Folk /
Sundowner
The first impression of Steve Gunn’s formal long-player debut is of a slight but varied trek through various current popular guitar modes. It has only six songs and doesn’t even break the 30-minute mark. His three experiments with songwriting come off well, but his singing is modest and his lyrics, while earnest and concise, seem a little too straightforward. For the instrumentals, he dips into drone, global string music, and Takoma-style Americana fingerpicking. So far, so familiar. But t…
Goodby Sunball
Secret Seven Records is proud to release the first ever reissue of the lost psych-folk LP 'Goodby Sunball' by cult favorite, Michael Yonkers. Privately released in 1974, 'Goodby Sunball' was recorded at Yonkers' home studio a few years after 'Microminature Love' and just before 'Lovely Gold'. Remastered from the original LP by Ben Tuttle. Limited to 500 copies."The music for 'Goodby Sunball' was written during the recovery period following serious spine surgery. The surgery had not gone well,…
The Further The Flame, The Worse It Burns Me Greek Folk Music
Early 20th century recordings from the great Greek singer Marika Papagika – recordings made for Columbia Records in NYC between 1919 and 1929! Beautiful material that quite easily could have gone lost to the world over the long, long years – very few photos of Marika are even known to exist! The sound is still wonderful, and it's put together in a great vinyl release by Mississippi! It comes with a lovely folder of notes, a bit of a nod to classic Folkways releases. Titles include "H…
Third Dimension Blues
RESTOCKED, FEW AVAILABLE A sublime collisions of John Fahey-esque acid guitar picking set against trance-indulged eastern raga "Abate’s 4th album stands as the zenith of his solo work to date. Opening with an acid guitar and harmonica crescendo, somewhere between the Missisipi Delta and the desert, ‘Third Dimension Blues’ turns soon into a free, deep exploration of the possibilities of Maurizio’s instrument. The love he puts on every single touch of his strings, the warmth and the beauty of thes…
Armonicum
"This man,I have to admit, was totally unknown to me before QBICO's owner recommended this LP to me. I searched out his name on the internet and found some very wild YouTube video of live performances....one man and his stringed instruments and harmonica. Yes, harmonica ! It sounded like Mr. Abate used treatments to make Eastern influenced drones using harmonica. I DID have to hear this one. Side A here has two cuts, Ego Trip is the first and is a beautiful Eastern tinged guitar performance, aco…
Landings
** LUCKY FIND, LONG OUT OF PRINT ** Yep, just scored few original copies of this long time unavailable masterpiece...Having recorded a significant body of work under various guises including A Broken Consort and Clouwbeck, Richard Skelton returns with a brand new and long anticipated album under his own name. Following on from 'Marking Time' (originally released via Preservation in 2008 only to be reissued on limited vinyl by Type over the summer), 'Landings' is an album steeped in the wil…
All Is Falling
The ultra savant of 12-string mantra cycles expands further into cinematic, orchestral glory - an orgy of organic, deeply felt & exquisitely played pathways to the sublime. His 1st foray into the realm of the electric 12-string guitar. Comprised of one slowly evolving, shifting piece of music in eight parts, replete w/ swirling string cycles & wind instruments augmenting his extended pointillist flurries w/ clouds of sound, sometimes adding delicate counter-melodies but just as often feed…
Remember
restocked: Israel isn't exactly konwn as a hotbed for acoustic steel-string guitar music, but Yair Yona's reissue of "Remember" is simply some of the most genre-bending music for solo steel-string guitar since Sandy Bull first opened the doors in the 60s. It's a celebration of the Takoma school, filtered by alternate tunings & yncopations, a John Fahey -esque compositional instint across landscapes of banjo, electronics, resonators, bass guitar & strings.
About To Choke
His only album for Capitol Records (originally released in 1996) was another exceptional batch of songs. An edgy slice of country-folk showing his unique version of Americana that was usually several things at once: his craggy voice, raw honesty, an acoustic guitar (or a piano) and an outrageous imagination. Vic Chesnutt was a rare kind of artist and definitely one of the most relevant songwriters of the last 20 years.
