Highly-anticipated 50th Anniversary Edition re-issue of Ash Ra Tempel's legendary fifth studio album Starring Rosi. Originally released in 1973, this seminal work remains a cornerstone of the Krautrock and "Kosmische" movement, blending psychedelic rock, ambient soundscapes, and early electronics into a transcendent auditory experience. The album has been recorded by Manuel Göttsching in its entirety, with additional help from producer Dieter Diercks, Harald Grosskopf, and of course Rosemarie "Rosi" Müller. Starring Rosi is an essential piece of their continuation of blending cosmic psychedelia, ambient textures, and avant-garde electronic experimentation. Starring Rosi stands out in Ash Ra Tempel's discography for its lighter, more accessible sound, balancing the band's signature cosmic explorations with melodic structures and poetic lyrics. The album is a sonic journey that takes listeners through seven distinct tracks, each showcasing Manuel Göttschings pioneering approach to music. This reissue of Starring Rosi has been introduced and overseen by Manuel Göttsching, and finalized by his family exactly to his standards, in which the meticulous approach to his work lives on. An updated 2024 recut carefully commissioned by Schnittselle in Berlin ensures the warm depth sound while bringing out the rich textures and nuances, all of the original recordings. Comes with a replica of the original vinyl artwork including its original backside. The Limited Edition (MGART 615LTD-LP) also includes a poster of the alternate backside, used later on the CD editions showing Rosi and Manuel improvising during studio sessions. Also included are prints of previously unreleased original "The Fairy Dance" and "Schizo" composition sheets, handwritten by Manuel.

Wewantsounds reissues Roy Haynes' 1971 LP Hip Ensemble, recorded in New York for Bob Shad's Mainstream Records and featuring Hannibal Marvin Peterson, George Adams, Teruo Nakamura, and Lawrence Killian. Together the musicians create a superb mix of jazz funk and spiritual jazz showcasing Haynes powerful drumming and creativity. Hip Ensemble is presented in its original gatefold artwork with first generation photos and includes the bonus track "Roy's Tune." It comes with newly remastered audio and a two-page insert featuring new liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre. Roy Haynes, who passed at age 99, is one of the undisputed giants of jazz. Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1925, Haynes started drumming during his teenage years before moving to New York in 1945 where his career took off. He went on to play with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Lester Young, becoming an institution over the decades. In the late '60s, after a stint with the John Coltrane's quartet, he put together the Hip Ensemble, a small group featuring the young turks George Adams on sax, Hannibal Marvin Peterson on trumpet, Japanese bass player Teruo Nakamura, Lawrence Killian on percussion together with German pianist Carl Schroeder on Fender Rhodes. Bob Shad, who had worked with Haynes in the '50s when he was running EmArcy, saw the group live in New York one night and decided to sign them on his label Mainstream Records as he was starting to produce jazz again after a few years releasing psychedelic rock. His idea was to plug into the new modal and jazz-funk scenes that was flourishing at the time and Haynes was also experimenting with. The album Hip Ensemble reflects this new direction with a superb mix of spiritual jazz. Complementing the group for this session were Mervin Bronson, adding a touch of Fender bass and a second percussionist, Elwood Johnson. "Roy's Tune" has been added as a bonus track, which was recorded at the same session but not included on the original album -- it briefly came out on a low-key Mainstream compilation two years after. The track is another fascinating breakbeat that has strangely never been sampled. Hip Ensemble has been remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio in Paris and is a timely reminder that Haynes is one of the greatest jazz drummers of all times.

One-sided LP. "While much of early 2025 appears to be a whirlwind of abject disappointment littered with genuine horror and an undeniable waste of actual human potential, here we find a much-needed escape from modern agonies in this mesmerizing collaborative from Joshua Burkett & Lau Nau. Both artists have been laying trails of singular beauty for decades and the combination of their aesthetics create a true mind meld as complimentary as softly falling snow lit by the first light of dawn. Subtly swirling magical elements twinkle and undulate and slowly suck the listener in deeper and deeper to the very heart of the album's nest. A fragile, melancholic aura transcends the poignant and insular sound world, and evokes a camera panning back to slowly reveal a vast landscape of wintry yearning in which heartbreak and reverie calmly intermingle, both create an extremely comforting bath of sound. Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) is a Finnish sound artist and musician whose multi-disciplinary endeavors also include film scores, compositions for theatre, dance and choral performances and multi- channel sound installations, as well as her passion for presenting live scores for silent films.. She participated in projects with an improvisatory bent such as Avarus & Kemialliset Ystävät as well as collaborations with Kuupuu and Tsembla (plus don't forget Hertta Lussu Assa!). Her solo recordings as Lau Nau emerged with a fully formed aesthetic of a dreamy sound world in which a hybrid of song craft and abstraction merged to generate ultra evocative pastures of bliss and melancholy. Each subsequent album has achieved greater levels of sophistication with her most recent amazing works. Burkett is a musician, writer, illustrator, painter, and naturalist and has been a quietly guiding light of the Western Massachusetts underground music community for the past 30 years... He has many previous duo collaborations under his belt, having worked with the late, great Ed Askew, releasing a duo album with the phenomenal Tucker Zimmerman in 2020, his electronic project TARP with Conrad Capistran and others. There is an undeniable specialness to this new release which exudes a time stopping magic that is guaranteed to stretch out your latest night or earliest morning... My only critique of this album would be that as a single sided LP, so one is left craving more of these glorious sounds to bask in. But what could be more novel and precious in this era of the endless tsunami of content than to be left wishing for more of something?" --Robert Thomas, 2025

