Reissues
Otinku
The Modern Sound Quintet were formed in Stockholm by Trinidadian steel drum master Rudy Smith. On Otinku, Smith wails out on his set of 'pans' (as I believe the vernacular goes) in an improbably slick bebop mode, accompanied by a rhythm section capable of keeping it free and swinging one moment, and then within an instant locking down a groove. While pieces like the title track and 'Bye Bye Blackbird' flow effortlessly, 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' and 'Memphis Underground' lay down a solid bedrock of …
Virtuoso Saw
the pure union musician, was the sawtooth performer with the occupation musician who serves the oboe player of the los angeles symphony. it attends the musician of the band companion in the back, announcing the extremity of sawtooth performance with the transcendent tech which is lined to the beauty consciousness and professional ability of western classical music. the elegant solo album 1985 indicates one direction of sawtooth music. the japanese first appearance. the booklet attachment of valu…
Symphony Of The Birds
An early electronic manipulation/ musique concrete masterpiece, the reissue of an old 1960 Columbia album, Symphony of the Birds. Working with CBS radio technician Mortimer Goldberg, Fassett painstakingly pieced together fragments from recordings of bird calls originally made in the field by Jerry and Norma Stilwell. On this recording you will hear an orchestra of singing birds." That's how Jim Fassett introduces this extraordinary disc. The one-time musical director of CBS Radio composed his bi…
Merzbow Plays Smegma Plays Merzbow
Chances are that most of Smegma's fans are already familiar with Merzbow's music. This collaboration, occasionally referred to as Smegma Plays Merzbow Plays Smegma or even Plays, features two 20-minute tracks. In "Electro Smegmacoustic Music," Masami Akita plays Smegma tapes, an audio generator, a teleband tranceiver, and a mixer. In "Smegma Plays Merzbow," Smegma use Merzbow tapes, tape loops, record players, and a few acoustic instruments. The result is surprisingly homogeneous -- enough to ma…
Con '72
this is an archived recording that sat in the vaults for 30 years before it was issued by the great qbico. this recording is a tough one to sit through, sort of like any early synth recordings, a veritable wankfest of synthesized bleeps and blurps. but don't let that fool you, this is way better than many other synthesizer albums of the period, having more of a range of sounds and feelings than most bands that did this sound, and for 1972 it's pretty impressive. still, sitting through 40+ minute…
Long Lost Tapes 1970
Hi quality, previously unreleased recordings from 1970 from the great raga-guitarist, Peter Walker (whose 2 essential Vanguard albums remain criminally unavailable). Peter's group includes: Maruga Booker (trap and frame drums, bells), Perry Robinson (clarinet), Badal Roy (tablas), Rishi (bass), Mark Whitecage (flute and alto sax). "One cold late fall weekend I put a session together. I found housing for the out of town musicians and invited my friend Maruga Booker who came all the way from Detro…
The Sleeping Bag Sessions
You already know about Arthur Russell from disco classics like "Is It All Over My Face" and "Go Bang" (maybe you even watched the recent documentary), but do you know about all the early/mid-80's work he did on his own Sleeping Bag label? This awesome compilation collects the gems you might've slept-on or never came across. Whether its early hip-hop boogie (Sounds Of JHS 126 Brooklyn's "Chill Pill(1)"), left field electro beats (Bonzo Goes To Washington's "5 Minutes(2)"), or underground disco ba…
Lord Krishna Von Goloka
In 1973, Rolf Ulrich Kaiser's visionary powers acted as a catalyst for an authentic combination of acid, music and spirituality: the mystical LSD-fueled musical project Lord Krishna Von Goloka. For this adventure into Indian and Oriental mythologies and legends, Kaiser asked esoteric Swiss artist (he was a friend of Giger's), poet, specialist on Alpine folklore, and friend of Timothy Leary, Sergius Golowin, to join a group of musicians including Klaus Schulze and members of Wallenstein and Witth…
In den Garten Pharaos
Originally released in April 1972 marked a further detachment from teh cliches of "kosmische musik". Partially retreating from the use of electronic instruments, displays a spiritual tone that is akin to Deuter's Aum. 2nd of the lgenedary Moog albums of POPOL VUH. Incl. 2 previously UNRELEASED Moog bonus tracks from 1970/1971.
Hosianna Mantra
Hosianna Mantra has finally been remastered with sparkeling and sharp sound quality. The bonus track Maria (Ave Maria) was recorded at the same time as Hosianna Mantra (1973) and is considered to be Popol Vuh’s poetic album. A beautiful album and a beautiful bonus track.
Nidhamu+ Dark Myth Equation Visitation
This is an overlooked gem drawn from the 1971 Balloon Theater (Cairo) show, with the title track recorded at the home of the esteemed Mr. Hartmut Geerken. The Balloon Theater material is, in contrast to many of the more raucous live albums of this period, deep, dark, and intimate-sounding...even meditative. Discipline 11 and Discipline 15 both feature slow, haunting ensemble horns and reeds playing those wild intervals that saxophonist John Gilmore always cited as a reason he made the Arkestra h…
Horizon
In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there, but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded, but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a …
On Jupiter
Originally issued as El Saturn 101679, recorded on 10/16/79, never reissued before in any form (before Artyard's prior LP edition in 2005). "On Jupiter uses more than the usual amount of post recording processing and mixing, nudging up to the jazz-rock/disco music of its time, but not getting too close. These are still eccentric, expanded, lurching musical beasts. And it's nice to hear the oboe and bassoon -- so often lost on the live concert mixes -- so prominent here. The playing is great, as …
Sleeping Beauty
Originally released on Saturn Records in 1979, both Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter are studio recordings by the large Ra ensemble (including electric guitar and electric bass) and, for the most part, feature the first recordings of the titles included on them (though most were played live a few months earlier). These two releases belong together, since they were recorded and released in close proximity and are both long, groove-based, pieces that range from proto-disco to relaxed groove-driven p…
Lard Free III
3rd & final album, from 1977. Similar style to the 2nd, psych-prog guitar supplied by Xavier Baulleret and more acid-drenched keyboard wondering waves.
Early Water
Reissue of a classic duo performance, recorded in Berlin 1976. Ash Ra Tempel's Gottsching (Farfisa, ARP, Gibson, tape echoes with Revox A 77) and Tangerine Dream/Agitation Free associate Hoenig (Yamaha, EMS, Moog, Oberheim) layering the zones for one continuous 48 minute flow of cosmic sequencing.
Iceland
Richard Pinhas has been at the forefront of new rock music in France since the early 1970s, when he founded the band Heldon. Heldon was one of the first bands to meld rock music and electronics, releasing a number of 'classic' albums during the 1970s. He has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of electronic rock music. His stature in France is roughly analogous to that of Tangerine Dream in Germany: the father figure of an entire musical movement. Iceland was Richard's th…
East West + Live Tracks
East/West was Richard's fourth solo album, which was originally released in 1980. This album has Richard embracing the new, computer-driven electronic technology, while still using some of his old gear and is one of Richard's personal favorites of his '70s and '80s work.
DWW
Recorded between 1983 and 1991, DWW contains some of the finest material devised by the former Heldon leader since that band's "demise." All that is Pinhas is here in its glory: guitars soldered with "Terminator" steel, coruscating electronics, and sequencers that tear electrons from their molecular womb. This is a music that uses King Crimson circa 1974 as its template and couches its aural metaphors in a tapestry of post-Philip K. Dick mind blasts and William Gibson-fused cyberpunk. In fact, D…
Chronolyse
2007 repress of the 2nd Pinhas solo album, originally released in France in 1978. Performed by: Didier Batard (bass) François Auger (drums, percussion), Richard Pinhas (guitar, synthesizer, mellotron). Composer, guitarist & electronics innovator Richard Pinhas is recognized as one of France's major experimental musicians & is a pivotal figure in the development of electronic rock. This was his 2nd solo and is absolutely one of his very finest works: half live Moog electronics that make fantastic…