Reissues
One-Armed Fiddler
Mid-70’s album of instrumental Appalachian fiddling (with guitar and bass accompaniment) by a guy who, after a grisly gun-related injury, developed a between-the-legs bow technique. Mr. Smith was a repository of would-be lost traditional tunes, and his unique, microtonal playing only makes these gems all the more precious. For fans of the Anthology of American Folk Music and/or Jandek.
Tomorrow Come Someday
(1969) from the home studio of future BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP composer PETER HOWELL & his musical partner JOHN FERDINANDO, makers of legendary albums under the names Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ithaca, Agincourt, & Friends. This private press album was recorded as the soundtrack for an underground film production by (later to be) renowned television director Ian Hamilton
Atalanta (Acts Of God) Volume II
2010 release. Three of the satellite songs from Robert Ashley's opera Atalanta (Acts of God) - each inspired or revolving around one of the main characters of the opera, Max, Willard and Bud. Atalanta (Acts of God) was written in the 1980s, begun while Ashley was still in production for the television opera, Perfect Lives.
The many hours of material were performed throughout the world in many
different configurations, but this is the first time these songs have
been available on CD. Personnel…
Shanti (1972-73)
Packaged in a 6 panel digipak. Includes a 16 page booklet in French & English. A massive, four side-long drone-epic masterpiece “Shânti” (1972-73) for electronic and concrete sounds, in a spectacular double CD digipack issue. A hundred-and-thirty-five minute piece of "meditation music" for a four-track magnetic tape by Jean-Claude Eloy, produced in the Electronic Studio of the Radio of Cologne “The term “meditation music” triggered many conflicting comments including positive ones (“... let us s…
Gaku-No-Michi (1977-78)
Restocked. “Gaku-no-michi”, Tao of music or Ways of music. Film without images for electronic and concrete sounds. Produced at the electronic music studio of NHK Radio, Tokyo 1977-78. “Jean-Claude Eloy is a French composer, born in 1938. He studied at the Paris National Superior Conservatory of Music, where he won First Prizes in Piano, Chamber Music, Counterpoint, Ondes Martenot, and studied composition with Darius Milhaud. He attended summer courses at Darmstadt (Pousseur, Scherchen, Messiaen,…
The river session
Recorded live at City Hall in Glasgow in 1974, this is an extraordinary set drawing from the 2 albums of the period: "LA Turnaround" & "Santa Barbara Honeymoon"
Complete Works For Clarinet
Giacinto Scelsi was both reclusive and inexact in the way that he dated and named his compositions. This rendition of Tre Pezzi (a broad title Scelsi used numerous times for different pieces) focuses on narrow ranges in the B-flat clarinet, demonstrating the thin margin of tonal range between the phrases that come sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Kho Lho, on the other hand, pairs a clarinet and flute duet so closely that the instruments' tones merge into a thick strand of sound. Maknongan is a r…
Secrets Of The Blue Bag
An early minimal masterpiece "Secrets of the Blue Bag" was titled for a Chinese description of the sky, and was originally recorded (and released) in 1972, at a time when Anthony Moore's experiments were still known only to a select few cognoscente. Of course his work with Slapp Happy and beyond, as a solo artist, vastly increased his audience, although it will be the hardcore fans alone who will truly return to this album on a regular basis. Primarily instrumental, the music is based around the…
Berlin Symphonie MND 1968 - 72
Legendary recordings by Johansson and friends, precursor of today´s minimalistic impro. Includes 30 minutes solo by sax player Frippe Nordström. CD I recorded at Club Litfass, Berlin, 1968; CD 2, track 1 recorded at SR, Stockholm, 1970; CD 2, tracks 2-4 recorded at Club 7, Oslo, 1972.Sven-Åke Johansson, drums, voice; Norbert Eisbrenner, guitar, alto saxophone, voice; Bengt Nordstöm, tenor saxophone (CD2 track 1); Werner Götz bass (CD 1, CD2 track 1); Peter Dyck, cello (CD2 tracks 2-4).
