Folk /
White Room With Disintegrating Walls
"Ton Vlasman recorded this amazing piece of acid Euro folk back in 1970, making it sound like an outer space freaked out Bob Dylan with the help of Frans Schoonen (organ, flute and harmonica) and Leo van Vugt (chincha tumba and tambourine). The seven original compositions are stunning, drug inspired psychedelic pieces of acid folk that mix acid folk with Indian ragas and even add some Pink Floyd overtones, yet from an acoustic rather than electric point of view. And the album contains als…
New Egypt
"This latest in the ever-popular Latitudes series comes from Drag City avant-folkists White Magic, who have turned in a single ten-minute piece based on Eastern harmonies, delay loops and a tranced out approach to jamming that verges on Sunburned Hand Of The Man territory. For the vast majority of its duration 'New Egypt' relies upon a central three-note piano riff, which soon accumulates layer after layer of various other instrumental sources while seemingly improvised lyrics haunt the song thr…
Remember
restocked: Israel isn't exactly konwn as a hotbed for acoustic steel-string guitar music, but Yair Yona's reissue of "Remember" is simply some of the most genre-bending music for solo steel-string guitar since Sandy Bull first opened the doors in the 60s. It's a celebration of the Takoma school, filtered by alternate tunings & yncopations, a John Fahey -esque compositional instint across landscapes of banjo, electronics, resonators, bass guitar & strings.
Tomorrow Come Someday
(1969) from the home studio of future BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP composer PETER HOWELL & his musical partner JOHN FERDINANDO, makers of legendary albums under the names Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ithaca, Agincourt, & Friends. This private press album was recorded as the soundtrack for an underground film production by (later to be) renowned television director Ian Hamilton
Solo Acoustic Vol. 2
The second installment in VDSQ’s (Vin Du Select Qualitite) Solo Acoustic guitar series curated by STEVE LOWENTHAL of Swingset Magazine. Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 features new songs from EMERALDS guitarist MARK MCGUIRE that spark new innovations and memories thought to be lost. Packaged in letterpress sleeves with a picture of the guitar used on the recording. Limited to 500 copies, already sold out at source
We Are All One, In the Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho
In Robbie Basho's lifetime he set out to champion the steel string guitar as an expressive and dignified concert instrument. His guitar playing was first brought to light in 1965, when John Fahey released Basho's debut The Seal Of The Blue Lotus on Fahey's own Takoma Records. Armed with a unique and powerful singing voice, his 6 & 12 string guitar and a collection of special guitar tunings that he created (even originating a unique chart titled 'The Esoteric Doctrine of Color and Mood,' denoting…
Ragged And Right
This slab of gripping sound was brought about by Jack Rose's exuberant love of lowdown music. Inspired by the Mordicai Jones/Link Wray 3 Track Shack sessions, the idea for this collaboration was germinated while Rose was traveling through the heartland on a tour with D. Charles Speer & the Helix in spring 2008. Musicians used to the road are familiar with the phenomenon wherein a certain tape or recording becomes the thematic soundtrack to the tour at hand. In this case, daily doses of 'Scorpio …
Secrets from the Storm
With Secrets From The Storm, NYC-based singer and guitarist Peg Simone has put a remarkable avant-garde spin on the blues, collaborating with writer Holly Anderson and fellow Table Of The Elements star Jonathan Kane, who assists on the epic opening cut 'Levee/1927', a radical and poetic take on the original ('When The Levee Breaks') by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy. This is quite some opening, shaping an incredible twenty-two minutes over which Kane adds his guitar and kick drum, leaving y…
Art of the Theremin
Imagine a virtuoso soprano with an unlimited upper range. Imagine a violin with the lower range of a cello. Imagine an instrument that allows for every nuance, for every slight embellishment, for every dynamic flourishment imaginiable. This album consists of plain piano and plain theramin - no other orchestration. The Theramin, as proved by Clara Rockmore, is capable of soaring song, of delicate melody, of pure expression. Rockmore's performance is a pure joy and a testament to the versatility o…
Spoils
For this latest album Caledonian folk impresario Alasdair Roberts teams up with expected collaborators like Alex Neilson (whose drumming and percussion work has illuminated many a free-folk record over recent years, a few of which Roberts has been involved with) and more unusual contributors such as Niko-Matti Ahti of Fonal's Kiila. Perhaps more than ever, Roberts' music invites comparisons to Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, traveling sufficiently far from the trad songwriting fold to be thought of as 'a…
