Folk & Traditional / All styles

Following a sold-out run of Salm, Vol. 1 (ALE 007LP, 2018) Arc Light Editions closes the year with a second volume of Gaelic psalm singing. The recordings documented here are from the same psalm singing sessions as the first, and both together represent a complete collection. This is music that is transcendent and together, about the individual and the earth, movingly spiritual with or without belief. The sound comes in great waves, swells of sound that break and roll around the space. The textu…

2011 release. **Housed in typical Mississippi old-style tip-on heavy card jacket** "The second volume of recordings in a series of Madagascar music. From the archives of Montreal recordist, Charlie Brooks. While containing some similar artists as volume one, Fanafody focuses more on his second trip through the island during 2002 featuring violin players and throat singers. Includes extensive photography and Liner notes." We don't recall stocking the first volume of 'Fanafody…' but it would…

In 1959, Michel Giacometti moved to Portugal and dedicated the following thirty years of his life recording traditional music all over the country. In the present decade, Portuguese music has been thriving and finally travelling abroad, long gone are the days those hidden gems were kept in secret in this distant corner of Europe. The discovery of current Portuguese music sparked an interest to Portuguese music, past and present. With both of those ideas in mind, Giacometti and the interest in Po…

**300 copies** For one week in every five years, two thousand singers, dancers and musicians along with fifty thousand spectators make their way to the small town of Gjirokastra in southern Albania for the Festivali Folkloric Kombelar. In the great castle overlooking the town, they participate in the incredible National Folk Festival of Albania, hoping to attain the highest level of interpretation and win one of the many awards available at the festival… the banner, even. Considering the compara…

"Limited to 300 copies LP that bundles a bunch of great performances from the first Charalambides trio line-up featuring Tom and Christina Carter alongside Jason Bill (later of Migrantes). Two full sets that catch the group breaking out from their early Texas-psych sound into a whole new free/folk mutant, with Christina’s jubilant, spooked vocals over rattlesnake guitar and a wash of F/X. Still one of the most important – if relatively unsung – underground rock groups of the past decade plus. Fi…

Tom Carter has played in all sorts of combinations over the years, most notably his veteran duo Charalambides. But Long Time Underground finds Carter recording alone for the first time in his career. Recorded live in the studio, these pieces for his powerfully mournful guitar style are stunning in their atmospheric weight. Double LP on Three Lobed Recordings. A man in a crisis, Faulkner once wrote, always falls back upon what he knows best. Three summers ago, Brooklyn-via-Houston guitarist T…

"Caethua is the project of Maine resident Clare Hubbard. With a handful of releases under her belt on a variety of labels, The Summer Is Over is one of Hubbard's most realized works. Eight sonically perfect songs filled with heart-melting vocal melodies, and dream provoking lyrics. Tastefully accompanied by her piano, guitar, saxophone and well-placed soundscapes. She is joined on this record by the multi-instrumentalism of Andy Neubauer (Impractical Cockpit, Flowbee Au Naturale) who comp…

Banjos and fiddles, boards and bones in hand, the Black Twig Pickers dove into a living tradition of old-time music that surrounds their homes along the Virginia/West Virginia line and never looked back. Both scholars of the regional sounds and advocates of an ecstatic and highly personal approach to the music, the Twigs hold down local dance and bar gigs, play all manner of celebrations and every so often, hit the road. Along the way, Isak Howell, Nathan Bowles and Mike Gangloff kept company wi…

Recorded by Lucien in March 2018 in Tamlalt, Moroccan High Atlas, in the blue room at the Bibliotatlas collective. Lahcen perfroms his songs on a lothar, an instrument that he made himself, with a wooden handle, a palm soundboard and goatskin. He is accompanied by El Hussain Safir on bendir and vocals, Lahcen Bouri on bendir, Tarik Boughfyani on tamtam and vocals,Idir Ben Hakim on tamtam and vocals and El Houssain Oumaa on bendir, tamtam and vocals.

