Folk /
"Second Poem To Karmela" Or Gypsies Are Important
2014 Release. Light In The Attic and the legendary folk/blues/roots label Vanguard Records are proud to begin a series of collaborations under the umbrella Vanguard Vault. The series will explore the vaults of Vanguard and see the reissuing of obscure nuggets, psychedelic weirdness and just some good old-fashioned seminal music.Originally released in 1968 on Vanguard Records, Peter Walker’s album “Second Poem To Karmela” Or Gypsies Are Important was a ground breaking blend of folk, raga, psyche…
A Scarlet Fail
Awash in color and texture, Arian Shafiee's debut album, A Scarlet Fail, brings to light a guitarist whose sound and mastery are in full bloom. Best known for his work in the East Coast dance/punk group Guerilla Toss, Shafiee has spent years warping the idea of what a guitar can sound like. In a group setting, Shafiee does what's best for the composition, often blending seamlessly into the electronics and rhythmic grooves of his peers. A Scarlet Fail gives him a revelatory solo spotlight in a se…
Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas
LP version. On Buck Curran's second solo album, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, the emphasis switches to acoustic guitar, as compared to his first solo album, Immortal Light
(ESPDISK 5014CD/LP, 2016). Side A, all solo acoustic instrumentals,
seems to have fallen out of a wormhole emanating from Takoma Records in
the 1970s. There's some of that on side B as well, but there are also
vocals and other instruments, sometimes overdubbed, and the dedication
of "Taurus" to Peter Green, guitarist e…
Passing Dream
Tompkins Square reissues two albums by Texas singer/songwriter Will Beeley - the self-released mega-rare (only 200 copies) private press LP 'Gallivantin' from 1971, and 'Passing Dream', originally released by Malaco Records in 1979.
Recorded in San Antonio, 'Gallivantin' shows Beeley's heartfelt, folky side - a wistful set of original tunes, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and a spaced-out, 10 minute+ Eastern-influenced psych take on Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Little Wheel…
Folk, Blues & Beyond
LP version. "One of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk scene, Davy Graham inspired many practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar of the era, notably Bert Jansch, John Martyn and Jimmy Page. Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental 'Anji' and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by many acoustic guitarists. Not one to be categorised, Graham could be seen covering the genres of folk, blues and jazz. Graham was an entirely British pheno…
Large As Life and Twice As Natural
First released in 1968, Large As Life And Twice As Natural is a tremendous acoustic-folk-blues-jazz masterpiece. As always with Davy Graham, the music seems to defy categorization. Perhaps the simplest description would be "great." Davy is joined by the legendary Harold McNair on flute, Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophone, Jon Hiseman on drums (both from Colosseum) and Danny Thompson (from Pentangle) on double bass. The album's three extended instrumentals two immersive ragas and a wickedly kno…
Endless
First-generation American Primitive guitarist Richard Osborn studied with Robbie Basho in the late 60's. 40 years later, Osborn finally recorded, appearing on Tompkins Square's 'Beyond Berkeley Guitar' comp in 2010. 'Endless' is his first widely available solo guitar album. [Osborn has] an unhurried, quiet spirit of adventure, a love of ringing strings and slowly revelatory meditations on the natural world. - Acoustic Guitar Magazine "He's a student of mine and he's better technically t…
The Feudal Spirit
2019 small repress. "Rob Noyes has been on the Eastern Massachusetts scene for a while, but what we've heard him play is music from within the context of electric bands, most of whom are loud as hell and exist somewhere along the rim of the post-core continuum. More recently, Rob has taken to displaying his solo acoustic guitar chops and they are massive. The Feudal Spirit is the first vinyl evidence of their 'shoulders.' Like Western Mass's Tony Pasquarosa, who mines the same widely-variant sty…
Abbandonato Da Dio Nazione
Anthony Pasquarosa focuses the third eye back to 1910 to conjure a lysergic spaghetti Western experience. Expect to be transported to another realm where gunshots, galloping horses and psychedelic gunslingers mark the terrain. Pasquarosa reveals himself to be a master stylist and his third full length for VDSQ shows the widescreen breadth of his cinematic vision. Abbandonato Da Dio Nazione is expansively packaged with hand drawn artwork from the guitarist himself. Western's have never sounded li…
Birthday Blues
Release Date on May 5th. Bert Jansch's freewheeling fifth album, Birthday Blues, occupies a unique place in his solo discography. Released in 1969, the same year Basket of Light propelled Pentangle into the UK pop charts, Birthday Blues almost sounds like a Pentangle LP missing John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee. Backed-up by bandmates Danny Thompson and Terry Cox, Jansch neither holds back his characteristic moodiness nor takes himself too seriously. What's more, Jansch is in love. Heather Rosem…
This Forest and the Sea
Excellent 1976 private press acoustic album, self-recorded at various places in Colorado, and filled with beautiful fingerstyle acoustic guitar, plus some atonal bottleneck slide, string scrapes and drones (at times, very Ry Cooder/Paris, Texas about six years before that soundtrack existed). Although almost completely instrumental, what lyrics there are tend towards the dark and the satiric. The obvious points of comparison are John Fahey and Leo Kottke, although Scott Key certainly has …
The Yellow Princess
Originally released in either 1968 or 1969 depending on your sources, The Yellow Princess saw a post-philosophy degree, subculture-aware John Fahey branching out from his earlier, more traditional work. He earned his name back in 1959 at the age of 20, with his Blind Joe Death debut album. Following that album Fahey engaged in a wide stylistic range, from Appalachian-style finger picking to delta blues, but this album and its partner Requia, both for the Vanguard label, took Fahey to places for …