| FORCED EXPOSURE MAILORDER UPDATE NEW RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF 03/05/2012 |
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order from our NEW! beta site: http://beta.forcedexposure.com you can also click on cover art or album info to order online a secure order form is available for credit card purchases. and via mail: for more information about shipping or ordering direct any questions to mailorder@forcedexposure.com |
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| 100% SILK | |
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FORT ROMEAU: Kingdoms CD (SILK 022CD) 12.00 “‘Jack this groove,’ a deep voice persists in ‘Jack Rollin’,’ the tour-de-four-on-the-floor force set opener of Kingdoms. Seedy deeds are done during Fort Romeau’s late-night lush, a frolic down London foggy fascination streets. Vinyl crackle on the hush-hush, Fort Romeau plays bass face-time and clap attacks through shadow jackin’ steam, muted mambas, and the sultry spiral of total texture. A feminine touch, soothing and somnolent, with a man’s musk, pounding, pursuing. Makes you teary, tearing down Romeau’s Row, as syncopated swishes, like woodwind winter winds, suck, sigh, and blow. It’s a sauna sound: hot gusts, warmer water jets, sensual shuffles, breathy and beautiful. ‘I need you,’ a yearning voice persists as the album closes, that covetous caress you’ve got your heart set on, that Fort Romeau languishing lull you set your heartbeat by.” |
| 23FIVE | |
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GARET, RICHARD: Areal CD (23FIVE 016CD) 14.00 “In working with sound, video, and installation, Richard Garet has made an artform of interference. In previous work, he’s employed photosensors to control a particular audio signal through the erratic nature of a violently pulsing abstract film. He’s flooded a performance space with fog to disperse multi-channel video work into an ephemeral yet sculptural mass, accompanied by an equally diffused sound design. And here on Areal, Garet continues his ongoing research with electromagnetic disturbances through radio. Garet treats the radio process of transmission and reception as a routing system for the audio signal, all the while deliberately agitating and distressing the nodes that direct the course of that signal. For example, an electrical motor might be situated near a radio’s antenna disrupting its ability to properly receive a transmission that Garet is broadcasting from nearby. Through the controlled use of electro-acoustic techniques (some rough and volatile, some refined and delicate), he organizes the signal distortion, the crackling static, and the ever-present tendencies for feedback into swarms of chiming resonance, electrically sourced harmonics, tactile bricolage, and impressionist din. As much as Garet’s process pushes the interaction of sound and electricity to the brink of self-immolation, Areal balances his crunched textures with extended passages of radiant blooms of blurry noise and drone, finding common ground between the glassine density from Rhys Chatham and the splintered excursions of Kevin Drumm.” |
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SCHAFER, HELMUT: Thought Provoking III CD (23FIVE 017CD) 14.00 “Thought Provoking III is the final document from the electro-acoustic composer Helmut Schafer who died in 2007. The Austrian artist spoke of his work as ‘characterized by the use of very intense and direct musical language which powerfully describes his personal experience and reflections on society structures, the blindness of modern and informed masses and everyday functionalism in between civilization.’ That intensity of expression manifested itself through performances and collaborations that took Schafer around the globe, including presentations at Documenta X and ARS Electronica both in 1997. For all of his tireless work, Schafer’s recording output is relatively small, focusing mostly on his collaborative work with noted musical extremist Zbigniew Karkowski. Schafer posited Thought Provoking as a radical shift from his brutalist electronic engineering to a spatialized, open-ended composition based on the muffled tones from an ad hoc instrument he built from salvaged church organ pipes and hair dryers. The first presentation of this work took place in his home town of Graz, Austria in 2003; the second was a collaboration with violinist Elisabeth Gmeiner in Vienna two years later; and the third & final performance occurred in 2006 with percussionist Will Guthrie and Gmiener at the St. Andre Church where he first presented it in Graz. After Schafer’s death, Guthrie reconstituted the rehearsal takes from that performance for this recording of Thought Provoking III, attempting to re-imagine the controlled energy of those sessions with Schafer’s aesthetic framework at the forefront. The bellowing hums from Schafer’s organ pipe and hair dryer contraction ebb and flow amidst intermittent percussive flourishes, subtle gong overtones, sustained violin trills, and fizzling electronic mark-making. On the second track of this disc, long-time friend Zbigniew Karkowski presents a smoldering electro-acoustic remix of Thought Provoking III as a fitting tribute to Schafer.” |
| 4 MEN WITH BEARDS | |
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DAVIS, MILES: Pangaea 2LP (4M 810LP) 27.00 “Recorded on the same day as Agharta, Pangaea’s two LPs of material are culled from the evening performances at Osaka’s Festival Hall. Featuring just two songs, both clocking in at over 40 minutes, Pangaea shows Miles’ band really stretching itself to the limit. Live electric jazz-fusion from the undisputed master of the genre.” On 180 gram vinyl; housed in a deluxe gatefold full-color sleeve. |
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DAVIS, MILES: Agharta 2LP (4M 811LP) 27.00 “Agharta was recorded at the Osaka Festival Hall on February 1, 1975 and originally released on double LP only in Japan. Featuring one of Miles Davis’ strongest lineups from his electric period, Agharta is a smoking set of jazz-funk fusion, featuring blistering live interpretations of some of his finest compositions. Davis recorded another fantastic double LP, Pangaea, on the same day proving him to be an unrivaled talent in both creativity and output.” 180 gram vinyl; housed in a full-color gatefold sleeve. |
| AMS (ITALY) | |
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GOBLIN: Patrick LP (AMS 037LP) 34.00 “Patrick is an Australian thriller/horror movie made in 1978; at the beginning of the following year, Goblin were asked by the Italian distributor of the film, De Laurentis, to write a new soundtrack –originally composed by an Australian musician called…Brian May! — for the Italian movie market. The result is a mix of old songs added by the Cinevox record label and new selections, strongly influenced by Alan Parsons Project.” |
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GOBLIN: Contamination LP (AMS 039LP) 34.00 “Contamination was released in 1980 as a soundtrack for the eponymous horror/science fiction film, during what probably was the most prolific period in Goblin’s career, even if the band had already been abandoned by guitarist Massimo Morante and keyboardist Claudio Simonetti. Unknown by most listeners, it’s a release that deserves more attention, since it shows a wide range of music styles (jazz, funk, rock, electronic) and once again Goblin’s ability in writing film scores.” |
| BANANASTAN | |
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PARKS, VAN DYKE: The All Golden/Sassafrass 7″ (BSR 4505EP) 11.00 “The sixth and final installment in the new Van Dyke Parks 45 series is illustrated by both Billy Ed Wheeler, and the legendary Klaus Voormann.” |
| BANG! RECORDS (SPAIN) | |
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CHROME CRANKS, THE: Ain’t No Lies In Blood LP (BANG 058LP) 21.00 The Chrome Cranks are back with a new album. After 15 years, the classic line-up of this already legendary New York band (featuring Peter Aaron, William Weber, Bob Bert and Jerry Teel) got together again in 2009 to launch their compilation album The Murder Of Time and play live in New York and France. Then in 2010, they wrote new songs and got back in the studio to record this piece of their brutal swamp-noise blues. Dirtier, louder and even angrier than their ’90s recordings, Ain’t No Lies In Blood delivers 9 full-on tracks where The Scientists meet The Stooges, all wrapped by the steamy pollution of the New York City sound, created by the band back in the day. In other words: The Chrome Cranks at their purest. Artwork by Michael Gira (Swans). |
| BBE (UK) | |
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VA: Johnny D Presents Disco Jamms Volume One 2CD (BBE 192CD) 17.50 “Johnny ‘D’ DeMairo has always been about disco. It was something that underpinned his seminal house label Henry Street Music (named after a cross street in his Brooklyn neighborhood), the imprint he set up with Tommy Musto in 1993. It was a place where the particles of classic disco and the four-to-the-floor throb of house music were smashed together to create something new, something that would extend the life of these underground anthems and introduce them to a new audience. Armand Van Helden, Kenny Dope, Lil’ Louie Vega, Terry Hunter, DJ Sneak, Todd Terry, DJ Duke; they all turned it out for Henry Street, and tracks like Dope’s ‘The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)’ and Van Helden’s ‘The Funk Phenomena’ made it a pivotal part of house music history. This selection is about the tracks that would inform Henry Street, the tracks found deep within the complex strings of its DNA, the tracks championed by Pettibone on Kiss or by Washington at the Studio, or those dredged from crates across the city. Half-heard anthems from Italy tracked down through forensic research in the record shops of the five boroughs, rare dub versions of classics that you won’t be finding on eBay anytime soon.” |
| BEAT GENERATION (SPAIN) | |
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PIEL DE PUEBLO: Rock De Las Heridas LP (BEAT 033LP) 19.50 Alberto Ramón García, better known as Pajarito Zaguri, is one of the key protagonists in the history of Argentinian rock — first with Los Beatniks, Los Náufragos and later in La Barra De Chocolate. Piel De Pueblo was a short-lived project which only released one album, Rock De Las Heridas, in 1972 on the Disc Jockey label. Apart from Pajarito, the band featured big names from Buenos Aires rock such as Nacho Smilari, who, after his stint in La Barra De Chocolate, had been rocking out in Vox Dei, and Carlos Calabró, an outstanding drummer who would later play with Smilari in Cuero. And let’s not forget that Piel De Pueblo’s bass player, Willy Pedemonte, would end up playing with Miguel Cantilo y Grupo Sur after the band’s dissolution. Piel De Pueblo’s members defined the evolution of Argentinian rock, both in their previous and later projects, and Pajarito would also have a long and intense career that continues to this day. Rock De Las Heridas is a raw, hard rock record, with some progressive tinges such as violin and keyboard arrangements, but most of all, it’s a piece of work that screams rage and desperation, just as the album title points out (trans. “Rock From The Wounds”). It’s a record that foresees in its lyrics the darkest period Argentina would live through after the military coup and ensuing dictatorship, ironically named “Process Of National Reorganization.” A devastating blow for a generation under the influence of Peronism, who shouted freedom using electric instruments. Limited to 500 copies only. |
| BECAUSE MUSIC (FRANCE) | |
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DJANGO DJANGO: Django Django 2LP+CD (BEC 5161106) 25.00 Django Django have been busy doing great things in the East London bedroom slept in by their drummer, producer and de facto leader, David Maclean. The result of those great things is a great self-titled debut record. “Time gives you options, and we had plenty of that,” says Vincent Neff, the singer and guitarist who — along with bassist Jimmy Dixon and synth operator Tommy Grace — completes Django Django. The quartet, who met at art school in Edinburgh, first came to peoples’ attentions after a gradual migration to London a couple of years back. 2009’s double A-side single Storm/Love’s Dart laid the blueprint for a confident, adventurous and psychedelically-bruised strain of art-rock that melds intangible electronic flourishes to the visceral rub of live instrumentation. The time since has been spent holed away, expanding upon that blueprint, seeing where they can push it. The impression one gets of Django Django is of a band laying down the first, meticulously-measured borders on some vast map of a world that only they are privy to. Correspondent to that, each track is like its own nation of harmonies, rhythms and textures. What that means in practice is the swooning, bucolic Beach Boy-isms of opening track “Hail Bop,” the sterner, questing Bo Diddley beat guitars of “Life’s A Beach,” the industrious, go-getting tattoo verses of “Firewater” and the sleepy cowboy sighs of “Silver Rays.” “Default” and “Waveforms” are future singles. The former sounds like an uprising in a Mexican gun factory, the latter The Glitter Band’s “Rock And Roll Part 2” disappearing from sight like a particularly successful Kongming lantern. By banging together their thirst for adventure and their exacting high standards, Django Django produced an album that seems to have everything, but on which everything never seems too much. |
