Wrong-Eyed Jesus! or The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted ‘Wrong- Eyed Jesus!’ is a true story by Jim White—it was also the title of his debut album, which established White as a phenomenal maverick talent of alt country music when it was released in 1997, 25 years ago. But we’re not going to spoil the story for you here. For that you’ll have to get the 25th anniversary edition with White’s otherworldly tale on the inside of the gatefold.

Raised in Pensacola, Florida, a town crushed between the church and heroin, White was at one time a druggie, a Pentacostal, a fashion model, a New York taxi driver, a drifter, a pro-surfer, a photographer, and a filmmaker whose music became the conduit for all the stories he collected along the way.

Steeped in the influence of Flannery O’Connor and Tom Waits, Wrong- Eyed Jesus revealed White as a spiritual anatomist, reaching deep into the underbelly of the American South. It was quickly acclaimed as an idiosyncratic masterpiece of ‘outer space alt.country’—a classic of the newly burgeoning “sadcore” scene—which amused the Southern songwriter to no end.

“For 20 years I’d written these dark little songs,” he said. “Every once in a while I’d play them for someone and they’d shout, ‘Stop! That sucks so bad it makes my ears pop!’ Then a thing called alt country came along and, boom, all of a sudden everyone’s hollering ‘Jim, you’re a friggin’ genius!’ I mean, what happened???”

Twenty-five years after the fact, it’s a lot easier to recognize what happened. (By the way, if you haven’t seen his BBC documentary, “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus,” an award-winning road-movie exploring Southern culture, do.) Now living in an old farmhouse in the backwoods of Georgia, White continues to be a highly original voice in the immense Southern gothic tradition. When broken humanity aches for grace, music like his may give you a shot at redemption. 

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1 Book Of Angels
2 Burn The River Dry
3 Still Waters
4 When Jesus Gets A Brand New Name
5 Sleepy Town
SIDE B
1 A Perfect Day To Chase Tornados
2 Wordmule
3 Stabbed In The Heart
4 Angel-Land
5 Heaven Of My Heart
6 The Road That Leads To Heaven

Brazil Classics 4: The Best of Tom Zé Massive Hits, comes in a limited Brazilian Blue gatefold edition.

Here’s what you have in store: Household appliances and tools in arrangements with horns, strings, “prepared” guitars (punctuated by grunts, screams and other wild percussion), all melded with eccentric metaphorical lyricism.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Mã
A2. O Riso E A Faca
A3. Toc
A4. Tô
A5. Um “oh!” E Um “ah!”
A6. Ui! (você Inventa)
A7. Cademar
A8. Só (solidão)
B1. Hein?
B2. Augusta, Angélica E Consolação
B3. Dói
B4. Complexo De Épico
B5. A Felicidade
B6. Vai (Menina, Amanhãde Manhã)
B7. Nave Maria

Brazil Classics 5: The Hips of Tradition, comes in a limited Amazon Green edition.

Here’s what you have in store: Household appliances and tools in arrangements with horns, strings, “prepared” guitars (punctuated by grunts, screams and other wild percussion), all melded with eccentric metaphorical lyricism.

As some of you may know, Alice Coltrane was a legendary pianist, composer, spiritual leader, and the wife of John Coltrane, the most venerated and influential saxophonist in the history of jazz. In 1967, four years after meeting John, he died of liver cancer, leaving Alice a widow with four small children. Bereft of her soul mate, Alice suffered sleepless nights and severe weight loss. At her worst, she weighed only 95 pounds. She had hallucinations in which trees spoke, various beings existed on astral planes, and the sounds of “a planetary ether” spun through her brain, knocking her into a frightening unconsciousness.

The critical event of this period was not that Alice fell into the nadir of her existence, but rather that she experienced tapas, a vital period of trial. These tapas (a Sanskrit term she used to describe her suffering) helped prepare Alice for the spiritual ally she found in Swami Satchidananda, an Indian guru, with whom Alice made her first trip to India. On her second trip there, Alice had a revelation instructing her to abandon the secular life and become a spiritual teacher in the Hindu tradition – so she moved out West – eventually opening the Shanti Anantam Ashram on 47 acres she’d bought in Agoura Hills, California.

