New Arrivals
The Royal Garden Covered in Ash
Limited edition of 200 copies Mastered by Jacques Beloeil. Music by Fabio Orsi and Brian Pyle Recorded in Taranto, Italy and Manila (CA), USAFabio Orsi is an Italian producer and photographer. Born in Naples, he cites the field recordings of American folklorist Alan Lomax as a primary influence. Brian Pyle is from Northern California. He is a founding member of Starving Weirdos and also records as Ensemble Economique.
In, Demons, In!
**Edition of 300 copies** The time-stopping tract of ’In, Demons, In!’ is a naturally elemental drone collaboration between eminent experimentalists Jim O’Rourke and CM Von Hausswolff for their eternal admirers at iDEAL Recordings. Offering a transfixing peek behind the curtain of pure black hole drone dynamics, ‘In, Demons, In!’ finds the American in Japanese exile and the proclaimed monarch of the imaginary kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland meeting on common ground after 26 years of international…
Speleocombo Speelt VU
**200 copies** Speleocombo was a casual collective of Dutch art students that convened in the Antwerp Academy in the late ’80s. The core of this group consisted of Hewald Jongenelis and Egbert Aerts, sporadically joined by Fons Debaedts and several others, all of whom are still active in the fields of painting and drawing. During their time in Antwerp they hosted a show on Radio Centraal, Het Universeel Programma, and released several scarcely distributed cassettes and one single. This single’s …
Wont to Wanton Eyebath / Synapse Fusion Refusal
**200 copies** This took forever but here it finally is: after a few failed pressings, a broken back, lost contact, etc.; we are truly sorry we made all you Noor fans wait! Noor, or Nour Mobarak is a Lebanese-American immigrant. Her body acts as a synecdoche for a modern geopolitical condition, one which has experienced compounded war, negotiation, treaties, trauma, and clashing cultural values, and which now must synthesise this experience to heal. Her hybrid cultural identity translates itself…
Fuzzy Hair Electronics Vol. 1
**250 copies** W. Ravenveer – Erwin Van Looveren – has been a friend for over 20 years. Erwin is a magnet and connoisseur of strange and obscure music, and prone to nervous sweating should you mention a band or weirdo he doesn’t know. His early guitar gigs (as Schidzoid) are the stuff of legend, a reputation largely based on altercations with members of the audience. Having thumped everyone in sight, Erwin’s focus shifted to buying and mastering synthesizers with his customary zeal. After self-p…
Pymp World
**250 copies** Frank Hurricane’s legend is such that many have heard his name years before hearing his music. Hurricane Frank, if you will, is the kind of character that can spin an audience into a psychedelic vortex that will have you yelping HOLY PYMP BREW repeatedly as you zigzag your way back home. His music possesses a nagging quality: a dizzying mix of scruffy rap, Casio tones and raw dictaphone poetry that sounds like it always existed in that quattro formaggi part of your mind. Originall…
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…
Het Jakoba Prieel
**CD edition** While the Sound Reporters imprint, which ran intermittently between the early 80s and 90s - specializing in the sounds of anthropology, ethnomusicology, religion, travel and history, hailed from Amsterdam, those aware of this obscure cassette label will probably only be the most developed fans of Italian avant-garde. It was Sound Reporters that issued the incredible collaboration between Pit Piccinelli, Fred Gales, and Walter Maioli, Amazonia 6891, reissued by Black Sweat in 2016,…
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…