Folk /
White Island
*CD edition* 'The Nanai people have their songs and instruments. Some of them were used by composer Alexander Lavrov and singer Kola Beldy who is of Nanian descent in their music on this, Kola Beldy’s fourth album. Just as all his records from the 1980s, this is extremely rare and originals in good shape can cost a small fortune. Just in case they ever turn up somewhere outside the vast Russian country. Now for the very outstanding music that as mentiond above is based on centuries old folk tune…
Jagwar
* A 7inch vinyl record by Terakaft, produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Brian Eno, Tinariwen…) and a novel by Philippe Brix written in English and French * Welcome to the fascinating world of Terakaft, one of the most legendary bands from the acclaimed Desert Blues / Tuareg Rock scene that’s been nurturing in the Sahara desert for the last two decades. A world made of light, dust, goats, tree shadows, gas, tea and fire. A world where teenagers don’t dream of being footballers but guitarists…
Maison Rose
*2022 repress.* An album such as this obviously owes a lot to the atmosphere in which it was recorded, which we can imagine was magical. We know it took place in Fromentel, Normandy, in a farm converted into a studio by the producer Jacques Denjean, known for his work with Dionne Warwickor Françoise Hardyas well as having been a member of the Double Six. It was also at Fromentel, that Denjean would record two fantastic albums with Albert Marcoeur. When Emmanuelle Parrenin followed in his footste…
Stone
Tip! *2022 stock.* Maine’s finest lonesome folkie back in the days of Woodstock was Bill Stone, who released one album on his own back in 1969. This classic ballad structure sounds like the voice of Tom Rapp and the quiet desolation of Leonard Cohen with more elevated psych guitar moves oscillating in and out of the mix.
"The psychedelically inclined folksinger Bill Stone recorded his lone album, “Stone,” in 1969, singing through a walrus mustache inside a Maine pottery studio. It may seem as if…
Seance
*2022 stock.* A Colourful Storm presents Seance, a new set of songs by Maxine Funke. Following a productive recording period beginning with Silk (2018) and ending with Forest Photographer (2020), Seance marks a remarkable levitation of Funke’s tender, softly spoken songcraft first documented on Lace (2008) and Felt (2012) into new creative heights. Folksong confessionals with the burden of memory. Ghostly confines, murmurs from the cracks. Soil, blood and skin. The beauty and mundanity of the ev…
Funeral Folk
Funeral Folk is a musical collaboration between Sara Parkman and Maria W Horn. Together they explore the rituals of grief and the musical phenomenology of death through their respective crafts and influences. Sara Parkman is a violinist, singer and composer focused on Swedish folk music. For her latest release Vesper, she has been diving into her Christian heritage - the sacred music that has been a part of her family traditions for several generations. Maria W Horn is a contemporary composer em…
Via Lattea
Via Lattea is the new recording project of the music and performance research ensemble Enten Hitti. The work takes inspiration from research on the “feminine” and from the matrilineal transmission of life. It is the result of various research trips to the places where the culture of the “sacred female” took shape over 4000 years ago: Cyprus, Crete, Turkey, Ireland, South Africa, Indonesia … The historical and geographical suggestions have been freely reinterpreted and transformed into musical pi…
And Then There Were Three
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Here's Lantern Heights' personal tribute to the one and only Michael Chapman, a hero in his own right, a 'Fully Qualified Survivor' (just to mention one of his most successful creations). An unreleased live album on vinyl in the form of an astonishing trio." A live set recorded at Nottingham's Playhouse Theatre on July 23rd 1977 by Chapman and a power house rhythm section in Lindisfarne bassist Rod Clements and former John Mayall drummer Keef Hartley. Some of his…
Magic Lady
*In process of stocking* Spriguns Of Tolgus (later shortened to just Spriguns) were a British folk-rock group formed in 1972, who have long been admired by connoisseurs of that era. Having made two self-funded albums, they attracted a major label deal with Decca for two further LPs, which demonstrated their growing originality, and caught the attention of some significant figures in that world.
After two Decca albums Mandy decided to form her own label and rebranded as Mandy Morton and Spriguns …
Bert At The BBC
Bert At the BBC is a comprehensive collection of Jansch’s appearances at the BBC, featuring over eight hours of rare and unreleased recordings, including live-on-air spots, studio sessions and full concerts straight from the BBC vaults, delving further into this legendary performer’s canon. Bert Jansch was the very essence of folk music, providing inspiration for everyone from Paul Simon and Neil Young to Led Zeppelin and countless folk revivalists. This unparalleled limited-edition compendium i…
Twenty-One Sabar Rhythms
Tip! *In process of stocking.* Magnificent Wolof drum music, performed by an extended griot family over seven consecutive days, in the mystical setting of Lac Rose, outside Dakar.
