Psych /
Nihonjin 日本人
Some albums are certainly a kind of holy grail for music lovers and collectors of a certain genre, style and era. Far Out with their eponymous debut and unfortunately also farewell album from 1973 have created such a sacred gem. Original copies in good condition change hands for up to 2000 USD and there are certainly a few not so official reprints on vinyl and CD out on the market which do not even come close to do justice to the greatness of the old original black gold. But here we go with the …
Shin Chugoku
A duo by Osamu Kitajima and Fumio Miyashita, formed at the end of 1971 when Osamu Kitajima returned from his trip to United Kingdom where he got influenced by exploding psychedelic rock scene that was happening at the time. After recording his debut under moniker of “Justin Heathcliff”, he got together with Fumio Miyashita of Far East Family Band and Far Out. Together they worked on an amazing psychedelic / progressive rock album, with a foly, yet pastoral, mellow approach.
Masterless Samurai
It’s impossible to define the genre behind Osamu Kitajima’s music. “Masterless Samurai” is another step in the ongoing career of Kitajima. It’s a very unique blend of Jazz Fusion with traditional Japanese music. There aren’t any other albums that would sound similar to this incredible effort by Kitajima. His knowledge in traditional Japanese music and his love for Progressive Rock and Jazz makes “Masterless Samurai” an incredible Fusion album and another highlight in his career. He left Space Ro…
Dragon King
Osamu Kitajima continuously experimented with various music genres that include Japanese traditional music, Ethno Jazz and Progressive Rock elements. “Dragon King” is a very well recorded album that contains Funky tunes and mellow Soul songs, as well as Jazzy elements. It’s his last album that would end a certain chapter in Mr. Kitajima’s career. After “Dragon King” he stopped working in Progressive / Funk / Soul / Jazz / Fusion and started his second career with Electronic / Ethno / New Age mus…
Raks Raks Raks
Compilation Concept Licensed from Grey Past Records. Finally back on Vinyl! This is one of the most anticipated as well as unexpected compilations from the global depths of 60s and 70s rock’n’roll: The Persian scene. Let alone coming across with a representative compilation, even solid evidences of such a scene has not been seen until now and has been largely suspected, maybe save for a select few of eager garage and psychedelic record collectors and enthusiasts of worldwide rock, who have been …
The "Bayan Mongol" Variety Group (Эстрадын “Баян Монгол” Чуулга)
The Bayan Mongol Variety Group existed from the early ’70s to the late ’80s. After the collapse of the USSR, the ensemble began to experience serious difficulties with funding and booking concerts, and finally disintegrated, after which the participants lost contact with each other. Fortunately, thanks to efforts from the fans, some old contacts were reestablished, key records and sound sources were dug up, and now this historical record is released again. File under funk, jazz rock, prog rock, …
Soyol Erdene
Now this might be exotic for ears used to Western pop and rock music but probably not for too long if these ears have a fondness for deep and haunting melodies. Formed in 1971 as the first ever Mongolian rock band at the behest of the ministry of culture, that wanted to establish Mongolia’s very own Beatles, it took about ten years to get an album out, which is their sole record up to today and fetches prices up to 500 € and more for a copy in great condition. Here we finally have a reissue on t…
Revelation
Virus, from the Bielefeld area in Westphalia, were the best and most famous local progressive group there in the early seventies. In 1970, they won the well-known competition in the Recklinghausen Vestlandhalle – still under their old name of Man’s World. The first prize: Recordings for their first own LP, under the direction of sound magician Conny Plank. That LP, “Revelation”, was released in 1971 and is partly reminiscent of the early Pink Floyd, e. g. in the final part of “Endless game”. The…
Sunbirds
**Picture Disc** Jazz Rock ensemble from Munich led by German drummer Klaus Weiss and Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer and found in 1971. When Pauer presented Weiss some new songs, the two of them gathered Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine, Dutch flutist Ferdinand Povel and American drummer Jimmy Woode (R.I.P.) and formed Sunbirds. The recordings of their debut took place at the Union Studios in Munich on 24th August 1971. Weiss had good connections with various labels and the album was eventually…
Essen 1970
Stunning quality, rare live performance recordings of krautrock pioneers Guru Guru, from one of their earliest ever live concerts on Sunday October the 25th 1970. Three long slabs of prime classic psychedelic prog, two from the ‘UFO’ album and one off ‘Hinten’, show the band at their apex, defining a sound that had never been heard before. Sourced from tapes recorded directly from the sound desk at the show, the recording quality is phenomenal for something of this vintage era. The original line…
Circus
