Folk /
Fireside Stories
*In process of stocking* Anti-counter culture loner folk from a teenage attic in the heart of rural Northern hippiedom. "This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank, as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.” - Benjamin Myers
Today the valley town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is world-renowned as something of a bohemian backwater. It wasn’t l…
Faro Annie
*2022 stock* This is John Renbourn’s fifth and most blues influenced album, backed by the Pentangle rhythm section of Terry Cox and Danny Thompson. The singer/guitarist often takes a folk-rock approach, and often investigates American folk songs, on ‘Faro Annie’, beginning with the traditional “White House Blues”, a song about the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. Next is “Buffalo Skinners” another traditional piece made famous by Woody Guthrie. Then there is “Country Blues”, a p…
A Mournful Kingdom of Sand
*In process of stocking* The cabalistic duo Ak’chamel strikes again with a second record called A Mournful Kingdom of Sand. Following the publicly and critically acclaimed The Totemist (AKU1023) released in 2020, this album sucks the listener into another esoteric journey which - according to the band - is a perfect soundtrack for the desertification of our world. Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness is an enigmatic duo from a border state. Fourth World Post-Colonial Cultural Cannibalists Circumcisin…
Sharav
*In process of stocking* Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is the brainchild of the multifaceted musician and composer Yael Lavie. She is accompanied by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun and her fascination for electronic sounds and…
Jackson C. Frank
2022 Repress Jackson C. Frank’s eponymous album is the embodiment of folk legend. Issued in late 1965 on the UK Columbia label, it was for many years more famous for its producer (Paul Simon) and the musicians who would go on to cover its songs (Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny) than for the hauntingly beautiful music contained inside. Frank’s backstory certainly adds to the legacy: born in Buffalo, New York, he used the settlement from a childhood accident to sail to London where he quickly…
It's My Story
*2022 stock* Oregon's fathers of freak-folk/folk psych pioneers The Tree People have, incredibly, made another album once again. Responsible for two awesome works in the late '70s and early '80s, here they are now with a new album and they sound exactly as they did 30 years ago. This could be their best work ever. Mellow, tender freak-folk with acoustic guitar, double bass, recorder, flute and percussion. Eleven new tracks, plus a new version of "Space Heater" from their 1979 debut. Includes a b…
Sonatina For Maria
*2022 stock* Taking in a range of styles, the album illustrates Al-Munzer’s skill in composition and arrangement that saw him become one of the busiest arrangers of Lebanon’s 1980s pop scene. The record goes deeper into the Western rhythm Al-Munzer explored at the beginning of his career and brought to his Middle Eastern fusion productions, with the synthesizer still taking centre stage, and the electric guitar, bass and drums ever more present.
When Al-Munzer entered Copenhagen’s Sun Studio in …
It's OK To Be Happy (1999-2001)
Early and mostly previously unreleased recordings from Dundedin's The Strange Girls, a band that initially consisted of Clayton Noone, Kaaterama "Motty" Morehu and Jon Arcus. The Strange Girls existed on and off from 1999 up until Motty's passing in 2019 and left behind a peculiar trail of gems scattered around on a myriad of limited lathe cuts, cassettes and CDrs. It's OK To Be Happy focuses on the trio era - Jon Arcus left the band in 2002 - and starts at the very beginning with 'Satan', the f…
Cycles
Edition of 50.* Hugjiltu plays the guitar with five strings. Not used to the standard chord-forms of Western guitar, he invented his own system of tuning, combining the three-string Mongolian lute and the two-string horsehead fiddle, both of which he started playing as a child. These five strings epitomise his relationship with the music from within the Mongolian ethnic tradition and with the music beyond, a state of artistic composure few in his generation have achieved. Hailing from a musical …
Cants Dels Trobadors: « La Douceur D'Un Son Nouvel »
Super Tip! Reissue of a traditional French Experimental/Folk rarity. Be ready for a spaced out trip through French medieval times. Ancient instruments, musique concrète, spoken word, old Occitan dialect minstrel songs, drone, from dark ambient and minimal percussive tracks to Middle Ages fuzz delirium. Includes a 4-pages insert with original liner notes by Gérard Le Vot and Thierry Lancino. As stated in the brilliant Dustygroove review: A weird and wonderful little record – one that combines noi…
Dombra Solo
Tip! *In process of stocking* "This album has its genesis in a precious reel-to-reel tape recording which we discovered in a radio station. It is unfortunate that the tape itself does not contain information on the date of recording, which we roughly speculate to be around the late-1980s to the early-1990s. The recording in this album has two parts. The first is Daulet Halek’s interpretation of folk tunes from other ethnic minority groups, including the Tatars, the Mongols, the Sibe, and the Ky…
Region, Music, and Practice Vol.1
"It is not only an album, but also a complete documentary of an event. We combine cassette and CD into one album so that one may review the unusual art project from different aspects. It also includes a precious booklet about everything said on the talks. Each track in the album is heard for the first time. For the project, Lao Dan and Mamer created brand new works. Mamer even began a new band named Mask. One remarkable song that didn’t be recorded is Water Flows sang by Wu Tiao Ren’s Mao Tao in…
Moon Shines at Night
First ever vinyl edition. Cut by Stefan Betke at Scape Mastering. Single LP with printed inner containing sleevenotes. Peerlessly evocative and painfully sad material from Armenian duduk maestro Djivan Gasparyan, originally released on Brian Eno's All Saints imprint in 1993 and now finally remastered. Huge recommendation.
