New Arrivals
Eostre
**300 copies** 1985’s shamanic beauty Eostre is the equally acclaimed, cultish follow-up to Zoviet France’s classic Mohnomische album, and sees the inimitable Geordie unit drift in and out of entrancing texturhythms, etheric tape loops and bucolic dream sequence keys in deliciously mind-bending style. Another vital instalment to one of 2019’s most prized boxsets and reissue programmes, Eostre finds the group slightly reshuffled, with Paolo Di Paolo replacing Peter Jensen alongside the band’s sol…
Gris
**300 copies** From myth to reality, the long-rumoured 40 minute version of Gris manifests as part of Vinyl-On-Demand’s resoundingly appreciated Zoviet France reissue programme, recutting the original 10” tracks on one side with 20 minutes of bonus, previously unheard material on the flip. First issued on a series of three 10”s by Germany’s No Man’s Land label, the original Gris revolves four cuts ranging from mesmerising proto-echoes of Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas of Axel Willner’s The Field, thru to …
Popular soviet songs and youth music
**300 copies** Premiere, expanded vinyl edition of the 4th LP by inimitable ambient / post-industrial pioneers Zoviet France, dished up as part of a necessary reissue scheme by the ferric archivists at Vinyl-On-Demand. First released on 2 x C90 & C80 tape in 1985, Popular Soviet Songs and Youth Music ran to just shy of 3 hours in length and was then the Newcastle-based band’s most substantial release to date. 34 years and following a number of 3CD reissues, this new vinyl edition is particularly…
Mosset/Christophe
The singer Christophe puts to music Olivier Mosset's interviews made and edited by Marie Villemin and Martin Widmer. Olivier Mosset (born 1944 in Berne, lives and works in Tucson) worked in Paris from 1965 to 1977, participated in the creation of the group BMTP and then went to live in New York. He did numerous exhibitions with the Radical American Painters in the 1980s. Mosset describes himself as a painter rather than an artist. His work is based on a principle of neutrality, radicality and se…
Inland
Double LP version. Includes a bonus track: Philip Glass's "Etude n°5". Inland is Vanessa Wagner's continuation of the exploration of the minimalist composers register to complete the solo continuum of the Statea released in 2016 with the Mexican producer Murcof. Inland highlights a set of pieces, mostly rare or unavailable to date (Moondog, Nico Muhly, William Susman, Bryce Dessner, Gavin Bryars...) and some other well known (Philip Glass, Wim Mertens, Michael Nyman) that Vanessa Wagner performs…
Serenata I/Sonatine/Canteyodjaya/Zeitmasze
**Edition of 500. 180 gram vinyl** Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Serenata I/Sonatine/Canteyodjaya/Zeitmasze, originally released in 1958. The avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was a titan of post-war experimental classical music. Born in the small cheesemaking town of Montrbrison in central France in 1925, Boulez studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the composer and organist Charles Messiaen and received private tuition from pianist Andrée Vaurabourg; after moving…
Speech After The Removal Of The Larynx
**Edition of 500. 180 gram vinyl, includes insert; hand-numbered** Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Speech After The Removal Of The Larynx, originally released by Smithsonian Folkways in 1964. The larynx or voice box is a small organ located towards the top of the neck in humans and some other animals. Constructed largely of cartilage, it houses the vocal folds that allow for the manipulation of pitch and volume, which are essential for the phonation of spoken speech. It is also invol…
Listen Move & Dance
**Edition of 500. 180 gram vinyl** Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Daphne Oram and Vera Gray's Listen Move & Dance,
originally released in 1962. The British composer, musician, and audio
engineer Daphne Oram was a pioneering figure in the use of electronic
music. Coming to prominence through her work with the BBC Radiophonic
Workshop, which she co-founded, Oram was one of the first British
composers to feature electronic instruments in her work and has been
rightly hailed as he…
Spazi Futuri
**300 copies, clear vinyl** Brilliant collaborative debut album of riveting noise and widescreen synths by Merzbow and Posh Isolation’s Vanity Productions featuring two longform, elemental works transmuting worries about ecological disaster into a torrent of spirit-gnawing, experimental noise that surpasses the sum of its parts. Masami Akita and Christian Stadsgaard both hail from places with a lot of coastline vulnerable to sea level rises, ‘Coastal Erosion’ sees them grasp the nettle of impen…
Laughing Afternoon
Mannequin Records and Platform 23 come together to start a series of stand-alone reissues of the music of post-punk / industrialists Bourbonese Qualk, starting with their 1983 album Laughing Afternoon. Formed in Southport during the late-70s, the band came to prominence out of South London's squat scene via their own Recloose Organisation. Early releases including the band's first experiments put to tape and the now highly sought after Sudden Departure compilation featuring luminaries Colin Pott…
Music For Deathbeds
As with the first SchleiBen series, Emotional Response follows the
success of the second set of split releases with a stand-alone album by
one of the highlights, in Neil Tolliday. Recorded over a 17-year period,
the ambient, drone and noise pieces collected here offer a glimpse in
to the depth of a supremely talented, thoughtful and at times, troubled
musical mind. As his love for house music and the success of his Nail
moniker grew and waned during the ascent 90s boom, there followed his …
Infant Eyes
Doug Carn created a personalized strain of jazz music that expressed a loving hopefulness. He found a home at the Black Jazz label, where African-Americans called the shots and, of course, racial tension was nonexistent. Who was this 22-year-old whose first album, Infant Eyes, sold very well away from the machinations of the music industry? Once a child prodigy on piano and alto saxophone, Carn had attended Jacksonville University on a full music scholarship and afterwards performed on the Flori…
Nachtmuziek
Belgian artist Bernard Zwijzen, aka Sonmi451, has for over a decade now been quietly making some of the most luscious ambient we’ve heard here at AI-HQ. We are delighted to announce him as part of the Astral family with this six-track EP - Nachtmuziek - sit back, tune in and drift away.
