{"title":"Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"strange-strings-expanded-edition-2","title":"Strange Strings (Expanded Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e is a remastered album with bonus tracks. Liner notes by Irwin Chusid, and an expanded essay by David Toop are included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFans of \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra's\u003c\/strong\u003e Space Bop and genre-bending jazz were in for a shock with \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e. Even in the eclectic and sometimes baffling \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra\u003c\/strong\u003e catalog, \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e is an outlier. It's primitive, it's sophisticated, but it's not a gradient of either. It's brutal, yet highly sensitive. Is it music, or just noise? Or noise as music? John Cage could not be reached for comment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor this album, \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra\u003c\/strong\u003e collected an arsenal of exotic string instruments and handed them out to his Arkestra on the precept that \"strings could touch people in a special way.\" That the Arkestrans didn't know how to play or tune these instruments was not beside the point- it was the point. \u003cstrong\u003eRa\u003c\/strong\u003e framed it as \"a study in ignorance.\" The result was primitive, yet sophisticated; brutal, yet highly sensitive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn his essay for this expanded edition of the 1967 Saturn LP, musician-curator David Toop calls \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e \"saturated in mystery.\" The original 1967 Saturn LP version of \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e was monophonic, contained three tracks, and suffered distortion in the mastering (perhaps due to the high-decibel studio performance and excessive reverb). Yet some sessions were captured in stereo. A dozen strange-string works have been located, five of which are included on this remastered edition. (The others have been released on other labels; see discography inside gatefold.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNo track titles appeared on the original Saturn LP verso, but the three works issued were later identified as \"\u003cem\u003eWorld's Approaching\u003c\/em\u003e,\" the LP title track, and an inversion of the title, \"\u003cem\u003eStrings Strange\u003c\/em\u003e.\" A belatedly discovered tape box listed the third recording as \"\u003cem\u003eStrange Strange\u003c\/em\u003e,\" a title which has been used in this edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cosmic Myth","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50403997843787,"sku":"2218439","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50403996598603,"sku":"2218435","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_d68bc5e8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726565582"},{"product_id":"my-brother-the-wind-vol-1","title":"My Brother The Wind Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003eRemastered and expanded edition: \u003ci\u003eMy Brother The Wind, Vol. 1\u003c\/i\u003e captures Afrobeat visionary Sun Ra's initial 1969 encounter with the Moog synthesiser. The album has been meticulously remastered from archival session tapes and includes rare and previously unreleased studio material. This edition of My Brother the Wind, Vol. 1, was co-produced by Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive, and Irwin Chusid, for Cosmic Myth Records. CMR releases will primarily use source tapes from Anderson's archive, the world's foremost collection of original Ra session masters.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cosmic Myth","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50433641906507,"sku":"2198556","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_ae827c8e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726881589"},{"product_id":"atlantis-3","title":"Atlantis","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAtlantis\u003c\/em\u003e (1969) is a bold and highly atmospheric jazz album by Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra that moves away from traditional swing into a more experimental sound. The centerpiece is the 20-minute title track contained in side B, built around Sun Ra’s heavily amplified Hohner Clavinet. Around this, the Arkestra layers percussion, horns, and collective improvisation to create a dense, hypnotic texture. The music is intense but not chaotic; it unfolds gradually, focusing on mood, repetition, and sonic colours. The shorter pieces on the album are slightly more rooted in free jazz traditions, but still maintain the spacious, exploratory feel. Atlantis stands as a key example of Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist vision, presenting jazz as cosmic storytelling and pushing the genre toward electronic experimentation and abstract sound design long before these approaches became common. This vinyl reissue is the first since 1973 and it features the track “Yucatan II” as bonus track on side A.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Klimt","offers":[{"title":"LP - White","offer_id":56629849948491,"sku":"R5256-2581","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0889397884857.jpg?v=1772039353"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/sun-ra-and-his-astro-infinity-arkestra.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}