Small Hands

The 1987 image album for Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, composed and produced by Joe Hisaishi before the film's score: eleven songs sung by Azumi Inoue, Kumiko Mori, Taku Kitahara and the Suginami Children's Choir. Studio Ghibli Records LP, tip-on jacket with obi.

Debut by My Face Is Dancing, the family collective led by drummer and producer Federico Ughi with his young sons: avant-soul and abstract hip hop built from recordings made across the children's early years. Black vinyl, 100 copies.

** Edition of 150 copies ** Pak Yan Lau: dismantled toy pianos, wind up toys, popping candy, bow, toy spring reverb, Buddha Machine, Tamayura bell, Japanese iron wind chimes, electronics, voice. Recorded and mixed at Outlau’d Studio, Brussels, in August 2020. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cover illustration by Eleusi.

2013 release ** Cardboard sleeve. Childhood Stories is an art project with sociological approach: it composes narrations of individuals about their childhood in order to create an authentic image of the social environment they grew up in. Therefore we gather material about childhood in a specific country by using a questionnaire. The answers are anonymized, translated and used as literary material, they are condensed or cut up, then arranged in a dramatic text – that’s Regina’s part. Christian c…

blickwinkel welcomes Joseph Kudirka to its label with the release of his new album "Music Box Music". As the title suggests, the album is entirely made with music boxes and is based on compositions which were sent to him by friends. Over the course of the several lockdowns, Kudirka carefully translated these compositions (read: punched holes) into suitable sheets for the instrument. Given the sole use of these music boxes, it’s not a surprise that the overall sound of the album has a fragile and…

Axolotl Lullabies drifts through the uncanny: Felix Kubin braids nocturnal synth miniatures, tape apparitions, and lullaby forms that refuse to settle. Melodies flicker like phosphorescence, rhythms breathe and retract, and silence becomes a soft voltage. A cradle for insomniacs and dream mechanics alike, it hums at the border where comfort and curiosity blur.

An original member of Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers embarked on a solo career following a US tour with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968. He was one of the first signings to EMI’s Progressive imprint Harvest and recorded his debut album in the Summer of 1969 at Abbey Road studios. ‘Joy Of A Toy’ is a classic of psychedelic and progressive rock, featuring contributions from his former Soft Machine band mates, David Bedford and such wonderful songs as ‘The Lady Rachel’, ‘Stop This Train (Again Doing…

*2022 stock* It may come as a surprise but one of the leading creators of keyboard music in the twentieth century is a composer by the name of John Cage. Cage’s reputation is so deeply associated with the avantgarde, with chance music, graphic notation, performance art, technology and Zen Buddhism that is early, conventionally-notated music for percussion ensemble and keyboards is sometimes neglected. Or was until recently. In the last few years – with the advent of performances and recordings l…

Touted by the label as the scariest, most inappropriate and possibly most influential kids TV music of all time, Sidney Sager and The Ambrosian Singers’ ‘Children of the Stones’ really is a terrifying anomaly collecting polyphonic vocal drone and “wordless wails” you’d sooner associate with the darkest Italian library records than anything made for children’s television. It’s a real fucking find this one - highly recommended if yr into anything from Delia x Daphne to Demdike.

The worlds of sound art and child-rearing collide on an album of children's songs and chants collaged and transformed by Simon Fisher Turner

The 1970 album For Children by Eero Koivistoinen was originally released by the book publishing company, Otava, which was responsible for his earlier two albums as well. Jazzpuu/Sähkö Recordings  reissued For Children in 2006 as did we in 2016, yet both of these releases have been hard to find ever since. This time around Svart brings this important piece of Koivistoinen's career, a successful amalgam of acoustic jazz and funky fusion back on the market on a limited Svart exclusive blue vinyl ed…

"Conrad Schnitzler is undoubtedly one of the founding fathers of German electronica. And his son, Gregor Schnitzler, matched the father's extraordinary level of creative output. They appear to have settled any musical differences amicably. After all, how else could they have 'shared' an LP released by Conrad Schnitzler himself? One half of Conrad & Sohn features music by Conrad Schnitzler, the other, his son Gregor. Two mini-albums on one disc, so to speak. An ideal opportunity to compare them. …

In the ensuing half century, Slovenian artist Milan Grygar, who trained as a painter, has dedicated himself to the relationship between sound and image. He has replaced paint wherever possible with sonic elements, interrogated the duration of a line, drawn with sticks, and integrated windup toys that leave noisy traces in his “mechanical drawings.” Grygar incorporates the acoustic frequencies that emerge during art making, but he also writes visual scores that musicians can interpret. His art is…

Dean Honer and Kevin Pearce present a beautifully designed original soundtrack of songs taken from a science show for children and adults alike.