Folk 378 Items

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 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

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2017!

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.

Niandra LaDes And Usually Just A T-Shirt is the first solo record by John Frusciante. Between 1990 and 1992 the guitarist made a series of 4-track recordings, which at the time were not intended for commercial release. After leaving the band Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, Frusciante was encouraged by friends to release the material that he wrote in his spare time during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions.

Originally released on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label in 1994, Niandra LaDes is a mystifying work of tortured beauty. Frusciante plays various acoustic and electric guitars, experimenting with layers of vocals, piano and reverse tape effects. Channeling the ghosts of Syd Barrett and Skip Spence, his lyrics are at once utterly personal and willfully opaque.

Frusciante’s rapidfire, angular playing shows how key he was in the Chili Peppers’ evolution away from their funk-rock roots. His cover of “Big Takeover” perfectly deconstructs the Bad Brains original with laid-back tempo, twelve-string guitar and a fierce handle on melody.

The album’s second part—thirteen untitled tracks that Frusciante defines as one complete piece, “Usually Just A T-Shirt”—contains several instrumentals featuring his signature guitar style. Sparse phrasing, delicate counterpoint and ethereal textures recall Neu/Harmonia’s Michael Rother or The Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly.

On the front cover, Frusciante appears in 1920s drag—a nod to Marcel Duchamp’s alter-ego Rrose Sélavy—which comes from Toni Oswald’s film Desert in the Shape.

This first-time vinyl release has been carefully remastered and approved by the artist. The double LP set is packaged with old style tip-on gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves.