New Arrivals / Last 4 weeks
Paradise Mambo
Formed in Hakata before relocating to Tokyo in 1984, Akebonojirushi quickly established themselves as one of the most adventurous acts in Japan’s underground music scene. The six-piece band defied easy categorization, blending sharp-edged New Wave textures with the groove and freedom of Funk-Jazz, then distilling it all into daring, unpredictable Pop songs.
Originally released in 1987 on the influential DIW label, Paradise Mambo captured the energy of a vibrant era when Japanese musicians were…
Trap
Originally released in 1985 on Japan Records, "Trap" marks the second solo venture from pioneering Japanese musician Chiko Hige. Delving deep into the raw energy of the No-Wave movement, Hige crafts a powerful, hypnotic sonic journey brimming with hyper-kinetic grooves, jagged guitar textures, and contorted saxophone lines. "Trap" stands as a snapshot of controlled chaos—its blend of frenetic rhythms and edgy soundscapes continues to resonate with fresh relevance, captivating new listeners and l…
Harafuri
If punk culture and aesthetics ever had a poet, it would undoubtedly be Kō Machida. Best known as the visionary frontman of the pioneering punk band INU and later acclaimed as a novelist, essayist, and professor, Machida has built a career at the intersection of raw musical energy and razor-sharp literary craftsmanship. Eleven years after the groundbreaking 1981 masterpiece INU – Meshi Kuuna!, Machida returned with a new creative chapter: the album *Harafuri*. This record marked a significant ev…
Dance Till You Die
Dance Till You Die is more than just a track title—it’s a loud and clear order, a warning, and a timeless statement from one of the most uncompromising Japanese post-punk outfits of the early 1980s.
Emerging from Japan’s underground scene, Daisuck & Prostitute forged a raw yet magnetic sound that blended the abrasive edges of No Wave with an almost ritualistic sense of groove. Dance Till You Die stands as a rare testament to their uncompromising vision: esoteric and challenging, yet undeniably…
In Memoriam Alvin Lucier
The influence of Alvin Lucier’s work on acoustic phenomena and the interplay between sound and space is difficult to overstate. His legacy continues to echo through the work of countless composers and sound artists today. Lucier’s music is marked by a sense of childlike wonder and sonic simplicity - shifting our perception from what we hear to how we listen.At the heart of his compositions lies the sine wave: the purest, most elemental form of sound. Clarinetist Dries Tack pays tribute to this …
Quelques idées d'un vert incolore dorment furieusement
For more than fifteen years, Toc – the Lille-based trio of Jérémie Ternoy (Fender Rhodes, Piano Bass), Ivann Cruz (guitar) and Peter Orins (drums) – has been pursuing a singular sonic quest where the energies of experimental rock, the unpredictability of improvised music, and a constant drive toward excess converge. On stage as on record, Toc invents a telluric and ever-shifting music, built from flows, ruptures, and accumulations, where hypnosis and chaos feed off one another.
For this new albu…
Learning
‘Learning’ - Sophie Agnel’s first solo LP, feels like the dark, physical inversion of her excellent ‘Song’ which came out on Relative Pitch earlier this year. Sinking her unique sound into vinyl for the first time, the LP arrives as Agnel recovers from a brain tumour - a shocking discovery that will require Agnel to start again with the piano. It’s a terrifying prospect, but Agnel has been here before, having reorientated herself almost entirely away from her early classical training over the la…
A Series of Actions in a Sphere of Forever
Kara-Lis Coverdale returns to Smalltown Supersound with her fourth full-length album, A Series of Actions in a Sphere of Forever, a collection of nine pieces, dedicated to solo piano. Known for her musical innovations at the intersection of experimental electronics and minimalist traditions, Coverdale’s previous albums Aftertouches, Grafts and, most recently, From Where You Came (Smalltown Supersound) garnered special acclaim for their deep exploration of timbre. On A Series of Actions in a Sphe…
Wooley The Newt
Stephen McCraven's Wooley The Newt was his first album under his own name, released on Marion Browns own Sweet Earth record label in 1979 (orignal copies are rare and go for $500). Working with Stephen and the carvery we have remastering the audio and restored the original artwork. Stephen is a master drumer and composer and has worked with Archie Shepp for many years,he has also played & recorded with many; Marion Brown, Mal Waldron, Reggie Wokman and Stanley Cowell to mention just a few. Steph…
IX TAB
*100 copies limited edition* Ix Tab is an album dedicated to the mysterious Mayan deity, goddess of ropes and snares, and patroness of those who hang themselves. Originally released on cassette, the album was influenced not only by Mayan mysteries but also by Western and medieval esotericism (I.A.O., The Inquisition, etc.) and vampirism (Akhkharu). The artwork features glyphs and images of demons taken from the Dresden Codex, and the cover image specifically is a representation of Ix Tab, likely…
Traveling Light
From out of the dark, the crackle of feed back birdsong signals a return to the land of sound environments exclusive to the music of Rafael Toral. A year and a half after his epochal electric guitar album, Spectral Evolution, Traveling Light finds him sharpening his focus, moving boldly from abstract forms to concrete compositions in the form of a set of jazz standards. Based on Toral’s discography, this may seem an unlikely endeavor, but happily, Traveling Light transpires to be one of the majo…
Àlbum
Urpa i musell feel very fortunate to announce the reissue of Àlbum by Joan Saura (1954-2012), originally released on compact disc by Nova Era – Música Secreta in 1998.
