Folk 179 Items

First ever official reissue of Nancy & Lee’s classic 1968 duet album
Definitive reissue with Nancy’s involvement
Includes the bonus tracks, “Tired Of Waiting for You” and “Love Is Strange,” from the album sessions
Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin
Vinyl pressed at RTI
Q&A with Nancy & GRAMMY®-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea
Never-before-seen photos from Nancy Sinatra’s personal archive

Light in the Attic is thrilled to announce the first official reissue of Nancy & Lee: the highly-influential 1968 duet album from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. This definitive edition of Nancy & Lee features newly-remastered audio by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin and includes an array of exclusive content, including a new interview with Nancy, never-before-seen photos, and two bonus tracks from the album sessions: an ethereal cover of The Kinks’ “Tired of Waiting for You” and an uptempo version of “Love Is Strange” (first made famous by Mickey & Sylvia in 1956). This release marks the official debut on vinyl for both tracks.

Nancy & Lee can be found in a variety of formats, including vinyl, cassette tape, CD, 8-track, and digital. The vinyl LP, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and features the iconic, original cover photo by Ron Joy. Inside, a 20-page booklet offers an array of photos from the legendary singer, actress, and activist’s personal collection, as well as an in-depth Q&A with Sinatra, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer, Hunter Lea (also available in the CD package). In addition to the classic black vinyl pressing, a selection of colorful variants can be found exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, independent record stores and select online retailers.

In celebration of the release, Nancy Sinatra and fellow musician and longtime friend Don Randi (The Wrecking Crew) visited Record Technology, Inc. (RTI) in Camarillo, CA to take a tour of the plant and get a sneak peek at the Bootique-exclusive pressing of Nancy and Lee. A short video piece documenting the day, including new interviews with Sinatra, Randi, and RTI plant manager, Rick Hashimoto is available here.

MORE ABOUT NANCY & LEE

When Nancy – the eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra – first met Lee Hazlewood in 1965, she was a demure, 25-year-old divorcée, who was struggling to find her place as an artist amid the changing musical landscape. At the urging of her label, she was introduced to the Oklahoma-born songwriter, Lee Hazlewood, who had found success working with guitarist Duane Eddy. While Sinatra and Hazlewood hailed from vastly different worlds, they were about to embark on a partnership that would change the course of their lives. Just months after meeting, Sinatra scored her first No.1 hit with “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Written and produced by Hazlewood, the song became Sinatra’s signature tune – transforming her into a confident and commanding feminist icon.

Initially, Hazlewood maintained a behind-the-scenes role with Sinatra, enlisting arranger and composer Billy Strange, as well as other members of The Wrecking Crew (the famed Los Angeles session musicians) for the singer’s best-selling 1966 debut LP, Boots. But when they returned to the studio later that year for Sinatra’s sophomore effort, How Does That Grab You?, Hazlewood joined the singer for a duet of his song, “Sand.” Over the next year, as Sinatra’s star rose, the artists continued to collaborate in the vocal booth, finding success with “Summer Wine,” “Lady Bird,” and the cinematic “Some Velvet Morning” (all penned by Hazlewood). In 1967, just months after Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash scored a country hit with “Jackson,” Sinatra and Hazlewood released a pop version of the offbeat song, landing in the Top Ten across Europe and peaking at No.14 in the US.

Recalling her duets with Hazlewood, Sinatra laughs, “we used to call it beauty and the beast!” Voices with no blend.” Indeed, no one could have predicted that these two contrasting voices (and personalities) would work together quite so well. Praising the duo’s “sonic alchemy,” Hunter Lea writes, “rarely in music has there been such an unlikely collaboration: Nancy, the sassy and sweet songstress contrasted by Lee, the gruff, psychedelic cowboy. A harmonic partnership that defies conventional logic yet yields so much beauty.”

Before long, it seemed only natural for the artists to release an entire album together. In addition to compiling their recent duets (many of which appeared on Sinatra’s solo LPs), the duo recorded several new covers and Hazlewood originals. Billy Strange and The Wrecking Crew provided lush orchestral arrangements, as the two artists performed a range of material, including folk, pop, and country songs, with a twist of psychedelia.

Throughout the album, a palpable chemistry can be heard between Sinatra and Hazlewood – from the frisky banter on “Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman” to the tongue-in-cheek delivery of “I’ve Been Down So Long (It Looks Up To Me).” But the artists also reveal their softer sides – particularly in the romantic balladry of “Sand.” Their languid rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” meanwhile, is downright erotic, despite the lyrics. But, as Sinatra asserts, her decades-long relationship with Hazlewood was always platonic. “We had sort of a love/hate relationship,” she explains. “Maybe it was a sexual tension because we never had any kind of affair. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it worked.”

That je ne sais quoi certainly did work. Upon its release in the spring of 1968, Nancy & Lee became a critical and commercial hit on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at No.13 on the Billboard 200 and No.17 in the UK. By 1970, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. Over the decades, however, the appeal of Nancy & Lee has only grown, while the album has amassed an enduring cult status that few titles achieve. Multiple generations of artists, including Sonic Youth, Lana Del Rey, and the Jesus & Mary Chain, have cited Nancy & Lee as an influence.

In recent years, Nancy & Lee has also inspired a groundswell of recognition from such outlets as Rolling Stone, which ranked the pair at No.9 on their 20 Greatest Duos of All Time list. Pitchfork included Nancy & Lee in their “Best Albums of the 1960s” roundup, hailing the record as “a document of a flawless collaboration.” The UK’s Far Out Magazine declared Nancy & Lee to be “a masterpiece that still ripples in the sonic waves today.” NPR, meanwhile, noted that “Sinatra and Hazlewood masterfully marry sunshiny orchestral elements with lyrics that dig at something darker about the human condition.” They went on to praise Sinatra’s work on Nancy & Lee as “some of the best that she’s ever recorded…it proved that she would hardly allow herself to be pigeonholed into one-hit wonder territory. Here, she made it clear that she was capable of so much more.”

Today, Sinatra reflects fondly on her time with Hazlewood. “The most fun was when there were two mics in the studio, and Lee was on one and I was on one,” she recalls. When asked about the lasting appeal of Nancy & Lee, the artist credits much of its success to her partner. “Lee has a following that continues to this day. He’s beloved; people love him all over the world.”

Sinatra’s legacy, meanwhile, continues to grow, as new generations discover her impressive catalog (which boasts nearly 20 studio albums – her duets with Hazlewood among them – and dozens of charting singles, including the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice). In 2020, Sinatra was recognized by her peers when “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame. That same year, Sinatra partnered with Light in the Attic Records for Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin’ 1965-1976, a definitive survey of her most prolific period. At the end of 2021, LITA reissued Sinatra’s classic debut, Boots, while the label will continue to celebrate Sinatra with a variety of special releases, exclusive merch, and more.

Limited to 300 copies. Oriental Psychedelic Sounds and Funky Grooves. Gaïsha is a collaboration between the Belgian-Moroccan singer, Aicha Haskal, and Les Cerveaux Lents.

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.

Soundway presents the unique results of a one-off 2018 meeting in Marrakech between Belgrade-based tribal/techno/industrial outfit Tapan and the nomadic Touareg electrified desert-blues group Generation Taragalte.
Tapan is not an ordinary “techno” project, rather it escapes easy categorization. It is the Belgradebased production duo of 20/44 club resident Nebojša Bogdanović (Schwabe), and Goran Simonoski, a producer behind music projects such as Belgradeyard
Sound System, Piece of Shh and more. Both have been active in the Belgrade music and nightlife scenes since the 1990s, and since 2015 have brought together their diverse musical experience under the collaborative moniker of Tapan.
While performing at the Atlas Electronic festival in Morocco in 2018, they encountered Generation Taragalte of southern Morocco, and recorded the initial music for the Atlas EP in an improvised studio on the festival grounds, followed by final production
on returning to Belgrade. The result was the 4-track EP “Atlas”, a dark, desolate and potent collision of the electronic drone-jazz of Belgrade and the windswept, desiccated psych-guitar riffs of the Moroccan Sahara.

A variety of Voodoo Rhythm artists pay tribute to The
Monsters! Featured acts include Urban Junior, King Automatic,
The Devils, Roy And The Devils Motorcycle, Delaney Davidson,
The Seniles, Rolando Bruno, Sudden Infant and others.

A kind of intimate scrapbook of the startling collaboration between the techno maestro and this long-standing musical collective based in Bishkek, devoted to the roots music of Kyrgyzstan. Loose-leaved but balanced, lucid and intimate, it sets out from stunning a cappella and virtuosic komuz and kylak, mouth harp and traditional percussion: not field, but expert studio recordings, using marvellous vintage microphones, made over several days in Berlin. Further, a few of these are deftly treated by Moritz, using Reichian de-synced double-tracking, and discreet effects. Also two ten-minute dubs: a deadly, signature Berlin steppers, plus its version; and an echoing, mystical drum session, recorded live on stage in Bishkek. And a side-long, dream-like summation: the locomotive, oceanic, clangorous, dread Facets.

Ravishing, rooted, searching music; beautifully presented.

The Invisible World Of Beautify Junkyards is Lisbon band Beautify Junkyards’s third album and effortlessly blend their love of English Acid Folk and Brazilian Tropicalia. In a collection of songs that conjure up a warm and verdant faerie world, delicate acoustic guitars evoke an autumnal England suffused with Iberian heat by other- worldly voices; the ethereal lilt of João Branco Kyron and the warm languor of Rita Vian (a voice redolent of Gal Costa or Os Mutantes’ Rita Lee.)

The production is tempered with a haunted electronic palette that anchors the band squarely in the world of Ghost Box. But more than this, Beautify Junkyards’ sheer song writing talent, production skill and performance virtuosity grant them a place amongst the great outside-of-time bands like Broadcast or The High Llamas.

In 2012, the band’s eponymous first album set out their stall, with a collection of cover versions; mainly of classics of the British Acid-Folk period, but also taking in Tropicalia and German Kosmiche. The album was a hit in Portugal and picked up for airplay in the UK on BBC Radio 2 & 6 Music. Their version of Kraftwerk’s Radioactivity was included on DJ Food’s Krafwerk Kover Kollection.

Their second album in 2015, The Beast Shouted Love, carried their influences forward with original songs and cemented a style that is at once traditional, experimental and exotic. In 2016 the band debuted on Ghost Box with a single as part of the label's Other Voices Series.

Packaging: The lavish packaging on all formats is designed by Julian House with artwork that attempts to capture the band’s love of the Czech New-Wave and the twilight worlds of WB Yeats. The heavyweight vinyl LP includes a free download card.

MYRNINEREST is the new Hallucinatory Cartoon channelled by David Tibet in order to work, outside of CURRENT 93, with some of the artists and friends he admires the most. ""Jhonn," Uttered Babylon", their harrowing and haunted debut, featuring James Blackshaw and David Tibet, is centered on Davids friendship with, and love for, the late Jhonn Balance of COIL as well as Jhonns death and how it affected the circle of friends around Jhonn. With all lyrics by David and all music written by James, the album was recorded during February 2012 with James Blackshaw on classical guitar and harmonium and David as vocalist. Both LP and CD formats contain the same songs, but with very different mixes by different artists, and the tracks on the 2 formats have also been given different names.The vinyl version is mixed by The Bricoleur and comes in a full-colour, reverse-board, sleeve with a 4-page insert containing the albums text and reproductions of two charco...

Dark-folk songwriter Chantal Acda and beyond drums-percussion musician extraordinaire Eric Thielemans propose a new score for »Koyaanisqatsi«, re-actualising the incredibly beautiful, raw, rhythmic and touching images of this 80-ties cinematographic masterpiece. Slow deep electric waves, lonely synths in sonic desert landscapes, rhythmic pulses, transporting drums and bells, and deeply longing sounds and voices make up the audible fundamentals of this imagined, neo shamanic, ritualistic music to accompany the Earth as it keeps on supporting our post human frenetics even today.

City Of Light is the sixth solo album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on July 29, 1997. While it may appear an anachronism in his catalog, fans of Bill Laswell will find City Of Light an extension of ideas he has explored throughout his career. His strong interest in Eastern music and religion resulted in this 1997 collaboration with Janet Rienstra. Part sacred, spoken word, part meditative soundscape, City Of Light takes as its inspiration the holy region of Banaras, India. Said to belong to Shiva, Banaras also contains the Ganges river: a place sought by Hindus for their cremation. Surrounding the texts is some of the most compelling music this genre has produced featuring Trilok Gurtu on tablas, Coil (Peter Christopherson & John Balance) on electronics, sound collages by Tetsu Inoue and vocals provided by Lori Carson.

Kate Bollinger's songs tend to linger well beyond their run times, filling the negative space of ordinary days with charming melodies and smart phrasings. She writes them at home in Richmond, Virginia, letting her subconscious lead, an open-ended process she likens to dreaming. From a chord progression appears a line, maybe a syllable will start to stick, enough to pursue, but she says sometimes the words don't feel likeher own, more like shapes that form in the mind's sky. Bollinger's musical universe is relaxed, tender, and unassuming; within lives a timeless sensibility, a songwriter's knack for noticing the little things and their counterpoints. Darkness and light, pain and pleasure, reality and escape. Her new EP, Look at it in the Light, her first project on Ghostly International, is collaborative; she shoots music videos with her friends and colors each of her folk-pop songs with musicians in her community. The title Look at it in the Light is a reference to the aspects of Bollinger's life that she knows need examining. For one, there's her persistent resistance to change _ she chooses to ignore it on the title track ("I try not to notice / I deny my fate"), as wiry strums sync with crisp drums. She surrenders to comfort on "Who Am I But Someone," a light and softly psychedelic number. "Yards / Gardens" finds Bollinger in full swing, skipping verses of uncertainty above a bright and nimble bassline and kick. Guitar riffs unravel across the bridge, trailing her lines like ellipses. The string-backed "Lady in the Darkest Hour" is the set's most luxuriant statement, recorded during a session at Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Studios with in-house arranger Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Helado Negro). Here her lines ring bittersweet yet reassuring, uplifted by swells of golden-hued instrumentation. From the hushed abstractions of "I Found Out" to the biting suspicions of closer "Connecting Dots," Kate Bollinger uses every inch of this dazzling EP to find her footing amidst the ever-present sways of life

Maalem Houssam Guinia Dead of Night

Hmrlp035 LP £12 Allah Allah Daym Molana Jangari Jahwari Bouri Bouriama Ya Jowadi Samaoui Matinba Mosawiyin (Souiri)

"Raw, deep and spiritual Gnawa music from Morocco to carry you through the night...

Recorded in a single late night session in a house in Casablanca, using a Tascam field recorder and 2 microphones, Dead of Night is the incredible new solo album from Maalem Houssam Guinia, the son of Maalem Mahmoud Guinia, and one of Morocco's most exciting young Gnawa masters.

The album was recorded live on the night of 3rd January 2022 in a relaxed session that lasted into the early hours of the next morning, and it captures Houssam at his most natural, singing and playing the Gnawa songs that have been with him since his birth, completely solo and free without percussion or backing vocals. Houssam described the album as containing the songs he knows best as these were the pieces his father would play and sing late into the night in their home when he was an infant.

What you'll hear on Dead of Night is raw, deep Gnawa music in its purest form played by a young Maalem who has been immersed in the culture his whole life and is a master of his craft. The whole performance has been beautifully and sympathetically captured by bassist and producer Karl-Erik Enkelman."

Voice & Guimbri by Maalem Houssam Guinia. Recording & Production by Karl-Erik Enkelmann. Mastering by Julian Tardo. Photography by Bader Naggay. Design by Marc Teare.

With thanks to Hamza Guinia, Khalil Mounji, Karl-Erik Enkelmann & Karl Jonas Winqvist.

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.

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)

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.

The first ever vinyl reissue of this 1982 Arabian prog/psych masterpiece by cult band Osiris, hailing from Bahrein. A killer blend of '70s sounding hard progressive/psychedelic sounds with long ripping Mini-Moog and analogue synth attacks and hard lead guitar, but also mellow vibes, Arabian folky touches, exotic percussion and a floating -at times funky- rhythm section. The vocals are in English. The core of this six-piece existed of brothers Mohamed and Nabil Alsadeqi, who had already been making western orientated music since 1969. The LP coms with sound from the master tapes and includes an insert with photos and liners.

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".

A new beast from Will Oldham and his longterm collaborator and pal, Matt Sweeney. Matt wrote the music and Bonnie the words. This one's something else!

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".

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.

Limited to 2000 copies. A shelved album from 1970. 1) I Mean To Shine 2) Turn 3) Roaring Of The Lamb 4) Roll Back 5) Autumn 6) Jones

Side B 1) In A Station 2) Mama Tears 3) City Mug 4) 4 + 20 5) The Dove

180g Colored Vinyl! Hand-picked titles by Françoise Hardy, France Gall. Annie Philippe, Elsa, Violaine, Pussy Cat, Brigitte Bardot, Delphine and Liz Brady!

The debut album from Bahraini-born, British-based musical duo Dar Disku is a celebration of their Arabic heritage and multicultural influences that melds golden age West Asian and North African sounds with a contemporary dance floor focus. Recorded between the UK, Algeria, Turkey and Tunisia, the album seamlessly crosses from disco to Raï, piano house to Turkish psychedelia, ambient to bollywood and features guest artists from Algeria, Turkey and Bahrain as well as legendary Indian singer Asha Puthli.

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.

In 2011, the French writer, Ingrid Astier met with the Hanak brothers, Frédéric and JB and expressed a desire to work with them. This came to be in 2013: when the two brothers and their band dDamage appear over in the pages of Ingrid Astier’s novel “Angle Mort” (dead corner), published by Gallimard. In 2014, Ingrid Astier publishes a new book, which stands out from the previous ones due to its poetic character and its alphabet form, “le petit éloge de la nuit” (the Little Praise of the Night), "a magnificent tribute to the power of the night" according to François Busnel. host and producer of La Grande Librairie on French television. The friendship story continues, and this time we see a double-page spread from the book entrusted to the two brothers. Immediately, the desire to bring “le petit éloge de la nuit” (the Little Praise of the Night), to music arose. Ingrid Astier then enabled the bridge between two extremely different worlds, and the improbable meeting between Pierre Richard and JB Hanak took place. In 2017, “le petit éloge de la nuit” (the Little Praise of the Night), was adapted to theater and had a successful run of more than fifty performances at the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées theatre (Paris), a three-season tour in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, and finally a revival in June 2019 at La Scala in Paris. The three artists met again at the end of 2019, this time wanting to convert all their work into the album format. It will be “Nuit à jour” (Night to Day). Something more pop than their improvised concerts, more glam than their theatrical adaptation. JB Hanak is on guitar, bass, synth and rhythmic programming, consumed with a desire to reveal with each changing track a different facet of this imagined nocturnal universe. Ingrid Astier, is of course involved covering the direction of the actors as well as the writing of the lyrics, very much as would be found in the cinema. And then, there is Pierre Richard. At one moment a dreamer, the next a cowboy, suddenly Mafioso and then a nocturnal animal. Thinker, lover, philosopher, astronaut or sandman. Pierre Richard is an actor, an actor of immense presence confined too often to comic roles. “Nuit à Jour” offers him roles he has not had in the movies ... And it is breathtaking, both in its register and in a sense of deep renewal.