Best of 2024
Spectral Evolution
After a two-decade interlude, Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai returns with Spectral Evolution, a major new work by Rafael Toral. Making his name in the mid-1990s with influential guitar drone platters like "Sound Mind Sound Body" and "Wave Field" (both reissued by Drag City in recent years), Toral has never been one to rest on his laurels repeating his past glories. In the early years of the 21st century, Toral laid the guitar aside, along with the focus on extended tones that had defined much of his musi…
Live at I.U.C.C. 9/30/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - September 30, 1979. This is the seventh concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. A wild and beautiful performance from beginning to end. Opening with an angelic take of Coltrane’s ‘Equinox’ which turns into a Coltrane medley, this recording is obviously a special one from the start… the existence of an unheard Sabir Mateen composition from 1979 (‘A C…
Live at I.U.C.C. 3/25/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - March 25, 1979. This is the third concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. This recording finds the Arkestra on new feet following the departure of bandleader Jesse Sharps. Featuring two of Jesse’s classics, including a totally different take on ‘Mykowski’s’, and the now iconic live version of ‘Desert Fairy Princess’, this concert also marks the debu…
Live at I.U.C.C. 4/29/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - April 29, 1979. This is the fourth concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. Featuring fiery takes of ‘Village Dance’ and ‘Mykowski’s First Fifth’, this concert also marks the only known recording of Tapscott’s ‘Song of Emanon’. Rounded out with the Jesse Sharps tune ‘Sea Wife’ and Tapscott’s homage to David Bryant ‘Dee Bee’s Dance’, this recording ma…
Live at SuperDeluxe - Volume 1
Trost Records returns with a blasting gut-punch of an LP, with “Live at SuperDeluxe - Volume 1”, a full throttle body of improvisations from the all-star quartet of Akira Sakata, Jim O'Rourke, Mette Rasmussen, and Chris Corsano - never before captured on tape - live at legendary Tokyo venue, SuperDeluxe. Riding the wire between free jazz and noise, it's nothing short of powerful, real-time advocation of socio-political importance of free improvisation that leaves you on the edge of your seat fro…
Sodorome Vol. III : Les Romans De Massou
From 1973 until his death, Jean-Marie Massou lived isolated in the heart of the forest in the Lot, a territory he traversed and redrew in his own way, digging countless underground galleries, unearthing gigantic stones that he shifted, erected, aligned, piled up, engraved. When he was not moving heaven and earth, he drew and recorded on hundreds of cassettes his laments, his stories, his dreams, his speeches about the end of the world, ecological disaster, or the arrival of extraterrestrials. Je…
The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle
**Edition of 300, turquoise vinyl, 180 gr. heavyweight LP + extensive booklet** Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs - 2017’s ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’ and 2020’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’ - the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’, two sides off shimmering, tense compositions – culminating as one of her most creatively ambitious and conceptually rich outings to…
... über Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel
Mega tip! Even within the sprawling oeuvres of Sven-Åke Johansson and Alexander von Schlippenbach, both known for their innovative rethinking and broadening of artistic categories, the dramatic work "... über Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel" ("... on cause and effect of the disagreements during the building of the Tower of Babel") remains a unique and rare enigma: What is it actually? Johansson has alternately called it a music drama, an opera, and a sings…
Des (Trambelhar) Ou Não
A joint release between Litoral Records and Três Selos in Brazil. One of the first independently released Brazilian records, Alcides Neves’ debut LP ‚Tempo de Fratura’ is reissued for the first time on vinyl, alongside his second release ‚Des (Trambelhar) Ou Não‘. Hailing from the Brazilian North East, Alcides Neves released his debut album a few years after moving to São Paulo, in 1979. The LP’s release coincided with the emergence of the city’s seminal Vanguarda Paulista movement, which led so…
High In The Sky
Big tip! Leading a dynamic trio with virtuoso bass player Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Donald Bailey, piano player Hampton Hawes released one of his best effort in 1970, focusing on an original blend of post-bop and rare groove. The record opens with a rendition of Bacharach "The Look Of Love" and offers a deep soulful voyage with the 11 minutes title track. Hampton Hawes was one of the finest jazz pianists of the 1950s, a fixture on the Los Angeles scene who brought his own interpretations to the…
Guitar Solos / Fifty
Big tip! Lunching into 2024 after after a stellar 2023, Week-End Records delivers one of their most important offerings to date, the first vinyl reissue of Fred Frith’s seminal 1974 solo debut, “Guitar Solos”, in more than 40 years, marking the album’s 50th anniversary. A groundbreaking work in the field of avant-garde recordings that changed everything in its wake, incorporating a startling range of sonorities and approaches within constrained means, to celebrate its half-century mark, Frith ha…
Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life (Book)
The music of Arthur Russell defies classification. From his pioneering compositions as part of New York's vibrant avant-garde scene (alongside artists including Philip Glass, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Allen Ginsberg) to his genre-expanding disco productions, from his new wave and art pop to his posthumously released folk songs, Russell crafted timeless and foundationally influential work until his premature death in 1992 from AIDS-related illnesses.
