'Songs Before Bed' marks Otto Benson’s first physical release under his own name, following earlier work under aliases including Memo Boy, OTTO, and Pudding Club.

Originally published as a digital-only release through Otto's own WNOADIARWB website and platforms on New Year's Eve 2022, 'Songs Before Bed' bridges the gap between the more experimental psychedelic electronic works of Otto and his most recent release, the acclaimed 'Peanut', released on NYE 2025. Blending brief pop fragments with melodic bedroom guitar, droning ambient shoegaze textures, and blissful IDM jaunts reminiscent of the Rephlex catalog, the album offers a seamless overview of Otto Benson's genre-defying sound. Originally conceived as a late-night record, 'Songs Before Bed' rewards listening at any hour.

Remastered for vinyl by Stephan Mathieu and pressed on Sonopress EcoRecord, an environmentally conscious alternative to PVC, special care was taken by Palto Flats and Otto Benson to make a sustainable product without sacrificing sound quality.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: With opiated echoes of Mac Demarco and Cindy Lee, late night vintage synthesizer rhythm sections a la Timmy Thomas, future ambient and atmospheres that'd excite Dean Blunt, and even moments of inspired glitchy electronica; if it wasn't so humbly presented I'd say Otto Benson was showing off! This is incredible stuff folks.

TRACK LISTING

mr. sunday night
river dream
another long day
forgot
orange moon
jumping seeds
histamine
letting go
apogamy
tuning in and out
good night mantra
kittys midnight blessing

The first ever reissue of the work of American composer Dorothy Carter, master of the hammered dulcimer, zither, and other instruments of the hammer chord zither/ psalterium family. A true musical vagabond, Dorothy was born in New York in 1935, though her spiritual pursuit of an expansive musical knowledge would take her to monasteries in Mexico, conservatories in France and London, and the founding of the Central Maine Power Music Company (CMPMC), with new-age/minimalist luminaries such as Constance Demby and Robert Rutman.

Dorothy Carter was many things - a virtuoso player, storyteller,historian of Celtic and Appalachian folk music, avid lifelong busker, avant-garde musician, and itinerant troubadour, laying a framework for music that existed both within and outside of standard folk idioms - never better represented than on her 1978 masterwork, Waillee Wailee . Underscored by Bob Rutman's cavernous bowing of the steel cello, the richness of Waillee Waillee's sound produces an album unlike any other in her discography. In particular, its two side-ending pieces, "Summer Rhapsody" and "Tree of Life,'' glide with the shimmering filigree of hammered dulcimer and Dorothy Carter's ephemeral voice floating over Rutman's droning buzz of the steel cello. The elements of these two tracks suggest something akin to a transcendental appalachian raga or whirling cosmic folk music, an effortless combination that serves to add additional substance to the remaining tracks on the album.

The title track is one of her most enduring compositions, often performed in stripped down versions throughout her career, and one of her sole recordings featuring a full band, with the contrapuntal interplay of tremulous flute, vibrating steel cello, bass and drums. Lyrically and tonally, her voice would never sound as stirring and refined as on this, her most outwardly accessible song.

She counted musical colleagues as diverse as Constance Demby, Einstürzende Neubauten and Laraaji, as well as her lifelong artistic partner and friend Bob Rutman, whose imprint is felt throughout the grooves of this record. The master tapes for this recording were fortuitously discovered in Rutman's Berlin studio, many, many years later. As recounted in Laraaji's contribution to the liner notes, Dorothy was "someone who really influenced my early zither exploration and vocabulary and inspired my shift toward hammered zither performance and recording," after encountering him busking on the sidewalk one day in the 1970s. Later, when living in Berlin in the early 1990s, Dorothy would begin work on manuscripts detailing the history of the dulcimer family and providing extensive sheet music, selected material of which is reproduced in the twelvepage booklet included with this release. Dorothy would find later success touring and performing in the late 90s with the ensemble Mediæval Bæbes, which she led with British musician Katherine Blake, playing a prominent role on their first four albums.

