Various

For a brief period between 1940 to 1954, the now-defunct paper The New York Herald Tribune maintained a staff of music critics who were valued for their ability to write about music (especially less accessible modern music) in clear language for a general audience. This groundbreaking department was headed up by composer Virgil Thomson and over the years included John Cage, Paul Bowles, Lou Harrison, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Around the same period, Thomson was asked to curate a series of recor…

The best-selling recording in the history of American sound poetry, 10+2 was a novelty at the time of its release in 1975, when unpitched speech was rarely used outside of literary circles as performance material. Out of print for 20 years and available now for the first time on CD, this definitive anthology of speech music by composers, writers, and artists contains examples of the best work of Charles Amirkhanian, Beth Anderson, Robert Ashley, John Cage, Clark Coolidge, Charles Dodge, John Gio…

Between 1920 and 1933, the American poet Ezra Pound composed two complete operas and several pieces for solo violin, all in a very personal language that drew from sources as diverse as troubadour music and Igor Stravinsky. The resulting body of music is of surpassing beauty and casts new light on the practice of prosody, the elusive craft of setting texts to music. The first and only available CD recording of its kind, Ego Scriptor Cantilenae features outstanding historical performances from En…

It’s 2020, the year Pop Ambient turns twenty-one years old, a spritely young adult waltzing out of its teenage joys and tears. Pop Ambient has always stood for a certain classicism and elegance, a kind of beatless music that’s diaphanous and hazy, gossamer and glittering. It’s a music that’s no less inviting for its slow pace and becalmed nature, with a different kind of tension bubbling under the surface. For twenty-one years, Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt has curated a series of peerless c…

** Limited edition of 500 copies in stunning gatefold sleeve ** Yugoslavia - six republics, four decades, one dictator and a single record label that ruled them all: Jugoton (Zagreb, Croatia). Jugoton was by far the country's largest label with the strongest and most diverse output that stretched from Balkan roots to contemporary trends and the sound of tomorrow . The early days of Yugoslavia featured strong censorship but by the end of the 60's the Communist party views softened up by a large d…

** 2021 Stock ** Post-Materialization Music presents From India To Siberia. Traditional songs from Siberia and India. Split tape made from old shellac records found at Russian flea markets. Limited edition cassette with riso printed j-card.

** 2021 Stock ** Most had improbable dialogue, as well as senseless adaptations such as the Marchand de melons (The Melon Merchant) distorting Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man, a result of automatic writing in order to come up with ridiculous lyrics. What can be said about Tarte à la nana (Girl Pie), and how about Ça c’est du poulet ? (This is Chicken?) Or the terrible Soukou Soukou, on the limit of bad taste, words of a colonist… When it comes to reappropriating foreign know-how, the results can…

** 2021 Stock ** A tax haven and dream destination for wealthy travelers, the Republic of Mauritius is a multi-ethnic country that is currently experiencing full economic and social ascension. Banking, textile, tech, tourism industries… in this fast-paced melting pot, business is strong. But not too far from the heavenly beaches and luxurious hotels are quasi-shantytowns, reminding us that a large part of the population, often Creole (of Afro-Malagasy origin) are still excluded from the "economi…

** 2021 Stock ** In 1963, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars. Launching its actors to stardom, including Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif who played Prince Ali Ibn Kharish at the age of thirty. The latter incarnated the West’s vision of the Middle East which was simultaneously elusive, refined and elegant. His fiery stare, impeccable mustache and immaculate haircut had something to do with it: the Egyptian actor was a sex symbol of an era passionate for James Bond and OSS117 spy adven…

** 2021 Stock ** Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.…

** 2021 Stock ** 1968. France, Incorporated. The entire building was being consumed by flames and was slowly collapsing. Nothing would survive. Out of the rubble of the old world jumped the children of Marx and Coca-Cola, ripping the white and blue stripes off the French flag. Yet, the socialist revolution was more mythic than real and music did nothing to mitigate people’s behavior. It was time for innovation. While singles from the Stones, Who, Kinks and MC5 provided an incendiary soundtrack f…

