Folk & Traditional / All styles

*300 copies limited edition* With Umwelt, room, An’archives releases the first vinyl LP by Japanese singer, songwriter and guitarist, Kotonashiso. An elegant collection of seven slow-moving, free-ranging song forms, Umwelt, room is reflective, pensive, and yet has a great, expansive sense of movement, each song’s parameters feelingalmost infinitely flexible. Born in Tokyo in 1984, Kotonashiso began playing music in 2000. After taking a long break from making music between the years 2005 to 2016,…

"Mutudi Ua Ufolo/Viuva Da Liberdade" is one of the most important records ever made in Angola. An hypnotic masterpiece that blends Central African rhythms and Semba with soulful guitar and percussion. Originally released on CDA with Conjunto Merengue, it captured Zé at his creative peak. Sung in Portuguese and local dialects, the songs balance rhythmic elegance with deep political weight, tracing ties to Afro-Brazilian and Latin American musical traditions. After Zé’s assassination in 1977, the …

A long time resident of the Appalachian town of Asheville, North Carolina, Shane Parish is the mastermind behind the cutting edge rock band Ahleuchatistas. Here he steps out with a remarkable and soulful acoustic solo project that digs deep into Appalachian roots. Taking classic old times folk songs, Shane has abstracted them in utterly fascinating ways evoking the haunting and brooding world of the American South. At times reminiscent of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, at times of John Cage and Mo…

Who was Antoine Dougbé? Even the most dedicated crate-digger might go their whole life without stumbling across any of the three LPs he released in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Yet all the musicians who happened to cross paths with him remember him with a mixture of admiration and fear; for Antoine Dougbé was not merely one of the most inventive songwriters to emerge from the fertile music scene of Cotonou, but also a powerful Vodún initiate whose close connection to the spirit world allowed h…

Legendary is a word too often used when writing about musicians. Takeshi Terauchi is no myth, more an elemental force and surely a nominee for the status of Living National Treasure – a first for a rock musician in Japan. While not exactly well known in the West, he has received praise over the years from artists as diverse as the Ventures and Jello BiafraYou don’t want to mess with Terry, as he is commonly known. An 8th Dan of the Wado school of Karate and a Zen master of the Zuiganji temple, h…

Hailing from Viterbo in north western Italy, Alya Serpentis are a duo performing neofolk/dark folk. On "The Sky Falls Down", their debut release, they present a brand of neofolk that is at the same time both traditional and experimental. "The Sky Falls Down" deals with the dichotomy of matter and spirit, science and religion, and man stuck in the middle. Alya Serpentis make their unusual sound into a vessel for the mystery, wonder and dismay of a world that on one hand defies and exceeds descrip…

One of legendary Steinklang vinyl compilations now available also in Tape, enjoy!

On Istikhbars And Improvisations, Mustapha Skandrani turns solo piano into a bridge across the Mediterranean, translating Arabo‑Andalusian vocal modes into crystalline keyboard meditations that move like a modal Goldberg from Algiers to Paris and back.

Marana tha is the sole full-length statement by Megan Sue Hicks, a quietly incandescent artifact of early 70s psychedelic folk. Cut in Australia and pressed in microscopic quantities, it frames intimate, spiritually tinged songs in hushed acoustic settings that feel both homespun and faintly otherworldly.

Other Minds is pleased to present Piwal by the Balinese composer and gamelan musician Putu Septa. Septa represents a new generation of maverick Indonesian composers, “evident,” as ethnomusicologist Oscar Murakami-Smith writes in his liner notes, “from the title of the multi-movement piece presented on this album—Piwal, a Balinese word which may be defined as ‘rebellion,’ ‘resistance,’ ‘disobedience,’ ‘denial,’ or ‘deviation.’” Piwal is Septa’s attempt to square the traditional lineage of gamelan…

*2022 stock* 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 y…

LP plus DVD with full-length movie (125 minutes) of Balafon music of the Lobi people, recorded in and around Gaoua, Burkina Faso, on a two-week journey in June 2014, by Dirk Dresselhaus (alias Schneider TM), Julian Kamphausen and Arved Schultze. Packaged in a full-colour gatefold sleeve with DVD tray, with numerous photos and an extensive interview with Dresselhaus.The Lobi are an ethnic group of about 180,000 people living in southern Burkina Faso and bordering regions. The primary instrument o…

Released by Floating World Records on March 8, 2024, Live At The Fillmore East (June 5th, 1968) captures The Incredible String Band at a pivotal moment in their career. This live album documents a mesmerizing performance at New York’s legendary Fillmore East, showcasing the British psychedelic folk pioneers as they deliver tracks from their influential early albums, including The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. The setlist also features early renditi…

Tim Buckley ranks among the most adventurous singer-songwriters, and 1969's Happy Sad shows his talent in full bloom. After two albums working with lyricist Larry Beckett, the Elektra collection is the first of all-Buckley originals, and these six songs reflect a growing fascination with jazz (opener "Strange Feelin'" was inspired by Miles Davis). Predominantly acoustic, the relaxed arrangements include some fine guitar work by Lee Underwood and vibraphone playing by David Friedman, but the most…

