Folk 210 Items

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are two of the most sophisticated minds in the American Pop idiom. Originally broadcast live on Kmet FM, the famous Record Plant Studio concert was part of the 1974 promotional tour for the band's third album "Pretzel Logic". In front of a small audience and backed by a stellar band featuring classy session players like drummer Jeff Porcaro and keyboardist Michael Mc Donald, Fagen and Becker deliver immaculate versions of classic songs including "Do it Again", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", and "Reelin' In The Years'' and other gems like "Bodhisattva", and "The Boston Rag".

Funeral For Justice is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019 breakout Afrique Victime, it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down. The songs on Funeral For Justice speak unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people. "This album is really different for me," explains Moctar, the band"s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist "Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the US and Europe came here, they said they"re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution."

Buena Vista Social Club’ is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just six days in 1996 in Havana’s 1950s vintage Egrem studios. It was clear from the atmosphere of the recording sessions that something very special was taking place. However, no one could have predicted that Buena Vista Social Club would become a worldwide phenomenon – awarded a Grammy in 1997 and, at 8 million copies, outselling any other record in the same genre. The acclaim of the original album has elevated the artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González & Omara Portuondo) to superstar status, inspired an award-winning film by Wim Wenders, and has contributed to popularising Cuba’s rich musical heritage. Produced by Ry Cooder for World Circuit, the timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that this will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century. Celebrating 25 years since the release of Wim Wenders’ iconic documentary ‘Buena Vista Social Club’, this classic album will be made available on limited edition gold vinyl, and features the remastered audio and bonus tracks released as part of the album’s 25th Anniversary in 2021.

Japanese pressing with Obi.

CD comes in a soft case, instead of the original crystal case. All booklets included.

Quantity: 7500
Release type: 'RSD First' Release

In early 1973 Gram Parsons embarked on a tour to promote his recently released first solo album, GP. Gram put together a pretty great band, including the then-unknown Emmylou Harris as his singing partner. The shows were somewhat uneven at first, but by midtour the band started to find its groove.

One show stood out to pedal steel player Neil Flanz: the third night at the Bijou Cafe in Philadelphia. Neil felt that this was the best show of the tour and requested a copy of the soundboard recording. He saved it for almost forty years, and then it was acquired by Amoeba Music for a future Gram release. It then disappeared in the Amoeba vault for another ten years before it was rediscovered when Amoeba moved to a new location in LA.

It turns out Neil was right. This is Gram and Emmylou at their finest. And it’s the next to last club date ever for Gram and the Fallen Angels. A 50-year-old soundboard cassette offers some unique challenges, but thanks to the efforts of some of the world’s best archival sound restoration engineers, the beauty and energy of Gram, Emmy and the band shine through.
For all of those who never got to experience Gram live, this is the closest we’ll ever get to being there.

*First new Gram solo material release in 40 years
*First live Gram solo club appearance ever released
*Recorded 3/16/73 Bijou Cafe Philadelphia
*Definitive 2LP performance in its original sequence
*19 Songs, Including “Sin City”, “Love Hurts” and “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man”
*Band includes Emmylou Harris on Vocals
*11”x17” Gram poster included
*Cover features long lost Gram and Emmylou motorcycle photo

Quantity: 950
Release type: 'RSD First' Release

The original 2011 release is one of the first projects that globally focused on the golden era of Turkish popular music of the 1970s. Back then, both originals and a selection of remixes were released and created serious hype in collector scenes with rare (300 copies each) 7"s that have never been pressed again. Meanwhile, the Turkish psychedelic-folk-disco style got more popular and some collectors discovered it via this series.

Now at its 10th anniversary Nublu Records is compiling these 12 remixes under a special edition double-LP pressed on 180g purple vinyl.

SG is none other than Andrew Pekler returning to faitiche with an album of sentimental guitar escapism. »For Lovers Only / Rain Suite« features ten tracks made using only an electric guitar and a handful of effects pedals (plus some additional recordings of rain) and finds Pekler once again attempting to reconicile his tendencies towards kitsch, experimentation and minimalism.

