriptions, and more. An amazing glimpse into a time long gone and essential listening for anyone interested in folk and world music traditions. Produced and edited by Robert Millis (Indian Talking Machine (2015) and Victrola Favorites (DTD 011CD, 2009). "Actually, I think my playing is probably more derived from the folk music records that I heard; Middle Eastern music, Indian music... for years I had something called Music On The Desert Road, which was an album with all kinds of different ethnic music. I used to listen to that all the time." --Frank Zappa, 1993 (from an interview in Guitarist Magazine, talking about an LP released by Deben in 1956 using a few edited versions of the music included on this compilation.) 160 pages, cloth bound cover with four CDs: 45 pages of photographs and 50 pages of detailed recording notes. Introductions by Jharna Bose Bhattacharya, Robert Millis and WG Archer.

Includes recordings of: Students of the Salonica Quaker Girl's School Dance of Jerissos,Saban Akdao, Hasan Sayin, Reza Argin, Jumma Ali, Vakkas Kaplan, Feizi Kaplan, Hüseyin Eroğlu, Raif Karsligil, Imam and congregation of the mosque at Kilis, Dervish worshippers in the house of Sheikh Saud Mawlawi, Nour Hanbali, Antone Noweh, Doureid Laham, Bashraf Sama'i Taatyus, Andalusi Muwashshah, Hazim, Suleiman and friends, Al-Haj Hashim Mohammad, Shu'aib Ibrahim, Abdul-KArim Al Azawi, Shu'aib Ibrahim, Khalil Akrawi, Ostad Zareen Panje Bel, Gulfa-e-Ghani and Zareef, Ostad Abol-Hassan Saba, Sher Khoda, Darioosh Sefvat, Hamedanian, Shapoore Delshadi, Eskandare Ebrahimi and Orchestra, Eskandare Ebrahimi , Muhammad Hussein, Dost Muhammad, Abdul Kader, Saroj Narang, Jyotish CH. Choudhury, Kalipada Das, Bhona, Mangal Mukerjee, and Jai Chand Bhagat and Babu.

Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes it’s ESSENTIAL compilation from 1970’s Egypt. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi - one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the “Diamond Orchestra” with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi’s direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi’s long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s.

HEAVY CUMBIA GUITAR ROCK FROM 1960s COLOMBIA Formed in 1961 by the legendary brothers Pedro Jairo and Guillermo León Garcés, Los Golden Boys quickly rose to the top of the Colombian "música tropical" scene by combining popular rock and twist influences with cumbia, gaita, porro and other local styles. The band recorded several hits for the Discos Fuentes label, until the tragic death of brilliant electric guitarist Pedro Jairo's in 1972, laid the original Los Golden Boys to rest. CUMBIA DE JUVENTUD is a newly remastered collection of 12 of the heaviest songs from their golden era! Focused on raucous and driving cumbias that highlight the Garcés brothers talents, this LP is full of haunting minor-key melodies, thundering percussion, sinister guitar and Solovox solos, thumping bass, pulsing brass, and an atmosphere of a stoned all-night beach party under a persistent cloud of angst and dark Teenagedom. The use of the strange Solovox electric keyboard as a stand-in for the indigenous Gaita flute adds a unique dimension that weaves through the air, and the voices of Pedro Jairo, Benny Marquez and Amparito Muñiz keep the dance up all night and into a rough hangover. Of the countless great Discos Fuentes recording artists from the 60s, Los Golden Boys stand out as not only stellar and tasteful musicians, but also incredible songwriters able to construct perfect dance songs from a slew of influences. CUMBIA DE JUVENTUD stands as a tribute to the Garcés brothers and a magical moment in Colombian music history. Includes the highly-sought stoner cumbia banger CUMBIA DE LA MARIGUANA (SE TRABÓ LA BANDA), the incredibly heavy CUMBIA y BESO, the brooding pasaje EL AÑO VIEJO, the creeper hit SONRIEME (featured on the TV show "Narcos"), and many more... An instant classic! These 12 songs have been expertly restored by Timothy Stollenwerk from the best available sources to reveal all kinds of beautiful details and they sound better, clearer and heavier than ever. Pressed on 160 gram black vinyl by Smashed Plastic in Chicago. Glossy and heavy tip-on color jacket. Highly recommended for fans of AURITA y SU CONJUNTO, GUITAR MOOD, LOS TEEN AGERS, LOS FALCONS, LOS GRADUADOS, LOS HISPANOS, LOS SAICOS, LOS MIRLOS, LOS DESTELLOS, A ORILLAS DEL MAGDALENA, REMOLINO DE ORO, THE ORIGINAL SOUND OF CUMBIA

