Psych /
Weidorje
A vinyl reissue of a hard to find album from 1978 by a French
progressive rock band. Weidorje was formed in 1977 by two ex-Magma
members. Musically and spiritually the atmosphere isn't too different
from Magma. This is real savage stuff with an anguished vibe, a strong
rhythm section, ultra vitriolic guitar leads, dissonent sax breaks, and
dark incantations.
Come un Vecchio Incensiere all'Alba di un Villaggio Deserto
The Sorrenti brothers' musical careers, Jenny and Alan Sorrenti, have three elements in common at least: the unconventional use of the voice as an instrument, a wonderful debut album (respectively, the eponymous Saint Just's LP and "Aria") and the subsequent 'second album syndrome' that depicted their sophomore efforts as inferior to their predecessors, by an unfair and demeaning comparison. Sorrenti's voice and relatively sparse instrumental accompaniment are remarkable in how much they accompl…
Exuma
An unusual record dug up from 1970 here, following Tony McKay’s explorations into a ‘voodoo folk’ personality. Exuma sounds, at one level, like a classic early 70’s singer-songwriter record: on another level, it sounds like a street carnival, full of varied percussion and possessed vocals. Reissue on Keku Wahye Keyah.
1001 Centigrades
Back to Black series. Recorded at Michel Magne studios in Herouville, 5-10 of April, 1971. After losing guitarist Claude Engel and reinforcing the brass section with Jeff Seffer on saxophones and Louis Toesca on trumpet, Magma went back into the studio in 1971 to record a second album. All the originality and greatness of Kobaia are there, in even greater measure because everything is magnified. The two tracks composed respectively by Teddy Lasry and François Cahen occasionally introduce a jazzi…
Telefon
First ever reissue of rare, sought-after, and stoned-to-the-max Swedish underground psych/progressive/experimental treasure from 1971, originally released on the legendary Gump label and featuring the mythic underground personalities and musicians Einar Heckscher and Johnny Mowinckel. Side A is sung in English and side B in Swedish. The band name has been mixed up many times by collectors, mistaken as either Telefon Paisa (an earlier incarnation of the band) or Telefon (the album title), but thi…
Eclosion
Never released side-project by Ame Son leader Marc Blanc. An intriguing, marvellous mixture of acid folk, electronic experiments, provocative lyrics & slam poetries and almost post rock stridence. As usual, Monster Melodies was not cheap on the bonuses: a beautiful fanzine is included, as well as a postcard insert (see the additional pictures). Strictly limited to 1000 numbered copies with transparent blue wax.Edited for the first time, the record (1000 copies only) is a blue vinyl presented in …
Gestation Sonore
Few copies back in stock, sold-out at source. Souffle Continu presents the eighth release in its series of reissues from the catalog of the cult French underground Futura label. "We just wanted the sound, the raw sound-texture, before being treated and shaped by any cultural code," recalls Georges Alloro, member of Horde Catalytique pour la Fin. Formed in 1967, the French avant-garde quartet played instruments from Western, African, Middle-Eastern, and Far-Eastern cultures. Their sole album, the…
Voici la Nuit Tombee
Few copies back in stock, sold-out at source. Clear yellow LP version. Limited edition of 200. Souffle Continu presents the seventh release in its series of reissues from the catalog of the cult French underground Futura label. Travelling was a keyboard-based trio that probably represents best what the Futura's RED series was about -- jazz, rock, and experimental inquisitiveness. Often described as the French answer to the Canterbury scene, Voici la Nuit Tombée contains echoes of Soft Machine, C…
Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine
Milestone reissue!!! By popular demand, here's the vinyl reissue of the seminal album, recorded in 1977 by Aksak Maboul, comprised of Crammed founder Marc Hollander with Congotronics producer Vincent Kenis, and originally released on Marc Moulin's ephemeral Kamikaze label. Deluxe vinyl re-issue with 1977 original cover, full colour inside folder with extensive texts, downlaod card with bonus tracks. A hugely cherished record around these parts, not least for the strangely prescient 'Saure …
Abbiamo Tutti un Blues da Piangere
“Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere” is the Perigeo second album, which continues a slow but steady evolution over a solid rock basis, moving from the originary jazz component to a growing fusion side, with an increasingly dominant search of melody. In the seven tracks of this LP the sound is still edgy and dark, thanks to a constant tension that never stops until the end of the last song.
