MUSIC

Originally released in 2008 on CD and in a very limited vinyl edition, "The Malady Of Elegance" by Goldmund aka Keith Kenniff finally gets its long-deserved vinyl re-release, featuring a new artwork and remastered audio by Taylor Deupree. Taking cues from 'Corduroy Road' Keith Kenniff (aka Helios) again restricts himself to the piano in conjuring up his humble soundscapes and again we are pulled into a deep, meditative and filmic world as the notes glide to a slow, pensive meter. Keith's precedent release was the challenging 'Two Point Discrimination' EP, released on the Western Vinyl label as part of their portrait series, but where that record was a collection of haunting experiments in form and sound, 'The Malady of Elegance' sees us back into the warming, homespun territory of 'Corduroy Road'. That's not to say these compositions are upbeat, far from it in fact, but there are lines to be drawn to folk music, and while Keith no longer draws on the American Civil War as a primary influence there is still the sense that the ghosts of old America haunt the keys. On top of these references we see Keith tripping somewhat fittingly into a flickering filmic world somewhat in line with his taste in European film. There is a delicate narrative on show throughout the record from the opening hopefulness of Image-Autumn-Womb through the melancholy of Now to the sensitive romance of the album's closer Evelyn. Listening to the record almost creates its own cinematic accompaniment in the minds eye, and this is simply a testament to Keith's incredible talents as a composer. Fans of Erik Satie, Sylvain Chauveau and Hauschka need look no further, 'The Malady of Elegance' is a deeply personal meditation which you cannot help but get lost inside.

deeper and deeper: studio mule excavates another treasure from japan’s rich modern music history. this time spiritual leaning rhythms that come from none other then eitet-su hayashi, one of japan’s most renown taiko drummers, a percussive instrument that is deeply rooted in the mythology of japanese folklore.

with “kaze no shisha”, studio mule reissues a crucial album of his long-spanning career, that started in 1971, when hayashi joined the globally famed ondekoza group. the so called “demon drum group“ established the taiko drumming to a global audience and intensively toured around the globe between 1975 and 1981 - the year the group split.

shortly after, hayashi and some like-minded spirits formed kodo, a new drum troupe with hayashi as lead drummer. after their first live performances he left the ensemble again in order to launch his solo career, whose first output marked “kaze no shisha”, released in 1983 on the japanese subsidiary of the us record company victor.

the album’s six compositions feature hayashi on taiko drum and other percussion, famed japanese composer midori takada on marimba, cymbal and bells, shuichi chino on synthesizer, chi soungja on the traditional korean zither gayageum and the korean janggu drum as well as the singers kamur and tenko, also known as the honeymoons.

all songs have been written by eitetsu hayashi and been recorded between july and august 1983 at sunrise studio and victor aoyama studio in tokyo. it must have been an intensive time. a time, in which hayashi transformed the drumbeat of his heart into a variety sounds, melodies and rhythms, without losing the melancholic, yet demanding kaito air.

the record’s a-side starts rough and traditional with “kintonun”, a tune in which hayashi bangs the taiko stormy while charmingly dancing with chi soungja’s korean janggu drum performance. a propulsive start that slides into “cosmos” – a slow glooming melancholic trance-folk-spiritual tranquilizer, featuring hayashi playing the piano and koto, while chi soungja weeps ghostly on his gayageum zither.

a perfectly built folk drama, deeply charged with musical infinity. its followed by “kalavinka”, an industrial leaning composition, that lifts off with metal tones and meditative chanting, only to melt into a mesmerizing melodic marimba crescendo, played by midori takada. again, the myths of ancient japanese music kisses modern minimal realms and nothing seems to refer to the pure percussive genre hayashi is famed for.

the b-side opener “kaze no shisha” presents a slow growing performance by hayashi on the japanese zither koto. his nervous play transforms into a synth drone played by shuichi chino, that slowly makes space for hayashi’s tribal taiko drumming that again disappears in another wave of koto string notes.

the follow up “bakuon” launches with a supersonic transport sound and operatic singing by the honeymoons, that amalgamates with hayashi’s feverish performance on his main instrument, the taiko. every now and then strange synth sounds and disparate voices open the short composition, that abruptly ends after 2 minutes and 30 seconds. the final of “kaze no shisha” is reconciliatory.

on “seiten” hayashi creates a conversation between the taiko and mokugyo, also known as the buddhist wooden fish. they turn into some kind of call and response talk, always leaving enough space between the rhythms and tones to create a deeply spiritual psychic sphere.

an utterly captivating, keen to experiment album, full of japanese music mysticism, surprising non-linear shock-waves, repetitive minimal structures and frenziedly drumming, who in interaction introduce a less popular side of one of japan’s most prolific drum poets.

