Reissues
\"The Vodoun Effect\" 1972-1975
Most Likely To: be one of the only albums you hear that will protect you from the smallpox virus. In the late 1960s, as traditional African culture rubbed up against an influx of Western influences, some of the most amazing modern musical forms birthed in the dance halls of West Africa. Rhythm and blues, soul, and funk elements electrified and popularized in the United States folded back upon themselves into their African origins. Afrobeat reigned supreme in Nigeria, a defiant and jubilant funk …
Crawling To Lhasa
New legit reissue of this "psychedelic jewel from Duisburg". Originally issued as a private press LP in Germany in 1972, there were a couple of bootleg LP versions of this floating around in the 80s and then a legit, but difficult to obtain CD issue on the long gone Lost Pipe Dreams label. "Their music combined various folk and Eastern influences, slightly hinting at the Third Ear Band and Popol Vuh, but closest to Clark-Hutchinson on their album A=MH2. Kalacakra's blend of mantras, blues, folk …
Discovery
Clear and Discovery were originally released as two companion CDRs by James Ferraro (of the whole Skaters / Lamborghini Crystal / 90120 / Splash / Nirvana axis) and comprise the August 1974 (Taj-Mahal Travellers) of his discography. Both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference Klaus Schulze or Bobby Beausoleil. Clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while Discov…
Clear
Clear and Discovery were originally released as two companion CDRs by James Ferraro (of the whole Skaters / Lamborghini Crystal / 90120 / Splash / Nirvana axis) and comprise the August 1974 (Taj-Mahal Travellers) of his discography. Both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference Klaus Schulze or Bobby Beausoleil. Clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while Discov…
Nature Unveiled
Nature Unveiled is Current 93's seminal first album. It's been returned to its original format of two tracks, and has been beautifully re-mastered by Denis Blackham. This reissue comes with a booklet with early photographs of the group members-- who included David Tibet, Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound), John Balance (Coil), and Little Annie-- and original insert materials.
Dogs Blood Rising
Dogs Blood Rising is Current 93's seminal second album. It's been returned to its original formats of five tracks, and has been beautifully re-mastered by Denis Blackham. This reissue comes with a booklet with early photographs of the group members-- who included David Tibet, Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound), and Steve Ignorant (Crass)-- and original insert materials.
Soothing Sounds for Baby Volume 1, 2 & 3
A beautiful re-release on vinyl of these three great albums. Designed for babies one to six months old, the first volume of Raymond Scott's dreamy, engaging Soothing Sounds for Baby series emphasizes soft synth tones, repetitive melodies, and relatively simple arrangements. Keeping in mind a young baby's attention span, Vol. 1 also contains shorter, more numerous pieces than the following albums. Vol. 1 begins on a minimal, hypnotic note with "Lullaby," an appropriately trance-inducing, 14-minut…
E Pluribus Unum
a pure mantra: blending North African and Middle Eastern textures within a western context into our experience, regrettably the experience of a small few, but hopefully a wider community of listeners to come. Not only important historically, but musically: a wide range of music genres over the last couple of decades have worked with drone-note principles and it is an increasingly common device, but Sandy Bull was/is a superlative master of utilising the drone sounds;understated but effective in …
How much better if Plymouth rock had landed on the pilgrims
David Rosenboom (b. 1947) has been widely acclaimed as an innovator in American experimental music since the 1960s. Although much of his work has been collaborative, virtually none of his large-scale collaborative works has hitherto been documented on record. How Much Better If Plymouth Rock Had Landed on the Pilgrims (1969-71) is considered to be one of the most important, prompting the following Washington Post review after a 1970 performance: 'If there were a device whereby one could plug int…
Io and her and the trouble with him
Written and directed by Ione. Music and sound design by Pauline Oliveros. A collaborative venture among artists of all types, this 'dance-opera' is a multimedia panorama of experimental theatre and technical virtuosity that includes aerial ballet, masks, video projection, a sinister thousand-eyed monster, and a highly imaginative electronic soundscape. The one-act story, set in primeval time, retells the myth of Io from a matriarchal perspective. Io, Argivian priestess, is transformed by a terri…
Inventions
