Folk 169 Items

RSD Exclusive. Limitation: 2300. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, J.S. Ondara fell in love with Bob Dylan and moved to Minneapolis when he was 20 to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. His debut album, Tales of America, is an examination of the American Dream, but from the perspective of the outsider, the immigrant, the social commentator. This album made J.S. an NPR Slingshot Artist, a Rolling Stone Artist You Need To Know, and earned him a Best Emerging Act nomination from the Americana Music Association in 2019.

Tales of America: B Sides is a five track LP packaged exclusively for Record Store Day, and features a previously unreleased track, a demo, a remix, and two cover songs.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

Mastered from the original analog tapes
All tracks previously unreleased
Booklet with liner notes and rare archive photos
Deluxe die cut Stoughton “tip-on” jacket with embossed lettering
Vinyl pressed at RTI

On March 4, 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost. Some think the mafia bumped him. Some even think he was abducted by aliens.

By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O.. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened, and you can guess which…

Light In The Attic’s reissue of U.F.O. introduced the world to an overlooked masterwork and won Sullivan, posthumously (presumably), legions of new fans. Those new admirers are in for a real treat: a lavish, first-time release of a previously unheard 1969 studio session.

If The Evening Were Dawn contains 10 acoustic solo recordings that have never seen the light of day. Whereas U.F.O. was bolstered by legendary sessioneers The Wrecking Crew, this is Jim Sullivan on his own terms, stripped down and soulful as ever. Recorded at a Los Angeles studio circa 1969, the session contains acoustic versions of a handful of U.F.O. tracks alongside a half dozen previously unheard songs. This, then, is the closest thing to those fabled Malibu bar performances at which Sullivan was first noticed.

According to his widow, Barbara, this was the album Jim always hoped to record. It serves as an unprecedented glimpse into the mysterious, larger-than-life figure who’s become the stuff of legends.

While Sullivan’s disappearance remains unsolved, his music endures and is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves, albeit long overdue. This recording serves as an unexpected missing piece of the puzzle; this is Jim Sullivan’s true swan song.

Ben ’Tukumazan’ Molatzi (1954 -2016), a self-taught singer and songwriter from Tsumeb, Namibia, wrote timeless, beautiful ballads drawing on the distinctive melodies and harmonies of his Damara and Sotho heritage.
His music recordings have been slumbering in oblivion in Namibian radio archives. His songs were consciously censored and damaged as its messages did not please the South African apartheid regime. The album contains field and studio recordings that were made in 1981 by SWABC. To this day, these recordings have never been commercially released. In his liner notes, Thorsten Schütte describes his ultimately successful search for Ben Molatzi and further meetings with the artist, who talks in detail about his life, his songs and the life circumstances in his country.
On these recordings he accompanies himself on the guitar. The lyrics are reprinted in the enclosed booklet in the original tribal language as well as in English translation.

Mantra Moderne' is a stunning, contemporary masterpiece that fuses Anatolian Psychedelia, Brazilian Tropicalia, 60’s European pop and American jazz. A must for fans of Khruangbin, Portishead, Arthur Verocai, Goat, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé, Os Mutantes, Cortex and co.
The duo is formed of Kit Martin, who lives between London and France and plays all instruments on the album, and Merve Erdem, vocalist and multi-disciplinary artist from Istanbul, now based in London. This is their debut album.
The album explores universal themes such as love, loss, decay, language and ideology, mixing three different languages: English, Turkish and French. Written and recorded by the duo - Kit composed all the songs and Merve wrote the lyrics - in rural France during 2018, each song was completed within a 12-hour window, pawning contemplation for spontaneity.
Dubbed by Kit and Merve as ‘lo-fi-hi-fi’ in reference to the high-end tube equipment that helped it find its way to 8-track cassette tape. The style owes its sound to narrow tape width, valve distortion, spring reverb, the mixture of high end gear with lo-fi equipment as well as a disregard to the norms of hi-fi studio techniques. All instruments were analogue and no samples were used. The instruments that are used range from tablas to darbukas, balalaikas to ouds, MS20 synths to Farfisa organs and a lot of cuica. The mixing techniques were done on-the-fly, tracking immediately to tape: compression, EQ, delay and reverb; meaning mixing could not be revisited!

