modernlove · Mary Jane Leach - 8B4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash">modernlove · Mary Jane Leach - 8B4" />Edition of 500 copies pressed on clear vinyl. Performed by Manuel Zurria, Libby Van Cleve, Sam Dunscombe and Shannon Peet. Engineered by Manuel Zurria, Bryce Goggin and Sam Dunscombe, mastered by Rashad Becker. Mary Jane Leach is a composer focussed on the physicality of sound, its acoustic properties and how they interact with space. She has played an instrumental role in NYC’s pioneering Downtown scene alongside Arthur Russell, Ellen Fullman, Peter Zummo, Philip Corner and Arnold Dreyblatt, as well as devoting years to the preservation and reappraisal of Julius Eastman’s work since his death in 1990, compiling the ‘Unjust Malaise’ 3CD set in 2005 and editing the 2015 book ‘Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music’. 'Woodwind Multiples' is her second album for Modern Love, following ‘(f)lute songs’ (2018). Woodwind Multiples features four pieces for multiples of the same instrument: four bass flutes, nine oboes, nine clarinets, and seven bassoons. Each piece works closely with the unique sound of each instrument, combining pitches that create other, sometimes unexpected, tones, primarily combination and interference tones, as well as rhythmic patterns. What you hear is what happens naturally - there is no processing or manipulation 8B4 (1985/2022), played by Manuel Zurria, is for four bass flutes. It is a revision of 8x4, which was written in 1985 for the DownTown Ensemble and was only performed once, due to its unusual instrumentation: alto flute, English horn (originally bass oboe), clarinet, and voice. Xantippe’s Rebuke (1993) was written for Libby Van Cleve, for eight taped oboes and one live, solo oboe. The eight taped parts are equal and dependent, while the solo part is meant to be a solo with the tape as accompaniment. The piece works with the unique sound of the oboe, starting with unison pitches that create the richest sound, building the piece from there. Pitches and rhythmic patterns that occur naturally are notated and then played later, which in turn create other pitches and rhythmic patterns. So, in effect, the nature of the oboe and its natural sound determine the direction of the piece. Charybdis (2020), played by Sam Dunscombe, is for solo clarinet and eight taped clarinets. It combines a somewhat obscured reference to Weep You No More, a John Dowland piece, which combines with the sound phenomena created from the melody and supporting chords of the Dowland. Feu de Joie (1992) was written for bassoonist Shannon Peet and is an homage to the bassoon and its wonderful sound. It is for seven parts—six taped and one “live.” The taped bassoons combine to create a bed of sound that exploits the unique qualities of the bassoon, creating combination and interference tones, starting off with unison pitches, creating a rich sound that builds from there. Most of the subsequent pitches and phrases occur naturally, and are then notated later on in the piece, which in turn creates other notes and phrases.

Horn of Plenty is proud to present the first full-length vinyl release from one of NZ/Aotearoa’s best kept secrets, William Henry Meung. Although musically active for the last couple of decades, Meung only recently began releasing his work via a clutch of CD-R’s, lathes & tapes. Hiraeth and Limerence, the first in a series of four LP’s, was recorded to phone and tape in Dunedin between 2016-2019 as a particularly turbulent period in William’s life drew to a close. Hiraeth - a yearning for that which is lost or has passed. Limerence - a state of infatuation or obsession with another person that involves an all-consuming passion and intrusive thoughts. Context is key to understanding this record. Hiraeth and Limerence was recorded at the end of what William refers to as a ‘decade long dream-war’ where he was battling mental health issues and its fallout. It’s highs and lows are stark and interchangeable. Moments of calm and sweetness also reveal William’s fragility and confusion, while his true courage and tenacity are most evident during the LP’s darkest moments which oscillate between ecstasy and despair. The ever-present amp-hum and tape hiss play as much of a role as the piano, guitar, voice and cheap/home-made electronics William employs. In spite of the means and circumstances, Hiraeth and Limerence is a cohesive document and stands as a candid testament to the strength of its creator’s character. Lazy, but relevant, NZ/Aotearoa comparisons include This Kind of Punishment, Alistair Galbraith and Omit, but William cites the abiding influence of Sonic Youth, Kate Bush, This Heat and Brian Eno.

