MUSIC

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

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

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

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

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

The Czech group Gurun Gurun is made up of Tarnovski, Tomáš Knoflíček, Federsel, and Ondřej Ježek. who took their name from the fictional planet in the old school Slovak children’s TV show She Came Out of the Blue Sky. Uzu Oto is his first album for the Peruvian label Buh Records. Since the beginning, it has been clear that apprehending their working and reflecting it would be a tough nut to crack. Is this even a band? Do they play compositions or is it all improvised? On the stage, you see four men hunched over tables overflowing with strange objects, hard-to-identify electronic devices, musical and non-musical instruments, and a chaotic tangle of cables, producing slow, constantly developing melodies and a hypnotic atmosphere that works a little like falling through a strange wormhole full of sounds, noises, and soft female vocals, mercilessly sucking you in, forcing you to collapse into yourself and enter a parallel universe. They have played concerts across Europe, including London’s Café Oto, as well as successfully touring Japan. They have shared the stage with artists including Michael Gira, Tim Hecker, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Lichens), Keith Fullerton Whitman, Kate Carr, and Lichens. This new album, Uzu Oto, was also created in concert – each track at a different show. Despite this fact, GG do not consider it a traditional live album. And as this group generally exists independently of our common conception of time, the history of the new recording reaches back to before theird previous record, Kon B. Uzu Oto features the Kyoto-based singer Cuushe and Asuna, a sound artist from Kanazawa. The LP cover is by Czech artist, inventor, and sonic anarchist Petr Válek. Attending a Gurun Gurun concert is like taking part in an expedition by a pack of monkeys to explore the wreckage of a spaceship that was shipwrecked a long time ago. Their improvised live sets are a mix of post-club-music deconstruction, metamorphosed acoustic and electronic sounds, generative music, and musique concrète. This is also the spirit of Uzu Oto. No, this is not music to play while you wash the dishes. Or perhaps it is, but you have to factor in the fact that the dishes will become a tangle of roots, threads, ropes, lianas, and spider webs. And that your entire kitchen may well catch on fire.

Limited green & white marble color vinyl specifications. A new talented woman from the prestigious label , Which leads the ambient / experimental scene! New album by Diatom Deli, a multi-instrumentalist / vocalist based in Taos, New Mexico. This work is an ambient folk work with a beautiful and pure soundscape with beautifully layered vocals, classical guitar, field recording, synthesizer, and sampler. Although it is experimental, it has a gentle and calm atmosphere throughout the album.

Mekonium is Michael Anklin’s solo debut. He is a drummer, electronic musician and producer living in Switzerland. To expand his sound spectrum, he uses field recordings, analog synthesizer, tape machines, as well as self-constructed instruments and sound objects. His sound is characterized by prepared acoustic drums, various objects and sound manipulations. Anklin collaborates with artists such as Dim Grimm, Kilchhofer, Janiv Oron and Wordcolour. He is one of the founding members of the open structured band «UFO» and the science-fiction ritual band «Liebeslied». He produces music for theater, dance and sound installations. Inspired by the pureness of ritual and traditional music, Mekonium sounds like a documentation of a fictional ceremony. Topics such as temporal consciousness, minimalism and anti-virtuosity as well as sounds barely perceptible by our auditory system influenced the production process Drones, soundscapes and slowly morphing repetitive patterns establish a state of time. To represent the concept of reduction, each track starts off with a single instrument or sounding object on which the composition slowly started to grow. Like grapes fermented into wine, acoustic sounds developed into different sound manipulations, still preserving the „taste“ of the original sound sources. The Tracks „Exon“ and „Zymosis“ contain a musical deconstruction of Lucas Rössner’s bassoon. Sounds from the Instrument were dissected with different types of microphones and rejoined into a collage. Hagneck, a hydroelectric powerplant next to Lake Biel was stocked with a number of contact microphones resulting in a huge powerful drone which built the fundament of the track. Mekonium deals with the feeling, condition and dilation of time. Musical fragments are played simultaneously at different speed, acoustic sounds were frozen, deformed, stretched and rearranged.

