New Arrivals / Last 2 weeks
Black Spur
Atsuko Hatano and Joe Talia converge on Black Spur, translating improvisational dialogue into a landscape of flickering tonal mirages. The album bends cello, percussion, and electronics into dark, cinematic forms—meditative, unpredictable, and haunted by unresolved tension.
Folk Guitar
A very nice return to unadorned acoustic guitar playing by one of the form's masters. Allred's last album for FTR, What Strange Flowers Grow in the Shade (FTR 656LP) was more of an imaginary band outing, but Folk Guitar plays it straight. Joseph reports they'd been listening to a lot to pieces by 16th-century composer, John Dowland, and the solo work of Pentangle's John Renbourn while this album was gestating. They also note Hammer Studio horror-film soundtracks as a touchstone for certain tunes…
Byrd Jazz
** Deluxe edition, Tip-on jacket, 12 pp booklet ** Sam Records returns with a significant archival gem: the long-awaited reissue of Donald Byrd's Byrd Jazz, originally released on Transition Records in 1955. Capturing the Donald Byrd Sextet's electrifying performance in Detroit on August 23, 1955, organized by the New Jazz Society under the impetus of Kenny Burrell, this recording stands as a crucial document of both Byrd's emerging artistry and the vibrant Detroit jazz scene of the 1950s.
The r…
No New Summers
Nice to hear the first solo LP in a good while by this most excellent guitarist who also runs the superb Scissor Tail label. Dylan writes, 'I made the title track a couple years ago at the beginning of summer. I was thinking about how as you get older you have fewer new experiences. That feeling of excitement for summer fades, after it used to be such a big deal as a kid. Those experiences can only be new and vibrant once. The rest of your life can be spent in nostalgia for them. It's a sad thou…
In Dream (LP)
In Dream finds Courtney Bailey navigating the blurred edge between introspection and liberation. Layering spectral synths over tactile percussion, her voice threads through emotional chiaroscuro - a sonic diary where desire, loss, and rebirth meet in hypnotic balance.
Kwantu (LP)
Kwantu brings together Madala Kunene and Sibusile Xaba for a powerful dialogue across generations. Fusing deep Zulu roots, evocative improvisation, and spiritual storytelling, the album transcends genre. Here, ancestral echoes and humanistic creativity merge in soundscapes alive with cultural energy and intimate connection.
Parajekt (LP)
A bold journey through electronic experimentation, Parajekt finds Parajekt (Bernhard Hammer & Matija Schellander) shaping intricate soundscapes from drum machines, samplers, and modular synths. The result is an album that merges beat-driven textures, dub processes, and live immediacy into a compelling modern statement.
Syncreticl (LP)
Fusing classical Indian traditions with contemporary sensibilities, Syncretic unites Bhairavi Raman and Nanthesh Sivarajah in a vibrant dialogue of melody and rhythm. This release bridges cultural and musical worlds, offering listeners an intricate tapestry of artistry defined by nuance, texture, and emotional depth.
Evidence for Real (LP)
Blending heartfelt lyricism with a deep-rooted groove, Evidence For Real sees Lord Shepherd explore themes of faith, truth, and resilience. Through organic instrumentation and soulful delivery, the album captures an authentic soundscape where spiritual reflection meets contemporary musical expression.
Definitely What! (LP)
A bold statement in jazz, rock, and soul fusion, Definitely What! finds Brian Auger & The Trinity crafting intricate grooves with magnetic energy. Hammond organ brilliance, inventive arrangements, and fearless experimentation make this album a compelling testament to the group’s genre‑defying spirit and enduring creative fire.
Straight Ahead (LP)
A landmark in jazz-rock fusion, Straight Ahead captures Brian Auger & The Trinity at the height of their creative synergy. Blending soulful grooves, Hammond organ power, and fearless improvisation, the album stands as a timeless showcase of musical spontaneity and expressive freedom.
Grayson II: Sands of Praconia
Sci-fi inspired, Prophet 5 synth led electronic compositions by Belgian film score composer Jan Borré. The second of Jan's synthesiser based instrumental albums inspired by the character of the mother of Spock in the long running Star Trek series, the altogether human Amanda Grayson.
This sequel finds her on a rescue mission to the fiery desert planet of Praconia...
Praconia, a remote planet caught in a bitter dispute. The Ozmi seek to exploit its resources, while the nomadic Prakans claim it as…
Breathe
This album is the full soundtrack to Liza Hughes' documentary film 'Swimming Through Darkness' retitled 'Breathe' for this release. Like all of Steve Nolan's scores, the melodies here are hauntingly beautiful and suffused with emotion, waves of sound ebbing and flowing like the ocean itself.
The cinematic score builds with pulsing synth pads and droplet-like piano motifs, framing the thematic events of the film, which include moonlit swimming.
As surf pounds the north coast of Ireland in the dar…
The Freedom Suite, Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 2
Brooklyn pianist Eva Novoa joins saxophonist Daniel Carter and drummer Francisco Mela for the second volume of The Freedom Suite, a set of twelve pieces blending piano, Rhodes, harpsichord, gongs, and vocals with Carter's multi-reed brilliance and Mela's Cuban-inflected drumming, creating an urgent, intimate, and fluidly improvised dialogue of words, sound, and fearless imagination.
Conduite Forcée
** Edition of 300. One time pressing. No digital. ** In 1934, Swiss engineers completed the Chandoline Hydroelectric Plant, channeling Alpine water through 16 kilometers of concrete pipe. By 2023, the turbines had stopped. The plant was empty, silent - a cathedral to obsolete energy with perfect acoustics and nothing left to say. Christian Marclay saw an instrument. For the inaugural Biennale Son in 2023, the artist who made his name destroying vinyl in 1980s New York turned the entire hydroelec…
When I sing, I slip into the microphone. Into that void, I bring comrade "prayers", then, turning to face the outside, together we explode
Like on the early solo Haino album that shares the group’s name (released on P.S.F. in 1993), the instrumentation swims in reverb (the use of which Akiyama recalls as ‘a kind of point of the band’), often obscuring the instrumental sources. On the short opening piece, a distant reed instrument arcs long buzzing melodies over a bed of cymbals and gongs, like a psychedelic take on Tibetan music. The epic second part, occupying almost 50 minutes, begins as a splayed, near-formless cloud of electric…
Mirror at Night
Mirror at Night searches the subconscious: Eric Angelo Bessel sculpts a spectral space where ambient resonance, spectral melody, and time-stretched echoes intermingle. The album pulses with memory and hush, summoning nocturnal images that flicker between clarity and dissolution—a twilight walk across the inner landscape.
Visitation
An atmospheric journey through psychedelic, gothic, and ambient motifs on this new instrumental album from Eric Angelo Bessel (half of Lore City).
Four Fold
Four Fold unites four singular musicians—Iva Bittová, Marilyn Crispell, Benedicte Maurseth, and David Rothenberg—in a chamber where jazz, improvisation, and modern composition intertwine. Voices and instruments curve and spar, yielding an album of subtle poetics and palpable communion whose articulated silences are as charged as its most explosive moments.
Structured Suicide
** Second reprint limited edition to just 110 hand-numbered copies ** The 1990s were a fascinating moment for music and new idioms of experimental music began to bubble in the underground. While often belonging to highly localized scenes and thus overlooked by a broad listenership in the moment, many of these gestures have proven to be profoundly important and influential and have left an indelible mark on the musical landscapes that have followed in their wake. Particularly notable among others…