Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition, by Various Artists

Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition

by Various Artists

supported by

MarkOhe Herr Obst has had his ear to the proverbial ground, listening for groundbreaking outsider folk and solo acoustic guitar music, for what seems like ages. He is a premier curator, especially of european music, and this volume of 'Imaginational Anthem' displays that great talent.

K Hall This is an excellent compilation and it’s trying very hard to become my favourite in the series. Songs ebb and flow through various times and spaces…highly recommended.

Otis Nugatory Tompkins Square, you've done it again! Another solid compilation. But no CD version, alas. Must be getting old. Best ongoing compilation this side of Kompakt's Pop Ambient series.

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Comes with extensive pdf booklet including artists pics, liner notes by Marcus Obst (Dying For Bad Music) !

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD or more
Full Digital Discography

117

releases

Get all 117 Tompkins Square releases available on Bandcamp and save 65%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Chaos Emeralds, Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII : Songs of Bruce Cockburn, Raven Shadow / Black Pines, Great Loveday Wonder : The Collected Demo Recordings, Rising to Eternity, I Kept These Old Blues, Imaginational Anthem vol. XII : I Thought I Told You - A Yorkshire Tribute to Michael Chapman, Deve Ser Amor, and 109 more. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$308.35 USD or more (65% OFF)

	1.	Jonas Meersmans - The Turnaround 03:53
	2.	Waswas - A Simple Kit for Building a Sea 04:01
	3.	Mouss - Ghost Towns 06:46
	4.	Šimanský Niesner - Little Amber 02:59
	5.	Egle Sommacal - L'Arte Di Non Lasciare Traccia 05:43
	6.	Anders Holst - Past Winds Swept Past 04:42
	7.	Toby Hay - Sheep Song 06:08
	8.	Joost Dijkema - Why in the World Evansville 07:34
	9.	Adaya - From a New World 02:25
	10.	Borealis - Montañas de Azabache 03:33
	11.	Topias Tiheäsalo - Finnish Surgery Devices 04:59
	12.	Son of Buzzi - Geometrische Träume 06:28
	13.	Simone Romei - Flowering 03:36
	14.	P.J. Phillips - September 04:48
	15.	NIko Karlsson - Reversal Curse 07:35

about

Notes from compilation producer Marcus Obst (Dying For Bad Music) :

Playing music on a wooden box that is strung with guts or metal wires is an age-old tradition across all cultures in the world. In the Western world, the guitar became a symbol for serenading an adored one, to cure homesickness, conserve stories, or go against the establishment.

Especially for American culture the guitar is an important icon and being pictured with a guitar shaped our understanding of pop culture.

For European settlers the guitar, or even just the knowledge of how to build a guitar, was often the only way to take something from home with them into the new world. And there, as more people were immigrating or were forced to emigrate, European music traditions, from the British Isles, Portugal, France or Italy, started to influence each other and were played on other stringed instruments like the Banjo, which was brought over from Africa under similar, but more violent, circumstances than the guitar.

It's fascinating to know that the legendary Dobro guitar, an acoustic guitar with a metal cone to make them louder, and primarily known in blues music, was invented by Slovak emigrants, the Dopyera brothers.

The iconic Hawaiian lap steel guitar was built by Norwegian emigrant Chris Knutsen (fair to say, he was three years old when his family emigrated to the US.)

These instruments were pushed to their limits by self-taught Black performers, playing the blues, which was essential to modern Western Rock music.

That brings me to John Fahey who is seen by some as the "Übervater" of American steel-string guitar, or “American primitive” as he called it. His vision of playing the music of the world; be it European classical music, African kora music, blues, Indian raga, musique concrète, Latin American jazz on a single instrument, is still inspiring young musicians all over the world. They take up the challenge to become fingerstyle virtuosos themselves, and discover their local musical roots through the lens of Fahey's American primitive framework.

With this compilation, I want to show how many talented and original musicians on the other side of the ocean were inspired by Fahey and American primitivism in one way or another, and how they aim for playing the music of the(ir) world on a single instrument. For example, Italy seems to have a strong connection to the Takoma records label. Both Fahey and Robbie Basho played there at least once, and inspired musicians like Roberto Menabo, Maurizio Angeletti, and Enrico Marcandalli to explore the possibilities of the steel-string acoustic guitar.

I must acknowledge the history of European emigration to the United States, slavery, and the exploitation of (then) minorities in the music business and in general, is a complicated one. John Fahey's character and how he treated the people who loved him was complicated as well. But as Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard said: “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” We can only do better now.

I hope you enjoy this compilation that ranges from traditional Takoma School pieces to more Avant-garde minimalism; from the warmer hemisphere of Southern Europe, through Central Europe, and into the stark beauty of the Scandinavian regions.

-- Marcus Obst, Europe, May 2020

credits

released June 5, 2020

Compiled by Marcus Obst
Mastering : Andrew Weathers

license

about

Tompkins Square San Francisco, California

Tompkins Square label, established in 2005, has released acclaimed recordings by artists such as William Tyler, Gwenifer Raymond, Ryley Walker and Michael Chapman as well as reissues of folk, old-timey, gospel and American Primitive Guitar. The label has received 8 Grammy nominations. ... more

live events

'Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII : Songs of Bruce Cockburn' Listening Party

contact / help

Contact Tompkins Square

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition, you may also like:

Deep Fried Grandeur
by Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo

supported by 67 fans who also own “Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition”

we go to last live in tokyo. love sound hide420
go to album
Urban Driftwood
by Yasmin Williams

supported by 63 fans who also own “Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition”

I’m so grateful this crossed my path. This album is so beautiful. All the clear technique and mastery and vision are kinda secondary to the fact that this album brought me calm and joy during one of the most difficult times in my life. Yeah, grateful. David McCullough
go to album
New Vanitas
by William Tyler

supported by 61 fans who also own “Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition”

Music for sun, sea and starlight tabbycatt
go to album
Timber
by Bryan Rahija

Gorgeous fingerstyle guitar playing from this Portland, Oregon musician that captures the spirit of American Primitive in dazzling detail. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 30, 2021
go to album
The Spur
by Joan Shelley

Shelley’s career-best new LP explores making a home in a world that seems hopeless. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jun 28, 2022
go to album
Like The River Loves The Sea
by Joan Shelley

Gorgeous, pastoral folk songs from Joan Shelley, available on Bandcamp in exclusive teal vinyl. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 20, 2019
go to album
Live at Tubby's
by 75 Dollar Bill Little Big Band

supported by 58 fans who also own “Imaginational Anthem Vol. X : Overseas Edition”

Long-form trance-y rhythmic jams, with a fun shambling edge, sounding like a cross between music from Africa's Sahel region crossed with a Tom Waits instrumental... Jascha Narveson
go to album