MUSIC

The 2014 debut solo collection by French wind-walker Baptiste Martin aka Les Halles remains a masterpiece of soft light and subdued yearning, woven from grainy panpipe samples, tape hiss, and spectral delay. Recorded late at night in a tiny room in Montpellier, Invisible Cities quivers like a candle by the sea, its fragile illumination flickering against an expanse of sky, silence, and sorrow. The pieces feel both ancient and immediate, glimpsing currents behind the veil, at the threshold of presence and absence. The track titles evoke similarly transient states of echo, memory, and negative mirrors. This is music of solitude and devotion, of empty streets and unremembered dreams, fleetingly captured via the eternal alchemy of FX pedals and a 4-track. (Britt Brown) All tracks recorded by Baptiste Martin, in Montpellier (France), in late 2013. This collection of tracks is named after Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.

Light touches of curved liquid sable highlight clouds above a mermaid’s island on a page of white. The swim-bubbled treasure gleams the blissful pleasure of Summer leisure, where at any time of day you’ll find an iridescent glow. As incredible as a dream.

Another sterling piece of improv history from Incus via Honest Jon’s, this time Derek Bailey’s spellbinding, teetering excursion with legendary percussionist Jamie Muir (King Crimson), who previously collaborated in The Music Improvisation Company. Less jarring, more wildly fluid and flowing into thrilling new spaces, from tribal rhythms to the kitchen sink…

“Percussionist Jamie Muir was a member of King Crimson during the recording of Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, in 1973. Staying less than a year with Robert Fripp, the Scot had already cut his teeth with another master guitarist, Derek Bailey, as part of the Music Improvisation Company, along with Evan Parker, Hugh Davies and Christine Jeffrey, whose eponymous 1970 album was one of the first releases on ECM. Muir and Bailey recorded Dart Drug eleven years later, in 1981.

There’s no shortage of great percussionists in the brief history of free improvised music but on the strength of Dart Drug alone Jamie Muir deserves a place at High Table. Unlike for example Han Bennink and John Stevens, though, you can’t hear echoes of any particular jazz drummer in Muir’s playing, even if he has expressed appreciation for Milford Graves (who himself sounded like nobody else who’d come before him).

What on earth did Muir’s kit consist of? Some instruments are clearly identifiable (bells, gongs, chimes, woodblocks); others could be… well, anything. Old suitcases thwacked with rolled up newspapers? Tin cans and hubcaps inside a washing machine? Who cares? It sounds terrific – but if you’re the kind of person who faints at the sound of nails scraping a blackboard, you might want to nip out and put the kettle on towards the end of the title track.

Dart Drug is consistently thrilling, and often very amusing – but it’s certainly not easy listening. In music we talk about playing with other musicians, whereas in sport you play against another opponent (or with your team against another team). Why not play against in music, too? That’s precisely what happens very often in improvised music, and Bailey was particularly good at it. How can a humble acoustic guitar hope to compete with a Muir in full flight?  Sometimes Bailey’s content to sit on those open strings, teasing out yet another exquisite Webernian constellation of ringing harmonics and wait for the dust to settle in Muir’s junkyard, but elsewhere he sets off into uncharted territory himself.

“The way to discover the undiscovered in performing terms is to immediately reject all situations as you identify them (the cloud of unknowing) – which is to give music a future.” Bailey evidently concurred with this spoken statement by Muir, including it in his book Improvisation.

Derek Bailey is no longer with us, of course, and Muir gave up performing music back in 1989. All the more reason for seeking out this magnificent, wild album.

Very hotly recommended.”

During the mid-1980s, Rhythmites used their music to break down racial, ethnic, and cultural barriers. Formed in the small Roman town of Bath in the west of England, Rhythmites issued a couple of tapes on UK peace punk pioneers Subhumans' label Bluurg before cutting debut LP Integration in 1989, by which time lead singer Angus Wright and bassist Clive ‘Flash’ Gordon were injecting the Jamaican sensibility atop the English core of keyboardist Rich Patterson, future Invisible System drummer Gary Woodhouse and future RDF guitarist Murph Murphy. It’s a compelling set of defiant roots with a touch of new wave, reminding of the vibrant hybrids conjured in the greater Bristol area, a worthy discovery for all fans of British reggae and rebellious late-80s post-punk.

