Cerca:spirituals

Wie in einer Szene aus einem Traum stand Thor Harris auf einer überfüllten Bühne mit 13 Musikern: Er klopfte, zupfte, verbeugte sich und blies lyriklose Liebeslieder in ein großes Auditorium von 325 leuchtend roten Sitzen - ohne dass auch nur eine Seele darauf saß. Dies war die Entstehung von "Heathen Spirituals", das fünfte aufgenommene Werk von Harris' abenteuerlichem Ambient-Ensemble Thor & Friends und das erste, das einer himmlischen Wiederholung der Live-Auftritte der Gruppe aus Austin ähnelt. Es ist ein jahrhundertealtes Konzept: eine Platte in einer leeren Musikhalle aufzunehmen. Geleitet von Craig Ross (Patty Griffin, Spoon), einem unerschrockenen Produzenten und lebenslangen Mitarbeiter von Harris, wurde Thor & Friends zwei Tage lang verkabelt, um frei fließende meditative Stücke auf unverstärkten Orchesterinstrumenten im Jessen Auditorium, einem atemberaubenden Art-Déco-Relikt aus den frühen Tagen der Butler School of Music der University of Texas, einzuspielen. Thor Harris ist ein Handwerker, künstlerisch und anderweitig: Er ist Klempner-, Tischler- und Holzarbeiter. In musikalischen Zusammenhängen taucht sein Name oft in Verbindung mit den fünf Worten ,bekannt für seine Arbeit mit" auf, er war Mitglied der Avant-Rock-Götter SWANS und den Indie-Lieblingen Shearwater, aber auch an wichtigen Aufnahmen von Bill Callahan, Amanda Palmer, Devendra Banhart und Shahzad Ismaily beteiligt. In vielen Kreisen ist Harris auch dafür bekannt, dass er ein offenherziger Verfechter der psychischen Gesundheit ist mit einem teuflischen Sinn für Humor und einer Vorliebe für unterhaltsame soziale Kommentare (sein Lehrvideo ,How to Punch a Nazi" führte dazu, dass er im Jahr 2017 von Twitter verbannt wurde). "Heathen Spirituals", das am 16. Mai 2025 auf Joyful Noise Recordings erscheint, enthält drei Originalstücke mit einer Laufzeit von 35 Minuten. Die rhythmische Wiederholung der Eröffnungsséance ,Anne Sexton's Glasses" evoziert ein kognitives Crescendo, während das bezaubernde "Christmas Eve at the Wizard's House" ein Gefühl der Schwerelosigkeit hervorruft. Das krachende, von Chören begleitete ,Heathen Spiritual" rührt derweil ein wunderschönes Requiem für einen sterbenden Planeten an. In glorreicher Treue fangen die Sessions die instinktive Reinheit der Live-Auftritte von Thor & Friends ein.

Limited edition of 7500 picture disc copies. Spirituals is Santigold's first full-length album since 2016's 99¢, and was mostly recorded during the 2020 lockdown. "All of a sudden there I was with three small children out of school_just-turned-two-year-old twins and a six-year-old_I was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and changing diapers from morning to night, with three little kids coming in and out of my bed throughout each night like musical chairs. I was losing touch with the artist me, stuck in a part of myself that was too small. I felt the other parts of me were shrinking, disappearing." Santigold struggled but succeeded in defining a space in which she could center herself and collaborate virtually with producers and contributors: Rostam, Boys Noize, Dre Skull, P2J, Nick Zinner, SBTRKT, JakeOne, Illangelo, Doc McKinney, Psymun, Ricky Blaze, Lido, Ray Brady, and Ryan Olson. "Recording this album was a way back to myself after being stuck in survival mode. It wasn't until I made the space to create that I realized I wasn't only creating music but a lifeline," she says. California was on fire, we were hiding from a plague, the social justice protests were unfolding. "I'd never written lyrics faster in my life. After having total writer's block, they started pouring out. I decided to create the future, to look towards where we are going, to create beauty and pull towards that beauty. I need that for myself, but it's also there for whoever else needs it."

A tape version (with alternate & extended tracklisting) of the digital-only released »Sounds of Healing in Isolation« by Spirituals, that was heavily featured in Four Tet's mixes and playlists. »Sound of Healing« is a journey through ambient, spiritual music, jazz and ambient.

The second installment in the D-Vine Spirituals Story. The Memphis gospel label that took the South by storm in the late 60's-early 70's is finally getting it's due with the reissue treatment that the Bible & Tire imprint is known for. Gritty, raw and real sacred soul from a time when the sound of gospel music was at its peak and most contagious. The collection consists of legendary artists like Elizabeth King, Elder Jack Ward & The Gospel Four and The D-Vine Spiritualetts to name just a few. This is Sacred Soul gospel from D-Vine Spirituals Records.

