New Arrivals
Day and night
Saxophonist Gerd Dudek's 2012 concert in London at the Vortex in a quartet with Hans Koller (piano), Oli Hayhurst (bass) and Gene Calderazzo (drums), with Dudek and Koller picking some of their favorite jazz tunes including works by Nichols, Shorter, Coleman, Wheeler, &c. Gerd Dudek (soprano & tenor saxophones), Hans Koller (piano), Oli Hayhurst (double bass), Gene Calderazzo (drums). Gerd Dudek came to London early in 2012 to give a concert at the Vortex. The next day the quartet went to…
Cover Versions
Andrew Pekler selected 300 different covers from second-hand records and, using colorful geometric elements to cover over all titles, performer’s names, and label logos, removed traces of the covers’ original contexts. The sunsets, couples in silhouette, alpine panoramas, roses on pianos, female faces in close-up, and seascapes no longer serve as the packaging for easy listening and exotica. Instead, the romantic, bizarre and intriguingly bland images of the original covers are free to lend thei…
The Alan Lomax Recordings
This has gotta be a piece of history right here. These 12 songs comprise Alan Lomax's first recordings of the legendary Fred McDowell in an incredible, on-the-spot document of his soul-stomping, spirit-wrenching blues. Fred is joined by Miles Pratcher on second guitar for a number of songs, and accompanied by Annie Mae McDowell's vocals and Fanny Davis on hair comb, running through a repetoire of spirituals and original songs. We're by no means Blues experts, but you don't need to know jack sh*t…
Falling / The Message Is Received
beatiful single, housed in a deluxe cover, ultra limited
Superdisque
Superdisque is the first album from the French trio formed by David Fenech (electric guitar) with Jac Berrocal (trumpet) and Ghédalia Tazartès (vocals). Somewhere beyond the borders of rock, jazz, punk and sound poetry -- the vocals seem to come from another planet, with lyrics in an improvised language. The winds are blown from Tibetan human bones and conch seashells. Guitars sound like rubber and steel. Expect the unexpected. Special guest Zap Pascal (accordion) appears on one track. Dav…
Menses
Originally released in a private edition of 300 copies in 1982. This vinyl re-issue comes in a beautiful picture disc and includes a replica of the original and hard to find insert. The copies I have here include a page of a medical book handsigned by Maurizio Bianchi himself.
The love robots
Jim O'Rourke, guitar. Paal Nilssen-Love : drums. Lasse Marhaug, electronics. Recorded at Gok Sound Tokyo by Yoshiaki Kondo February 2011. Mixed by James Plotkin. Coproduced by Pica et PNL. Gatefold cover. 500 copies. Housing, parasites and hammering textures.
Proceed with Caution!
Whereas the earlier black jazz album Shawn-Neeq had its share of riff-based funk, Calvin Keys' second outing Proceed with Caution! (1974) sticks close to straight-ahead jazz verities with the 30-something guitarist in the studio with seven similarly young, on-the-rise musicians including Charles Owens (saxophones, flute), Oscar Brashear (trumpet), Al Hall Jr. (trombone), Kirk Lightsey (electric piano), Henry Franklin (bass), and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler (drums). Keys can really play the guitar, e…
Dream Seeds
Extra Life’s first record for Northern Spy, Dream Seeds marks a dramatically new creative direction in the band’s still-young but prolific career. It is perhaps Extra Life’s most clearly-defined concept album : seven songs dealing entirely with the twin themes of dreams and children. In a lyrical left turn away from the morbid sexuality and black humor of Made Flesh, these songs look to the subconscious in search of innocence, morality and meaning. According to principal songwriter and e…
Matter
Ingar Zach, percussion. Martin Küchen, saxophone & pocket radio. Nikos Veliotis, cello & video. Looper's unique combination of floating sounds provides the spectator with a suspended environment to sink in, dislocating him from the casual perception of time and space.
Ritual
gorgeous LP of this obscure live recording, an ethereal vortex of electric moon-sounding mandolin and slow bass (luca massolin), spacy keyboards (david vanzan), primitive astral soprano sax and voice (virginia genta). atmospheres for the end of the earthly. handmade collage cover art. limited edition of 280 numbered copies.
