New Arrivals
Tres Fronteras
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "Urgency ! there is an urgency !! obviously there’s an urgency in this piece !!! Nothing sets in. Or at least the few trying seems quickly stripped of, replaced, torn, abolished…urgency as answer to other urgencies. The one of this exactly seven days residency to rub with the Amazon rainforest. What a funny idea will you tell : only coming seven days in this vastness, where we should better have stayed 7 weeks, 7 months, or even 7 years… B…
The Early Years
Singer, actor and musician Farid El Atrache, born on October 19, 1910 in Soueïda, Syria, and died on December 26, 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon, is considered the greatest singer of the Arab world. A virtuoso of the oud, his timeless work, rich in hundreds of compositions, is recognized the world over. The present selection is devoted to the master's early works recorded in the 1930s-1940s.
Trésors De La Chanson Judéo-Arabe
Algerian singer and musician Lili Boniche was born in Algiers on March 14, 1921, and died on March 6, 2008. He was famous for his contribution to Judeo-Arabic music, and particularly associated with chaâbi, a musical genre popular in Algeria that blends Arab, Berber and French influences. Born Eliaou Élie Boniche, and he grew up in a Sephardic Jewish family and became interested in music at an early age. His musical career really took off in the 1940s and 1950s, when he recorded numerous hits th…
Amrak Seedna & Abtal Wa Harameyah
Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Ziad Rahbani's cult album Amrak Seedna & Abtal Wa Harameyah, released in 1987. Ziad Rahbani is a living legend of Arab music and a cultural icon in his native Lebanon. An accomplished musician, pianist and producer, he is also a celebrated playwright and political activist. The album Amrak Seedna & Abtal Wa Harameyah, released in 1987 on the Beirut-based Relax-in label, is the soundtrack to two plays written by the renowned Lebanese playwright and actor Anto…
Desertshore
CD digipack, 12-page booklet, Includes two bonus tracks. Desertshore was co-produced by John Cale and Joe Boyd. Unlike its predecessor The Marble Index it incorporates elements from Western traditional pop."Janitor of Lunacy" was composed as a tribute to her friend Brian Jones who died the previous year. The back and front covers feature stills from the film The Inner Scar by Philippe Garrel which starred Nico, Garrel and her son Ari Boulogne. A few of the songs from the album were included on t…
The Marble Index
CD digipack, 12-page booklet, Includes two bonus tracks. Nico's second solo album, 1968's 'The Marble Index', has long been out of print. This reissue includes audio mastered from the original tapes and previously unreleased photos of Nico by Guy Webster. Nico's haunting vocals predicted the Gothic movement and co-producer and Velvet Underground's band mate John Cale's startingly modern classical production ensured 'The Marble Index's timeless appeal. The iconic music journalist Lester Bangs wro…
Symbiosis
First ever vinyl reissue of Troum's Symbiosis EP, with unreleased extra track
Minato
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "Minato" is a soundscape work based on field recordings around Yokohama Port. In 1630’s, Japan started the trade policy called "Sakoku (鎖国)" that cuts off diplomacy except for a few countries. The policy ended in 1853 and Japan opened 5 ports including Yokohama Port in 1859. Yokohama Port is now one of the biggest maritime terminals in Japan, and it has been working for the moving and the logistics between Japan and foreign countries for a…
Poleas
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "This work deals with an area that I have travelled daily for the last years. A continuum between a train and subway terminals linked and a third train station, located fifteen blocks away with which they connect through a semi-empty landscape of workshops, barracks and the remains of an old station, in the middle of the city. The main train station functions primarily as a commuter rail station with several hallways leading to other train…
Insects Are
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "The recording locations of this work are Nakanoshima Park, Tenjinbashi, Sakuranomiya Park in Osaka, Japan. There are rows of cherry trees, rivers, ponds, lotus flowers on swamps, boat dock, railroads, and small forests. I visit this place often. The expression is rich depending on the season. It was a very hot summer day in August 2020. I brought in a small recording set (digital recorder, tape recorder, etc.) and worked on the go. There …
Étang Donné
