*Edition of 50 copies* Gary Cummiskey is a poet, short story writer and publisher living in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the author of several poetry chapbooks and collections, the latest being Animal eyeball (with Paul Warren) (Dye Hard Press) and Somewhere else (Graffiti, Kolkata). In 2009 he published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African Beat poet, co-edited with Eva Kowalska. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2014. His short fiction c…
The new album by Polish guitarist Raphael Rogiński is named after the grass snake Žaltys, a revered household spirit in Lithuanian folklore, and explores themes of Eastern European mythology and nature. As a conduit of cultural exchange, "Žaltys" connects with Rogińsk’s previous work, most recently his critically acclaimed 2023 album "Talàn".
"Žaltys" is deeply rooted in the rolling hills of the Suwałki region, in the northeast of Poland, where Rogiński spent childhood vacations and became intri…
Defining post-punk is no easy task. While punk was defined by a raw, rebellious simplicity, post-punk (1978-1986) expanded into a diverse array of sounds and ideas. It maintained punk’s independent spirit but embraced experimentation, incorporating influences from various musical and cultural traditions, resulting in a movement far more eclectic and fragmented than its predecessor. At its core, post-punk broke away from traditional rock structures, blending genres like industrial, goth, and punk…
"Surrealistic games helped us to compose this album: the collective collage in the two longest pieces of the album, the exquisite corpse in the central short pieces, and in all, the automatic writing whose musical equivalent could well be free improvisation.
In the scorching heat of a Valencian August, we raised two electric totem poles. Dr Truna's took the form of his cosmic bull, a great roaring and improvising sculpture; mine, equipped with blowers, was made for the occasion and then dismantl…
The Last Temple is a live recording of this extraordinary trio at the Alchemia in Krakow. Since the concert was quite long, we divided it into 3 formats: 1) The Last Temple vol. 1 - vinyl 9" EP 2) The Last Temple vol. 2 CD 3) (this one) The Last Temple vol. 3 vinyl 12" LP (180g black vinyl) The Trzaska, Haker Flaten, Nilsen Love trio played a concert tour in Poland in March 2024. A combination of one of the most famous sections of the world's intuitive jazz (e.g. The Thing) and one of the most f…
*300 copies limited edition* "Martina Verhoeven is a Flemish pianist who likes to seek musical adventure, in different line-ups. The album Martina Verhoeven Invites contains two sessions recorded at Cafe Oto in London on July 23, 2023. During the concert, Gina Southgate made the painting that appears on the cover of the sleeve, which manages to capture the action of the musicians perfectly, as far as I am concerned - lots of color, lots of movement, and a special way of playing together. Two lon…
NTS presents European Primitive Guitar, a compilation of instrumental guitar compositions, mapping out European analogues of the American Primitive Guitar movement, spearheaded by John Fahey in the 1950s. European Primitive Guitar spans works directly influenced by and responding to Fahey’s approach to composition, alongside works by artists that arrived at similar conclusions independently.
The music is, at once, both starkly traditional and contemporary. This is no more evident than with the …
Somewhere between Solid State Survivor, Force Majeure and Danzindan-Pojidon you’ll find Shinichi Omata’s Boku・Neko・Platanus. Or rather you won’t – throughout his captivating debut from 1984, reissued by chOOn!! in 2022, you’ll hear connections to other music but its unique unbridled will keeps pushing those references out of mind. Omata is a fascinating figure – an unsung hero of early Japanese electronic music who between 1981–84 recorded three albums of incredible DIY techno-pop while studying…
Labels Theory Therapy and co:clear come together to release the debut album by Italy-based artist CHANTSSSS.