Instrumentations verbales
After releasing the first LPs ever published by Isidore Isou, Gil J Wolman, Hidlago & Marchetti’s ZAJ… here is another historical premiere, or the first LP ever issued by French pre-situationist Jean-Louis Brau.Jean-Louis Brau (1930-1985) at the age of 20 joined along with Gil J Wolman, Isidore Isou's Lettrist group, creating in this context (the same of Wolman's “mégapneums”, Dufrêne's “crirythmes”, Lemaître's “hyperphonies” and Isou's “poèmes ciselants”) what he called “instrumentations verba…
I saw my mother ascending Mount Fuji
Just over one hour and five minutes, Harley Gaber’s “I Saw My Mother Ascending Mount Fuji” (2009, for Tape and processed Violin and Alto Flute) offers proof of music’s power to transport (the listener) in ways generally associated with film and literature. “Fuji’s” Kaidan-like atmosphere—the Japanese world of ghosts and spirits—unfolds slowly in its process of uncovering and revealing a deeper and different spirit world in what might be termed a spiritual journey: The ascension and transformatio…
Blue Afternoon
Blue Afternoon, released in 1969, was Tim Buckley's first self-produced record and his debut for Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa's Straight record label. This was Buckley's fourth album after Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello, and Happy Sad. Blue Afternoon used the same group of musicians as Happy Sad, with the inclusion of drummer Jimmy Madison. Several tracks on Blue Afternoon are songs Buckley had intended to record on earlier albums but had not completed. "Chase the Blues Away" and "Happy Tim…
Finstrenis
ALUK TODOLO are a recondite creature: part okkult black metal fiend & part snide kraut menace. Dry, spare percussion grievously mines the scrapes, shrieks, & shimmer of mutated guitar & bass. Recently feat. at 2009's WFMU Fest in Brooklyn, NY
Deutsche Elektronische Vol1
What's in a name? Good question. On first glance, Deutsche Elektronische Musik gives the impression that the pieces for Soul Jazz's new collection were selected for how they later fed into house and techno. But then there's that subtitle—"Experimental German Rock and Electronic Music 1972-83"—one which gently reminds listeners that much of the most fertile music from Germany in the '70s wasn't electronic at all. So why not Krautrock? Well, that doesn't quite work either: A title like that…
Way Out
The Books have a terrific sense of humor-- and it makes The Way Out, an album built on eccentric vocal samples, a good-natured discovery instead of a cheap piece of mockery. Imagine if a blog had posted these clips of goofball hypnotherapist and meditation consultants, or found a tape of a boy and a girl swapping violent threats with each other: You'd chuckle and move on. But when the Books use these samples, they give them integrity. You find yourself engrossed with people …
Thought for Food
Every once in a while a record like this one appears out of the ether without clear reference points. Web details on The Books are sketchy, but I have ascertained that they're a duo consisting of guitarist Nick Zammuto, who lives in North Carolina and has released some solo material under his surname, and cellist Paul de Jong, who lives in New York and has composed for dance, theater and film. After that, the pool of Books information dries up fast. The music is similarl…
The World of Buckminster Fuller
a 1974 documentary by he cult figure Buckminster Fuller, an impossible to categorize, the anticipatory Design scientist, foreshadows the complex persona of a contemporary media artist. John Cage, America's foremost avant garde composer, became enamored of Fuller during the first summer Cage spent at Black Mountain College, and his admiration grew over the years. This film is not so much about Fuller but rather Buckminster Fuller explaining himself in his own words. As such, it is a fascinating h…
Magical Nights
3LP version. Munster Records presents the most complete anthology of the legendary Czech band The Plastic People Of The Universe. PPUS was formed in autumn 1968 in Prague by teenagers and former school-mates bass guitarist Milan "Mejla" Hlavsa and guitarist Jirí "Premek" Stevich. They teamed up with vocalist and clarinetist Michal Jernek and drummer Pavel "Eman" Zeman. Their increasing popularity attracted attention from Ivan Martin Jirous, until then the artistic mastermind of the legendary Pri…
Dub & Die plus
Originally released in 1981 as an untitled mini album on Zick Zack, "Dub & Die" completes our re-issue programme of the band's earliest works. Recorded at SADW's Cassettencombinat studio in Berlin, the original 8 tracks represent the first release by this German Avantgarde/Industrial group that was once a member of the "Geniale Dilettanten" movement. Again, comparison with early Einstürzende Neubauten is permitted, altho…
Final Movement / Bloodheat
A milestone in Thorofon's back catalogue, 'Final Movement' was released on the band's own UMB label in 2002. A very limited version of the album had a 10" included which is also present on this CD re-issue. And in addition, we have thrown in a previously unreleased track so the playing time is extended to nearly 80 minutes. Thorofon are a German-based duo consisting of Genevieve Pasquier (who also records as a solo artist) and Anton Knilpert. Although their sound is very unique, their roots lie …