Distillation
As one cog in the leaderless wheel known as the No-Neck Blues Band, Dave Shuford makes music so thoroughly unplanned that even he and his bandmates can't predict what it will sound like. NNCK don't just improvise, they don't even discuss what they're going to play, traversing many styles and moods with no safety net save the one that emerges from their collective creativity. Compared to NNCK's free-form tightrope-walk, Shuford's side project D. Charles Speer and the Helix can sound downright ris…
O True Believers
When UK-native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something spiritual takes place. This unassuming 23 year-old is transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, and Glenn Jones. Making instrumental, solo, acoustic music that remains consistently interesting and moving is a difficult task. Yet, time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, constantly breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat limited medium. O True…
Lace Heart
Already sold out, few copis available. Gorgeous double vinyl reissue of what still stands as one of Christina Carter’s finest moments, originally issued in an edition of 300 copies on her own Many Breaths Press. Six love songs comprised of elliptical bell like guitar phrases, barely there, sometimes even coaxing silence, set behind the extended vowel sounds of voice. Soft gentle performances here, like this whole record was cut very very late at night or in the early hours of the morning. An unh…
Jack Rose & The Black Twig Pickers
2009 release ** "Raw and rocking collaboration between Jack Rose and the Black Twigs with some of the most swinging, hard-hitting string music waxed in many a decade. Rose’s solo playing has always had a tough edge, with his prodigious technique often employed in the service of dropping right-hand bombs – his use of a thumbpick originates from his years of duets with Twig Mike Gangloff, struggling to make his guitar heard over Gangloff’s crashing banjo. The front line of Rose and Gangloff’s stri…
Letter to New Virginia
A majestic landscape of harmonica laced hoe down folk. A true gem featuring the whimsical nature of the band in a whole new light, from dark psych folk songs to Shins-like beauty, the band has further developed their sound which has been described as the closest to magical (sur)realism this city has to offer...a layered, wonderfully complex sound that is two parts symphonic chamber pop, one part folkloric with a sprinkling of nursery rhymes in it.
Sophisticated Beggar
This is where it all began, with a slim volume of poems and psychedelic ditties set to music, backed by a simple Revox machine, and transformed by instrumental turns that display British cult hero Roy Harper's deft guitar work. "Girlie," "Big Fat Aeroplane," and "Legend," while steeped in traditional folk idioms, show hints of Harper's unique songwriting style. His caustic wit and passion are already evident in the wordplay of this 1966 debut. "Forever" is as pretty a love song as you are likely…
Stalemate / Fear Not For Man
Originally released in 1977, this is a studio recording so it has a more polished sound than on the recent Best Best. BTW, none of these tracks are on Best Best... Stalemate and Fear not for Man are the stand outs, but the rest of album is good too. It's another intoxicating organic mixture of African harmonies, bebop, and James Brown. Listen to the samples!
Wee Tam
Originally released as a double album Wee Tam & The Big Huge for some reasons gets commercialized as two separate Cds, the first called Wee Tam and the next being The Big Huge. Again the Boyd/Elektra connection is present, the pastoral setting of artwork (both albums photos taken from the same shoot (same clothes) and the group was at its apex. This Cd reissue of Wee Tam should read side 1 & 2 of the double vinyl issue Well no matter how you look at it, ISB’s better moment had turned with Hangma…
Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air
During their lifespan, The Incredible String Band contained several wives, children and pets, and were a five-piece when they disbanded in November 1974. Basically, everyone else acted as a supporting cast to the songwriting nucleus of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air marks the halfway point, more or less, of the Incredible String Band. This 1971 release was their first for Island Records, following Joe Boyd (formerly Elektra UK's director of A&R) to the label. …
HQ
Originally released in 1975, HQ is Roy Harper's 8th studio album. Roy describes HQ as his most integral 'rock record'. It featured Harper's formation of Trigger, a relatively straightforward hard rock trio anchored by ace guitarist Chris Spedding and former King Crimson/Yes drummer Bill Bruford. (The unit disbanded after this album, however.) Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones are among the other all-star contributors on this album. The album was original…