Tracklisting: Part 1 - 25:03 Part 2 - 24:22 Part 3 - 13:58 Part 4 - 5:54Two of the most influential artists in Lithuania, Vladimir Chekasin and Vladimir Tarasov performed as a duet at the 8th OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival. Titled “La Grande Sonata”, it was absolutely a one-of-a-kind performance specially presented to the Chinese audience. As the former members of the legendary Ganelin Trio, they shared the glorious years with Vyacheslav (Slava) Ganelin. Together they have nurtured the aesthetics of Soviet new jazz. The Trio was arguably the world's greatest free jazz ensemble. This incredible double LP strives to restore that wonderful night - to witness history, and to draw the great spiritual power from their music. --- Vladimir Chekasin / saxophone, voice, keyboards Vladimir Tarasov / drums, percussion --- Live at the 8th OCT-LOFT Jazz Released: Old Heaven Books, May 2018

Hands down one of our favorite records of the year so far, the latest offering from the duo of Ragnhild May & Kristoffer Raasted -  Institutional Critique for Kindergarden - flying straight out of the left field via via Copenhagen's Polychrome imprint (run by Blue Lake's Jason Dungan). A marvel of contemporary Minimalism, drawing upon the cultural history of the whistles and the relation between body and instrument. Comprising a poly-rhythmic composition for whistles, made with a computer controlled whistles instrument, designed by Ragnhild May together with drums played by Kristoffer Raasted. The computer-controlled instrument makes very advanced polyrhythms possible, polyrhythms so complex that they are impossible or very difficult to play for humans, but simple to create on a computer, thus mixing digital with analog or creating techno music for whistles. Institutional Critique for Kindergarten Musical instruments can be seen as extensions of the body: Humans can for example whistle using the mouth or the hands, thus a flute seems like a natural prolongation to create a more powerful or varied tone. The instrument can be seen as some kind of prosthesis in a cyborgian symbiosis with the body. Specific ideas are linked to this interaction. An instrument relates to the scale of the human body and the ear’s ability to sense specific frequency spectra. Traditional Western instruments are conformed to an aesthetic within the Western canon that culturally is dominated by men. The primary instrument in Western music, the piano, is designed for the size of an average male hand, and generally Western musical instruments are designed for the able bodied male. Instruments shape the way we play on them, the way the body interacts with them. How does the shape of the instrument affect the sound that they produce? Can we imagine other kinds of instrument practices? Other kinds of music? The oldest archeological findings of instruments are bone whistles, resembling modern whistles and are close to 40,000 years old Archaeologists suggest that whistles “could have contributed to the maintenance of larger social networks, and thereby perhaps have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans.” All over the world, different cultures have versions of end blown whistles. The most widespread version of the end-blown whistles, the recorder (or block flute) was developed in Europe in the Middle Ages, and was widely used from the second half of the 15th century to the 17th century. From the late 18th century, the recorder whistle was increasingly overlooked and almost forgotten, because of the invention of the transverse flute. In the 1920’s, the German pedagogue Carl Orff, together with Gunild Keetman developed Music for Children, an innovative theory about children’s music education. In Music for Children the role of the recorder whistle was to be a learning tool before advancing to “real” instruments. Today the recorder whistle is still widespread in schools around the world as a learning instrument. Plastic soprano whistles can be bought for around 5€ and this accessibility makes it an ideal instrument for early musical training. Institutional Critique for Kindergarten reflects on children’s education, the cultural history of the whistles as well as the relation between body and instrument. Comprising a poly-rhythmic composition for whistles, made with a computer controlled whistles instrument, designed by Ragnhild May together with drums played by Kristoffer Raasted. The computer-controlled instrument makes very advanced polyrhythms possible, polyrhythms so complex that they are impossible or very difficult to play for humans, but simple to create on a computer, thus mixing digital with analog or creating techno music for whistles.

Stockholm-based composer Ellen Arkbro's 'For Organ and Brass' is comprised of works that focus on tuning, intonation and harmonic modulation. The title composition was written for an organ with a specific kind of historical tuning known as meantone temperament. It was only after locating an appropriate instrument—the Shererorgel dating back to 1624 in St. Stephen’s Church in Tangermünde, Northeastern Germany—-that Arkbro set about recording both for organ and brass and its counterpart, three. “Hidden within the harmonic framework of the Renaissance organ are intervals and chords that bare a close resemblance to those found in the modalities of traditional blues music,” explains Arkbro. “The work can be thought of as a very slow and reduced blues music.” The work moves gradually through a series of long, sustained tones played by the organ and in parallel by a brass trio comprised of horn, tuba, and trombone. Arkbro’s treatment of pitch resembles the tuning strategies of La Monte Young. The brass parts were performed by brass trio Zinc & Copper. In Arkbro’s words, “the brass instruments and the organ fall into patterns of interaction in which a new breathing instrument emerges.” three, which follows the 20-minute title work, deploys the same principles of harmonic relativity. In removing the organ from the instrumentation and switching to a different meter, three acts as an intimate counterpoint to the ritual drone cycles of the title piece. Ellen Arkbro is currently studying for her Master’s degree in music composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Her work has been performed in Brooklyn, Stockholm, Norberg, Bologna, Gothenburg, Berlin, Birmingham, and Malmö, and on Swedish National Radio. 'For Organ and Brass' was recorded in Tangermünde, Germany in September 2016. The performers were Johan Graden (organ), Elena Kakaliagou (horn), Hilary Jeffery (trombone), and Robin Hayward (tuba).

More gold via Hive Mind! Mind-melting West Javanese gong pop, recorded in 2007 at Jugala studios in Bandung, based on a Javanese secular village music and dance tradition known as ketuk-tila. Totally incredible, trance inducing madness of the highest order! Essential.   The singular expressions of music across Indonesia are seemingly limitless, though few are as dynamic and hold such a colorful history as jaipongan of West Java. The form of jaipongan we know today was born from the fields of Java where an early form of music called ketuk-tilu echoed over fields during harvest times. Known for intense and complex drumming coordinated with equally dynamic solo female dancing, ketuk-tilu performances included a rebab (a small upright bowed instrument), a gong, and ketuk-tilu (“three kettle gongs”). Though the original performance context of this music revolved around planting and harvesting rituals, with the singer accepting male dancing partners, over time ketuk-tilu became an outlet for village life expressing fertility, sensuality, eroticism, and, at times, socially accepted prostitution. Activities in the first half of the twentieth century that were best suited amongst the elements of harvest and outside of urban criticism. Fast forward to 1961, the year the Indonesian government placed a ban on Western music, most specifically rock and roll, ostensibly to revive the traditional arts and have the country refocus on Indonesian ideals. Though, this attempt to reclaim, and in many ways conservatize, musical output had an unexpected musical outcome. In the early 70s the composer and choreographer Gugum Gumbira (1945-2020) took it upon himself to retrofit and creatively expand the core elements of ketuk-tilu into a contemporary form. One that would harness ketuk-tilu’s core dynamics and nod to the government’s pressure to revive traditional forms, while creating a fresh and socially acceptable art form where enticing movements, intimate topics and just the right degree sensuality had a collective musical expression. Born was jaipongan. Musically, Gumbira added in the gamelan thereby augmenting the overall instrumentation especially the drums. Importantly, he brought a new and very focused emphasis to the role of the singer allowing them to concentrate solely on their voices opposed to dancing as well. These voices weren’t there to narrate upper class lifestyles or Western flavored ideals (and colonial mentalities in general), but the worldview and woes of the common people of West Java. Intimacy, love, romance, money, working with the land, life’s daily struggles and the processes of the natural world were common themes in jaipongan that ignited the hearts of the people and directly spoke to both the young and old. The two timeless voices that would define the genre and fuel it to echo out across the globe were Idjah Hadjijah, featured here, and Gugum’s wife, Euis Komariah (1949-2011), two nationally cherished voices that catapulted the genre into the sensual, elegant and other-wordly. Movement-wise, Gumbira included some of the original sensual moves of ketuk-tilu and intertwined them with movements based on the popular martial art called pencack silat. With just enough new and just enough old, and just enough safe and just enough bold, men and women danced together in public in ways never allowed before. The genre and its performances were an oasis for the optimal amount of controlled intimacy and sexual nuance to be socially acceptable. Jaipongan was embraced by a country longing for new societal norms and creative expressions. All these elements combined rooted Jaipongan in the hearts of West Java and set the genre on fire. Gumbira established his own studio, Jugala studio in the city of Bandung, where a cast of West Java’s best players resided. This record, as well as hundreds more that have defined music in West Java of every style, were recorded there. Radio, a booming cassette industry, and live performances of jaipongan flooded the country, so much so that the government's attempts to reel it in were futile. Jaipongan had tapped into the hearts, daily worldview, airwaves and clubs of West Java and wasn’t going anywhere. And by listening here, it’s still as alive as ever. REWORKS In the lineage of vast sonic experimentation that has filled Indonesian music history and still continues today, electronic musicians and modular sythesists were invited to rework sounds found in these recordings. With the help of the musicians in Java, Riedl and Lyons made the original live recordings in a multi-track format enabling future composers to work with specific elements of each song. The musicians doing reworks were given freedom to work with the recordings in anyway they saw fit, a freedom that has suited music well over time to produce countless creative collisions, and musical conversations, that we all hold dear.

