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Temporacha
Restock 2023. I visited Saya and Ueno at the Majikick house in June last year to catch-up, hang out and chat about what another record from them on ROOM40 might feel like. I'd come fresh from RM40 HQ in Brisbane, working with Lawrence on Noriko's 'U' and was packing a clutch of his recent solo stuff. The house was fascinated with 'Studies for Stradbroke' a CDr released on Wind Measures of hydrophone recordings made in the gorgeous natural lakes on Stradbroke Island, just off the coast of Queensl…
Documental
Restock 2023. Tokyo quartet Minamo occupy a privileged place in the Japanese music scene.They remain one of the few ensembles to consistently produce work that simultaneously refines and expands upon their existing themes and aesthetics. Their largely improvised interactions have produced a collection of recordings that benefit equally from considered listening amongst the groups members and a willingness to stray from the path without warning.Documental, their new edition (a follow up to ‘A Pat…
For Those Who Hear Actual Voices
Restock 2023. 'Someone a long way off, or in the next street on a still day, or in the office across the hall in the rain, might be playing something that sounds a bit like music.'
Live at White Cube
In collaboration between Christian Marclay and the London Sinfonietta, some of the world’s most renowned contemporary musicians have been invited to stage performances, including new compositions and live improvisation sessions inside the White Cube. Each performance over the course of the exhibition will be recorded, pressed and screen-printed live inside the gallery. This performance is from Rie Nakajima.
Rie Nakajima was born in Japan and lives and works in London. Nakajima works wi…
Funk Tide - Tokyo Jazz-Funk From Electric Bird 1978-87
Following the success of the 'Tokyo Glow' compilation, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Japanese Tokyo-based DJ Notoya to dig the rich Electric Bird catalogue and come with a versatile selection of sunny Jazz-Funk gems recorded between 1978 and 1987 for the label. A tasty selection featuring Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshiyuki Honda and Mikio Masuda, together with a few American musicians such as Ronnie Foster and Bobby Lyle. Most tracks make their vinyl debut outside of Japan and the album has been…
Watarase
Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Fumio Itabashi's sought-after album "Watarase" hailed as one of the great Japanese jazz albums and featuring Itabashi on piano playing an inspired mix of standards and originals. Recorded in 1981 for Denon and released the following year, the album has since reached cult status among jazz connoisseurs, thanks to Itabashi's inventive piano playing and to its cult title track, a superb soulful and spiritual composition. Newly remastered by Nippon Columbia using…
Blue
A peak album for Joni Mitchell and genuinely one of the greatest singer-singwriter albums of the '70s, of not ever, all the greater for the intimacy of the songs and beauty of her voice! Perfect isn't a word you want to throw around too often, but Joni Mitchell's Blue might be one of the rare perfect albums. They way personal storytelling soars as relatable poetry, the sparest acoustic backing feels a whole buzzing environment for her voice to soar over. It deserves every bit of praise it's gott…
Ladies of the Canyon
Ladies Of The Canyon was originally recorded between 1969 and 1970, and serves as a transition from her earlier folk inspired release to the more sophisticated albums Joni Mitchell would go on to release. Many of the songs feature lengthy instrumental passages, something would become fully realized on albums like Court And Spark. The flute and saxophone that appear on "For Free" and "Conversation" give a taste of the influence of jazz over many of Mitchell's subsequent recordings. The singer cov…
The Voice in the Headphones
The voice in the headphones says, “you’re rolling” . . .
