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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…
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 gotte…
The Big Huge
Recorded in 1968, as the Incredible String Band popularity was peaking, the band by this point had more or less stabilized to quartet form with Williamson, Heron and Licorice being joined by Heron’s then-girlfriend, Rose Simpson, on violin and percussion. They were touring a lot at this point throughout Europe and the U.S., which I assume is how they fell in with the Scientologists, but that particular tragedy doesn’t have any noticeable effect on this album (!)Along with having very developed a…
Kip Of The Serenes
Dr. Strangely Strange were an experimental Irish folk group, formed in Dublin in 1967 by Tim Booth and Ivan Pawle. the Strangelys were friends and contemporaries of the Incredible String Band, whose producer Joe Boyd signed them to his Witchseason management and production company in 1969. This first album originally came out in mid 1969 on Island Records. Over the years, Kip has acquired a considerable cult status; in 2007, Record Collector Magazine proclaimed it one of the UK's hundred most co…
The Hangman\'s Beautiful Daughter
The 1968 release of The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, the third Incredible String Band album, was met with wide acclaim, both critically and commercially, reaching # in the UK. Sitar, oud, panpipe, jaw harp, water harp, penny whistle, chananai, harpsichord and gimbri merged with traditional folk instruments in a multi-tracked musical extravaganza. This audacious aural experience proved to be heavily influential on the band’s contemporaries. The surreal imagery of the song lyrics and the group’s …
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion
The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion was the second LP by The Incredible String Band, released in July 1967. Since recording their debut album the previous year, the original trio had been reduced to two, Mike Heron and Robin Williamson. They recorded The 5000 Spirits... in London in early 1967. The album also featured Pentangle's Danny Thompson on double bass, Williamson's girlfriend Licorice McKechnie on vocals and percussion, master sitar player Nazir Jairazbhoy (credited as "Soma"), a…
Wee Tam
Wee Tam and The Big Huge were originally released in 1968 as both a double LP in the UK, and individually as two separate albums in the US. They mark a creative high point for the Incredible String Band that is only matched by their other 1968 masterpiece, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter. Produced, as always, by the legendary Joe Boyd, these albums feature some of the band’s best, and most accessible song writing. While Hangman’s and The 5000 Spirits… may have been considered more revolutionary…
Incredible String band
Beginning as a duo in Edinburg, Scotland, acoustic musicians Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer sought to stretch the boundaries of contemporary folk music from the start. Composing much of their own material rather than relying solely on the hidebound traditional repertoire, they were spotted by Elektra Records' Joe Boyd while playing in the Crown Bar and, duly impressed, he signed them to the label. After adding additional guitarist Mike Heron, they traveled to London's Sound Techniques Studio …
Mystic Beings
My first listen to these four extraordinary pieces by Chris Corsano, Bill Nace, and Steve Baczkowski was over a very rough ferry crossing from Cairnryan to Belfast. It's hard not to think of the ghosts of impossible crossings, victories, loses, harbors in such rough waters. Why would anyone venture out here? Finding something new or an overdue visit? Ending all of the wars? For me, for my first listen to Mystic Beings instantly cured all motion sickness. It was probably just the very welcome adr…
A Scarlet Fail
Awash in color and texture, Arian Shafiee's debut album, A Scarlet Fail, brings to light a guitarist whose sound and mastery are in full bloom. Best known for his work in the East Coast dance/punk group Guerilla Toss, Shafiee has spent years warping the idea of what a guitar can sound like. In a group setting, Shafiee does what's best for the composition, often blending seamlessly into the electronics and rhythmic grooves of his peers. A Scarlet Fail gives him a revelatory solo spotlight in a se…
Alpestres
We are pleased to welcome Parisian Matthias Puech into the HITD fold with his album ‘Alpestres’. A researcher by day, he transforms into a nocturnal narrator of sound travel by night, with his new album taking us on a mythical, magical hike up to the inaccessible heights of the Alps. Puech creates a vast collection of untouched electronica landscapes with modular synthesisers built by his own fair hands. With his various devices, he emulates the sounds of nature and gives sonic form to feelings,…