First ever vinyl reissue of one of the greatest West-Coast post-punk records of all time! If your brain has a shortlist of bands that instantly evoke New Wave, Suburban Lawns deserve a slot right next to the likes of Devo, Talking Heads and the B-52's. After putting out two singles on their own Suburban Industrial imprint, the Lawns signed to I.R.S. Records and released their debut LP in 1981. While the band gained cult status thanks in part to a Jonathan Demme-produced music video which aired on Saturday Night Live, their self-titled album would sadly be the five-piece's only full-length statement. Suburban Lawns' asymmetrical aesthetic is personified by co-vocalist Su Tissue, whose mesmerizing stage persona was at once childlike and terrifying. Her unique style embodies the awkward/arty female singer of the Reagan era, while the group's male vocals – courtesy of Frankie Ennui, Vex Billingsgate and John McBurney – maintain the satirical themes of Southern California's postwar mirage of limitless sprawl. Suburban Lawns' catchiness can be attributed to their drum-tight performance and taut songwriting. Listen to the vocal trade-offs on "Anything," which could have easily come out on any purely Punk label from LA at the time, while Tissue's deadpan delivery on "Janitor" glides into the best art-warble this side of Lene Lovich, broaching the possibility of nuclear annihilation with a murmured "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom." From a West Coast scene dominated by 7-inch singles and EPs, the Suburban Lawns' lone LP remains in a class with precious few. It's not surprising that they found acceptance in the Hollywood punk scene, despite their Long Beach roots, and would influence other bands such as Minutemen. This is not a disc that will get parked in your collection hoping to get pulled once in a while; this is a record you will play.

The latest incredible outing from long-time Oto friend Jason Dungan's acclaimed Blue Lake project. Drones, shimmering zithers tones, and diverse acoustic instrumentation carve out a thrilling middle ground between rigorous experimentation and ambient music... think latter day Pelt, Pullman, and Town & Country meets Laraaji, etc. Weaving between self-built zithers, drones, clarinets, slide guitars and drum machines, ‘Sun Arcs’ presents a unique sound space formed by an inventive approach to acoustic folk and jazz. The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.” The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. “The title and the feel of the song comes simply from my summers in Sweden – when the plants and insects are opening up everywhere, and there’s this almost too-intense feeling of life outside.” With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material by recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting. Musically it portrays a life led by an American person living in Scandinavia, responding to both the local music and landscape while looking back to American influences. Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, bearing his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery. The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile / Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).  credits released June 23, 2023 All tracks composed, recorded and produced by Jason Dungan Recorded by Jason Dungan at Andersabo, Sweden, and Polychrome, Copenhagen. “Wavelength” recorded at Sauna Studios, Copenhagen, by Christian Ki Dall All instruments played by Jason Dungan 48-string zither, Acoustic guitar, Keyboard, Pump organ, Cello, Clarinet, Alto recorder, Drums and small percussion, Roland 606 drum machine Mixed by Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering in Bonn Vinyl cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle Mastering in Berlin

