Folk 250 Items

Dreamers have dreamt for as long as domes have fallen, bobbing musical swells from Stephen Foster to the Everlys. Now here comes that beautiful dreamer JOSEPHINE FOSTER and, sugarpie, she's not the same. She has donned her magenta vestiments, dreaming back, with mossy verses that haunt like a name never called. It's not just Jo and her shadow, though, this time around-she's got a gaggle of Nashville cats on hand to coax spidery cathedrals from these campfire jams. Folks will want to call this her "Harvest" - with its harp and pedal steel, its double bass and cascading piano. And it's true, "I'm a Dreamer" beckons with a gentle hand, each note clear and crisp so that one feels each grain. Amid such delicate cha...

Jozef van Wissem's 2017 album is inspired by a Vanitas painting by the Belgian artist Cindy Wright, which also graces the cover of the album. This inspiration is beautifully reflected in the music of the album as Jozef's lute arrangements sound fragile and his sparse vocals delicate. as if the vanity, the temporality and senselessness of everything has been rendered audible. Each song title refers to the painting, making each track a memento mori on its own. This is counterbalanced by the strong and deep sound of the album.

Julie Byrne’s much loved second album Not Even Happiness (2017) added atmospheric instrumentation and electronic flourishes to her unusual guitar tunings and fingerpicked melodies, moving the songs from the front-porch into subtle anthemia. Whether witnessing the Pacific Northwest for the first time (‘Melting Grid’), the morning sky in Colorado after staying up through the night at a house party in the mountains of Boulder (‘Natural Blue’), recording the passage of freight trains on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York ('Interlude'), or a journey fragrant with rose water; reading Frank O’Hara aloud from the passengers seat during a drive through the desert of Utah into the rainforest of Washington State (‘All The Land Glimmered Beneath’), Not Even Happiness is Julie’s beguilingly ode to the fringes of life.

Puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites

“Kizaki Ondo” is a folk song from Nitta Kizaki town in Gunma, north of Tokyo. Played annually by local performers at the Bon-Odori traditional summer dance festival, it features unabashed lyrics about prostitution along with a rhythmic drive sure to appeal to fans of contemporary electronic genres as well as aficionados of traditional musics. The first track is a wildly echoing vocal version recorded in 1980, redolent of humid summer nights; the second track, recorded in 1981, is an instrumental version, both by the Kizaki Ondo Preservation Society. The other two tracks are extensions of tradition, with Tokyo-based producer Clark Naito’s 2018 revisions of “Kizaki Ondo”, providing trap-inspired interpretations, with a vocal version using the original lyrics, along with a sweet instrumental take. This release, the third edition of the EM Records Japanese folklore series, directed by Riyo Mountains, is available on LP & CD, with English lyrics and notes, and rare photos. Evocative cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

Originally released by Wounded Wolf Press as a limited release (only 100 cassettes were made) back in 2016, "Loopworks" compiles Turkish visual and sound artist Koray Kantarcioglu's (Ankara, 1982) loop based work composed of samples taken from Turkish records released in 60's and 70's as source material. "Loopworks"
impacts almost instantly mainly because it shows some familiarity with the recent work of Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker, particularly with the "haunted ballroom" effect. Koray explores the usage and the dynamic of these sounds as ambient music for different scenarios as well as the importance of a newfound life with the raw
material he used to create these songs. The source material appears as enigmatic as
these new sounds and activate a sense of discovery and constant wonder throughout
"Loopworks". With the vinyl release of "Loopworks" we continue to manifest the
importance of showing how technology and geography create different and original
approaches to the standard western interpretation of field recordings and sound
manipulation. Koray Kantarcioglu's work here is a strong manifestation of that and
how "haunted music" can express a myriad of feelings and sensations. "Loopworks"
has a tremendous vision of the metamorphosis that's been occurring in ambient music
during the last decade. Sometimes it's dreamy and calm as aquarium music is
("500606" or "22 47 91 Take 1"); surprising and infinite as "263 Loop", one of the few
tracks with a voice, in this case a mysterious and transcendental one; or part of a John
Carpenter & David Lynch film yet to be made ("Organ Extract KP 001"). A fantastic
voyage, from earth to space, through time or simply as the most beautiful and peaceful
dive into the ocean. Old music transformed into something new, unique. That's
special.

The first-ever compilation of "havagies", the nearly forgotten Hawaiian-influenced music of 1930s Greece, focused on the compositions of Kostas Bezos and his ensemble White Birds. A world-class slide guitarist, political cartoonist and sleepless Bohemian, Kostas Bezos created some of the most unique music of any era: surrealist guitar portraits blending Athens and Honolulu, haunting tropical serenades, wild acoustic orchestras, and heartbreaking steel guitar duets. Incredibly, this is the same musician responsible for the legendary "Kostis" rebetika recordings (see A. Kostis "The Jail's a Fine School" [OLV-002 / MRP-098]).

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2018!

"Lemuria" is a project led by Kirk Thompson, an original member of the band Kalapana, which is iconic in the Hawaiian AOR scene. Kirk is not only a player but also as a producer, he has left behind numerous classic albums. The only album released in 1978 features high-quality sound production and songwriting filled with an island vibe, leading many artists to cover their songs. P-vine is reissuing this album's representative hits, "All I've Got To Give" and "Hunk Of Heaven," on a 7-inch vinyl for the first time in a long while.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2018!

