Folk Vinyl 229 Items

Yugoslavia - six republics, four decades, one dictator and a single record label that ruled them all: Jugoton (Zagreb, Croatia). Jugoton was by far the country's largest label with the strongest and most diverse output that stretched from Balkan roots to contemporary trends and the sound of tomorrow . The early days of Yugoslavia featured strong censorship but by the end of the 60's the Communist party views softened up by a large degree. Westernized music already had a solid presence and first James Brown influenced compositions were released. Yugo funk, a term coined by DJ’s and crate diggers from the Balkans, encompasses a wide variety of performers and genres: from the 60's merseybeat rock bands, prog rock groovers and big band jazz orchestras to the late 70's sophisticated 4x4 funk and essentially everything in between. Jugoton Funk Vol.1, a first of its kind, celebrates the pioneer years of funk infused music released by Jugoton. While in pursuit of these treasures all over the Balkan region and beyond, the compilation’s selectors, Dr. Smeđi Šećer & Višeslav Laboš, both active as DJ's and crate diggers from the sole beginnings of the ex-Yu craze, wanted to capture the authentic and idiosyncratic funk sound of Jugoton and Yugoslavia. So here it is, comb your moustache, light up a fat one, turn up the amplifier and headbang away to these amazing tunes remastered from original master tapes dug out of the Jugoton vaults (now Croatia Records). - Compiled by Dr. Smeđi Šećer & Višeslav Laboš. Here’s the exclusive interview with Dr. Smeđi Šećer: www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2020/09/jugoton-funk-vol-1-a-decade-of-non-aligned-beats-soul-disco-and-jazz-1969-1979.html

Contains 12 live recordings including tracks like "Das Neue", "Citylights Forever", "LikeLikeLike" and much more! This deluxe set comes in a gatefold sleeve plus CD added!

Sam Burton is a singer/songwriter from Salt Lake City, now based in Los Angeles. After several years circulating homemade cassettes on labels like Chthonic and embraced by blogs like Cassette Gods, Sam has recorded his first proper debut album with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains). Due in mid-2020, Sam's debut LP will be preceded by two limited edition 45s, one which will be available exclusively for Record Store Day in the UK. Sam is slated to tour the UK and Europe in 2020 with fellow Tompkins Square artist Gwenifer Raymond.

Peter Oren's new album The Greener Pasture offers a bleak answer to the question "where will I go/ if I don't want to be/ with idle hands awaiting catastrophe/ here in the Anthropocene" posed on his title track of his previous album Anthropocene: "The greener pasture is also fenced in/ the wider trough has an asterisk/ rotate the herd every few days/ or is it every few years/ we got their tags on our ears/ standing in shit crying bovine tears." Indiana-born, everywhere-based singer-songwriter Peter Oren possesses a remarkable singing voice, low and deep and richly textured: as solid as a glacier, as big as a mountain. Similar in its baritone gravel to Bill Callahan, a hero of his, it rumbles in your conscience, a righteous sound that marks him as an artist for our tumultuous times, when sanity seems absent from popular discussions.

For the the eleventh volume of FRKWYS, an unrestricted series pairing contemporary artists with their influential predecessors, gifted guitar squire Steve Gunn meets roving, radiating legend Mike Cooper in Lisbon, Portugal.

Why you'll love it...
Much of Montevallo was deceptive in its simplicity, hiding era-defining songwriting talent and a whole new mode of country crossover behind a seemingly easy-to-replicate formula of marrying traditional country instruments with programmed beats and slick, dynamic melodies. Its velvet revolution won Hunt years of radio dominance and anticipated a tidal wave of what’s been termed “boyfriend country” — legions of imitators who took the singer’s gently flirtatious tack and R&B influences to their cloying extremes. Plenty in Nashville didn’t see Montevallo as a changing of the guard, and even after he’d become a country megastar wrote him off as either a novelty, insufficiently capital-C Country, or both. When confronted with resistance about his own mode of widening country music’s lens Hunt has tended to return to the root of the issue, which runs much deeper than a simple disdain for pop music in country or concern about preserving some of its imagined “authentic” past.