2025 repress. "2024's retrospective box We Have Dozens of Titles brought the revelatory 1993-'98 output of Gastr del Sol back into the world of physical objects, following a decade in which most of their music was mostly available online. Now comes the vinyl reissue series of the Gastrlog at the end of the line, with their 'art-pop masterpiece' Camoufleur. Gastr del Sol released Camoufleur in February of 1998. It was a ringing down of the curtain on an extraordinary five years of music making (and unmaking) with one of the best albums of that era. The backstory: Gastr first appeared out of the ashes of David Grubbs' postpunk band Bastro, whose final lineup -- a furious electric triad of Grubbs, John McEntire and Bundy K. Brown -- evolved into Gastr del Sol with The Serpentine Similar, an album of songs and singing that turned away from the loud and into the acoustic. Brown and McEntire then departed, to focus on the newly-founded Tortoise, just as improviser/tape manipulator/musical polyglot/total freak Jim O'Rourke joined. Picking up on Gastr's acoustic fascination, Grubbs and O'Rourke twisted in oblique strains of modern classical, avant garde, tape music, world music and space, launching on an entirely transformative tear with the Crookt, Crackt, or Fly LP, 'Mirror Repair' EP, and Upgrade & Afterlife 2LP. Nothing prepared one for the inquests of each successive record, and yet, Camoufleur managed to top them all, by presenting their (so-called) avant explorations as pop music. Released on LP and CD, Camoufleur had a prescient quality: like something that existed beyond such simple formats as LP and CD, or even the designations of 'record' and 'album.' It was the nascence era of the burnt CD, unmarked or attributed in any fashion. Compelled by an intense provocative love of the non-sequitur, they drafted in contributions from a diverse lineup that flowed through the songs with an equal weight of improbability and appeal. This was a startling set of sing-along tunes -- or you could whistle along with the music, or keen along with the sound you couldn't identify, however you liked. Once out in the world, Camoufleur went over like gangbusters. Listening in today, it still does -- time has only burnished its unique superpowers. Upon release, of course, and with the same sense of enigma in which they'd issued their music, Gastr del Sol abruptly vanished, leaving all that stuff to time."

Double LP, gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. 2025 repress. "Writing a consideration of any portion of Pajo's voluminous catalog is quite the challenge. With the glaring exception of one rainbow colored cutout circa '03, it's been one love affair after the next for me and just about every record he's graced. Yet I find myself returning to make late night headphone excursions into the depths of Live From A Shark Cage on a regular basis, reliving my favorite moments like a ripe, juicy eructation of chili cheese fries in the middle of the night, or reveling as I have in the deja vu-like discovery of some clever plot twist unearthed for the Criterion edition of Brazil. The temptation is here to call it his Zoso, or even Who's Next, but that's unfair to all parties involved, and I'll leave such profane comparisons to the recently graduated music directors of college radio stations polluting the various interweb channels that pass for music journalism in this digital age we inhabit. Rather, Shark Cage deserves to be exalted in the same breath as Maggot Brain, The Payback, Stormcock or Miles' Pangea: modern masterpieces of minima built on subliminally insinuating rondos and vamps that echo not just Dave's own biorhythms, but a microcosmic take on the ur-pulse of the universe. In an era where the referential Lexicon shifts so rapidly that notions of classics and beau ideals scarcely linger as long as the sulfurous flatulence of your cubicle-mate, Shark Cage resounds as the beacon of fortitude in a sea of aural effluvia. If you are uninitiated, avail yourself. If you've been to the fountain, quench yourself again."

2025 repress. One of the brightest and most famous projects of the entire punk/new wave scene, No New York was released in 1978 on Island's sub-label Antilles. Featuring some of the most incredible rule breaking bands of the underground N.Y.C. art and music scene, the project - produced by Brian Eno - is a genuine snapshot of the massively creative N.Y.C. scene. Artists: Contortions, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, Mars, D.N.A..

Repressed. The initial seed for this project was planted in 2020 when Nicolás Jaar wrote the song "Piedras" for a concert at the Museum of Memory & Human Rights in Santiago, Chile, which commemorates the victims of human rights violations during the military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990. Between 2022-2023, it took on a new form as a radio play entitled Archivos de Radio Piedras, which was shared on a dedicated Telegram channel. In 2024, the play was converted into a 24-channel installation at the University Museum of Mexico City (MUAC), where it was exhibited for five months. Piedras 1 & 2 is a collection of the tracks featured within the play, all new music by Jaar, but partly presented within the play as the music of Salinas Hasbún (the name a composite homage to Jaar's grandmothers, Graciela Salinas and Miriam Hasbún). The play follows two friends mourning the disappearance of Salinas Hasbún, a musician and writer who vanished in the early 2020s. Although they live in a future where technology is advanced, they resort to DIY radio methods because the anonymous group "Las 0cho" has launched a worldwide attack on undersea internet cables, causing a global internet blackout. The play's central theme revolves around the idea that truths, memories and identities speak from the cracks, or the "in-between" spaces. This concept is supported by the way much of the narration unfolds -- in the liminal spaces between radio frequencies. The instability and transitory nature of a constantly shifting radio dial becomes not just a metaphor but the structure of the play itself. It's in these moments of noise, static and interference that the deeper revelations of the story emerge. This disjointed, ever-changing medium mirrors the way memory and trauma operate within the play -- non-linear, slipping through the gaps, found in fragments or ordinary moments, rather than direct transmissions of "official" historical accounts. This notion reaches its climax at the end of the narrative, when a text is discovered in which Salinas speaks of finding a new number in a small pond in a cave mentioned in the first episodes of the radio play. Embodied in the salt lakes of northern Chile, home to the world's oldest bacteria, this randomness disrupts the rigid order of binary code, paving the way for a transformation of digital life.