The latest incredible outing from long-time Oto friend Jason Dungan's acclaimed Blue Lake project. Drones, shimmering zithers tones, and diverse acoustic instrumentation carve out a thrilling middle ground between rigorous experimentation and ambient music... think latter day Pelt, Pullman, and Town & Country meets Laraaji, etc. Weaving between self-built zithers, drones, clarinets, slide guitars and drum machines, ‘Sun Arcs’ presents a unique sound space formed by an inventive approach to acoustic folk and jazz. The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.” The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. “The title and the feel of the song comes simply from my summers in Sweden – when the plants and insects are opening up everywhere, and there’s this almost too-intense feeling of life outside.” With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material by recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting. Musically it portrays a life led by an American person living in Scandinavia, responding to both the local music and landscape while looking back to American influences. Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, bearing his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery. The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile / Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).  credits released June 23, 2023 All tracks composed, recorded and produced by Jason Dungan Recorded by Jason Dungan at Andersabo, Sweden, and Polychrome, Copenhagen. “Wavelength” recorded at Sauna Studios, Copenhagen, by Christian Ki Dall All instruments played by Jason Dungan 48-string zither, Acoustic guitar, Keyboard, Pump organ, Cello, Clarinet, Alto recorder, Drums and small percussion, Roland 606 drum machine Mixed by Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering in Bonn Vinyl cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle Mastering in Berlin

Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint. The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden voyage. Bryars eloquently reconstructs the passengers' experience – at once forlorn and eerily calming – through assemblages of understated strings and indeterminate elements. A core principle of the piece is that the ship's band continued to play as the vessel went down. One of the most sublime works in the modern classical canon, Titanic remains Bryars' magnum opus. Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, the album's second sidelong track, is based on a tape loop of a London street singer captured in the early 1970s. Featuring Derek Bailey, Michael Nyman and John White, Bryars' composition gradually builds around the cripplingly poignant voice until its emotional force is almost too much to bear. It's no surprise that Jesus' Blood is known as Tom Waits' all-time favorite piece of music. Produced by Brian Eno in 1975 as the inaugural release on Obscure, The Sinking of the Titanic draws the listener in to a majestic world. While these exquisite, hymn-like recordings have not changed in nearly 50 years, their deeply personal nature and the audience's attention to their subtlety have only strengthened over time.

* Pure percussion album by legendary German drummer Klaus Weiss * Featuring Krautrock legends as Udo Lindenberg and Keith Forsey * A legendary crown jewel of experimental German art from 1970 * Ecstatic and ever pulsating grooves, not only for DJs and drummers * Excellent sound and performance by high class professional musicians * LP housed in gatefold cover * Ultimate collectors item and DJs holy grail Niagara was more a project than an actual band formed by German jazz drum legend Klaus Weiss. He formerly worked with another jazz legend from his mother country, Klaus Doldinger and gained fame in the German jazz circuit of the 60s and 70s. His 1971 works with NIAGARA was the offspring of the vision to create an orchestra made entirely of drummers and percussionists. Despite the fact that there is definitely no regular melody instrument to be heard on this album, the two lengthy compositions are arranged in such an enthralling way, that they have a rather catchy and memorable feel. Among the cult drummers featured on this album are Udo Lindenberg (yes, this icon of German rock and pop started as a drummer!) and session hero Keith Forsey. So what both compositions offer is an ever pulsating rhythm inferno, a maelstrom of different grooves and sounds. If you go for this album to find some pop tunes, you better change your mind. If you wish to be enchanted and hypnotized by a massive wall of percussion sounds and be dragged deeper and deeper into a state of trance, which is utterly addictive, you are welcome. This album goes deeper as most psychedelic rock with dreamy melodies and heavy organ work. You cannot compare it to anything else, so open your mind for the ultimate rhythm experience and join in if you dare. Only if you dare.

