Folk /
Raga Puria-Kalyan
Pandit Ram Narayan, brother of Chatur Lal (the first tabla player to impress the western world on a larger scale in the company of Ravi Shankar), ranks as the most eminent sarangi player of today. His novel style of musical expression has changed the role of the sarangi forever, from that of an accompanying instrument to a full grown solo instrument. Take particular note of his alap in Puria Kalyan, perhaps the best this writer has heard him play.
Raga Desh
Virtuoso Nikhil Banerjee, one of the 20th century’s greatest masters of the Indian sitar, passed away in 1986 at the age of 55. Banerjee was widely acclaimed for his intensely individualistic pursuit of the poetry of raga. Nikhil Banerjee studied northern Indian classical music with the sarodist Ustad Allauddin Khan, father of sarodist Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna and also teacher of Ravi Shankar and Pannalal Ghosh.
For his second recording he had chosen Raag Desh.
Raag Mishra Bhairavi on sitar
Before Ustad had constructed his giant rudra veena he played the sitar, and what a sitar player he was! Very few people have heard him play the sitar and there are no recordings besides this one. This Mishra Bhairavi was recorded at one of the Sunday concerts he held in his house in Chembur every week. It was first released on LP in Sweden but here is the original one long track.
Raga Madhukauns / Raga Piloo
One of today’s finest exponents of the Sarod, Krishnamurthi Sridhar was, from very early childhood, initiated into the Carnatic music and is one of very few South Indians to have made North Indian music their playing ground. From the age of five Sridhar was the student of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar of the Dagar School, the foremost master of the rudra veena and specialist in the traditionally classical and devotional Dhrupad Dhamar style of the North. Ustad it was who told him that the sarod was …
Raga Gangeyabushan
In 1968 Ustad did his first recording on his giant been, the rudra veena that he had designed. The recording was done in a private flat in Chembur on a quiet morning and was later released on a french label, B.A.M. with the name Raga Mangebushan. It is since long out of print. That morning Ustad did two takes of the same raga and we had considerable difficulties to choose which one to release since they were equally good and we finally settled on the first take. Ustad’s son Bahauddin Dagar has s…
SE Asian Noise(s)
Kicking off the brand new Sucata Tapes label is Gonzo with a new volume of the never-ending Noise(s) series. This time, he presents his alternate and surreal perspective of sounds and sights from the South East Asian sub-continent. Featuring recordings from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, SE Asian Noise(s) intersects randomly through AM/FM radio, field recordings, in situ compositions, and some re-interpreted recordings from Laurent Jeanneau's, aka Kink Gong, massive archive of the region. Not to b…
The Music of Norma Lyon
A collection of 16 pieces privately released by Norma Lyon in the late 1960s. All are original compositions for piano and organ. Dark, moody and dramatic, each of these 'sketches' was inspired by a place Ms. Lyon has lived. The tone of the record is set by its fantastic titles, including 'Flight of the Spirit Geese,' 'Phantom Cathedral of the Sea' and 'Dirge of the Sea Gods.' The first side, 'Dune Sketches,' is based on a period when she lived amidst the dunes in southwest Oregon. The sec…
Love is Overtaking Me
"Compiled from over eight hours of material, Love Is Overtaking Me reaches back further to Russell's first compositions from the early `70s, the most rare and, at the same time, arguably the most accessible part comprising 21 demos and home recordings of unreleased pop, folk and country songs selected by Audika's Steve Knutson, Ernie Brooks and Russell's companion, Tom Lee. A number of the songs feature prominently in the film Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell."
