Folk /
Music is the Most Beautiful Language in the World: Yiddisher Jazz in London's East End 1920s-1950s
LP version. A vibrant soundtrack to the Cockney Jewish experience, when the swinging hot dance bands were still all the rage, and the Yiddish language was spoken on the streets of Whitechapel. Feast on long forgotten 78 rpm discs that have only recently been unearthed, starring a host of recording artists united for the first time. Hear the legendary dance band figures of the era like Bert Ambrose and his Orchestra, and Lew Stone and his Monseigneur Band, to the relatively unknown Jewish special…
A Child In The Sun: Radio Sessions 1969-1970
Armed only with a tiple (sort of a South American mandolin) and his lilting neigh of a voice (and bearing superficial resemblances to labelmates Pearls Before Swine and heady UK acoustic folkers Incredible String Band), Askew spun tales of doomed sisters, crashing universes, budding gay love and a serious fondness for roses on his rare, precious and beautiful album.After this lone release, Ed Askew seemingly vanished in the romantic mists of time … until a second, previously unreleased album sur…
Wiesbaden 1973
Cosmic Circus Music from Goettingen played some extremely long spacey improvisations in the manner of the early Ash Ra Tempel. Despite never releasing anything officially, Cosmic Circus Music were a truly great krautrock band, arguably up there with the masters. (Though I do wish they had called themselves Kosmische Zirkus Musik for added gravitas.) The band's misfortune, relatively speaking, was that they were three years behind the times. CCM's lysergic soundscapes, which are closest in styl…
Lang'syne
**From the master tapes, with fifteen bonus tracks in top sound quality** Langsyne from Barmen (Bergisches Land region) played a subtle kind of psych-folk with a wide range of partly unusual, exotic and medieval instruments: sitar, psaltery, koto, glockenspiel, flute, etc. Especially remarkable is the instinctive assurance with which the three musicians, who understood each other without words, played their music to…
Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan
Fantome Phonographique present a reissue of Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan's self-titled release, originally released on Columbia in 1966. Even though the original recordings are crackly and in low fidelity (but also deeply charming) it seemed necessary to repress this record for its immense historiographic value. These recordings are made available here with new mastering, in as clear fidelity as possible. Fans of Indian classical music will no doubt know the name Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. He founded the…
A Man I'd Rather Be (Part 1) - 4LP Book
Comprising Bert Jansch’s seminal 1960s output (alongside his only album as a duet with Pentangle bandmate John Renbourn) this four disc set covers an era that forged creative paths for everyone from Neil Young to Johnny Marr. New listening notes from Bill Leader, as well as unseen photographs from Brian Shuel complete this special collection. Where to start with a career as prolific as that of Bert Jansch? Why, the beginning of course. Bert’s first studio (though as Bill Leader rightly poin…
Sakai Ishinage Odori
**Comes with 8-panel fold-out liner notes with rare photos and English translation. Housed in reverse-board-printed jacket** Archival 1982 recordings from the "agricultural industrial" celebration, complete with dense drum rhythms, chanted vocals and handcrafted bamboo flutes, plus 2017 versions of the same pieces by Sugai Ken. EM Records is proud to present, following “Yumi Kagura”, the second edition of the Japanese folklore music series, directed by Riyo Mountains. Japan has a long tradition …
Lang'syne II
The LP contains studio recordings of the legendary psych-folk band, most of which were previously unreleased on vinyl. The eight-page LP-sized insert contains a long band history in German and English, a detailed discography with all cover and label reproductions as well as many photographs. Langsyne from Barmen (Bergisches Land region) played a subtle kind of psych-folk with a wide range of partly unusual, ex…
Passing Dream
Tompkins Square reissues two albums by Texas singer/songwriter Will Beeley - the self-released mega-rare (only 200 copies) private press LP 'Gallivantin' from 1971, and 'Passing Dream', originally released by Malaco Records in 1979.