Michael George Henry (aka Ras Michael and, for this lone release, Dadawah) was born in 1943 in Saint Mary Parish, in northeastern Jamaica. Henry was raised in a Rastafari community when the religious movement was still in its infancy and marginalized within Jamaica. It was there that he began performing Nyahbinghi, the Rastafarian devotional music that combines the influences of African drumming and Black gospel. Henry found himself in Kingston in the late 1950s where he worked for Coxsone Dodd at the legendary Studio One. By 1968, he had formed the group Sons of Negus and the first overtly Rasta record label, Zion Disc. As Rasta filtered into the mainstream, Henry released more music including albums for Trojan, Dynamic and Grounation labels. Originally released in 1974, Peace And Love - Wadadasow is Dadawah's magnum opus. Produced by Lloyd Charmers, the album features slinky basslines, wah-wah guitar, hypnotic keyboards, dubbed-out studio trickery and, of course, the propulsive drumming and rhythmic chanting characteristic of Nyahbinghi. Antarctica Starts Here presents the first widely available domestic release of Peace and Love - Wadadasow. This reissue is part of an archival series that focuses on Trojan's essential '60s and '70s catalogue. Liner notes by JR Gonne.

Lo Escucho, Lo Pinto’s incredible self-titled debut  via All Night Flight. Recorded on the road throughout Chile during January and February 2022 - combining the talents of the Chilean ensemble, Glorias Navales (Kye, A Wave Press, etc.), with those of the Scottish born, Vilnius, Lithuania based artists, improviser, and composer, Sholto Dobie, seven airy, open, and free tracks capture the project enacting unannounced performances in public places (parks, squares, in the street), weaving delicate sonorities and textural elements into a conceptual and creatively brilliant middle ground between free improvisation and folk. Issued in a highly limited edition of 300 copies. Highly recommended!  The idea of applying free-music logic to rock structures came of age with the records the Dead C and Harry Pussy put out on Xpressway and Siltbreeze in the 90s. They created a method to follow. Keep the tropes and tools of rock and roll but ditch the formal constraints. All you are left with then is the space between the instruments as somewhere to begin. The buzz of open strings and the rattle of drum hardware might lead anywhere. But, for me it is that feeling of space created that appeals, a private world filled with a private language. Of course, Improv has developed its own tropes and the path of free rock/free folk has become a well trodden one. That being said, I’m always on the look out for records that open up that magical space. Back in 2016 the Glorias Navales record on Graham Lambkin’s KYE Records was a mini masterpiece of this approach. It boiled the bones of classic two-chord Velvets strum and thump to create an LP of open ended late-night minimalism. On their new record for our shop’s own label they work a different magic, this time joined by Lithuainia-based improviser Sholto Dobie.  Essentially a road record, Lo Escucho, Lo Pinto captures the group’s travels in early 2022 throughout Chile.  Moving between between Los Ángeles, Huepil, Concepción and Santiago, the group are captured performing in public places (parks, squares, in the street) without advertising or any paid audiences.  The murmurs of the general public, children playing and barking of stray dogs float within the recordings, whilst the group ruminate on their country’s folklore traditions, pagism and the art of being in the moment.  Music of the land, the soil and of memories.  It is glorious to imagine them arriving somewhere, setting up and slowly beginning to play this elegant restrained and thoroughly disorientating music. I am reminded of the intuitive DIY folk of Charalambides, Marcia Bassett’s UN or the rural rock meets La Monte Young sound of International Harvester. But don’t get too hung up on comparisons, just dive in. This is a truly beautiful record and one to get lost in for years… (Mint / New - with free DL and A3 colour poster - limited 300 copies - shops pls get in touch for wholesale)