Earlando Arrington Neil became Early B on the Jamaican sound system scene, working his way through Soul Imperial, King Majesty and other sets before coming to prominence in the early 1980s on Kilimajaro, where he became known as ‘The Doctor’ for unleashing his lyrical cures on the mic. Recording for various producers from 1981, Early B reached another level upon linking with deejay-turned-producer Jah Thomas in 1984, the humorous hit ‘Sunday Dish’ leading to this explosive LP of the same name, an enduring classic of early dancehall that also features the equally hilarious ‘Learn Fi Drive.’ All killer, no filler!

This Heat's Charles Bullen started this project with his friend Julius Cornelius Samuel after the band broke up, and the result is Lifetones, an eclectic mix of dub, post-punk, and krautrock that combines ethnic exoticism with UK streetwise elegance. The band's only release, "For A Reason" from 1983, has been reissued for the first time!

The title track, with its dubby strings and catchy chorus, makes you squirm in agony at the distortion of the acoustics coming at you in the latter half of the song, as well as the lo-fi sound of the equipment used in the post-punk era. In addition to the remastered original tapes, the album comes with a booklet with valuable photos and liner notes, and a gatefold jacket. This is a definitive reissue that will bring tears to the eyes of old and new post-punk fans!

1987, Kanagawa, not so far from Tokyo, Japan. Minoru Fushimi teaches his high-school classes during the day. Back from work, he transforms into “Hoodoo” Fushimi, turns on the drum machines, the synthesizers and the sequencers, blends them with his own shamisen playing and builds a cult album: Kenka Oyaji is born and becomes a milestone in Japan’s early hip hop and electro-funk history, now reissued for the first time since its original release, in collaboration with Hoodoo Fushimi himself. Essential!

The rare 2016 masterpiece is reprinted to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Constellation Tatsu! H.TAKAHASHI, an ambient musician / architect in Tokyo, draws a watercolor ambient image with roots in the aesthetics of Japanese "environmental music" under the direct line of Hiroshi Yoshimura.

The rare 2015 masterpiece is reprinted to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Constellation Tatsu! Here is the end of dub and ambient that permeates the SNS level. Maybe it's going to leap like Zonotope → Jerry Paper.

"When I first came across the term Armaghedon in the early 1980s, my mind was haunted by the specter of an imminent apocalypse and so the idea of ​​naming my latest work on vinyl crossed my experimenting mind and penetrated the heart of the sound investigation. But when I later learned the real meaning of this term which derives from the ancient Hebrew "Har Maghedòn" ("Mount of Megiddo") and above all its intrinsic modulatory meaning, I was happy to share this message of hope for the future, so that the word Armaghedon must never again be synonymous with decadent destruction but rather with the ascending restoration of a new world system governed by the Theocratic Kingdom, for the benefit of all followers who consider Armaghedon as the definitive neuronal liberation." M.B., October 2020

When I started my record label Broken Flag in 1982, one of the people I really wanted to work with was Maurizio Bianchi. His album “Symphony for a Genocide” was such a haunting, evocative record that I needed to get in contact with the man who made it. We made contact and remained regularly writing letters to each other, mine in my unintelligible scrawl, his in his red ink on photocopy paper. He was massively prolific and I soon became a distributor for his fantastic early albums like “Regel”, “Mectpyo Bacterium”, “Mörder Unter Uns/Neuro Habitat”, “Menses”, “Endometrio”, “Carcinosi”, “Das Testament” and “Armaghedon”, albums I still love to this day. He kindly contributed tracks to Broken Flag compilations as well. Releasing an album by him was always going to be high on my list of priorities and when he agreed I was overjoyed. He said he wanted a colour cover and I was running the label on a shoestring budget but I wanted him to be happy so I agreed. He sent me two polaroid photographs which we had blown up to cover size and are the pictures on the front and back cover that you see today. He wanted to release records as Maurizio Bianchi in the future rather than just as M.B and asked for the name on the cover to read “M.B. = Maurizio Bianchi”. Although the record has the catalogue number BFV3, it was actually the second vinyl record I put out because once I heard it, I didn’t want to wait for the first Ramleh album (BFV2) to be ready. I had been slightly apprehensive about what the record would sound like because just before he sent it, he told me that he had become a Jehovah’s Witness and seemed to be going through a very happy life-changing experience. He was in a relationship with the “T.D.” of the second side track “T.D. 56”, so I thought maybe the music would be too light sounding or upbeat and when I heard it, it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting but it was stunningly beautiful but still with some of the sadder, ominous melodies I loved so much. My fears were unfounded. It was a classic. Still one of my favourites to this day. I’m very proud of it. I get a co-production and co-direction credit on the sleeve but in reality all I did was provide the money and arrange for the record to go into production. I had no influence on the music itself or the cover pictures. Maurizio has made so many records that it’s easy to get lost knowing where to start but I think this album is a good entry point and is one of his very best along with “Mörder Unter Uns”, “Regel”, “Menses” or “Symphony for a Genocide”, although you can’t go too far wrong with any of his wonderful music. As I sit here listening to it again it takes me back to 38 years ago when I first heard it and knew that I was going to be lucky enough to release a classic for the ages. Just 500 vinyl records exist from that original Broken Flag release. They are out there somewhere except for the one I have right here which will be with me until I die. It’s great that it’s coming out on vinyl again and I hope if you’re hearing it for the first time you adore it like I do. “To all the redeemed people”. (Gary Mundy, August 2021) When in the cold spring of 1983, I set about decomposing these elegiac synthetic - concrete suites, my decadent vision of life was taking a brighter turn, and in fact the atmospheres that pervade the whole work, enriched by the emotional notes of a keyboard of violins, reflect my thirst for visceral eternity. The title therefore, “The Plain Truth”, follows my research directed towards the infinity of the human soul, one step away from spiritual truth, for the benefit of the loyal supporters of the plain electro-neuronal sound. (M.B., August 2021)