The first installment in the D-Vine Spirituals Story. The Memphis gospel label that took the South by storm in the late 60's-early 70's is finally getting it's due with the reissue treatment that the Bible & Tire imprint is known for. Gritty, raw and real sacred soul from a time when the sound of gospel music was at its peak and most contagious. The collection consists of legendary artists like Elizabeth King, Elder Jack Ward & The Gospel Four and The D-Vine Spiritualetts to name just a few. This is Sacred Soul gospel from D-Vine Spirituals Records.

Our journeys into uncharted lands of the Reducerverse continue.

Essential must-buy shit for all disciples of: The Rootsman x Muslimgauze, Love's Secret Domain era Coil, Chris & Cosey, Meat Beat Manifesto, early Reinforced Recs, Shut Up & Dance, He Dark Age, Zombies Under Stress, SPK.

If you've just joined us: Reducer ARE the greatest lost dub punks. Rumoured to have almost signed to On-U Sound but told Sherwood to stuff it when he wanted his hands on the desk. Fame never found them, cos they didn't want it anyway. Living in the obscure memories of the select squatters and weirdos lucky enough to have had their minds blown, their first recordings were scraped off the linings of the cosmic dustbin recently through a series of self-released 12"s, cassettes, USBs and strangest of all a 3D performance screened at the Cube (in association with pals Bokeh Versions).

In short: Reducer's the most thrilling fairytale resurrection these pages have been privy to, joining 23 Skidoo, Killing Joke, PiL, Slits, Terminal Cheescake etc on the Mount Olympus of the Punky Reggae Party.

This latest slice of karmic justice comes from The Human Aerial aka Reducer's guitarist and prime mover Hooly. And ohhhh what a justice it is. Drawing on 40 years of private solo recordings across 7 tracks from Abu Ama style dabke jaguar steppas punishment to thumping bass-led electro, peak Depth Charge dubby big beat to careening breakbeat hardcore, trashcan gamelan spirituals and Jamie Vex'd style maximalist beats blissouts,

Tying together this jaw-dropping range of styles and fashions is a relentless sampladelic bombardment. The Human Aerial's habitual pilfering of TV and radio for into lovingly spliced tape loops and samples showcases humanity at its best and absolute worst. Tele-evangelists rub shoulders with long dead chieftans: "there is no death, only change of worlds" "We're MAD AS HELL AND WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE" "THe land is sacred, a cathedral of the spirit". These wisdoms and grave sins slip into us subliminal through the dance, the needle drops like a waking dream.

While the Reducer archives may be running low, we assure you the Human Aerial coffers are full. And long may our minds be blown by this ongoing renaissance.

Death Is Not The End present a compilation gathering a cross-section of early gospel choirs and vocal harmony groups recorded between late 1920s and the mid-1950s - a period when spirituals & jubilee traditions merged with blues, jazz and early rhythm and blues, providing the musical routes for the coalescence of the civil rights movement born out of the black church. In the modern world these perennially vital recordings provide a fitting tonic for the near-dystopia we find ourselves living through.

Death Is Not The End present a compilation gathering a cross-section of early gospel choirs and vocal harmony groups recorded between late 1920s and the mid-1950s - a period when spirituals & jubilee traditions merged with blues, jazz and early rhythm and blues, providing the musical routes for the coalescence of the civil rights movement born out of the black church. In the modern world these perennially vital recordings provide a fitting tonic for the near-dystopia we find ourselves living through.

On 2018’s “Folk”, New Orleans songwriter and singer Sabine McCalla presents her own interpretation of grass-roots southern music. Combining elements of jazz, country blues, calypso, New Orleans R&B and Haitian creole compas, Sabine spins stories of heartbreak and hope through intimate arrangements and honest inflections. Recorded by Sam Doores (the Deslondes) and Duff Thompson (Mashed Potato Records), “Folk” exposes Sabine’s love of laments and folk spirituals, her penchant for simple truths and her interest in divining fundamental wisdom about love and loss from a small tangle of words. Commanding in its simplicity, with most songs sung a capella or with minimal guitar or vocal accompaniment, the EP’s five songs tell the stories of lost souls and broken hearts, embedded with painful truths that come to us calmly, the ones that are physically and psychically impossible to ignore.

This project by Manu Dibango, the legendary saxophonist and pioneer of Afro-fusion jazz, delves into a musical universe where the saxophone becomes the voice of a spiritual and introspective quest. Sax & Spirituals Lamastabastani merges jazz, gospel, and African influences to weave a dialogue between sacred traditions and modern expressions.

With this work, Dibango pays tribute to the spiritual roots of music while reaffirming his commitment to sonic innovation. The project's minimalist and meditative approach speaks to both the soul and the senses, offering a musical experience imbued with depth and humanity.

