MUSIC

After running a sound system and studying electronics overseas, Spanish Town-based Harry Mudie began releasing rhythm and blues recordings by local performers, enjoying more concerted success during the reggae era of the late 1960s and mid-1970s, crafting lasting hits with artists like Dennis Walks and the Spanish Town-based toaster I Roy. The first volume of the Dub Conference series, made with King Tubby, has stripped-down cuts of some of Mudie’s greatest productions, including ‘Lorna’s Dance,’ a percussion and horns take of ‘Caught You In A Lie’, and a strings cut of the Heptones’ ‘Love Without Feeling.’ Excellent!After running a sound system and studying electronics overseas, Spanish Town-based Harry Mudie began releasing rhythm and blues recordings by local performers, enjoying more concerted success during the reggae era of the late 1960s and mid-1970s, crafting lasting hits with artists like Dennis Walks and the Spanish Town-based toaster I Roy. The first volume of the Dub Conference series, made with King Tubby, has stripped-down cuts of some of Mudie’s greatest productions, including ‘Lorna’s Dance,’ a percussion and horns take of ‘Caught You In A Lie’, and a strings cut of the Heptones’ ‘Love Without Feeling.’ Excellent!

Classic deep dub roots album originally released in 1980 on Yard (J.A.) & Shanachie (U.S.A.) music by the heavyweight Rockers All Stars with mixes by King Tubbys, Prince Jammy & Augustus Pablo. Great repro original cover of the band in the studio plus King Tubby in his back yard. Nice pressing from OnlyRoots.

Celebrated new wave compilation from Japan reissued for the first time on vinyl. A much-cherished gem from the 1980s underground Japanese music scene returns as Soft Selection 84 is reissued by Glossy Mistakes for its 40th anniversary. Originally released on DIY label Soft, the compilation sees 13 tracks from nine acts spanning minimal, ambient, zolo and more for a beguiling listen. The result is a charming time capsule of eclectic creativity in which nothing sounds dated. Take La Sellrose Can Can, whose two party jams predate Kero Kero Bonito's hyperpop by decades. In addition, an impeccable remastering from the original master tapes adds to the "could have been recorded yesterday" feel of the collection. Soft Selection 84 also includes the eccentric Picky Picnic. One of the few featured artists with recordings beyond the anthology, the trio is an essential act for those curious about Japanese art pop of the era. There is also new wave introspection from Name, whose "Do We All Need Love" plays out as a sensual nod to John Lennon. In a similar vein is Clä-Sick, the recording name of Goro Some, the compilation's original producer and founder of Soft. The record's rerelease comes with Some's blessing, along with his original artwork and photography. Ultimately, the listener is left tantalised by his selection and its bold excursions into no wave, synth pop, radioplay and bizzaro house. Most of the artists on this release would fade into obscurity, but the transient nature of the potential showcased has helped cement the compilation's reputation over the years. Soft Selection will be released on vinyl LP by Glossy Mistakes on March 2024, with a remastering from the original master tapes. Notice: SC Ruch on unit 25 are thinking noise. You don't care, please. Note II: Artwork was restored from a folder copy that had a gorgeous blue grading/fading, we kept it that way on the reissue.

Martin Rev’s fifth solo album – Strangeworld – was released on the cusp of the new millennium. The label responsible was Puu, a Finnish imprint belonging to Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio’s Sähkö Recordings which came to fame in the 1990s on the strength of its uncompromising minimalist sound.
Four years earlier, in 1996, Rev had unleashed See Me Ridin, an album which surprised its listeners with keyboard melody sketches and distilled doo-wop compositions. It was also the first solo album to feature Martin Rev on vocals.
Strangeworld started where its predecessor left off. Melodic passages dissolved into a thicket of fragments and set pieces, coalescing in a celestial shimmer between rhythm loops and Rev’s voice, which assumed the role of an additional instrument rather than a standard singing part.

