Best of 2022
Kazuki Tomokawa 1975–1977
Tip! A poet, soothsayer, bicycle race tipster, actor, prolific drinker, self-taught guitarist, and living legend of Japanese sound, Kazuki Tomokawa catapulted into Tokyo’s avant-folk scene in the mid-1970s, forging a sound and sensibility marked by throat-wrenching vocals and searing ennui. Among his musical peers in postwar Japan, Tomokawa distinguished himself as a pioneer of radical individualism. He had “the personality of a hydrogen bomb”—as the notorious ultraleft band the Brain Police on…
Heresie
Tip! Sub Rosa present a reissue of Univers Zero's second album Heresie, originally released in 1979. A classic of chamber rock music, featuring heavy use of dissonance and dark, brooding, and extremely complex melodies. "This music on this LP might have little to do with rock, and might also be a massive downer, but the quality of the writing and playing is extremely high. Michel Berckmans' solo work on oboe and bassoon work is magnificent, and Patrick Hanappier's string playing (violin and viol…
Tarot / The Cosmic Jokers / Galactic Supermarket / Planeten Sit-In / Sci Fi Party / Gilles Zeitschiff
This bundle includes the following LPs:Walter Wegmüller "Tarot" (2LP, 1973)The Cosmic Jokers "The Cosmic Jokers" (LP, 1974)The Cosmic Jokers "Galactic Supermarket" (LP, 1974)The Cosmic Jokers "Planeten Sit-In" (LP, 1974)The Cosmic Jokers "Sci Fi Party" (LP, 1974)The Cosmic Jokers "Gilles Zeitschiff" (LP, 1974)Walter Wegmüller "Tarot" (2LP, 1973)* 180g, double LP on Black Vinyl in gatefold sleeve* Remastered by Dierks/Flüchter. Walter Wegmüller (1937 - 2020) was a Swiss-Jenish artist who grew up …
Split (LP)
**Edition of 200 copies, in process of stocking** Mutual admirers of each other’s work, these titans of Scottish and French dronefolk team up for a split LP, with two tracks by Pefkin and three by Roxane Métayer. The fact that these like-minded artists explore the boundaries of what connects them, makes it a very exciting release. The Pefkin side is Gayle at her most melodic, whereas Roxane goes down a poetic and rhythmical path. Dream combo. The album is pressed on high-quality german vinyl, in…
Baker's Dozen
Big Tip! Box set of all previously unreleased materials by US avant / progressive rock band The Muffins. "The finest progressive band that America produced." - Fred Frith. It is an all-too-rare occurrence for a band, throughout its career, to create music that continually pushes the envelope and transforms the landscape. It is an even rarer occurrence for such a band to reunite after a long separation, and embark on a second musical career that proves as innovative as the first. The Maryland-bas…
Soundmusication
Tip! “Soundmusication” is the third and final album by Jamaican born tenorist Fitz Gore, another rare and beautiful spiritual jazz LP from the late 1970s. “Fitz had a very deeputopian faith in the right music, which could change the world and develop a real condition of peace, because it was supposed to move people`s feelings and actions to spiritual truth. He was convinced that music owned the healing power of the world” (Ulrich Kurth).
Other players include Lukoki Mampasi on electric piano, Ob…
Op. 163 Penthesilea / Op.176 Penthesilea (2LP + 5CD Box bundle)
This bundle includes the two latest Henning Christiansen Archive releases:Henning Christiansen "Op. 163 Penthesilea"(2LP)Henning Christiansen "Op. 176 Penthesilea"(5CD Box)Henning Christiansen "Op. 163 Penthesilea"(2LP)
*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 patient…
Two Extended Pieces for Four Pianos
Building on the back of their stunning release of Ensemble 0’s rendering of "Femenine" issued earlier this year, Sub Rosa returns with "Two Extended Pieces for Four Pianos", featuring brand new recording of two seminal works composed by Julius Eastman between 1970 and 1980 - "Evil N*gger" (1979) and "Crazy N*gger" (1980) - realised by Nicolas Horvath, Melaine Dalibert, Stephane Ginsburgh, and Wilhem Latchoumia.
Blue Notes for Johnny
Otoroku is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of "Blue Notes for Johnny" - a defining statement by one of the greatest ensembles in the history of jazz. Recorded in mid-1987 by Blue Notes - then reduced to the trio of Dudu Pukwana on alto sax, Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums and Chris McGregor on piano - it encounters the band 25 years after their founding embarking on an inward meditation through collective music making dedicated to Johnny Dyani, their former bandmate and friend.
Blue Notes…
Amazonia 6891: Sounds From Jungle, Natural Objects, Echo ...