John Patitucci stands as a towering figure in the global jazz scene, renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to modern jazzfusion and beyond. His bold new album, Spirit Fall, marks an exciting new phase in his career as a leader, featuring his trio withthe extraordinary Brian Blade and Chris Potter, and stands as one of the most significant new signings to Edition Records.Patitucci’s exceptional versatility across acoustic and electric bass has set a new standard in contemporary music, influencinggenerations of bassists worldwide. Collaborating with icons like Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock, his work hasdefined the sound of jazz for decades, particularly his role in Corea’s Elektric Band, which helped shape jazz fusion’s evolution. Amultiple Grammy Award-winner, his virtuosity and ability to span genres have made him a vital force in jazz.His past solo works, including Line by Line and Songs, Stories and Spirituals, have already showcased his profound ability toblend jazz, classical, funk, and world music. Spirit Fall continues this tradition, bringing a fresh perspective to his ever-evolvingartistry while reaffirming his position as one of the most creative forces in contemporary jazz.

Individually, JD Simo and Luther Dickinson are building their own legacies as solo artists, sidemen, songwriters, and guitar heroes. Together, they're a creative force to be reckoned with, making their own version of amplified American roots music. On the pair's first collaborative album, Do The Rump!, the musicians trade blistering guitar solos, take turns at the microphone, and turn their classic influences -- including hill country blues, spirituals, swamp rock, and Afrobeat -- into something contemporary, reinterpreting a number of their old-school favorites into eclectic, electrifying anthems. The partnership began onstage, where Simo and Dickinson first shared the spotlight as touring members of Phil Lesh and Friends. Dickinson had already established himself as co-founder of the Grammy-winning duo North Mississippi Allstars, as well as a celebrated guitarist for acts like Black Crowes and John Hiatt. Similarly, JD Simo had built an audience not only with his solo project, but also as a session musician for Jack White, Beyonce, Chris Isaak, and Baz Luhrmann's Elvis movie.

Nigerian electronic musician and violist Ibukun Sunday debuts on Phantom Limb with Harmony / Balance, a brooding, introspective take on Afro-ambient music that follows two acclaimed digital-only albums for Phantom Limb imprint Spirituals.


Based in Lagos, Ibukun Sunday has expertly positioned himself between the rarely-married cultures of ambient and West African musics. He entwines his compositions with field recordings from his native Nigeria and deeply considered philosophies of existence, humanity, and society. The themes of Harmony / Balance derive from Swami and Hare Krishna founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta and his work Bhagavad-Gita Eng: “As It Is”, a script on the duality of human nature. In Bhaktivedanta’s text, two cousins - warriors from the sacred Hindu text the Mahābhārata - and their armies are pitted against each other. The humility, self control, and devotion of one cousin against the arrogance, envy, and pursuit of power of the other. Bhaktivedanta writes that from this battle we see the necessity to cultivate and nurture our love and faith, but to simultaneously understand our selfishness and hubris. Appropriately, in Ibukun Sunday’s music, a heavy, apocalyptic dread contrasts fascinatingly with passages of light. The static-spiked, corrosive sound design of Harmony / Balance conjures darkness, but its skipping rhythmic patterns and melodic contours are made of beautifully vibrant colours.



Though Sunday excels in the kind of drawn-out elegance also found in the work of Kali Malone, William Basinski or Fennesz, and also in a magisterial repetition akin to Terry Riley or Manuel Göttsching, his unique practice, classical training, and core culture shine through in a pure and singular way. Scattered throughout Harmony / Balance are unexpected melodic antiphonies closely aligned with African music, interspersed between huge, spacious drones and field recordings.



Lead track “Arrayed On The Battlefield” evokes mythical and deific wars with hissing, buzzing synthesis that could be dystopian if not for a levitational, sunlit harmonic structure. It rolls and shimmers, transcendent frequencies alive with rhythm. Later, “Enemy Of My Enemy” employs shimmering, meditative chord pads and blissful negative space, while towards the end of the record, “To Fight With” could have been taken from a Denis Villeneuve sci-fi - the fizzing, fiery distortion at its peak gradually, carefully yields a rumbling, distant thunder as it closes. Throughout the record, Sunday’s education as a classical viola player is also evident. A honed musicality and developed ear for harmonic resonances lend the work a measured eloquence, even amidst deep, spiritual intuitiveness. This intensely personal and powerfully expressive creativity is key to the grace with which he crosses divides.


Ibukun Sunday is a solo electronic musician and violist based in Lagos, Nigeria. He has released two albums with Phantom Limb’s digital-only imprint Spirituals, which enjoyed rightful acclaim as unique and powerful works of experimental ambient music. He also performed at Phantom Limb’s 5th anniversary celebrations in 2023, playing alongside Richard Skelton at St. John’s on Bethnal Green in London, UK.

A true jack-of-all-trades, he has played and recorded virtually every style of music you can think of - Soul, Reggae, Jazz, Spirituals, Blues, African, Electro. Etc... Initially trained on classical piano, his musical career began in Brussels and Paris in the 50s. In the 60s, he flew to the Congo as a member of Joseph Kabasele's African Jazz group, Le Grand Kalle. Next came Cameroon in 1963, where he formed his own group before returning to Paris in 1965. For the Manu 76 album, we are - obviously - in 1976, still in Paris. Four years after his international breakthrough with his hit Soul Makossa, Manu assembled a prestigious cast of musicians including Jo Tongo on bass, Slim Pezin on guitar, Lucien Dobat (from Kassav) on drums, Alex Francfort on piano and 7-year-old Georgia Dibango as guest vocalist.