Limited 2025 restock! LP version. Privately pressed in Scotland in 1979, this illusive and quite wonderful percussion album is like no other. Played by a group of 11 girls with an average age of 14, the group included Evelyn Glennie, who was destined to become one of the world's greatest percussionists. This is her first-ever record. The Cults Percussion Ensemble was a group formed by percussion teaching legend Ron Forbes in the mid-1970s. The ensemble must have one of the best group names of all time. To many, it will immediately come across as something sinister, a touch spooky and possibly a bit dramatic, too. They are certainly two of those but the use of the word "Cults" here is easily misinterpreted. Cults, in this case, is the suburb of Aberdeen. The average age of the students was just 14. They came from a few of the schools in the area, including the Cults Academy, Ellon Academy, Aboyne Academy, Inverurie Academy and Powis. Reminiscent of Carl Orff and peculiar library music, we now have a formal release of something quite lovely that was only previously available very briefly in 1979 at concerts when the young girls performed. The music here is really quite unique, with a celestial, swirling, hypnotic quality. The blend of glockenspiels, xylophones, vibraphones, marimba and timpani drums is quite intoxicating and can recall the shimmering warmth of the desert sun one minute or freezing glacial icecaps the next. The Ensemble perform with an effortless tightness and deftness of touch, building textured layers with recurring percussive motives which appear simultaneously dense and yet sparse, almost sounding like modern sampling. Sleevenotes also include a letter from Ron Forbes: "I decided to form a percussion group to provide an outlet for my percussion pupils to play music specially written for them. The group soon became well-known in the region and as a result of winning the outstanding award at the National Festival of Music for youth on three occasions, they were invited to play at other festivals within Europe, one being in Erlangen in Germany -- hence the "Erlangen Polka" -- and Autun in France -- hence the "Autun Carillon." During these visits we were often asked if we had any recordings and so it was decided to make an LP." Thanks to Ron Forbes and Trunk Records, more people can now enjoy the simple hypnotic musical charms of the Cults Percussion Ensemble.

LP version. Composer Ahmed Essyad was born in Salé, Morocco, in 1938. After studying music at the Rabat Conservatoire (Morocco) he moved to Paris in 1962, where he became a student of Max Deutsch and, later, his assistant. Trained in the avant-garde practices of Western musical composition, he also claimed the Amazigh folk music of Morocco as a fundamental source of inspiration for his work. In 1965, he was already incorporating elements of oral tradition in his work so as to question the language of his time, and therefore had to cope with the limits of musical notation and communication with musicians who did not share his cultural references. It was difficult to agree on what was implicit, "behind the notes," especially regarding the management of musical time and micro-intervals. In search of new compositional tools, he turned to electro-acoustic music. Working in a studio made it possible for him to be the interpreter of his own work, which ensured a certain continuity with music of oral tradition. The pieces presented here were produced between 1972 and 1974 in a studio dedicated to electro-acoustic music, the S.M.E.C.A, which was part of the Music Workshop founded by Jorge Arriagada in Paris. The studio was equipped with EMS and Minimoog synthesizers, a piano, a marimba, a xylophone, as well as various percussion instruments and a tape delay system. The practice of electro-acoustics may have been a mere parenthesis in Ahmed Essyad's long and prolific career as a composer of contemporary music, but the works presented here are nonetheless important. They show how strongly he both supported North African popular forms of expression and opposed its folklorizing through simplistic and "exotic" representations. It's not about fusing together East and West -- impossible, he says: "the real point is to open up an imaginary space where another modernity can exist outside the largely Eurocentric framework of avant-garde music. Synthesis means anticipation, knowledge. As for me, I'm increasingly ignorant. I write to discover what I don't know. Music feeds me, it pollinates me. It's my daily wine."

"Ted Lucas' self-titled album appears on Third Man Records, for the first time on vinyl since 2018, pressed in Detroit at Third Man Pressing. This self-titled work published album by singer-songwriter and master guitarist Ted Lucas has achieved an almost mystical reputation among aficionados and collectors. Ted Lucas is a seamless marriage of moody odes and raga style instrumentals regarded by many to be, simply put, the greatest private press folk/psych album ever recorded. Lucas was a fixture in the Detroit rock scene of the sixties and seventies. In 1972, the demo for Warner Brothers which would become Ted Lucas was recorded at Motown, and released in two private editions in 1975 and known informally to friends and family as The OM Album, after Lucas' own label. The album was released with artwork by the legendary Stanley Mouse originally created for Jimi Hendrix. RIYL: John Fahey, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake."

Limited 2025 repress. You Never End is the third album from Valentina Magaletti, Tom Halstead, and Joe Andrews (Moin) out via AD 93. Its title alone expresses the teetering and shifting nature of both the album and band. This record marks the Moin's shift into a new phase with vocal collaborations across the album from Olan Monk, james K, Coby Sey and Sophia Al-Maria. The album's collaborators all have voices that are alluring in their own right whilst hard to pin down: from james K's ethereal, reverb drenched vocals, Coby Sey's words that bounce and echo across London's concrete streets and Olan Monk's emotive songwriting, while artist Sophie Al-Maria's voice and thoughts are known to stretch across her multidisciplinary practice as an artist, filmmaker and writer. The unique mystique of each collaborator is maintained throughout the record while simultaneously opening Moin up to new possibilities, in a gentle shifting alchemy. Continuing their enigmatic re-configuring of the traditional band, Moin use a mix of conventional and unique production and compositional techniques. Subtly re-framing the current conversation about what the band in 2024 needs to be, Moin walk the line between what's reassuringly familiar and what's unsettling and inquisitive. You Never End is a more sensitive record in sentiment, it re-contextualizes grunge, shoegaze and indie rock with a weirdly comforting melancholy while still sounding direct and alive. Showing Moin at their most accessible, the vocal collaborations bring the most articulate moments and lucid emotion while still remaining uniquely within Moin's established world. Alongside this, the record fine tunes the elements of electronic production that have always been a feature of the band's unique sound in a deeply subtle way. Elements are simpler and more direct, offering robust functional support as well as textural and emotional resonance. Together they show the potential for both practices to intertwine. You Never End is both produced and mixed by Tom and Joe, demonstrating the extended range of control the pair have over the band's sound, and their ability to truly hold together Moin's intricate world.