"Four years ago, Aud…
Alpine Frequency
Matt Valentine and Erika Elder have been cutting new synaptic pathways through brainic underbrush since before most people became capable of breathing air. That said, their albums (many of which are CDR-only issues on their own Child of Microtones imprint) often have a specific delirious blueprint, designed to shift only a certain batch of molecules and/or air into forms that translate into music. Such is not the case with Alpine Frequency. This lazily explorative 2LP set was sewn into a w…
Ishq Ke Maare: Sufi Songs from Sindh and Punjab, Pakistan
A searing assemblage of Islamic Sufi spiritual music from the hinterlands of Sindh and Punjab, this compilation marks Sublime Frequencies' debut release of field recordings from Pakistan. Recorded and compiled by Arshia Fatima Haq, founder of Discostan - a collective of artists from an imagined federation of states from Beirut to Bangkok via Bombay - this is a rare, unfiltered collection of devotional music ranging from hypnotic solo instrumentals and vocal lamentations to euphoric ensemble qaww…
Where the Mountains Meet the Sky: Folk Music of Ladakh
Music from Ladakh recorded during the making of the film The Song Collector (2014) by director Erik Koto, with additional material recorded by Bill Kite in 1992. "Situated high in the Western Himalaya, Ladakh is one of the great cultural crossroads of Asia. For centuries, it sat at the hub of ancient trade routes that connected the Silk Road to India, Tibet, and Kashmir. Each year, once the winter snows had melted from the high passes surrounding Ladakh, its markets would buzz with merchants fro…
Jack Orion
Jack Orion, Bert Jansch's third album, may have surprised some fans upon its 1966 release, as it features no original compositions by Jansch. While nearly all of the eight tracks (four of which include guitarist John Renbourn) are interpretations of traditional folk songs, Jansch's experimental approach breathes new life into this repertoire through his exploratory use of open tunings and passionate, gritty vocals.According to Melody Maker, "his interpretations illuminate the songs from a comple…
An Introduction To The Lush Indonesian Music Tradition Vol. 2
The second volume of Sounds From The Archipelago: An Introduction To The Lush Indonesian Music Tradition covers music from the vast island of Sumatra (West Indonesia), The Moluccas Islands, and the island of Bali. In the first sample from Sumatra ("Gondang Mula Mula"), recorded near the awesome Lake Toba, is a ceremonial overture played during weddings and special occasions. The band is comprised of four instruments: two "Ketchapis" (sort of a two-string ukulele), one "Serenar" (a wind inst…
An Introduction To The Lush Indonesian Music Tradition Vol. 1
The first volume of Sounds From The Archipelago: An Introduction To The Lush Indonesian Music Tradition gathers traditional music from different areas of the Indonesian archipelago, featuring music from Sulawesi, The Moluccas Islands (Spice Islands), and Central Java. In the first track from Sulawesi ("Gandrung Bulo"), the lead is taken by the percussion made of bamboo drums, later joined by two male voices in the second track. This is traditional entertainment music which is typically play…
Ornamentation
Yann Novak is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Ornamentation is Novak's first physical release on Touch and continues his investigations of presence, stillness and mindfulness through the construction of immersive spaces, both literal and figurative. On Ornamentation, Novak resists modernism's problematic relationship to race, class and labor, and attempts to decouple contemporary minimalist sound work from this historical precedent. The title refers to Adolf Loos's notoriou…
Bleecker & Mac Dougal
With a deeply resonant voice that exuded a hundred things at once—pain, joy, weariness and decades ofexperience—Fred Neil created a small body of work that covered the world like paint. No one from the vibrant early '60s Greenwich Village folk scene had more staying power than this legendary recluse. Fred Neil's 1964 debut, Bleecker And MacDougal, captures the great man at the apex of his talents. Exact repro on High-Definition Vinyl, from the original analog masters!"Given the late Fred N…
Mother Of All Saints (Puppet On A String)
The second twin in Unrock's sub-series of actively anti-western music is an ultra-heavyweight. In the worlds of contemporary global avant-art, composition and improvisation, it reaches new heights. Eyvind Kang (from "Ghost Ghat Tresspass/Sussmeier" Sun City Girls 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda among many other collaborations) employs a rarely-heard viola technique. Some may call it plucking art. The viola is played not with a bow, but plucked with the fingers of the right han…
La Traversee
Solo work of free-improvisation/immediate-composition on acoustic lapsteel, banjo, mandoline, acoustic guitar, 12 and 6 strings electric guitar. As David Keenan puts it "There is something of the late John Fahey's electrical guitar conceptions in the movement of Lacroux's playing, particularly his last recordings, where John Fahey's umbilical to country blues extended far enough to make of it a future wraith, the ghost of it's origin come back as a distant dream. (...) Guilhem Lacroux works…
Le Vaisseau Se Balance
Live selection from 2014 in Lyon. The duo are here heavily amplified, thus giving room to a very thick, dark and sonic manifestation of the band, perhaps the most stone-rock oriented set Faune have ever played. Rare and epic recordings!!!Cassingle, 100 copies. C-14, Riso printed cover with airbrushed and stamped labels. Released 2016
Recorded by Ernest Bergez. Mixed by Guilhem Lacroux. Artwork by Standard In-Fi. Printed by Papier Machine.
Ragas Of Morning & Night
At long last, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela reissue this seminal, hugely influential album on their Just Dream imprint, the legendary recording from 1968 India of Pandit Pran Nath titled 'Ragas Of Morning & Night'. The original studio session was produced in New Delhi, February 1968, by Jimi Hendrix associate Alan Douglas, it features recordings of "Raga Todi" and "Darbari", which showcase Pran Nath at his prime. Pran Nath's exquisite control between microscopically fine degrees of pitch ca…