Folk & Traditional / All styles

Kicking off the brand new Sucata Tapes label is Gonzo with a new volume of the never-ending Noise(s) series. This time, he presents his alternate and surreal perspective of sounds and sights from the South East Asian sub-continent. Featuring recordings from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, SE Asian Noise(s) intersects randomly through AM/FM radio, field recordings, in situ compositions, and some re-interpreted recordings from Laurent Jeanneau's, aka Kink Gong, massive archive of the region. Not to b…

The second volume of Sounds From The Archipelago: An Introduction To The Lush Indonesian Music Tradition covers music from the vast island of Sumatra (West Indonesia), The Moluccas Islands, and the island of Bali. In the first sample from Sumatra ("Gondang Mula Mula"), recorded near the awesome Lake Toba, is a ceremonial overture played during weddings and special occasions. The band is comprised of four instruments: two "Ketchapis" (sort of a two-string ukulele), one "Serenar" (a wind inst…

"Lost Train Blues features 22 selections from the vast holdings of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, 13 of them have never been issued before. The record includes work songs, ballads, blues, political and union songs, guitar, banjo and fiddle music and Native American vocal music. These recordings were made between 1933 and 1950 and represent the birth of the folk music collections at the Library of Congress, now the largest repository of folk and enthographic holdings in …

The second twin in Unrock's sub-series of actively anti-western music is an ultra-heavyweight. In the worlds of contemporary global avant-art, composition and improvisation, it reaches new heights. Eyvind Kang (from "Ghost Ghat Tresspass/Sussmeier" Sun City Girls 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda among many other collaborations) employs a rarely-heard viola technique. Some may call it plucking art. The viola is played not with a bow, but plucked with the fingers of the right han…

Solo work of free-improvisation/immediate-composition on acoustic lapsteel, banjo, mandoline, acoustic guitar, 12 and 6 strings electric guitar. As David Keenan puts it "There is something of the late John Fahey's electrical guitar conceptions in the movement of Lacroux's playing, particularly his last recordings, where John Fahey's umbilical to country blues extended far enough to make of it a future wraith, the ghost of it's origin come back as a distant dream. (...) Guilhem Lacroux works…

Live selection from 2014 in Lyon. The duo are here heavily amplified, thus giving room to a very thick, dark and sonic manifestation of the band, perhaps the most stone-rock oriented set Faune have ever played. Rare and epic recordings!!!Cassingle, 100 copies. C-14, Riso printed cover with airbrushed and stamped labels. Released 2016 Recorded by Ernest Bergez. Mixed by Guilhem Lacroux. Artwork by Standard In-Fi. Printed by Papier Machine.

An album of new Hurley songs and older, classic compositions from the great American folk outsider, all arranged and performed beautifully at Levon Helm's Woodstock studio. Ida Con Snock has to rank as one of Michael Hurley's most slick sounding enterprises, but it's also a completely natural and untampered with vision of his songs, and there's a tremendous purity of intent resounding throughout pieces like the wonderful and poignant 'Wildegeeses' and the Appalachian fiddle-adorned 'Hog Of The F…

Dust-to-Digital's inaugural release, 2003's Goodbye, Babylon (DTD 001CD), included two recordings by a mysterious gospel musician from Texas named Washington Phillips, who died in 1954. After fielding inquiries about the hauntingly beautiful songs from listeners around the world, in 2013, Dust-to-Digital checked in with Michael Corcoran, the leading researcher on Phillips, to see if any new information had been uncovered. Indeed, Michael had some leads, but he would need a working budget t…

"At last! The second LP in our ongoing series of releases from Mariam Tsege Gebru! More 1960s recordings of her truly unique solo piano performances. Mariam Tsege Gebru is a true original - her playing is somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear! All original compositions available for the first time on vinyl beyond the original early 1960s editions, …

Jeanne Dielman present Across The Rocky Mountain, a magical collection of Kentucky's own Roscoe Holcomb. Roscoe Holcomb is one of the most legendary figures of Appalachian music and a huge influence on the '60s folk scene. Playing banjo, guitar, and singing in that beautiful high lonesome sound, this compilation spans his recordings from the late '50s and early '60s, mostly done in the "field" with a single microphone. A coal miner for most of his life, Roscoe knew the world he sang of …

