Reissues
Dopesmoker
The story behind Dopesmoker, the final LP in the life of pioneering stoner sludge trio Sleep, is one of perseverance not usually associated with such dedicated grass aficionados. Intended to be the Cali band’s third record and first for major label London, the album took shape as a single 63-minute track entitled “Dopesmoker,” an ode to the joys of getting baked. After nearly two months of work, the band (guitarist Matt Pike, bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius) pronounced the opus…
Contemporary Guitar
Originally released in 1966 on the Takoma label, Contemporary Guitar is a beautiful compilation of solo acoustic guitar instrumentals from folk and blues legends such as Bukka White, John Fahey, and Robbie Basho as well as lesser knowns like Max Ochs and Harry Taussig. An essential compilation of American guitar soli.
Cocaine blues
Guitarist and founding member of Maajun in 1969 (That released one album under the Vogue label), Cyril Lefebvre recorded three beautiful albums during the Seventies. Cocaïne Blues, the second one, is one of the finest achievements of the Golden Age of the musical underground in France. Here is an unclassifiable and pataphysician music based on a traditional repertoire, drawing briskly in blues, ragtime, waltz, foxtrot... It has all the major qualities: subtlety, innovation, luxury, humor. Publis…
Long Story Short
Long Story Short, the festival organized as the 25th edition of the Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria (November 2011) designed a festival around Peter Brotzmann's musical practice -- not a retrospective, but a representation of the contemporary musical spheres that Brötzmann and his comrades are investigating today. Eighteen performances in this box document Brötzmann's close ties to the Chicago scene, his inclination to work with Japanese artists, his cultivation of old and new friendsh…
Atonal drone
Rarely you remember the moment you listen to a record for the first time as something clear and tangible - what is retained in the memory is the atmosphere and the emotions that the music evokes, but not much else. Atol Drone (Polycephal 2002) was an altogether different case. It broke through into my mind surreptitiously like a high Pacific wave and for years it held sway over the area of my musical memory responsible for the rough sea, atomic fears, sea fever, incomplete Morse signals no…
The Unexamined Life
Supreme Dicks put out one single in their career. It was a double B-side. Maybe they had a sense of humor, but in hindsight it's hard to tell.Falling somewhere between Captain Beefheart, Throbbing Gristle and SALEM in the lineage of musicians who've found a muse in the nasty, brutish brevity of life, Supreme Dicks chose to cloak disarmingly real paranoia and grief in the contemporary trappings of late '80s and early '90s lo-fi college rock. They may have inhabited the same sonic and physical spa…
The Emotional Plague
Includes digital download voucher redeemable from the label** "Jagjaguwar is proud to reintroduce the first ever vinyl pressing of 'The Emotional Plague' from 1996. Supreme Dicks put out one single in their career, Ia double B-side. Maybe they had a sense of humor, but in hindsight it's hard to tell. Falling somewhere between Captain Beefheart, Throbbing Gristle and SALEM in the lineage of musicians who've found a muse in the nasty, brutish brevity of life, Supreme Dicks chose to cloak d…
Breathing & Not Breathing
Supreme Dicks entire catalog is now available from Jagjaguwar! There’s the 4 CD boxset, Breathing and Not Breathing, which includes both of the band’s studio albums, The Unexamined Life and The Emotional Plague; Workingman’s Dick, a collection of early archival recordings; and the EP This Is Not A Dick, which has additional rare and unreleased tracks; as well as 2xLP editions of The Unexamined Life and The Emotional Plague. All for order right here.The Stranger calls Breathing and Not Breathing …
The Ballasted Orchestra
The much-in-demand vinyl version of the second (or third, depending on how you calculate) Stars of the Lid album, their first for Kranky, now finally reissued on vinyl. The original 4 track cassette recordings were remastered and new lacquers were cut, and the original artwork has been updated* When it comes to genre-defining releases, even releases that define a band's career, few sum up ambient music, and the work of Stars of the Lid in general like 'The Ballasted Orchestra'. Released in 1…
Duck Stab
The classic Residents fourth album (originally two EPs) from 1978. Musically, it's difficult to describe this diverse album. There is a silky, seductive, and murky aspect which creates a supporting liquid background upon which the lyrics float. There is a balance between the music and the lyrics. They never step on each other as they take turns moving in and out of the foreground. The lyrics play a very dominant role on this album. They are like rhyming instruments that project pictures before o…
Six & Six
Originally released in 1981, JANDEK'S second album stands as an incredible document of the formative stages of his cracked genius. The musical elements are almost catatonic: 9 songs drift by as a series of slight variations on several desolate, untuned acoustic guitar phrases. First time on vinyl in over 25 years. Old-style tip on jacket. LIMITED!