This reissue is the result of a unique collaboration between two long-established companies in the jazz and…
Barricade 3
Restocked!!! ZNR was the French duo of Hector Zazou and Joseph Racaille (hence, Zazou 'n' Racaille) active in the mid to late '70s. Their 1976 debut, Barricade 3, is an anti-pop masterpiece that truly defies categorization; it makes perfect sense that ZNR appears on the infamous Nurse With Wound list. Featuring an array of seemingly dichotomous instruments (piano, synthesizers, woodwinds, electric guitar, and more) as well as genuinely bizarre vocals, the album is composed of fifteen odd experim…
Ictus
A real masterpiece....dreamy improvised music with eastern influences and electronics!! "Before his magnificent experiments with electronic music on Elektrictus (previously reissued on Wah Wah), Andrea Centazzo was already an accomplished musician who had issued his recorded works on the PDU and RCA labels. His first release was Ictus, a free-form avantgarde jazz oddessey on which he already started to experiment with electronic generated sounds. Ictus was a band formed by Centazzo, Armando Bat…
Z=7L
Zao was founded at the beginning of the seventies by Yochk'o "Jeff" Seffer (saxophone, clarinet) and François "Faton" Cahen (pianos), both ex-members of Magma's first era, which includes the albums "Kobaïa" (1970), "1001 ° centigrades" (1971) and "Uniweria Zekt-the Unnamables" (1972). In this first album from Zao, "Z = 7L" (1973), the very complex melodic instrumental layers are enriched with the wonderful voice of Mauricia Platon (with its kobaïan accents). Zao’s progressive/zeuhl sound has lon…
Arachnoid
This 1979 record is the unique album from the french band Arachnoid, architects of a dark progressive and psychedelic masterpiece, with a King Crimson and Heldon distictive flavor. "Arachnoid" is not only one of the best classic symphonic rock albums of the second half of the 70's, but also the most complicated and intriguing. This one-off is an impressive effort that rides the line between Magma’s brutalist zeuhl-ishness and the more conventional (if you can call it that!) dramatic prog of band…
Africa
Africa, originally released in 1992 on Materiali Sonori, may be a late entry in the Embryo catalog but it is one of their most ambitious and truly progressive albums to date. As the name implies, the Munich group not only draws influence from the continent to their south, but also employs an African percussion ensemble on many tracks. A hypnotic and beautiful affair reissued for the first time since its original release. Presented on LP with CD included.
Tappeto Volante
Exclusive reissue in a digipack CD format of all of the three Aktuala releases; "Tappeto Volante" is the third and last one of this series, made by an 'open musical collective' from milan, a fixed nucleus with many different contributes from guest musicians. As the Third Ear Band have always been inserted in the international prog panorama, the same happened with Aktuala, who were real music pioneers able to blend world, ethnic, jazz and avantgarde music.
"Tappeto Volante", published in 1976 alw…
La Terra
Finally repressed on CD, milestone reissue! This reissue is enriched by a booklet with rare and unreleased images, plus the bonustrack "Dagli Etruschi a Picasso", taken from the solo works of Walter Maioli, the true spiritual guide of Aktuala and still today a tireless investigator of extra-european music and culture. "La Terra" was released in 1974 and consolidated the fame and the harmony of Aktuala, more and more at the center of attention of critics and listeners, who used to attend…
Aktuala
Finally repressed on CD, milestone reissue! This reissue is enriched by a booklet with rare and unreleased pictures, plus the bonustrack "Flauti" by Walter maioli... Following the same path as Third Ear Band in England, Embryo or Gruppe Between (and even Limbus 4, Kalacakra and Popol Vuh), Aktuala tried to mix together the western musical tradition with african and asian instruments, rhythms, cultures and avant-garde forms, creating a pioneering new form of music that went beyond anythin…
Septober Energy
A mammoth, fifty-person enterprise featuring the cream of the early-seventies jazz-rock brigade, Centipede's 1971 album 'Septober Energy' proved to be an exercise in both gargantuan excess and instrumental brilliance. Naturally, opinions on the release are divided. The line-up is far too numerous to list here, though it did include the likes of Soft Machine alumni Marc Charig(cornet), Elton Dean (sax), Roy Babbington(bass), Robert Wyatt (drums), Nick Evans(trombone), John Marshall(drums,…
Mirage
*restocked, last copies* Milestone reissue! This work was realized in 1976; Cramps Records would have to publish it, but "Mirage" sank into the oblivion for 36 years. It's visionary as always; it has got a psychedelic attitude and an electronic expressive form. Thanks to its sensitiveness, its creativity, and its very good aesthetic musical value, "Mirage" reaches the same quality level of the greatest musicians' works, like Battiato (who also plays synth in a track), Telaio Magnetico and Alberg…