Music was the foundation of Alice’s spiritual practice. From the mid 1980’s to mid 1990’s, Alice Coltrane self-released four brilliant cassette albums. These cassettes contained a music she invented, inspired by the gospel music of the Detroit churches she grew up in, mixed together with the Indian devotional music of her religious practice, and even finds Alice singing for the first time in her recorded catalog. Originally only made available through her ashram, they are her most obscure body of work and possibly the greatest reflection of her soul.

TRACK LISTING

1. Om Rama
2. Om Shanti
3. Rama Rama
4. Rama Guru
5. Hari Narayan
6. Journey To Satchidananda
7. Er Ra
8. Keshava Murahara
9. Krishna Japaye*
10. Rama Katha

You won’t hear Vijaya Anand sing on this record. Nor will you hear him play any of the instruments. He is the invisible presence behind each of these songs. He’s the Musical Director, here to dream up sequences and carefully produce sophisticated South Indian pop perfection.

Anand was part of the first wave to use electronic instruments in Indian film scores. Almost all sung in glorious Telugu. Thirty years after its original release, Asia Classics 1: The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand - Dance Raja Dance is available on vinyl for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1 Aatavu Chanda Dancing Is Beautiful
2 Naane Maharaja I Am The Emperor
3 Aase Hechchagide Desire Soars Up High
4 Prema Rudaayade Loving Hearts
5 Neeve Nanna Only You Were Mine
SIDE B
1 Ellellu Preethi Love Is Everywhere
2 Ba Ennalu When I Say Come
3 I Love You, Yenthare I Said I Love You
4 Dheem Thana Thana Nana
5 Nalleya Savimathe Lover You Speak Beautiful Words
6 Yerida Gunginalli The Drink That Has Gone Up

It’s been thirty years since we originally released this retrospective from the Okinawan icon Shoukichi Kina. There’s a lot we could say about the legendary Kina and his influence on popular Japanese music but we’ll let Ry Cooder, who’s featured on most of the songs here, take it away:

“I first met Shoukichi Kina in 1979. David Lindley and I were on tour in Japan, and were getting well worn out. Kina and a translator met up with us in Osaka and we all sat down in the lobby of this giant tourist hotel, which Kina hated. He just sat there, staring straight ahead, saying nothing for an hour.

One year later, a round-trip plane ticket to Hawaii came in the mail, with a note that read: “ALA MOANA HOTEL, COMMERCIAL RECORDING STUDIO, PLEASE. KINA.”

Kina had a habit of throwing himself down onto the floor and kicking his feet when he liked a playback. I remember thinking, this beats “one more for us, guys!” When Kina’s wife, Tomoko, put down the vocal on “Flowers For You Heart,” he lay down and stayed down, making the engineer play it back over and over until he had wrung himself out—a real playback party, Okinawan style. Right about then you know you’re ready to start recording for real, but it never works out that way. You squeeze off one or two, say adios, and go to the house. Then later, maybe four people discover your little contribution, and then someone wants to reissue the album and there you go.” - Ry Cooder, 1993

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1 Jing Jing
2 Hana No Kajimaya
3 Celebration
4 Mimichiri Bozu/Danju Kariyushi
5 Don-Don Bushi
6 Zorba De Buddha
SIDE B
1 Basha-Gua Suncha
2 Crazy Kacharsee
3 Subete No Hito No Kokoro Ni
4 Haisai Ojisan
5 Eternally Ecstasy
6 Iyunu-Pri
7 I-Yah-Hoy!

On the heels of his already critically acclaimed (yes, already!) retrospective, World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah, Alhaji Waziri Oshomah — the Oyoyo King, the Godfather of Afemai Music, the Etsako Super Star, Mr. Please Please Please, Mr. Dynamite — returns with Vol. 2.