Live at St Mary's Old Church & Burial Ground
Recorded live at St Mary’s Old Church & Burial Ground in Stoke Newington, London on the 16th October 2011, the band have laid down what is quite possibly the fullest realisation of their monolithically heavy live shows. Its a juddering juggernaught of crushing intensity, pounding drums thudding their way through beds of gargantuan psych guitar drones, while electrifying sitar collides against booming vocal incantations and lysergic doom heaviness. For those you you that are in…
Music for Sick Queers
The German Shepherds, formed by Sandy Stark and Stephen Scheatzle in Nov. 1981, released a three song ep in early "82 with "Booty Jones" -- to child molester and kidnapper Kenneth Parnell; "I Adore You" -- an offering of prayer and submission and "Message from JJ" -- a rousing sermon by Peoples Temple chief Rev. Jim Jones. Later that year a dub version of "I Adore You" and "The Earthquake Has Come" appeared on the "You'll Hate This Record, Record" compilation lp. In 1983 the Shepherds began work…
Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow was written and recorded as a follow-up to the Bill Fay Group's Time Of The Last Persecution. Although recorded between 1978 and 1981 this album never saw a release at the time, and it fell to the Durtro/Jnana label to unearth these lost 20 songs. Fay comes across as one of those artists who fell victim to the machinations of the music industry, with his first two albums going largely overlooked until an eventual resurgence in interest as the years passed. …
Bill Fay
Enigmatic UK-based singer and pianist Bill Fay's dark and haunting work gained him a strong cult following in the late 60s and early 70s. He released two albums on the Deram label in the early 70s and promptly disappeared into relative obscurity for 30+ years. In the last 10 years or so those albums have finally begun to get the recognition they deserve, and 4 Men With Beards is proud to be able to bring them back into circulation on 180g vinyl. First up is his self-titled 13-track debut from 19…
Alemayehu Eshete
Hard-grooving Ethiopiques killers from the "Ethiopian Elvis". This eponymous collection gathers some of his finest moments from 45's recorded between 1967 and 1974, nine total, mixing R&B, soul, rock'n'roll with that magically mystical blend of modern flair and traditional groove that makes the Ethiopiques series such a treasure trove. You could imagine each of these being classics in their own right way back when, from the soulful organ burn and infectious breaks of 'Kenoru Lebetchahe' w…
The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1962-1967
Massive 6xLP box set drawing from John Fahey's best, and most influential, period. Included in the set are Blind Joe Death, Death Chants, Breakdowns, And Military Waltzes, The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, and Days Have Gone By, all reissued on 180 gram vinyl with deluxe tip-on jackets. Limited edition of 2,000. John Fahey (February 28, 1939–February 22, 2001) combined American folk, blues, Indian r…
Foetus
An internationally known artist, Franco Battiato has been everything in his long career, from beat singer to avantgarde performer, producer, contemporary music composer.His beginnings lay in the mid 60's, with many singles released with no particular success, the first two under his real name of Francesco. He had left the native Sicily (he was born in Jonia, near Catania in 1945) moving to Milan around 1965.Fetus, housed in a outrageous cover (reproducing a foetus) was definitely a prog al…
Lauschen
"Kluster (1969) metamorphosed into Cluster (1971) and Cluster became Qluster (2011). In a period spanning over 40 years, Hans-Joachim Roedelius was a driving force behind this unique transformation. Now, as Qluster, he has recorded together with Onnen Bock in the latest incarnation. Three albums already released document the current status of their musical journey to pastures new. Lauschen is not a studio album, but a live recording of a performance for which Roedelius and Bock invited world mus…
The Potato Farm Tapes
We’re proud to present an album by a good friend and very talented Canadian musician named Tona Ohama. Ohama was first featured on The Found Tapes compilation (2007) with “T.V.” and then on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume 1 (2010) with “My Time (Demo)” and most recently on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume 2 (2012) with “The Drum”, which was also selected and edited by J. Rocc.
The Potato Farm Tapes is an album of his early output, featuring some songs from his first cassette entitled Midnite News …