New Arrivals
Whale Music Thousand Mile Songs in a Sea of Sound
The marvelous sonic world of whales, from the perspective of music and science. Whale Song is an astonishing world of sound whose existence no one suspected before the 1960s. Its discovery has forced us to confront the possibility of alien intelligence—not in outer space but right here on earth. Thoughtful, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining, Whale Music uses the enigma of whale sounds to open up whales' underwater world of sonic mystery. In observing and talking with leading researchers f…
Junk Percussion: Notes for the Future
Improvisation. Instruments. Anecdotes. Photographs. Humour. Ecology. Experience. Absurdity. Democracy. Sound. The police. London. Scavenging. Street markets. Metal. Art. Musicians. Parents. Plastic. Aluminium. The floor. Knees. Fats Waller. Sydney. Brass. Tokyo. Toys. Forks. Affordance. Music. Part history, part inventory, part invention, Junk Percussion fuses personal experience to information with anecdotes, humour, and a questioning attention to music’s place in life. Making music is a seriou…
Overtone Singing Harmonic Dimensions of the Human Voice
An indispensable guide to a deeper understanding of the nature of the human voice and its harmonic possibilities from East to West. Overtone Singing is the most comprehensive book ever written on the hidden harmonies of the human voice. Ethnomusicologist and vocalist Mark van Tongeren offers fascinating insights into the timeless and universal aspects of sound and vibration. Grounded in the author's decade-long study of Asian music, the book draws upon field work, interviews with Eastern and Wes…
Guitar Talk: Conversations with VIsionary Players
Secrets of master musicians, revealed in conversation. Guitar Talk offers interviews with many of the most creative guitarists of our time. This new book presents these conversations, between Joel Harrison and Nels Cline, Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Elliott Sharp, Michael Gregory Jackson, Ben Monder, Anthony Pirog, Henry Kaiser, Mike and Leni Stern, Vernon Reid, Mary Halvorson, Nguyên Le, Rez Abbasi, Ava Mendoza, Liberty Ellman, Brandon Ross, Wayne Krantz, Dave Fiuczynski…
IrRational Music
A memoir and manifesto by a pivotal figure at the junction of rock, the avant-garde, and an ever-widening spiral of art, theater, film, and dance. For over five decades, Elliott Sharp has been engaged in a quest at once quixotic and down to earth: to take the music he hears in his inner ear and bring it to life in the real world. In this vivid memoir and manifesto, Sharp takes us along on that quest, through some of the most rugged, anarchically fertile cultural terrain of our time. Sharp, a mai…
Camoufleur
2025 repress, LP version. "Sometimes it's like an overstuffed musical armchair -- quite comfy, even when lumpy. The contribution of Markus Popp, whose style of digital scratching has made Oval an experimental household name, adds to the density and often provides an echo of Gastr past while the rest of Camoufleur paints the future." Jim O'Rourke's last album with Gastr del Sol is a subdued, meditative affair, bringing together elements of folk, jazz, film music, and the avant-garde. "The Seasons…
The Peel Sessions
Unearthed from the neolithic tar that eventually swathes all history, Aerial M’s early-98 Peel Session is once again among us
Bebek / Irgat
Zel Zele is extremely proud to present the first-ever reissue of a cult classic from 1974, written, produced, and arranged by Anatolian rock pioneer Barış Manço, backed by his legendary Kurtalan Ekspres band. Sevil & Ayla’s Bebek / Irgat is a highly sought-after Turkish folk and psychedelic single, sung by Yeşilçam stars Sevil & Ayla during the golden era of Anatolian Rock music.
A-side Bebek hardly needs an introduction, being a rare gem among crate diggers and beat enthusiasts. The track’s str…
ripples
Zel Zele are thrilled to announce the debut album of silhouwaves. ‘ripples’ is a solo project of London based Turkish multi-instrumentalist and producer Bora Dayanıklı. Ripples is a DIY, guitar led album performed using a combination of pedals, drum samples and Bora’s elevating poetic vocals. At its core silhouwaves loops his guitar into infinity and creates a sentimental space echoing the mysteries of space and time.