Two years after the success of „Nem Kaldı“, outernational psych-pop sensation Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek deliver their debut album, „Kar Yağar“ - and it was worth the wait! Over the course of it’s 12 tracks, the powerful sound of the Bağlama [Turkish lute] and Derya Yıldırım’s stunning vocals, builds and unravels stories together with the guitars, organs, drums, flute and bass.

Kar Yağar (which translates as „Snow Falls“) has the dynamics of an epic journey through the Anatolian highlands where deep-rooted folk effortlessly switches to sparkly improvisation or dancy pop tracks.

The album was self produced at their studio in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and the band's tour de force resides in their ability to develop their personal sound and approach whilst keeping their heart tuned to Derya Yıldırım's Anatolian roots.

The album opens with „Üç Kız Bir Ana“ (three daughters, one mother), a smooth, yet epic 5/4 track that introduces the live and psychedelic sound of the band with influences ranging from Anatolian music to 70’s jazz and early prog rock.

The title-song „Kar Yağar“ [written by Derya Yıldırım] is a fresh pop track melodically rooted in the Turkish folk music tradition. The song's lyrics, referring to snow falling in the summer, are an extended metaphor which tells a strong and emotionally charged personal story.
Here, Grup Şimşek bring out their unmistakable signature sound - light and movement inducing tempo, elegant wah wah guitars and magical quartertoned synth licks.

Original songs and instrumentals - all composed and arranged by the band - are scattered throughout the album. Notably - „Seni Hala“, a tear-drawing ballad with stripped-down acoustic arrangement and haunting choir… And Graham Mushnik’s dreamy instrumental „Çocuklar“, in which the band chose to feature a poem by one of Turkey's most renowned 20th century poet Nâzım Hikmet Ran whose title translates as „give the world to our children“. The poem is meaningfully read by Derya’s father Mustafa Yıldırım.

The LP also contains a string of Turkish folk songs, that the band entirely re-arranged whilst preserving their original spirit and soul. In „Ey Şahin Bakışlım“ Grup Şimşek pay tribute to the Alevi culture, a minority community in Turkey for which music - and particularly the Bağlama instrument - has a sacred value. A powerful and majestic version of Mahzuni Şerif’s „Dom Dom Kurşunu“ - one of Grup Şimşek fans’ favourites at live shows - is also featured.

Recorded and Mixed by Grup Şimşek
Mastered by Tim Stollenwerk at Stereophonic
Vinyl Cut by Adi Flück at Centraldubs

Weaving a fragile thread through collectible outsider genres such as acid folk,
French jazz, Braziliana and world music it is virtually incomprehensible that
this incredible one-off solo album by mononymous Occitan language singer,
songwriter and activist Miquela.

Released and well-received in incredibly small numbers by a supportive and
emotional Occitan fan base, this would be Miquela’s only ever solo LP.

Captured via a humble makeshift studio set-up in a classroom in 1977, this
startlingly crystalline recording is one of the best examples you are likely to
hear, not shying from ambitious small string arrangements and intimate Gallic
jazz infusions this LP represents the quiet storm erupting from the pride and
protection of the ancient “romance” language known as Occitan, as spoken by
less than 1.5 million people in Southern France.