Sublime Frequencies presents the second of three volumes of contemporary field recordings recorded by Hisham Mayet in Burkina Faso during three expeditions from 2013-2015. Volume 2 spotlights Mossi, Bissa, Bwaba, Fulani, and Samo music. One side one, riveting string instruments such as the Mossi and Bissa koundé accompany gnarled, primal vocal epics extolling the virtues of kings and the common man. On side two, the otherworldly sounds of the thianhou (reed zither) and the lolongo (bow-shaped mo…

Sublime Frequencies presents the third volume in a three volume set of contemporary field recordings by Hisham Mayet recorded in Burkina Faso during three expeditions from 2013-2015. Volume 3 includes regional instruments such as the Donso ngoni (hunters harp). The Donso hunters are a mystical animist sect living in western Burkina, Faso whose music is a source of protection and strength for the hunt. The Dioula are represented by one of Bobo-Dioulasso's premiere ensembles, Fassobolomba, who fus…

Matt Valentine and Erika Elder take their homespun hypnotics and cosmic country sounds to new levels on Root / Void. I love this album - it trips hard and hauntingly - a gift for languid golden afternoons or late night moonlight powwows. Anthem-worthy tape edits on some cuts crack open surreal and cinematic vistas. While joined by fellow travelers here and there, this album remains in essence a fecund duet from two entwined souls, updating and re-defining their unique pool of sound. Intrep…

Scottish singer-songwriter Bert Jansch recorded his first album in producer Bill Leader's London flat with a borrowed guitar, sitting on the edge of the bed and singing into a portable tape recorder. As author Richie Unterberger writes in the liner notes, "When Bert Jansch's self-titled debut LP was issued in April 1965, he was already a major figure on the British folk scene. His synthesis of traditional British folk with blues and a bit of jazz was at the vanguard of a new generation of UK fol…

Finally available again the near-mythical 1968 Nicholson’s stunning lone album. Upon first glance, one could be forgiven for wondering which is the artist and which is the title of this album. Memphis’ Larry “Gimmer” Nicholson still remains a great unknown today, despite his having orbited the periphery of the city’s music scene since the early ‘60s, playing with artists ranging from Furry Lewis to William Eggleston and influencing a young Chris Bell (Big Star). Fusing classical and folk …

Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on…

Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate…

Legendary Texan artist Terry Allen occupies a unique position straddling the frontiers of country music and visual art; he has worked with everyone from Guy Clark to David Byrne to Lucinda Williams, and his artwork resides in museums worldwide. Widely celebrated as a masterpiece—arguably the greatest concept album of all time—his spare, haunting 1975 debut LP Juarez is a violent, fractured tale of the chthonic American Southwest and borderlands. Produced in collaboration with the artist and meti…

Blind Tarots is a split tape featuring the contribution of My Dear Killer & Matteo Uggeri (Italy) and Modern Day Monks (Indiana, USA). The tape shows two different but somehow related attitudes to approach soft, minimalist, introspective folk. The A-side is played with acoustic guitars by My Dear Killer and processed by Matteo Uggeri, who also provided field recordings and broken rhythms. The side is called “L'albero della Morte”, and flows uninterrupted through five sections along the branches,…

Legendary collector Joe Bussard is putting records out once again! After running the last 78-RPM label in the US (RIP Fonotone Records, 1956-1974), Bussard had relegated his efforts to promoting old-time music by making cassette tapes for people hungry to hear his rare treasures and producing his Country Classics radio show for stations in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. But in 2014, Bussard and his daughter Susannah Anderson had the idea to produce a compilation of Civil …

Courtesy of the same folks who reissued that crazy 'Killing Melody' LP comes an amazing outing from British bluesman Mike Cooper. Since the early 60s he's been active supporting American blues artists such as Jimmy Reed, and Howling Wolf on their UK tours besides earning a crust backing many homegrown R&B bands. He also mastered the steel blues and Hawaiian lap guitar before veering into more avant-garde territory during the 80s, consolidating his various styles into a unique sound. The tracks h…