Box including a 4CD Anthology, 2LP on black vinyl, 1 LP of Macalla, a 7", a book, 4 post cards and a poster.

On the eponymously titled final song of her debut album Land Of No Junction, Irish songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances sings “Take me to the land of no junction / Before it fades away / Where the roads can never cross / But go their own way.” This search, indeed the heart of the album, recalls journeys towards an ever shifting centre—a centre that cannot hold—with maps that are constantly being rewritten.

She writes: “The album title is a result of a mishearing. Cian Nugent (Aoife’s musical collaborator and co-producer) was telling me about childhood trips he made to Llandudno in Wales, passing through a station called Llandudno Junction… Land Of No Junction later became a place in itself. A liminal space—a dark vast landscape to visit in dreams… A place of waiting where I could sit with uncertainty and accept it. Rejecting the distinct and welcoming the uncertain and the unknown.”

The album is shot through with this sense of mystery—an ambiguity and disorientation that illuminates songs with smokey luminescence. Yet, through the haze, everything comes down to what, where and who one is. With Land Of No Junction, she has built a universe full of intimacy and depth, with lyrics written through a process of free thought writing. It lends the record fluidity, each song in dialogue with the next not only through language, but the way each musical choice complements or threads into another: “I would write without putting pressure on taking the song in any particular direction. It all carried itself naturally and instinctively with melody coming first and then structure later.” Written over several years, the songs traverse and inhabit this indeterminate landscape: the beginnings of love, moments of loss, discovery, fragility and strength, all intermingle and interact. Some songs—like lead single “Blow Up”—date back to university days, where Frances studied film. Borrowing its title from the 1966 Antonioni picture of the same name, it indirectly provided the catalyst for Frances’s broader considerations about being a woman and self-determination—”Blow Up” and “Less Is More” were written before the abortion referendum was passed in Ireland in 2018—during time when women were forced to travel abroad during crisis pregnancies. They are both songs about being a woman and finding strength in a forever changing world.

Türküola releases maybe the most outstanding piece of Cem Karaca & Apaşlar in their adventure in Germany. Cem Karaca was a new born Anatolian Pop star from rock’n’roll roots and Apaşlar was a surf band when they united in 1967. In the end of 1967 they toured Germany and began to record with Ferdy Klein Orchestra (which was a version of Werner Müller Orchestra) between 1968-1969. “Gılgamış-Ayrılık Günümüz” is one of the singles recorded as a cooperation between the band and the “big band” . Therefore the A side of the single “Ayrılık Günümüz” (Our Day of Departi reflect this cooperation between Werner Müller Orchestra and CK & Apaşlar with a feeling of mod scene, a rock ballad with polyphonic arrangements. On the other hand the flip side of the single gives out the band’s own groove and performance with the instrumental psychedelic rock peace “Gılgamış” (Gilgamesh). Gılgamış is inspired by the Epic of Gılgamesh and the band plays a powerful groove with a Mesopotamian mood and riffs. The Apaşlar line-up playing in this piece was Mehmet Soyarslan (electric guitar), Seyhan Karabay (bass), and Leon Habib (drums). Beginning with Seyhan Karabay’s solid bass riffs which is followed by drums of Leon Habib serving an energetic groove; Soyarslan plays his Epiphone guitar with psychedelic effects which sometimes take the main theme to a micro tonal scale. Today we have the opportunity to hold this unique piece in compliance with the authentic cover coated with gelatine and its vinyl produced from the master tapes. Thanks to Türküola for this generous reissue for the collectors of Turkish psychedelia.

Neil Young finally releases his 1975 album "Homegrown" which was shelved back then due to him feeling uncomfortable with it being to personal.