Limitierte Jubiläumsauflage der 2014er Xiu Xiu-LP "Unclouded Sky" auf weiss-silberfarbigem Vinyl. Das von Shahzad Ismaily in Sigur Rós' Studio auf Island produzierte Album enthält neun mit einer 1953er Silvertone-Gitarre aufgenommenen Interpretationen amerikanischer und karibischer Spirituals, die ursprünglich zwischen 1850-1920 komponiert wurden, und zusätzlich mit Field Recordings versehen sind, die Xiu Xiu-Frontmann Jamie Stewart im Dschungel von Guyana machte.

Donald Byrd presented A New Perspective with his magnificent 1963 album for band and voices which wove the essence of spirituals into modern jazz with arrangements by Duke Pearson and contributions from Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Burrell, and others. Highlights include the stunning ‘Cristo Redentor’, spirited ‘Elijah’ and soulful ‘Chant’. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Haunting in situ recordings from Parchman Farm Maximum Security
Prison in Mississippi (usa) producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen,Ustad Saami,
Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Zomba Prison Project) recorded the prison's Sunday
gospel service and the results are unforgettable
The performances range from solo a-capella to a floor- shaking electric band. The
repertoire includes both traditional and newly penned spirituals. "some
Mississippi Sunday morning" is an unfiltered and deeply resonant journey into a
musical world rarely seen or heard

Hailed as "gospel titans" by Rolling Stone, the Blind Boys of Alabama defied the considerable odds stacked against them in the segregated South, working their way up from singing for pocket change to performing for three different presidents over the course of an 80-year career that saw them break down racial barriers, soundtrack the Civil Rights movement, and help redefine modern gospel music forever.

The five-time Grammy-winners’ latest album, Echoes Of The South, draws its name from the Birmingham radio program that hosted the group’s very first professional performance back in

1944. Pairing traditional spirituals and long-lost gospel classics with vintage soul and R&B tunes, the collection is as moving as it is timeless, transcending genre and era to touch something deep and fundamental about the human condition.

These are songs of love and friendship, joy and gratitude, faith and perseverance. Uplifting as they are, the recordings can feel bittersweet at times, too: 91-year-old Jimmy Carter retired from performing following the sessions, while two longtime members, Paul Beasley and Benjamin Moore, Jr., have since passed away. Despite the losses, the Blind Boys of Alabama show no signs of slowing down.

“The spirit of the Blind Boys isn’t about what you can’t do it’s about what you can do,” says singer Ricky McKinnie. “As long as we stay true to that, as long as we sing songs that touch the heart, this group will live on forever.”


The most honored and revered group in Gospel music.
Winners of 5 GRAMMY; including Lifetime Achievement.
Echoes of the South brings the group back to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record, album produced by
Matt Ross-Spang and Ben Tanner, band features Phil Cook, Dennis Crouch and Chad Gamble.
Global touring schedule planned for 2023/2024.
Documentary film to be released in conjunction with the album, book on career to be released in early 2024.

These records contain some of the most storied names not just in British, but world music. From a bunch of school friends setting out to be 'the British Jefferson Airplane', over the course of their first quartet of releases, the group metamorphosed into the leading exponents of British folk rock. In the way American folk and blues had looked back to gospel songs and spirituals, Fairport mined a seam a traditional English folk song, and then combined them with rock rhythms to create something ground- breaking and quickly emulated.

For many, this is the first time the considerable talents of Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings, Ian Matthews, Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks would have been heard on record.

From a bunch of school friends setting out to be 'the British Jefferson Airplane', over the course of their first quartet of releases, the group metamorphosed into the leading exponents of British folk rock. In the way American folk and blues had looked back to gospel songs and spirituals, Fairport mined a seam a traditional English folk song, and then combined them with rock rhythms to create something ground-breaking and quickly emulated.

Selected by Jim O’Rourke for his Tone Glow list of 25 albums that “never got their due”, Org was founded in the early 90’s by Espen Jensen and Kjetil D Brandsdal who would later go on to variously record as Elektrodiesel, Noxagt and Ultralyd in the swirl of the highly active Norwegian underground. “Org" was the only album the pair recorded as a duo, pressed in a meagre edition of just over 100 copies which disappeared almost as soon as they were made, lodged in the memory of the select few who have managed to hear it in the years since.

Made up of three long tracks, the near 20-minute ‘001’ opens the album with an extended organ zone-out matched with scraping factory machinery saturated into a dense cloud of harmonic fuzz. There's something transcendental about the sound that intersects with microtonal Alice Coltrane (particularly the unfairly maligned organ-only edition of "Turiya Sings"), as well as Pauline Oliveros and Ramleh. It’s music that pulls you in subconsciously; before you know it, you're fixating on the uncomfortable grind of metal on metal, buried mechanical rhythms and liturgical organ vamps that wind between industrial cacophony and sacred ritual music. For its last few seconds, we go into a full death metal tearout that fades out before it takes full flight, a glorious wtf.