Classic tracks from the early years of highlife in Ghana – a time when the guitar-based styles and lively rhythms of the genre were first coming into play, and mixed with some of the more jazz-based styles of years before! The mix here is almost a West African equivalent to the rise of western swing in the US at the end of the 30s – a way of mixing older instrumental ensemble styles with some more contemporary, more regional elements – sounding wonderful her in some key examples of the style! The package features a full side of work from Ramblers International – titles that include "Odansanyi", "Ahomka Won", "Woman Wanko", "Akokonini Abankwa", and "Wgya Saman" – plus other tracks that include "School Girl" and "You Call Me Roko" by ET Mensah & The Tempos, "Son Of Africa" by Kwamalah Quaey Sextetto Africana, "Obaa Amponsa Pandogo" by The Black Star Band, and "Fancy Baby" by John Santos Martins.

Legendary Midwest electronic producer, the sadly departed LeRon Carson's late 80's productions are gathered on Sound Signature with this impressive overview of his work. ‘Under The Conditions’ is vintage, raw Chicago house music in the vein of his previous releases on Theo Parrish's esteemed label. Fans of Virgo Four's lush deep house trax should definitely check this out.

Limited cassette edition with 6 additional tracks not included on the vinyl. Brother Theotis Taylor is a 92-year-old spiritual singer and piano player known throughout South Georgia and beyond for his powerful voice and heavenly falsetto. His music took him from his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, to the stage with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, to Harlem’s Apollo, and even to Carnegie Hall.

Though his releases are limited to six stunning and rare singles on the Pitch label and a single small-press LP, his recorded archive is vast. For much of his life, Brother Taylor kept a reel-to-reel recorder atop his piano at home.

“The music just comes down on you,” Brother Taylor told us late last year. “You always have your machine where you can catch everything. ‘Cause what you can catch today you can’t remember tomorrow.”

Brother Taylor recorded himself on his DIY home setup only when he was inspired by a higher power, often fasting and praying for days before recording. These intimate home recordings were digitized in 2020 and are being heard for the first time with this release.

Revisiting these old songs brought Brother Taylor to tears. “[When I hear this music] I pick up the same spirit that I did it in. And you see me cryin’. It made me feel good ‘cause I know I did it and I did it well. And I want to see it get out, because if it made me feel good, it make somebody else feel good. Right? This is spiritual music.”

Gorgeous and hypnotic Tanzanian dance music from the legendary Kiko Kids Jazz, a group that formed in the 1950s and produced a unique sound that stood out among the explosion of Tanzanian guitar bands in the run-up to the country's independence. Kiko Kids Jazz is the first LP album from Mississippi. With the endorsement of bandleader Salim Zahoro (1936-2021), who completed the collaboration shortly before his death at the age of 85, this is the first LP release of one of the most locally loved and innovative bands of the time. Remastered from the original tapes and pressings. The album explodes with funky, pastoral guitar music grooves inspired by the exciting music scene of acoustic and electric dance bands in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, as well as the poetic strains of Taarab and Arabic music. A full-size color insert (8 pages) is included. Officially licensed by Mzuri Records.