After 20 years of incubation, My Bloody Valentine's third album, m b v, was suddenly released in 2013, and was at once their most experimental and most melodic and immediate work, proving their insatiable appetite for reform. Highly acclaimed as an astounding work that pushed the boundaries of musical and genre concepts even further, it also featured a type of music that had never been heard before. At once otherworldly, familiar, and intuitive, this album is a masterpiece for a new era, a stunningly beautiful transformation of the sound synonymous with MBV as it had been known up to that point. The album's final track, "Wonder 2," is a testament to this, with Shields' hypnotic guitar sound mixed with drum'n'bass that has left many awestruck.

Mastered from original 1/2" analog tape using Studer A80 VU-PRE and Neumann VMS 80.
Mastered from original 1/2" analog tape using Studer A80 VU-PRE and Neumann VMS 80
180g weight vinyl
Standard gatefold outer sleeve
Produced and mixed by Kevin Shields
Includes five 300 x 300 mm art prints
Includes DL code (24-bit | 16-bit | mp3)

“ When I started working on the piece in March of 2020, I had only decided to record it in the way I wanted to. The coronavirus was spreading globally, and the situation was gradually changing into something very serious. With no gigs scheduled and hardly seeing anyone, I felt as if my spirit was in a slightly deeper place than usual during the production. I sat down in front of my equipment as if I were dropping a fishing line into a quiet lake. I kept feeling that something new was lurking beneath the water surface. I was trying to catch that something that seemed to be just out of reach, that floated in and out of sight like a speck of smoke. ”
＿Referenced from: Afterword of 7FO「Ran - Bouten」

2021 brings a new album by Osaka electronic musician / producer 7FO. This work is a departure from the recent global ambient / new age approach, and the unique sound aesthetic created using only hardware equipment is a new frontier of 7FO or a return to his origin. "Ran - Bouten" is a new electronic music album with a poetic sensibility using machines.

Discovered by overseas labels such as RVNG intl., Bokeh Versions, and Metron-and with the release that followed EM Records in his hometown Osaka, it's like his personal folk craft that was once quietly played at his own pace. Music has reached listeners around the world. In recent years, he has been touring from a famous performance with Tapes at the Belgian "Meakusma Festival 2019" to a Japan-Korea tour. "Ran - Bouten" was born as a result of facing the sound alone without being asked by anyone to cool down the heat when the steaming and intense experience had settled down. Inside the cool electronic sound like a water bath, you can feel the maker's heart sending hot blood.

Peep into the condensed universe of a home-recorded miniature world that looks like an independent production of unknown age. He was alone in a dark room, making full use of KAWAI's 1990 digital and FM synthesizers , tracing the shape of nature and resonating the micro and macro sound worlds. The Rhythm and melody that continues to the Paradise Pure Land, which floats in a dreamy atmosphere, is the true value of 7FO even without his guitar play.

Mastering by Makoto Oshiro, which supports everything from home listening to club sound systems. Hiroaki Hidaka designed the jacket to make the image of the sound appear cool and friendly everywhere.