‘002’ connects between minimalist drone styles and shoegaze, distorting fuzzed organ into pliable, dreamlike warbles that end up sounding like Kevin Shields' ‘Loveless’-era glides, or even Sunn O))) at their most devotional. Never losing the numbing overdriven mettle, its a piece that sounds spiritually entwined with Matthew Bower's Skullflower - a minimalist re-reading of high-contrast guitar music that takes all the psychoacoustic power and none of the annoying posturing.

For ‘003’, subaqueous organ is joined by synth and drum machine, sounding like the inspirational spark for Religious Knives' screwed 'n chopped cosmic psychedelia. The choice of sounds links it to Antena's foundational electro samba recordings too, but the overwhelming drone - a constant on all three compositions - connects the music to minimalist spirituals that have simmered beneath the DIY/avant garde for decades.

‘Org’ sits heavy on the nerves with overproof levels of mulched amp worship and ungodly, palms-down organ chords and wheezing, bezonked lines of melodic thought. 25 years out of sight and marinading in the archives, with the benefit of hindsight we can better understand the role these sounds played in the development of music in the contemporary sphere. It’s an important piece of the puzzle, one that makes valuable connections that, over time, have looked progressively more faint.

World-renowned saxophonist Chris Potter releases a brand new recording of music live from the legendary New York venue: the Village Vanguard. Capturing moments from Chris’ annual residency (recorded 2022), the new album features an all-star band comprising Craig Taborn, Scott Colley and Marcus Gilmore. Reimagined folk tunes (Nozani Na, Olha Maria), powerful spirituals (Got the Keys to the Kingdom) and uncommon jazz standards (Blood Count, Klactoveedsedstene) make the final cut from the multi-night residency. Expect high energy, intensity, technical brilliance, effervescent joy and a snapshot of one of the world’s greatest saxophonists in his element.

Requiem for Jazz is a 12-movement suite composed and arranged by Angel Bat Dawid, inspired in part by dialogue from Edward O. Bland’s 1959 film “The Cry of Jazz.”

The original form of the music was premiered at the 2019 edition of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago, where Angel conducted a multigenerational fifteen-piece instrumental ensemble (all Black musicians from Chicago’s creative music community) alongside a four- person choir (featuring singers from Black Monument Ensemble), dancers, and visual artists in performance.

Angel mixed and post-produced recordings from the performance – adding interludes, vocals and additional sounds, as well as transcribing a piece from “The Cry of Jazz” film. The final movement of Requiem for Jazz features Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Their contributions were recorded remotely at the historic Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra in Philadelphia in late 2020.

The final Requiem for Jazz work in album form is an immersive 24-track, double LP experience. The physical package is a deluxe, heavyweight gatefold jacket with liner notes by South African writer Nombuso Mathibela, artwork by Damon Locks, and a large fold out poster designed by Jeremiah Chiu, featuring poetry written by Angel Bat Dawid in dedication to all of her collaborators on the project. Additionally, there is a limited Thy Kingdom Come purple color vinyl edition of Requiem for Jazz available for the first pressing only.

Louis Armstrong and The Good Book pressed on 180g red vinyl, includes
new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide To Jazz's writer
Brian Morton and Paris' prestigious Jazz Magazine
" An unusual album in the Louis Armstrong canon, this collection of gospel songs,
spirituals, homilies, and comic vignettes was the only religious album this
determinedly secular musician recorded." - AllMusic

Jake Blount and his collaborators embody a group of Black climate refugees as
they perform a religious service, invoking spirituals that are age- old even now,
familiar in their content but extraordinary in their presentation. These songs,
which have seen Black Americans through countless struggles, bind this future
community together and their shared past; beauty and power held in song
through centuries of devastation, heartbreak, and loss.
Uncut Album of the Month - review and Q&A - out now
"'The New Faith' doesn't pretend to be a prophecy or some kind of survival
manual. It is, instead, a celebration of the inherent power of community and
music's ability to connect and resonate through the ages, created by someone
fast becoming one of the most important young voices in modern American Folk
Music." - Uncut
Songlines feature - considering for a cover
The Guardian feature
BBC Radio 2 Folk Show - interview
FRUK Artist of The Month

Sarah Brown releases her debut album ‘Sarah Brown Sings Mahalia Jackson’ on 20th May 2022, preceded by a new single ‘Walk Over God’s Heaven’ on the 6th May. The record sees Sarah offer her interpretations of some of the classic tracks of arguably the most famous gospel singer of the last century who gave Brown hope and sanctuary through hard times faced over the years. Having recently appeared on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour performing her debut single ‘I’m On My Way’, she is currently on tour with Simple Minds with whom she has been playing with for the last 15 years.

Sarah explains: “For as long as I can remember, Mahalia Jackson with her fever pitched performances have been a soothing note to my tapestry. At 10 years old, I remember hopelessly trying to sing along to her bellowing thunder of a voice. In my bedroom I would become her. I chose these songs because they tell of my story. Growing up in a Caribbean home to parents who were a long way from their home. Anger and fear were the two prominent emotions that I lived with.