Get Wise gathers ten standout tracks from Horace Andy, recorded between 1972 and 1974 with producer Phil Pratt. Originally released in 1975 on Pratt’s Sunshot label, this collection features a string of expressive early singles, including alternate takes on classics like ‘Root Of All Evil’ (‘Money, Money’) and ‘I Don’t Want To Be Outside’ (‘Zion Gate’). With his unmistakable falsetto—shaped as much by Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson as Alton Ellis—Andy had already marked himself as one of reggae’s most distinctive voices. Backed by the ever-reliable Soul Syndicate Band (featuring the likes of Sly & Robbie, Aston “Family Man” Barrett and Earl “Chinna” Smith), the tracks were recorded at legendary Kingston studios Channel One, Black Ark, Dynamic Sound and Randy’s Studio 17, with engineers including Lee Perry, Errol Thompson and Ernest Hoo Kim. Get Wise is a vital document of early Horace Andy—soulful, rootsy and essential listening for fans of classic ’70s Jamaican music. Liner notes by JR Gonne.

Originally released in 1978 on High Note, Dub Expression is a classic dub album recorded at Duke Reid’s famed Treasure Isle studio by his nephew, engineer Errol Brown. Working with the mighty studio band The Revolutionaries, Brown delivered dubbed-out takes on rhythms originally crafted for Marcia Griffiths, John Holt, Dennis Brown and more. Anchored by Lowell “Sly” Dunbar’s propulsive drums, The Revolutionaries channel the turbulent spirit of late-’70s Jamaica with militant precision. Though their line-up was ever-shifting, overlapping with other legendary session crews like The Professionals and The Aggrovators, The Revolutionaries were best known as the house band for Channel One during dub’s golden age. The decision to release the album under the band’s name—rather than crediting individual vocalists—was made by pioneering producer Sonia Pottinger, recognising the commercial power and creative force of the group itself. The result is a deep, heavy and unfiltered dub set that stands as one of the genre’s finest. Liner notes by JR Gonne.

The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era – he is, simply put, free jazz royalty. In April 1966, the duo of Graves and pianist Don Pullen played at Yale University. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, "This performance was something of a turning point for Graves. Until then he had been working in other people's bands or collective ensembles. He was phenomenally busy. In 1965 alone, he recorded with NYAQ (two LPs), Giuseppi Logan Quartet, Paul Bley Quintet and Lowell Davidson Trio, and he made his first recording released under his own name, Percussion Ensemble. Every one of these is important in its own way, but none of them quite anticipate how radical was the music that he and Pullen would unleash that evening in New Haven." Originally released on the artists' own Self-Reliance Program label, this legendary one-night performance would be split into two volumes: In Concert At Yale University and Nommo. While rooted in African rhythms, Graves' music has its own sense of time. As the drummer stated in a 1966 DownBeat interview, "Time was always there, and the time I see is not the same as what man says time is. It works by impulsion." First-time vinyl reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes.

Northern Irish musician and producer David Cunningham, known for releasing two electro-punk albums on Virgin in the New Wave era and having a worldwide hit single "Money" as The Flying Lizards. The first solo album "Grey Scale" released in 1976 is the first analog reissue from the prestigious . This work was sent out as the first release from his own label , which sent out This Heat and General Strike. From avant-garde musicians such as Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman with whom he has performed live, to improvisers such as Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and David Toop, Cunningham draws influences from a wide variety of fields. At the time, he was a student at the Kent Institute of Art & Design in Kent. , a work that created an infinitely changing palette of sounds. A suite of minimal etudes that does not belong to any genre, with an attractive sound collage and free tones.

JACKSON C. FRANK is the highly regarded debut and the only official album he ever released, produced by friend and fellow musician PAUL SIMON in England and released on Columbia Records in 1965. Jackson has been called the most famous folk singer of 1960s that no one has ever heard of and his influence was felt more in England, where his album was a hit, rather than in the U.S., where his record was a commercial failure at the time of its release. His most famous song “Blues Run The Game” has been covered by scores of musicians including Simon and Garfunkel, Counting Crows, Colin Meloy, Bert Jansch, Laura Marling, and Robin Pecknold, while Nick Drake also recorded it privately.

Insignificance consists of rock plus multiple musical allusions, layers of discreet noises, great playing from all the players and, to top it off, funny pop tunes laced with lyrical arsenic. As the moving finger of O'Rourke points (and clicks...just kidding! Insignificance is an all-analog affair), moments will come and go -- to remind you of other moments. Moments will arrive that have no precedent. And different, conflicting emotions will flash within you. He'll have total control of you, the helpless listener.