Outernational Sounds very proudly Presents The Mallory-Hall Band "Song of Soweto" & "The Last Special". Limited, fully licensed digital and vinyl reissues of two crucial South African sessions led by Charles Mallory and Al Hall, Jnr., featuring Kirk Lightsey, Marshall Royal, Rudolph Johnson, Billy Brooks and more! Essential companion pieces to Kirk Lightsey’s legendary ‘Habiba’. Featuring tracks: Song Of Soweto: Side A – ‘Song of Soweto’, ‘Hamba Samba’; Side B – ‘Cape Town Blues’, ‘Moroka Rock’, ‘The African Night’ The Last Special: Side A - ‘The Last Special’, ‘Princess of Joh’Burg’; Side B - ‘Amafu (Clouds)’, ‘Blue Mabone’ Never released outside South Africa, and out of print since 1974, Outernational Sounds presents two long-lost Johannesburg sessions from the Mallory-Hall Band – an all-star review of West Coast jazz stars who toured apartheid South Africa in the mid-1970s. Sanifu Al Hall, Jnr. is a musician’s musician. During a storied career stretching across six decades, Hall has recorded with the greats of the music including Freddie Hubbard, Doug Carn, and Johnny Hammond, and leads his own Cosmos Dwellerz Arkestra. But until recent years, the only records on which he had appeared as leader were a brace of rich, funky LPs, Song Of Soweto and The Last Special, issued only in South Africa under the moniker of The Mallory-Hall Band (named for Hall and his co-leader, guitarist Charles Mallory – musical director for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mallory was conductor for Dusty Springfield touring bands, and had worked with John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder, and many others). Neither LP had any wider release, and both have remained out of print since 1974. How did a young stalwart of the Los Angeles jazz scene end up in a recording studio in apartheid South Africa? Al Hall, Jnr. and Charles Mallory had arrived in South Africa as part of the touring band for the singer Lovelace Watkins. Sometimes billed as ‘the Black Sinatra’, the Detroit-born Watkins sang standards and ballroom classics on the Las Vegas circuit. He never made it big in the US, but in his 1970s heyday he was a huge star in southern Africa, and 1974 he hired a jazz big band to accompany him on a tour of South Africa – Hall and Mallory were part of the line-up, alongside Mastersounds bassist Monk Montgomery, pianist Kirk Lightsey, tenorist Rudolph Johnson, drummer Billy Brooks, and Marshall Royal, musical director of the Count Basie band. The tour was a huge success, and during downtime from performing, members of the group managed to independently record no fewer than three albums. Lightsey and Johnson’s stunning Habiba was the first (reissued as Outernational Sounds OTR.013), and it was followed by two crucial sessions led by Hall and Mallory – Song of Soweto and The Last Special, issued on the local IRC imprint. Visiting apartheid South Africa in 1974 was a controversial choice for any artist. Numerous artistic and cultural bodies around the world had already announced that their members would boycott the country in solidarity with the struggle against apartheid, and working in South Africa was severely frowned on by anti-apartheid activists everywhere. For a Black band, touring the country to play to mostly white audiences could have been seen by many both inside and outside South Africa as a questionable decision. ‘It was a batch of mixed reactions when I choose to visit South Africa whilst apartheid policies were in place,’ Hall recalls. ‘To me the choice was a simple one – “I wanna see for myself!” I also wanted to be a part of breaking down racial barriers, having been down some of the same roads in my own country.’ The albums were recorded by a twelve-piece band at Johannesburg’s Video Sounds Studios in December 1974, and feature the legendary pianist Kirk Lightsey, Black Jazz recording artist Rudolph Johnson, and the rest of the touring band. Both records are superbly arranged slabs of peak 1970s funky big band soul jazz, with tasteful Latin inflections and more than a nod to South Africa’s upful township jazz sound. They are the sonic traces left by a seasoned African American band who were touring South Africa in the depths of the apartheid era, and who immediately moved beyond the segregated hotels and ballrooms to build links with local South African players and audiences. Never previously available outside South Africa, Outernational Sounds’ new editions of Song of Soweto and The Last Special (alongside our edition of Kirk Lightsey’s Habiba) represents the first time these albums have been in print for nearly fifty years. Fully licensed from Gallo Records and pressed at Pallas in Germany from Gallo’s original masters, they feature new sleeve notes from Francis Gooding (The Wire) based on interviews with Al Hall, Jnr., and a reminiscence from pianist Kirk Lightsey.

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

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

Budapest, Hungary-based producer Laurine Frost, popular for his series of works based on the story of his imaginary daughter's life, has released her latest album under the name Haramia Tapes for the first time in four years! A dope blend of dub, broken beats, and jungle. 7 groovy, cleverly stripped down, hypnotic tracks. Mastering and cutting at by Helmut Erler. Limited to 300 copies.

Deadstock. A must-have masterpiece for fans of Basic Channel and Huerco S. German electro heavyweight Burnt Friedman, who also collaborated with German rock giant Jaki Liebezeit of CAN, released this masterpiece in 2016 as the only single in the Risque catalog, a sub-label of his Nonplace label. Two abstract minimal dub pieces of nearly 10 minutes each are included on each side. Mastered at Dubplates & Mastering to Rashad Becker's specifications, the quality of the vinyl is flawless!

