Best of 2022
Geträumt Hab Ich Vom Martinszug
Tip! The third stanza of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem ‘Dem sonnengott’ evokes a narrator who is tortured by Spleen until slumber makes his childlike gloom disappear with music. Although today’s readers might judge these nineteenth century musings of the Imagination as mere stylistic platitudes, they also still speak beyond the grave as universal truths. A mere two hundred years later, similar anxieties and hopes are still channeled through various art forms, with changing success and reverberation…
Small Mountain (LP)
* Edition of 300 * In 1986, the vibraphonist Tom Van Der Geld composed his personal ode to creation, a tonal poem for all natural beings called Small Mountain. It reveals a pure minimalist inspiration, a vibrant style of sound variations that is decidedly more Zen-Impressionistic than the mathematical-metaphysical works of Steve Reich. This music, for four marimbas and other percussion instruments suggests an emotional osmosis with all the elements, a flow of ecstatic progressions that is more i…
Sotto E 'Ncoppa
Tip! Despite the title of the album, it is the Tullio De Piscopo's third work, recorded in 1976. Comprising nine tracks in total across its two sides, “Vol. 2” falls somewhere between fusion and prog, straddling darker, brooding temperaments with joyous, funky lines. Predictably, as is nearly the case with music of this sort, the playing and artistry is top-notch, the band locked together with remarkable precision, but the journey that “Vol. 2” takes is far from expected. Interspersed throughout…
Das Glück Vermeiden
Super Tip! Five years on from the recordings of their previous album, "Erinnerungen An Gesichter", Brannten Schnüre continue their conceptual work with a new LP, "Das Glück Vermeiden". Quite contrary to the incantations of reminiscence its predecessor wielded so carefully, this one is all about wanting to forget, a therapeutic process of coming to terms with the fever dreams and ghost stories of the past. But there's much more to this record than just being the flipside to that familiar coin. Ch…
Viva Boma
Viva Boma was Cos second LP, originally issued in November 1976, and added some African influences to the mix, including the cover which, designed by Alain Goutier upon a concept by Daniel Schell, depicted a trio of hipopotamus that made reference to Boma, a portuary city at the banks of the river Congo, and Bomma, Belgian word for grandmother (hence the title appearing either with one or two m's on different parts of the artwork).
The Wah Wah reissue comes housed in a beautiful reproduction of …
Postaeolian Train Robbery
An obscure classic from the 1970's Belgian jazzy prog scene that has become a much sought after piece in the collector's market since it was originally released in 1974. Highly inspired by both the UK's Canterbury scene and the zeuhl sound, the debut album by Cos has been compared to the likes of Soft Machine, Gong, Hatfield & The North, National Health, Gilgamesh, Egg, Placebo, Magma or Zao, with Pascale Son's unique wordless vocals and nonsense syllables singing in a voice that some sources ha…
Isophonic Boogie Woogie
In restock Reissue of the legendary Afro spiritual minimal electronic masterpiece 5-track first LP (plus 2 bonus tracks) from horn wizard and original underground FM radio DJ Roland P. Young, featuring soprano sax, clarinet, and electronically-processed bass clarinet. An enjoyable outing from a neglected musician. Cosmic Afro-minimal electronic winds recorded in 1970s San Francisco. Classic explorations from the dude who was responsible for the legendary Infinite Sound LP on Arch 1750.
Thankful…
Krökta Tankar & Brända Vanor
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* ”Krökta Tankar Och Brända Vanor” is the first proper release by Gothenburg’s Amateur Hour since 2019’s ”Framtiden Tillhör Inte Oss”. Julia, Hugo & Dan are no strangers in the Gothenburg Underground scene, and have performed in acts such as Westkust, Sewer Election, Enhet För Fri Musik, Makthaverskan, Typical Girls and Oroskällan. This album stays true to the Amateur Hour formula, a mix of dreamy indie pop and harsh industrial soundscapes, all held together with w…
Amateur Hour / Framtiden Tillhör Inte Oss / Krökta Tankar & Brända Vanor
This bundle includes three albums by Amateur Hour, namely "Amateur Hour," "Framtiden Tillhör Inte Oss" and "Krökta Tankar & Brända Vanor." All these three titles are pressed in a limited run of 500 copies each.
