Folk /
Leaving The Commonwealth
D. Charles Speer & the Helix came together through a shared love of musical interplay that moves the mind and body. Born from the obsessions and predilections of David Charles Shuford, strains of glassine cruelty, broken glasses and ruptured knees mixed with memories of Chet Atkins lullabies and ZZ Top vids to generate a songcraft steeped in tradition but themed for the burned. A practicing multi-instrumentalist in various New York City improvisational ensembles for the last 15 plus yea…
Space Homestead
Apart from the fact that “MV & EE” is slang for zero gravity and that they’ve been doing it consistently “better” with good vibes/jams they still WANT to give you more of the best of them. This is their “space homestead” and for good reason this wall of sound applied thru DIY sensibilities was recorded over the course of a year in 9 different studios, presenting as clearly as circumstances can permit, a living idea right here in the now of what it is all about. These are sonics in motion,…
Ascent
Six Organs mainstay Ben Chasny has become one of the high shamen of the US psychedelic underground, disseminating his hairy vision between at least three bands and a couple of genres over the past decade. His umpteenth album begins with a sonic white-out called Waswasa – a thrilling myocardial infarction of guitar more in keeping with another of his bands, Comets on Fire, who are, in fact, on board here. How Chasny tells his sprawling, incandescent guitar solos apart, we may never know; this is …
The Iron Gates At Throop And Newport
In the year since Luke Roberts recorded his debut Big Bells and Dime Songs a lot has changed. Luke now owns a guitar (a Collings 000 2H model) that his sophomore album was written on, he has moved from Brooklyn to Montana to Nashville, his childhood home, and the songs were written over a long period of time in his Brooklyn apartment (as opposed to largely on the bus down to the studio on the debut). The combination of changes made a significant and noticeable impact on the songwriting an…
Live 1976
Well further gifts abound, as this 1976 concert on Galactic Zoo Disk/Drag City will attest. Clearly, the explorations of Sandy Bull were not lost on the far-out audiences of the Bay Area, and though the heady days of the '60s have gone, the Berkeley heads are still in full force, hanging on Sandy's every note with a clearly expressed delight as they wait for headliner Leo Kottke to take the stage. Even though there were no further albums after 1972's Demolition Derby (a candidate for unhi…
The Seal Of The Blue Lotus
180-gram vinyl, Tip-on cover. Originally released on John Fahey's Takoma Records in 1965, The Seal Of The Blue Lotus is the debut album from American guitar soli legend Robbie Basho. In college Basho immersed himself in the study of Asian art and culture, even changing his last name to that of the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, and his music shows a much greater Eastern influence than contemporaries like John Fahey and Peter Lang. Basho was particularly entranced by the raga form which is apparent …
Vibracathedral Orchestra
Public service reissue of this impossibly rare and choice title in the Vibra oeuvre, originally issued by the band in 2004 as an edition of 250. Featuring the “classic” lineup (Mick Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport, Julian Bradley) that made “Queen of Guess” (vhf#77) and “Dabbling With Gravity and Who You Are” (vhf#66), this self-titled double takes a wild ride through the inner-workings of VCO’s stream of consciousness.
Many of the tracks (selected from research & dev…
Street Musicians Of Yogyakarta
Another amazing Mississippi reissue. Old style tip-on jacket with extensive liner notes and bonus 7"** " In 1978 Jack Body recorded an amazing amount of street musicians in java. His ear was geared not just towards traditional folk forms of music but also to all the new hybrids of pop street music. Here we find a mix of his recordings that really cannot by classified easily. Influences on the music include Bollywood soundtracks, American rock & pop, Javanese traditional songs & modern gam…
VDSQ - Solo Acoustic Volume Six
VDSQ (Vin Du Select Qualitite) is an acoustic guitar LP series curated by Steve Lowenthal of Swingset Magazine and Plastic Records. The series is released on high quality LP with letterpress sleeves, each with a picture of the guitar used to record the record. Track-by-track notes included on the back cover. 'The idea behind VDSQ was really to do a label that was a nod to the great guitar-oriented labels like Takoma and Transatlantic but focusing on contemporary artists rather than reissues…
Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death
Important is proud to welcome back James Blackshaw for his first full length on Important since his breakthrough album O True Believers was released on the label in 2006. James has since forged a remarkable career achieving critical praise for his dexterity, his deep, connected songwriting and his beautiful arrangement. Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death is available on CD & LP. LP pressed in an edition of 1000. Limited stock of color vinyl for mailorder customers.
