Kit Downes - piano
James Allsopp - reeds
Lucy Railton - cello
Calum Gourlay - double bass
James Maddren - drums

Great modern, composerly jazz album with nice 'minimalistic touches' ala The Claudia Quintet. Personally recommend

"The music on this CD represents the early works of Irish composer Roger Doyle -- pieces composed in the late 1960s to mid 70s, re-packaged and re-mastered in 2002.
It includes his extremely rare self-released 1975 debut LP Oizzo No and his second LP Thalia from 1978, originally released on CBS Classics, all on the one 77 minute CD.
The earliest piece is Bitter-Sweet Suite for out-of-tune piano composed when he was 18, and the latest Thalia, his first large-scale electronic piece, composed at...

This is a previously unreleased, unheard and never-even rumored studio album from 1980!

"During their latter period, Missus Beastly renamed themselves to Dr. Aftershave for about one year, after the title of their third LP. Their style, however, didn’t change: mostly instrumental jazz-rock, also called fusion.
They had planned from the very beginning to record some songs for an LP, which they did in the Stuttgart Zuckerfabrik sound studio from August 19 to 22, 1980. Initially, the sound...

“Irish psychedelic folkies Dr Strangely Strange were active from 1968 - 1971. Their two Joe Boyd-produced albums from that era, Kip Of The Serenes (Island) and Heavy Petting (Vertigo), are both highly sought after by collectors.
In their heyday, the band recorded only two BBC radio sessions, a Top Gear slot and an In Concert, both with John Peel. Frustratingly, the BBC's tapes were wiped, but after extensive research with European collectors, TLAK has been able to locate off-air recordings of both...

Bob's fifth album is another of his completely uncategorizable works. Bob performs on vocals, strings (guitars, bass, violin, etc.) keyboards & real drums, making these sound like a band effort.

"The latest collection of twisting, turning instrumentals and songs, and another instant classic. If you didn't venture down this way yet, now is a good time to start. In a category of one, Bob undermines musical, technical and production norms with a breathtaking amalgam of broken rules and unimaginable..

"So remarkable it's hard to begin. Those who liked the idea-rich, sonically breathtaking & compositionally daring pop music of the '60s, will recognise a similar mixture of pop-sensibility & radical innovation, now recast in contemporary terms. Unassuming virtuosity & state of the art studio merely as means to greater ends. I know we've all heard everything these days, but you haven't heard this" –Chris Cutler

"As always, Bob Drake is an enigma, a revered cult figure with a unique & bizarre...

“Bob’s 10th solo album sees Bob playing all the usual instruments (and a few more this time) in another collection of close-up songs with impossible structures, extraordinary harmonies, informative lyrics (though a little outré in their subject matter), virtuoso playing (in a casual sort of way), great production and impressive musical economy (Bob has enough ideas, so he doesn’t need to stretch them out).
It comes with remarkable artwork by Joe Mruk (redbuffalo.org), including a fold-out map which...

“Bob takes a professional detour to explore an intriguing byway with this atmospheric, uncharacteristic, stripped down, highly intriguing (and I think highly successful) experiment in minimal exposition. There are thirteen chapters - for voices, organ, piano and cathedral - on texts drawn directly from the 1893 edition of The legendary lore of the holy wells of England: including rivers, lakes, fountains and springs, by the English antiquary and inventor of the folding umpire’s chair, Robert Charles Hope...

''A rollercoaster of a record - intensely musical and highly attentive to the quality of sound - only not in the usual directions. This is whathappens when a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and engineer gets to do what he wants his own way, free of the ...

“A one-off release of extraordinary instrumental compositions, through-composed and performed by a massed orchestra of Bob on piano, 5-string resonator banjo, Farfisa organ, Korg MS20 synthesizer, electric and acoustic guitars, recorders, drums, bass, chromatic hand-bells, trombone, trumpet and violin. 22 exquisite, enigmatic and compressed vignettes that defy comparison.
It's a new departure for Bob, though the mixture of complexity, simplicity, virtuosity and dramaturgy remain the same. It's a...

52 songs of strange events, places and things. Includes 20 original paintings by Ray O'Bannon-Bob. The songs are brief, amusingly creepy or creepily amusing (takes your pick!) with really nice creepy/cool paintings to accompany the mood. "Perhaps the s...

"Bob Drake was one half of Indie rock group Hail, and still plays bass with ruthless avant rockers The 5UUS. His previous solos Little Black Train introduced us to his version of Death-Country, and Medallion Animal Carpet followed up with what sounded like a collaboration between Bonnie Prince Billy and Captain Beefhart. And now theres Skull Mailbox. With this CD Drake has lost it altogether. Strange little picked guitar pieces are the basis for grotesque songs; a seance goes horribly wrong, headless...

