Roundtable/Votary Disk has been on it lately with these slick reissues of some pretty legendary and hard to find library records. We just got a big batch of them in and they’re the pick of the litter.
Founded in Rome in 1964, ‘Il Gruppo D’Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza’ was a collective of noted and noteworthy composers who challenged the very structure and performance of music itself. Today the most renowned of its members would be film-scoring genius Ennio Morricone (“Il Gruppo…” performed on many celebrated Morricone scores of the 1960s and 1970s) but each contributor has an intriguing history in Italian music.
For reasons unknown “Niente” was never originally issued but one listen will convince that not only is it the sequel to one of the most sought after LPs of all time, but it is also by far its superior. Brain melting jams collide with unhinged intensity in a hothouse of Italian avant-improv. You have been warned. You can pick it up here.
Egisto Macchi (1928-1992) has long existed in the shadow of his friend and famous collaborator Ennio Morricone. As Morricone melded pop idioms and western scores, Macchi too melded classicism, the avant garde and early electronic music. Aside from his frequent collaborations with Morricone. Macchi was a busy film (LSD Inferno, Bandidos, The Assassination Of Trotsky) and TV (E.S.P, many commercials with Mario Bava) composer in late 1960s and 1970s Italy and France. Macchi also cut a number of highly desirable library LPs for the Gemelli, Sermi and other Italian labels in the 1970s.
‘I Futuribili’ is one of the greatest and most sought after of those LPs, a stunning and powerful hybrid of haunting orchestral arrangements, jarring avant tones and dense electronic atmospheres. Pick up the LP here.
The highpoint of a career that boasts the legendary Space Patrol (Raumpatrouille) and Chariots Of The Gods soundtracks, Peter Thomas’ Orion 2000 is a phenomenal session that was only ever pressed in limited quantities as a German library LP (in 1975) and has never been available commercially ever before.
Drums pound, guitars buzz, horns flail and star-maidens wail…berserk electronic and musique-concrete effects collide with manic energy in a cornucopia of astro big-band delirium. There is nothing of this world (or any other) that sounds like the Orchestra Peter Thomas.
Remastered from the original master tapes and presented with exclusive liner notes, the original artwork, and rare photos. Pick up this interplanetary freak Kraut-Funk here.
After years of global adulation, tours behind the iron curtain and then a number of personal crises, Yma was ready to return to the spotlight in 1972. Flanked by her original collaborator, the King of Exotica, Les Baxter, this was to be no tired rerun of former glories but instead a blistering psyche-rock-exploitation opus! Yma growls and swoops her way over solid grooves, swirling keys and fuzz guitars.
Withdrawn immediately after release in a blizzard of litigation and acrimony, this rare and lysergic masterpiece is now fully restored and remastered from the original master tapes for its first ever official reissue. Presented with two fantastic (and previously unheard) extra tracks.
LP available here.
From deep within the Australian Outback comes Yaraandoo, the 40,000 year-old sound of antediluvian Aboriginal folklore channeled through Mellotron, hypnotic washes of Moog oscillations, Bamboo flutes and tape delay. Welcome to the unearthed, unheard of and indefinable genre of Australian Dreamtime Psych…. Re-presented for the first time, this much-anticipated reissue of this mythical Australian Lo-fi concept recording composed by Jazz guitarist Rob Thomsett is ripe for the picking. Working in a similar impressionistic mode as other Australian originals Sven Libaek and John Sangster, Thomsett sets to music the Aboriginal Dreamtime myth of Yaraandoo, The legend of the dawn of creation.
Self recorded on a two track in 1974 then privately pressed and distributed amongst friends, Yaraandoo is without a doubt the most desired and speculated Australian progressive recording in existence. With only 100 handmade LP copies originally pressed, copies of this phenomenal LP rarely surface. Yaraandoo is a true lost timepiece from the Australian underground. Hop on over here to pick it up.
The second screening of Searching For Sugar Man was an early one, happening at 9 AM at the Yarrow Theatre in Park City. I didn’t think last night’s premiere could be toped, but never underestimate the power of Sixto. While the film played, I chatted with Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and Craig Bartholomew in the lobby of the theatre. Considering these two South Africans are the reason I’m standing here, I once again geeked out, asking questions about the intense process of finding Rodriguez well over a decade years ago. The three of us picked through certain lyrics on Cold Fact and Coming From Reality, leading to other unanswered clues. Time flew by so we sat down to watch the final half hour and still felt the goosebumps. Once again, the credits came up and a standing ovation ensued. The M.C. brought out Rodriguez, cast, and crew, and the audience went nuts further, which only escalated when someone yelled out “play a song!” Rodriguez grabbed his guitar, tuned up, and performed, covering a song by Paolo Nutini. Bless the joys of YouTube and witness it here -
I climb on the shuttle from the Salt Lake City airport to the homebase of Sundance in Park City. So far it’s not as cold as I expected but imagine the temperature will be falling a good 10 degrees once we roll into Park City.
I’ve been waiting for this Rodriguez film documentary for what feels like centuries. You’re probably wondering, what Sixto doc? Good question. About 4 years ago, as we reissued the 1969 album 