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

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

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

Songs 9, 11, 12, 13 by Myriam Gendron; 1 by John Jacob Niles; 8 by John Jacob Niles / Myriam Gendron. All other selections: traditional revived by Myriam Gendron. Recorded at home, early 2021. Mixed by Myriam Gendron & Tonio Morin-Vargas. Produced by Myriam Gendron, Eric Villeneuve & Tonio Morin-Vargas. Mastering by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering. Chansons 9, 11, 12, 13 par Myriam Gendron ; 1 par John Jacob Niles ; 8 par John Jacob Niles / Myriam Gendron. Toutes les autres pièces : traditionnelles ravivées par Myriam Gendron. Enregistré à la maison au début de 2021. Mixé par Myriam Gendron & Tonio Morin-Vargas. Réalisé par Myriam Gendron, Eric Villeneuve & Tonio Morin-Vargas. Matriçage par Harris Newman chez Grey Market Mastering.

Arguably one of the highpoints from both these UK sonic pioneers (John Bolotten aka The Rootmsan and Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze). This is the first vinyl issue of original material previously published in 1997 on CD by Third Eye Music (Rootsman’s own CD imprint). Another collaboration between Muslimgauze and The Rootsman following the Amahar release.

Jin Mu is taken from the Chinese Zodiac and translates to the elements of Metal (Jin) and Wood (Mu). this is essentially the concept of this record.. Tucceri plays a selection of wooden and metal flutes and Zeitgeist plays drums and cymbals. In this sense it's a musical connection to the natural elements and spirits embodied in these instruments. Having worked together for several years on the project ‘Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange’ Zeitgeist and Tucceri come together here in a very intimate and vulnerable setting. This recording offers a place of reflection and healing amongst an ever imposing and disposable pop culture. In a time where we fight for each others attention in 10 second social media grabs. The duo offer something of the opposite. An opportunity to tap out of the technological bombardment and allow the listener the place to reflect, to ponder, to imagine. This record is especially poignant at a time of rising tensions in Australia about the acknowledgment and rights of the indigenous peoples and an ongoing fight for the settlement of refugees in what is essentially a nation of immigrants.

After releasing their aptly titled first three LPs (I, II & III) GODTET concluded their triptych with the idea of a 'clean slate'. To allow the universe of GODTET to grow the band hit reset somewhat. Returning to their original conception of the band; Hitting record in the studio without preconceived thought or discussion on the outcome. After recording Meditations GODTET were asked to pay homage to the great John Coltrane at The Sydney Opera House during their lockdown web series in 2020. To celebrate the 50 year anniversary of 'Giant Steps' GODTET reimagined the seminal body of work into one long set. The band collaborated with local artists Chris Cooper & Sam Whickham who designed the audio visual aspect of the show. And after an astounding reception, decided to utilise the two artists to build upon Meditations. The 'Suite' EP (which features on the B side of 'Meditations') is the amalgamation of the earlier GODTET LP sounds and Godriguez's produced albums, through-composed as a 15 minute suite. To be true to the long-form, through-composed piece, the band recorded this release live; one take, no over-dubs and straight to tape much like the 'Meditations' sessions, but composed. The cathartic opening of 'Suite' awakens the gods with a sombre Welsh men's choir. Their vibrato ripples across the ocean as the second movement lands the listener in the Solomon Islands where bamboo sticks are tapped against rock. As the band nods to 'Struck Bamboo Pipes' from their last LP. Dub Horns blaze out of the calming movements, fractured polyrhythmic, post-dub-step energy takes hold. 'The sounds bleed into a neighbouring Trinidadian street festival as they march across the Atlantic. The end is nigh, Moroccan percussion and vocals dance as Godriguez's roots shine bright. What it all a dream? A Ghanian 'Women's Choir' lulls back consciousness. The 5-piece bids us farewell, sounds of the forked harp and Baoule men singing is all that remains. And just like that, the trip is over.

