$45.00
A TAV Essential Listening Album.
“We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves is the third album by American lo-fi musician John Maus, released on June 27, 2011. Its title is derived from French philosopher Alain Badiou's "Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art". Maus said that he wrote the album in "search for the perfect pop song". Upon release, the album was met with generally favorable reviews, a contrast from the reception of Maus' earlier work. Three singles were issued from the album: "Quantum Leap", "Believer" and "Hey Moon".” – Wiki
“We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, his latest full-length, is the most vibrant and toothsome expression of Maus' pursuits yet. He keeps his vocals awash in gothic reverb and echo-driven effects, blurring the lines between what he's saying and emoting. Sometimes, as on "Cop Killer", a Jan Hammer-indebted number on which Maus sings over an iced bed of keys, the results are outlandish and oddly funny at the same time, in the way that certain scenes in David Lynch films can leap from chilling to comically exaggerated…
… Sonically, Maus works a minimal, primitive setup: sputtering drum machines and an arsenal of 1980s-vintage synth presets undercut his lyrics just as much as those exaggerated, often grotesque vocal turns do. Sometimes, these songs seem to exist solely to pose questions: Top 40 cheese or ironic cool? High-brow or low-brow? Honesty or posturing? Artifice or reality? But what makes We Must Become his finest full-length yet is how fluidly he communicates it all by foregrounding melody. On "Keep Pushing On", Maus' monastic, cellar-level singing lends the song the feel of a Gregorian chant-led exercise tape. Though the vocals and basslines on arpeggiated fever dream "Quantum Leap" mirror Joy Division's to an almost cartoonish degree, you still get a good sense of Maus' persona in the music. There's a genuine, almost maniacal sense of glee in the way he seems to approach each turn.” – Pitchfork
Item description:
|
Artist: |
John Maus |
|
Title: |
We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves |
|
Label: |
Ribbon Music |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180GM |
|
Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 13th July 2018 | Original: 2011 |
|
Genre: |
Electronic, Rock |
|
Style: |
New Wave |
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Catalog No: |
RBN001LP |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
“Ziggy Zeitgeist has become a staple of the Australian Music scene. Touring and recording with Melbourne Nu-Soul/ future-jazz collective, ‘30/70’ has enabled Zeitgeist to forge new frontiers in improvisation and drum-set application. Zeitgeist has stepped up to the role of bandleader in the debut self-titled album Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange.
The vision of this project was to create a live band experience that is closely aligned with an extended DJ set, heavily influenced by club culture and transformative festivals where people seek a more transcendent experience- a continuous odyssey, sound and groove with the spirit of live improvisa- tion. The main influences for this project include house, broken beat, and a good dose of 70’s jazz-funk in order to create a unique and cosmic pocket. Zeitgeist: The spirit of the time. That is, we are only a product of our own zeitgeist. At the same time we create our own zeitgeist. This is an exploration into contemporary music whilst always digging deeper into the wealth of forward thinking artists, musicians and activists who have come before us and continue to inspire…
…The process for this record entailed writing sparse rhythmic and harmonic figures that imply a kind of groove and tonality without restricting the expression and trajectory of the group improvisation. These parameters were used to inspire the musicians in a way that allows personal expression whilst still maintaining strong group cohesion.
The making of this album has been an exploration of instrumental music as a vehicle of spiritual discovery, and finding a working balance of composed and improvised material. Freedom Energy Exchange is about creating new directions in dance music culture where people come to hear new music and find new ways to express themselves, new ways to move, new ways to make love.” - Bandcamp
Item description:
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Artist: |
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange |
|
Title: |
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange |
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Label: |
Wax Museum Records – WMR-013 |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo |
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Pressing: |
Australia |
|
Release Date: |
25th May 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk / Soul |
|
Style: |
Jazz-Funk, Contemporary Jazz |
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Catalog No: |
WMR-013 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$45.00
“On a trip to Cuba in 1996, Barney McAll was invited to a ceremony in honour of the Yoruba goddess Yemaya. The experience drew McAll, one of Australia's leading jazz pianists who had moved to New York to join Gary Bartz' band, to delve deeper into Cuban music and culture.
Originally released as a CD on the Jazzhead label in 2006, beside Hermeto Pascoal, Paul Grabowsky and many more, 'Mother of Dreams and Secrets' is a continuation of Barney's innovative exploration of sacred Afro-Cuban rhythms that has stood the test of time. Over the 9 track McAll shows many different shades of his Cuban schooling. The opening track 'Ellegua' captivates the listener with a hypnotic percussion, rhythmic vocals and McAlls astounding piano skills, backed by the use of his very own 'Chucky' a "homemade musical instrument for textural enterprise and underwater landscapes". Further into the LP we are treated to the almost ambient 'Yemaya Prayer' an alluring piece featuring Dreiser Durruthy's breathtaking vocals.
This album was recorded at Ergrem Studios in Havana with some of Cuba's finest percussionists and musicians, alongside New York based American and Australian players including the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel and Billy Harper.” - Bandcamp
Item description:
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Artist: |
Barney Mcall |
|
Title: |
Mother of Dreams And Secrets |
|
Label: |
Research Records |
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Format: |
2 × Vinyl, LP |
|
Pressing: |
Australia |
|
Release Date: |
22nd June 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Afro-Cuban Jazz, Fusion |
|
Catalog No: |
RESEARCH03 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
A TAV Essential Listening Album.
“The context of Bombino's music isn't incidental; it's essential to understanding the impact and poignancy of Deran, his latest full-length. Sung exclusively in the Tuareg language of Tamashek, songs such as "Tehigren" ("Trees") and "Imajghane" ("The Free People") distill Bombino's memories and impressions of his homeland. Fluid and bluesy, his guitar playing is more than just an agile dance between rhythm and melody. It speaks and breathes across centuries. In Tuareg culture, guitarists and the songs they sing have long been the means by which traditions, mores and revolutionary spirit have been passed down.
On "Oulhin" ("My Heart"), Bombino evokes the warmth of tribal bonds among the Tuareg, as well as the agony of internecine strife that has splintered the Saharan region. Amid mildly distorted rock hooks and sashaying syncopation, Bombino's internationally sourced band — including Illias Mohammed on guitar, Youba Dia on bass, Corey Wilhelm on drums, Hassan Krifa on percussion, and Mohammed Araki on keyboard — inject an upbeat tune with a heart-piercing sentiment. "My heart is burning / It burns because of my brothers / My brothers who do not love each other," Bombino sings in his high, sweet voice, and the accumulated ache of decades echoes through it.” – NPR
“Recorded in Casablanca at a studio owned by the king of Morocco, “Deran” was produced by Mr. Herman, and presents what Bombino considers to be his true voice, without being filtered through the sheen of a famous producer. “Deran” displays the breadth of Bombino’s stylistic approaches: the electrifying “Imajghane” is a rollicking blues-rock anthem, while “Midiwan” sounds like an acoustic desert campfire singalong and “Tehigren” features a lilting bounce that the band has called “Tuareggae.”
At the Brooklyn concert in honor of “Deran,” the guitarist was dressed in a plum-colored knee-length waxed-cotton bazin robe and matching pants. Sporting a white tagelmust — the traditional Tuareg head wrap — worn around his neck as a scarf and dangling precariously close to the tops of his leather loafers, he resembled what “Purple Rain”-era Prince might have looked like if Minneapolis were closer to North Africa than North Dakota. His guitar playing was nearly as incendiary as the Purple One, too: When his backing band leavened their hypnotically funky desert blues with an amiable reggae beat, Bombino kicked up his knees in a high-stepping skank, his spindly fingers a dizzying blur on the strings..” – NY Times
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Bombino |
|
Title: |
Deran |
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Label: |
Partisan Records |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album |
|
Pressing: |
- |
|
Release Date: |
18th May 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Blues, Folk, World, Country |
|
Style: |
African |
|
Catalog No: |
PTKF2154-1 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$60.00
“The Optimist was recorded between 2008 and 2009, at Washington’s parents’ house, in a small basement called “The Shack.” The space was located near the landing strip at Los Angeles International Airport, and every 15 minutes, the sound of incoming planes threatened to disrupt the recording process. The band had to keep all the windows closed, which caused unbearable heat, exacerbated by the Shack’s cramped conditions (the space comfortably holds four people; during the Optimist sessions, eight people squeezed in). “After it was all said and done, The Shack smelled like tube socks and backpack straps,” Porter recalls in the album notes, “but the unity and love we have for each other was evident on every song.”
To that end, there’s a strong communal essence to this record. These songs feel like extended jam sessions, and in certain spots—like on the 15-minute “Impressions” and the 17-minute closer “Chocolate Nuisance,” each band member is given ample room to flex their respective chops. The Optimist offers a glimpse into the past, well before these artists became synonymous with elite-level jazz. For a band still working toward something greater, The Optimist sounds fully realized. The world just needed to catch up.” – Bandcamp
“Welcome to The Optimist. A document, of boundless momentum, provided by LA’s most revered jazz collective from ten years ago. All 11 tracks come meticulously wrapped in the harmony of sound, giving of spirit and doggedly focused on cultural inclusivity. Porter has made it known repeatedly that he grew up on hip-hop, gangsta rap, ’70s soul, funk, and R&B. The Optimist infuses these genres of Black America to bring jazz where its people live. So you can get the immediate neck-snapping validation found in “The Instrumental Hip-Hoppa.” A brassy bottom-heavy shout out to shake off the blues by dancing the night away, rejoicing in a “LIT” moment. It’s the album’s best display of how thick and welcoming the horn section of WCGD can be when they play in unison.” – SF Sonic
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Ryan Porter |
|
Title: |
The Optimist |
|
Label: |
World Galaxy Records, Alpha Pup Records |
|
Format: |
3 x Vinyl, LP, Album |
|
Pressing: |
- |
|
Release Date: |
23rd Feb 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz, Funk / Soul |
|
Style: |
- |
|
Catalog No: |
WG-010 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
“His debut LP, Drone Logic, puts a neat little bow on his sudden rise to fame over the past year, and adds shades of depth to his already well-established sound. More importantly, it's a relentlessly stormy record that's too dynamic to get stale. Acid runs through Avery's veins, but he's no nostalgia peddler. Drone Logic sounds nothing like the classic Chicago or UK takes on the sound, nor does it have much in common with the contemplative version coming from the Acid Test axis. Instead, Avery fixes the squelch as a purely textural element; it adds a certain grain and edge to his ravey melodies, which repeat endlessly through filters and effects. They're simple—tracks like "Water Jump" and "Naive Response" wring out their chord progressions until you're almost sick of hearing them—but just weird enough to stay engaging. In an interview with RA, Avery expressed admiration for Paul Woolford's classic "Erotic Discourse," and much of Drone Logic has that tune's mix of the off-kilter and the easily accessible.