With their incredible fifth album, OM wisely expand on the dilated visions of their mighty 2009 LP 'God Is Good'. Assisted by long-time engineering collaborator Steve Albini, among others, on 'Advaitic Songs' they incorporate richer, ornate strains of string drone and vocals into their sharply defined aesthetic while remaining devoted to the stripped down, ritualist practice and near-religious philosophy which has taken them thus far. It's a stunning achievement, using doom-drone as a bedrock on which to erect totems of timelessly spiritual affect and purpose. From the vaulted reverb space of opener 'Addis' to the closing funeral march of 'Haqq al-Yaqin' the clarity of their intent and execution is just astonishing, creating the sort of rarified sonic space in which it almost only feels right to cleanse oneself before entering. 'Advaitic Songs' is the exceptional document of a duo dawning on the peak of their imaginative powers and at once progressing themselves, and their related scene with genuinely progressive, yet elemental majesty. Strongly recommended.

Wave Field, released in 1995, was a departure from the first album into new composition methods involving the dirty textures of rock guitar, sounding in the open ears of many listeners (like Jim O'Rourke, who issued the disc in the US on dexter's cigar) as a synthesis of disparate elements — a nexus where Alvin Lucier, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Eno blend together. Here, the clangorous potential of the guitar was emphasized, giving a metallic edge to the two extended pieces and "radio edit" coda. The jacket paid subtle tribute to My Bloody Valentine, which, along with the radio edit, suggested a harmony between musical directions as wildly disparate as minimalist experimental and rock. Today, such a paradoxical intent is more widely considered as a part of the artist's purview.

A jazz-rock masterpiece by master musician Jiro Inagaki! Beyond Jazz Rock. Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, has arrived at the ultimate tight and cool groove. As Inagaki himself says, "I did black funk." By combining the burst of jazz rock he had cultivated up to that point with the tenacity and elasticity of black music, his musicality took a leap to another dimension. The groove is polished, shiny, and bewitching, coupled with the masterful arrangements of virtuoso Hiromasa Suzuki. The lively and fast "Painted Paradise," the funkiness and mellowness of "Breeze," the low center of gravity and sharpness of "Kool & the Gang," "Funky Stuff," and "Painted Paradise," the melodic "Breeze," and "Funky Stuff," the melodic "Funky Stuff," are all well-known. The entire album is worth listening to, including a cover of "Funky Stuff" by Kool & the Gang. This is a definitive masterpiece that continues to be a worldwide favorite.

Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, played a pivotal role in the development of jazz rock in Japan. This album, “Memory Lane,” recorded in 1980, is their final release under that name. Inagaki commented on this work, saying, “We created this album while anticipating the future of fusion music.” Indeed, the sound is completely distinct from the typical fusion genre. The mellow and emotional “Memory Lane,” the stormy yet refreshing “I Will Give You Samba,” and the groovy and edgy “Take My Hand.” The sound created alongside his close friend Ken'ichi Maeda, looking toward the future, boasts an extraordinary level of perfection in every aspect—the songs, arrangements, and performances. It remains a fresh and vibrant masterpiece even when listened to today.

Text by Yūsuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS/DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Since its formation in 1969, Soul Media has championed the fusion of jazz and rock. This album, “In the Groove,” recorded in 1973, marks the next step in that direction. It emphasizes the sharpness of jazz, blends in rock to create an edgy sound, and injects funk to give it power and elasticity. This album produced a robust yet refined, uncompromisingly “cool” sound that defies categorization into existing genres like jazz-rock, jazz-funk, or fusion. It has been described as Soul Media's response to The Crusaders, whom Inagaki Jiro was paying attention to at the time. The aim was spot-on. With this album, Soul Media achieved a “refined black feeling” and set its sights on the ultimate destination: 'Funky Stuff.' Text by Yūsuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUND/DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

One of the most outstanding composers in the history of contemporary music in Okinawa, and also the representative of Marufuku Records, Tsuneo Fukuhara's representative works and beloved songs were recorded by top Okinawan singers such as Keiko Kinjo and Chieko Iha with contemporary arrangements, and included in the 1999 album “Okinawan Hits & Standards” (Victor/nafin label). “Shirahama Blues/Bossa Nova Jintōyo” is being released for the first time on 7-inch vinyl.

