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Richard Horowitz passed away Saturday, April 13 in Marrakech, in the company of Sussan Deyhim, his life and creative partner, at the age of 75. Richard was battling Parkinson’s disease for the past several years, and Sussan relocated him for Los Angeles to Morocco, his spiritual home, for care and comfort in the company of friends. We had the honor of working with Richard on a reissue of Eros in Arabia via Freedom to Spend, originally released in 1981 under the name Drahcir Ztiworoh (read it backwards). While Eros is an innovative, otherworldly album, it was just one thread in an incredible tapestry of music he was a part of. richard studied under La Monte Young, recorded and toured extensively with Jon Hassell, collaborated with Ryuchi Sakamoto on film work, and founded the Gnaoua Music Festival in Mogador. His travels in Northern Africa introduced him to the Ney cane flute, and to Brion Gysin and Paul Bowles, the latter whom mentored Richard over decades of correspondence. Richard’s collaboration with Sussan was perhaps the most magical and prolific. Their 1986 album Desert Equations: Azax Attra is perhaps the pinnacle of Crammed Disc's untouchable Made to Measure series, and represents an undeniable culmination of creativity and admiration shared between the two musicians. At first skeptical of our interest in Eros in Arabia, Richard was so incredibly kind and inquisitive after we finally met in NYC at a favorite Tribeca restaurant so many years ago. He perfectly understood our place and intention, and embraced and enabled our efforts. It was always a lovely, learning experience getting time with him in New York and Los Angeles, and becoming close with Sussan in the process. We will miss your presence in this physical realm, Richard. Now you are all around us, reborn in the ultimate dimension. Thank you for the incredible gift of music, and allowing us to share ~

For the second volume of Reflections, Black Decelerant, the duo of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz, explore improvisational jazz traditions through contemporary tone and texture, fostering sonic meditations on themes of Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, expansion and limitation, and the individual and collective. Today we share “two,” the first offering from the self-titled album, with a video directed by Neil Nourigat. The vinyl edition of Black Decelerant is available for pre-order ahead of its Friday, June 21 release date, alongside a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.

“Grand Trine” is the first signal of sound from Tashi Wada’s forthcoming album What Is Not Strange? featuring creative and life partner Julia Holter on vocals, the song title refers to a configuration of planets forming an equilateral triangle, which is present in the astrological chart of Tashi and Julia’s daughter. The song is accompanied by a video from longtime collaborator Dicky Bahto. “I asked Dicky if he could create a portrait of the time period around the making of the album, which coincided with a lot of life and world events,” says Tashi. “I love the kaleidoscopic feeling of time, space, and people that Dicky conjured with his improvisatory editing technique. it’s a beautiful counterpoint to the music, rhythmic and bursting with life.”

Introducing Tashi Wada’s What Is Not Strange?, the first full-length solo album by the Los Angeles-based composer, and his most far-reaching and impassioned music to date. Written and recorded over a period that encompassed the death of his father and the birth of his daughter, the album sees Wada reflecting inward to explore broad narratives—being alive, mortality, finding one’s place in the world—through new modes of ecstatic, song-based expression. Today we share “Grand Trine,” featuring Julia Holter and the ensemble of Dev Hoff, Ezra Buchla, and Corey Fogel, who accompany wada on the journey of What Is Not Strange? The double LP edition of the album, pressed on audiophile black vinyl by RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket printed by Dorado Music Packaging, is available now for pre-order. A custom tenugui towel was produced for the Artist Edition of vinyl, and a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.

Released / unleashed ten years ago today, The Body’s I Shall Die Here. After a failed attempt tasking a vaunted luminary of the noise world to reassemble Chip and Lee’s Machines with Magnets studio sessions (if you guess who, we *might* send you a link to stream), and a “could be any other random day” encounter with Robin from Triangle Records, it felt like just a blink of an eye before Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak, was sitting at Gary's Electric Studio with his laptop and two giant monitors de/reconstructing the album we came to know and fear. We revisited Chip and Lee's original sessions, and had the untouchable Seth Manchester work his magic, just as he did the first time around, for an expanded edition of the album released in 2023 titled I Shall Die Here / Earth Triumphant. Why we revisited the album for its ninth anniversary instead of its tenth? Who knows, but it’s well worth a spin, if you missed it last year. A major moment / demarcation in the RVNG catalog, and a collaboration of the highest alchemic order.

A look inside, and outside, the “standard” (anything but!) and artist vinyl editions of Ka Baird’s new album Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos. 𖤓𖤓𖤓 We reserved copies of the artist edition for Ka’s record release show at Roulette this Thursday, April 4. If you’re in the New York area, don’t miss this opportunity to see experience Ka’s sound in ensemble form. 𖦹𖦹𖦹