Folk Sale 327 Items

One of the most proliftic and influential works within Iranian pop music. "Me without you, the spring without you" is a collection that is a refined and remastered version of Touraj's songs performed between 1973 and 1978. All songs were arranged and orchestrated by Eric Arconte.

Manufactured Recordings reissues two Indian Classical LPs, S​ongs Of India from prominent vocalist ​Nitai Dasgupta a​nd T​hree Sitar Pieces​ by trained instrumentalist​ Pandit Kanwar Sain Trikha,​ both originally released on Vic Keary’s underground label, ​Mushroom Records,​ in the early 70s.

While Vic Keary’s background was in reggae, ​Mushroom Records ​dabbled in recording a bit of everything. Mostly known for hyper-rare Psych, Prog and Acid Folk, ​Nitai Dasgupta and P​andit Kanwar Sain Trikha​’s diverse LPs fit in perfectly with their British Psych and Prog label mates like ​Simon Finn,​ M​agic Carpet,​ and​ Chillum​.

Nitai Dasgupta was one of the most talented Indian classical singers in Great Britain. His sweetness and flexibility created a unique style complemented by his melodious voice and composing abilities. ​Songs Of India p​leases the lovers of Indian classical and semi-classical music while enticing pop and folk lovers. This LP even caught the ears of acclaimed electronic artist, ​Four Tet,​ who featured track “Cham Cham Cham Cham” on his​ N​TS Radio show​.

I inherited the Nital Dasgupta LP from my grandfather. I’ve no idea how he came to have it and after he died it sat on a shelf for many years before I found it and gave it a listen.​ – ​Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet

Both LPs are fascinatingly diverse pieces of work that dive into the intersection of folk, classical, and psychedelic music.

“I went mourning without the sun; I am a companion to owls.”

In the autumn/winter of 2010, Singapore-based April Lee and Ricks Ang of Aspidistrafly (also founders of Kitchen. Label) embarked on the recording of their second album A Little Fable in Japan in collaboration with several artists. Fascinated by the patina of time and themes of folklore, A Little Fable narrates a surrealist procession of tales, twelve compositions simmering one into the other lyrically and picturesquely. This album sees the duo returning to a warm, organic palette of closely-whispered vocals, fingerpicked guitar, string arrangements and their trademark texture-focused arrangements. Featuring guest collaborators Kyo Ichinose, Seigen Tokuzawa, haruka nakamura, Junya Yanagidaira (ironomi), honagayoko, Akira Kosemura, Janis Crunch and more.

A dusty bottom drawer of forgotten memoirs is unlocked, and the album opens with a mourning, solitary cello while a harmonium drone forebodes an oscillating motif of glockenspiel tones, or sprinkled stars if you will. In Landscape With A Fairy, a tale of loss and longing during the earliest dawn mist – the world in its daily transition – is daubed in the hues of intensified sunlight, foliage or shadows, only to be diffused and faded by time, not unlike Andrei Tarkovsky’s polaroids of the Russian countryside. April Lee’s intimate vocals and acoustic guitar gently break the silence of a cold morning, backed by graceful string flourishes arranged by Kyo Ichinose. Kitchen. Label’s very own haruka nakamura and Junya Yanagidaira (ironomi) add harmonizing colors of the guitar and piano respectively.

Tracing the mysterious migration routes of nocturnal animals, Homeward Waltz skips home along a breadcrumbed-path with ephemeral glimpses of forest sights, ornamented by violins and other curious sounds before fulminating into a amorphous guitar drone, as Seigen Tokuzawa’s improvised cello strokes drift and wander with split-second apparitions in the night sky. Sounds of wooden creaks and early morning spoon-in-coffee stirrings permeate the spontaneous atmosphere of Cocina. honagayoko’s quaint and chopped piano phrases waltz with spliced vocals and flute.

Emerging from the darkened foliage into a vast, cryptic hemisphere, the second half of the album teeters on the frailty and transitoriness of the world. A Little Fable’s voyage reaches a turning point by SEA OF Glass. Ricks Ang constructs a prolonged arpeggio of sonorous looping guitar motifs that float in and out of focus, reverberating almost like a narcotic percussion across tumultuous oceans. Now distanced and gauzy, sounds of surging waves open Countless White Moons in a misty indefiniteness, yet held together charmingly by Akira Kosemura’s luminous piano. The elusive narration in Language OF Flowers tells of a deliberate escape from the passage of time with a folkloric enchantress who wordlessly casts her spells. In Gensei, April Lee relates an unspoken anguish in her tender, wavering vibrato while Janis Crunch’s somber piano and chorus vocals loom like a harbinger of death. The last chapter Twinkling Fall, the second track to feature haruka nakamura, now shuts the drawer of secrets, dissipated monochrome colours restored once again to full bloom.

A Little Fable is available on CD and the digital format on 15th December 2011. The physical CD copy comes in a 48-page artbook edition (21 x 15cm) featuring photographs and collages by April Lee and Miu Nozaka, with styling by Rika M. Orrery, who have, from their expeditions during the making of this album, directed a dream sequence around the encompassing atmosphere of a secluded hilltop cottage, a forest hued in the splendor of autumn and distant, rocky shores.