Interior” was formed by Daisuke Hinata and Hideki Nonaka, who were alumni of the Berkeley College of Music. Their first album “Interior” was released in 1982 on Haruomi Hosono's label, Yen Records. Their musical style of instrumental synth-pop with an emotional flavor based on “ambient music” and “environmental music” style is one of the most popular styles in the new age music scene in the U.S. Windham Hill Records, one of the leading new age music labels in the U.S., has also taken notice.

This is the second album after the transfer of the company, which was released in 1995, and is a compilation of songs created between 1990 and 1994. The album is a work that encompasses the dichotomy and diversity of the Aphex Twin, with acid, noise, and broken beats that could be described as "drill'n'bass," while following the ambient, IDM, and hardcore techno of the early days. The album contains 12 tracks, including the single "Ventolin," which is a strong industrial downtempo explosion, and "Alberto Balsalm," a song that is often mentioned alongside "Xtal. 180g vinyl.

Boards of Canada's masterpiece single. released in 2000.

At the latest with the release of the albums "Zauberberg" and "Königsforst", in the mid-1990s, one associates GAS, Wolfgang Voigt's very own artistic cross-linking of the spirit of Romanticism and the forest as an artistic fantasy projection surface, with intoxicatingly blurred boundaries of post-ambient infatuation and the impenetrable thicket of abstract atonality. The distant, iconic straight bass drum marching through highly condensed, abstract sounds taken from classical music by the sampler or modulated accordingly, and the enraptured gaze through pop art glasses into the hypnotic thicket of an imaginary forest, manifested over the years this unique connection of audio and visual, which to understand fully, then as now, would be neither possible nor desirable.

Quite the opposite. The album GAS - DER LANGE MARSCH once again invites us to follow the deep sounding bass drum, to give in to its irresistible pull into a psychedelic world of 1000 promises. In the process, the journey leads us past stations of memories sounding from afar, from "Zauberberg" to "Königsforst" and "Pop", from "Oktember" to "Narkopop" and "Rausch", back and forth, now and forever.

Way. Destination. Loop. Forest loop.

Veritable pioneers of electronic music, iconic act THE ORB returns to Kompakt with the new full-length MOONBUILDING 2703 AD - another major slice of psychedelic synth bliss, obscure loops and deep ambient textures tossed in swinging breakbeats and powerful basslines. Installing a forward momentum rather unusual for a genre-defying project like this, the latest effort from masterminds Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann follows their 2005 album success on Kompakt, the cheekily named "Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt" (KOMPAKT CD 45), as well as several contributions to our Speicher and Pop Ambient series - but more importantly, it finds the legendary duo at the peak of its creativity, ringing in another essential phase in what can only be called a ground-breaking career.

True to form, the new offering MOONBUILDING 2703 AD features a small track list, but turns each one of its four cuts into a mini epic in its own right. Opener GOD'S MIRRORBALL hits the ground floating, employing a handful of cozy statics to great effect before finally discharging into an intricate mosaic of atmospheric melodic sketches and gripping rhythms. With a hypnotic runtime of more than 14 minutes, it immediately establishes a blueprint for the other album tracks to follow, perfectly illustrating the vast extent of the artists' vision and their impressive skills in luring in listeners - welcome to THE ORB's sonic labyrinth, where nothing is what it seems and the unexpected waits just around the corner.

Likewise, follow-up track MOONSCAPES 2703 BC presents itself as a uniquely versatile affair sitting comfortably between ambient flourishes and beat-driven focus, holding as many twists and turns as a caper movie, but carefully grounding every single one of its cliffhangers in its impeccable flow. With a runtime of approximately 9 minutes, LUNAR CAVES is the shortest jam of the bunch - and also the most ethereal, keeping its rhythmic content to a bare, pulse-like minimum and opting for enticing, freewheeling synth textures instead. Album closer and title cut MOONBUILDING 2703 AD introduces a surprisingly jazzy vibe mingling rather well with the wealth of electronic tricks up its sleeve - even indulging in abrasive bass sweeps and a breathtaking multitude of different rhythm sections constantly switching places. It's a fitting closing act for a full-length as multifaceted as this, as idiosyncratic as possible and as muscling as needed. 