Circus were a shining example of the creative explosion at the heart of the early days of Progressive Rock. A tight knit jazz-rock band that crafted high quality musical workouts, Circus mixed the heavier aspects of late 60s rock with the nuances of jazz modulations, folk, pop and even forays into psychedelia. Circus decided to focus less on the sound of the pop psych scene and joined the ranks of the more experimental progressive bands emerging during the 60s such as Soft Machine, Caravan, Colo…
Aphorisms Insane
The only album by Austrian trio Cultural Noise is a an electronic marvel. Band members were Gerhard Lisy, Walter Heinisch and Karl Kronfeld, and instruments used included an ARP Sequencer, an ARP 2600, a VCS 3, an EMS Digital Sequencer, a Mellotron M400, a Micro Moog, a Roland Studiosystem 700, a Roland Analogue Sequenzer and an electric guitar. With these weapons and a strong influence from the Berlin school Cultural Noise created a rich electronic tapestry which expanded through the two piece…
Africa Roja
The story of Klamm started in Martorell, 30km near Barcelona, in 1976. Teenagers Josep Saus "Toto", Antonio K. Puertas and Leo Mariño got together under the influence of bands like Can and King Crimson. The original line up consisted of guitar, bass guitar and drums, and they were barely 16 years old when they began. From there, they evolved and also went though different personnel changes, added new influences, had experimental progressive jazz-rock periods, were touched by the works of bands l…
Out
White Heaven's debut album Out is one of the greatest psychedelic rock albums ever recorded. First released in 1991 by Tokyo's P.S.F. Records and pressed in an edition of 500 copies the original LP has become a holy grail in underground circles, with only a scant few copies ever making it outside of Japan. Built on the chemistry between You Ishihara's lysergic lyricism and the blistering leads of one of Japan's undisputed guitar gods Michio Kurihara, Out is an absolute classic. It is one of the …
The Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground and Nico has influenced the sound of more bands than any other album. And remarkably, it still sounds as fresh and challenging today as it did upon its release in 1967. In this book, Joe Harvard covers everything from Lou Reed's lyrical genius to John Cale's groundbreaking instrumentation, and from the creative input of Andy Warhol to the fine details of the recording process. With input from co-producer Norman Dolph and Velvets fan Jonathan Richman, Harvard documents the …
Tape Archive Essence 1973-1978
LP version. During the legendary Forst years, Roedelius had a private workspace with a Farfisa organ, a Revox-A77 tape machine, an echo device and a synthesizer which he borrowed from the Cluster studio next door now and again. Here he experimented, practiced, allowed his imagination to flow, at any hour of the day or night, whenever he was not in the studio with Dieter Moebius and/or Michael Rother at work on new Cluster or Harmonia material. Roedelius always let the tape run, in order to analy…
Selbstportrait Wahre Liebe
LP version. The first part of Hans-Joachim Roedelius's Selbstportrait (Self-Portrait) series was originally released under the title Sanfte Musik on Sky Records in 1979. Now, some forty years later, a new instalment has arrived in the form of an album entitled Wahre Liebe. One of the initiators of the Berlin Zodiak Free Arts Lab in 1967, Roedelius went on to co-found Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, unleashing a new and free form of music which, with the benefit of hindsight, can be considered a mi…
Inventions For Electric Guitar
Originally released in 1975. Remastered by Manuel Göttsching. Recorded July-August 1974, Inventions for Electric Guitar is Manuel Göttsching's first solo album, however it was released with the subtitle Ash Ra Temple VI technically making it the sixth and final album under the Ash Ra Temple name. Written and performed entirely by Göttsching on electric guitar, with a four-track TEAC A3340, Revox A77 for echoes, wah-wah pedal, volume pedal, Schaller Rotosound, and Hawaiian steel bar.
A seminal mi…
Aurora
Souffle Continu Records present a reissue Le Théâtre du Chêne Noir's Aurora, originally released in 1971. In 1972, Steve Lacy recorded Solo, one of the gems in his discography, in the Théâtre du Chêne Noir in Avignon. The previous year (which was also the year in which Aurora appeared), the eponymous group of actors led by Gérard Gelas, took up residence in what was a 12th century chapel. The Théâtre du Chêne Noir is therefore not just the name of a space open to all kinds of artistic audacity, …
W.W.W.
Burnin Red Ivanhoe in their most fertile phase of existing from 1969 till 1972, were one of Danish finest groups from this period. Their innovative and powerful mixture of Psychedelic and Progressive Rock along with mild experimental or Jazz influences gained some international recognition in Germany, UK and the U.S.. Comparisons might be drawn to Traffic, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Colosseum (Dag Erik Asbjornsen).W.W.W. from 1971 was the band's third album with an unchanged line-up. It was the…