This is the one! Djivan Gasparyan's second album was produced by Brian Eno collaborator Michael Brook, who struck up a lengthy creative partnership with the duduk legend that…
I Will Not Be Sad In This World
Remastered reissue. Printed inners with sleevenotes and archival photos. Armenian master duduk player Dijvan Gasparyan's debut album originally appeared in 1983 before being re-issued by Brian Eno, who called it "one of the most beautiful and soulful recordings I have ever heard." Available on vinyl for the first time in 33 years, restoring the original 1983 artwork to its former glory, this is a unique and powerful musical statement that has had a lasting cultural impact. A widely acknowledged …
Newocean
Since their first album in 1995, Japan's Nagisa Ni Te has created an enchanting and deeply personal sound world woven from elements of folk, psychedelia and rock along with wistful melodies and gentle arrangements. Centered on Shinji Shibayama (Hallelujahs) and Masako Takeda's partnership, the group has created intimate, emotionally resonant music that floats and breathes with an ease that can only come from a sort of telepathic chemistry. Released in Japan on the group's 25th anniversary, Newoc…
Tance Neznámé
*2022 stock* "This album is a fantastic document of two guitarists complementing each other, giving each other space to work out ideas and while being technical top notch, they put a lot emotions into their compositions. Some of the melodies are touching something deep inside me, that is hard to explain, but I bet every music lover knows that feeling... Do not miss this album, even if you can't read or pronounce the track titles. This is pure bliss!" – Dying for Bad Music
There Is No Hunger in Your Shame
Tip! Builenradar is the new moniker under which Belgian visual artist and musician Wouter Vanhaelemeesch performs his damaged post-apocalyptic bikerfolk. Previously known as Urpf Lanze, he’s been producing trance-like guitar boogie that takes inspiration from disparate influences since the early 2010s. Builenradar plays in a self-developed unorthodox style with a resophonic guitar on his lap and a voice ranging from messy grunts to eerie whistling and absent murmurs. Once, after Vanhaelemeesch o…
Všechno Dobré
Stoned To Death delivers what might just be one of the most unexpected and beautiful records of the year, Šimanský Niesner's "Všechno Dobré". Created by the Czech Republic based acoustic guitar duo of Jakub Šimanský and Tomáše Niesner, within cascades of tonality emerges a profound meditation on place and time, binding elements traditional folk and drone, with American primitive guitar playing and thrilling attitudes toward experimentalism. It's a stunning thing to behold.
Distances
*Limited edition of 400 copies.* "Brilliant new instrumental fork-bending from the always amazing Elkhorn, presented here in a quartet setting I had not heard before. The basic band remains Drew Gardner on electric guitar and Jesse Sheppard on acoustic, but as often seems to happen with these guys, there are a couple more faces in the studio. This time it's two drummers. One is Ian McColm, a Virginia tub monster who has played in many excellent situations, including a 2012 Feeding Tube duo casse…
What The Truth Leaves Out
*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 100 copies.* "Rootless (or, more properly, rootless) is a solo project that's been going for better than five years now, helmed by Brooklyn's Jeremy Hurewitz. Two types of sounds are created under this banner -- low key electronics is one, and fingerpicked acoustic guitar is the other. What The Truth Leaves Out focuses on the latter. The shared thread between these styles is a highly personal and intimate feel. When listening to rootless, you often get…