Violinist, composer and filmmaker Tony Conrad started his career in New York in the early 1960s. As a member of the Theater of Eternal Music (a.k.a. the Dream Syndicate) alongside John Cale, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela and Angus MacLise, he participated in now-legendary and often legendarily loud drone performances with many pieces having no beginning and no end. During a fateful trip to Germany in 1972, Conrad met with avant-rock visionaries Faust and made the very first record to bear his name. Outside The Dream Syndicate, originally released in Europe only in 1973, is a stunning debut. Two side-long tracks―“The Side Of Man And Womankind” and “The Side Of The Machine”―show just how far Conrad had moved beyond his minimalist peers. Werner Diermaier’s repetitive drum beat and Jean-Hervé Peron’s stripped-down bassline conjure a tense, ascetic groove, while Conrad’s seamless violin, initially so controlled, reveals a surprising adaptability. The music shifts almost on a subliminal level, pushing and pulling to the drone’s internal pulse. It is hard to imagine Conrad’s trajectory from downtown Manhattan to a farmhouse in the German countryside that ultimately resulted in Outside The Dream Syndicate, yet no other record captures―so completely and instantly―the intersection of avant-garde and rock forms. Outside The Dream Syndicate remains ahead of and bracingly outside of its time. This first-time vinyl reissue and long out-of-print CD release have been carefully been carefully mastered from the original master tapes and include liner notes by musician Jim O’Rourke and author Branden W. Joseph.

Originally released on CD by Cramps Records in 1989, this is a work by Walter Marchetti (1931-), a central figure in the Italian conceptual art group ZAJ, also known as Europe's Fluxus, and a master of the avant-garde in Italy.This is a masterpiece with a melody that seems to be based on a certain mysticism, floating in the water in perfect stillness, and is highly recommended for those who like Morton Feldman.

