MUSIC

In May 1972, the wave of anger and the thirst for freedom that had swept the world in 1968 arrived in Madagascar. The Malagasy youth took the opportunity to exile in search of a brighter future. Several of them, all jazz musicians and often polyintrumentalists, came to Paris with their afro hair and bellbottoms. Their names were Sylvin Marc, his cousin Ange "Zizi" Japhet, Del Rabenja, Gérard Rakotoarivony and Frank Raholison. By chance, they crossed paths with pianist and bandleader Jef Gilson, who they had already met as kids during a series of concert and workshops in Tananarive four years earlier. Gilson was far from an unknown on the French jazz scene. He had played with Boris Vian and André Hodeir at the end of the forties, he was one of the first French composers to move away from the New-Orleans style to try his hand at bebop, had launched numerous young stars (Ponty, Texier, Portal...), was a polemical critic for Jazz Hot, had opened for Coltrane at Antibes/Juan Les Pins, and was part of the Double Six... But it was tough to make a living playing personal compositions and Jef, who didn’t have enough money to return to the island and continue mining the seam of Malagasy jazz, saw an opportunity to relaunch ‘Malagasy’. He had his recording studio in the Les Halles area, at the Foyer Montorgueil, where he was teaching jazz to a choir. He set to work with the new Malagasy group, working on a repertoire and reviving some of his compositions from the 50s/60s ("Requiem Pour Django", "Dizzy 48", "Anamorphose" here renamed "Salegy Jef" as a nod to an ancestral rhythm reworked in a contemporary style...), and also included more recent tunes ("Newport Bounce" which opens this current album is a reworking of a track called "Interlude", recorded in 69 with the drummer from Miles Davis’ first quintet, Philly Joe Jones). The group Malagasy 73 gigged a lot. One of their concerts was recorded on the 14 March in a club, ‘Le Newport’, in rue Grégoire de Tours, Saint Germain des Prés, not far from the ‘Kiosque d'Orphée’ where Gilson worked at the beginning of the 60s when he brought bebop and avant-garde jazz to the attention of a generation of musicians with his records imported from USA. This meeting between two generations and two cultures created a new mix between jazz, traditional music and electric funk. Jef Gilson had reinvented himself yet again, and it wouldn’t be the last time.

In May 1972, the wave of anger and the thirst for freedom that had swept the world in 1968 arrived in Madagascar. The Malagasy youth took the opportunity to exile in search of a brighter future. Several of them, all jazz musicians and often polyintrumentalists, came to Paris with their afro hair and bellbottoms. Their names were Sylvin Marc, his cousin Ange "Zizi" Japhet, Del Rabenja, Gérard Rakotoarivony and Frank Raholison. By chance, they crossed paths with pianist and bandleader Jef Gilson, who they had already met as kids during a series of concert and workshops in Tananarive four years earlier. Gilson was far from an unknown on the French jazz scene. He had played with Boris Vian and André Hodeir at the end of the forties, he was one of the first French composers to move away from the New-Orleans style to try his hand at bebop, had launched numerous young stars (Ponty, Texier, Portal...), was a polemical critic for Jazz Hot, had opened for Coltrane at Antibes/Juan Les Pins, and was part of the Double Six... But it was tough to make a living playing personal compositions and Jef, who didn’t have enough money to return to the island and continue mining the seam of Malagasy jazz, saw an opportunity to relaunch ‘Malagasy’. He had his recording studio in the Les Halles area, at the Foyer Montorgueil, where he was teaching jazz to a choir. He set to work with the new Malagasy group, working on a repertoire and reviving some of his compositions from the 50s/60s ("Requiem Pour Django", "Dizzy 48", "Anamorphose" here renamed "Salegy Jef" as a nod to an ancestral rhythm reworked in a contemporary style...), and also included more recent tunes ("Newport Bounce" which opens this current album is a reworking of a track called "Interlude", recorded in 69 with the drummer from Miles Davis’ first quintet, Philly Joe Jones). The group Malagasy 73 gigged a lot. One of their concerts was recorded on the 14 March in a club, ‘Le Newport’, in rue Grégoire de Tours, Saint Germain des Prés, not far from the ‘Kiosque d'Orphée’ where Gilson worked at the beginning of the 60s when he brought bebop and avant-garde jazz to the attention of a generation of musicians with his records imported from USA. This meeting between two generations and two cultures created a new mix between jazz, traditional music and electric funk. Jef Gilson had reinvented himself yet again, and it wouldn’t be the last time.