Along with the other four volumes of the series, Vol. 2 is now available—for the very first time!—as part of a complete set (in a box): Vol 1 - 5 (1978 - 1985) (November 4, 2022).

Waziri hails from a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called Afemailand, known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live—and dance—together. And there, as a devout Muslim and an exemplar of religious piety in his community, Waziri’s music fuses Etsako/Afemai folk styles with pan-Nigerian highlife and pop to create a sublime vehicle for his Islamic philosophy that gets everyone—Muslims, Christians, whoever—on the dancefloor.

Vol. 2 focuses on Waziri’s illustrious mid-career output—the music he created during the years leading up to and after he performed his first hajj. Every song here (one of which you might recognize from The Muslim Highlife) strikes his signature balance of traditional music, highlife, and funk, as he entreats you to stay on the straight and narrow, though there’s nothing straight about his beat.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Alhaji Yesufu Sado – Managing Director - Alhaji Y. Sado & Sons Ltd.
B1. Chief J. Aigbokhaode Electrical Contractor – Ikhin – Benin
B2. Ikwekiame Nedumhe

On the heels of his already critically acclaimed (yes, already!) retrospective, World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah, Alhaji Waziri Oshomah — the Oyoyo King, the Godfather of Afemai Music, the Etsako Super Star, Mr. Please Please Please, Mr. Dynamite — returns with Vol. 1.

Along with the other four volumes of the series, Vol. 1 is now available—for the very first time!—as part of a complete set (in a box): Vol 1 - 5 (1978 - 1985) (November 4, 2022).

Waziri hails from a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called Afemailand, known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live—and dance—together. And there, as a devout Muslim and an exemplar of religious piety in his community, Waziri’s music fuses Etsako/Afemai folk styles with pan-Nigerian highlife and pop to create a sublime vehicle for his Islamic philosophy that gets everyone—Muslims, Christians, whoever—on the dancefloor.

Vol. 1 focuses on Waziri’s illustrious mid-career output—the music he created during the years leading up to and after he performed his first hajj. Every song here (one of which you might recognize from The Muslim Highlife) strikes his signature balance of traditional music, highlife, and funk, as he entreats you to stay on the straight and narrow, though there’s nothing straight about his beat.

TRACK LISTING

1. Forgive Them Oh God Amin -- Amin
2. Emoi Khakiegwi Aghumheile
3. Igwegi Baba
4. Iyuchele Opomumhe 

Down across the railroad tracks, on a narrow road called Church Street in West Point, Mississippi, there’s a windowless brick building that’s been converted into a house of worship called The Message Center. One chilly January morning, the original members of a little-known gospel group from Aberdeen, Mississippi, called the Staples Jr. Singers gathered there to play some of their early songs for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Many of these songs, which they wrote when they were just teenagers, first appeared on their only full-length release in 1975, When Do We Get Paid (Luaka Bop, 2022), but none have been revisited—until now.

TRACK LISTING

A1 When Do We Get Paid (In Full)
B1 Somebody Save Me
B2 I’m Looking For A Man
B3 Tell Heaven

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah begins his sermon before a dancing crowd. His lyrics warn about the vice of jealousy but the congregation is here to get down. We’re in a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called Afenmailand, which is known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live and dance together. The atmosphere is one of enjoyment, excitement, and pleasure, because to see Waziri perform is to be addressed, body and soul.

He’s the creator of a unique dance music that’s fused with local folk styles, highlife, and Western pop, and imbued with Islamic values— and he’s the greatest entertainer in all of Edo State.

They call him the Etsako Super Star.

