Folk /
Amarante-Cerisier
*300 copies limited edition* What if, alongside the mainstream history of music, with careers and discographies spanning ten or fifty years from album to album, there was an underground, minority history, that of artists and projects with only one record? A flash, a burst of brilliance, a gem, but no follow-up, no repetitions, no decline.
This will most likely be the case for this album by Amarante-Cerisier, a duo formed by Mauricio Amarante (Radikal Satan, Équipage, travelling companion of Cana…
Undertaker Please Drive Slow
A long time resident of the Appalachian town of Asheville, North Carolina, Shane Parish is the mastermind behind the cutting edge rock band Ahleuchatistas. Here he steps out with a remarkable and soulful acoustic solo project that digs deep into Appalachian roots. Taking classic old times folk songs, Shane has abstracted them in utterly fascinating ways evoking the haunting and brooding world of the American South. At times reminiscent of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, at times of John Cage and Mo…
Antoine Dougbé et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou 1977 - 1982
Who was Antoine Dougbé? Even the most dedicated crate-digger might go their whole life without stumbling across any of the three LPs he released in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Yet all the musicians who happened to cross paths with him remember him with a mixture of admiration and fear; for Antoine Dougbé was not merely one of the most inventive songwriters to emerge from the fertile music scene of Cotonou, but also a powerful Vodún initiate whose close connection to the spirit world allowed h…
Istikhbars and Improvisations
On Istikhbars And Improvisations, Mustapha Skandrani turns solo piano into a bridge across the Mediterranean, translating Arabo‑Andalusian vocal modes into crystalline keyboard meditations that move like a modal Goldberg from Algiers to Paris and back.
Happy Sad
Tim Buckley ranks among the most adventurous singer-songwriters, and 1969's Happy Sad shows his talent in full bloom. After two albums working with lyricist Larry Beckett, the Elektra collection is the first of all-Buckley originals, and these six songs reflect a growing fascination with jazz (opener "Strange Feelin'" was inspired by Miles Davis). Predominantly acoustic, the relaxed arrangements include some fine guitar work by Lee Underwood and vibraphone playing by David Friedman, but the most…
The Haunted House
Out on Leaving Records, The Haunted House is the latest EP from Los Angeles-based artist and musician Diva Dompé. Having spent the better part of two decades channeling otherworldly transmissions with projects including Yialmelic Frequencies, BlackBlack, and their current band, Diva and the Pearly Gates, Dompé returns with a deeply personal, unguarded song cycle firmly within the singer/songwriter idiom. The titular Haunted House is a memory palace of sorts—a portal to the densely-populated imag…
Live at WFMU (LP)
Gwenifer Live at WFMU was recorded on December 8th, at the tail end of Gwenifer Raymond's December North American tour dates. This session captures Gwenifer Raymond performing a stark, spellbinding selection of songs drawn from her critically acclaimed albums Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark and Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain. Widely regarded as one of the great folk artists of the 21st century, Raymond has earned international praise for her raw, hypnotic instrumentals rooted in Mississ…
El Nuevo Montuno Llegó
First legitimately licensed and remastered vinyl edition of this legendary salsa dura classic from Puerto Rico’s Roberto Y Su Nuevo Montuno, originally released on Rubén Haddock’s Uniart label in 1970. Featuring detailed liner notes that reveal the untold story of the band and their debut album, and rare photos.
Dushore Dying
If the blues represents "the expression of a dissatisfied mind" then this EP can be considered a blues EP. If not sonically then in attitude and intention. A mind dissatisfied enough to travel three hours west to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania to a town called Dushore at the tail end of summer to escape society, if only for a couple of days. I won't use words to tell you what transpired during my time in Dushore and I won't tell you if you asked. What I will do is leave you with this EP …
Iivana Mišukka
Death Is Not The End present a further volume of Arja Kastinen's eerie amalgamations of 110 year old wax cylinders with her own meticulously transcribed takes, this time focussing in on Armas Otto Väisänen's field recordings of kantele player Iivana Mišukka (b. 1861 d.1919).