‘Shyness’ suggests something subtle, intricate and ethereal – but it also demands your attention. Over 10 tracks of spacious, sub-aquatic ambience, CHANTSSSS pulls you deep into his vaporous sound world. The songs themselves, a blend of ambient pop, chamber music and pulsing low end rhythms, feel cloaked in mystery. Layers of reverb and zonked vocals float in the atmosphere, moving betwee…
*17 copies limited edition* L3NR$ is a game of hide and seek. A furious zig zag ride through dimensions, harmonies and sounds. Born from a wide arsenal of sources, kaleidoscopic tape cutups and self build electronic instruments to more drone heavy passages played on the majestic 3 meter high. Spectral organ, secretly kept in a inconspicuous kitchen in Berlin Neukölln. It is nothing but a magical trip to the unknown - not for the faint-hearted.
Reading Group is thrilled to announce a new album from the celebrated trio of Fred Moten (voice), Brandon López (double bass), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Following the release of their 2022 self-titled debut album, also on Reading Group (RG23), the trio has been developing their improvisatory language in concerts across North America and the UK. While growing from their first album’s perpetually restrained simmer, their infamous live shows explore a propulsive, relentless, and massively energet…
*200 copies limited edition* Reading Group is proud to present the debut album of a new ensemble of some of the most adventurous artists in and around London’s contemporary music scene. X-Ray Hex Tet is the confluence of Seymour Wright (alto saxophone), Crystabel Riley (drums), Edward George (words and recordings), Pat Thomas (piano and electronics), Paul Abbott (real and imaginary drums), and Billy Steiger (celeste and violin). Wright and Abbott, elsewhere as XT, have developed a private langua…
Hugely influential and appearing nearly everywhere within Washington D.C.'s contemporary music scene as bandleaders and contributing artistic voices, cellist and vocalist Janel Leppin and guitarist Anthony Pirog have long been creative partners as well as life partners. Their Cuneiform Records debut Where is Home (2012) is considered a crucial modern recording from the region. Following that release, the two have crafted a double-LP opus which crosses genres and mirrors their exploratory and dia…
Quartet Records, in collaboration with GDM, Universal Music Publishing Italy and EMI General Music Publishing, presents a revised, remastered reissue of the famous giallo score composed by Ennio Morricone in 1971 for La Corta Notte Delle Bambole Di Vetro directed by Aldo Lado and starring Jean Sorel, Ingrid Thulin, Barbara Bach and Mario Adorf. Considered one of the best and most consistent giallos, the film is about journalist Gregory Moore (Sorel), whose corpse is found in a Prague square and …
Quartet Records, in collaboration with GDM and Universal Music Publishing Italy, presents a revised, remastered reissue of a famous giallo score composed by Bruno Nicolai in 1975 for Gatti Rossi In Un Labirinto Di Vetro (Eyeball) directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring John Richardson, Martine Brochard, Inés Pellegrini and Mirta Miller. Shot entirely in Spain, Lenzi’s movie, while visually attractive, is still a conventional giallo already showing the tiredness of the genre. The plot involves the…
Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of one of Japan's most coveted albums of the 70s, "Mangekyou" by singer-songwriter Yoshiko Sai. Produced in 1975 by Master musician Yuji Ohno, the album features Yoshiko Sai's superbly crafted songs and crystal clear voice over Ohno's lush, funky sound and breezy arrangements. A strong buzz has been growing around the album over the years and original copies now change hands for large sums of money. This is the first time "Mangekyou" is available…
Forms Of Minutiae presents 'Harkening Critters', the label’s second non-profit compilation of field recordings and soundscape compositions highlighting, this time, the incredible variety of animal signals.
*300 copies limited edition* Following releases on Sähkö Recordings and The Trilogy Tapes, "Fever of the World" is the Soda Gong debut by Memotone, the nom de plume of UK-based multi-instrumentalist Will Yates. As a collection, it is both intimate and expansive, like the feeling of gathering one's thoughts before setting off on a long journey or committing to an irrevocable course of action. Throughout, Yates' talents as both player and sound designer are on full display, as are the sonic signat…
A collection of DIY home recordings, transferred from blank and repurposed brown and black wax cylinders made during the early years of phonographic technology, between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Persons unknown singing, playing instruments, just talking, telling jokes, sending audio-letters to family overseas for in the distant future, children crying & babbling, farmyard animal noises - it's got it all.