This is a miraculous repress in a limited edition of 50 copies. Ben Vida is a famous synth player/composer from New York, who is known for his collaborations with cutting-edge artists such as Marina Rosenfeld and Rhys Chatham, as well as his participation in the famous band Joan Of Arc. In 2019, he will miraculously re-release his classic drone album, which was originally released as a USB card. This is a memory stick work that contains a single piece of work that is just over four hours long, pushing the limits of digital and analog. The recording and editing process took place between 2015 and 2019 and concludes the arc of ideas and practices that first appeared in 2016's Damaged Particulates. It's a truly immersive experience, a holy grail of drone music that compares favorably with the masterpieces of La Monte Young and Éliane Radigue. mastered by Stephan Mathieu, it's an album that's twice as good. Playable in MP3 / WAV / FLAC.

A long awaited repress of a very popular album! A sensual and innovative sound that can be called the midpoint of Batu, Farben, Lee Gamble and Isabella! Peder Mannerfelt, a talented artist from Stockholm, Sweden, who has been pushing the boundaries of left-field dance and experimentalism, released an EP on his own Peder Mannerfelt Produktion label in 2018. It's a masterpiece of modern dub techno/experimental electronic music, with a repulsive slow techno feel, a heavy but intuitive ambient tone, and even Mika Vainio's afterimage. Contains 6 tracks, 25 minutes in total. Limited edition of 500 copies.

This is a remix of a song by Madvillain, a very popular hip-hop duo consisting of MF Doom & Madlib, by Four Tet, one of the best diggers in the world. It was released as a promo in 2005 without a jacket and has been out of print for many years, but now it's back with a jacket! ! An exceptional electronic funk masterpiece that reconstructs the songs included in the album "MADVILLAINY"! An instrumental version is recorded on the B side.

Glacial, sensual psychedelic music that ranks alongside Lustmord, Deathprod and Basinski. Thomas Köner, the incarnation of dark ambient and innovator of the genre, is still making completely unique sounds decades later, and his 1997 masterpiece album about Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is now available again. The deep, creaking bass sounds, rough synth pad ambience, and ambient sounds that seem to be about to break down, create a frozen soundscape that is still breathtaking after 24 years.

Transversales Disques, an important label under the direction of Jonathan Fitoussi of INA-GRM, has been making every effort to reissue rare archival recordings of music concrete, library music, and avant-garde jazz. Transversales Disques is proud to present the first official analog release of a rare and previously unreleased live performance by the Afro-American saxophonist Archie Shepp, a giant of avant-garde jazz who is known for his work with Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane. This masterpiece captures the pivotal moment when one of the great giants of free jazz was transforming into funkier, fusion-tinged tunes and more straightforward bops on the border of spiritual jazz. The historical importance and raw beauty of this album still has a timeless appeal. This is a must have for all music lovers. Mastered from the original master tape. Includes exclusive liner notes and gorgeous photos from the sessions.