A reissue of Antibarbarus, issued as a compact disc in 1998, was the first edition Walter Marchetti released on Alga Marghen. The Antibarbarus cycle of five pieces makes use of original tapes coming from the same recording sessions that originated some of Marchetti's major musical works realized in the '80s, collected in his two CDs: 1989's Vandalia (NMN 076-4CD/NMN 083-5LP) and 1984's Per La Sete Dell'orecchio (NMN 083-3LP). This former series of works presented some homogeneous and untouched sound sources in the "concrete" status of their inner - and necessarily chaotic - level of entropy. Nevertheless this operative and only in appearance "neutral" premise introduces an implicit mimetic transposition. This link between the "iconic" threshold of the acoustical material and its transposition literally deconstructs the prerogatives and the ideological categories of music composition. In Antibarbarus, the temporal continuum restores the mimesis of the phenomenal regression of musical time, crystallized in a framed-length which gets estranged from subjective domain. But the transfiguration of sound sources now deliberately intends to de-signify the analytical prerogatives of hearing. The sensorial perception is in such a way inhibited from an immediate comprehension of the acoustic reality so reproduced: canis reversus ad vomitum suum. In the late 1950s, Marchetti was able both to formalize a more critical aim towards the established lingua franca and absolutist ideology of musical avant-gardism and to expand the sense of artistic praxis, in line with an ethical and subtly political evaluation of aesthetic experience. Marchetti was inspired by Cage's poetics of indeterminacy and subsequently created, through a close and indissoluble association with Juan Hidalgo and José Luis Castillejo, an original and de-ritualized form of action-music which led in 1964 to the birth of ZAJ group. Marchetti's work relays, in its procedural level, upon a resolute de-functioning of the musical codes and impose this act as a reversed mimesis of the methodological statute of music composing. Namely, not a "degré zero de l'écriture", but its "reversal"; not a "denial of style", but "style of denial". In this perspective, Walter Marchetti's oeuvre condenses one of the rare examples of aesthetic radicalism consciously extended to music poetics. Comes in full color gatefold sleeve; Includes printed inner sleeves (with photos of "Musica da camera n. 182", London, Raven Row, 1989/2011 and "Music in secca", Milano, Fondazione Mudima, 2003); Liner notes by Gabriele Bonomo in English and Italian.

Building upon a standing commitment to the work of artists who worked in international obscurity under the shadow of 1960s and '70s fascist Spain, Alga Marghen returns with "El Artilugio”, a never before issued body of work by Manuel Calvo. Bridging the contexts of installation, sound art, sound poetry, and experimental music / noise, its stunning two sides - issued in a limited edition of 200 copies on vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve with an accompanying large format 8-page booklet with in-depth liner notes by musicologist Gabriele Bonomo - open a visionary creative universe, too long hidden by the history's weight. Edition of 200 in gatefold sleeve, also includes a large format 8-page booklet. ** Over their decades of activity, the Italian imprint, Alga Marghen, has illuminated a near countless number of historical artefacts at the juncture of visual art, experimental music and avant-garde deployments of language, helping to radically reshape our understanding of 20th Century creative practice. Embedded within their ever-growing discography lies a small window, via releases by Zaj members Walter Marchetti, José Luis Castillejo and Juan Hidalgo, into the avant-garde happening occurring in Spain during the '60s and '70s, while the country lay under the final decades of fascist rule. Now, Alga opens access to this radical world with El Artilugio, a stunning LP of previously unavailable sonic art by multidisciplinary artist, Manuel Calvo, created in 1966. Creatively thrilling and existing outside the larger historical vision of experimental practice occourring in Europe during that decade, its stunning sounds are issued on vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, accompanied by a large format 8-page booklet with in-depth liner notes by musicologist Gabriele Bonomo, in an edition of 200 copies. As important as world-premiere releases come. Born in 1934, during the 1950s and '60s Manuel Calvo emerged as a forerunner and a protagonist of geometric abstract painting in Spain, working against the odds attempting freely expression within the context of fascist rule in Spain that had taken hold during the early years of his life. During his early career, he was closely aligned with groups like Equipo 57 and Grupo Parpallo, artists who were active around Valencia and held strong connections to the rest of Europe, developing the principles of an analytical art in opposition to the main currents of informal art and lyrical abstraction. This restless questioning increased to more radical tendencies in his work, a period spent in Paris and then Brazil, before returning to Spain in 1966 where he fell into contact with artists like Juan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti, who had founded the Zaj group in Madrid in 1964, and begun creating some of the most subversive means of aesthetic communication encountered during that period. Calvo’s new phase of radicalism, embarked upon between 1966 and 1967, centered around the transformation of his studio into a laboratory where he could hold a permanent exhibition of his works, opening it to the public with no temporal limits, in the hope to reverse the standing perceptions of what an exhibition was. Within this space, Calvo created El artilugio, a participatory installation where the effects of light variations were randomly activated through simple buttons by the audience, opening the potential for open structures of unlimited possibilities for random variation. In addition to this, through a process similar to that applied to the light, Calvo introduced a reel-to-reel recording machine and a pre-recorded magnetic tape as a sonic element, recording the parasitic noises of an old electric engine that were then introduced into the installation via the reel-to-reel. It is this sound component of the installation that makes up Alga Marghen’s incredible LP, El artilugio, opening long overdue access to this singular creative world. El artilugio comprise two side long tracks. The first encounters the brilliant, randomized sonic universe that accompanied the installation of the same name, appearing somewhere between sound collage - split and juxtaposed by the participant’s push-button activated manipulation - and a microscopic journey across the surface and generative possibilities of the machine whose sounds it captures, rattling, clicking, scratching, droning, and buzzing as it goes, before fading out in a glissando after nearly half an hour. As a fascinating juxtaposition, the second side of El artilugio features the performance of an Austrian soprano singer reading out phonems, alliterations of single words, tongue twisters, and texts in different languages, repeated obsessively into states of abstraction that offers a stunning counterpoint to other forms of sound poetry being created during this period across the globe. Issued in a vinyl edition of 200 copies, in a gatefold sleeve that also includes a large format 8-page booklet, with El artilugio Alga Marghen has offered yet another triumphant window into the incredible world of singular artists working against the odds within fascist Spain, expanding their long-standing commitment to illuminating under-celebrated artefacts from the 20th Century, and changing history as they go. Absolutely incredible, and a must for any fan of sound art, sound poetry, and experimental music at large.