*75 copies limited edition* Featuring the 1885 pipe organ of Chiesa di San Martina a Maiano and using musical materials derived from Vincenzo Galilei's Fronimo (1581), these pieces articulate the evocative possibilities of sustained tones and low tessituras. The protracted durations of these skeletal structures foreground their lush and often unexpected harmonic progressions, each moment revealing a world of subtle mystery and drama.
*75 copies limited edition* Hold Music is a pair of expansive long-form loop pieces for alto saxophone and electronics, intended to be listened to on infinite repeat. Entrancing and prismatic, constantly spiraling, this is a music that adapts to any listening situation – equally well-suited as accompaniment to daily activities as it is rewarding to the concentrated listen.
*75 copies limited edition* Henry Fraser bores into the sound of the double bass to explore the endless patterns of its otherwise hidden contours. The instrument acquires its own dynamic landscape, its own body, and its own mode of perception – opening a space of acute, granular perceptivity in which presumed boundaries are blurred: between center and periphery, sonic and tactile, instrumentalist and instrument, performer and listener."When the poet, Charles Olson wrote, “the HEAD, by way of the…
This work is a masterpiece compilation released from Ethiopia’s in 1972 on the eve of the release of Mulatu Astatke’s masterpiece “Ethio Jazz”, and is a companion to “Ethio Jazz”, which is touted as a masterpiece. It is also known as the most difficult to obtain super rare board in the history of Afro Rare Groove.
Miguel Angel Crozzoli’s album "Sounding Numbers" explores the intersection of climate data and music. This album features two compelling works: I Am the Forest and I Am the Ocean, both born from transforming scientific data on deforestation and ocean contamination into sound. Through innovative sonification techniques and a blend of electronic and acoustic instrumentation, Crozzoli creates immersive soundscapes that resonate emotionally and inspire action against climate change. Let the haunting…
This album presents the innovative works of Gabriel Iranyi composed between 2012 and 2022. It includes two string quartets and their unique extensions with human voice and the Chinese mouth organ sheng. Iranyi’s compositions explore profound musical spaces and subjective experiences. The album features the intense String Quartet No. 4, the intricate String Quartet No. 5, the emotive Four Love Poems by Paul Celan for soprano and quartet, and the captivating quintet for sheng and string quartet Th…
Recorded live by the BBC on 28th September 1972 at the famed Paris Theatre in London, this is the classic Space Ritual-era Hawkwind, featuring Dave Brock, Nik Turner, Lemmy Kilmister & Stacia Blake. This 11-track, hour long show of the stereo version features Hawkwind classics “Born To Go”, “Seven By Seven” & “Master of the Universe”. The release also includes two bonus tracks recorded for Johnny Walker’s BBC Radio 1 show the same year: “Brainstorm” & “Silver Machine.”
Bassist Uli Trepte was one of the founders of the seminal space rock Krautrock group Guru Guru, and this CD, a reissue of a United Dairies LP with the track “Bo Diddley” added, combines material from Trepte‘s tenure with Guru Guru and some studio stuff done soon after he left the band. The two Guru Guru tracks were recorded live in 1972, and the performances on these long jams, capturing the group at their height, make up for the mediocre fidelity of the recordings.
This is the classic Guru Guru…
Seminal dub album produced by Winston Edwards. In 1974 Edwards left Jamaica to reside in the UK and through his strong connections with such reggae luminaries as Joe Gibbs, Lee Perry and King Tubby began to travel back and forth between London and Kingston (JA) to bring back recordings to issue on his Fay Music label here in the UK. In 1974 he released this controversial, seminal dub set, shunned by some at the time due to the spurious marketing device employed. The whole album appears in fact t…
Originally released in 1975, King Tubby And The Aggrovators ‘Shalom Dub’ stands as one of the earliest and most cherished dub albums in existence. King Tubby, the studio mastermind, works with a a killer set of riddims from Bunny Lee’s archive and turns out a masterpiece of manipulated FX. Eighteen tracks deep including reworked classics from Cornell Campbell, Derrick Morgan, Johnny Clarke, Linval Thompson and more.
