Best of 2020
Snapshot from the Island
A rare pearl of Hungarian experimental music, Tibor Szemzo’s sublime debut album Snapshot From The Island [1987] is widely regarded as one of the best ambient & minimalist music of the time. Remastered from the original tapes, limited edition
Aix
Aix is an outstanding piece of work by Italian electro-acoustic savant Giuseppe Ielasi, originally released in 2009 on Taylor Deupree's 12k label, the follow-up to 2007’s August (12k) and Ielasi's first collaboration with Nicola Ratti as "Bellows", also out in 2007 (Kning Disk). Originally only released on CD (12k), the album got a very limited vinyl issue on Czech label Minority Records in 2010. Keplar presents this extraordinary and timeless collection of 9 evocative minimalist soundscapes on …
Trippin' Musik
* Limited supply, don't miss this much needed repress** From the label: "Due to issues with the coloured vinyl pressing on some copies of this set, we have finally agreed with the pressing plant to get replacement copies in 180g virgin black vinyl. We also have a limited quantity of the complete box set in black vinyl available for sale. These are expected to arrive around the middle of December."
Following from the reissue of NWW’s ’Soliloquy For Lilith’ boxset, ‘Trippin’ Musik’ relays the most…
Burn the Night / Bruciare la Notte: Original Recordings, 1983-1989
Burn the Night / Bruciare la Notte: Original Recordings, 1983–1989 is the first archival collection of music by the Italian minimalist composer Tiziano Popoli. In his music, Popoli framed the Italian avant-garde and New Wave of the 1980s through an architectural aesthetic distinctly detailed by a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, Roland TR-909 drum machine, and early sampling technology.
Schlingerland / Dynamische Schwingungen
Cien Fuegos present a reissue of Sven-Åke Johansson's Schlingerland / Dynamische Schwingungen, originally released in 1972. Sven-Åke Johansson (Mariestad, Sweden, 1943) works as a composer, drummer, accordionist, poet, and visual artist. Longtime collaborator of the free improv scene in the German '60s with Kowald, Brötzmann, Schlippenbach. He contributed to numerous exhibitions, publications, and recordings. Sven-Åke Johansson - drums. Recorded 1972 in Stockholm, Schweden. Engineered by Göran F…
Stones of Precious Water
The title of guitarist Barry Cleveland’s 1986 album - Stones of Precious Water - conjures images of incandescent gems, harvested from hallowed streams and held aloft to glimmer and catch the light in their many facets. And perhaps this is the truest analogue for the music contained therein. Recorded between 1981 and 1983, in mostly improvised recording sessions, the disparate nature of Stones’ creation is alluded to only by the breadth and variety of sounds it encompasses. Stones of Precious Wat…
Vanity Records 'Demos'
This box-set collects a series of recordings recently discovered in Agi Yuzuru's archives and never released before. It offers further insights about legendary Japanese cult DIY label Vanity Records and some of their groups. The box-set includes the following contents:CD-1 Densei Kwan - P' (unpublished)An unpublished album from the cassette tapes owned by Aki Joe. The Densei Kwan's crashing style of Pocket Planetaria (CD-5) recurs in a more intense form with increased compositional power. An alb…
Italienische Stucke
**Edition of 300. Also available as a 50 copies special Art edition** Sound is almost always at its most thrilling, whether in practice or source, when it can not be easily defined. This is the liminal zone within which only the bravest and most ambitious among the avant-garde dare to tread, constantly pushing forward into unexplored zones which are yet to be claimed by the known. Of those artists who have taken on such a task, it is hard to call to mind any as important as the German composer, …
Contemporary Jazz Mass
Tip**Edition of 300 copies. Remastered reissue, released in conjunction with the artist** James Tatum's stunning, spiritualised Contemporary Jazz Mass is one of the only true jazz masses ever released. Inspired by Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts, Tatum's masterwork was recorded on its first ever performance at St Cecilia Church in Detroit, and released on his own private label in 1974. At the time Ellington’s Concerts were quite controversial. Whilst they contained scriptural references they d…
Vernal Equinox
**Finally restocked, last copies** Housed in reverse board outer sleeve with printed inner. Includes download code. Fully remastered from the original tapes and available on vinyl for the first time in 42 years, and CD for the first time in 30 years. Sleevenotes by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno. Back in record shops on the day of the 2020 vernal equinox, the second release on Hassell’s own Ndeya label. "Hailed as one of the 50 best ambient albums of all time by Pitchfork, Vernal Equinox was the fi…
Seastones: Set 4 and Set 5
** Limited Blue Translucent Vinyl ** Ned Lagin's Seastones is a pioneering electronic composition interweaving metaphors from nature, science, art and music and the origins of music. Reflecting the technology, science, modern art, new ecological awareness and optimism of the times and culture, Seastones embodies the history of electronic music by taking full advantage of tape music, analog synthesizers, and computer technology to create pieces that are dynamic, rich, and deep.
