Ryukyu Rare Groove Crossover - Okinawa Jazz Funk 1964-1984
A compilation of tracks that rearrange Okinawan folk songs into Jazz Funk, crossover, and large ensemble jazz, featuring works by Kiyoshi Yamaya, who was also highlighted in "Diggers Dozen" (BBE) by the Japanese DJ Muro, known as the "King of Diggin," and "Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk 1976" (180g). This collection debuts as the latest installment in the "Ryukyu Rare Groove" series, which was originally released in Japan in 2003 to great acclaim.
Ryukyu Rare Groove Revisited - Okinawa Pops 1957-1978
A compilation of rare and unique songs that blend rock and soul grooves with pop songs sung in the traditional scales of Okinawa, a southern island of Japan. It includes 14 tropical groove tracks from notable artists such as the iconic Yara Families, the pioneer of Okinawan folk rock Shokichi Kina, and Mitsuko Sawamura, who transitioned from Okinawa to American musical films.
Stars from Another Sky Pt. 1: Film Songs from the Subcontinent Before the World Was Torn Asunder, 1932-1939
"It may surprise some that, after two decades of silent films, when Alam Ara broke the silence in 1931, it and every South Asian talkie that followed was what we in the West think of as a "musical." Music had been integral to the culture's staged drama going back to the Gupta Dynasty — sometime between the 4 th and 6 th Century CE. Since its inception, South Asian cinema drew heavily from Marathi, Parsi, and Bengali musical theatre and silent film screenings were often accompanied by live music …
Straight Outta Tenggara: Southeast Asian Hip-Hop, 1990s-2000s
Another Dinte tape curated by cult WFMU show and blogger Bodega Pop; Gary Sullivan's long-running project rooted in a passion for digging for music in bodegas and cell-phone stores across NYC's boroughs. This edition focuses in on late 1990s and early 00s hip-hop & rnb from across Southeastern Asia.
"While on a work trip to Chicago in the mid-2000s, I was craving a bowl of pho. A bit of sleuthing led me to hop on the red line "L" up to Argyle Street, ground zero of Chicago's Little Saigon. In th…
In Search of Revolutionary Voices: Mexican Wax Cylinder Recordings, 1900-1910
A collection of Mexican recordings dating from approximately 1900 to 1910. Corridos, zarzuelas, poetry, popular songs, police bands, solo harps & guitars, all taken from wax cylinders issued from the beginning of the 20th century through to roughly the start of the Mexican revolution.
Inspired by Dr. Fatima Volkoviskii's paper 'In Search of Revolutionary Voices: Performance Practices of Mexican Singers in Cylinder Recordings' delivered at the Early Recordings Association's 'Exploring Traditional…
Wagadu Grooves Vol.2: The Hypnotic Sound of Camara 1991-2014
In Paris, a creative force of artists molded the cultural identity of the Malian diaspora, infusing the city’s eclectic mix of sounds with their own rich heritage. At the heart of it all was Gaye Mody Camara, a towering figure in Malian music and culture since the late 1970s. Born in Abidjan and raised in Kayes, he grew up fascinated by the rhythms of Wassoulou, steeped in the rhythms of a land shaped by diverse ethnicities and traditions, including the Peul, Bambara, and Dogon. His migration to…
Digging Central Asia: Musical Archaeology along the Silk Road
Anvar Kalandarov is a music archaeologist, musician and producer from Tashkent, Uzbekistan with a focus on unearthing rare and hard to find gems from across Central Asia. Last year he compiled Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz, released in collaboration with Ostinato Records. He also runs his own label Maqom Soul Records. Digging Central Asia is a mixtape that journeys through the psychedelic landscapes of the Silk Road, featuring recordings re…
Let Me Perish Without Return: Lament and Longing from the Fading Russian Empire, 1889-1917
Tip Our next release with Gary Sullivan's Bodega Pop project - rooted in a passion for digging for music in bodegas and cell-phone stores across NYC's boroughs. This edition focuses in on early recordings found in Russian neighborhoods in Brooklyn & Queens. "At the turn of the last century, the Russian Empire stood at a crossroads, caught between the weight of its imperial past and the promise of a radically altered future. Recorded during a period of profound cultural transformation and unrest,…
Praise Poems Volume 5
*2025 stock* Running a record label offers adiversified and challenging field of activity. This is particularly true when speaking of tiny independent re-issue labels where one, two or three guys have to take care of everything. Tracking down musicians, collecting their stories, writing the liner notes, creating the cover artwork, mastering the songs, promoting the release, communicating with pressing plants and distributors, and so on. Most of the tasks mean fun with the exception of one thing …
Waiting for Your Return: A Shidaiqu Anthology 1927-1952, Pt. I
Shidaiqu literally means "songs of the era", a term used to describe a hybrid musical genre that first began permeating through the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai in the late 1920s. Blending western pop, jazz, blues and Hollywood-inspired film soundtracks with traditional Chinese elements, the shidaiqu represented a musical and cultural merging that would go on to shape a golden age of Chinese popular song & film in the pre-communism interwar period.
