{"title":"Gitkin Vinyl","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"gitkin-grand-street-feast-cancion-del-rey-7","title":"Gitkin - \"Grand Street Feast \/ Canción Del Rey\" 7\"","description":"","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44391987282212,"sku":"","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/products\/0012894381_10.jpg?v=1673556839"},{"product_id":"gitkin-safe-passage-vinyl","title":"Gitkin - \"Safe Passage\" LP","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s music exists somewhere between primal, rootsy memory and distant exotic yearning — A dusty bordertown where the familiar blends imperceptibly into the enchantingly foreign.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAfter a long and fruitful run as a bandleader with relentlessly touring party-rockers Pimps Of Joytime and a Grammy-nominated country blues collaboration with Cedric Burnside, multi-instrumentalist Brian J set out to “explore tonalities I’d never messed with,” as he puts it. It was a release from “having to write lyrics or involve my voice,” he notes, and so the (mostly) instrumental sound of Gitkin came into being.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReviews of Gitkin’s first LP grappled with descriptors, tagging it vaguely as “cinematic” and comparing it favorably with Khruangbin. True, the music is largely wordless, emotionally evocative, and guitar driven. But it possesses an alluring alchemy all its own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s first release, 2018’s well-received Five Star Motel, amply demonstrated his ease with earthy funk and comfortably-cut rhythm. On his new full-length release Safe Passage, the itinerant guitar slinger broadens his already rich palette with melodies informed by Greek and Middle Eastern modalities, Peruvian Chicha and Tuareg Saharan guitar styles. No gimmick, this juxtaposition of\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003egut-bucket blues and funk low-end with unexpectedly twisting lead phrases highlights the intense flavors found in each savory ingredient.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRecorded at his home studio in New Orleans, Safe Passage showcases a new batch of immediately engaging, repeatedly satisfying cuts, ranging from surf exotica (“Cat Nip”) to raunchy roadhouse stompers (“Fools Gold” and “The Drive”) to dreamy vocal cuts “Foot Steps” and “Hold On” to the floating finale of “Safe Passage.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s production radiates character and warmth, leaning on soft-focus vintage mics, dubby spring reverbs and the quirks of an analog tape machine. Further enhancing the intimate vibe are distinguished guests like Carol C (of Si*Sé), who lends her striking voice to three tracks, including the strutting single “De La,” veteran Chauncey Yearwood (congas) and New Orleans local Clifton “Spug” Smith, who provides a sousaphone low-end on the cumbia-not-cumbia “Spug Life.”\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44392257126692,"sku":"","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/products\/gv.jpg?v=1673560060"},{"product_id":"gitkin-dont-you-want-me-baby-mi-lamento-7-copy","title":"Gitkin - \"Don't You Want Me Baby \/ Mi Lamento\" 7\"","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e*ATTN: International Customers, lower shipping rates available on Bandcamp*\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/dont-you-want-me-baby-mi-lamento\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003ehttps:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/dont-you-want-me-baby-mi-lamento\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn anticipation of Gitkin's upcoming album in October, Wonderwheel drops a cheeky little 7\" with two Latin covers from the man himself. The A-Side finds an instrumental Cumbia cover of the eternal 80s classic by The Human League. Leading with the guitar for the verses, the song chugs along nicely with a faithful interpretation of the original with Simon Moushabeck's accordion leading the chorus. On the flip, Gitkin covers Peru's infamous Grupo Celeste's 1975 classic \"Mi Lamento\" with friend and collaborator Gabe Case on vocals. Keeping with the Tropical Andean sound of the original, Gitkin's funky, wah wah guitars drive the track set over uptempo, cumbia inspired drums while Case's melodic vocals float on top. Two fun, happy tunes to light up dancefloors this summer!