Passivité is the entrancingly beautiful debut solo album from You Ishihara, the founder of Japan's legendary White Heaven. Originally released on CD in 1997, it received scant attention. Since then, it has steadily gathered adherents, who, like P.S.F. Records founder Hideo Ikeezumi, have praised its tremendous depth and discovered that they experience something new each time they listen. The album draws from rock and psychedelic music, the sounds of '60s America as well as elements of jazz, bossa nova, soul, and even electronic music. Joined by a choice group players including Michio Kurihara (White Heaven) on guitar, Chiyo Kemekawa (Yura Yura Teikoku) on bass, and Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple), Ishihara creates an enigmatic late-night meditation that unfolds in a cool darkness pierced by scattered flashes of light and heat. Listening back today, Passivité sounds timeless and encapsulates the concepts and brilliance that have marked Ishihara's near 50-year career and standing as a key figure in the history of Japanese underground music. Black Editions presents Passivité for the first time on vinyl in a meticulously remastered deluxe edition with notes by Masato Matsumura (Studio Voice, Tokion) and by Shinji Shibayama (Nagisa Ni Te, Org Records). Pressed to high quality vinyl at Record Technology Inc. Housed in a metallic silver tip-on jacket with gloss film laminate finish, matte pigment stamping, two inserts with liner notes in Japanese and English.

Originally issued on Fonit Cetra label in 1972, and then re-released on Black Saint in 1976, this is Enrico Rava's legendary first album. An eclectic yet organic mix of open lyricism and NYC funk groove. Backed up by Bruce Johnson on electric guitar, Chip White on drums and Marcello Melis on double bass (one of the true unsung heroes in Italian creative jazz), Rava shines throughout the whole album with his very distinctive sound and his deep sense of melody. After more than 40 years this marvelous debut still sounds fresh and vital as ever.

2025 repress. Altın Gün offer an exciting mix of Turkish folk, psychedelia, funk, and rock. After performing in Istanbul with Jacco Gardner, bassist Jasper Verhulst became fascinated by the Turkish sound of the '70s. At that time, artists like Selda, Barış Manço, and Erkin Koray combined traditional music with western rock influences. Along with bandmates Ben Rider (guitar) and Nic Mauskovic (drums), Verhulst searched for Turkish musicians to revive this sound. They found Merve Dasdemir (vocals) and Erdinc Yildiz Ecevit (vocals, saz, keys) through Facebook. Jungle by Nigaht's energetic percussionist Gino Groeneveld joined the group and the band was complete. Altın Gün play songs from the aforementioned artists from the '70s and their lesser-known contemporaries and also make their own arrangements of Turkish traditionals. This way, different worlds meet and form a refreshing danceable sound.

2025 restock; Fourth volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "A great recording session for the French BYG Actuel label dated August 12, 1969. Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp met up with members of the Chicago avant-garde school including Art Ensemble Of Chicago members Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors. Featuring also Dave Burrell, Sunny Murray, Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor, Clifford Thornton, Earl Freeman among the others."

Performed by Carlos Cipa. The new recording of The Book of Sounds is an intimate exploration of the piano by pianist Carlos Cipa -- a way of looking into the sound, of listening into the moment when Cipa's fingers press down on the piano keys. The Book of Sounds, composed between 1979 and 1982 by composer and pianist Hans Otte, is a musical pendulum movement of one hour in twelve "pieces," as the composer himself describes them. Chords and melodies repeat themselves, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly; they follow each other in harmonic cadences and yet never dissolve -- a timeless back and forth. The Book of Sounds is the European-German answer to the concert music of American minimalism. But it is also the essence of many questions about society and the human condition at that time. Inspired by Zen Buddhism, Otte was convinced that a return to simplicity, to the unagitated -- a piano, harmonic cadences, a middle register -- frees the listener to focus on what is really important in art: the human being. Introspection begins with listening. Seldom have simple chords and melodies been so selectively staged. It is a process of endless reduction -- no wild sound dramaturgies, no climaxes, hardly any beginning or end. The interpreting pianist simply prepares a tableaux of perception for the listener. Cipa naturally sets accents; he recorded the 12 pieces on three different pianos -- a Steinway grand piano, a Yamaha piano, and a Yamaha CP-70, an early electric piano -- to help shape the tonal characteristics. Carlos Cipa hits the nerve of the times with this new recording. What music can be as art is still up for debate today. The Book of Sounds is not "art-proof" and in this it is still a provocation today; absolutely unspectacular and practicing relaxation. It is a wonderful invitation to feel, experience, and perhaps even find oneself in the confrontation with the work -- and for a moment not to fuel the discourse. Cipa, who otherwise appears as a composer himself, here carries out Otte's intended gesture of withdrawal in a double sense and steps into the background as creator but also interpreter, in order to bequeath The Book of Sounds to the loudspeakers and headphones at home in one step forward.