First ever vinyl collection of the legendary “Kostis,” the most enigmatic of all Greek rebetika artists. 12 tracks of truly unique guitar duets and black-humor lyrics chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, research has uncovered the musician, journalist and cartoonist Kostas Bezos as the figure lurking behind the Kostis name, with ties to the famous singer Tetos Demetriades. Renowned for his slide guitar playing in Hawaiian-style orchestras throughout the 1930s, the Kostis recordings reveal an entirely different underworld of the macabre and illicit. The use of guitar in these now-classic rebetika songs display a virtuosity of finger-picked Near-Eastern modes and unusual tunings at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme.Presented in pristine audio quality mastered from original 78 rpm discs by Michael Graves, “The Jail’s a Fine School” stands as an important document of an enduring mystery in Greek music, and a high standard for what was once a truly subversive art form.

In the early 1970s the island of Jamaica, and in particular its reggae musicians, developed a love affair with small Japanese motor bikes. Honda bikes were eulogised in Big Youth’s ‘S90 Skank’ and Dillinger’s ‘CB200’, whilst their rival was lauded on Shorty The President’s ‘Yamaha Skank’, to name the most obvious examples.The plot of the film ‘Rockers’ revolved around how transformative a motorbike could be, providing a livelihood whilst projecting an image of success in the ghetto. 
Vivian ‘Yabby You’ Jackson had been fiercely independent as a singer and producer, and the success of his early self-pressed productions, mostly on the Prophets or Vivian Jackson labels, had given him a sense of hard earned autonomy. A motorbike was one of the fruits of his labours, acquired as a way of zipping around the capital’s roads to deliver records and organise recording sessions. His wife Jean could often be see hanging on to the back. Twelve years after his death, she remembers various exploits on the pot-holed roads of Kingston. 
Jean Vencella Williams: ‘His first motorbike was a Honda 50 and then a 100, a Yamaha. I remember the Yamaha, it was a dark blue colour, it must have been from the mid 70s til the early 80s. I used to ride around on the back and we ride all over, like we go to the country cos his mother lived in Clarendon.And he had a little carrier thing for boxes of records, so we go to Mandeville in Manchester, sometimes to Spanish Town fe sell records. Most of the time he sell them to the shops, like Randys, and the people them buy it from there. He had pressing plants like Byron Lee and later Tuff Gong, so when the records pressed we find out the time when we get back the records, which usually was at least a couple of days or about a week.And later when we living in Clarendon we come into Kingston to pick them up at the pressing plant.And when he book the studio he might book two or three days and we come in and usually stay til late. 
‘He used to carry the records from the different pressing plants on the bike, but because of the rain and weather you know it not so good for the records, and also the sun beating down.Then Wayne Wade had an accident on the Yamaha, and he was hurt quite bad, and he had to go to the hospital for quite a while. Well Yabby didn’t ride it after that, cos it was getting dangerous with so many cars coming in. So he gave up the Yamaha and bought a Toyota Carina, and that car was very good to him.Then the Carina become a little shaky, so he got a Toyota Corolla which he drove until his death.’ 
This album presents a sample of the best of those ‘Dubs and Versions’ that Yabby was ferrying around town, whether rarities, B-sides or tracks culled from albums that showcase the breadth of Yabby’s productions between 1975 and 1982. 


Tribal War Dub and Creation Rock Version. 
We open with two make-overs of Studio One rhythms,‘Death In The Arena’ and ‘Rockfort Rock’.Yabby is rightly lauded for his well worked original rhythms, but the same care and attention is on display here.Slow and hypnotic,‘TribalWar Dub’ was recorded at the Black Ark but mixed and overlaid with syndrum sound effects at King Tubby’s. ‘Creation Rock Version’ was issued on 7-inch as the flip to a storming vocal by Michael Prophet: the dub is pounding and relentless, aimed straight at the sound system. 

