Tompkins Square
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Visit product page →Richard Skelton is an artist from Lancashire in the UK. He started his Sustain-Release Private Press in 2005 as a commemorative tribute to his late wife Louise, with the intention of publishing her artwork alongside his own musical offerings. Since its inception he has released a slew of raw, beautiful recordings presented in lovingly-assembled, individualised editions.
Operating under a variety of guises, including Heidika, Carousell, Harlassen and Clouwbeck, Skelton creates powerful, instrumental music out of densely-layered acoustic guitar, bowed strings, piano, mandolin and accordion, often laced with delicate, shimmering percussion. The result is something utterly unique - a music which is both life-affirming and yet etched with memory and loss, evoking equal parts Arvo Pärt and Ry Cooder, Nick Drake and Henryk GÃ"recki.
It is with A Broken Consort, perhaps, that Skelton most-assuredly draws these elements together, creating an ever-changing drift of rich textures and interleaved melody that effortlessly evokes the landscapes which inspired it. Box Of Birch, his second album in this guise, was originally published in a boxed edition that contained, among other things, birch twigs collected from the West Pennine Moors. For Skelton these things act as a synecdoche for the landscape itself, a physical connection to the places in which much of his music is recorded.
In this new edition for Tompkins Square, Skelton has created an exclusive series of artworks which draw on the hidden histories of the English landscape, and their narratives of displacement and loss. The result is something which perfectly complements the music whilst adding another dimension, providing a fuller picture of the artist's vision.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. A Sundering Path
2. Weight Of Days
Side B:
1. Something Fell
2. The Elder Lie -
Visit product page →Crow Autumn is the latest album by English composer Richard Skelton, who releases haunting and evocative music under a variety of guises through his own much-acclaimed Sustain-Release Private Press. From Clouwbeck to Heidika, Carousell to Riftmusic, his recordings brim with intensity and stark beauty, redolent of the landscapes that inspire them.
Recording here as A Broken Consort – his most prolific and successful pseudonym – Skelton expertly builds on the achievements of last year's Box Of Birch, creating a dense-yet-delicate weave of textures from a broad palette of acoustic instruments, including guitar, mandolin, piano, violin and accordion.
The result is a stunning sequence of swells and eddies, culminating in the orchestral intensity of 'The River', with its torrent of interleaved violin melodies and seething undertow. Originally released in two installments on the artist's own label, this special edition for Tompkins Square distills the essence of those recordings into a coherent whole, and augments them with new material, including the beautifully elegiac 'Like Rain', and the brooding coda of 'Leaves'.
With Crow Autumn, Skelton has created a work of enduring beauty that should firmly establish him as one of England's most uniquely talented contemporary artists, capable of rendering with a fine brush the visceral majesty of the natural landscape.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Day Reveals
2. A Mercy kill
3. Like Rain
Side B:
1. The River
2. Beneath
3. Leaves -
Sold outTompkins Square
Amede Ardoin 'Mama, I'll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings Of Amede Ardoin 1929-1934'
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vTompkins Square
Amede Ardoin 'Mama, I'll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings Of Amede Ardoin 1929-1934'
£14.99
The father of Cajun and Zydeco is celebrated for the first time with his complete 34 recordings, all in one deluxe 2CD package.Visit product page →
Rare Afro-Creole rhythms are heard alongside blues and breakdowns in this exquisitely remastered and produced volume, the first in the series of Long Gone Sounds for Tompkins Square. The Series will be dedicated to under-anthologized yet highly influential artists.
Produced by Christopher King (People Take Warning, Charley Patton) and designed by Susan Archie. -
Sold outTompkins Square
Americas Legendary Coffee House 'Live At Caffe Lena : Music From America's Legendary Coffeehouse, 1967-2013'
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vTompkins Square
£37.99
Visit product page →Unreleased performances by Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kate McGarrigle, Rick Danko, Anais Mitchell, Sleepy John Estes, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and more.
