Folk /
Vibracathedral Orchestra
Public service reissue of this impossibly rare and choice title in the Vibra oeuvre, originally issued by the band in 2004 as an edition of 250. Featuring the “classic” lineup (Mick Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport, Julian Bradley) that made “Queen of Guess” (vhf#77) and “Dabbling With Gravity and Who You Are” (vhf#66), this self-titled double takes a wild ride through the inner-workings of VCO’s stream of consciousness.
Many of the tracks (selected from research & dev…
Street Musicians Of Yogyakarta
Another amazing Mississippi reissue. Old style tip-on jacket with extensive liner notes and bonus 7"** " In 1978 Jack Body recorded an amazing amount of street musicians in java. His ear was geared not just towards traditional folk forms of music but also to all the new hybrids of pop street music. Here we find a mix of his recordings that really cannot by classified easily. Influences on the music include Bollywood soundtracks, American rock & pop, Javanese traditional songs & modern gam…
VDSQ - Solo Acoustic Volume Six
VDSQ (Vin Du Select Qualitite) is an acoustic guitar LP series curated by Steve Lowenthal of Swingset Magazine and Plastic Records. The series is released on high quality LP with letterpress sleeves, each with a picture of the guitar used to record the record. Track-by-track notes included on the back cover. 'The idea behind VDSQ was really to do a label that was a nod to the great guitar-oriented labels like Takoma and Transatlantic but focusing on contemporary artists rather than reissues…
Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death
Important is proud to welcome back James Blackshaw for his first full length on Important since his breakthrough album O True Believers was released on the label in 2006. James has since forged a remarkable career achieving critical praise for his dexterity, his deep, connected songwriting and his beautiful arrangement. Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death is available on CD & LP. LP pressed in an edition of 1000. Limited stock of color vinyl for mailorder customers.
Alienacustica
'Alienacustica' is a superb collection of works by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) as you have never heard before. Forget all MCIAA's noise records... this is a totally different affair: starting from January 2006 they have released 3 unusual, completely acoustic works, all in limited and sold-out editions: a soloist split lp, a private art edition cd-r, and an out-of-print cd. The different approach to these works shows another side of the Opalio brothers' musical universe: all…
Dabke -- Sounds Of The Syrian Houran
Dabke is the celebratory music and dance found throughout the Levantine Middle East. By the mid-1990s, a new wave of high-energy electronic dabke music had emerged -- to be heard at weddings, parties and cassette-stalls region-wide. New wave dabke was first introduced to Western ears by way of Omar Souleyman and his northeastern Syrian sounds. This collection presents a hypnotic and diverse selection of electrified dabke dance cuts from a region in the south of Syria known as the Houran. …
Anda Jaleo
Federico Garcia Lorca's popular folk song collection "Las Canciones Populares Espanolas" was banned under Franco's dictatorship and today the music survives but marginally within the Spanish sub-conscious. Taking their cue from Lorca and La Argentinita's infectious 1931 recording of the songs, Josephine Foster and her partner Spanish musician Victor Herrero have arranged the poetically rich collection for their new acoustic band, formed while living in the Grenadine Sierra. Anda Jaleo is the ban…
Dumb Supper
Blood n guts folk from the Anglo-American duo. The Wire says “The twining harmonies…recall the heyday of English pastoral folk song”. Plan B says "Dumb Supper is one of those rare modern folk albums that will find a home both in the longstanding 'traditional' music community and among those attracted to the form's more experimental and lo-fi possibilities". Most of the tracks are re-discovered and adapted by the Tylers, their searing harmonies and sparse, vital instrumentation breathing n…
The Primal Energy That Is The Music And Ritual Of Jajouka, Moroc
In the Djebala foothills of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco is the ancient village of Jajouka. For hundreds of years music has poured out of that village, music by the world’s only “4000 year old rock band” (William Burroughs), the Master Musicians of Jajouka. For hundreds of years the Master Musicians were the musical group of choice for the princes of Morocco, but they were not heard outside their native soil.Fast forward to 1950, Morocco, free of French and Spanish colonialism, is…
Fotheringay
Fledg'ling's 2004 reissue of one of the highest-regarded British folk-rock albums, featuring Sandy Denny. Originally issued by Island in 1970 (previous Hannibal CD long o/p). With additional artwork and bonus tracks. Fotheringay's beautiful debut album was recorded in 1970, and has long been regarded as one of the greatest achievements of British folk-rock. Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway created a magical ensemble sound and one of the finest albums of…
The Summer Is Over Before It's Begun
"Caethua is the project of Maine resident Clare Hubbard. With a handful of releases under her belt on a variety of labels, The Summer Is Over is one of Hubbard's most realized works. Eight sonically perfect songs filled with heart-melting vocal melodies, and dream provoking lyrics. Tastefully accompanied by her piano, guitar, saxophone and well-placed soundscapes. She is joined on this record by the multi-instrumentalism of Andy Neubauer (Impractical Cockpit, Flowbee Au Naturale) who comp…
Takamba
"Hypnotic recording session with griot 'Ali' Ag Amoumine at his home in Timbouctou. Playing the distinctive style of Northern Mali and Niger known as Takamba, droning electrified traditional guitar accompanied by a haunting rhythm tapped on a calabash, Ali navigates a repertoire drawing on music learned on his travels and his own compositions. Comes with a bonus 7" of acoustic performances. Co-release with Sahel Sounds."
