New Arrivals
ADHD
*2022 stock. Limited edition of 500 copies.* Fusing spacious electronic minimalism, shimmering guitars, and the empyrean voice of Misty Mary, Portland’s WL (pronounced ‘well’) arrive at the end of 2020 with an album of lustrous, crystalline Left Coast pop that is destined to be a trusted companion during the long nights ahead. ADHD is a defining statement of purpose for the group, made during a time of personal upheaval and featuring an evocative song cycle that begs to be listened to on repeat.…
Creepy John Thomas + Brother Bat Bone
2LP in bundle. This is an official release in cooperation with Ax Genrich. Ax Genrich joined Guru Guru in 1970 as the extraordinary guitarist on their first five albums. One can`t overstate Ax Genrich`s talent, as one of the most phenomenal and unique German guitarists (Freeman Brothers in “The crack in the cosmic egg“). The music on his first solo album Highdelberg comes from recording sessions with Conny Plank at the controls and the music was done by friends stopping by to jam. With the likes…
Summing
*2022 stock* Oscar Jan Hoogland is the sound of Amsterdam in person. He plays in the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdams main hall for modern composed music) as well as in the Bimhuis (Holland’s main jazz venue) that is literally attached to it, as in its parking garage. He is an instant composer, pianist and inventor of his own instrument by putting a clavichord, a keyboard instrument from the 17th century, on 220 Volt electricity.
As the last student of the late pianist, composer and improvisor Misha Men…
Subject To Potential Errors And Distortions
*2022 stock. Limited edition of 300 copies.* "...a beautiful collection of music that at once is emblematically peaceful and yet also vibrates with an undeniable substratal energy." – Disquiet On his fifth solo album Fadi Tabbal delves deeper into the theme of alienation in a suffocating city. Composed and conceived almost entirely at his home in Beirut during Covid-19 quarantine, the record is his most intimate yet. While his previous solo work consisted solely of guitar pieces, this time Tabba…
Dialog
AI-31 sees the debut release from a new collaboration between Samuel van Dijk (Netherlands) and Rasmus Hedlund (Finland). Both key proponents to the scene in Northern Europe, they come together with mutual understanding and a common vision to sound. Dialog acts as a conversational exchange that sees the interplay of dynamic frequencies, evocative imagery and contemporary sonic art. Spread across four sides, the album as a whole exists as a kind of metaphysical process, eternally growing and cont…
Horizon, Volume 1
* 2020 stock * Almost completely unknown in the west, Masahiro Sugaya has been composing and producing music since the 1980s in an exceptionally wide range of fields and practices. From arrangements for musical acts like the acoustic guitar duo Gontiti to acousmatic diffusion at spaces like Paris’s Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), Sugaya’s reach is almost exhaustive in its breadth, but it was in the 80s bubble-era kankyō ongaku scene that he first found his musical voice.
Horizon, Volume 1 …
Afro Psych (Journeys Into Psychedelic Africa 1972 - 1977)
Whilst the continents contribution to the global funk, boogie and disco canon has been well documented for decades, the strong presence of rock and psychedelia in 1970's African music has been a more slowly evolving story over the years. Pockets of young Africans, turned on by Hendrix, the Doors, Santana and more, started to add heavy guitar riffs to rumbling, ever present funk, and built an afro psych scene that is still turning up gems to this day. With Lagos an epicenter for the emergent scen…
Time Bends
*In process of stocking.* Turn up the volume and look how time bends before your eyes because that is what Robyn Schulkowsky and Andi and Hannes Teichmann do with their music. They bend time. They make a ring out of it or some sort of ellipse, and then they pull it straight again, they transform it into a rope, and then, of course, they balance on it, forwards, backwards, half speed, double speed, 33 rounds per minute, or was it 45? Just try both.World percussion meets Techno and Berlin club cul…
King Of The World
*2022 stock. In process of stocking.* Formerly a musician, cinematographer and lighting designer with The Residents and a student of "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Philip Perkins issued this astounding release on his own Fun Music label in 1983.
Perkins often worked in topographical realms, crafting environment-enriching soundscapes, albeit on a micro level. Taking cues from minimalism, environmental field recordings and home-baked ceremonial mantras, King Of The World is a meditation on the lives of thre…
Erotidijos
*In process of stocking.* The latest reissue from chOOn!! is Giedrius Kuprevičius' Erotidijos, the sixth release from the label that specialises in obscure, archival and forgotten releases.