Doudou Ndiaye Rose — who died in 2015 — is a key drummer in the musical history of the world. He developed a system of five hundred original drumming patterns, ancient and new. Amongst the modern rhythms here is Bench Mi — 'under the Baobab tree,' a spot where where problems get solved. Also Hibar Yi — 'passing on inf…
The Silver Globe
Like all good parables Jane Weaver’s sixth solo album, a concept album called The Silver Globe, is as multifaceted as it is beguiling. Part coming of age/part cautionary tale and part romantic peon, this synth ridden post-apocalyptic prog pop opus is based on tightly embroidered, non-linear recurring themes and inspired by esoteric stories, cosmic imagery and refiltered past experiences. Written from the optimistic vantage of a long-standing female independent artist, in an desperately evolving …
The Amber Light
Originally issued as a limited CD only bonus disc for The Silver Globe album global re-release and a subsequent vinyl pressing, The Amber Light surprised fans expecting B-sides and outtakes with what for many stood up as its own isolated project including some of Jane Weaver’s best material to date including the pulsating synth anthem I Need A Connection which since became a radio favourite also appearing on film and fashion shows throughout the latter half of 2015.
The Amber Light also included…
Stories
”David Blue was the peer of any singer in this country, and he knew it, and he coveted their audiences and their power, he claimed them as his rightful due. And when he could not have them, his disappointment became so dazzling, his greed assumed such purity, his appetite such honesty, and he stretched his arms so wide, that we were all able to recognize ourselves, and we fell in love with him.” - Leonard Cohen
David Blue is the ‘blue’ in Bob Dylan’s “Baby Blue”, the voluble chain-smoking pinbal…
Roger A Ti Wawa
Ultra rare album reissue for the first time Worldwide. Fantastic Proto-Zouk from Georges and Pierre-Edouard Decimus. NSI (New sound From the Islands) is a concept launched by the Decimus family, and the album was released at the end of 1981, at the same time as Kassav's Album "N'4" with the singer Jocelyn Moka.
Mistérios da Amazônia
*2022 stock* Underground musician Carioca left behind his electrical past in Progressive Rock in order to search for new expressions in Brazilian music. His first album is a fully acoustic, instrospective voyage into the world’s greatest Rainforest, featuring 12-string guitar, mandolin, zither, tabla, flute and self-made percussion instruments. Carioca is the term used to describe those who originate from Rio de Janeiro. But, in fact, there’s only one Carioca in the music scene in Brazil: Ronald…
Mumbai 04.02.1996
Following on from the stunning recording of her 1992 performance at the Berlin Parampara Festival, Black Truffle continues its documentation of the work of Berlin-based Italian singer Amelia Cuni, one of the great contemporary exponents of dhrupad, the oldest surviving style of North Indian classical vocal music. Beautifully recorded in concert at Vishweshwarayya Hall, Mumbai. 04.02.1996 presents expansive performances of three ragas stretching across four sides and almost one and a half hours o…
Beyond The Willow Tree
Beyond The Willow Tree is a hauntingly beautiful anthology of folk songs chronicling the experience of a young black man growing up in the segregated south. A balanced mix of covers and originals, Cleveland Francis’ body of work seamlessly blends deep, soulful vocals with the stripped-down acoustic instrumentation of folk. In the late 60’s Francis coined the term “soulfolk”, playing his genre bending music across college campuses and coffee shops while earning a medical degree at William & Mary.…
In New York
Moroccan Jajouka master Bachir Attar meets American experimental musician Elliot Shrap for a live jam of drum machines and traditional Moroccan instruments in 1990. Bachir Attar's career spans five decades and represents the transcendental sounds of Jajouka, a small Moroccan village situated between Fes and Tangier, known for its unique mystical sound. Fans include William Burroughs and The Rolling Stones with which Bachir recorded with in 1989. A year later Attar collaborated with the prolific …
Layali Elouns
*In process of stocking* Amal al-Atrash (1912 – 1944), better known by her stage name Asmahan, was an Egyptian singer and actress of Syrian origins who lived in Egypt. Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of three years old, her family knew the composer Dawood Hosni, and she sang the compositions of Mohamed El Qasabgi and Zakariyya Ahmad. She also sang the compositions of Mohammed Abdel Wahab and her brother Farid al-Atrash, a then rising star musician in his own right. Her voice was one of the…