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Acclaimed folk-blues singer/songwriter Luke Winslow-King has recently inked a significant deal with the iconic Bloodshot records, coinciding with the label’s 30th anniversary, and marking a revival in the institution’s trailblazer history of outlaw country, folk roots, and rock n roll. To celebrate this exciting collaboration, Luke Winslow-King is set to embark on a midwest tour with guitar maestro Roberto Luti of Tuscany May 17 - June 1 of 2024.

Tuscan Slide Guitar Maestro Roberto Luti is a founding member of the Playing For Change band and has collaborated with legends such as Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Dr. John and numerous others, accumulating over 100 million plays on YouTube. His unorthodox, angular and evocative slide guitar style is based on Mississippi and Chicago blues and is infused by soul and African roots traditions.

Fans can expect the sincere and heartfelt roots blues stylings King has become known for, showcased alongside his continual artistic reinvention.

Magick Brother & Mystic Sister, the mysterious band from Barcelona, return with not one, but 2 albums! 'Tarot Part I' and 'Tarot Part II' (follows ca. 2 months after #1) is a concept album in 2 parts, a psychedelic record, a kaleidoscope of songs based upon the Major Arcana of the Tarot, a cross-cultural dream language. With their signature imaginative compositions, featuring space-age keys and spiraling synthesizers, intricate guitar mosaics and bass lines, powerful drums, tribal percussion and exotic instruments carving textures for atmospheric feminine vocals, Mbms merge a kind of dream-prog, of the Canterbury variety, with retro-futuristic sounds and magic folk atmospheres, shaping up their own universe, thus turning the 'Tarot' concept into an unmissable experience! The band decided to release the record in two parts, giving the listener more time to meditate upon the music. This is an album that is meant to be listened to and experienced visually on vinyl, its sleeve recalling the bold designs of the late 1960s - early 1970s - when the two records are combined, the interior gatefolds form an astrological mandala, a planetary wheel. For this album Mbms, (Eva Muntada (synthesizers, mellotron, organ, piano), Xavier Sandoval (bass and guitar), Alejandro Carmona (drums) and, new member of the band, Toni Jagwar (sitar) are joined by Maya Fernandez (flute) on two songs, Glenn Brigman (vocals) and Didac Fernandez (percussion).

A collection of rare original recordings, unheard for over a century, of captivating Hawaiian steel guitar music that influenced the first generation of Delta blues and country artists, changing the sound of music forever. Ghostly transmissions from paradise, beamed across time from a lost century, carefully remastered and restored with extensive historical notes & rare photos.

Predating the craze for kitschy Westernized “hot” Hawaiian music, the raw recordings here represent the original sounds of the Hawaiian islands that took America by storm in the early years of the 20th century. In 1893 the native Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by US-backed business interests. Fleeing a repressive regime that even banned the Hawaiian language itself, hundreds of native Hawaiian musicians emigrated to the United States. In a few short years they had conquered America, as audiences flocked by the millions to hear native Hawaiian musicians perform anti-colonial protest songs of Hawaiian independence while playing a unique new Hawaiian invention: the steel guitar.

By 1916 Hawaiian music was the bestselling genre of recorded music in United States. From the biggest cities to the most isolated rural towns, millions of Americans flocked to see touring Hawaiian steel guitarists perform using never-before-seen sliding techniques that produced strange new sounds which audiences found electrifying. It was in some of these isolated Southern towns that pioneering black musicians like Leadbelly, Son House, and Tampa Red first heard Hawaiian guitarists playing steel guitar and began to imitate their slide techniques, bringing a new style of guitar playing to bear on blues music and changing the sound of America forever.

While to Western ears these songs sound jovial and romantic, they also carry other layers of meaning. By celebrating the Hawaiian language, landscape, and people, the music gave voice to a resistance against the white colonial interests that had seized the Hawaiian government. Other songs openly critical of the regime and called for the restoration of native rule, and many were even written by the deposed royal family. Just beneath the surface of these beautiful melodies that spoke of soft waves, warm breezes, and moonlight were political messages about colonialism and white supremacy that resonated deeply with Hawaiian listeners.