Hardcover. 12.6" L x 9.8" W (2.75 lbs). 192 pages. "Edited with text by Erin Christovale. Foreword by Ann Philbin. Text by Franya J. Berkman. Interviews by Ashley Kahn, Erin Christovale. Rashid Johnson, Cauleen Smith and others pay tribute to a truly extraordinary figure in 20th-century American jazz. This volume unpacks the cultural legacy of musician, spiritual leader, wife and mother Alice Coltrane. Accompanying the eponymous exhibition at Los Angeles' Hammer Museum, the book takes its title from Coltrane's 1977 autobiography and devotional text, Monument Eternal, in which she reflected on her newfound spiritual beliefs and the path to healing and self-discovery. Coltrane was 'ahead of her time,' as her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, says: she was 'one of the first people to move outside the mainstream, and certainly one of the first female, Black, American jazz musicians to record her own music in her own studio, and to release music on her own terms.' Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal explores themes including spiritual transcendence, sonic innovation and architectural intimacy. The project juxtaposes works from 19 contemporary American artists with pieces of ephemera from Coltrane's archive -- including handwritten sheet music, unreleased audio recordings and rarely seen footage -- to honor her cultural output and practice. Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit in 1937 and took up music at an early age, beginning piano lessons at seven years old. In 1967 her husband, saxophonist John Coltrane, gifted her a harp, on which she went on to record seminal albums including Journey in Satchidananda and A Monastic Trio, making her one of the very few harpists in the history of jazz. Coltrane moved to Southern California in 1972 and founded the Sai Anantam ashram. She lived and worked in Los Angeles, where she died in 2007 at age 69. This book was published in conjunction with Hammer Museum."

The reissue of 1972's Italian jazz funk classic, directed by Il Maestro Piero Umiliani. Trumpetist Francesco "Cicci" Santucci and saxophonist Enzo Scoppa cut their teeth in the late '50s, playing with the Italian group Modern Jazz Gang, along with other Italian jazz greats such as Sandro Brugnolini and Amadeo Tommasi. In June 1971, "il maestro" Piero Umiliani made his Sound Workshop recording studio in the heart of Rome available to them, so that they could create an album under his supervision. The result was Olimpiade, a jazz-funk album featuring Franco d'Andrea on electric piano (who would go on to play with the group Perigeo a year later), and Belgian musician Joel Vendrokenbrak on organ. It should be noted that this session was also released on Dire, under the name On the Underground Road, but is here reissued for the first time with its magnificent original cover. A poster of the artwork and a printed insert featuring the Sound Workshop studio are also included with this reissue.

Sonor Music Editions presents the reissue of the very rare LP Aquarium Sounds by Italian composer Filippo Trecca. Originally released in 1979 as a promo-only item, Aquarium Sounds is a hybrid collection of tracks; some were used as the soundtrack to the thriller TV series Così Per Gioco (1979), directed by Leonardo Cortese; others from the talk show Acquario (1978-1979) hosted by Italian journalist and writer Maurizio Costanzo. The album also includes Elena Tip which features playful vocals by a young Ilona Staller (aka Cicciolina). Aquarium Sounds was composed by Trecca himself, Achille Oliva (bass), Alessandro Alessandroni Jr. (keys), Giancarlo de Matteis (guitars), and Marco Parisi (drums), playing together for the creation of this progressive pop gem sought after by many collectors from around the world. The album, recorded using simple acoustic elements and early synths, is a treasure buried deep into the ocean of time that Sonor Music Editions is bringing back to the surface; a journey into the depths of our music memory as well into the universe of Italian music heritage.

This exceptionally rare library album by Italian composer, musician, and guitarist Mario Molino was first released on the obscure library music imprint B.M.P. during the 1970s. It was later issued on the highly collectible Music Scene label rebranded as Action Beat Group (MSE-144), featuring different track titles and attributed to the pseudonym Luigi Ferracioli. Although much about him remains unknown to this day, Mario Molino was a prominent figure in the world library music, celebrated for his genre-spanning versatility. On one hand, he was a virtuoso classical guitarist, while on the other, he had a strong foundation in jazz and contemporary music. This duality, spanning from classical guitar solos to spaced out psychedelic rock with fuzzed guitars, eccentric funk-infused Hammond organ grooves, proto-hip hop, and orchestral compositions, is reflected in his discography. His catalog includes rare and sought-after releases like Antico e Moderno (C 364) on Fonit's Usignolo series, Love on Vroommm Records, Beat Gregoriano on Montecarlo, I Beats on Pentaphon, alongside numerous library and soundtracks releases. The Diamonds Four stands as a hidden gem in Molino's oeuvre, seamlessly aligning with his best releases, as it contains a superb blend of groovy psychedelic funk, breezy bossa nova, killer jazz beat tunes and expansive mood-music. With only a handful of original pressings ever surfacing over the years, The Diamonds Four (as well as the later issue as Action Beat Group) earned its status as a unique and widely valued record among library and soundtrack enthusiasts worldwide.

Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late '70s/early '80s. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass. First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, Beautiful Africa stands as a fierce statement of post-bop jazz.

Back in the mid '80s, Paul Motian, one of the greatest jazz drummers of all times, assembled one of the most inventive groups of the decade. Motian invited four highly individual players such as Joe Lovano and Jim Pepper on tenor sax, Bill Frisell on electric guitar and Ed Schuller on bass, and the result was a unique sound in perfect balance between post-Ornette free-bop and a new and spacier form of interplay. First released in 1987 Misterioso stands as a stunning example of modern jazz!

