Tompkins Square
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Welsh musician Gwenifer Raymond's 2018 debut album, You Never Were Much of a Dancer, introduced a new voice on acoustic guitar, receiving 5 stars in The Guardian, big spreads in MOJO and UNCUT, and airplay on multiple BBC programmes. This led to months of touring on the European festival circuit.Visit product page →
Her latest, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, finds Raymond ranging into unexplored experimental territory, drawing from her Welsh roots. In her own words : My new album, 'Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain', has eight songs in it. All were recorded in a basement flat in central Brighton, locked-down amidst a global pandemic. I recorded them myself and neither I, nor any of the songs saw said outbreak coming.
Coronavirus may have dictated the circumstance under which the album was recorded but it did not otherwise inform any of the compositions that run through it; like I said, we didn't see it coming. Growing up in Wales was not a theme strongly present in my first record (perhaps not too surprising in an album of 'American Primitive'), but I feel as though my memories of that time have started to insinuate themselves in the tunes here. In my opinion, landscape does a lot to shape a community's folk music; from my childhood I recall tall, spooky trees, black against the grey sky, breath misting in cold air, and I have tried to take something of Welsh folk horror to make my own 'Welsh Primitive'.
Whilst this isn't the only theme present in the album, childhood memories do form the background for a couple of tracks: coal trains steaming along the foot of our garden, rattling the glasses on the kitchen table; and the titular 'Strange Lights...' dancing above the peak of the mountain which loomed over the house where I grew up. Dead men also feature prominently, as well as personal tragedies and the madness of touring.
It's possible this album is leaning more into the left-field than the first - the songs are longer and more 'compositional' for lack of a better word, rather than deriving so heavily from the folk and blues traditions, though, they're still there - all of those dead men are hard to shake. Some parts go fast and others go slow.
Sometimes I play more aggressively than I intend to and other times I play exactly as aggressively as I intend to. I still say it's punk music and I have no idea what key the last tune is in.
For fans of Erik Satie, Master Wilburn Burchette, and Ruben the dog. -
Guitarist Wall Matthews is surviving member of experimental 70's collective, Entourage. Sampled by Four Tet, their name whispered in reverence through the decades, Entourage forged bold musical ideas on their two rare '70s Folkways LPs.Visit product page →
Tompkins Square released 'Ceremony of Dreams : Studio Sessions and Outtakes, 1972-1977', in 2017 to wide acclaim. 'Spine River : The Guitar Music of Wall Matthews, 1967-1981' is a collection of unreleased or obscure music by the master guitarist.
This volume will be released as a limited edition LP, along with four other digital volumes of Wall's music, chronologically mapping his career.
Praise for Entourage :
"A three-hour stream of instrumental riches, whether you're looking to find samples or get lost in a trance....These 30 tracks alternately conjure the ecstatic minimalism of John Cale and La Monte Young, the billowing clouds of Arvo Part, the aleatory intrigue of Derek Bailey, and the strange guitar beauty of Sandy Bull" - Pitchfork
"As seriously as they clearly took their playing, the music never lost its sense of playfulness and joy" - PASTE (8.7/10)
"This is essential and irresistible vintage American weirdness." - All Music Guide (4.5)
"...it's transporting stuff." - Rolling Stone
"Erring between Alice Coltrane-esque spiritual jazz, Steve Reich's minimalism and stunning instrumental folk, Ceremony of Dreams highlights 30 tracks from a fiercely creative period between 1972 and 1977 that did not appear on the two Folkways albums released at the time." - Vinyl Factory
"New age gongs, drones, sax, pastoral guitar, scraped violas - ¦ Think Third Ear Band's druid rock meets early Popol Vuh with the obvious chops of a less slick Weather Report" - Record Collector (4 stars)
Release Date: 10/04/2020 -
Visit product page →Sam Burton is a singer/songwriter from Salt Lake City, now based in Los Angeles. After several years circulating homemade cassettes on labels like Chthonic and embraced by blogs like Cassette Gods, Sam has recorded his first proper debut album with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains).
Due in mid-2020, Sam's debut LP will be preceded by two limited edition 45s, one which will be available exclusively for Record Store Day in the UK.
