Folk 321 Items

For their first outing, new London-based reissue label Foam On A Wave resurface the remarkable debut album from one of the UK's foremost artists of 'ambient techno', Ultramarine's 'Folk'. Like the surrealist collage of the sleeve designed by Benoît Hennebert, Ultramarine weave together unique instrumentation and sonic influences into rich, ethereal soundscapes, now fully remastered for its 30th anniversary. Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond admitted they weren't totally sure what they were doing when they signed a record deal with the famously bohemian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and found themselves on their way to Brussels. There, over a two week stint, the Essex duo recorded the album - drawing on a kaleidoscopic palette influenced by both the Canterbury scene's jazz-infused psychedelia, as well as the contemporary Benelux scene, with particular nods to the likes of Benjamin Lew, The Durutti Column and Anna Domino. Conceived at a time when technology began reshaping the process of recording and production, the band's interest in fusing the organic and the electronic is apparent, and one that has remained with them throughout their career. 'Folk' both sits apart from and serves as a precursor to the 'pastoral techno' sound Ultramarine went on to pioneer. Following US and European tours alongside Orbital and Bjork, a few more albums and collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers, plus remixes for and by Everything But The Girl, Carl Craig, Luke Slater and more, they folded the project for a number of years. Last year the band returned to their inaugural imprint with the ethereal 'Signals Into Space'. Albeit somewhat sparser, more sedate, it is in some ways a coming full-circle to the jazz-laden, analogue sound of their debut, which makes reissuing 'Folk' feel all the more timely.

Altın Mikrofon (Golden Microphone) is a music contest organized in 1965 by "Hürriyet", one of the biggest newspapers of the time. The first Golden Microphone contest was organized in 1965. The goal with this competition was to support Turkish Light Western Music, which is just beginning to emerge. Hürriyet explained the purpose of the contest by saying, "The Golden Microphone Gift Contest is designed to give a new direction to Turkish music by utilizing the rich techniques and forms of western music and playing it with western instruments." 78 artists participated in the first competition, which was a record among the competitions of the period. The first prize for the winning artist was to be made into a record and to play in a music hall on a regular basis. Forty-one artists submitted their works to the competition and these songs were evaluated by a jury of 80 people. Of the artists who participated, 10 made it to the finals. These 2 albums were originally released as single 45 rpm in 1965. Many of the artists featured on the album later became famous and shaped Turkish Pop Music. Among the artists featured on the album are Cahit Oben Orchestra, Silüetler, Mavi Işıklar Orchestra and the Selçuk Alagöz Orchestra became the pioneering representatives of the movement later called "anatolian Rock"

Altın Mikrofon (Golden Microphone) is a music contest organized in 1965 by "Hürriyet", one of the biggest newspapers of the time. The first Golden Microphone contest was organized in 1965. The qualifiers of the 2nd Competition organized in 1966 were held in 9 hours in front of a jury including the famous artist Zeki Müren. This time 7 finalists were selected and their contest tracks were released as 45 rpm singles. They gave concerts in Izmir, Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa, Bursa, Eskişehir, Samsun and Konya. The last concert was again held in Istanbul. Silhouettes won the contest with 4563 votes. Second place was Blue Lights with 2850 votes, just like last year. The third with 2382 votes was Selçuk Alagöz. The finalists Kent Yedilisi, T.P.A.O.Batman Orkestrası, Cahit Oben, Siluetler, Ali Atasagun, Mavi Işıklar and Selçuk Alagöz Orkestrası shaped the Turkish Pop Music and Anatolian Rock movement

It’s the day after the 60s. You turn on the radio and there is news about John leaving the Beatles – or will Paul be the first to jump? There is insecurity and uncertainty. The rain filters into the post-psychedelic, pre-progressive sound; in times of upheaval, you always notice bad weather.

“Occasional Rain” is the sequel to Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs’ highly successful “English Weather” collection (“Really compelling and immersive: it’s a pleasure to lose yourself in it” - Alexis Petridis, the Guardian). This is the sound of young bands experimenting in a period of flux, feeling for a new direction, exploring jazz and folk – as many songs are led by mellotron, piano and flute as they are by guitar. Lyrically, there are two themes that crop up regularly: the search for a home that isn’t there anymore – the certainties of the optimistic 60s, the physical reality of terraced streets – and the rain. For the former, there’s Cressida’s gentle, keening ‘Home And Where I Long To Be’, while Duncan Browne’s shape-shifting ‘Ragged Rain Life’ feels like a decent summary of Britain in both 1970 and 2020.

