New record pressing — Pale Jay – Low End Love Songs, more so than previous releases, is a diary in form of song. I knew I just had to wait for the songs to be ready to be picked, like ripe fruit from a tree. The entire album came together in just four weeks, a process that was both cathartic and joyful.
Each tune encapsulates a distinct moment in my life, with music serving as my means of processing complex and sometimes conflicting emotions.
In this album, I depart from loop-based song structures towards more intricate and lush compositions. Latin influences permeate the music, adding new layers of rhythms and textures to my soul-music roots.
New record pressing courtesy of Daptone Records! Caracoles ushers (GRAMMY-award nominated) Orquesta Akokán’s unique brand of mambo into the 21st century, imbuing it with the group’s signature sense of akokán–a Cuban Yoruba word meaning “from the heart”. Back at the helm are producer and multi instrumentalist, Jacob Plasse and virtuosic pianist, composer and arranger Michael Eckroth – a collaboration that continues to lead Orquesta’s exploration of the sublime mambo in all its depth and breadth. On this, their third album, they combine talents with Cuban lyricist, singer and composer Kiko Ruiz, who has toured and recorded with Pancho Amat’s illustrious Estrellas del Buena Vista Social Club as well as having a longstanding history as a singer, composer and arranger with Orquesta Maria Alejandra y Cubanía.
And although Caracoles is of this moment, its raices stretch deep into the past, presenting a glorious return to the iconic grooves of an era indelibly marked by Benny Moré, Perez Prado and Machito in New York bands and Cuba’s orquestas gigantes of the mid-twentieth century. While some songs are everyday Cuban life story-telling, Ruiz, a tata —priest— informs his lyrics with a Palo Mayombe spirituality propelling the mambo back to its original meaning. Despite being popularized world-wide as a festive, light-spirited, danceable genre, mambo is not to be taken lightly in the Palo Mayombe religion. Mambo is both a song and a prayer, beseeching good spirits to guide one’s journey away from darkness. Two of the album’s songs —including the title tune— are in this Congo dialect, designed to be impenetrable by the uninitiated. Caracoles’ fierce, effervescent grooves, Ruiz affirms, can “…vibrate your soul, which is precisely what the world needs right now”. The tunes offer an irresistible invitation to heed the title song’s invitation, “Cucha mambo que yo emboa montero…este mambo es pa’ ti.” Listen to this story, I bring it to you as a traveling song…This mambo is for you.”
An extremely limited Wax Mage edition will be available 07.19.24 as well…
New record pressing – Expected Highs – The Last Song on the Album.
Expected Highs is a recording project led by Victor Thompson, multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, and producer and the former lead singer of The Flavor Channel. Building on a foundation of big guitars and big hooks, Expected Highs combine elements of power pop, post-punk, new wave, garage, surf, and 21st century psych rock into a heady sound that pulls the past into the future.
New record pressing – Charlie Nothing – The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing.
John Fahey’s Takoma label is best known for pushing the envelope when it comes to acoustic guitar playing, but in 1967 it released a record that has become one of the true cult classics of the ‘60s free jazz movement. Charles Martin Simon was an aspiring writer whose artist wife died in 1965. When he tried to pick up the torch and become an artist using her art supplies, he was, in his words, “reduced to nothing,” and thus created an alter ego or “psyche fragmentation,” Charlie Nothing. Under that moniker he became most famous for creating “dingulators,” working guitar sculptures made from parts of American cars; in 1967, though, he recorded The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing/In Eternity with Brother Frederic, an album consisting of two separate saxophone improvisations accompanied only with gong, tabla, and ukelele. Its cover adorned by Nothing’s own hand-drawn art, this record has since become not only something of a “secret handshake” among free jazz fans, but also a classic of outsider art, fitting right next to your Moondog records if not in sound than in spirit. For its first ever reissue in any format, we’ve gone back to the original tapes to present an all-analog release of The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing/In Eternity with Brother Frederic on black vinyl with the original art intact, offering an unfiltered experience of this man’s cracked genius. A memorable look ‘n’ listen to say the least.
New Record Pressing — Julian Velard is a classic entertainer – a rare combination of Nilsson-meets-Newman, piano-driven singer-songwriter sensibility and razor-sharp comedic timing. His versatile stage presence makes him equally comfortable in the spotlight or as a sidekick – a modern-day Paul Shaffer. He’s become a cult sensation in America and Europe, and an in-demand performer in his homebase of Los Angeles. All those facets are on display on his newest album In the Middle of Something, an introspective song cycle about the pitfalls and promises of middle age.
New record pressing — R.R. Williams is the solo project of Mike Williams. It is named after his father Reginald Roy Williams as a tribute to his memory. All recorded music is performed by Mike in his garage.
New record pressing – Rumskib – Previously Unreleased.
The Rumskib story as told by Keith and Tine:
Keith: Cocteau Twins, Stereolab, Ivy and Massive Attack were constantly on repeat back in 2000. I had to do something about my passion for these music styles. Just across the street from where I lived there was a local music library. I went there to put up a note.
Tine Louise: The library was my favorite spot. They had a small Pro Tools Studio that you could book for free. I often went there to record my own music for my art projects.
One day a handwritten note, “Looking for a singer. Cocteau Twins”, caught my attention, because my art school girl friend had just intrigued my ears with “Heaven or Las Vegas” from her record collection. I called the number.
Keith: I had a couple of singers over for a talk and a demo audition, which were good, but it was when Tine came by and sang, that I thought WTF here is the singer I have been looking for. She could work on a track and be creative and I would leave the room and stick my head in once in a while to hear how it was going. She sang so beautifully and hit my original idea right on target.
Tine Louise: One day I came to Keith’s basement apartment. A good friend of mine got me so furious … And from this anger the song “Where are the Flowers” grew. I think Keith felt my anger and disappeared. A couple of hours later when he returned this was what I had recorded on the timeline. youtu.be/56fcwdx6KWY
In the beginning the set-up was real low-fi. Sometimes the window was open and you could hear footsteps of people walking by and car engines accompanied my voice recordings.
Keith: In those early days I had a 8 track Zip disk recorder, some of the tracks from that machine made it to this album. Later on we used the studio at the music library, which was a notch up. Tine was busy with her art projects and I was studying Literature science. Without me being overly busy … sometimes we didn’t see each other for six months or even a year.
It wasn’t until around 2004 that we really got things going, putting various material up on Danish music sites and meeting up with each other more frequently.
Tine Louise: Often Keith had recorded a bunch of real nice soundscapes of guitars, beats and drums. And I went on board. He was really productive … wow I just felt happiness listening to his crunchy guitar melodies. I took a pile of secret notes from my drawer … and the words formed into melodies climbing Keith’s mountains of guitar sounds.
Sometimes Keith had already recorded his own voice. Sometimes I put my voice on top. Sometimes I just started up another melody. Sometimes I mixed english and danish lyrics. It was kind of rock’n’roll. No rules!
Keith: We just liked making music. We didn’t think we were even that good I remember. I was shocked by the comments we got on the Danish sites in the beginning of our online adventure. Some people really liked our stuff. We got better and better and got more attention, which suddenly led to Quince Records and then Darla Records for our debut release.
We got a lot of attention on that first record in 2007-2009. We started up a live band and went on small tours. But then it kind of stopped. I was moving to Copenhagen and was eager to do something on my own and Tine was busy with all her art projects. So, it’s nice to be back again. We hope you will enjoy this trip down memory lane with us.
The Standard and Numbered Editions both feature AAA 180g Vinyl, cut by Bernie Grundman and pressed at Gotta Groove. The numbered version is limited to 500 foil stamped copies.
Over the last few years, Jerome Sabbagh has been playing trio with bassist Joe Martin, and legendary drummer Al Foster. The trio’s performances have drawn an enthusiastic crowd, bridging generations and captivating audiences with their exceptional musicianship and collective spirit.
They recently recorded the upcoming album, Heart, an all analog album recorded by James Farber at Power Station that will the first Analog Tone Factory release. The album will be available on August 30, 2024.
Thirty years just flew by – thirty incredible years.
In 1993, the band started playing Monday nights at Visiones in Greenwich Village, a moment that publicly launched the Maria Schneider Orchestra.
In 1994, only one year later, our first album, Evanescence, would be released. That launched another beginning to a long and beautiful recording career that has brought the band eight albums, multiple Grammy Awards, oodles more awards and many beautiful collaborations.
While I deeply treasure our many accolades, what has always most motivated me is human connection: firstly, connections made with my musicians, who despite the countless solitary hours spent honing their individual artistry, always open themselves to be completely vulnerable to one another in every performance as they await the unexpected. That unexpected magic is largely found because of you. You are the deep motivator, and your presence has been key to us developing our music over the years.
An image was just recently brought to my attention by potter, Jack Troy. Many of you will recall that Jack’s work inspired “Stone Song” and his pottery is even “played” on the recording by Johnathan Blake. Anyway, Jack’s email described the effect of robins singing at sunrise in a long succession of song, traveling from the east coast to the west coast as the sun slowly rises along a moving horizon. It got me thinking about recording and how unique it is. When a recording resonates with listeners around the world, it has the potential to form a continuous stream of resonance, perhaps even vibrating continuously around the whole planet. It made me wonder if it’s possible that our recordings have at any time over the years rung continuously for a magically vibrating 24-hour orbit around our whole earth? It’s certainly a wonderful thing to imagine.
Those of us who thrive on vibrational sound, audiophiles and casual listeners alike, generally agree that no recorded sound magically vibrates like vinyl. If I were to wish for my music to make that 24-hour trip around the globe, I’d want those vibrations to start with a phonograph needle moving along the grooves of vinyl. Just one problem: none of my albums have ever been on vinyl.
So, in contemplating how to celebrate these past thirty years in the most special way I can imagine, I’ve decided to release three LPs, each representing some of my favorite music from each respective decade. I’ve been searching my heart for music especially meaningful to me; whether it’s a piece that I feel represents an experience of mine particularly well, or whether it’s a piece that simply makes me look back with satisfaction and say, “Damn, that’s good!”
My next thought was this: I want that these 3 LPs to be beautifully packaged. I knew who to call. Beauty is assured with the artistry of Cheri Dorr who designed The Thompson Fields and Data Lords.
The remastered LPs will come from the following recordings:
Decade I: Evanescence, Coming About and Allégresse
Decade II: Concert in the Garden and Sky Blue
Decade III: The Thompson Fields and Data Lords
For me personally, I’ve found there has been deep value in me looking back on these decades in a way that I’ve not done before. So, I’ll want to share a lot about those newfound perspectives through ArtistShare. And, I will of course include interviews with many of the masterful musicians that have played this music.
I couldn’t be more excited. I sincerely hope you’ll want to be a part of this project as we mark nearly a third of a century and forge ahead into the next unknown.