English guitarist and songwriter John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the Folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). On his 1965 self-titled album you can detect some of the influence on traditional Blues like "John Henry" and "Candy Man".

180 gram audiophile vinyl. Re-issue of his debut folk rock album. Roy Harper's first solo album was originally released in 1966, The Sophisticated Beggar, and by 1970 he had met up with Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner and re-released his debut as Return Of The Sophisticated Beggar.  Roy Harper's music can be best defined as progressive folk, but as his work is so varied there are many instances where his music transgressed these genre confinements.  He worked alongside greats like Jimmy Page of …

restocked, 180 grams edition, long out of print, few copies available...A really great trance psychedelic album from 1972, with only 4 mainly instrumental tracks spread across it's 2 sides. The Palmer group is largely made up of unknowns but I do recognize Paul Lagos (drums ) and Templeton Parcely ( violin ) as members of "Incredible" era Kaliedoscope but then again I should mention the ever popular Big Black on congas.The music presented here is a loose trippy sound that reminds me a great deal…

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Ryley Walker discovered the 1972 private press LP in a Chicago record store, loved what he heard, and teamed with Tompkins Square to produce the reissue. John Hulburt (1947-2012) was a member of legendary mid-60's Chicago garage rock band The Knaves, whose records were recently reissued by Sundazed. Opus III showcases his exceptional talent on the acoustic guitar, proving somewhat of an anomaly in a city not known for its solo guitar recordings during this era. W…

Mark Fosson's The Lost Takoma Sessions seemed to be the definitive statement on his earliest work upon its release in 2006, but then again, before the studio work there had to have been something around that caught John Fahey's ear to start with. Digging in the Dust: Home Recordings 1976 is just that, collecting performances of many but not all the songs that were eventually re-recorded for Takoma, along with an otherwise unavailable recording in the shape of Gene Autry's classic "Back in the Sa…

Gentle Wilderness was released as a private press LP in 1978. River Sun River Moon consists of previously unreleased recordings from the same time period. Deitrick came to our attention via Brooks Rice and Michael Klausman, who compiled Imaginational Anthem Vol 8 : The Private Press, which features Rick's "Missy Christa" from Gentle Wilderness.Ohio-born Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to approach his playing as if he was the only guy on an island and the instrument had just wa…

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…

Texas Songwriter Will Beeley's Rare LPs from 1971 & 1979 Reissued by Tompkins Square. 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…

Ultimate space-age exotica trip from Venezuela. In the early '70s, well-known composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia (who penned the famous “Ansiedad” when he was just a kid) decided to record an album of traditional and folkloric songs from Venezuela but giving them a modern touch, using especially developed equipment (M.R.A.A.), based off of the principles of the Moog. Chelique, helped by a team of gifted musicians, employed traditional instruments like the cuatro and the bandola llanera, filt…

**400 copies** "Vinylization of a self-released cassette issued earlier this year by our favorite Virginia-based guitar player. Witness Tree is a brilliant follow-up to Perry's eponymous debut LP (2018), and expands upon the form-abstractions he first displayed there. Mr. Perry has a firm and solid touch to his string wrangling, but unlike many of his contemporaries, he doesn't seem to feel compelled to resolve all the melodic questions he raises. Perry often stops in a place he finds interestin…

"Proud we are to reissue the final piece of Willie Lane's original Cord-Art LP trilogy. It was recorded in various spots throughout Western Mass, in the years following the release of Guitar Army of One. Initially issued in 2016, in an edition of 350, this lovely session disappeared into the fog of the forest before most folks were able to catch its scent. Now it has re-emerged with re-interpreted cover art by Max Milgram, and sonics we think will please even the most finicky listener. A Pine Tr…

**300 copies** "Currently based in the Boston area, Joseph Allred was one of the players we first encountered at 2018's Ten Thousand Incarnations of the Rose festival in Takoma Park MD. Allred's playing had some Basho-esque sequencing that was highly engaging, and the rest of the set was a killer, off-center swathe of string quiver we could not resist. O Meadowlark is Allred's third solo vinyl (there are cassettes as well), and will surely please many heads. Here're Joseph's words on how the alb…