Who Corrupted Our Wave, Back in 1969? is composed of tracks recorded live during a Sunday confusion at Berlin’s Klunkerkranich. Aimed at transferring the dub-laden substance of their debut at Fusion Festival, one week earlier, this sunset-session is a drive through dense traffic in psychonautic space. Hypersonic textures arise from layers of transmutative dialogues between seven instrumentalists. These musicians have gathered in the exiled Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, geared towards spontaneous pre-temporal alignment. A collective channeling of Free Beat sonic-organisms born from the ether, “Who Corrupted Our Wave, Back In 1969?” is a b-rave album producing an inter-era entanglement, empowered by the portals of a caravan traveling outside of time.
" If Woodstock had happened in an alien, technological advanced universe, this is probably how it would have sounded like but we might’ve never got to experience it. Fortunately, it was recorded this year in Berlin by seven illuminated musicians that created a timeless dialogue of textures, grooves and beats, which you can use as a post-hippie spaceship to take you wherever the fuck you want."
Gabriel Leașcu - The Attic
Downloadcode + sticker included.

Sam Shepherd pulls from "global soul, ambient, jazz and folk" genres on the 17-track mix, according to the press release. It features four new tracks, including one from Floating points himself: a cover of Kenny Wheeler's "The Sweet Time Suite, Part I - Opening." Sarah Davachi, Toshimaru Nakamura and Lauren Laverne also contribute exclusive material, plus music by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, British jazz trio Azimuth and recent Resident Advisor feature star Kara-Lis Coverdale.

"The music is a selection of the kind of records I play to set the tone when DJing all night long," said Shepherd.

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

These contemplative alt-country songs on were recorded to tape in July last year with the help of The Low Anthem’s Jeff Prystowsky. The band moved away from the inclusion of digitally programmed drums and rhodes piano, opting instead for a warmer, more organic aesthetic and a starker performance. Most of the songs took shape while Dan Wriggins and Mike Cormier worked and lived as groundskeepers at a private estate in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, frequently driving into Philadelphia for shows and friends. The record is set both in the country and the city – community, peacefulness, and isolation can all be heard and felt throughout the superb new record.

In early November 2014 we went to Kalmykia. Our goal was the local “Dzhangar” epic. The epic genre, as one of the most archaic, can be called a basis for Kalmyk music culture. Not so long time ago among Kalmyks there were their own professional epic storytellers - Dzhangarchi who as a socio-artistic institute today are practically absent: repertoire of modern folk singers mostly consists of late folk art of the Soviet era.

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.

Emotional Rescue celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a repress of one of its most cherished reissues, in the first ever collection of works from Spanish song writer Javier Bergia. As a member of Finas Africae his name is finally coming to prominence, now with this selection of his music from 1985 to today, the depths of his acoustic, folk and balearic writing can be heard. Born in Madrid to a family steeped in both classical and Spanish traditional music, Javier 's mastery of guitar, percussion, voice, poetry and composition is drawn from both this grounding and upon his lifelong musical inquisitiveness'. Since 1980 he has been an integral part of the ancient music group 'Atrium Musicae', while in 1984 he founded, with Juan Alberto Arteche and Luis Delgado, the groundbreaking group 'Finis Africae' as a sonic investigation into a fusion of diverse ethnic musical forms incorporating both indigenous instruments and electronic elements. As a solo artist, his career blossomed when, in 1985, he recorded his first LP, the acclaimed 'Recoletos' and with Luis Delgado he recorded the now classic album 'La Fl or De Piedra' under the name Ishinohana Erc025). Today Javier is active, participating in the Sephardic music groups 'Halilem' and 'Alquibla', as well as diverse alternative chamber music groups, as well as working around as composer, arranger and producer and appears regularly with Manolo HH on Radio Nacional de Espana.

Contemporary folk multi-instrumentalist Rachael Dadd is set to release her new album "Flux" on Memphis Industries on the 8th November 2019. Produced with Marcus Hamblett (Villagers / Laura Marling), "Flux" is a response to external and internal tides: the flow of life uprooted; a protest against the flow of recent political history and a diary of the flow within the intimate space of home.Collaborators include multi-instrumentalist Emma Gatrill (Willie Mason / Matthew and the Atlas), drummer Rob Pemberton (Emily Barker / Low Chimes), bassist Jim Barr (Portishead) and vocalists Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) and Rozi Plain.

The Cactus Blossoms return with a new album "Easy Way", a self-produced collection of ten new
originals on their own Walkie Talkie Records.

"This collection of songs is about attachment, illusion, and acceptance. It is my attempt to take pieces from my past and use them kind of like patches of a quilt; weaving them together as an activity meant for distraction, but also for comfort and healing, and eventually, a transformation into something bigger than the sum of the parts. I imagined once it was done it could exist autonomously, and lift the weight from the lingering effects of the past. This exploration surrounds an ending relationship, the death of a loved one and a general feeling of disillusionment. Writing each song allowed me to accept myself and my emotions as valid; and recognize that pain is just as beautiful and important as the good stuff. It's a catalog of me, maybe messily, trying to figure out how to deal with certain new and overwhelming emotions, and learning how to be okay with letting things go." - Pearla

A collection of 12 fantastic taarab songs from Yaseen Mohammed (Mac & Party) rich in exotic tone colour, full of swing and groove, compiled from the elusive Mzuri catalogue, Mombasa, Kenya 1960’s. Comes with with a large 4 page fold-out insert with extensive background story and never-before-seen pictures.

Comes in large format duo-case with 60 page booklet. Osharaku is a traditional Japanese form of musical entertainment, featuring mainly voice, shamisen and percussion, with a repertoire of folk and popular songs, performed by farmers and fishermen for local audiences. This compilation, 28 tracks compiled by Riyo Mountains, is the fourth release in the EM Records/Riyo Mountains Japanese folk series. These recordings feature legendary Osharaku masters, recorded in their homes, brilliantly capturing the casual warmth and vitality characteristic of the style. Osharaku is unique in its use of shamisen, originally an “uptown” urban instrument, in a “downtown” non-urban setting. These joyous tracks, all recorded in the 1960s and 70s, are available as a 2CD set or a single 12” vinyl LP, with English translations and rare photos. Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

Riyo Mountains are a Japanese folk song research team formed by Mood Yama and Takumi Saito. They are resident DJs at the renowned party "Soi48" at Be-Wave, Tokyo, featuring music from all over the world. They produced the Japanese folk song mix-CD series entitled "Riyo Mountains Mix" and also direct the reissue series of Japanese folk music on EM Records, including the releases "Yumi-kagura", "Sakai Ishinage Odori”, and "Kizaki Ondo”. Riyo Mountains have appeared as DJs at many events/programs including NTS (London) and Japanese Bon-Odori traditional dance festivals. Their articles about Japanese folk music are now published serially in the Japanese web magazine “boid".

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

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

Türküola gratefully presents an other Barış Manço compilation which gives a full retrospective of the best years of the Turkish psychedelic rock legend. The compilation focuses on the 1967-1971 era of Manço, which is mainly considered as the psychedelic years when the typical Anatolian Pop sound was evolving and Manço was more a rocker than a semi conservative pop folk singer of a neo-Ottoman aura. In the compilation we hear his works with his bands Les Mistigris (Seher Vakti), Kaygısızlar (near in all songs including Bebek, Boğaziçi etc.), Etc (in Dağlar Dağlar 1 &2 , Küçük Bir Gece Müziği (which is a psyche- adaptation Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik” and Derule), Moğollar (Binboğanın Kızı, İşte Hendek İşte Deve). “Binboğanın Kızı” explodes a prog- rock bomb with the legendary Moğollar with Hammond solos of Murat Ses, “Ağlama Değmez Hayat” pushes the limits of Turkish traditional music instruments with its raw but powerful groove, “Küçük Bir Gece Müziği” covers Mozart with its powerful guitars with screaming wah wah pedals, “Boğaziçi” (Bosphorus) gives a mystical and psychedelic mood which would later be a signature of Manço in his electronic prog years . “İşte Barış İşte Manço” will be a good start for the absolute beginners, thanks to traditional Türküola quality...

'Mantra Moderne' is a stunning, contemporary masterpiece that fuses Anatolian Psychedelia, Brazilian Tropicalia, 60’s European pop and American jazz. A must for fans of Khruangbin, Portishead, Arthur Verocai, Goat, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé, Os Mutantes, Cortex and co.