Alienacustica
'Alienacustica' is a superb collection of works by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) as you have never heard before. Forget all MCIAA's noise records... this is a totally different affair: starting from January 2006 they have released 3 unusual, completely acoustic works, all in limited and sold-out editions: a soloist split lp, a private art edition cd-r, and an out-of-print cd. The different approach to these works shows another side of the Opalio brothers' musical universe: all…
Dabke -- Sounds Of The Syrian Houran
Dabke is the celebratory music and dance found throughout the Levantine Middle East. By the mid-1990s, a new wave of high-energy electronic dabke music had emerged -- to be heard at weddings, parties and cassette-stalls region-wide. New wave dabke was first introduced to Western ears by way of Omar Souleyman and his northeastern Syrian sounds. This collection presents a hypnotic and diverse selection of electrified dabke dance cuts from a region in the south of Syria known as the Houran. …
Anda Jaleo
Federico Garcia Lorca's popular folk song collection "Las Canciones Populares Espanolas" was banned under Franco's dictatorship and today the music survives but marginally within the Spanish sub-conscious. Taking their cue from Lorca and La Argentinita's infectious 1931 recording of the songs, Josephine Foster and her partner Spanish musician Victor Herrero have arranged the poetically rich collection for their new acoustic band, formed while living in the Grenadine Sierra. Anda Jaleo is the ban…
Dumb Supper
Blood n guts folk from the Anglo-American duo. The Wire says “The twining harmonies…recall the heyday of English pastoral folk song”. Plan B says "Dumb Supper is one of those rare modern folk albums that will find a home both in the longstanding 'traditional' music community and among those attracted to the form's more experimental and lo-fi possibilities". Most of the tracks are re-discovered and adapted by the Tylers, their searing harmonies and sparse, vital instrumentation breathing n…
The Primal Energy That Is The Music And Ritual Of Jajouka, Moroc
In the Djebala foothills of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco is the ancient village of Jajouka. For hundreds of years music has poured out of that village, music by the world’s only “4000 year old rock band” (William Burroughs), the Master Musicians of Jajouka. For hundreds of years the Master Musicians were the musical group of choice for the princes of Morocco, but they were not heard outside their native soil.Fast forward to 1950, Morocco, free of French and Spanish colonialism, is…
Fotheringay
Fledg'ling's 2004 reissue of one of the highest-regarded British folk-rock albums, featuring Sandy Denny. Originally issued by Island in 1970 (previous Hannibal CD long o/p). With additional artwork and bonus tracks. Fotheringay's beautiful debut album was recorded in 1970, and has long been regarded as one of the greatest achievements of British folk-rock. Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway created a magical ensemble sound and one of the finest albums of…
The Summer Is Over Before It's Begun
"Caethua is the project of Maine resident Clare Hubbard. With a handful of releases under her belt on a variety of labels, The Summer Is Over is one of Hubbard's most realized works. Eight sonically perfect songs filled with heart-melting vocal melodies, and dream provoking lyrics. Tastefully accompanied by her piano, guitar, saxophone and well-placed soundscapes. She is joined on this record by the multi-instrumentalism of Andy Neubauer (Impractical Cockpit, Flowbee Au Naturale) who comp…
Takamba
"Hypnotic recording session with griot 'Ali' Ag Amoumine at his home in Timbouctou. Playing the distinctive style of Northern Mali and Niger known as Takamba, droning electrified traditional guitar accompanied by a haunting rhythm tapped on a calabash, Ali navigates a repertoire drawing on music learned on his travels and his own compositions. Comes with a bonus 7" of acoustic performances. Co-release with Sahel Sounds."
Folksongs & Ballads
'The only album by Tia Blake was recorded at the Ossian Studio in Paris in 1971 and released that same year by the tiny French label SFP (Societe Francaise de Productions Phonographiques). Great psych-folk with guitars, dobro, flute and fantastically fragile female vocals. First time available on CD, with Tia Blake's own recollections."
Folk Roots, New Routes
Reissued on Fledg'ling in 2005, originally released in 1965 by Decca. An experimental recording conceived by Austin John Marshall bringing together Shirley's haunting traditional song with Davy's guitar improvisations. Folk Roots, New Routes opened the door for Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief and Pentangle's debut. For this carefully remastered edition, Fledg'ling have restored the original artwork, added a new sleeve-note essay as well as previously unpublished photographs.