Recorded in San Antonio, 'Gallivantin' shows Beeley's heartfelt, folky side - a wistful set of original tunes, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and a spaced-out, 10 minute+ Eastern-influenced psych take on Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Little Wheel…
Folk, Blues & Beyond
LP version. "One of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk scene, Davy Graham inspired many practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar of the era, notably Bert Jansch, John Martyn and Jimmy Page. Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental 'Anji' and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by many acoustic guitarists. Not one to be categorised, Graham could be seen covering the genres of folk, blues and jazz. Graham was an entirely British pheno…
Large As Life and Twice As Natural
First released in 1968, Large As Life And Twice As Natural is a tremendous acoustic-folk-blues-jazz masterpiece. As always with Davy Graham, the music seems to defy categorization. Perhaps the simplest description would be "great." Davy is joined by the legendary Harold McNair on flute, Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophone, Jon Hiseman on drums (both from Colosseum) and Danny Thompson (from Pentangle) on double bass. The album's three extended instrumentals two immersive ragas and a wickedly kno…
Thunder Perfect Mind
Purple Translucent double LP edition. Remasterd, sold out at source. Reissue of Current 93's seminal double album from 1992, Thunder Perfect Mind. Newly and perfectly remastered by The Bricoleur, this reissue comes with a new face to the old sleeve designed by Ania Goszczyńska. Comes on transparent purple vinyl and includes a four-page lyric insert. This reissue marks the first time that Thunder Perfect Mind has been available on vinyl since its first pressing in 1992.9.3 on Pitchfork: "Named fo…
Of Rivers and Religion
A deeply innovative musician whose style is credited as the foundation for the minimalist style of American Primitive Guitar, the output of John Fahey is both illustrious, far-reaching in its influence, and difficult to categorize. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Fahey's music frequently leapt between the realms of jazz, folk, world music, blues, country, and avant garde in equal measure, while demonstrating the wide range of flavors to be found in traditional finger-picking guitar techniques…
Even A Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk 1969-1973
Limited double vinyl LP pressing housed in a deluxe gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket. Original artwork by illustrator Heisuke Kitazawa. Includes book with extensive liner notes and bios by Yosuke Kitazawa and Jake Orrall. 2017 collection, the first-ever fully licensed compilation of this music to be released outside Japan. There was something in the air in the urban corners of late ‘60s Japan. Student protests and a rising youth culture gave way to the angura (short for “underground) move…
Robert Crotty With Me: Loren's Collection (1979-1987)
Riveting compendium of stark, raw blues by an erstwhile sparring partner of Loren Connors, recently salvaged from an old shoebox of tapes, restored by Taylor Deupree and mastered by Carl Saff. "I would go as far as to say that the few recordings that exist of these Robert Crotty sessions are among the finest and most beautiful blues documents of all time." (Loren Connors). In the years 1978 to 1981, Robert Crotty would show up on Loren Connors’ doorstep in New Haven, Connecticut with his ti…
Musica De Venezuela 1972-81
LP version. Includes two full-sized inserts: Includes download code; Edition of 300. "After a concert of Kenyan singer Ogoya Nengo in Berlin in 2015 in a pleasant conversation Guillermo Lares told me about his father, Oswaldo Lares, a studied architect who, parallel with his professional activity, began to make field recordings of the traditional and indigenous Venezuelan music from the early 1960s onwards up until today. His search and fascination for finding the musical roots of his country le…
"Second Poem To Karmela" Or Gypsies Are Important
2014 Release. Light In The Attic and the legendary folk/blues/roots label Vanguard Records are proud to begin a series of collaborations under the umbrella Vanguard Vault. The series will explore the vaults of Vanguard and see the reissuing of obscure nuggets, psychedelic weirdness and just some good old-fashioned seminal music.
Originally released in 1968 on Vanguard Records, Peter Walker’s album “Second Poem To Karmela” Or Gypsies Are Important was a ground breaking blend of folk, raga, ps…
Heart Food
Judee Sill is one of folk's more interesting and lesser-known stories. Because of her troubled family history she was looking for an escape of reality. After surviving a heroin addiction and a brief stint as a bank robber, Sill turned her rather intense passions to music. She released two albums and partially completed a third album before her death in 1979. Sill's music was complex, elegantly crafted and yet completely devoid of pretension or overwrought melodrama. Unfairly lumped in with othe…
Anthems In Eden
Anthems in Eden is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus seven other individual pieces performed by the same group. The musical arrangements for these eight pieces included early music instruments, such as viols, recorders, sackbuts and crumhorns.Track one is a suite, "A song-story", lasting 28 minutes, 7 seconds and is the centrepiece of the album. This is …
Spirit Of The Golden Juice
The world that inspired Spirit of The Golden Juice nearly 50 years ago has moved on. F.J. McMahon moved on with it. Originally pressed in a small quantity and scattered along the California coastline in 1969, F.J. McMahon’s first and only album, Spirit Of The Golden Juice, is a spell-binding blend of singer-songwriter emotion and spiraling guitar accompaniment with a raw, adventurous character all its own. Well-chronicled and loved since its rediscovery, Spirit Of The Golden Juice is an album co…