Various

In 2010, against all odds, Angola Soundtrack Vol. 1 (AACD 069CD/AALP 069LP) was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize in the category "Black Music." This victory was all the sweeter for its triumph over the predicted winner, Aloe Blacc's multi-platinum record, Good Things. Many were surprised that the award was handed to a compilation that covered obscure music, but it didn't surprise the team behind Analog Africa, who believed such an award should have come much earlier. Since discovering th…

Gorgeous 4LP box set presented in two gatefold sleeves inside a heavy card slipcase, with a 12” square, 20 page, saddle stitched booklet on art paper. The set is a 34-song anthology of Early Recordings From Iran painstakingly restored from 78s at Abbey Road studio in London "Ravishingly beautiful, achingly precious songs and instrumentals, ranging from two performances by the Royal Court Orchestra in 1906 — with futuristic, overlapping trumpets and exquisite clarinet improvisation — through to a…

Alexandros Drymonitis is an MMus graduate of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He studied guitar in Athens, Amsterdam and Berlin, specialising in contemporary music, and specifically in the co-operation between the composer and the performer. He attended composition classes in Athens and Amsterdam, plus several electronic music seminars and workshops. He has found his place in the field of free improvisation and noise art. Nikos Kyriazopoulos works on environmental recordings in a wide range of …

With the resurgence of interest in folk music it's hardly surprising to see countless compilations showing up week after week, but compilations this moving and this important are rarely chanced upon. This disc puts together the lesser heard folk tracks, songs recorded by artists who weren't sponsored by major label money, artists who simply made music because they were desperate to make music, artists free from poisonous delusions of grandeur. You will likely not have come across one of the four…

Remarkable subterranean radicals have been getting to enter the stage since mid-late 2000's via the label Lust Vessel and the lineage, which are actual first ever fulcrum of genuine industrial cassette culture and the actuality in Japan, after a long period of the mostly scorched ground for that culture from the far east. This is a document of an aspect of thee lust-age and the assembly, featuring six assassins which are true to themselves and standing on their own territories. Tongue Knax ; a h…

Mindblowing comp of obscure, highest-calibre DIY Post-Punk and Synthwave from the archives, brilliantly compiled by Darren McCreesh and brought to you by Finders Keepers' Cache Cache sublabel - so damn good. There's been a deluge of post-punk reissues and rarity compilations in the past five years, and in turning their spades to the same ground, Finders Keepers have dug way deeper than anybody else, and come up with a cache lost classics that are both truly lost and truly classic - the quality c…

A cherry-picked compendium of EDM prototypes circa 1956-1971 by Pierre Henry, Jean-Claude Vannier, Igor Wakhevitch, Henk Badings and more "The roots of Electronic Dance Music" (EDM) by definition. An unlikely combination of early recordings by international electronic and avant-garde composers as well as infrequent collaborators retrospectively unified by their commitment to the musical enhancement of 20th Century ballet and the evolution of modern dance. Presenting key exponents of the musique …

Important collection of recordings documenting and preserving "fringe" or under-represented folk cultures and voices from a unique region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It spans a diverse cross-section of music by Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Chechens and many other ethnicities which fall outside their country's definition of national folk music - Azeris from Georgia, Kurds from Tbilisi, Avars and Lezgis from Azerbaijan, or Molokans in the South Caucasus - giving room for al…

Amazing quadruple tape set comprising of 8 artists, 4 tapes for almoust 2 hours of unsustainable harsh noise. Tounge Knax, Mordant Karma from Japan, Blodvite and Arv & Miljo from Sweden, Elisha Morningstar, Endless Sea from Italy, Skingraft, Developer from USA. Each artist explains his idea of eros, the relationship between lovers, the power of physical and mental attraction.