Too often, indigenous stories are written out of American history, particularly when it comes to music. This release seeks to bring new attention to the groundbreaking contributions of pioneering Hawaiian artists to the sound of American popular music, as well as transport listeners back to a now-forgotten period of American history when millions of Americans, of every color and walk of life, were obsessed with the innovative, stridently-political, deeply-evocative sounds of native Hawaiian steel guitar music.

All of these tracks have been lovingly restored from original 78rpm releases. Most of them have been unissued in any format since their original release over 100 years ago.

CD Digisleeve, 16 page booklet. "Viva Tu", Manu Chao's new album. Includes " Viva Tu ", "Sao Paulo Motoboy " and collaborations such as "Heaven's Bad Day" with Willie Nelson & "Tu Te Vas" with Laeti.

For years, Manu Chao has been travelling the world to meet his fans in unusual venues, villages and small festivals. Elusive, but always accessible to those who cross his path, Manu now presents his new studio album 'Viva Tu', a collection of songs written at the heart of daily lives and struggles, and a fresh take on the state of the world, singing sunny, universal songs in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese, painting an unforgiving picture of social imbalances.
The lead song 'Viva Tu', a heartfelt rumba dedicated to the daily life heroes, has already made its mark. The second single, 'São Paulo Motoboy', is a colorful, sunny ode to the two-wheeled delivery people venturing the Latin American metropoles every day.
The album, to be released September 20th, also features some memorable collaborations, including 'Heaven's Bad Day' with country legend Willie Nelson and 'Tu Te Vas' with rising French rapper Laeti.
Available now in preorder (CD/Vinyls/Digital).

Maria Muldaur is a singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. P-vine is reissuing two albums released on Black Top Records by this diva who has spun American roots music.

Released by Black Top Records in 1992, this album, as the title "Louisiana Love Call" suggests, is lovingly sent from New Orleans, making it a special addition to her career dedicated to pursuing the music of Louisiana.

Featuring collaborations with old acquaintances like Amos Garrett and Dr. John, as well as Aaron & Charles Neville, this album kicks off with a quintessential New Orleans Second Line Beat, "Second Line," by John Cleary. The title track, adorned with Aaron Neville's vocals and Amos Garrett's guitar, along with covers like J.J. Cale's "Cajun Moon" and two duets with Dr. John, "Best Of Me" and "Layin' Right Here In Heaven," make this album a gem filled with songs exuding the essence of the American South.

Maria Muldaur is a singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. P-vine is reissuing two albums released on Black Top Records by this diva who has spun American roots music.

"Meet Me At Midnite" is an album released in 1994 under the production of John Porter, known for his work with Buddy Guy and B.B. King. It features Maria's captivating vocals, enveloping listeners in the sultry atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer night in the American South. Tracy Nelson, Bill Payne and Shaun Murphy of Little Feat, and Don Bryant & Ann Peebles are among the contributors, with Dan Penn also credited as a songwriter. With a prominent horn section, the album showcases songs with influences from Southern soul, such as the evocative "Sweet Simple Love," truly embodying the Memphis high sound. Alongside her previous work "Louisiana Love Call," this album stands as a significant piece in her career narrative.

A very rare jewel in the Michael Head canon of work. A two-song project recorded in 2014, pressed in France and packaged in a hand-made sleeve. This is a unique and original artefact, not a re-press. With no band name on the sleeve , this was a personal project exquisitely packaged.