The Outer Edge presents a true gem on the label: the first-ever vinyl reissue of the highly collectible Shake It - Make It Loose LP by J.D. (Puma) Lewis. Originally released on the infamous Metrovynil label in 1984, it stands as the best and most authentic boogie/'80s funk album ever produced in Germany. However, little is known about this legendary release, and the credits are sparse and often confusing. In reality, Shake It - Make It Loose was a collaboration between just two musicians: John Davis and Reginald Hudson. Both were first-class, highly talented musicians and composers from the U.S., who spent most of their lives living and working in Southern Germany. The combination of their musicianship and the cutting-edge technology at the studio resulted in a masterpiece of pure, state-of-the-art funk and boogie. The album features all the hallmarks of great '80s music: fresh synths, drum machines, and powerful lead vocals from John Davis. As said, these sessions took place at Hartmann Digital, a state-of-the-art studio in Untertrubach, Bavaria, where iconic artists like Nena, Yello, Visage, DAF, and Soft Cell recorded. The use of such an expensive studio would have been out of reach for the two musicians without Puma's backing, which also explains why there is a title like "Dancing Shoes." In the end, the album was signed to the Deggendorf-based Metrovynil label. The original pressing looked and sounded fantastic, featuring a stylish cover shot of John Davis in a sharp suit. Now, with this first-ever vinyl reissue, The Outer Edge is thrilled to include additional photos and more background information in a deluxe gatefold sleeve. This reissue includes all six tracks from the original Hartmann Digital sessions, plus two bonus tracks. From the original reel tapes, the label unearthed additional material that Hudson and Davis produced together in the early to mid-'80s. Shake It - Make It Loose is a classic boogie-funk album that belongs in every serious funk and disco collection. It showcases the undeniable talent of two true musicians and stands as a testament to the friendship between Reg Hudson and John Davis.

LP version. "Jules Reidy's sublime music maps the human experience in glittering constellations of sound. The guitarist is a driver of Berlin's fertile contemporary music scene. A wide-eyed imagination combined with technical mastery guide each work in Reidy's extensive catalog, from solo guitar albums and collaborations with innovative peers, including recent works with claire rousay, Oren Ambarchi, Andrea Belfi, and Sam Dunscombe to major commissions from JACK Quartet and Zinc & Copper. The songs of Ghost/Spirit collectively convey an astral sense of yearning and wonder, pushing towards transcendence. The album charts a deeply personal journey with love, spirituality and transformation expressed in fractal guitar figures, ethereal vocal vapors and rippling microtones. Reidy's guitar approach unlocks the tonal and textural possibilities of the instrument from their use of alternate tunings and astute processing. The maximalist melodics of album opener 'Every Day There's a Sunset' are bolstered by rumbling bass samples from Andreas Dzialocha, Reidy's collaborator in the duo Sun Kit. On 'Satellite,' cello samples from Judith Hamann stretch out through the cosmos, orbited by spiraling finger-picked guitars, while stacked trombone chords echo out into the ether. Thundering drum samples from Berlin metal mainstay Sara Neidorf push the album to ecstatic peaks on 'Every Day There's a Sunrise,' fragmented rhythms breaking apart in the atmosphere. Field recordings of the Berlin S-Bahn recur throughout the album, another endless cycle of leaving and returning that shuttles beneath the album's whirling tones. Ghost/Spirit captures the inherent power and agency in choosing to offer yourself up to the universe and let go, ego death and prayer rendered in incandescent sonics. Reidy's inimitable skill as a guitarist, producer and composer is on full display, and when combined with the intensity of experience, the resulting album is a remarkable work of art.

"Jules Reidy is another musician transforming the capabilities of an instrument, in this case the guitar -- somewhere between Vini Reilly, Glenn Branca and Kevin Shields." --The Guardian

"You grasp for names that might fit Reidy's elusive emotional register, searching in vain for an affective Rosetta Stone. The music feels both warmly familiar and uncomfortably alien; therein lies its power." --Pitchfork

"Like looking through a tinted window then trying to adjust to the world's normal colours. It's brilliant." --The Quietus

"[Their] music offers an intricate sonic tapestry of fingerstyle guitar, found sounds and spectral electronic drone." -- Crack

Repressed; Wewantsounds present a first-time vinyl reissue Fairuz's classic album Kifak Inta produced by her son Ziad Rahbani in the late '80s and only released on cassette and CD in 1991. Composed and arranged by Rahbani, who had already produced Wahdon (1979) and Maarifti Feek (1987), Kifak Inta features his usual blend of jazz, funk, and Arabic music, spiced up with Brazilian influences serving Fairuz's beautiful voice. Fairuz is a living legend and one of the greatest divas of the Arab world. She came to prominence in the '50s crossing path with the Rahbani Brothers (Assi and Mansour) an encounter that turned into a fruitful collaboration that would last until the '70s, spawning countless classics in the process. Fairuz's marriage with Assi produced a son, Ziad, who would start a brilliant career as a cutting-edge playwright, musician, and producer in the early '70s. When Assi Rahbani became ill in the mid-70s and the couple separated, Ziad took over as Fairuz's musical director and started to add elements of jazz, funk, and bossa nova to her music. The collaboration started in 1979 with Wahdon which included the funky cult classic "Al Bosta". They worked together again in 1983-84 on the album Maarifti Feek which was released in 1987 and continued their collaboration with Kifak Inta a few years later. The album was released on the Lebanese label Relax-in in 1991 on cassette and CD only, but, although there are no recording dates listed, the track "Ouverture 87" indicates it was recorded around that year. The album follows the same pattern as previous Ziad Rahbani productions for his mother and mixes traditional Arabic music ("Farewell Song", "It's Not a Problem"), jazz-funk ("Ya Leili Leili Leili"), and bossa nova ("Indi Thika Fik"), all featuring Ziad's superb orchestrations and slick arrangements. The jewel in the crown is the album's title track, "Kifak Inta" (And You, How Are You?), a ballad written and composed by Ziad Rahbani. The song is sung by a woman opening her heart to her childhood sweetheart, now married to another woman, and confessing she still loves him. The subject was controversial and created quite a stir when the song came out in the still conservative Lebanese society of the time. The track "Prova" which closes side one is a fascinating studio rehearsal of "Kifak Inta" featuring both Ziad and Fairuz. Remastered audio by Colorsound Studio in Paris. Includes new liner notes (French/English) by Mario Choueiry (Institut Du Monde Arabe).

