News: Sway to be reissued soon (kind of)

Thanks to an insider tip, we have learned that the magnificent Sway album is being reissued with permission from the band. Not sure of the label name yet, but it is coming out from Italy in a mini-LP format. This is fantastic news and one of our Priority 2's!

You should be seeing it from your favorite dealer soon :-)

August 5, 2013 update: OK, I have it in my hands now. Well... first thing is the "obi" strip uses my description for the album. And they didn't ask for permission. Not that I care all that much really, but it is protocol to do such - so that's a major red flag right there. The sound is absolutely fine considering it's not from the masters. And we do have it on good authority that Palumbo himself is aware of this reissue. This is the classic "gray area" reissue. Sometimes I see that term when they outright mean to say it's a pirate edition. This is not the case here. All the same - I'm not considering this reissued legit, and will keep in the main list. Unless I hear convincing data otherwise. But I don't regret buying this version, and if a legit CD comes along, I'll buy it again willingly. But it's my understanding the masters are gone, and demand is light, so this is probably it. Unfortunately.

News: Sireena to reissue Mythos "Grand Prix" album from 1981

Certainly not the most exciting news out there, but I felt I should mention it anyway. I really enjoy the predecessor "Quasar"album, but Kaske lost me on "Grand Prix". All the same, I'm sure the album has plenty of fans, and since it's already in the CDRWL, I can go ahead and mark Mythos' catalog as having been fully reissued now.

My notes on the album here

Mythos, Germany ***REISSUED***

Grand Prix. 1981 Sky

***Grand Prix reissued by Sireena 2013

***Quasar reissued by Sireena 2012  Moved to UMR

Grand Prix picks up where Quasar left off and dives completely into the man machine early 80s synth pop New Wave racket. 'Robot Secret Agents' is downright hysterical, with Kaske's poor attempt at a British accent. What saves the album from a total disaster, is that Kaske flat out refuses to put away the flute, and its presence here is completely at odds with the rest of the material. Fortunately, that is.

Priority: none

11/4/09 (new entry); 6/16/13 (complete)

Humus, Mexico

Humus - Whispering Galleries. 1999 W Dabliu (Italy)

Moved to UMR

Priority: 2

News: Digatone to reissue Isaiah!

Perhaps the best news about this announcement is that the Klockwerk Orange was not a one-off reissue. Digatone seem to be on the warpath in regards to reissuing Austria's past progressive rock history. For years, I've wondered if there was more from Austria than we ever realized, especially after hearing (and acquiring) the magnificent Ginga Rale Band for the first time last year. Thanks to a tip from a friend, I discovered this website that officially announces the Isaiah LP coming out in the Fall of this year. I have Isaiah in the main list, and it's an album I feel I might grow into with the proper recording. I've only heard the bootleg CD that Poor House put out over 15 years ago.

Here's to more reissues from Digatone! My Klockwerk Orange is in the mail to me now - so I anxiously await that one.

News: Strawberry Rain to reissue Kelompok Kampungan album from Indonesia

For the second month in a row, Strawberry Rain have come up with a reissue for an album I've never even heard of. This is a super rare artifact from Indonesia, a country that continues to unearth albums that few knew existed. As soon as I saw the magic word "Paebiru", I wanted to hear it. You can check out some samples from the Strawberry Rain main page. After hearing them, it's certainly on the folk side of the Cortes and Remalho masterpiece, but I can definitely understand the comparison. And I'm always up for hearing albums that make their own instruments! I think this title will be well received by many.

Label says: "One of the true gems of the Indonesian scene, this album stands to be one of the best, and also one of the most unique albums to come from the region.  Banned by the Shuko government soon after release, it remains somewhat obscure to most collectors up until now. An album created by Bram Makahekum (who had no musical experience or training at all) Kelompok Kumpangan had multiple members by trying to recreate the sounds of nature, even using original handmade instruments invented by the band themselves.  The end result is nothing short of brilliant, one of our personal favourites from the region.  There isn’t much to compare this to, maybe the Indonesian equivalent of a Paebiru or Genesis from Columbia at times, but it’s very unique and stands on its own.  Wonderful progressive folk of the highest caliber interweaving flutes, violins, acoustic guitars, Indonesian percussion and other instrumentation.  We can’t stand behind this one enough, it’s truly brilliant.  700 copies housed in paste on covers, includes insert with photos and history written by Indonesian music journalist Denny Sakrie.  One time limited edition, CD limited to 1000 copies and has 4 songs not on the LP version that were never released on vinyl before.  We will be releasing a 10″ of these songs in the near future."