A. KOSTIS

The Jail's A Fine School

Regular price £23.99

Break out the worry beads for this utterly spellbinding delivery from Mississippi Records and Olvido: the first ever vinyl collection of A. Kostis' haunting early 20th century rebetika. We're by no means experts in this field (far from it) but we instantly recognised Kostis' funereal ode, 'A School Was Burned' - our favourite moment from 'The Secret Museum of Mankind Vol.2' - and are very happy to report that the rest of this collection is equally unforgettable and totally worth your attention!  

The experts say: "Truly unique guitar duets and black-humor prose chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Virtuosic fingerpicking of Near-Eastern modes at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, it stands as an enduring mystery and the high standard for a once subversive art form."