Jackson C. Frank’s eponymous album is the embodiment of folk legend. Issued in late 1965 on the UK Columbia label, it was for many years more famous for its producer (Paul Simon) and the musicians who would go on to cover its songs (Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny) than for the hauntingly beautiful music contained inside. Frank’s backstory certainly adds to the legacy: born in Buffalo, New York, he used the settlement from a childhood accident to sail to London where he quickly became a fix…

Out on Leaving Records, The Haunted House is the latest EP from Los Angeles-based artist and musician Diva Dompé. Having spent the better part of two decades channeling otherworldly transmissions with projects including Yialmelic Frequencies, BlackBlack, and their current band, Diva and the Pearly Gates, Dompé returns with a deeply personal, unguarded song cycle firmly within the singer/songwriter idiom. The titular Haunted House is a memory palace of sorts—a portal to the densely-populated imag…

Alan James Eastwood's glorious Seeds is a certified folk-funk lost-classic. But who was Alan James Eastwood? He had never hit the big time and commercial success eluded him. By the mid-1970s, his musical career was pretty much over and he was almost unknown except among deep heads, amongst whom he would gain cult status. Original copies of the 1971 vinyl release of Seeds exchange hands for high sums, if you can find one. This expanded 2LP contains an extra record, collecting 9 rare non-album sin…

Gwenifer Live at WFMU was recorded on December 8th, at the tail end of Gwenifer Raymond's December North American tour dates. This session captures Gwenifer Raymond performing a stark, spellbinding selection of songs drawn from her critically acclaimed albums Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark and Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain. Widely regarded as one of the great folk artists of the 21st century, Raymond has earned international praise for her raw, hypnotic instrumentals rooted in Mississ…

Ghost-record from 1986 Mexico City underground. Nine minimal folk compositions of rare delicacy - an acoustic guitar breathing in solitude. American Primitivism filtered through personal intimacy.

*2025 repress* The second and last chapter of Dr Miller's journey between cultures and its uses, which began with "The Far East", dissected and looked into the root of the sound of distant Asia, continues with this new chapter dedicated instead to the countries bathed by the Mediterranean and contiguous to Central European history. From Spain to Arabic sounds, a new compendium that takes us back to other places and times, Dr Miller is once again able to dissect andencapsulate sounds and spices f…

If the blues represents "the expression of a dissatisfied mind" then this EP can be considered a blues EP.  If not sonically then in attitude and intention.  A mind dissatisfied enough to travel three hours west to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania to a town called Dushore at the tail end of summer to escape society, if only for a couple of days.  I won't use words to tell you what transpired during my time in Dushore and I won't tell you if you asked.  What I will do is leave you with this EP …

Reissued on vinyl for the first time the sole album from this Westland folk trio, recorded in 1972 at the Folk Heritage Studio. An esoteric acid-pop masterpiece with irresistible and obscure melodies, a must have for all the British folk revival fans.

There’s a rich resonance to the music of Fodé Lassana Diabaté, whose music has travelled with him from his griot family in West Africa to the North American coast of Unama'kik (Cape Breton). Bala, his first album of purely balafón music, brings together traditional pieces with roots in the Mande empire, original compositions inspired by his time in Unama’kik, and tributes to friends and family members. Diabaté has developed a unique practice on the balafón—a traditional melodic percussion instru…

Veronique Chalot’s A L'entrèe du Temps Clair, released in 1982, is a luminous exploration of early French folk traditions. Backed by Italian musicians and employing instruments such as hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki, and bagpipes, Chalot’s distinctive voice and delicate arrangements breathe new life into ancient ballads, fusing medieval atmospheres with timeless musical sensitivity.​

On Ali Toure "Farka", the legendary Malian guitarist and singer presents a nuanced journey through desert blues, crafting hypnotic grooves and lyrical vignettes that connect tradition with a restless creative spirit. Touré's mastery lies in the interplay of voice and guitar, exploring personal and cultural landscapes across languages and styles.

Two of Skip's rare post-Oar studio excursions; 'All My Life (I Love You),' from '72, is Spence's boisterous take on Badfinger/Raspberries-style power pop, while 'Land Of The Sun,' recorded in '96 with the X Files in mind, sounds like nothing else under the sun, and finds Skip sonorously intoning a poem atop a psychedelic bed of sound.

*2024 stock. 300 copies limited edition* "On his new album 'If You Can't Wander The Waffle, Wonder I Drizzle', Joshua Burkett takes hushed conversation and quietens them further. Listening to it is like reading under a blanket by candlelight. Yet an eerie buzz and hum cloaks the album, a lonesome spirit that's never comfortable or comforting. Burkett is a pioneer of free folk alongside Tower Recordings, Dredd Foole, and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. This 'New Weird America' haze from from the early…

"On the night of December 18, 2021, Mamer and his newly formed psychedelic folk band Mask were about to record a live album at Shenzhen B10 Live, a few audiences were invited. Before the recording, Mamer improvised on sherter for nearly 40 minutes. This album was therefore born. Xêrtêrmin / Sherter Solo may be, or should be the world’s first sherter solo album—although we don’t want to overemphasize it for the sake of sales. Most of the time, this ancient Kazakh instrument is used as a tenor dom…