“Occasional Rain” puts the era’s bigger names (Traffic, Yes, Moody Blues) and the lesser known (Mandy More, Shape Of The Rain, Tonton Macoute) side by side. Like its predecessor “English Weather”, it evokes the turn of the new decade, a beautiful state of fuzzy confusion, and the feel of a wet Saturday afternoon at the dawn of the 70s spent flicking through the racks, wondering whether to buy the new Tull album or maybe take a chance on that Christine Harwood album in the bargain bin (go on, you won’t regret it).

This compilation features some great examples of rebetika songs from the 20's and 30's including some well known artists like Rosa Eskenazi, Markos Vamvakaris, Anestis Delias, Rita Abadzi and others. An excellent overview of the phenomenon for anyone interested in southern European folk music history.

Yugoslavia - six republics, four decades, one dictator and a single record label that ruled them all: Jugoton (Zagreb, Croatia). Jugoton was by far the country's largest label with the strongest and most diverse output that stretched from Balkan roots to contemporary trends and the sound of tomorrow . The early days of Yugoslavia featured strong censorship but by the end of the 60's the Communist party views softened up by a large degree. Westernized music already had a solid presence and first James Brown influenced compositions were released. Yugo funk, a term coined by DJ’s and crate diggers from the Balkans, encompasses a wide variety of performers and genres: from the 60's merseybeat rock bands, prog rock groovers and big band jazz orchestras to the late 70's sophisticated 4x4 funk and essentially everything in between. Jugoton Funk Vol.1, a first of its kind, celebrates the pioneer years of funk infused music released by Jugoton. While in pursuit of these treasures all over the Balkan region and beyond, the compilation’s selectors, Dr. Smeđi Šećer & Višeslav Laboš, both active as DJ's and crate diggers from the sole beginnings of the ex-Yu craze, wanted to capture the authentic and idiosyncratic funk sound of Jugoton and Yugoslavia. So here it is, comb your moustache, light up a fat one, turn up the amplifier and headbang away to these amazing tunes remastered from original master tapes dug out of the Jugoton vaults (now Croatia Records). - Compiled by Dr. Smeđi Šećer & Višeslav Laboš. Here’s the exclusive interview with Dr. Smeđi Šećer: www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2020/09/jugoton-funk-vol-1-a-decade-of-non-aligned-beats-soul-disco-and-jazz-1969-1979.html

Record Store Day 2020 Release.
Limitation: 1500 copies.

Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun 'lan-?yap,' - 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus. Launched in 2005, the blog Aquarium Drunkard has become a daily destination for many on a never ending quest for musical discovery. In 2011, Aquarium Drunkard established The Lagniappe Sessions, featuring some of the site's favorite artists covering some of their favorite artists. Released for RSD Black Friday in 2016, ''The Lagniappe Sessions Volume 1'' brought these sessions to vinyl for the first time. Aquarium Drunkard has now teamed up with ORG Music for a second volume of the series, featuring an eclectic group of artists including Kevin Morby, Mikal Cronin, Mountain Goats, Damien Jurado, and many more. The record, limited to 1,500 copies worldwide, comes pressed on clear vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day 2020.

Six Organs of Admittance - Night Goat Zachary Cale - 1970 Steve Gunn - Astro Zombies Mikal Cronin - Can't Hardly Wait Scott Hirsch - So Far Away Nap Eyes - 2 Kool 2 Be 4-gotten Mountain Goats - Blood Bank Damien Jurado - Gimme A Break Mountain Man - Slow Burn RF Shannon - About Her Eyes Erin Rae - Duchess Kevin Morby - Random Rules Joan Shelley - I Would Be In Love (Anyway)

‘A celebration of the ever-expanding and evolving label family, Lli008 comprises an LP, a fifty-odd-page booklet (and eight page photobook and insert), further digital tracks and some web-based stuff contributed by friends new and old from far and wide.’

The 78 Project is on a journey across America to make one-of-a-kind 78rpm records with musicians in their hometowns using a 1930s Presto direct-to-disc recorder. With one microphone. With one blank disc. In one 3-minute take. Along the way, a kaleidoscope of technologists, historians and craftsmen from every facet of field recording—Grammy-winning producers, 78 collectors, curators from the Library of Congress and Smithsonian—provide insights and history. In Tennessee, Mississippi, California, Louisiana, the folk singers, punk rockers, Gospel and Cajun singers in the film share their lives through intimate performances, and find in that adventure a new connection to our cultural legacy. With musical performances by: Reverend John Wilkins (Como, MS), Louis Michot, Corey Ledet & Ashlee Michot (Arnaudville, LA), Victoria Williams (Los Angeles, CA), John Doe (Fairfax, CA), Dawn Landes (Brooklyn, NY), Holly Williams & Chris Coleman (Nashville, TN), John Reilly & Tom Brosseau (Pasadena, CA), Gaby Moreno & Adam Levy (Los Angeles, CA), Jaron Lanier (Berkeley, CA), Ella Mae Bowen (Franklin, TN), Dylan Leblanc (Franklin, TN), Coati Mundi (Murrieta, CA), The Bo-Keys with Percy Wiggins (Memphis, TN), John Paul Keith (Memphis, TN), Ben Vaughn (Wonder Valley, CA), Sea Of Bees (Sacramento, CA), The Easy Leaves (Santa Rosa, CA) and Little Wings (Topanga Canyon, CA). Special edition DVD with over 30 minutes of bonus materials including complete musical performances and never-before-seen interview footage.

