Folk /
Nuestra Soledad / Vera
* 2021 Stock* It was—and is—almost impossible to categorize Vera Sienra’s musical style, but we’ll try: wistful songs with the world-weariness of Fado, and the pulsating sadness of the bossa nova. Her powerful and unique tone of voice, plus the softness of her guitar, have always been an unmistakable trademark. Listening to the songs of Vera’s debut album (from 1969), few people believed that those mature melodies were created by the beautiful and timid blonde who could be seen on their black & …
Can You Send Me a Silver Thread
* 2021 Stock* There is nothing ordinary about Sandstone. This private press folk/psych album (1971) is so head and shoulders above almost every other album in the genre, it’s hard to believe it’s not better known. The instrumentation and compositional style are reminiscent of heavy English folk hitters like Mellow Candle, Pentangle, and Heron. The Sandstone album was not a major label production like those records. But the local studio at which it was recorded must have been quite high end, beca…
Jilala
** First time these tracks appear on vinyl – Pressed on 180 Gram Black Vinyl. Limited Edition of 300 Copies ** Historic Moroccan Sufi Trance recorded in 1965 by artists/writers/poets Brion Gysin and Paul Bowles. Authentic Moroccan trance ritual music by contemporaries of Master Musicians of Jajouka.
Until Now, Jilala has been a much sought-after phantom in relation to their better-known musical and spiritual contemporaries, The Master Musicians of Jajouka. Culled from three and a half hours of…
Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame
* 2021 Stock* A record that requires many superlatives in order to do it justice: from it’s first moments, the music is lilting, poetic, intimate, in turns life-affirming and melancholic, with pulsating percussion backed by unheard-of guitar chords and tunings (perhaps the reason for the frequent Caetano Veloso comparisons); it is an album that sounds—simply put—honest. Released at the end of 1972 in both Argentina and Uruguay, it was received from that first moment as a classic. When iconoclast…
Open Roads
The new vinyl album from Dennis Young, founding member of Liquid Liquid,is an acoustic vocal album with quiet indie/folk sounds especially for fans who enjoyed his Athens of the North release. The recording consists of 15 new tracks accompanied by cello/violin and bass guitar.Dennis Young is best known as the marimba player and percussionist for Liquid Liquid, a trend-setting early 1980's NYC band whose song "Cavern" was used by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel in "White Lines". Dennis Young is a s…
Dagara - Gyil Music of Ghana's Upper West Region
** Limited edition LP release includes a four panel insert of notes and photos from the recording session ** Field recordings of Lobi traditional xylophone (gyil) music recorded by Hisham Mayet on location in Ghana's Upper West Region, West Africa in 2019. Featuring Aaron Bebe Sukura, considered one of the gyil's master musicians from this area. Long form trance music with acoustic instruments sounding like several minimalist orchestras getting to maximalist sonic peaks. The gyil music of the …
Canon Singing in China, Vietnam, Laos
** Limited edition LP comes with a two sided insert of photos and liner notes with extended track descriptions by Laurent Jeanneau ** Other-worldly Canon singing from Mien (Yao) hill tribes in China, Vietnam, and Laos. Raw, ethereal, and cosmic – for fans of Bulgarian choir and Javanese Court Gamelan & Sundanese styles of vocal ascension. Although their name comes from a pejorative Chinese expression that means “dog” or “savage" – stemming from a legend that they were founded by a dog who saved …
Manbarani
** Limited edition vinyl LP with insert containing lyrics in English and Arabic ** Unique contemporary Arabic folk music sounding unfrozen & released from another time, Natik Awayez has created a pure, expressive sound breaking free like a bundle of torn, faded oracles spreading far and wide across the empty spaces. Rhythmic percussive arrangements by Khaled Yassine are the foundation for oud, violin, buzuq, and Awayez’ lush voice, which floats atop the instrumentation like a series of prayers b…
A Game For All Who Know
* 2021 Stock* Fabulous grooving folk rock sounds with plenty of atmosphere, first released by the much beloved Village Thing label in 1972. Ian Hunt and John Turner first teamed-up in the late summer of 1970, the inevitable collaboration of two of the West Country’s most sought-after session musicians. String bassist and guitarist Turner had just left the infamous Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra and Hunt, a wizard guitarist and song writer who was already a ‘big-name’ on the Bristol scene, was looki…
Magic Landscape
* 2021 Stock* Fabulous grooving folk rock sounds with plenty of atmosphere, first released by the much beloved Village Thing label in 1972. Ian Hunt and John Turner first teamed-up in the late summer of 1970, the inevitable collaboration of two of the West Country’s most sought-after session musicians. String bassist and guitarist Turner had just left the infamous Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra and Hunt, a wizard guitarist and song writer who was already a ‘big-name’ on the Bristol scene, was looki…
