Folk /
The Story Of Valerie
2025 Stock. The discovery of a cassette of Carola Baer's early 90s private home recordings was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. Made as a one off mixtape of newly recorded songs, and given away to a long-since forgotten recipient, this cassette was found in 2017 at a Goodwill "bins" location in Portland, Oregon. These chaotic, by the pound thrift stores contain 1000's of unsorted items in constant flux, which are only available for the public to buy for a limited time before th…
Music From the Mountain People of Vietnam
In the remote villages of Vietnam's Central Highlands, a profound musical transformation is taking place. Traditional songs that have echoed through generations of the Jerai, Banhar, Ede, and Rongao ethnic groups now exist alongside new forms of expression, creating a complex sonic landscape that Vincenzo Della Ratta has documented across two decades of field recording. This exceptional release captures not just the music itself but a pivotal moment in cultural history—the last flowering of anci…
Shushupe
2016 release ** Oversize card sleeve. Shushupe presents field recordings by Ralph Koper primarily pertaining to an ayahuasca ceremony which took place on February 8th, 2006 in Iquitos, Peru conducted by Norma Aguila Panduro Navarro (1944 - 2007) who was one of the very few female ayahuasca shamans in the world. This release mostly focuses on Norma Panduro's ceremonial music and the sounds of the surrounding jungle. Norma's apprentice at the time, Paula Liebe joined with the singing of one or two…
Transcendence - Raga Darbari
*2025 stock* A towering figure of the Kirana gharana tradition, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan unveils Transcendence: Raga Darbari, a recording that captures both the majesty of Hindustani classical music and the deeply meditative power of one of its most revered ragas.
Renowned for his profound mastery of raga interpretation, Khan brings an unmatched depth of expression to Raga Darbari, a raga historically associated with dignity, solemnity, and introspection. In Transcendence, the artist’s voice be…
Transcendence
*2025 stock* Renowned Indian classical vocalist Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan unveils his latest album, Transcendence, released by Nimbus Alliance. This masterful recording celebrates the profound depth and timeless majesty of Hindustani classical music, spotlighting the legendary art of the Kirana gharana through the soulful raga Darbari.
Featuring a stellar cast of collaborators including tabla virtuoso Anindo Chatterjee, harmonium maestro Kedar Naphade, and tanpura support from Michael Harrison and…
Tuhaa Tabu
*2025 stock. 22 copies limited edition with original drawing inside* We are proud and delighted to release Tuhaa Tabu, the new collection of songs by Roro Perrot, in various formats and editions. Seven series of seven cassettes were first released, followed by a CDR and finally a handful of floppy disks containing a selection of songs. In 2023, we couldn't avoid the digital version for purists of dematerialization, which has been coming back into fashion in recent years.
Seven very different ser…
Eye
*250 copies limited edition* Mariska Baars, aka soccer Committee is a force to be reckoned with: whoever heard one of her albums, or was lucky enough to see her live, knows that no one masters the art of peeling away every unnecessary layer of a song like she does. From the very first notes of 'Eye, it’s clear that Baars is at the peak of her powers. The most traditional songs here remind us why we fell for her songwriting in the first place: they’re delicately strong and quietly fierce. Other p…
Rwanda Sings With Strings
The celebrated Rwandan folk duo returns with a resonant fifth album, Rwanda Sings with Strings. The record combines their signature earthy vocals and acoustic instrumentation (guitar and hand percussion) with atmospheric cello and violin arrangements, creating a soundscape that vividly brings to life their powerful stories of resilience, memory, and longing.
Recorded 100% live without overdubs in a hotel room by Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Parchman Pris…
In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper
"Širom fashion maximalist avant-garde soundscapes from antique acoustic instruments like the balafon and hurdy gurdy. Their artfully rootless roots music makes an impassioned statement both aesthetically and, more opaquely, politically too.” - Uncut The Slovenian avant-folk trio Širom are back with a sonically and thematically expansive 5th album; a thrilling follow-up to their widely praised 2022 release The Liquified Throne of Simplicity. Navigating almost two dozen instruments (some of which …
Personal Jesus
To mark Nina Hagen's 70th birthday, Personal Jesus is being released for the first time on vinyl, including a bonus track – exactly fifteen years after its original release. The bonus track is titled "I Am Born To Preach The Gospel" and is a cover of Washington Phillips. With Personal Jesus, Nina Hagen delves deep into rock, blues, and gospel in 2010. Raw, unpolished, and full of intensity, she interprets songs about faith, resistance, and redemption – carried by her unmistakable voice, which bu…
The Twinkling Star
Legendary Egyptian vocalist and cultural icon Umm Kulthum, revered worldwide as “the Voice of Egypt” and often described as “Egypt’s fourth pyramid,” remains one of the most powerful figures in music history. Originally released in 1961 on Parlophone, The Twinkling Star is a luminous showcase of her unparalleled vocal mastery—an album that captures both the grandeur of her artistry and the emotional intensity that made her a cultural phenomenon across the Arab world and beyond.
A cornerstone o…
Oslan Husein
In truth, singing is not all that different from acting. Performing a song is very similar to playing a role in a theatrical production. A singer's delivery — the way they interpret and emphasize certain parts of a song — is much like what an actor does with their character. That's why we often find singers who go on to gain popularity as performers — some on stage, but more often on the silver screen (film). These are called 'singing stars' — vocalists who are also featured actors, usually give…
Pantilde
We at EM Records love to transport our listeners to new worlds, other worlds; "Pantilde", this magical new album from Cornish avant-folk performance artist The Worm, is indeed an ethereal new world: otherworldly, but somehow rooted; an imaginary oral and musical story of everyday village life in an alternative Celtic landscape. The music here is strange yet familiar, fantastical and enchanting while remaining simultaneously attached to the earth. Amy Lawrence, aka The Worm, plays cello, harp, re…
Martin Carthy
Re-pressing of Martin Carthy's debut album, originally released on Fontana in 1965 and re-issued by Topic in 1977. In the early 1960s, the approach Martin Carthy took to folk music was nothing short of revolutionary, albeit a relatively quiet revolution befitting of his humble nature.
You wouldn't find Carthy's music clambering up the singles charts; his was not a face adorning the teen magazines. Instead, his influence was felt at a grass-roots level. He plied his trade in the folk clubs, which…
An Introduction To Anne Briggs
2025 stock Anne Briggs was born in Nottinghamshire in 1944 and began singing in local folk clubs in her teens. Her break came through the Centre 42 tour of 1962. This was a distinctly leftist group of artists, writers, actors and musicians whose lofty aim was to make arts and culture accessible to the masses. Local artists were invited to audition where Ewan MacColl first heard Briggs' remarkable voice and persuaded her to join the tour. There Briggs met MacColl's broader minded comrade A.L. 'Be…
Anne Briggs
2025 stock A long overdue reissue of the classic first album from Anne Briggs on Topic. Widely regarded as a long-lost treasure and recorded in 1971 by Sean Davies, featuring Johnny Moynihan from Sweeny’s Men on bouzouki.
Anne Briggs began singing in local folk clubs in her teens. In 1962, she became part of the Centre 42 tour, a leftist group of artists, writers, actors, and musicians aiming to make arts and culture accessible to the masses. Ewan MacColl first heard Briggs’ remarkable voice and…
An Introduction To Shirley Collins
Few singers of the English folk revival have attempted as much on record as Shirley Collins – an extraordinary combination of fragility and power. “I like music to be fairly straightforward, simply embellished – the performance without histrionics allowing you to think about the song rather than telling you what to think.”
Through an impressive series of experimental recordings Shirley established an extraordinarily sympathetic marriage of traditional songs handed down through generations of rur…
A Path To Open Air II
*2025 stock* Introducing 'A Path to Open Air II,' Tobias Wilden reimagines the tonal textures first shaped in his 2013 release, 'A Path to Open Air'. Diving further into his perceptions of nature and music, the album blends acoustic intimacy with ambient depth, painting serene scenes of remote landscapes. Wilden combines guitar, cello, double bass, and Sanshin with orchestral layers and fleeting electronic glimmers. It’s an ode to the in-between, where jazz meets not-jazz — a musical terrain tha…
Kaikou
Makoto Moroi (1930-2013), his name is well-known early electronic works at NHK electronic music studio, composed numerous works for Japanese traditional instruments during the 1960s and 1970s. His most notable works include "Chikurai Gosho" (1964) and "Uitenpen" (1973), with "Symphonia for S.M. ― Shin" (1972) considered his crowning achievement. On the other hand, this piece, "Kaikou,” had not been revisited since it was broadcast on NHK FM's "Contemporary Music" program on November 2, 1975.
As …
The Sun Is Not True
"David Nance’s doom spiral tour of the supermarket. The spectral glade fashioned by the Spatulas in “Heaving Chimes." The hazy, chattering, crypt-riot of Bruce Russell and Peter Wright’s Escalation. The warmth and momentum of Liam Grant’s barn dance. These intensely physical spaces are all conjured through song, an unexpected venue for such somatic expression. It’s a bracing, welcome tangibility, a mark of exceptionalism shared by this music. But what do these songs have in common, beyond their …