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NEW ARRIVALS

NEw Little Axe Cassette

LAC•051 Advice

Another mix of International favorites including Peruvian street chants, Cayman Island beach bands, Turkish folk etc etc

$
3.00    

NEw Sahel SoundS

SS-052 Luka Productions - Falaw

Luka Productions presents Falaw, an innovative take on West African Hip Hop and sample-based folktronica. A follow up from the acclaimed Malian “new age” inspired Fasokan (2017), Luka Guindo turns his focus to the rich cultural heritage of Manding music. Eschewing wholly PC-based sequencing, Falaw invites a number of traditional performers to join him in the studio. Griots recount sage stories over Luka’s sweeping synth pads while ngonis shred pentatonic solos to the crash of sequenced drum samples. Paying homage to the storyteller, combined with regional styles of lyrical Hip Hop, Falaw offers advice on modern living, with heartfelt songs about loss, love, and life.

Luka Productions is the creation of Luka Guindo, based in Bamako, Mali. With a musical training in West African gospel music, Luka is one of Bamako’s hardest working producers, churning out tracks for scores of popular artists in the regional scenes of thumping electro Balani Show and lightning hi-energy Hip Hop, and he brings this varied experience to Falaw. Tracks like BBNI offer Luka’s version of the melodic Bamako Hip Hop banger, while Forêt features lush acoustic ngoni with looping call and response. In addition to his work sequencing and producing, Luka plays a variety of instruments across the tracks, performing vocals, djembe, synthesizer, guitar, and bass.


The effect is both otherworldly while seemingly organic. Creating at the confluence of electronic and tradition, Falaw is destined to be a future classic, both at home in Mali and abroad. In a genre where all too often “modern” is used exclusively to indicate Western collaborators, Falaw is a groundbreaking entry into homemade fourth world music and a suggestion of the future Malian sound. Comes with full lyric translations.

$
15.00    

NEw MISSISSIPPI

MR-018 Michael Hurley & Pals - Armchair Boogie
Classic album from Michael Hurley. With all the hits and reproduction of comic book.
$
10.00    
The Rats - In A Desperate Red (Red Vinyl Version)

At last! Fred and Toody Cole and drummer Louis Samora's ultimate punk masterpiece This is the last record by the Portland punk legends before Fred and Toody moving on to Dead Moon. In fact, two songs from the first Dead Moon LP hail from the same session as this LP. IN A DESPERATE RED combines garage rock, new wave and art punk...just picture a more punk version of Dead Moon if you can. 6 years of work went into remixing and remastering this version - with Fred Cole twisting knobs and obsessing over it's every detail. One of Fred Cole's greatest records and impossible to find for many years - at last this LP is available as it was meant to be heard. Play it loud....

First Pressing includes a 40 page booklet. Filled with fliers, photos and an interview with Fred, Toody and Louis.

$
20.00    
The Rats - In A Desperate Red (Black Vinyl Version)

At last! Fred and Toody Cole and drummer Louis Samora's ultimate punk masterpiece - In A Desperate Red.  This is the last record by the Portland punk legends before Fred and Toody moving on to Dead Moon.  In fact, two songs from the first Dead Moon LP hail from the same session as this LP. IN A DESPERATE RED combines garage rock, new wave and art punk...just picture a more punk version of Dead Moon if you can.  6 years of work went into remixing and remastering this version - with Fred Cole twisting knobs and obsessing over it's every detail.  One of Fred Cole's greatest records and impossible to find for many years - at last this LP is available as it was meant to be heard.  Play it loud....

First Pressing includes a 40 page booklet.  Filled with fliers, photos and an interview with Fred, Toody and Louis.

$
16.00    
Jean-Bosco Mwenda

The pioneering Congolese guitarist best known for the song "Masanga," this is the first compilation ever dedicated to Jean-Bosco Mwenda! Jean-Bosco created a totally unique approach to the acoustic guitar in the 1950s, which caught like wildfire across the continent. Featuring 12 rare songs of beautiful, complex fingerstyle guitar & Mwenda's warm voice, and 2 beloved classics - all restored from original 78 RPM discs. Includes an insert with full lyric translations!

$
14.00    
Various - Bulawayo Blue Yodel

A collection of beautiful Country-Western inspired music from 1950s Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya. Fingerpicking "omasiganda" troubadours, train car yodels, raw slide guitar, and haunting travel-weary ballads, all reissued for the first time from rare 78s. Featuring George Sibanda, Josaya Hadebe, Sabelo Mathe, Petrus Mntambo and more, with a 12" booklet of deep research and full lyrics, packaged in old school tip-on covers. Co-released by our friends Olvido Records (A. Kostis, The White Birds, George Mukabi). Audio restoration and transfers by Michael Kieffer.

$
15.00    

NEW LITTLE AXE 

LA-020 PURO TAYTA SHANTI

Andean party music from the central sierra of Peru. Tayta Shanti’s long history of complex syncretism is expressed through its simple song structure. Minimal and raw, or layered with intricate arrangements, its unrelenting rhythm mesmerizes as much as it moves. 16 songs of pure folklore, spanning the late 1960s until the early 1980s. Compilation includes liner notes and photos. Instant mountain rave.


Digital copies are available at our bandcamp page here: https://littleaxerecords.bandcamp.com/

$
13.00    
LA-018 Sosena Gebre Eyesus - BACK IN PRINT

Ethiopian artist Sosena Gebre Eyesus sings accompanied by her playing of the Begena, or King David’s Harp, one of the world’s oldest and most beguiling instruments. Since ancient times the Harp of David has been used as an aural balm, a soother of evil and disturbed spirits —it’s low, buzzing tones widely noted for their ability to sweetly refresh one’s soul. Said to have been brought to Ethiopia in biblical times by Menelik I, it has long been the central instrument used to accompany Ethiopian Orthodox hymns, which Eyesus plays here in an absolutely entrancing manner while softly singing songs of devotional reflection. Featuring six beautiful hymns that gently unspool at the measured pace of a lullaby, Sosena Gebre Eyesus magically creates a rarefied atmosphere that feels absolutely necessary and vital for these most turbulent of days. 


Originally released on cassette, this is a limited edition lp of 500 copies. 


Also available as a digital download: https://littleaxerecords.bandcamp.com/album/sosena-gebre-eyesus

$
12.00    
LA-017 Esther Suarez - La Bolognesina - Back in print!

Esther Suarez, also known as La Ocrasina De Oro, is a popular Peruvian Huayno singer. La Bolognesina is one of her earlier albums, featuring reverbed vocals over Andean harps supplemented with light percussion and handclaps. The album was recorded in 1981, with the title referring to her roots near the snow-capped Andean mountains of the Bolognesi province in the Ancash region of Peru. Peru experienced waves of mass rural-to-urban migration in the latter half of the twentieth century due to poverty and political instability, but with it also came an explosion in the popularity of the folkloric Huayno tradition. An urban and modernized studio version of ancient indigenous Quechua folk traditions, Huayno became the soundtrack to the migrant’s experience of both hardship and homesickness. Esther Suarez’s clear and yearning vocals soar over galloping huayno rhythms, evoking the highlands of her youth with heartbreak, regret and melancholy, while simultaneously looking to a place where there is always a will to live and an invitation to dance. Truly some of the most beautiful music ever.