Faitiche presents a new album by Andrew Pekler: Sounds From Phantom Islands brings together ten tracks created over the last three years for the interactive website Phantom Islands - A Sonic Atlas. With his 2016 album Tristes Tropiques, Pekler created a highly unique cosmos of ethnographic sound speculations. Sounds From Phantom Islands continues and simultaneously expands this concept: finely elaborated chordal motifs float like fog over fictional maritime landscapes. A masterpiece of contemporary Exotica.

Phantom islands are islands that appeared on historical maps but never actually existed. The status of these artefacts of European colonial expansion from the 15th to the 19th century oscillates between cartographic fact and maritime fiction. Sounds From Phantom Islands interprets and presents these imaginations as a quasi-ethnographic catalog of music and synthetic field recordings. The pieces on this album are based on recordings made for Phantom Islands - A Sonic Atlas, an online interactive map developed with cultural anthropologist Stefanie Kiwi Menrath.

Originally released in 2006, Eingya by Helios aka Keith Kenniff returns in a new 2021 edition vinyl re-release, remastered by Taylor Deupree.

Beginning the album on a high with the pastoral beauty of "Bless This Morning Year," Kenniff showcases of what he does best: heartbreaking guitar and piano melodies punctuated by crumbling beats and backed by the most atmospheric synthesizer sounds this side of Eno's Apollo. The appetizing "Halving the Compass" blends subtle field recording with the kind of piano melodies so beautiful they could be compared to Virginia Astley or Harold Budd. This is followed by the album's clear highlight, "Dragonfly Across an Ancient Sky." It's an unsurpassable folk guitar piece with a decomposing percussive background and the sort of melodies that would turn evil tyrants into weeping babies. An album that could appeal as easily to fans of Nick Drake as to fans of Boards of Canada or even early AIR, this truly has something for everyone.

Raised in rural Pennsylvania, Kenniff put out Helios's 2004 debut album, Unomia, while studying percussion at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Since then, he's released six more albums as Helios, in addition to collaborating with his wife Hollie Kenniff in the shoegaze-inspired pop duo Mint Julep and composing music for films and archival use.

"A protracted sunset of an album guaranteed to see you through the longest days of summer and into the twilight of the autumn." - The Wire "A soundtrack of molasses-sweet, midsummer sunset melancholy and pastoral mellifluence." - Tinymixtapes
 

“This heat are one of those bands that (as a person wanting to be in a band) I aspired to be like. Not to sound like them or rip them off in anyway, but just be one of those bands that you hear and you know instantly, that your listening to This Heat and none else. They’re a band that set their own rules and did it without ever sounding pretentious or like they were trying too hard. The first record i had by them was This Heat but I thought it was amazing that i could be into them for some years and keep discovering other EPs or songs by them like Health and Efficiency that still felt completely fresh and still do. - Dave Porter (Avey Tare, Animal Collective)

Ted Curson (1935-2012), a renowned jazz trumpeter from Philadelphia, has performed with many legends including Cecil Taylor and Charles Mingus. His masterpiece leader work released in 1971 from Futura Records, a legendary French avant jazz and free music label, has been officially reissued! This album was recorded at Europasonor Studio on June 18, 1971 during a visit to Paris, and features Georges Arvanitas (piano), Jacky Samson (double bass), and Charles Saudrais (drums). A gem of an album that transcends the boundaries of classical, modal jazz, fusion and free jazz.