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49616568713508,"sku":"G-DTYW-DTYW","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/files\/0036549533_10.jpg?v=1721244959"},{"product_id":"gitkin-golden-age","title":"Gitkin - \"Golden Age\" LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e*ATTN: International Customers, lower shipping rates available on Bandcamp*\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/golden-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003ehttps:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/golden-age\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrian J Gitkin returns to Wonderwheel Recordings with Golden Age, a ten song showcase of the latest evolution of his lyrical guitar-driven sound. Exploring the endless expanses of cumbia, North African, and Middle Eastern music, the guitarist has increasingly brought his own personality to these traditions, creating a lively interplay between distant modes and rhythms and his own New Orleans-steeped sound. While Brian J’s an accomplished vocalist and bandleader (Cedric Burnside, Corey Henry, Pimps Of Joytime, etc), the Gitkin project has always been a space to delve into wordless, instrumental moods and melodies, and this latest iteration has taken that homegrown, yet far-reaching sound to its next level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGolden Age is unmistakably a product of the Crescent City. There’s a swampy, subtropical feel to each of the ten compositions, to be sure. But there’s also a rhythmic and percussive drive that is characteristic of the best New Orleans music, whether that be the funk of the Meters or the hoodoo vibes of Dr. John, both of which faintly echo through Gitkin’s music. Check out “Go Time,” a bouncy stomp with an organ solo by Palestinian keyboardist Simon Moushabeck that could’ve just as easily come from Art Neville or Booker T. Jones. Or “Ninth Ward Grind,” with drummer Washington Duke’s second-line backbeat and what Brian J calls “this home-on-the-range western twang that keeps making its way into my sound.” “Delta Mystic,” a cosmic disco-gone-bayou, has a title calling to mind the gris-gris carrying Voodoo practitioners of the area but adds a vintage Rhythm Ace drum machine to the mix that J.J. Cale would be proud of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe juxtaposition of unlikely influences that somehow end up making perfect sense continues with one of the album’s highlights, appropriately named “The One.” Something Brian J describes as “Sudanese synth-trance mixed with Tuareg, Black Sabbath, and 2000s-era hipster disco,” the song is a favorite at the band’s live shows. “My goal when creating is to think as little as possible and do what feels good,” he says. “I don’t overthink creating. If I wake up with a groove in my head or melody idea I just go into my studio and record it.” We should probably take the same advice, cease analyzing things too deeply, and simply enjoy Golden Age, Gitkin’s latest batch of dreams made manifest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Black","offer_id":49840711303460,"sku":"G-GA-BGAL-1","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/files\/GoldenAgeMockupBLACK.jpg?v=1725640971"},{"product_id":"gitkin-golden-age-deluxe-pack","title":"Gitkin - \"Golden Age\" Deluxe Pack","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e*ATTN: International Customers, lower shipping rates available on Bandcamp*\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/golden-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003ehttps:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/golden-age\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrian J Gitkin returns to Wonderwheel Recordings with Golden Age, a ten song showcase of the latest evolution of his lyrical guitar-driven sound. Exploring the endless expanses of cumbia, North African, and Middle Eastern music, the guitarist has increasingly brought his own personality to these traditions, creating a lively interplay between distant modes and rhythms and his own New Orleans-steeped sound. While Brian J’s an accomplished vocalist and bandleader (Cedric Burnside, Corey Henry, Pimps Of Joytime, etc), the Gitkin project has always been a space to delve into wordless, instrumental moods and melodies, and this latest iteration has taken that homegrown, yet far-reaching sound to its next level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGolden Age is unmistakably a product of the Crescent City. There’s a swampy, subtropical feel to each of the ten compositions, to be sure. But there’s also a rhythmic and percussive drive that is characteristic of the best New Orleans music, whether that be the funk of the Meters or the hoodoo vibes of Dr. John, both of which faintly echo through Gitkin’s music. Check out “Go Time,” a bouncy stomp with an organ solo by Palestinian keyboardist Simon Moushabeck that could’ve just as easily come from Art Neville or Booker T. Jones. Or “Ninth Ward Grind,” with drummer Washington Duke’s second-line backbeat and what Brian J calls “this home-on-the-range western twang that keeps making its way into my sound.” “Delta Mystic,” a cosmic disco-gone-bayou, has a title calling to mind the gris-gris carrying Voodoo practitioners of the area but adds a vintage Rhythm Ace drum machine to the mix that J.J. Cale would be proud of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe juxtaposition of unlikely influences that somehow end up making perfect sense continues with one of the album’s highlights, appropriately named “The One.” Something Brian J describes as “Sudanese synth-trance mixed with Tuareg, Black Sabbath, and 2000s-era hipster disco,” the song is a favorite at the band’s live shows. “My goal when creating is to think as little as possible and do what feels good,” he says. “I don’t overthink creating. If I wake up with a groove in my head or melody idea I just go into my studio and record it.” We should probably take the same advice, cease analyzing things too deeply, and simply enjoy Golden Age, Gitkin’s latest batch of dreams made manifest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeluxe Pack includes Golden Age Vinyl LP + Don't You Want Me Baby 7\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Black","offer_id":49855176245540,"sku":"G-GA-BGAL","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/files\/GA_Black_Deluxe.jpg?v=1726088140"},{"product_id":"gitkin-5-star-motel-2025-repress-lp","title":"Gitkin - \"5 Star Motel\" 2025 Repress LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e*ATTN: International Customers, lower shipping rates available on Bandcamp*\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/5-star-motel\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003ehttps:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/5-star-motel\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGitkin sold guitars. To be precise, he re-branded, sold and traded knock-off Gibsons. A lone, travelling salesman, he toted his counterfeit wares to guitar stores and music emporiums. His trade took him to most corners of the USA, passing through big, smoggy cities and nowheresville small towns. His nights were spent at not-so-salubrious motels. It was at those nocturnal stop-offs that he’d often cross paths with newcomers to the States. His fellow travellers were mostly immigrants, newly-arrived, from places like Ethiopia, Mexico, Indonesia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr at least, that’s the story as Brian J Gitkin has been able to piece it together. This album, ‘5 Star Motel’, is by a different Gitkin, an ode to the one described above. Or to put it another way, this is the younger Gitkin’s homage to his elder relative: the elusive, guitar salesman uncle he never met. A steady drip of anecdotes have construed an image of his relation’s itinerant, huckster lifestyle. Finding a cassette of his recordings, it spoke of the effect of those encounters: lo-fi and scratchy, the music leaped seamlessly, in difficult to discern ways, between different far-flung styles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn ‘5 Star Motel’, that younger Gitkin (henceforth referred to simply as Gitkin) has sought to expand the philosophy he encountered on that tape. The guitar is common thread, the raft to navigate a sun-dappled stream of ideas. It’s an embrace of cultures where folkloric stringed instruments still rule, or where they’ve led to a more recent embrace of the electric guitar. He traces the loose, meandering paths which join them together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s about America, the world outside its borders, and the inscrutable, inevitable dialogue that exists between them. Take ‘Cancion Del Rey’, where the sound of Peruvian chicha – steady-moving, alluring, and lyrical – winds its way through Gitkin’s fuzz-filtered licks, and the rhythm underpinning it. Or ‘Yama’, where Middle Eastern influences echo out of grooving, cyclical riffs. Touching on the distinctive tones of Tuareg music and the Sahara, too, ‘Grand Street Feast’ charts a sand-dusted, melodic misadventure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51256204427556,"sku":"G-5SM-5SM2","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/files\/0030481144_10.jpg?v=1761848174"},{"product_id":"gitkin-where-the-south-wind-wails-vinyl-lp","title":"Gitkin - \"Where The South Wind Wails\" Vinyl LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e*ATTN: International Customers, lower shipping rates available on Bandcamp*\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/where-the-south-winds-wail\"\u003ehttps:\/\/gitkin.bandcamp.com\/album\/where-the-south-winds-wail\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe story of Gitkin’s new album begins on the wind in New Orleans, where half-heard melodies drifted in like ghosts. Chasing those fragments became ‘Where the South Winds Wail' — less a collection of songs than a séance with an unknown past. Surf twang, blues exotica, and psychedelic cumbia intertwine, all steeped in the city’s humid mysticism. Cinematic, soulful, and raw, it feels like a prayer echoing after midnight. For the first time, Gitkin’s voice steps forward to guide the ritual.