Les Meilleurs Souvenirs de la 1ére Biennale Artistique et Cultur
Recorded in 1970 as part of the First Biennale of Arts & Culture for the Young in Mali. The Regional Orchestra of Mopti was a state funded orchestra that participated in country-wide music festivals & competitions. A hypnotic band feat. guitars & a large horn section. A serene & droning record that is both sorrowful & celebratory. This is 1 of 6 in a series of Mali music LPs that Mississippi Records will be reissuing this summer
One-Armed Fiddler
Mid-70’s album of instrumental Appalachian fiddling (with guitar and bass accompaniment) by a guy who, after a grisly gun-related injury, developed a between-the-legs bow technique. Mr. Smith was a repository of would-be lost traditional tunes, and his unique, microtonal playing only makes these gems all the more precious. For fans of the Anthology of American Folk Music and/or Jandek.
Tomorrow Come Someday
(1969) from the home studio of future BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP composer PETER HOWELL & his musical partner JOHN FERDINANDO, makers of legendary albums under the names Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ithaca, Agincourt, & Friends. This private press album was recorded as the soundtrack for an underground film production by (later to be) renowned television director Ian Hamilton
Solo Acoustic Vol. 2
The second installment in VDSQ’s (Vin Du Select Qualitite) Solo Acoustic guitar series curated by STEVE LOWENTHAL of Swingset Magazine. Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 features new songs from EMERALDS guitarist MARK MCGUIRE that spark new innovations and memories thought to be lost. Packaged in letterpress sleeves with a picture of the guitar used on the recording. Limited to 500 copies, already sold out at source
The river session
Recorded live at City Hall in Glasgow in 1974, this is an extraordinary set drawing from the 2 albums of the period: "LA Turnaround" & "Santa Barbara Honeymoon"
Camber Sands Sunday
Recorded live at Camber Sands Holiday Park, England on May 14, 2006. Featuring RICHARD YOUNGS (bass guitar) & ALEX NEILSON (drums)"At this 2006 concert, we have Jandek with a sympathetic rhythm section, and like a rhythm section that would back, say, a Lightnin’ Hopkins or a John Lee Hooker, they adapt themselves to the artist’s flow and provide a kind of pillowy environment or canvas on which he can do his thing. To give you an analogy from the free jazz world, some of the recent Jandek p…
We Are All One, In the Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho
In Robbie Basho's lifetime he set out to champion the steel string guitar as an expressive and dignified concert instrument. His guitar playing was first brought to light in 1965, when John Fahey released Basho's debut The Seal Of The Blue Lotus on Fahey's own Takoma Records. Armed with a unique and powerful singing voice, his 6 & 12 string guitar and a collection of special guitar tunings that he created (even originating a unique chart titled 'The Esoteric Doctrine of Color and Mood,' denoting…
Too Long In This Condition
Young Scotsman Alasdair Roberts is an old hand at songcraft -- and not just his own, but the songs of the ancients, the near-ancients and their friends. Over the past decade that he's been singing music in his own name (after graduating from the Appendix Out youth brigade), he's made a habit out of recording songs of his own and traditional songs with an equal amount of investment and urgency. After all, it's all music, always deserving of everything we have to give. Following 2009's de…
Ragged And Right
LP edition: Link Wray became the thematic soundtrack for a 2008 JACK ROSE tour with D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX. Jack got so excited by the vibes emanating from these songs that he thought to break with his usual acoustic approach & enlist the Speer band to join in some unhinged & unrepentant fun in the studio. Recorded using an all live, no overdub approach, a gleaming bottle of Buffalo Trace helped shepherd them through the night. Feat. the original Helix lineup in peak form & lap steel & Ros…
What A Beautiful Place
CD edition, lavishly packaged: In the last couple of years there's been no shortage of lost folk albums re-appearing for the world to enjoy once more, and the wonderful Numero Group label (which is fast becoming one of our most loved imprints...) has managed to find another. Hailing from the bleak northern city of Halifax, Catherine Howe was initially trained at drama school, gaining a brief stint in Doctor Who ('The Underwater Menace' for all you Whovians out there, wink wink) among othe…
Blue Afternoon
Blue Afternoon, released in 1969, was Tim Buckley's first self-produced record and his debut for Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa's Straight record label. This was Buckley's fourth album after Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello, and Happy Sad. Blue Afternoon used the same group of musicians as Happy Sad, with the inclusion of drummer Jimmy Madison. Several tracks on Blue Afternoon are songs Buckley had intended to record on earlier albums but had not completed. "Chase the Blues Away" and "Happy Tim…