| BRAINFEEDER | |
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LAPALUX: When You’re Gone 12″ (BF 027EP) 11.00 “Lapalux bathes your brain in lush textures, surprising and explosive atmospheres set in unencountered, unearthly spaces, all somehow perfectly set against catchy rolling choruses informed by pop and commercial R&B. On the When You’re Gone EP he channels and refines his sound and shapes it into hazy, woozy emotion.” Includes download code. |
| CADENZA (GERMANY) | |
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CASARANO, FELIPE VALENZUELA, DEMIAN MULLER, DANI: Hole In The Middle 12″ (CADENZA 073EP) 12.00 Hole In The Middle takes the sound ideas of three producers for an EP of fresh and complex beatscapes. Dani Casarano meets Demian Muller and Felipe Valenzuela to blend their individual sound signatures into three striking tracks. The title track packs a punch with its mean bass line. “Dreamer” evokes a hazy, surreal and enigmatic listening experience, darting through dark shadows. “Jazzy Feel” swings through the druggy, robotic bass lines of hard electronica into the classic jazz saxophone swoons of the past. |
| COLD SPRING RECORDS (UK) | |
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MACHINEFABRIEK: Veldwerk CD (CSR 156CD) 16.50 Sublime drone music and field recordings by Machinefabriek, the solo project of Dutch experimentalist Rutger Zuydervelt. “Slovensko I & II” are best seen as a travel diary, recorded in Slovakia. Zuydervelt made “sound snapshots” with a small digital recorder. A major influence both while recording and assembling the tracks was Chinese sound artist Yan Jun. “Rusland” is a sound collage comprising field recordings and sections of live performances made in Russia. An incredible adventure and culture shock with long train journeys, bizarre venues and amazing people. “The Breaking Water” can be heard as a sonic portrait of Rotterdam’s famous Erasmus bridge. It includes recordings taken from both on and beneath the bridge, along with further sounds from the river that it crosses, the Nieuwe Maas. “Floor & Radio” is a contrast to the outdoor pieces recorded for the installation “Licthung” in Radolfzell, Germany. Contrasted against the outdoor silence was the squeaking floor in the guest house and the distorted signal and static from the radio. Sometimes there’s music in everything. Makino Takashi asked Zuydervelt to perform a score for his film In Your Star. After a screening in Tokyo, a studio version was recorded. The result is “Apollo,” a sonic journey to space and beyond. Housed in a digipak. |
| D-EDGE RECORDS (BRAZIL) | |
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TALKING PROPS: Only A Taste/Rabalahara 12″ (DEDGE 004EP) 12.00 Diogo Accioly and Diego Moura’s partnership as Talking Props has taken off and reached the heights of international acknowledgment almost effortlessly. “Only A Taste” plays down its true intent. Far from being just a sample of their approach or a rhythmic amuse-bouche, it is a truly fair statement of their potential on the fine art of crafting irresistible grooves. “Rabalahara” offers a rather exotic affair with its rhythmic straightforwardness and melodic quirkiness. Remixes by Argy and Martinez. |
| DEEP MEDI MUSIK (UK) | |
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GOTH-TRAD: New Epoch 3LP+CD (MEDI 007LP) 34.50 Gatefold 3×12″ with 8 tracks, plus a CD version containing an additional 3 tracks. New Epoch, Goth-Trad’s debut album for the DEEP MEDi Musik imprint, is the result of over a decade of pushing forward from the man Kode9 calls “a one-man army mutating the UK hardcore continuum in Japan.” Takeaki Maruyama aka Goth-Trad is a spearhead among producers worldwide who have taken the sounds of the UK underground and mutated them into new forms. Emerging from a vibrant underground Japanese electronic scene, Maruyama-san has developed into one of the most outstanding artists of his generation. His unique style involves freely playing samplers, keyboards and even self-made instruments — this approach brought him the nickname “the Sound Originator.” His sound comprises a broad palette of influences from abstract electronica to noise, from dub and reggae to jungle, from rave and grime to punk, and almost every form of music somehow is absorbed into his black hole-like approach, emerging from a trans-warp conduit on the other side as something uniquely Goth-Trad. With a strong back catalog of albums and touring beneath his belt, the buzz for his music has slowly spread further and further around the world, and New Epoch is certain to bring the bass mutations of this Tokyoite even further. New Epoch is by far and away Goth-Trad’s most complete piece of work to date, showcasing what he has learned in his years of producing, touring, playing live and remixing. The album features 11 superbly and delicately-crafted tracks. From “Man In The Maze,” full of beautifully dark, emotional strings and pulsating, mesmerizing groove, to the intense synthesizer stabs and pure dancefloor mayhem of “Mirage” — one of the strongest tracks that has been firing in heavy rotations from Mala and Kode9 — to the title track, which defines a producer digging through different styles, experiences and cultures to find himself, now one of the most unique artists within the scene and beyond. Features an appearance from reggae godfather Max Romeo. |
| DESSOUS (GERMANY) | |
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DAMIER, CHEZ: Can You Feel It (New York Dub)/The Steve Bug Remixes 12″ (DES 002LTD-EP) 12.50 Reigniting the dancefloors 10 years after its original release, Steve Bug refreshes this classic Chez Damier production, originally from 1992. Dessous label boss Steve Bug arranges two special mixes that celebrate this very special record. Steve’s straight-up remix maintains the classic vibes with a sensitive ’90s-themed rework. A “Re-Dub” version spaces things out and opens up the strings. A “New York Dub” has also been included, dug out from the Chez Damier vaults and re-mastered for 2012. |
| DIGITALIS | |
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FRAK: Muzika Electronic LP (DIGI 039LP) 18.00 FRAK has been around for 25 years now. They have been the talisman of Sweden’s inimitable Börft label since its inception. Over the course of dozens of tapes, 12″s, and full-lengths, this group has known no real boundaries. It is alien music in every sense of the word. Even if each track offers something different to the narrative, the album keeps a connective tissue running throughout. After 25 years, FRAK is showing no signs of age. Muzika Electronic is a mix of skewed dance music paired with heavy doses of modular synthesizer exploration and bizarro pop. It’s all brand-new, recorded specifically for Digitalis. FRAK is constantly skirting the line between minimal dance music and noise music, often finding new and innovative spaces to occupy and exploit. Album opener “Voyage No. 1” embodies this to perfection. Slow-moving rhythms provide the backbone while looping, crusty synths spin around, spiked with dizzying, high-pitched melodies. It seems odd at first, but as an introduction to what is contained within the sonic walls of Muzika Electronic, it starts this journey off right. It flows into the deceptively catchy “Tristesse Dance” like magic. You will find yourself hooked on the cyclical bassline within a few bars. FRAK’s pop sensibilities are most on display, though, with the New Order-tinged “Pulse-Crack.” Wide-eyed leads mesh into the pulsating bass undercurrents, riding a blissed-out electronic wave into outer space. It is absolutely hypnotizing. The robotic vocals of “Varje Dag” and “In Order To Create” swim in a sci-fi glow. This is music that is wrestling with itself, never sure if it is searching for the future of dance music or looking back to its past. That dichotomy, though, is what drives Muzika Electronic into so many great and unexpected realms. Cut to vinyl (LOUD) by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Art by Tiny Little Hammers. Limited to 500 copies only. |
| EASY ACTION (UK) | |
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YARDBIRDS, THE: Glimpses 1963-1968 5CD BOX (EAR 035CD) 75.00 “Three years in the making an Official box set of rarities and unheard material. It also documents the bands transition from RnB stalwarts in the beginning into the Pop world and ultimately on to more experimental sounds and lastly to become a type of blueprint for what was to become Led Zeppelin. Features the most complete set of BBC recordings fully remastered. Includes material featuring all three of the Yardbirds legendary guitarists Eric Clapton , Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page. An in depth 6″ booklet features unpublished photographs as well as liner notes by respected British music Journalist Mark Paytress as well as notes by compiler and author of Yardbirds book, Rave Up, Greg Russo.” |
| EAT CONCRETE (NETHERLANDS) | |
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FUNCKEN, ROEL: Fes Bace 12″ (EAT 029EP) 12.50 Roel Funcken’s Fes Bace EP for Eat Concrete is a beast — a collection of perhaps his finest work to date. Roel has taken his sound to a whole new level, delivering four tracks of uncompromising quality and diversity that could easily destroy any dancefloor. Limited edition vinyl with mind-bending artwork from Timothée Mathelin aka Shift. |
| ENDLESS FLIGHT (JAPAN) | |
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EDDIE C: All I Want 12″ (EF 042EP) 15.50 Canadian disco master Eddie C is back with four brand new tracks. “Tunnel Mountain” and “Iceline” are both examples of Krautrock-oriented Balearic house music. If you are following the music of Eddie C or Mark E, you will definitely love these tracks. |
| ERASED TAPES (UK) | |
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ARNALDS, OLAFUR: Living Room Songs 10″/DVD (ERATP 037DVD) 25.00 Highly limited 250 copies-only special edition of Living Room Songs on 10″ vinyl, including a DVD of the recording session — only available on tour and in selected shops! Following in the spirit of Ólafur Arnalds’ critically-acclaimed 2009 release Found Songs (ERATP 017CD) — where he wrote, recorded and released a free song every day for a week — now comes Living Room Songs. This time, Ólafur takes the idea further and invites the audience into the comfort of his living room, where the songs were recorded live and the whole process filmed. The songs were instantly released in the form of a free mp3 download and video stream — straight from Ólafur’s Reykjavik apartment. In his own words: “One night I was just playing my piano here in this apartment and I was writing a new song and I didn’t have my phone on me which I usually use to record ideas. So I actually took out my MacBook and I didn’t want to open, like, a proper recording program, so I just opened Photo Booth and recorded a video of myself playing the song so that I would remember the song. And I really liked the atmosphere of that video and that’s when I thought I should do a series of songs in my living room.” The DVD is European PAL format only, region free. |
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ARNALDS, OLAFUR: Living Room Songs 10″ (ERATP 037EP) 22.50 Limited 10″ version with album download code and four inserts. |
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ARNALDS, OLAFUR: Another Happy Day: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack LP (ERATP 038LP) 22.50 LP version. Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds releases his first Hollywood film score — the original motion picture soundtrack for Sam Levinson’s feature film debut Another Happy Day, starring Ellen Barkin and Demi Moore. In his own words: “In mid-December 2010, I was on a holiday in China when I received an email from Sam Levinson about the film. We got on the phone at, like, 4 in the morning Beijing-time and ended up talking all through the night, instantly connecting. He told me that they had been listening to my music while making the film, so the film was already very influenced by my music. However, it was not until Ellen Barkin — the beautiful force that she is — had pestered the producers for a week, calling them every day about how I am the right one for this film, that they finally gave in. The only catch was that it had to be done two weeks later, in the first week of January. So I ended up scoring non-stop all throughout Christmas, making my mother mad in the process.” |