United Africa Dub 
Tommy McCook’s delicate flute leads an instrumental dub of Yabby’s haunting song ‘Jah Over I’.The master saxophonist was a key collaborator with Yabby throughout the 70s, and often switched to flute or fife for atmospheric classics like the mighty ‘Death Trap’. Here his sublime melody floats over a solid steppers drum pattern from Sly Dunbar, with syncopated snare fills. 

Lord Of Lords Dub, Black Is Our Colour Dub, Now I Know Dub and Man Of The Living Dub 
Four dubs all taken from singles featuring the teenage singer Wayne Wade. Jean remembers Wayne Wade as ‘a very brilliant singer, really the first one that Yabby spend a lot of time on as he get more confident as a producer’.Wade recorded extensively for Yabby, and went on to cut the awesome ‘Poor And Humble’ for Linval Thompson and a couple of albums for Willie Lindo. ‘Lord of Lords’ is a reworking of Yabby’s signature tune ‘Conquering Lion’,‘Now I Know’ is a recut of Dennis Brown’s ‘Baby Don’t Do It’, and ‘Man Of The Living’ is one of the deepest tunes recorded by Yabby’s young protégé.The ‘Black Is Our Colour’ rhythm was recorded by Lee Perry at the Black Ark studio, with horns and flute by Tommy McCook added after the original release, as heard on this, the version side to Jah Stitch’s cut ‘African Queen’. 

Dub U So and Yabby U Sound 
Two tracks from an LP named ‘Yabby U Meets Sly and Robbie Along With Tommy McCook’ released in 1982, in which Yabby revisits some of his older rhythms with new dub mixes by Professor and Scientist.‘Dub U So’ focuses in on some stirring but plangent horn parts.An album track by Byron Otis of The Blackstones named ‘Set Me Free’ uses the same rhythm track, seemingly because its producer Jah Larry was living in Clarendon alongside Yabby. ‘Yabby U Sound’ is a minimalist remix of the anthemic ‘King Pharaoh’s Plague’, originally released five years earlier. 

Vengeance In Dub, Repatriation Rock and Warrior No Tarry Yah Version 
Three version sides to strong DJ records, with Ranking Trevor’s toast over a recut of ‘Jah Vengeance’, Jah Stitch’s DJ piece to ‘Zion Gate’ aka ‘Judgement On The Land’, and Tony Tuff ’s chant over his own ‘One Big Family’, riding the Paragons’ ‘Man Next Door’ rhythm.All were mixed at King Tubby’s, probably by Prince Jammy, and all three dubs show the standard Tubby’s practice of recording the DJ’s clean voice and the full dub mix onto separate adjacent tracks.This meant that the flip side of the record would not need to be mixed separately, the dub mix being the same as that behind the voice on the A side.You just pulled down the fader on the DJ’s vocal and your B-side dub was already mixed. Not a second was wasted in the studio! 

Heads A Roll Dub, Mash Down Rome Dub and Turn Me Loose Dub 
Michael Prophet was Yabby’s most successful and prolific artist. Jean remembers Michael’s recruitment:‘Michael Prophet came to him as part of a trio,andYabby liked Michael but for some reason he didn’t take the other two, and decide him better as a solo artist. So Michael was taught from scratch and him would come in the evening and practice and practice, until Yabby feel he was ready for the studio.’ These three tracks are from the confusingly named ‘Michael Prophet – Vocal and Dub LP’, which is actually a full dub album mixed by King Tubby, with extended vocal passages. It’s a very musical set that was obviously conceived as a coherent album, with new mixes to existing singles and subtle sound effects overlaid throughout. 