Nestled in the quaint upstate town of Saratoga Springs, New York is Caffè Lena, the oldest continuously operating folk music coffeehouse in the US. Opened by Lena Spencer in 1960, this tiny room has played host to influential artists across diverse genres of music; traditional folk, blues, singer-songwriters, jazz and bluegrass. Luckily, many performances were caught on tape through the years, offering the listener a thrilling seat inside this hallowed venue. 'Live At Caffè Lena', a 3-CD box set, the result of years of investigative research, contains 47 tracks, all released for the very first time, alongside previously unpublished photographs. Images include selections from the archive of esteemed photographer Joe Alper, who captured many iconic, intimate portraits from the folk era of the 1960s.
'Live At Caffè Lena' documents an important folk universe that was and is still happening in upstate New York, a story heretofore largely untold. The release of this collection comes at an auspicious time in light of renewed interest in the New York folk scene of the 60s as depicted in the forthcoming Coen Brothers film, 'Inside Llewyn Davis.' The film is loosely based on Dave Van Ronk's 2005 memoir 'The Mayor of Macdougal Street.' Van Ronk, a Caffè Lena regular, served as a mentor to many artists, some who would go on to eclipse his fame. His 1974 recording of "Gaslight Rag"featured on the box set references the Gaslight Café, a famed Greenwich Village venue that along with Caffè Lena was a catalyst for the folk music revival.
Caffè Lena embodied the spirit of the folk boom, the era and its artistry, building a reputation as a hotbed of creativity and connection. It was also a safe haven and nurturing space for artists, its atmosphere cultivated personally by Lena Spencer herself. She would graciously house wayward artists, sometimes for months at a time. But she was not merely a host. She championed artists, from Bob Dylan as early as 1961 all the way through the 80s until her passing. Her passion for identifying and promoting talent is evident throughout this 3-CD set. That Caffè Lena is still open for business tonight is a testament to her legacy.
'Live At Caffè Lena' is an important visual and audio document - 40+ years of our collective music history unearthed from dozens of "lost" tapes - night after night, show after show, through the decades - captured on tape in a tiny room in Saratoga Springs, New York.
DISC 1:
1. Intro by Lena Spencer / Guy Carawan Cripple Creek 1970
2. Hedy West Shady Grove 1968
3. Intro by Lena Spencer / Sleepy John Estes Holy Spirit 1974
4. Frank Wakefield and Friends Will The Circle Be Unbroken 1971
5. Jean Ritchie West Virginia Mine Disaster 1969
6. Billy Faier Hunt The Wren 1967
7. Greenbriar Boys Hit Parade of Love 1968
8. Mike Seeger O Death 1971
9. Jacqui and Bridie Hello Friend 1974
10. Tom Paxton Morning Again 1968
11. David Amram Little Mama 1974
12. Patrick Sky Reality Is Bad Enough 1971
13. Rosalie Sorrels Travelin' Lady 1974
14. Smoke Dawson Devil's Dream 1968
15. Utah Phillips The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia 1974
16. Michael Cooney Thyme It Is A Precious Thing 1974
17. Kate McGarrigle and Roma Baran Caffè Lena 1972
DISC 2:
1. Intro by Lena Spencer / Dave Van Ronk Gaslight Rag 1974
2. Jerry Jeff Walker Mr. Bojangles 1968
3. Barbara Dane Mama Yancey's Advice / Love With a Feeling 1968
4. Roy Book Binder Ain't Nobody Home But Me 1974
5. Intro by Lena Spencer / David Bromberg The Holdup 1972
6. Ramblin' Jack Elliott Pretty Boy Floyd 1992
7. Arlo Guthrie City of New Orleans 2010
8. Aztec Two Step The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty 1989
9. Happy And Artie Traum Trials Of Jonathan 1974
10. Rick Danko It Makes No Difference 1988
11. Paul Geremia Something's Gotta Be Arranged 1989
12. Robin and Linda Williams S-A-V-E-D 1987
13. John Herald Ramblin' Jack Elliott 1991
14. Pete Seeger Somos El Barco (We Are the Boat) 1985
DISC 3:
1. Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion Folksong 2013
2. Anais Mitchell Wedding Song 2013
3. Bill Morrissey The Last Day Of The Furlough 1990
4. Patty Larkin Island Of Time 1992
5. Greg Brown Flat Stuff 1989
6. Mary Gauthier I Drink 2013
7. Sean Rowe Old Black Dodge 2013
8. Tom Chapin Cats In The Cradle 1987
9. Intro by Lena Spencer / Christine Lavin It's A Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind 1987