Kōri no ryokō / Jäämatkailu
Water can retain or wash away memory; flowing or freezing. It gives life and shapes earth, while frozen imprints of an ancient past are waiting to melt – back into sound or fluid motion, or simply to dissipate and disappear. For their split release, Yoichi Kamimura and Olli Aarni offer two distinct reinterpretations of a performance recorded live at the Temppeliaukio Kirkko – a church in Helsinki built directly into solid rock and bathed in natural light – meditating on glacial landscapes and wa…
Two Lonely Space Pilots
Hekura are a Barcelona-based duo that create expansive soundscapes anchored in ritual minimalism. With influences ranging from the ethereal mysticism of Alice Coltrane to the hypnotic pulse of Steve Reich, their music explores the boundary between introspection and bold sonic exploration. Inspired by ethnographic traditions and the raw energy of Julius Eastman, their compositions fuse scattered percussion, shimmering textures, and hypnotic saxophone rhythms for moments of solitude and profound r…
Jazz Report From The Hood
Over the past few months, five young musicians performing under the name Omasta have taken the Polish and European jazz scenes by storm. Having gained recognition for their intense live shows, they are now ready to deliver their debut studio effort. Jazz Report from the Hood a collectively composed album immersed in the textures of city streets and everyday urban life. The name Omasta comes from a regional Krakow dialect word meaning “fat added to food for flavor.” It’s a fitting metaphor: the g…
Minyo Groove 1963-1979 - Japan Meets Latin, Rock, Rare Groove & Funky Vibes
Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of Wamono music, Yoshizawa has published in 2015 the now-classic Wamono A to Z records guide book, which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene. He has also selected a large part of the music in our highly acclaimed Wa…
El Nirvana
*200 copies limited edition* You are probably familiar with the pop-psych Nirvana from the 70s and almost certainly with the renowned outfit of the same name from the 90s Seattle grunge scene. However, somewhere in between the above emerged in Buenos Aires a combo of classically trained musicians with a passion for leaving their own mark in the then burgeoning prog/psych/folk scene.
Despite their short life span between 1976-1978, El Nirvana quickly rose to an acclaimed band among their more wel…
Surfing On Sine Waves
Originally released in 1993, Surfing On Sine Waves is the second album released under the Warp Artificial Intelligence series (the series also includes the two titular compilations, as well as contributions by Autechre, The Black Dog, F.U.S.E. and more).
Surfing On Sine Waves is also the sole album released under Richard D. James’ (aka Aphex Twin’s) Polygon Window alias. The name “Polygon Window” originally appeared as a track name under Richard D. James’ other pseudonym The Dice Man, as the tra…
Tracks
Frode Gjerstad, Alexander von Schlippenbach, and Dag Magnus Narvesen's first trio recording is powerful convergence of avant-garde improvisation and deep jazz sensibilities. Gjerstad’s fearless saxophone work, Schlippenbach’s adventurous piano explorations and Narvesen’s dynamic drumming create spontaneous compositions that betray a deep mutual respect.
One Another
“The body’s relation to the social is inseparable from, and of the same relation to the world, not a relation of objectification but a carnal intertwining prior to any reflective judgement.” -Rosalyn Diprose