Waiting for Your Return brings together a wide…
Praise Poems Volume 10 (A journey into deep, soulful jazz & funk from the 1970s)
Watch out! You are holding the 125th (one-hundred-and-twenty fifth!) album on Tramp Records in your hands! We are honored to celebrate this impressive anniversary with the tenth volume in the Praise Poems series. This time, too, we go on a journey to discover previously unheard regions of jazz, folk and AOR from the 1970s and 80s. Praise Poems Vol.10 presents sixteen (almost) forgotten rare groove gems, all released between the years 1970 and 1984. One of the many highlights is the opening track…
Disco Arabica
After 10 years from the release of the succesful "Obscure Cuts: Italian Arabic Disco", the mighty Beppe Loda is back with a new EP containing top notch cuts of finely chosen Middle-Eastern-influenced Italian obscure gems from the golden era of disco music. Step on the magical carpet and fly high with this new amazing vinyl by the legendary Beppe Loda.
Begging the Moon: Phleng Thai Sakon & Luk Krung, 1945-1960
Begging the Moon is a collection focused upon an early-to-mid 20th century style of Thai popular song, commonly named Phleng Thai sakon (meaning "song which is both Thai and universal"). With recordings taken from the end of WWII until the start of the 1960s, many of these tracks may also be referred to as Luk krung (meaning "child of the city") a more urbanised style of popular song that is in contrast to the Thai country music known as Luk thung ("child of the field").
Following the Thai cultu…
The Past Is a Wound in My Heart
Death Is Not The End platforms a selection of brooding, haunting Turkish tango recordings from the decades following the foundation of the republic in the early 1920s through to the mid 1950s.
Le Grand Ouest - 1978 - 1988
This compilation features tracks released between 1978 and 1988 in Western France.
Rhythmetic: The Compositions of Norman McLaren
Pioneering Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren (1914-1987) - creator of seminal short films Dots, Neighbours, Synchromy and many more - is remembered in first ever release of soundtrack works, self-composed from the 1940’s to 1970’s and forecasting the following half-century of electronic music. Norman McLaren was once described by composer, music theorist, and mathematician Milton Babbitt as “the first electronic musician.” In addition to his pioneering work in animation, the electronic s…
Sounds of Egiali - Amorgos
Tip! Sound Reporters was a Dutch publishing company that specialised in anthropology, religion, and history, releasing unique documents of the cultural multiplicity of human societies and their importance. These recordings were originally released on cassette in 1988, and consist of field recordings made on the Greek island of Amorgos, part of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea. The release was jointly credited to the painter Harry Van Essen, who lived for several years on the island an…
Synthesizing The Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz From 1980s Soviet Central Asia
Compiled from ultra-rare dead stock pressed at a Soviet-era vinyl plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this first-of-its-kind fully licensed album features a supreme selection of Uzbek disco, Tajik electronic folk, Uyghur guitar licks, Crimean Tatar jazz, Korean brass, and genre-defying styles from Soviet Central Asia.
Drop the needle, and you're not just hearing rare Soviet dance music. You're journeying along the Silk Roads, revisiting raucous USSR disco nights, and immersing in grooves that inspire…
Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996
Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996—the first comprehensive collection of Ukrainian music recorded prior to, and immediately following, the USSR’s collapse. From subtly dissenting Soviet-era singles to DIY recordings from Kyiv’s vibrant underground scene, the compilation chronicles the development of Ukraine’s rich musical landscape through rare folk, rock, jazz, and electronic recordings.
“This record is a labor of love and a long…
Super Disco Pirata - De Tepito Para El Mundo 1965-1980
I am facing a dilemma: how does the founder of an independent music label justify creating a project highlighting, even praising piracy, the very plague that has brought many labels to the brink of bankruptcy?