A very important artist from Naples, Alan Sorrenti released his first album in 1972 on the legendary Harvest label. Aria is an absolute Italian prog classic, with two different sides: the first only contained the long title track, a dreamy psych-suite starting with acoustic guitar and based on the marvelous instrument-like voice of Sorrenti, and exploding in the final part with a memorable violin solo by Jean Luc Ponty. Side 2 was softer, with three tracks, two of which also appeared on …

Regarded as the link between Italian acid folk, Library music and Krautrock, Living Music was a collective of Italian Musicians, artists and poets active in the counterculture and student movement of Rome in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Taking their name and concept from the New York experimental theatre group ‘Living Theatre’ husband and wife duo Umberto Santucci (jazz critic, graphic designer (Brainticket) and photographer, library composer) and Gianfranca Montedoro (Jazz and rock singer, m…

Enigmatic UK-based singer and pianist Bill Fay's dark and haunting work gained him a strong cult following in the late 60s and early 70s. He released two albums on the Deram label in the early 70s and promptly disappeared into relative obscurity for 30+ years. In the last 10 years or so those albums have finally begun to get the recognition they deserve, and 4 Men With Beards is proud to be able to bring them back into circulation on 180g vinyl. First up is his self-titled 13-track debut from 19…

180 gram vinyl in a tip-on gatefold sleeve. Remastered from the original tapes. Includes unseen photos and liner notes by Andru Chapman. "1971's Wrecked Again, Chapman's final for EMI's seminal stoner imprint Harvest, home to Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett. Like other artists in the stable, Chapman's music contains a drugged-out feel, sublime guitar playing and intense lyrics, yet Chapman's career was not a pet project. Buried in EMI's release schedule and afforded no promotional budget, Wrecked Ag…

Land Of Our Fathers' is a stunningly beautiful compilation of never-before-released and hard-to-find recordings by America's great guitar mystic Robbie Basho. Spanning 16 years, this is 42 minutes of essential and extremely rare music from throughout Basho's multifaceted career. 'Land Of Our Fathers' provides further illumination of Basho's mysterious and incomparably poetic soul.

"There is a sense of mirth rising within me as I riddle these notes down. I'm here at the Cube Cinema in Bristol with John Stevens from Qu Junktions in the garden talking music, while Rhodri Karim whizzes through setting up gear for Matana Roberts and Kelly Jayne Jones. They are in situ for three days for another playthecube.  All the while I lounge back and time-travel back to Dec '17, picturing the times we all shared with the musicians you hear in these recordings. To slow things down a wee t…

**CD version** A fundamental collection devoted to rare and lost recordings from the 1920s to the 1960s. Is it really possible to imagine what modern music would sound like if a few pioneering geniuses had not had the idea of electrifying their instruments, especially guitar and harmonica, between 1945 and 1950? Some purist will regret this evolution, but, in the '50s, the new sound will be heard in all the studios and night clubs of the United States; it will become a staple on the radio, in st…

**250 copies** "We're excited to release the debut solo LP by Matthew J. Rolin, currently a resident of Columbus, Ohio. Rolin cut his teeth with garage and psych outfits in Cleveland, appearing on vinyl by Shoreway and Nowhere before he found himself adrift and wandering in the direction of Chicago at the end of 2016. Matthew had always been a fan of Jim O'Rourke's brilliant Bad Timing LP (Drag City, 1997), and when he caught a set by Ryley Walker soon after arriving in the city, he decided to t…

VHF presents the first time on vinyl for Pearls From the River, the all acoustic epics album from the “classic” Pelt trio lineup of Jack Rose, Mike Gangloff and Patrick Best. Recorded in a single March 2003 session in Virginia by Mikel Dimmick, this was a superb distillation of their interests at the time (both alone and together —Rose’s first solo records, the emergence of the Black Twigs as a busy working band, etc). Up the North Fork is a trio for banjo, baritone banjo, and cello —after the s…