Dub U So and Yabby U Sound 
Two tracks from an LP named ‘Yabby U Meets Sly and Robbie Along With Tommy McCook’ released in 1982, in which Yabby revisits some of his older rhythms with new dub mixes by Professor and Scientist.‘Dub U So’ focuses in on some stirring but plangent horn parts.An album track by Byron Otis of The Blackstones named ‘Set Me Free’ uses the same rhythm track, seemingly because its producer Jah Larry was living in Clarendon alongside Yabby. ‘Yabby U Sound’ is a minimalist remix of the anthemic ‘King Pharaoh’s Plague’, originally released five years earlier. 

Vengeance In Dub, Repatriation Rock and Warrior No Tarry Yah Version 
Three version sides to strong DJ records, with Ranking Trevor’s toast over a recut of ‘Jah Vengeance’, Jah Stitch’s DJ piece to ‘Zion Gate’ aka ‘Judgement On The Land’, and Tony Tuff ’s chant over his own ‘One Big Family’, riding the Paragons’ ‘Man Next Door’ rhythm.All were mixed at King Tubby’s, probably by Prince Jammy, and all three dubs show the standard Tubby’s practice of recording the DJ’s clean voice and the full dub mix onto separate adjacent tracks.This meant that the flip side of the record would not need to be mixed separately, the dub mix being the same as that behind the voice on the A side.You just pulled down the fader on the DJ’s vocal and your B-side dub was already mixed. Not a second was wasted in the studio! 

Heads A Roll Dub, Mash Down Rome Dub and Turn Me Loose Dub 
Michael Prophet was Yabby’s most successful and prolific artist. Jean remembers Michael’s recruitment:‘Michael Prophet came to him as part of a trio,andYabby liked Michael but for some reason he didn’t take the other two, and decide him better as a solo artist. So Michael was taught from scratch and him would come in the evening and practice and practice, until Yabby feel he was ready for the studio.’ These three tracks are from the confusingly named ‘Michael Prophet – Vocal and Dub LP’, which is actually a full dub album mixed by King Tubby, with extended vocal passages. It’s a very musical set that was obviously conceived as a coherent album, with new mixes to existing singles and subtle sound effects overlaid throughout. 

Death To All Racist and Aggression Dub 
Yabby took a pretty relaxed attitude to naming tracks, especially on his dub albums, which today causes some confusion among the ranks of record collectors.These two neglected tracks are both from LPs with contradictory information.The various pressings of ‘Yabby You Meets Michael Prophet And Scientist At The Dub Station’ use the same track names for totally different dubs, but ‘Death To All Racist’ on the original 1981 release is the dub to Michael Prophet’s ‘Stop Throw Stones’. Meanwhile the tracklisting on ‘Michael Prophet – Stars In Disco Showcase’ does not match between the sleeve and the label, so ‘Aggression Dub’ may actually be named ‘Falkland Crisis Dub’. Whatever, it’s a great version, probably mixed at Channel One, although strangely the only known vocal on this rhythm, ‘Come Make We Rally’ by Willie Williams, was produced by Sugar Minott. 
Babylon A Fall Dub 
‘Babylon A Fall’ was released as a Discomix 12” on the Grove label, with the dub segueing from Yabby’s vocal. Here the dub is presented on its own, with instrumentation led by trombone and a slightly tentative flute, again probably mixed by Prince Jammy. 

Time Changing Dub and Chanting Version 
These are the version sides to singles by Samuel Patterson (‘Time Changing’) and Errol Alphonso (‘Chant Jah Victory’) respectively, two talented singers who sadly seem to have recorded only one or two tunes each, and exclusively for Yabby. Both dubs have the musical weight so typical of the music mixed at King Tubby’s. ‘Chanting Version’ has a great intro guitar lick, probably played by Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, and brilliant use of the famous hi pass filter to alter the whole perspective of the mix half way through. 

Although drawn from disparate sources, hopefully this collection presents a coherent overview of the drum and bass music produced byYabbyYou from the late 70s to the early 80s.As Jean remembers:‘Yabby really loved dubs, I think he put special care into them. And he loved what he did.’ 

Diggory Kenrick London UK 2022