Black Truffle is pleased to announce a tenth anniversary reissue of Oren Ambarchi’s Quixotism, originally released on Editions Mego in 2014. Recorded with a multitude of collaborators in Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA, Quixotism presents the fruit of two years of work in the form of a single, LP-length piece in five parts. Quixotism takes the driving rhythmic aspect of works such as Sagittarian Domain to new levels, with the entirety of this long-form work built on a foundation of pulsing double-time electronic percussion provided by Thomas Brinkmann. Beginning as almost subliminal propulsion behind cavernous orchestral textures and John Tilbury’s delicate piano interjections, the percussive elements (elaborated on by Ambarchi and Matt Chamberlain) slowly inch into the foreground of the piece before suddenly breaking out into a polyrhythmic shuffle around the halfway mark, and joined by master Japanese tabla player U-zhaan for the piece’s final, beautiful passages. The pulse acts as thread leading the listener through a heterogeneous variety of acoustic spaces, from the concert hall in which the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra were recorded to the intimacy of crys cole’s contact-mic textures. Ambarchi’s guitar itself ranges over this wide variety of acoustic spaces, from airless, clipped tones to swirling, reverberated fog. Within the complex web Ambarchi spins over the piece’s steadily pulsing foundation, elements approach and recede in a non-linear fashion, even as the piece plots an overall course from the grey, almost Nono-esque reverberated space of its opening section to the crisp foreground presence of Jim O’Rourke’s synth and Evyind Kang’s strings in its final moments. Formally indebted to the side-long workouts of classic Cologne techno, the long-form works of composers such as Éliane Radigue and the organic push and pull of improvised performance, Quixotism is constantly in motion, yet its transitions happen slowly and steadily, often nearly imperceptible, the diverse elements which make up the piece succeeding one another with the logic of a dream. At the time of its first release, Quixotism was clearly a summation of Ambarchi’s work in the years leading up to it. Now, listening back a decade later, it also seems like an arrow pointing to the future, suggesting paths that would be explored further in works to come: the pulsating guitar layers of Hubris, the album-length collaboration with Jim O’Rourke and U-zhaan on Hence, Shebang’s joyous layering and percussive drive. Now sounding better than ever in a new remaster by Joe Talia, the time is ripe to rediscover its quixotic charms.

The original is a $$$BIG$$$ ultra-rare record sought after by collectors all over the world! Indian fusion disco jazz masterpiece released in 1982 by Rupa Biswas on a local label in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, featuring traditional instruments such as sarod and tabla. A superb record that falls somewhere between Bollywood and Balearic! The funky and psychedelic sound is dynamically surged by sarod and synthesizer, and the ethnic and bewitching vocal work is excellent. The funky and psychedelic sound with dynamic surges of sarod and synthesizers and the ethnic and bewitching vocal work are excellent. It's no exaggeration to say that this is the pinnacle of frontier grooves. The fact that it was produced by Aashish Khan, a sarod player who is a master of Indian classical music, should not be overlooked. A must-have for prog and psychedelic lovers as well as DJs!

First limited edition
*With obi

A historic masterpiece that is indispensable when talking about the history of Japanese rock/punk! Friction's first album, "Friction," the first release from PASS Records, is being reissued on LP for the first time in a long time!

Friction was formed in 1978 by Reck (b/vo) who had just returned from New York, and released their memorable first album in 1980!
This is the only full studio album by the three-member lineup of Reck, Tsunematsu Masatoshi, and Chico Hige, and a masterpiece that shines brightly in the history of Japanese punk! The sound that connects the era of New York that gave birth to post-punk and no wave with Tokyo will send shivers down your spine, and as the title suggests, it's a miracle album that will never fade, with a creaking sound that can be heard from every corner of the album. Reck's thick bass and stoic vocals without a trace of sweetness, Tsunematsu's cool and solid guitar, and Chico Hige's precise and destructive drums surge forward in a trinity. From Reck's heavy bass roar at the beginning of the opening number "A-Gas" to Tsunematsu's saw-like guitar towards the end of the closing number "Out", everything is beautiful. It was co-produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was a huge success with YMO at the time, and the band.