Vanish is Julia Reidy’s yearning, fat debut for Editions Mego.Since 2019, Julia’s bubbling 12-string guitar work - sighing streams of crystal plucks drawn closer or echoing on - has moored a tactile, ever-lusher sound. On ‘Guitar’, the Australian, Berlin-based musician melts down sharp synths; electric fuzz and flex; uncanny found sounds; and autotuned voice and harmonica in a heady, overpowering potion.Reidy’s music sweeps you up. It’s restless, always travelling on. Lonesome tones into machine chorales into hesitant hum. The LP’s side-long cuts sway between scenes but are always rooted: Julia’s guitar and vocal lines seem mapped to the natural ebb and flow of breath and thought, they lull you as they push through vast and secret spaces.Vanish completes a trio of releases begun with last year’s ‘brace, brace’ (Slip) and ‘In Real Life’ (Black Truffle). The delicious unease, the anxious burning of the preceding volumes has settled, becoming more wide-eyed and resolute. For all its poise, the album’s sense of build - electric licks rasping into glistening synths, punctured by distant kicks - feels freshest. When 'Oh Boy'’s smudged whistle comes, it has fought its way out of the thickets, and hits like heartbreak. Music by Julia ReidyMixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Holding Pattern Berlin, June 2020Artwork by Suze WhaitesLayout by Nik Void

"Warren 'Sonny' Sharrock died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1994. At the time of his death, many writers noted that he had recently landed a contract with a major label (RCA) and was perhaps 'destined for big things.' In my opinion, these writers missed the point. Although Mr. Sharrock may not have been successful financially (as though that might be a primary motivating goal for any true artist), he was uncommonly successful aesthetically. Certainly, there are a few dubious moments to be found inside his oeuvre, but Mr. Sharrock produced several of the most mind-shredding avant-garde albums ever recorded. Premier among them is Black Woman. "Originally released on the Vortex label in 1969, Black Woman may be the universe's first true statement of guitar skronk majesty. It also represents Mr. Sharrock's first date as a leader and stands as the sole documentation of a band that well-understood the essentials of energy. Besides Sharrock's explosive guitar, the band features the omni-directional percussion mastery of Milford Graves (then in the midst of recording Love Cry with Albert Ayler), the gorgeous post-tongue vocalizing of Sonny's then-wife Linda Sharrock, the sinuous bass presence of Norris Jones (later known as Sirone) and some of the most explicitly abstract piano work ever recorded by Dave Burrell. That Black Woman was produced by flautist Herbie Mann, a guy not well-known for his affinity to fire music, makes it even more intriguing." – Byron Cole

Format: Vinyl 12" Artist: Limpe Fuchs Release date: May 2016 Recorded at: Klangbad Studio Scheer in 2012-2014 by Andreas Schmid and Hans-Joachim Irmler Label: Play LoudLimpe Fuchs is a legend in the experimental music scene. In the late '60s, this percussionist drummed on self-made instruments, together with her then-husband Paul Fuchs, in the Anima ensemble. During that time, Limpe and Paul Fuchs collaborated with the Austrian pianist Friedrich Gulda as well as jazz luminaries like Albert Mangelsdorff, and continually attracted the interest of their audiences in new constellations. Limpe Fuchs on Gestrüpp, which was produced and recorded between 2012 and 2014 by Andi Schmid and Hans-Joachim Irmler at Faust Studio: "I am a composer and performer of acoustic and visual events. In the studio I am lacking the visual element. Therefore I like to work with multitracking. As a soloist I listen to my field recordings and integrate them into my new compositions. I do love radio plays and that is how I create a sort of audio theatre with the aid of my very special instruments and noises." Limpe Fuchs's solo performance with "variable wood and stone rows, ringing bronze in the pendulum strings, and a variety of skin and bronze drums" is a rare occasion to witness one of the early avant-gardists of the scene from the old Federal Republic of Germany. She attempts, while playing live, to develop her musical ideas from the "resonance of the location where the performance takes place" and to "make music in the flow of time, with simplicity and emotion." Her main concern is to sensitize the process of hearing: "Every tone is a sensation. Listening instead of shutting one's ears. Establishing silence."