"Sam Shalabi presents Isis And Osiris; a dystopian fantasia for ud ruminations and iterated tape manipulations. Listening to Sam's music or playing with him is always a psychedelic bliss. When Isis And Osiris penetrates my ears I am possessed by an emergent universe where immanence and alienation, abjection and love meet. Nothing will be the same. The transformative effect of Sam Shalabi's cosmology is one of the most joyful and inspiring estrangement I experienced." -- Alexander St. Onge; …

"A couple years ago I received a demo in the mail which frankly blew me away the minute I hit play. Some of the best late night listening I’ve heard recently. Spencer is from Texas and his music has the same loner vibes as Charalambides and the early blues legends. Essential. 70 copies." (Sloow Tapes)

Following the breathtaking Airs, another gem from Loren MazzaCane Connors "story of shadowed miniatures; flickering electronic guitar poems,” the 14-track album was originally burned to CD-R in an edition of 100, but is now being remastered from the original tapes, with Loren’s recent artwork included as a 6”x9” insert reaches vinyl on Sean McCann’s Recital imprint. Lullabies renders Connors at his most sublime, wistfully sanguine, swaddled in tape distortion and gentle reverbs with a barely the…

In celebration of Alan Lomax's 100th birthday, Mississippi Records is proud to present a 6 LP box set featuring 100 of his finest field recordings. Previously unreleased tracks by Bob Dylan, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Southern Drum and Fife Corps, Bill Broonzy, Rosa Lee Hill, Dennis McGee, Jean Ritchie, Shirley Collins, Bukka White, Vera Ward Hall, The Georgia Sea Island Singers, Son House and many more. 55 unreleased tracks in all on this set! Also features hard to find tracks by Skip James.…

Combining an elemental Appalachian spirit with a modern compositional approach, VDSQ Solo Acoustic Volume 12 serves as the vinyl debut for Sarah Louise, whose deeply ornate and engaging playing adds rich new colors to the palate of contemporary guitar. File under American primitive Appalachian drone experimental...Growing out of the deep discography of Vin Du Select Qualitite Records blooms Asheville guitarist, Sarah Louise’s sophomore releases entitled, VDSQ Acoustic Series Volume 12. As an “in…

2016 Reissue. Subliminal Sounds presents the band Kvartetten Som Sprangde (trans. "The Quartet That Blasted") and their album Kattvals (trans. "Cat Waltz"). First-ever vinyl reissue of one of the most sought-after and beautiful psych pre-jazz rock instrumental albums ever recorded in Sweden. Originally released during the summer 1973 on the obscure Gump label. Powered by a C-3 organ, Ludwig kit and 50-watt Marshall head with a home-built cabinet, the skilled three-piece band (not a quartet,…

Recorded by Ragnar Johnson, assisted by Jessica Mayer, in Papua New Guinea, April-August 1976. Tape-to-digital transfer by Dave Hunt at Dave Hunt Audio in London, July 2015. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin, August 2015. Notes and photographs by Ragnar Johnson and Jessica Mayer. First combined release. Originally released as two distinct LPs on Quartz Publications (!QUARTZ 001 (1977) and !QUARTZ 002 (1979)) by David Toop with the assistance of Sue Steward, …

Limited-edition LP with full-size insert of text and photographs by compiler Charles Brooks. This collection is an impeccable and crystalline assortment of beautiful music from the deep southwestern provinces of Menabe and Tulear in Madagascar, recorded and assembled by Charles Brooks. Brooks has made many friends in these lesser-travelled regions since the 1990s. Outlier: Recordings from Madagascar represents a compilation of his encounters from 2011-2012. "Madagascar is an island that wo…

2016 reissue. Following a series of impossible-to-obtain releases for her own Yellowelectric imprint and a CD compilation of her gorgeous 'A I A' set, Liz Harris seems to have settled with Kranky who are re-releasing her classic Type album 'Dragging a Dead Deer..' and this new album of previously unreleased material drawn from the same period: 'The Man Who Died In His Boat'. It's not so hard to believe but we'll say this straight away - the material on this new set is just jaw-dropping, a …

