Modern art, but of the sonic variety – served up here by composer Daniela Casa on a rare sound library album, but with a free-thinking quality that rivals the best of the avant garde at the time! Unlike some more staid, academic record, there's no overarching concept here – no detailed notes that you need to read to "get" the music. Instead, Casa creates these short, dark little passages of sound – sometimes very abstract, occasionally tuneful – with elements that move between free jazz, atonal piano and woodwinds, offbeat strings, and even a bit of Fender Rhodes! The whole thing's a great reminder of just how much genius was bubbling up in Italy during the 70s – so much so that a record like this, which would have been worthy of release by Columbia or Deutsche Grammophon in bigger scenes, was only pressed up in small quantities by the Flipper music label. Titles include "Concetto Informale", "Dimensione Umana", "Prima Maniera", "Ricerca Della Materia", "Visione Surreale", and "Ricerca Cromatica". (Sound Library, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Revelatory sounds from Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru – an Ethiopian nun, but one who had a secret side life as a pianist and composer – stepping out here on a selection of solo tracks that have a wonderfully captivating vibe! Gebru's music first got wider exposure in the Ethiopiques series, but the sounds within are hardly the better-known grooves from that nation in the 70s – and instead, the tracks are beautifully intimate, and almost have a pastoral sort of quality – minimal piano lines sometimes touched with spiritual vocals – but with a spirituality that's much more universal and secular than you might guess from Gebru's work in the church – almost 4AD at times, but in a lo-fi way. The music is very hard to describe in words, but has a stunning presence that will grab your ears right away – on titles that include "Aurora", "Quand La Mer Furieuse", "Have You Seen Assayehegn", "Farewell Eve", "The Pilgrim Song", "Famine Disaster 1974", and "The Home Of Beethoven". (Global Grooves, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

A real oddity from George Harrison – a record of abstract electronics, cut right around the same time as his bigger mainstream solo hits! The record is a highly experimental one – a session that has Harrison working with Bernie Krause, and exploring territory that's much more in the late 60s Limelight Records mode than it is that of Apple – which is quite possibly why the label is listed as "Zapple", not "Apple"! Each tune takes up a full side of the album – and builds slowly out of soundshapes and textures, very much in the manner of some of the best work from the academic electronic music centers in the US at the time. And while the album may be a bit loose and unfocused overall, it's actually got a really appealing quality that we love a lot – a sense of free and naive exploration that's pretty great. Titles include "Under The Mersey Wall" and "No Time Or Space". (Note: This item is not for sale online until 7:00am on Sunday, April 21. It is in limited supply – and by nature of the Record Store Day rules it will be offered for sale first to customers who visit the Dusty Groove retail outlet in Chicago the morning of Saturday, April 20. It will not be pre-sold or reserved in any way. However, after 7:00am on April 21 we will offer up whatever we have left for sale online.) (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

To most ears, trumpeter Jon Hassell first burst on to the world through his experiments with Brian Eno on EG Records, or maybe his 80s work on ECM – but here, on his debut for the small avant label Lovely Music, it's clear that Jon's already in complete control of his sound – and is ready to become the kind of performer that would captivate listeners for decades to come! Hassell's horn has that special sort of effect quality on most numbers here – spacey, but never slick – and electrified, but far from any sort of Miles Davis mode – especially considering that the music is full of earthy, organic percussion from Nana Vasconcelos and some other players, who balance out the set's work on Fender Rhodes, Arp, and Serge synthesizer. The spirit of the set is very much in Hassell's classic "fourth world" recordings – and titles include "Toucan Ocean", "Hex", "Blues Nile", "Vernal Equinox", and "Caracas Night September 11, 1975". (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from bassist Barre Phillips, and a set that stands as a key starting point to an amazing run of records for decades to come! Phillips is playing here solo throughout, live and in a church – a setting that creates a wonderful resonance in his sound, as he moves throughout one long improvisation without any overdubs or effects at all – a progression that's breathtaking throughout, and handled very differently here than any of his similar records from later years. There's a bare, stripped-down quality that's incredible – and at a time when German saxophonists were blowing their heads off, or UK contemporaries were mixing jazz with electric rock, the whole thing is a very personal, very unique moment in sound! (Jazz, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully strange mix of electronics and sounds from around the planet – as Alain Pierre uses field recordings from Thailand and Mexico, then mixes them with these really special creations of his own! Some of the other recordings are presented almost whole, but with some augmentation in a subtle way – and these are then balanced by Alain Pierre's own work, which moves between the more moody, abstract quality of the sound library scene of the 70s, into territory that's maybe more familiar to ears trained on musique concrete! Titles include "Des Morts", "Funerailles Chez Les Hmongs", "Clown", "Fete Des Morts Chez Les Indiens", and "Cryogene". (Soundtracks, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album