Source of Denial is the second LP from Nihiloxica, the Bugandan techno outfit hailing from Kampala, Uganda. It comes after more than three long years since Kaloli, their acclaimed debut on Crammed Discs. The album points a (middle) finger at the hostile immigration and freedom of movement policies implemented in the UK, as well as across the world. Fueled by their frustrations with this intentionally convoluted system, the group have produced their most cataclysmic effort to date.

The two Swiss brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez start with their album "El Bueno Y El Malo", again a musical journey. With their Latin American family history, the music is heavily influenced by instrumental Latin and also Western elements and almost feels like an Ennio Morricone, David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch soundtrack.

Working with Dan Auerbach, the duo, through their brotherly bond on "El Bueno Y El Malo," once again proves their knack for lively compositions and intimate guitar playing, perfectly blending interesting rhythms and catchy melodies. Recorded and produced at Auerbach's Nashville studio, Hermanos Gutiérrez also takes things a few steps further musically, as evidenced by exciting drums and percussion pats. Fittingly, on the song "Tres Hermanos," Auerbach himself plays an additional guitar. The title track pays homage to Sergio Leone's legendary 1966 western The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, but the phrase has a deeper meaning: "We think that every person has a good as well as a bad side in them. It shows in every person, in every moment, and in any situation. Everyone has it. It also has less of a cynical meaning, but rather shows the depths and dualities of people, which is perfectly transferable to music," says Estevan Gutiérrez.

The LP is now released Indie - Exclusive as Serenity Opaque Blue Edition, which reflects in color exactly what the Guitar attests to the album as "minimalist & soulful aesthetics".

Will Johnson's ninth solo album, No Ordinary Crown,hums with palpable motion. Travelers, runners andconductors fill its lyrics, and gesticulating storms andemotional highs and lows seep through the instinctualquality of its rock 'n roll performances. It's also cabledby ephemeral momentum.The songs were conceived in stolen moments and briefwindows of time between the responsibilities of familyand a multi-hyphenate career. The singer, songwriter,multi-instrumentalist, painter and novelist describes thedemo process as "fairly jagged," a gathering andstitching of audio snippets recorded via cell phone anddictaphone over a year and half. "I finalized the songson short tours where I could hear my thoughts a bitmore clearly," he says."Somewhere along the line someone advised me tonever be afraid to hurt my characters, that I will alwaysbe able to get them out of it," he says. "I do want thereto be these small victories and small portals of hope."With No Ordinary Crown, people may behave badly,and the road may get rough, but the reward is in thejourney.

Unreleased early Algerian synth electronic by Ahmed Malek, compiled and co-produced by Flako

In the early 1980s, Ahmed Malek was already in his 50s , when he discovered synthesizers and electronic music for himself and started to experiment with sounds. The result was a mixture of ambient synth music, field recordings he made in Cuba and a wide variation of different sound experiments that he also presented as different avanguarde music festivals in Cuba and the US. None of it was ever released but we got a huge box of master tapes from his family and we're happy to present this different side of Ahmed Malek's music. It was compiled and co-produced by Flako, a fan of early electronic and synth music. This is not a remix album though, Flako's aim was to create an album out of 2 hours of material that sounds like it might have if Mr. Malek would have finished it himself before of his death. Fully approved and licensed from the artists family.

The album comes with an informative booklet with liner notes, an interview with Flako regarding his approach towards the production and unseen photos. We will also release a third album by Ahmed Malek which will be more in the vein again of the music he is known for and this album will also be previously unreleased.

Sofie Herner (Enhet För Fri Musik, Neutral) returns with Neuter, the first proper album since the Gitarrmusik Iii-x LP released on Förlag För Fri Musik back in 2017. Neuter was recorded between 2018 and 2021 and is the culmination of a very distinctive and unmistakable sound Sofie has developed and refined during close to 10 years now. The music of Leda is based on primitive guitar loops of various lenghts, loops that intervenes and creates peculiar rhythms and subtle harmonies. Slow-burning proto-industrial basement buzz with occasional vocals buried in the mix. The connection to the sullen soundscapes of Neutral is of course there, but the skeletal, monotonous compositions and austere nature of things sets this apart widely. Years has passed and Neuter is ultimately more Malmö than Gothenburg. Hints has been thrown out on a handful of limited in-between releases on labels like Knotwilg and Kashual Plastik during the last few years, but Neuter is the pinnacle of Herner's body of solo work. Nine tracks, 37 minutes.