The style I was trying to achieve was influenced by early jazz, blues and the spirituals. I am happy with the sound/style of the album. It was always going to be an experiment but I had no idea that it was going to sound as good and as authentic as it does. ‘Didn’t It Rain’ as a jazz feel. ‘Nobody Knows’ as a spiritual feel then it goes into swing jazz. ‘Walk over God’s Heaven’ as a hint of rock & roll with a bit of early swing.”

You may not know Sarah Brown’s name but you’ll definitely have heard her voice. From her collaborations with the likes of George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran, Simply Red, Roxy Music, Pink Floyd, Simple Minds … Sarah Brown is one of the most prolific and in-demand vocalists in the world. Jim Kerr from Simple Minds comments: “In a sane world Sarah’s colossal talent would ensure that she would be front of stage every night, so I would be in the front row. Every night. I am her biggest fan after all”

Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) is widely considered as a major influence on Mavis Staple, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Donna Summer, Ray Charles, and a civil rights icon (Malcolm X noted that Jackson was "the first Negro that Negroes made famous”, Harry Belafonte stated "there’s not a single field hand, a single black worker, a single black intellectual who did not respond to her”, and it was Mahalia who prompted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to improvise the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

Long overdue pressing of cult band’s most sought after release. Engineered and remastered by Jack Shirly (Deafheaven, Bosse-de-Nage, Oathbreaker). For fans of Have a Nice Life, Xasthur, and Planning For Burial. Entirely remastered and includes a never before heard bonus track!! Mamaleek’s Kurdaitcha is finally back in print! The San Francisco-based duo released their third album of weirdo black metal, Kurdaitcha, on the legendary cult label Enemies List Home Recordings (Have a Nice Life, Giles Corey), and it quickly sold out. For years the LP has been a hard to find collector’s item. Kurdaitcha finds the project in its initial period of creating music influenced by black metal, hip hop, jazz, and spirituals. Founded in 2008 in the Bay Area by two anonymous brothers, Mamaleek has explored a vast sonic territory on the edge of a genre renown for its aversion to change. Their expert utilization of left-field samples and unconventional instrumentation, and their insistent drive to experiment continues to set the band apart from their peers. This pressing of Kurdaitcha has been remastered and features a previously unreleased bonus track with a gold foil stamped jacket. “Mamaleek are the great destroyers.” — Invisible Oranges // “An incredibly rich and rewarding experience.” —Heavy Blog Is Heavy // “Is it good, though? It’s fucking mental. It’s amazing. It’s absolutely horrible. It’s barely listenable at times and yet you can’t turn it off. The music is perfect. Like broken glass is perfect.” —Echoes And Dust // “The group cloaks its music in the kind of warm, hypnotic distortion that defines shoegaze, and underneath that haze is a style that’s conceptually abrasive yet altogether beautiful.” — FORBES

The first ever recordings of FRED MCDOWELL. Recorded by ALAN LOMAX in 1959. The first vinyl release dedicated entirely to this phenomenal recording session. Twelve songs that highlight the depth of his repetoire - from droning & hypnotic versions of songs that later became blues standards such as "Shake Em On Down" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" to his deeply felt renditions of spirituals like "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning." Accompanied at times by some amazing hair comb playing & beautiful backup vocals. Comes in old-school "tip on" sleeves with liner notes by NATHAN SALSBURG. A co-release with our friends Domino Sound. The stuff of dreams. Received an 8.5 rating from Pitchfork.

This sprawling collection by Belgian loner blues savant Bram Devens aka Ignatz encapsulates the mystery, murk, and melancholy of his uncanny craft at its most windswept and wayward. Originally issued via Goaty Tapes in September of 2015, this long-anticipated vinyl edition expands the saga with an additional 17 minutes of archival material. Deven’s palette remains constant throughout: feathery fingerpicking, modal loops, and intuitive six-string navigations interspersed with candlelit passages of mournful voice, alternately whispered, mumbled, moaned. His is an aesthetic of embers and resin, cracked masks and distant lights, of what’s left behind and what lingers on.

I Live In A Utopia was recorded following a relocation from his longtime base of Brussels to Landen, with a second child due soon: “I remember the weather being nice and having just bought a hammock.” The change of scenery seeded a promise of slower days and lighter times – no utopia perhaps, but a sense of faint hope glowing on the horizon. The songs slide between loose acoustic spirituals and smoky basement ragas, late afternoon haze and midnight moons, a seesawing restlessness reflected in the titles (“I Have Found True Love,” “Time Does Not Bring Relief,” “We Used To Smoke Inside”). The fidelity is grainy but vivid, refracted by tape warp and Flemish dust.