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 …

**Limited edition gold vinyl** This eponymous 1971 debut album by Anne Briggs, largely unavailable for 48 years, is widely regarded as a pillar of any folk collection. Re-issued here as part of the Topic Treasures series – the label’s classic and notable albums expanded in deluxe format with rare images, new liner notes (by esteemed journalist, Ken Hunt) – Anne Briggs heralds a huge resurgence of interest in this most reclusive of folk doyennes.This debut album contains some of Briggs’ most nota…

From the curators of the Mood Mosaic series, here comes a new collection of tracks that gave rise to the Psychedelic Folk scene in the late '60s. It contains 17 seminal tracks collected together for the first time. For lovers of Devendra Banhart, Espers, and Animal Collective among others.Tracklist:1 - Rena Sinakin - Make Music2 - Linda Perhacs - Moon and Cattails3 - Injun Joe - Indian Priest4 - Breakout - Warm Up My Lips5 - Terry Brooks & Strange - High Flyer6 - Synanthesia - The Tale of the Sp…

A strong, rough, plump voice with the typical tone heard in the creole outdoor musical gatherings. Erick Cosaque’s voice is made to go over and above the two boula drums and the makè drum which are associated in general, along a few light percussions, with the Guadeloupean gwo ka. Whether heard at an informal street corner kout’ tanbou, during a traditional evening at someone’s place or in the musical léwoz of a community center, his warm yet imperial voice has been known by West Indians, in the…

Mark McGuire takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through a winter wonderland with his soulful take on holiday favorites. From timeless classics like Joy to the World to a gorgeous rendition of Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time Is Here, McGuire thrillingly updates these arrangements with his signature psychedelic guitar work. Here, he employs a wide spectrum of sounds and instruments to bring new ideas to these beloved chestnuts. Brimming with joy and festive cheer, Do You Hear What I Hear? is a mo…

**2019 stock** "Third Man Records is proud to present a truly rare musical oddity -- a two LPs collection of primal and unhinged Greek village music that at times sounds more like free jazz or doom folk, feral and trance-like as it is. After years of research, fieldwork and collecting, Christopher King -- Grammy-winning producer, sound-engineer, curator and writer -- has gathered together from his private 78 rpm archive the most mind expanding and libido inducing song and dance music from the ru…

Kasenian réak is a genre of performative art from the Priangan area of west Java, organized during hajatans (life-cycle celebrations) and nowadays primarily held during weddings and circumcisions. The style, known as a seni lungsuran, is part of the greater family of Javanese horse dances, originally known in their most famous forms of jathilan and kuda lumping. Javanese horse dances, which could be as old as animistic Java, may already have been practiced before the eight century, travelling th…

"Occasionally, a work of art falls into your hands with such a bizarre backstory, you just have to run with it. The implausible origins of Nick Garrie’s folk-pop album The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas require just such a leap of faith. The Englishman recorded his masterpiece in France at the tender age of nineteen. The year was 1968 and Garrie felt ill at ease with the lavish arrangements accompanying his songs (beautiful as they may sound to our ears today). Worse still, the label owner committe…

**very few original copies in stock!** Reinvented Hurdy Gurdy record by French musician Rémy Couvez, who made here something peaceful, contemplative with his instrument, no virtuoso moves, no useless agitation, just beautiful sincere music. The harmonies are really haunting, special. On some tracks, he is backed by synths and percussions. This album could easily rival with Morricone soundtracks. It would appeal to collectors of singular sounds for its minimal, drone music and eastern influences.…

Guitarist Bill Orcutt's fist set of new compositions in many years is a series of abstract blues played on the acoustic guitar, using a variety of tunings, and referencing great historical blues players alongside unusual historical errata."It's been two decades since Bill Orcutt was part of Harry Pussy, Miami's most bracing, uncompromising ensemble of noisemakers. After taking almost 15 years away from music following the demise of HP, he returned in 2009 -- with the fantastic A New Way to Pay O…