{"title":"Smiling C","description":"\u003cp\u003eUSA based label run by Henry Jones. Design by Asger Behncke Jacobsen \u0026amp; Rudy Guedj. \r\n\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"black-rain-6","title":"Black Rain","description":"\u003cp\u003eCharles Bals, the curator behind the America Dream Reserve compilation, continues his journey into a wasteland of obscure recordings sourced from previously unknown tapes and vinyl of the 70s and 80s. This collection is made for an overcast, rainy night. Where the nocturnal ramblings of wandering silent types can be heard over an endless stretch of asphalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis time, Bals has put together a compilation that contains a darker, more solitary narrative—a collection of reclusive, ‘sigh-chedelic’ folk. The anthology sources rare moments that feel like they were pulling-the-paisley-thread of a dying psychedelic folk movement. Although it passed from the mainstream, the genre continued to percolate in bedrooms, kept alive through unsigned bands and mysterious individuals. Despite recording in different countries, these artists found there way to a kindred feeling. When heard together, the feeling of an era’s aftermath comes into focus. Charles’ compilation brings out the potency of these disparate selections.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esteve novak - hearts are broken\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erichard lee evans - tightrope\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eimplosion - green dawn\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erare summer - goodbye\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emax - e minor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebasorelief - drum prin cimpie\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eerin - good-bye mother nature\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003enight rose band - golden tears\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esteve novak - hermits dream\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ejim freeman - sunrise\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"Black LP.","offer_id":50379932893515,"sku":"2215908","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/sc14_sleeve_production_026086bb_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726203927"},{"product_id":"a-totally-new-sound-2","title":"A Totally New Sound","description":"\u003cp\u003eSomewhere between electro soul and melodramatic pop. Music focused towards the youth set in some strange dream. Not sugarcoating anything. These late 80s \/ early 90s recordings are something to truly behold! Aset was a collective founded by a group of individuals deeply involved in community improvement initiatives and the struggle for justice and equality. A project that would link motivated adults with talented young people in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The compilation takes songs from three released projects of Aset, and one semi-unreleased single. Latonya, a spunky 11 year old kid singing about divorce, love, and dancing. The poster child of Aset. Treo, a trio of high school gals in harmony singing about love and relationships. Whax, the high school boys who were a bit stranger; the silly side of Aset. All backed by The Aset Players. Release comes housed in a newly designed jacket with inner sleeve containing info on the label\/artists and an interview with the label director, Mba Mbulu.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50452941570379,"sku":"2215911","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a4274413610_10_2d9ac4c1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727166665"},{"product_id":"america-dream-reserve","title":"America Dream Reserve","description":"\u003cp\u003e2023 edition with new artwork and die-cut sleeve. Comes with insert\/liner notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Welcome to the America Dream Reserve, home to husband \u0026amp; wife duos, pub legends, one-man-bands, preachers’ sons, and country-lounge entertainers...\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerica Dream Reserve\u003c\/i\u003e is a home for kindred souls. An hour-long journey into the world of lo-fi drumcomputer folk, disco-pop-lounge, haunting ballads, obscure vanity pressings, and synthesized string ensembles. A collaborative compilation between Charles Bals, creator of the inimitable Club Meduse, and Smiling C.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCompiled by: Charles Bals \u0026amp; Henry Jones.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"Black LPx2","offer_id":50452942913867,"sku":"2215909","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/CS933698-01A-BIG_6eb1e938_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727166695"},{"product_id":"black-rain-5","title":"Black Rain","description":"\u003cp\u003eCharles Bals, the curator behind the America Dream Reserve compilation, continues his journey into a wasteland of obscure recordings sourced from previously unknown tapes and vinyl of the 70s and 80s. This collection is made for an overcast, rainy night. Where the nocturnal ramblings of wandering silent types can be heard over an endless stretch of asphalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis time, Bals has put together a compilation that contains a darker, more solitary narrative—a collection of reclusive, ‘sigh-chedelic’ folk. The anthology sources rare moments that feel like they were pulling-the-paisley-thread of a dying psychedelic folk movement. Although it passed from the mainstream, the genre continued to percolate in bedrooms, kept alive through unsigned bands and mysterious individuals. Despite recording in different countries, these artists found there way to a kindred feeling. When heard together, the feeling of an era’s aftermath comes into focus. Charles’ compilation brings out the potency of these disparate selections.