For a label that wasn't around long, Strata East achieved the same sort of label recognition that Impulse! or Blue Note managed to build. In other words, you knew what you were getting when you bought a record on the label, even if you didn't know the names on the outside of the cover. This is no exception. Who is Shamek Farrah? Who knows? Who cares? It's the music that's important. This is the standard spiritually intense new jazz one learns to expect from the label, soaked in some Eastern influences but always with its ear to the street. Musicians took their roles as leaders and spokesmen very seriously back then.

This very adult statement from a group of very serious men is no exception. However, what might be an average, forgettable session is rescued by the propulsive engine of Milton Suggs' bass. He adds the fire and the drive that keeps things interesting and prevents the music from wandering into a circular spiritual morass.

Raja Kirik is Indonesian duo Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'ong Santoso Pribadi, two radical artists who draw on Java's rich cultural traditions and its history of struggle against colonial oppression to create music that surprises, challenges and educates in equal measure. They root their music in the sound of shamanic trance dances, specifically the Jaranan, or Jathilan, a Hindu-Buddhist-era dance from the 11th Century that symbolizes the ways common people could overcome their rulers using evasion and agility. "Rampokan" is Ariendra and Pribadi's second album, originally released by cult Indonesian label 'Yes No Wave' in June 2020, and now presented in a remastered edition with an additional previously unreleased track in a limited double vinyl edition. The album is inspired by centuries of cultural resistance in Java. When Dutch traders established a colonial presence on the island at the end of the 16th Century, the Javanese used traditional dances to express their opposition. Raja Kirik express this historical friction with a mind-bending fusion of traditional Indonesian percussion, digital noise and over-driven Dutch hard-style. The album roots itself in the stage of Jaranan performance where the players become possessed, connecting to their subconscious mind and the body's collective memory and trauma. Ariendra and Pribadi reflect this by dousing evocative microtonal clanks from their arsenal of home-made instruments in expertly designed digital noise, and stringing the disparate elements together with the oppressive pneumatic pressure of high-BPM, warehouse-ready kick drums. Like the trance dances that inspired them, these tracks evolve and cycle from misery to ecstasy, spinning distinctive narratives with rhythm, texture and repetition. The album title is taken from "Rampokan Macan", a colonial-era arena battle between spearmen, criminals and wild animals. The ceremonial fights were provided to illustrate the strength of the Javanese Royal Kingdoms in the face of the Dutch East Indies government; Raja Kirik's sophomore album is a similarly lavish display, offering a charged confrontation of IDM, hard dance music and traditional sounds that spits fire into the face of tyranny. Of course, it is a recommended ritual trance / industrial picture scroll for fans around Gabber Modus Operandi and Senyawa!

Woo, Nuno Canavarro, Enya's phantom intersection ?? A work that also introduced the famous blog that has pushed New Age Revival to the next zone! A long-awaited reprint of the rare work released on CD only from in 1992 by "Uman", a 90's French new-age / ambient duo consisting of Danielle Jean & Didier Jean! Their work, which has recorded two pop albums up to this work, but the pros and cons are divided. To that end, they built their own studio in Orsay, on the outskirts of southern Paris, to escape the expectations of the French music industry. Introducing the latest music technology of the time in this place created to realize their new free perspective, space and ideas. A masterpiece that incorporates original sampling and vocal processing to create a soft and surreal modern classical new age that also leads to an acoustic sensation! Includes liner notes by Diego Olivas (FOND / SOUND).

This is a masterpiece among the many reissued CDs, reputed to have the best realism in sound quality.

An expanded version of Yabby You's classic dub album Beware Dub. The 10 original tracks plus 6 bonus tracks. Including 2 previously un-released mixes of classic Yabby You songs. Nearly 40 years after its original release, “Beware Dub” has lost none of its power and conviction, and this reissue should hopefully confirm its status as one of the key dub albums of the 1970s.

Nahawa Doumbia is one of Mali's defining vocalists of the last four decades. Her work journeys through progressive stages of musical evolution and sonic vogues, making it hard to summarize or even comprehend. She's played a part in popular music since the late ‘70s, as her version of Wassoulou music developed from vocals-and-guitar duo into full-scale touring bands packing a bombastic, electrified punch. As Doumbia puts it, "My music has changed multiple times to this day…The more I progressed in my musical career, the more instruments I have had accompany my songs."