One of the most well-known names from the Gothenburg scene, Amateur Hour need no big introduction. Two very limited & very sold-out albums, 2016's Amateur Hour (FFFM) & 2019's Framtiden Tillhör Inte Oss (Happiest Place), and a handful of cassettes & 7"s later, Amateur Hour is finally back…
John Cage
** 180Gr White Vinyl. edition of 500 ** One of the better realizations of John Cage's work, this was also the first “Nova Musicha” collection release. The LP contains five John Cage’s compositions for "prepared" piano, played and performed by various artists: Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, Gianni-Emilio Simonetti and Demetrio Stratos. In these perfomances, the sound of the piano was altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers. Toy pianos and…
Op. 163 Penthesilea
*Limited edition of 300 copies* Beautiful, haunting and sombre, this 2LP presents the entire recording from Henning Christiansen’s Heinrich von Kleist tribute at Rene Block’s Rosenfest festival, Berlin, 1984. The Reality is a Ghost in My Mind (LP1) is a work that unfolds patiently with a mix of field recordings; wind, bird song and the sound of snow being crushed underfoot all unite in a foreboding atmosphere. IN Penthesilea Höhle (LP2) features electronic treatments to the original field record…
Standing Stone (LP)
Black vinyl. LP + Download Card. Hard cardboard sleeve + OBI. Insert with liner notes by Richard Allen & rare photos. Sourced from the original master tapes. Part-time farmer / musician Oliver Chaplin is the person behind one of the rarest private pressings from the UK.
His cult masterpiece “Standing Stone” was recorded in early 1974 at a remote farm in Wales, using a portable 4-track Teac reel-to-reel machine. Helped by his brother Chris at the controls (an experienced BBC engineer who had work…
Piece for Cello and Saxophone (2LP)
Big Tip! * Limited edition. Gatefold Cover, quality vinyl pressed at RTI. Includes a four-page insert with liner notes by La Monte Young, Charles Curtis, Anthony Burr, and Tashi Wada * Saltern's latest offering marks the first-ever release of "lost minimalist" Terry Jennings' visionary 1960 composition, Piece for Cello and Saxophone, as arranged in just intonation by legendary composer La Monte Young for renowned cellist Charles Curtis. Born in Los Angeles in 1940, Jennings was a close associate…
Different Places
* 350 copies limited edition on black vinyl, includes a one-sided insert * Continuing the reissue campaign of legendary synthesizer artist Enno Velthuys, we are proud to offer the Different Places LP. The original tape from 1987 was the second tape Enno produced for Exart and it was his last work before he disappeared into obscurity. By this time, he became disillusioned by the cassette network and his mental condition sadly deteriorated. With Hessel Veldman, label owner of Exart, getting more i…
Musica Para El Fin De Los Cantos
This is a very serene, almost entracing record that seems to inhabit its very own space, between "classical" ambient music (Eno, Budd), "systems music" (Reich, Glass, Riley, Hassell), japanese kankyo ongaku (Hiroshi Yoshimura, Takashi Kokubo), even hinting at what would become 90's ambient electronica (B12, Nuron, SAWII-era Aphex Twin or the Fax +49-69/40464 label). Actually, Lech would be one of the few artists to perform at the first-ever Sonar Festival (Barcelona) back in 1994 (together with …
The tail of the tiger
In 1977 an obscure Italian private label issued a record that sounded like it came from outer space. A long and dense trance-inducing drone of sustained notes, rich with overtones and harmonic embellishments, coming from a space so vast and unexplored that seemed almost of non-human, even electronic nature
Underground Altena
Alga Marghen returns with an absolute stunner, the LP “Underground Altena”, comprising a never before heard or released series of recordings capturing Anima - the duo of Limpe Fuchs and Paul Fuchs - in 1973. Largely rendered on a striking array of instruments, invented and played by the couple, its otherworldly, visionary sounds upend nearly every perception held about underground music transpiring in Germany during this period. Wild, wonderful, truly free, and inspiring as records come.
Electric Silence
Originally released in 1974 on famous German label Bacillus, Dzyan's third and final album,it is recognized for its daring world beat elements, and totally acidic album cover art. Dzyan refined their sound even further into improvisation and exotic sounds, mixed with weird experimentations and mysticism. It offers other-worldly music of incredible beauty and strangeness, influenced by the music of Asia but taking it into far more original realms. Multi-instrumentalists Marron and Karwatky experi…
Occam Ocean Vol. 4
Eliane Radigue returns with 'Occam Ocean 4', her fourth installment of the incredible, evolving work that she began in 2011. Issued by Shiin Records as a beautifully produced CD, featuring the three leading lights of contemporary experimental music - Bertrand Gauguet, Yannick Guédon and Carol Robinson - all of whom worked closely with the composer in its development, each of its works soar to remarkable heights and quietly redefine the boundaries of drone and minimal music in ways that only Rad…
Soundnitia / Soundmagnificat / Soundmusication
Tip! This bundle includes the following items:
"Soundnitia" is the cipher under which the experimental group The Talismen constituted in 1974 and made its presence known on the Jazz scene with the first LP. The initiator and spiritus rector of the avant-garde ensemble is the saxophonist Fitz Gore, a "stormer of the valves" and unknown to the augurs of the jazz scene. As a saxophonist and a newcomer, he documents with his ultra-hard sound. Fukara (Swahili) is a clear affinity to the school of "h…