Folk /
Personal
Francesco Serra (Cagliari, 1980) is a self-taught guitarist living and working in Bologna. His research focuses on identifying performance practices aimed at extending the timbre qualities of the guitar and emphasising the evocative potential of sound. Throughout his musical journey, particularly in the three albums released between 2008 and 2019 under his solo project Trees of Mint (Micro Meadow, Trees of Mint, and NW, released by Here I Stay and Trovarobato Parade), he has progressively decons…
Anima
*100 copies limited edition* Raoul Eden is a french solo guitarist in the American primitive tradition. Leaving behind strumming, he began playing fingerstyle guitar. Coming from the old European continent, Raoul Eden has singular influences, which he puts down to the crossroad position of his roots – between the eastern and western world, north and south. Arabic music has always been present around him; he is fond of Gnawa music and plays guembri (a Gnawa bass lute also known as a sintir, gimbr…
Lonely Hymns and Pillars of Emptiness
*2024 stock* The debut release by Slovenian musical polymath Iztok Koren, best known for his work in avantefolk outfits Širom, Škm banda and Hexenbrutal. Made in the heat of 2020’s lockdown, Iztok transmutes the intensity of the period into 6 pieces that sensitively unfurl over time. With various stringed instruments and field recordings in hand, he weaves his interests in Slovenian mysticism, ancient Chinese divination texts, his family and his new found love of nature, revealing an intimate sn…
Amoskeag
Every song on this album taps into raw, rich veins of sound that are simultaneously dense but easy to enjoy; vintage and modern; new yet timeless. The album kicks off with a monster track entitled "Stratton-Eustis" - one of those complex yet flowing tunes that makes you think overdubs were involved or the player has grown an extra set of limbs. Then there's "Kenduskeag,” a raga-esque group recording in an abandoned New England Conservatory building with Ethan WL and the long standing anonymous d…
Space-Time Dreamtime
Occasionally, you find music outside the commercial mainstream, outside of everything – the music of visionaries, eccentrics, inventors, loners, the keepers of secrets, the path-finders. Moondog, Daphne Oram, Harry Partch are from this mould. And so too is Lori Vambe.
Madhuvanti Pal - The Holy Mother (Plays The Rudra Veena)
Tip! This is the first Vinyl LP ever released featuring a woman playing the Rudra Veena. Madhuvanti Pal is from Kolkata India, teaches the Rudra Veena and builds her own instruments. The name Rudra Veena derives from two Sanskrit roots: Rudra, which is a name for Shiva, and veena, which means "instrument." The first historical accounts of the instrument are given in the Vedas, and then the Puranas. According to Hindu mythology, the Rudra Veena has a unique origin. It is said that Shiva saw his b…
Re-cycling
Tip! "In ‘re-cycling’ I distilled a true story, into its component parts, and put it back together as the narrative of this album's music. Each track represents one of five elements: a fungus, a bacteria, rocks, water, a tree. These elements come together to create a forest of sound approaches created through sitar and tabla. The album's title – ‘re-cycling’ – works on several levels. It's a reference to the cycles of life and death, familiar cycles (the water cycle, the rock cycle) and unfamili…
In delicate balance
*2023 stock* Recorded immediately following a group meditation, "in delicate balance" takes that spiritual energy and amplifies it back to listeners. The album's title refers to Raag Bhairavi where I interweave several themes "in a delicate balance" of inspiration and experience.
"J.J Gregg’s depth of passion for his music and his attention to nuance on the sitar is masterful. His study and use of traditional ragas is beautifully filtered through his own touch and personal experiences in other g…
Opening up
*2023 stock* J.J. Gregg’s 'opening up' draws listeners deep into a meditative state. Each raga provides a different mood while taking the listener on a journey unique to their state of mind. The first track, a lilting and bright rendition of Raag Rageshree, explores speed and sound in a most refreshing way. In track two, Raag Yaman offers a uniquely developed and comprehensive journey through the beauty of South Asian Classical music. In the concluding track on the album, Raag Chandrakauns, deep…
Fiddle
First, the music was obscured by history and now almost by the story behind it all.