Folk 311 Items

Ninja Tunes folk hero Fink's full-length for 2011!

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

Sam Burton is a singer/songwriter from Salt Lake City, now based in Los Angeles. After several years circulating homemade cassettes on labels like Chthonic and embraced by blogs like Cassette Gods, Sam has recorded his first proper debut album with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains). Due in mid-2020, Sam's debut LP will be preceded by two limited edition 45s, one which will be available exclusively for Record Store Day in the UK. Sam is slated to tour the UK and Europe in 2020 with fellow Tompkins Square artist Gwenifer Raymond.

Peter Oren's new album The Greener Pasture offers a bleak answer to the question "where will I go/ if I don't want to be/ with idle hands awaiting catastrophe/ here in the Anthropocene" posed on his title track of his previous album Anthropocene: "The greener pasture is also fenced in/ the wider trough has an asterisk/ rotate the herd every few days/ or is it every few years/ we got their tags on our ears/ standing in shit crying bovine tears." Indiana-born, everywhere-based singer-songwriter Peter Oren possesses a remarkable singing voice, low and deep and richly textured: as solid as a glacier, as big as a mountain. Similar in its baritone gravel to Bill Callahan, a hero of his, it rumbles in your conscience, a righteous sound that marks him as an artist for our tumultuous times, when sanity seems absent from popular discussions.

This American cult legend has turned his laidback style into a trademark. J.J. Cale has forged an inspiring career that spans four decades. Collected is an essential J.J. Cale compilation on three 180 gram LPs chock full of rootsy Americana songs that will stay in the back of your head long after you turned off the record player.

180g vinyl.

Jack Whites wife & professional super model … she can sing, no doubt!

Box including a 4CD Anthology, 2LP on black vinyl, 1 LP of Macalla, a 7", a book, 4 post cards and a poster.

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.

Türküola releases maybe the most outstanding piece of Cem Karaca & Apaşlar in their adventure in Germany. Cem Karaca was a new born Anatolian Pop star from rock’n’roll roots and Apaşlar was a surf band when they united in 1967. In the end of 1967 they toured Germany and began to record with Ferdy Klein Orchestra (which was a version of Werner Müller Orchestra) between 1968-1969. “Gılgamış-Ayrılık Günümüz” is one of the singles recorded as a cooperation between the band and the “big band” . Therefore the A side of the single “Ayrılık Günümüz” (Our Day of Departi reflect this cooperation between Werner Müller Orchestra and CK & Apaşlar with a feeling of mod scene, a rock ballad with polyphonic arrangements. On the other hand the flip side of the single gives out the band’s own groove and performance with the instrumental psychedelic rock peace “Gılgamış” (Gilgamesh). Gılgamış is inspired by the Epic of Gılgamesh and the band plays a powerful groove with a Mesopotamian mood and riffs. The Apaşlar line-up playing in this piece was Mehmet Soyarslan (electric guitar), Seyhan Karabay (bass), and Leon Habib (drums). Beginning with Seyhan Karabay’s solid bass riffs which is followed by drums of Leon Habib serving an energetic groove; Soyarslan plays his Epiphone guitar with psychedelic effects which sometimes take the main theme to a micro tonal scale. Today we have the opportunity to hold this unique piece in compliance with the authentic cover coated with gelatine and its vinyl produced from the master tapes. Thanks to Türküola for this generous reissue for the collectors of Turkish psychedelia.

Reissue of German cassette release as vinyl after nearly 40 years. The songs are from the various singles and the debut LP. The title song 'Yuh Yuh' is from Selda's 1977 'Dostum Dostum'/'Yuh Yuh' single. Most of the songs are performed with the Anatolian Rock super group Dadaslar who are known for their works with Ersen. The group consists of Fehiman Ugurdemir (guitars and synthesizer, former Cem Karaca & Kardaslar guitarist), Ozkan Ugur ((bass, former Baris Manço guitarist) and Mehmet Gözüpek (former drummer of Bunalim) and creates a powerful groove with their psychedelic arrangements.

Neil Young finally releases his 1975 album "Homegrown" which was shelved back then due to him feeling uncomfortable with it being to personal.

Neşet Ertaş is a Turkish folk poet, the last great representative of Turkish culture and musical tradition. He is also known as the "Bozkırın Tezenesi ". On the albums he released from the 1950’s onwards, he recorded Central Anatolian folk songs and dance tunes as well as the folk songs he learned from his father Muharrem Ertaş. Starting in the 1960’s, he began to write both lyrics and compositions. He used the pseudonym "Garip", and from the 1970’s onwards, his folk songs were interpreted by many artists of the period. In 2009, he was deemed worthy of being included in UNESCO's Living Human Treasure inventory. This album contains 10 songs performed by the great master in 1998. "Güzel Ne Güzel Olmuşsun", "Hapishanelere Güneş Doğmuyor", "Neredesin Sen" and "Zahide" are the most remarkable tracks on the album