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OLIVERAY: Wonders LP (ERATP 039LP) 23.00 Oliveray is a project from pianist Nils Frahm and multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick. Oliveray was born in their shared home city of Berlin and Wonders is a collection of eight delicate pieces. Frahm and Broderick have an extensive history of working and touring together. An accomplished composer and producer, Frahm founded Durton Studio in Berlin in 2008, working with Broderick and Dustin O’ Halloran, amongst other fellow musicians. As curator of Swedish label Kning Disk’s Piano Series, Broderick co-produced and collaborated on Frahm’s full-length The Bells (ERATP 021CD) in 2009. On Oliverary, Broderick writes, “It all started when I was asked to create a cover version for my great friends Efterklang. I asked Nils if he’d like to work with me on the project. So one day we got together in his studio and ran through the song (‘Harmonics’) a couple times and then laid it down to tape in the most relaxed way possible — me playing the guitar and singing and him on the piano… We were both really happy and inspired with how easy and fun this process was. We thought you could hear and feel that relaxed atmosphere in the song. So when our Japanese friends Cote Labo asked us to prepare some kind of release for our Japan tour, me and Nils set aside a couple days to record some music in a similar manner. Without much preconception we just set up the mics and started recording, with an aim to create a short album of half instrumentals, half vocal-based songs. We ran through a few fresh musical ideas that each of us had, improvising along with each other, sometimes just improvising entirely. And before we knew it we had a nice little collection of eight intimate pieces of music.” Wonders is presented on a limited edition vinyl pressing that includes an album download code. |
| FIRE (UK) | |
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PULP: Freaks 2CD (FIRE 005CD) 19.50 Reissue of Pulp’s 1987 album Freaks as part of the Fire Embers reissue series. A special two disc release, with the second bonus disc packed with singles and b-sides from the Freaks era. Remastered and repacked, with liner notes by Everett True. |
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PULP: Separations 2CD (FIRE 026CD) 18.50 Reissues of Pulp’s 1992 album Separations as part of the Fire Embers reissue series. Remastered & repackaged with bonus tracks and liner notes from Everett True. |
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PULP: It CD (FIRE 223CD) 18.50 Reissue of Pulp’s 1983 debut album It as part of the Fire Embers reissue series with bonus material. Re-mastered and repackaged with bonus tracks and liner notes by Everett True. |
| FONAL (FINLAND) | |
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PRETTY LIGHTNING: There Are Witches In The Woods LP (FR 083LP) 21.00 LP version. Fonal Records breaks new ground with its first-ever release by a band based outside its native Finland. Pretty Lightning’s debut LP proper (following the 2008 tour-only CD-R released by a tiny Mississippi-based noise label), There Are Witches In The Woods could also be seen as a departure stylistically — although in truth, such finely-honed aesthetics still comfortably align it with the Fonal roster. Pretty Lightning was formed in 2007 by two childhood friends, Christian Berghoff and Sebastian Haas, who grew up together in a small town in Southwest Germany, before relocating to Saarbrücken, a slightly bigger small town. In essence a raw, psychedelic-blues duo that on the surface could be seen as kindred spirits to the likes of Wooden Shjips or Moon Duo, Pretty Lightning also appear to mirror a freak-folk sensibility found in the likes of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and their Stateside compatriots. But they also reflect their closer geographic roots — echoing the communal, ritualistic Krautrock of Amon Düül II or perhaps the primitivism of Sweden’s International Harvester (both Berghoff and Haas are also part of the Saarlouis-based Datashock collective). But if such comparisons serve to place the band in some kind of loose context, they should not undermine such a heartfelt outcome, nor steer the listener away from the band’s melodic leanings. There Are Witches In The Woods delivers hooks and harmonies on a grand scale. Recorded in Autumn 2010, the album is the result of the band shutting itself away in a cavernous room to capture the breadth of their sonic vision. Formed around a crux of drums, vocals and a variety of guitars, the arrangements are bolstered by shruti-drones, organ loops and Theremins, giving a sense of space and scope to 11 sweet, succinct chapters, and the album as a whole. |
| FUTURE CLASSIC (AUSTRALIA) | |
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SOFTWAR: This Time Around 12″ (FCL 065EP) 12.50 Softwar are two body builders from Sydney — Myles Du Chateau & Jeremy Lloyd, and this is their third appearance on Future Classic vinyl. This Time Around resonates filtery deep funk, soul and house and we’re glad it’s finally here and not called Brown Noise. |
| FUTURE NOISE MUSIC (UK) | |
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STEWART/PRIMAL SCREAM, MARK: Autonomia 12″ (FNMTW 1002EP) 11.00 Remix EP of the Mark Stewart/Primal Scream single “Autonomia” by two heavyweight champions of the underground, Pinch and JD Twitch. Pinch loads up on the dark and brooding, with a stripped and dubby Shackleton-esque interpretation, while Twitch opts for a warped and slo-mo, acid-licked stomp. Both offer deliciously moody interpretations of the first single from the upcoming Mark Stewart album The Politics Of Envy. Limited edition of 500. |
| HARMONIA MUNDI (FRANCE) | |
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RIHM, WOLFGANG: Choral Works CD (HMC 902129) 20.00 “With his early compositions of the 1970s, Wolfgang Rihm opened up new perspectives for musical development by advocating a musical aesthetic that offered liberation from the constraints of the prevailing avant-garde ideology of the time. This disc from the RIASKammerchor led by Hans-Christoph Rademann includes his early Fragmenta Passionis (written when Rihm was only 16), the Sieben Passions-texte and the major half-hour-long work Astralis of 2001. These three works are linked above all by their expressive and diverse treatment of the possibilities of the human voice and at the same time by their reflection on traditional forms and genres of musical history.” |
| INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE (FRANCE) | |
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AL KHATIB & YOUSSEF HBEISCH, AHMAD: Sabil CD (IDMA 321090) 20.00 “This album invites us to follow the mysterious paths of the soul, to a place where new impressions are created. Lutenist Ahmad Al Khatib’s deep and complex instrumental work intertwines with Youssef Hbeisch’s percussive virtuosity, offering us a vision of the future of Oriental music. Their music is poetic, sometimes restless and vigorous. It suggests, with great subtlety, a profound knowledge of man’s sentiments, desires, dreams and nightmares.” |
| KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY) | |
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TOLOUSE LOW TRAX: Jeidem Fall LP (KK 066LP) 15.50 LP version. This is the third album by Detlef Weinrich aka Tolouse Low Trax. Weinrich is a member of the Düsseldorf group Kreidler. He’s already got three EPs and two albums under his belt. Jeidem Fall sounds like music brought down to earth from the heavens; however, it’s a dark cosmos in which there are only fleeting glimpses of light. All eight tracks were composed in a short space of time over the period of just a few months and fit together perfectly atmospherically. With a musical expressiveness that undoubtedly twists your emotions, Jeidem Fall attacks the subconscious and clouds the mind. Alongside the constant tapping of drumsticks are melodic arpeggios dancing dark and dirty. At times, longing vocals drift abstractly through the room, as on “Sa Seline” or “Geo Scan,” without telling any obvious story. Jeidem Fall really doesn’t sound like anything that has gone before: you could compare the dark minimal timbre of the drum computer aesthetic with Craig Leon’s first reductive album Nommos. There is also a hint of the minimalist industrial of the Spanish band Esplendor Geometrico in the bubbly textures. But Tolouse Low Trax is still looking from the present into the future and filters all his personal preferences through his MPC and his small synth set-up to make them come alive here and now in a new way. He has created a truly mysteriously vibrating drum computer music which offers hypnotic magic for the shadowy dance floor. Ideal for a journey at the end of the night and for all those non-places where longing sleeps and the last romantics dance while getting drunk. |
| KEYSOUND RECORDINGS (UK) | |
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LHF: EP3: Cities Of Technology 12″ (LDN 028EP) 11.00 Cities Of Technology is the third EP outing on Keysound from LHF. LHF is a shifting collective comprising Amen Ra, Double Helix, No Fixed Abode, Low Density Matter, Octaviour, Escobar Seasons, Solar Man and Lumin Project. This EP is led by two tracks from Double Helix, who delivers two quite different tributes to jungle — one with celestial pads and dense drums, and one which is dark and deadly. Amen Ra’s “Essence Investigation” is a choppy, warm excursion and No Fixed Abode drops a unique bass experiment. |
| KI RECORDS (GERMANY) | |
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LOFFLER, CHRISTIAN: Aspen 12″ (KI 008EP) 14.00 This is Christian Löffler’s single before the release of his debut album on Ki called A Forest. Löffler took field recordings of the Aspen trees in Darss, Germany. The landscape near Darss is characterized by signs of storm and rough sea climate, but is also considered a popular health resort in Germany. The tracks on Aspen create this contrary atmosphere: noise and silence, destruction and peacefulness, electronic sounds and traditional instruments, which unite in harmony. Cover art by Löffler himself. |
| KILL THE DJ (FRANCE) | |
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THE EYES IN THE HEAT: Amateur EP 12″ (KTDJ 023EP) 12.00 Amateur shows exactly what The Eyes In The Heat are all about. “Techno with guitars” is a tricky ball game, but here’s some club music that is not afraid to show its teeth. The “Dark Dub” mix strips the black leather right to the skin. The Southern bayou element inherent to The Eyes In The Heat comes alive on “I Used To Be Spanish” and “Hold Up” is an Italo cowboy ride. Hypnotics and dissonance? Raw vocals and old-school drum machines? Yep. |
| KLIMT (FRANCE) | |
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GILBERTO, JOAO: Joao Gilberto LP (MJJ 332LP) 23.00 “Originally released in 1973, Joao Gilberto aka The White Album, is as a timeless classic of the genre and one of Joao’s definitive masterpieces. Featuring only the minimalist drumming of NY jazz drummer Sonny Carr (and the backing vocals of ‘Miucha’, Gilberto’s second wife and sister of Chico Buarque on the final track), Joao spins a delicate web of sound that from the first notes of Tom Jobim’s anthem ‘Aguas De Marco’ has the listener dreaming of Bahia, even though the album was recorded in a New Jersey studio with electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos at the controls. This is bossanova at its very best.” |
| KOMPAKT (GERMANY) | |
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WHOMADEWHO: Brighter 2LP+CD (KOM 254LP) 23.00 Deluxe gatefold double LP version with a CD version of the album inside (and incredible die-cut packaging). |
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WHOMADEWHO: Brighter CD (KOMP 097CD) 15.50 WhoMadeWho may lack a question mark after their name, but their music will certainly have you asking after them. The Copenhagen, Denmark trio is difficult to pin down, but their music sounds as effortless as it is stylistically and sonically adventurous. Having formed in 2003, the genre-bending trio made up of Jeppe Kjellberg, Tomas Høffding and Tomas Barfod honed their skills on stage and in the studio, releasing a series of best-selling records on Gomma, topped off by their Kompakt-released 2011 mini-album Knee Deep (KOM 230LP). They remain one of Europe’s most cherished live acts, performing alongside the likes of LCD Soundystem, Daft Punk, Azari & III, and they have been staples of the summer festival circuit with a breakthrough performance in 2011 at the legendary Roskilde Festival. It must be said that Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age loves the band so much that he even did a cover of “Space For Rent.” WhoMadeWho have truly succeeded on their mission to eschew convention. Fusing pop and disco memes with punk paraphernalia, they now return with the sublime full-length Brighter. The album operates as the missing link between the radical playfulness of the band’s previous full-length The Plot (GOMMA 120CD) and the introspective focus of Knee Deep, bridging their early work with a newly-founded sense of sincerity and musicianship. “The Sun” has already proved itself as a crowd favorite — cocky, bold and catchy, this is THE hymn that fans new and old will be screaming to over the summer months. “Below The Cherry Moon” submerges the band in pop perfection, revealing a matured depth and lyrical brilliance. Other songs such as “Inside World,” the hard-hitting “Never Had The Time” or existentialist groove-study “Running Man” feature the accessibility as well as the edginess that describe both ends of the same passion: Kjellberg’s characteristic vocal hits the pop-nerve in the verses while Høffding’s soft falsetto holds the song together, giving the album its constantly-evolving flow. Another instant classic that will rule our hearts and minds. |
| LE CHANT DU MONDE (FRANCE) | |
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ENSEMBLE AL KINDI: Arab Music From The Time Of The Crusades 2CD (CDM 2741118) 24.00 “The Al-Kindi Ensemble enters into a dialogue with the past, where East and West come together, in spite of their multitude of differences. Their voices filter down through time, weaving a background where the magic and violence of love, blood, the passion of the senses come alive in the mellifluous tones of Omar Sarmini’s mystic yet earthly singing.” |
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ENSEMBLE AL KINDI: Whirling Dervishes Of Damascus 2CD (CDM 2741123) 24.00 “Shaykh Hamza Shakkur, the great Munshid of Damascus, sings the praises of divine love and God’s prophet Muhammed in sublime, deep tones, whilst the musicians of the Al-Kindi Ensemble reply to him, alternating subtle flourishes and arabesques with refined preludes. This is how a real session of Sama proceeds — it is a truly spiritual concert, a dialogue with the angels, where the only distraction from our state of bliss is the rustling of the dervishes’ robes.” |
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ENSEMBLE AL KINDI: Aleppian Sufi Transe 2CD (CDM 2741251) 24.00 “Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss, a master qanum player and founder of the Al-Kindi ensemble, explores the sublime repertoire of the Sufi Qadiriya brotherhood. This unusual mingling of voice and strings (the scanning of God’s name, ‘Lafz al Jala,’ the instrumentalists’ solos known as laqasim) adds voluptuous depth to the ecstatic chanting of Sheikh Habboush.” |
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ENSEMBLE AL KINDI: Pafums Ottomans 2CD (CDM 2741414) 24.00 “In his search for a lost spirituality, Julien Djelal Eddine Weiss brings together remarkable musicians from many different horizons — Turks, Syrians, an Egyptian, an Azeri — in order to blend emotions, exaltations, aesthetics and affections; to merge Tarab, Hal, Ruh, Saltana; to reawaken the spirit of dialogue and exchange that must have reigned in the court ensembles of the 17th century.” |
| LET’S PLAY HOUSE RECORDS | |
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DEAD ROSE MUSIC COMPANY, THE: Four Songs 12″ (LPH 003EP) 12.00 Let’s Play House label-heads Jacques Renault, Nik Mercer, and James Friedman have teamed up with a pair of artists shrouded in mystery — The Dead Rose Music Company. This collection aims to be cinematic in its production approach: these are epic mixes meant to stand the test of time, fueled by huge drops, warm, syrupy bass lines, and ear-tickling effects. While the four songs are technically edits, Dead Rose have left their inimitable fingerprints all over them. |
| LIGHT IN THE ATTIC | |
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VA: Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1967-1974 2LP (LITA 081LP) 24.00 Double LP housed in gatefold “tip-on” jacket. “Over a five year period in Oakland, CA — archivist Pat Thomas befriended key leaders of the seminal Black Power Movement, dug through Huey Newton’s archives at Stanford University, spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on eBay, and talked to rank and file Black Panther Party members, uncovering dozens of obscure albums, singles, and stray tapes. Along the way, he began to piece together a time period (1967-1974) when revolutionaries were seen as pop culture icons: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael — and musicians were seen as revolutionaries; Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others. As a result, Thomas wrote a 70,000-word hardcover book entitled Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power — to be published by Fantagraphics in early 2012 — which also includes some 200 full color images of obscure recordings that encompass rock, soul, jazz, comedy, poetry, and even religious sermons blended with Black Nationalism. Light In The Attic Records presents the companion ‘soundtrack’ to the book. For the time first ever, Black and White artists share space on a definitive anthology of the Black Power era. Listen, Whitey! is cross-cultural overview that sees Bob Dylan’s out of print 1971 single ‘George Jackson’ reissued for the first time along with several selections from Motown’s long forgotten ‘Black Forum’ label — Motown’s early ’70s Black Power militant imprint that has never been documented until now with provocative recordings from SNCC spokesman Stokely Carmichael, outspoken African-American poet Amiri Baraka, and Black Panther Party singer/songwriter Elaine Brown.” |
| LILITH (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) | |
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LORD SUTCH: Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends LP+CD (LR 334LP) 26.00 “The debut LP of British rock singer Screaming Lord Sutch (originally released in 1970) featured the heavyweight talent of Jimmy Page (who also produced it), John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins and Noel Redding. However, despite the serious talent on this album–with most of the songs co-written with Jimmy Page–it was made more in the spirit of just a few friends ‘having a laugh’. During the 1960s, Sutch had also released a handful of horror-themed novelty singles with audio-pioneer Joe Meek at the controls.” On 180 gram vinyl with a CD version of the album. |
| LIVE AT ROBERT JOHNSON (GERMANY) | |
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LAURENTINO, SAN: Forbidden Fruit 12″ (PLAYRJC 017EP) 12.50 Ramona welcomes Hungarian homeboy San Laurentino (Electric Minds, Mathematics Recordings) for his first outing on Live At Robert Johnson. A self-taught producer, isolated from the hubs of electronic body music in Europe and overseas, Laurentino’s music bears all the qualities that such a recluse has to offer: deviating, different, definite and demonstrative music. Four cuts of neo-star trance, ambient wave, erotic illusions and borderline rainforest house. Forbidden fruits taste best. |
| M>O>S RECORDINGS (NETHERLANDS) | |
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MA SPAVENTI/AROY DEE: Wrecking/Mr. Floyd 10″ (MOSDEEP 010EP) 12.50 M>O>S boss man Aroy Dee has teamed up in the studio with Marco Spaventi for a split 10.” Doctor Spaventi’s “Wrecking” is a blisteringly raw house construction with ripping synth lines, delicate hi-hats and slow, crawling kick-drums building up to an incendiary, Chicago referencing peak where pinging cow bells shoot in all directions. Aroy’s “Mr. Floyd” is all muted synth growls, clattering percussion and blissful pads. On blue vinyl. |
| MACRO (GERMANY) | |
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KRUDER, PETER: Xenomorph/Vespertilio 12″ (MACROM 026EP) 12.00 Xenomorph/Vespertilio follows up Peter Kruder’s “Law Of Return” track that was a highlight, both in the music world in 2009 and in Macro’s ever-brilliant catalog — and one of the now most sought-after recent vinyl collectors’ records. 2012 couldn’t start deeper: detail-rich, dreamy, pushing enthusiastically forward into the new year. “Vespertilio” then moves between the off-center sound aesthetics of a Morricone soundtrack and the intensity of hypermodern sub-bass droppings. This is an irresistibly deep double package, exceeding even the boldest expectations. |
| MORPHINE RECORDS (ITALY) | |
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MORPHOSIS: The Tepco Report 12″ (DOSER 011EP) 14.00 New Morphine from Morphosis. Two great electronic excursions from the nomad himself. |
| MORR MUSIC (GERMANY) | |
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FENSTER: Bones LP (MORR 112LP) 17.00 Gatefold LP version. Fenster is the duo of New Yorker-turned-Berliner JJ Weihl and Berlin-born Jonathan Jarzyna, that plays de-constructed pop music, layering subtle distortions, melodic chords and city soundscapes under dream narratives. Their sound and recording style has analog warmth, exploring the relationship between machine errors in their circuit-bent beats and the tactile use of objects and instrumentation. Their influences range from The Velvet Underground to the sounds of broken records, the hum of a washing machine, or the faint melodies of oldies tunes through their kitchen radio, at times, reminding you of an American version of The XX. The band’s name springs from an ominous incident during the recording of their first album: a window shattered on JJ’s head, bestowing her with a bump and the name “Fenster.” The album starts off establishing most of its musical themes in the first half of the tracks, introducing characteristic elements such as stripped-down percussion, reverby vocals, slamming doors and dynamic song structures. Starting off with the classic lo-fi pop ballad “Oh Canyon,” the album dives into moodier tracks like “The Hunter” or “Gravediggers,” pairing synthesizers with banjo, and integrating shovels and batteries as percussive instruments. The second half of the album begins with the suicidal sea ballad, “Fisherman,” a song based around a randomly generated rhythm, incorporating electric guitar, glockenspiel and zither that culminates in a four-part harmony underscored by drums recorded in a freight elevator building up to the final moment in which the guitar sonically drowns. On “Killer Surf Walker,” a pastiche of ’50s surf rock, a slide guitar is paired with an old out-of-tune piano, and a recording of a beach in Brooklyn at sunset. Lyrically, the album touches on everything from Schadenfreude to nostalgia about the beginning of one’s adult life and the illusion of invincibility and permanence to vivid imagery of death, murder, and fallen kingdoms in “Blue To White,” “Killer Surf Walker,” and finally “Gespenster,” which ends with an explosive 8 part harmony. Fenster’s charm and inimitability comes in the form of collage; hungry to integrate their vision of the future with the sound of the past. Futuristic nostalgia with a lyrical bent towards the macabre world of dreams. |
| MULE ELECTRONIC (GERMANY) | |
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KOSS/HENRIKSSON/MULLAERT: The Möllan Session Edit Pt. 1 12″ (MULE 087EP) 15.50 This is the second single cut from the collaborative album from Minilogue & Koss aka Kuniyuki, The Möllan Sessions. The original version of “Hello People Of Earth!” is cinematic ambient jazz which recalls the sound of ECM. The Earth Tone mix is a club-friendly dance edit, like a mixture of Mathew Jonson and Âme. The original version of “Coming Home” is epic, psychedelic techno, and this edit version is like a DJ tool, for fans of Ricardo Villalobos. |
| MUTABLEMUSIC | |
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HO & QUINCY SAUL, FRED: The Music Of Cal Massey: A Tribute CD (MUTABLE 004CD) 13.00 “Calvin Massey (1928-1972) is virtually unknown with the exception of both highly knowledgeable jazz scholars and a small coterie of illustrious musicians who remain alive and were immensely indebted to Massey’s musical influence and mentorship. Massey was a father figure and close friend to many of the greatest jazz musicians of the post-World War era until his early death in 1972. Massey was a trumpeter, but was most noted as a composer of magisterial works, of which his epic opus was The Black Liberation Movement Suite, an extended work of nine movements. Until now, the work had never been recorded in its entirety. Cal Massey ranked among the greatest jazz composers of the 20th century, included with Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra. ‘The Black Liberation Movement Suite’ is one of the undiscovered gems of an epic jazz extended work. It perhaps may be regarded through the exposure of this recording release as one of the greatest jazz suites of the 20th century, joining ‘Mingus Epitaph,’ ‘Let ‘My Children Music ‘ and ‘The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady,’ the major Ellington suites and extended form works (the ‘Sacred Concerts,’ ‘The Liberian Suite,’ ‘The Drum is a Woman,’ etc.), Oliver Nelson’s ‘The Afro-American Suite,’ and the varying cosmo-dramas of Sun Ra. While of considerable musical and artistic grandeur as these other great extended works, ‘The BLM Suite’ is also a work of considerable socio-political significance, commissioned by the Black Panther Party and musically and ideologically expressing the revolutionary upsurge of the Black Liberation struggle in the U.S. during the late-1960s. Three other Massey compositions are featured herein. ‘Quiet Dawn’ was composed for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. ‘Goodbye Sweet Pops’ is an homage to Louis Armstrong. Finally, ‘The Cry of My People’ epitomizes Cal’s compositional energy for combining the soulfulness of spiritual-like melody with bold and complex harmonic structures.” |
