New Arrivals
Meeting of Waters
** 300 copies ** Back in 2017 the unassuming Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Josiah Steinbrick released his first collection of solo pieces and we’ve been listening to it compulsively since then. Given that its initial release was only in North America, both on cassette with Leaving Records and in an extremely limited vinyl self-release via Banana Editions, we felt that this meticulously crafted, essential work righteously deserved to get a proper spin in Europe too! "Meetin…
How Deep Is Our Love?
** 525 copies ** Paul Régimbeau, aka Mondkopf, joins the Hands in the Dark ranks with a new album, "How Deep Is Our Love?". For more than a decade now the prolific Parisian producer hasn’t ceased to surprise us with his compositions, constantly treading new ground with artistic bravery and curiosity. At times extreme, at other times méditative and always complex, his music is never easy-access. In recent years his work has taken a clear turn towards a more ambient, intimate, less abrasive style.…
An Avant Garde of Our Own: Disconnected Works 1980-2018 (8CDBox)
Saxophonist/guitarist/composer/music historian/ provocateur Allen Lowe spans the history of jazz in his music in a way that few besides Jaki Byard, Beaver Harris, Steven Bernstein, and Air have ever done, intertwining blues, early jazz, bebop, and the avant-garde. A prolific composer who was incorporating American roots music into his jazz decades before it was hip, he has led project bands featuring a broad array of jazz greats ranging from Doc Cheatham, Randy Sandke, Joe Albany, Don Byron, Ken…
Hikima: Creativity
**800 copies** Key System Recordings present a reissue of Yusef Lateef's "Hikima: Creativity", originally released in 1983. In the early 1980s, famed jazz saxophonist and musical luminary Yusef Lateef traveled to Nigeria as a Senior Research Fellow to study, write, and teach at Ahmadu Bello University. He cut this record while there; pressed locally in Nigeria, it remained virtually unknown by jazz fans and collectors for over 30 years. On Hikima, Lateef leads a nonet of African musicians in sev…
Phil Ranelin Collected Works 2003-2019
Phil Ranelin's "Collected Works 2003-2019" features songs with Pharoah Sanders, Kamasi Washington, Donald 'Duck' Bailey, Henry Franklin, Big Black, Calvin Keys, Roger Glenn and many, many more. Phil founded cult label Tribe Records in 1973 then went on to perform with artists such as Max Roach, Gary Bartz, Freddie Hubbard, the Temptations and even the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Here in this collection of 16 years of Phil's work, his 'Tribe' spiritual root continues to grow into greatness and he is a…
Antipodean Anomalies
For musicians inhabiting the Antipodean countries of Australia and New Zealand during the 70’s and 80’s, it was a geographically and culturally isolating environment. Boutique shops, community radio and mail order exchanges championed independent and contemporary music from across the globe. It was, however, this isolation that caused a number of small community-focused scenes to evolve, creating their own unique interpretation and reappropriation of outside influences. Through both these scenes…
Le Personnage Principal est un Peuple Isolé
Benjamin Lew was an enlightened amateur, in the noble and almost Renaissance-like sense of the word: he dabbled with equal grace in photography, writing, visual arts ... and worked part-time as a cocktail mixer in a tropical bar which was one of the favourite watering holes of Brussels’ thriving artistic community of the early ‘80s. Tuxedomoon had just moved to Brussels, and Steven Brown was among the many musicians, designers & artists who patronized the bar. Benjamin had a secret passion: he w…
Ethnoelectronics
CD Edition. Ethnoelectronics, issued on cassette by Sound Reporters in 1986, exists beyond the realm of easy definition. Very little information about the album exists, other than the fact that it involved the contributions of a remarkable group of sonic explorers - Walter Maioli, Nirodh Fortini, Fred Gales, Raffaele Serra, John Zandijk and the sculptor Edward Luyken, and was conceptualised as the soundtrack for an obscure science-fiction saga. Or was it?The title makes clear allusion to the ide…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 2: Experimental
** 400 copies** The second installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is a lavish 5CD box set designed by Moritz R. that also includes a bonus 7" in replica sleeve. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hiller, Andreas Dorau, Element Of Crime, Lost Gringos, Pic…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 3: Pop/Lovely
** 400 copies** The third installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is another stunning 5CD box set designed by Moritz R. that also includes a bonus MiniCD with exclusive live tracks by Die Doraus & Die Marinas. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hiller, An…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 4: Ripening
** 300 copies** The fourth set in the glorious "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is another impressing 5CD box designed by Moritz R. that also includes a 16 pages full colour Ata Tak photo book which is exclusive to this release. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hil…
Cleopatra Jones (Soundtrack) LP