La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1 looks back to the beginning of Doumbia’s long career, when her voice was remarkably strong yet still developing. This was before she added bass and percussion, and finally the electric guitar and synths for which she became known in recent years.


She'd been singing traditional music since her early teens in Bougouni. Doumbia performed with cultural troupes throughout her youth and gained the notice of Radio Mali officials who entered her in a Radio France International contest, Découverte 81 á Dakar, which she won. Whether she knew it or not, as a young lady from a town many hours from Mali’s capital Bamako, she was destined for a worldwide touring career at the vanguard of Malian popular music.


Released in 1981 by the excellent Côte d’Ivoire-based AS Records, the singer was barely 20 years old when it was recorded. She was accompanied by her future husband N’Gou Bagayoko on acoustic guitar, whose style echoes the nimble runs of traditional kamele n’goni players. The stark simplicity of this highly intimate recording—the audible room acoustics, the occasionally in-the-red vocals—do not obscure the mature strength of her voice. On Vol 1 Doumbia performs her songs with the tenacity and hunger of a young artist on the cusp.

"When I think about it, first, I am reminded of how long ago it was. It's one of the albums that I love most because it reminds me of my youth. I was so young and my voice was light and joyful. I still listen to some of those songs today. I am really proud of that first album because that’s where it all began. It shows me how far I’ve come in my personal and artistic life; it gives me the courage I need to keep going forward, and makes me appreciate all the years of dedication and hard work I put into my musical career.

"
These early songs are rhythmically built around Bagayoko's sensitive guitar, as his fingers brush the fretboard and gently outline the melodies. Although this record predates the singer’s use of percussion, the driving skeletal didadi rhythm is apparent in the songs. Later albums like Vol 3 further prioritize her hometown didadi beat and the result made her famous.

Cellist, composer & sound​ artist Leila Bordreuil takes us deep into the bowels and liminal spaces of a deserted NYC with 40 minute long contrasting works of a tempestuous and sorely enervated nature, played on location in the subway at the Ralph Avenue subway stop in Brooklyn - complete with passing trains, people, and tension in the air. If you’re into anything from Arthur Russell to Lea Bertucci - this one’s a total headmelt. First pinging our radar with her ‘Headflush’ album for Catch Wave back in 2019, Leila Bordreuil has a tactile, extreme approach to the cello, one that focuses on its visceral aspects in a way that mimics the most spirited, fraught and melancholy human emotions. Despite the complex nature of her playing, you can trace Bordreuil's lineage back to Arthur Russell’s defining ‘World Of Echo’ in methodology and spirit - Leila plays with no processing or effect pedals, everything stems from the player, her instrument, and their surroundings. On ‘For Tamio’ - Leila performs in tribute to her collaborator and saxophonist Tamio Shiraishi, whose late night performances at the Spring Street subway, 10 stops away from Ralph Avenue, greatly inspired her own approach to capturing and playing with resonance in the subway. For just shy of 20 mins, she makes the air burn and buckle with a combustible grasp of loud/quiet dynamics and keening discord that has us seat-edge by the end. The setting is evocative to the extreme - the usually chaotic and bustling subway station now emptied of its usual inhabitants, reclaimed as a performance space in which Leila played late into the night - accompanied by memories and echoes of life, as well as a person living in the subway station who started dancing to her music, an engrossed audience of one. In contrast, ‘Past Continuous’ on the flipside was recorded in Leila’s building’s hallway, where she attached a brick to the pedal of a broken upright piano and angled her microphones in a way that gave the illusion of a large reverberant room. Adding sinewaves to enhance natural frequencies, the result is a heartbeat sketch that operates at barely perceptible levels of tonality, working in a liminal space with almost hallucinatory, ghostly overtones and a colossal sub that speaks to the anxiety dreams of a megatropolis in stasis. ‘Not An Elegy’ is a grippingly stark work that owes as much to the city’s history of jazz as it does to experimental classical forms. It's an uneasy but deeply life-affirming trip through the dense fog of memory and modern anxiety, coaxed by a player whose hands shape, and whose feelings ooze through the recordings in a way that’s impossible not to be affected by in the deepest sense. It’s a remarkable document of a time, and an artist, right on the cusp.