Sam is slated to tour the UK and Europe in 2020 with fellow Tompkins Square artist Gwenifer Raymond.
Release Date: 31/01/2020 -
Visit product page →This collection of rare black gospel from the Midwest'featuring church congregations, basement recordings sessions, family bands and children's choirsis drawn together by two threads.
Sourced from exceedingly rare 45s'many of which were vanity pressings of less than 100 copies'all of the tracks found on this collection appear for the first time since their original release. Remastered by Grammy-winning producer Christopher King, these recordings have been resurrected for a new generation of listeners.
The first hope which holds fast and unchanging, even in the most trying of circumstances. The second circumstance the way these recordings fell into the hands of producer, Ramona Stout, in Chicago at the dawn of the Obama era, when she had just about lost hope in her American Dream.
Over the course of five years (2006-2011) of vinyl hustling in Chicago's South and West Sides, these 45s came into Ramona's hands, mixed up in milk-crates stacked with Northern Soul, water-damaged jazz and Hall and Oates LPs. After much travel and time, Ramona has articulated the spirit that drove this music forward. In this collection, she writes of this music and its relationship to the struggling communities where the records were found.
With art direction by Grammy-winning graphic designer Susan Archie, this collection is a tangible, immersive experience in the struggles'the victories, the failures and the lingering hope'that defined Chicago in the post-Civil Rights era. No Other Love is a singular, impressionistic journey into music that expresses faith, despair and exuberance. It is also a profound exploration of the very meaning of hope.
Tracklisting:
1. It's Going to Pay - Bro. Randy Wilson
2. I Want You to Help Me - The Travelers of Zion
3. No Other Love - Messiahs of Glory
4. Christmas in Heaven - Rev. H.H. Harrington
5. Try Jesus - Gospel Carolets
6. The Number - Wondering Gails
7. Journey - Joanne & Sonny
8. You Can't Make It - The Georgia Brooks Singers
9. God is Using Me - The Harmony Five
10. Christ Rose - Rev. John Thomas and the New Christian Fellowship Church Choirs
11. Black Pride - Rev. H.H. Harrington
12. I'm Gonna Stand Still and Do My Master's Will - Sunday Night Service, New Home Baptist Church Rev. Mack McCollum w/ Combined Choirs -
13. Rocky Road - Joanne & Sonny
14. Why - Sister Mary Lucas and The Harambee -
Visit product page →- ¦this small town (Woodstock), housing as it did so many maverick talents, fostered a scene of damage and dysfunction that endures to this day. It pulled in all manner of wannabes and hangers-on, alcoholic philanderers, dealers in heroin and cocaine, and left at least one generation of messed-up children with no direction home." - from 'Small Town Talk' by Barney Hoskyns.
Longtime Woodstock resident, guitarist Peter Walker recorded two albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties in a style best described as American folk-raga. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and was Dr. Timothy Leary's musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate's 'celebrations.'
He was also a close friend of fellow Woodstock resident, the late folksinger Karen Dalton, and helped produce 'Remembering Mountains : Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton' (Tompkins Square), which features unrecorded Dalton compositions brought to life by Sharon Van Etten, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams and others.
Rediscovered by Tompkins Square in 2006 after decades out of sight, Walker has remained active into his 8th decade, recording for Jack White's Third Man label, and now, collaborating anew with fellow Upstaters, Harmony Rockets.
Joined in a mighty super-session with Harmony Rockets (Mercury Rev), Martin Keith, Nels Cline (Wilco), and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), 'Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos' is a mind-melting inter-generational collaboration that could only have coalesced around the wool-sweaters, warm teacups and moldering bookstores of "Old Old Woodstock", both the real and mythologized versions.
Release Date: 14/09/2018 -
Visit product page →Tompkins Square's recent double-LP, Imaginational Anthem vol 8 : The Private Press shed light on forgotten, impossibly rare guitar recordings spanning several decades.
In his own words, today : I was born in Elmhurst IL, lived there 29 years. Had a brief career playing open mikes and bars for tips, drinks and nominal cash payments, even gave some guitar lessons. In 1984 I was offered a half partnership in an engineering firm in Dallas, so I moved to Texas. Made a big pile of money.