Much needed repress and absolute tip! Released for the first time on vinyl in 2016 and immediately sold out, this is one of the best long-lost treasure from the 80s – and it's one long composition filled with raw sounds from the jungle, natural objects and electronic treatment. The idea to evoke a deep journey in the Amazon rainforest has affected various musicians in the history of popular and experimental music, but comparing to other works this rare "Amazonia 6891", released only on cassette …
Chomolhari (LP)
On 1984's Chomolhari, new age pioneer Karma Moffett eschews the arsenal of Tibetan bells and resonant singing bowls, which he usually uses to conjure his healing ambient works. Instead, he opts for the shimmering arpeggiation and gentle glissando of the Moog synthesizer. With this aural palette, he soundtracks a rich inner voyage of peace and reflection. Bookended by the calming drone of the Tibetan longhorn, the trip to Chomolhari and back is one worth taking again and again.
Karma Moffett re…
Merzbeat
* 20th anniversary edition gatefold reissue on pink vinyl. Limited to 300 copies * Merzbeat, a beautiful and distorted dream of drum samples, jazz, swing, noise and bliss, by Harsh Noise giant, Masami Akita (Merzbow), last press issued by Aurora Central.
Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage
Tip! The prolific German musician Christian Schoppik is dropping his second solo album of 2022 under the moniker Läuten der Seele, following up his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album released at the start of the year.
Once again, “Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage” (The Mother Mary Grotto as a Drinking Water Treatment Plant) is a work based on a mix of sample collages and recorded instruments that are often used sparsely but as load-bearing elements. However, this ti…
États-Unis Bundle III
Includes five albums: etat16 - Various - I.D. Art #2 (LP) etat17 - Le Forte Four / Doo-Dooettes - Live at the Brand (2xLP) etat18 - Various - Blorp Esette Volume One (LP) etat19 - Smegma - Glamour Girl 1941 (LP) etat20 - Various - Sound (LP)
Celestial Soul Portrait
Numero present a sincerely wide-eyed and wondrous collection of new age synth music prototypes imagined and created between 1975-1985 by Iasos. As the story goes, Iasos was inspired by "...the infinitely numbered harmonies transmitted by Vista, a benevolent being from a distant dimension..." Iasos broke ground for a new age of electronic sound manipulation. His was pioneering work—done from a bohemian boat-slip home office—on some of the first commercially available synthesizers and, on stage, i…
La Banda Del Sole (LP)
500 numbered copies Remastered from the original tapes. Orange Vinyl During the 1970s, Italy was one of the most exciting and fascinating musical contexts in Europe, birthing seminal projects and artists like Franco Battiato, Aktuala, Lino 'Capra ' Vaccina, Giusto Pio, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Futuro Antico, and so many more. Defining the scene was an ethos that rigorously pursued creative freedom and experimentation, with its artists fluidly moving between popular music - rock, prog, jazz, etc. -…
Ahir Bhairav (2LP)
* Edition of 300 * Mohi Bahauddin Dagar is the heir to one of the most important families of musicians in the Indian Hindustani tradition: Dagar family. During the XX century, his father, the famous Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, was mainly responsible for the revival of the Rudra Veena as a solo concert instrument. The stylistic evolution of the Rudra also involved a substantial modification of its parts by Zia Mohiuddin. In fact, the tumbas (gourds) and dhandhi (hollow neck) were enlarged to crea…
Musical Instruments from Prehistory: the Paleolithic
Tip! Art of Primitive Sound is a sensational journey to the origin of Music. In his crucial research chapter on the Paleolithic, between 1986 and 1991 Walter Maioli investigated the soundscape of different geographical, climatic and botanical environments, in which the mystery of the ancient human-nature relationship resides. What emerges is an expanded and unprecedented Paleorganology, with a range of acoustic and natural instruments from all over the World. Rubbing of fossils, animal artefacts…
Live In New York City February 8, 1975
* Last copies, sold-out at source * Gatefold triple LP (5 sides of music). Limited pressing of 500 worldwide. Includes new liner notes from Susan Mannheimer, the host of the 1975 event * This recently unearthed recording captures Alan Braufman with his five-piece band in an early 1975 live radio session soon after recording his debut album Valley of Search for the India Navigation label. This was the first meeting for William Parker and Cooper-Moore, whose musical partnership has flourished ever…
A Flattened Face Fogs Through (LP)
* Edition of 300 on black vinyl. Includes a full color 21 page 8.5" x 11" booklet of photographs, poetry, artwork, liner notes and other ephemera * Dr. John M. Bennett (Chicago, 1942) has been a prolific contributor on the absolute fringes of the American poetry, mail-art, and underground music worlds throughout his career, while working as a scholar and archivist of Latin American literature and avant-garde writing. One of two sons to prominent cultural anthropologist John W. Bennett, he was bo…