Un Reve Sans Consequence Speciale
**Clear purple vinyl; Edition of 700** Souffle Continu Records present a reissue of Heldon's Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale, originally released on Cobra in 1976. In Heldon, nobody particularly likes liner notes. However, although the group's albums have none, they abound, from the very beginning, with clues and often cryptic references. The name of the group, obviously, comes from a science fiction novel by Norman Spinrad, but perhaps it is less well known that the title of the album Un Rêve…
Winter Songs
A reissue of the brilliant second album by Art Bears, a band/project featuring Fred Frith, Chris Cutler and Dagmar Krause, formed in 1978 after disputes over the musical direction within Henry Cow. 'Winter Songs', originally released in 1979, placed Art Bears in the forefront of the Rock In Opposition Movement. Art Bears' intense and brutal avant-garde approach on the album comes across as primordial expression, which is nailed down by Krause's violently charismatic voice. As a piece of music re…
Fluxus Anthology: A Collection Of Music And Sound Events
Restocked, reduced price. Song Cycle offers another remarkable addition to the canon of early sound art experimentalism, with this legendary collection of Fluxus audio works compiled by Italian conceptual artist and publisher Maurizio Nannucci. Founded in 1960 by the Lithuanian/American artist George Maciunas, Fluxus began as a small but international network of artists and composers who challenged accepted ideas about what art is. It characterised itself as a shared attitude rather than a movem…
An Evolutionary Music (Original Recordings: 1972 - 1979)
RVNG seem to be doing an enviable job of unearthing some of the most pre-eminent performers of progressive synthesizer and horizontalist ambient world music and this guy, whose stunning 'Osmose' is rarely off my record deck, is surely one of the most treasured. His work during the 70s is, quite simply, incredibly important to lovers of esoteric spiritual synth music and will leave you with a massive helpless grin and a notable dearth of tension in your muscular system come the climax of any jour…
Below the Horizon
Some of the most gorgeous, little heard DIY music of the early ‘80s finally surfaces with Rimarimba’s ‘Below The Horizon’, the first in Freedom To Spend’s reissue series of work by Suffolk, UK’s Robert Cox - all massively recommended to followers of Colin Potter, Woo, General Strike, Konrad Sprenger and homespun electro-acoustic music of all stripes! Committing its first appearance on vinyl, ‘Below The Horizon’ documents Robert Cox in freehand exploration of his modestly built, four-octave Marim…
Company Week
In May 1977 Derek Bailey gave me a press ticket for Company Week - a series of concerts of improvised music in London. I made some notes at the time, but there seemed to be nowhere suitable to publish the extended commentary I eventually produced. So I wrote it into a dummy book and it to Derek. Most of it is reproduced here." Peter RileyOriginal copies of this rare and invaluable document, published in 350 copies
A Family In Brussels
Filmmaker Chantal Akerman presents A Family in Brussels, a fictional stream-of-consciousness text encompassing multiple subjectivities and laced with autobiographical references. This is the first English-language publication of the work, which Chantal Akerman wrote and first performed as a monologue in Paris and Brussels. The accompanying CDs document the theatrical reading that took place at the Dia Center for the Arts, New York, in October 2001. In them, the listener can hear Akerman's singul…
Times Square, Time Piece Beacon
2010 release. In 1977, Max Neuhaus turned a triangle of pedestrian space between 45th and 46th Streets in Times Square into an island of harmonic sound. The rich textures of that sound continue today, emanating from beneath the sidewalk grating, to anonymously reach an individual’s ears as if one has stumbled upon a secret. Known as Times Square, the celebrated installation was restored in 2002 with support from Dia Art Foundation, which further commissioned a site-specific piece, Time Piece Bea…
Sound and the visual arts
English version. Size: 6,5x8,5 inch. Format: paperback. Musician and musicologist Jean-Yves Bosseur explores the growing
relationship between the plastic arts and music in the world of
contemporary art. This trend is shown in its aesthetic and historical
context through interviews with Iannis Xenakis, Francis Miroglio, Takis,
John Cage, Milan Knizak, Wolf Vostell, Max Neuhas, Nam June Paik and
Stan Douglas. Art production of the last few decades has given rise to an increasing number of amb…