Ino Hidefumi issues Love Theme From "Sunflower" seven-inch

Ino Hidefumi just released his version of Henry Mancini's Love Theme from "Sunflower" b/w "Lemon Tea" on a seven-inch.

April March releases her swingin' "Villerville" album on vinyl for RSD

As the title suggests, April March's "Villerville" album was recorded in the lovely Normandy village on the coast of France.   

Here's the scoop...

April March's latest "Villerville," is an album of all original songs recorded in Rouen and Villerville (aka Tigreville) with Norman Langolff, Rebecca Paris, Timmy Rickard, Ben Hilliard, Ben Hampson, Tim Weller, Naz Bouzida and Martyn Baker. Bong Load's exclusive RSD release of 750 copies includes the bonus track "Ta Ta Ta." Check out "Surfing Castafiore," "Blacktop Champion" and "Punk Altitude" after the tracklisting below. 

April March - Villerville

A1. Surfing Castafiore A2. I Do What I Do A3. Vinyl Boots A4. Double Tilt A5. It's A Long Walk A6. Pop Fly B1. Punk Altitude B2. Past The Sun B3. Oyster Bay B4. Blacktop Champion B5. Strike Your Lightning B6. Ta Ta Ta (Exclusive Bonus Track)

Watch guitarist Gwenifer Raymond play a Tiny Desk Concert and more!

Watch Welsh guitarist Gwenifer Raymond's Tiny Desk Concert and more following her recent Guitar Moves interview.

Acoustic Harvest presents Russell deCarle & Steve Briggs @ 200 McIntosh, Saturday

Singer/songwriter Russell deCarle is joined by guitar ace Steve Briggs for an Acoustic Harvest hoedown in Scarborough. 

Russell deCarle & Steve Briggs

at 200 McIntosh St, Scarborough

Saturday, April 18 at 8 pm

Tickets: $35 plus fees

After decades as the highly respected lead vocalist and bassist with Prairie Oyster, with "six Juno Awards, more than a dozen Canadian Country Music Awards and enough gold and platinum records and #1 singles to fill a living room wall", Russell deCarle continues to write, record and perform moving music. 

With his intimate, smokey, burnished voice, Russell has a knack for inviting audiences into his realm and embracing them with his words of heartbreak and hope, sadness and joy, wisdom and truth....he's truly a thinking singer-songwriter, a balladeer, connecting with people over achingly beautiful songs and stories about the land and world in which we live. His repertoire is eclectic, ranging from Country to Blues to Swing, Jazz, Rockabilly etc. and all delivered in his trademark, soulful voice and mesmerizing stage presence. Russell was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. 

Russell's two most recent self-released recordings, 2017's Alone In This Crowd and 2024's The End of The Road – both involving his sidekick guitarist Steve Briggs – represent some of finest work of his impressive career.  

Join us for an evening of stellar music and warm vibes. Get tickets right here. 

 

Adrian Younge's new album Younge is being called his "magnum opus"

Adrian Younge's new album "Younge" sounds like a well-orchestrated 70s Italian soundtrack awaiting a film. Check it out.  

Here's the scoop...

Younge is Adrian Younge’s magnum opus: a record that redefines what orchestral composition can mean for a new generation of jazz and hip hop. It is a bold, instrumental statement that positions Younge not only as a composer, but as an architect of a new musical language, one that looks backward and forward at the same time. 

The album is rooted in the lineage of composers who unknowingly laid the foundation for hip hop decades before it existed. Figures like Lalo Schifrin, David Axelrod, Ennio Morricone, Galt MacDermot, Bo Hansson, and later visionaries such as Portishead’s Geoff Barrow created cinematic, emotionally charged music that was often overlooked in its time. Their records would later be rediscovered by crate diggers and transformed by producers searching for sounds that felt timeless, dangerous, and unexplored. 

Hip hop expanded by inheriting this forgotten language. Through sampling, producers didn’t just borrow melodies; they absorbed orchestration, mood, tension, and storytelling from composers who were operating far outside the mainstream. In many ways, hip hop became the vehicle that preserved and amplified these ideas, introducing new generations to music that had always been ahead of its time. 

Younge is composed with that full historical awareness. It is orchestral music written from the perspective of today’s producers, music that anticipates reinterpretation, deconstruction, and reuse. Think of it as a 1970s soundtrack album imagined through modern ears: arrangements built around space, restraint, and texture; movements that feel cinematic yet modular; compositions that invite dialogue rather than demand finality. 

You can get a copy of Younge via Bandcamp right here. Listen to the lead track "Portschute" and "Il Mattino" below. 

R. Crumb compiles rare rural string band music for "My Soul Is Lost" LP

One of the more interesting RSD releases out today is the archival comp "My Soul Is Lost" assembled from rare 78s by R. Crumb & John Heneghan. 

Here's the scoop...

My Soul Is Lost presents a selection of rare old-time music compiled by R. Crumb and John Heneghan from their own collections. Crumb’s emergence the birth of underground comics with Crumb as its most recognizable force. Crumb owns almost five thousand 78 rpm records in his collection.

The Crowder Brothers

In the liner notes, Heneghan writes, “What i’m saying is, during the late 1920’s and early 1930’s in America, a treasure trove of rich rural music was recorded, before marketing maniacs could get there ghastly, grubby hands on it. as a result we have a true glimpse into what rural American music was and what it sounded like in all it’s raw distinctive nature. in the early 78 rpm era, countless records were recorded by some of the most unique sounding musicians and bands which never would’ve made it past the audition process once marketing ideas were set firmly in place by record companies to make music the most profitable.