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* Capture the unshaken density of water. The day. Birdsongs. The night. The clamour of the clouds. Summer. The breath of the trees. In spring. That of the fish, in the fall. Budding trees. Zenith sun. The blooming of flowers on a full moon night. The ripples blown by the wind across the scarlet surface of the pond. The furtive swing of the willow branches under a diurnal rain. Leaping insects in warm light. The hoarse cry of the rooster. In …
Raaswater
*2024 stock. 170 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "Raaswater is a seamless album of compositions using sound recordings made whilst participating on the 2018 Sonic Mmabolela residency for sound artists and composers in the Limpopo province of South Africa. With a small group of likeminded people led by Francisco López & Barbara Ellison, I spent countless hours exploring the dynamic environments of the Mmabolela reserve by walking, resting, listening, interacting, experiencing and recordin…
Dry
*2024 stock. 160 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "Two bodies of water, contained in man-made channels and held back by barriers. Such is our desire and need to control nature, that we have used this resource to aid our industrious endeavours, often at the expense of the local area and environment. Steel, wood and concrete stand tall, holding back huge volumes of water to be channelled to produce electricity, cooling processes or simply be stored for future use. Often these processes cont…
Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital
For the third release in our Mr Bongo Cuban Classics series, we reissue the iconic 1974 debut album by the mighty Grupo Irakere. Led by Chucho Valdés, son of Cuban pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés, the band would go on to become of the most influential and successful groups emanating from Cuba in this period. Their debut ‘Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital’ is an in-demand and incredible Afro-Cuban, jazz-funk masterpiece originally landing on Cuba’s state-owned imprint, Areito. One of the jewels of …
O Esquadrão Da Morte
Mr Bongo is proud to present an official reissue of Zé Rodrix E A Agência De Mágicos ‘O Esquadrão Da Morte’. Written, arranged and composed by the genius of Zé Rodrix and performed by his band 'Agência de Mágicos’, this Brazilian library funk beauty is the soundtrack to Carlos Imperial's 1975 film of the same title. Echoing European soundtrack maestros such as Roy Budd and Ennio Morricone, but with a Brazilian swagger, Zé Rodrix's score is a sublime gem that needs rediscovery. Rich in 70's sound…
Mário Castro Neves & Samba S.A.
*2024 stock* The Brazilian composer, pianist and producer, Mário Castro Neves and his group, Samba S. A.'s self-titled album from 1967 is oozing with class. It possesses that archetypal 60's bossa nova, jazz, samba sound. We’d place it up there with Sergio Mendes at his finest, Tambo Trio or Milton Banana. It’s a breezy ride that touches on easy listening at times, but it holds it together with a cool swagger. Biba and Thaís Do Amaral's vocals are on point, with a relaxed delivery that complimen…
Noise and Cries
As part of Subtext's 20th anniversary, Subtext presents the debut album from bela as a co-release with Unsound.
Horror of the Hexham Heads
The Night Monitor deftly constructs an auditory labyrinth, intertwining layers of analog synthesis and spectral ambience. Drawing inspiration from the obscure landscapes of 1970s electronic experimentation and the spectral echoes of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to create an immersive experience that resonates with the unknown. From the dissonant whispers to the pulsating rhythms, "Horror of the Hexham Heads" invites listeners to navigate the murky waters of the unexplained, delving deep into the…
It Would Be Giving Up
Originally recorded and released in digital format only in 2020, It Would Be Giving Up is a set of ensemble pieces made with tape loops and analog instruments. Following a similar trajectory as that of Memory Repetitions and Future Predictions, this set pushes further beyond, continuing to utilize a wall-of-sound approach to mood construction, and reflections on complicated grief. Simultaneously, it is a further statement to intensify blurring of the lines between genres, with sound palettes def…
Nio & Pigeon
"New Hard, led by Toshiyuki Miyama, is one of Japan's leading big bands. Since the release of their seminal work Perspective in 1969, they've opened up new horizons in big band jazz with their cutting-edge sound. This work, Niou to Hato, is one such representative work of the new hard movement, which reached its zenith in 1972. Bandleader Kozaburo Yamaki was then in charge of the entire composition and arrangement, and deeply pursued one of his long-standing themes: Japan, the nation in and of i…