The recording of Waillee Waillee would mark the end of an era for Dorothy: leaving behind the familiar confines of the northeast, she embarked to New Orleans, settling with her family there. An outsider more so in a city known for its rich musical tradition in jazz and zydeco, Dorothy continued to busk - performing on corners, Mississippi riverboats, and more. She immersed herself in the city such that after suddenly and unexpectedly passing in 2003, the church played "Tree of Life" (this album's final track) at her memorial service, the community revelling in her wondrous life. "Tree of Life" would remain a composition that Dorothy Carter returned to many times throughout her life, appearing in a much more stripped down version on an earlier album, Troubadour . Its deep meaning and significance informed Dorothy's life and ineffable spirituality in ways that provide insight into her music, writings and expression of sound, heard remarkably through her songs and mastery of dulcimer and zither playing.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Squirrel Is A Funny Thing...
2. Dulcimer Medley - Robin M'aime
3. Along The River
4. Summer Rhapsody
5. Waillee, Waillee
6. Celtic Medley
7. Autumn Song
8. Tree Of Life

1982 album from Japan's visionary saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu, the man behind Mariah 'Utakata Ho Hibi'. Through its 8 suite-like tracks, Kakashi transports the listener into Yasuaki's colourful sound-world, a fusion of outre jazz, new wave, ambient, and dub practices. Another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground which has gathered cult status in recent years, and considered to be a highlight of Yasuaki's solo career.

Following the release of his widely regarded solo classic Kakashi, from 1982, and the otherworldly Utakata No Hibi, by Mariah in 1983, he went into the studio the following year with frequent collaborators, producer Aki Ikuta and Morio Watanabe (bassist of Mariah), to record a mystifying collection of experimental dance music.

Utilizing cutting-edge technology and studio trickery, Kiren showcases Shimizu's trademark playfulness, marrying richly layered production techniques to off-kilter, sometimes traditional sounding rhythms and melodies. Unreleased until now, Kiren represents an important period of Shimizu's artistic expression, an artist at his peak, while successfully exploring the intersections of fusion, synthpop, new wave, and jazz.

Palto Flats are back in the land of the rising sun for their seventh LP release, delivering a beautiful reissue of "Kakashi", the 1982 album from visionary saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu, the man behind Mariah's "Utakata Ho Hibi". Through its 8 suite-like tracks, "Kakashi" transports the listener into Yasuaki's colourful sound-world, a fusion of outre jazz, new wave, ambient, and dub practices, often all at the same time. Opener "Suiren" grooves through new wave rhythms and wonky funk, the skronking sax and avant groove calling to mind an Arthur Russell outing or Love of Life Orchestra jam, while the naive chorus could have come from an early Talking Heads LP. Without pausing for breath, the track segues smoothly into the title track "Kakashi", a dreamy fourth world dubspace born of swelling brass, rippling mallets and a rolling bassline. The A-side comes to a close via the three movements of "Kono To Ni Yomeri", which offer serialist brass abstractions, warm woodland ambience and a reedy nocturne respectively. Over onto the B-side and the weird electronics, fractal brass and steady groove of "Yune Dewa" see Shimizu shimmy into Laswell territories, expanding our consciousness nicely before the stunning "Umi No Ue Kara" sprawls across most of the B-side. Boasting a languid groove, restrained bass and the ever present trickle of mallets, the track flows gracefully from start to finish taking in subtle guitar chords, gorgeous sax and heart swelling chord progressions. Last but not least, the mournful "Utsukushiki Tennen" tugs at the heartstrings with snaking Latin jazz sax, dubby bass and chanted vocals. 
"Kakashi" is another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground which has gathered cult status in recent years, and considered to be a highlight of Yasuaki's solo career. We're lucky to have this one back.

TRACK LISTING

1. Suiren
2. Kakashi
3. Kono Yo Ni Yomeri #1
4. Kono Yo Ni Yomeri #1
5. Kono Yo Ni Yomeri #2
6. Yune Dewa
7. Umi No Ue Kara
8. Utsukushiki Tennen