Folk /
Clipper Ship (LP)
Chickens were puzzling to early chemists and remain so. Despite a diet low in calcium, eggs laid by chickens contain a huge amount of calcium. Chickens, in that sense, are the only alchemists with proof that they are able to transmute an element; Wooden Wand’s 'Clipper Ship' album reminds me of that fowl alchemy, where the sum of songs’ parts add up to some impossible, elegant germination that cannot be reduced. Drones and lush arpeggiated codas spin out in concentric fractal patterns; the finge…
Live At The BBC 1967-1969
A series of live performances, broadcast and BBC session for one the most influential british folk bands. The high profile names of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch remain coveted enough to warrant excitement at any retrospective release, but combined with the talent of bass player Danny Thompson, vocalist Jacqui McShee and drummer extraordinaire Terry Cox be sure to have a delightful insight. Pentangle's legacy lies in an abundance of fragile, acoustic wonder spanning six albums with Transatlantic…
For The Sake Of The Song & Our Mother The Mountain
**2021 stock** Reissue of Van Zandt's first two albums in a 5" hardbook bound double disc set. "Townes Van Zandt was a one-of-a-kind artist who blazed a new trail for singer/songwriters, conjuring a sound that combined elements of country and folk with his own artful melodic sensibility, matched with lyrics that were personal, poetic, and impressionistic while remaining firmly down to earth. A new breed of Texas singer/songwriters followed Van Zandt's example, and it's all but impossible to imag…
Tulay German & Francois Rabbath
Remastered vinyl reissues of the two essential albums by Turkish folk/ jazz singer Tülay German, starting with the self-titled release (1980) and followed by „Hommage to Nazım Hikmet“ (1982) in early 2022. Referring heavily on turkish poets and the tradition of aşıks (singer-poets and wandering bards) these two albums represent unique and modern interpretations of turkish folk songs unmatched to this day. A matured artist with full conviction at the height of her powers! Back in the 60s Tülay …
Aman!!! #2
** 2021 Stock ** The duo of Tasos Stamou and Thodoris Ziarkas bring back the improvisational element to the old Greek rebetiko style and expand it towards other avant-garde musical genres. Acoustic hacked South Mediterranean tunes and noises. Live recorded in Clapton Sessions, the Depot, London and in K.E.T venue in Athens in 2018. Thodoris Ziarkas: parlour guitar. Tasos Stamou: Greek bouzouki & Turkish baglama saz, vocals.
Aman!!!
** 2021 Stock ** The duo of Tasos Stamou and Thodoris Ziarkas bring back the improvisational element to the old Greek rebetiko style and expand it towards other avant-garde musical genres. Acoustic hacked South Mediterranean tunes and noises. Thodoris Ziarkas: parlour guitar. Tasos Stamou: Greek bouzouki & Turkish baglama saz, vocals.
Bellyachers, Listen: Songs From East Africa, 1938-46
This is part 1 of a 2LP set of vinyl versions of Honest Jon's Something Is Wrong: Vintage Recordings From East Africa CD compilation -- selections from an HMV run of more than 400 78s -- recordings made in Uganda and Kenya from the mid‐1930s to the mid‐1950s. Part 1 encompasses this material circa 1938-1946, entitled Bellyachers, Listen: Songs From East Africa, 1938-46. Three main types of performance are featured (not forgetting a lovely early Kenyan big‐band calypso, as if straight from the pe…
Yek 2
Mohammad Reza Mortazavi (Tombak) and Burnt Friedman (electronics, synth) release their second EP YEK 2. "Equipped with one drum only and laser-pattern -- electronics, Mortazavi and Friedman produce delicate, yet archaic, trance -- inducing, transnational dance music with... hints of dust and grain..." --(Freq) Mortazavi and Friedman move hands and faders according to odd cyclical rhythms with incredible accuracy. The extreme dynamic range and rhythmic congruency of drum and electronics merge bot…
All Parts Dark
** 2021 Stock. Includes a 12 page color booklet with rare photographs, full lyrics, and extensive notes ** Marika "Politissa" Frantzeskopoulou was a Greek singer from Constantinople, reknowned for her precise, fluid and graceful performances and depth of feeling. Backed by some of the best musicians of the era on lyra, violin, oud, kanonaki and guitar, Marika’s repertoire and techniques drew from Byzantine and Ottoman musical traditions. She possessed an ability to devastate her audience through…
Guitar
There are few instruments more uniquely suited to capturing the beauty and ennui of the rural American midwest than the acoustic steel-string guitar. In the hands of a master, the range of evocable emotion and experience is truly limitless. Daniel Hecht is one such master. His 1973 self-released debut album, simply titled Guitar, is an indispensable piece of the endless puzzle that is instrumental Guitar Soli music. Guitar was written and recorded while Hecht was living and working on a commune…
At Pioneer Works