What Day Is It is Bob Drake’s first-ever solo album and was self-released by Bob in a hand-made package in 1993. He performed all the music with some assistance from Dave Kerman on drums. Odd songs with an almost folk or Cajun feel to them; folk music from another planet, perhaps. This is a great one for me if only simply because it was the first time that anyone heard Bob’s instantly recognizable solo sound! Recommended.

"Bob is already celebrated for his many ReR solo CDs, as well as for his...

Hamid Drake: drums, frame drum
Sylvain Kassap: eb, bb, bass and contrabass clarinets, chalumeau

"When I put these CDs on I knew immediately that from the first time I had heard them together until the time of these recordings their art, their voices, their intense empathy/telepathy for one another had grown to an almost unparalleled level: two instruments in complete harmony and synchronicity."Steve Dalachinsky, excerpt of the liner notes

CD-1 recorded live on February 5th 2007 by...

The 1970, superb second release by this genuis folkie with the wonderful husky voice. Nick was possibly the greatest of the many great modern folkies who worked with Joe Boyd/Witchseason Productions/Island Records (John Martyn, Richard Thompson, etc). He released 3 really great albums and then he died (of probable, but not definite suicide) in 1974. "With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help ...

The brilliant, final work by this genius folkie with the wonderful lightly husky voice and absolute masterful guitarwork. Nick was possibly the greatest of the many great modern folkies who worked with Joe Boyd/Witchseason Productions/Island Records (John Martyn, Richard Thompson, etc). He released 3 really great albums, of which this, completely solo and from 1972, is my favorite, and then he died (of probable, but not definite suicide) in 1974. And, sad to say, that after 30 years, this record finally...

As the universe reels in pain from the reality, yet becomes used to the idea, of a 'post Cardiacs world', music is still being created by some of the ex-members. And the more I hear, the more I realize what a talented crew manned that ship. William...

Very nice, very song oriented spacey rock music with nice melodies and good singing; only thing it makes me think of comparing it to is like an intergalactic Emmit Rhodes!

"...rekindles the excitement I vividly recall about music in the early to mid 70's...deep shit, where creativity and homage go together and fit like the best pair of well worn Levis...warm breezes on summer evenings and ice cold frosties go down like candy...like Gerry Rafferty and "On The Third Day" ELO collide in an alternate..

Laura Polence voice
Björk Níelsdóttir voice
Ada Rave tenor saxophone (1, 3, 5, 6), clarinet (2, 4), mouth organ
Ab Baars clarinet (1, 2, 4, 5), tenor saxophone (3, 6), mouth organ, voice (5)
George Dumitriu violin, viola, mouth organ
Kaja Draksler piano, kalimba, cowbells
Lennart Heyndels double bass, voice (5)
Onno Govaert drums and percussion, mouth organ

"With the previous “Gledalec”, Slovenian pianist and composer Kaja Draksler found a gem to work on

Kaja Draksler piano / Susana Santos Silva trumpet and flugelhorn

“This Love is the first recording of a new duo capable to impress all the audiences Kaja Draksler and Susana Santos Silva played to, and also the definitive statement that this project is something to develop further and further. From Slovenian origin, but living now in Amsterdam, Draksler is another woman pianist to add to that list of notables where we find Eve Risser, Sophie Agnel, Kris Davis and Angelica Sanchez. Combining...

“This mind blowing collection of Dutch psychedelia now also appears on CD, with extra tracks! The Dutch underground rock-scene of the late '60s-early '70s is laden with lost and forgotten treasures, but the music of the Dream - and their earlier incarnation Mothers Love - is among the most precious of these glimmering artifacts. Perhaps because The Dream released only three singles in their heyday, their music has not yet received the acclaim it deserves. This is rectified by the release of 'Rebellion'...

Holy hell, what an amazing sextet of players!

"The dynamic sextet featured in two of Zorn's most recent and popular musical projects-The Dreamers and O'o-jump another level in Ipos, their most beautiful and powerful recording to date. Featuring..

A great performance. Last time ever on this wonderful release from the wonderful, now gone, Reel Recordings label.

Very limited edition of only 500 copies made; Mike says that that's it for this one, so don't wait too long...

“The third release in an ongoing series that will reconstruct the legacy known and the legacy damned of the most overlooked and under-documented American free rock unit, Dredd Foole and the Din.
After his miraculous two-year collaboration with Mission of Burma came to an end, Dredd Foole found a full-time band -- built with Peter Prescott's Volcano Suns. This new Dredd Foole and the Din would set the Boston scene on fire from 1984-1987, playing more shows in a given month than the Burma-Din had...