Jill Cislaghi  cut her one and only album in 1977, during her senior year at Regis College in Massachusetts. She recorded solely for friends, family, and as a memento for the members of her graduating class. Friends of Mine  describes the loves and tribulations of Cislaghi's life with a mixture of naivetè and wisdom. With nothing more than her voice and (mostly unplugged) guitar, Cislaghi's folk sound is singular and resonant, bold yet humble. Friends of Mine's hopeful yet wintry vision should a…

It’s no accident that the phoenix is an exalted moral, mythical, and figurative symbol in Iran. Like the phoenix, Iranian culture is in constant flux and, at times, elusive, with its existential wavering and blurred panoramas. Most of contemporary Iran’s artistic and creative leanings, its grapples with history and identity, are loosely and mystically conjoined and contested in memory. Iran is marked by the complex interplay of diverse constituencies, philosophies, and influences: ethnic, religi…

Uchronia : The Unequivocal Interpretation of Reality, is a multi-dimensional project realized in Bamako by photographer Maciek Pozoga and musicologist Christopher Kirkley. This body of work juggling between folklorism, science fiction and social documentary is presented at Galerie 12 Mail from September 4th to October 16th 2015 and it will be accompanied by Uchronia, field recordings from alternate realities, a vinyl edition to be released on the American label Sahel Sounds and by a publication …

Ben Chasny was on a holy roll when he laid down the eleven tracks on Dust and Chimes. It was 1998 and y'all were floating on that Bill Clinton peace-and-prosperity bubble. Meanwhile, Chasny had dropped his self-titled debut LP earlier that year, and the cognoscenti and illuminati were pricking up their ears. Dust and Chimes announced the arrival of a brow-furrowed troubadour whose complex, morosely beautiful guitar playing didn't Basho you over the head with Fahey-isms. The three solo guitar tra…

"While Jackson C. Frank's eponymous 1965 album and other material has enjoyed numerous official and unofficial reissues, Jackson C Frank: The Complete Recordings is the first to compile his entire recording career. Released in conjunction with Jim Abbott's book,Jackson C. Frank: The Clear Hard Light of Genius, The Complete Recordings contains a total of 67 tracks, 24 of which have never appeared before. Every song has been mastered or remastered, a number of them straight from the original, brit…

Low-fi Tuareg guitar from renowned Timbouctou musician Abba Gargando. Original compositions and folklore classics from hypnotic electrified weddings to quiet fireside recordings in the refugee camps. Collected and recorded on cellphones, sparse recordings in the medium where he is best known. Limited edition of 500 with handmade covers.

First ever vinyl collection of the legendary 'Kostis,' the most enigmatic of all Greek rebetika artists of the early 1930s. Truly unique guitar duets and black-humor prose chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Virtuosic fingerpicking of Near-Eastern modes at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, it stands as an enduring mystery and the high standard for a …

Reissued in 2005 by Fledg'ling. Folk, Blues & Beyond was first released on Decca Records in 1965, and is one of the most important recordings from the 1960s folk revival. Davy Graham was a UK guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and serviceable-to-perfunctory vocalist, setting standards for succeeding generations. Graham was the first guitarist to emerge from Britain whose work combined stylistic elements from Julian Bream, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ali Akbar Khan, Leadbelly, Joe Pass…

Reissued by Fledg'ling in 2005, originally released in 1969 on Decca Records, Hat. The album is a rounded portrait of Davy Graham's remarkable guitar style -- drawing together Willie Dixon, Charles Mingus, The Beatles, Henry Purcell and Indian raga on one splendid record. Fledg'ling have carefully remastered this album from the original master tapes, adding new sleeve-notes and previously unpublished photographs.

Mesmerizing performances from the four corners of the world played on stringed instruments and recorded and released 78-RPM records circa 1920-1950. Featuring fiddles, shamisen, charango, Paraguyan harp, Indian vina, Lebanese oud, Persian violin, Vietnamese moon guitar, and more. All previously unreleased on CD, with three bonus tracks not available on the now-out-of-print 2010 LP. All records have been carefully transferred and mastered and are presented in a digipak with a 20-page booklet feat…