Released in 1976 Hejira is the 8th studio album from legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. The title word hejira is a transliteration of the Arabic word ‘hijra’ meaning journey which was a big inspiration for the album, as Mitchell said “the whole 'Hejira' album was really inspired... I wrote the album while traveling cross-country by myself and there is this restless feeling throughout it... The sweet loneliness of solitary travel."
Although the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessors it has been widely critically acclaimed and recognized as one of the high water marks of Mitchell’s illustrious career, with special mention to the support of Jaco Pastorious’s distinctive fretless bass.

Discrepant proudly presents the Vinyl edition of Lebanese trio Malayeen. Malayeen is the project of Lebanese musicians Raed Yassin (Keyboards, Turntables & Electronics), Charbel Haber (Electric Guitar & Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Darbouka, Percussion). Born from Yassin and Haber's love for the music of quintessential Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Malayeen disassembles and re-configures the work and style of the iconic guitarist innovative take on Arabic music. The final result makes for an original and unique update of Khorshid & belly dancing inspired songs from the past.

For his first record in….uh, well, just a little over a year (!), Bill Callahan Bill Callahan’s given us his first Gold Record Gold Record . They can’t all be gold, and they’re not all six years apart either — all good! You could probably call the album “ Gold Records Gold Records ,” too: all the songs have a standalone feel, like singles, meant for you to have a deep encounter with all of a sudden, from the start of the song to the finish. And what do you got when you have a record full of singles — and let’s face it, hit singles, at that? That’s a Gold Record Gold Record for you. From the top, it’s clear this is music with an affection for people, as Bill Bill immediately slips easily and deeply into his characters. Among them: a limo driver, a watcher of television, a suitor, a man in a broken-down car, a reader of books, a Ry Cooder Ry Cooder superfan, and in the closing number, a wanderer who “notices when people notice things”. The voices of the people, with their ups and downs, their loss and laughter. You can feel the love. For Bill Bill, preparing to tour for Shepherd In a Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest Sheepskin Vest meant considering being away from home for long stretches of time — maybe up to a year, who knew? Feeling his oats, Bill Bill pulled out a few sketches from over the years and touched them up. Before he knew it, he was recording them, and in the shuffle, newer songs started popping up. It happened fast. Basics were recorded live with Matt Kinsey Matt Kinsey playing guitars, guitars, guitars and Jaime Zurverza Jaime Zurverza holding it down “and then letting it go” on bass. Drums and horns were brought in for a couple songs. Spirits were high! Six out of the ten were done first take; overdubs, when needed, came equally quickly. Listening, one hears their intuitive cohesion coming together richly behind Bill Bill’s titanic voice spread across the stereo spectrum: the gentle conversation of Bill Bill and Matt Matt’s guitars, the subtle percussion of the bass and drums, and odd appearances of trumpet, woodwind and synth, striking notes both decorous and discordant, sounding for all the world like the naturally occurring sound meant to accompany and express lives lived everywhere. These are in fact songs meant for other people to sing — but until they do, Bill Bill’s got this. He’s got a secret on this one, and before we go, we don’t mind sharing it with you: he’s figured out how to perfectly place his voice in proximity to your ear. It’s based on the distance from your heart to your brain. Simple! Why don’t more people think like this?

We're super happy to announce our 13th release by Sharhabil Ahmed, the actual King of Sudanese Jazz (he actually won that title in a competition in the early 1970s). Sonically it sounds very different from what Jazz is understood to sound like outside of Sudan. It’s an incredible unique mix of rock’n’roll, funk, surf, traditional sudanese music and influences from Congolese sounds. Original copies of Sharhabil recordings are often hard to find, so we’re happy they will now be widely available. “Argos Farfish” which was featured on our last comp amassed close to 400.000 plays already.

