New Arrivals / Last week
Milan
"In 2016, I invited Norman Westberg to Australia for his first solo tour. He’d been in Australia a few years before that, touring The Seer with Swans, and it was during this tour that I’d had the fortune to meet him. Since that time Norman and I have worked on a number of projects together. He very kindly played some of the central themes on my Cruel Optimism album and I had the pleasure to produced his After Vacation Album. Last year Norman shared a multichannel live recording with me from a to…
Caligo
"What remains after mutilating and reassembling an essential historical recording? How is it connected to a particular event in a grotesque and cyclical novella riddled with medical procedures of an aesthetic and deforming nature? Malakoot – this spiral, centres on a decision made one afternoon by a character. On a similar afternoon, full of anxiety, pressed by an unknowable presence in this city , I decided that the soundscape for such an inspiring work of fiction was a mutilated one; things co…
Haiku In The Wide World
This is a lovely and surprising treat indeed. Composer andmulti-instrumentalist Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow and much more) partners with vocalist Atsuko Kamura (Mizutama Shobodan aka PolkaDot Fire Brigade and Frank Chickens) to present 37 compositions,expanding the usual sub-10-second acoustic life of classic haiku into avaried suite of compositions which place the gem-like poems, spokenand sung in both English and Japanese by Hodgkinson and Kamura,into gorgeous musical frames composed by Hodgkins…
Release Me !
Sitting in a darkened room in Dalston, London… the music pushes across a very nicely tuned sound system, (a la Cafe Oto). The crowd is captivated by this multi-instrumentalist maestro Jimi Tenor. He plays smoky sax, juxtaposes it with some crazy Moog, all the while underlaid by a funky electronic looping groove. It's a conversation piece! At the end, Jimi says "I'm not quite sure what to do with this track, or what to call it"….
In a moment of 'bravado' one shouts out in reply "Release Me!", the…
Flor Campestre
Ramiro Rodriguez—Son Bayoú accordionist–shouted into the microphone: "We started at the pulga and now we're here!" The crowd erupted. He adjusted his red Hohner accordion to lead his band into a blistering rendition of Andres Landero's "La Pava Congona."
"Here" was the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston: the Bayou City's preeminent modern arts museum which invited the group to perform their barrio cumbia inside their hallowed spaces. When I first met them, formerly as Reyno Sabanero, they had i…
Spring Music
*250 copies limited edition* After several killer EPs and tracks on labels such as Tresor, Multi Culti, Hard Fist, or Playground Records, Antonio De Oto aka A-Tweed finally delivers "Spring Music" his first solo LP via Abstrakce Records, changing perspective on his music and way of producing. A minimal approach, where echoes and reverbs become some of the main characters of the full journey, mixing up weird acid, experimental downbeat, electro, dub, and tribal vibes across a wide range of tempos…
Follow A Very Heavy Person, First Visit
"First visit to the audio equivalent of a graphic novel. Follow A Very Heavy Person is more than an album—it is an experience, an inquiry, an adventure into the unknown, defying easy categorization and existing in the liminal space between music, poetry, and philosophy. Armaroli and his quintet have crafted something truly singular—a journey through sound that is both timeless and profoundly rooted in the ephemeral beauty of the present moment." - Mark Corroto
Cat
Reissue of Hiroshi Suzuki’s glorious jazz-fusion-funk Holy Grail Cat. Cat was recorded in October 1975 at at Nippon Columbia Studio, while Hiroshi Suzuki was visiting his home country of Japan after moving to Las Vegas in 1971 to play with Buddy Rich and perfect his craft. Back on his old stomping grounds, the man known as Neko (Cat) immediately reunited with his dear friends for an epic two day session of groove magic. The chemistry was still intact. The skills and style had grown. The result, …
Smile
Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* In 1967, drummer Takeo Moriyama joined pianist Yosuke Yamashita’s group, later forming a legendary trio together with saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura in 1969. This group consisting of Moriyama, Yamashita, and Nakamura became known worldwide as one of Japan's leading free jazz combos. Moriyama left the group in 1975 and later returned to the scene in 1977 with the Flush Up live album, where he evolved and deepened his musicality in a more melodic and rhythmic direc…
High-Flying
Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* Hiromasa Suzuki is a legendary composer and arranger, and a key player who has been active in the Japanese music world, including jazz as well as movies, television and commercials. In the late ‘60s and mid-’70s, he was deeply involved in the works of Terumasa Hino, Akira Ishikawa and Jiro Inagaki in their most radical times. The album “High-Flying,” recorded in 1976, showed his innovativeness, which was always one step ahead of the times. This is an essential …
Wandering Birds
Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* This is the first and long-awaited vinyl reissue of this Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media jazz rock masterpiece! With vocals by Sammy and Yasushi Sawada. Backed by Masahiko Sato, Kimio Mizutani, Hiro Yanagida. Essential!