Lovely compilation selected by Xiu (Oksana Rodionova) consisting of contemporary minimal electronic and deviant-techno artists based in Milan, Italy. Here's the label's mission statement as you could say: "The musical aesthetism defended by the label admits connections with post-modern qualities and challenges conventions for an innovative musical conversation between analogue instrumentation and technologies." The label will host various types of electronic music always seen throught a dark and…

Limited edition full-color gatefold LP version of the first Sublime Frequencies CD release from 2003. The equator runs through only ten countries on earth and I bet that you cannot name them all without consulting a map. Indonesia is one of them and the only nation in Asia with the equatorial stripe impaling it. There are so many different cultures spread out on this chain of islands that it would take several lifetimes to experience them all properly. Within this umbrella of diversity is one of…

...Vol. 1. Limited edition full-color gatefold LP version of the Sublime Frequencies CD release from 2004. Original description from 2004: How do they do it? Are they smarter? Are they better? How can it be ignored or denied? How is it possible that one of the most unique, perfectly composed and performed, intense and awe-inspiring musical legacies the world has ever known is looming north of the equator physically tucked between world cultural giants India, China, and Thailand, without more tha…

In 2006, Hisham Mayet returned to West Africa to continue his search for an unknown musician he had heard six months earlier on the radio in a Morocco hotel room. Knowing only that it was Sahrawi music -- music of the south -- he headed down through the vast and remote desert landscape of the Western Sahara and Mauritania in hopes of finding someone who could identify these revelatory recordings. The story of how he finally found this elusive artist is the stuff of ethnomusicological legend. But…

In 2005, Sublime Frequencies released Choubi Choubi: Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq, and in the ensuing years it has become one of the most beloved and venerable titles in their catalog. Now almost 10 years later, this highly-anticipated second volume is finally here. Compiler and producer Mark Gergis has once again put forth a revelatory and poignant collection of Iraq's national folk music. What has happened to Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion and eventual occupation? Endless death, destructio…

It is an eclectic collection of inspired Indonesian folk and pop music culled from cassettes and vinyl recorded and released during the 1970s and 1980s. The music on this collection spans several contemporary popular genres - each inherently unique and born from very different cultural and geographical origins within the archipelago. All, however, are also vitally informed by Islamic, Arabic and South Asian popular and traditional music, alongside various Western musical fads -- a distinctly Ind…

Otomo Yoshihide, guitar. Sachiko M, sine waves. Evan Parker, saxophones. John Edwards, double bass. Tony Marsh, drums. John Butcher, saxophones.The final night of Otomo and Sachiko's first residency in 2009 saw the pair joined by the long running trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards and Tony Marsh and special guest John Butcher. Butcher played duos with both Otomo and Sachiko (available as download only bonus tracks) and joined the quintet for a rousing sextet: stunning twin saxophone interplay, …

The Kel Tamasheq people of the Sahara respect an ancient social order of noble families supported by lesser nobles, craftsmen and former slaves. Noble princes never would pick up a musical instrument -- that was for the craftsman, the griot, the professional bard, or the lesser nobles. But all that has changed during the droughts and rebellions of the past 50 years. The whole social order has been challenged. In the 1970s, electric guitars appeared in the desert. Everything began to c…

"Unreleased performances by Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kate McGarrigle, Rick Danko, Anais Mitchell, Sleepy John Estes, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and more. Caffè Lena, the oldest continuously operating folk music coffeehouse in the US. Opened by Lena Spencer in 1960, this tiny room has played host to influential artists across diverse genres of music; traditional folk, blues, singer-songwriters, jazz, and bluegrass. Luckily, many performances were caught on tape through …

With original copies selling for over $300+ (theres a second hand copy on sale at Amazon UK at the moment for £799!) this seminal title is considered by many to be one of the most important books about sound art ever published and is now finally back in print with this handsome new edition via Charivari Press. Originally published in 1990, the book was part of Art Metropole's "...by Artists" series and includes essays written by John Cage, Christina Kubisch, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Christi…

Line is pleased to announce its latest edition featuring astoundingly detailed audio visual works by six internationally recognized artists: Evelina Domnitch + Dmitry Gelfand, COH, Paul Prudence, Francisco López, and Asmus Tietchens.The fluidity and even the granularity of light can be unfolded by the senses through active attunement coupled with meticulously orchestrated conditions. Though formerly considered impossible to imagine, let alone perceive, recently, a variety of quantum behavior h…