Drummer Frank Derrick III (born 1950) grew up in Harvey, Illinois in a musical family_his father Frank Derrick Jr. was a professional musician and arranger who played with notables such as Duke Ellington and Earl Hinges. Frank Derrick III began playing the drums when he was ten years old and at the age of nineteen, he was already playing professionally in the renowned Chicago jazz scene. Frank has led a multifaceted national and international music career. He is a virtuoso performer, composer, and educator. Next to his own recordings he has performed and recorded with numerous legends and artists including Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Eartha Kitt, Roberta Flack, Donna Summer_and countless others. Frank Derrick III toured worldwide with Cab Calloway for ten years and was the drummer for 'The David Letterman Show' on NBC. He is also no stranger to symphonic fans around the world (he was a member of many renowned symphonic 'giants' such as The Royal Philharmonic). As an educator, he served as Chairman of Percussion at 'Henry Street Settlement' in New York, presents master classes, is the respected author of 'Focus On Technique For Drummers', is a contributing author to various educational publications, and is the Drum set editor for 'The Percussive Arts Society'. Last but not least_he was honored with an A.S.C.A.P. Special Award. Frank has a WIDE range of musical experience_his precision, driving rhythmic style and "Straight Ahead" jazz compositions make him unique and a master of his craft. He is a powerfully swinging (yet tasteful) drummer who always makes sure his skills 'serve' the music he's performing. On the album we are proudly presenting you today (You Betcha!) you'll find recordings written by both Frank Jr. and Frank III. All songs are performed by one of his many incarnations: "THE FRANK DERRICK TOTAL EXPERIENCE". Some serious all-star players from the likes of Bill Payne (John Cale-Lionel Richie) and Edwin Williams (Syl Johnson) can also clearly be heard backing up Frank here on this exceptional album. You Betcha! was recorded in 1974 at the legendary Chicago nightclub Fiddler's. The sound quality is top-notch and intimate with a noticeable vibe that conveys the enthusiasm of the audience. Only 1000 copies of this album were privately pressed back in 1974, so it comes as no surprise that this record continues to be one of the rarest sought-after vinyl albums by jazz collectors worldwide. If you enjoy uplifting and hard-swinging jazz, slightly mysterious at times (bordering on the spiritual), lots of funky/soul influences and bouncing energetic grooves_then this is a highly recommended gem for your record collection (and a must-have for seekers of rare grooves).

Outernational Sounds present the first legitimate vinyl reissue of Nate Morgan's Journey Into Nigritia, originally release in 1983. A major statement from a crucial figure on the Los Angeles jazz underground -- Journey Into Nigritia is pianist Nate Morgan's spiritualized deep jazz classic. How many 16-year-olds would have the confidence to walk up to a revered bandleader at a gig, and inform him that one day they'd be playing together? As improbable as it sounds, this is how pianist Nate Morgan introduced himself to the great Horace Tapscott, founder of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. The teenage Morgan had heard Tapscott's Flying Dutchman LP The Giant Is Awakened (1969) being played by Greg Kufahamu on local Los Angeles radio station KUSC, and Arthur Blythe's wailing sax had gone straight to the heart. Morgan showed up to all the Arkestra shows he could find. He was already studying with Joe Sample and Hampton Hawes and playing in local bands, but the draw of the Tapscott's band was too much for the gifted young pianist: "I could only take about two or three more concerts before I had to run up on stage. When I first introduced myself to Horace, he tells everybody that I said, 'Yeah, I'm Nate Morgan. I'm going to play with you all.' Not that I want to, but that I'm going to." Over the next decade and beyond, Morgan would become a central figure in Tapscott's UGMAA (Union Of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension), bringing new figures into the fold (like Jesse Sharps), running jam sessions, and eventually being given the task of organizing the Arkestra songbook. During the early 1970s he also worked commercially, doing a stint with Rufus and Chaka Khan and appearing on Willie Hutch's Foxy Brown soundtrack (1974). Into the 1980s and 1990s he remained active, keeping the UGMAA flame alive and working tirelessly around LA, including collaborations with Bone Thugs N' Harmony; he was also part of the early 2000s LA jazz collective Build An Ark. A true musician's musician, Morgan died in 2013. Journey Into Nigritia, featuring fire-breathing reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, was the first of two LPs Morgan recorded for Tom Albach's storied Nimbus West imprint. A committed, spiritualized work that showcases Morgan's heavy composing as well as his McCoy Tyner-influenced and technically flawless playing, Journey features dedications to Coltrane ("He Left Us A Song") and Cecil Taylor ("Study In C.T."). Surging, modal jazz from the LA underground, Journey Into Nigritia is a crucial recording by an unsung jazz legend. Fully licensed from Nimbus West founder Tom Albach.