The duo is formed of Kit Martin, who lives between London and France and plays all instruments on the album, and Merve Erdem, vocalist and multi-disciplinary artist from Istanbul, now based in London. This is their debut album.

The album explores universal themes such as love, loss, decay, language and ideology, mixing three different languages: English, Turkish and French. Written and recorded by the duo - Kit composed all the songs and Merve wrote the lyrics - in rural France during 2018, each song was completed within a 12-hour window, pawning contemplation for spontaneity.

Dubbed by Kit and Merve as ‘lo-fi-hi-fi’ in reference to the high-end tube equipment that helped it find its way to 8-track cassette tape. The style owes its sound to narrow tape width, valve distortion, spring reverb, the mixture of high end gear with lo-fi equipment as well as a disregard to the norms of hi-fi studio techniques. All instruments were analogue and no samples were used. The instruments that are used range from tablas to darbukas, balalaikas to ouds, MS20 synths to Farfisa organs and a lot of cuica. The mixing techniques were done on-the-fly, tracking immediately to tape: compression, EQ, delay and reverb; meaning mixing could not be revisited!

Much of this album was recorded in Iceland. Breath warm from singing rises into frozen air. Atomized. A million bright blue crystals _ the fractal branching of the lungs _ drift back to earth. Radiant, refracting. Clear notes melt like perfect soft snow. Straight lines curve and curve again. Much of this album was recorded in Iceland, but Joan Shelley wrote these songs in Kentucky. That's the dirt clinging to their roots. The wind blowing through Osage orange and pine trees is the joy and ache and urgency of these songs. It's the silence and the music. It's the space between time and words and the stillness in Joan's voice. The world spins more slowly. Moss overtakes a fallen tree. Kentucky is where we plant seeds of regret and stay to watch them flower. Maybe Mark Twain said that Kentucky (always five years behind the times) was the perfect place to ride out the apocalypse. Maybe it's twenty years. Maybe it's apocryphal. That doesn't mean it isn't true. "And oh, Kentucky Stays in my mind it's sweet to be five years behind That's where I'll be When the seas rise Holding my dear friends and drinking wine..." Maybe the world outside has already vaporized. Maybe we're already living on borrowed time. Nathan Salsburg's guitar pours out clean as water through his fingers, turning over every smooth stone. Bonnie "Prince" Billy's harmonies stretch time tight enough to break without breaking. Joan's voice calls us back. Birds are singing outside. Insistent. Don't miss what's right in front of you.

Rural legend and outsider folk artist H.C Slim had amassed quite a catalog of original songs he's demoed on a tape recorder, deep in the Eastern Finnish countryside. Over the years cassettes and CDRs began to circulate with original copies selling for high prices, before Svart Records drove out to his remote cabin to offer Slim a deal for his debut album.

Talk about a talented family: Willie Nelson and his Sister Bobbie Nelson each achieved massive success in country music. Even in their late 80’s, the Nelsons continue to make music and their influence can be heard through many artists in the genre. December Day, Willie’s Stash Vol. 1 is a collaboration album between the two, and upon release in 2014 it was met with positive reviews from music critics. The album spawned three singles: “Who’ll Buy My Memories”, “Laws of Nature” and “Summer of Roses / December Day”. The liner notes were written by Willie’s frequent collaborator Mickey Raphael. This record comes as a limited edition on snowy white vinyl.

Habibi Funk is back with another album from Casablanca. Completely unreleased album which was recorded in Morocco in 1973 by three generation family band. A unique blend of Gnawa, Funk and Rock. Traditional Moroccan music meets electronic guitars and dense layers of percussion by a band that used to run in the same circles as Fadoul (And actually wrote one of his songs).

Turkish psychedelic folk-rock compilation album from Donusum Folk Band. The band members also played the old Turks instruments from the Far-East. Produced by Faruk Kakinc & written by Halit Kakinç.