★Tompkins Square
You Never Were Much of a Dancer
Tompkins Square is very proud to announce the signing of Welsh multi-instrumentalist, Gwenifer Raymond. Hailing from Cardiff and now residing in Brighton in the South of England, Raymond began playing guitar at the age of eight. Tompkins Square released her debut 7" on Record Store Day. Praise via The Wire, BBC, MOJO, UNCUT and more. In her own words .... When I was about eight years old a pretty formative thing happened to me ... my mum bought me a cassette tape of Nirvana’s Nevermind. Being so…
Ceremony of Dreams: Studio Sessions & Outtakes, 1972-1977
Ceremony of Dreams by Entourage. Available here on Triple CD. Sampled by Four Tet, their name whispered in reverence through the decades, Entourage forged bold musical ideas on their two rare '70s Folkways LPs. Now, collected for the first time, 30 previously unreleased tracks from their archives. Notes by J.D. Considine, and by sole surviving Entourage member, guitarist Wall Matthews. The Entourage Music & Theatre Ensemble (aka Entourage) were a genuine cult band -- with dancers -- formed by s…
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…
Jackdaw
Larry Conklin bought his first guitar, a Gibson J-45, in 1970, after he got out of the army. "I taught myself to play. I wrote songs and instrumentals (at that time Bert Jansch was my guiding light). I listened to a lot of people - Leo Kottke, John Renbourn, Django Reinhardt, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson - and especially Rev. Gary Davis, who played only with his thumb and index finger as I did." Larry's first record, Jackdaw was self-released in 1980 and includes beautiful solo 12 stri…
Gentle Wilderness
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…
River Sun River Moon
Tompkins Square is proud to release two solo acoustic guitar albums by Rick Deitrick. 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 appr…
Gallivantin'
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…
The Music of The Music of Harry Taussig & Max Ochs
Fifty years ago, Harry Taussig and Max Ochs were featured on a sampler LP, 'Contemporary Guitar - Spring '67', alongside John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Bukka White. Both guitarists were "re-discovered" by Tompkins Square in 2005, and have since released new recordings for the label. 'The Music of Harry Taussig & Max Ochs' features newly recorded material, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Takoma sampler they first appeared on.
Am I Really Here All Alone?
Phil Lewin's homespun debut is a loner folk masterpiece; accidentally psychedelic, lit by heartbreak and timeless in its sadness and hope. 1975 Private-press LP (only 300 signed and numbered copies pressed at the time) now remastered from the original tapes. In his own words, today: in 1967 I began my life in the student union of a university. In other words, I was in school. But, classes definitely took a back seat to people-watching and attempts at relationships. I would not say that I was par…
Endless
First-generation American Primitive guitarist Richard Osborn studied with Robbie Basho in the late 60's. 40 years later, Osborn finally recorded, appearing on Tompkins Square's 'Beyond Berkeley Guitar' comp in 2010. 'Endless' is his first widely available solo guitar album. [Osborn has] an unhurried, quiet spirit of adventure, a love of ringing strings and slowly revelatory meditations on the natural world. - Acoustic Guitar Magazine "He's a student of mine and he's better technically t…
Key
One of the great overlooked artifacts of the New York avant-garde, Meredith Monk’s debut album - Key, is a revelation - leaping over the decades with a vision as radical as the day it was made. Originally privately issued in 1971 - now emerging in the hands of Tompkins Square, across its sides, the human voice unfurls as its rarely been heard - the origins of Monk’s seminal body of work, and a near perfect lens into the awe inspiring nature of the era from which it sprang.Within avant-garde prac…
Celestial Explosion
"Don Bikoff released one lone, rare solo album, Celestial Explosion, on Keyboard Records in 1968, now reissued by Tompkins Square. Watch the YouTube video of Bikoff playing on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, taped May 12, 1968. You'll see the sheepish, long-haired, mustachioed musician spinning gold in a style (still?) so foreign to the mainstream listener. The befuddled host concludes after Don's performance, 'That's unusual to say the least.' A kid from Oyster Bay, LI, Bikoff got his start in Green…
Opus III
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…
Fantomas: Le Faux Magistrat
"In celebration of the centenary of Louis Feuillade's Fantomassilent film series, James Blackshaw was invited by Yann Tiersen to perform a live score to the fifth and final film, Le Faux Magistrat, at the beautiful and prestigious surroundings of the Theatre de Chatelet, Paris on October 31, 2013. Fantomas -- a master of disguise and symbol of terror -- is one of the most popular characters in French crime fiction, as well as a favorite with the avant-garde, particularly the surrealists. Tim Hec…
Live at Caffe Lena: Music from America's Legendary Coffeehouse
"Unreleased performances by Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kate McGarrigle, Rick Danko, Anais Mitchell, Sleepy John Estes, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and more. Caffè Lena, the oldest continuously operating folk music coffeehouse in the US. Opened by Lena Spencer in 1960, this tiny room has played host to influential artists across diverse genres of music; traditional folk, blues, singer-songwriters, jazz, and bluegrass. Luckily, many performances were caught on tape through …
Queen of the Flat Top Guitar
LP version. "Impossibly rare recordings by the legendary finger-picker. Notes by John Renbourn. A musical 'amateur' that best exemplified true artistry, Lena Hughes was born in Grape Grove Township, Missouri, in 1904. Though she never recorded any 78s and only one LP, Hughes was most influential through her steady performances at various fiddler conventions and folk festivals throughout the Ozarks. She was an excellent fiddler, banjoist, and guitar picker who retained the largely extinct …
Imaginational Anthem Vols. 1-5
"Since 2005, Tompkins Square label's Imaginational Anthem compilations have featured some of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world, with recordings spanning five decades. More than mere samplers, these albums have served as state-of-the-art dispatches from the front lines of the art form. Imaginational Anthem Vols. 1-5 is a specially priced 6CD box set, limited to 999 copies, featuring the first five volumes in their originals packaging, plus an exclusive live bonus disc from Willia…
Digging In The Dust: Home Recordings 1976
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…
He Is My Story: The Sanctified Soul of Arizona Dranes
A singer sits at the piano and loses all inhibitions while in complete control of the instrument: Little Richard, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis. Although church singer Arizona Dranes doesn't come close to the stature of those icons, she set the mold for rockin' singer/ pianists in 1926 with six 'test records' that have stood the test of time. Until now, very little has been correctly reported about Dranes other than the facts that she was blind, from Texas, had a piercing Pentecostal voice …
Trainsong: Guitar Compositions 1967-2010
UK's Michael Chapman began his career on the Cornish folk circuit in 1967. He signed to the Harvest label, home to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and many others, recording four quasi-legendary albums. The influential Fully Qualified Survivor was John Peel's favorite record of 1970, and featured future Bowie collaborator Mick Ronson. After decades of recording and touring, Chapman remains an obscure figure in the states. His profile was raised by a lengthy interview with big fan Thurston Moore in…