Verboden Dromen
Shakti , a three-man formation around “Praga Khan”. With this first mini-lp Praga once more proves his capability to drill into new rhythmic territories. Demonic Forces is a dance record. Western discotheque rhythmics mixed with Eastern influences. A unique creation that certainly can be called astonishing. The use of original Eastern instruments gives the whole an extra mystik dimension. With the help of some friends amongst whom a.o. Naburak Pran, Shakti succeeds in attaining an unparalleled a…
Portastudio Ambient Tapes
Unreleased synth based ambient creations from mid-'80s by "After the break-up of seminal punk-funkers Liquid Liquid, band member Dennis Young found himself at a bit of a loose end. He busied himself by making funny little new age/ambient creations in his bedroom on some synths and a Tascam tape recorder. Many of these curios have never seen light of day, so it’s a real treat that Inner Mood have managed to lock down a trio of tracks for the Portastudio Ambient Tapes. These are gorgeous, often be…
Wahdon
Wewantsounds continues to pursue its exploration of great Lebanese music with the reissue of Wahdon, released in 1978 by legendary Middle Eastern diva Fairuz. The album includes the Lebanese dancefloor cult classic, Al Bostah. 1978 was a turning point for the Lebanese singer: the '70s had seen her rise as an international star, playing sold out concerts in the US and in Europe, and appearing on national TV in France. She had had a long-lasting artistic collaboration with her husband Assi Rahbani…
Ein Traum Für Dich
Black Truffle announce the release of this genuine head-scratcher, the first collaboration between DJ / mixtape-compiler Kayo Makino and underground legend Tori Kudo. Originally created to be played between acts at the launch of Eiko Ishibashi's acclaimed The Dreams My Bones Dream (2018) and then reworked and refined for LP release, the two side-long pieces are sonic environments constructed by Makino for Kudo's piano to inhabit, or, as the LP's credits suggest, a "cinéma pour l'oreille" in whic…
A Gain
**500 copies, sold-out at label!** Colin Potter’s vaulted classic A Gain bubbles up for reissue with Joyful Noise Recordings, presenting its first ever reissue proper of a UK synth classic (if we discount the augmented compilation of Entering Again released by Sacred Summits in 2014) Recommended to Joyful Noise for reissue by Benjamin John Power (F*ck Buttons, Blanck Mass), who states “…the lines are simple but perfect… It’s incredibly well constructed”, Potter’s best known release prior to join…
3 E / 11,000 Volts
"The group later known as Mars came together in late 1975 through a chance meeting of those involved. Common obsessions led directly to the music. "We started out jamming on Velvet Underground songs in a loft with Sumner Crane on piano, China Burg on acoustic guitar, myself on bass and Nancy Arlen on paper bags. This rapidly led to abstract expression far from the source. China and Nancy started playing their instruments at the first rehearsal. Sumner and I were self-taught. We all were ready fo…
Drums of Passion
**2019 stock, reduced price** Drums of Passion was the first album released by Babatunde Olatunji in 1960. Olatunji was a drummer, social activist and musician, born in Ajindo, Nigeria. In this album he has recaptured some of his early impressions in drum beats and giving them new zest. The African drum rhythms are not only musical melodies and songs but also ways of communication. For instance, the first track Akiwowo was the name of a train conductor who shouted his humorous cry against the fa…