At the age of 18, Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir left behind a relatively normal teenage life in Reykjavik to live in the remote Icelandic countryside, recording and performing as a founding member of the psychedelic folk band múm. Classically trained as a pianist, she held down a vital, shifting role as singer and instrumentalist, playing the accordion, bass, piano and banjo. After several years of touring and 3 internationally noted albums, she quietly disappeared into a dusty attic and reemerged as Kría Brekkan, a solo artist, with the subtly powerful debut 7" Wildering (After Hours). Since this rebirth, Kristín Anna has performed internationally in music and visual arts contexts, debuting as Kría Brekkan at the Stone in New York, later touring with Animal Collective and the Icelandic band Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and appearing more recently at MOMA and PS1, ATP England and the Clockwork Gallery. Available recordings have been limited, but never disappointing. Another 7" EP, Uterus Water was issued through Paw Tracks in 2010, and a collaboration with Animal Collective's Avey Tare called Pullhair Rubeye, also on Paw Tracks. In 2008 Kría Brekkan self-released Apotropaíosong Armor, a strange and beautiful EP, featuring the entrancing song "Solush"… but only a few sought-after copies circulated. In the Spring of 2013 Kristín Anna made the journey from Iceland to the Mohave Desert in California to record a site-specific piece for Women's Work Recordings. This mysteriously beguiling work, aptly titled Howl, comes as close to an abstract painting as any music can, or...
2XLP $29.00
11/27/2015
It has been said that no person can step into the same river twice. Rio en Medio’s Danielle Stech-Homsy delivers a similar experience with her new album of inspired folk music, some covers, some originals. Shifting waters graze the shore, mesmerizing ripples evoke a myriad of images and sentiments, depending on what time of day it is or season of the year. Language itself turns fluid, as Stech-Homsy sings in English, French, Welsh and so on. Stech-Homsy’s approach is organic, with spartan baritone ukulele, guitar, cosmic keyboards and harmonizing vocals forming the backbone of the songs. Here and there a friend drops in to play along—in this case, Terry Cox, original member of the 1960s folk-baroque band Pentangle (and contributing drummer for David Bowie, The Bee Gees) lends his nuanced approach on drums, while Dave Roe (Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three) chimes in merrily on bass to fill the speakers at just the right moments. Nathan Shineywater (Library of Sands, BrightBlack Morning Light) contributes lead guitar and percussion in highlighted places. Harmonica is played by George Flynn, a 90+ year-old veteran and former chauffeur for Hank Williams. With Rio en Medio Radio, Stech-Homsy explores connection between nature, literature, traditional folk music and pure flights of fancy. Delicate vocal lines and harmonies form an unusually strong thread, carrying the music along its watery way. The album convincingly weaves a path through time, picking up voices from the near and distant past and igniting meaning with subtle instrumentation. For the song...
CD $13.00
11/20/2015
MP3 $9.90
11/20/2015
FLAC $11.99
11/20/2015
Shoko Hikage has studied koto for decades with notable koto masters. She began playing at the age of three with the Ikuta-ryu Sokyoku Seigen Kai in the Akita prefecture of Japan. In 1988, she graduated from Takasaki College with a major in koto music, and was immediately accepted as a special research student under Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai, where she subsequently received her master’s certificate. In 1992, she moved to Honolulu to teach at the Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii. Currently she resides in San Francisco, where she continues her concert and teaching activities. Inishie No / Ancient Times is her latest CD release. Employing a variety of traditional and avant-garde approaches, Shoko’s unique koto performances showcase a new and fresh appreciation for the instrument.
CD $13.00
01/21/2013
MP3 $9.90
01/21/2014
FLAC $11.99
01/21/2014
Peace Sequence is the third full-length from songwriter Danielle Stech-Homsy under the Rio en Medio moniker. Recorded and produced by Stech-Homsy herself in the New Mexico and California deserts, the album offers nine reveries on a borrowed Martin guitar, several of which feature veteran koto master Shoko Hikage. Also guesting on organs on two songs is psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Nathan Shineywater. Rio en Medio’s debut album Bride of Dynamite was released on Gnomonsong in 2006, and she toured with Devendra Banhart across the US as main opening support, appearing at the Banhart-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in England. Stech-Homsy has toured the USA and internationally with such bands as CocoRosie and Brightblack Morning Light, and shared the stage with Michael “Snock” Hurley, Grizzly Bear, Vetiver, Vashti Bunyan and Diane Cluck. She was requested to perform at ’60s folksier Linda Perhacs’s first public performance in decades. Los Angeles’s Manimal Vinyl label released the second Rio en Medio full-length, Frontier, in 2008.
CD $13.00
02/05/2013
MP3 $8.91
02/05/2013