Tom Armstrong's The Sky Is An Empty Eye is the first of several reissues planned by Tompkins Square of full albums by artists featured on IA8.
Armstrong's self-released LP from 1987 sports blissed out acoustic numbers like the one featured on IA8, along with some electric workouts and even a deep pysch vocal tune. Tom's main mode of distribution for the album was handing the LP to drunken patrons at a bar in Pinos Altos, NM. Now Tompkins Square makes it a bit easier to acquire.
My wife bought me a Tascam 4 track recorder for my birthday, I went crazy with it. Recorded a bunch of melodies that had been rattling around my brain since I was 8 years old. Liked what I heard, decided to make an LP. It wasn't too hard to track down a studio to master my 4 tracks. By this time I was an old hand at graphic design for promotional material, so I designed the cover myself.
Handed the albums out to business associates, as promotional material for other business interests, at a drunken open mike at a bar in Pinos Altos, NM. I continued to record for about another 10 years, blues rock, pop. Really refined my recording skills. Still play once in while, but I'm an old fart now, with all the baggage that entails. -
'The Two Worlds' was produced by Peter Broderick and recorded at Analogue Catalogue in County Down, Ireland.Visit product page →
Q Magazine listed the album as a "Top Tip" for 2018, stating "(The Two Worlds) is full of droning ballads laced with defiance."
The sadly topical first single, "Don't Shut Me Up (Politely)", seems to express what's on the minds of many women right now.
Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal noted on social media, "I don't usually have the opportunity to say something political about the music I put out, but in the case of Brigid Mae Power's new single, I think this song may resonate with any woman who's been gaslit, mansplained to, paid less, bullied, sexually harassed by a C-List celebrity or famous movie producer, had her birth control systematically taken away, or told she had to go to another country or across state lines to get an abortion." -
First-generation American Primitive guitarist Richard Osborn studied with Robbie Basho in the late 60's.Visit product page →
40 years later, Osborn finally recorded, appearing on Tompkins Square's 'Beyond Berkeley Guitar' comp in 2010.
'Endless' is his first widely available solo guitar album. "[Osborn has] an unhurried, quiet spirit of adventure, a love of ringing strings and slowly revelatory meditations on the natural world."- Acoustic Guitar
"He's a student of mine and he's better technically than me or Fahey." - Robbie Basho -
1975 Private-press LP now remastered from the original tapes. In his own words, today : I was once told that one should first write about one's own experiences, then, expand to documenting the observed experiences of those around, and, finally write about what one imagines.Visit product page →
Am I Really Here All Alone?encompasses all of the above. Something else I realized in writing lyrics is that sometimes it is good to be transparent about the meaning and others times, not so much. "Unusual Day" is an example of me being honest struggling to develop and maintain a relationship, but ultimately realizing it was not going to succeed.
"Watercolours" documents a crushing experience, but is couched in metaphor. I hope that listeners will relate through their own experiences, and because my reality is implied, not specified, will not be limited to mine.
"Sweet Georgia" is an example of me, as a writer, leaving my personal space. I think of it as an attempt to clone William Faulkner to Bobbie Gentry.
"The Magic Within You" is actually a commission where I was asked to write a song for a benefit to be performed by Doug Henning, the groundbreaking stage magician and friend. I once heard John Prine complain that there was no point in writing a 'train song' because Steve Goodman had already written the perfect one with "City of New Orleans".
Naturally, I had to write "Back Home, To You", my idea of a train song where I tried to capture the movement of the train in the rhythm of the guitar. As for the other six songs, to me, they all reflect realities, experienced, observed and imagined.
Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." However my question is, "Am I Really Here All Alone?" - Philip Lewin, 2017
"Phil Lewin's homespun debut is a loner folk masterpiece; accidentally psychedelic, lit by heartbreak and timeless in its sadness and hope."
- Jeff Conklin, WFMU -
Visit product page →Irish singer/songwriter Brigid Mae Power has shared stages with Lee Ranaldo, Alasdair Roberts, Richard Dawson, and Ryley Walker.
Born in London to a big Irish family, she moved to Ireland (Galway) when she was twelve years old. In addition to the guitar, she plays accordion, baritone ukulele, piano and harmonium; creating hauntingly dreamlike soundscapes.
Her self-titled debut album, recorded with Oregon-based musician Peter Broderick, will be released worldwide by Tompkins Square on LP, CD and digital on June 10th, 2016. -
Tompkins Square's very first release was 'Imaginational Anthem Vol. One' in 2005, featuring American Primitive guitar pioneers like Sandy Bull, Harry Taussig, Max Ochs, Steve Mann and Suni McGrath, alongside new jack players like Jack Rose, Brad Barr (Barr Brothers), and Kaki King. The album received wide praise via Rolling Stone, NPR and MOJO, who called the album "Groundbreaking." The pairing of old and new would continue through vols. 1-3. The first three volumes are collected as a box set.Visit product page →
Volumes four and five focused solely on all new players, giving many folks their first taste of Chris Forsyth, Steve Gunn, William Tyler and Daniel Bachman. The first five volumes were collected in a box set, along with a bonus live disc by William Tyler. 'Imaginational Anthem Volume 6 : Origins of American Primitive Guitar' stretched the timeline all the way back to the first recorded solo acoustic guitar performances of the 20's & 30's. Artists like Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett and Lemeul Turner created the template for John Fahey, and all who followed.
Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7' is compiled by 20 year old guitarist Hayden Pedigo, from Amarillo, TX. Hayden has recently been featured in Vogue and The FADER behind his own recent album release, 'Five Steps'. Hayden's curation represents a balanced cross-section across the modern solo acoustic guitar spectrum. As with previous volumes, this one truly represents the state of the art - an area of evolving musical expression that is very vibrant and healthy indeed.
Tracklisting :
1. On a Slow Passing Through a Ghost Town-Chuck Johnson
2. Culverts-Sean Proper
3. Enchiridion-Norberto Lobo
4. Trees Return to Soil-Simon Scott
5. Sea Retreat-DBH
6. Araucaria-Jordan Norton
7. The Great North American Wilderness-Kyle Fosburgh
8. Something, or Oil Paintings-Christoph Bruhn
9. USA Self-Michael Vallera
10. Red Bud Valley-Dylan Golden Aycock
11. 0/3-M.Mucci
12. Shadow Study at 6 am-Mariano Rodriguez
13. Olympic Peninsula Blues-Andrew Weathers
14. My Grandfather's 12 Gauge-Wes Tirey -
Don Bikoff released one lone, rare solo album, 'Celestial Explosion', on Keyboard Records in 1968, now reissued on LP/CD/DL by Tompkins Square. Watch the YouTube video of Bikoff playing on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, taped May 12, 1968.Visit product page →
You'll see the sheepish, long-haired, mustachioed musician spinning gold in a style (still?) so foreign to the mainstream listener. The befuddled host concludes after Don's performance, "That's unusual to say the least." A kid from Oyster Bay, LI, Bikoff got his start in Greenwich Village, annoying Dave Van Ronk and playing the folk/blues circuit where he met Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt.
The comparisons to John Fahey's and Robbie Basho's work stated in the LP liner notes touched a nerve with Fahey himself at the time. Today, those comparisons are still inevitable, however they are for lazy ears. Bikoff has his own approach. Don is only 65 years old, and he's still playing strong. -
Sold outAll five volumes of the acclaimed series, in their original packaging, plus a bonus disc : 'Elvis Was A Capricorn', a previously unreleased live CD by William Tyler.Visit product page →
Limited to 999 units. -
A musical 'amateur' who best exemplified true artistry, Lena Hughes was born in Grape Grove Township, Missouri, in 1904. Though she never recorded any 78s and only one LP, Hughes was most influential through her steady performances at various fiddler conventions and folk festivals throughout the Ozarks. She was an excellent fiddler, banjoist and guitar picker who retained the largely extinct repertoire of parlor pieces and the variety of specialized tunings that were necessary to play them. She lived most of her life in Ludlow, Missouri and passed away in 1998.Visit product page →
Lena Hughes' repertoire can be divided roughly in half: finger-picked numbers adapted from fiddle tunes and recast parlor guitar pieces gleaned from popular sentimental songs, hymns, and 19th century airs. As a faithful attendee at folk festivals, Hughes was accompanied by her guitar-playing husband, Jake. Her most mesmerizing performances, such as Pearly Dew, Spanish Fandango, and Kentucky Moon Waltz, depend heavily upon the resonance of the open chord as it relates to the picking of the melodic line, primarily on one string. This tonal reliance is most similar to the "celestial octave" that Washington Phillips employs, with similar effect, on his Train Your Child. This ethereal harmonic technique, which seems so natural in Hughes' playing, is the holy grail for most finger-picking guitarists. Her lack of pretense and her mastery of this repertoire is what defines her legendary status.
