Folk Vinyl 240 Items

Record Store Day 2020 Release.
Limitation: 5000 copies.

7″ single of Cat Stevens songBut I Might Die Tonightfrom the album Tea For The Tillerman. Side A will feature the alternative version of the song from the film Deep End. The A-side was reworked specifically for the film (which starred Jane Asher and somewhat a UK cult classic) and is a previously unreleased in any form! Colour of the 7″ Single is Light Blue.

Here is one of the most sought after Turkish records. Really a rare single from Turkey. Turkish psych folk-rock sound with killer electric saz/fuzz heavy funk single from 1975. Remastered sound, arranged by Zafer Dilek.

Canterbury-based progressive jazz-rock act Ben only released one obscure album, issued on Philips’ prog subsidiary Vertigo in 1971, but it’s a lovely collective of extended instrumental jams, worthy of discovery for those that missed it the first time around. Peter Davey’s saxophone and clarinet melodies push the material to high peaks, against an understated backing from future Nashville Teens bassist, Len Surtees and former Graham Bond drummer, David Sheen, keyboardist Alex Macleery and guitarist Gerry Reid adding flourishes at key moments. The songs “The Wooing Of The Child” and “The Wooing Of The Man” credit a certain K Jarrett as songwriter, making this rare beast all the more intriguing.

Carl Erdmann’s Bizzarrophytes was recorded in Roswell, New Mexico, during the final years of the 70’s. A desert-fried haze of buzzing sitar raga, shimmering guitar soli, and lonesome instrumental psych. Erdmann had been galvanized several years prior by witnessing an intimate performance by Ravi Shankar at Austin’s University of Texas. Erdmann spent the next several years with a sitar in the back of his pickup truck - teaching himself the instrument between stints working on an oil field as a geologist.

After settling in Roswell, Erdmann procured a Tascam 4-track reel to reel tape machine and began to experiment with recording. He played most of the instruments himself, and followed a fresh muse each day. One day his recordings would mine the same instrumental guitar territory as Leo Kottke and John Renbourn, like on Bizzarrophytes’ opening track, Majesty. The next day Erdmann might multi-track some bass and drums and end up landing in the same hazy psych-folk territory as Relatively Clean Rivers, as evidenced on album standouts Turritella Flats, and Portugal. And then, perhaps his Ravi Shankar influence would shine through, and he’d deliver a stirring sitar raga like Dhun. Erdmann explored all of these sounds without ever considering releasing them into the world. He was simply experimenting with his equipment and his instruments, and flexing his muscles with whatever kind of inspiration happened to strike. It wasn’t until 1980 that a friend convinced Carl to assemble some of these recordings into an album and self-release it.

Bizarrophytes was released in a miniscule private press run, financed and distributed by Erdmann himself. Most copies didn’t make it out of the southwest. And it has remained woefully hard to find until now. The disparate sounds of Erdmann’s experimentation hang together as a beautifully cohesive tapestry of home-brewed psychedelic folk. A menagerie of eclectic instrumental experimentation, baked in the desert sun, and captured to tape. Morning Trip Records is proud to present Bizzarrophytes.

Accidentally blinded at adolescence, the Portland-based Bob Desper released just one record-- in 1974, and limited to a 500-copy pressing on a local Christian imprint-- before fading into the woodwork, leaving only this tiny morsel of music behind for anyone to find and follow back to its source. New Sounds is a classic lost record, though whether it counts as a lost classic is pretty relative, considering that even folk heavy hitters Nick Drake or Bert Jansch were once tagged as totally obscure by all but the most ardent followers of the form. New Sounds isn't the sort of record that would appeal to casual toe-dippers, anyway. Rather, it's the kind of recording, like Gary Higgins' similarly recently unearthed Red Hash, pretty much designed to be lost and rediscovered decades later.

Originally pressed in a limited run of 1000 numbered copies in December 1974 The Alice Island Band is one of the rarest UK folk private pressings, having sold in auction for over 600 pounds. Little would school friends Keith Hughes, Tim Phillips and Roger Moore imagine that when they formed The Conqueroos blues band back and subsequent projects like Cinderella's Party Songbook from 1967.



By 1974, Keith, Tim and Roger were ready for something special, and the arrival of Cinny - the ‘Princess’ from the principality of Wales - completed the line up for the next LP. They became The Alice Island Band and recorded Splendid Isolation - Tim, Keith and Cinny played, Roger produced and recorded the 14 songs, some of which had been conceived back in 1968.