Roza Eskenazi was a giant of rembetika, the urban Greek music of Ottoman origin associated with the poor underclass. Eskenazi’s life was extraordinary: born Sarah Spinazi to a poor Sephardic Jewish family in Constantinople, probably in the mid-1890s, after an itinerant childhood, she began dancing at the Grand Hotel Theatre in Thessaloniki. She eloped with the wealthy Yiannis Zardinidis around 1913, with whom she bore a son, but after his untimely death in 1917, she placed the son in the care of an orphanage and moved to Athens, where she danced with Armenian cabaret artists. Eventually, the composer Panagiotis Toundas discovered her singing and arranged her first recordings for Columbia Records in 1929, which catapulted her to fame. Cutting over 500 songs in the 1930s, she became the leading exponent of the Smyrna school of rembetika. Running a nightclub in Athens during the German occupation of World War II, she hid resistance fighters and British spies and helped many Jewish families flee the country. She finally toured the USA in the 1950s, and though her career subsequently waned, a 1970s revival led to further work. The longevity of her output is such that her song Misirlu was included on the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction; the 21 gems collected here were recorded between 1931 and 1947.

Discrepant proudly re-presents the Vinyl edition of Lebanese trio Malayeen. Malayeen is the project of Lebanese musicians Raed Yassin (Keyboards, Turntables & Electronics), Charbel Haber (Electric Guitar & Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Darbouka, Percussion). Born from Yassin and Haber's love for the music of quintessential Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Malayeen disassembles and re-configures the work and style of the iconic guitarist innovative take on Arabic music. The final result makes for an original and unique update of Khorshid & belly dancing inspired songs from the past. Over the course of 7 compositions, appropriately named after Khorshid and famous belly dancers from the Arabic diaspora, the three musicians' varied backgrounds and techniques collide and coalesce in an experimental yet magical fashion, not actually playing Khorshid's music, but inspiring themselves from the cult guitarist's genius to create something completely new, modern and unexpected. A unique LP featuring the combined talents by key players of the Lebanese avant-garde.

It’s the day after the 60s. You turn on the radio and there is news about John leaving the Beatles – or will Paul be the first to jump? There is insecurity and uncertainty. The rain filters into the post-psychedelic, pre-progressive sound; in times of upheaval, you always notice bad weather.

“Occasional Rain” is the sequel to Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs’ highly successful “English Weather” collection (“Really compelling and immersive: it’s a pleasure to lose yourself in it” - Alexis Petridis, the Guardian). This is the sound of young bands experimenting in a period of flux, feeling for a new direction, exploring jazz and folk – as many songs are led by mellotron, piano and flute as they are by guitar. Lyrically, there are two themes that crop up regularly: the search for a home that isn’t there anymore – the certainties of the optimistic 60s, the physical reality of terraced streets – and the rain. For the former, there’s Cressida’s gentle, keening ‘Home And Where I Long To Be’, while Duncan Browne’s shape-shifting ‘Ragged Rain Life’ feels like a decent summary of Britain in both 1970 and 2020.

“Occasional Rain” puts the era’s bigger names (Traffic, Yes, Moody Blues) and the lesser known (Mandy More, Shape Of The Rain, Tonton Macoute) side by side. Like its predecessor “English Weather”, it evokes the turn of the new decade, a beautiful state of fuzzy confusion, and the feel of a wet Saturday afternoon at the dawn of the 70s spent flicking through the racks, wondering whether to buy the new Tull album or maybe take a chance on that Christine Harwood album in the bargain bin (go on, you won’t regret it).

Really an amazing atmospheric and psych-influated album by Afet Serenay. Mind-blowing tunes by the players, band members were famous musicians and the band called "arilar" (which means The Bees). Some hard-hitting rhythm section blending into a prime example of the swingin' sound of the cool influences of Psychedelic Folk.. Most of the songs are from traditional Turkish folk songs with groovy arranges, drum attacks, percussions, saz and absolutely superb moog sounds going there and here.. Lovely and tasty Turkish Delight..! Enjoy the sound!