A good few of the album's tracks were released on Avery's past EPs, but they haven't lost any of their impact a year later, and the new ones have him in better form than ever. "All I Need," buried deep in the album's latter half, hits like an ecstasy cluster bomb; those big drowning-in-reverb chords are just made for an audience completely off its face. "These Nights Never End" takes things into the darker dimension of that druggy sound, all menacing belches and spasming basslines.” – Resident Advisor
“Peckham-based producer Daniel Avery has had more big-ups in the last year than haircuts, with electronic luminaries such as The Chemical Brothers and Richie Hawtin saluting his offbeat releases. His debut, however, is in a league of its own. ‘Drone Logic’ blurs raw techno, piano house and – yes – drone into propulsive dancefloor poetry. It’s minimal without being clinical, catchy without being clichéd and, thanks to the influence of MBV and Neu!, full of sonic left turns. At a time when Avicii’s hillbilly-EDM mangle is seen as the cutting edge of dance music, Avery’s logic makes perfect sense. – NME
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Daniel Avery |
|
Title: |
Drone Logic |
|
Label: |
Phantasy Sound |
|
Format: |
2 x Vinyl, LP, Album |
|
Pressing: |
UK |
|
Release Date: |
4th October 2013 |
|
Genre: |
Electronic |
|
Style: |
Acid, Acid House, Tech House, Dark Ambient |
|
Catalog No: |
PHLP002 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$45.00
Now-Again Records / Universal Music Special Markets
David Axelrod – Song of Innocence | 2018 Reissue
$45.00
“Song of Innocence is the debut album of American composer and producer David Axelrod. It was released in October 1968 by Capitol Records. Axelrod sought to capitalize on the experimental climate of popular music at the time and composed the album as a suite-like tone poem based on Songs of Innocence, a 1789 illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with an orchestra and a variety of studio musicians, including keyboardist and conductor Don Randi, guitarist Al Casey, bassist Carol Kaye, and drummer Earl Palmer.
Song of Innocence is an instrumental jazz fusion record that incorporates elements of classical, rock, funk, pop, and theatre music. It is arranged for bass, drums, and string instruments, written in the rock idiom with tempos centered on rock-based patterns by Palmer. Axelrod used contrast in his orchestral compositions and interspersed the album's euphoric psychedelic R&B form with dramatic, harrowing arrangements to reflect the supernatural themes found in Blake's poems. The music's reverent, psychedelic overtones evoke their themes of innocence and spirituality.” – Wiki
“Axelrod's psychedelia is implied; its compositional form and feeling that drive him to celebrate the wildness and folly of youth with celebration and verve. And as a result, the music here sounds fresh, free of cynicism and hipper-than-thou posturing, remaining new each time it is heard. Song of Innocence made critics turn their heads in its day, regarding it as a visionary curiosity piece; today it's simply a great, timeless work of pop art that continues to inspire over three decades after its initial release.” – All Music
Item description:
|
Artist: |
David Axelrod |
|
Title: |
Song Of Innocence |
|
Label: |
Now-Again Records, Universal Music Special Markets |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
|
Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 21 Apr 2018 | Original: 1968 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz, Rock |
|
Style: |
Jazz-Funk, Psychedelic Rock, Fusion |
|
Catalog No: |
NA 5165, NA 5165-LP-ST, B0028035-01 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$38.00
“Laurel Halo presents six instrumental pieces that form a meditative, cinematic listening experience. Inspired by recent film score work for Metahaven and Ursula Le Guin's translation of the 'Tao Te Ching'. Featuring cello work by Oliver Coates and percussion by Eli Keszler.
Working in abstraction leads to a deeper longing for touch and closeness. The tactile sensation of struck organ keys and bowed strings, wood and felt on drum heads. Smoke and dirt and stone. Febrile and tactile, hairy and hissy. A clover of highway onramps, a continuous flow, like old leaves melting on their way down a stream at the back of a house. Constant contradiction, the truth's nowhere.” – Bandcamp
“Halo’s music often rewards listeners who sit with it long enough to untangle all its knots. Raw Silk Uncut Wood marks a departure from her usual mode of thorny, cerebral electronic compositions, but as her most ambient record to date, it also boasts some of her most unabashedly beautiful music. The closing measures of “Nahbarkeit” feel like a revelation of sorts, a moment of surrender after so much searching. More than her previous albums, Raw Silk pursues a cohesive, linear narrative structure. It doesn’t aim to unseat the listener’s frame of reference, only to follow its own threads to the end.” – Pitchfork
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Laurel Halo |
|
Title: |
Raw Silk Uncut Wood |
|
Label: |
Latency |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Mini-Album |
|
Pressing: |
France |
|
Release Date: |
13 July 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Electronic |
|
Style: |
Ambient, Experimental, Modern Classical |
|
Catalog No: |
LTNC014 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$60.00
A TAV Essential Listening Album.