Laurent Jeanneau and Shi Tanding have returned from the northwest corner of China's Xinjiang province with an amazing batch of recordings collected during the weeks leading up to the volatile Uyghur uprising of 2009. Armed with their trusty audio gear, the couple was set on getting married and recording various styles of regional ethnic music near the Chinese border with Kazakhstan. However, the local authorities suspected that the pair had other intentions, shadowing and interrogating them wher…

Born Bad Records, the on-point French label that has brought you some of our favorites of the year, will release this week a compilation of French protest jazz from the 70s called Mobilisation Generale. The compilation, which you can stream below, is a fantastic look at a small slice of history that could use a little more attention. On BBR's Bandcamp, an entire oral history is written out to accompany the release, which features some truly innovative freeform jazz and poetry, and we've reprinte…

‘Rising From The Red Sand’ was one the most comprehensive compilations of early 80’s industrial, wave and underground music, spanning a total of five cassettes, compiled by Gary Levermore for his own Third Mind Records label (which has also recently been revived). The original five tapes are now released as a 5xLP set, following several months of tracking down as many artists as possible to obtain their permission to reissue their material. Almost all were found, although nine tracks are missing…

Compiled and edited by David Murray.Longing for the Past: The 78 rpm Era in Southeast Asia is the first survey of the 78 rpm record era in Southeast Asia. It is a kaleidoscopic collection featuring 4 CDs with 90 tracks of music spanning six decades (1905-1966), accompanied by a 272-page book with essays and annotations by leading ethnomusicologists that is richly illustrated with more than 250 vintage photographs, record labels, and sleeves. "The consistently amazing Dust-to-Digital label presen…

Johnny Chang (viola), Angharad Davies (violin), Jamie Drouin (electronics), Phil Durrant (electronics), Lee Patterson (amplified objects), John Tilbury (piano).In February 2013 the Berlin-based musician Johnny Chang, who is a member of the Wandelweiser collective, visited London as part of a short tour along with his some-time playing partner Jamie Drouin, the Canadian musician and artist who had recently moved to Berlin. The duo constructed an installation at the Soundfjord gallery in Tottenham…

Compiled by Chris Menist, Qat, Coffee & Qambus: raw 45s from Yemen features vintage oud and vocal music inspired by the qat-chewing, coffee-sipping, qambus-playing culture of Yemen. Although part of the classical Arabic musical tradition, the music of Yemen takes its rhythmic lead as much from the East African coast (a mere 20 miles across the Red Sea) as the surrounding Arab Peninsula.Little has been written about the music and culture of one of the world's oldest civilizations, and each 45rpm …

Features six extended tracks from the Golden Age of the Moroccan record industry. 'Kassidat', the Arabic word for poetry, is one of the essential ingredients in Moroccan song. Despite the bewildering array of musical styles in Morocco, the Moroccan sense of poetry is found throughout the music, regardless of the style or language. This isn't the language of high art, but an often impenetrable vernacular poetry of oblique references, symbols, metaphors, and double entendres that describes the liv…

Compiled by David Murray. Luk Thung: classic & obscure 78s from the Thai Countryside features fourteen outstanding funky performances of Thai country groove music from the 1950s and early 1960s. All previously unreissued, carefully transferred and mastered from the original 78rpm records of collector Dave Murray and presented with detailed full color liner notes by Peter Doolan.

A collection of spiritual and gospel songs performed in informal non-church settings between 1965 and 1973. Most are guitar-accompanied and performed by active or former blues artists. "Most records of black religious music contain some form of gospel singing or congregational singing recorded at a church service. This album, though, tries to present a broader range of performance styles and contexts with the hope of showing the important role that religious music plays in the Southern black com…

This Zine was developed from a collaborative exhibition and performance organized by the writer, Brandon Stosuy, and the artist, Kai Althoff in the Summer of 2009 at Dispatch Bureau in NYC. It was displayed during the White Columns Annual 2009, during which pages were added by the original exhibition's various participants. The Zine features new materials by artists, writers and musicians such as Adam Helms, Brandon Stosuy, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, Kai Althoff, Karlynn Holland, Lionel Maunz, Matt Za…