Elodie is the first full-length album by Andrew Chalk, a solitary musician, and Timo van Luijk of Belgium, who also shows his talent in Af Ursin and In Camera. The sound is a mix of field recordings of birdsong and murmuring rivers, and performances of various instruments (bagpipes, guitar, koto, percussion, synths, etc.) and non-instrumentalists, resulting in a very varied sound, but still stateless. Like the works of both artists, it is a small and compact worldview, but all of the sounds, including quiet and beautiful drones, abstract playing with/without melody, and improvisation, are wonderful, reaching the realm of meditation. The sense of time, similar to that of Andrew Chalk's work, is clearly alive here as well, as one forgets the passage of time. This is an ideal type of music. I think you will experience a very fresh sensation. Daisuke Suzuki and Ian Middleton also participated. The artwork is as wonderful as ever and sounds just like this.

This version of the ‘imâra starts with the qahili introduction in the form of a prayer to the prophet, then the tawhid (the affirmation of divine unicity) : « lâ illâha illah llah ». This same dikhr (psalmody) quickens its pace, at first very slowly, then more and more rapid until the name of Allah is repeated to a binary rhythm. The fuqâra will shortly retain only hu (from Allahu) as it is gradually imposed by the qutb (the pole). The hu is transformed by this special ‘imâra alchemy into the unique breath of the spirant hamza (the sound emission technique is purely abdominal), and then, when the qutb claps his hands, it becomes more and more prominent. Associated with the name of Allah, the hu asserts itself by accelerating and quickening the pace to the point of metamorphosing itself into hamza. The balance between the soloist who sings the mystical poems and the rest of the assembly is progressively established, and then the accelration of the hamza finally throws the participants into the abyss of ecstasy.

The Suwa Daiko is a tradition of Kagura (= sacred music and dance) and drums of the SUWA TAISHA Shrine that enshrines the life of the TAKEMINAKATA (= one of god in Japanese mythology). It is a folk performing art that is recorded in an ancient document of the “Koshin-etsu-Senroku (=Koshin-etsu War Record)”. The document says that it is also medieval military music. Shingen TAKEDA（1521-1573）, who was a great warlord in 16th-century known for his equestrian corps said to be the strongest in Sengoku period, formed 21 people of Suwa Daiko and raised the spirit and willingness of the Takeda army soldiers by Suwa Daiko at the battle of Kawanakajima (1553-1564). Mr. Daihachi OGUCHI has collected traditional drums with different tones of various sizes and created an original group drum. He opened 15 branches nationwide, 12 branches overseas such as San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Singapore etc. and helped spread the Suwa Daiko world wide. Osuwa Daiko Preservation Society is an intangible cultural property that inherits the will of Daihachi OGUCHI. This album was recorded at the Osuwa Daiko Preservation Society dojo in Okaya City, Nagano. One of the two songs is created as DTM by veteran jazz pianist Masahiko SATO (studied at Berklee College of Music in 1966-68 and has many awards). His DTM adds unique musicality to this traditional sound and makes it lively and original. Also, the artwork was licensed to use “Shingen TAKEDA statue” drawn by Tohaku HASEGAWA (=Tohaku HASEGAWA (1539-1610) was the highest painter played an active part from the Azuchi Momoyama to the early Edo period. Now many of his works designated as national treasures.) It is an important cultural property in the Seikei-in Temple at Mt. Koya.