“Kazemachi Roman (Japanese: 風街ろまん Hepburn: Kazemachi Roman, literally "Wind City Romance") is the second album by Japanese folk rock band Happy End, released on URC Records in 1971. In this concept album, Happy End attempted to paint a musical picture of Tokyo before the 1964 Summer Olympics, through which sweeping changes transformed the city forever.” – Wiki
“Kazemachi Roman by Happy End is a radical LP, a concept project named best Japanese rock album of all time by Rolling Stone Japan, and heartily forward-thinking in its native country for its creators' insistence of all-Japanese lyrics after a decade of the Group Sounds scene making English the status quo in Japanese pop.” – All Music
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Happy End |
|
Title: |
Kazemachi Roman |
|
Label: |
URC, Pony Canyon |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue |
|
Pressing: |
Japan |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 19th July 2017 | Original: 1971 |
|
Genre: |
Rock, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
|
Style: |
Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Soft Rock |
|
Catalog No: |
PCJA-00066, URG-4009, |
|
Condition: |
New |
$145.00
A TAV Curator’s Pick.
“Recorded in 1957, Sonny's Crib features a front line of Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd, and John Coltrane with Sonny Clark on piano, Art Taylor on drums, and Paul Chambers on bass. Truly still a bebop recording, done a full year before the landmark Cool Struttin' session, nonetheless the set produced some awesome readings of classic tunes, like the opener, "With a Song in My Heart," with one of the knottiest Byrd solos ever. As Chambers and Taylor up the rhythmic ante and Clark comps with enormous chords in the background, the entire line solos, but it is Byrd's that is stunning in its complexity -- though Coltrane could play bebop as well as anybody. The most notable tracks on the session are the classic readings of Kurt Weill's "Speak Low" and "News for Lulu," the latter of which has been adopted by John Zorn as his theme. On the former, Clark's rearrangement, with Coltrane leading the front line, is truly revelatory.” – All Music
“Pianist Sonny Clark started with Bud Powell as his musical role model but by the mid-1950s had his own irresistible style. Clark set the standard for hard bop musicians by mastering the bebop vocabulary while also looking ahead and not being shy to include soulful phrases, the blues, and ideas from other sources in his playing. Sonny's Crib, which has the remarkable frontline of Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller and John Coltrane, features many inspired solos, with Byrd and 'Trane competing with Clark for honors. "News For Lulu" (decades later recorded by John Zorn) and an uptempo "With A Song In My Heart" are among the gems heard on this intriguing date, a definitive hard bop session that still sounds fresh, lively and vital a half-century later.
Like all Music Matters Jazz releases, this audiophile vinyl reissue is mastered from the original analog tape and pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at RTI in Camarillo, CA. The highest quality gatefold cover features original session photography on the inside.” – Music Matters
About Sonny Clark :
Like Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker before him, Sonny Clark's life was short but it burned with musical intensity. Influenced deeply by Bud Powell, Clark nonetheless developed an intricate and hard-swinging harmonic sensibility that was full of nuance and detail. Regarded as the quintessential hard bop pianist, Clark never got his due before he passed away in 1963 at the age of 31, despite the fact that it can be argued that he never played a bad recording date either as a sideman or as a leader. Known mainly for seven records on the Blue Note label with a host of players including such luminaries as John Coltrane, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones, and others, Clark actually made his recording debut with Teddy Charles and Wardell Gray, but left soon after to join Buddy DeFranco.
His work with the great clarinetist has been documented in full in a Mosaic set that is now sadly out of print. Clark also backed Dinah Washington, Serge Chaloff, and Sonny Criss before assuming his role as a leader in 1957. Clark's classic is regarded as Cool Struttin' but each date he led on Blue Note qualifies as a classic, including his final date, Sonny's Crib with John Coltrane. And though commercial success always eluded him, he was in demand as a sideman and played dozens of Alfred Lion-produced dates, including Tina Brooks' Minor Move. Luckily, Clark's contribution is well documented by Alfred Lion; he has achieved far more critical, musical, and popular acclaim than he ever did in life. – Blue Note Records
Musicians:
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Sonny Clark |
|
Title: |
Sonny's Crib |
|
Label: |
Music Matters, Blue Note |
|
Format: |
2 × Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Album, Stereo, Reissue, Limited Edition |
|
Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: July 2011 | Original: 1957 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Hard Bop |
|
Catalog No: |
MMBST-81576, BLP 1576 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$125.00
“Another Workout is an album by jazz tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley recorded on December 5, 1961, and first released on the Blue Note label in 1985. It follows Mobley's critically acclaimed 1961 album Workout and features performances by Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.” – Wiki
“Blue Note collectors greatly appreciate Hank Mobley for the tenor-saxophonist could always be relied upon to contribute inspired solos, catchy originals, and a leadership style that resulted in memorable matchups with the greats of hard bop. Mobley recorded so many classics during his prime years that Another Workout, a superb set from 1961, went unissued until 1985. Using the same lineup as the original Workout album (a trio of Miles Davis sidemen including Wynton Kelly plus Grant Green on one song), Another Workout is at least as vital. Mobley digs into "I Should Care," "Hello Young Lovers" and three of his originals, displaying a striking originality along with a quiet emotional intensity. His playing is so strong throughout this album that it is quite understandable that, for many listeners, hard bop begins and ends with the great Hank Mobley.