** 2021 Stock ** Switched-On Eugene documents the Eugene Electronic Music Collective and some of the many synthed-out figures in and around Oregon’s iconic hippie stronghold during the 1980s. Whether connected by membership, geography, or the tape trading scene, the artists in and around the EEMC shared compelling visions of the future we now inhabit, vividly captured on home-recorded tapes and distributed via zines, classifieds, and local radio. Switched-On Eugene is a deep dive into a heretofo…

** 2021 Stock ** Ten incredible albums culled from the deepest, weirdest co-op of record enthusiasts ever gathered under one banner. We’ve spared no expense packaging these, pairing the idea of the Art of Compilation with living and breathing art, creating little fortune cookies baked in a factory of forgotten dreams. Video games, pyramids, trading cards, matchbooks, mazes, lottery tickets, film canisters, yearbooks, and various other exercises in design absurdity. Static filled signals emanatin…

La Locura de Machuca is the story of one man’s bizarre odyssey into Colombia’s coastal music underground, and the wild, hypnotic sounds he helped bring up to the surface. One night in 1975, a successful tax lawyer named Rafael Machuca had his mind blown in Barranquilla’s ‘Plaza de los Musicos’. Overnight he went from a high ranking position in the Columbian revenue authority to visionary production guru of the newly formed record label that bore his name, Discos Machuca, and for the next six yea…

** Packaged in a gold metallic sleeve. Sleeve can be opened up and assembled to form a pyramid. Hype sticker with barcode ** Ten incredible albums culled from the deepest, weirdest co-op of record enthusiasts ever gathered under one banner. We’ve spared no expense packaging these, pairing the idea of the Art of Compilation with living and breathing art, creating little fortune cookies baked in a factory of forgotten dreams. Video games, pyramids, trading cards, matchbooks, mazes, lottery tickets…

** 2021 Stock. Packaged in a replica of the original octagonal film canister. Includes folded 36” x 27” "movie poster" ** The previously unissued soundtrack to the 1964 western noir, discovered after 55 years in the Wayne Louis Moody archive. Sixteen languid guitar instrumentals, femme fatale dirges, and cinematic country crooners score the loneliest night of one man's life. Ten incredible albums culled from the deepest, weirdest co-op of record enthusiasts ever gathered under one banner.

**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 500 copies worldwide. Liner notes by Duncan Heining** Two sessions previously assumed either lost or unrecorded, by Henry Lowther’s and Lyn Dobson’s mid-sixties groups. Considered one of the missing links in the development of British free-form jazz.  The Group Sounds Four session includes Jack Bruce, who contributes an original composition never otherwise recorded. Also features Ron Rubin, Ken McCarthy and Jon…

**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 300 copies worldwide ** Those already familiar with the output of Jazz In Britain to date will by now have a fair idea of our modus operandi, but for the uninitiated there is no better place to start than with this collection. Whilst none of these recordings could be considered ‘reference’ standard audio, our aim is always to present them in the best possible light, and offer the optimum listening experience to…

Sound American's 25th issue celebrates explores the intersections of folk and experimental music practices. Guest edited/curated by Sarah Hennies and Anna Roberts-Gevalt, two of American's most forward-looking practitioners in the experimental and folk fields respectively, SA25 takes on questions of a musical community, and what it means to work in and out of its traditions. The issue features writing by Ana Alonso-Minutti on La Llorona, Drew Daniel on Throbbing Gristle, Henry Flynt on his own v…

Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalog -- ambient, spacey, pastoral, and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Francis Monkman, Brian Bennett, and more -- all total masters of the scene. Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he's never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalog. By this he means that he's never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing. But he did man…

Tokyo Dreaming is a superb selection picked from the highly collectible Nippon Columbia label and its Better Days sub-label. Wewantsounds have teamed up with journalist and Japanese music expert Nick Luscombe. The selection mixes electro, synth-pop, funk, and ambient and includes many sought-after rarities and hidden gems which have never been released outside of Japan and the set has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia. Nippon Columbia, one of Japan's oldest music labels is also one of its…