As always, Deven’s playing is deceptively elegant, raw but precise, attuned to resonance, radiance, and negative space. Echoes of Fahey and Jandek reverberate in certain moments but ultimately the world Ignatz maps is one incomparably his own. A landscape both doomed and dawning, weary but undefeated, tracing outlines of lengthening shadows. “I walk in the sunshine,” he sings, uneasily. This is music of a rare inner wilderness, poised at cryptic crossroads, devoted to its ghosts. I Live In A Utopia stands as an apex work by one of the underground’s most veiled and visionary talents.

Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Zully Adler. In co-production with House Rules & released in an edition of 500.

In November 1976, Jef Gilson’s phone rang. What a surprise! It was Serge Rahoerson, one of the musicians he had met in Madagascar at the end of the 60s and who had played on his first album “Malagasy”. Rahoerson announced that he was in Paris for a few days.

Immediately, Jef wanted to organise a recording session, starting the next day. He thought of a trio including Serge, Eddy Louiss on organ and cellist Jean-Charles Capon, who had also been on one of the trips to Tananarive and so had also known Rahoerson there. Unfortunately, Eddy Louiss –who had already played with Gilson and Capon on the album “Bill Coleman Sings And Plays 12 Negro Spirituals” in 1968- had to drop out at the last minute: he was delayed by a session with Claude Nougaro. Jean-Charles Capon had also become a sought-after studio musician since his trip to Madagascar in 1969. He appeared on several key albums on the Saravah label including the now famous “Comme À La Radio” by Brigitte Fontaine, “Un Beau Matin” by Areski and “Chorus” by Michel Roques, without mentioning the album by his own Baroque Jazz Trio. He was also to be found with Jef Gilson for his album on Vogue with the ex-drummer from Miles Davis’ first great quintet, Philly Joe Jones, or also in the orchestra led by Jean-Claude Vannier for the album “Nino Ferrer & Leggs”. He also played regularly on albums by Georges Moustaki.

Jean-Charles Capon and Serge Rahoerson found themselves thus in the studio, with Jef at the controls. He had decided to record the rhythmic structure right away. He would find the soloists later, that didn’t worry him. Serge Rahoerson was on drums. Though a saxophonist by training, Jef remembered that Serge was also capable of great things behind a drum kit: he was the improvised drummer on their cover of “The Creator Has A Master Plan” on the album “Malagasy”... The great memories came flooding back (the nod on the title “Orly - Ivato”), and the old magic worked again.

Brought in momentarily from Europamerica, Gilson’s new big band, in which JC Capon also played, the saxophonists Philippe Maté, from France (another Saravah stablemate) and the American Butch Morris (soon to be a key member of David Murray’s band) were invited to record their parts later and Gilson mixed it all as if it had been one single session (as he had already done on other albums, with the tracks by Christian Vander recorded before the creation and success of Magma).

The album would not appear until 1977, on Palm, Jef’s own label, and was dedicated to the memory of Georges Rahoerson, Serge’s father, who had also played on the album “Malagasy” and who had died prematurely at the age of 51 in 1974.
“I only received my own copy of the album in 1981 when I came to live in France definitively”, a still-moved Serge Rahoerson told us in 2013. “I was playing in a club one night and Jef turned up by surprise with a copy of the album for me, I was so pleased to see him again. When I arrived in France, I told everyone that I had played with Jef Gilson a few years previously, and I was surprised to learn that so few people knew of him. For us, he was of one of the great jazz visionaries.” (Jérôme "Kalcha" Simonneau)

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

The second installment of "The Last Shall Be First.." series focusing on D-Vine Spirituals subsidiary label, JCR Records. This reissue series is packed with incredible Sacred Soul performances from Memphis, TN in the late 60's.

A jazz musician playing spirituals? In a sense that is what Louis
Armstrong has been doing all along. Anyone who has ever read a
history of jazz knows that there’s supposed to be a relationship
between jazz and spirituals, jazz and work songs, jazz and the
blues. The patterns which the sax and reed sections use in swing
band arrangements are drawn from the “call” (the preacher) and
“response” (the congregation) patterns used in churches. This
album clearly shows Armstrong’s heritage and what an outstanding
and versatile musician he was.

When it came to playing soul jazz with organ combos, jamming bebop with a quartet, caressing ballads or coming up with fresh approaches to Latin jazz and spirituals, the versatile Grant Green was at the top of his field. Among his many recordings, his most vital and adventurous remains Idle Moments. With such inspiring sidemen as Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Duke Pearson, Green is heard at the absolute apex of his creativity throughout this stunning set.

He builds up statements like a masterful speaker, sounds both passionate and thoughtful at every tempo, and never runs out of brilliant and personal ideas to express. Every phrase leads to the next one yet all of his solos are spontaneous. While the other musicians are inspired and in top form, Idle Moments is particularly notable as the height of Grant Green’s musical genius!

First released on digital formats back in 2016, and here now given a richly deserved full vinyl release, 'Holy Science', the debut outing from Amirtha Kidambi and her New York based quartet The Elder Ones, is a work of dazzling singularity. Delicately yet unashamedly divulging its complex network of influences at every turn, 'Holy Science' simultaneously disperses of boundary and limitation, emerging as an album steeped in tradition yet located firmly in the futuristic present.