Originally release…
Aurora / Miss Madona
This special bundle collects the reissues of Le Théâtre du Chêne Noir's Aurora LP and Miss Madona 7" EP:Le Théâtre du Chêne Noir "Aurora" (1971)Souffle Continu Records present a reissue Le Théâtre du Chêne Noir's Aurora, originally released in 1971. In 1972, Steve Lacy recorded Solo, one of the gems in his discography, in the Théâtre du Chêne Noir in Avignon. The previous year (which was also the year in which Aurora appeared), the eponymous group of actors led by Gérard Gelas, took up residence…
Acnalbasac Noom
Acnalbasac Noom -- meant to be the German-English-American avant-pop group Slapp Happy's second album -- was originally recorded in 1973 but did not see release originally until 1980. Recorded with legendary German art-rock group Faust accompanying the Slapp Happy core of Anthony Moore on keyboards, Peter Blegvad on guitar, and Dagmar Krause on vocals, and with Faust's brilliant producer Uwe Nettelbeck at the helm, Acnalbasac Noom was initially rejected by the group's label Polydor as not being …
Maledetti (Maudits) - Color LP
**2020 Remastered Reissue. Red Vinyl** 1976 was a year of flux and change. For the recording of the fifth Area album, the core membership of Stratos, Fariselli, Tofani and Tavolazzi were present, but drummer Capiozzo only appears on about half of the album, replaced on various tracks by either Walter Calloni or Paul Lytton. Steve Lacy augments the band, as do several other studio musicians (including a string quartet). Perhaps it was the contributions of this eclectic group of guests that gives …
Cinevox Tidbeats
**2CD version** Long coveted by diggers, samplers, and beat makers, library music and film soundtracks have, over the decades, revealed themselves to be one of the great treasure troves of 20th century music. A wonderful, often overlooked world of sound - vast in its breath and endlessly adventurous and unpredictable in the realizations of its creative ambition - there are few veins more remarkable and thrilling than those efforts produced within Italy during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. We are th…
Zeitstudie
Tip! During one of the most collectively challenging years in living memory, Lawrence English’s Room40 has managed to beat the odds and consistently deliver rays of light through the darkness, reminding us of what great art is all about and its importance in times like this. 2020 has already seen the label drop incredible albums by Werner Dafeldecker, Rafael Toral, David Toop, Phill Niblock, Ellen Fullman & Theresa Wong, Merzbow, Beatriz Ferreyra, and handful of others. Now they’re at it again w…
Journey To The One
A later album by Pharoah, but one of his best! The record has a solidity that matches all of the soulful spirituality of his Impulse years with the a tightness that really sends the message home. Sanders on this LP is next to perfect
Domestic Exile
Mental Experience present the first ever reissue of Steve Piccolo's debut album from 1982, Domestic Exile. A hidden gem of minimalist beauty, mixing a post-punk/DIY/lo-fi aesthetic with art-rock and spoken poetry. Steve Piccolo has been active since the mid-1970s in music, theater, performance art, sound installations, video and film soundtracks. In 1979, he started with the Lurie brothers the "fake jazz"/no wave band, Lounge Lizards. Domestic Exile was recorded one year after the seminal Lounge…
Orphee 2000
Reissue of very rare French spiritual / political Avant-garde Jazz - Think Brigitte Fontaine meets Alice Coltrane via the Middle East. The soundtrack of a cult play from the “Chêne Noir” Theatre. A spiritual jazz work tinged with poetry and oriental music. A sonorous UFO of which only the 70s had the secret. To be classified between Brigitte Fontaine Marc Moulin’s Placebo and Strata East.
Cairo Primo
"Cairo Primo" is Alberto Boccardi's third solo album and his comeback since 2014 "Fingers" (Cassauna / Important Rec). After several collaborations and releases along these years, Alberto emerges with his personal memories of the time spent in the Egyptian Metropolis. Past and present merge into mystery. Tension and calmness become energy.