At Pioneer Works' documents a 2019 performance from Tuareg band Les Filles De Illighadad (the daughters of Illighadad). Their music is a smart blend of Tuareg's desert guitar sound that originated from young men in exile in Libya and Algeria in the 1970s, and tende, a form of folk music that was traditionally dominated by women. The band was founded in Illighadad, a commune in Niger, by vocalist and performer Fatou Seidi Ghali, one of the only Tuareg women who plays guitar, and vocalist Alamnou …
Similar & Different
Dal:um is a musical duo based in Seoul, who challenges the sonic possibilities of Korea's most well-known traditional string instruments: the gayageum and geomungo. Ethereal and otherworldly, Dal:um create a compelling soundworld that treasures subtle dynamics and the space between the notes. Two musicians. Two weighty acoustic stringed instruments. A dialogue between traditional and experimental practices. Dal:um was founded in 2018 by Ha Suyean (gayageum) and Hwang Hyeyoung (geomungo). Suyean …
Re-Inventions
** 2021 Stock ** Sandy Bull, who died in 2001 at the age of 60, was part of the early blues/folk scene of the early 60s, friends with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and both Roger MGuinn and Jim McGuinn. His own guitar and banjo style was quite distinct, featuring improvisation dubbed "psychedelic folk" by critics. This CD spans the years from 1963-1972. Includes the epic 21 minute 'Blend' recorded in one take with jazz drummer Billy Higgins.
Rainy Day Raga
Peter Walker was the quintessential psych-folk guitar player to come out of the '60s. Revered by Timothy Leary, who had him program the music for his Turn-Ons, Walker was one of the first to take the Indian tradition of ragas and channel them through the guitar into a sound that is pure heaven. His exotic, state-of-the-art finger-picking transcends description and has influenced such artists as Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance.Vanguard Records originally released the record in 1966, showca…
Songs of the Great Mystery
Robbie Basho was one of the big three American acoustic guitar innovators, John Fahey and Leo Kottke being the other two. Basho was the least commercially successful of the three, but his influence and reputation has steadily grown since his untimely death in 1986 at the age of 45. And with good reason; for Basho's deeply spiritual approach, intellectual rigor, and formal explorations (among his goals was the creation of a raga system for American music), present a deeply compelling, multi-facet…
Suwa Ikazuchi
A fantastic percussive album performed by the Osuwa Daiko Preservation Society and veteran jazz pianist Masahiko Sato. A great blend of avant garde and traditional music recorded at Osuwa Daiko's dojo in Okaya City, Nagano, Japan. The Suwa Daiko is a tradition of Kagura (sacred music and dance) and drums of the Suwa Taisha Shrine that enshrines the life of the Takeminakata (one of god in Japanese mythology). It is a folk performing art that is recorded in an ancient document of the "Koshin-etsu-…
Music Life
Mia Doi Todd 12th album, Music Life, was recorded in her native Los Angeles. The album features guest performances from Jeff Parker, Money Mark, Fabiano do Nascimento, Sam Gendel, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Laraaji. Ever since her debut release in 1997, singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd has created a body of work that is intensely personal and unique, with a rich variety of cultural and creative influences. A solo artist with an innate sense of connecting links between other musicians, Mia has step…
The Holly Kaleidoscope
** "Kaleidoscope / paddled" effect coloured vinyl. Edition of 600 ** Davy Graham was one of the leading pioneers of the acoustic guitar who invented and developed many techniques for the instrument including chord progressions and open tunings (most famously for DADGAD). He also inspired many leading musicians including Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page. The Holly Kaleidoscope was Graham’s final LP for Decca and he was accompanied by his then wife, American singe…
Istikhbars and Improvisations
Mustapha Skandrani. Besides having an excellent name, this man, a luminary of Algerian music, possessed a unique musical sense, able to transcend the borders of musical cultures to create a distinctive fusion of Arabo-Andalusian and European styles. "Istikhbars and Improvisations", recorded in 1965 in Paris, is a solo piano album presenting a trans-Mediterranean crossover based on traditional Algerian vocal pieces known as Istikhbars. Playing these istikhbars (which have roots in the Islamic Ara…
Canti E Danze Dell'Australia Del Nord
* Original 1980 copies * Aboriginal musicians receive songs both from an eternal realm known as The Dreaming and from the ghosts of deceased ancestors. The music of the aborigines--known as "wangga"--rests "on cosmologies and ways of being that are radically different from those shared" by the majority of Australians and others from Western, modernized cultures. Music is primarily sung during ceremonial rites of passage and funeral rituals. Singers may occasionally be accompanied by the droning …