| NOT NOT FUN | |
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KWJAZ: Kwjaz CD (NNF 238CD) 12.00 CD version with 2 exclusive bonus tracks (20 min. long) not found on the LP. “San Franciscan Peter Berend’s mystery mixtape unit, KWJAZ, flashed forth this debut self-titled slab of ‘post-plastic sublime decomposed luxury grooves’ on cassette via his own rarified Brunch Groupe imprint early in 2011 and the 120 listeners lucky enough to grip a copy know who they are. It only took half a listen before we green-lit this tape-degraded gem for vinyl treatment and we are dee-lighted to present it thusly. Comprised of two side-long suites, ‘Once In Babylon’ and the oddly monikered ‘Frighteous Wane,’ KWJAZ nimbly ebbs and flows the proceedings through airy cloud-jazz passages (complete with smoky crystal vibes keys and narcotic hiss-hazed horn sections), bouncy weirdo dub-funk vignettes, stretched-out syrupy synth stews, and smooth faux-Steely D soft-rock abstractions, all without ever sounding schizo or style-hoppy.” |
| NUMERO GROUP | |
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MEMPHIS SOUL: Don’t Down Me People Part 1 & 2 7″ (ES 027EP) 5.00 “Constructed around a sunburned guitar lick of prominence, Phoenix bluesman George Bowman’s unreleased two-parter ‘Don’t Down Me People’ is a lost document of Arizona’s underpublicized soul output. Simple in design, passionate in delivery, this blues-funk landmine from the late-’60s sits at the rarely traversed intersection of the J.B.s and the Band of Gypsys. This 45 contains canyons of wide-open drums, courtesy of Dyke and the Blazers original timekeeper, Rodney Brown.” |
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LOVE APPLE: Love Apple LP (NUMERO 042_5LP) 17.00 “In the late ’70s, three do-right women from Cleveland forged a brief partnership with Ohio’s everything man, Lou Ragland. Unlike the prefabricated singing combos of the day, Lily Pearson, Annette Warren, and Avetta Henry swapped lead duties as situation demanded. When a Ragland-centric publicity stunt preempted a concert appearance, Love Apple disintegrated, abandoning this rehearsal tape at Thomas Boddie’s cherished Eastside studio. Devoid of bass, the sparse instrumentation accentuates each vocalist’s aptitude, showcasing some of Ragland’s finest songwriting in the process.” |
| ON-U SOUND (UK) | |
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NEW AGE STEPPERS, THE: Love Forever CD (ONU 1021CD) 18.50 “This latest offering from New Age Steppers is the culmination of 30 years of friendship and love between two of Britain’s brightest and creative cult talents.” |
| OPTIMO MUSIC (UK) | |
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PSYCHE: All Things Pass Into The Night 12″ (OM 016EP) 12.00 Psyche is a Canadian dark-synth pop act centered around singer Darrin Huss who have continued to record and perform for nearly 30 years. Psyche’s version of “Goodbye Horses,” originally made famous by Q Lazzarus, has maintained their renown. Optimo offers a re-acquaintance with not only the exclusive re-workings of “Goodbye Horses” and “Prisoner To Desire,” but also with two of Psyche’s instrumental tracks, “Eating Violins” and “Contorting The Image.” All four tracks are exclusive mixes to this release. |
| OSTGUT TON (GERMANY) | |
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PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS: Remixes (Silent Servant/The Black Dog) 12″ (OSTGUT 053EP) 12.00 Luke Slater’s Planetary Assault Systems follows the release of the album The Messenger (OSTGUT 020CD/010LP) with a 12″ of remixes by Silent Servant and The Black Dog. L.A. producer John Mendez aka Silent Servant takes “Bell Blocker” and transforms it into a slow-burning, hypnotic ride. The original “Beauty In The Fear” is a tense mix of dark strings and jittering snares — for the remix, The Black Dog combine their brooding melodics and dancefloor-oriented production skills to create something between plain scary and profoundly deep. |
| OVUM | |
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PARKER, STEVE: Escuro EP 12″ (OVM 219EP) 12.50 This is the Ovum label debut from Steve Parker. Over the last few years, Steve’s productions have seem him become a regular in the record boxes of the world’s best. His deep and hypnotic sound, combining groove-heavy rhythms with a minimal-tech production style, sees Steve able to move effortlessly from sultry, warm basement sounds to full-on vicious arena moments. “Interstate” is a moody, relentless number. “Bodytrade” sees things bubble over with a romping, heads-down groove. “Escuro” returns the calm with its wonderful, warm depth. |
| OZIT (UK) | |
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CAPTAIN BEEFHEART: Merseytrout 2LP (OZIT 8009LP) 41.00 “A limited edition vinyl 2LP of the best selling Captain Beefheart live album which until now has only been available on CD. Recorded live at Rotters Club Liverpool October 1980.” 180 gram vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve. Released in conjunction with Dandelion Records. |
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CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND: Nan Trues Hole Tapes Volume 3 CD (OZIT 9011CD) 18.50 “This is the third in the series of Nan True’s Hole Tapes. All these tracks were recorded live in England in the 1970s and taken from John Peel’s former archive of Beefheart live tapes. Peel notes ‘recording quality not always excellent but the quality of the outrageous but excellent live performances wins through.’ Great CD booklet with rare montages and images of Captain Beefheart and Magic Band members.” Released in conjunction with Dandelion Records. |
| PAN (UK) | |
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TAZARTES, GHEDALIA: Repas Froid LP (PAN 017LP) 25.50 An extraordinary combination of culled found and taped fragments juxtaposed against drums, field recordings and mystery noises, sound loops, birdsong, keyboards and emanations of Ghédalia Tazartès’ own throaty drones and voice propelled by hypnotic, ritualistic rhythms balanced on a razor-sharp edge. This is the complete work of Repas Froid; previously released on CD in 2009 as brief tracks of source material and a palette of various sounds. It includes archival and as of yet previously-unreleased recordings from the late 1970s and early 1980s, strung together to form two long compositions. A French musician of Turkish parentage, Ghédalia Tazartès is an uncompromising character who defies categorization. Born in 1947 in Paris, he is one of France’s most idiosyncratic talents. He has spent over 30 years within musical practice and experimentation, letting his musical work wander from chant to rhythm, from one voice to another. Manipulating magnetic tape recorders into a rough collage and loose ethno-instrumental mulch, he paves the way for the electric and the vocal paths, between the muezzin psalmody and the screaming of a rocker. He traces vague landscapes where the mitre of the white clown, the plumes of the sorcerer, the helmet of a cop and Parisian anhydride collide into polyphonic ceremonies. The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, in a limited edition repress of 350 copies, pressed on 140 gram vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silk-screened PVC sleeve with artwork by Kathryn Politis and Bill Kouligas. |
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HEATSICK: Intersex LP (PAN 019LP) 25.50 Intersex is the debut LP by Steven Warwick aka Heatsick. The title references the work of German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, looking at how music and sexuality can operate in flux on a constantly sliding scale. Executed on just a Casio keyboard and manipulated loops via guitar pedals, Intersex deliberately evokes “ersatz” notions of electronic dance music and early electronics in the line of Roberto Cacciapaglia’s Ann Steel record, the work of Warner Jepson and the kaleidoscopic sound of Ron Hardy, pushing dance/body music through a saturated psychedelic lens. Steven Warwick is a Berlin-based performer, also known for his work in the electronic duo, Birds Of Delay. His approach is one of carefully thought-out loops which are then sent into varying interactions and play. Active in the club, art and music scenes, Warwick’s work is one existing in a luminal space, meditating both at once in real time and the “just past.” The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, in a limited edition of 500 copies, pressed on 140 gram vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silk-screened PVC sleeve with artwork by Steven Warwick, Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas. |
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KESZLER, ELI: Cold Pin LP (PAN 021LP) 25.50 Over two years in the making, Cold Pin is the new full-length record by Eli Keszler. Both a composition and stand-alone installation, 14 strings ranging in length from 25 to 3 feet are strung across a 15×40 curved wall, with motors attacking the strings, connected by microcontrollers, pick-ups and RCA cables. Recorded in Boston’s historic Cyclorama, a massive dome built to house the Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg painting in 1884. The B-side features, in addition, a “dry” version of the installation with motor attacks on metal squares rather than strings, creating dense percussive clusters. Cold Pin works within the frame work of left-to-right time and vertical structure. The installation acts as the architecture of the music, surrounding and immersing the live instruments into incredible density and sharp, angular mass shapes, and functions alone as the performers stop. Rather than an individual sound, the sustained horns, strings, drums and metallic attacks function as a singular unit, and continue, too, when they stop alongside the installation. Cold Pin features Eli Keszler (drums, crotales installation and guitar), Geoff Mullen (guitar), Ashley Paul (clarinet, guitar, greenbox), Greg Kelley (trumpet), Reuben Son (bassoon) and Benjamin Nelson (cello). Eli Keszler is a composer, artist and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. In performance, he often plays drums, bowed crotales and guitar in conjunction with his installations. In his ensemble compositions, he uses extended strings, motors, crotales, horns and mechanical devices to create his sound, balancing intense harmonic formations with acoustic sustain, fast, jarring rhythm, mechanical propulsion, dense textures and detailed visual presentations. He has most recently won the Mata composers competition for the 2012 season. Eli Keszler is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied with Anthony Coleman and Ran Blake. Limited edition of 500 copies, pressed on 140 gram vinyl housed in a silk screened PVC sleeve. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering. |
| PATTERN REPEAT (GERMANY) | |
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PATTERN REPEAT: Pattern Repeat 05 12″ (PATTERN 005EP) 12.00 Pattern Repeat is back with another two tracks on their own label. Both Kenneth & Resoe present some raw, dirty, dub-infected grooves, starting off right away with the dub elements intact. After a short break, a hypnotic atmosphere kicks off in best Pattern Repeat style. The B-side starts slowly with an almost Alfred Hitchcock kind of atmosphere, with a dull kick underneath. The track keeps getting more dirty with more distortion added to the dub stabs. On white vinyl. |
| PHOENIX RECORDS (UK) | |
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FLOWER TRAVELLIN’ BAND: Make Up 2LP (ASH 3033LP) 31.00 2LP version. When released in 1973, Make Up, with its incredible faux-leather imitation attaché case outer bag, looked every bit the last word in over-the-top packaging and now originals, complete and in good condition, fetch hundreds of dollars in the collectors’ market. However, despite the lavish packaging, Make Up did little to enhance the group’s already considerable reputation and the various band members went their separate ways immediately after the album’s release. Although the album has been described as “inconsistent,” there are some definite stand-out tracks, and generally Make Up reflects the varied influences that the band drew on throughout their sadly short career. This double album consists of both live and studio recordings and features keyboardist Nobuhiko Shinohara. 2LP housed in a replica outer slip-case and deluxe gatefold sleeve, including the original LP insert. |
| POKER FLAT (GERMANY) | |
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VA: Gunslingers and Greenhorns – Poker Flat Volume 9 2LP (PFR 029LP) 20.00 2LP version, featuring 8 tracks from the double CD. Poker Flat return with their ninth label compilation, uniting some of the brightest talents from their label roster, and also inviting some new names to join their mischievous posse. They’ll take you on a whistlestop tour deep into the Wild West of modern house and techno. Artists: Tom Taylor & Gareth Whitehead, DJ F.E.X. & Ron Costa, Alland Byallo, Sebastien San, Nico Lahs, Ian Pooley, Nick Harris, Ribn. |
| PRO-TEZ | |
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INFORMATION GHETTO: Apartment 808 EP 12″ (PROTEZ 023EP) 12.00 Information Ghetto also known as Clapan has had numerous releases on labels like Broque, Manual, Dars Records and Multi Vitamins. He lives in the woods, where he’s set up his music lab full of strange self-built sound devices. His first 12″ on Pro-Tez sports a dense, atmospheric deep house tune (“Apartment 808”) together with the swinging “Forest Dreams,” built around a flute solo. Backed up by a fine remix from Jonas Bering on the flip. |
| ROARATORIO | |
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GASTALDI, NELSON: Symphony No. 3: Siddhartha Gautama O El Poder De La Nada LP (ROAR 024LP) 15.00 “When psycho-spatial composer Nelson Gastaldi passed away in 2009 at the age of 77, he left behind a unique musical legacy that is only now beginning to be unveiled. A self-described ‘musical nihilist with noble and mystic origins’ (as well as an accomplished visual artist), Gastaldi supported himself and his family with a job at an electric company in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while creating an astonishing body of work that went virtually unheard during his lifetime. Synthesizing his wide-ranging interests (medicine, linguistics, Chinese and German philosophy) into his music, he welcomed paranormal/initiatic experiences into the compositional process, creating homemade Sibelius-meets-Sun Ra symphonies. The only previous publication of his work was in Bananafish magazine, which featured an excerpt of Symphony No. 3 on an accompanying CD. The same issue also contained his sole English-language interview, in which he waxed: ‘The human being runs at the side of a river. When he is young, he runs faster than the river; in mid-life he runs at the same speed as the river; and at last he falls down and the river keeps going.’ Take a dip into the strange and beautiful river of Nelson Gastaldi. Download coupon included.” |
| RUMBLE RECORDS | |
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DIDDLEY, BO: Bo Diddley LP (RUM 2011016LP) 21.00 “The full-length debut by the man known as the originator of rock and roll should need no introduction. Though never a top seller on par with his Chess Records rival Chuck Berry, Bo produced a catalog of classics to compete with all but a handful of the best early rockers, pushing rock and roll to its funkiest ever. The Bo Diddley beat–that ‘bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp’ to which the pop-garage 1965 hit ‘I Want Candy’ by the Strangeloves owes everything–is one of rock and roll’s bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, the Velvet Underground, and the Rolling Stones to name but a few. An all time classic that stretched back as far as Africa for its roots, and looked as far into the future as rap, while still remaining a milestone in the transition from blues to early rock and roll.” |
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DIDDLEY, BO: Go Bo Diddley LP (RUM 2011017LP) 21.00 “His second 1959 long-play effort only adds a go to his classic debut, refining his trademark square guitar and crazy-distorted amplification to create new sounds (anticipating the innovations of ’60s rock icons like Jimi Hendrix) and his rumba-sounding, hambone-styled Bo Diddley beat.” |
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DION & THE BELMONTS: Presenting Dion & The Belmonts LP (RUM 2011018LP) 21.00 “The seminal first album from Dion & The Belmonts, the epitome of Italian American doo-wop by a group of teenagers who got their start singing on street corners of the Bronx. Revealing a musical soul that transcended the limitations of teen pop (and foreshadowed group leader Dion Di Mucci’s future solo career) with immortal rock and roll hits like ‘I Wonder Why’ or ‘Teenager in Love’, still among some of the best examples of white vocal R&B to come out of New York in the ’50s.” |
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STEVENS, APRIL: Teach Me Tiger! LP (RUM 2011019LP) 21.00 “One of the sexiest voices of the ’50s, April Stevens’ hit ‘Teach Me Tiger’ (often erroneously accredited to Marilyn Monroe) caused a minor uproar due to his sexual suggestiveness when it first came out on the Imperial label in 1959, and consequently did not receive airplay on many radio stations, reaching only no. 86 in the Billboard charts even though his fan-base had been ever-growing since her first big seller ‘I’m In Love Again’ came out on RCA Victor in 1951. Described as the ‘girl with the pin-up voice,’ or ‘the intimate miss with the musical kiss,’ this is her one and only, full-length album, in which, backed by famous arranger and composer Henry Rene, April introduces a new frontier in sexy-singing. As one of her many fan letters would explain: ‘Other vocalists sing, but you actually talk to a guy and boy, the things you say!'” |
| RUNNING BACK (GERMANY) | |
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ACOUSTIC HIGH-END RESEARCH: Running Back Presents Strada Professional Sound Effects LP (RBEFX 001LP) 18.00 2009 release, 2012 repress. Running Back presents: Strada Sound Effects. That’s what you all have been waiting for: a record with nothing but sound tools. It pretty much does what it says: sirens, wind, water, ambience, and kids on LSD hysterically laughing. Isn’t that great? Speaking of those laughing kids, that’s what caught the label’s attention during a warm and cozy Plastic People night with Âme’s Kristian. Blessed with an original copy of this record released via Kobe’s honorable Strada Records store, an email attempt in purchasing a copy ended up in a re-issue agreement, as the initial run of approximately 300 copies was long lost and gone. On top of it, Kristian lost his in one of those nasty “airport baggage clerks DJ robbery” incidents. You can use it for intros, outros, mixes, tricks and the like. Plus: Danny “The Dancer” Wang explains in his scientific and lyrical liner notes why YOU have to acquire this record in a 180 gram heavy plate edition with nice artwork, as per usual. Limited, precious and strictly bound to wax. |
| RUSH HOUR (NETHERLANDS) | |
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RECLOOSE: Magic 12″ (RH 038EP) 12.50 Recloose returns with a brilliant new 12″ — three great house tracks with corking a Carl Craig re-edit. This single is a collaboration with ex-gospel singer-turned-R&B artist, B.Slade. The outcome is a soul-shimmering, joyful vocal workout. With its cut-and-paste vocals and airy guitar loops, it creates an uplifting groove. Besides the Carl Craig edit and an instrumental version is a new mix of “UHF,” which was previously only available on a limited Serato pressing. |
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BURRELL BROTHERS, THE: The Burrell Brothers Present: The Nu Groove Years Part 1 2LP (RH 117A-LP) 23.00 This is the first volume of 2LP vinyl versions of The Burrell Brothers Present: The Nu Groove Years. This compilation collects the absolute best of the Burrell’s output and in doing so, gives us a valuable insight into the much-overlooked roots of New York house music. Includes Burrell projects under the guises of Metro, Tech Trax Inc, K.A.T.O., N.Y. House’n Authority, Bas Noir, Equation and Utopia Project. |
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ALFABET: E/F 12″ (RH ALFA3_EP) 12.50 On the third Alfabet release they step it up a dozen of notches or so. “Hell Of Samba” surely sounds like the theme tune to Armageddon. The end is nigh they say, so might as well play the music. If there is hell below, we are all going to go. “Too Shy,” on the other hand, sounds like we have died and woke up in heaven. A soothing, spaced-out, yet bass-heavy jam that will give you a strangely eerie feeling. |
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BNJMN: Unknown 2 12″ (RH BNJMN2-EP) 14.00 BNJMN white label release, featuring brand-new tracks not featured on Black Square (RH DC1_CD/RH DC10-LP). |
| SECRET STASH RECORDS | |
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AFRO FUNK: Body Music LP (SSR 285LP) 17.00 “Body Music, Afro Funk’s 1975 LP was recorded and released in London, England. The band was comprised mostly of West-African expatriates residing there. At the time the city was host to a vibrant African music scene. The massive success of Osibisa created a swarm of young bands trying to use London as a launching pad for international stardom. Unfortunately Afro Funk did not find the success they were looking for and Body Music became their only album. The deep funk grooves and driving afrobeat rhythms featured on this rare LP have made it a desired addition to record collections around the world. After its small private press release in London on ‘Kabana Records,’ Body Music was also released in extremely limited quantities by Kojo Asare’s Chairman Records in Ghana. Despite the well crafted mix of various West- African styles and American funk, without the support of a label and no major touring it quickly faded into obscurity. Today copies rarely surface. Secret Stash is proud to present the first ever reissue of this collectable piece of African music history. As always, this vinyl only release includes a digital download card giving the user high quality MP3s of the entire album.” |
| SFS MEDIA | |
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ADAMS, JOHN: Harmonielehre/Short Ride In A Fast Machine CD/SACD (SFS 053CD) 25.00 “This recording represents the latest chapter in the long time collaboration between composer John Adams and Michael Tilson Thomas. Here, MTT and the San Francisco Symphony perform Adams’ orchestral masterpiece Harmonielehre, a milestone of American minimalism first premiered by the orchestra in 1985. Paired with the joyful Short Ride in a Fast Machine, this new release from the Grammy award winning San Francisco Symphony is a must-have for any collection.” Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player. |
| SHITKATAPULT (GERMANY) | |
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WARREN SUICIDE: World Warren Remixes 12″ (STRIKE 131EP) 12.00 Sasha Ring aka Apparat presents his best remix to date. Apparat drops the bomb with “Moving Close,” a medium-length moment of sheer perfection and, for all those of you who paid attention, a nine-minute tour de force and perfect re-enaction of the entire Warren album distilled down to an exuberant blend of science fiction and futuristic romance. The flip features Markus Popp aka Oval with his take on so-called electronic music — a dialogue filled with jazz, abstraction and plenty of courage. |
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SORRY ENTERTAINERS, THE: Jeopardize 12″ (STRIKE 135EP) 12.00 The Sorry Entertainers, featuring DJ Lotti, Raz Ohara and M. Rux highlight, embody and celebrate Berlin’s current spirit and zeitgeist. Eager to coin the latest trend, genre specialists tout the new-found sound “slowmo house,” so, let’s make some space for the second extended album out-take from Local Jet Set (STRIKE 129CD), featuring dancefloor-filler “Jeopardize” and a wonderful dOP remix of the album intro. |