Composed by Kenji Kawai for the original 1995 film. In 2029, with the advancement of cybernetic technology, the human body can be augmented or even completely replaced with cybernetic parts. Another significant achievement is the cyberbrain, a mechanical casing for the human brain that allows access to the Internet and other networks. An often-mentioned term is “ghost”, referring to the consciousness inhabiting the body (the “shell”).
Megatech Body, a shell manufacturer with suspected close ties…
*400 copies limited edition* The seeds of composer Rafael Anton Irisarri’s latest LP were first planted during his 2016 tour in Italy, months before that Autumn’s unexpected presidential election. The linguistic glitch of an innocuous diner in Milan named “il Mito Americano” – meant as “The American Dream” but translated literally to English as “The American Myth” – sparked a series of ideas, both conceptual and musical. Amid the chaos of 2020, while exploring the stark world of brutalist archit…
*2024 stock* In essence Tokyo’s Tenniscoats celebrate all that makes song vital in our collective conscious. Matching emotive live performance against delicately psychedelic folk songs, the duo of Saya and Takashi Ueno (assisted by a plethora of floating members), create some of the most compelling music currently emanating from Japan.
On Totemo Aimasho – loosely translated as 'Lets Meet Very Much' – Tenniscoats find themselves traveling across countries, scribing audio journal entries from Aust…
*2024 stock* Crafted throughout 2004 and early 2005, Rösner’s original source material stems largely from instruments (guitar, percussion, analog electronics), and through his detailed processing and production methods he’s been able to counterpoint a desire for raw digital overtones against earthy acoustic qualities.
The results are simply a pleasure for the ears – course passages of hiss and electronic splutter give way to lilting moments of sheer melodic beauty. With strong humming bass heavy…
*2024 stock* UK-based artist Chris Herbert is a man of intermittent communications. Over the past decade he has published a select oeuvre of crushingly lush and elegant records. Fittingly then, Constants, his new edition for Room40 is a transmission from an overtly private realm. Working in a relative vacuum, beyond the reach of contemporary electronic music trends, Herbert has focussed his interest in intuitive composition. Drawing on a mixed musical palette and interweaving sounds sourced from…
*2024 stock* Incredible collection of Scott Morrison's audio visual works. Presented in a gatefold monochrome printed and matte laminated jacket with insert cards.
eRikm’s Transfall is a document of profound gesture. A collection of works that resolve his recent explorations into music and sound for performance, dance and theatre.
*200 copies limited edition with hand-stamped coffee stained sleeves and insert* 5 decided and minimal arrangements of raw organic waste, tired motors, and idling electronic signals. Sound sources that are unmistakably worldly, spun into Ochu’s signature malaise, making them impossible to place. A continuation of the trajectory established on his preceding albums Unproduktiw and Lähmung des Wartens, this time while a slightly noisier edge.
*300 copies limited edition* “Two In Teer (two in the tar) contains five cycles of poems spread over fourteen tracks, always implemented differently in terms of sound. Poetry and sound poetry turn into fragile and lonely noises. An excessive collage of voices, piano, and increasingly distorted and destroyed tape recorders. Solo and in duet with the voices of Alice Kemp, Mara Genschel, Anna Schimkat, and the violins of Hans Essel and Inge Salcher.Perhaps the most naked, embarassing and most indet…
Compilation of revolutionary Omani songs from the time of the Marxist-Leninist Dhofar Liberation Front seeking to overthrow the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman and Establish an independent state in Dhofar, free from the rule of the Omani Sultan Said bin Taimur. The rebels also held the broader goals of Arab nationalism which included ending British influence in the Persian Gulf region. The Dofar War lasted from 1965 – 1976 ultimately ending with the defeat of the PFLO. These songs celebrate the bra…