Head Rock
Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* From the opening tune “The Vamp” to the final “Head Rock”, this album is a dazzling jazz rock showcase with dreadnought songs that are filled with ideas and passion. This is a masterpiece that has an overwhelming presence in the history of jazz in Japan, as an heresy left on the prestigious jazz label Takt.
Special Sound Series – Vol. 2: The Word
Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* "The Word II” track has gained instant worldwide recognition after being sampled by Mac DeMarco in "Chamber of Reflection" and by Travis Scott and Quavo's unit Huncho Jack in "How U Feel." Shigeo Seikito's seminal work, which includes this track, is now reissued on colored vinyl. This album is the most widely listened-to electone piece in the world, drawing attention from a diverse range of audiences including hip-hop, balearic, and dream pop enthusiasts.
At Belmont Jazz Club
Eero Koivistoinen Quartet's rare live album from 1978 reissued for the first time in nearly half a century via Svart Records.
Bosporus Bridges - A Wide Selection Of Turkish Jazz And Funk 196
Pioneering, magisterial compilation, which turned many of us here onto Mustafa Ozkent, Fikret Kizilok, Erkin Koray, Temiz and co, a decade ago. Still dazzling, fresh, essential.
The Heart Of A Whale
Paul Wallfisch has played in bands like Firewater and Little Annie, while Dana Schechter has logged time with American Music Club, Angels of Light and her own Insect Ark, among others. They’ve been friends since meeting in New York in the 1990s. Years later they forged a stronger connection as bandmates in Botanica and palying with Swans. Over the years Paul Wallfisch has been a prolific composer for film and TV, including Dummy, with Adrien Brody and Milla Jovovich (which the musician also appe…
The Harbour of the Broken Hearted
In times when arbitrariness, absolutist madness and the pressure to reject each other are boiled up into some kind of new normality, it sometimes feels as if you are doomed to drown in your sea of sorrows. Until you manage to resist the maelstrom, once again. To focus on the good and the beautiful, and to nurture it stout-heartedly. Nobody said, it’s gonna be easy. On his fifth album, Bruch seems to draw an analogy between the sea and life with his choice of title. The sea itself has never been …
Unripened (demos And Rare Tracks)
One of the most important 'lost' music recordings out there, this is the original version of the classicl album - recorded in April 1966 - that Andy Warhol eventually presented to Columbia Records, who chose to reject the demos. The track order is different from the release, and the band didn't record "Sunday Morning" and "There She Goes" until later, so those songs aren't included here. Some tracks sound the same as the released tracks, and others are markedly different, and even a little rawer…
Wave
*Back in print!* By the time this album was released, Antonio Carlos Jobim was already an international superstar. Having recently won a Grammy (1965) for "The Girl From Ipanema", by 1967 all the big name stars from up north were breaking down his door to work with the new "Gershwin of Brazil." In fact, Jobim had just finished working on an album with Frank Sinatra when he went into the studio to record this album. Recorded in 1967, Wave is actually one of the lesser known masterpieces of Brazil…
Watusa
When a limited edition 45 single landed on the desk of Jazz Room Head Honcho Paul Murphy he contacted the guys straight away. "Do you want a 45 piece of wax released on Jazz Room Records?" Bells were ringing! The A Side is a Latin Afrosound version of the Sun Ra Classic "Watusa". Featuring members of the Los Angleles based Afro Latin Beat Collective "Jungle Fire". You might have noticed this getting quite a few spins on the Gilles Peterson show on BBC 6 Music. The B Side is a funky version of th…