At the end of the 1960’s, there was a house in Vancouver that was a home solely for Hippies and homeless youth; it was known to locals as "the Cool Aid House." When the Canadian government withdrew funding in 1970, the house was in danger of closing. All of the top bands in the Vancouver area offered to record songs for a benefit album—and since the local music scene produced some of the best bands in Canada, the album that resulted was stunning; it has long been a much sought-after collector's item. What no one knew until recently was that the original “Cool Aid Benefit Album” was intended as a two-record set: contractual problems with Capitol Records forced Cool Aid House founder John Walsch to drop tracks by Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck—tracks that are now restored to this package. Other cuts include the strange proto-electronic burbles of Mock Duck (quite unlike almost everything else they ever recorded) on ‘As the Bullet Enters Anton’ and ‘Pointillistic Scherzo’; the vicious snarl of Black Snake’s ‘Carousel,’ and the strange Spalding Grey-ish acoustic song/poem ‘The Planet Man.’ Hydro Electric Street Car have left little behind them, but their lovely ‘High Memory’ sounds like a lost Grateful Dead track from their early, dreamy period. A terrific discovery!

The end result of the joint efforts of Light in the Attic and Lion Productions is this deluxe 2xLP package, jam-packed with stand-out music by Vancouver’s top bands of the day: Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, Papa Bear's Medicine Show, Mock Duck, Hydro Electric Streetcar, Route Nine, Blacksnake Blues Band, Nancy, Spring, and Greydon Moore and Leo Jung. Obscure cuts available nowhere else, in a wide variety of styles: weird electronic sounds, heavy garage fuzz guitar freakouts, stoner rock, and acoustic folk.

Stunningly beautiful, poignant music from Bilād al-Shām — ‘the countries of Damascus’, known nowadays as Syria, Lebanon and Palestine — including performances from the very first recording sessions in the region. The legendary, moody Beirut singer Būlus Ṣulbān is here — some historians have him singing before Egypt’s Pasha Ibrāhīm Bāshā during his military campaign in Syria, in 1841 — and Ḥasība Moshēh, Jewish ‘nightingale of the Damascene gardens’. Thurayyā Qaddūra from Jerusalem; Yūsuf Tāj, a folk singer from Mount-Lebanon; Farjallāh Baiḍā, cousin to the founders of Baidaphon Records... Musical directors like the lutist Qāsim Abū Jamīl al-Durzī and the violinist Anṭūn al-Shawwā (followed by his son Sāmī); such virtuosi as the qanun-players Nakhleh Ilyās al-Maṭarjī and Ya‘qūb Ghazāla, and lutist Salīm ‘Awaḍ. Even at the time, notwithstanding such brilliance, public music-making was frowned upon as morally demeaning, especially for women. Musical venues were generally dodgy. Ṣulbān once cut short a wedding performance for the Beiruti posh, after just one song, he was so disgusted with his audience. ‘If I had to tell you about the catcalls,’ one commentator wrote about the musical theatre of the time, ‘the stomping of feet, the sound of sticks hitting the ground, the noise of the water-pipes, the teeth cracking watermelon seeds and pistachio nuts, the screams of the waiters, and the clinking of arak glasses on the tables, I would need to go on and on and on...’

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

Guitarist Wall Matthews is the surviving member of experimental '70s collective, Entourage. Sampled by Four Tet, their name whispered in reverence through the decades, Entourage forged bold musical ideas on their two rare ’70s Folkways LPs. Tompkins Square released Ceremony of Dreams: Studio Sessions and Outtakes, 1972-1977, in 2017 to wide acclaim. Spine River: The Guitar Music of Wall Matthews, 1967-1981 is a collection of unreleased or obscure music by the master guitarist. This volume will be released as a limited edition LP, along with four other digital volumes of Wall's music, chronologically mapping his career.

Quantity: 4500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

Wilco’s legendary 2011 album now on three LP’s. Expanded to include all related single, EP and bonus tracks - plus A selection from The Loft's archive of live in-studio performances and previously unreleased alternate mixes and demos. Includes Wilco classics "Art of Almost", "Dawned on Me”, "Sunloathe” . 3LP Box