10. Bill Staines Sweet Wyoming Home 1990
11. Bucky and John Pizzarelli I Like Jersey Best 1989
12. Rory Block That's No Way To Get Along 1989
13. Chris Smither Killing The Blues 1989
14. Tift Merritt Traveling Alone 2013
15. John Gorka Down In The Milltown 1990
16. Lena Spencer Dear Little Cafe 1972 -
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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As a member of Northeast-based band The Slip, Brad's guitar prowess has always been notable, but his true gifts and distinct musical voice are on full display throughout this solo guitar album.Visit product page →
A heady set of original compositions is complimented by such diverse covers as Maria La O by legendary Cuban musician Ernesto Lecuona, Kurt Cobain's Heart Shaped Box, and Le Trio Ferret's Gin Gin.
The introspective tone of the album recalls such overlooked loner guitar gems as Lenny Breau's Cabin Fever or Richard Crandell's In The Flower of Our Youth, whilst staking out a thoroughly modern approach to solo guitar here in the late '00's. -
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. -
'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." -
Sold outVisit product page →Originally released on the influential label Black Jazz in 1971, guitarist Calvin Keys' debut is a stone classic waiting to be re-discovered. The funky, deep grooves and Calvin's singular guitar stylings, coupled with a heady collaborative feel that inhabits so many early '70's jazz recordings, are all on beautiful display. 40 years later, Tompkins Square proudly re-issues this LP on 180g vinyl just in time for Calvin's 70th Birthday (February 6th, 2012).
Calvin's musical roots originate in his hometown of Omaha, NE, playing with legends like Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson. Shortly after the release of his debut LP 'Shawn-Neeq', Calvin was hired to tour and record with Ray Charles. By the mid-70's, Calvin was working steadily with pianist Ahmad Jamal on the road and in the studio. Since settling in the Bay Area in the mid-70's, Calvin has recorded numerous solo albums and played with many greats, including Taj Mahal, Bobby Hutcherson, Big John Patton and Dr. Lonnie Smith. In 2007, fellow Midwesterner and big fan Pat Metheny included the song "Calvin's Keys" on his album, 'Day Trip'.
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Visit product page →1. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face (w. George Jones)
2. Great Atomic Power (w. Jeff Tweedy)
3. Blues Stay Away From Me (w. Bobby Bare Sr. & Tom T. Hall)
4. The Christian Life (w. Eef Barzalay of Clem Snide)
5. When I Stop Dreaming (w. Elvis Costello)
6. Waiting For A Train (w. George Jones)
7. Kneeling Drunkard's Plea (w. Alex McManus of Bright Eyes)
8. Worried Man Blues (w. Kurt Wagner of Lambchop)
9. Grave On The Green Hillside (w. Tift Merritt & Joy Lynn White)
10. Knoxville Girl (w. Will Oldham)
11. Ira
12. My Long Journey Home (w. Paul Burch) -
Sold outSteps to Heaven features ten traditional gospel classics including two Louvin Brothers songs. The release will be followed by Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, out December 9, 2008. Both albums were produced, recorded and mixed by Mark Nevers (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Andrew Bird, Bobby Bare Sr.)Visit product page →
2007 saw Louvin celebrate his 80th birthday amidst a swirl of activity around the release of his first studio album in ten years, Charlie Louvin. Grammy-nominated for Best Traditional Folk Album, the disc features George Jones, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, Elvis Costello and many others. Charlie toured and recorded with Lucinda Williams, made a video for the song “Ira”, released a field recording of one of his many in-store performances, Live at Shake It Records, played over 100 concert dates sharing stages with Ryan Adams and Neko Case, appeared on giant festivals like Bonnaroo and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and placed a medallion around Emmylou Harris’ neck inducting her into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Charlie’s self-titled album earned 4 out of 5 stars in Uncut and Mojo Magazine, and sparked a bevy of great press and renewed interest in his fascinating career.
