The word from Mississippi…
‘Relentless polyrhythms, call and response vocal poetry, melodic and layered horns, flute, and even accordion!!! A huge and rich sonic landscape, propulsive, energetic, and deeply soulful.
‘Every neighborhood in Dakar has its own Assiko band. They’re community groups, open to anyone who wants to join, as opposed to the legendary griot culture that only allows select families to take part.
‘These hyper-democratic bands can kick off a thousand-person street party at any moment. But they also operate as mutual aid groups, neighborhood security, impromptu after-school programs, and repositories of local music and lore.
The Assiko Band of Grand Yoff neighborhood is led by Djiby Ly (Wau Wau Collectif), who takes his role in the community seriously. He’s led iterations of the band for over a decade, and describes in detail each rhythm they play, its roots, travels, and contours. This Assiko band is particularly prolific and popular, and these recordings remind me of a good rock band - loose and rangy, you can hear the humor and warmth amongst the bandmates come through.’

‘This thirteen-track compilation exhumes forgotten brilliance from the Afroamerican underground of the 1970s. Awash in fuzzed-out guitars, wah-wah pedals, lysergic-soaked grooves, and enough inflation depression to fill the tank of a shag wagon, If There’s Hell Below imagines a world where Hendrix lived on and Funkadelic never crawled out of the garage.’
Transparent red vinyl.

‘Maxx Traxx (and Third Rail before them) were a scene unto themselves in early 80s Chicago, happening live on-stage five-plus nights a week. Their two LPs, both recorded in 1982, are like catching a bullet train, a sheer energy ride almost too explosive to be captured by studio tape. Hop the turnstile and move with this complete document of Chicago’s last great club band told in detailed text, newly revealed photos, and complete studio recordings painstakingly remastered.’

‘Rare groove Windy City disco at its finest.’

‘Recorded at home in 2012, early acoustic guitar improv performances from the Bhutanese expat, who’d come to Asheville, NC to study in 2000 and discovered worlds of anarcho-punk and avant garde such as he’d only dreamed. Having made recordings of his newly-located improvisational conception, he intuited a desire to go deeper in his explorations of the recorded sound of the guitar, melding and colliding traditional music with his feeling for the range of textures within.’

‘Dave Cudlip’s debut album, inaugurating the highly promising, experimental label Klang Tone (spawn of the estimable Stroud record shop): a stunning and unique combination of ethereal ambient soundscapes, undulating rhythms, and atonal sound collage, with Harmonia and Autechre looming amongst its forebears.’

Artfully printed on differently-shaded coated and uncoated stocks, perfect-bound with marbled-style end papers, this 196-page hardback contains 79 poems written by Molly Drake from 1935 until her death in 1993; plus lyrics, a 14-page introduction by her daughter, precious family photos, diary extracts, song manuscripts and handwritten notes by Molly, as well as the essay Give Me A Place To Be, which previously appeared in the tribute to her son, Remembered For A While.
Also 26 short recordings across two CDs, performed by Molly, taped at home by husband Rodney in the 1950s and 1960s: her own exquisitely poignant, heavy-hearted songs,  steeped in loss and wonder, and a treasurable, posh kind of ‘Englishness’ (not the usual bollocks). Have a listen to I Remember.
Joe Boyd has called this compilation ‘the missing link in the Nick Drake story’, but that’s to do it down.
A beautiful Christmas present.

‘Palestre is a study of higher-dimensional spaces and altered states of consciousness. It explores parallel dimensions and temporal anomalies from a perspective that blends mythology, modern physics, ADHD, transcendental music and club culture.
‘Sciogli Assurdi was recorded between art galleries, clubs, squats, and folkloric festivities in 2018.’