Like all Music Matters Jazz releases, this audiophile vinyl reissue is mastered from the original analog tape and pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at RTI in Camarillo, CA. The highest quality gatefold cover features original session photography on the inside.” – Music Matters
About Hank Mobley :
"One of the Blue Note label's definitive hard bop artists, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley remains somewhat underappreciated for his straightforward, swinging style. Any characterization of Mobley invariably begins with critic Leonard Feather's assertion that he was the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone," meaning that his tone wasn't as aggressive and thick as John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins, but neither was it as soft and cool as Stan Getz or Lester Young. Instead, Mobley's in-between, "round" (as he described it) sound was controlled and even, given over to subtlety rather than intense displays of emotion. Even if he lacked the galvanizing, mercurial qualities of the era's great tenor innovators, Mobley remained consistently solid throughout most of his recording career. His solo lines were full of intricate rhythmic patterns that were delivered with spot-on precision, and he was no slouch harmonically either. As a charter member of Horace Silver's Jazz Messengers, Mobley helped inaugurate the hard bop movement: jazz that balanced sophistication and soulfulness, complexity and earthy swing, and whose loose structure allowed for extended improvisations. As a solo artist, he began recording for Blue Note in the latter half of the '50s, and hit his peak in the first half of the '60s with hard bop cornerstones like Soul Station, No Room for Squares, and A Caddy for Daddy." – Blue Note Records
Musicians:
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Hank Mobley |
|
Title: |
Another Workout |
|
Label: |
Music Matters, Blue Note |
|
Format: |
2 × Vinyl, LP, 45 RPM, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, 180gm, Gatefold Jacket |
|
Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 2011 | Original: 1985 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Jazz |
|
Catalog No: |
MMBST-84431, BST 84431 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$45.00
“Mixing Quiet Storm R&B, 1970s jazz-funk fusion, cosmic soul, and instrumental hip-hop, Collagically Speaking features a cross-section of top-tier musicians lending their voices to the fluid set. They have all made significant waves on their own, either as established solo artists or well-known studio musicians. The genesis of the band goes back one year, to the Robert Glasper & Friends showcase at the 2017 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, where Glasper, Scott, Hodge, McFerrin, and Martin were joined by Marcus Gilmore on drums. The performance resembled an improvised jam session: Sonnymoon’s Anna Wise sang a verse from her work with rapper Kendrick Lamar; rapper Phonte Coleman spit a few bars as well.” – Pitchfork
“R+R stands for ‘Reflect’ and ‘Respond’,” says Glasper. The idea came to him via Nina Simone while he was coproducing Nina Revisited, a companion album to the 2015 film What Happened, Miss Simone? Facing backlash for her politics, Simone was asked, more or less, why she didn't just shut up and sing. Her answer: “an artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” Glasper adds: “When you reflect what's going on in your time and respond to that, you can't not be relevant. So ‘R’ plus ‘R’ equals ‘NOW’.”
In that spirit, Collagically Speaking isn't some wonky thesis on the state of the nation. It’s a raw document that seamlessly adheres neo-soul to future-funk, West Coast jazz of the moment to astral electronica, instrumental hip-hop to musique concrète, avant-garde to classical—these are single-take songs, written live in the room, that go wherever this formidable crew's mood goes. Guest voices get caught in that mix as well: actors Omari Hardwick (Power) and Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Expendables); actress Amanda Seales (Insecure); MCs Stalley and yasiin bey (f.k.a. Mos Def); and singers Amber Navran (of Moonchild) and Goapele. The themes that bind it all together are both spoken and inferred: romantic love, universal love, systemic bigotry, the women's movement, quiet power, wild creativity, personal loss and growth."” – Blue Note
Item description:
|
Artist: |
R+R=NOW |
|
Title: |
Collagically Speaking |
|
Label: |
Blue Note Records |
|
Format: |
2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
|
Pressing: |
Europe |
|
Release Date: |
15th June 2018 |
|
Genre: |
Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk / Soul |
|
Style: |
Contemporary Jazz |
|
Catalog No: |
6755433 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$45.00
Pier & Loft was originally released in 1983. Its seven tracks were recorded for a fashion show that took place in the Tokyo Bay area. The tape originally came out on Fukusei Gijutsu Kohbo, an imprint run by Yoshio Ojima, who produced the album. It has since become a cult classic among ambient fans— Huerco S. cited the LP as a major inspiration on last year's For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) LP, which ranked highly in RA's albums poll.
Pier & Loft is the third record on Japanese digger Chee Shimizu's archival imprint, 17853. The press release includes some thoughts on the record from Yoshimura, who passed away in 2003. "As the time goes by, the Loft was swept away (forgotten) from the City but it somewhat has a look of a 'City of Ruins' that reminds you of something you have forgotten," Yoshimura said. "Something nostalgic. Sounds from the City and the vast landscape gave me a great opportunity to take a fresh look at Tokyo." – Resident Advisor
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Hiroshi Yoshimura |
|
Title: |
Pier & Loft |
|
Label: |
17853 Records |
|
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
|
Pressing: |
Japan |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: September 2017 | Original: 1983 |
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Genre: |
Electronic |
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Style: |
Experimental, Minimal, Ambient |
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Catalog No: |
RFLP004 |
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Condition: |
New |
$45.00
“God is More Than Love is the only complete piano-bass-drums studio session in the massive Sun Ra catalog. What would have drawn the bandleader, 25 years into his recording career, to adopt a format that had been common in jazz for decades? Drummer Samarai Celestial (Eric Walker) recalled it being his first recording date with Ra; they were joined by bassist Hayes Burnett, who gigged with Ra on and off for a decade.
The album offers an intense set of cosmic vagabond moods, reflecting the telepathy that is the essence of small combo jazz. Sun Ra doesn't play notes—he paints stars. Burnett's bass runs fluid and thick. Celestial is a perpetual motion machine; his quicksilver fills echo the muscle and propulsion of a young Billy Cobham. This is a power machine, full of drive and liftoff, with sporadic (and surprising) gearshifts. Celestial's restless stickwork doesn't play the groove so much as imply it; Burnett's foundational pulse is the unifier. The threesome rarely locks in, but their musical spirits are intertwined.” – Bandcamp
“God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be was last given a physical re-release in 1989 but in March 2018 it was reissued in a remastered vinyl-only edition by Cosmic Myth. Ra is accompanied by bassist Hayes Burnett and drummer Samarai Celestial. Burnett played on and off with Ra from 1976—1982, and Celestial, whose first Ra session this was, until Ra's passing in 1993, and then in the Arkestra led by Marshall Allen until his own passing in 1997. The album was recorded live in the studio, with only a small amount of overdubbing (a second piano track on "Days Of Happiness"). None of the five tracks (all Ra originals, though you may detect similarities to W.C. Handy's "St Louis Blues" in "Magic City Blues") has ever reappeared elsewhere in Ra's discography. Ra's detractors often question his qualifications as a jazz musician. Listening to God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be for just a few minutes should convert even the most sceptical among them.” – All About Jazz
Item description:
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Artist: |
Sun Ra |
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Title: |
God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be |
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Label: |
Cosmic Myth Records |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered |
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Pressing: |
Europe |
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Release Date: |
This reissue: 22nd March 2018 | Original: 1979 |
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Genre: |
Jazz |
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Style: |
Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz |
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Catalog No: |
CMR 003 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
“Their fourth album, Hive Mind, is an act of collective conviction. It simplifies and shores up the Internet sound with soft-focus blues, plush arrangements, and deep-in-the-ground grooves. The beats are shapelier, more boldly defined, and yet they still have the capacity to bleed into each other. “They gon’ get us to come together,” a chorus of voices sings on the album’s opening song, each utterance louder than the one before. And just as the title implies, they are more in sync here than ever.
The songs on Hive Mind are more deliberate than those on Ego Death, less likely to liquify into sticky funk codas. The two-act game of cat-and-mouse “Next Time / Humble Pie” is a gorgeous model of the band’s evolution into a singular organism; the song is split in half but the parts are interlinked, mirroring each other. The groovy, Martians-led “Beat Goes On” cracks open to reveal an alternate, ghostly drum ‘n’ bass interpretation. These moments feel less like songs devolving into jam session or rearranging into something wholly distinct from what came before. Instead, they are of a piece with what preceded them, mesmerizing blooms and curves in the arrangements that never sacrifice a song’s momentum. Though less of an odyssey, Hive Mind presents a more holistic sound, the band’s members convening around the presence of their effortlessly cool frontperson Syd.” –Pitchfork
“Each of the band members’ respective solo projects served as fertile ground for the creation of Hive Mind, fostering the individual growth necessary to produce a well-balanced and explicitly confident group project after three solid formal albums that did more to showcase their ability to serve as keepers of the minimal funk pop flame than to push their work into new and exhilarating sonic territory. Hive Mind is inclusive of lo-fi bedroom beats, post-Soulquarian punk and soul, and the mothership tipico at the root of modern funk nostalgia. It reaches into club culture as deftly as it relaxes into burnt sugar. Lush arpeggios are matched by vocals that absolutely levitate. The band’s acute attention to detail and commitment to singularity create the kind of nuance that makes Hive Mind’s most effervescent compositions practically glitter.” – Consequence of sound
Item description:
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Artist: |
The Internet |
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Title: |
Hive Mind |
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Label: |
Columbia, Sony Music |
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Format: |
2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
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Pressing: |
Europe |
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Release Date: |
20 Jul 2018 |
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Genre: |
Hip Hop, Funk / Soul |
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Style: |
|
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Catalog No: |
19075861921 |
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Condition: |
New |
$45.00
Superior Viaduct / Universal Music Special Markets
Alice Coltrane – Lord of Lords | 2018 Reissue
$45.00
“Lord of Lords, released in 1973, was Alice Coltrane's final album for Impulse! It was the final part of a trilogy that began with Universal Consciousness and continued with the expansive World Galaxy. Like its immediate predecessors, the album features a 16-piece string orchestra that Coltrane arranged and conducted, fronted by a trio in which she plays piano, Wurlitzer organ, harp, and timpani with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ben Riley. Riley was familiar with the setting because he had been part of the sessions for World Galaxy.” – All Music