Sandy Bull's 1965 LP Inventions remains one of those legendary albums that almost no one has heard. Its impact, however, can be scene in the title of this new compilation spotlighting a great unsung hero of "psychedelic folk." "Blend," the 22-minute opus from 1963 that opens this disc, surely fits that designation, perfectly blending folk, jazz, and Indian influences into what Bull called "new guitar raga." An eclectic virtuoso who switched from acoustic guitar to banjo to Stratocaster to oud (m…
Magic & Return
Editions Mego has finally reissued the woefully out-of-print complete recorded oeuvre of this massively influential and infrequently convening laptop supergroup. Unsurprisingly, it still sounds great. The Magic Sound Of...’ and ‘The Return Of...’, originally released in 1999 and 2002. Fenn O’Berg (Christian Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke and Peter Rehberg) first hit the scene after a surprise appearance at the Nickelsdorf Festival in 1997. Throughout 1998 and 1999 the trio toured extensively throughout A…
Rozenhall
A re-mastering and repackaging of two previously released LP’s (2001 & 2003), this CD is a collection of 5 quite different pieces. All are mixed-moving-surrounding sounds and natural and manipulated noise - some can be considered as drone though they aren’t at all. No name for Rozenhall’s style. Very intense. As the CD liner notes say, “Play loud!”. Trk 1: “A Plumage…” - Early 60’s satellite type mixed sounds going round and round the Earth, then they come at you. Grabs your ears with claws. Sho…
Stepping Into The Dark
1996 release, repressed! Watson's lead instrument is the tape recorder. After working with Cabaret Voltaire and The Hafler Trio, he became sound recordist for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He has since joined a film and video production company, working for BBC wildlife documentaries and occasional feature films. The 12 recordings on Stepping into the Dark contrast a windswept forest in Glen Cannich with the gathering conversations of rooks roosting in a churchyard in Northumber…
Englabörn
Upon setting out to score the music for the play Englaborn by Havar Sigurjonsson, Johann Johannsson, co-founder of the Icelandic arts organisation Kitchen Motors, came upon a text by the Latin poet Catullus which roughly translates as, I hate and I love. Why do I do it, you might ask? I dont know, but I feel it happening to me, and it's tearing me apart. This poem concisely bridges the emotional opposites which clashed within the play itself. As the play's content was extremely violent and distu…
Works, 1965-1995
Massive and essential! This box set gives the listener all of Reich's major works. I can't even attempt to describe them individually, but every one of these 10 CDs is compelling. For the totally uninitiated, take out "Music for 18 Musicians" (presented here in a crystalline new recording) to get an idea of what the core of this guy is all about. From there, you might want to listen to "Different Trains," "Electric Counterpoint" and "Six Marimbas" to get an idea of the pointillistic pulse minima…
Fluxorum Organum
in 1967 henning christiansen proposed to joseph beuys that he composes a major work for organ titled "fluxorum organum" for beuys's planned aktion "eurasienstab". henning christiansen composed a piece with five movements. the organist franz meiswinkel played the composition on the organ in düsseldorf's liebfrauenkirche. the first "eurasienstab" aktion took place in 1967 in vienna at the galerie nächst st. stephan. in 1968 there was a repeat performance at the wide white space gallery in antwerp.…
Archive 1
AMAZING RELEASE!! Between 1977-1978 Japanese improvising guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi performed with his "New Direction Unit" in a series of concerts of different formats (trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, &c). This "Archive" box set included the recordings of 5 concerts in Japan: the "another situtation" concert at Purcinera and "Regular Concerts" from Jean Jean in Shibuya. Comprised of live improvisations, this beautifully packaged box also has a booklet with details on the concerts, though mos…
Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel
The reverberation length is so long (approximately 45 seconds) inside the 186-foot diameter cistern at Fort Worden, about 70 miles northwest of Seattle, that the composer describes the feeling as "this is where you have been forever and will always be forever". This engaging CD contains seven selections with Dempster playing solo on conch shell, didjeridu, and trombone, and in ensemble with nine other trombonists, two conch players and one on Tibetan cymbals. In the group pieces, the composer fa…
Musica Viva 13
In his Dis-Kontur and Sub-Kontur, the young Rihm strongly revolted against the emotional coolness he en-countered in the style of the musical avant-garde.