Concredrones
M.B., also known as Maurizio Bianchi doesn’t need much introduction. In the early 80s he was responsible for a string of compelling electronic music albums in the first wave of ‘industrial music’. After a hiatus of many years he returned in the late 90s and since then has been very active with many new solo releases, but also on the side with collaborations. Here he works with Mario Costa, also known as Sostrah Tinnitus, from Italy, who has had a number of releases on labels as Umbra, Beyond, My…
Scott (The Collection 1967-1970)
This box set collects remastered versions of Scott Walker's first five solo albums. The Scott albums are the fulcrum of Walker's career: You can hear where he'd been, and in retrospect, where he was going. His third act was emerging after 20 years of almost total silence with Tilt, The Drift, and Bish Bosch, released between 1997 and 2012. Walker's latter-day albums are fearless and violent, featuring wailing donkeys, moans, scrapes, and famously, the sound of someone punching meat. They seem to…
Gate
A new 7" from Sissy Spacek on Wendy. If you have asked yourself this you know how this new vinyl sounds.Short crazy blast of terror, insane fast drums, screaming vocals, feedback and shards of noise. Play it loud. Play it at 45rpm. Flip side. Do it again. This time SS are John and Charlie. Essential lineup.
Retro-2038
COH is the moniker used by Ivan Pavlov from Russia for more than a decade. COH is also the Russian word for \'sleep\'. Yet, do not be deceived - RETRO-2038 is much more of a deep space than a deep sleep. The second COH release on Editions Mego is a true delight to behold, inviting as it does its exploration of electronic sound in minimalism, futuristic pop and the uncharted territories inbetween. Ranging from digital updates of Giorgio Moroder\'s pulse experiments to menacing lingering LF…
Minimal Milan
Lovely compilation selected by Xiu (Oksana Rodionova) consisting of contemporary minimal electronic and deviant-techno artists based in Milan, Italy. Here's the label's mission statement as you could say: "The musical aesthetism defended by the label admits connections with post-modern qualities and challenges conventions for an innovative musical conversation between analogue instrumentation and technologies." The label will host various types of electronic music always seen throught a dark and…
Plays Bee Mask
Double LP version. In hindsight, the pairing of Chris Madak and Donato Dozzy was inevitable from the moment when the two connected on Mount Naeba, Japan at the storied Labyrinth party last fall. Both artists have worked to craft singular visions unlike anything else happening in electronic music today, yet despite each producer's unmistakable individuality, there is a deeper reservoir of shared sensibility between them which makes Donato Dozzy Plays Bee Mask feel like a logical and necessar…
Black Magic & Mustache
Seattle-based Simon Henneman's first solo vinyl release is here. Mr. Henneman has worn many hats in the musical vortex of the Seattle sub-underground, most "famously" as one of the Diminished Men, who released an LP on the Sun City Girls Abduction label in 2009. That LP gave the lucky few who procured a copy an idea of the talents of that great band. Here, Mr. Henneman strikes out on his own and creates a solo journey of a much more intimate palette. Playing every instrument on the reco…
Giovanni Lami / Kenny The Chimp
Giovanni Lami (Ravenna, Italy, 1978) is a field recordist and musician who works within soundscape and sound-ecology boundaries. Since 2009, he has founded several projects, attended many workshops and tought others about soundscaping and field recording techniques. With his various projects, Giovanni has performed in several venues including: Conservatorio B.Maderna (Cesena), DalVerme (Roma), Mu.Vi.Ment.S. Festival 2010 (Itri), Fondazione Giorgio Cini (Venezia), Festival C/off (Faenza), Schiume…
Mono
Initially published on CD by Smalltown Superjazzz in 2011. Mats Gustafsson, tenor and baritone saxophones. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, bass. Paal Nilssen-Love, drums. The Thing music + two Sonny Rollins tracks and one Norwegian trad. Recorded and mixed 2011 in mono in Melbourne, Australia. Limited release of 500. Heavyweigt double-vinyl, first time on vinyl. Manufactured by Trost Records." (label info)