TRACK LISTING

CD
1. Forgive Them Oh God Amin – Amin
2. Jealousy
3. Alhaji Yesufu Sado Managing Director
4. Omhona - Omhona
5. Ovini Omoekeke Alhaji Inu Umoru
6. Okhume Ukhaduame
7. My Luck Feat. Madam Hassanah Waziri And Her Velvet Voice

2LP
A1. Forgive Them Oh God Amin – Amin
A2. Jealousy
B1. Alhaji Yesufu Sado Managing Director
C1. Omhona - Omhona
C2. Ovini Omoekeke Alhaji Inu Umoru
D1. Okhume Ukhaduame
D2. My Luck Feat. Madam Hassanah Waziri And Her Velvet Voice

The Staples Jr. Singers were part of a vanguard of soul gospel artists in the 1970s that broke from tradition to testify with the groove. They found their inspiration in the secular music they heard on the radio, and wrote songs that were nothing but stone cold soul.

Like many gospel groups at the time, they were a family band: The Browns from Aberdeen, Mississippi. Annie was 11, A.R.C was 12, and Edward was 13 when they got their start, building a reputation by playing school talent shows and front yards in tow.

“We were so strange and we were so young,” says Edward Brown, “and a lot of people didn’t understand that.”

Every weekend, they would pile into their family van and travel across the Bible Belt, performing sometimes as many as three shows in a single day. Back then, the South was desegregated on paper but not always in practice, and the Staples Jr. Singers weren’t always sure what kind of welcome they would receive—whether a new audience would embrace them, whether local restaurants would serve them.

Forty years, three generations, and countless performances later, the original members of the Staples Jr. Singers are still on the circuit, performing almost every weekend at local churches as the Brown Singers and the Caldwell Singers. While they’ve written an entire catalog of gospel music since 1975’s When Do We Get Paid, for the Staples Jr. Singers, the incantatory funk of this music still holds the power to help make a way out of dark and troubled times.

“I can be a witness,” Annie says, “Back then you could feel it. You were basing it on yourself. These are the songs that are really going to take us over.”

TRACK LISTING

1.Get On Board
2. I Know You’re Going To Miss Me
3. I’m Looking For A Man
4. I’m Going To A City
5. Somebody Save Me
6. Trouble Of The World
7. Waiting For The Trumpet To Sound
8. I Feel Good
9. When Do We Get Paid
10. On My Journey Home
11. Too Close
12. Send It On Down
13. I Got A New Home

This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while we were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier.

We met Pastor Champion a few years ago while we were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. We found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom we liked so much that we decided to make a record with him.

Pastor Champion wasn’t like any other pastor you’ve ever met. As an itinerant preacher, a carpenter, and a father of five, he made a name for himself traveling up and down the California coast with his electric guitar. He travelled alone and he played alone, well into his seventies. The easiest way to describe him would be as an outsider gospel artist. Other than these bare facts, we never learned much about him—except that he was also the brother of the well-known soul singer Bettye Swann. In fact, most of what we knew about him we got from his sister’s Wikipedia page.

We decided that because we met Champion through the 37th Street Baptist Church, we would record him there too. We recorded him live on a two-track Nagra reel to reel, as we wanted the album to be analog in the style of traditional gospel recordings. Over the course of two evenings (when the workday was done), Champion taught his band—musicians who had never played together before—a handful of songs, a small selection of the nearly 2,000 fragments of songs and sermons that he regularly performed. We listened in as they all got more familiar with the material and each other over time.

At some point, we mentioned to Champion that he would have to be interviewed by someone to write notes for the album. He wasn’t too pleased with this idea, saying he’d had a hard life and he didn’t want to talk about it. Over the next few months, we kept asking Champion to talk to someone about his life. He told us that he didn’t want to talk about growing up in Louisiana, his mother being accosted by the Klan, or that his father was a gambler. He didn’t want to talk about being jailed for 90 days for using a whites only bathroom, being in gangs or having a street name. We told him that was fine—he could talk about what he wanted to talk about. And he told us that he didn’t want to talk about anything.

You know, there are times when you make a record where it’s already made in your mind before you start. But then in the end, the record you thought you were making is not the record you made. We spent years puzzling over this one, trying to figure out what it was saying, who it was for, and how to get people to pay attention to it.

But Champion knew that this record wasn’t going to be for everyone. He didn’t really care. The important part for him was just getting the message out there in the same way that he always had, travelling alone with his electric guitar. “I want to say what I mean,” he said, “be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.” In other words, he just wanted to be a good man.

God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all

TRACK LISTING

01 / A1. Intro
02 / A2. I Know That You’ve Been Wounded (Church Hurt)
03 / A3. He’ll Make A Way (Trust In The Lord)
04 / A4. Talk To God
05 / A5. In The Name Of Jesus (everytime)
06 / B1. To Be Used By You (I Want To Be A Good Man)
07 / B2. Who Do Men Say I Am?
08 / B3. Storm Of Life (Stand By Me)
09 / B4. In The Service Of The Lord
10 / B5. I Just Want To Be A Good Man (To Be Used By You) 

Promises is the result of three distinct musical worlds colliding. Pharoah Sanders’ jazz improvisation and Flo Po’s twinkling electronics are layered over the string section of the LSO, bound together by a loose symphonic structure. These are textures that rarely sit together in a single composition, yet somehow they seamlessly knit into a cohesive whole. It’s quite a feat, one that could only be pulled off by artists as accomplished as these.

The entire album revolves around a recurring phrase played by Sam Shepherd on the piano, harpsichord and celesta. This phrase becomes the central pulse around which the other textures float, suspended in the space inbetween. The loose tempo allows for the improvised saxophone passages to flow freely and for Pharaoh to lean into the most tender moments of his performance.

At the beginning of the album the string section gradually emerges like a delicate silver thread before building through a series of sweeping chord progressions and moments of bittersweet dissonance. This leads into the third movement where Sam Shephard’s deft synth arrangement becomes the focal point. And later on we hear a hushed vocal performance from Pharoah. It’s one of the most touching moments of the album, with years of lived experience seeping through every crack and bend of his voice in a captivating way.

Promises is an album of subtle expression which invokes a feeling of boundlessness. It’s a wide open sonic space where each note is allowed to resonate to its full conclusion. There’s a constant feeling of push and pull, of tension and release, though it never really resolves fully. Something is always left hanging in the air - a question, a prayer, an inexplicable feeling. It’s perhaps one of the most surprising and profound releases of the year. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A beautiful orchestral piece that while both resplendent with FP's and PS's wonderful idiosyncrasies; recalls the gorgeous depth of Prefab Sprout's "I Trawl The Megahertz" but without the vocal parts! Epic!

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Promises (Movement 1) (1:16)
2. Promises (Movement 2) (3:56)
3. Promises (Movement 3) (3:16)
4. Promises (Movement 4) (3:39)
5. Promises (Movement 5) (6:06)

Side 2
1. Promises (Movement 6) (8:25)
2. Promises (Movement 7) (3:26)
3. Promises (Movement 8) (9:57)
4. Promises (Movement 9) (5:43)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2019 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

30 year anniversary box seT of David byrne’s legendary brazil Classics series. This is one of the first compilations of pop music from Brazil, and one of the most important compilations of music from anywhere. It became the beginning of a shift to music in other languages and from places other than where you are now. And, it was the beginning of Luaka Bop, which we are pretty happy about. New sleeve notes from David Byrne!

William Onyeabor was born outside Enugu, a small, rural town in Eastern Nigeria, he created his own genre of African electronic funk in the late 70s and early 80s, making music completely unique for his time. Today, he is reaching cult status among a growing list of admirers, including everyone from Damon Albarn and Hot Chip to Carl Craig and Madlib, with some likening him to the Kraftwerk of West Africa, or a precursor to LCD Soundsystem.

Among the crate-digging few that knew of him, he is considered a complete myth. While he has never performed live and almost never given interviews, his fantastical biography is scattered and has to this day not been verified. And, though he is still alive, he refuses to speak about anything regarding the past.