Oumou Sangaré releases acoustic album, 'Acoustic', on No Format. Re-imagining her much-praised 2017 release 'Mogoya' totally unplugged, in live sessions recorded over just two days, 'Acoustic' is the final chapter in a trio of related projects, following 2018's 'Mogoya Re-mixed' edition, which saw Sangaré's compositions retooled by high-profile fans including Sampha, Spoek Mathambo and St Germain.'Acoustic' consolidates Sangaré's position as Mali's leading opinion-maker, established with her 250,000-selling 1989 debut Moussolou, which did much for the feminist cause in West Africa. Oumou's capacity to confront suffering whilst preserving her connection to Malian values is reflected in two additional tracks added to 'Acoustic'. 'Saa Magni', which laments the passing of Amadou Ba Guindo (member of the Orchestre National Badema), and 'Diaraby Nene' (lifted from Mous-solou) in which Sangaré's lyrics dared to detail her first physical encounters.The release of 'Mogoya' in 2017 signalled the return of Oumou Sangaré after 8 years, during which she had been managing her numerous businesses (including agriculture & pisciculture). With that album, the woman who'd swapped selling water on the streets of Bamako for global stardom reconnected with her audience. Balancing the traditional music of Wassoulou and a forwards-facing curiosity, Malian instruments were augmented by electric guitar, bass and synths, with Tony Allen on drums. Oumou was painted by Congolese artist JP Mika for the front cover, and more recently sampled by Beyoncé (who used 'Diaraby Nene' without permission on 'mood 4 Eva'). Never before had Sangaré appeared so far removed from her home country - it's a dynamic that 'Acoustic' redresses, with Oumou embodying the same freedom & audacity of her debut, 30 years ago. It's the fighter, the undefeated rebel that you find here on this snapshot of an album.

Cindy Lee, the performance and songwriting vehicle of Canadian artist Patrick Flegel (who fronted influential indie group Women earlier), previously stunned listeners with Act Of Tenderness, a heart-wrenching statement informed by the noirish core of celebrity, and has continued to enchant with every album, including the startling What's Tonight To Eternity released earlier this year. Cindy Lee (who uses the gender neutral pronoun they) is a drag persona drawing on suburban closet queens and mid-century divas. In keeping with Flegel's interest in the faultlines of identity, gender expression, performance and media, Model Express delivers an intense and diverse set of unforgettable songs.

A very difficult-to-find LP, originally released on a small, independent label. Originally released on a very limited run of vinyl. The original LPs are demanding a nice price on the Asian market. A beautiful recording with absolutely fantastic sound. Includes a performance of her hit song "Diamonds and Rust" as well as the audiophile classic "Famous Blue Raincoat." This may be an under-the-radar title, but it's a can't miss for the discerning audiophile. The album chronicles a show performed by Baez in a bullring, naturally, in Bilbao, Spain, in 1988, and it demonstates what makes her such a draw overseas. Half of the collection, side two of the LP, consists of songs sung in Spanish. Now we've upped the ante even more for true audiophile bliss — the 45 RPM 2LP version reduces distortion and high frequency loss as the wider-spaced grooves let your stereo cartridge track more accurately. Natural tonalities, superb balances, pristine clarity and more are all revealed. »This record was made in a bullring in Bilbao, Spain, in 1988. It is dedicated to the Mayor and the people of Bilbao, who came out between thunderstorms to see me perform. The song in Catalan "Txoria Txori" is about a sweet little bird ... I want to thank Pasku who taught it to me, and thank the Bilbao public for singing it so beautifully.« — Joan Baez. Illustrations by Joan Baez; additional vocals Mercedes Sosa.

First timer ever Best Of Mano Negra on vinyl ! Double black 140g vinyl edition.

