Back catalogue: International

Review: "The message was clear: this was not necessarily music for dancing - even though the rhythms were compelling enough. This was music for the thinkers." When it came to the music of Celestine Ukwu, from where was this message communicated? In his case, it was the coalescing of his fashion sense and performance style, which combined unorthodox dress for highlife musicians - turtlenecks and drab coats - with a polyrhythm-focused, less intense highlife sound. With his bands, most notably The Philosophers National, Ukwu pioneered a more pensive and slow-burning version of the West African style, earning his place in musical history and this compilation of his greatest works.

Review: Four Flies thrillingly reissues Piero Umiliani's soundtrack to the 1969?giallo thrille Orgasmo (curiously retitled Paranoia in English speaking countries), the firstof three erotically charged? ilms directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring cult siren (and Oscar nominee) Following the first ever release of this OST in 2020, this follow-up version hears Four Flies top up the release with a fuller restoration, after some serious detective work in the composer's archives revealed a post-hoc salvaging of the original tapes, where they where first thought to be lost or unusable. Bringing Umiliani's score back to life for all to enjoy, Orgasmo perfectly captures the stylish and sleazy vibe of Lenzi's film, its acid-drenched visuals, and its themes of sick psychological mind games (courtesy of the devious characters played by Swedish enfant terrible Lou Castel and?French beauty?Colette Descombes).

Review: Black Truffle presents a formerly unheard live album by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh festival in 1982. Dagar was a nineteenth-generation descendant of the musical Dagar family, famed for their meditative approach to the tradition of Hindustani court music. The rudra veena is a large and low-pitched string instrument amplified by two huge, hollowed-out gourds, and Dagar became the first modern dhrupad musician to perform with it as an instrumental soloist. True to form, in this recording of Dagar, in which he performs the night raga 'Yaman Kalyan', we hear all manner of frozen tanpura stasis; twisting, hovering drones; gracefully bent notes. Dagar weaves a complex web, bringing the recording to a fitting, measured conclusion, in contrast to the unrestrained virtuosity rounding off most performances by his contemporaries. This edition is adorned with beautiful archival photographs of Dagar taken by Swedish percussion legend Bengt Berger and accompanied by detailed notes from Bradford Bailey.