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SHRUBBN!!: Echos 2LP (STRIKE 136LP) 20.00 Shrubbn!! have been around for a cool 15 years — and that’s exactly how long everyone has been waiting for their debut album. After all, buddies Ulli Bormans (aka Schieres) and Marco Haas (aka T.Raumschmiere) preferred to sling out the odd Shrubbn!! track on different, almost forgotten labels whenever they felt like getting it together. Now, the duo surprise and delight us with a veritable gem of a record. Their long distance debut Echos follows an upbeat scientific credo of art for text. Pushing the computer aside, Ulli and Marco crafted 14 pulsating, deep and dubby tracks caught up between ambient and beats — a thick, full sound, a call of the deep with plenty of passion for reverb and bass. Numbering the tracks (instead of real titles) simply made sense as they follow the logic of a meandering session or, rather, a true exploration, executed with plenty of exactitude. And this time around, it’s all in the details, starting with the release format: for Echos, Shrubbn!! say no to the prevalent CD format in favor of a truly stunning vinyl edition — a pleasure for both ears and eyes. Together with Berlin video experts Transforma, the duo also came up with a clever live concept that translates Shrubbn!!’s music to imagery (for a quick glimpse of this aesthetic tour de force, take a peek at Transforma’s crisp cover art). And the latter have been busy carving their own niche in the world of art — slow and steady, yet entirely uncompromising — with works ranging from Apparat’s stunning club set to their own music film Synken and countless concepts or performances for landmark festivals like Club Transmediale. Backed by this inspired gang, Shrubbn!! now give us an overall oeuvre of darkest imagery and heavy sounds bathed in ominous crashing waves. |
| SKUDGE RECORDS (SWEDEN) | |
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MRSK: Twirl/Pinkman 12″ (SKUDGE PT002EP) 12.50 MRSK drops one on Skudge, where stripped, wave-ish sounds build onto each other. “Twirl” goes deep below sea-level, where MRSK trips upon a locked melody with fitting beats. An atmosphere very much needed and appreciated. On the flip, “Pinkman” samples the heartbeat of an even deeper state, where one is allowed to lose themselves. Get a hold of something solid, for this is a track that communicates a lot of subtle changes and honesty. |
| SLEEPING BAG | |
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DINOSAUR L: 24-24 Music 2LP (TEG 76530LP) 15.00 2012 repress, originally released 2007. “Dinosaur L is an alias donned by Arthur Russell, a man whose contribution to dance music from the late seventies and through the eighties was formidable but only quietly acknowledged. His innovative and left field dance records were way ahead of what people were used to hearing at the time. He was a cellist who studied classical and Indian music. As well as his great strides in dance music he was also involved in the New York downtown avant-garde music scene and produced some albums in a more avant-garde/experimental vein as well as trying his own unique approach to pop. He scored several hits on the underground New York dance scene at clubs like The Paradise Garage (Larry Levan was a huge supporter). His biggest tunes, ‘Go Bang!’ and ‘Is It All Over My Face?’ were worldwide club hits and are still played today as classics. His records have influenced the scene from his first dance record in 1979 to the present day and his work has been much sampled. Sadly Arthur died in 1992, but his music lives on and his influence is still felt on the dance music scene, his tunes still sound great and are still moving many dancers around the world, so his spirit lives on. Sleeping Bag Records and Traffic Entertainment Group is proud to present Dinosaur L’s 24->24 Music for the first time ever on double LP. Includes the original album tracklisting plus rare 12″ remixes and edits.” |
| SOUL JAZZ RECORDS (UK) | |
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VA: Jende Ri Palenge: People of Palenque 5LP BOX/DVD (SJR 254LP) 36.00 Limited 5LP and DVD boxset of this film and music project made in Colombia. Featuring original Palenque music, plus remixes by Osunlade, Deadbeat, Felipe Venegas, Aurelian Riviere, Kalabrese, Santiago Posada, Secondo, Rocketnumbernine, Matias Aguayo, Subway, Kromestar and Jay Haze. “Filmmakers Santiago Posada and Simon Meija arrived at Palenque, near the Caribbean coast of Colombia to record the music of the area and to make a documentary film about the people of Palenque. Palenque is a central location for Afro-Colombian culture, the location of the first free slave (or Maroon) community in the Americas. With its own unique style of music and language, heavily influenced by its African heritage, it holds a unique position and is today proclaimed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The film-makers built a studio in the town in order to record the highly percussive roots music that mixes African and Latin in equal flavors. Once back home they enlisted a select number of like-minded electronic, house and dubstep artists to produce a second disc of remixes — including Osunlade, Mattias Aguayo, Kromestar and others to interpret the original works.” DVD is double sided, so NTSC on one side, PAL on the other, both region free. |
| SOUNDS OF SUBTERRANIA (GERMANY) | |
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KAMIKAZE QUEENS: Automatic Life LP (SOS 113LP) 17.00 Gatefold LP version. The Kamikaze Queens are a saucy, tough and tantalizing female-fronted rock’n’roll performance band from Berlin, self-defined as “Berlin Punk Cabaret.” With their second full-length record Automatic Life, the Queens take their original one-of-a-kind show on the road with 14 new tracks — once again showing their many colors and musical influences in an explosive package of punk, garage, swing, burlesque, tales of night life, sea creatures, and good times gone bad. Don’t let the upright-bass fool you, ’cause this ain’t no rockabilly. Kamikaze Queens are a wild, mis-behavin’ mix; kickin’, screamin’ and rockin’ out of this world. Automatic Life embodies the breadth of style that the Kamikaze Queens deliver, from a 24-hour Southern stomper at the “Tastee 29” to the dark and mysterious call of “Night Life.” “Snagged On My Stiletto” is a cocktail of switchblade cool and punk attitude. Strap in for a night of breaking hearts and raging. “Good Times” is the hit that’s engine don’t run on gasoline. It’s got all the lust, glamour, broken glass, bloody knees, booze and heartache that leaves you torn and frayed — but comin’ back for more. The story twists and dives deep into the sea with “Sweet Geraldine” and “I Was A Teenage Mermaid.” They tell the tale of the mermaid Geraldine who has to leave everything she knows to follow her nagging curiosity and her rebellious spirit. Though her family might kill her, she’s drawn to the rough and tumble, whores and trannies, punks and freaks that await her on land. Add to that a little John Waters-esque absurdity with a ’60s dance-craze number, “Do The Crab” — which is actually the first song Tex Morton ever wrote the music AND lyrics to — and you’re hooked, line and sinker. Joined by special guests on horns, singing saw and cello, as well as guest vocals, kazoos and whistles, Kamikaze Queens take a whole new approach to rock’n’roll. |
| SOUNDWAY (UK) | |
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BOOMA ROCKERS, THE: Soul Food/Booma Woman 7″ (SNDW 7016EP) 12.50 The Booma Rockers were a London house-band put together by a young producer and songwriter from Guyana, Terry Nelson aka Omar Farouk. “Soul Food” is an instrumental soul/blues/funk B-side, released in 1969/1970 on Rude Boy Records, featuring Ghanaian saxophonist/vocalist Teddy Osei. “Booma Woman” was also a B-side in a more reggae-funk style, featuring vocalist Jean Manix. Both have been out-of-print and are re-released with the Nelson families’ full permission. Limited to 1,000 copies and comes with a free MP3 download of the release. |
| SOUVENIR MUSIC (GERMANY) | |
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RE.YOU: Leaving Me/Falling 12″ (SOUVENIR 042EP) 12.00 Souvenir presents an EP from Marius Maier, better known as Re.You, who ups the tempo for this pair of fresh productions for his home label. The A1 brings an old-school flavor, a drumset mail-ordered straight from Chicago builds the framework for a bouncing bassline to drive the track along. The flipside features the vocal talents of Daniel Wilde. The title itself speaks of the track’s nervy equilibrium, the vocals and hypnotic beat doing little to aid one’s balance. Remixes by Philip Bader and Avatism. |
| STUDIO SOULROCK (NETHERLANDS) | |
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WOESTENENK, TIM: From Juno With Love 12″ (STUDIOS 007EP) 12.50 Four tracks from Dutch deep house producer Tim Woestenenk on this new release from Studio Soulrock. Tim Woestenenk delivers an EP infused with both energy and melancholy. The Deventer deep-house don submerges you in menacing melodies but keeps a keen eye on the dancefloor. The inciting character of this music grows on you, steadily bringing any crowd to a boiling point. |
| SUPERIOR VIADUCT | |
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NOH MERCY: Noh Mercy LP (SV 002LP) 18.00 LP version. “Formed in San Francisco in 1977, Noh Mercy was comprised of only two women: Esmerelda and Tony Hotel. The band’s motto was ‘No Boys On Guitars’ as a reaction against male-dominated rock ‘n’ roll. They didn’t need boys or guitars. They harnessed the angularity of Devo, the punk/poet attitude of Patti Smith, and the art spectacle of Roxy Music, all ground down to a minimalist core of voice and drums. Their only two previously released songs — ‘No Caucasian Guilt’ and ‘Revolutionary Spy’ — have long been considered essential recordings within post-punk/no wave collector circles and by fans of other late ’70s ‘girl’ groups, such as X-Ray Spex, The Slits, and the Raincoats. This album contains almost entirely unreleased material, unheard for over thirty years. Recorded by Fluxus artist and electronics genius Tommy Tadlock (Tuxedomoon) during their peak in 1979. As prescient as bands come, Noh Mercy preceded the defiant queer rebellion of riot grrrl and the frenetic art minimalism of the early 21st century by decades.” On clear vinyl; includes a large-format 8-page booklet with extensive liner notes and mesmerizing photos. |
| TERANGA BEAT (SENEGAL) | |
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KARANTAMBA: Ndigal 2LP (TBLP 015LP) 26.50 2LP version. Teranga Beat proudly presents Bai Janha alias “Sweet Fingers” and his psychedelic steamroller, Karantamba. Composer, arranger, guitar player in Guelewar and Ifang Bondi, Bai Janha is undisputedly the most important musician to have come from Gambia. Band leader of the groups Black Star, Whales Band, Fabulous Eagles and Supreme Eagles, founder of the group Alligators who later became Guelewar, Bai is the one who created the unique psychedelic sound in the region of Sene-Gambia, mixing traditional compositions with soul. His musical innovations contributed to the domination of Afromanding music in West Africa for more than a decade. This record presents Bai Janha with his last group, Karantamba, a school for young musicians, in a totally unreleased recording, recorded in Thiès (Senegal) at “Sangomar” Club in 1984. The double gatefold LP’s liner notes include more information and photographs, outlining the living legend’s musical career and the wicked percussive rhythms and compositions of this album. |
| THE TAPEWORM (UK) | |
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MOHNE, ACHIM: And It Could Have Been Dead… Cassette (TTW 038CS) 7.00 Achim Mohné experiments with the space and time intervals of media, photography, video, digital image production, as well as with sound. His experiments bring to light the surprising uses that lie dormant in today’s technology. For The Tapeworm, Achim focused on audiotape itself: as material, as body, as signifier and as sculpture. Some notes on the sources and methods used to create And It Could Have Been Dead… follow: A1., “How To Use This Cassette” is mixed from a 1982 Blaupunkt instruction tape for a cassette player. A2., “Widerverwendung” uses material from “MediaRecycling,” a live performance at Gesellschaft für aktuelle Kunst (GAK) Bremen, 1999. This was a performance for opened-up VCRs, monitors, scissors, glue, medical gloves, cleansing alcohol. Sections of tapes were randomly chosen, cut with a scissors, then taped back live together in a different order. The version on this cassette was mixed in 2011. A3., “All I Have Ever Listened To” was mixed from “Sozialisationsmusik” — a live performance at Academy of Media Arts, Cologne (1997) for three to eight turntables, cassette recorders and a mixer. With their help, vinyl records and cassettes from a great variety of genres (classic, electro, punk, rock, jazz, children’s audio dramas) are layered-up and mixed live. The version on The Tapeworm’s tape was edited in 2011. A4. and B1. were created using hand-operated cassette recorders. The tapes used for “Once Upon A Time They All Lived Happily Ever After” were all of fairy-tales. B2. (“Syntactical Swap”) is a work for cassette recorder and turntable. Finally, B3. is a short blast, using beginnings and endings of The Tapeworm cassettes, #01-#34 as its sound source. |