Often regarded as Japan’s first female singer-songwriter, Sachiko Kanenobu created an enduring legacy with Misora, a timeless classic of intricate finger-picking, gently soaring melodies, and rustic Laurel Canyon vibes. Originally released in 1972 on URC (Underground Record Club), one of Japan’s first independent record labels, the Haruomi Hosono-produced album remains one of the most beloved works to come out of Japan’s folk and rock scenes centered around Tokyo and Kansai areas in the early 1970s. Born and raised in Osaka in a large, music-loving family, Kanenobu picked up the guitar as a teen just as the “college folk” boom swept through university campuses in the Kansai area in the mid-60s. The Pete Seeger and American folk-leaning scene didn’t appeal much to her, however, and instead gravitated towards the British sounds of Donovan and Pentangle, teaching herself guitar techniques by listening to their music. Kanenobu made her songwriting and recording debut as part of Himitsu Kessha Marumaru Kyodan, whose sole single was released on URC in 1969. After years of being pushed aside by the label in favor of newer male artists who were more “folky” in a traditional sense, it was her friendship with the groundbreaking band and labelmate Happy End that ultimately helped her secure the opportunity to record a solo album. With Hosono on board as producer, Kanenobu spent seven days recording the songs that would become Misora, with most songs recorded in a single take. By the time Misora released in September 1972, Kanenobu was gone. She had left for America, eager to start a new life with Paul Williams, a music writer who had founded Crawdaddy Magazine in 1966. Without the artist to promote it, “_Misora_ was asleep for a long time,” she said. Meanwhile Kanenobu settled near Sonoma in Northern California, retiring from music and concentrating on raising her two children. It wasn’t until Philip K. Dick, the famed writer and family friend, heard Misora and encouraged her to get back into music, that Kanenobu felt the urge to pick up the guitar again. Soon new songs started flowing, and Dick helped finance a single for Kanenobu in 1981. He was committed to producing a full length when he died unexpectedly in 1982. While she enjoyed success (especially in Germany) with her hard-hitting group Culture Shock in the 1980s, and continued to release albums in American and in Japan in the 1990s, it’s Misora that keeps coming back to her. Every few years a new generation of fans discover the album. Devendra Banhart, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Gunn, and many others continue to tout its greatness. Kanenobu played a series of sold-out homecoming shows in Japan in 2018, playing Misora in its entirety. Surviving members of Happy End came out to support, some even playing in her backing band. Audience members included old and young, some young enough to be her grandchildren. “I love it,” she said. “They love Misora, they’ve heard it so many times. And here it rose from death…because for them, they can’t believe it—she’s still alive!”