Mastered by Linus at Elementstudio and comes packaged in a cover jacket with full colour printed inside. Edition of 750 copies. Discreet Music 14.

While working on his solo albums, JJulius put together a live band consisting of Clara Flygare (Standard) on drums and vocals, Gustav Danielsbacka (Incipientium) on guitar and Mattias Rörström (Happiest Place Records) on bass. The all star incarnation debuted in Gothenburg in October 2021 and the following year the group recorded a couple of songs in Kungsten. The heavy ballad opener '500 spänn' sort of evokes the spirit of prime time Felt while the angular Ukdiy bizarro blast of 'Sorg I Göteborg' and the late era Skiftande Enheter noddings of 'u2" shows a more energetic side. The galloping, life-affirming instrumental closer 'Vargen' is one of those epics you could easily see the band expand and just doing longer and longer versions of live until it finally takes over the whole set.

45rpm white label 12" with risograph paste-on sleeves and insert. Edition of 490 copies. Mastered by Lasse Marhaug.

Blisteringly groovy collection of completely off-the-radar songs by Libyan composer / producer Najib Alhoush’s group The Free Music, circa 1976. Releasing an astonishing 10 albums, all impressively strong and equally infused by soul, funk, disco and reggae, The Free Music created a distinctly infectious groove that unfortunately didn’t make an impact outside of Libya due to the complex political situation at the time. There is a reason it says “Part 1” in the title.

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"

It is the 5th studio album of the artist's oeuvre and was originally released in 1982 on cassette. The track "Firuze" is a ballad that can be considered an anthem in Turkish pop music.Sezen Aksu, who has a very special voice, strengthened her place in the Turkish Pop Music scene with this album. Other important tracks on the album are "Ayrılıklar Bitmez", "İkinci Bahar", "Beni Unutma" and "Dümtek".

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".

Early and mostly previously unreleased recordings from Dundedin's The Strange Girls, a band that initially consisted of Clayton Noone, Kaaterama "Motty" Morehu and Jon Arcus. The Strange Girls existed on and off from 1999 up until Motty's passing in 2019 and left behind a peculiar trail of gems scattered around on a myriad of limited lathe cuts, cassettes and CDrs. It's OK To Be Happy focuses on the trio era - Jon Arcus left the band in 2002 - and starts at the very beginning with 'Satan', the first song at the first gig they ever played. Ten tracks of atmospheric bummer folk/downer rock with that unmistakable lo-fi Root Don Lone For Cash anything-goes approach, carefully sequenced into something that feels like the album that never was rather than just a compilation. Edition of 500 copies. Insert with liner notes to each track by Clayton Noone. Fördämning Arkiv 8.

Born in Lower Egypt in 1929, Abdel Halim Hafez became, during a relatively short career that ended with his death in 1977 aged 48, one of the giants of Egyptian Music and his legend has never stopped growing since. Alongside Oum Kalthoum, Warda, Farid el Atrache and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Hafez revolutionised Egyptian music and became a hugely popular star across the whole Arab world. Blessed with stricking good looks, Abdel Halim Hafez started his career in the early 50s and quickly attracted the attention of one of the Egyptian radio's A&Rs who took him under his wing and invited him to perform on the radio. His career went from strength to strength and from 1953, he was associated with the Egyptian revolution led by Nasser. His music mixing tradition and modernity made him one of the most loved singers of the 1950s as he developed a romantic edge that became his signature style (he was dubbed "the dark-skinned nightingale"). In the mid 50s, hot on the heels of his success in music, he launched his acting career in the thriving Egyptian film industry and also became a hugely popular actor. Hafez worked with the greatest composers of their time including Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdy who composed ‘Mawood’ ("Promised.") Recorded live in 1971 (as it was the norm at the time. Singer would rarely record studio albums), 'Mawood' is one of the singer's most recognisable standards. The song stretches over the two sides of the album and consists of several sections alternating instrumental parts and sung ones. The song, written by Egyptian poet Mohamed Hamza, sees Hafez talking to his heart, apologizing for driving it from failure to failure and concluding that, to find solace, one must keep love at bay. He's backed by his full orchestra featuring traditional instrumentation and those powerful strings that influenced the likes of Jean-Claude Vannier, together with modern instrumentation including organ and electric guitar by Omar Khorshid adding his unmissable twang to the ensemble. 'Mawood' mixes tradition and modernity and develops into a hypnotic epic full of groove with a superb soulful performance by one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. An undisputed Arabic Music classic which Wewantsounds it delighted to reissue on vinyl for the first time since the 1970s.

Black Friday Record Store Day 2022 Reissue. Color: Sky Blue. Limitation: 4000.
35th anniversary edition of Townes Van Zandt’s first album on Sugar Hill Records. Lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on sky blue vinyl.

From Asmara, Eritrea (formerly Ethiopia) Tewolde Redda revolutionized the sounds of traditional Eritrean music by amplifying his kirar, playing his Eko electric guitar, and recording six singles in the first part of the 1970s. Including the first Eritrean songs to use a horn section, traditional songs reworked into his new sound, and originals influenced by radio broadcasts from the United States military base in Asmara, Kagnew Station, these ten songs originally released on the Philips, Amha, and Yared labels show off his talents with stringed instruments, a talented back up band, and often the hand clapped beat shifting into double time near the song’s end. Tewolde’s thick, deep voice sings songs of love over somber and joyous tunes. Comes in a tip-on sleeve with extensive liner notes, lyrical translations, and unpublished photos. A co-release with Mitmitta Musika of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

Ltd edition Double Gold Vinyl, Gatefold sleeve, DL card. Released on gold vinyl, ‘The Coincidentalist’ and ‘Dust Bowl’ are two discs of Howe Gelb filled with randomness and happenstance, a typical treasure trove spanning all genres from alt country to Cohen-esque grandeur. They traverse, unflinchingly, his chameleon-like repertoire. This deluxe re-issue includes ‘Dust Bowl’ on vinyl for the very first time, with the records housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring updated artwork and liner notes. ‘The Coincidentalist’, originally released in 2013, features a raft of friends and collaborators including Bonnie Prince Billy, Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Steve Shelley, and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with John Parrish on mixing duties. Ever the focal point of Giant Sand and Gelb releases, the Arizona Desert serves as a key inspiration for the record, animating the barren landscape with stories of those that have navigated them. Praise for the release was not short, with AllMusic proclaiming that it’s “one of Gelb's most realized efforts; despite its relaxed, airy presentation, it's musically and lyrically provocative, as poetic, strange, and mysterious as the desert itself." The accompanying collection ‘Dust Bowl’ is a personal sketchbook of songs, a more stripped back set than it’s counterpart. Featuring everything from the country blues of ‘Porch Banjo’ and ‘John Deere’, to off-kilter piano ballads like ‘The Old Overrated’ and ‘Reality Or Not’ and the deconstructed desert pop on ‘Forever And A Day’ and the fragile ‘Man On A String’. ‘Dust Bowl’ is an insider’s view of Howe’s songwriting craft, a unique insight into the man himself. “‘Dust Bowl’ was primarily for fans that have followed me for a while. ‘The Coincidentalist’ is for the friends of the fans.” Howe told Under The Radar. While Nightlife magazine reported that; “Without warning, the Giant Sand frontman and polymorphous countryman dropped this compilation of house recordings via Bandcamp… At a time when so much harmless, soulless folk resonates, Howe Gelb is a mandatory point of reference for any fan of the genre.”

Double LP version. The Slovenian "imaginary folk" trio's most epic and transportive album yet. Powered by acoustic and often handmade instruments, these expansive compositions echo the borderless, collective spirit of groups like Don Cherry's Organic Music Society and Art Ensemble of Chicago. Drawing on this geography of contemplation and psychic energy, from a country previously swallowed up by Yugoslavia and before that, reaching back centuries, the Roman, Byzantine and Austro-Hungarian Empires, the Slovenian trio of Iztok Koren, Ana Kravanja and Samo Kutin conjure up an extended album of intuitive transcendence and reflection on the unique sounding The Liquified Throne of Simplicity. Finding a home once more with Glitterbeat Records' adventurous, experimental, mostly instrumental, platform tak:til, and following on from the debut I Can Be A Clay Snapper (GB 051cd/lp, 2017), and the equally acclaimed A Universe That Roasts Blossoms For A Horse (GB 079cd/lp, 2019), Sirom's fourth such inventive and illusionary album incorporates some aspects of the former whilst expanding the inventory of eclectic instruments and obscured sounds. For the first time the trio also ignore the time constraints of a standard vinyl record to fashion longer, more fully developed entrancing and hypnotizing peregrinations. This new, amended, approach results in 80 minutes of abstract and rustic folklore, dream-realism, explorative intensity and cathartic ritual. And within that array of realms there's evocations of Jon Hassell's Fourth World experiments, visions of Samarkand, the esoteric mysteries of Tibet, an unplugged faUSt, and pastoral hurdy-gurdy churned Medieval Europe. These off-the-beaten-track performances converge history and geography with untethered fantasies and ambiguous atmospheres; all of which are made even more so fantastical, and even symbolic, by both the poetic, allegorical fabled track titles and the softly surreal illustrative artwork by the small village-based painter Marko Jakse, whose signature magical, if solemn, characters and landscapes adorn the album's cover and inlay. Music, in part, as a therapy The Liquified Throne of Simplicity offers a portal to other musical, sonic worlds: an escape route out of the on-going pandemic and its demoralizing, mentally draining effects and the crisis it has sparked in Slovenia, with certain far right groups especially taking advantage to ramp up the discourse of nationalism. By instinct, and in parts by coincidence, Sirom once more entrance with their vague undulations and illusionary echoes of places, settings, time and escapism on another highly magical album.

Before I’m gone I’d like to see us turn the corner and give up being spoilers of the land . . .

In 1975 Wallace ‘Wally’ Smith Broecker published a paper that popularised the term ‘global warming’ and against a backdrop of change and environmental uncertainty, a musical concept album was commissioned. ‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ - is a musical exploration of our place within the cycle of living things. All compositions were specially commissioned for the album and blended with natural sounds recorded in the wild – lending the entire project a conceptual air that still feels fresh today.

The journey begins with the sun rising in the atmospheric haze of 'Dawn' - a track composed by new-age innovator Iasos. Gospel singer Walter Hawkins soon drops in with the soulful but ever so funky 'Metropolis' backed by a heavy array of session musicians with Patrick Gleeson, Ed Bogas and Tom Salisbury all adding their own misty magic to the album. David Riordan is the sorcerer conjuring up many of the compositions and also takes vocal duties on the evocative 'Mountain' and the climatic 'Before I'm Gone'.

‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ was born when environmentalist Emily DeSpain Polk assembled a group of California residents to participate in a groundbreaking conservationist project. Christening the group Swap (Small Wilderness Area Preservation) Emily needed funds and began a project to produce a promotional nature based music album. To acquire the financial backing Emily would need to source a musician of some calibre. Contacting Cliff Branch from ‘Warehouse Sound Co.’ she was told the man she was looking for was David Riordan.

David Riordan had been around the music business for several years, first with The Yankee Dollar, then Sugarloaf and then Sweet Pain, he saw huge success with the single 'Green Eyed Lady'. David had worked on Cliff Branch’s 'Warehouse Sound Co. & Friends' albums and then released his solo album, 'Medicine Wheel'. But bored of touring he made the move to more concept-driven albums. First with ‘Christmas in San Francisco’ and then, in quick succession, 'Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land'.

Riordan, along with Peter Scott, a music producer friend in San Francisco, began piecing together an idea for the album. They brought in Ed Bogas to do string arrangements and Tom Salisbury to conduct. David had also asked his friend Patrick Gleeson if he knew of any R&B/Gospel singers in the Bay Area, and they soon added gospel singer Walter Hawkins into the mix.

Other than the track ‘Metropolis’, which was recorded in LA, the rest of ‘Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land’ was recorded and mixed by Richard Beggs at the San Francisco studio of Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was filming ‘Apocalypse Now’ at the same time – so in between studio sessions, the musicians were able to view the seemingly never-ending film rushes arriving from the Philippines.

Eventually, the record produced by David Riordan and Peter Scott drifted onto the radar of vinyl obsessives and selectors as several of its key tracks began popping up on mixtapes and sales lists. It wasn’t long before this privately pressed, art-funded masterpiece became something of a holy grail for collectors. At long last, a re-issue of this masterpiece is now available on Ebalunga!!! Records.