Ripples is inspired by 70s kraut, prog and psychedelic music. There are surpri…
Bakırköy Akıl Hastanesi'nde
Turkish improv bandZeN's iconic live album recorded in Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital, pressed on vinyl for the very first time since its release in 1999. A mind-altering blend of krautrock, psychedelic, free anatolian sounds.
Anómala
*2025 stock* 'Anómala' by Franco-Peruvian thereminist and guitarist Veronik is a haunting theremin album where the instrument becomes a melodic voice. It's a gentle experimentation that floats beautifully on femme psychedelic rock waters, captivating with its cinematic and moody soundscapes. Previously self released in Peru in 2017, Zel Zele is proud to present Anómala's deserved re-release featuring five additional tracks and it's first-ever vinyl issue, advancing Anómala to another dimension.
Acaip
DIY 80's solo album by Turkish bassist Bahtiyar Taş. His solo project after leaving Beyaz Kelebekler, reknowned Pop-folk band from 70s Turkey.
Paloma Supersound
Four Flies sheds light on the catalogue of the enigmatic Paloma Records, a DIY record label founded in 1983 by Bolognese composer, arranger, conductor, and singer Paolo Zavallone, who, after a long career in pop music and at RAI television, decided to venture into the world of library music publishing.
The Bagatelles vol. 2
The Bagatelles Vol.2: Erik Friedlander and Michael by John Zorn is a captivating album released by Tzadik, showcasing the exceptional talents of cellist Erik Friedlander and pianist Michael Nicolas. This album is a beautiful fusion of classical music with avant-garde jazz, creating a unique and mesmerizing listening experience for music enthusiasts.
The Bagatelles vol. 1
May 2015, John Zorn composed 300 new tunes that were eventually collected into a book of music he called “The Bagatelles.” After five years of performances around the world in venues large and small, the choicest ensembles have gone into the studio and the results are some of the most exciting and varied music Zorn has ever presented. This first volume features the remarkable Mary Halvorson Quartet. Dynamic, fiery and endlessly imaginative, this is a fascinating first peek into the world of Zorn…
The Complete String Quartets
Chris Otto (violino), Austin Wulliman (violino), John Pickford Richards (viola), Jay Campbell (violoncello). The world class JACK Quartet, both individually and as an ensemble, have had a personal relationship with Zorn for well over a decade. Here they deliver passionate and virtuosic recordings of his complete string quartets. Zorn’s writing for strings is legendary, and his eight string quartets, written in a thirty-year period from 1988–2017, are some of the most important and original works…
Hold That Tiger
CD Edition. Sonic Youth on Superior Viaduct!!! In October 1987, four months after the release of their critically acclaimed Sister LP, Sonic Youth showcased their latest work in a blistering set at Cabaret Metro, Chicago. The concert was introduced by Big Black's Steve Albini (who at the time was banned from the venue) and subsequently released as a semi-official bootleg under the title Hold That Tiger on writer/provocateur Byron Coley's impishly Geffen-baiting label Goofin' (years later the ban…
Force Over Area
*300 copies limited edition* On Force over Area, Yves De Mey combines slow and ominous melodies with stripped rhythms and acidic bass lines. Over the course of the album, Force over Area becomes a spatial construction with sounds bouncing off the walls, various elements trying to find a way in and air turning into liquid. After all, Force over Area means pressure. The 7 tracks are slowly paced, leaving time and space for continuous modulation of elements and parameters. The album’s freeform fits…
Tuning the Wind
Tuning the Wind was created in 2022 as an installation piece. Since then, it has been adapted into multichannel, 4DSOUND, and stereo installations, as well as performed live on numerous occasions around the world. The piece has a duration of 36 minutes and 15 seconds. For the vinyl pressing, it has been divided into two parts.
Composer Aimée Portioli, known professionally as Grand River, recorded various types of wind and then reworked them through layering and pitch adjustment to create a music…
Shlimazl
In the new work ''Shlimazl'' by the Swiss composer Michael Wertmüller, symphony orchestra and big band merge into a virtuoso, polymetric organism that not only transcends styles, but also a perceived linearity of time. In doing so, he explicitly takes up the rich tradition of the big band, and revitalises it within the symphonic context under new auspices and allows it to take off. All the soloists act like a picture within a picture within the big band, which oscillates between musical nucleus,…