“The last of those albums, 1972’s Lord of Lords, is now being reissued on vinyl by Superior Viaduct and it may be the most ecstatic record she made. The music—unnerving, slow-building, a throbbing organism of sound—is cosmically cinematic. Lord of Lords was the final and most fully realized installment in a trio of albums—the others are 1971’s Universal Consciousness and 1972’s World Galaxy—that put Coltrane’s jagged orchestral arrangements alongside her dark, rumbling piano, arpeggiated harp, and Wurlitzer organ. (Bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ben Riley are relegated to the sidelines.) These works represent a radical turn away from Coltrane’s previous records, which for the most part operated very much in line—stylistically and spiritually—with the kind of modal, swing-oriented jazz popularized by her husband and occasional bandmate, John, who died in 1967.” – Pitchfork
“This record, her last for Impulse!, finds Coltrane bringing her universal sound to a string orchestra. Here, her band is the same throughout, with Charlie Hayden on the bass and Ben Riley on drums. The uniformity of the band, and the size of the orchestra, gives Lord of Lords a more settled feel than Universal Consciousness, though it is no less wandering and expansive. But where its predecessor threw fits of joy, kicked up dust with its fiery dance, Lord of Lords soars.The sheer breadth of this sound is staggering, and the way it places the formal orchestral parts alongside Coltrane's experimentalism sounds remarkably fluid. To hear the dramatic phrasings of the orchestra, coming in powerful rundowns on tracks like "Andromeda's Suffering", rolling over Riley's heavy cymbal clanging and Coltrane's own vibrant starts and stops is as impressive as it is unsettling.” – Pop Matters
Item description:
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Artist: |
Alice Coltrane |
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Title: |
Lord of Lords |
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Label: |
Superior Viaduct, Universal Music Special Markets |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered |
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Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 3rd Aug 2018| Original: 1972 |
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Genre: |
Jazz |
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Style: |
Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz |
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Catalog No: |
SV 150, B0027733-01, |
|
Condition: |
New |
$36.00
A TAV Curator's Pick.
“Multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk leaves the stritch, manzello and other exotic instruments at home for this all-flute outing from his pre -"Rahsaan" days. Consisting mostly of originals, with a couple of show tunes and a swinging take on John Lewis' "Django" thrown in, I Talk to the Spirits provides the best sampling of Kirk's unique flute style. He hums along with himself as he plays, inserts pieces of lyrics when the mood hits, finds overtones and multi-part harmonies as he blows madly through the upper register and sails sweetly through the lower. Included here is the original version of "Serenade to a Cuckoo," a song later taken to rock audiences with its inclusion on the first Jethro Tull album. (In fact, for the Tull fan who wants to hear where Ian Anderson borrowed his style, I Talk to the Spirits is the place to go.)” – All Music
“The world has never quite seen someone like Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The blind multi-instrumentalist was a subverted destroyer of the expected, going as far as performing with multiple brass instruments at the same time. He did so often too; it was a staple of his. While it may seem gimmicky, it worked magnificently, making for a unique and irreplaceable sound. He was an absolute tour de force that could simply not be stopped…
…They also somehow managed to include some avant-garde, improvisation and interludes without ruining the flow of the songs. To complement these styles, the band incorporated alternative instrumentation with tremendous effect. The varying soundscapes add a layer of class and virtuosity to the music in a very natural manner. What the band created was nothing less than beauty through sound. When all is said and done, it is irrefutable that I Talk With the Spirits is a legendary gem of jazz. Well, it's not only that. It's a delicate expression of sound that only Rahsaan could coin a term for himself: Black Classical Music. Oh, and what an ornate pleasure it is.” – Sputnik Music
Item description:
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Artist: |
Roland Kirk |
|
Title: |
I Talk With The Spirits |
|
Label: |
Limelight |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo |
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Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: Unknown | Original: 1965 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Contemporary Jazz |
|
Catalog No: |
LS 86008 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
“Two years after the death of his mentor and boss, John Coltrane, and just before signing his own contract with Impulse!, Pharoah Sanders finally got around to releasing an album as a leader apart from the Impulse! family. Enlisting a cast of characters no less than 13 in number, Sanders proved that his time with Coltrane and his Impulse! debut, Tauhid, was not a fluke. Though hated by many of the jazz musicians at the time -- and more jazz critics who felt Coltrane had lost his way musically the minute he put together the final quintet -- Sanders followed his own muse to the edges of Eastern music and sometimes completely outside the borderlines of what could be called jazz. That said, Izipho Zam is a wonderful recording, full of the depth of vision and heartfelt soul that has informed every recording of Sanders since. Guests include Sonny Sharrock, Lonnie Liston Smith, Chief Bey, Cecil McBee, Sirone, Sonny Fortune, Billy Hart, Howard Johnson, and others. The set begins with a gorgeous soul tune in "Prince of Peace," with Leon Thomas doing his trademark yodel, croon, and wail as Smith, McBee, and Hart back him and Sanders fills the gaps. Next is "Balance," the first blowing tune on the set, with the African drums, the modal horns, and Sanders' microtonal investigations of sonic polarity contrasted with Johnson's tuba, leaving the rhythm section to join him as Sharrock and Smith trade drone lines and Sanders turns it into a Latin dance from outer space about halfway through to the end -- it's astonishing.” – All Music