Alice Through the Looking Glass
* 2021 Stock* The first release (1969) from the home studio of future BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer Peter Howell (he wrote the second version of the Doctor Who theme tune for BBC-TV) and his musical partner John Ferdinando, makers of legendary albums under the names Ithaca, Agincourt, Friends, and Tomorrow Come Someday. This private press record was recorded as a musical backdrop for a stage version of “Alice through the Looking Glass” by local amateur dramatics group the Ditchling Players. …
Pass Through Here
** 2021 Stock ** Kath Bloom is renowned for her '80s private-press recordings with avant-garde guitarist Loren Connors, as well as the signature tune 'Come Here' from the soundtrack to Richard Linklater's film 'Before Sunrise'. Over the last 35 years, she has come to be revered around the world for her devastatingly emotional songwriting. Devendra Banhart has called her "one of the most beautiful singers ever", while Pitchfork says "she can snap a heart like a twig". 'Pass Through Here' features…
Longing for Freedom
Hiski Salomaa began his life in 1891 in Kangasniemi in the Southern Savonia region of Finland, emigrating to the USA after the death of his mother in 1909 - travelling via Hanko, to Hull, Liverpool, Ellis Island, Manhattan, and finally to a Finnish American community in the South Range of Michigan.
After taking to writing and performing songs as a young boy, Salomaa saw a demand amongst the growing Finnish immigrant set for music performed in their own language, and indeed in the Finnglish diale…
Confluence
**Limited 1st Edition mini lLP paprsleeve in 500 only copies** In Hindustani classical music, jugalbandi denotes a duet performance whereby the soloists are entwined in the exploration of a raga (Indian musical mode). Sheer improvisation, interplay, playful challenge and the mutual nourishment of each other’s musical imagination make this form of presentation extremely dynamic and inspiring for the performers and audiences alike. Providing the fundamental yet responsive rhythmic framework, are u…
Aicha
* Small repress available* We are celebrating our tenth release by bringing the label full circle, right back where we started from. We're excited to announce that we've once again worked with the Gania family of Essaouira to bring you another reissue of the music of the undisputed King of Gnawa music, the late Maalem Mahmoud Gania. It feels like the perfect time to release this spiritual music, specifically played to heal and to cure us of our ills, as the world is in the grip of a viral pandem…
Scaling New Horizons with Guitar
* Newly remastered, limited edition pressing * Brij Bhushan Kabra was one of the Indian musicians who heard the steel guitar’s siren call, but his vision went beyond adapting Hawaiian sounds to popular music. Instead, he saw the instrument’s potential for playing ragas. To pursue this dream, Kabra began studying with Ali Akbar Khan, whose fretless sarod offered a sonic example for Kabra to emulate with his lap-slide guitar. Kabra’s instrument was a Gibson Super 400, modified with a drone string…
The Magic of Music - Guitar and Tabla
* Newly remastered, limited edition pressing * Brij Bhushan Kabra was one of the Indian musicians who heard the steel guitar’s siren call, but his vision went beyond adapting Hawaiian sounds to popular music. Instead, he saw the instrument’s potential for playing ragas. To pursue this dream, Kabra began studying with Ali Akbar Khan, whose fretless sarod offered a sonic example for Kabra to emulate with his lap-slide guitar. Kabra’s instrument was a Gibson Super 400, modified with a drone string…
Lure of the Desert
* Newly remastered, limited edition pressing * In the 1920s, Tau Moe (pronounced mo-ay), a Hawaiian musician, arrived in India and introduced Hawaiian music to the Sub Continent. After settling in Calcutta in the early 1940’s, Moe and his family performed, taught and introduced Hawaiian music by building and selling guitars to the local musicians. Indian filmmakers and composers quickly fell under the spell of these instruments and sounds and made them suitable for playing ragas— the melodic p…
Midnight Man
* 2023 stock * LP version. "Davy Graham is recognized as an early influential figure on the 1960s British folk scene, where he inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, John Martyn and indeed Jimmy Page. Not one to be categorised Graham could be seen as a true world music artist covering the genres of folk, blues and jazz. He also popularized DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by many acoustic guitarists. Midnight Man was Davy's 2nd s…
Hat
LP version. "Davy Graham is recognized as an early influential figure on the 1960s British folk scene, where he inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, John Martyn and indeed Jimmy Page. Not one to be categorised Graham could be seen as a true world music artist covering the genres of folk, blues and jazz. He also popularized DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by many acoustic guitarists. Released in 1969 Davy noted that the fourtee…