Digital copies can be purchased here:littleaxerecords.bandcamp.com/album/esther-suarez-la-bolognesina

$
10.00    

Other recent Stuff

DS-042 SALUM ABDALLAH AND CUBAN MARIMBA BAND – NGOMA TANZANIA

Sweet and joyful sounds from the first half of 1960’s Tanzania. Salum Abdallah and Cuban Marimba Band were at the forefront of “muziki wa dansi”, the emerging dance music scene influenced by Cuban 78’s, dance music crazes like the twist and cha cha cha, and the local sounds of their home country. Hailing from the smaller town of Morogoro, they rose to be stars across the country. Out of over 100 sides recorded for local labels, mostly Mzuri Records of Kenya, these twelve songs are the cream of the crop. Only a few of these have ever been re-released in any form, and that hasn’t happened for several years. Lots of toe tappers, smile enhancers, and downright dancers, with a few slower and simpler songs to round it out. Taken from 1961-65, these twelve songs shine a brighter light on an already bright light that was Salum Abdallah, taken away from this earth all too early at the age of 37. The 12 song LP comes in an old style tip-on sleeve with lyrics in Swahili with English translations on the inner sleeve.

$
13.00    
DEAD MOON BOOK & 2xLP - 2nd Printing

 ***** PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU WANT THIS OUTSIDE THE US, YOU MUST EMAIL FIRST - IT WILL BE $85-100 ADDITIONAL SHIPPING COST*****


12.5 × 12.5-inch Hardcover 300 page full color art book weighing around 7 pounds or 3 kilograms. The covers has die cuts embedded and holds 2 LP’s.

Dead Moon were a DIY band, active for 19 years. Singer and guitarist Fred Cole was playing music since the early 1960’s – beginning his career as “Deep Soul Cole – the white Stevie Wonder”, then joining the psychedelic garage rock band the Lollipop Shoppe / The Weeds. In the 70’s and early 80’s Fred and Toody Cole played in various punk, country and hard rock bands. In the late 1980’s, they formed Dead Moon with Andrew Loomis. This band went on to become mythic and legendary. They lived by a DIY code built around superstitions and avoidance of conventional music industry pitfalls. Their story is completely unique amongst the pantheon on rock bands – a group who never sold out, never gave in and built a legacy of art and community piece by piece in a sustainable way almost unheard of. The book is a tribute to their unique aesthetic, unbelievable twisted path of a story, and roll as pioneers of the Portland music scene.

The book tells the entire Dead Moon saga in the words of the band itself. Just the voices of Fred, Toody and Andrew. It includes a complete illustrated discography of everything Fred, Toody and Andrew have released, song lyrics, and TONS of band photos, flyers, and weird ephemeral stuff. Lots of it has never been seen by the greater public. The package also includes 2 LP’s of the “best of” Dead Moon – lovingly remastered from the original tapes. 2nd Edition.

$
77.00    
MRP-099 Emahoy Tsegue-Mariam Guebru - BACK IN PRINT
Another beautiful album of piano music.
$
13.00    

RECENT LITTLE AXE CASSETTES

LAC•050 Sueños Contigo - Discos de los Tianguis

A mix of flea market records from Mexico City, mostly cumbias.

$
3.00    
LAC-049 Apola Special
Dadjes Band, L'Orchestre Black Santiago, Features of Life, Heroes International Band, Professional Band of Odi and many more!
$
3.00    


ON SALE!! Two great titles now just $5 each!

LA-001 Lewlewal de Podor - Yiilo Jaam
_Hailing from northern Senegal, "Lewlewal de Podor" is a Pulaar guitar centric band that draws from the folk stylings of Fouta Toro. Featured on last year's compilation Ishilan n-Tenere, their first ever full length ranges from mellow acoustic jam sessions to electrified hip shaking concerts. Recorded by Christopher Kirkley. Comes with booklet and portrait studio photo. Co-release with Sahel Sounds
$
5.00    
MR - 092 V/A - Fanafody: A Collection of Recordings and Photography from Madagasikara Volume II  LP
The second volume of recordings in our series of Madagascar music. From the archives of Montreal recordist, Charlie Brooks. While containing some similar artists as volume one, Fanafody focuses more on his second trip through the island during 2002 featuring violin players and throat breathing singers. Includes extensive photography and liner notes booklet.
$
5.00