Recorded at Channel One studio with the Roots Radics Band, mega rare top early dancehall LP back on Radiation Roots!!!

Recorded in New York 1959. Impressive session led jointly by Herbie Mann and John Rae. On side A, the group incessantly shifts from soft vibes-and-flute jazz to percussion-heavy Afro-Cuban rhythms to classic "Blue-Note" hard bop. Side B is the African Suite, a percussive trip across the Sahara.

Reissue of the 6th studio album by Brazilian jazz legend Antonio Carlos Jobim. Released in 1970 on A&M Records, this instrumental Bossa Jazz masterpiece was produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. It features the arrangements of Eumir Deodato (who also conducted the band) and includes a plethora of sidemen from the U.S. jazz scene, such as Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws and Ron Carter, as well as Brazilian stars like Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira and Joao Palma. Produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy van Gelder, arrangements by Eumir Deodato and featuring among others: Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira, and Joao Palma.

Orfeu Da Conceição was originally a stage play in three acts by poet and lyricist Vinicius De Moraes with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Premiered in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. The play put the basis for the classic films Orfeu Negro. Needless to remember that Jobim and De Moraes were two seminal figures in Brazilian music, two modernists whose work was a major influence for generations to come. In fact Orfeu Da Conceição can be considered the beginning of their songwriting relationship. First released as 10" in the same year of the theater premier, the album features vocalist Roberto Paiva and guitarist Luiz Bonfà. An essential release for all Brazilian music fans out there.

Efficient Space presents Soft and Fragile by Ros Bandt and LIME (Live Improvised Music Events), originally released by Move Records in 1983. A pioneering figure in Australian music, Bandt is known for her work with sound sculpture, electronics, acoustic ecology, and invented instruments, as well as her writings and teaching. Soft and Fragile comprises a series of structured improvisations performed on custom-built bells and gongs. On the side-long ‘Ocean Bells’, Bandt performs on her ‘flagong’, a three-tiered vertical glass marimba that she made in 1978, inspired by the ‘cloud chamber bowls’ of maverick instrument builder and microtonal composer Harry Partch. Over a long tape loop made up of slowed down sounds from the same instrument, she delicately strikes the glass bells with mallets, allowing individual pitches to ring out and decay with the aquatic wavering quality that suggested the piece’s title, eventually building into flowing melodic sequences. Structured as a series of events determined by the length of the performer’s breath, this gently undulating music invites listeners to lose themselves in delicate microtonal fluctuations and subtle yet expressive phrasing. For ‘Shifts’, Bandt is joined by Julie Doyle, Gavan McCarthy, and Carolyn Robb on a collectively composed work for clay bells. Atop a steady pulse, melodic and rhythmic cells expand and contract, shifting between LIME’s four members. LIME also perform the closing ‘Annapurna’, where timbres sourced from glass, clay and metal are freely threaded through a pulsating tape backdrop generated from loops of the ensemble chanting. Presented in a redesigned sleeve showcasing the performers and their instruments, the reissue reproduces the extensive original liner notes. While Bandt’s ideas and techniques draw on aspects of the invented instrument tradition of Partch and Bertoia, Stockhausen’s intuitive music, and the cyclical structures of American minimalism and Javanese gamelan, the floating world of Soft and Fragile also resonates with the work of New Age outlier Stephan Micus and contemporary practitioners such as Tomoko Sauvage. In Bandt’s own words, this is ‘elegant and sensual music where the body and mind have the time to reflect and catch up with the moment as it passes…It is a music intended for respite’.