Amirtha Kidambi, the Elder Ones' leader, composer and vocalist, was a child of South Indian heritage, and she grew up immersed in the tradition of devotional singing, joining in with free-form, improvised Bhajans on regular Sundays. She began simultaneously accompanying her voice with the harmonium from the age of three.

These formative experiences continued to instruct and merge with her ongoing musical explorations as she went on to study Classical music, all the while ingesting the Punk, R&B and Rap that surrounded her. A particularly significant discovery was that of free and avant jazz, and in particular the music of Alice and John Coltrane, in whom Kidambi found clear echoes and parallels with those Bhajans and Ragas of her earliest musical awakenings.

All these influences collide on 'Holy Science', at times as explosive blasts of sky-opening thunder, at others as moments of soothing, meditative bliss. These holy bursts are enacted by Kidambi's assembled musicians and are given permission to explore the science of spiritual alchemy, plundering their individual and collective soul for the sake of musical expression, and all of the unpredictable and profound revelations such an approach might yield.

'Holy Science' is a work underpinned by traditions, be they the Bhajan spirituals, or the Jazz and Classical avant gardes, that are in their own manner, archetypal. But perhaps most importantly, all of these forms contain an inbuilt capacity for discovery and progression.

Amirtha Kidambi's musical pathway has been defined by a studied determination to occupy this specific space, the unbounded realm of improvisation and exploration, summoning the acquired instruments of experience, knowledge, culture and tradition to unlock secrets of the past, present and future. The most cherished music is often remarked upon as having a timeless quality – ancient, modern and futuristic, all at once. And so it is with 'Holy Science'.

Seit Dem Plötzlichen Und Völlig Unbemerkten Erscheinen Ihres Manifests Im Jahr 2016 Schwor Das Weird Folk-songwriter-duo The Mañana People, 100 Lieder Zu Schreiben, Die Die Wege Des Pop-genre-diskurses Erkunden. In Der Mitte Ihres Kampfes, Während Sie Eine Reihe Von Hausgemachten Freak-folk- Und Psycho-country-kuriositäten Erfanden, Wurden Ihre Bemühungen Gnadenlos Von Dem Deutschen Kult-label Unique Records Unterbrochen, Das Sie An Den Ohren Packte Und Ihnen Sagte, Dass Sie Aufwachsen Und Eine Richtige Platte Machen Sollten.

Das Ergebnis Ist Ihr Bevorstehendes Debüt "princess Diana", Ein Hauch Frischer Radioaktiver Luft In Der Welt Der Autorenmusik. Die Exzentrische Sammlung Von Melodien Bietet Theremin-getriebene Honky-tonk-kracher, Zombie-themen-electro-pop-balladen Und Horror-spirituals, Sowie Eine Zusammenarbeit Mit Dem Besten Troubadour Selbst, Bonnie 'prince' Billy.

Die Erste Anstrengung Der Mañana People Schafft Es, Harmonisch Zwischen Experimentierrinnen Und Der Angenehmen Leichtigkeit Der Popmusik Zu Schwingen. Tim Weissinger Und Alvaro Arango Trafen Sich An Einem Winterabend Auf Den Grünen Wiesen Ihrer Universität.

Ihre Musikalische Chemie Und Das Kalte Wetter Zwangen Sie Quasi, Sofort Musik Zu Machen. Ihre Debüt-ep "the Mañana People" Wurde Am Halloween-abend 2014 Online Veröffentlicht. Ihre Musik Wurde Sofort Von Ihren Freunden Gelobt, Von Ihren Feinden Gefürchtet Und Von Vielen Anderen Ignoriert.

Seit Anfang 2015, Und Mit Hilfe Von Tobi Mercer (keyboards) Und Simon Mead (schlagzeug), Haben Die Mañana People Ihr Wort Verbreitet Und In Jeder Bar, Café Oder Straßenecke Neue Seelen Gefordert.

Nach Einer Zweiten Ep - "horror Songs" - Ist Es 2016 An Der Zeit Für Ein Komplettes Und Mit Spannung Erwartetes Debütalbum Auf Unique Records!

Die Jungs Supporten Honig Auf Seiner Herbsttour.

Live
14.09.18 Ulm Roxy
15.09.18 Mainz Schon Schön
16.09.18 Dresden Beatpol
17.09.18 Berlin Privatclub
18.09.18 Leipzig Werk 2
19.09.18 Nürnberg Club Stereo
20.09.18 Essen Zeche Carl
21.09.18 Köln Kulturkirche
22.09.18 Bremen Tower
28.09.18 Konstanz Kulturladen
29.09.18 Saarbrücken Kleiner Klub
30.09.18 Aachen Musikbunker
02.10.18 Langenberg Kgb
03.10.18 Haldern Pop Bar
04.10.18 Hamburg Knust
05.10.18 Münster Sputnikhalle


Für Anfang 2019 Ist Eine Kleine Eigene Tour In Planung.