This super discounted bundle gathers together the five recently issued Vanity Records Box Sets, offering a comprehensive anthology of all the releases by this legendary Japanese DYI label, active in the late 70s and early 80s.and includes 31 CDs in total:Various - Vanity Records 'Music, Tapes & Demos' (11CD Box)Various - Vanity Records 'Demos' (6CD Box)Various - The Vanity Box Vol. 1 (5CD Box)Various - The Vanity Box Vol. 2 (5CD Box)Tolerance - Vanity (5CD Box)Here's details about the contents o…

A trip through the productions of pioneering genius Joe Meek. Here we have a mix of hits that have appeared on comps before and real out-there obscurities. Designed to be highly listenable. Never a dull moment amongst these songs that cover subjects close to Joes' heart such as vampires, love (and the lack of it), death, outer space, the human soul, Buddy Holly, and more. Artists featured are The Blue Rondos, The Blue Men, Jason Eddie and the Centremen, The Sound Offs, The Moontrekkers, Johnny L…

* Comes (randomly) in two different covers, one with Alan Vega, the other with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge  * The first issue of Heartworm Press' (Cold Cave) new literary journal. Heartworm Press have invited 25 cultural figures from the 1960s to the present to each contribute four poems, from awarded poets who have been featured in The New Yorker and Paris Review, to works from lyricists of bands such as Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cold Cave, Deafheaven, Daughters, Cer…

**Double-CD version includes 20-page booklet. Sold out at source** An Anthology of Greek Experimental Electronic Music 1966-2016 aspires to map the heterogenous landscape of Greek experimental electronic music in all its contextual, sociopolitical, geographical and aesthetic disparity. With a single exception: it zeroes in on post-80s music. It comprises works of very different kinds by composers of all sorts of backgrounds that, still, can be thought of, as both "Greeks" and "experimentalists".…

* 2020 Stock * Ultra Sounds is the first study of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio (PRES), an early »laboratory« for the production of electronic and electro-acoustic music, and the first of its kind in the Eastern Bloc. It was established in fall 1957. Composers and engineers working there produced some of the most original and often challenging electronic music, »musique concrète« and radio plays of the era. The Studio formed an island of international connection, hosting many leading comp…

* German Edition. 2020 Stock * Radio, which developed over the course of the 20th century into a crucial form of communication, is currently undergoing processes of fundamental reorganization under the general heading »digitalization.« When considered under the older term »radiophonics,« these processes unleash conceptual possibilities that surpass the simple scheme of economization or the acceleration of production- or broadcasting-forms. These conceptual possibilities are addressed by the exhi…

The Imaginary Republic is an artistic research project focusing on questions of social practice. In particular, it considers the creative and restless imaginaries underpinning our political selves and argues for a deeper engagement with what Elena Loizidou terms “dream-action”: the figurative and poetic staging of world making activity.  The publication brings together participating artists Tatiana Fiodorova, Octavio Camargo / Brandon LaBelle, the Sala-Manca Group, and Joulia Strauss, whose prac…

A sound composition based on a workshop focusing on questions of sound, listening, collaboration, and community. Matters of Listening took place as a workshop and public event held at the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile, on June 30, 2019. Focusing on questions of sound, listening, collaboration, and community, the workshop developed as an explorative gathering for sharing, discussing, and making together: to pull from the closets and backrooms various materials and ob…

* English Edition * Dirty Ear Report #3 documents a collective workshop by sound artists and researchers working in the fields of experimental dramaturgy, sonic social engagement, and voice studies. Representing the sixth in the series of the Dirty Ear Forum held in Lisbon in 2016, the Report brings together essays, text pieces, and documents from the participants. In particular, questions of affect and urban experience are considered, posing sound as a vehicle for generating performative cartog…

A new weird, pseudo-music compilation curated by avant-garde experimental composer and audio artist Francisco López. As far as creation itself is concerned, big cities do not manifest anymore as the catalytic cultural centers they used to be. Their iconic status as hip locations seems more symbolic than real. The combined mighty forces of neocapitalist gentrification and telecommunication / information decentralization might have generated a substantially different landscape of geographical cult…