Erotidijos translates from the Lithuanian to "Erotidies" - these were festivals held in honour of Eros, God of Love in Ancient Greece. They were organised every five years and were famous for their celebrations, decorations and luxury. Ritual games were played during the festivals, musicians and poets compet…
Incan High Priestess
The so called 'Nightingale Of The Andes', a necessary introduction to the life and music of the one and only Yma Sumac. The Peruvian singer who startled audiences in the United States and Europe with her remarkable voice, beauty, and mysterious "Inca" princess/priestess persona. Literally bridging the gap from folklore to exotica, Yma Sumac was the forerunner of a new philosophy.
La edad de oro de la cumbia colombiana
Cumbia is a folkloric genre and dance from Colombia. Hereby a compilation showcasing the early developments of a large crosspollination. Since the 1940s, commercial or modern Colombian cumbia expanded in fact to the rest of Latin America, after which it became popular throughout the continent, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Prosperity
*In process of stocking.* Next Festival Records is thrilled to announce that the new album 'Prosperity' from Mats Gustafsson & Christof Kurzmann, has been added to the catalogue.
Mats Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player, composer, and improviser. Gustafsson works on the boundaries of noise, electronica, contemporary rock, and free jazz, as well as contemporary dance and theatre production. He performs solo and in various all-star impro projects. He has gone on international tours with artis…
Swagger
Limited LP edition. In their new composition, Swagger, Oslo-based vocal duo Propan augment their customary sound palate with the aid of an eight-strong ensemble of strings, winds, percussion, voices, and electronics - an ensemble by the name Propanions. Combining pre-scored and improvised content, Swagger moves between the soft sound of tuning forks, odd beats, curious text, playful melodies and textural noise, resulting in an eccentric piece of definite character - an eclectic manifestation of …
Second Room
Limted LP edition. Second Room is Martin Taxt’s second album in a series of works investigating possible relations between music and architecture. In this work written for alto saxophone, two microtonal tubas, double bass, church organ, hand bells and modular synthesizers he is inspired by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, and his ideas on different concepts of living. In a lecture at the Harvard University in 2011, Fujimoto sets up a comparison between the nest and the cave, as two fundament…
Sonic Drift
Sofa Music continues to release Microtub’s unique research into the microtonal tuba. The music on Sonic Drift achieves an even greater depth and leaves the listener sucked in to the trio’s extraordinary complex band sound. Sonic Drift is Microtub’s fifth album since their debut in 2011. Whereas the first four albums were recorded shortly after the music was composed, the music for Sonic Drift evolved considerably through the process of playing live concerts throughout Europe. Initially developed…
Papirfuglen
Moskus conveys their perspective of the world with vivid improvisation in a genre-free universe. In their In their most recent release, “Papirfuglen”, the ensemble further solidifies their position as one of the most cutting-edge and transfixing voices in the newest generation of both Norwegian and international jazz. They have a unique musical approach, with a combination of infectious playfulness and a headstrong penchant for experimentation. And with these tools Moskus takes yet another ste…
Delirious Cartographies
Tip! **300 copies limited edition* Arbitrary presents »Delirious Cartographies« by composer, improviser and synthesist Richard Scott. Part of the Danish imprint’s Framework editions, this release includes three pieces on 12” vinyl and 6 printed drawings – as well as a text by Scott – published as a limited edition portfolio folder.
"These compositions capture aspects of my personal sonic experience of specific times and places. Extending beyond my usual work with analogue synthesizer, these piec…
Sleeping Beauty
In 2021, the international contemporary music festival Only Connect commissioned an interpretation from I Like to Sleep of the first movement of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalila symphony. A project which initially led to a 15-minute piece performed at the festival, with the trio re-writing the music of Messiaen, but also rewriting the music of their own. Messiaen as a reference and compositional tool may be heard in the album for those really listening for references. With “Sleeping Beauty” the tr…
Passion For Numbers
Chris Korda is an internationally renowned multimedia artist, whose work spans thirty years and includes electronic music, digital and video art, performance and conceptual art, and culture jamming. Chris pioneered the use of complex polymeter in electronic dance music, and invented a unique MIDI sequencer in order to explore polymeter composition techniques. Chris composes and performs music in a variety of genres, and has released many albums on labels such as Perlon, Mental Groove, and Gigolo…