Tokyo’s conatala label chase that Pale Cocoon gem with World Standard’s charmingly naif 1982 ambient anachronisms, plucked from demo tapes made before they produced their debut with Haruomi Hosono, and now issued for the first time on vinyl. The first in a series unearthing World Standard’s early demos, ‘Asagao’ depicts two young lads in Tokyo gently going against the grain of new wave and techno-pop trends, and perhaps most crucially, forging an alternative to environmental ambient’s obsession with synths. Recording in a room in Michio Kojima’s parents’ house, he and Soichiro Suzuki coaxed out a dreamy folk-wise sound from acoustic instruments (upright piano, mandolin, ukulele, cardboard drums) ping-ponged between two tape decks, most beautifully incorporating the everyday sounds of TV bleeding in from other rooms and the sound of Kojima’s grandparents shuffling around and popping their heads into the room through sliding doors.  These recordings capture the warmly fraternal atmosphere of two artists following their noses, playing up to an urge for more nostalgic, classic styles that subtly defied contemporary, ubiquitous tastes for synthetic production, and naturally keeping in step with the home-built, DIY principles of that era. Their music appears as an escape to more bucolic places from their Tokyo locale, specialising in warbly, wonky offbeat melodies that imaginatively transport them and us from the 1950s Japanese house were they were born and raised, to the sort of scenes they may have absorbed from vintage European movies, all coming off with the sort of whimsical charm of an Anime soundtrack about a magic music box, directed by Wes Anderson.  The duo went on to attract the attention of YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, who would produce their shinier debut as World Standard for his Non Standard label in 1985, but these recording remain testament to the duo’s stripped back and quietly inventive early sound in a way that will charm fans of Woo and The Boats endlessly.

Springing from a decades deep body of work, defined by a rigorously singular and adventurous approach to sound, cellist, composer, and improvisor, Okkyung Lee, returns with Yeo-Neun, her first outing with Shelter Press, and arguably her most groundbreaking and unexpected album to date.A vital, present force in the contemporary global landscape of experimental music, Okkyung Lee is widely regarded for her solo and collaborative improvisations and compositions, weaving a continuously evolving network of sonority and event, notable for its profound depth of instrumental sensitivity, exacting intellect, and visceral emotiveness. Yeo-Neun, recorded by Yeo-Neun Quartet - an experimental chamber music ensemble founded in 2016 and led by Lee on cello, featuring harpist Maeve Gilchrist, pianist Jacob Sacks, and bassist Eivind Opsvik - represents the culmination of one of longest and most intimate arcs in her remarkable career. A radical departure from much of the experimental language for which she has become widely known, it is equally a fearless return.Yeo-Neun loosely translates to the gesture of an opening in Korean, presenting window into the poetic multiplicity that rests at the album’s core. Balanced at the outer reaches of Lee’s radically forward thinking creative process, its 10 discrete works are born of the ambient displacement of musician’s life; intimate melodic constructions and deconstructions that traces their roots across the last 30 years, from her early days spent away from home studying the cello in Seoul and Boston, to her subsequent move to New York and the nomadism of a near endless routine of tours. At its foundation, lay glimpses of a once melancholic teen, traces of the sentimentality and sensitivity (감성 / Gahmsung) that underpins the Korean popular music of Lee’s youth, and an artist for whom the notions of time, place, and home have become increasingly complex.Elegantly binding modern classical composition and freely improvised music with the emotive drama of Korean traditional music and popular ballads, the expanse of Yeo-Neun pushes toward the palpably unknown, as radical for what it is and does, as it for its approachability. In Lee’s hands, carried by a body of composition that rests beyond the prescriptive boundaries of culture, genre, geography, and time, a vision of the experimental avant-garde emerges as a music of experience, humanity, and life. Meandering melodies, from the deceptively simple to the tonally and structurally complex, slowly evolve and fall from view, the harp, piano, and bass forming an airy, liminal non-place, through which Lee’s cello and unplaceable memories freely drift.Remarkably honest, unflinchingly beautiful, and creatively challenging, Shelter Press is proud to present Yeo-Neun, an album that takes one the most important voices in contemporary experimental music, Okkyung Lee, far afield into an unknown future, bound to her past.Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, housed in reversed-board printed inner and outer sleeve with artwork by American photographer Ron Jude.