While he was working on the repertoire for the new version of his group Malagasy, with young Malagasy musicians he had met in Paris in 1972 (and who can be heard on the album "Malagasy At Newport-Paris"), Jef Gilson realised that two of his new discoveries, in addition to being established polyinstrumentalists (who both had sharpened their skills in the legendary seja-jazz band from La Réunion, Le Club Rythmique), were also skilled composers. They were capable of reinventing jazz and traditional Malagasy music, adding influences from the new generation inspired by pop, rock and funk into the mix. He offered them the chance to share the two sides of an album recorded on his own label, Palm, alongside their compatriots. Ange "Zizi" Japhet, Gérard Rakotoarivony and Frank Raholison. This is how Del Rabenja and Sylvin Marc came to record this "Madagascar Now / Maintenant 'Zao". The first side really showcases the valiha (a small Malagasy harp) of Del Rabenja who uses the occasion to pay homage to the sadly missed Rakotozafy, often called the Django Reinhardt of the instrument. His three compositions are full of spirituality and invite an almost trance-like state. But Rabenja is equally a very good tenor saxophonist and organist on the other tracks. The other side displays the full range of talents of the multi-instrumentalist and composer Sylvin Marc, who moves from bass to drums, from vocals to percussion and offers four compositions ranging from free jazz to cosmic groove. At the same period the five men could also be found amongst the cast list of the mythical albums, "Funny Funky Rib Crib" by Byard Lancaster and "Soul Of Africa" by Hal Singer & Jef Gilson. Later, Sylvin Marc would play bass for Nina Simone on her album "Fodder On My Wings" in 1982, then join the team of violinist Didier Lockwood, while Del Rabenja would be part of Manu Dibango’s and Eddy Louiss’ orchestras for a long time and would even be at the front of the top 50 at the end of the 80s with David Koven. He would also be the special guest of the Palm Unit trio (Fred Escoffier, Lionel Martin, Philippe "Pipon" Garcia) on their first album, an homage to the œuvre of Jef Gilson, in 2018

It comes as no surprise that Andrei Tarkovsky, master of Soviet cinema, turned to composer Eduard Artemiev to score his two lyrical and haunting films, The Mirror (1975) and Stalker (1979), as he had done for Solaris (also available on Superior Viaduct).
 
Artemiev’s magnificent soundtrack to The Mirror is the natural follow-up to Solaris. Dense, slow-moving, and often disorienting mood pieces with Baroque sensibilities resonate beyond the film’s dream-like images. For Stalker―Tarkovsky’s other science fiction masterpiece―Artemiev was inspired by Indian classical music and employed layers of synth tones, flute and tar (a traditional Iranian stringed instrument) to create a central theme as spellbinding as The Zone, a setting in the film where laws of physics no longer apply.
 
Superior Viaduct presents the first-time official release of these two astonishingly unique soundtracks. Recommended for fans of Lech Jankowski’s music for Brothers Quay films, BC Gilbert & G Lewis and Oneohtrix Point Never.

• First-time official release of original soundtracks for two classic films by Andrei Tarkovsky
• Follows the recent release of Artemiev’s acclaimed soundtrack for Solaris
• Recommended for fans of Philip Glass, Aphex Twin, Tim Hecker

This is a 1972 album by Rufus Harley, a unique bagpipe player for a jazz musician. This is a spiritual jazz funk album with a psychedelic world of bagpipes and organ.

Liquid Liquid continued toward dance-floor perfection with their third EP. 1983's Optimo features the band's best-known songs and remains a high water mark for post-punk aficionados. The title track positively erupts when the bass enters, forcing even the stiffest person in the room to move. While it would be an understatement to say that "Cavern" may sound familiar (due to its gross sampling in Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines"), Liquid Liquid were indeed the originators of this iconic New York riff.

Synth legend Suzanne Ciani, Demdike Stare's Sean Canty & Finders Keepers' Andy Votel come together on this killer hour-long 2014 synapse popper of a collaboration pooling the occasional group’s esoteric collage-based approach into a remarkably foreboding session pregnant with a dread that’s never quite resolved. Think Vladimir Ussachevsky, Todd Dockstader, Spectre and Company Flow melted thru the Deutsch-Italo industrial DIY tape era and funneled thru an almost impenetrable fog of Ann Arbor basement noizze. 