The first new release exclusively via TAD from Boomarm Nation, who welcomes Tunisian producer Lokal Affair to their family. His debut Seremunia EP, 3 tracks of deep percussive jams, is inspired by life in the Sahara desert, evening fire rituals, and ecstatic drumming styles from across the globe. Lush, mid-tempo spiritual sounds for your sound system. Lokal Affair AKA Malek Midouni is a Tunisian born musician currently living in Lyon, France. As a bonus the label commissioned an incredible thundering remix of the percussion heavy tune “Goumari” from good brother Alter Echo

Composed and produced by Mari Sekina, Lena Willikens
Mastered by Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Publisher: Eel's Bed Music / Golfen & Reiten (c)＆(p) 2018 EM Records
Special thanks: Tomoe Ura, Thomas Venker / Slave To The Rythm Unlimited

Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore's collective work'as solo artists, band members, and collaborators'could fill a small record collection. Despite this productivity, these two long-time friends have never recorded an entire album focused exclusively on their unique talents. "Ghost Forests" mysteriously, thrillingly fills that void - within its six collaborative compositions we hear deeply sympathetic conversations between the two artists. With access to a deep pool of shared influences, these two friends assembled a collection of sounds conjured from harp, guitar (both acoustic and electric), synths, the human voice, and a shared poetic language. Baird and Lattimore's subjects range from the sound of light on water, seismic geopolitical anxiety, the smog-exploded sunsets of Don Dudley's paintings, and vertigo from their respective relocations to San Francisco and Los Angeles from their once-shared home in Philadelphia. New 2022 pressing on transparent green vinyl.

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

Metqal Quenawi, born in 1929 in Luxor, Egypt, (also known as a.o. Met'qal, Metaqal Kinawi Metaqal and Awlad Metqal, and active with his Metaqal Rebab Ensemble), developed a style based on folk traditions from southern Egypt. Recovering the traditions of the Said (the southern region around Luxor), Metqal was brought up with the customs of the Fellahin (agricultural labourers who passed on the age-old traditions of Egypt) he mastered the rebab, an violin-like, Bedouin instrument made out of coconut shell, wood and animal skin that's played with a horse hair bow. His many recordings from the '70s and '80s (relesed on various cassettes) disseminated and rescued in the '70s and '80s made Metqal into a key reference in Egyptian music. Thanks to this LP, pressed in an edition of 500 copies, Metqal's music is now also available to western audiences.

Millions Brazilians formed in Portland, Oregon in 2006. Founding members Grant Corum and Suzanne Stone have been central to the band since it’s inception, while a rotating line-up backs them depending on the latest vision for the sound. TIP!
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The band carry out their own interpretation of a genre bending ethos that has evolved throughout the American underground. Drifting between boundless compositions, focused energetic improvisations and experimental collaborations that embrace a weird sort of transcendence.

Their next installment Red Rose and Obsidian was recorded in Maine and engineered by Big Blood’s Caleb Mulkerin. Both he and the band deliver a powerful yet fragile and personal release. The mythical and evocative recordings are inspired by Maine's rugged coastlines; mournful ripples of sound wash up on the shore, whilst a lonesome, at times harrowing saxophone drifts through the rolling mountains, providing unsettling melodic interludes. Electronic treatments veil organic sounds, a fleeting whistle meets spontaneously with spacey flutes, mutated rock rhythms are topped off with the soaring vocals of Suzanne Stone who leads the listeners into the magical world of the Million Brazilians.

Two raw and unmixed songs from Wind’s Poem were transferred from the original analog tape masters into the ProTools HDX system at Owl Lodge. The studio is situated in the woods near Olympia, WA and is the headquarters of Wolves in the Throne Room. A single vocal track from “Lost Wisdom" was layered with newly recorded digital synths and a heavy bass from a vintage Korg MS-20. Wisps of the original organ and guitar appear in a heavily processed form. “Mouth of Sky” was created using techniques inspired by Lee Perry. In this case, the original tracks were routed to a variety of analog and digital FX units via the faders on the studio’s Harrison PP1 console. The mix was performed in real time.

A new Mount Eerie album unlike anything else in the Mount Eerie or Microphones back catalog. Eleven stark songs about basic deep grief, loss, real death, love, significance and non-significance, reality. Nothing wise or learned, just the described experience of living through unimaginable domestic obliteration, with names and dates.

contains: 11 songs, 42 minutes, very nice sounding vinyl, foil stamped front and back covers, heavy old style gatefold tip-on jacket with special Neenah “Slide” paper as the inner liner, silver on black, all the lyrics, double sided art poster, free download card

This is a live album of songs from “A Crow Looked At Me” and “Now Only”, eleven songs recorded in a huge church on spare acoustic guitar and singing.

The jackets are the usual high-standard heavy gatefold beautiful ones, with copper foil stamping and multiple paper textures, great printing. This is an object worth owning, a concept which becomes more absurd in the context of the words of these songs.

A sequel or continuation down the path that began with “A Crow Looked At Me”. 6 word-filled songs about the raw strangeness of the present moment, waking up in wreckage, living with pervasive echoing real ghosts and a growing young child. Autobiographical.

contains: 6 songs, 44 minutes, heavy old style gatefold tip-on jacket with special subtle blue paper on the inner liner sheet, all the lyrics, free download card