Now, in a landmark publicat…
A Glimpse of Light
An absolute gem from the vaults of '80s Ambient music and the Dutch underground, Dead Minds’ reissue of Enno Velthuys’ astounding 1984 album, "Glimpse of Light", is a crucial missing link, one of the greatest unheard albums of its era, and one of the most beautiful records any of us is likely to encounter all year.
Frogs, a Selection of Field Recordings
200 copies, Green Vinyl. About 10 years ago I tried to contact Dutch artist and scientist Felix Hess, when he was still alive, but never got a reply. Years later, in 2022, I was talking to Frans de Waard, who told me he was administering the sound archive of the late Hess together with Mark Poysden. Together we started working on an album to celebrate his life and many accomplishments. It includes selections from all the highly collectible Frogs releases from the 80's and 90's, while the artwork…
The Well-Tuned Piano
2024 Stock, very last copies around. Deluxe DVD edition of The Well-Tuned Piano in The Magenta Lights, containing La Monte Young’s continuous 6 hour-24 minute performance of his masterpiece is now back in print for the first time since 2001. Comes with a 52-page booklet, which includes La Monte and Marian’s essays on their works. Edition of 500, one time pressing.High Minimalism - one of the great, revolutionary musical movements of the 20th century, is marked by a canon of towering and iconic w…
Notte
Taping, expanding, and challenging the parameters of how we perceive rhythm and percussion, comes “Notte”, the debut solo LP by the Italian journeyman drummer and composer Piero Perelli. Ranging from the infectiously hypnotic to complex abstractions and sheets of ambience, every step of the way it's an engrossing listen that shouldn't be missed.
Amir
For years Amir, Henri Texier’s debut solo LP, stood slightly in the shadow of its follow-up, Varech, but is equal and towers in every possible way. There is no other record like it on earth - stunning from start to final turn. In our view, it’s one the greatest artifacts of the 1970s France scene, and that’s no small thing! Deceptively minimal and elegant, Amir is the first the world would hear of Texier’s signature sound - a universe of musical legacies, distilled and channelled through delicat…
Si()six
Several years of mutual appreciation and encounters on- and off-stage have been the root of this chance meeting, resulting in an unplanned mysterious collaboration album where the aura of each individual - none other than Anne Gillis, Jac Berrocal, Vincent Epplay, Timo van Luijk - is augmented by the magic osmosis of united forces. The 12-tracks display a collage of dreamy musique concrète with desolate instrumental and vocal interventions, masterfully balanced out by Vincent Epplay.
Recorded at…
Verbosonies and Phonographies
* 220 copies limited edition. * Herman Damen is a Dutch artist and language designer who, among other things, has created visual poems, performance works and verbosonies – a genre that Damen developed where vocalised morphomic elements are assembled in different ways. In his works he has been exploring ‘kinetic language’ and the spatial aspects of language. Damen’s manifesto “Semiotic Theatre” states that his work “places itself outside official literature and wants to fascinate, shock or activa…
Oersted
*Limited Edition of 299 copies. Black vinyl * Masami Akita's exploration of noise as a musical form has influenced generations of artists and reshaped the way we perceive sound in the context of contemporary music. Oersted stands as a testament to Merzbow's ongoing artistic evolution and his unwavering commitment to pushing sonic boundaries. This limited vinyl reissue, expertly remastered by the wizard of mastering, James Plotkin, with 299 copies available on black vinyl, is a must-have for coll…