Hustling some of Neotantrik’s most amorphous gestures, ’241014’ is a four-segment movement of reduced Buchla treatments, destroyed vinyl loops and scraping foley suspense; like a cosmic dream diary layered into a collage of drones and clatters. Little in Ciani's extensive catalogue has hinted at what's on display here; the joyful lullaby-pop of "Seven Waves" or metallic alien soundscraping of "Flowers of Evil" are only hinted at. She instead paints new sonic vistas, allowing space for her collaborators to make themselves known; Votel's chiming toy autoharp and Bubul Tarang (a Punjab string instrument) add a distinctive flavor, while Canty's grimy drones and noise-soaked textures drizzle pitch-black molasses into the cracks and crevices. Together, the effect is a bit like hearing Philip Jeck improvising over Popol Vuh's peerless Moog-led debut "Affenstunde" or Demdike Stare knocking out impromptu reworks of Tangerine Dream's abstrakt early run.

Perhaps unusually, the trio have still never set foot in a studio together, exclusively maintaining their practice in-the-moment and on stage when schedules intersect. So it’s all the more remarkable that their improvisations naturally find a democracy of role and such a heightened level of intuition, beautifully converging their thoughts to mutual, open-ended conclusions that leaves billowing room for interpretation. In a most classic sense, it's like the sensation of sleep paralysis or dream/nightmare ambiguity, with a level of suggestiveness that’s disorienting from end to end.

For the first time the recordings are now available in high fidelity (there was a tape version a couple of years back) - now remastered by Rashad Becker to better represent the otherworldly scope of their actions on stage, from the NWW-like queues and drone of ‘Scanned Accents’ and keening silhouette of ‘Second Action,’ to new sections of subaquatic Porter Ricks-like murk in ‘Anti-Contraction’ and the levitating webs of synth and tactile, sampled textures in ‘Last Canción.’  

Tape music and synth music have long shared a passionate embrace, and here turntablism coolly slides in on the action. Canty and Votel's background in beat tape assembly and crate digging pays off: they're keenly experimental creators but bring an unfussy sense of rhythm and performance that's miles beyond any facile repetition of a nostalgia for vintage glory. Combined with Ciani's delicate Buchla work - it’s a unique proposition.

Blind Joe Death is the first album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. There are three different versions of the album, and the original self-released edition of fewer than 100 copies is extremely rare.

Original compositions inspired by the words of Omar Khayyam, arranged and conducted by Richard Evans. It is an oriental and exotic masterpiece that reflects Eastern thought while incorporating elements of African music, such as kalimba, with Japanese koto and harp. Recorded at Ter-Mar Studios, Chicago, November, 1969 - January, 1970. Published by Wiljean Music

Limited color vinyl (Marble Orange & Red)/ Gatefold sleeve specifications. The masterpiece "Kaleidoscope" released in 2000 released from the DJ Food project devised by the founder Coldcut. Produced by then-members Kevin Forks, aka Strictly Kev, and Patrick Carpenter, aka PC, this work sets it apart from DJ Food's original concept of providing DJ material, and the future of beat music. It was a perfect work as if I had foreseen. Twenty years after its release, Kev and PC celebrated the 20th anniversary of Kaleidoscope by discovering different versions, different mixes, and unpublished ideas from past archives and original recording session material. It was decided to put together a mixed sound source, make improvements and make it into a work as "Kaleidoscope Companion", and release it as a 4-disc LP together with the original album.

The opening "The Ents Go To War" has a gloomy arrangement and heavy drums, "Skylark" has a hypnotic dance between the bassline and the snare, and "Zoom Zoom" has a whimsical percussion. The airy synthesizer is impressive. In addition, "Kaleidoscope Companion" is full of moments that fans will be surprised at. The big band meets easy listening "Hip Operation" was reused in the first version of Sukia's "Feelin'Free" remix, and "A Strange Walk" was included in the compilation "Xen Cuts". An unreleased version of the remix. "Stealth" is another version of the Gentle Cruelty Remix of "The Aging Young Rebel", also included in "Xen Cuts".