One of the best of the blacksploitation scores of the early 70s – a masterpiece of music that we rate every bit as high as Shaft or Superfly – maybe even higher! The music here is incredible – a surprising funky turn for JJ Johnson, who most folks know for his straighter jazz work – and like Marvin Gaye, Barry White, and others who were surprising the world with their ability to score music for a full film during the early 70s, JJ really knocks it out of the park with this one – coming up with a…
Manifest Being
** 250 copies ** "A lot of people flipped out over how amazing Mako Sica's last album, "Ronda" (FTR 409LP, 2018), was. "Ronda" was a 2LP set whereupon the Chicago trio collaborated with legendary local percussionist Hamid Drake. This pairing seemed like a natural to us, but for some reason people have been woefully unaware of Mako Sica despite the fact they've been releasing killer records for a decade, and playing live shows that submerge your brain in a sonic soup that recalls the Sun City Gir…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 5: The Single Collection
** 400 copies** The fifth and final installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series focuses on the early singles released by the label. Once again, this box set was designed by Moritz R. and it includes three 7" records in replica sleeves and 1 CD with many tracks finally entering the digital domain for the first time and two completely unreleased numbers. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist sin…
In A Wild Sanctuary / Gandharva / All Good Men
A double CD collecting three classic albums from Beaver & Krause’s Warner Brothers period circa 1970-1972, featuring the celebrated Moog-friendly collaborators’ quirky mix of early electronics, found sound and musical dalliances from Blues to Soul and Rock to Gospel.Featuring the seminal “In A Wild Sanctuary” (1970), the haunting “Gandharva” (1971) and the wonky pop of “All Good Men” (1972), underlining the indelible mark the duo made on contemporary music. Filtering Scott Joplin and Bach throug…
Wolf Rayet
Noise Poetry is a beautiful example of a concrete attitude of improvisors more concerned with collectively constructing a sonic complexity than gestural free expression. All three of them plunge into a universe akin to that of a Japanese garden – where the space between the stones is more important than the stones themselves – inventing an acoustic synthesis in a development of stratified objects that act like a giant mobile. David Chiesa: double bassDidier Lasserre: drumsMathias Pontevia: horiz…
Misrepresenting Memory
** 200 copies** A solo album by guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, who carries out an energetic performance schedule in and out of Japan. Amazingly, this is his first solo album since the 2008 release of "The Ancient Balance to Control Death" on the U.S. label Western Vinyl. That album included both acoustic guitar and singing, so "Misrepresenting Memory" is actually Akiyama's first instrumental solo album with guitar in 13 years, since the release of the CD-R "Terrifying Street Trees" in January 2006 on…
Installation Sounds
2017 Release. Installation Sounds For Voltage Controlled Broken Analog Tv comprises the first installation exhibition at Contemporary Heights, and the sound of the third exhibition from here Art & Space 2016. (The sound of the second exhibition, Ginza kitchen, has not been recorded because the sound source is lost.)Recordings at Contemporary Heights include conversations in cafe spaces and classical in-store BGM. Unintended ambient feeling exudes a mysterious balance. Although the machine has no…
Installation Sounds
The first collection of works by solo artist "Radio ensembles Aiida" by female artist A. Mizuki has been completed, performing a performance using multiple BCL radios. As recorded in the title "IIn A Room (Radio of the Day #1)", all the recordings were done in her room. An everyday ensemble called Diary, which captures everything from the morning bird cries, to the rain, to the last train, to the electromagnetic waves emitted by PCs and various appliances, etc., which surround her every day. The…
Live At The Rammel Club / The Dome
2016 Release. The kings of UK confrontational Noise Music, The New Blockaders, surface yet again with these 2012 recordings, which features two lengthy performances captured in venues in Nottingham and London respectively. The first was part of the Broken Flag Festival held that year, the second as part of the Harbinger Sound Festival. That information alone might be helpful to put these recordings in context after all Steve Underwood, the owner of Harbinger Sound, had just published his first (…