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50474395730251,"sku":"2208684","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/sc14_sleeve_production_f98a020a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727436092"},{"product_id":"when-dreams-slip-through","title":"When Dreams Slip Through","description":"\u003cp\u003eInimate British pop for fans of Spike, The Cleaners From Venus, Felt, Durutti Column, Black Ark Studios and Aladdin. Charming lost tapes from the early ‘80s, treasured only by family members until now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Jim and I met at university in Liverpool in nineteen seventy-five and immediately began making music together. We both had rooms in the same big Victorian house in the centre of town and our evenings were spent hanging out in the nightclubs of Toxteth, like Dutch Eddie's where the DJ played Trinidadian music all night long.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiverpool has always been somewhere with its own distinctive culture, poetry, and music. In the nineteen seventies it was absolutely magical. The city was still bathed in the afterglow of the Beatles and there was a kind of creative anarchy about the place. There was this band called Death Kit who used to put on multi-media events with people in fancy dress and random bits of theatre. We'd turn up completely out of our heads and it felt like we were deconstructing ourselves as individuals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter we left college, Jim began living in Cambridge and I returned to London where I'd grown up, but our musical relationship continued. We knew people who were making commercial sounds and having success with them but that wasn't what we wanted to do. We performed occasionally, albeit very erratically, mostly as a duo but sometimes with other musicians.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat we were really interested in was musical exploration. Jim built a studio in his back garden, bought some multi-track recording equipment, and began experimenting. We wanted to produce something that was just for ourselves. We were undoubtedly very naïve but naivety and innocence were hallmarks of that time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn my childhood, I'd been fascinated with the story of Aladdin. Now that fascination began to be reflected in the music we were making. Here was a story about a boy who transforms his world and enters the magical realm. That seemed to be exactly what was happening to me. For all sorts of reasons, I hadn't particularly enjoyed my childhood but now I had managed to step out of the everyday reality, to find a place where I belonged and where I had a kind of power.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name we used for the band came from a song recorded in 1949 by a singer called Mel Torme. There's a line in that song that goes, \"Careless Hands don't care when dreams slip through.\" That seemed appropriate since dreams were part of the territory we were exploring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had got married immediately after leaving college and by now I had a daughter who was afraid to go to sleep at night. She wanted me to be present in her dreams with her. That became the inspiration for a period during which Jim and I tried to recreate the shifting landscape of the night-time imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, the choice of name turned out to be horribly prophetic when in a freak accident Jim fell into a lake and was drowned. It seemed to me that for some time, he had not been paying enough attention to his own life. So I wasn't exactly surprised when I heard the news but I was completely devastated. After Jim's death, I put away his guitar and never played again. I went on to make a career as a novelist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost of the recordings we produced were lost over the years. A bunch of master tapes was accidentally thrown into a dumpster and others were left in the attic of a house I lived in at some time during the nineteen nineties. This album has been pieced together from fragments that somehow survived the cull.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50507285659979,"sku":"1142882","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c28e8e47-0d4a-4999-b170-852bfdf6893f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727845669"},{"product_id":"that-s-the-way","title":"That's the way","description":"\u003cp\u003eSmiling C collaborate with Bahamian super talent, F.J. to compile a selection of six lost tunes from his catalogue. Many of these are first time to vinyl. TIP!Fritz Bootle, Jr. (F.J.) created a unique blend of reggae and RNB while living on the Grand Bahama island in the early 90's. Subtly inspired by the Compass Point balearic locus of the nearby island of New Providence, and locally by a flourishing scene of soca, reggae, and disco. He developed this sound to fill a gap he saw in popular music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiling C","offers":[{"title":"12\"","offer_id":50989584515403,"sku":"1077710","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/96768b98-2cb3-4a7c-a76d-591196047e78_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1734545350"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_73523667_thumbnail_4096_089c6fdd-8da1-4c1e-b62e-8ac0f3b0e8b3.jpg?v=1726203908","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/smiling-c.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}