Another version of DJ Food's signature song, "The Crow (Slow)," extends the melodic theme to a calm soundscape that eventually blends into another dub version. The 13-minute-long "Quadraplex (A Trip To The Galactic Center)" is made by stitching together various takes from different synthetic tracks. Closing Kaleidoscope Companion, Boo Hoo is an early short version of The Sky At Night that conveys the cinematic mood of the album.

It's not a new DJ Food album, it's an album that wasn't born at the time. In another reality, these songs may have been on Kaleidoscope, but now, 20 years later, they will be released as an adjunct to the original album. --Strictly Kev

William Hooker is a free jazz drummer/composer who has been active in the New York loft scene for over 40 years, and has collaborated with Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Jim O'Rourke and other members of Sonic Youth. William Hooker's first album, released on his own Reality Unit Concepts label in 1977, has been reissued for the first time on the prestigious Superior Viaduct label. This is a great album. This is amazing. This is not a sharp free improvisation, but rather an obscure piece of music that is quite dusty and deep, reflecting the black power of the social and political background of the time, and the growing spirituality that can be seen in the artwork. It's a spaced-out version of Rashied Ali or Milford Graves, and despite the large number of notes, it's very meditative and easy to get lost in.

The End is the Three 6 Mafia album that took them to the next level and eventual Grammy and Academy Awards. Available for the first time on vinyl. This newly remastered limited edition double LP on translucent Orange vinyl.

Limited edition green and yellow colored vinyl. A supergroup that arguably revolutionized the future of rap in Memphis, and rap itself, Three 6 Mafia was formed in the early '90s by mixtape DJs who had made a name for themselves as one of the top acts in the area. The End, a 1996 masterpiece by Three 6 Mafia, formed by mixtape DJs who had made a name for themselves as top acts in Memphis in the early '90s, proved that Memphis rap was commercially viable, and former member Koopsta Knicca's 1999 gangsta rap masterpiece was miraculously released on vinyl for the first time. It was remixed, edited, and remastered from the solo material that had been available only to underground audiences long before he became famous as a member of Three 6 Mafia, and became an instant hit. This is the long-awaited official vinyl release of one of the most sought-after albums in Memphis rap!

Over the last fifty years few musicians or performers have created as monumental and uncompromising a body of work as that of Keiji Haino. Through a vast number of recordings and performances Haino has staked out a ground all his own creating a language of unparalleled intensity that defies any simple classification. For all this, his 1981 debut album Watashi Dake? has remained enigmatic. Originally released in a small edition by the legendary Pinakotheca label, the album was heard by only a select few in Japan and far fewer overseas. Original vinyl copies became impossibly rare and highly sought after the world over.

Watashi Dake? presents a haunting vision – stark vocals, whispered and screamed, punctuate dark si-
lences. Intricate and sharp guitar figures interweave, repeat and stretch, trance-like, emerging from dark recesses. Written and composed on the spot – Haino’s vision is one of deep spiritual depths that distantly evokes 1920’s blues and medieval music- yet is unlike anything ever committed to record before or since. Coupled with starkly minimal packaging featuring the now iconic cover photographs by legendary photographer Gin Satoh, the album is a startling and fully realized artistic statement.

