Reissues
Mabushii itazura na inori
Mabushii itazura na inori (which translates as Dazzling, mischievous prayer) is the staggering new studio album from guitarist and vocalist Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha, the second in a series of three thematically and structurally linked sets recorded with drummer Ikuro Takahashi and bassist Mitsuru Nasuno.Bassist Nasuno also plays with Haino in his electric blues group, Seijaku, and the new Fushitsusha album has a direct umbilical to their experiments with slurred roadhouse phrasing and overlappi…
CD Box 1970-1973
Massive 7xCD box set compiling rare material by the great alto screamer Kaoru Abe is the lost wild legend of '70s Japanese free jazz. In the short space of his tempestuous life, he burnt a path which has served as a map for a whole generation of Japanese artists to follow who would call themselves 'free' in any sense of the word whatsoever. Though he performed live frequently in his day, his releases were sporadic, many of them emerging after his untimely death in 1978, and on a string of Japane…
CD box
Abe at his best! Crudely generalising a contrast in free jazz tendencies between AMM/SME/MIC/FMP and AACM/ESP, it's hard to say if Abe's closer to the gentle, bearded intellectualism of some European improvisation, or to the gutsier funk of more US freedom fighters. Up there with the best of both Western sides of the sea, but unlike any one from either, his stroppy, razor-sharpening alto style mixes tousled emotionalism with dogged puzzling, like an amalgam of Anthony Braxton and a sadder, angri…
Merzphysics
This 10xCD box set composed of previously unreleased recordings from 1993–95, it focuses on pure noise from before the introduction of synthesizers and other electronic instruments. The noise is described as being linked to grindcore, having a sense of speed, and was recorded live to cassette. Merzphysics can be considered to be a sequel to Merzbient, which also features unreleased vintage cassette recordings.As with some of the tracks on Merzbient, the titles are taken from cassette brands: AX…
Drop on Down in Florida: Field Recordings of African American Tr
Based on four years of fieldwork throughout the state, the Florida Folklife Program released the two-album, 27-track LP Drop on Down in Florida: Recent Field Recordings of Afro-American Traditional Music in 1981. The album was intended to highlight African American music traditions for a statewide public audience, particularly blues and sacred traditions. When the Folklife Program sought the opportunity to produce an expanded reissue of the album that would include previously unissued field…
Etude IV / D'une Etoile Oubliee / La Grande Vague
Etude IV: points-lines-landscapes' (1979). This work is designed as an all-electronic piece without considering any configuration with soloist parts for later use (unlike the two following pieces featured on this CD). It was realized by Jean-Claude Eloy in 1979 on the CEMAMu's UPIC upon Iannis Xenakis's invitation to whom this work is dedicated as a friend. The UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu) is an electronic tool invented by Iannis Xenakis in the 1970s. It is a graphic interfac…
The Mental Answer 1
Originally published in 1984, this obscure Italian outfit centered around Pietro Mazzocchin was very active in the industrial/noise scene. He put out several cassettes under different moniker: Swastika Kommando, The New Sadism, Observation Clinique and also as Lyoto Music togheter with Pierpaolo Zoppo of the legendary Mauthausen Orchestra. Some of his tapes were published by Broken Flag (UK), Recloose Organisation (UK) and Aquilifer Sodality (Italy). "Music for psychotic states. Compulsive noise…
Tensions at the Vanguard: New Music from Peru (1948-1979)
This new Pogus 2CD compilation, curated by Luis Alvarado (writer, journalist, sound poet), presents some of the most important pieces of the Peruvian musical vanguard of the 1960s and '70s, offering a representative sample of works and composers from this important period in Peruvian music. This release also includes a 24-page booklet in both Spanish and English with an essay giving an overview of the works, the composers, and a brief musical and social history of Peru during this time. T…
The Lost Tapes
Limited Vinyl Box Set, includes 5 x 180GM vinyl LP's, 28 page 12" booklet and a 24" poster - includes 30 previously unreleased tracks* "The Lost Tapes was curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, compiled by Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore, and edited by Jono Podmore. When the legendary Can studio in Weilerswist was sold to the German Rock N Pop Museum, they bought everything, including the army mattresses that covered the walls for sound protection, and relocated it to Gronau. Whils…
Triola ou Symphonie pour moi-meme
Recollection GRM presents two electroacoustic works by Croatian composer Ivo Malec. Triola (1978): "This piece marked my return to the studio after several years of absence, a return, which for unknown reasons, needed to be part of a rather ambitious project -- a strictly personal idea. This is how my mind slowly turned towards the design of a musical narrative meant to stand for a relearning of the trade, the temptation to use purely electronic material so as change it into something other…