Vipérine
*300 copies limited edition* "Turner Williams Jr.'s music unfolds like a crossroads, where ancient and modern traditions intersect and attract each other. We hear American Primitive Guitar (Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Sandy Bull), the trance of Indian ragas, melancholy of Celtic ballads, the most experimental side of French folk revival (René Zosso, Rémy Couvez, Pierre-Jean Croset, Valentin Clastrier), while allowing the memory of even more ancient music to filter through (Marin Marais, François C…
Songs Of Mine
Reissued on vinyl for the first time the sole album from this Westland folk trio, recorded in 1972 at the Folk Heritage Studio. An esoteric acid-pop masterpiece with irresistible and obscure melodies, a must have for all the British folk revival fans.
Bala
There’s a rich resonance to the music of Fodé Lassana Diabaté, whose music has travelled with him from his griot family in West Africa to the North American coast of Unama'kik (Cape Breton). Bala, his first album of purely balafón music, brings together traditional pieces with roots in the Mande empire, original compositions inspired by his time in Unama’kik, and tributes to friends and family members. Diabaté has developed a unique practice on the balafón—a traditional melodic percussion instru…
Araya Lam
*2025 European press* ‘Araya Lam’ marks the third album from The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band. Following their releases ‘21st Century Molam’ and ‘Planet Lam’, the band delves even deeper into the roots of Isan music, collaborating with traditional musicians on vocals as well as instruments like the Pong-Lang, Pi, and Sor. Each element adds a fresh dimension to the band’s distinctive reinterpretation of Molam.
The album also sees the band expanding their sonic horizons — nodding to N…
Music For A Revolution Vol. 2 - Guinea's Syliphone Recording Label (1968-1980)
On October 2 1958, after over 60 years of colonial rule, Guineans voted overwhelmingly for their independence, and Guinea was declared a Republic with Sékou Touré as President. Guinea was the first of West Africa’s Francophone colonies to gain independence. To free Guinea from its colonial legacy, president Touré sought to restore dignity to his nation and give cause for Guineans to take pride in their culture, history and newfound freedom. To achieve this, he instructed his government to implem…
Universal Light
Debut by a new string trio of Pelt and Elkhorn veterans with the wild card contributions of Kaily Schenker, creating a new variant of supremely pleasing acoustic-psychedelic-drone-Americana etc. “Lullaby>Summer Field” is an aptly named gentle rise, with Sheppard’s fingerpicked 12 string snaking through waves of elongated fiddle and cello. “Triode>Freedom” follows a darker minor-key ostinato with Gangloff’s keening melody over the top. “Freedom>Universal Blues” starts as a dirge and builds to a t…
Die Geburt Des Jahrtausends
One of legendary Steinklang vinyl compilations now available also in Tape, enjoy!
The Sky Falls Down
Hailing from Viterbo in north western Italy, Alya Serpentis are a duo performing neofolk/dark folk. On "The Sky Falls Down", their debut release, they present a brand of neofolk that is at the same time both traditional and experimental. "The Sky Falls Down" deals with the dichotomy of matter and spirit, science and religion, and man stuck in the middle. Alya Serpentis make their unusual sound into a vessel for the mystery, wonder and dismay of a world that on one hand defies and exceeds descrip…
Music from the Caucasus – The Archive of ORED Recordings, 2013–2023
The label Ored Recordings was founded in 2013 by Circassian friends and fellow musicians Bulat Khalilov and Timur Kodzoko, in order to start an activity which is dedicated to documenting and preserving the traditional and post-traditional music of the North Caucasus. Khalilov and Kodzoko, were just as excited about this music as it sounded like a force that transcends borders and in which time dissolves and community becomes the only compass. Through hundreds of field recordings, which have been…
Muzan No Bi (Beauty Without Mercy)
40th Anniversary Release!! Recorded in 1985 and released by Polydor in 1986, Kazuki Tomokawa's seminal 1980s album “Beauty Without Mercy”. To mark its 40th anniversary, this long-awaited reissue arrives on vinyl! This defining album of the 80s features tracks including “He Was There” about his friend Takohachirō, “Beauty in Tragedy” about his brother's death, “God Was Crying in the Well”, and his signature song “Waltz”. Nakahara Chūya penned the lyrics for “A Fairy Tale” and “Boy”. Numerous dist…