“Pharoah Sanders’ Izipho Zam was one of albums that Jordan had laid to tape, in hopes of dragging jazz past its pre-established, calcified borders. The sessions were something of a statement of purpose for Sanders himself, a declaration of sovereignty. He was breaking away from Impulse!, the safe haven vanguard of jazz recording of the era, and at the same time, taking a respectful step out of the shadow of long-time mentor and friend John Coltrane, who had spearheaded Sanders’ stylish rise through the studio ranks, and who’d died just two years before Izipho Zam’s recording (put to tape in 1969, the LP wouldn’t see release until 1973). – Sputnik Music
Item description:
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Artist: |
Pharoah Sanders |
|
Title: |
Izipho Zam (My Gifts) |
|
Label: |
Everland Jazz – Everland Jazz 003 |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
|
Pressing: |
Netherlands |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 14th July 2017 | Original: 1973 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Free Jazz |
|
Catalog No: |
Everland Jazz 003 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$39.00
“Moondog's second Prestige album solidified his standing as a rare breed: a musician whose work was both highly experimental and approachable by listeners without a taste for the avant-garde. That's what enabled him to make a living as a street musician in Manhattan, after all. On this album he produced a variety of wonderful shaking percussion sounds and rhythms with an oo (a triangular stringed instrument struck with a clave) and even "Ostrich Feathers Played on Drum" (as the title on one track reads). The percussion is sometimes backed by sparse, Asian-sounding melodies, and there are also unpredictable interludes of solo piano, street sounds, and an eight-minute "Moondog Monologue." One of the round-like vocal numbers, the minute-long and inexpressibly sad "All Is Loneliness," found an unexpected second life in the 1960s when it was covered by Big Brother & the Holding Company.” – All Music
“In 1956 and 1957, Moondog recorded three albums for the Prestige label, then second only to Blue Note in importance on the US jazz scene. The association introduced Moondog to a new, progressively-inclined audience. More Moondog has been acknowledged by Philip Glass as an early influence on both himself and co-minimalist pioneer Steve Reich when the pair were studying composition at New York’s Juilliard School. Another celebrity endorsement came from the late Frank Zappa, who said that the track ‘Autumn’ inspired him to form the Mothers of Invention in the mid 1960s.” – The Vinyl Factory
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Moondog |
|
Title: |
More Moondog |
|
Label: |
4 Men With Beards |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180 Gr |
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Pressing: |
US |
|
Release Date: |
This reissue: 2009 | Original: 1956 |
|
Genre: |
Electronic, Jazz |
|
Style: |
Abstract, Experimental |
|
Catalog No: |
4M176 |
|
Condition: |
New |
$45.00
“Ill Considered are a band comprising four musicians interacting with each other to create freely improvised music, based loosely around simple pre-written themes or composed on the spot. Deep grooves and plaintive melodies ranging from whispered chants to monstrous climaxes, the group react to the mood of the audience and the sonics of the room to create music that is unique to the moment.
Four musicians breaking all the rules, creating new compositions in the moment – No planning, no talking between takes, no idea what music will be made or where the session is going to take them, just a couple of hours snatched at an incredible London studio and a finished product that is wild, outrageously energetic, touching, subtly dynamic, and surprisingly coherent. Super tight as if it’s been rehearsed and perfected over many months, many of the tracks feel thoroughly thought-out and considered – ironically given the band’s chosen name. Wonky, mad, intense vibes at the cutting edge of contemporary UK improvised music. Idris Rahman on sax, Leon Brichard on bass, Emre Ramazanoglu on drums, Yahael Camara-Onono on percussion.” – Music is my Sanctuary
Item description:
|
Artist: |
Ill Considered |
|
Title: |
Ill Considered |
|
Label: |
Ill Considered Music |
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Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Lmitied Edition |
|
Pressing: |
UK |
|
Release Date: |
2018 |
|
Genre: |
Jazz |
|
Style: |
Free Jazz, Modal, Avant-garde Jazz |
|
Catalog No: |
STACLP02 |
|
Condition: |
New |
"What's in a local vinyl shop? Check out the best vinyl stores in Singapore to pick up a crate or chat with sound hounds"
Check out Buro 24/7's latest 2018 guide on record stores in Singapore, featuring The Analog Vault amongst others.
July 2018 sees composer and songwriter Bennett Bay perform at the Analog Room's intimate OutIn series. Inspired by pastoral imagery and everyday experiences, Bennett builds delicate emotional and cinematic soundscapes around his songs with a rooted sensibility in folk songwriting. Also a member of post-rock trio Hauste, Bennett's musical ability reflects his confidence in stringing melancholy, meditative and adventurous emotions together. Join us as Bennett showcases his talent with the acoustic guitar, backed by a glockenspiel and violin in the Analog Room on July 21st. Admission is free and drinks are complimentary, while stocks last.
The Analog Room's intimate OutIn series returns this June with a solo live set from Singapore-based electronic beatsmith Intriguant. Join us as he improvises over tracks from "Recluse" as well as more unreleased material on Saturday, June 30, 5 to 6 p.m.
The Analog Room's in-store live performance series OutIn is happening on 19 May (Saturday), 5 to 6 p.m., this time with a rare solo acoustic set and vinyl record signing session by Hanging Up The Moon (HUTM). Join us for an intimate lead-up to the official launch of HUTM's well-received fourth and latest album, “It’s All Here Somewhere”, happening on 27 July at the Esplanade Recital Studio. Complimentary drinks, courtesy of The Analog Vault. Admission is free.