"It's a strong experience to hear music made by the people, for the people, from a time when big money was just getting involved in the music making process and hadn’t yet fully crushed or cast out the most unique and richest sounding performers of the time. as a result we are left with, in my opinion, recordings of some of the most beautiful music ever made. i guess that’s what old-time music is to me.”

The limited edition RSD release (1000 copies) includes a multi-page booklet with beautiful photographs of early 20th century musicians and liner notes by John Heneghan and Tony Russell. Cover photo from the collection of R. Crumb with layout and hand-drawn text by R. Crumb. Watch Jalopy Records' teaser trailer here. Check out the tracklisting below followed by a few audio clips. 

My Soul Is Lost: 

Unknown & Forgotten Rural American Musicians

SIDE A

1. I Surely Am Living A Ragtime Life - W. A. Lindsey & Alvin Conder 3:03 (Memphis TN - February 1, 1928). W. A. Lindsey - vocal, prob. harmonica, guitar. Alvin Conder – banjo. 2. O Dem Golden Slippers - West Virginia Ramblers (Richmond IN - June 3, 1931) Jess Johnston - fiddle. Bernice Coleman - fiddle. Ernest Branch - banjo. Roy Harvey - guitar. 3. Look Here Mama - Uncle Bud Walker 3:01 (Atlanta, GA - July 30, 1928) Uncle Bud Walker - vocal, guitar. 4. My Soul Is Lost - Crowder Brothers 2:48 (New York City - September 22, 1937) Olfa Crowder - vocal, guitar. Ortive Crowder - vocal, guitar. 5. Livin’ In The Mountains - Lonesome Cowgirl 2:35 (Richmond, IN - March 18, 1931) The Lonesome Cowgirl - vocal, ukulele. 6. Bungalow Blues - Mary Butler 2:45 (New Orleans, LA - November 1928) Mary Butler - vocal. (probably) Harry Chatman - fiddle. Walter Vinson - guitar. Charlie McCoy – banjo-mandolin. 7. Wild Cat Hollow - Paul [& Charles] Johnson 3:01 (Richmond IN - September 4, 1930) Paul Johnson - vocal, slide guitar. Charles Johnson - guitar. 8. Come Be My Rainbow - Clover Leaf Old Time Fiddlin’ Team 3:41 (Atlanta, GA - August 9, 1928) (unknown vocal, fiddles, piano, guitar)

SIDE B

1. My Good Gal Has Thrown Me Down - Homer Callahan 2:42 (New York City - August 17, 1934) Homer Callahan - vocal, guitar. 2. Cotton Mill Girl - Lester Smallwood 2:57 (Atlanta, GA - October 18, 1928) Lester Smallwood - vocal, harmonica, banjo. 3. Down The Highway - Charlie Pickett 3:18 (New York City - August 3, 1937) Charlie Pickett - vocal, guitar. 4. Gold Diggers - The Grady Family 3:06 (Atlanta, GA - December 6, 1930) Prob.: W. T. Grady - slide guitar. Ethel Mae Grady - mandolin. Paul Grady - guitar. Elvia Grady - banjo-ukulele. Vernon Grady - string bass. 5. You Can’t Blame Me For That - Hazel Scherf 3:03 (Richmond, IN - January 31, 1934) Hazel Scherf - vocal. Archer Porter - harmonica, guitar. 6. Old Uncle Joe - McKinney Brothers 2:52 (Richmond, IN - September 25, 1934) (unknown vocal duet, guitar, mandolin) 7. Some Little Bug Is Goin’ To Get You Some Day - Bradley Kincaid 3:24 (New York City - September 14, 1933) Bradley Kincaid - vocal, guitar. 8. Black Snake Moan - Charles Underwood acc. Hack’s String Band 2:40 (Richmond IN - September 29, 1930) Charles Underwood - vocal. Slats Bethel - mandolin. Walter Cobb - banjo. Bill Brown - guitar. Gene Garrett - string bass.

 

Listen to a test pressing of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" (Take 2)

ROBERT JOHNSON

Vocals accompanied by own guitar

Recorded at the Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas, on November 27, 1936.

 SA 2629-2 "Cross Road Blues" (Take 2) shellac test pressing

Writes Nick Dellow, sound restorer:

"Here is an extremely rare shellac master "test pressing" of the unissued (on 78) take 2 of "Cross Road Blues" (a.k.a. "Crossroad Blues") by delta blues singer and guitarist Robert Johnson, recorded in 1936. The issued take is take 1.

"This test was pressed in the 1940s from the original ARC (American Record Corporation) metal parts by George Avakian, a young producer at Columbia Records (Columbia had bought ARC in 1938). Avakian was an avid jazz and blues fan who had discovered numerous unreleased master recordings held by Columbia, including those by Robert Johnson, in the company's Bridgeport factory in 1940.

"Avakian planned to release the masters as part of his comprehensive "Hot Jazz Classics" series of 78 rpm albums, but he prioritized other reissues. The masters were eventually released in 1961, when they were dubbed to microgroove for the Columbia LP "Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers", with a follow-up volume two issued in 1970. As far as I know, all the unissued takes were reissued on these LPs.