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CORNER, PHILIP: Piano Work’d Cassette (TTW 039CS) 7.00 Philip Corner (b. 1933) is an American composer, musician and visual artist. His teachers include Henry Cowell and Olivier Messiaen. While on military duty in Korea in 1960-1961, he studied calligraphy with Ki-sung Kim and many of his works have calligraphic scores. A founding member of Fluxus, Corner has performed with George Maciunas, Dick Higgins, Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik. From 1967 to 1970 he taught the course in Experimental Composition at the New School for Social Research, which John Cage initiated in 1956. He was a member of Judson Dance Theater as both dancer and composer and has written scores for dance pieces by James Waring, Yvonne Rainer, Lucinda Childs and Elaine Summers, among many others. He lives in Reggio nell’Emilia with his wife and performing partner, the dancer and choreographer Phoebe Neville. His wide-ranging output includes numerous works for gongs, bells, metal percussion and gamelan orchestra. Piano Work’d explores the rich sonic possibilities afforded by the dismantling of a piano. Corner recorded the performance on August 19, 1983 at Archivio F. Conz, Verona, using a Sony Walkman Professional WM-D6 and a Sennheiser Kunstkopf microphone. The finished object that resulted from this action is the property of the Archivio F. Conz, Verona. The audio for this edition was remastered in 2011 by BJNilsen. Cover illustration — detail from the original score by Philip Corner. |
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OLD APPARATUS: 15:24-15:46 Cassette (TTW 040CS) 7.00 Old Apparatus are a four-piece audio/visual collective transmitting from East London that have been releasing bass-oriented electronic dance music on Mala’s underground label Deep Medi Musik. This edition for The Tapeworm is an improvised instrumental piece using guitar, piano, violin and found sound ambiences recorded entirely in the front room of the house they share together. Given that most forms of electronic music are bound by linearity and grid-based digital audio workstations, Old Apparatus consciously embarked on an exploration of non-linear forms of musical expression. The audio on the tape is a snapshot in time of that exploration. |
| TRAFFIC | |
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MANTRONIX: King Of The Beats (Anthology 1985-1988) 2CD (TEG 76536CD) 21.00 “How do you define the music of Mantronix? Is it Hip hop? Electro? Funk? House? Maybe the answer is all of the above (or is it none of the above?). It is true that Mantronix will be remembered for their multi-faceted sound as well as their ability to bend and blend genres flawlessly into a cohesive musical tapestry, but they will also most importantly they will be remembered as musical innovators and sub- genre pioneers. Now available for the first time ever, Traffic Entertainment Group in conjunction with Sleeping Bag Records and Warlock Entertainment present: Mantronix: King of the Beats The Anthology 1985-1988, . This two disc carefully curated compilation combines the best of Mantronix’s work from the early, and arguably, best era of their career into one amazing listening experience. Whether you are an avid Mantronix fan or are looking for a place to start – this is the collection to wrap your ears around.” |
| TRANSPARENCY | |
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LOS ANGELES FREE MUSIC SOCIETY: Blorp Esette 4CD (TRANS 022CD) 26.00 2011 remastered edition. Remastered in June of 2011 by Ju Suk Reet Meate. Perhaps the only logical follow up to the historic LAFMS: The Lowest Form Of Music 10CD box on RRR, is this 4CD compilation based around the 2 LP volumes of Blorp Esette which Ace Farren Ford released under the LAFMS umbrella in 1978 (Vol. 1) and 1980 (Vol. 2, a double LP set). Both of the LPs featured cover & label art by Don Van Vliet which as been reproduced on this CD reissue. Capt. Beefheart cover art was quite a coup for the times and these LPs have long been some of the most desirable LAFMS artifacts (but basically never available to anyone outside of the LA underground at the time of their release). The four CDs are packaged with a 32 page booklet of artwork and notes, and include nearly 3 hours of previously unreleased tracks! The LAFMS bridged the gap. Features performances by: Smegma, Le Forte Four, The Reverend Toad-Eater, Electric Willy Trio, the Di-Dee Dos, Ace Farren Ford, Rick Potts, Doo Dooettes, Henry Kaiser, Dennis Duck, Joe Potts, Chip Chapman, Ace & Duce, Child Molesters, Jerry Bishop, Nopar King, The South Pasadena Free Music Ensemble, Gage Kenady, Ju Suk Reet Meate, Reverend Marty Nation, many more. “In January of 1976 the non-musician comedy team of Ace & Duce officially joined ranks with the newly formed Los Angeles Free Music Society for the legendary Spaghetti Works show in what was then truly old towne Pasadena with fellow stalwarts Le Forte Four and the Doo-Dooettes. When we had begun our forays into ‘free music’ we had figured to be lone venturers without peers, yet at this point we found ourselves in a sort of like-minded union. Enthusiasm reined supreme, who soon led us to the question of doing an album. For reasons that seem to escape me now, we decided to do a various artists compilation. Response was plentiful, so much so that before it was done plans were underway for a volume 2., which grew to become 2 records. It was a lot of fun. It was also a nightmare. Technology had not yet reached us, and suddenly we had many reels of tape and cassettes, all of varying quality or lack thereof, many with little or no information as to what exactly was on them. We were, in fact, forced to master volume 2 in mono due to varying levels and other technical hardships. Now due to the vision & lack of good sense on the part of Mr. Sheppard, we present the Blorp Esette experience, including volume 2 in stereo as originally intended, and many of the tracks that could not have been included in the original volumes due to time constraints and other maladies, with many new surprises.” — Ace Farren Ford. |
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SUN RA: The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1 14CD/BOOK (TRANS 316CD) 130.00 “A co-production of The Sun Ra Music Archive and Transparency. Thirteen hours of unreleased and ultra-rare music plus definitive Sun Ra autobiographical commentary, curated by Michael Anderson. Additional liner notes by Bennett Theissen. Volume one in this new series covers the years 1914-1959, across 14 CDs plus a spectacular 128 page 5″ x 10″ paperback book, all contained in a large box. Improjazz selected this box set as one of the two best reissues of 2011.” |
| TYPE (UK) | |
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MAIN ATTRAKIONZ: 808s & Dark Grapes II 2LP (TYPE 104LP) 25.00 The internet can be blamed for many things, and while the current consensus seems to be that it is single-handedly responsible for the destruction of the music scene, it’s impossible to deny the influence it has had on contemporary rap music. Previously held hostage by industry moneymen, file sharing and social networking has democratized the genre and allowed people to hear what’s really going on in the minds of young producers and rappers. Main Attrakionz are one such cottage industry made up of rapper/producer Squadda Bambino and rapper MondreM.A.N., and in only a couple of years, the Oakland-based duo have amassed an enviable cache of heavy-hitting records. Surprisingly, none of these highly-regarded mixtapes have yet made it to the physical realm, so it is Type’s pleasure to issue the band’s defining 808s & Dark Grapes II on wax for the first time. 808s… shows Mondre and Squadda in exemplary form, spitting home truths and fractured hood memories over untouchable productions from their unmatched arsenal of collaborators. Clams Casino hardly needs an introduction at this point, but he is joined by Japanophile SF duo Friendzone, Marlee B, Keyboard Kid and many more to create a veritable roadmap of the current scene. The sound might have been awkwardly labeled “cloud rap,” and sure, it sounds pretty dreamy, but there’s more to Main Attrakionz than just a subgenre. This is fathoms-deep, genre-bending rap music found outside of the traditional boundaries, and its protagonists are two of the most compelling voices in the scene. Listen hard, and listen good, this won’t be the last time you hear from Main Attrakionz. Limited edition double-vinyl pressing, cut at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin. |
| UNIVERSAL SOUND (UK) | |
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LOBO, EDU: A Musica De Edu Lobo Por Edu Lobo CD (US 042CD) 20.00 “Edu Lobo is one of the towering giants of Brazilian music to emerge out of the Bossa Nova scene in Brazil in the 1960s with this, his stunning debut album in 1965. Released on the seminal Elenco Records label, producer Aloysio de Oliveira enlisted the help of the greatest bossa jazz group ever, The Tamba Trio (led by Luiz Eça), to help launch the gifted singer, songwriter Lobo into the spotlight. As well as his own classic compositions (which he often wrote for singers such as Elis Regina), Lobo also collaborated with the greatest lyricists such as Vinicius de Moraes and the radical left-wing film-maker Ruy Guerra, to produce some of the most important songs in Brazilian music, songs such as ‘Reza’, ‘Arrastao’, ‘Boranda’ (all featured here) and many more. His complex music helping pave the way for the emergence of the new musical movement, Musica Popular Brasileira, which replaced Bossa Nova in the mid-1960s. This is a bespoke high quality box-edition CD of this seminal album with exact-reproduction artwork of the original album, never before released outside Brazil.” |
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LOBO, EDU: A Musica De Edu Lobo Por Edu Lobo LP (US 042LP) 25.00 LP version, “very collectable limited edition (1000 worldwide), exact-repro vinyl edition with hardback American-pressed sleeve and heavyweight vinyl.” |
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TAMBA TRIO: Avanco CD (US 043CD) 20.00 “The Tamba Trio were one of the most important musical groups to emerge out of the Bossa Nova movement in Brazil in the 1960s. The group released their debut album, Avanço, in 1963 on Philips Brazil. Led by the young genius pianist, arranger and composer Luiz Eça, and formed in Rio de Janeiro in 1963, the Tamba Trio became the central group at the legendary Bottle’s Bar – home of the Bossa Nova in Beco das Garrafas – where they played alongside the many stars of the day such as Elis Regina, Carlos Lyra, Nara Leão and Edu Lobo. The group’s unique and highly distinctive bossa jazz and vocals style was to prove highly influential in the development of boss nova, never more so than on their amazing original version of ‘Mas Que Nada’, written by Jorge Ben and featured here. This is a bespoke high quality box-edition CD of this seminal album with exact-reproduction artwork of the original album, never before released outside Brazil.” |
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TAMBA TRIO: Avanco LP (US 043LP) 25.00 LP version, “very collectable limited edition (1000 worldwide), exact-repro vinyl edition with hardback American-pressed sleeve and heavyweight vinyl.” |
| VIDAB (GERMANY) | |
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VA: Camp Vidab 3 (Day 7-10) 12″ (VIDAB 015EP) 12.00 This is the third issue of the Camp series. As on every Camp record, Vidab introduces a new face to their artist roster. This time, Germany’s Drehwerk delivers a moody deep house pearl. Also, Tomas Svensson adds another top-notch classic house track with vocals from Berlin’s Loganic. In addition, you will find two tracks from Vidab founders Stephan Hill and Oliver Deutschmann. A mini-compilation for your mind, your heart and your soul. |
| VINYL MAGIC (ITALY) | |
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PANNA FREDDA: Uno LP (VM 118LP) 34.00 “With a great album, highly representative of the Italian prog sound, Panna Fredda should have deserved some more success, but theirs is the typical story of a band having a record deal and not being able to produce an album. Uno was delayed for many months after its recording and even broadcast in radio before its release, but the record company (Vedette) didn’t support it at all and the band disappeared. The band was from Rome, and their album was released in 1971, but as mentioned above, the group had already ceased to exist by the time of its release. The album contains six long cuts, mostly based on a very effective guitar-keyboards interplay. Some English prog influences can be heard, and classical influences are evident, especially in the keyboard parts, but the music is convincing and impressive. The voice is good, the lyrics original and the album has no weak points.” Housed in a gatefold sleeve; on clear vinyl. |
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Thursday, April 18, 2024