Instead of hanging back at age 80, Charlie has instead chosen to challenge himself. Steps to Heavenwas recorded live with a gospel choir comprised of three sisters, journeyman gospel pianist Derrick Lee, and Chris Scruggs adding doghouse bass and electric guitar. Louvin had never recorded with black gospel musicians before, and in doing so discovered a new musical path. "I did things on the gospel record I had no idea I could do. I'd be thinking along the way, ‘How can I do things I've never done before?’ And I did it." -
Sold outDaniel Bachman is a 22 year old musician born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He has been playing what he describes as "psychedelic appalachia" since he was a teenager, releasing small run editions of tapes, CDs and LPs for the past three years, with a sound that evolved from drones and banjos to a now guitar centered focus.Visit product page →
Touring off and on since the age of 17, Bachman has managed to cover thorough ground across the US, sharing stages with like minded folk such as fellow Fredericksburg native Jack Rose, for whom he fashioned the artwork for the posthumous release of 'Luck In The Valley'. His newest effort is the full length LP 'Seven Pines', sprung from a year living and working in the city of Philadelphia.
The sound results in a combination of homesick worried blues and the ecstatic buzz of fresh experience and a new life in unknown territory. Familiar and known, but also seeking to access memories from lives past, dead and gone.
Tracklisting:
1. Copperhead
2. Seven Pines
3. Sun Over Old Rag
4. Long Nights I
5. Mount Olive Cohoke
6. With Signs Following
7. 218 To Caledon -
Sold outVisit product page →First-ever vinyl re-issue of the 1968 psych classic by Dino Valente (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
First time commercially available in glorious MONO.
Recorded under the supervision of Bob Johnston (Dylan, Cohen, Cash).
Remastered from the original tapes by Grammy-winning engineer Warren Russell-Smith.
Original liner notes by Ralph Gleason.
Dino Valente's best known tune, 'Get Together', served as a counter-culture anthem for millions. He was also lead singer for seminal San Francisco psychedelic band Quicksilver Messenger Service. But it's his lone solo LP which has often been held in the same vaunted company as Skip Spence's 'Oar' as a lost, forgotten classic.
The album continues to inspire new generations of artists, such as James Toth of Wooden Wand, who says, "This long overdue reissue is a public service to loners, stoners and dreamers everywhere. Buy two copies; you will wear the first one out."
Matt Valentine of MV&EE also effuses, "It's a masterpiece . . . the songs, the vibe, the verb, the cojones. A stoned out killer - an LP that I continue to listen to regularly to this day. It was a huge influence on my first solo LP "Space Chanteys" and the production is awe-inspiring, in many ways ground zero for my spectrasound techniques." -
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. -
'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. -
“A young Californian who sings and plays as someone who’s crawled out of the Virginia mountains carrying familiar songs that in his hands sound forgotten: broken lines, a dissonant drone, the fiddle or the banjo all percussion, every rising moment louder than the one before it.” - Greil MarcusVisit product page →
California-based fiddle, guitar, and banjo player, and ardent 78 collector Frank Fairfield has made his living as a musician, often found playing on the streets of Los Angeles. Handpicked by Fleet Foxes to open their U.S. tour last year, Frank released a 7” on Tompkins Square and recorded his self-titled debut album.
His music has won over tough critics and purists like Grammy winning producer Chris King (Charley Patton, People Take Warning box set), Phil Alexander (Mojo) and Greil Marcus, to name a few. -
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. -
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
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