Presque Rien
Recollection GRM presents four musique concrète masterpieces by French electro-acoustic innovator Luc Ferrari -- all of the Presque Rien's collected together in one vinyl set for the first time. Presque rien n°1, le lever du jour au bord de la mer (1967-1970): "Following the complete disappearance of abstract sounds, we can regard this piece as a sonic snapshot and the culmination of an evolution. This is a realistic rendering (as faithful as possible) of a fishing village waking up. T…
Improvisations
Stunningly beautiful harmonium improvisations recorded in 1949 by spiritualist G.I Gurdjieff. Many who heard these performances live found themselves crying uncontrollably. After this cathartic listening experience they reached a place where they felt happy and whole. We hope this record will bring a similar experience to the modern day listener. It doesn't get much purer than this. Cover is silkscreened with gold ink. A co-release with Psychic Sounds Research."An extraordinary collection of har…
Das Testament
Backwards proudly presents the reissue of a private Maurizio Bianchi vinyl LP, issued in a small edition of 300 copies in 1983 and titled "Das Testament". M.B. is an Italian pioneer of noise music, born near Milan. Bianchi began to produce music in 1979, and since 1980 has used electronic equipment with the avowed goal "to produce technological sounds and in such a way to work on complete realising of the modern decadence". Now remastered, for this release MB plays electronics, rhythms, neutroni…
Folk XII
FOLK XII" was born as a CD re-edition of Militia's - a band from Perugia, Central Italy - debut release (a four tracks EP entitled "Folk II" released by Contempo in 1985), but also, as the title aptly suggests, as a new reading of that work with the help of modern technology (which produced a partial remixing and remastering by the musicians themselves) and its integration with unreleased tracks that were left aside until today. That 12", althought still immature, was favorably received by the p…
Homemade Gloomy Pop
Finally available as a double CD, this collection is dedicated to Endless Nostalgia, one of the cult-band par excellence of the Italian electronic New Wave of the Eighties. Better known for the single "Me & My Alter Ego" released in 1984, this electro-pop duo from Verona, Northern Italy, produced a large number of cassette releases that have become very sought-after items nowadays. This generous and well-structured collection is a testament to the quality of the formation that was centered on Lu…
Gallipoli 1915 e le altre storie
Another double OLBM CD that testifies the remarkable work carried out within the New Wave phenomenon by Viridanse (from Alessandria, Piedmont) between 1983 and 1987. Despite its short existence, the group has left an important trace in a time when the world of music was already full of proposals. Influenced by the English Wave and the Florentine scene, Viridanse debut with a split-tape shared with The Art of Waiting. In 1984, Contempo Records produces their 12” EP "Benvenuto Cellini" and - the f…
Clear and Not Clear
Another due reissue of valuable New Wave materials “Made In Italy” that stretches around thirty-seven tracks contained on a double CD. Bi Nostalgia was the solo project of Luca Rigato, already part of the duo Endless Nostalgia. Composed and recorded between 1984 and 1987 (with the addition of one more recent unreleased track), all songs have been completely remastered from the original master tapes of "Anthems for Losers", "Dances of the Pessimism", "The Seeping Mouth”, “Cathedrals EP","Art Is N…
Engel Der Vernichtung
Oltrelanebbiailmare presents a double CD that collects the particular proposal of the never forgotten Engel Der Vernichtung from Rieti, Central Italy. Born in 1985 as a project by Federico Festuccia and Roberto Feliciangeli - soon joined by Daniele Arisi and Paolo Campanelli - the group took its disturbing name of "Angel of Destruction" from an Einstürzende Neubauten song. After several performances in deconsecrated churches and abandoned factories, Engel Vernichtung Der debut in 1986 with the c…
Stupor Mundi
Part 14th in the ongoing re-release series of all early Asmus Tietchens Vinyl albums between 1980-1991. 'Stupor Mundi' (Discos Esplendor Geometrico EGD 018) was originally released in 1990. This re-release comes with another poster booklet and feat. 4 Bonus tracks of unreleased material from the same period. Joint release with Auf Abwegen. 600 copies. Asmus Tietchens about the album: 'The opener of the album cites: 'Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...' ('Unfortunately I can't play any…
Marches funèbres
Tracks 1 & 2 originally released on Marches Funebres LP (Multimood, 1989). Track 3 is a bonus track. Released as a joint release by German labels Die Stadt and Aufabwegen. Limited to 600 copies.