MRI-133 Markos Vamvakaris - Death Is Bitter LP
Released November 11, 2022
Entrancing rebetika from the Greek underworld
MRI-139 Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo
Released Sept 2, 2022
Droning, open-tune guitar masterpieces from an unsung hero of East African music.
August 5, 2022
The release of No Condition Is Permanent by the great Nigerian highlife artist Celestine Ukwu. This music has been on repeat for us for over a year, and we’ve distilled down five of the artist’s heaviest and most intricate tracks for this release. Follow the link to learn / hear more…
June 10, 2022
Release of Ndikho Xaba and the Natives, South African spiritual jazz masterpiece, created in exile in the Bay Area with luminaires Plunky Branch and Lon Moshe.
Shipping MARCH 4, 2022
10 more brilliant songs from the wildly popular S.E. Rogie !
A companion album to “The Sounds of S.E. Rogie.” A co-release with Domino Sound.
Mississippi Records Presents:
Clara Rockmore Record Release Celebration
A Night of Live Theremin
Oct 9, 2021 / 6pm / Coffey Street Studios / 153 Coffey Street / Brooklyn, NYC
After a year in the works, we’re about to release two records of sublime theremin performances by Clara Rockmore, and we’re celebrating with a night of LIVE THEREMIN in Brooklyn, NYC.
Elizabeth Brown and Lother Osterburg will perform their multimedia dreamscape “A BOOKMOBILE FOR DREAMERS”, combining live theremin, sound collage, and video into a meditation on books, reading, libraries, and culture.
Dalit Warshaw, an NYC composer who studied under Rockmore and Nadia Reisenberg, will accompany Elizabeth Brown to recreate several Rockmore/Reisenberg performances, including “The Swan.”
The folks from one of our favorite record stores, the Record Shop, will provide tunes, you can try your hand at a theremin, and we’ll have cheap records and drinks on hand (including, if all goes as planned, copies of the two Rockmore records).
$10 suggested donation with all proceeds going to Red Hook Mutual Aid.
TICKETS HERE
We just sent out Volume 10 of our Mississippi quarantine newsletter, featuring an interview with Rebekah Del Rio (of Mulholland Drive fame), celebrations of the lives of Ron Burns and Shem Tupe, and a Cairo Records fundraiser for the Mississippi Food Network. Sign up here to get future newsletters:
brand new cassette versions of Brother Theotis Taylor, The Space Lady, George Mukabi and Frank and His Sisters! each tape is one hour long and includes additional songs that do not appear on the LP versions. also included is a download card for digital versions of all the music and liner notes.
Two of our all-time favorite records are back!! The mighty swampy soul of LITTLE BOB AND THE LOLLIPOPS and the stellar Arizonan R&B/soul duo EDDIE AND ERNIE. Ballads and stompers to make life better.
Ernie Johnson’s memorial at Resthaven Cemetery in Phoenix. A wonderful tribute and interview with Ernie, courtesy of John Dixon, can be found here: For Sweetwater
Mike Hanapi With Kalama’s Quartet
Mike Hanapi was a brilliant steel guitarist and vocalist from Honolulu, whose recordings with Kalama’s Quartet and the Ilima Islanders remain among the highest peaks of early 20th century Hawaiian music.
Hanapi’s gorgeous falsetto voice is backed by lush harmony vocals, like a lonesome yodel floating above an oceanside choir. The purely acoustic instrumentation of lap steel guitars, ukeleles and harp-guitars weaves gently in and out of the vocal melodies, creating fluid and harmonious layers and achingly beautiful blue notes. While past reissues of Hawaiian music from this era have focused on “hot” and up-tempo material, this compilation is entirely dedicated to the peaceful, deeply emotional and lilting style in which Mike Hanapi and Kalama’s Quartet excelled.
Most of these songs have never been reissued on any format, and have been remastered from original 78 rpm discs by Tim Stollenwerk, with beautiful clarity and presence (Tim really hit it outta the park on this one). Truly peaceful, tranquil and unique music.
New from Mississippi Records
Brother Theotis Taylor
Brother Theotis Taylor is a 92-year-old spiritual singer and piano player known throughout South Georgia and beyond for his powerful voice and heavenly falsetto. His music took him from his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, to the stage with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, to Harlem’s Apollo, and even to Carnegie Hall.
Though his releases are limited to six stunning and rare singles on the Pitch label and a single small-press LP, his recorded archive is vast. For much of his life, Brother Taylor kept a reel-to-reel recorder atop his piano at home.
“The music just comes down on you,” Brother Taylor told us late last year. “You always have your machine where you can catch everything. ‘Cause what you can catch today you can’t remember tomorrow.”
Brother Taylor recorded himself on his DIY home setup only when he was inspired by a higher power, often fasting and praying for days before recording. These intimate home recordings were digitized in 2020 and are being heard for the first time with this release.
Revisiting these old songs brought Brother Taylor to tears. “[When I hear this music] I pick up the same spirit that I did it in. And you see me cryin’. It made me feel good ‘cause I know I did it and I did it well. And I want to see it get out, because if it made me feel good, it make somebody else feel good. Right? This is spiritual music.”
LP comes packaged in deluxe gold-foil jackets with 8 page booklet featuring an extended interview with Brother Theotis Taylor and family photographs. Mastered by Tim Stollenwerk / Stereophonic Sound.
LP version available July 20th, 2020.
Brother Theotis Taylor at the Community Tabernacle Church he built in Fitzgerald, GA
ANNOUNCING:
MISSISSIPPI SPECIAL PRODUCTS DIVISION
Visit the new Mississippi Special Products Division for your poster, postcard, t-shirt, coozie, and random gift, ephemera, and tchotcky needs. An effort of the Mississippi shop in Portland, and a way to support while things are slow…
NEW RECORDS IN THE DISTRO SHOP:
Kalyani Roy
The Virtuoso of Sitar Vol. I & II
Stunning sitar pieces by one of the finest musicians in this male-dominated field. First vinyl reissue of these Indian classical masterpieces. (In the “Records We Distribute” section)
79rs Gang
Expect The Unexpected
The follow-up to the classic “Fire On The Bayou” release that came out on Sinking City a few years back.
Gia Margaret
Mia Gargaret
Mia Gargaret is an ambient, (mostly) instrumental album by Chicago, IL singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & producer Gia Margaret. The latest from Chicago’s own Orindal Records (in the Records We Distribute section).