★EM Records
Music From Living On The Earth
Alicia Bay Laurel is well known as the writer and illustrator of one of the classic books of the back-to-the-earth movement, the 1970 hand-written guide to living the good life, Living On the Earth. She is also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and guitarist, the latter skill honed by studying with John Fahey. The songs on Music from Living On the Earthwere composed concurrently with the writing of the book, permeated by the sun and soil of the commune life. Bright and earthy paeans to the nat…
Music for Alien Ears
LP version. "RECORD OF THE YEAR: Martin O'Cuthbert: B.E.M.S (Esoteric Records) 'Seriously, when I played this record, an object on the wall started to vibrate very quickly, and I have witnesses to prove it. Martin O'Cuthbert is either a very evil person (just listen to the record) or a total fool (just listen to the record). Probably be big in Japan, and at a guess I'd say the whole thing comes off a Yamaha organ cos no synthesizer could sound that bad, could it?'" --John Lydon (PiL), New M…
Sous Juju
A collection of darkly shining northern diamonds, Sous juju is a two-CD compilation of the musical work of Kuupuu from her first releases in 2003 up to previously unreleased material from 2012. Kuupuu, known by her parents as Jonna Karanka, is a self-taught musician and visual artist from Finland who inhabits a semi-magical world where the mundane and the mysterious meet and make wonderful music together. Using tapes and loops, instruments both traditional and modern, Kuupuu's blend of low-tech …
A Last Discovery: The Essential Collection, 1984-2001
Finis Africæ (or Finis Africae): words redolent of mystery and myth, of Europe looking out to new lands, new worlds, new times. And so it is with A Last Discovery, the work of Spaniard Juan Alberto Arteche Guel, and his musical co-adventurers, recorded between 1984 and 2001. After 15 years of musical success in Spain with his band Nuestro Pequeño Mundo, Arteche was ready to experiment with new ideas, and with the purchase of a four-track reel-to-reel recorder he did so, exploring imaginary gl…
Sisar
EM Records is pleased to present Sisar ("Sister" in English), from Finland's Kuupuu, a multi-talented musician and visual artist. This vinyl-only release shows her continued evolution, a developing style, more electronic, but still full of her charm, whimsy and unique sense of contrast and layering. Dreamy pop tones blend with abstract sound works, menace with mesmerism, loops and beats anchor otherworldy etheric excursions, electronic sound melds with acoustic warmth and is earthed by folksy co…
Woe Ye Demons Possessed
Self-described as "...a cosmic rock relaxation creation to elevate sensory awareness to include the aura of intuitive perception of higher realm of human/divine consciousness using the astral body projection experience vehicle to pierce time/space/logic dimension barriers on the return voyage to the ultimate concept." CD reissue of this classic 1974 private press album. On Steven Stapleton's Nurse With Wound list, of course. Moolah was comprised of two youths from New York, Walter Burns and…
Earth Horns With Electronic Drone
Triple LP version of the entire 162-minute performance -- the vinyl
version therefore contains approx 85 additional minutes of music. Yoshi Wada and EM Records presents the first-ever, world-premiere release of Earth Horns With Electronic Drone,
recorded live in 1974. Combining four of Wada's self-made "pipehorns"
(made from plumbing materials, over three meters in length), with an
electronic drone tuned to the electrical current of the performance
space, this is a lost masterpiece of earl…
Singing in Unison
Singing in Unison is the latest in a series of recordings from acclaimed sound artist, composer, and performer Yoshi Wada. Recorded live over two nights in 1978, on March 14th and 15th at New York City's legendary performance space The Kitchen, Singing in Unison is a dramatic yet meditative work: modal improvisations for three male voices, singing, with great gravitas, in purposeful unison. These previously-unreleased recordings, featuring vocalists Richard Hayman, Imani Smith, and Wada himse…
John Cage Shock Vol. 3
The final CD of the John Cage Shock series features John Cage's 0'00" (1962), also referred to as 4'33" No. 2, performed by the composer, with daily activities such as writing and drinking coffee amplified by contact microphones into sonic abstraction, following the score's directions: "with maximum amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action." Next is Composition II for 2 Pianos (1960/1961) by Michael von Biel, lovely and sparse, performed by David Tudor and Toshi Ichiyanagi. …
John Cage Shock Vol. 1
In October 1962, John Cage and his great interpreter/co-visionary David Tudor visited Japan, performing seven concerts and exposing listeners to new musical worlds. This legendary "John Cage Shock," as it was dubbed by the critic Hidekazu Yoshida, is the source of this series of releases -- three CDs and a "best hits" double LP compilation. Recorded primarily at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo on October 24, 1962 (with two performances from October 17 at Mido-Kaikan in Osaka), all recordin…
Shock
Special 2LP version of EM Records' John Cage Shock series, compiled from the three CD releases. Featured works: 26'55.988" for 2 Pianists and a String Player, Piano Music #7, 0'00", Variations II. Performers include: David Tudor, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Kenji Kobayashi, Yoko Ono and John Cage. Includes rare photos and liner notes in Japanese and English, plus commentary by Toshi Ichiyanagi. In October 1962 John Cage and his great interpreter/co-visionary David Tudor visited Japan, performing seven …
Portrait Of A Prodigy: His Early Years, 1940s-50s
LP version. The music on this release consists of the earliest recordings by flautist T.R. Mahalingam, a legendary figure in the Carnatic music of South India, one of the world's great musical traditions. Mahalingam, known as "Mali" to his legions of fans and admirers, was a musician who revered these traditions yet opened new realms, raising the flute to levels of voice-like expressivity. Portrait Of A Prodigy: His Early Years, 1940-50s reissues, for the first time, recordings from the mid-…
I Saw The Outer Limits
Mind-stretching analog synth wizardry from the legendary Matsuo Ohno, sound designer for Astro Boy and many other Japanese films and TV programs. His first non-soundtrack release, from 1978, is a massive, undulating galaxy re-released here on CD with a bonus mini-CD reissue of a rare 1970 flexi-disc Play On Animals, rated as one of 2011's top releases by Byron Coley of The Wire. This reissue of his stellar 1978 LP I Saw The Outer Limits presents him at the peak of his powers, combining his maste…
Choju Gigaku (Play On Animals)
Em Records presents a slice of lost history unearthed for your enjoyment and delight. A first-ever reissue, on limited edition 7" vinyl of Choju Gigaku (Play On Animals), an ultra-rare 33rpm 7" flexi-disc by esteemed sound designer Matsuo Ohno, the legend behind the soundtracks for anime classics Astro Boy (1963-1966), Submarine Cassiopeia (1964) and Space Battleship Yamato (1974-1975). The original flexi-disc was released as a souvenir during the famed World Expo '70 in Osaka (think Stockhaus…
Mali: essential recordings of Carnatic bamboo flute (1969-1970)
Gorgeous double CD issue of two crucial albums by "the greatest living flutist of South India", T.R. Malingham or Mali to millions of South Indians, presented in respectfully opulent stye by Japan's EM reissue imprint. This is meditative, spiritual, and exotic music of the highest order, combining his two most revered recordings from 1969 and 1970 over two very special discs. Mali is said to be able to commune with birds via his playing and that's quite understabable. His virtuoso use of …
Music of Idris Akamoor 1971-2004
RESTOCKED: 2-CD collection of the ex-leader of legendary Afro-spiritual/deep funk/free jazz group from 1970s Ohio (later in SF), The Pyramids. Their music is one of the most deep attempts by African-Americans, deep sounds like Strata-East, aggressive performances like Tribe or Black Jazz, every free jazz/funk collectors should agree on it. Featuring 10 pieces of The Pyramids taken from their 3 albums and unreleased (!) recordings (included first live recording in Holland!). Notably The Pyramids …
Devil's Music
EM Records presents the CD and vinyl reissue of U.S. experimental electro-acoustic artist/circuit bender Nicolas Collins' live radio sampling masterpiece, Devil's Music, originally released on vinyl in 1986. Born and raised in New York City, Nicolas Collins has been hugely influential in contemporary electronic music, having performed world-wide for many years, collaborating with Christian Marclay, Elliot Sharp, David Shea, David Tudor and John Zorn, composing, recording, modifying circuits a…
Vocal virtuoso: collection 1977-1997
Long deleted, this is the legendary spacey, funky, and wonderful album by Jana Koubkova! During the 60s and 70s, the Iron Curtain prevented most of us from hearing some of the fantastic sounds that were cooking in Eastern Europe -- where obscure jazz funk combos were grooving away in styles that were very different than those heard in the US and Western Europe. There's no easy way to describe the music, because it was so varied and inventive but this excellent set of 10 rare Czechoslovakian tra…
Otinku
The Modern Sound Quintet were formed in Stockholm by Trinidadian steel drum master Rudy Smith. On Otinku, Smith wails out on his set of 'pans' (as I believe the vernacular goes) in an improbably slick bebop mode, accompanied by a rhythm section capable of keeping it free and swinging one moment, and then within an instant locking down a groove. While pieces like the title track and 'Bye Bye Blackbird' flow effortlessly, 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' and 'Memphis Underground' lay down a solid bedrock of …
Reggae Is Here Once Again
Includes documentary DVD by Steve Shaw featuring perceptive commentary from Steel an'Skin's founder Peter Blackman, killer live and rehearsal footage of the band** A comprehensive reissue of Steel An' Skin's output from the late seventies and early eighties, combining the band's debut 12" release Reggae Is Here Once Again, a couple of tracks from their 1984 LP Acid Rain, and one previously unissued piece. Significantly, this edition come as a double disc release, including a DVD featuring Steve …