Esoteric - Homepage

Fans of Esoteric should also visit our sister labels, Atomhenge and Reactive

WELCOME TO Esoteric

Welcome to Esoteric Recordings, the home of good music. Established in 2007 and label managed by Mark Powell, Esoteric Recordings is the home of Progressive, Psychedlic & Classic Rock, with all releases finely packaged and remastered from the best possible sources to ensure the highest possible audio quality. Our releases cover both catalogue reissues and inspiring new works from artists with a fine history and heritage. Esoteric Recordings is an imprint of the Cherry Red Records group.

For a full list of Esoteric releases and to buy Esoteric CDs please check our Label Discography
To listen to sound samples from Esoteric’s release please check our Media page

Mark Powell is also the author of "Prophets & Sages" available on Cherry Red Books.

Esoteric News: 26th January 2012:

Issue 22 of Classic Rock Presents Prog seems well-pleased with Shibuya Nights - Live In Tokyo by Agitation Free . "When they formed in 1967, Agitation Free were well at the forefront of German avant-garde rock (krautrock if you must), performing long spacey instrumentals with a serious Middle Eastern influence with a monster UFO Club-like light-show. They’re 1972 debut album Malesch was arguably one of the earliest manifestations of ‘world music’ and is rightly regarded as a classic by aficionados. In 2007 they reformed to play some Japanese dates. The music sounded as if they had just popped out of some Berlin arts lab of the late 70s to drop some acid and contemplate the universe and when they returned 40 years had passed. Guitarist Lutz Ulbrich and Gustl Lutjens sculpt evocative manifestations of pyramids, deserts and caravans while the twin percussionists add to a structure for their explorations. Oh, to have been at the show, immersed in the sound and the spaced-out lightshow. Along with their Berlin contemporaries Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream , they defined the more exotic kosmiche strand in krautrock something apparent in the long dreamy passages that draw you into their hallucinatory visions of drifting across the dunes of the Empty Quarter. Recommended for all true psychonauts.” The magazine find much to like in Arthur Brown’s Chisholm In My Bosom . "Think of Arthur Brown and the image that inevitably springs to mind is the bloke with the brazier on his bonce banging on about brimstone, hell and fire. Yet, as Esoteric’s continuing presentation of what seems to be every last morsel of Brown’s recorded legacy proves, the man in question is indeed a multi-faceted and frequently fascinating artist. Dating from 1977 this particular album strives, in part, towards an adult orientated rock mainstream. Across seven songs, with a supporting cast including Strawbs’ Chas Cronk and The Blockheads’ Norman Watt-Roy on bass, ex-Jackson Heights/Patrick Moraz guitarist, John McBurnie, and his old Crazy World partner, Vince Crane, Brown demonstrates that had he been able to leave behind his eccentric ‘wild man’ image, a credible career as a strong and sensitive singer might have been possible. Mixing Little Feat-style slide-guitar funk, occasional reggae inflections, punchy soul-infused brass, and earnest balladry, the sweeter side of his voice is heavily emphasised. It works mostly because it reins in Brown’s convoluted impulses. Even the slightly experimental 23-minute title track, packed with mellotron, episodes of blissed-out psych-folk and spacey gospel interludes, is surprisingly sharp and keenly focused.” Finally, Man’s Live At The Marquee 1983 is given the thumbs-up at Vintage Vinyl News who note "During the 1960’s and early to mid-70’s there were many British bands who took their music and stretched it into long, and often tedious, ‘Jams’. Of them all there was one who stood head and shoulders above the rest – a Welsh four-piece called Man. At their peak they were a jamming band to rival the likes of The Grateful Dead: hugely inventive and seemingly happier live than they ever were in a studio. This catches their 1983 reunion at the world famous Marquee (part of the venues 25th anniversary celebrations) and although it is a mixed bag in terms of material it really does sound as fresh as they ever did...The classic numbers are here: a great version of Spunk Rock, Even Visionaries Go Blind, Back Into The Future, one of the best boogie numbers ever in Romain and the classic of classics Many Are Called (But Few Get Up). The encore of Bananas is one of the better ones I've heard..The gig here is split across two CDs and you get a DVD of the entire performance as well and the performances are well worth seeing as well as hearing.”

New & exclusive to cherryred.tv Bill Nelson talks to Esoteric Label Manager Mark Powell about his life and music exclusively for cherryred.tv: