Folk 257 Items

Uzelli Kaset was established in 1971 by Muammer and Yavuz Uzelli in Frankfurt, Germany. Their music resonated not only with the longing that Gastarbeiter (guest workers) felt for the homelands and families they had left behind and the melancholy brought by their difficult living and working conditions in Germany, but also with the joy that welled up at village weddings on their days off, and the long car or train journeys home. Reaching the remotest corners of Germany as well as Turkey, Uzelli Kaset was soon more than just a music company; it became a companion to Turkish workers living far from home. Not counting the handful of 8-track tapes and 14 LPs released in the early days, the catalog consisted entirely of cassettes.
When they opened their Istanbul office in 1977, Uzelli moved beyond production and became successful in the areas of reproduction, distribution and marketing. Taking the catalogs of other production companies under its umbrella, it continued its rapid growth.
The 90s became the CD decade, and because Uzelli Kaset had not released its catalog in CD format, hundreds of albums remained unavailable to an entire new generation. Because the albums had not been released in LP form either, musical explorers ran into the same problem. Remaining active and serving in various areas of the music industry, Uzelli carefully preserved its visual, audio and document archives, ensuring their survival to the present day.
After an immense amount of work, this catalog, which had long awaited discovery by new generations, was finally released in digital format. For record collectors seeking the spirit of those times, we also began offering this special selection of compilation albums in vinyl format. As we created this series, our goal was to guide listeners toward new discoveries, and open new pages for music lovers to explore. Leaving our rich, multifaceted catalog to genuine musicians, curators and artists, our desire became to approach the recordings of that period from a different perspective.
We are overjoyed to know that our continuing meticulous work will bear fruits whose taste and aroma have been long forgotten.
Uzelli

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

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

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

A reissue full LP of the legendary Palm wine guitarist S.E. Rogie’s early work. Truly beautiful songs from the 1960s ranging from sweet acoustic solo numbers to blazing full band electric music. SE Rogie had a very long and pioneering career in Sierra Leone. His songs are some of the most beautiful ever—gentle and lilting timeless melodies. One of the greats. A co-release with our friends at the Domino Sound label.

Full-color inner sleeve incl. liner notes, pics & lyrics.

Aby Ngana Diop was the most famous taasukat in Dakar, Senegal in the 1980s and 1990s. Taasu is a Wolof-language poetic style, usually performed by women griots over frenetic drum patterns, with an aggressive verbal flow thought to presage rap. Her only album Liital was groundbreaking in the history of Senegalese music because it was the first commercial recording to feature a traditional female taasukat performing to the modern accompaniment of mbalax, Senegal’s quintessential pop genre.

After a few years of searching for Ms. Diop’s family members—she passed away from a heartattack in 1997—it took another year to get the release sorted it out but I’m happy to report this is all square with her family in Dakar (thanks to the help of a friendly professor from Boston who also contributed excellent liner notes).

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

12 great songs recorded by 2 of Cajun music's finest & most unusual artists. Originally released on 78 in the late 20s, these fragile & dignified
performances feature French vocals accompanied by guitar or fiddle (sometimes both). Impeccable ballads & breakdowns

12 recently discovered Johnny Cash studio recordings (not demos or out takes) produced by Billy Sherrill.

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

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

2LP, 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl, Numbered Limited-Edition

After «Many Things», released in 2008, and «From Africa With Fury: Rise» in 2011, «A Long Way To The Beginning» is the third album by Seun Anikulapo Kuti with Egypt 80

Limited, numbered box set edition on 45 rpm 180 gram audiophile vinyl!

Follow up to Melissa's debut on No Format "Camphor And Copper"!

Superb album revisiting the traditional and early psychedelic Arabic music, all through distorted paths and instruments, remashed and deconstructed sounds, recreating patterns with diverse instruments to give a different perspective of the sound itself.

- Steve Gunn's first album with a band, featuring John Truscinski and Justin Tripp- His most affecting, accessible, and articulate work of pure songcraft to date, with a new emphasis on vocals- Available on virgin vinyl, in a deluxe, limited edition, as well as on CD and digital formats- Vinyl edition features matte, tip-on jacket, full-color inner sleeve, and digital download coupon- CD housed in heavy matte gatefold wallet- Package features artwork by Anthony Campuzano, Constance Mensh, and Justin TrippIn the city we're all angling for Quittin' Time, laboring along and among the hours, searching and scheming for the sweet sound of those two easy words: Time Off. It's something you take-or sometimes steal, like a thief or a baserunner-but seems you can never get enough of it. It's regulated, rationed, and billed by volume, like water or electricity or ice cream. Sometimes you have to beg the boss for more, or even for a trifling taste. So let's make time! Let's roll the dice and get these old bones out on the road again. Steve Gunn's new album imagines the fugitive moments afforded us during time off, out, and away as occasions for dilatory investigations into our immediate environments and interiors. Time Off (PoB-08) showcases the virtuosic guitarist and songwriter's oblique character sketches and story-songs, some of which, like "Lurker" and "Street Keeper," portray specific denizens of his Brooklyn neighborhood. "Old Strange" celebrates Jack Rose, a dear and departed friend and muse. Those contemplative studies frame Gunn's most affecting, accessible and articulate work of pure songcraft to date. His definitive statement as a songwriter, Time Off represents the culmination of nearly fifteen years of stylistic experimentation as a solo artist, a member of GHQ and the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, and more recently, as a guitarist in fellow Philadelphia-bred troubadour Kurt Vile's touring band the Violators. Gunn's first eponymous album with a full band, Time Off harnesses a core trio format to...