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52026317668644,"sku":"G-WTSW-VLUO","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/files\/WTSWW_Mock_4ac37aa0-9a77-4655-a76c-93e50e65970c.png?v=1771522962"},{"product_id":"gitkin-saint-claude-dash-chicha-nola-8","title":"Gitkin - \"Saint Claude Dash \/ Chicha Nola\" 7\"","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAfter introducing the world to the elusive named Gitkin last year with the release of his debut album “5 Star Motel”, Wonderwheel Recordings is back with another special 7” of two deeply funky, lo-fi globally influenced cuts from the travellin’ man himself. “Saint Claude Dash” with it’s 70’s disco influenced drum machine undertone brings in Middle Eastern \u0026amp; North African vibes on the melody, while shifting into an even funkier B section reminiscent of the Meters. On the flip side, “Chicha Nola” finds Gitkin vibing on the mysteriousness of late night New Orleans (where his studio is now located) playing the South American instrument Charango \u0026amp; juxtaposing the NOLA bump with a just enough twang. Just a taste of the brand new album to come this year…or when the spirits will it.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52297745269028,"sku":"WR-SCDC-LE7V","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/products\/0016050276_10.jpg?v=1673557176"},{"product_id":"gitkin-safe-passage-cd-1","title":"Gitkin - \"Safe Passage\" CD","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s music exists somewhere between primal, rootsy memory and distant exotic yearning — A dusty bordertown where the familiar blends imperceptibly into the enchantingly foreign.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAfter a long and fruitful run as a bandleader with relentlessly touring party-rockers Pimps Of Joytime and a Grammy-nominated country blues collaboration with Cedric Burnside, multi-instrumentalist Brian J set out to “explore tonalities I’d never messed with,” as he puts it. It was a release from “having to write lyrics or involve my voice,” he notes, and so the (mostly) instrumental sound of Gitkin came into being.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReviews of Gitkin’s first LP grappled with descriptors, tagging it vaguely as “cinematic” and comparing it favorably with Khruangbin. True, the music is largely wordless, emotionally evocative, and guitar driven. But it possesses an alluring alchemy all its own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s first release, 2018’s well-received Five Star Motel, amply demonstrated his ease with earthy funk and comfortably-cut rhythm. On his new full-length release Safe Passage, the itinerant guitar slinger broadens his already rich palette with melodies informed by Greek and Middle Eastern modalities, Peruvian Chicha and Tuareg Saharan guitar styles. No gimmick, this juxtaposition of\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003egut-bucket blues and funk low-end with unexpectedly twisting lead phrases highlights the intense flavors found in each savory ingredient.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRecorded at his home studio in New Orleans, Safe Passage showcases a new batch of immediately engaging, repeatedly satisfying cuts, ranging from surf exotica (“Cat Nip”) to raunchy roadhouse stompers (“Fools Gold” and “The Drive”) to dreamy vocal cuts “Foot Steps” and “Hold On” to the floating finale of “Safe Passage.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGitkin’s production radiates character and warmth, leaning on soft-focus vintage mics, dubby spring reverbs and the quirks of an analog tape machine. Further enhancing the intimate vibe are distinguished guests like Carol C (of Si*Sé), who lends her striking voice to three tracks, including the strutting single “De La,” veteran Chauncey Yearwood (congas) and New Orleans local Clifton “Spug” Smith, who provides a sousaphone low-end on the cumbia-not-cumbia “Spug Life.”\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"wonderwheelrecordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52358778159396,"sku":"WR-SP-SPC","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0700\/8842\/5764\/products\/gitkinspcd.jpg?v=1673549285"}],"url":"https:\/\/wonderwheelrecordings.myshopify.com\/collections\/gitkin-vinyl.oembed","provider":"wonderwheelrecordings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}