Good Night the Pleasure Was Ours
With Good night the pleasure was ours, David Grubbs melts down and recasts three decades of playing music on tour into a book-length poem, bringing to a close the trilogy that includes Now that the audience is assembled and The Voice in the Headphones. In Good night the pleasure was ours, the world outside the tour filters in with eccentric sparseness. From teenage punk bands to ensembles without fixed membership, and from solo performance to a group augmented by digital avatars, Grubbs presents…
A Most Valuable Medium: The Remediation of Oral Performance on Early Commercial Recordings
Between 1895 and 1920, the United States saw a sharp increase in commercial sound recording, the first mass medium of home entertainment. As companies sought to discover what kinds of records would appeal to consumers, they turned to performance forms already familiar to contemporary audiences—sales pitches, oratory, sermons, and stories. In A Most Valuable Medium, Richard Bauman explores the practical problems that producers and performers confronted when adapting familiar oral genres to this i…
Karma
Acoustic Sounds Series edition Karma is a jazz recording by the American tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, released in May 1969 on the Impulse! label. A pioneering work of the "spiritual jazz" style, it has become Sanders' most popular and critically acclaimed album. It is among a number of spiritually-themed albums released on the Impulse! label in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The album's main piece is the 32-minute-long "The Creator Has a Master Plan," co-composed by Sanders with vocalist Leo…
Friendly Electrons
"Friendly Electrons" presents the electronic side of the original Ton Steine Scherben drummer, book author and longtime Conrad Schnitzler friend / collaborator Wolfgang Seidel.
Spaced Muzak
Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles, and Colin Potter present a masterpiece of bottomlessly deep cosmic sound, and a newly added concert version recorded by vibraphonist Timo Van Ljuik.
Space Musik was officially commissioned by the Melbourne Planetarium 'Science In The Dark' series 2009. This is a remastered version of the original plus three previously unreleased tracks.
Amazing 6-panel digipack with artwork by Babs Santini.
Resolve
Following several releases over the past decade of archival Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excited Strings material and collaborations with other ensembles, on labels including Black Truffle, Choice Records, Megafaun and Superior Viaduct, Drag City is excited as well to be able to introduce Resolve, the first release of new Excited Strings music from Arnold Dreyblatt since 2002. Resolve acts in dialogue with the minimalist inspirations of the first Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excite…
Cybersonic Arts Adventures in American New Music (Book)
Composer, performer, instrument builder, teacher, and writer Gordon Mumma has left an indelible mark on the American contemporary music scene. A prolific composer and innovative French horn player, Mumma is recognized for integrating advanced electronic processes into musical structures, an approach he has termed "Cybersonics." Musicologist Michelle Fillion curates a collection of Mumma's writings, presenting revised versions of his classic pieces as well as many unpublished works from every st…
"Mu" First Part & "Mu" Second Part
** 2-CD set gathering the seminal albums “Mu” First Part and “Mu” Second Part. Restored & remastered from the original tapes by Nick Robbins. New & insightful essay by author & music journalist John Masouri. 6-panel deluxe digi-sleeve echoes the vibe of the original LPs & includes a 16-page booklet. Two printed inner wallets replicate the original LP covers back and front ** Two historic 1969 recording sessions by Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell now assembled on this deluxe 2-CD set that co…
Cade
*250 copies limited edition CD in 6-panel digisleeve* Cade is Bruno Dorella and Giovanni Lami. We come from different backgrounds and trainings, but we found a common ground in our open view to different disciplines, and our curiosity towards unorthodox approaches to music. "Cade" is our first ever album to be released, part of a wide archive of sessions that we recorded in 2019-2020, with no kinds of pressure. Dorella plays some traditional instruments such as guitar and percussions, while Lami…
Rife
Isolde Touch is Asha Sheshadri, a composer and multimedia artist based in Southern California. Secretary of Sensation is a seven-chapter narrative occurring in Our Town (1052–1119). Voice, synthesis and original text. The music Asha Sheshadri makes as Isolde Touch is boldly literal. Perhaps literal is inexact; concrete is closer, as her sounds have a clarity that ties them directly to their origins (a piano is exactly a piano). Conceptually she deals in abstraction, but sonically she’s unafraid …
Held There, Beside The Signified
This is the second edition of the Idle Chatter curated series. "Held There, Beside The Signified" was curated and designed by Drekka (aka Michael Anderson). It features new music by the Drekka, Pillars and Tongues and Skrei. This triple cassette set comes packaged in a white plastic three-cassette album. Working under the name DREKKA since 1996, Mkl Anderson has released large body of work on his own BLUESANCT label and many other labels internationally, including a series of three full-length L…