LP version. Following the success of the Tokyo Glow and Funk Tide sets, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Tokyo-based DJ Notoya for a breezy selection of funk and boogie recorded in Japan for King Records in the '70s and '80s. Most tracks here are making their debut on vinyl outside of Japan and the album, like its predecessors, has been designed by Optigram's Manuel Sepulveda and is annotated by DJ Notoya. The audio has been newly mastered in Tokyo by King Records and remastered for vinyl by Colorsound in Paris. For Tokyo Bliss, Japanese Funk expert DJ Notoya has picked a diverse selection of great funk, boogie and city pop tracks recorded between 1974 and 1988 for King Records, one of the most venerable record labels in Japan. These tracks -- which are in demand on the Japanese groove scene -- are mostly new to international ears and showcase the breadth and quality of Nippon music recorded during the '70s and '80s. The selection kicks off with the group Buzz, a folk duet formed in the early '70s by Hiroshi Koide and Masakazu Togo who released a handful of albums for King during the '70s. The track "Garasumado" (Glass Window) is from the 1974 album Requiem The City which was produced by Nobuyuki Takahashi, the older brother of future YMO superstar Yukihiro Takahashi. At the time both were members of cult group Sadistic Mika Band. Next comes the synth boogie sound of singer Mami Ayukawa, who was active on the Japanese music scene in the mid-'80s, followed by drummer Johnny Yoshinaga's 1978 hard funk "The Rain" featuring great keyboards action from Hiroyuki Namba, one of Tatsuro Yamashita's key musicians. Keiko Toda's mid-tempo delight "Fade In" was released in 1983 and adds a touch of class to the ensemble with its languid rhythm and synth riffs. The rest of Tokyo Bliss alternate between the stylish funk-folk floater "Bokura no Date" by Koji Kobayashi from 1978 and the '80s funk bomb "Your Love's Away" by Kumiko Sawada, produced by prolific guitarist Kazuo Takeda with his group Creation, who is backing Sawada here. The selection closes with the superb Moog and Fender Rhodes-led space funk instrumental "Paper Machine" released in 1977 by Fujimaru Band and which ends the set on a perfect note.

For the very first time on vinyl a mandatory compilation with both rarities and unreleased tracks, showcasing their second line up! At the end of January 1971, lead vocalist Linda Hoyle and organist Lynton Naiff left Affinity. Instead of going separate ways, the other three members recruited vocalist Vivienne McAuliffe (Principal Edwards Magic Theatre) and ex-Tornados keyboardist Dave Watts. Reminiscent at times of Sandy Denny, Vivienne's voice was a natural addiction to the new incarnation of the band, focusing on a more folksy direction.

WRWTFWW Records presents the first ever release of the highly-sought after original soundtrack from 1987 cult horror movie Dolls by multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, music man extraordinaire Fuzzbee Morse. The limited-edition LP is a miracle of lost-then-found VHS era film scores and is housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve with a bloody cutout sticker and exclusive composer notes. Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Robot Jox) and released by Charles Band's infamous Empire Pictures (which later morphed into Full Moon Productions), Dolls is '80s campy VHS horror in all its glory, a fan-favorite with all the attributes needed for a frightening popcorn night, including one hell of a soundtrack with a very welcomed heavy dose of menacing synths, thunderous orchestrations, and quirky interludes. The haunting score comes from master Fuzzbee Morse who composed it in Richard Band's garage with a Yamaha QX-1 sequencer, an arsenal of vintage synthesizers, and a wide array of instruments. The result is a must-have (and never released before) soundtrack that blends horror tropes with influences ranging from Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring to Bernard Herrmann, Frank Zappa, Beethoven, Charles Ives, and Eleanor Rigby.

FREQ003 introduces a vinyl repress of the iconic The Truth EP by Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes, a pioneering figure in Detroit techno who played a crucial role in shaping the genre's early sound. Originally released in 1995, this timeless EP is a testament to Fowlkes' distinct blend of raw, soulful techno and deep house. The FREQ team has meticulously remastered the tracks, ensuring the warmth and energy of the original production is preserved. A key inspiration for our narrative has been the origins of techno and the way it became commercialized and streamlined for the capitalist market, with the original creators losing control of the genre. The label has woven this concept into its story, though it's expressed in a more coded and abstract form. Given the deep influence that Detroit Techno and its early pioneers have had on both FREQ lore and its team, it is a true honor to feature Eddie Fowlkes on the label. FREQ Records is the record label accompanying the manga FREQ, created by Nicola Kazimir, illustrated by goodnewsforbadguys, and written by the legendary Dai Sato, who has written scripts for Ergo Proxy, Eureka Seven, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, among many others.

