In 1979, just after the release of Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo, Messina was asked to perform at the Teatro Quartiere in Milan.
‘Due to the limited availability of key technical features, ’ he recalls, ‘it would have been too complicated to perform Prati Bagnati, and therefore I opted for these three pieces instead. We had never actually tried them all together, so I thought about renting a recording studio the previous afternoon. In that way, we could rehearse in a suitable place and use the opportunity to record the music on tape.’
The music has an unadorned, almost improvisational feel, skewered by passages of arpeggiated, meditative piano. Its chords layered and unfurled in real time via a reel-to-reel tape machine, the track Reflex recalls Steve Reich’s mesmeric phase-shifting works of the 1960s.

Funky, psychedelic, spiritual jazz with deep percussion, including marimba, from 1971; tuned into electric Miles but also Kool & the Gang, and keeping an eye on Tony Williams’ Lifetime.
The meditative opener is lovely. Heathens liken Animals to Fela.
Remastered from the original tapes.

Stunningly modernised Tsogho ritual music from the interior forest of Gabon.
Beaten rattles, synths, Bwiti harp, male-female dialogical singing.
Released in 1989, to the intense consternation of purists; never before available outside Gabon.
Game-changing, and as authentic as it gets; warmly recommended.

From a short stack of 45s we bought in Algiers fifteen years ago.
Wonderful music from Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and the Lebanon;
This is shop stock, so the vinyl is in VG+ condition or better; the beautiful sleeves are a little worn and crumpled from their decades of shelf life.

A few marks; nothing grievous.

‘Two sets of identical teenage twins, Alfred and Alvin Pelham, and Keith and Kirk Gardner, along with Ricky Spicer. The group released a couple of singles and this lone album for Cleveland’s Saru label in 1971, breaking up and disbanding as adolescence waned. A recent sample darling of both Kanye West and Tyler The Creator, Bound has revealed the Ponderosa Twins Plus One as the real Midwest kid soul deal.
‘Freshly remastered from the original analogue tapes, adding two previously unissued bonus tracks; in a replica tip on sleeve.’