Over the last ten years, Michael Morley has embraced the acoustic guitar as the means of channeling the darkest threads that have run through his work since the early 1980s. While he largely made a name for himself as a maverick of primitive electric guitar and electronics in The Dead C and Gate, Morley's love of song form has never been far from the surface. In recent years, chance discoveries of Spanish and classical guitar records languishing in the discount and free bins at junk shops in South Dunedin proved to be a revelation. These records, largely recorded in the 1950s and 60s, began to shift Morley's work and lead him to piece together a new musical language from elements completely removed from the rock and avant-garde underground from which he first emerged. Spanish, Mexican and South American composers such as De Fossa, Ponce, Lauro, Barrios, Pujol, Albéniz, Falla, and Villa-Lobos as well as more traditional classical guitar composers like Schubert, Haydn, and Scarlatti all began to etch themselves into his consciousness. Rather than emulate them, Morley "channeled the experience of listening to these strange guitar sounds" as he began to play the acoustic guitar for hours at a time every day as an almost meditative exercise and a way of discovering a new way to play. This new musical language is realized on Pushed Streets, a suite of 12 songs Morley recorded at home in Kōpūtai/Port Chalmers, New Zealand. The music is quiet, almost ephemeral. Chords and melodies are traced in a dark atmosphere with Morley's unmistakable voice almost imperceptibly double tracked, words softly sung and stretched, sometimes at a near whisper. There are no amplifiers, no effects, nothing to distract from Morley's words and the tone of his guitar. Recorded with two 1970s guild guitars, an orchestral six string and dreadnaught twelve string, the guitar sound is rich and dynamic, chords and melodic figures are struck with what sometimes seems the gentlest possible gesture, resonating and floating away into the night. The music and voice, the lyrics are all of that dark thread, distilled with frightening clarity. The music is intimate and fragile, unadorned and heartbreaking in a way that recalls the spirit of lonely and world-weary albums by Skip Spence, Bill Fay, and Loren Connors; yet against the backdrop of the absolute finality of today's culture, the album's alchemy of Spanish and classical influences with Morley's formative work avant garde work, Pushed Streets exists in its own hauntingly desolate realm.

The only officially released live recordings of Doji Morita have been "Tokyo Cathedral Saint Mary Live" and "FM Tokyo Pioneer Sound Approach Live Recording", both recorded in 1978. This album contains live recordings in 1980, and this is the first time ever that recordings from this period have been released.

Muireann Bradley is a young blues, ragtime, roots and folk guitarist and singer based in Ballybofey in County Donegal Ireland. Tompkins Square actually signed her when she was 13, but because of Covid and just “growing up", the process of recording took place over three years. She will be 17 in December, 2023. "This is my first album. Most of these tunes were originally recorded by the great blues men and women who were making records from the 1920s and 1930s right up in some cases to the early 1970s. I have also found inspiration for the renditions recorded here in the playing of some of the musicians who began recording this music in the 1960s and later, and who in some cases learned at the feet of the greats. Many of these guitarists played pivotal roles in the 1960s blues revival and subsequent 'rediscovery' of many of the greats of country blues. I grew up steeped in these old blues in the hills overlooking the valley of the River Finn just outside the town of Ballybofey in County Donegal. My father would play this music constantly at home and wherever we went in the car and talk about it endlessly whether anyone was listening or not, telling stories about the lives of these musicians as if they were legend, mythology or the evening news. My father could of course play all this stuff on guitar, I remember watching him when I was very young and thinking 'I want to be able to do that'. When I was nine he agreed to teach me and bought me my first little travel guitar. I worked hard to learn how to play but as time wore on I seemed to have less and less time to practice as I became more and more invested in the combat sports I was regularly training and competing in. Then in March 2020 the first Covid lockdowns happened and all contact sports were shut down. I was lost for a while but soon found my way back to the guitar. I was now listening, playing and practicing with a new intensity and focus. In a very serious moment I wrote out a list of tunes I was going to learn. The first tune on that list was Blind Blake’s 'Police Dog Blues'. I’m not sure now how long it took to get that arrangement together but when it was ready we videoed me performing it and posted it on YouTube. It ended up getting a lot of attention, I remember my parents being quite shocked and soon after that Josh Rosenthal got in touch… and here we are! Each individual track on this album was recorded live in the studio and represents one entire take with me singing and backing myself up on guitar simultaneously. Most are either first or second takes. Nothing has been added or taken away, no overdubs or modern recording tricks of any kind have been used at all so at least in some respects this album has been recorded in the same way as those classics of the 1920s and 1930s. I hope you enjoy the record."—Muireann Bradley May 2023