Tip! In the 1950s and 60s, the blues was the dominant form of Black vernacular music throughout Texas and the surrounding areas. In segregated neighborhoods, community members gathered in saloons, dancehalls, and each other’s homes to hear their neighbors sing their stories of sorrow, heartbreak, jubilation, and triumph. Robert “Mack” McCormick, an academically untrained but fanatical devotee of the blues, stepped into this world and became one of its most devout advocates and documentarians. By…

*250 copies limited edition* Mariska Baars, aka soccer Committee is a force to be reckoned with: whoever heard one of her albums, or was lucky enough to see her live, knows that no one masters the art of peeling away every unnecessary layer of a song like she does. From the very first notes of 'Eye, it’s clear that Baars is at the peak of her powers. The most traditional songs here remind us why we fell for her songwriting in the first place: they’re delicately strong and quietly fierce. Other p…

*300 copies limited edition* A debut that is not a debut. Eva Fernández Suárez and Thomas Barrière have both been around for a while, just not as a duo. Eva is originally from the Asturias region in northern Spain but has been residing in France for quite a few years now. As a solo singer, her work is firmly rooted in classic folk-inspired material, more specifically in the bleak, bare-bones, and stripped-down kind. With her slow, rhythmic delivery, perfectly placed melodic nuances, and a vocal …

The home-recorded album everything pointed to - now on vinyl and CD for the first time. After several delays, we finally received the long-awaited production date from the pressing plant - and are happy to share this long-overdue announcement. Following the 2022 reissue of Scott Seskind’s 1985 debut, there was never a question - we wanted to go further. Ebalunga!!! exists to restore forgotten gems, and Scott’s music has been warming our hearts for years. So, to our own joy - and in response to a…

*2025 European press* ‘Araya Lam’ marks the third album from The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band. Following their releases ‘21st Century Molam’ and ‘Planet Lam’, the band delves even deeper into the roots of Isan music, collaborating with traditional musicians on vocals as well as instruments like the Pong-Lang, Pi, and Sor. Each element adds a fresh dimension to the band’s distinctive reinterpretation of Molam. The album also sees the band expanding their sonic horizons — nodding to N…

Debut by a new string trio of Pelt and Elkhorn veterans with the wild card contributions of Kaily Schenker, creating a new variant of supremely pleasing acoustic-psychedelic-drone-Americana etc. “Lullaby>Summer Field” is an aptly named gentle rise, with Sheppard’s fingerpicked 12 string snaking through waves of elongated fiddle and cello. “Triode>Freedom” follows a darker minor-key ostinato with Gangloff’s keening melody over the top. “Freedom>Universal Blues” starts as a dirge and builds to a t…

Black Truffle presents a previously unheard performance by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh festival in 1982. The great exponents of the tradition from whom Z.M. Dagar descended were all singers, and dhrupad is essentially vocal music. However, as Z.M. Dagar explained, the veena family of instruments plays an important role in the education and practice of dhrupad singers, especially as an aid to mastering the fin…

Following on from last year’s acclaimed Vrindavan 1982 by rudra veena master Z.M. Dagar, Black Truffle is thrilled to present a pair of archival releases from the Dagar Brothers, among the most revered 20th century exponents of the ancient North Indian dhrupad tradition. The vocal duo of Moinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar (sometimes referred to as the ‘senior’ Dagar Brothers to distinguish them from their younger siblings, Zahiruddin and Faiyazuddin Dagar), belonged to the nineteenth generation of a …

The label Ored Recordings was founded in 2013 by Circassian friends and fellow musicians Bulat Khalilov and Timur Kodzoko, in order to start an activity which is dedicated to documenting and preserving the traditional and post-traditional music of the North Caucasus. Khalilov and Kodzoko, were just as excited about this music as it sounded like a force that transcends borders and in which time dissolves and community becomes the only compass. Through hundreds of field recordings, which have been…

“I constantly felt like wearing clothes that don't belong to me, a bit like borrowing a sweater from your partner or pants from your sister who is slightly taller than you.”

40th Anniversary Release!! Recorded in 1985 and released by Polydor in 1986, Kazuki Tomokawa's seminal 1980s album “Beauty Without Mercy”. To mark its 40th anniversary, this long-awaited reissue arrives on vinyl! This defining album of the 80s features tracks including “He Was There” about his friend Takohachirō, “Beauty in Tragedy” about his brother's death, “God Was Crying in the Well”, and his signature song “Waltz”. Nakahara Chūya penned the lyrics for “A Fairy Tale” and “Boy”. Numerous dist…

Perhaps the most influential album from one of the true masters of British acoustic guitar. Released in 1968 on Transatlantic, Sir John Alot finds John Renbourn taking a magnificent journey back through time - not as scholarly reconstruction, but as living, breathing music that collapses centuries into a single candle-lit room. Renbourn (1944-2015) had already established himself as one half of the most formidable guitar duo in any style - his partnership with Bert Jansch yielding the landmark B…