For those into the UK folk and psych scenes who love the homemade recordings of Peter Howell and John Ferdinando's projects (Tomorrow Come Someday, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Agincourt, Ithaca...), the bare, raw sound of Comus or those impossibly rare folk albums cut through the Deroy Sound Services – but also for lovers of good crafted songs with male & female vocals and mostly acoustic performances.



Done in close cooperation with Keith and Roger who have been very kind to provide original masters, information and photos for the gatefold insert which also includes the original lyrics – here are 500 copies for those who cannot afford or find an original copy. Comes housed in a reproduction of its original sleeve. Order yours before they fly!

A reissue of this ultra rare Oriental psych monster from the organ king of Casablanca, combining traditional rhythms with spaced out modern sounds. This is the first part of Abdou's 'Nuits' trilogy. Mystical sounds from Morocco!

Part fantastical historic sonic biopic, part anthropologic journey into the deep roots of Belgium’s monstrous cosmic rock sound, this wholly individualistic concept album combines the lead members of the mighty COS (Daniel Schell and Pascale Son) with studio genius Alain Pierre (Ô Sidarta/Des Morts) and celebrated Dutch progressive rock singer Dick Annegarn, for what many consider to be both the overlooked hiding place of Belgium’s deepest psychedelic moment and European prog’s lost map to the ‘Franco-Flemish Boom’.

Emerging from the wider musical family that counted Marc Moulin, Placebo and Marc Hollander amongst its creative kin, Daniel Schell’s most profound conceptual project ambitiously combines the tale of the heroic historical figure of Count Egmont, while simultaneously tracing the evolution of the ud, or oud, (‘the grandfather of the guitar’) in this multifarious hallucinogenic epic. Featuring key members of other collectable groups such as drummer Felix Simtaine from Solis Lacus and bass player Jean-Louis Baudoin from the mythical Classroom (cos predecessor), this best-kept secret vinyl release also harbours the voices of Dirk Bogaert (of Belgian hard rockers Waterloo) as well as Catalan singer Ilona Chale (Marc Hollander/Aksak Maboul) before her later tenure as the COS front woman.

Initially released in 1978 via Zeuhl school distributors Free Bird alongside French pressings of Don Cherry, Jacques Thollot and CAN, it is plain to understand the niche nature of this maligned “lost Cos” LP as it finally blooms from between the cracked branches of European jazz-rock-synth-psych-prog-pop history… and beyond!

Beginning in the mid-1960s as a covers band, the group that came to be Unicorn soon determined that original material was the way to go, and after being inspired by a Crosby, Stills and Nash album, their particular brand of enlightened folk rock tinged with country shades yielded a contract with Transatlantic for their 1971 debut. Fast forward to 1974 and Blue Pine Trees finds the band at their finest with sweeping harmonies and bluegrass tinges, and with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in the producer’s chair, all of their glorious potential is realised on this lost gem of an album that is fully ripe for rediscovery. A truly great work!

Dando Shaft’s third LP continued their explorations into the progressive and psychedelic strands of folk, now with shifting time signatures evidencing an increasing sophistication, as well as an ongoing commitment to experimentation; more varied in theme than their previous releases, there were shades of blues in places and an array of new instruments in the mix, including harpsichord, accordion, and slide guitar, yet the progressive folk that was always at the core of the group is still intact. With original copies costing in the hundreds, this is another worthy exploration for Dando Shaft fans, and all lovers of progressive folk music.

Formed in the West Midlands manufacturing town of Coventry in 1968, esteemed psychedelic folk group Dando Shaft are revered as key influencers of the progressive strand of the 1960s folk revival, and the interplay of melodies on guitar, mandolin and violin made their sound distinctive, thanks to frontman Martin Jenkins, whose expressive vocals compliment his intricate lines, while Roger Bullen’s melodious bass helps to lubricate the proceedings. Recorded before Polly Bolton’s harmonic presence shifted the emphasis of their output, this masterwork is required listening for all progressive folk devotees.

2020 Re-mastered, reissue, 180g black vinyl, in gatefold cover. Originally released in 1982 by the Turkish band Yeni Turku. Their musical style is characterized by a combination of traditional Turkish bağlama, kemenche, oud, guitar and bass. This album guaranties the relaxing, mediterranean mood and will definitely satisfy if you like ethnic music.

In 1967, the English poet George Duffell, alias Jorgy Porgy, decided to set his verses to music, birthing J.P. Sunshine with guitarist/vocalist Rod Goodway of pop act the Pack (later with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown), the line-up expanding with a bassist and bongo player, Duffell’s girlfriend on percussion, and former Pack guitarist Andy Rickell on electric lead. These resultant recordings, cut on basic gear in Duffell’s flat, evidence an individual psychedelic sound, marked by the incestuous claustrophobia of the group’s romantic rivalries, the meandering lyrics and disjointed melodies pointing to the pervasive drug use that ultimately squashed the project. This is psych with a difference: rare, rough, and freaky!

Kënnlisch, one of the rarest haunting psychedelic acid folk LPs from France, was the work of brothers Philippe and Jean-François Macherey.

Originally released in 1976 on the mega collectable label Le Kiosque d'Orphée, it contains some of the most beautiful sounds to come out of the 1970s alternative music scene.

An instrumental album, it opens with a burst of sunshine vibes and takes them into the experimental scene of French alternative folk avantgarde with a strong Cosmische influence. Beauty is the word, grown over acoustic guitar parts harmonised with the most elegant Moog Satellite lines you'll ever hear to create atmospheres of sound that make this is the perfect record for your mind to float away on a peaceful Sunday morning under a clear blue sky - it does have that therapeutic quality that we miss so much in modern music.

Wah Wah presents the very first official reissue of this mega rare LP, housed in it's original minimalist hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing and including a 4-page colour booklet with photos and text provided by the Macherey brothers themselves.

500 copies only!

Ultra rare, sought after French acid folk psychedelic masterpiece, Long Orme is the work of singer-guitarist-songwriter Yves Fajnberg, his girlfriend singer Anne Marie Butel plus a full cohort of musician friends. The LP was laid down to a 2 track Revox Reel To Reel recorder between late 1974 and early 1975 and originally released in 1975 by Sonart Disques to such a limited run that an original copy sells nowadays for no less than 400 euros.

Together with Yves Chauvet, Fajnberg had worked on Dominique Droin’s Wave On LP issued by Le Kiosque d’Orphée, all done on a small home studio set by Chauvet. They used the same facilities, mainly two 2-track Revox reel-to-reel magnetophones and an 8-track mixer, to produce a delightful peace of poetry and acoustic guitar acid folk sounds which will appeal to fans of artists such as Season, Jeff, Beautiful Losers, Yves, Serge & Victor, Manu Lannhuel, Denis, Jean Yves Tourbin, a.o.

Never reissued before, the Wah Wah edition features original sleeve artwork plus an insert with liner notes & interviews by Quentin Orléan. Limited edition, 500 copies only.

The third album by Turkish psychedelic singer Edip Akbayram, originally released in 1982. This later album really ramps up the silly synthesizers. You'll hear whooshy '80s Rolands, vocals run through a harmonizer and tons of totally tubular bass popping, and it all makes it darned easy to hear just where the western intros and breaks stop. Ever wish Knight Rider's Kitt could drive to Istanbul? Take a ride on cheesy synthesizers with Edip at the wheel! This reissue comes with remastered sound and an insert.

Some hard-hitting rhythm section blending into a prime example of the swingin' sound of the cool influences of Jazz, Funk and Folk music, with a Turkish flavor.
It's fantastic funk jazz groove built on a titanium synth bassline!
An instrumental library of traditional Turkish Jazz session reaching a great climax in drums and percussion sets + electro-bass break with moog and synthesizers from the beginning to the end.
Traditional Turkish songs are based on drums and synth bass over moody 5/8 fuzz guitars...
Album recorded & released in Denmark, 1979, and it has never been released in Turkey.

Ultimate space-age exotica trip from Venezuela.
In the early 70s, well-known composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia (who penned the famous “Ansiedad” when he was just a kid) decided to register an album of traditional & folkloric songs from Venezuela but giving them a modern touch, using especially developed equipment (M.R.A.A.), based off of the principles of the Moog.
Chelique, helped by a team of gifted musicians, employed traditional instruments like the cuatro and the bandola llanera, filtering them through oscillators, playing with feedback, tape delay, synthesized frequencies, echoing sounds… The result was “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana”, an album with a truly exotic, psychedelic, and ahead of its time sound.
Originally, the album was sponsored by the Shell Company in Venezuela, given away to customers, employees and friends of the company as a Christmas gift in 1973. It was titled “4 Fases del Cuatro - Música Venezolana desarrollada Electrónicamente por Chelique Sarabia” (“4 Phases of Four – Venezuelan Music Electronically Developed by Chelique Sarabia”). Once the exclusivity period with the petrol company was over, Chelique did a commercial release, this time under the name of “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana” (“Electronic Revolution in Venezuelan Music”). Thanks to this, Chelique and his team were considered electronic music pioneers in Latin America.
“In the past five decades, there have been many attempts at modernizing the vast folkloric tradition of Venezuela, but nobody has reached the level of depth that CHELIQUE SARABIA did when he put his impeccable reputation as a composer and arranger at risk with this out-of-the-blue revolutionary musical manifesto in 1971. 47 years later, an album that remains ahead of its time.” - Alex Figueira (Fumaça Preta)

Originally released in South Africa in 1978, “Whistling Jigs To The Moon” is not only a very rare and sought-after album but also a wonderful collection of traditional and original folk tunes with a strong Celtic influence. Featuring Alison O’ Donnell and David Williams from psych-folk legends MELLOW CANDLE.
In 1974, following the break-up of Mellow Candle, Alison and David arrived to South Africa. Once there, they met a couple of fellow expat musicians, Barrie Glenn and Jo Dudding, forming Flibbertigibbet in a niche folk and traditional circle of immigrant and local musicians, building up a repertoire of tunes and songs both original and traditional. They appeared at evenings held in communal houses, at folk nights and the Boksburg Folk Club.
Producer David Marks offered to release their album and launch it in a series of concerts at the renowned Market Theatre. They enlisted the help of a number of fine musicians on the recording, namely classical first violinist Francesco Cignoli, jazz bassist Denis Lalouette, Nippy Cripwell on string bass, Colin Shapiro on flute and Dave Lambert on fiddle.
“Whistling Jigs To The Moon” saw the light in 1978.
First ever legit vinyl reissue, master tape sound and insert with lyrics, liner notes and photos

Obscure Dutch private pressing from 1977. Laid-back instrumental psychedelic / progressive sounds with jazz-funk-groove and abstract / experimental / Latin-indigenous touches. Stoned homemade atmosphere with treated / distorted electric & acoustic guitars, flute, electric piano, primitive drum machines / homemade electronics...Much in the vein of the experimental-underground scene of France & Germany during the early 70s but actually recorded and released in Holland.
Wild Havana was the project of guitar player Johan Smith, helped by his brother Cor on flute. Influenced by artists like Zappa and Herbie Hancock, Johan recorded the “Wild Havana” album at his home studio on a 4-track, using effect devices developed by himself, like a modified proto-drum machine taken from a Hammond organ. He also used effects like phase shifter, chorus, etc and experimented with putting wool on the guitar strings and electric effects on the mandolin. The result sounded like nothing else at the time.
Buried for many years, we’re excited to bring to life this unique album.

Another great release in the prestigious ReR Recommended vinyl reissue series.
Water Messages on Desert Sand was the very first sound creation from the Italian avantgarde duo of Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta. A classic work in the genre, released by Chris Cutler's Recommended Records in 1987.
Back in the mid Eighties, Musci & Venosta, both on sampler, synthesizer, guitar, piano, effects and tapes were masters in overlaying and constructing rhythmic and harmonic pictures of transparent sound from electronic, acoustic and documentary source, taking ethnic field recordings (from Africa, Indonesia, Asia, India) as their thematic centre. "Water Messages" finds place In the realm of Eno-Byrne "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" but far more accomplished and developed. A rich moving and still very stimulating work and an essential purchase for anyone interested in adventurous modern art informed by ethnic music and sound explorations. In two words: Highly Recommended!

A download code is included.

Reissue of the belly dance holy grail from the organ king of Cairo, combining traditional rhythms with spaced out modern sounds. Hany Mehanna, beloved musician and composer of the greatest artists from the Arab world such as Oum Kalthoum and Abdel Halim Hafez, shows himself from a more experimental side on his solo albums. Originally released in 1973, ‘The Miracles of the Seven Dances’ is a pure work of genius: hypnotic organ grooves, psychedelic guitars, mystic strings and haunting percussion. Belly dance as good as it gets! High quality pressing. Artwork and label design by Pieter Heytens.

In the late 1960s, Antonio Infantino linked his name to the Beat world and to italian performance and gestural music circles (Bussotti, Chiari, Curran). A poet and singer, a tireless devotee of the musical traditions of Southern Italy, he focuses his research mainly on the mysterious phenomenon of Tarantismo, a cultural syndrome of hysterical type found in the Mediterranean air and made famous by the studies of Ernesto De Martino. With his group, Infantino twists and reinvents the traditional repertoire of Basilicata, creating an entirely new and original songbook. The music reflects the states of Trance induced by the bite of the spider tarantula, with obsessive and hypnotic rhythms characteristic of the incandescent blood of the peasant world. A deep and universal human sound, it also takes its cues from Dylan's folk revolution and the frenetic drums of North Africa.

This album was originally released in 1986 on MC and LP. This record was re-released in 2020 and reached the highest sales figures of the King of Arabesk's artistic career, including works such as Küskünüm, Hasret Rüzgarları, Seni Kalbime Gömdüm and Unutamadım, which are among the classics of Müslüm Gürses. You will be surprised by the artist's unique interpretation technique on this record

Fully licensed, ltd to 500 copies, 180 gr. Comprised of a precious inlay card featuring an exclusive essai by Emma Tricca. “This is an album that takes you on a supernatural journey to the discovery of ancient sounds that move our souls in the deepest of manners”.

Veronique Chalot was born in Normandy in the north of France, but it was in Paris that she first became interested in traditional French folk music. In 1974 she landed in Rome where she soon earned a small, but dedicated following. In 1979 she recorded her first studio effort, J'ai vu le loup, for the Italian Materiali Sonori label. Over the past 30+ years she has given hundreds of concerts, presenting her repertoire of traditional French/Italian folk songs and building awareness of that fascinating patrimony of antique melodies and dance rhythms. She passed away unfortunately on the 3rd of July 2021

“First glance into Veronique's voice and you're under a spell she's unaware of casting. Like hearing the magical sound of Ulysses' sirens, you want to throw yourself into the deep blue waters of this record, its saucerful of secrets. Like finding the hidden doors into an ancient world of court jesters, magic flutes, troubadours, and love potions, her delivery, both on the instrument and the singing, is of a beauty impossible to comprehend. Pointless for me to dissect every song or try to draw the history of each and every poem or musical piece. This is an album that takes you on a supernatural journey to the discovery of ancient sounds that move our souls in the deepest of manners. All of this and more was how I felt back in the mid-90s, as a kid, when I first saw Veronique playing in a small club in Rome called Folkstudio. This record captures all the wondrous sensations I had seeing her perform; a life-changing experience. Bon voyage; she'll take you places. (Emma Tricca)”

This is the compilation of singles during the first half of 1970s. Erkin Koray is one of the greatest musician (singer, songwriter and electric guitar master) of Turkish Rock Scene in 1970s. The album has totally psychedelic, acid Rock sound. You will never remain unconcerned when you first hear the killer and groovy guitar sound of him.

Nyami Nyami Records presents a reissue of a rare gem from the Gramma Records catalog , the historic Zimbabweean label. Dumisani Maraire, the leading creator of modern mbira, settled in the USA in the late 60s where he popularized the traditional music of the Shona people. Tichazomuona is the first album he recorded in liberated Zimbabwe, in 1986, with his wife Maichi and daughter Chiwoniso. You can hear the very young singer on lead vocals on the title track, long before she went on to perform solo on the international stage. We launched Nyami Nyami with her last recording Zvichapera and are happy to also release now her very first.

Released in 1975, “Continente Nero” is the perfect flip side of “Africa” (1972), an album that significantly expanded Piero Umiliani’s music perspectives, incorporating partially explored rhythmic variations already used in “Percussioni ed Effetti Speciali” and “To-Day’s Sound”. It does so by taking inspiration from a tradition that starts from the divine Fela Kuti and reaches the amateur and field recordings by musicologists such as David Toop, but also from the Afro-American jazz history of Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Coltrane, Max Roach and hundreds of others.

Continente Nero (1975) Released via the Omicron label in 1975, three years after Africa, Continente Nero is the perfect flip side of an album that significantly expanded Piero Umiliani’s music perspectives, incorporating partially explored rhythmic variations already used in records such as Percussioni ed Effetti Speciali and To-Day’s Sound or experimenting new solutions that drew from a musical heritage little known at the time such as the African one. Without bothering with the usual alias M. Zalla, Umiliani reveal his birth name and surname for a second foray into a territory that pays homage to an entire continent. And it does so by taking inspiration not only from a tradition that starts from the divine Fela Kuti and reaches the amateur and field recordings by musicologists such as David Toop, invaluable documents of an artistic heritage still today almost impossible to map in its complexity, but also from the Afro-American jazz history by Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Coltrane, Max Roach and hundreds of others. It sounds clear in tracks such as Nuovi Fermenti, Rivoluzionari, Riscossa or Ultimo Stregone that show Umiliani’s extraordinary ability to grab a distant tradition essential traits and put them effortlessly into a personal imaginary world, as much exciting as the original one.

“Out of the City” was recorded with all of the musicians at the same time in two short sessions at El Virrey studios; which said studio never believed El Polen’s LP would sell so they only released a limited edition of only one thousand copies. Three months later, there were no records in the market. Various musicians from El Polen were contacted in those times by travelers from different parts of the continent who came with the dream of finding a copy… it was not possible, even some of the musicians from the band didn’t have a copy. Today these are rare items still looked for by people from different parts of the planet.
The present edition in vinyl format has been produced from the master tapes with the authorization and supervision of the band itself. This is the starting point for a series of releases of a new collection of our label dedicated to El Polen.

This is the 9th studio album of pop music diva Sezen Aksu, who has continued her music career in the Turkish Pop Music Scene for almost 50 years, was originally released in 1989 on CD and cassette. In addition to ballads, the artist showed how talented she is in interpreting disco songs.Beside the Sezen Aksu and Onno Tunç concept, this album features Aysel Gürel, Zülfü Livaneli, Bülent Ortaçgil, Orhan Atasoy, Hümeyra, Selim İleri, Melih Cevdet Anday, and is a milestone album in both Sezen Aksu discography and Popular Turkish music. Almost all of the tracks on this album were hit songs, like: "Şinanay", "Belalım", "Beni Kategorize Etme", "Gidiyorum", "Kış Masalı" and "Son Bakış"

This is one of the best albums of the diva's musical career. Originally released in 1986 on CD and cassette, her 7th studio album is finally available on vinyl. With lyrics by Aysel Gurel, album concept and music by Onno Tunç, this album contains many hits such as "Değer mi", "Git", "Kolay Değil", "Unzile" and "Beni Unutma".

3 Hürel is a folk-rock and psychedelic-rock band consisting of 3 brothers from Trabzon, a northern city in Turkiye, who gained fame in the early 1970s with their authentic music and hippie outfits. Thisis their first album compiled from 45 rpm singles. The original release date was 1972. The band's guitarist uses a self-made double-handled guitar and reed instrument, which has become a symbol of the band in concerts. What makes the band special is its groovy guitar tone and excellent bass guitar and percussion technique. They have become one of the most important representatives of psychedelic-rock in Turkiye. "Aşk Davası", "Haram", "Pembelikler" and "Madalyonun Ters Yüzü" are their most popular songs.

2018 Re-mastered, 180g black viny. The single compilation of Barıs Manco from 1972-1975. Originally released in 1976. Psychedelic Sound flavoured by Turkish traditional instruments and anonymous lyrics, Can’t take your ears off the sound that you hear.

Here I AM is the first thing. A powerful incantation sung in full choral style at Dartington College of Arts in 1982 and captured on tape, now in 1s and 0s for all eternity. It’s a bold phrase, this assertion of existence, this permanent claiming of space in time; these three words we were made to sing in church, that we used to recite one after another at the beginning of class. Doing so might seem mundane, or easy, but it’s not. What’s easy is not. Not declaring one’s presence, not showing up at all. Claire Bushe, Cathy Frost, Lisa Halse, Cathy Josefowitz, and Mara de Wit showed up, took a side. They called themselves Lining Time. They were here. ANY Woman CAN SAY I’M A Witch, they said. Strike is the album Lining Time made. It plays out like a freedom spell, like liberatory healing magic. Reveling in the power of the voice, Lining Time sing. Not at us, but for us. As if by putting voice to the traumas inflicted by the patriarchy and capital, they could be made right. As if the whole world might join in and sing along, might join in and take action - might join in and strike.There’s nothing exclusive about the music Lining Time made. Like many of the best and weirdest records of the post-punk era, Strike wears its amateurism as a badge of honour, flies it like a flag to rally around. It is inclusive to the extreme. Which isn’t to say anyone could’ve made Strike. That’s the thing. The music preserved here is too weirdly spare and idiosyncratic - and wildly overconfident in the way that only the young and young at heart can be. Sometimes it’s almost protest folk, acappella or accompanied by a single acoustic guitar, as on ‘It’s Possible’. Sometimes schoolroom auxiliary percussion clunks out a cyclical, ritual rhythm, as on the title track. At no point does it feel less than singular. Still, this is music about and for universal sisterhood. It invites solidarity. Take up an instrument for the cause and sing your own song. Time Passes Time Passes Time Passes Time Recorded music often functions like a time capsule. It’s not rare that an album is “lost”. Rather, it’s rare that a work is heard widely at the time it was made. Often, it’s barely heard at all. It just exists somewhere, a cave painting or an ancient piece of graffiti, waiting to be stumbled upon for whatever reason. The reason, in Strike’s case, is a wonderful posthumous exhibition of Cathy Josefowitz’s artwork, The Thinking Body, a cooperative effort between Kunsthaus Langenthal, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, Macro Roma, Les Amis de Cathy Josefowitz, and Elise Lammer. It’s possible that some might be tempted to think of Lining Time as a sideshow curiosity to the main event, but that’d be foolish. Strike, nearly forty years old, is as alive and relevant as it was when it was recorded in the wake of the Reclaim the Night march. If anything, it’s shocking how potent and necessary its message remains today.

I have never heard before of the Jurchen culture from the Chinese and later East Russian Northlands and as well not of the Nanai People who have risen from the scattered remains of the Jurchen culture wiped out by furiously attacking Mongolian steppe armies some 850 years back. The Great Khans did not leave much variety after sweeping through the taiga towards Western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. So the Nanai people came to exist and had their songs and instruments. Some of them were used by composer Alexander Lavrov and singer Kola Beldy who is of Nanian descent in their music on this, Kola Beldy’s fourth album. Just as all his records from the 1980s, this is extremely rare and originals in good shape can cost a small fortune. Just in case they ever turn up somewhere outside the vast Russian country. Now for the very outstanding music that as mentiond above is based on centuries old folk tunes of the Nanai and Jurchen cultures which get slightly updated in the sense of 1989 state oft he art pop and rock and that even in a slightly progressive way. Kola Beldy, already 60 years of age by then, was a long time active folk and pop singer in the Soviet Union who unfortunately passed away only 64 years old in 1993. He owns a full, warm mid ranged voice and chants the ancient melodies in a mystifying way. The instrumentation behind him shows a good variety of old and modern instruments. While the opening track is based mostly on percussion and drum patterns with an eerie grinding sound and later on a jew’s harp added upon which Beldy lays down a melody with a typical far eastern approach in what seems to be Russian language, further tracks contain synthesizer lines and even an electric guitar. Still the overall atmosphere is mostly mystical, solemn and spiritual. I definitely have not heard anything alike before. The more rock oriented tunes could bring back memories of Italian movie soundtracks by Goblin, based on progressive rock and jazz to the mind of the listener, just with these awesome vocals. Italian 90s progressive rockers Presence also had a similar approach. The keyboards, organ, very modern singing bass guitar head towards a very progressive direction here. Art pop, if you want to call it that. Based on ancient Nanian tunes but made timeless and even in 2021 fresh sounding by a very talented band. So, Kola Beldy’s fourth album may not be a mainstream favorite, fans of progressive pop like that of early 80s Goblin, Presence from the early 90s and good ol‘ Peter Gabriel, not for the voice itself but for the songs, will find pleasure in this nifty obscurity which gets reissued now for the first time on vinyl in 32 years.

Following the reissue of the self-titled debut by Tülay German & François Rabbath in 2021, we‘re presenting the 2nd and final part of our Tülay German reissues: "Homage to Nazım Hikmet" (1982). Once again in a duo setting with François Rabbath, Tülay German pays tribute to one of Turkey's greatest poets of the 20th century: Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963). Recorded in the early 80s this two-album workcycle refers heavily on turkish poets and the tradition of aşıks (singer-poets and wandering bards) and consists of unique and modern interpretations of turkish folk songs unmatched to this day.

Back in the 60s Tülay German (*1935 in Istanbul, Turkey) shook the turkish music landscape with several 7" records. Most notably her first 7" record Burçak Tarlası (1964) is now considered the cornerstone of what was to become the Anadolu Rock/ Pop movement and underlines her rebellious nature and sense of justice. But due to increasing repression Tülay German and her lifelong partner and intellectual impetus Erdem Buri decided to leave Turkey a few years later. In France Tülay German signs a major contract with Philips resulting in many 7" releases sung in french under her french moniker Toulaϊ. In the long run Tülay German doesn’t feel quite comfortable with this major deal. And thus, despite the success and recognition she had gained, she decides to quit the contract with Philips!

Later on she signs to independent world-music label Arion to pursue her actual artistic goals more in line with her origin and temperament. Back to her mother tongue, Tülay German records above mentioned albums for Arion under full artistic freedom, the only full-lenghths in her 20+ years career. Alongside with double-bass virtuoso and turkophil François Rabbath (*1931 in Aleppo, Syria) the albums consist of aşık traditionals and intonated poems mainly by Nazım Hikmet. Her passionate voice and the restrained arrangements of François Rabbath turn these centuries old melodies and poems into glowing manifestos for love and justice. The fruitful collaboration of these artists-in-exile adds significantly to the rich heritage of turkish folk music.

Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963) is considered as one of Turkey’s greatest poets of the 20th century, though during his lifetime his works were banned in Turkey for decades and he spent most of his life in prison or in exile. He is up to this day a huge reference for turkish writers, musicians and intellectuals.

Tülay German ended her musical career in 1987. In 2021 Tülay German was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Turkey.

First ever legit vinyl reissue, sanctioned by the band members, of this collectable psych/folk/hard-rock album from 1973. Brigg were a rural Pennsylvania folk-tinged psychedelic band formed by three high school friends: Rob Morse, Jeff Willoughby and Rusty Foulke. In 1973, they borrowed the money to record their first album together. They called it Brigg after one member saw the name in a dream. It was recorded at a grocery store converted into a 4-track studio. The photos for the cover were taken in a purportedly haunted house in Danville. The band members pressed 1000 copies and sold some to their friends but never played a live show together. They divided the remaining copies between them and went their separate ways. Several decades later, the Brigg album became a collector’s item and was bootlegged all over the world.

Amaia Zubiria, the incredible female vocal part of Basque folk-prog legends Haizea, has an extensive discography worth checking. Here’s the first ever vinyl reissue of her 1985 folk album joined by guitarist Pascal Gaigne.

Back in print once again! Robbie Basho's 15th record, and his magnum opus of solo guitar. It is the culmination of his life's effort to usher guitar music into a new artistic paradigm, and to "establish the steel string as a concert instrument indigenous to America."

Originally released in 1979, "Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12" was Robbie Basho's 15th record, and his magnum opus of solo guitar. It is the culmination of his life's effort to usher guitar music into a new artistic paradigm, and to "establish the steel string as a concert instrument indigenous to America."

This album represents Basho’s most technically fine guitar work. In both composition and performance, the album is enormously complex and yet conveys an effortlessness unique to Basho. As he famously espoused, “My philosophy is quite simple: soul first, technique later.” The richness of Basho's soul emanates from this record as distinctly as each note ringing from his steel strings.

Only one song on the record (“Pasha Ii”) features Basho’s enigmatic voice, but it may be his most extraordinary vocal performance – his voice calling out through a shimmer of strings, singing ancient syllables with timeless emotion. The remaining ten instrumental songs roam through Eastern and Western modalities, dark and light meditations, wild and restrained expression.

With "Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12", Basho summons rich allusions, hallucinations and delicately numinous passages. As he said, "It's not about going far out, it's about going far in. It's about a deeper feeling." These are deep waters indeed, as substantial and enriching today as they were 35 years ago.

Beastly sounds for a zombie nation as classic 80s gaming soundtrack Shadow of the Beast gets debut vinyl edition with a recording taken from the original platform game, and new artwork from acclaimed illustrator Keith Rankin.
Composed by David Whittaker for the 1989 Amiga platformer of the same name, Shadow of the Beast sees its first ever vinyl release courtesy of the UK's Lag Records, presented in also its first mastered edition as directly taken from the original game system.
A prolific VGM composer, Whittaker holds more gaming soundtracks to his name than any other, with titles such as Lazy Jones to his name, as (in)famously sampled for the 1999 club hit Zombie Nation.
Shadow of the Beast remains a prime example of his pioneering hands-on approach, programming music directly with instrumental samples of his own on a Korg M1 synthesizer. The tunes make for a singular combination of Spaghetti Western-style tension mixed with world beats. Tracks like The Plains play with harder rhythms like warped speed techno, while a hard-to-miss melancholy pervades the Underground suite.
The fiendishly difficult Shadow of the Beast itself was an interesting example of game design for its time, recorded at a frame rate to match arcade machines as opposed to monitors, and loaded with a 128 colour palette. Two sequels later followed in the 1990s, along with a 2016 remake for the Playstation console.
The soundtrack comes ready for a 2019 audience with mastering courtesy of Jerome Schmitt at the AirLab, and brand new artwork from acclaimed illustrator and musician Keith Rankin in collaboration with artist Ellen Thomas. Shadow of the Beast will also come on transparent purple vinyl, in standard LP format.