* Edition of 200 * For this new compilation, Anthology of Experimental Music from Mexico, the Italian label Unexplained Sounds Group has gathered artists from different generations who are striving to keep this "scene" alive, not only through their music but also by creating spaces and communities for other artists, both national and international, to thrive in. Even if its presence runs deep and is widely felt, stumbling upon this music feels like a reward, like unlocking a door to a secret pla…

The Vanity Box vol 2 present another beautiful boxet with releases by legendary Japanese DIY label Vanity, active in the late 70s and early 80s. It was conceived by Studio Warp, in collaboration with Agi Yuzuru and the whole roster of artists involved with Vanity.   CD-1 Dada - Jyo(Vanity 0001, originally released in 1978)Dada is an electronics and guitar duo formed in 1977 by Kenji Konishi of Kigadoumei (when Terutsugu Hirayama was a member) and guitarist Mutsuhiko Izumi of Karisma (when Kozo S…

**81 newly-remastered recordings on four CDs with a full-color, 144-page, cork-cover book in a cigar-style box. ** The Harry Smith B-Sides box set contains the flip side of every 78-rpm record that Harry Smith included on the Anthology of American Folk Music. In 1952, Folkways Records published the legendary six-LP series entitled the Anthology of American Folk Music, compiled by eccentric record collector, filmmaker, artist, and anthropologist Harry Smith. Many historians cite Smith's reissue, …

An exploration into the golden era of New Age music in America. Spirituality and psychedelia, gentle waves of analog music often made and distributed in the most DIY of ways with a radical spirit. Overall, an essential insight into an often misunderstood genre

The third of three volumes surveying surely the mightiest Gospel label of them all. Seventeen gems of fierce funk, rapturous soul and transcendent disco and boogie, super-charged with celebration and affirmativeness, loaded with roaring choirs, rocking horns and popping bass guitars, from the years leading up to Savoy's acquisition by Malaco. Hardly any of these recordings have been reissued since their first release. The stupendous opener by Edith Moreno only appeared as a blank-label promo, in…

The second of three volumes surveying surely the mightiest Gospel label of them all. Sublime crossings of gospel with the soul, funk and jazz of the Black Power era. Twenty rapturous cuts dot dazzlingly between Muscle Shoals soul, screwed breakbeat, Mizells-style fusion, disco and proto-house. Triumphant re-workings of Sly Stone, Donny Hathaway, and Herbie Hancock's "Head Hunters" will have listeners throwing their pew cushions into the air. Drawn from hard-to-find 45s and LPs, hardly any of the…

The first of three volumes surveying surely the mightiest Gospel label of them all. Stomping, rollicking gospel music, intermingling with raw soul, searing blues, hard-rocking doo-wop and jazz, and storming R&B. Infused and incandescent with the hurting, surging indignation of the Civil Rights movement, here are twenty-four precious scorchers by giants like the Staple Singers and Jimmy Scott, alongside devastating sides by less celebrated names like the Harmonizing Five of Burlington, North Caro…

In Jazzman Records' latest chapter of Spiritual Jazz, the label returns to the source -- the Impulse! label, and the monumental influence of its most prominent artist, John Coltrane. Since the first release in the series back in 2008, Jazzman Records has mapped out the growth of the spiritual sound in jazz. Spiritually energized and politically conscious, the spiritual sound in jazz music is one of the most important currents in the music. The label's series has charted the growth of the style f…

Limited edition of 35 hand-numbered copies. In wooden box. Includes 4 printed insert sheets, 2 blank sheets, a protection mat and has a printed wrapper. There is no information specified in what order the tapes should be in the box, so the contents are listed like the order of artist names on the wrapper. It features audio works by Dominic Alleluia, Claus Böhmler, Bob Cobbing, Clark Coolidge, Liam O'Gallagher, Herman Damen, Al Hansen, Ron Kuivila. Five of the eight cassettes have no track list.