"Ethio Jazz" is an album released by the Ethiopian master musician Mulatu Astatke in 1974 on his homeland Ethiopia's Amha Records. It stands as a milestone not only in his career but also in the history of contemporary Ethiopian music, continuing to shine brightly. With melancholic melodies played by wind instruments, a polyrhythmic rhythm section creating robust waves, sultry vibes from the vibraphone, and smoky organ tones, the album is enveloped in the sounds of jazz inherited from the States. This work, where various musical elements are miraculously fused in perfect balance, undoubtedly reigns at the pinnacle of Ethio Jazz, showcasing Mulatu's ambitious creativity in seeking out new sounds.

In North Africa, a ziara is a spiritual ceremony where people come to exorcise demons, purify their bodies and loudly reaffirm their attachment to God, the prophet and the deities who claim to embody him. On this occasion, there are uncontrolled outbursts from the audience, but this has nothing to do with Roman orgies, as it lacks ostensible debauchery, aphrodisiacs or saturnalia - it is merely a blurring of the line between the religious and the superstitious. In a shrill parable, cries erupt from chests, twisting through vertical space and setting everything ablaze; a delirious chorus is chanted, ending in syncopation, and the litany, whose leitmotif Ya Chai, Ya Afi (O Healer...), shouted in unison, builds to a crescendo until the body is totally exhausted. An intoxicating ecstasy reminiscent of a voodoo ritual. What mystics call "union in God", a God who would multiply himself.

The most brilliant performers of this type of ceremony are called the Gnawa. Originally from black Africa, mainly Sudan and Senegal, they were forcibly implanted in southern Maghreb by Tuareg raiders seeking to use them as slaves. After several decades of servitude, they managed to emerge from their painful condition, which they evoke in some of their songs, and - as a result of cross-fertilization - to form a mixed race known as the hormis (the reddish). They then grouped together in mystical brotherhoods, the most important of which were based in Morocco, and devoted themselves to rituals through which, while attesting to the greatness and omnipotence of Allah, they pursued their fatal liaisons with the djins or djenoun, genie-like spirits that may be either benevolent or hostile.

But above all, the Gnawa, who never abjured their faith in animist divinities, distinguish themselves by their bewitching music, dance and rhythms, which are believed to hold therapeutic virtues. During the festivities, all movements are orchestrated and staged by the maâlem, or master (one of the most famous is Si Mohamed Chaouki), for he alone knows all the rules. He is a master of the instrument that aids healing, the guembri, a kind of acoustic bass strummed with three gut strings, and knows which melody-remedy matches each patient possessed by a particular spirit. All this is accompanied by dekka (frenzied hand-clapping) and animal sacrifices (chickens, goats and, on rare occasions, bulls).

In recent years in particular, the Gnawa musical and rhythmic tradition, which borrows from both Middle Eastern arabesques and African percussion, has enjoyed a marked revival among Moroccan artists of the new generation. But until now, only the very popular group Nass El Ghiwane has been able, with talent, faithfulness and authenticity, to reconstitute the Gnawa spirit, as witnessed by this album. So join them, and get into the trance.

"Are Possible" is a spark-throwing, undulating fusion of styles played (mainly) on banjo, upright bass and drums, made possible by the individual perspectives of Nathan, double-bassist Casey Toll (Jake Xerxes Fussell, Mt. Moriah) and drummer Rex McMurray (CAVE) work together in an easy-rolling manner, but one that contains an expansive, ass-shaking confabulation of ideas.Music is time in redux: Are Possible"s many moments in time carry details from all over the place. Rex brought a rhythm to the table after drumming on buckets at work, Casey provided a bassline that redirected a previous jam, Nathan brought in a song he"d been fucking with forever and they figured it out together. Their diversity of sources moves easily within the arrangements, rendering a far-ranging set of feels, from transcendental to new country funk to good ol" jazz and the folk-rock, even - all of it drawn out exquisitely when they mixed at Electrical Audio in Chicago with the delicate hands of Cooper Crain upon the faders. The Nathan Bowles Trio have done their due diligence, passing their music through time and space on their way to now.