Crucial set feat. Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Aston Barett, Winston Wright, Sly Morris, J. Francisque and Skully "Zoot" Simms.

Another gem from the extensive Flipper Music catalog, more precisely from their Flower sublabel, "Dreams For Sax" is possibly one of the most stand-out productions from their studio ensemble Gruppo Sound, this time around featuring saxophonist Paolo Russo with keyboardists Stefano Galante and Vittorio Quattrini. First released in 1987, the songs recorded for "Dreams For Sax" are a beautiful melange of easy-listening electronic and jazzy vibes, from mellow tunes such as "Dawning" and "First Class" to some killer floor-filling italo disco bangers such as "Walking On Air" and "Dance Power". A groovy Italian library banger from the 80's now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release as a limited edition of 500 copies.

Essential jazz album among the influences of the future-jazz quartet Sleep Walker by trombonist Hiroshi Suzuki. “Variation” is a joint project including the legendary jazz drummer Masahiko Togashi featurig pianist Yuji Ohno, saxophonist Jun Suzuki and trumpeter Tetsuo Fushimi.

Belonging to a series of geographical-themed albums that draw upon numerous indigenous traditions from across the globe, like the previous releases in Dialogo’s Piero Umiliani Legacy Series - Continente Nero and Africa - Polinesia, issued by Piero Umiliani’s own Omicron imprint in 1975, highlights the composer’s travels and his striking ability to mirror these physical movements through sound, activating a seemingly unstoppable realm of creative freedom and exploration for composer and musician alike. Rooted in a foundation of rich percussion, soft tribalism, and exotic suggestion, Polinesia renders an abstract mirage of white beaches kissed by the ocean via its colorful cocktail of sonority, dancing blissfully across the album’s 15 songs, and covering a startlingly amount of creative territory as it goes. From the loungy kitsch of its opening tracks, or the overwhelmingly beautiful vocal melodies of Sotto le Palme, to the percussive minimalism of Canoe, Erbe Magiche, Danza Magica - each calling to mind Moondog at his best, with a bit of Midori Takada thrown in - and the dense ambiences of Pellegrinaggio, the composer takes us deep into an imagined realm, moving freely across its geographies and drenching the ears in its sounds. Beautiful and striking from the first turn to the last, Umiliani’s Polinesia fleshes out the world we began to explore with Dialogo’s reissues of Continente Nero and Africa, adding breezy sounds to the mix and plenty of dynamism across its length. Never before reissued on any format, with original copies commanding top dollar on the secondary market, Dialogo’s fully authorised vinyl reissue of Polinesia is a stunning thing to behold. Also available on CD, the album was remastered from the original analogue master tapes.

One of the great unsung saxophone hero's: Harold Vick worked as a sideman with Hammond Legends Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Big John Patton, and Larry Young. He played on and off with Walter Bishop, Jr. and also worked with Philly Joe Jones, Howard McGhee, Donald Byrd and Ray Charles and appeared with Dizzy Gillespie, King Curtis, and from 1970 to 1974 with Aretha Franklin. He played in Jack DeJohnette's jazz-rock band Compost from 1971 to 1973,recording with them in 1972 which is about the same time as this recording and that is probably the reason it is under the pseudonym of "Sir Edward". Add to that an absolutely top notch band, including bassist Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb, Jumma Santos on percussion and the mellow vibes of Omar Clay and this is a must have soulful jazz outing. The music is a funky mix of some of the big Soul tunes of the day, with versions of Donny Hathaway and The Stylistics and a nod to the CTI stylings of the day with a get down version of "People Make The World Go R...

Heavy 180g black vinyl + free digital (Bandcamp exclusive) Expanded Edition w/ 4 bonus tracks, japanese obi, a 72 photography collage of the many people who inspired this music and liner notes by composer Neil Ollivierra aka The Detroit Escalator Company. Sirio Ultra Black debossed sleeve 400gsm Half Speed Mastering Sublime and perfectly produced cutting-edge ambient techno masterpiece made in 1996 by unsung Detroit hero Neil Ollivierra, an album as underrated as it is essential. 25 years after its original release on UK label Ferox Records, Soundtrack [313] still provides a deeply futuristic aesthetic experience, warm and emotional electronics, along with glistening melody lines that create a peaceful, relaxed environment. This album possesses a formidable aptitude to always instill its listeners with a life-affirming feeling of serenity. A true timeless and unique classic that exists within its own genre and which still pushes the envelope of electronic music that transcends the club experience. This expanded release includes 4 bonus tracks (6 tracks on CD / digital), a liner note by the artist, and valuable photographic footage from his personal archives. This reissue has been mastered from original files by Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner (former Deutsche Grammophon studios in Berlin), using the half speed mastering process, and pressed on heavy vinyl at 45rpm. 25th anniversary audiophile edition. For fans of Detroit Techno, Global Communications, Black Dog, Manuel Goettsching, Tangerine Dream, Susumu Yokota, und Klaus Schulze.

Arthur's epic minimalist orchestral composition conducted by the late Julius Eastman 

Stunningly beautiful, mercurial and moving. 

The transcendental, ephemeral sound scape originally intended for theatrical performance. First release in 1983 on Chatham Square.

Rare recordings of beat/cut-up writers and artists William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Comprises the complete recording of Burroughs reading live in Liverpool in 1982, plus performances by Gysin of a selection of his permutated poems, as well as home recordings made by the pair in Paris in 1970. All recordings are taken from original tapes in The British Library collection. 180 gram vinyl.

For over 50 years, Kan Mikami has stood as a master of the Japanese blues and outsider folk. His unmistakable, powerfully evocative voice and surrealistic poetry reveal a gritty, transgressive life on the margins shot through with evocations of sex and violence, religion and romance. Released in 1991, I¡Çm the Only One Around was Mikami's first album with Tokyo's legendary P.S.F. Records and heralded an artistic renaissance. It marked the beginning of an incredibly productive and wildly creative era for Mikami that extends to the present day. This opening salvo presents the essential core of Mikami¡Çs music; With nothing but his voice and a stripped down electric guitar the album is a powerful, effortlessly emotional statement filled with moments of both brutal passion and gentle revelation. It is unrestrained, direct, brutally honest. It embodies Mikami¡Çs philosophy: ¡ÈIf you¡Çre going to make music, stake your life on it - it¡Çs worth it. Making music is an intensely human act.¡É In the newly translated notes to the album, Hiroyuki Itsuki, one of Japan¡Çs most renowned writers perhaps put it best: ¡ÈWhat erupts here is all the fury and grief of Jōmon Man (the prehistoric people of the Japanese archipelago), lobbed into the middle of a 1990s city. Kan Mikami is unchanging, yet definitely in motion. He advances not forwards, but backwards. Not a retreat, rather he consciously progresses backwards. At the final destination for his full-steam astern poésie lies a massive, gaping black hole, exuding a dazzling, black light. This is the image evoked by the world of Kan Mikami that you can hear on this album.¡É Mikami would go on to release 15 solo albums with P.S.F. as well as numerous collaborative efforts with other giants of the Japanese underground including Motoharu Yoshizawa, Masayoshi Urabe and Keiji Haino, with whom, along with Toshiaki Ishizuka he formed the group Vajra. Black Editions is honored to present the first ever vinyl edition of Kan Mikami¡Çs ¡ÈI¡Çm the Only One Around¡É featuring lyrics translated by Drew Stroud and newly translated notes by Alan Cummings. Remastered and cut to vinyl at Elysian Masters Los Angeles, pressed by RTI, packaged in heavy Stoughton tip-on jackets with insert featuring textured paper, gold foil stamping and metallic inks.