These recordings were made in the early 60's in Arkansas and released in very limited fashion as a private press LP. Remastered by Chris King. Designed by Susan Archie. -
Kentucky native Mark Fosson recorded one album for John Fahey's Takoma Records in 1976 which went unreleased until 2006. Mark recently found the home demos for that session. Here's what he has to say about them :Visit product page →
"These 11 tracks are the songs I began writing after acquiring my first 12-String guitar. I recorded them in my living room on a Pioneer RT1050 2-track reel-to-reel with a rented microphone (I believe It was an AKG414 but I won't swear to it). All are originals except for "Back In The Saddle Again" which resulted from my other obsession at the time of watching old black & white Gene Autry movies any chance I could...usually at 5:00AM! I met Mr. Autry many years later and tried to tell him this but the crowd was too loud & his ears were too old & he couldn't hear a word I was saying. Anyway...thanks Gene.
Most of these songs would appear later in slightly altered form on 'The Lost Takoma Sessions', but these original versions are my personal favorites. I can't believe the tapes have survived so long and still sound as clean as the day I recorded them."
- Mark Fosson -
Visit product page →A singer sits at the piano and loses all inhibitions while in complete control of the instrument: Little Richard, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis. Although church singer Arizona Dranes doesn't come close to the stature of those icons, she set the mold for rockin' singer/ pianists in 1926 with six "test records" that have stood the test of time.
Until now, very little has been correctly reported about Dranes other than the facts that she was blind, from Texas, had a piercing Pentecostal voice and was the first recording artist to play piano in the secular styles of the day, while singing words of deep praise.
Michael Corcoran, former music critic and columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, has spent years unearthing revelatory details on the life of the mysterious woman behind the music. The book includes a CD containing all 16 of Arizona Dranes' recorded tracks, expertly remastered from the original OKeh label 78 RPM records by Grammy-winning producer Christopher King.
The book is also available digitally (without the music) as an eBook.
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'Out on the Open West' is Frank Fairfield's new album. It was produced by Michael Kieffer (Origin Jazz Library) and features guest accompaniment by Willie Watson (Old Crow Medicine Show) among others.Visit product page →
The album is a departure for Frank, having written most of the tunes himself, and bringing in the other players to round out his songs.
Handpicked by Fleet Foxes to open their U.S. tour in 2009, Frank released a 7" and his acclaimed debut LP on Tompkins Square. Since then, Frank has played many festivals in the U.S. and Europe, appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, released a compilation of 78 rpm recordings on Tompkins Square, was extensively interviewed by Pitchfork, and even had a film made about him (produced by KEXP's Greg Vandy).
His music has made fans of people like Ry Cooder, Grammy-winning producer Chris King (Charley Patton, People Take Warning box sets) and Greil Marcus, to name a few. -
The fourth volume of the acclaimed guitar series Features C Joynes, Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses), William Tyler (Silver Jews, Lambchop) and more Gatefold LP & CD Artwork by Paul Romano (Mastodon)Visit product page →
Since it's first volume in 2005, Tompkins Square's 'Imaginational Anthem' series has introduced many new acoustic guitarists, and unearthed many forgotten legends of the American Primitive genre. Vol 4 strays from the formula by focusing on the present generation of pickers, representing American and English musical traditions.
The stunning gatefold LP (limited edition of 500) and CD are created by Paul Romano, best known for his incredible designs for Mastodon.
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