NYC’s 75 Dollar Bill began its prolific career in 2012, after percussionist Rick Brown—a veteran of the indie underground (Fish & Roses, Run On, V-Effect)—and noise scene guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Che Chen—connected via MySpace. Since that initial jam session, when Brown began experimenting with his signature plywood crate drum rhythms, they have released three LPs and a clutch of self-released cassette and digital releases. Last year’s double album I Was Real received serious critical acclaim—The Wire calling it 2019’s Album of the Year. On their first live album, Live At Tubby’s, 75 Dollar Bill assembled a unique “little big band” [Sue Garner on bass, Cheryl Kingan on sax, Steve Maing on guitar, Jim Pugliese on percussion and Karen Waltuch on viola] for the small Kingston, NY club show. Recorded on the last day of their spring tour, the record puts a new perspective on themes from their body of work: a little more intimacy, a little more freedom, a little more controlled chaos. Brown’s idiosyncratic rhythms are all the more hypnotizing in Tubby’s cozy setting, and Chen’s furious guitar work cuts and hums with sounds seemingly only attainable on stage. It’s an album both challenging and immediate. The expanded 75 Dollar Bill’s affinity for improvisation and the avant-garde even leads to a rousing take on the Ornette Coleman classic, “Friends And Neighbors” that feels right at home in their own repertoire. The listener can’t help but feel present and part of the communal joy and catharsis being shared here in this room. This performance at Tubby’s turned out not only to be the last show of their tour, but the last show possible as the pandemic hit. Originally offered as a digital-only release on 75 Dollar Bill’s Bandcamp, Live At Tubby’s now documents a highlight and closure of sorts; this kind of musical improvisation and community interaction being on hold for the foreseeable future. This double album on Grapefruit will have to tide everyone over until it can all happen again.

For their first outing, new London-based reissue label Foam On A Wave resurface the remarkable debut album from one of the UK's foremost artists of 'ambient techno', Ultramarine's 'Folk'. Like the surrealist collage of the sleeve designed by Benoît Hennebert, Ultramarine weave together unique instrumentation and sonic influences into rich, ethereal soundscapes, now fully remastered for its 30th anniversary. Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond admitted they weren't totally sure what they were doing when they signed a record deal with the famously bohemian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and found themselves on their way to Brussels. There, over a two week stint, the Essex duo recorded the album - drawing on a kaleidoscopic palette influenced by both the Canterbury scene's jazz-infused psychedelia, as well as the contemporary Benelux scene, with particular nods to the likes of Benjamin Lew, The Durutti Column and Anna Domino. Conceived at a time when technology began reshaping the process of recording and production, the band's interest in fusing the organic and the electronic is apparent, and one that has remained with them throughout their career. 'Folk' both sits apart from and serves as a precursor to the 'pastoral techno' sound Ultramarine went on to pioneer. Following US and European tours alongside Orbital and Bjork, a few more albums and collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers, plus remixes for and by Everything But The Girl, Carl Craig, Luke Slater and more, they folded the project for a number of years. Last year the band returned to their inaugural imprint with the ethereal 'Signals Into Space'. Albeit somewhat sparser, more sedate, it is in some ways a coming full-circle to the jazz-laden, analogue sound of their debut, which makes reissuing 'Folk' feel all the more timely.

As if they had been playing for the past 40 years in small road clubs and dusty honky tonks in the United States, Los Locos Del Oeste transport us to a time on which rock’n’roll was yet to be invented and the Hawaiian sounds and melodies from jazz mixed creating new sonic paradises. From western swing to the purest country, along with other popular melodies that dominated the airwaves between 1930 and 1960, the four piece formed by Mario Cobo (guitar and vocals), El Lega (guitar and vocals), Javier R. Cortés (double bass) and Blas Picón (drums) moves seamlessly within these styles they love and known so well. George Barnes, Jimmie Rivers, Speedy West, Jerry Bird, Chet Atkins, Charlie Christian and Bob Willis are some of the references that their elegant sound bring back.

This compilation features some great examples of rebetika songs from the 20's and 30's including some well known artists like Rosa Eskenazi, Markos Vamvakaris, Anestis Delias, Rita Abadzi and others. An excellent overview of the phenomenon for anyone interested in southern European folk music history.