Noelle & The Deserters bring South-Western honky tonk and songs of heartbreak from the high deserts of New Mexico to the golden hills of California. Fronted by singer-songwriter Noelle Fiore, their music draws inspiration from the likes of Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, J.J Cale, Gene Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and the great outlaw country players. The Deserters include seasoned players Graham Norwood (Bryan Scary, Graham Norwood) on guitar, Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set) on bass, David Cuetter (Tarnation) on pedal steel, and Jerry Fiore (Sonic Love Affair)on drums, all based in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Fiore was raised in Taos, New Mexico. As a guitar player and vocalist, she was a founding member of Sweet Chariot, singing and playing guitar / banjo. Later, she and Tim Cohen (The Fresh & Onlys) founded the band Magic Trick, recording four full length albums for labels Hardly Art and Captured Tracks. Fiore is also a current member of the Shannon Shaw Band, on guitar and vocals.

High Desert Daydream is Noelle & The Deserters debut album, out on Speakeasy Studios SF. The songs on the album, written by Fiore, touch on life in the west, growing up in Taos, living in California, songs of love, memory, marriage, work, good times, and bad times. Like all classic country music, the songs are infused with a sense of real-life struggles and living life in the everyday. Fiore’s incredible voice carries the album, and her songs are at once moving, powerful, tender, humorous, and intimately relatable.

Produced by Noelle Fiore and Alicia Vanden Heuvel, High Desert Daydream feels country, yet of the west, of California and New Mexico, of experimental fronts in country music, and is truly a work of beauty.

Two-time Juno Award winner Old Man Luedecke returns to the music world in 2024 with his new album "She Told Me Where to Go". Written while at sea on a scallop boat, it is a journey through the darkness and light of mid-life, and wrestles with the value of an artist in a time when music is ingested in 15 second increments. Produced by Afie Jurvanen (aka Bahamas) over 2 years, "She Told Me Where to Go" finds Luedecke abandoning his banjo for exhilarating parts unknown.

“I was just going over to my neighbour’s house to get some scallops for dinner”, says Chris Luedecke. “Knowing that the live music world had slowed, he asked me if I wanted a job on his boat”. And so, Chris began going out to sea in the North Atlantic, not far from his Nova Scotia home. He was giving up the game of music.

During downtimes, Chris' family would tap their maple trees and host all-day sap boils over an open fire. A frequent visitor was Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas). “What about not playing the banjo on your next record?” Afie suggested. Afie’s question was rooted in how much of a fan he was of Chris’s song writing, and that maybe perceptions of the banjo distracted from that. “I was a banjo player, known for my old-time Appalachian sound, and Afie thought that I should just write songs without the instrument in mind.”

It might have been easier to just quit the game and stick to scallops, but being able to let go of the instrument that made him brought new life to Luedecke - to his songs and the album that sprang from it.

Celebrated Zambian guitarist and bandleader Paul Ngozi’s concept album about the stuggles of those living in Africa’s 1970s townships Includes Oversized 8 Page Booklet That Details Paul Ngozi and The Ngozi Family’s Arc, Including Rare Photographs, Discography And Annotation The third entry in an era-defining reissue series on Now-Again centered around this Zamrock legend and his band - previous entries include Day Of Judgement and 45,000 Volts "Zambia’s Zamrock movement that exploded in the 1970s...provided young musicians access to European and American music, and created a unique sound. At its root, Zamrock melded fuzz-toned psychedelia, chugging garage rock and roiling funk with a broad mix of African cadences and beats...enlivening a scene that included bands like Musi-O-Tunya, Amanaz and the Ngozi Family” - Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene: on the African continent, only Nigeria can claim one so comprehensive, and Nigeria’s was largely catalyzed and funded by subsidiaries of the European major labels. Zamrock was as independent as the newly-named country, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia. Zamrock is starting in its completeness, especially for a scene that emerged, unfurled and disappeared so quickly. From Musi-O-Tunyaís fusion of Fela’s Afro-beat, Hendrix’s rock, South African jazz and traditional Zambian melodies and rhythms to Salty Dog’s acid folk/rock, Zambia’s rock scene contained all of rock’s subgenres. Zamrock was much more than an imitation of American and European rock music: it quickly became a uniquely Zambian movement, befitting of its name. Witch, Paul Ngozi and Amanaz sound nothing like other rock music from the African continent - or elsewhere.