Folksongs & Ballads
'The only album by Tia Blake was recorded at the Ossian Studio in Paris in 1971 and released that same year by the tiny French label SFP (Societe Francaise de Productions Phonographiques). Great psych-folk with guitars, dobro, flute and fantastically fragile female vocals. First time available on CD, with Tia Blake's own recollections."
Folk Roots, New Routes
Reissued on Fledg'ling in 2005, originally released in 1965 by Decca. An experimental recording conceived by Austin John Marshall bringing together Shirley's haunting traditional song with Davy's guitar improvisations. Folk Roots, New Routes opened the door for Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief and Pentangle's debut. For this carefully remastered edition, Fledg'ling have restored the original artwork, added a new sleeve-note essay as well as previously unpublished photographs.
Large As Life and Twice As Natural
Reissued by Fledg'ling in 2005. First released in 1968, Large As Life And Twice As Natural is a tremendous acoustic-folk-blues-jazz masterpiece. As always with Davy Graham, the music seems to defy categorization. Perhaps the simplest description would be "great." On Large As Life And Twice As Natural, Davy is joined by the legendary Harold McNair on flute, Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophone, Jon Hiseman on drums (both from Colosseum) and Danny Thompson (from Pentangle) on double bass. For this …
Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity
Beautiful new collaborative work from Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch between Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem and American filmmaker & guitarist Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch's previous collaborations with Wissem have not prepared the eager listener for the expressivity and emotional depth of his playing on these duets. Respectful of one another's space the pair weave layers of melody and waves of feedback while acoustic guitar and lute wrap together with a subtle depth expemplifying an austere u…
1934-1935
More than seventy years since his death in 1937, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan retains his reputation as one of the greatest singers India ever produced. Possessed of an elastic, honied voice that poured out like mercury, he influenced generations of singers including Mohammed Rafi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Pandit Pran Nath. Born at the end of the 19th century to a family of musicians that extended back in time for centuries, his art was formed in the culture of the courts of the maharajas under Briti…
Portrait Of A Prodigy: His Early Years, 1940s-50s
LP version. The music on this release consists of the earliest recordings by flautist T.R. Mahalingam, a legendary figure in the Carnatic music of South India, one of the world's great musical traditions. Mahalingam, known as "Mali" to his legions of fans and admirers, was a musician who revered these traditions yet opened new realms, raising the flute to levels of voice-like expressivity. Portrait Of A Prodigy: His Early Years, 1940-50s reissues, for the first time, recordings from the mid-…
Venus in Cancer
The 1969 guitar classic, remastered from the original tapes in gatefold sleeve. "Robbie Basho released Venus in Cancer in 1969 on the Blue Thumb label. After five albums for the Takoma label in the '60s, Basho had cemented his reputation alongside John Fahey and Leo Kottke as one of the most brilliant guitarists of his generation. His wide range of musical influences from around the globe set him apart from other blues-based players, incorporating Arabic, Himalayan and Indian themes; Japan…
Twilight Peaks
LP version. "My mentor for mind liberty and overall follow-your-heart, and guitar maestro Robbie Basho has a new album. Well, not exactly, he’s been dead for 25 years, but about a month ago, the Smeraldina Rima label had reissued his brilliant 1984 release Twilight Peaks album.Little known upon its release on cassette only, TP quickly vanished into the great amnesia of the world, the reissue does a great justice to one of his truly great albums.The sound is full of reverb, huge like the mountain…