An album that locally records the traditional music of the Sundanese who live in western Java. A variety of items such as a flute called Surin made of bamboo, an instrumental ensemble Kakapi Surin with a plucked string instrument Kakapi like a koto, a bowed string instrument Rebab with a characteristic singing tone, and Tenban Sunda with a focus on singing. Includes music. There is a sound similar to the famous gamelan in Bali, but the instruments are completely different, so you can enjoy a unique and interesting sound.
Recording: 1972-73 Java Island

1. Beber layar (“Spread the Sails”)
& Kembang bungur (“Flower of the Bungur-tree”)
2. Palwa (a proper name) & Lalayaran (“Sailing Tour”)
3. Rancag: Pancaniti (a proper name), Bayubud (a place name), Mangari (a place name), Liwung (“Worry”)
/ Kawih: Sumarambah (“Heart Full of Memories”)
4. Rancag: Bayubud (a place name), Liwung (“Worry”)
/ Kawih: Bungur (“The Bungur-tree”)
5. Rancag: Panyawang (“Rest in the Open”),
Pamekaran (“Blossom”) / Kawih: Samar-samar (“Blurred Pictures”)
6. Sinyur (a musical structure), Samarangan (“As he pleases”) 7. Rancag: Lor-loran (“Towards the North”), Erang barong / Kawih: Tablo (a musical structure).

Giorgio Brugnolini (1931-2020) was a composer and saxophonist from Italy, known for his cult recordings under the name Narassa, who sadly passed away last year. This is the first analogue reissue of the obscure masterpiece "Utopia" released in 1972 on the library label Gemelli, on the prestigious soundtrack/library label Sonor Music Editions. The first official release since the maestro's passing, with excellent arrangements on Hammond and piano by Giorgio Carnini and direction by Franco Tamponi. A dreamy, underground mood, a rather dangerous one! A ton of great jazz-funk-lounge-jazz sessions, bursting with avant-garde jazz sophistication, orchestration, and gorgeous grooves.

A masterpiece buried in history for a long time finally sees the light of day! !! The original is a very rare Roman progressive jazz rock band, Spirale's only work released in 1974 is the first official reissue from Milan's ! Corrado Nofri (key), Gaetano Delfini (vo, sax), Giancarlo Maurino (sax / flute), Peppe Caporello (ba, g), Giampaolo Ascolese (dr). This work has a gorgeous, beautiful and tough sound with a unique Mediterranean atmosphere that is similar to jazz rock bands such as Napoli Centrale and Arti & Mestieri in Italy. This is a must-listen for those who like Germany's Out Of Focus and Xhol Caravan of the same age! !! Limited to 500 sheets.

After Dinner from Japan, embraced new wave, traditional Japanese music, free contemporary and avant-garde rock. Founded under hand of delicious female vocalist, musician and composer Haco in 1981, broaching a very interesting collective cohesion; their background, though however various, brought them together during times of recording and live performance. 1982-85 includes all their first production; the complete 1st album “Glass Tube", 2 tracks from the 1st 7” single and a bonus track track from a 1985’s compilation on Celluloid. Includes 24-pages booklet

The album also includes the new age anthem "O Sol Na Janela" from "Outro Tempo", one of Music From Memory's flagship compilations of Brazilian obscure electronic music. He was also a member of Carmo, a prestigious label that Egberto Gismonti ran under ECM. The original "Caminho Do Interior" was sold for over 30,000 and now it's been reissued in a deluxe edition. A long-awaited analog reissue! This is another important reissue in the current trend of reevaluating Brazilian obscure music. This is a divine realm of spirituality and folklore. A true miracle piece, full of acoustic nourishment, stewing jazz, bossa nova, and even classical music! Gismonti also makes a guest appearance. The bonus track is "Idade Média" from the extremely rare 7" "Quase Meio Dia / Idade Média" from 1974. 180G heavyweight vinyl & remastered. A must have for Carmo fans. Highly recommended for all Balearic and New Age fans!

The second Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites, Sound Inventions from Klaus Weiss Rhythm And Sounds, originally released in 1979. From the notoriously strong mind of Niagara drummer / library-funk overlord Klaus Weiss, Sound Inventions is loaded with tripped out studio funk-freakery, mad samples and swaggering abstract funk grooves. From dramatic deep disco with dark Italo/Moroder leanings to heavy German funk breaks, this is absolutely sensational. Absolute synth-and-string-drenched magic. This re-issue of Sound Inventions has been mastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis from audio from the original tapes. Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.