Through several duos, a picture of improvised music in Slovenia. Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec, computer & Vid Dra ler, drums, percussion. Andrej Fon, bagpipes, clarinet & Ana Kravanja, violin. Matija Schellander, double bass & Toma Grom, double bass. Samo Kutin, hurdy gurdy & Marko Jeni , violin. Andrej Fon, el. guitar, clarinet & iga Pucelj, feedback loops. Vid Dra ler, drums, percussion & Marko Karlov ec, alto saxophone. Vitja Bal alorsky, el. guitar, analog electronics & Bo tjan Simon, alto saxoph…

A special 26 only copies box, with an extra LP: SAS #40 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on; the carpet motifs are divided in 26 parts, so if you put together all 26 ltd ed, you'll see the full design as on the regular ed) + postcard- SAS #41 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on; artwork by Huseyin Ertunc) + color postcard + another insert on high quality photo paper with 12 pic from the concert- SAS #42 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on; em…

Aweseome Hardboard linen box with 3LP+2CD + lavishly illustrated 88-page book, Subtitled "50 years of electronic and electroacoustic music at the Ghent University" this beautiful box commemorate IPEM's 50th anniversary, with a lavishly illustrated 88 page book (all text in Dutch and English) with two CDs featuring Lucien Goethals, Didier Gazelle, Louis De Meester, David Van de Woestijne, Stefan Beyst, Helmut Lachenmann, Boudewijn Buckinx, Karel Goeyvaerts, Emmanuel Van Weerst, Peter Beyls, R…

A record as weird and wild as the cover – filled with really tripped-out sounds from the obscure Flipper sound library in Italy! The music follows strongly in the best style of the rock-driven sounds from Italian horror films – but there's also a more compact approach too, with some funky elements that really make the whole thing sparkle – and a restrained approach that's far less indulgent than the prog styles that Italy was famous for at the time. The whole thing's great – a wicked mi…

There was something strange and disturbing going on in Italy in the ‘70s. It was a tumultuous and visionary period of (post) psychedelic excess. One that was defined, on the one hand, by random acts of terrorism and a heavy military police presence throughout the Italian territory, but also by strobe lights, shattered taboos and extreme gestures. A singular atmosphere that reverberated throughout every aspect of life - from fashion, to design, to television, to fi lm, to literature, to th…

The connections between the visual arts and experimental music were closer in the 1960s and 1970s than perhaps any time before or since. Sound and image combined in artists films, \'happenings\' and sounding installations. Experimental Forms of notation were also created to stimulate uninhibited musical expression. Eastern European artists and composers were at the forefront of these new experiments with sound and yet their achievements have never been recorded until now. Sounding the Body…

This is Tomorrow's Achievements, an exclusive Public Information foray into the Canadian Library institution, Parry Music. With access granted by founder John Parry, Public Information have selected twenty-five of their favorite electronic tracks, an early autumn heat-wave of perfect melody. Parry Music was founded in 1974 in Toronto by John Parry and Chris Stone. John was formerly a manager of revered UK library Chappell Music and Chris was a Canadian music consultant; both brought some familia…

Absolutely sterling, amazingly priced primer on the history of 20th century avant-garde and electronics, compiled and presented by notorious rock 'n roll, punk and electronic music scribe, Kris Needs. While there have been notable collections of early electronic and experimental music doing the rounds - Sub Rosa's crucial Anthologies spring to mind - we can think of few as comprehensive, and particularly curated as 'Giant Steps & Flashpoints In 20th-Century Experimental & Electronic Sound'. Taki…

Epic 12 x LP Box Set (weighing 5kg!) of all the Vinyl on Demand releases, edition for VOD members with two additional 7"s and a CD as bonus, issued in this latest batch, housed inside a silver embossed rigid boxset** Massive 12 LP boxset compiling Vinyl-On-Demand's latest batch of ten albums. It's a rarely paralleled insight to the world of '80s Minimal, Synth and Wave musics siphoned from cassette-only releases and issued on vinyl for the first time. Recommended! Includes: Kevin Lazar 'Mu…

"This compilation recalls an exciting time in the former West Germany when a real spirit of optimism prevailed and a musical phenomenon emerged which became internationally known as Krautrock. With performances from Karthago, Grobschnitt, Guru Guru, Mythos, Anyone's Daughter, Embryo, Eulenspygel, Virus, Gila, Ougenweide, and more."