Pavement’s sole long-player is the stuff of legend, a record so rare that in-the-know vinyl connoisseurs have questioned its very existence. As one of the many vinyl anomalies of the day, Pavement’s obscure story is very much about a particular place and time, in this case, the fringes of the multi-cultural London music scene that existed at the tail end of the swinging sixties. According to the liner notes of the original LP, Pavement was formed in 1968 after ‘Dexter Pat and John had left their original group,’ and ‘Tony and George left theirs to unite with them.’ Then, ‘an express letter to Beirut brought Mick, who was playing there at the time.’ We are told that these musicians were ‘digging the solid soul sounds’ and ‘the exciting rhythms of the Caribbean, ska and reggae,’ and after two months of steady rehearsals, the band ‘launched themselves into the rat race of popular music’ in November 1968. They supposedly had so much success as a warm-up act after playing up and down the country in support of various unnamed groups that they were ‘soon being booked as top of the bill,’ hence the need for this. Pavement’s self-titled debut album was the first LP released by Crystal, the subsidiary of President Records that was established in 1968 by Jack Price, a songwriter and harmonica player that had just replaced Siggy Jackson as label manager at Melodisc Records. Price had his finger in a number of different pies: in addition to promoting Melodisc’s ska and reggae catalogue, he was soon to produce the ground-breaking various artists album Rock Steady Hits Of 69 for Fontana with London-based reggae performers, which helped bring Caribbean rhythms into non-specialist music shops for the very first time, and enjoyed the publishing on The Cats’ massive ‘Swan Lake’ 45, a hugely successful pop-reggae adaptation. Jack also ran a recording studio of his own, reputedly the first London facility with eight-track recording equipment. The original liner notes suggested that we should ‘rest assured that there will be more singles and albums to come from this refreshing group’ and that ‘this news will please a lot of people.’ Of course, things didn’t quite work out that way, yet this reissue of the Pavement LP reminds that reggae, soul and other foreign forms were spicing up the London music scene as the 1960s drew to a close. Delve into its contents and ponder further on its particulars.

Guitarist RUSSELL POTTER's A Stone's Throw (1979) and Neither Here Nor There (1981) reissued via Tompkins Square - LP & Digital June 25th

The latest in a series of reissues spawned from Imaginational Anthem Volume 8 : The Private Press, following Tom Armstrong - The Sky Is An Empty Eye and Rick Deitrick - Gentle Wilderness/River Sun River Moon

Reflections on Russell Potter by IA8 co-producer and poet, Michael Klausman :

The two latest reissues to spin off from our acclaimed Imaginational Anthem Volume 8: The Private Press feature the solo guitar compositions of Russell Potter, recorded in the last waning days of the initial American Primitive explosion.

A then obsessed teenaged devotee of John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke at a time when Punk and New Wave were ascendant, Potter harnessed a similar DIY ethos to his own ends by starting his own label & self-publishing his first record, 'A Stone’s Throw’, while a freshman enrolled at Goddard College in Vermont in 1979. Assembled at the legendary Boddie Records in Potter’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and sprinkled liberally with references to his heroes, from the initial record label name of Fonytone (which more than a little recalls Fahey’s earliest record label, Fonotone), to the arcane song titles and references to obscure rags.

Even as he looks to his elders, Potter’s debut release nimbly evinces a complete mastery of his form and is all the more remarkable for one of such tender years, as only the chutzpah of youth can account for such moves as successfully grafting one of your own composition to one of John Fahey’s, as he does here. There’s a very immediate, lovely, and real homespun quality to Potter’s chiming twelve-string compositions that puts it in the realm of those classic records that seem to simply exist outside of time.

Shortly after ‘A Stones Throw’, Potter produced & released a 45rpm single by an Ohio bluegrass band featuring the cult singer songwriter Bob Frank performing a cover of Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’, before moving on to his second (and sadly final) album the following year, ‘Neither Here Nor There’. Following an independent study with a Goddard College ethnomusicologist, Potter’s compositions and performance only deepened on his second release — the recording quality steps up a little but loses none of the immediacy, the playing gets more exuberantly virtuosic —but then more reflective too, particularly on the tunes that are influenced by the gorgeous traditional Irish slow airs. He’s still tipping his hat to Fahey occasionally as well, this time with an audacious electric guitar setting of the classic “Dance of the Inhabitant of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain.”

Though these albums landed at a time when American Primitive guitar music’s 1960s & 1970s heyday was in the rear view mirror, they absolutely look ahead to the genre’s eventual 21st Century resurrection, anticipating both in form & content many of the same concerns you find in the great contemporary work of the last two decades by Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Daniel Bachman, et al., and as such provide about as fine a stepping stone between these two eras as you’re likely to find.