As a true Brazilian music aficionado, Skinshape was naturally captivated by Pedro Mizutani's charm. So, when Pedro visited Europe in the summer of 2023, Skinshape invited him to its London studio. Together, magic effortlessly unfolded. Pedro sets the rhythm, while Skinshape sets the grain. With Skinshape weaving in basslines and other arrangements around Mizutani's mesmerizing guitar playing, the collaboration was a breeze. The two musicians understood each other in the blink of an eye. Together, they crafted a true homage to bossa nova. Without overshadowing Mizutani's style, Skinshape brought out his full musicality. It was a seamless symbiosis. The duo created a one-of-a-kind work. In the spirit of the Afrobeats movement, one could even describe it as "bossa-pop," maintaining the essence of the genre while incorporating British aesthetic elements under Skinshape's discerning ear. A sprinkling of shimmering bells here, kicks dipped in reverb there, and jazzy basslines for that extra touch of groove. As for Pedro Mizutani, he excelled in delicacy as always and did not lose altitude, soaring to even greater heights.

“Sotali” (2010) by Swedish folk duo Pettersson & Fredriksson – featuring members of Otyg and Solsaate – becomes available on vinyl for the first time. Renowned for mastery with the keyed fiddle and mandola, the pair bridges their Västerbotten heritage with influences ranging from Sigur Rós’s avant-garde creativity to José Gonzalez’s serene melancholy. “Sotali” emerges as an opus that balances the energy of traditional melodies with the tranquillity of modern folk artistry.

One reviewer said this about Lavender Daydreams: “Blissed out folk psycher in the vein of Tim Buckley or Dan Fogleberg but waaay more psyched out. Richard has certainly dropped a tab or three in his time. A really, really good album to mind-surf to, and also poppy enough that it would sound good coming out of a boombox in a field while you are throwing the frisbee and smoking some bohoofus.” And they were right—Richard did drop many a tab when writing and recording the album: "The songs ‘Lord and Master,’ ‘Here We Are,’ ‘Sunny Days,’ and several others were inspired by experiences I had on psychedelics. Lavender Daydreams comes from my meditation experiences. ‘Electra’ is about a girl I fell in love with while tripping... I realized my purpose in life I was always looking for was in experiencing the extraordinary perfection in front of me every moment and engaging it in play and fun… This is a common theme in my songs. Celebrating those everyday moments. ‘Falling Angels’ was written about crashing on acid. About when we have to squeeze back into our everyday self and the feeling of “Now that the doors of perception have been blown off their hinges what am I going to do about it.” And that slides right into ‘A Stranger’ where you begin reflecting on it. There you are, crashing, beer in hand, a stranger to yourself. ‘Soaring’ is inspired by lying on our back in the field by the Long Island Sound on spring afternoon tripping on ‘Windowpane’. Mike and I were staring up at the sky and the clouds turned into angels singing and it felt like we were soaring up there free. ‘Soaring’ was trying to capture the rapture.” Edition of 370 copies on black vinyl.

Middle Eastern psych, funk, disco, and Japanese folk and pop, converge to create a mesmerising new sound on "Kokoro", Sababa 5 and Yurika"s collaborative debut album for Batov Records, collecting four acclaimed singles and four brand new songs.

Middle Eastern psych, funk, disco, and Japanese folk and pop, converge to create a mesmerising new sound on "Kokoro", Sababa 5 and Yurika"s collaborative debut album for Batov Records, collecting four acclaimed singles and four brand new songs.