Pauline Oliveros's The Wanderer is available on LP for the first time since it was originally released in 1984. Cut at Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity. An utterly essential document of early American minimalism from Pauline Oliveros. The Wanderer is the sister record to Accordion & Voice (IMPREC 140LP). "The Wanderer" is based on a single modal scale (B C# D D# E F# G#) and rhythmic modes based on a meter consisting of ¾ and ⅜. Part I, "Song", is intended to explore the unique resonant qualities of accordion reeds through long sounds. Subtle variations come about from differences in tuning and air pressure. Part II, "Dance", demonstrates the sharp accenting power of the accordion bellows in a mixture of cross-rhythms characteristic of jigs, reels, batucadas, Bulgars, klezmer forms, Cajun dances, and music of other diverse cultures. The Wanderer was composed in November, 1982 especially for the Springfield Accordion Orchestra, directed by Sam Falcetti. This recording documents The Wanderer's world premiere, as it was performed January 27, 1983 at Marymount Manhattan Theatre. The orchestra consists of twenty accordions, two bass accordions, and five percussionists, with Pauline Oliveros as soloist, Sam Falcetti conducting. "Horse Sings From Cloud", written in 1975, is one of Oliveros' best known works. Like most of her Sonic Meditations, it can be performed vocally and/or instrumentally, solo or in collaboration. A solo version of "Horse Sings From Cloud" has been recorded on Accordion & Voice. An early version of the score reads, "Sustain a tone or sound until any desire to change it disappears. When there is no longer any desire to change the tone or sound, then change it." This time, "Horse Sings From Cloud" is performed in ensemble. Joining Pauline Oliveros on bandoneon are Heloise Gold on Harmonium, Julia Haines on accordion, and Linda Montano on concertina. This quartet version incorporates the microtonal differences in tuning of the selected instruments, creating shimmering reed sounds somewhat similar to the shimmering of a Balinese gamelan.

Pauline Oliveros' Accordion & Voice is available on LP for the first time since it was originally released in 1982. Cut at Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity. Pauline Oliveros was an electronic music pioneer, accordionist, composer and educator who resided in Kingston, New York. Her instrument was tuned in Just Intonation and she often included it in her meditative improvisational music. Her music is not meditative in the sense that it is intended for listening to while meditating, rather each piece is a form of meditation, such as her aptly titled Sonic Meditations. A central figure in post-war electronic art music, Oliveros is one of the original members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center (along with Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, Terry Riley, and Anthony Martin), which was the resource on the US West coast for electronic music during the 1960s. The Center later moved to Mills College, where she was its first director, and is now called the Center for Contemporary Music. Oliveros often improvises with the Expanded Instrument System, an electronic signal processing system she designed, in her performances and recordings.

"Accordion & Voice was the first of my recordings as a soloist. I was living in an A-frame house in a meadow just below Mount Tremper at Zen Mountain Center. I had a wonderful view of the graceful saddle mountain top. When away on a performance trip I would imagine the mountain as I played 'Rattlesnake Mountain'. I followed the feelings and sensations of my many experiences of the mountain -- the changing colors of the season, the breezes and winds blowing through the grasses and trees. 'Horse Sings From Cloud' taught me to listen to the depth of a tone and to have patience. Rather than initiating musical impulses of motion, melody and harmony I wanted to hear the subtlety of a tone taking space and time to develop. The tones linger and resonate in the body, mind, instrument and performance space. My thanks to Important Records for bringing these pieces to be heard again." --Pauline Oliveros, 2007

Portico Quartet announce Next Stop, a dynamic 4 track EP recorded at the same sessions as 2021's acclaimed Monument release. Released in November 2021, Monument was acclaimed as one of Portico Quartet's most accessible, direct records to date. Carefully crafted as an ode to better times, it pulsed with the energy of dance music and was one of the most melodic and carefully structured records the band have ever released. Next Stop is the brilliant follow-up, a pulsing powerful four-tracker that also features a wistful, elegiac side and perhaps provides a coda to Monument. Captured Time is a melodious and atmospheric tune that erupts out of layered synthesisers and strings. It's contrast between melodic simplicity and textural density is what lets it push through to an elated, ecstatic conclusion as the band draw you into an emotional journey as only they can. Next Stop is Portico Quartet at full power. Arguably the most rhythmically dense tune they have ever made. It's hypnotic groove driven by am off-kilter 7/8 drum and bass groove that ducks and dives with relentless intensity. Youth is a deceptively simple tune, nostalgic in tone, It's a paen to childhood and simpler days, with Wyllie's wistful sax melody perfectly offset by the low-slung slow-mo hip-hop beat of Bellamy drums. But is the beautiful strings that really turn this tune into something special.

Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings. The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”. In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity. But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection. “La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development. The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff. New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end. However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record. It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.