On Not Around But Through, Portland-based experimental musician and tape wizard Amulets navigates the process of acceptance and the tumultuous journey of looking within. Over the course of eight tracks, he explores the emotional path of moving through rather than circumventing, in the process soundtracking a purposeful desire to face trauma and vulnerability. The Asian-American artist is one of the most gifted alchemists working at the intersection of experimental and heavy music today and this riveting album represents his most direct and immediate work yet. Infusing his trademark ambient soundscapes with ambitious blends of post-hardcore, emo, and metal, Not Around But Through connects the dots between personal and social dislocation, leaving listeners with a taste of the fragmented and fallen future they are all steeling themselves for. Traversing a landscape that varies from gentle and meandering to explosive and cathartic, Amulets uses cinematic tension and relentless attention to detail to construct his sonic apparitions. On "Lifelike" he collaborates with Midwife, incorporating Madeline Johnston's voice into a song that pulsates with post-shoegaze transcendent energy. Amulets' second album for Beacon Sound and his first new music in four years; his 2021 album The Blooming was released by The Flenser.

The recordings on A Modern View on Early Music show a bold mix: breathtaking a cappella interpretations of the Octonaires de la Vanité du Monde by Paschal de L'Estocart (1582) and pieces from the Geneva Psalter (1562) meet the reworkings of Sylvain Chauveau. The voices of chant 1450, trained in early music, sing these pieces with lyrics about transience full of emotion and elegance. Sylvain Chauveau processed individual pieces electronically, whereby transience remains sonically present in his always surprising versions. The reworkings do not take early music as a fixed, quasi-museum repertoire, but as a starting point for something new -- everything is in flux, is reinterpreted, changes. A wonderful stream of fantastic music emerges, with ancient and contemporary music coming closer together than one might initially expect. Le Beau du monde -- A Modern View on Early Music, is the second collaboration by chant 1450 and Sylvain Chauveau after Echoes of Harmony - Early Music Reworked (SR 447CD, 2017), both released by Sub Rosa.

Outre-nuit as Outre-noir by Pierre Soulages displays the greatest nuances on subtle variations. Between Clara Levy's two original compositions is Giacinto Scelsi's "Xnoybis" (1964), a piece that makes you feel like you're listening for the first time. It is a journey amongst the reliefs contained within one single pitch. Written in three parts, the piece is an instinctive approach to the sound spectrum (the term "spectral music" was coined a decade later). Next comes a nocturne by Kaija Saariaho, which focuses on the sound material metamorphosis. Erika Vega and Eva Maria Houben, two young female composers, close the program with their own pieces. All pieces performed by Clara Levy. Levy (1991) is a French violinist and improviser living in Brussels whose career is mainly focused on new music performance. She has been developing solo project addressing different topics at the core of contemporary music practice: the blurred lines between interpretation and composition (13 Visions) or the listening experience and dramaturgy of the concert (Outre-Nuit).

LP version. After four years of solo festival appearances, the duo formed by Rebeka Warrior and Vitalic is making a grand comeback!

LP version. The reinterpreted traditional folk songs that make up Cold Blows The Rain are shaped by the land and the weather. Wrapped in mist and drizzle, the crawling drone of low heavy clouds on flat-top moors. The sound of the dark Calder Valley floor and sun starved hills in West Yorkshire in the North of England. A must for fans of Karen Dalton, ØXN, Shirley Collins, and Lisa O'Neill -- it's found a home on local Todmorden label Basin Rock (Jim Ghedi, Myriam Gendron, Michael Chapman, Juni Habel, Trevor Beales). Bridget Hayden is a soul who found a home among the hills of Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in for the classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about the wind and rain, fog and mist, how rare and treasured the breaks from it are. Her favorite thing to do in the valley, she says, is "to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine." Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via the Todmorden- based label Basin Rock. Having hired the town's Oddfellow's Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of 2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recording when the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time. The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for the sunlight. They come, instead, wrapped in mist and coated with drizzle, those elements shaping the album as much as the voice and the instruments held within, as real but ambiguous as the ghosts that linger in the shadows. The sound of the dark valley floor. Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, and led by Bridget's stirring and weather-beaten voice, the songs on Cold Blows the Rain drift and crawl like low heavy clouds on flat-top hills, shaped by the land. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of The Apparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill). 180gm heavyweight black vinyl. Includes download code.

"On the cover: In February New York based artist and sonic therapist Devi Mambouka will release her second album as Masma Dream World. The long awaited follow-up to 2020's Play At Night, Please Come To Me will be released via Nabil Ayers' Valley Of Search label. For The Wire Mambouka discusses ritual, healing and 'music for the shadow world' with Emily Pothast; Sound Art with Stones Sound: artists like Glasgow-based Cypriot Antonia Kattou and the UK's Simon James, aka The Simonsound, as well as critical architectural practices such as Bethlehem-based AAU Anastas, use stone as a focal point for an interrogation of geopolitics. Bobby Jewell reports; Caxtrinho: As Caxtrinho, Brazilian singer and guitarist Paulo Vitor Castro's turbulent, psychedelic strategies against samba and bossa nova made a formidable impression with last year's album Queda Livre. By Derek Walmsley; Louis Laurain: The experimental cornetist has brought his free and extended techniques to ensembles like the The Umlaut Big Band and Lumpeks as well as collaborations with Éliane Radigue, Stephen O'Malley and, most recently, Pierre Bastien with whom he's releasing a new album via Brighton's Rose Hill records. By Clive Bell; Invisible Jukebox: Lydia Lunch From downtown NYC to The Lydian Turn podcast, legend in her own lifetime Lydia Lunch takes on The Wire's blind listening test. Tested by Claire Biddles; Global Ear: Tijuana; Unlimited Editions: Pointless Geometry; Inner Sleeve: Jules Reidy; Plus, one page profiles of Chris Cundy, Able Noise and Polonius."