According to various rumors, he left home following the Biafran War and went to study cinematography in the Soviet Union, returning in the mid-70s to start his own film company and record label, Wilfilms. He then self-released eight remarkable records from 1978-1985. He wrote and produced everything on his own, and possibly played every instrument himself. Then, at some point of his life, he became born again and denounced his earlier music, deciding it is something he would never speak about.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Tomorrow
A2. Why Go To War
B1. Love Me Now
B2. Fantastic Man
B3. Try And Try

THE PICCADILLY RECORDS REISSUE/COLLECTION OF THE YEAR 2013.

Through its World Psychedelic Classics series, Luaka Bop has succeeded at introducing long-forgotten artists including Os Mutantes, Shuggie Otis and Tim Maia to the world at large. William Onyeabor is as obscure as these other artists were before their Luaka Bop releases, although his recordings from the 70s and 80s are beloved by die-hard record collectors and artists such as Damon Albarn, Devendra Banhart, Four Tet and Caribou, to name a few. The music ranges from synth-heavy electronic dance music to Afrosoul with saxophones and female backup singers, to psychedelic funk with wah-wah guitar and fuzzy keyboards - and often combines all of these elements.

'Who Is William Onyeabor?' may be the most complicated, if also one of the richest, undertakings in Luaka Bop's (rarely straightforward) 25-year history. Following the eight albums Onyeabor self-released between 1978 and 1985, he became a Born-Again Christian, refusing ever to speak about himself or his music again. Various biographies can be found online. Some say he studied cinematography in the Soviet Union and returned to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own film company, Wilfilms. Some say he was a lawyer with a degree from a university in Great Britain. Others portray him as a businessman who for years worked on government contracts in Enugu, Nigeria.

By attempting to speak with Onyeabor himself, and by talking to people who seem to have firsthand knowledge, Luaka Bop has been trying to construct an accurate biography of him for the past 18 months...without success.

One thing that's undisputable is that Onyeabor's music is utterly unique and ahead of its time.

The vinyl release comprises 13 tracks spanning Onyeabor's body of work and will include artwork by John Akomfrah, Njideka Akunyili, Harrison Haynes, Dave Muller, Odili Donald Odita and Xaviera Simmons. 

"The world might just be better off not hearing [Onyeabor's "Atomic Bomb"], which will burrow and propagate its seed exponentially by the second, into the hearts and souls of all humanity. It's the catchiest song I've ever heard; when it gets in my brain, I can't sleep...He's a mythical character from Nigeria." - Devendra Banhart in Uncut

"Anyone out there who is making music at the moment...will be quite excited by this..." - Damon Albarn on BBC Radio One

"LCD Soundsystem sounds like an American William Onyeabor." - Peaking Lights

"Talked to Luaka Bop about details of the William Onyeabor comp they are working on... Gonna blow minds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Four Tet

"People are really going to freak out!" - Caribou

TRACK LISTING

1. Body And Soul
2. Atomic Bomb
3. Good Name
4. Something You Will Never Forget
5. Why Go To Ware
6. Love Is Blind
7. Heaven And Hell
8. Let’s Fall In Love
9. Fantastic Man

LP EXCLUSIVES – NOT AVAILABLE ON CD OR DIGITALLY:
10. When The Going Is Smooth & Good
11. The Way To Win Your Love
12. Jungle Gods
13. Love Me Now

In terms of their status and influence Os Mutantes are often referred to as the Brazilian Beatles. How did 60s Brazil produce the wildest, most psychedelic rock'n'roll group of them all? And why, three decades on, has the rest of the world gone crazy over them? Kurt Cobain, Beck, Super Furry Animals, The Bees and David Byrne are just a few of the musicians that have flown the flag for Os Mutantes. Against all odds, in May 2006 the band reunited for the first time in over 30 years for a euphoric show at the Barbican's Tropicalia Festival. The recording of this historic concert, with special guests Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson, is now released on CD and DVD. The live album features the best-loved tracks of this legendary group and the full-length DVD includes the entire Barbican concert plus documentary, backstage footage, video clips and photos.